Off the Cuff: Distortions, Manipulations, Interventions & Perversities

In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and James discuss:

• Unpunished Crime
  • Justice remains very blind right now
• Cultural Malnourishment
  • We are holding ourselves to lower standards
• Options for Civil Disobedience
  • Will 'old school' protesting work anymore?
• The Current Crack-Up Boom
  • Will 2014 be another 2013?

James Howard Kunstler joins Chris this week to discuss all the "distortions, manipulations, interventions & perversities" raging in the markets, the economy, and society at large. We are very much in need of clear compass points to navigate by, and they are precious few in supply.

Chris and Jim by remarking how pitifully absent enforcement of law and justice is in our national corporatocracy. Our bad actors have not only become too big to fail or jail, but too big to curtail. JP Morgan's latest wrist-slaps are stark evidence that it's much more lucrative to cheat and pay the (tiny) fine than to follow the rules.

On a larger level, though, Jim sees society as having entered a values drought, in which we've forgotten what it means to stand up and be accounted for – whether that be as individuals, parents, or citizens. Where are the brave souls who say "enough!" and refuse to be taken advantage of? Where are the rebels? Where are the leaders?

This leads to some interesting debate about what forms of civil disobedience may or may no longer work in an era of omnipresent NSA monitoring.