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Droit du Seigneur and the Neofeudal Privileges of Class in America
Droit du Seigneur and the Neofeudal Privileges of Class in America Want to understand the full scope of neofeudalism in America? Follow the money and the power and privilege it buys. The repugnant reality of class privilege in America is captured by the phrasedate rape: the violence of forced, non-consensual sex is abhorrent rape when […]
The Four Disastrous Presidential Policies That Are Destroying the Nation
The Four Disastrous Presidential Policies That Are Destroying the Nation The nation is failing as a direct consequence of these four catastrophic policies. It’s admittedly a tough task to select the four most disastrous presidential policies of the past 60 years, given the great multitude to choose from. Here are my top choices and the […]
When Does This Travesty of a Mockery of a Sham Finally End?
When Does This Travesty of a Mockery of a Sham Finally End? Credit bubbles are not engines of sustainable employment, they are only engines of malinvestment and wealth destruction on a grand scale. We all know the Status Quo’s response to the global financial meltdown of 2008 has been a travesty of a mockery of […]
We’re All Speculators Now
We’re All Speculators Now When the herd thunders off the cliff, most participants are trapped in the stampede.. One of the most perverse consequences of the central banks “saving the world” (i.e. saving banks and the super-wealthy) is the destruction of low-risk investments: we’re all speculators now, whether we know it or acknowledge it. The […]
Massive Deficit Spending Greenlights Waste, Fraud, Profiteering and Dysfunction
Massive Deficit Spending Greenlights Waste, Fraud, Profiteering and Dysfunction America’s problem isn’t a lack of deficit spending/consumption. America’s problems are profoundly structural. The nice thing about free to me money from any source is the recipients don’t have to change anything. Free money is the ultimate free-pass from consequence and adaptation: instead of having to […]
The Next Financial Crisis Is Right on Schedule (2019)
The Next Financial Crisis Is Right on Schedule (2019) Neither small business nor the bottom 90% of households can afford this “best economy ever.” After 10 years of unprecedented goosing, some of the real economy is finally overheating: costs are heating up, unemployment is at historic lows, small business optimism is high, and so on–all […]
How Things Fall Apart: Extremes Aren’t Stable
How Things Fall Apart: Extremes Aren’t Stable A funny thing happens on the way to stabilizing things by doing more of what’s failed: the system becomes even more unstable, brittle and fragile. A peculiar faith in pushing extremes to new heights has taken hold in official circles over the past decade: when past extremes push […]
After 10 Years of “Recovery,” What Are Central Banks So Afraid Of?
After 10 Years of “Recovery,” What Are Central Banks So Afraid Of? If the world’s economies still need central bank life support to survive, they aren’t healthy–they’re barely clinging to life. The “recovery”/Bull Market is in its 10th year, and yet central banks are still tiptoeing around as if the tiniest misstep will cause the […]
The Global Financial System Is Unraveling, And No, the U.S. Is Not immune
The Global Financial System Is Unraveling, And No, the U.S. Is Not immune Currencies don’t melt down randomly. This is only the first stage of a complete re-ordering of the global financial system. Take a look at the Shanghai Stock Market (China) and tell me what you see: A complete meltdown, right? More specifically, a […]
Once the Bubbles Pop, We’re Broke
Once the Bubbles Pop, We’re Broke I hate to break it to you, but the everything bubble isn’t permanent. OK, I get it–the Bull Market in stocks is permanent. Bulls will be chortling in 2030 that skeptics have been wrong for 22 years–an entire generation. Bonds will also be higher, thanks to negative interest rates, and housing will […]
Why Is Productivity Dead in the Water?
Why Is Productivity Dead in the Water? The only possible output of this system is extortion as a way of life. As the accompanying chart shows, productivity in the U.S. has been declining since the early 2000s. This trend mystifies economists, as the tremendous investments in software, robotics, networks and mobile computing would be expected […]
To Understand America’s Neofeudal Economy, Start with Extortion
To Understand America’s Neofeudal Economy, Start with Extortion Here is the result of America’s neofeudalism: soaring wealth and income inequality. Let’s spin the time machine back to the late Middle Ages, at the height of feudalism, and imagine we’re trying to get a boatload of goods to the nearest city to sell. As we drift […]
How “Wealthy” Would We Be If We Stopped Borrowing Trillions Every Year?
How “Wealthy” Would We Be If We Stopped Borrowing Trillions Every Year? These charts reflect a linear system that is wobbling into the first stages of non-linear destabilization. The widespread presumption is the U.S. is wealthy beyond words, and will remain so as far as the eye can see: wealthy enough to fund trillion-dollar weapons […]
The Telltale Signs of Imperial Decline
The Telltale Signs of Imperial Decline Nothing is as permanent as we imagine–especially super-complex, super-costly, super-asymmetric and super-debt-dependent systems. Check which signs of Imperial decline you see around you: The hubris of an increasingly incestuous and out-of-touch leadership; dismaying extremes of wealth inequality; self-serving, avaricious Elites; rising dependency of the lower classes on free Bread […]
Our “Prosperity” Is Now Dependent on Predatory Globalization
Our “Prosperity” Is Now Dependent on Predatory Globalization Nowadays, trade and “prosperity” are dependent on currencies that are created out of thin air via borrowing or printing. So here’s the story explaining why “free” trade and globalization create so much wonderful prosperity for all of us: I find a nation with cheap labor and no […]
