Everyday Crapitalism returns to the buses!

Bonus feature!

In other words, I got short shrift on the buses again and it's all capitalism's fault.

Sad thing is, though, I'm not wrong!

Why is it always the buses? That's easy; they are a vital public service that is still held in private ownership. Of course you could say that about any number of 'commons' - food for instance. That's why I spoke about the sight of security guards in private owned profit driven supermarkets. Folks gotta eat!

So one of the very few things I can praise First Bus for is their adopting technology to allow people to buy tickets using cards rather than coins. The problem is they have no answer when these systems go wrong, so ultimately you still need to carry coins with you because, if they machine (or your card) craps out...

This is problem number one: people need transport in a modern society. You have to go to the shops to buy food to avoid starving. You need to get to appointments to see doctors, or sign on, or whatever. Duh. Capitalism has no answer for this; if you can't pay the ferryman you don't go anywhere.

Problem number two; if you're poor these issues are amplified. This is because poverty deprives people of options and flexibility. When things go wrong authority will assert itself (problem number three, in actual fact). The driver is programmed - literally - to refuse you passage. So if the fault lies with the machine shouldn't that be the company's responsibility? In reality it'll be your responsibility. You have to offer the alternative because they sure as hell won't countenance offering you a free ride in lieu of meeting their responsibility.

So that's why I had to catch a later bus a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have the change on me.

This is the power of the capitalist; it completely undermines all progress that can be made because their need for profit trumps any reasonable alternative. I'm offering to make a payment, I have the means. Yet your systems are at fault - but I have to lose out?

That, my friends, is the nature of the authority that private property rights, a key component of capitalism (the rights over the public transport system in this case). I reject this authority because I find it cannot be justified in a decent society. It is antithetical to it's optimal functioning.

It's also unnecessary.

I wish the drivers could see that. But they aren't paid enough to have that luxury. Again, crapitalism.

These are the Solutions on offer

I haven't heard from my advisor since March. Each time I've tried to get in touch the mail seems to mysteriously end up in her boss' inbox. Why is this? I can only assume she's dliberately passing it on, which means she doesn't want to talk to me at all. Why might this be? I cannot say.

When I first met these people, almst exactly a year ago, they seemed a refreshing change from the usual behaviour of these types of organisation. But then, they all do, at first. They'll sweet talk you to be your friend and then, sooner or later, they change. They all revert to type.

At this point the only thing they are willing to offer is something called 'Solutions'. To put it simply, and you can see from the screenshots I've taken of their paraphenalia, it's just another example of the magic thinking 'let's go on a journey' self help guru rubbish this industry peddles. It does not - cannot - address the structural issues that surround unemployment and why one might not be 'succeeding' in life. In fact it offers no definition of what one shoudl consider success beyond getting a job. Nor does it offer any realisation that simply getting a job isn't always synonymous with success - as we can see from the scale of in work poverty that now exists, baked into the system.

Here we go (click for screenshots)

I'm posting this, as I've always tried, to show what's happening in this sector. I believe this course represents courses like it across the country. There are many groups like this, especially those that are connected to whatever schemes the DWP inflicts on people. To be clear, this group are not, as far as I know. Though I'm sure claimants will be referred or 'recommended' to them when they sign on, so it matters not. They are, iirc, funded by the Lottery. This expires next year. That's what I was told. What happens then? Who knows. I'm sure there will be another cookie cutter outfit ready to step into the breach, probably funded by another iteration of the same kind of funding model, ready to offer much the same thing.

You can see their attempt to deal with mental health issues that a participant might have is a perfunctory referral to counselling. I don't believe counselling is bad and I've no idea of the quality of the people you'd see, but I can tell you that counselling is far from ideal in all situations. But this is indicative of the dismissal of mental health; just refer people to 'talking' therapies which don't require lots of moving parts just a counsellor. This is naive at best; talking things through again does not address structural problems. I know this from personal experience; the counsellor I saw 18 months ago gave up after three sessions. Gave up! She was saying I should present to Bristol council and that they would give me somewhere to live, instead of being stuck out in the sticks. Utter nonsense! As if there aren't loads of homeless people/crisis cases already, as if there isn't a massive housing crisis the council has to contend with. This is their approach; they'll sell you down the river with simplistic solutions that don't help and when you refuse, rightly, you are told YOU are the problem.

So if your problems are of a complex mental health nature, likely to be societal in nature, specifically as a result of structural poverty caused by the dominant failing economics of our age, just speak to your counsellor. Meanwhile let's do all these insipid activities like "colour personality profiling".

How insidious does that sound?

Is this really as good as it gets? I'll let you judge for yourself. I'd also appreciate if anyone out there reading this (thanks!) lets me know what they think. It'd be nice to have a dialogue about this.

Cheers.