We got a Google hit on this undeservedly obscure topic, so I thought I’d reinforce it. Here’s the concept:

In a tapeworm economy a small group of insiders centralize political and economic power at the expense of people, living things and the environment, in a manner that destroys real wealth. A tapeworm economy is one in which it is considered acceptable to make money from our popsicle
index going down. In investment terms, it is an economy with a negative return on investment. It is parasitic in nature.

And now for the gruesome detail:

The way an actual tapeworm operates is to inject its host with a chemical that makes the host crave what is good for the tapeworm and bad for the host. So the Tapeworm Economy is adept at using media and education and numerous financial incentives to
get us acting against our own strategic interests and instead supporting and depending on the Tapeworm.

The symptoms of the Tapeworm are many - narcotics trafficking that targets our children, runaway exploitive and predatory corporate practices such as the patenting of life, terminator seed and the destruction of our topsoil and food supply, fraudulent inducement of debt to homeowners, students and consumers, suppression of knowledge and renewable energy technology, criminal mismanagement of government credit and resources,
black budget operations and the manipulation of currency, financial and precious metal prices and markets. These practices introduce organized crime throughout all aspects of our lives… these transactions drain our families and neighborhoods on a daily basis – much like a tapeworm drains its host.

Sound familiar?

As we understand the history of these drains in our lives – who is doing them and how we are complicit – we begin to understand the power of the opportunity to transform them in a manner that is safe and profitable for ourselves and those
we love.

As we begin to pull our resources out of the Tapeworm, and learn to invest our time and assets in building the world we want, by building
real wealth and financial liquidity outside the Tapeworm, and by raising our popsicle index without putting others’ at risk, the Tapeworm stronghold will weaken and the excellence of local living economies and diversified enterprises will prosper worldwide – one neighborhood, one enterprise and one investment at a time.

Incidentally, if we’re looking for a yardstick to judge progressives by, helping us get rid of the tapeworms would be an excellent one.

NOTE Gardening, food, DIY media, even or perhaps especially progressive pr0n—These are all ways of fighting the tapewarm economy.