Wealth Inequality Is Not A Problem, It’s A Symptom
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NPC Dedication, George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, VA Nov 1 1923 A comment on an article that comments on a book. I don’t think either pr
[See the full post at: Wealth Inequality Is Not A Problem, It’s A Symptom]Ilargi, you’ve hit all the points clearly.
Having strongly and constantly held “we” to full account for the government/world we’re now inheriting, I was particularly happy to see you address the “we factor”.
And here we are; powerless.
Some can take action, but I see that on an individual basis, not en masse. For a while yet we still have our personal freedoms (travel); but they’re fast being taken away.
The denial among us humans is strong, especially in the U.S., IMO. That combined with a perverse form of corruption; it’s unlikely, IMO, we’ll ever get our lives back.After reading zinn’s “People’sHistory of America” I must say your basic concept here is incorrect. There is no “we”. The wealthy invented the constitution, the usa,etc. as an instrument of control and have been using it ever since, keeping one step ahead of the naivemasses who believed the propaganda. For comparison, one hears from atheist anthropologists that ruling elites in earlier times used religion, priests to subdue and decieve the people into becoming docile and submissive servants, i.e. caste systems, middle ages manorial system,etc. The bill of rights, declaration of independence, supposed free electionsbetween two related elitists is just a control game, as in matrix film. We were never and cannot become free. Protest will be absorbed into acceptable channels. Such a system is, as you say self perpetuating, expanding, like a cancer cell, killing the host in terrible agony. “We” are the host. Whether “they”, TPTB,(a very old phrase), will survive, die, or be replaced by a few of us who , like the pigs in ” Animal Farm” took over the farm. In essence tthere is no hope and falsely believing that one is an active player in the game leaves one at a distinct disadvantage.
It’s best to remember that today’s wealth inequality is strongly skewed by the inflation of financial assets. So this ‘wealth’ deserves ironic quote marks. The inflation of financial assets has been the ever more explicit goal of the US government which is perfectly understandable as the dance between power and wealth plays out. It has played out to the point of an almost perfect virtuous circle. A self reinforcing dynamic where every increase in power and wealth begets another increase in gross financial assets and their prices.
Still it is best to remember much of the ‘wealth’ is illusory, a high abstraction.
There is an old cave in Northern Spain that dates back as much as 20,000 years ago, decorated by people from time to time as they felt the need. A copy of this cave has been erected in fine fidelity to the original so that the greater public can partake of experiencing the cave without endangering the original. Attached to this exhibition is a museum elaborating upon some of the contemporaneous artifacts found that still exist, mostly of bone and stone. At that early date, economic man can be discerned, incompletely; furthermore, social organization can be implied – must be implied for such organization to operate. Not much has changed since, that is the way the world still operates; why get rid of something that works, has worked? About the only thing that has changed from those times is that those of the group have lost the run of themselves; have chosen the flickering flame of belief as opposed to the steady clear light of fact; have learned myth instead of the minutiae of their history, have succumbed to temptations of passively living rather than ceaselessly striving for excellence, for those, there is no future past their present delusions and distortions – cry not for such heathen of the herd, some will surely survive.
When, in the future, the ideological fantasy that passes as economics of this era is studied to understand the driving causes leading to failure, one of the central causes will have been the failure of language itself to provide necessary communication to maintain a desired level of complexity. The record will also show that communication had become restricted to those acolytes proving themselves ‘true’ by their willing ability to accept contradiction without question, being devout believers of their catholic orthodoxy (look at the political leadership of the EU and the politicians of the countries comprising, say it isn’t so, the reactionary status quo doesn’t do self-correction).
The Augean stables of edifice economics will require the labours of multiple Hercules to rid the shite that now passes as economics. Language does have the ability to remove the detritus the abuse of language leaves behind. It will be for those of the future to decide how this will come to pass, if at all, and define their language to meet their needs. Power cannot be bad nor wealth evil, if the species is to survive – they are how survival is accomplished.
@Galacticsurfer,
When you are trapped in a dream, no way out, all channels closed, doom crashing down upon you, you awaken, and it is as if it never happened.
That’s the freedom, the freedom from total belief in this context.
Within this context, what you say is certainly right.
I seek that freedom, but I still work each day and do all that I can, and am helping 2 (youngish) relatives with strokes in hospitals this weekend.
One will come home tomorrow.
One might “go-home” tomorrow.
Each has been able to experience some peace today.
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