It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
You’re not losing your mind, everybody else is. Things are crazy and getting crazier. Something must be done. Somebody, please do something.
If paying attention to global events overwhelms and results in a combined sense of dread, concern and bewilderment, you’re not alone. It’s not simply because humans have more access to more information than ever before that you feel this way, there does appear to be a quickening in the pace of the unfolding of humanity’s latest chapter. Things are genuinely falling apart, but things are always falling apart. Likewise, things are always being built and created. Governments come and governments go, as do global empires and monetary systems. Everything is dying and being born all at once, constantly and forever. This will not change.
That said, there are periods in history when the entire paradigm you’ve been accustomed to living under changes rather abruptly and for good. A change of this nature alters the entire game on a global basis and happens perhaps once in a lifetime. The last such shift happened during World War 2 and we’re living in the next one. How big of a change this will represent in the context of human history remains unknown, but we know it’s big. Really, really big.
The most significant challenge most of us face when confronted with such a moment is to remain focused and emotionally stable during the transition. This doesn’t suggest apathy, but it does mean staying grounded and not giving in to the constant news and pundit cycle of incensed outrage and anger about every single event that unfolds. After all, it’s important to recognize that almost everything you see in the news is a symptom of something far bigger happening in the background. Namely, that the global order most of the planet has known in the post-WW2 period is coming apart at the seams. If you don’t stay focused on the big picture, you’ll be easily and hopelessly manipulated without even knowing it.
The primary shift that’s occurring is the U.S. empire has lost its ability to dictate all terms to all countries at all times. This capacity to dictate has been enforced via a two-pronged approach for decades. The prongs are global military dominance and control of the financial system.
The first is threatened by the fact we’ve already entered a world in which it’s easier to frustrate global empire than it is to maintain it. We’ve seen this manifest in numerous places over the course of the 21st century. The war in Afghanistan is an ongoing failure despite it being the longest conflict in U.S. history, and the Iraq war (based on fake news) resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands and merely strengthened Iran’s position in the region. Meanwhile, U.S. regime change plans in Syria were thwarted despite the empire’s best efforts, and Trump’s deranged crew of neocons still can’t even get rid of Maduro in Venezuela. Deny it all you want, but the geopolitical map has fundamentally changed.
18 years and $1 trillion dollars. This is where we're at:
"The US steps up its air campaign in Afghanistan while pushing for a peace deal with the Taliban, who now control or influence more parts of the country than at any time since they were ousted in 2001."
— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) April 27, 2019
Meanwhile, the financial system itself (a tremendous source of U.S. imperial power) is also fundamentally broken. The first major failure in this regard happened back on August 15, 1971 when Richard Nixon closed the gold window. Whether you believe this was a primary contributor to many of the negative trends that emerged afterwards likely depends on your personal ideology, but it’s undeniable that shortly after this event we started to see a major ramp up in the financialization of everything as well as a stagnation in median wage growth. A global buildup of financialization and fraud-based financial products played a key role in bringing us to where we are today, and also culminated in the second major failure of the global financial system in 2008.
That was the moment when serious reform and severe consequences for the criminal perpetrators of economic collapse could’ve reset the system and brought the world back to a sustainable path, but we all know that’s not what happened. Instead, the “elites” in charge of addressing the situation decided instead to temporarily prop up a broken system while ensuring they’d be the primary beneficiaries of the specific polices that supposedly “saved the economy.” In fact, nothing was saved. A dead system was put on life support while our self-proclaimed heroic elite grabbed everything not nailed down. A stealth crime spree that is ongoing to this day.
Yet guess who owns massive quantities of homes following the banker bailouts? Private equity firms. Blackstone alone now owns 100,000 in the U.S.https://t.co/wUvzDCHM0o https://t.co/sjsvClVwW8
— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) August 4, 2019
The consequences of past actions and the imminent failure of a global paradigm that’s dominated human existence for decades can no longer be delayed. They’re coming to the fore as I write this and yet all the media and most people can focus on are the symptoms of failure. Past events lead to future events and there are in fact consequences for irresponsible actions. The various things people panic about on a daily basis are typically symptoms that can be traced back to a macro system failure, but nobody wants to talk about that. It’s too big, too daunting and seemingly impossible to fix absent collapse.
Yet outrage, anger and a cry to “do something” about symptoms of a much bigger problem will only result in an even more entrenched surveillance state going forward. Focusing on symptoms is not just short-sighted and a waste of energy, but it’s also likely to lead toward more authoritarian solutions and tendencies over time. Misdiagnosing a disease can be as deadly for a civilization as it can be for an individual.
Liberty becomes less popular, not more popular, as things fail. This is my biggest concern going forward.
— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) July 31, 2019
Unfortunately, we’re misdiagnosing things all over the place as we’re incessantly bombarded with myriad things to be outraged about while lacking proper context. That context is that the global paradigm we’ve been living under for decades has failed and is now entering its death throes. Such shifts are never easy, safe or rational. I don’t expect this one to be any different.
Which brings me to the main point of this piece. It’s imperative those of us who can see the bigger picture stay as focused and as humane as possible while things fall apart. It’s possible to fight for what’s right without dehumanizing other people. We must resist all efforts by the media, pundits and even those around us to suck us into the collective insanity vortex infecting people across the political spectrum. After all, if we don’t, who will?
Things falling apart is never fun or safe; it never has been. Something else will surely replace that which is going away, and the best we can do is try to ensure the world of the future builds upon the best of what came before, while discarding the destructive and unethical. It means being honest about what’s good about the current system and what’s rotten to the core. It’s not all bad, but it wasn’t the end of history either. Yes, we’re entering a period of increased turmoil on a global basis, but the future is still ours to make. Let’s make it a good one.
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> Past events lead to future events and there are in fact consequences for irresponsible actions.
There are no such thing as consequences.
Not for Americans, who are at their majority fundamental individualists=microeconomists=nomads=seafarers.
External environment is infinite by definition, thus one’s actions can not change it. Thus consequences and responsibilities are but hoax.
It is everywhere.
Trump and Clinton throwing rocks in the glass house of American pretense-democracy. They “steal for dollar while destroying for thousand” – why? Because they consider resource of that pretense-democracy to be infinite thus unexhaustable. Hrncr the only rational way is to use it as vast as possible against the enemy.
All the f-ups of US Foreign Policy are in the same way: their actions are considered as only having direct and immediate effect, no long term secondary effects (in other words, changes in the very politic environment) are possible.
Financial institutions summoning bankruptcies and pitchforks? Only nominally, cause the pool is infinite and no finite measurable push to those pitchforks changes the balance. {R}/infinity = 0
Et cetera.
(+=-) = BET: Basic Equation of Truth
Well Michael, as empires and civilizations go, there takes place a necessary
leveling before a renascence, hopefully having learned to avoid the mistakes
of the past. As for dehumanizing, mass man [Ortega y Gasset] has done that
pretty thoroughly without any help. My fraternity is the brotherhood of all life,
and thus I would welcome the human species be reduced by natural attrition to not more than two billion on this planet. I presume your moralizations over
Nazi Aryan lebensraum would be different than over Latino lebensraum and
its collaborators. When the causes were ignored, then the effects are ballyhooed as vital exegesis, when the crisis was the result of ignorance and
action or inaction, such as the awful 1965 Jacob Javits Immigration bill.
Great read but vague, national debts of all governments of the world were not mentioned, borrowing by consumers, running up plastic …. no thinking of where interest rates may be , in 3-4 yrs !
We as first world peoples are such a poor example for those without !
We have lost all decency & respect for honesty integrity, & morality !
We have no regard for much at all except to worship corporate media without question & total destain for anyone who questions the grool they lap & suck on a daily basis !
Our time has come and we shall reap the whirlwind for we are now being asked to pay our pound of flesh .
Are structures failing or are they being purposely allowed to or destructively made to fail? Just as the future structures to replace the failing are designed and planned in advance with cool reasoning and agenda to replace, incrementally, implemented across time, space and spiritual being. This IS the larger picture that almost all cannot fathom let alone allow their thoughts to operate at a scale capable of taking in that very big picture. The structures of the past, present and the future are not just meant to concentrate wealth and power but also to crush human spirituality – conscience, however defined,as an mortal enemy. So a fight to avoid the total enslavement of humanity, both in body and spirit within this reality. is what is taking place in what is very likely one of the closing battles in this war that has raged across the ages and their civilizations.
Yes by all means keep your cool but also know that there are some events and situations in which losing your cool, controlled as a tool, is just as important. Wisdom, gained from knowledge and its correct interpretation, tells which is which and how to act to try to manifest truth in this reality..
Couldn’t have said it any better…
To me, watching people freak out about the state of our society is strangely calming. I was alarmed during the post-9/11 period, which led me to blogs critical of the Fed and started my journey of discovery. Back then, to even suggest that something was fundamentally wrong with our society was verboten, a stance guaranteed to bring ridicule.
Fast forward to today and everybody thinks something is seriously askew. What was once a lonely journey now includes everyone, even if many of them disagree on what’s causing our problems. That’s progress in my opinion, far better than the blanket denial we saw 15+ years ago.
Keeping a cool head is key while tempers flare. Right now we have a lot of people angry at China, Iran, Venezuela, the EU, Russia, and most of the world I suppose. South Koreans are shaking their fists at the Japanese, India and Pakistan are jawboning, and populations in all of these countries are angry. Simply avoiding unnecessary conflict at a personal level can be a big advantage. We have a lot of nitwits here in the US who go out of their way to insult other people or foam at the mouth over even the most mundane perceived slights. Don’t be one of those hotheaded fools.
Anyway, there will be fireworks in the coming years. It’s a balancing act to recognize there are NO political saviors here in the US while simultaneously avoiding despair, but anyone who can pull it off will be at an advantage during our giant “reorganization” phase. Stay safe everybody!
They are criminals who should face judgement, but at the root, it’s declining net energy. GDP et al econ 101 metrics are easily manipulated metrics invented by the managerial class to legitimize the ruling class regardless of changing circumstances. Anyone can compare net energy per capita use to any county’s growth or degrowth over a given time period. Declining net energy in the US began in the 1970’s (then mom’s went to work) & they have been papering over the difference with debt ever since. The main reason to understand this, is so one does not think it’s possible to turn the economical clock back to 1960 (Golden age). Never going back no matter what. Knowing this is no reason to walk away & let the corrupt elites & managerial class continue to have their way. They are criminals. The entire system is like a collection of extortion rackets, but it’s too far gone – beyond reform.
In reading archaeologist Joseph Tainter’s treatise, The Collapse of Complex Societies, the most fundamental aspect of disintegration of a society seems to be the need for local self-sufficiency as “the overarching structure that provides support services to the population loses capability or disappears entirely”. If local communities can pursue this ideal, there may be hope for many.
I feel like this article was written for me. I’ve been waking up for nearly a year with a sense of dread. Not because of world events, but from the knee-jerk reactions of blue-pillers that have 0 critical thinking skills. It’s THEY and their collective insanity that dooms us all.
“Everything is dying and being born all at once, constantly and forever. This will not change.”
How do you KNOW that? The logical extension of what we have today could just as easily be seen as the end-game, the point at which humanity extinguishes itself through nuclear exchanges. But you don’t address that. You just want people to think everything’s gonna be OK… so that people will come back and read more of your stuff.
Don’t worry. You’re in good company. Nobody EVER says it as it is. How many people begged Germans to leave Germany in the 1930s? Or Britain? Or France? Nahhh… nobody wants to be seen as the purveyor of terminally bad news.
Pathetic!
What a bizarre comment. Seek help.
So typical of intellectually-challenged, sappy Americans.who cannot confront the reality of nuclear annihilation. No discussion. No attempt to justify your stance. Just a silly comment:
“seek help!”
What a ghastly place to live. After 22 years I’d had enough. You people are the scourge of the world. Yes, you’ve lost it, haven’t you? So now you’ll bring everyone else down with you. Thanks!
How do you KNOW that “the point at which humanity extinguishes itself” is inevitable, with 100% probability?
If there is some probability to avoid total extinguishing, what would be your PRACTICAL advice ?
If there is zero probability and extinguishing would be total, what then would be your PRACTICAL advice ?
In your terms, how do you “address that” in any practically actionable way?
However naïve and bland MK’s advices may seem to you – they are at least something.
What specifically do you propose INSTEAD of them?
You cannot oppose the inevitable. You cannot “oppose” your own death. So why would you attempt to oppose the inevitable extinction of the human race? “The planet” does not “need” humans. Humans need the planet. When the humans go, guess what? The planet will continue to thrive with other forms of life which will take the place of humans. Our job is to get used to the idea that when it’s all over, it’s all over…
It is indeed a possibility. There are many of us watching that particular possibility. Some are actively attempting to go down that road, but there are still enough cool heads keeping it steady.
Great article with an important underlying emphasis: the real criticality of the current crisis is remaining humane in the presence of systems change. I hope your point begs the question for the readers, “how can I connect to my humanity more? How can I enforce morality in my work and personal life”. It’s easy to forget the ripple of our own actions when riddled with fear and insecurity.
Unfortunately history has shown us that disaster breeds extremism and extremism undermines humanity. As the current systems collapse into the soil they once came from, let’s all do our best to ensure that what grows to fill the gaps is rooted in discernment, morality, discipline and sustainability and not ego driven fright. Most of the evil elites wouldn’t identify themselves as such… a consequence of a lack of real grit, health, sincerity, and genuine vision.
What is coming is not going to make any of us noble or proud to have lived through it. Everyone will have that stare that dead eyed heavy lidded lethality of a predator. All beauty vanishes when hunger comes to town.
With respect to the issue of Mr. Nixon closing the gold window in August of 1971, I believe that a more proximate cause of our on-going broadly-defined financial crisis was the more or less simultaneous revision and amendment of Bank / Banking Acts globally, in and around 1968, that removed the prohibition against banks owning or dealing in real estate. That was what provided the “fuel” for the slow-motion “bonfire” that we have been experiencing ever since.
At about the same time, the bankers implanted and entrenched, at the core of the financial system, the concept and device of the “floating” interest rate. It was the single most important change in human commercial relationships in history; the ability of one party to a contract to unilaterally alter the essential terms after the fact to the manifest detriment of the other party.
With those two essential elements under their control, the bankers (or rather the bank owners) have never looked back.
Closing the gold window was an important control element in the much larger process, but I do not believe it to have been substantively causative.
Very good writing. For my sanity, I ignore all main street news. Once you hear it, it is usually too late to change anything. If it’s something wicked headed your way, most will not be prepared for it. So again, the warning will be far too late. 95% of the news is either fake or totally useless. The coming change is only part of a cycle. It is inevitable. And no government or silly politician can save anything.
re: “The first major failure in this regard happened back on August 15, 1971 when Richard Nixon closed the gold window.”
You are a bit late. The first crushing blow came in 1913, The Federal Reserve was born. It has been all down hill since. Tricky Dicky only sealed the disasterous end of the United States with that idiot move.
Do not forget; he was a Republican. The GOP is no safe harbor for our future. We have a single party system. Like single payer health care, it has to fail. ©2019
I was referring to the first major failure of the post-WW2 global financial/monetary system.
Jeffrey is still doing fine… living somewhere on a nice beach
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Epstein was either murdered or spirited away. That said, if he was in fact dead, the bruising, discoloration could be explained by the “pooling” of blood on his left side if in fact he was laying on his left side. Additionally, the now unused blood vessels in other areas of the body would shrink and give the indication of a change in size of features.
…I’m saddened that our population, culture, society and human-nature has just now begun to awaken from their slumber regarding the international, federal, state & local corruption. Anyone with a working brain could watch those towers being imploded on 911, yet only now do people begin to see the patterns of corruption and evil in The US Government? What about all the previous lies? Pearl Harbor, JFK, RFK, MLK, Vietnam, Iraq I & II, etc. etc. It is sad we are so uneducated in the truth of priors lies that they have been slipped down the memory-hole. We hide the crimes of war-criminals and traitors to The US…to the point that we even build huge monuments to those who violated their oath of office and killed hundreds of thousands of their own countrymen. Even if you take 911 as a starting point…had millions of Americans been in the streets protesting the obvious, known lies about the event and it’s phony commission-report…perhaps we could have removed this cancer almost two decades ago. Now it has metastasized…and good luck killing the cancer… without killing the patient.
Thank you, Michael Krieger, for your insights. However, I found conspicuously absent in your essay any mention of climate change.
We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. We are, right now, undergoing a climate apocalypse the likes of which Homo Sapiens have never seen.
We are currently 1.85 degrees celsius above the 1750, pre-industrial revolution baseline temperature. It is forecast that by as soon as 2026, due to over sixty positive feedback loops already triggered, we will experience, at minimum, a temperature rise of 3 degrees C. above baseline. Note that this is a conservative estimate.
A temperature rise to 3 degrees C. is an extinction level event.
What’s considerably more inconvenient, if that’s possible to imagine, is the meltdown of the 450 or so nuclear power plants that we leave in our wake. The radiation that they emit as a result will almost certainly destroy all of the remaining life on earth. It’s largely left to the imagination what earth looks like after that.
The great crime of our time, among many, is that the corporate controlled news is not informing us of this. Not a big surprise.
wow
A heads up Patriots! AUGUST 20, 2019 Don’t Renew Section 215 Indefinitely
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration wants Section 215, the legal authority that allows the National Security Agency to collect Americans’ telephone records, renewed indefinitely.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/08/eff-says-no-trump-administrations-push-renew-section-215-indefinitely