Notes on U.S. Politics
Frequent commenter MarcoPolo writes:
Yelling at Trump supporters “you’re stupid,” isn’t helpful or productive. Calling Donald Trump and his supporters “deplorable,” “disgraceful” or ” despicable” isn’t helpful. Clinton will certainly win, but to what avail? She’s most unlikely to rally those millions of Trump supporters and inspire a renaissance of U.S. bipartisan renewal and reform. The real loser in this campaign is the American people. Those on the left shouldn’t rejoice at the downfall of Trump and his supporters. The dissatisfaction Trump’s exploited won’t go away, it will just return with a more plausible, likable and shrewd populist candidate. The shrewdest thing I’ve heard any politician say for a long time came from an Australian conservative politician, who observing his government’s near defeat commented: “While it’s true the lies told by the opposition did considerable damage, lies from the opposition are nothing new. Instead of being outraged about their behaviour, what we must ask ourselves is what is it about us that people would believe such lies? How have we failed to gain so little trust and confidence that we only won because the electorate dislikes us a little less than our opponents?” U.S. media seems to have become a sort of blood sport where tabloid-style journalism rules the day. Image is everything, and the smallest human frailties become the subject of hypocritical finger-wagging entertainment.
The reason I reprinted virtually all of this comment is that (for once) I think MarcoPolo is essentially right in all of this. Yes, we on the left take no joy at the Trump phenomenon, regardless of its outcome. We’re disgusted, and there’s really no way to qualify that any further. Yes, Clinton will win, then engage very close to zero of support of the 40% of the electorate who voted for Trump, and yes, her weaknesses are what make her susceptible to the lies of the other side. The sting of Trump (the coarseness, bigotry, pride in sexual abuse, amorality) will last for decades, fueling animosity here among Americans and the utter disdain, not to say disbelief, from the rest of the world. I feel most sorry for our children, who now think that the best the U.S. has to offer is a piece of pond scum. Here’s a video that I thought was spot-on.
Our real problem, it seems to me, is that money rules. Our political process is controlled by the for-profit media, and the government is owned by the bankers, pharma, oil, the “defense” industry, and the rest. Most honest and decent people don’t even aspire to office because of this corruption, and those who try to fight it face certain defeat. (I respect them nonetheless.)
I was just telling a friend that, for the first time in my life, I’m starting to internalize all this. I used to love the challenge of trying to right the ship in terms of the environment, social justice/wealth inequality, etc. But, though I’m not at all proud of this, the Trump phenomenon has sent me into a mixture of shock, anger, and embarrassment that my country has fallen so far, so fast, and there appears to be no ladder by which it can climb its way out.
Big money appears to have won, and it’s concentrating itself into fewer and fewer hands. For the few decades after WWII, we had high tax rates, both on huge incomes and huge inheritances, and we invested that cash into empowering the middle class with free education and expanding our infrastructure. Now the super-rich face a greatly reduced rate, and manage, through loopholes and off-shore accounts, to avoid most of what little they owe. Correspondingly, the middle class continues to be gutted via things like student loan debt and an ever-decreasing lack of the upscale social connections that breed wealth.
Sorry to sound so low; again, it’s not like me. It’s after five, so maybe I’ll have a martini (at five o’clock) and let this all roll over me like a gentle wave on a warm beach.
Anyone who is familiar with U.S. history during the “gilded age”, also known as the robber baron era, will realize that this is not the first time that money has had undue influence. History is simply repeating itself, which is very common. If history continues to repeat itself, the undue influence of money will end, just as it did before.
I suggest reading the biographies of the influential industrialists and bankers who lived during the “gilded age”. That includes the biographies of John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, the Astors, and Morgans, Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and others. When I read those biographies, I learned much that I had not learned in connection with my minor in economics.
Exactly how this will work out I don’t know, but I do not expect it to continue forever.
It took a global pandemic and two world wars last time. During the process the bankers stole our monetary system (the fed) instituted an income tax and conducted the largest transfer of wealth the world had known up to that time (aka, The great depression.)
Before the federal reserve system existed, our economy had very short cycles of deep depression followed by prosperity. The federal reserve system accompanied by various regulations made the economy much more stable.
Basically the robber era ended with the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and the gap between rich and poor was considerably reduced.
It should be noted that in the 1950s, the personal income tax rates for the highest incomes was something over 90%. Of course there were ways to avoid that, such as by managing to have most of one’s income capital gains which, under law, were taxed at half the rate as other income. Also, the corporate income tax was > 50%.
Craig,
Thank you for your kind observations.
However I fear we are both yesterdays men. In the 21st century, old concepts such as “left” and “right” are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
Set political, ideological and economic theories of how to govern the dynamics of nations states, once so important in the 18th,19th and 20th centuries, are quickly becoming obsolete.
Politics and economics no longer need adherence to the old ideological dogma’s of socialism, fascism etc. Just as the onset of the industrial revolution saw the old “landed’ gentry replaced by the vast expansion of wealth created by commerce, trade and of mass manufacture, allowing the rise of the middle or ‘consumer’ class, so too are the traditionally wealthy being replaced by a new era where information and speed of communication replacing resources and manufacture.
Wealth is rapidly becoming beyond the control of nation states, and the interwoven, interconnected elite of tomorrow will feel little need or commitment to the nation states. Citizenship is becoming an unnecessary inconvienience for a whole new class of affluent citizens.
Old fashioned, long discredited failed ideas like “wealth taxes” and “Inheritance Taxes” etc, are becoming rapidly unenforceable in a world where the treasuries of nations states are still thinking in terms of policies, legal processes and procedure of an older era that became obsolete decades ago.
Like Dinosaurs the “left” are still thinking in terms of taxes and enemies like “media for profit” and “corporate political power”, these issues which lost importance two decades ago, and although it’s difficult to comprehend, they are are relics of the past.
Society is evolving rapidly. All the old rules are being left behind. Technology has replaced the productive output of 75% of the population. Today, the only economically importance of the majority of the populace are as consumers.
Ironically, it’s Trump, not Clinton, who grasped the anguish of the ordinary man. For all his faults and deficiencies, he is genuinely representative of his followers. He, and his followers, may not be highly educated, or have perfect manners, they certainly display some of humanities worst attributes, but they do possess a kind of sincerity, even honesty.
America desperately needs a leader. Not someone like Trump who has no answers, but not Hillary Clinton either. It’s impossible for HC to be the solution when she represents the problem !
The path of political evolution will not be easy. Old idea’s die hard ! But, I reamin confident, that out there, some where, a child is being born who will become the Elon Musk of politics !
Although you make some good points here, I disagree with most of this. In particular, politics, at least here in the United States, is largely composed of progressive ideals, as expressed by people like Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein, and conservative ideals, as expressed by any of the original 17 Republican presidential candidates. There’s an enormous difference between the two, and both are supremely relevant.
Mate Marco makes some intellectually challenging propositions and decent assessment on the overall Landscape. accurate assessment over view of many things which are changing in the world.
However he leaves out the FACT that Nations can still wake up and change the rules and enforce the rules in Unison. That would stop the Tax avoidance Cult that is like the Plague. ..
He also fails to recognize that in Nations like the US there are over 200 million guns or more and the people if pushed to hard by the Uber Capitalist Robber Barron s and their corrupt political class have the ability and may rise up in the streets and it will be interesting Indeed ! Painful and Tragic but very do able.
I dont advocate for violence but people if pushed hard enough over react very hard! That is a equalizer you fail to address.
Yes due to corruption there has been a capitulation on taxes and the ability of nations to have Laws and rules and to enforce them….that is is what is missing. The Nation State still can do this if they really recognize the need for REFORM versus the ugly consequences of Angry public!
The debates and war is not over….
Marco your statement that 70 % of consumers relevance in the economy is that the Masters need them to consume. That is their Role. This may be a sad truth in a certain sense.
Well just like the simplistic minion minded trump followers you all miss a major critical Point or FACT of Life.
Consumers can’t spend and consume if they have NO Money….that is the end result of this Gilded Age we are in. It is not just in the US but in Global Economy.
Consumers pay has been cut, their buying power is reduced and giving big corporations and the Cyber jockeys Billionaires more tax holidays and some crumbs to buy off those Minions is not going to change anything.
Most honest and objective Economists predict slow low Growth Rates in economic performance for most of the World going forward. There are many reasons for this that go beyond this discussion perhaps that would be a good topic Craig.
So when a fraudster like trumper who is a business failure, complete failure claims he can get 4.5% growth in economy he is Day Dreaming he is selling Pixie Dust Marco.
All charts over 60 years or so show 3 to 4 % only happening for short periods of time. KEY POINT this was in the Great America days when people had real jobs and real pay and real tax revenues like Craig points out. But then we were not spending close to $ 700 Billion ( that is what is reported , and the off budget , CIA and and a few other accounts total over $ 125 Billion more) a year.
Talk about economic leakage!
Forgive me for being harsh and using the word Minions but its a free world and I will judge harshly. These blind deluded followers today have no REAL Understanding of how things work. They just are frustrated and rightly fully so in some limited cases. Most are aging white folks who see their White Privilege slipping away and the other changes in our culture are freaking them out. Change scares them. They want a Grand Pop to care for them because they are WEAK Minded people. Yes our political elite have failed them but they voted for G W Bush loser , Bush the Lessor as Cameron said so well. So the people need to look at the Mirror and Blame themselves for this stuff.
Same with many Democratic followers the party bought into the GOP Neo Liberalism that all the global elites have pushed on us. So both GOP to a greater degree and DEMs to a lessor degree have colluded in undermining a Great Nation. But we the people allowed it to happen because so many adopted Amnesia , we were too busy trying to CONSUME AND DAMN THE CONSEQUENCES.
The Trumperians
They are following a business loser, exploiter and racist. I call them losers and yes they are deplorable s as clinton said . ( I am not a clintonista either but she is not the devil)
It is the Truth as the little Trumpeters and Trumperians accept the gutter in trumper policies and dirty deeds. Just like the mis guided German people accepted Hitler and turned their hearts ugly and against other people and murdered millions because of a master manipulator.
A poignant Observation : Apples don’t Fall too far from the Tree is a Timeless Truism !!!
His former Taj Mahal Casino closed again today due to bankruptcy under that friend and crony of trumper , good old Greed Corporate Raider Carl Icahn a guy Trumper wants to appoint to his cabinet. The last thing our Nation needs more Robber Barons in charge!
Back to consuming Marco, the casino workers in NJ have gotten a grand total of 80 cents in raises over a 15 year period. During that time the cost of living greatly exceeded this paltry wage gain many times over. ERGO NO Money No Demand = Limited Economic Growth despite what the Uber High Tech and Davos crowd wants.
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to understand these things. Limited economic growth, rampant rising costs due to global warming, more wars, unrest, circular firing squads, demographics, high student loans over $ 1 trillion all combine to serve as Brakes on Economy.
The rich got the gold but they have cut off their flow of future gold!
Concluding – Craig you said you disagreed with Marco and I lean you way for the Long View myself.
Progressive Movements can over come these dark forces ….
But as Marco said there will be more Trumperian candidates and I have said this too , I see more darkness and I relate to Marco’s statement about being a Man of a Time that is Past. Honor is not a marketable skill like it once was a key to success. Honor has been lost. Winner take All is the normal now.
Only if we get the corrupting influence of money out of our politics will things change for the Better.
So until then I see more Darkness than Daylight
and last week I helped sell 70 kw of solar carports betting on the Sun light more than I bet on our Society finding more Light. HA HA
Where I am at. The Clouds are Thick and Dark and Lots of Black Swans soaring….
Marco Nations states can survive if they Reform themselves but will they ???? all bets are off !
Interesting Times perhaps? We need some major Reform and maybe clinton will be shocked into doing the right things strangers things have happened. She is a big girl now and so she should understand clearly by now that there is a deep unhappiness in the electorate and it is widespread across all levels and regions of the country.
Whether she does something about it in the right direction only the gods and the devil know!
Silent,
You wrote, “However he leaves out the FACT that Nations can still wake up and change the rules and enforce the rules in Unison. That would stop the Tax avoidance Cult that is like the Plague. ..”.
Actually, that is a serious problem here within the United States. The various states are often in competition with each other to have the lowest corporation income taxes hoping to entice companies to locate to their state. That was especially obvious when Elon Musk was deciding where to locate his gigantical battery factory. Whether the states will ever awaken “and change the rules and enforce the rules in Unison” is questionable. It may take federal action to solve the problem, but it is unclear whether there would ever be adequate agreement to make that possible.
Hi Frank,
It’s hard not to feel sorry for those left behind by evolution.
Silent Running may not realize it, but he’s reiterates the feelings of the same nature as the supporters of Donald Trump.
Like many, he lives in a world of “real wealth”, he still believes that wealth exists in a tangible form and can be controlled by individuals and institutions. (dark forces)
In fact, wealth has long since ceased to exist in tangible form, nor is it “controlled ” dark forces or evil cabals. The nature and definition of wealth has grown difficult to define and is beyond any individual or group to control.
I have a young client who is a highly successful ‘app’ and gaming developer . At 28 years old her net worth could be near $1 billion. Her products don’t really exist in any tangible form and rely on tiny payments extracted from billions of transactions globally.
Where her income is generated or even how it exists, is far beyond the capacity of old fashioned nation states to asses or tax. As the world progresses currencies will continue to arise existing in the ether, stateless, anonymous and valuable only in perception.
This is the result of having 7 billion consumers interconnected, and able to by-pass old jurisdictions.
Wealth can be created in some really strange ways. There is a market for the tiny bits of information gathered and analyzed from every electronic transaction. A market exists to trade this information as a commodity with all the usual options, derivatives etc.
Globally, this ‘industry’ is worth more than most traditional industries. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars is traded, but where it exists and how it operates is known to relatively few. It’s not secret, or clandestine, just stultifyingly complex and incomprehensible.
Reality itself is changing. humans were always governed by perception, now some human are evolving into a sort of super race. They will leave the rest of us behind as we remain locked into the values and misconceptions of yesteryear.
Ironically, more by instinct than philosophic insight, I believe Donald Trump understands whats occurring. He gets the pain, fear and confusion at the changes experienced by his supporters.
Many of his opponents are experiencing the same phenomenon. The yearn for the politics of yesterday and the security of belonging and adhering to an ideological doctrine remains strong.
Most people need a hero to cheer and a villain to hiss. These stereotypes make the world seem to still operate on a human scale.
But generations are being born who just won’t care.
Yes the Robber Baron elites stole more money during the Great Depression for sure and the Stars are aligning up for a repeat of the financial meltdown that occurred in 2008. When more wealth was confiscated and the elites abused the rules they had bribed congress that allowed them to rob honest people of their homes. Many people did not default due to being non responsible borrowers but rather they were manipulated into going under with their homes by the banksters and the co-opted regulators could do nothing.
Frank you are right on and perhaps you should add NM where you live. A state that somehow has no revenues to show for itself after almost 10 years of sustained oil and gas development in the Sate. Where did the money go as NM is broke and has failing institutions on many levels. Welfare, school and general Governmental budgets have been reduced over the years.
When I drive the state doing business I hear the complaints from the people; but most are the same ones who voted for the current administration. Go figure the American Voter ??
LOL LOL !!!
Well Frank NM just gave Facebook a 30 or 35 year tax Holiday from Property taxes etc. So Facebook lives off of corporate Welfare .
Next questions? Where or When do they apply for Corporate Food stamps
The tax give away is wrong and NM is in no position to do this but as you said all these states are engaged in intra state business competition and its cannibalistic at times for sure. 2 years ago they gave the Union Pacific railroad a tax holiday on all Diesel Fuel purchased in the state. This is the economic vision of the current Governor. So much for so called conservative values ??!!
Railroads are in great shape financially and dont need the welfare. Crazy.
All slogans and bumper Sticker politics that is Devoid of Good Substance! Reminds me of Trumper rallys and banners from his Minions All bumper sticker fare! No meat on the Bone!
Subsidizing the railroad is like shooting oneself in the Foot or something. But that is Gomer policy and its still not working well !
Winner Takes All Politics Action or In Action. Corporate welfare and guaranteed markets so much for the Pixie Dust Fable of Free Markets and private sector Efficiency !
The laws were written that when the Feds finally did fine the Banks for what they did in 2007 thru 2009 or so the banks got to right off a large percentage of the penalty as it was deemed to be a donation to the public good etc. Paying a Fine to the FEDS is deemed to be donation category worthy ! Lawyer perversion of right and wrong.
The levels of commercial debt plus consumer debt is very high and a big bubble exists in certain housing markets. Plus college debt over a Trillion along with a Much over valued stock market are a Prescription for a repeat of History once again.
We shall see but there is strong possibility there will be more Trumperian type candidates popping up and our political process may get more convoluted . Maybe a Saint will intercede for us? or a certain woman president does have a Epiphany Moment and uses powerful persuasion to Re unite us and we move in right direction then the Trumperian movement fails .
Lets hope so as
The next time we have economic contraction the Vultures will go after peoples savings the few that have savings.
Marco – Great for the Gaming App lady in Australia- Mate, If I ran Australia I would get court order and she would have to provide a receipt for all her transactions and WE TAX them simply put – no pay she goes to a Prison for undermining the economy of Australia and its people! Populist Justice and Intervention is Not obsolete! .
It can be done and it may come to this These cyber jockeys who push techie gadgets many with nebulous REAL Utility Value are not above us nor are they a Super Race that is Preposterous – Hitler sickness.
Marco the trumper jacket no Fit me period end of story. Your mis statement is offensive Mate.
I have felt this way for over 30 years as I figured things out decades ago and know many other people all educated many from the business world who feel the same. Trump and the like repulse us period.
We have Integrity, Vision, Hearts and a Sense of Decency and Right versus Wrong. And we deplore all these side show distractions that have become the ruining force within and among and around the body politic.
Basically taxes should be high enough so that most humans will not want or seek to become Super RICH and think they are Super Humans special privileged they will reach a decent level and then enjoy life.
Others will have some market share.
All of this is easy to do. If not by ballot measure then at the point of a Gun if it takes it.
I refuse to accept your proposition that the world will be Over Run by these self proclaimed Masters of Reality and the World . such Arrogance Reeks of Folly !!! Reeks of Folly !!
Strategic vulnerability and Tactical also
All these lil cyber jockeys all have to use the internet or some form of communications Infrastructure so they all are restricted by Choke Points aka( Straits of Gibraltar, the Panama Canal) so they have a real accessible Achilles Heel from which RIGHT MINDED Leaders can block their Activity ! I know cyber geeks who would love to cyber attack them and shut them down. Talk about a vulnerable business model ! Their Critical assets may be Virtual but their Distribution system is accessible to ALL who may oppose them. Strategic and Tactical error have doomed Armies and can doom uber rich cyber punks too !
Put that in your Pipe and Smoke it or Push ALT Delete before its crashed.
Trumper is for Coal dirty energy and the rest of it talk about stuck in the Past MR retro , he is a CON man who has Conned himself along with minions.
I stand for Renewable s and End use Efficiency etc. Green and Sustainable and per your other alarming Post where you criticize the policy makers for pushing renewable energy and make claims that we are on the Wrong road the Wrong Pathway I wonder what you dont get about Integrated Resources and Optimization of Resources!
Here are some Energy FACTS not nuclear Genie talking Points either , these are Market FACTS From Us Dept of Energy this summer.
On shore Wind costs down 41 % since 2008 – and Off Shore in UK is now below $ 100 per Megwhr will be around $ 80 per meg whr soon or lower. Capacity factor is around 45 %
siemens will be deploying molten salt like energy storage systems at existing wind turbines that provide 2 full days of electrical production for when its needed.
This is using the power of computing in a productive and meaning ful manner! Tests will complete in 2 or 3 years so this will be another Game and Market Changer for More Wind storing for Peaks when needed no more spilling or curtailing the wind when its over producing.
Rooftop Solar is down 54 % in cost and going lower
Utility scale solar single tracker is 64 % lower and capacity factor reaching 34 to 36 % – projected price will go down in 2 years to $ 1.20 to $ 1.40 per watt.
Advanced Batteries price drop 73 %
LED light bulbs costs fell 94 %
Sales of LED bulbs increased by 160 % over 2014 sales. bye bye demand growth and need for big huge base load plants talk about Obselete
So this is the Real Progress the Real Products that the World needs !
So these are Meaningful Technology advances much more than your lady friends electronic buzz machine. They will power her transactions and might add some value !
Wind and Solar combined for 65 % of All New Generation in the US since 2008 and in 2008 it was 41 % of new generation.
So perhaps instead of being mesmerized by the gadget lady in Australia you might want to get cracking on your beloved nuclear Genie! as its costs are up almost 100 % and its deployments globally are Appalling to say the least.
Yes the world is changing and leaving the Genie way behind choking on its own Pixie Dust!
Texas now has 18,000 megawatts of wind reducing the wholesale power prices in the most energy intensive State in the United States and there are 20,000 more Megs in the pipeline.
Iowa is 42 % powered by Wind and keeping farmers going as the price of their subsidized corn is too low now but production inputs are high; and the corn ethanol program which is BS for sure we will agree with you to that.
Yes I acknowledge that thee are souless young persons coming of age and they are in love with cyber etc. They are nothing to become enamored with or even Fear! Some will have some impact but their day of Reckoning will happen its Physics simple Physics what goes Up one day goes down! Their infrastructure is a Achilles heel ! Contemplate that!
Sleep on those RE energy facts and maybe you can get your cyber lady to underwrite a Thorium Reactor in Aussie land and do something productive with her money ! just a suggestion !
How Trumperian to project Trumpster onto me later Mate
Silent,
Firstly my client is a UK citizen. Like Australia the UK is governed by the rule of law, not “Populist justice”!
My client is breaking no laws. No national government can impose taxes that occur outside it’s jurisdiction or legal mandate. What you suggest would not only be impossible to enforce, ( and totally unconstitutional in the US) but display’s a total lack of knowledge of modern technology.
I’m afraid that’s very similar to Trumps simplistic thinking.
However, your opinion “All of this is easy to do. If not by ballot measure then at the point of a Gun if it takes it “, is one step further than even Donald Trump would suggest !
It places you in a very different category indeed !
@ Frank your clarity on the historical points is real good. Our country may not need 90 % tax rates but we need higher ones than we have had since 1980 .
As Craig started this out we had decent stable society when we had more balance and there was more growth when things were more equitable and organized. Poverty was going down and education was going up.
Tax Avoidance is a sinful Cult a shameful one Indeed! Counter productive to a good Society or Economy!
We need more balance
@ Marco – I pushed back hard on you as I dont like your Trumperian Projection Mate.
I am way above Trump saw thru his BS in the early 1980’s with my two mentors I worked for. They called him a shyster then and I have ignored his antics ever since. he is a reflection of the worst values in the World period end of story.
My disdain for the system began over 30 years ago and much I have learned on the Journey only reinforces my position as a Contrarian and also as a Detached Voyager from the Follies of Life and its wretched wicked ways of the World.
The point of a gun comment was to shock and it did.
But the point really is there are many many regular type people both on the Right , the Middle , the Left – in most advanced countries and also more emerging countries. They are at the point now where they can and will take things into serious Rough Justice methods if pushed down a much further. That is the Point!
Aussie or UK based no matter your clients Achilles Heel is their use of the Internet. Arrogance with Wealth is no strategy, So take that to the insurance co. The client could be taken down quite easily. And there are many disgruntled voices out there that want to Disrupt and Intercept the Greedy Uber merchant types that think just because they fell into some gadget gizmo and great wealth they are Super Human and above the Natural laws of decent society.
There are millions of under employed smart IT folks who would do a hack of this nature for FREE! For Social Justice for KICKS as they say , for Rage etc.
Some times a cleansing is needed – we have to cull out the rotten apples before they spoil the bushel ! No man is a Island no Matter how Rich they claim to be!
you should understand that. The End can justify the Means as the History books are full of epic incidents.
Once a greater number of citizens realize that their voting and governmental leaders can’t run things right like your vote no longer matters, then the Pillars of Democratic Society will crumble and yes we will have more versions of Trumperian fools leading mobs of angry folks into dark deeds.
While, I resent the Uber types I will not participate in any rough justice as I have let go of the Follies of this Earth and only going to do peaceful Acts with what days I have left. I dont have to concern myself as there is no shortage of angry citizens who can carry out the maybe needed Rough Justice!
Why dont you get the client to under write a thorium nuke in Uk and save the Homeland from the over priced EDF nuke Hinckley Point Project that has a over 50 % chance of being another Genie White Elephant cost and technology mistake!
What do you say – the RE numbers I provided clearly indicate the over all state of things ….The Greens are marching , leading and growing bigger by the years!
I must confess, I enjoy your passionate, wild rants. You are obviously fired to change the world in good way. The problem is your don’t really seem to understand the modern world.
There is no “green army”, no howling mobs of revolutionaries. The politics of jealousy and spite at the good fortune of others as a motivation for action, dies quickly in a world where less than 40% of people even bother to vote, and the rest are preoccupied with reality TV, the doings of the Kardashians or playing games.
Why should any one get angry with the wealth of cyber inventors? These people make no actual money from the users, in fact most of the inventions are offered free to millions of users! Whose going to get upset? Who is being ripped off ? Where are the victims ?
Just hating folks for doing stuff you can’t comprehend but makes them richer than you, is silly and pointless. Especially since many of the methods of creating wealth exist only in perception.
That’s the problem for old fashioned governments and politicians. This sort of wealth is too vague, very difficult to define, and subject to redefining it’s value every few seconds on a global scale.
Any interference may destroy the wealth, but rewards no one. The best analogy I can think of is a work of art. The value of one painting against another, is simply opinion and perception. There is no inherent value, it’s just how a number of people value the work.
If the painting goes out of fashion, or adjudged a fake, it’s “value” suddenly disappears. So what is the value ?
You can destroy a work of art, but then no one benefits. Most of the world’s wealth is created by perception.
I have a client in New York who bought an apartment costing more than my highly productive 1200 acre farm in Australia. What made the difference in price ? It’s just perception. Alter the perception, and the wealth is destroyed, not distributed. Nobody benefits.
Look at the effects of urban gentrification. What makes the difference, it’s the perception and behavior of the residents.
As I tried to explain on another thread, all business is different. Donald Trump is a high risk developer and promoter. He obeys the law, but his style of business is not understood by people outside his world. He understand that a percentage of his projects will prove unsuccessful, but that doesn’t worry him as long as he wins enough to compensate for losses.
He comes from a tradition of high risk, high gain merchants. Like all merchants, he’s essentially a gambler. If a Casino fails, he simply shrugs and sees the event as a re-evaluation of an asset, not a personal failure.
That’s his business. It’s not a career suitable for everyone, especially those who see the failure of any individual enterprise as a personal or moral failure.
In my own career I’ve experienced losses and errors of judgement, but I down take them to heart. Like many professions failures can’t be taken personally, or the job would never get done.
Lawyers, Doctors, athletes etc all understand that a regrettable outcome often occurs, it’s just a consequence of the profession. (there are no guarantees, all you can do is your best).
Marcopolo,
I found your post very interesting and thoughtful and agree with much of it.
In my opinion, some very wealthy people deserve every penny they have. However, that is not true of people who acquired their wealth by the manipulation of esoteric financial instruments to the detriment of others; there are many of them.
My sister thinks that J. J. Hill, a railroad magnate of the middle 19th and early 20th century, had far more wealth than anyone should have. He used part of it to build, from huge stones, a Romanesque mansion in St. Paul, MN. However, I think that perhaps he was entitled to his huge wealth.
He was originally Canadian. In a childhood accident, he lost the sight on one eye. Before building a railroad, he surveyed the area to find the best possible route. He especially wanted the railroad to be as level as possible to avoid the cost of using extra locomotives to climb hills. His surveying was done in wilderness areas. He traveled on horseback by himself which no doubt was very hazardous. When he finally built the railroad, it was hugely successful, partly because it was much closer to being level than other railroads. He also ran it very efficiently. It was of great benefit to the country and to many people.
Considering the hardships, dangers, and risks he took, in addition to his philanthropy, I do not resent his wealth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Hill
Basically, I do not believe that all extremely wealthy people should be painted with the same brush.
Hi Frank,
Thank you for your reply. J.J Hill was certainly a fascinating individual.
It’s difficult to see how esoteric financial instruments can be manipulated to the detriment of others, it’s a bit of a myth ! It’s sort of like saying, the winner in a lottery have won at the expense of others in the lottery pool.
The phenomena of boom and bust economic is inherent with the economic system. Like a forest fire, busts are essential for the health of the system.
The economic system represents the uncertainties and temperament inherent in the nature of human beings and human organized societies.
Certainty represents stagnation. Great wealth is largely illusory, and relies of human perception. The only way to eliminate disparity and risk, is to eliminate wealth and growth.
Our system may produce a VW for some and a Bentley for others, but the socialist model produces a Trabant, with a 10 year waiting list !
I could buy a T-shirt for $20, once I left the shop, the T-Shirt would have lost 100 of it’s value. However, if on my way home I encountered Sylvester Stallone and lent him mt new T-shirt to wear in the filming of his new movie and retrieved the T-shirt, now torn and unwashed, I could sell it on e-bay for $20,000 dollars !
In reality, it’s just a torn, dirty rag, but in ‘perceptive’ reality it’s increased in value 1000 times !
If Sly’s popularity fades, so does the value of the T-shirt, but if the movie does well and becomes a “classic’ , the T-shirt will increase in value.
But, it’s still just a T-shirt !
The derivatives market,is just the same. It’s value is based on confidence,…and the skill of the investor to read the market 🙂
Marcopolo,
You wrote, “It’s difficult to see how esoteric financial instruments can be manipulated to the detriment of others, it’s a bit of a myth!.”
It may have been considered a myth until it actually happened and contributed to the “great recession”. One of the esoteric financial instruments was the derivative. Derivatives were a mixture of various debt instruments bundled together and sold. Some of the buyers were banks which had no idea what they were actually buying. Derivatives included home mortgages for which the borrowers were unqualified.
If one studies the economic history of the U.S., one finds that in the 19th century it was characterized by very short periods of boom and bust caused partly by excessive speculation and partly caused by stock market manipulation. The controls put into place greatly improved stability.
Of course there is always uncertainty. However, it has been demonstrated possible to reduce considerably the negative effects of uncertainty. One of the effective things done to stabilize the economy was to separate investment banking from other banking functions so ordinary depositors would not lose their funds as the result of banks’ speculating with investments. Deposit insurance also helped. Bank failures became far less common.
Since the Great Recession, regulations have been put into place to make investments into mortgages safer. That was done by requiring that home buyers have sufficient income to make their mortgage payments thereby reducing the risk of default. Unfortunately, it has not yet been politically possible to break up banks which are “too large to fail”, to ensure that banks are properly run, and prevent negligent bank executives from receiving huge bonuses even when their actions have contributed to disasters.
Probably it is impossible to achieve total economic stability; it may not even be desirable to do so. But the idea that nothing can be done to improve the situation is destructive and simply not true.
“It’s difficult to see how esoteric financial instruments can be manipulated to the detriment of others??” Tell that to the millions of people who were financially destroyed by the 2008 meltdown of credit default swaps.
Fortunately I was not destroyed, but I was significantly impacted.
Shortly before the crash I committed myself to building a new house and, after moving into it, selling my old house. Before the time came to sell my old house, the real estate market crashed. So, instead of immediately selling the old house, I rented it out for two years hoping that the marked would recover. It didn’t, and the old house caused a continuing cash loss. I ended up selling it for less than I had paid for it, even though I had made improvements.
Many people were less fortunate than I was and were forced into bankruptcy. I place part of the blame on the repealing of various regulations during and following the Reagan era.
It seems that few remember the S & L scandal during which many S & Ls went belly up.
Hi Frank,
Firstly, let me express my sincere empathy for your traumatic experience.
The blame for the economic meltdown can’t be attributed to the policies of the Reagan administration.It was the mismanagement of these policies (often for ideological reasons) which created the mayhem.
Usually, the residential property market can be expected to be a safe and reliable investment since property is the standard-bearer of inflation. However, it’s always well to remember in unusual that from time to time, the property can unexpectedly kick you in teeth!
I would surmise those who went bankrupt were those heavily exposed in a high risk investment strategy had and deluded themselves about the risk.
I had a client who enthused with information about the remarkable profits made by ourselves for another client by investing in a subdivision development in a small rural town. The small town became the centre of a large natural gas processing facility employing 1300 long term workers, naturally the subdivision quadrupled in price.
Our client wanted to invest in a similar scheme he had heard about. He was very disappointed when I discouraged his enthusiasm.
I tried to explain that his “tip off ‘ was risky, and depended on a wide range of variables beyond his control.
Sadly, he rejected our advise and went ahead with all his own wealth and a lot of high interest capital borrowed from one of our competitors.
Unfortunately, the resource company shelved the project due to falling prices,and the poor fellow went bankrupt.
But think of it this way, yes you may have suffered a loss on the sale of your old house, but maybe the new owner was able to buy a better house for a price he could suddenly afford, so someone’s a winner !
Craig,
But what was really destroyed ? The only thing destroyed was the expectation of ever increasing gains.No real assets were destroyed.
Investor must accept an element of risk. Sometimes there is an element of deliberate fraud, but mostly investor simply don’t understand, or are too greedy and gullible to bother learning about the risk involved in the investment strategy. They want the gains, but whine when the market turns against them.
Investing will always have an element of risk. Esoteric financial instruments are always a gamble, the first lesson is don’t gamble unless you can afford to lose. The second lesson is don’t cry when you lose.
In 2006-8, I lost a few clients and was criticized by my colleagues for refusing to recommend investments in what I considered high risk instruments because I considered these clients lacking knowledge, or psychologically unsuitable for these sort of investments.
I removed all our exposure to financial institutions based in centres such as Iceland etc.
We missed some profit opportunities, but also completely avoiding the pain while cleaning up on short selling (timing is everything!).
My neighbour bought his home near the top of the market. Since then his property has declined in value, but since he has no intention of selling for many years, in reality he’s lost no money.
Most of the investors who lost money in 2008, should never have been playing. It’s no good blaming the casino or the rules of the game, if you want to gamble, you must accept losses.
Craig, I’m not talking about deliberate fraud, That happens, and in truth there is very little you can do about it, except prosecuting the perpetrators. But as for the rest, you can’t eliminate risk, or overly restrict peoples right to make a fool of themselves.
Marcopolo,
You write, “But what was really destroyed ? The only thing destroyed was the expectation of ever increasing gains.No real assets were destroyed.”.
Wrong!
I lost thousands of dollars because of the drop in house prices, and it was not because I was speculating.
Sometimes people have to move to remain employed or get a better job; they lose money if they have to sell their houses at a loss. Their losses are not the result of their speculating. Moreover, in some cases, the market value of their houses dropped below the amount that they owed on their houses. That was a real hardship for many people, and not because they were speculating.
Moreover, the drop in house prices, combined with bank’s giving mortgages to unqualified buyers, resulted in bankruptcies, failed banks, and taxpayers’ being forced to bail out companies which, if they failed, would have thrown millions of people out of work. That is reality.
You also wrote, “Most of the investors who lost money in 2008, should never have been playing. It’s no good blaming the casino or the rules of the game, if you want to gamble, you must accept losses.”.
Just where did you get your information? My net worth was cut about in half and I was not playing. Fortunately my net worth recovered as the economy did because I did not panic and sell my investments. What do you expect us to do with money we have saved for retirement? Stuff it into a mattress? That is not safe either since then it would be devalued by inflation. We have to invest in something and cannot avoid exposure to losses if the the economy fails.
You live in Australia where superfunds, at least for many people, adequately provide for retirement. That is not true here. Of course we do have Social Security, but it is insufficient. It is merely a floor, but additional income is required to retire comfortably. When the crash occurred, private pension funds were in trouble. Many people were unable to receive the pensions which had been “guaranteed” by their former employers; they were forced into poverty.
Regarding speculation, yes, it existed, and it continues to exist, and it contributed to the economic collapse. But many of us who were never speculators also were burned.
Your ideas may have some merit in Australia, but they are at odds with reality here in the U. S. of A.
Hi Frank,
Again, I sympathize with your circumstance, and assure you I wasn’t making light of your loss.
However, I think you miss the point. By your own admission only your perception of “net worth” was lost.
The house wasn’t destroyed, and the value simply transferred to the new owner.
There are many safe and secure retirement products in the US . They may not pay as much,but that’s the price for safety. (Berkshire Hathaway, government backed Annuities, etc).
We are all “Captains of our fate’, masters of our own destinies.We are all afloat upon an unpredictable, chaotic ocean, and we must steer our journey by the guidance of our own stars.
And if you managed to arrange with Sly to promote his “fantastic” new movie so that you could sell the T shirt for 20 grand, when both of you knew he was about to retire and the movie would never be produced that would also be a matter of “just perception,” but also knowing and willful deception with the intention of creating a disadvantage to one and an advantage to another. But it is all just perception.
In some countries with the parents consent girls younger than 12 years old are married. A presidential candidate in the US looks at a young girl and is admonished… But it is just perception as well.
You hold in your hand a 100 dollar note. You feel you have wealth, but without the joint perceptions of many people it is just a piece of paper with some added perceptions.
Perhaps then the only value, the only truth, is just perceptions and we are justified in being content or outraged with the common perception. We will give someone a Nobel prize or put them behind bars or take their life based upon just perceptions.
Hi Breath,
Yes indeed! You are absolutely correct, we live in a world dictated by prevailing perception.
Marco, you seem to have a very communistic view of wealth. As long as it exists anywhere in the state it is not lost. Personal ownership is not important. A single person’s life work is not important.
It is certainly one perspective but it does tend to deflate personal initiative and pride.
I wonder if your communistic perspective extends to someone coming in and stealing your property. The property still exists. It is all just perspective so you say.
And what if the state decided to “steal” your property and give it to a developer. Also just a perspective? The property still exists.
And then what if a group of bankers decided to speculate with other’s money and essentially caused a shift in wealth to them and away from others. More perspective? The property still exists. Why not shift all the wealth to one person and allow others to be serfs to the one Lord. The property still exists. It is all perspective after all.
What if the state decided that you needed to donate a kidney. The “property” still exists. Someone benefits… perhaps. What if the state decided to take your first born… Perhaps you should be chiding your tendency to be too possessive. The first born would still exist…
How far do we have to go before something “continuing to exist” becomes an absurdity? What if the Creator should visit a meteorite upon the planet and separate it into little pieces… In the cosmic scheme of things all the little pieces would still exist.
Or just perhaps pieces existing separately are not always quite the same on every level as the whole or its separate parts. Perhaps Feudal and Communistic systems have their problems and stealing is a crime. One of the characteristics of enslavement is that wealth is taken away and ownership is limited, but to you it seems all a matter of perspective. Spare me the false sincerity.
Breath,
Thank you! I was debating whether to respond to Marcopolo’s post but decided to wait and see if someone else would. Since you have made the point very clearly, I will not have to.
@ Frank and Breath on Wind – thank you for each of you pointing out specific examples of the Wrong and damages done by the ruling elites and Marco Polo’s continued dance with the elite position is ridiculous.
Marco all this nonsense that you are spouting off is repugnant Sir.
The control ow wealth is yes ones responsibility. But people no longer have the control they once had – wonder if we ever really had it??
The merchants of money acceleration or Wolves of Wall St have the entire system gamed so bad that one would have to take all their money and put it into a can and bury it in their yard. I actually know some folks who have over $15,000 buried on their property as they have lost trust in the so called free enterprise system that is not free and is not operating as its hubris filled backers like to Pretend!
The Banksters can disrupt markets at the push of a computer run stock program and disruption can cascade and it impacts the value of un related assets and the prices of things .
Totally uninvloved workers savings, house prices car values, can all and Have Been massively disrupted and they had decision not allowed a decision. They are just Collateral Damage.
Your Cavalier approach and attitude to Collateral Damages to innocent third parties is unsettling- that is why I call for Rough Justice at the Points of Gun to force these cannibalistic free enterprise rs cheer leaders into submission.
Our banking system and money system are so Out of Touch with real economic Laws. Laws of Supply and Demand are manipulated.
Houses in the US were stolen by Banks and these were people who had a job and were making payments etc….but the Banks had the value of peoples homes reduced – then they come up with more Orwellian Words – Your house is under Water per our records – That is because of all the foreclosures that the banks caused in their Quest – Never Ending Quest and Schemes to make more Money by any means.
So the people lose their homes at NO Fault of their Own. This happened all over the US and I am topld they are going to do a rep[eat of this theft once agin its coming!
How can you compartmentalize these dastard deeds and call it just Perspective or Perception excuse me.
My perception of you is you are like Marie Antoinette when the mobs were storming the castle, She cavalierly said let them eat cake- well she Lost her life and head the elitist sloth!
Your economic theories are fuzzy at best and make no good social sense – There are so many things now in this Globally connected World that can Negatively anyopne no matter how Smart they are .
Even Good Navigators are at Risk of Grave Peril
Your positions are indeed outdated they rank of Feudalism and we are way past that Dark ERA
The rigged system is now cannibalizing its own this should be fun to watch some rich suffer and fall out of favor.
The retiring Executive of wells Fargo and his VP rigged bank accounts without people even knowing they had changes made to their accounts in many Cases.
Alright Mr Perception explain or Try to Spin that away. dont like pushing back so hard but your Cavalier Attitude does not sit well at All you defend the evil going on Sir – retrace your words and positions – I know East Texas rightist rednecks that would turn against you if they heard you speak these flawed theories of Perception ? They vote wrong still but economic insecurity runs deeper than just the Urban ghettos in America the Country bumpkins get it now too.
They just have not learned to aim the gun at the right targets yet. But they are in training now.
Too Much Enlightenment to be Spun by Feudalism Code!
Frank thanks for taking good moral stands and glad you were not too hurt by the Greed Implosion in 2007 -2008. I lived with many Victims in Denver area who lost their houses etc and they both had jobs and did nothing to lose anything – Just Collateral Damage. Our land is full of walking wounded now and most are good hard working decent people.
They also paid taxes too while Trumpster does not !
Perception on this end is turning negative Marco go rationalize away the Sins of the Universe and Feed the White Sharks!
Silent,
I must defend Marie Antoinette. Most historians now believe that she never said, “Let them eat cake!”. She was known to be very concerned with the plight of the poor, so saying that would have been completely out of character for her. Too often, when a historian writes something, other historians, lacking due diligence, copy it and soon it proliferates thereby creating the impression that it must be true because so many historians said so.
Marco polo wrote, “We are all “Captains of our fate’, masters of our own destinies.We are all afloat upon an unpredictable, chaotic ocean, and we must steer our journey by the guidance of our own stars.”
At one time that was a very popular attitude. I remember a ninth grade English teacher who strongly emphasized a quotation to that effect. It would have us blame the less fortunate for their plight even if they could not have prevented their misfortune. It, along with the once popular essay, “A Message to Garcia”, has fallen into disfavor and rightly so.
Of course we all have considerable influence over our destiny, but far less than total control or mastery. It is our responsibility to use the influence we do have while recognizing its limitations.
Silent,
I’m afraid impotent ranting won’t help you accept, or even comprehend the dynamics of evolving global economics.
I’m not advocating anything, certainly not any ideology. My comments are simply an observation about the mechanics of modern wealth.
Y’see it really doesn’t matter what you, or I, think or believe this is an evolving reality. Unlike previous concepts the newly emerging economic dynamics are neither moral nor immoral. There are no cabals of 19th century ‘robber barons’, the few remaining will disappear within two or three generations.
The new wealth will move very quickly on a global scale created and dissipated by means entirely beyond 80% of the population.
Once upon a time the whaling industry was considered a highly productive essential and deeply moral industry, employing heroically brave individuals. Our perception of the industry has changed over the decades as our need for whale oil has disappeared.
But for the last of the whalers, ship investors, chandlers, rope makers, crews, tradesmen etc, the death of an industry they had given their lives to create must have created immeasurable hardship.
But no amount of sympathy would ever bring bask an obsolete industry. No government handouts, union demonstrations, or political preaching would change anything.
What you fail to understand is I’m not advocating anything. I’m simply describing the inevitable evolution of economics. Like all changes, there will be unfairness and unpleasant consequences for many,that’s true. You can rage against it, but it won’t help.
There will be no “uprisings” no exciting “revolutions” those days have long since passed.
In the words of Paul Simon;
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
a loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires,and baby don’t cry…
Breath on Wind,
I must admit to being baffled as to how you you could conclude what I wrote has anything to do with communist ideology !
I wrote concerning the transient and perceptive nature of wealth in modern economies. The basis of any complex society is the acceptance that aesthetic possessions will become of greater value than the necessities of existence.
You are still trying to apply an older and completely inappropriate method of assessing 21st economics. The old concepts simply don’t apply. It’s like discussing transport with someone who measures modern communications by the speed of a horse delivering a message.
Concepts like communism, etc are irrelevant. In an increasingly interconnected planet, the nation state is rapidly becoming irrelevant for the new elite who think and act globally. The world is changing at such a pace that anyone who thinks in terms of 20th century economics is rapidly becoming a dinosaur.
Ranting and raging won’t help, as Canute discovered, it’s impossible to hold back the tide. (especially because you won’t have any idea of what the tide even is).
Frank, it’s always hard to uphold the concept of individual responsibility. Obviously there will always be millions for whom through no fault of their own, have met heart-breaking adversity. A compassionate person, or society should enrich itself by helping those beset with adversity.
But that doesn’t mean anyone should be excused from accepting individual responsibility for their actions and circumstance.
I’m surprised you find the idea of being the “Captain of your own fate” so repugnant ! That’s the price of freedom, the good side of freedom is the right to succeed and reap the rewards, but even better is the right to fail, accept the lessons of your losses, and try again.
Above my desk I have two paintings, one is Norman Lindsay’s ‘Don Quixote’ surrounded by a myriad of misfortunes but still bravely riding forth. The other is a copy of a cartoon posted on the wall of the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center.
The cartoon depicts a large Stork preparing to devour a frog. The frog, despite his small size and impending demise, has his hands in a vice grip around the stork’s neck to keep from becoming swallowed. The inscription on the cartoon is “Never Give Up.”
We live in a world where more than 40% of all Trading activity on the various financial exchanges is conducted by computer software trading programs. The human element has been removed.We live in a world why vast sums of wealth are traded daily in commodities which the average citizen has never heard of, and are very difficult to explain or even why they exist.
As individuals, we live in a where older values prevail. We still care about morality, how we relate to our fellow humans, society, the politics of of planet and environment. But a whole new and unrealized dimension has arisen in economics.
What is a bitcoin, and how does it relate to you ? Why is an obscure financial instrument that pooped into existence to value an even more obscure trades in fractions of information, become more valuable that the life time earnings of 100,000 US workers? Why is one painting worth $100 million, and another $10 ?
These are complex issues, and it’s all a matter of human perception, but the question is, whose perception and is it still even human :)?
Marco, I won’t debate economic theory with you. You have clearly bought into the idea that wealth is only a matter of perception. You seem to accept it without limitation. Therefore it will not trouble you that the world monitory system is based upon fiat currencies or that the world supply of gold has been sold 10 times over using the same fractional reserve scheme, that banks do with fiat currencies. You therefore have completely sided with the proponents of monetary policy and eschewed fiscal policy. To you then there is no physical limit to wealth. And using these ideals and policies you can pursue wealth above all other considerations.
Only such policies are not for the masses. Most of the people in the world do not have any discretionary income. They may use perceived value as part of a quid pro quo in the marketplace but there are physical limits. They have to eat. They have to have a shelter. They must be clothed. They have to provide for their families. These provide real checks on their imagination of value. Without such reality checks you can imagine anything you want and you can seek to satisfy another level of need.
Why me you might ask, why do I have and others do not? And you can justify your fate with a satisfying construct. No longer fettered with the physical demands of existance you can imagine that all value is simply what is perceived. You can ignore your rise above necessities and imagine it is because you somehow perceive better than other. You have been lead to believe that the pursuit of wealth is the most valuable thing and pursued it for years.
However the inner circle of bankers will privately admit that our system of fiat currency must eventually fail as a fiat currency has never succeeded in the history of the world, but they cannot be the first off of the merry go round. As they drift back into a zombie like state they say they would simply lose too much money between now and that time.
You can’t admit you are wrong because it would mean that you have lied to yourself and potentially wasted years of actually seeing the world instead or your imagined value in it.
You are not alone and it is not just in the area of money where we are being duped by a sickness of overvalued perceptions. Oil companies can hire scientists who will prepare studies and write articles against global climate change. We are confused. They are “scientists” they have “degrees.” We can’t condemn them without destroying our perceptions that such labels mean more than what the person does or what they actually say. We are caught and fooled by our own stupid perceptions of value. It is such perceptions that are so easily used by people like Frank Abagnale.
And what is the biggest fraud? That value is only a matter of perception. Like most frauds it holds a kernel of truth (on a metaphysical level) and is an instrument of deception in the everyday workings of the world. So continuing lying to yourself but spare me the condensation. Look to your own house.
Frank thanks for correcting the many people and public documents or places where they all said she said that.
I take your word for it.
Regardless the Pathways to Success for many many people are not the same. The rules have been Rigged in multiple ways to numerous to state here. Many books on it. Check Out Saving Capitalism by R Reich for the US or The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein on the Global fixes.
Our country is on the verge of electing a player in this game but she is less the evil of her trumpery opposition by a decent margin perhaps? We shall see what plays out after the upcoming Selection process is over.
Anyways Marco paints a defense of the Sinking status Quo as Usual does not make any common sense these days nor resonate with the public mood I have seen, listen to and engage daily for the past 20 years as more people began to awaken from the stupor of the reagan mystique .
Yo Marco In America now Fraud is now Legal if you are a member of the elite class. We wonder why the youth are so disillusioned and hve little faith in the establishment systems. etc.