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Podcast

by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • The systemic markers that precede collapse
  • The approaching end of our current 'unlimited growth' paradigm
  • Is a collapse inevitable? Or can we evolve gracefully to a new model?
  • The opportunity within the coming change

If you have not yet read Part 1: What Triggers Collapse? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

What Triggers Collapse?

Many authors (Jared Diamond, Joseph Tainter, Thomas Homer-Dixon, David Hackett Fischer,   Michael Grant and Peter Turchin, to name a few) have delved into the question of why civilizations decay and fail.  The question of how nations/empires endure gets considerably less attention, but economic/social adaptability, the resilience of shared purpose/social cohesion, social mobility, the ability to generate reliable surpluses, secure trade routes, a professional army and navy to defend borders and trade routes, a merit-based a professional bureaucracy to collect taxes and oversee commerce, a stable form of money and competent leadership all play critical roles.

But history is replete with examples of nation-states and empires that possess all these positive attributes that still decay and collapse once critical supplies of energy and food fail, or invaders conquer essential territories or trade routes.

Can we generalize the dynamics that weaken a nation/empire to the point where collapse cannot be staved off?

The authors listed above have highlighted the following systemic dynamics…

Opportunity In Crisis
PREVIEW by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • The systemic markers that precede collapse
  • The approaching end of our current 'unlimited growth' paradigm
  • Is a collapse inevitable? Or can we evolve gracefully to a new model?
  • The opportunity within the coming change

If you have not yet read Part 1: What Triggers Collapse? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

What Triggers Collapse?

Many authors (Jared Diamond, Joseph Tainter, Thomas Homer-Dixon, David Hackett Fischer,   Michael Grant and Peter Turchin, to name a few) have delved into the question of why civilizations decay and fail.  The question of how nations/empires endure gets considerably less attention, but economic/social adaptability, the resilience of shared purpose/social cohesion, social mobility, the ability to generate reliable surpluses, secure trade routes, a professional army and navy to defend borders and trade routes, a merit-based a professional bureaucracy to collect taxes and oversee commerce, a stable form of money and competent leadership all play critical roles.

But history is replete with examples of nation-states and empires that possess all these positive attributes that still decay and collapse once critical supplies of energy and food fail, or invaders conquer essential territories or trade routes.

Can we generalize the dynamics that weaken a nation/empire to the point where collapse cannot be staved off?

The authors listed above have highlighted the following systemic dynamics…

by Chris Martenson

David Stockman, former director of the OMB under President Reagan, former US Representative, and veteran financier is an insider's insider. Few people understand the ways in which both Washington DC and Wall Street work and intersect better than he does.

In his upcoming book, Trumped! A Nation on the Brink of Ruin…And How to Bring it Back, Stockman lays out how we have devolved from a free market economy into a managed one that operates for the benefit of a privileged few. And when trouble arises, these few are bailed out at the expense of the public good.

Stockman brings us his report of what 30 years of politics, degenerative crony capitalism and “bubble finance” have finally wrought. The upheaval and crossroads represented by Donald Trump’s candidacy spell economic disaster or resurgence, depending on the steps America chooses to take from here.

David Stockman: America Now Lives Under A ‘Perverted Regime’
by Chris Martenson

David Stockman, former director of the OMB under President Reagan, former US Representative, and veteran financier is an insider's insider. Few people understand the ways in which both Washington DC and Wall Street work and intersect better than he does.

In his upcoming book, Trumped! A Nation on the Brink of Ruin…And How to Bring it Back, Stockman lays out how we have devolved from a free market economy into a managed one that operates for the benefit of a privileged few. And when trouble arises, these few are bailed out at the expense of the public good.

Stockman brings us his report of what 30 years of politics, degenerative crony capitalism and “bubble finance” have finally wrought. The upheaval and crossroads represented by Donald Trump’s candidacy spell economic disaster or resurgence, depending on the steps America chooses to take from here.

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