Shrinking Islands Of Prosperity

I wrote the following article a fortnight ago and, as I do sometimes, I sat on it to ponder whether I might just be going ‘too’ far and that I might be seen as ‘extreme’ … and then news of this breaks on 6 December Australian time …

Brian Thompson’s killing sparks outrage over state of US healthcare

In the aftermath of the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, while Thompson’s colleagues grieve and politicians decry his murder, some online discussion has shown little sympathy for Thompson or the industry he represented.

Instead, social media has been in engulfed in expressions of anger at many Americans’ dire experiences at the hands of health insurance companies and outrage at the large profits that they generate.

My article drafted 26 November follows …

Already in America there are people deeply afraid of political persecution in ‘Trump 2 (infinity)’ which Trump asserted throughout his campaign would occur. These are not aggressive people but activists for a more compassionate and fairer America and American leadership of the ‘free’ world. 

These apostrophes deliberately point at all of the things that we took for granted about our ‘liberal’ ‘capitalistic’ ‘democracies’ and which have unraveled.

The continual demonisation of ‘wokes’ for daring to aspire to a more sustainable humanity through inclusion, equity, and above all else compassion, has led to them (us) being enemy number 1 to the ultraconservative Trumpist mob.

Two points.

1) what happens in America flows here to Australia quickly, and the – increasingly ultra – conservative elements in Australia are keen to make opportunistic use of the political division and tumult their American ideologues have sewn; and

2) in history there have been periods, sometimes long periods, where human beings have had their commonly accepted rights and freedoms oppressed, but no regime lasts forever, and the violence of that repression is often visited upon the oppressors when that regime changes even when the oppressed are justice-seeking, fair-minded, compassionate people.

Change will be met with a mix of ‘turning the other cheek’ and ‘an eye for an eye’; in what proportion and exactly how justice is meted out at such moments is unpredictable and indeterminable in advance.

On thing is for certain – those who expressed their power and privilege most conspicuously in the oppressive regime attract most attention for retribution.

I am a pacifist and believe deeply in non-violence.

I also believe deeply in goodness and kindness at the core of the human condition. 

But this is not what Extreme capitalism preaches, and there are consequences to decades of telling people that it is both natural to be selfish and to return to a primitive caveman state when pushed because that narrative suits the Elites feeding at the table of over-abundance and gluttony while the majority of humanity are meant to be satisfied with struggling to gather what little trickles down to them.

Thus far the pervasive propaganda machine of the right has succeeded in convincing many of those who would benefit from social justice initiatives ending that trickle down system, especially related to health, DEI and broader ESG issues, to reject and protest against these initiatives.

However, there will come a day when even those vulnerable to believing in saviours will see that their ultraconservative emperors have been deceiving them.

I realise that it is a stretch to expect the small and extremely privileged group of Elites who benefited so greatly from this trickle down system to give up even a little of their privilege – after all the mere threat of it is what provoked them to begin culture wars  – and suddenly adopt altruistic behaviours, so I will use the ultimate self-interest argument.

It would pay all of you Extreme capitalists to ponder on where the polarisation that is being caused by inequality and popularism is leading us. If this period of Extreme capitalism ends not in a Great Reset as I have written, but by the Extreme capitalists pushing society even further to the extreme causing an even stronger snap back when that power derived from wealth is no longer sufficient to constrain it, who do you think the mob will go after?

Already things have been extreme enough in the US for the mob to go after politicians.

If the pendulum is pushed even further, regardless of whether Trump and his closest allies are seen as the ultimate swamp dwellers they are, wealthy Elites who have brought a lot of attention onto themselves through their conspicuous consumption and other expressions of their privilege may come to regret their greed-filled actions.

Globally there is a shrinking of ‘islands of prosperity’, due to inequality and the climate crisis, which to be secured must be guarded more and more forcefully by the global ‘haves’ from the ‘have nots’. The ongoing issues in the Suez canal is just one example.

The same will happen within those generally prosperous islands as inequality continues to grow. 

I explained all of this in simple terms in my earliest writing at MacroEdgo including in “Investment Theme: Defense and Military Spending” and “The Conundrum Humanity Faces: But nobody admits“, and it has been restated throughout much of my writing, most recently in “Reset: Chapter 5“.

Sure, the privileged Extreme capitalists will have the wealth to pay for protective security which will work… for a while … 

But even then their privilege really must be blinding them if they believe it is a worthwhile life they are leading on shrinking islands of prosperity as the throng ‘outside’ grow in number and desperation …

Addendum: Below is the Dall.E image that I generated on 26 November for this post – I’m glad I went with the shrinking islands of prosperity prompt … I hate conflict and gun violence, especially, and this does jar my PTSD … but if we are clear on where this is all heading there is a chance we will not repeat our mistakes … the solution, of course, is connection and compassion, not domination and inequality …

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© Copyright Brett Edgerton 2024