Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Bloomberg — Existential Threat to World Order Confronts Elite at IMF Meeting

Policy-making elites converge on Washington this week for meetings that epitomize a faith in globalization that’s at odds with the growing backlash against the inequities it creates.
Maybe the message is getting through?

8 comments:

Ralph Musgrave said...

I'm all for prefixing anything and everything with the word "existential". It adds no meaning, but it makes what you're saying sound more important.

Matt Franko said...

"growing backlash against the inequities it creates."

That's rich...

Tom Hickey said...

I'm all for prefixing anything and everything with the word "existential". It adds no meaning, but it makes what you're saying sound more important.

"Existential threat" = highest level of risk.

For example, jihadism is an existential threat to Russia, It is a blip on the screen for the US.

This is why the objectives of Russia and the US in Syria are incommensurate, for example.

This is a red line for Russia. For the US Assad's removal, which the highest priority of the US in Syria, is a "would be nice to have."

Tom Hickey said...

BTW, the way that capitalism is works is to extract as much rent as possible. "As possible" means probing to determine where the point of worker revolt lies that cannot be profitably suppressed. This the signal to co-opt, consolidate and wait for another day.

Peter Pan said...

Unfortunately the elites and their institutions will not cease to exist. They will take new forms.

Ralph Musgrave said...

Tom, I looked at a few dictionaries and can't find a definition of existential that is similar to yours.

Peter Pan said...

Have you tried being in Jean-Paul Sartre's shoes?

Tom Hickey said...

@ Ralph

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/the-meaning-of-existential