This is how it works in a serfdom. Definitely incrementalism has been going on particularly when it comes to the theft by our government/corporations and the erosion of our civil rights by the corporate for profit criminal justice system.
We can call it kleptocratic. We can call it a police state and both definitions would be correct. The question is, what should we do about it and can we do anything about it?
I think we can do something about it and it’s not gonna be by bitching about it. Not even gonna be going to the polls and huge numbers because all we get that is the lesser of two evils. Then again the lesser of two evils is less evil.
The solution involves pressing the reset button or tearing the building down and starting from scratch cause I don’t think America the way it is now is even salvageable and when I look at these MAGAT Americans I don’t think it’s worth salvaging.
I just dont buy anything or go anywhere and when I do buy groceries I pinch and pinch. Pretty soon, I am considering a neighborhood coop. And canceling cable and just doing wifi. And then my only bills will be wifi, phone, taxes, insurance, and copays.
I understand your position, and your choices are appropriate, but please be aware, if everyone does this, our economy shrinks. Fewer people buying, spending less means less money in the economy, fewer jobs which means even less money in the economy.
What you are doing is sensible survival, but we need to vote for better. We need to vote for foundational fixes to our economy to make it 'worker centric' and not 'wealthy centric'.
Spending more and getting less and less will not keep the economy afloat forever.
Public needs to stop drowning in debt and send the signal to the economy. We have had enough. We will not keep buying overpriced defective cars, houses and everything else. We have reached our limit.
Until the rich start feeling the pinch on Wall Street, they will continue to ignore Main Street. Money is all they understand. Shame those playing golf on Trump's courses.
You are assuming the rich are intelligent. Certainly not the hoarders of wealth, for whome acquiring more is an addiction that can never be filled. As I said "We need to vote for foundational fixes to our economy to make it 'worker centric' and not 'wealthy centric." Like any addict, the need to be restrained. They will not willingly give up control. We must force money out of politics, and reclaim our courts. Then we can do what we have to do to create a sustainable economy without deference to the wealth hoarders.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, Kat Peace Fairy, and please keep us posted! I'm sure you are speaking for millions. This should be screaming headline news every day and thank you so much David for highlighting reality.
Organizing a neighborhood coop sounds brilliant! Maybe someone has a Costco membership or a way to buy wholesale. Save gas with one big trip sharing the cost of the gas instead of each person driving separately. Getting to know each other, your talents and resources, having each other's backs, finding out who needs help with what and who can help is such an absolutely wonderful thing. Maybe someone can pitch in for babysitting or helping with a home repair, or loaning a tool, or giving someone something you don't need any more but they do, maybe you can watch your favorite cable show you're giving up with someone else, maybe someone can repair clothes, maybe someone has a friend looking to hire someone, maybe you can borrow a cookbook from the public library, the list goes on and on...
Every little bit of kindness and understanding makes us stronger and less stressed. We do not have to be alone. Minneapolis reminded us of the way and showed us how we can fight back while living better and happier together.
Same here. Feel like a pirate made to walk the plank, hoping someone says that is far enough come back.
Not sure what stops inflation. I doubt there will be a reset back to affordability without a depression. History seems to be moving in that direction. Many believe WWII was triggered by the Smoot-Hawley tariffs. USA was in the Great Depression. We may be repeating that just in reverse with insane tariffs driving up the cost of everything to the point of another depression.
Charge cards have highly distorted personal financial responsibility and allowed too many to extend way beyond their means. Home prices crashing will not be enough. USA has priced itself to the point of extinction with student and car loans and mortgage and rents rising.
Added
Historians and economists agree that while military invasions, plagues, and poor political leadership delivered the final blows to empires, unchecked inflation fatally rotted out the economic foundations required to survive those crises
While it FEELS like it is collapsing, you are right, it is a slow motion process, until we reach the 'tipping point'. the day is coming when there are too few consumers to support the industries, so they lay off more people, automate more jobs away, merge some more for 'greater efficiencies' and the process continues to accelerate.
All it will take is another 'crisis' resulting from greed and stupidity like in 2008 and the entire economy freezes again, uncertain, unwilling to hire, finding ways to not spend, ways to 'let people go' to break the system beyond a simple patch like in 2009.
AI is the big (slow moving) event, along with robotics, that will accelerate the process that has already, for decades been moving in this direction. It is just that we have seen it happening for so long, with people forced to 'change careers', get 'trained' for new jobs... that we forgot how real it is, how the new careers come with lower wages, less security, how education got more expensive...
The greedy wealth hoarding faction of the rich, are stupid and greedy, and rely on the other faction of the rich to keep the system stable, so they hoarders can keep cheating and stealing and ignoring any consequences.
Simple question to ask: What happens when you automate all the workers out of ALL the businesses (Sure some will survive, we assume, but follow the logic), who buys the products from you, or if you buy from othe businesses, who buys from your customers? Where is the source of money? Do you imagine a world where only the rich live well, with some servants (perhaps AI and Robotics) to see to their wishes and everyone else is without a job, or anything at all really, because all your companies have leeched all their money from them.
Another question to ask: Imagine you are living in the game "Monopoly". What happens AFTER someone wins?
ALL that wealth, that power to make, to create and it's entire purpose (per how companies are legally structured in the Stock market) is to pull money out of people as customers, and reduce expenses in terms of people as employees.
The Industrial revolution never stopped, it just focused on more industries and accelerated over the years. People are afraid, but since their job, their profession, career, their ability to provide, to earn is so central to their identity, nobody wants to face it and talk about it, so they talk about other things, but that doesn't mean it has no affect on them, their emotions, their choices.
AI is the big and slow moving event and I also wonder what will happen to people if there are only robots? I hope we will be more like The Jetsons and less Terminator. Yes to a Revolt but not a Revolution
We have seen AI coming from a long ways off, and already many phone centric jobs have been replaced with earlier versions of AI. We did not feel it directly because many of those jobs had already been outsourced to India and other countries with cheaper labor. Ever since the 50's, automation of work was sold with a 'Jetsons' sales pitch. In reality those workers are simply stretched thinner and thinner overlooking more and more robots until they are more stressed out than the earlier job of just making the widgets. And all those workers 'relieved of the hard labor' simply became unemployed, without money. Typrically ending up with a worse job that paid less.
Personally revolts are ugly painful affairs, and I am hoping (I can dream, can't I?) that Trump will make things bad enough, that we will get a 'revolution' through our democracy. Democracy, is, at it's core, a virtual civil war, without all the guns and deaths. But it can be just as impactful, if the winning side has the will and the vision to make it so. Trump came in with a plan (that somebody else wrote, just like his book, because he is mostly an idiot) and the will to make it happen, because he saw the opportunity for massive corruption and wealth for himself in the process, and vengeance on those who told him no. But we should note how succesful that plan has been in acheiving it's goals. We need a plan, one for 2027 and another for 2029. WIthout a plan and a schedule, promises mean nothing.
Thank you David for such an insightful perspective. When FDJT won in 24, my first comment was we are heading for a recession. Like a balloon with a little air space - you can squeeze a little here and there moving the air around and then one day it 🎉
They have never faced an income crisis. They are all very wealthy so they just can't identify with the common folks. And are not even listening to the problems
High mountain to climb for sure!!! We also need to remember how what we do (or don’t) impacts Mother Earth. Without thoughtful long range planning, regulations and enforcement we’re decimating our planet. Copper mining in my Minnesota’s northern border so Chilean workers with the know how can gouge it out and sell it to China? Our pristine Boundary Waters wilderness and waterways will never recover- it’s water never again potable straight from your canoe- air quality everywhere and energy sourcing all the AI we don’t need!!- my mind brings the money manager company ad where the guy is made coffee by a robot that dumps sugar into his order if “no sugar” etc and the relief he gets when there’s an actual human interaction at their company- is it just because Elon needs more cash? I’m sure not for all his babies…🤯
Thank you, David. I'm concerned that it will continue to worsen if Trump remains in office. Add to his greed the way he reacts with revenge and retribution when things don't go well for him.
The businesses directly affected are, and always have been during even mild downturns, are those reliant upon discretionary spending. The canary in the economic clean coal mine. The gig based industries, service jobs of restaurants...the better of which enjoy a 5 year run. Those small companies, that were/are running on the thinnest of margins, face vendors, unwilling to extend credit and demand COD. This is NOT just for food based companies, but many sole proprietorships. Those small companies account for the vast majority of new job creation AND the majority of job losses. Because each one of those businesses are so small as not to cause a ripple in the ECONOMY, when taken individually, but accumulate steadily until the cascading effect is felt throughout a larger and larger portion of the overall economy.
Take a deep breath- go somewhere you can sit in your space and feel the sun on your face and hear birds or “spa music” rejoice in the machine if your body’s intricacies- feel your heart beat, your lungs work- you’ve got this. Do something to help someone else- oh yeah and no screen time for as long as you can hold out!!🤗
Groceries are up a little? Maybe from six months ago, but three years ago, I could get enough food and drink (milk and fake juice) for about $70/week. Now, after I have drinks, veggies, and two pounds of chicken, it's $100. At this rate, I can't afford to buy paint, and I NEED PAINT! Sorry, a minor Van Gogh moment. I really need paint to make me happy.
Kind of like putting a fire under the frog in the pan and before the frog knows what's happening he's been boiled to death.
This is how it works in a serfdom. Definitely incrementalism has been going on particularly when it comes to the theft by our government/corporations and the erosion of our civil rights by the corporate for profit criminal justice system.
We can call it kleptocratic. We can call it a police state and both definitions would be correct. The question is, what should we do about it and can we do anything about it?
I think we can do something about it and it’s not gonna be by bitching about it. Not even gonna be going to the polls and huge numbers because all we get that is the lesser of two evils. Then again the lesser of two evils is less evil.
The solution involves pressing the reset button or tearing the building down and starting from scratch cause I don’t think America the way it is now is even salvageable and when I look at these MAGAT Americans I don’t think it’s worth salvaging.
I just dont buy anything or go anywhere and when I do buy groceries I pinch and pinch. Pretty soon, I am considering a neighborhood coop. And canceling cable and just doing wifi. And then my only bills will be wifi, phone, taxes, insurance, and copays.
I understand your position, and your choices are appropriate, but please be aware, if everyone does this, our economy shrinks. Fewer people buying, spending less means less money in the economy, fewer jobs which means even less money in the economy.
What you are doing is sensible survival, but we need to vote for better. We need to vote for foundational fixes to our economy to make it 'worker centric' and not 'wealthy centric'.
Spending more and getting less and less will not keep the economy afloat forever.
Public needs to stop drowning in debt and send the signal to the economy. We have had enough. We will not keep buying overpriced defective cars, houses and everything else. We have reached our limit.
Until the rich start feeling the pinch on Wall Street, they will continue to ignore Main Street. Money is all they understand. Shame those playing golf on Trump's courses.
You are assuming the rich are intelligent. Certainly not the hoarders of wealth, for whome acquiring more is an addiction that can never be filled. As I said "We need to vote for foundational fixes to our economy to make it 'worker centric' and not 'wealthy centric." Like any addict, the need to be restrained. They will not willingly give up control. We must force money out of politics, and reclaim our courts. Then we can do what we have to do to create a sustainable economy without deference to the wealth hoarders.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, Kat Peace Fairy, and please keep us posted! I'm sure you are speaking for millions. This should be screaming headline news every day and thank you so much David for highlighting reality.
Organizing a neighborhood coop sounds brilliant! Maybe someone has a Costco membership or a way to buy wholesale. Save gas with one big trip sharing the cost of the gas instead of each person driving separately. Getting to know each other, your talents and resources, having each other's backs, finding out who needs help with what and who can help is such an absolutely wonderful thing. Maybe someone can pitch in for babysitting or helping with a home repair, or loaning a tool, or giving someone something you don't need any more but they do, maybe you can watch your favorite cable show you're giving up with someone else, maybe someone can repair clothes, maybe someone has a friend looking to hire someone, maybe you can borrow a cookbook from the public library, the list goes on and on...
Every little bit of kindness and understanding makes us stronger and less stressed. We do not have to be alone. Minneapolis reminded us of the way and showed us how we can fight back while living better and happier together.
Hang in there and keep in touch!
THIS!!! Thank you for pointing out helpful strategies!! UNITED WE STAND❤️
Same here. Feel like a pirate made to walk the plank, hoping someone says that is far enough come back.
Not sure what stops inflation. I doubt there will be a reset back to affordability without a depression. History seems to be moving in that direction. Many believe WWII was triggered by the Smoot-Hawley tariffs. USA was in the Great Depression. We may be repeating that just in reverse with insane tariffs driving up the cost of everything to the point of another depression.
Charge cards have highly distorted personal financial responsibility and allowed too many to extend way beyond their means. Home prices crashing will not be enough. USA has priced itself to the point of extinction with student and car loans and mortgage and rents rising.
Added
Historians and economists agree that while military invasions, plagues, and poor political leadership delivered the final blows to empires, unchecked inflation fatally rotted out the economic foundations required to survive those crises
I’m already there, minus the coop need so far.
While it FEELS like it is collapsing, you are right, it is a slow motion process, until we reach the 'tipping point'. the day is coming when there are too few consumers to support the industries, so they lay off more people, automate more jobs away, merge some more for 'greater efficiencies' and the process continues to accelerate.
All it will take is another 'crisis' resulting from greed and stupidity like in 2008 and the entire economy freezes again, uncertain, unwilling to hire, finding ways to not spend, ways to 'let people go' to break the system beyond a simple patch like in 2009.
AI is the big (slow moving) event, along with robotics, that will accelerate the process that has already, for decades been moving in this direction. It is just that we have seen it happening for so long, with people forced to 'change careers', get 'trained' for new jobs... that we forgot how real it is, how the new careers come with lower wages, less security, how education got more expensive...
The greedy wealth hoarding faction of the rich, are stupid and greedy, and rely on the other faction of the rich to keep the system stable, so they hoarders can keep cheating and stealing and ignoring any consequences.
Simple question to ask: What happens when you automate all the workers out of ALL the businesses (Sure some will survive, we assume, but follow the logic), who buys the products from you, or if you buy from othe businesses, who buys from your customers? Where is the source of money? Do you imagine a world where only the rich live well, with some servants (perhaps AI and Robotics) to see to their wishes and everyone else is without a job, or anything at all really, because all your companies have leeched all their money from them.
Another question to ask: Imagine you are living in the game "Monopoly". What happens AFTER someone wins?
ALL that wealth, that power to make, to create and it's entire purpose (per how companies are legally structured in the Stock market) is to pull money out of people as customers, and reduce expenses in terms of people as employees.
The Industrial revolution never stopped, it just focused on more industries and accelerated over the years. People are afraid, but since their job, their profession, career, their ability to provide, to earn is so central to their identity, nobody wants to face it and talk about it, so they talk about other things, but that doesn't mean it has no affect on them, their emotions, their choices.
AI is the big and slow moving event and I also wonder what will happen to people if there are only robots? I hope we will be more like The Jetsons and less Terminator. Yes to a Revolt but not a Revolution
We have seen AI coming from a long ways off, and already many phone centric jobs have been replaced with earlier versions of AI. We did not feel it directly because many of those jobs had already been outsourced to India and other countries with cheaper labor. Ever since the 50's, automation of work was sold with a 'Jetsons' sales pitch. In reality those workers are simply stretched thinner and thinner overlooking more and more robots until they are more stressed out than the earlier job of just making the widgets. And all those workers 'relieved of the hard labor' simply became unemployed, without money. Typrically ending up with a worse job that paid less.
Personally revolts are ugly painful affairs, and I am hoping (I can dream, can't I?) that Trump will make things bad enough, that we will get a 'revolution' through our democracy. Democracy, is, at it's core, a virtual civil war, without all the guns and deaths. But it can be just as impactful, if the winning side has the will and the vision to make it so. Trump came in with a plan (that somebody else wrote, just like his book, because he is mostly an idiot) and the will to make it happen, because he saw the opportunity for massive corruption and wealth for himself in the process, and vengeance on those who told him no. But we should note how succesful that plan has been in acheiving it's goals. We need a plan, one for 2027 and another for 2029. WIthout a plan and a schedule, promises mean nothing.
Thank you David for such an insightful perspective. When FDJT won in 24, my first comment was we are heading for a recession. Like a balloon with a little air space - you can squeeze a little here and there moving the air around and then one day it 🎉
This is what happens when American history’s worst businessperson becomes American history’s worst president.
Great article. Very accurate summation. We are pushed to the wall. People going truly under, losing homes. Vote the bastards OUT.
They have never faced an income crisis. They are all very wealthy so they just can't identify with the common folks. And are not even listening to the problems
India stands as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies
a powerful engine of global growth and opportunity.
But alongside this progress, there are structural vulnerabilities that demand careful attention.
Key concerns include:
Inflation pressures, affecting households and stability
Dependence on oil imports, exposing the economy to global shocks
Slowing private investment, limiting long-term expansion
Manufacturing competitiveness, in an increasingly contested global market
And rising trade tensions, reshaping supply chains
Among these, energy dependence is particularly critical.
India continues to import a large share of its fossil fuel needs
making it highly sensitive to global oil price volatility.
Any disruption in energy markets
can quickly translate into:
Higher inflation
Fiscal strain
And slower economic growth
Excellencies,
This is the paradox of emerging economic power:
Strong growth paired with external vulnerability.
The path forward requires balance:
Strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity
Accelerating the transition to renewable energy
Encouraging private sector investment
And building resilience against global shocks
Because sustainable growth is not defined by speed alone
but by stability, resilience, and independence.
The opportunity is immense.
But so is the responsibility to secure it.
High mountain to climb for sure!!! We also need to remember how what we do (or don’t) impacts Mother Earth. Without thoughtful long range planning, regulations and enforcement we’re decimating our planet. Copper mining in my Minnesota’s northern border so Chilean workers with the know how can gouge it out and sell it to China? Our pristine Boundary Waters wilderness and waterways will never recover- it’s water never again potable straight from your canoe- air quality everywhere and energy sourcing all the AI we don’t need!!- my mind brings the money manager company ad where the guy is made coffee by a robot that dumps sugar into his order if “no sugar” etc and the relief he gets when there’s an actual human interaction at their company- is it just because Elon needs more cash? I’m sure not for all his babies…🤯
Thank you, David. I'm concerned that it will continue to worsen if Trump remains in office. Add to his greed the way he reacts with revenge and retribution when things don't go well for him.
Death by a thousand swipes, of our credit cards!!!
The over 6 minute video stopped at 2:54. Usually we get diagnosis, and prognosis but rarely treatment. We'll figure it out I suppose.
The businesses directly affected are, and always have been during even mild downturns, are those reliant upon discretionary spending. The canary in the economic clean coal mine. The gig based industries, service jobs of restaurants...the better of which enjoy a 5 year run. Those small companies, that were/are running on the thinnest of margins, face vendors, unwilling to extend credit and demand COD. This is NOT just for food based companies, but many sole proprietorships. Those small companies account for the vast majority of new job creation AND the majority of job losses. Because each one of those businesses are so small as not to cause a ripple in the ECONOMY, when taken individually, but accumulate steadily until the cascading effect is felt throughout a larger and larger portion of the overall economy.
India stands as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies
a powerful engine of global growth and opportunity.
But alongside this progress, there are structural vulnerabilities that demand careful attention.
Key concerns include:
Inflation pressures, affecting households and stability
Dependence on oil imports, exposing the economy to global shocks
Slowing private investment, limiting long-term expansion
Manufacturing competitiveness, in an increasingly contested global market
And rising trade tensions, reshaping supply chains
Among these, energy dependence is particularly critical.
India continues to import a large share of its fossil fuel needs
making it highly sensitive to global oil price volatility.
Any disruption in energy markets
can quickly translate into:
Higher inflation
Fiscal strain
And slower economic growth
Excellencies,
This is the paradox of emerging economic power:
Strong growth paired with external vulnerability.
The path forward requires balance:
Strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity
Accelerating the transition to renewable energy
Encouraging private sector investment
And building resilience against global shocks
Because sustainable growth is not defined by speed alone
but by stability, resilience, and independence.
The opportunity is immense.
But so is the responsibility to secure it.
Nothing about life is enjoyable anymore to me. So I'm feeling like I'm being squeezed.
Take a deep breath- go somewhere you can sit in your space and feel the sun on your face and hear birds or “spa music” rejoice in the machine if your body’s intricacies- feel your heart beat, your lungs work- you’ve got this. Do something to help someone else- oh yeah and no screen time for as long as you can hold out!!🤗
Wait until 'Tank Bottom' in the end of June. The last tanker to escape the blockade in Feb unloaded (Corolla) after May 3rd in LA port.
Systems are already telling operators not to draw down fast. And it is only end of May.
Groceries are up a little? Maybe from six months ago, but three years ago, I could get enough food and drink (milk and fake juice) for about $70/week. Now, after I have drinks, veggies, and two pounds of chicken, it's $100. At this rate, I can't afford to buy paint, and I NEED PAINT! Sorry, a minor Van Gogh moment. I really need paint to make me happy.