We're in a global struggle between rule-of-law democracy and plutocratic authoritarianism (TPM)

[sharedvalues]

sub req. Some excerpts here. A great quote at end.

Trump seems to be coming apart. Adam Smith said there’s a great deal of ruin in a nation. We’ve seen that it’s like that with Trump to at least a degree. Yet something seems different. His chaos has intensified but intensified into monotony.

...

We now seem on the verge of, if not an international crisis, then an abrupt economic slowdown that will be in significant measure driven by the president’s idiotic and impulsive behavior.

From all this I return more curious about the big picture. What are the macro-trends that caused all of this? Trump’s election may be a fluke. An entire political party’s subservience to him and protection of him is not. As I wrote a few weeks ago, we are in the midst of a global, ideological struggle between rule of law democracies (which must support the common good and create some reasonable distribution of the national wealth) and plutocratic authoritarianism. At the moment, it’s not at all clear which side the US is even on. Defeating Trump is the first sine qua non job. But what we build beyond that is unclear and understanding how we got here is critical.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime-beta/its-good-to-be-back

[Newest Reality]

1. Could not read the entire article...

But, I would like to add that I see a great potential for the US and much of the World to slip into a form of Neo-Fuedalism, which would function in a similar fashion to the Feudal Lords of old and their Serfs.

First, the trend is for the wealthy to continue to increase their holdings and I have seen projections that they very well could own just about everything within a couple of decades, that seems logical and there is, so far, nothing that bucks that trend and reverses the distribution of wealth we have seen.

That can have various kinds of outcomes with graduations of freedom for the Neo-Serfs, but it would assure that individual ownership would eventually be phased out, except for a small class of those who are the owners. Most people would be renters and consumers at best, with rest eking out some sort of deplorable and miserable means of survival, well like many people in poverty today, but with no social services or programs to help them. They would be nothing more than expendables and would probably die out.

Second, if we pay close attention to China's new Social Credits system, we can see that the digital age in full bloom is going to provide for constant surveillance, behavior inducements and customized control of masses of people using AI. It is already in place and smacks of Stasi tactics mixed with some Orwell and Huxley. The reason I mention that is it provides a means to steer, control and exploit vast numbers of people within an inescapable system, which would really foment and cement in place this new Feudalism.

We have a clear and immanent potential for a truly dystopian outcome in the making and today's economy and politics, (Trump included) are setting the stage for something that scenario and my prognostications might be understatements.

That's not science fiction and mere speculation, remember.

[appalachiablue]

2. Paywall, can't see more of the article, too bad

[sharedvalues]

3. Yes sub req