Chris Martenson
Executive Summary
- The inequality of the current system is becoming more and more visible, despite efforts to conceal it
- History shows that control will break as those running the system are forced to compete more directly for a shrinking pie
- The 3 essential indicators of instability to watch
- The high price of a collapse of the status quo (and why developing resilience now is your best investment)
If you have not yet read Part I: Bankers Own the World, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
More Equal than Others
Like the pigs in Orwell's Animal Farm, those running the current system are quick to convince us they are doing it out of service, not self-interest (many remember the testimony of Goldman Sachs head Lloyd Blankfein that he sees the bank's efforts as "doing God's work"). The media (most of which is owned by the top 147 companies discussed in Part I) reinforces the perception that the status quo is all that stands between us and economic ruin.
Of course, there's a much darker side to the story. It requires some digging by the curious mind, but the data is there to be found. As previous mentioned, such a parasitical system inevitably concentrates wealth over time into the hands of fewer and fewer of the most privileged and most powerful. Here's an excellent visualization of how that has already happened in the U.S.:
Note that the actual degree of wealth inequality is much worse than Americans perceive it to be. That's not surprising given the absence of light shined on this in the mass media…
The Indicators of Instability to Watch For
PREVIEWExecutive Summary
- The inequality of the current system is becoming more and more visible, despite efforts to conceal it
- History shows that control will break as those running the system are forced to compete more directly for a shrinking pie
- The 3 essential indicators of instability to watch
- The high price of a collapse of the status quo (and why developing resilience now is your best investment)
If you have not yet read Part I: Bankers Own the World, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
More Equal than Others
Like the pigs in Orwell's Animal Farm, those running the current system are quick to convince us they are doing it out of service, not self-interest (many remember the testimony of Goldman Sachs head Lloyd Blankfein that he sees the bank's efforts as "doing God's work"). The media (most of which is owned by the top 147 companies discussed in Part I) reinforces the perception that the status quo is all that stands between us and economic ruin.
Of course, there's a much darker side to the story. It requires some digging by the curious mind, but the data is there to be found. As previous mentioned, such a parasitical system inevitably concentrates wealth over time into the hands of fewer and fewer of the most privileged and most powerful. Here's an excellent visualization of how that has already happened in the U.S.:
Note that the actual degree of wealth inequality is much worse than Americans perceive it to be. That's not surprising given the absence of light shined on this in the mass media…
In the classic fantasy rom-com The Princess Bride, the beautiful maid Buttercup orders the farm boy Westley to perform numerous tasks to test his servitude. No matter the magnitude of the request, Westley simply answers "As you wish" and makes it so. Buttercup eventually comes to view Wesley with similar devotion, and true love is born.
Similarly, investors have fallen back in love with the capital markets, whose continual response their increasingly irrational hopes has been "As you wish."
Our “As You Wish” Markets Have Reached the Cliffs of Insanity
In the classic fantasy rom-com The Princess Bride, the beautiful maid Buttercup orders the farm boy Westley to perform numerous tasks to test his servitude. No matter the magnitude of the request, Westley simply answers "As you wish" and makes it so. Buttercup eventually comes to view Wesley with similar devotion, and true love is born.
Similarly, investors have fallen back in love with the capital markets, whose continual response their increasingly irrational hopes has been "As you wish."
We invited Bill Black to return to explain whether the level of systemic risk due to fraud in our financial markets has improved or worsened since the dire situation he painted for us in early 2012. Sadly, it looks like abuse by the big players has only flourished since then.
In the U.S., our regulators have publicly embraced a "too big to prosecute" doctrine. We are restraining, underfunding, and dismantling regulatory oversight in the interest of short-term stability for the status quo. Which, as a criminologist, Black knows with certainty creates an environment where bad actors will act in their self-interest with assumed (and likely real, at this point) impunity.
Bill Black: The Banks Have Blood on Their Hands
We invited Bill Black to return to explain whether the level of systemic risk due to fraud in our financial markets has improved or worsened since the dire situation he painted for us in early 2012. Sadly, it looks like abuse by the big players has only flourished since then.
In the U.S., our regulators have publicly embraced a "too big to prosecute" doctrine. We are restraining, underfunding, and dismantling regulatory oversight in the interest of short-term stability for the status quo. Which, as a criminologist, Black knows with certainty creates an environment where bad actors will act in their self-interest with assumed (and likely real, at this point) impunity.
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