Half a century of security and prosperity has largely erased the memory of the last time an "economic age" collapsed into an era of fear. We have become stridently insistent in our economic calculations, our political practices, our international strategies, even our educational priorities that the past has little of relevance to teach us. Ours, we insist, is a new world; its risks and opportunities are without precedent. Our parents and grandparents, however, who lived the consequences of the unraveling of an earlier economic age, had a far sharper sense of what can happen to a society when private and sectional interests trump public goals and obscure the common good. [More] . . read more

Take the recent debates at Copenhagen as a prime example of the problem; the calls for the developed world to help the developing world was a great macro example of what happens daily between those that have and those that don't.

The 'haves' are set on keeping their advantage (which we keep telling ourself is unchangeable human nature) and 'the have nots' are set upon bridging the gap- done with a belief that they have an inherent right to do so.

The part of human nature we don't like to publicise to often though, is that those that have will always fight tooth and nail to keep the perks of their position often disregarding any morals, ethics or compassion.

Time and time again we see it, wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam and last week, crappy climate change deals that try to preserve the status quo as much as possible.

But what if the status quo shouldn't be protected?

What if the status quo is the real problem that needs solving?  . . read more

I didn’t give a shit that the acting blows. This is not a movie about stellar acting. This is a movie about the sentiment (taking some motherfuckers down) and the action (exploding brains, righteous car chases, and crashing trains), and in that regard Wanted delivers the goods. The bad acting washed right over me as I hungrily gobbled up the next sweet action sequence and the next slow motion bullet piercing flesh. And why did I so greedily gobble up the violence in this movie? Because ultimately it is a kind of over-the-top rail against capitalism and in a way (albeit an unrealistic way) a call for violent revolution.

Is Wanted a call to arms? Of course not. The movie is too silly for that. I am not going to propose that some mass-produced multi-million dollar Hollywood Summer Blockbuster is a call to revolution, but I will say that it great Rage Therapy for Life Under Capitalism. For two hours, the movie gives us a place to dump all our stresses and anxieties over the system that is fucking us over. For a brief window of time, we can fantasize about the rush we'd get by taking down the motherfuckers who are strangling us with their corporate interests. Violent revolution is a nice fantasy, and when it comes with great car crashes and lots of exploding heads it's even sweeter. [More] . . read more