Loki wrote:A big part of resentment is happening when folks refuse to re calibrate to a lower standard of living
You're completely ignoring the complex of public policies that have encouraged the crushing of what Greer calls the wage class, though I prefer the old-fashioned term working class. The economic decline/stagnation of the working class isn't a matter of hard resource limits (yet). It's largely a matter of public policy. Free trade agreements, mass immigration, the government response to the financial crisis, tax policy, disinvestment in public education, etc., etc., etc.
Public policy has been overwhelmingly geared towards helping those who already have the means to help themselves, with the result (whether intentional or incidental) of creating a bifurcated class structure, one with a steep upward trajectory, the other circling the drain. People notice these things.
I'm not arguing that all the problems in working-class America are solely the result of public policy. There are deeper cultural problems, mostly related to the dissolution of the family and of local community, but I would argue that public policy has played a central role in the economic woes that plague working-class Americans.
I came up with an analogy years ago that might be fitting here. When leaves turn red in the fall they do not actually turn red. What happens is that the chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down and the green disappears revealing the red pigment that was present all along.
This is what is happening in our economic system. The green (money) wealth is receding and revealing the red that was there all along. During the ascendancy of Americas growth and progress of the past 100 years you had exploitative government , greedy corporations and a financial elite. Manipulation and control and greed have always ruled. This is the red pigment that was always there. Few fought against and few had resentment to this because there was enough wealth in the system (chlorophyll) to provide your average exploited consumer to still have a house and car and quite comfortable life style. Now that the green (wealth) is receding suddenly the elite, the government, the corporations, all the power structures are being revealed in their true colors. Everyone is now resentful of inequities, pissed off at Wall street, angry at corporations, banks wallstreet etc. Isn't it always the case that the red pigment, the power structure, always present, becomes exposed in the autumn before the winter of any civilization?
I have news for all of you that somehow imagine that chaos and breaking down the house of cards will somehow rid our system of these evil parasites, the elite we rally against, the big mad corporations. etc. They are not going to go away. During the entire history of human civilization humans organize themselves around a controlling hierarchy of self serving government, rich merchants and up until recently religious institutions that control.
For many many decades Americans left these controlling entities largely alone because the system was flush with green chlorophyll. Now that it is receding the red color is revealed. The selfish and greed of power, governments and corporations and all the rest.
We will witness this century a chaos, look back to the French Revolution when chaos ruled once the heads of aristocracy fell into the baskets below the guillotine.
But will anything really change? No. And this time around I am going to guess that besides some turbulence and social outcry we really wont see the heads rolling. A few scapegoats will be displayed on the alter of justice but our global system is just too complex and interwoven and the powers to be are not going to break down allowing chaos to rule. This is a narrative that many of us wish for but I don't see it happening.
When I say that Americans will need to learn to re calibrate I mean just that. No amount of screaming over political incompetence or social injustice or rich elites or wall street bankers or evil corporations are going to result in wealth being re distributed to members of the declining middle class. No, sorry folks this is not how it will play out. What will happen is that eventually our population will re calibrate to a lower standard of living. That is just how it is going to be. You can start today already focusing on the required frugality, getting by with less, escaping the golden cage of high mortgage, new car loans and all the rest. Start packing it in living with other family members.
The truth in the end of the day is that there is still plenty of chlorophyll around for Americans to enjoy compared to their fellow global citizens.
There are limits. In times of constraints the greatest liability in our modern civilization are a high consuming middle class.
THe greatest negative environmental impact on the planet today are the hgh consuming middle class. They are the most vulnerable sector of our society. The very wealthy and those in control will not be affected.
Think about something. I will compare two American families
The first is a blue collar worker from the rust belt who lost his job and has become a meth addict and will rot in the corner of his delapitdated home while his kids are eating mac and cheese for the next 10 years. .
The second is a silicon valley exec who flies his well educated family to Panama to visit Mount Totumas in order to watch birds and see howler monkeys
Which of these two American families has the greater impact on the planets dwindling resources?
Which sector of our global society will experience the greatest contraction in the decades ahead?. It will be further declines of the middle class, the largest consuming sector of society.
Most Americans need to learn to re calibrate. Refusing to do so will put such constraints on the little freedom remaining that you risk the fate of the meth addict.
These are truthful words but not inspiring.
The proof will be in the pudding.... Let's assume that Donald Trump does win. All of this populism and harnessed rage of disenfranchised Americans.......what happens afterwards when the promised prosperity fails to return? When all those enraged Americans feel shafted by Donald's Art of the Deal?
And here's where I have to resort to a logical fallacy, ad hominem. You preach, but you don't practice. It's easy for someone in your position to say other people should reduce their expectations and get used to being poor. But ain't no one gonna listen when you don't seem to believe it yourself.
I don't preach. And I dont care if anyone listens or not. I am only stating whats going down here. I withdrew and went chameleon 10 years ago when I sold my business. I am in an insignificant corner of the globe in a country that is not really on the radar. It is my choice with the resources I have to have removed myself from the American landscape. It offers me a perspective standing outside looking in.
And yes I can afford to perch a bit above the fray and watch. I could have decided to buy a bigger house, a bigger car, I could have gotten myself deep into debt chasing the American dream. I didn't, I withdrew and took with me a little bag of gold. Those were conscious choices I made. And I also know I am not above the fray. As Sea Gypsy mentioned my little house of cards after all depends on those silicon valley execs wanting to provide their children with educational travel.
Quite a pickle I find myself in, living off the dwindling discretionary excesses of a doomed middle class. My perch is pretty wobbly.
Patiently awaiting the pathogens. Our resiliency resembles an invasive weed. We are the Kudzu Ape
blog: http://blog.mounttotumas.com/
website: http://www.mounttotumas.com