Summary: Why does Campaign 2020 generate sparks – infotainment! – but so little vision? America faces serious threats. Too bad most are ignored by the candidates. We can change this – if we try.
“We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.”
— Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech to Congress on 9 September 2009.
About our strange elections
“A country’s thinking lies in ruins before the land is ruined.”
— By Franklin Nathaniel Daniel Buchman in his “War of Ideas” speech on 15 August 1945.
The Democratic Party’s presidential debates discuss issues that excite the Left and offer the potential for them to gain power over America. A generation from now, I suspect that Americans will wonder why the 2020 campaign ignored the big issues facing America.
(1) We are the big cause of America’s problems.
We are a nation of three hundred million, collectively the richest in the world. Largely well-educated, with an adaptive and entrepreneurial society residing in a land richly blessed with natural resources. Our history is that of a skeptical and unruly people, fiercely protective of their liberties. There should be no obstacles to our governing America in peace and prosperity.
Unfortunately, something changed during the past generation or so, for mysterious and perhaps unknowable causes. We have become a weak and gullible people. People easily manipulated by propaganda, and easily led by our fears. We are a gift to our ruling elites, competent folk who see our weakness and exploit it. That’s the great circle of life.
We see our fears used by both Left and Right. As time passes some of these threats evaporate; new ones emerge to replace them. Only our fear remains constant. It is now turning into hatred, as has happened so often in history. Our elections are stages on which these irrational fears and hatreds duel, with low odds of outcomes that benefit America.
“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”
— Edmund Burke in A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful(1757).
(1757).(2) Climate Change.
“We don’t even plan for the past.”
— Steven Mosher (member of Berkeley Earth; bio here), a comment posted at Climate Etc.
The IPCC and the major climate agencies have warned about the potential for anthropogenic global warming to cause climate change effects ranging from small to large. But nothing like the doomster predictions of the activists of the Climate Emergency movement – let alone the Extinction Rebellion extremists. Both groups ignore the uncertainties: the uncertainties in our understanding of climate dynamics, in the models that make the predictions, in the future development of technology, and in the unknowable future public policy actions we take.
The guild-like behavior of climate scientists and climate extremists’ exaggeration and misrepresentation of climate science all make a rational public policy response almost impossible. The elections debates are a cacophony of nonsense.
It need not be like that. I recommend reading the important things to know about climate change, with recommendations that would have broad support. See all posts about climate change, and especially these.
- A look at the workings of Climate Propaganda Inc.
- A crisis of overconfidence in climate science.
- About the corruption of climate science.
- The noble corruption of climate science.
- Why we do nothing to prepare for climate change.
- Did the IPCC predict a climate apocalypse? No.
- Sad but important truths from an eminent climate scientist.
(3) The robot revolution.
The next wave of automation is already beginning. Every day we ignore it reduces our ability to prepare. We have been warned.
I am no fan of Jeremy Rifkin, but his 1995 book was a prescient attempt to grapple with the problem: The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era
The effects of automation were visible to some people long ago. One of the first was James Blish, as in this his A Life for the Stars
“The cab came floating down out of the sky at the intersection and maneuvered itself to rest at the curb next to them with a finicky precision. There was, of course, nobody in it; like everything else in the world requiring an I.Q. of less than 150, it was computer-controlled.
“The world-wide dominance of such machines, Chris’s father had often said, had been one of the chief contributors to the present and apparently permanent depression: the coming of semi-intelligent machines into business and technology had created a second Industrial Revolution, in which only the most highly creative human beings, and those most fitted at administration, found themselves with any skills to sell which were worth the world’s money to buy.”
Jeremy Rifkin is a Jeremiah of our time. But just as a stopped clock is right twice a day, he scores occasionally – as in The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era
“The Information Age has arrived. In the years ahead, new, more sophisticated software technologies are going to bring civilization ever closer to a near-workerless world. In the agricultural, manufacturing, and service sectors, machines are quickly replacing human labor and promise an economy of near automated production by the mid-decades of the twenty-first century.
“The wholesale substitution of machines for workers is going to force every nation to rethink the role of human beings in the social process. Redefining opportunities and responsibilities for millions of people in a society absent of mass formal employment is likely to be the single most pressing social issue of the coming century. …
“We are entering a new phase in world history-one in which fewer and fewer workers will be needed to produce the goods and services for the global population. The End of Work examines the technological innovations and market-directed forces that are moving us to the edge of a near workerless world. We will explore the promises and perils of the Third Industrial Revolution and begin to address the complex problems that will accompany the transition into a post-market era. …
“In the past, when new technologies have replaced workers in a given sector, new sectors have always emerged to absorb the displaced laborers. Today, all three of the traditional sectors of the economy agriculture, manufacturing, and service – are experiencing technological displacement, forcing millions onto the unemployment rolls.
“The only new sector emerging is the knowledge sector, made up of a small elite of entrepreneurs, scientists, technicians, computer programmers, professionals, educators, and consultants. While this sector is growing, it is not expected to absorb more than a fraction of the hundreds of millions who will be eliminated in the next several decades in the wake of revolutionary advances in the information and communication sciences….
“The restructuring of production practices and the permanent replacement of machines for human laborers has begun to take a tragic toll on the lives of millions of workers.”
To see the rest of this history, read 50 years of warnings about the new industrial revolution. It’s here. Ignore the naysayers. See all posts about it here.
(4) Demographics: the age wave.
The coming crash of US consumer spending as Boomers retire with high levels of debt, low savings, and small pension incomes. Experts have warned about this for decades, yet it will catch us by surprise. Eventually, we’ll confront the consequences, after so many warnings, of underfunded pension plans. Both public plans (see articles by Bloomberg and by CNBC and private plans (see this by Fitch). Our time to prepare is rapidly running out.
(5) The Debt Supercycle.
The dynamics of what Hamilton Bolton and Tony Boeckh of Bank Credit Analyst so long ago christened The Debt Supercycle is probably now entering its final stage. See the posts about it here.
It’s not just the burden of servicing the debt, and the eventual drag of repayment. An additional problem is the decreasing marginal elasticity of GDP with respect to debt, first identified in the mid-1980s by Maria Fiorini Ramirez (then an economist at Drexel). How much does GDP rise from an injection of another dollar of debt? This, the marginal impact of debt, has been dropping since WW2. The post-WW2 era will have ended when it reaches zero – which it might already have. We will learn more about this in the next recession.
(6) The new world of work
The structure of the employment market has changed as the corporations perfect a combination of operational methods and technology to reduce wages and prevent unionization. The new model is an outsourced, part-time, contingent, no-benefits workforce that spreads through the US economy. The gig economy is part of this. It is one of the large drivers of increasing economic inequality. See all posts about our high inequality and low social mobility, and especially these …
- For Thanksgiving, Walmart shows us the New America.
- Nike swooshs us into a future of fewer jobs, low pay.
(7) The results of a low-investment nation.
After thirty years of slowing rates of investment by both the public and private sectors, we have a decaying public infrastructure and slow-growth economy. See all posts about economic growth, and especially these.
- Why America’s growth is slowing, and a solution.
- Portraits of a nation in decline. An unnecessary and easily fixed decline..
- Four graphs showing a nation in decline. An unnecessary and easily fixed decline..
- Watch corporations strip-mine their future (and ours).
Special attention should be paid to the new Triangle Trade: Options to Stocks to Buybacks, funneling much of US corporations resources (not just free cash flow, but also borrowing) to senior executives (for many corporations, large and long-term stock buyback programs are offset by options issued to executives, so outstanding shares do not drop.
(8) There will be war.
Since Mao brought 4th generation warfare to maturity in 1950, it’s been the dominant form of war. Insurgents have an almost perfect record of defeating foreign troops – foreign troops by all kinds of nations. Until a defense is found, 4GW will continue to reshape the world. Neither of our big political parties has any interest in even thinking about these matters. See all posts about 4GW, especially these …
- Darwin explains the futility of killing insurgents. It makes them more effective.
- Why the West loses so many wars, and how we can learn to win.
These and other threats put America at risk.
“National decay starts at the heart, and spreads like cancer.”
— Me.
We face so many serious threats. Yet our political campaigns revolve around minor or even imaginary threats – or proposals to take money from one group and give it to others. This posts describes only a few of our threats, and not necessarily the most serious ones. That we have so many is a symptom of a deeper problem: the forces making our institutions dysfuncational, so they are toppling like a row of dominoes. We have to retake the reins of America and begin the necessary deep reforms to put America back on a path to a secure and prosperous future. This election is an opportunity to take the first step.
See part two: How a candidate can win in 2020 with solutions for America.
For More Information
Ideas! For shopping ideas, see my recommended books and films at Amazon.
If you found this post of use, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about populism, about Republicans and Democrats, about the Left and the Right, about ways to reform America politics, and especially these…
- 2016 revealed the true nature of America’s left & right. It’s bad news.
- Left and Right use race as a way to divide America.
- Visions of America if the Left wins.
- The Left crushes the Right. The counter-revolution will be ugly – Final victory is rare. There is often a second act.
- The Left crushes the alt-Right, but Darwin might bring them to power.
- The Democrats show us the politics of ClownWorld.
- Trump promised to rebuild America but did nothing – To the GOP, the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many.
- Campaign 2020 shows who will mold America’s future.
- Two levers to bring the Democrats victory in 2020.
- Stoking hatred in America for political gain.
Books explaining what happened to America
I have not found a good book explaining what happened to the Left, causing its hatred of America. These are the best I have found.
Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
This is the quote I remember vividly watching “The Big Short”. Ever since that movie, i’ve been wanting to make money. Real estate to stock market, but i’m just not savvy enough to break thru.
So i’ll look into clean energy, see if there’s money to be made there after your past 2 blogs, and water, that character Bale (Batman) played is into water. Israel’s the masters of water. so i’m studying Israel too.
But all these scary things, are in fact opportunities, no? Same with climate change scare you’ve blogged about.
Let’s make bank!
LCpl.
A word of free advice (guaranteed to be worth what you pay for) from someone with 30 years in the investment biz: big money is made by investing in tomorrow’s headlines, OK money is made by smart investing in today’s headlines, money is lost investing in yesterday’s headlines.
“Clean energy” was an old investment theme a decade ago. There will be new kinds of clean energy, now in the labs (eg, perhaps fusion). But they’re not yet investible for the average person, unless you have expert advice.
thanks, man. I get that if it’s in the news already you’re too late, I watched “Wall Street Money never sleeps” and Showtime’s “Billions”. I believe Shia leBeouf’s character was pushing for fusion too, which Gecko screwed but then unscrewed when he became a good guy at the end.
You have a point about “clean energy” i’m in Socal and there’s already too much solar and wind, and electric this and that. Even natural gas I’m close to that huge gas leak awhile back.
Water is something interesting. If you can blog about water in general, I’m not asking for more free stuff, but just water as national security and investment, that would be cool.
As for real estate, i’ll for sure look into this pdf closer (“Emerging Trends”), but skimming thru it looks like Texas and Canada are it. Oregon’s also pretty much like California now. but I was looking into Port Angeles area of WA too, that looks untouched.
did you know Port Angeles is the only other federal created city aside from Washington DC? yup, mandated by Abe Lincoln himself.
I gotta admit, my resources for real estate is simply the Fixer Upper TV series about the Gaines, and news coverage of rapper Nipsey Hustle , basically urban/country real estate. flipping poor areas, which means getting a crew together, which my Gunny got together, but me I opted out because i just wasn’t a fan of West Texas that’s where they’re buying, but
the Gaines and Nipsey Hustle’s playbook was what my buddies currently buying property in W. Texas, for real cheap too.
I need to get more educated on this, rather than listening to my buddies’ advice for sure (which is good too, the Fixer Upper TV show single handedly fixed Waco,TX, same with Nipsey Hustle in South L.A.), so any other pdf or links you could post, is much obliged. Good stuff.
LCpl,
For fun, here is a typically brilliant Quote Investigator note about the origin of that quote. The film, like many others, falsely attributes it to Mark Twain.
LCpl-
Here’s an example of future headlines: “Emerging Trends in Real Estate® – United States and Canada 2019.“
Mike,
Thanks for posting that!
ECpl –
Enough about investing. Let’s get back on topic, about the subject of this post.
On topic now,
before getting out a real good Gunny of mine, told us to come see him after we EAS’ed also. which many of my buddies did, we were close. but I opted to go my own way. but i’ve kept in touch.
But pretty much your list was what he talked about, especially robots/AI, don’t go to work, unless it’s for the Feds or local PD, get that job security, civil service work. Go to college, but if you’re not the studying type, use that GI Bill for some trade experience, and then open your own business. you can work of others to get the feel, but
you have to use that GI loan to be your own boss.
Always figure out if robots/AI can do it, then you stay away from it. Plumbing, woodworking, blacksmithing, etc. robots/AI won’t do that, so get into it. while you work, get into real estate and investing too. All gems as far as advice go.
So just do stuff robots/AI can’t. doctoring and lawyering AI will be able to do. but work with your hands, not huge manufacturing, but skilled work, robots/AI won’t ever break into that. get into art and design was also what our Gunny said. Makes sense.
LCpl,
“don’t go to work, unless it’s for the Feds or local PD, get that job security, civil service work.”
I’ve heard other young people (in their 20s) say that. Given the instability of private sector jobs, the stability of civil service jobs is a big plus. Esp as they are close to private sector pay in terms of salary plus benefits. Even brief periods of unemployment drastically drop one’s lifetime pay – plus the massive added stress.
sorry, that should be *VA loan, home & business are supposed to be treated different, i’ve not avail of this yet.
LCpl-
Gunny gave you good advice. See also hack housing VA loan for an additional way.
There’s no reason for you to get a regular job. It’s much nicer doing it yourself.
Mike
Mike, thanks a lot , man! this is the first i’ve heard of house-hacking, but I’m familiar with the idea of renting out, garage or extra rooms, been wanting to actually do this but near a college town– as to ensure turnover,
though i’m very apprehensive when it comes to tenant-landlord stuff here in CA.
Maybe Tucson, Arizona Univ. (hotties!!!) , I used to hang out there when at Ft. Huachuca. haven’t gone back in awhile.
On topic again,
“Until a defense is found, 4GW will continue to reshape the world.”
This new run, hide & fight stuff they are training high school kids these days, is good. but Dave Chapelle made a good point about its weakness in his new Netflix special, basically
that the potential shooter is taking notes, where everyone is suppose to go or be at. he’s part of the student body!
So they need to focus on how to fight. I understand that you wanna save as many lives as possible hence the focus on running and hiding, but if you wanna deter, really deter send it out there to every potential nut and/or terrorist, you should be stressing, something like Clint Eastwood’s 15:17 to Paris.
Engage!
train people to head straight for the gunman(men). Whether it’s lone crazy, or Hizbullah stuff, if they see that Americans are crazier, like bum-rushing attackers consistently, they’ll re-evaluate their 4GW stuff.
I’m talking about World War Z stuff, where everyone just runs towards the sound of gunfire, to subdue the attacker(s).
Also,
i don’t know if you guys are familiar with the Borderline Bar shooting over at Ventura, Thousand Oaks, CA. but local law enforcement weren’t on the same page , you had a guy that was SWAT trained (the Ventura sheriff deputy) and then a CHP officer who wasn’t as tactically savvy, most CHP aren’t.
So they go in together, CHP dude shoots the Ventura deputy!!! okay, that’s fine friendly fire happens, but to exit with the dude he just shot, is insane.
Once you go in, you’re committed, don’t go out until you’ve stop the threat!!! Prioritize stopping the threat, then render medical aid!
I really believe had that CHP officer not been there, and that Ventura deputy just gone in alone, i believe policy is 2 to go in now for active shooter by the way, that deputy would’ve been better off.
Change it to 1 to go in for active shootings. Train to stop the shooter(s), not to exit after having gone in. Once you go in, stay inside and take care of business.
But yeah, CHP needs to stop memorizing vehicle codes, and have more tactical sense. they usually don’t go into buildings, most of their tactics is vehicle related.
So again i’m advocating for all police tactics to allow for 1 officer to go in, just like the bum-rush idea. Instead of having to plan, immediate action drill all this prior already. Let individual officers engage, let the public engage. Everyone engage!!!
Bum-rush!
LcP,
None of that has the slightest relevance whatsoever to 4GW. Here is the original paper in the 1989 Marine Corps Gazette introducing the concept. Here are some posts about it.
Also, “active shooter” events are very rare in the US. That we’re so obsessed with them is another example of Americans’ comic book view of the world. Giving the general public training about how to handle them is nuts. Giving defensive driving tips would save a lot more lives.
Hey, Larry:
Maybe your understanding of 4GW is wider in scope, mine is more just on-the-ground stuff, I’m no PhD, wasn’t an officer either.
a couple of years back, some dude from Iran was flying a small plane around Socal area, eventually he crashed. people just treated it as regular small plane crashing, but turned out he was connected to Iran.
local LE noticed other funny stuff too, where Iranians are walking around malls and public areas in diamond formation. it’s a free country, so can’t really arrest anyone for walking in a diamond formation. And,
I get that most of the “active shooters” are rare events. low probability/high impact, right. and mostly it’s done by crazies.
But i’m connecting it to 4GW here precisely because that’s how they are gonna get us, it’s not gonna be like Red Dawn (both w/ Patrick Swayze, and the new one), it’s gonna be 1 to 4 folks lighting it up. multiply that however many times you want, that’s 4GW at the ground-level.
H. John Poole and Paul Van Riper back in Millenium Challege 2002 screwed up the whole wargame, precisely because he used 4GW, this is
4GW, Larry, at the ground-level, just 1-4 folks wreaking havoc, just multiplied by a lot.
Granted Iran in Yemen is also 4GW, but i’m just talking about 1-4 dudes here on American soil.
Running and hiding works to, it’ll save lives for sure; but if you want to deter the bad guys, focus on fighting. I understand, this idea won’t be popular, can you imagine telling this to your kids in high school, or middle school. Crazy!
Sure, we have the luxury now of not having to do this.
but since the blog topic was future worries, bum-rush for everyone is just as valid a solution for on-the-ground stuff. IMHO.
LcP,
I don’t know how you describe 4GW, but none of that is 4GW. I suggest you read the MCG article, and perhaps some of the posts at the link.
Nor do I see the slightest evidence – not the tiniest – that “that’s how they are gonna get us.” It seems like the equivalent of the Left’s fears of Climate Extinction. One of our big problems is that we focus on politically useful but low-probability (or imaginary) problems rather than actual ones.
“4GW, Larry, at the ground-level, just 1-4 folks wreaking havoc, just multiplied by a lot.”
No, it’s not.
“that’s how they are gonna get us”, is purely my take. no stats, no studies, just a gut feeling based on whats happened in Lebanon, Israel, S. Philippines, Algeria, etc.
I agree with you, it’s worst possible scenario thinking, better to address vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-pedestrian accidents, sure. But i’m simply addressing 4GW as postulated above ( over here on American soil, not out there). other ways Americans die, i dunno anything about.
The Boston marathon bombing , a bunch of really smart people predicted there was gonna be more of that, I’m still thinking there will be. Maybe they are just tired or re-grouping I don’t know. but it never happened at the scale it was predicted.
that doesn’t mean it’s not gonna happen. the ways and means are there.
You ever seen a cock fight? well, the US and Iran (and sure many other nations too against us, like N. Korea) are sizing each other up. if and when an actual all out war happens, the stuff i’ve described above will happen.
Whether or not our local LE and the Feds will be able to absorb it , that I don’t know. that’s another issue.
but I assure you that is 4GW, Larry.
I checked out the links you’ve provided, granted they are scenarios abroad, none i’m looking for still are about what happens if it happens over here, but here’s a good comment i found,
https://fabiusmaximus.com/2015/01/24/military-theory-4gw-long-war-77139/#comment-278136 (it says editor, so i’m assuming it’s your comment? )
“I agree, 4GW and insurgency are different things. 4GW is an intergrated basket of tactics — it’s an operational art like the other “generations of war”. It can be applied to achieve a variety of ends, from gaining wealth (crime) to politics.
Insurgency refers to both a means and a goal. As the DoD dictionary says: its the “organized use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify, or challenge political control of a region.” 4GW is one possible means of running an insurgency.”
That 1-4 dudes with bad intentions is part of your “integrated basket of tactics”, Larry, with the goal of destabilizing the state to destroying it. Now i don’t think they’ll succeed per se, but that 1-4 dudes tactics will be catastrophic psychologically and physically.
My argument is fight that particular tactic with my bum-rush tactic.
I can totally appreciate that my bum-rush tactic is unwise, sure it is. but it’s more life affirming than say running or worst yet, getting shot whilst in a cowering position. This is the only thing i wanted to remedy, I am totally unprepared for a what’s the definition of 4GW debate, Larry.
Too academic for me. beyond my pay grade. But i know it’s 4GW, without wanting to belabor the point.
In your section about automation, you do not mention Andrew Yang, yet his campaign gives quite a bit of attention to automation and its likely effects on the economy. Was there some particular reason you excluded him from the article? Do you think he is not a viable candidate?
Borkum,
(1) This post is a high-level look at the Democratic Party’s positions. It’s already too long. Considering those of individual candidates would push its length into “nobody reads it” length.
(2) At low single-digits, there is little evidence that Yang is a viable candidate.
(3) Polls are a far more reliable indicator of political potential (e.g., see here). Modern American history has countless examples of fund-raising giants who flamed out when voters had their say (e.g., John Connally 1980, Jeb Bush 2016).
(4) I don’t believe that Yang has useful things to say about automation. His statements about its effects so far are wrong. The Universal Basic Income as a solution is bizarre, although eventually it might (imo, probably) will have a role. He ignores much more effective responses. For example, it is insane to open the borders to millions of low-education low-skill people – as automation is about to destroy (again) many low-skill low-education jobs. An instant new underclass!
But Yang prefers technocratic experiments, like a mad scientist building a complex experimental machine to make the boat float – instead of first plugging the hole in its side.
Larry,
Thank you for the clarification. I have read a bit about him, and I was curious as to what you thought.
I am no sure it is likely that there are political solutions to many of the concerns you posed. My guess is they will have to be market solutions.
dprof,
Despite the Right’s fetishization of “markets”, problems like these almost always require non-market solutions.
@Larry Kummer
Adjusting incentives. I think whilst the market isn’t infallible it is an example of an incentive system.
How to get A to B in the most cost effective efficient way possible depending on the choice of the consumer.
How to minimize costs/externalities and to maximize effectiveness in whatever the incentives point to.
Like how natural selection shapes the organisms that it subjects the organism to.
Whilst also subject to the flaws and motivations of human nature.
I think sometimes its better to reduce complexity than to increase it for example.
Sometimes previous addition of complexity is feeding the problem that increasing complexity is required to solve and so forth.
For example let say a solution results in breaking peoples legs and to solve that crutches and splints are needed to fix the problem created by the previous “solution”.
And its better undo that previous solution so as not to require the splints and crutches.
FM, you’ve already commented on this before. I’m going to attempt to condense your earlier (frighteningly accurate) comments below with a few of my own observations thrown in.
What you are describing is the end of an evolutionary stage of our society (relatively stable, well-planned changes that are widely disseminated before being put into action) and the beginning of revolutionary change (examples of which from US history include the early stages of the Great Depression, the Civil War, and the end of Richard Nixon’s term as President).
Revolutionary change is usually sparked by a relatively small incident that clearly redefines the problem in ways that the overall society can no longer ignore. Sadly, revolutionary change rarely goes according to any sort of plan because the situation is mostly starts off outside of the ability of the society’s leaders ability to cope with it.
Another characteristic of revolutionary change is partial solutions get tried out without sufficient forethought which can do more damage than the problems they are trying to solve. As a result lots of people tend to get hurt either economically, socially, politically, or physically (hopefully as few as possible of the last). The problems tend to morph more quickly than anybody can predict when the partial solutions are applied because the partial solutions are just that: partial.
The end of revolutionary change occurs when somebody patches together a solution that meets most of society’s needs at an acceptable cost (correctly defining that last being the tricky part of living with the situation).
As you’ve probably guessed, I’m not happy about the possibility of revolutionary change hitting us but I don’t see a lot of options. As you’ve correctly noted in your article above, the leaders just aren’t seeing the problems that are beginning to pile up.
To make matters worse, for the second election cycle in a row, the best choice for both the Republican and Democratic would-be Presidential candidates is “None of the above.”
To expand on #1, a really stark indication that America’s own people are her biggest threat, is that so many on the left are willing to believe accusations from an anonymous CIA agent. Unironically. WTF?? Then again, the CIA didn’t sell crack in their neighborhoods. So trustworthy!
I am starting to think that we don’t deserve America any more.
Rando,
“I am starting to think that we don’t deserve America any more.”
That’s an interesting way to say it, perhaps more accurate than my “the 1% might be more fit to rule than us.”
“Special attention should be paid to the new Triangle Trade: Options to Stocks to Buybacks, funneling much of US corporations resources (not just free cash flow, but also borrowing) to senior executives (for many corporations, large and long-term stock buyback programs are offset by options issued to executives, so outstanding shares do not drop.”
What would be a good solution to this? Including Golden Parachutes?