It's not a stretch at all, John. Capitalism is the reason for all the ills you describe so well. Thanks as always for your perspective -- worth waiting for, for sure.
Thanks John. Your analysis is right on and humorous to boot! Sad, sad that our news last night was that trump won the freaking caucus. Good news is it’s only 19% of the voters. Mostly irrational evangelicals.
Hi John, thanks for always making my day with your articles. Your way of writing is so full of humour and full of B52 truth bombs.
Even though I’m not an American (I’m from The Netherlands) and the scale on which the US is dealing with this type of reality is mind-boggling, it is certainly bleeding through in Europe and individual countries there as well. Social security, housing, health care, public transportation, it’s all under immense pressure and it’s getting less and less accessible by more and more people, while corporations are raking in records profits.
There has been a lot of talk in The Netherlands about taxing millionaires and big corporations (like my fellow countryman Rutger Bregman told the WEF in Davos back in 2019: “Taxes, taxes, taxes. The rest is bullshit.”), but of course nothing has changed. Talk is cheap, motherfucker. Hell, we, as The Netherlands, are a big trading nation of course, so we decided to deliver a staff-sergeant to coordinate the initial bombings last week on Yemen and in particular, the Houthi’s. All for the almighty Dollar and the fucking bottom-line of multi-billion companies and their shareholders. Perhaps a new generation can stop this, because the current one certainly isn’t able to.
The shareholder capitalism thing does indeed go back to the 1600s, and yes, the Empire is naked, and public provisions are no longer a source of decency or pride. The emperors have plundered the nation and care little for ordinary people unless they can scam them and fearmonger them. If the US Gov can support ethnic cleansing and invasion around the world, its apathy is brutal. Plus, the MIC is built into the politics, no anti-militarist candidate is "allowed" to win (even if they were to catapult as an Independent, the electoral college would stop them) and the people and the land are being bled dry by an oligarchical class of top brass. With about 1000 US military bases around the world, this is a massive monster of a situation.
It could end at any moment with a solar storm like the Carrington event which shut down the entire US telegraph system in the 1800s, or a Miyake event of a much greater proportion, which would crash the global grid and satellites (and supply chains) for at least four months. Though it'd be horrible for most industrial humans, the natural world and Indigenous peoples would immediately be better off.
I was just explaining this to someone last week, only my example was Coleman coolers, camp stoves and lanterns.
You can still get the incredible Coleman steel sided coolers as long as you can afford a huge price.
Alternatively, you can get a plastic cooler with the Coleman name and the same quality as the Ozark Trail cooler sitting next to it for half of the price.
Did anyone notice that the buckle on the seatbelt in the "safety" video is one that I last saw used in cars in a 1974 Mercedes? Airliners have not been regulated as strongly as the American Auto Industry in this area (let alone NASCAR.)
I understand not having shoulder straps; in the event of a crash, someone wanted to give you the opportunity to protect your dental structure from flaming aviation fuel and the material that gets used in cabin interiors. That could give your actual family the opportunity to be the ones who bury you.
It's not a stretch at all, John. Capitalism is the reason for all the ills you describe so well. Thanks as always for your perspective -- worth waiting for, for sure.
Thanks John. Your analysis is right on and humorous to boot! Sad, sad that our news last night was that trump won the freaking caucus. Good news is it’s only 19% of the voters. Mostly irrational evangelicals.
Oakland to LA? Madone!
Hi John, thanks for always making my day with your articles. Your way of writing is so full of humour and full of B52 truth bombs.
Even though I’m not an American (I’m from The Netherlands) and the scale on which the US is dealing with this type of reality is mind-boggling, it is certainly bleeding through in Europe and individual countries there as well. Social security, housing, health care, public transportation, it’s all under immense pressure and it’s getting less and less accessible by more and more people, while corporations are raking in records profits.
There has been a lot of talk in The Netherlands about taxing millionaires and big corporations (like my fellow countryman Rutger Bregman told the WEF in Davos back in 2019: “Taxes, taxes, taxes. The rest is bullshit.”), but of course nothing has changed. Talk is cheap, motherfucker. Hell, we, as The Netherlands, are a big trading nation of course, so we decided to deliver a staff-sergeant to coordinate the initial bombings last week on Yemen and in particular, the Houthi’s. All for the almighty Dollar and the fucking bottom-line of multi-billion companies and their shareholders. Perhaps a new generation can stop this, because the current one certainly isn’t able to.
Many thanks John - your sense-making is a balm.
The shareholder capitalism thing does indeed go back to the 1600s, and yes, the Empire is naked, and public provisions are no longer a source of decency or pride. The emperors have plundered the nation and care little for ordinary people unless they can scam them and fearmonger them. If the US Gov can support ethnic cleansing and invasion around the world, its apathy is brutal. Plus, the MIC is built into the politics, no anti-militarist candidate is "allowed" to win (even if they were to catapult as an Independent, the electoral college would stop them) and the people and the land are being bled dry by an oligarchical class of top brass. With about 1000 US military bases around the world, this is a massive monster of a situation.
It could end at any moment with a solar storm like the Carrington event which shut down the entire US telegraph system in the 1800s, or a Miyake event of a much greater proportion, which would crash the global grid and satellites (and supply chains) for at least four months. Though it'd be horrible for most industrial humans, the natural world and Indigenous peoples would immediately be better off.
I was just explaining this to someone last week, only my example was Coleman coolers, camp stoves and lanterns.
You can still get the incredible Coleman steel sided coolers as long as you can afford a huge price.
Alternatively, you can get a plastic cooler with the Coleman name and the same quality as the Ozark Trail cooler sitting next to it for half of the price.
Did anyone notice that the buckle on the seatbelt in the "safety" video is one that I last saw used in cars in a 1974 Mercedes? Airliners have not been regulated as strongly as the American Auto Industry in this area (let alone NASCAR.)
I understand not having shoulder straps; in the event of a crash, someone wanted to give you the opportunity to protect your dental structure from flaming aviation fuel and the material that gets used in cabin interiors. That could give your actual family the opportunity to be the ones who bury you.