Regular Folks,
Peter Turchin has set up analysis, based on Complexity Theory, that predicts periods of political discord. When the ratio of rich people to working people rises, it eventually leads to fighting among the elites and aspiring elites, which somehow involves regular people killing each other in droves. The severity of the die-off is one of the ways of grading mild, moderate or severe. The 2020s are poised to be one of those periods for the US. These are the transcript and slides of an hour lecture, given in Utrechet, Netherlands, earlier this month. The transcript link doesn't work for me today, but the slides tell the story.
Rich people are very expensive to keep, and are inclined to lie, cheat and steal when playing with others on a good day...
Charles Hugh Smith:
All the status quo "fixes" only hasten the collapse of the status quo.That economic, social and political conflict is accelerating is self-evident.
What's open to debate are the core drivers of conflict / disorder /unraveling.
"Algorithmic Feudalism"
Google has the power to shape your mind by limiting what you have access to, while at the same time wielding the power to destroy your livelihood with a tweak of an algorithm. Although a lot of the most nefarious stuff is still being conducted at the margins so the masses don’t realize what’s happening, stealth censorship will continue to be rolled out until the internet most people use becomes for all practical purposes an information gulag where nothing but shameless propaganda is pumped onto screens by hidden algorithms tweaked (for your own good) by billionaires. A perfect example of this can be seen in how YouTube hides ones of the most popular videos ever made regarding the attacks of September 11, 2001. The short clip made by James Corbett, is titled 9/11: A Conspiracy Theory, and has over 3.2 million views. Nevertheless, here’s what YouTube spits out if you search by the exact title of the video.
https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2019/11/18/algorithmic-feudalism/
Keep scrolling and you still won’t find it. This isn’t YouTube helping users find the information they want, it’s YouTube hiding content from its users. Moreover, the only reason I’m aware of the censoring of this particular item is because I’m familiar with the video from years ago. You can be certain this sort of thing is more common than you realize and will only get worse.
Do The World's Energy Policies Make Sense?, Gail Tverberg
(The reset will be into a world of less fossil fuel, less, manufacturing, less "wealth")
In order for coal production to grow as much as the higher emission scenarios assume, there needs to be a major turnaround in the situation. World coal prices would need to rise substantially. In fact, coal in very difficult locations for extraction, such as under the North Sea, need to become profitable to extract. This situation seems very unlikely. It seems to me that climate modelers should be considering more realistic scenarios regarding CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. One scenario which should be considered is the possible near term collapse of several governmental organizations, such as the European Union, World Trade Organization, and the governments of several oil exporting countries.
Charles is right again. People won't get healthier as long as it is so much more profitable to sell us addictive crap that makes us sick, and patch the problems with medicines that we need to buy every month, and all those appointments, tests and procedures. Good health is bad business. Still, Medicare-for-all is coming. Jobs-for-all would be useful.
Medicare-for-All "Socialism" Is Just Another Racket The entire system of health needs to be re-organized from the ground up, and funding the rackets will only speed the collapse of the system.
The core problem with "socialist" proposals such as Medicare-for-All is that they don't actually fix what's broken--they just expand existing rackets such as the healthcare/sickcare racket, the higher education racket, and so on.
Middle East Self-Correction (despite the ongoing efforts of US/NATO/Israel)
“Two years, three years, five years’ maximum from now, you will not recognize the same Middle East”, says the former Egyptian FM, Arab League Secretary General and Presidential Candidate, Amr Moussa, in an interview with Al-Monitor...
The present regional turbulence, he suggests, is [essentially] a reaction to the US playing the sectarian card – manipulating “the issues of sect and religion, et cetera, was not only a dangerous, but a sinister kind of policy”. He added however, “I don’t say that it will happen tomorrow, but [the discord between Sunnis and the Shi’a fading away], will certainly happen in the foreseeable future, which will reflect on Lebanon too.”
“Two years, three years, five years’ maximum from now, you will not recognize the same Middle East”, says the former Egyptian FM, Arab League Secretary General and Presidential Candidate, Amr Moussa, in an interview with Al-Monitor...
The present regional turbulence, he suggests, is [essentially] a reaction to the US playing the sectarian card – manipulating “the issues of sect and religion, et cetera, was not only a dangerous, but a sinister kind of policy”. He added however, “I don’t say that it will happen tomorrow, but [the discord between Sunnis and the Shi’a fading away], will certainly happen in the foreseeable future, which will reflect on Lebanon too.”
The move triggered a massive condemnation, with Palestinians saying that the measure “endorses law of the jungle.” UN for its part reiterated its point that the settlements are in breach of international law.
https://www.rt.com/news/473795-moscow-us-israeli-settlements/
“The announcement marks a continuation of the Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine years of progress on refining parameters for an agreed-upon resolution of the core issues of the conflict,” Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said in a statement.
The group called the announcement “an Orwellian absurdity,” saying “no declaration will change the fact that the settlements were built on occupied territory, in contravention of international law, and that they pose among the greatest obstacles to peace.”
Rubbing it in the face of the world serves who?
Monday’s announcement was the latest in a series of efforts by the Trump administration — declaring occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, and the movement of the US embassy to Jerusalem — aimed at weakening Palestinian claims of statehood. “The announcement marks a continuation of the Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine years of progress on refining parameters for an agreed-upon resolution of the core issues of the conflict,” Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said in a statement.
The group called the announcement “an Orwellian absurdity,” saying “no declaration will change the fact that the settlements were built on occupied territory, in contravention of international law, and that they pose among the greatest obstacles to peace.”
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