The Iraq war? An honest mistake. The bailouts of criminal bankers in 2008? Unfair, but necessary. This is how they see things and it makes people apoplectic. In the face of a booming stock market and a grotesquely lopsided economic “recovery” during which the most wealthy members of society gained share from the bailouts, people remain angry and they have every right to be. The U.S. is not a free market economy, but a kakistocracy in which the “elites” have placed themselves above the law and above failure. We bail criminals out so they can shove it all back in our faces ten years later.…
The leaked Google video confirmed what many of us already knew, which is that these “don’t be evil” tech executives are a bunch of superficial phonies, cut from the same cloth as rapacious bankers or crooked politicians. The extremely powerful aren’t going to reform or fundamentally change the system that’s been so beneficial to them. It’s up to us to do that. This is why we’re in a populist period, and why populism won’t be going away anytime soon.
The only question is in what form will the next iteration of populism manifest....
Significantly, there are multiple other ways populism can manifest outside of traditional politics, with the most promising being in the realm of open source, decentralized technologies that don’t ask permission and can change the world via their very existence. Bitcoin’s the preeminent example of this sort of thing in the post-financial crisis period, but I expect more to follow.…
As Buckminster Fuller put it:Amen to that. But American populists, left and right, are deeply divided on what that model should look like.You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.More than anything else, this is what we need to do.
I omitted Krieger's remarks on Google, but they are important and I fully agree with what he says.
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Thoughts on the Leaked Google Video and Why Populism Is Just Getting StartedMichael Krieger
“Brin claims Trump voters are bored and Hillary calls them deplorable, but the point’s essentially the same. According to them, the problem lies with the voters, not the system.”
ReplyDeleteI actually agree with this. Left wing idiots see “homophobes” everywhere they look. Right wing idiots see “communists” everywhere they look.
When a society’s members consist mostly of Frankos, they get the government they deserve.
“they get the government they deserve.”
ReplyDeleteI don’t see the problem... I’ve been saying for years things would generally improve materially under a new GOP admin and they are....
Fiscal spending is up over 4% YoY, Growth is correspondingly above 4%, interest rates are finally off zero for savers, UE is falling in all measures, stock market at highs, trade policy is swinging back towards a domestic employment priority, there is at least a new skepticism if not a reversal with regard to previous decades of interventionist foreign policy, etc...
The situation is improved and will probably continue to get better...
and will probably continue to get better... Franko
ReplyDeleteThings getting better should be the norm and would be except progress is not and has not been ethically financed.
So boom and bust it shall be until we either repent or God's patience is exhausted.
“So boom and bust it shall be until we either repent or God's patience is exhausted.“
ReplyDeleteShould be: “So boom it shall be until we either start using the TTLs again or the CB starts to add Reserve Assets...”
God could give a flying fuck about any of this.. this isn’t Israel anymore hate to break the news to you...
I’ve been saying for years things would generally improve materially under a new GOP admin and they are....
ReplyDeleteHistory shows that the GDP are collectively public debt phobes and deficit hawks when the Dems are on power, and immediately switch their position when they get into power. Big wonder why GDP is soaring under DJT, since government spending is also soaring on balance.
“History shows that Republicans are collectively public debt-phobes and deficit hawks when the Dems are on power, and immediately switch their position when Republicans get into power.”
ReplyDeleteTrue, but since the days of Bill Clinton, leading Democrats have become increasingly “centrists” (i.e. become extreme right-wing neoliberals), thereby distorting everything.
Democrats controlled Congress and the White House from 2007 – 2011, during which time they checkmated Universal Medicare, and became deficit hawks. There was Obama’s “grand bargain” in which Democrats agreed to radically cut social programs for the lower classes in exchange for tax increases (on the lower classes). Democrats kept trying to push this attack on their own base until Nov 2015.
After Hilary lost, Democrats became worse than ever. They are now arch-warmongers, and they love the “intelligence” (sic) agencies. They echo the lie that the US government runs on tax revenue, so that Democrats can say, “You need us Democrats to protect you from limited federal dollars going to the rich.”
“Big wonder why GDP is soaring under DJT”
ReplyDeleteThe material greed overpowers the inclination towards frugality ... at least at first here...
Mike made the point that the spending is starting to be picked up in the media... they won’t like that now...