@rruffWe are in an unusual moment, economically, and this is one credible explanation.
I don't find it credible at all.
We've been in a very incredible "moment" economically, since 2008. Actually scratch that... 2008+ has been a new kind of incredible, with even more rabbits being pulled out of the hat since 2020... but it really got serious way back in the 70s, with the big show happening ~1980. I keep expecting the house of cards to collapse, but then they pull out some new financial global-exchange-trade-debt wizardry and continue to kick the can down the road. I suspect they have a plan to keep that going until AI makes the whole system defunct.
If you sift down through all the smoke and mirrors... and the very deep steaming pile of BS... what the "economy" really is, is people working and providing goods and services to other folks who are working and providing goods and services. The more productively we do this (primarily through the intelligent application of tech and energy), the more aggregate prosperity/wealth grows... the size of the "pie".
In the "old" system it was very difficult for the oligarchs to take a bigger share of the pie for long. If they extract too much profit, then this naturally reduces worker wages and buying power, and if you are producing more goods and services you need to be able to sell them... to someone. In the 1920s this imbalance got to ridiculous levels resulting in the Great Depression. They learned their lesson... and structured the laws so that the workers share of the pie stayed steady until the 70s. Not surprisingly this arrangement is optimal for maximizing aggregate wealth too, which is important when you want to rule the world. Once that goal was accomplished (communist rivals being dead), they hatched a plan that would not only let them extract greater profits (at our expense, of course), but to do so from the whole world. The sudden shift in many policies that all came together to achieve this goal was amazing. It was absolutely planned from the start in detail, and I'm in awe of its brilliance. And the reason it has gone so well was because they got nearly all the oligarchs in the world on board... they've all been on the gravy train.
I don't think the oligarchs themselves are that smart... but they tend to be very clever and ruthless bastards, and are smart enough to hire the smartest people to figure these things out, and listen to them. And if you can put together a plan that benefits them all, you can be sure that will get done!
Make no mistake... none of what is really going on is happening by accident... and what is happening is what these people want to happen. I thought the system would collapse when private debt hit a ceiling in 2008... but they hatched a new plan to extract wealth from savers via "quantitative easing". It's important to note that no one got in trouble for the horrendous fraud scheme that caused the 2008 crisis in the first place... in case you are wondering where the power lies.
And now since 2020 it's apparent that fiscal debt escalation is the way forward. That one seems like it should have a practical limit as well, but Japan has been chugging along with a much bigger debt than ours for a long time, so who knows? We've built a lot of US$ security through deficit trade with China and other developing countries. So long as we remain world hegemon, and so long as there are countries looking to grow their economy through surplus trade and the US is willing to comply with deficit trade, this can probably continue for a long time. One thing I'm 99% sure of is that they have it figured out.
Anyway, this is a summary of my thought process that led to the realization that "power of the people" has always been a fantasy. The masses are manipulated to support their plan. When they needed us to be rich, and free, and happy... then we were. But their need for our compliance has been clearly tapering for many decades now, and their ability to keeps us divided and confused has grown to amazing levels... and will only get better. We are focused everywhere but behind the curtain.
And the more advanced AI gets, the better the manipulation will be, and the less they will need anything from us. The optimal outcome for them is a very small human population and a large AI slave force, that utilizes all the world's energy and material to build whatever the oligarchs want. That is their utopia.
Our utopia is one in which that AI slave force is working for us... everybody. But that will only happen if "power to the people" becomes a reality. And I fully expect they will keep us mollified with welfare as our work gradually becomes unnecessary. This is insufficient though, as it is only a stepping stone to their eventual goal. We need to control this ourselves. It would be extremely naive to believe that their "generousity" will persist when we merely consume and pollute and provide no benefit to them.
We need to stop buying in to the ridiculous "issues" they keep floating up to keep us tweaked and divided neatly into 50/50 camps. This bogus divide is the main thing keeping us powerless. If you want to do something then get to know how it is from the "other side" (or both sides if you have none)... listen with compassion. There is surprisingly little difference in what is most important to people. Freedom, autonomy, safety, prosperity.... that's about it. If we come together, we can make this happen, I think.
Else, I don't see how we will avoid a very different and shitty fate.
