How We Became the World's Greatest Idiots

[hedda_foil]

https://eand.co/how-we-became-the-worlds-greatest-idiots-cfa4ffac8ad1

Am I the only that’s noticed how eerie and odd it is that Trump’s threatening to shut down the border — at the same time as Britain’s paralyzed and broken by Brexit…just another kind of wall? Isn’t the parallel altogether too eerie, weird, bizarre? I seem to be. And yet I shouldn’t be. How gruesome and strange is it that both great (bad pun fully intended) Anglo-speaking countries find themselves brought down not just by the same kind of folly, but precisely the same folly…extremist nationalism, wall-building, isolationism, so bizarre, backwards, and severe…it has left both not just paralyzed, by literally something like imbeciles happily grinning and “debating” how best to climactically…commit socioeconomic suicide, to destroy the progress, stability, peace, and prosperity of our very own societies?

--snip--

How did we get here? The answer to that’s pretty easy. So easy, in fact, that people like me, which is to say, the tiny handful of good political economists we have left, predicted it. That’s not tooting my own horn. It’s just a simple fact. One of the few truly robust findings in economics is that right-wing swings follow financial crises — through the mechanism of depression — and from that, coupled with Anglo’s reliable hubris and exceptionalism…you could, should, have seen the thunderbolts of collapse flashing warnings.

--snip--

What happens after a great financial crisis? Banks and hedge funds get bailed out. Middle classes and working classes don’t. Their living standards begin to stagnate. Confusion gives way to rage. People turn on their neighbours, colleagues, friends — after all, a hungry man will do anything to feed his child. The target of this atmosphere of cruelty, anger, and despair soon enough becomes the most powerless in a society — the others, the foreigners, the weak. And then it becomes neighbouring nations. Bang! The spark of extremist nationalism is lit.

All these groups of people — others, in short — are blamed for a country’s problems of fresh poverty, of stagnation, of lives going nowhere, of depression. But none of them are to blame at all. The blame lies with a lack of investment, at the precise moment it is needed most — because, if you understand all the above, that is what prevents the fatal maladies of nationalism and extremism from taking root and metastasizing.

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[marylandblue]

1. Well that's depressing, but I'd like to add some hope.

The US and all of Europe faced the same Depression prior to World War II. The all struggled with the same economic and social forces. There were fascist movements in all of them. Some chose fascism and some didn't. It's not too late to turn this ship around.

[MBS]

10. + 1 million.

Really important point. Thanks!

[Mr. Evil]

14. It does seem now that we are at the precipice.

We are at a point, not only for the existence of our country or, for the existence of Great Britain but, for humanity. The time has come for us to finally decide just what kind of society we want to live in. We all know now we're all here. We all know where everyone lives. Try Google Earth sometime. It's fun and it proves that fact. There are concerted efforts to tribalize every country, every state and every county or whatever municipalities that other countries have. Instead of taking what we're told we can have, we need to take over.

One glaring example of how humanity (not to mention individual countries) is being shit on is the ever-present coverage of Jeff Bezos personal scandal. We're supposed to feel sympathy for him because he was taken advantage of most likely for nefarious reasons (personal gain, notoriety, extortion and extra leverage) because he's the richest person on the planet. Jeff Bezos is an idiot. He has all this money and he didn't vet his wonderful new girlfriend and her family? So, by being the world's richest man all we've really gotten in return is a 10,000 year clock in a mountain (Google it) and penis pics. This is but one example as to why we don't need people like him or billionaires in general. They serve absolutely no rational purpose. Mega-rich and Super-rich people do not have our best interests at heart. They want for nothing. They long for nothing. They hunger for nothing, but control. Because, simply, they have nothing left to buy that excites them. A new car? Nah, they bought 5 last week. A new giant TV to watch the big game on? Nope, they bought 10 of those in the last month. The only thing left are politicians. And control.

We're being split into multiple little factions. The white nationalists, the evangelical christians (they're not christians, by any stretch), the conservatives, the liberals, the progressives, the socialists, the communists (yup, even them), the independents, etc. This has to stop! I could go way more in depth about why but, all of you already know it has to stop. We need to change the way we live on this planet or we won't. It's that simple.

[ravencalling]

16. Great post!

I agree with your assessment on billionaires. They become neurotic because they have no personal challenge anymore that does anything for them emotionally. This is by definition sociopath. It seems that it is really not good for one's mental health to be wealthy. You could be in tip top shape otherwise of course with all of your physical needs met but you are absolutely right - when material possession loses its luster then it is all about gaining control and rising through the ranks competing against others. But wealth does not instill wisdom and character. A wealthy child can be born mediocre just like we all can be and the wealthy suffer as much over the fact that their pooch "precious" doesn't have warm 50K dollar booties in the winter as lets say someone who had to choose between life saving medicine and the rent. We say they don't suffer the same, but they do emotionally over the most dumb inconsequential things because their world is not based on what a human being needs to evolve. Character and compassion can be built by overcoming difficult odds. Difficult odds are hard to come by for billionaires.

[Mr. Evil]

17. "Character and compassion can be built by overcoming difficult odds."

"Difficult odds are hard to come by for billionaires."

That pretty much sums it up. I couldn't have said it better.

[Sherman A1]

2. I would add in the contribution of

Cable Noise Infotainment Media that kinda looks like journalism but is meant to keep emotions and division stirred up so that you continue watching their content wedged in between ads for drugs we never knew we needed.

[japple]

5. Drugs and consumer goods that we don't need. It is capitalism in overdrive and has been

for so long. Now the internet is infested and we won't ever get rid of it. I can't even answer my phone these days.

[defacto7]

12. Hammer hits nail on the head with that one! I agree totally.

[northoftheborder]

3. Murdoch had a lot to do with it----

---with his right wing news and papers----here and Britain

[Mr.Bill]

8. Good point.

Another thing the two countries have in common.

[Pepsidog]

4. After Trump let's hope for a wave of permanent progressive reforms.

[cstanleytech]

7. That is unlikely to happen as long as the Repugnants have the majority in the Senate however

if we gain even more in the House then our people in the House can maybe use the power of purse to influence the Repugnants.
Especially if they do things like massive cuts in spending on things in deep red states.

[cstanleytech]

6. I would say its a race between us and the British on which one is the greatest idiot.

[Lock individual1 up]

9. Multimillionaires spreading divisive lies and encourage hate daily.

On their radio wave$, in their think-tank$ paper$ & faux-snooze cable$.

Because, well, they never have enough wealth.

[c-rational]

11. Agreed and well put. Wall Street got bailed out not Main street. When Obama proposed his

economic stimulus package, many reThugs did go along. Governor Christie torpedoed the proposed tunnel under the Hudson. I suggest a six trillion dollar infrastructure package funded by a tax on all stock trades and banks over one decade. About time the numbskulls in charge paid something back. It would in all probability benefit them in the long run.

[KayF]

13. second article I've read today referencing the financial crisis

and I'd been thinking lately about how such a great calamity has not seemed to have played a big role in our elections. Just thinking about the impact it had on my life, it was huge, and changed my mentality in a huge way. How could it not cause a huge political change? Maybe it did and we're just not realizing it.

[ProfessorPlum]

15. Russia putting its thumbs on our (UK and US) biggest weakness: racism