"Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of years, or you are a member of the Inner Party of the Professional and Managerial Caste (PMC), you will be familiar with the atmosphere of doom and gloom that increasingly permeates the lives of ordinary people these days. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before: a sour…
"Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of years, or you are a member of the Inner Party of the Professional and Managerial Caste (PMC), you will be familiar with the atmosphere of doom and gloom that increasingly permeates the lives of ordinary people these days. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before: a sour, disillusioned, almost nihilistic attitude, that extends well beyond anger with our broken political class. In my observation, in several countries, people have mostly just given up. They are beyond anger, and most of all beyond hope. There is no belief in even the possibility of a turn for the better, and a pervasive sense that we are near the end, and that things are falling apart now quite quickly. As I’ve suggested on a number of occasions, this decline goes beyond just government, to encompass the private sector, the media, education, and just about anything else that requires a bit of organisation and a dash of competence. So as somebody put it to me this week: “everything is shit and nothing works.”
My preferred historical analogy would be the late period Soviet Union. The security services still had fearsome power of repression, the state organs still spouted the old slogans and people went along to the extent that they had to, but nobody actually believed the pablum they parroted anymore, and certainly not the people on top.
For their part, the people at the top were busy settling old scores, making unlikely alliances, carving up territories and spheres of influence, and mostly looting anything not nailed down.
And of course, the basic kitchen table economic situation for the average frustrated Soviet citizen continued to deteriorate.
The 2006 piece “Closing the collapse gap” by Dmitry Orlov is a superb analysis of the similarities and differences (the latter not being to the advantage of the US).
"Only about 20% of all Americans say they believe their finances are getting better now. But among the Elite, that number more than triples to 74% who say they are better off. And among the Ivy League school graduates, 88% say they are better off. This may explain why the media, academics, and high-income Americans tend to rate the economy as good while most Americans say the economy is bad. "
"Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of years, or you are a member of the Inner Party of the Professional and Managerial Caste (PMC), you will be familiar with the atmosphere of doom and gloom that increasingly permeates the lives of ordinary people these days. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before: a sour, disillusioned, almost nihilistic attitude, that extends well beyond anger with our broken political class. In my observation, in several countries, people have mostly just given up. They are beyond anger, and most of all beyond hope. There is no belief in even the possibility of a turn for the better, and a pervasive sense that we are near the end, and that things are falling apart now quite quickly. As I’ve suggested on a number of occasions, this decline goes beyond just government, to encompass the private sector, the media, education, and just about anything else that requires a bit of organisation and a dash of competence. So as somebody put it to me this week: “everything is shit and nothing works.”
My preferred historical analogy would be the late period Soviet Union. The security services still had fearsome power of repression, the state organs still spouted the old slogans and people went along to the extent that they had to, but nobody actually believed the pablum they parroted anymore, and certainly not the people on top.
For their part, the people at the top were busy settling old scores, making unlikely alliances, carving up territories and spheres of influence, and mostly looting anything not nailed down.
And of course, the basic kitchen table economic situation for the average frustrated Soviet citizen continued to deteriorate.
The 2006 piece “Closing the collapse gap” by Dmitry Orlov is a superb analysis of the similarities and differences (the latter not being to the advantage of the US).
Orlov; I keep current with his recent work; will go read this as it looking inviting. Thank you❤️🐈⬛
How do you manage to get to it? I used to subscribe, and can't get the "card" companies to allow payment now.
I must check with my bestie 🩷🐈⬛ https://boosty.to/cluborlov?locale=en_US
He does something here, on boosty. All the best.
"Only about 20% of all Americans say they believe their finances are getting better now. But among the Elite, that number more than triples to 74% who say they are better off. And among the Ivy League school graduates, 88% say they are better off. This may explain why the media, academics, and high-income Americans tend to rate the economy as good while most Americans say the economy is bad. "
https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Them-vs-Us_CTUP-Rasmussen-Study-FINAL.pdf