By Thomas Neuburger
1. Poverty exists because we cannot satisfy the rich.
Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.
2. Crime is a social construct.
When we say “crime is a social construct,” what we mean is that you, as an individual, can go to jail for littering, but executives of a corporation can poison the air and water of an entire town, can profit from deaths they’re happy to cause themselves, and no one will lose so much as a year-end bonus.
3. Fascism is capitalism in decay.
Fascism is capitalism in decay, revealing its core function: maintaining the dominion of wealth through physical force. When consent can no longer be manufactured for capitalist crimes, repression takes over. Fascism is the system functioning as intended: forcing consent when consent is no longer given.
The Rich and the Rest
Ultimately, the rule of the rest of us depends on force. In gentler societies, the rich pacify the rest by surrendering enough so that no one comes for their heads. In these societies, there is still extraction and pain, but not so much that the victim is moved to rebel.
In societies like these, the rich are unhubristic; they possess what the Greeks call sophrosyne (σωφροσύνη) — soundness and prudence of mind, which hubris is not. Such a society was the U.S. in the 1950s. Yet while sometimes tamed, the rich don’t sit still for long; desire for great wealth is a poison that dissolves their humanity and produces hubristic monsters. Thus every state of extremes sees eventual collapse.
That’s where we are now, ruled by monstrous men using both political parties to work their will. From this there are only two outcomes, centrifugally opposed: the people rebel and the rich lock down control (think the Stasi and their DDR), or the people rebel and tumbrels start coming out (think Luigi Mangione).
Friedman on steroids; Ron with a howitzer. Unless the monsters stand down, we could well see a crash. If so, we won’t be the first. Whom the gods would destroy…
"Crime is a social construct" Well, yes, but not because enforcement is lax. Crime is a social construct in that it is the morality that the populous agree (through it's democratically elected representatives ) should be enforced by the state. Capitalism is a constant battle to keep the ingenuity of the capitalist working for the general good as it enriches the innovators. Eternal vigilance is the price of wealth, both individually and as a society. When the populous as a whole gets fat and happy enough, they tend to drop their guard. They forget their responsibility to do their share of the governing, and eventually lose the skill to separate truth from propaganda. Their ability to govern wisely atrophies.