Capitalist Apocalypse: A New Order?

Capitalist societal structure has dominated the political landscape for the last two hundred years. Many would believe capitalism to be the only possible economic system, but other strategies for managing resources and developing in a progressive manner do exist. One such system is the resource-based economy.
Jacque Fresco, the founder of The Venus Project, has designed an economy without the use of cash, bartering, or any other type of exchange economy. Despite the idealistic views of the project, resource based economic structure is becoming more of a possible reality. Technological advancements in a variety of areas has made recycling resources more efficient, and the idea of communities based off of those resources much more appealing.






Another initiative to create this type of society is the Zeitgeist Movement, an expanding view of the future, hoping to become the "New Order" of society. The ideas and movements away from a capitalist society have not ended with the fall of communism, no, they have just begun. Whether or not these movements will be an improvement on previous revolutions is yet to be seen. The possibility of a capitalist apocalypse is ever present.

There are, however, many negative aspects of each movement, one of them being there harsh stance on religion. In order to construct an understanding society based on a resource-based economy, a new movement must come to fruition. The present system is being challenged, and it might only be a matter of time before the ending of the present system: a capitalist apocalypse.

W.F: A Case Study on Community Downfall

"It use to be called the Athens of the West," says W.F, slowly turning the wheel of his small four door. "We had the first woman's college in Illinois, the school for the deaf, Illinois college, this town use to be the educational center of the state."

Today Jacksonville Illinois, the hometown of W.F., is no longer considered the Athens of the West. If anything it is remembered as the Ferris wheel factory, home to the Eli Bridge company. As far as the colleges go, they still run, educating students to this day. The town, however, is slowly degrading.

"Yeah I would say Jacksonville will be dead in about fifteen years. It's dying, and its a sad thing to see," says W.F. "I remember when the square was full of businesses, and the road went all they way around it, none of this one way road crap."

Other than the disgruntled driver's qualms with the new road system, the reflections on a town square driven by small mom and pop shops is accurate. At one time in downtown Jacksonville Il. there were shops at every corner. Today only a few businesses scatter throughout the square.

"Everything just went downhill. EMI (A music recording company) closed a couple of years ago, and there went a few thousand jobs. Other plants have closed. I remember quite a few people losing their jobs there," says W.F. while pulling into Jones Meatlocker, a privately owned butcher shop. W.F. and his wife shop at this store not only for their superior products, but also to support local business. "This is the best place around, way better than that crap you get from Wall Mart."

Speaking of Wall Mart, major businesses, driven by profit and gain, have left massive storefronts lining the main street of the small college town. There is, however, a brand spanking new Super Wall Mart at the edge of town, continually putting out smaller grocery stores, eliminating jobs and small businesses throughout the town. With the rise and fall of businesses based on making cash, and killing competition, the capitalist structure in Jacksonville Illinois is crumbling.

Cairo- A Case Study

 

Cairo, a small town of around 3,000 on the the Illinois side of the Mississippi river, experienced the collapse of its own economic system. The town, at one time over 15,000 in population, was victim to a crumbling sea trade economy, race riots, and rising unemployment. The weak community structure of this small town, based entirely on a capitalist business system, crumbled in 1969 when the black population rose up to boycott white businesses. Unfortunately for Cairo, the only businesses there were owned by whites, which caused the complete destruction of the job market in the small riverside community. The unemployment rate in Cairo has been reported at 14%, but could be much higher by now, and at least 33% of the population lives below the poverty line. Traveling through Cairo can be a shock, revealing the dangers of an economic system based solely on the consumer. When, in a ten year stretch, the consumers stopped buying, business owners left for greener pastures. The weak community structure in the capitalist system lends itself to pack-up-and-go businesses, economies too feeble to be self-sustaining, and sharp declines in progress. Cairo would now be the perfect site for an apocalyptic movie shoot, all the props already in tact, creepy towny bar ready for action. This has been a case study of a victim of the capitalist apocalypse.

All photos captured by Ashley Anderson 

Capitalism’s Potential for Apocalypse

 
  

            

Cairo, a town in Southern Illinois, has two halves. On one side is the white picket fence American dream, on the other, its nightmare.

Capitalism, specifically in the Western portions of the world, has long been the reigning economic system. The advancements made in the industrial revolution made it possible for large numbers of people to climb the social and economic ladders, leading to the development of a strong, middle economic class of people. Throughout the growth of the capitalist system there have been periods of what some call growing pains, and others call collapses. In 1929, after a six year stretch

 of economic bliss, the U.S. stock market crashed. This collapsed the value of the dollar and eventually led to an unemployment rate of twenty-five percent. The country’s economic structure made a rebound, but, unfortunately for its citizens, the great depression would

not be the last struggling period for the working middle class of Americans. In the 1970’s a combination of slow economic growth, high inflation, and a spike in the price of oil, sent the capitalist economic system into a down spin. By 1984, however, the economy had nearly recovered. The duality between prosperity and poverty in the capitalist system is evidenced by the history of upturns and downturns in the last one hundred years of the U.S. economic system. According to the U.S.

department of labor, over the the last four years the unemployment rate in the U.S. has risen from 5.5 percent to just above 10 in latest reports. The rebound of the economy is likely, but when will the cycle of collapse and restructuring end? The constant failure and rebuilding of the dollar and the capitalist system is nothing new, and the end of such a social structure, inevitable.

Cairo photos captured by photographer Ashley Anderson