The Corporate State, Social Collapse, And The Cult Of Fear

I want to tie several themes together here. American Thinker this morning has a couple of pieces that focus on economics and the State. What they both point out, in their own ways, is the malign role of "cooperation"--or should we say "collusion"?--between the State and the Corporate center. In other words, we're talking about the sector of society with a Monopoly on Violence--the State--cooperating or colluding with the sector that has a monopoly on, well, just about every aspect of our lives, as things have developed. As American society has developed in the last 50 years, there's very little that is not either under the active control of the State and major corporations or that cannot be brought under that control if so desired. Corporations 50 years ago didn't wield that kind of power, but Big Finance, Big Pharma, and Big Tech/Social Media have utterly changed that. That's the nature of our New Normal. Factor into that the exponential intrusiveness of the Deep State brought on by the Global War On Terror--now morphing into a Global Social Justice Crusade and a Global War On Domestic Terror--and we have a very stressed cultural environment.

The first article, The U.S. Economy Is Rigged, very briefly points out how we got to this point--it was all done, supposedly, with good intentions--or so we were told:

Though the populist tide seems to have ebbed, it will rise again, and soon.  The problem that ignited populist sentiment in the first place, whether on the left or the right, remains: the country’s economic and financial system has failed much of the population and is rigged to the benefit of a government-business elite.  Resistance to this inequity elevated Trump and pulled the Democratic Party to the left and will continue to roil American politics until things change.

The economy’s “rigging” has developed gradually over time and often from the best of intentions. When politicians, corporate executives, pundits, journalists, academics and activists alike propose ways to make society more just or efficient or globally competitive, they invariably call for some kind of government-corporate cooperation.  Such calls always seem to offer an answer for the public good, but in practice these arrangements inevitably drift into a self-serving collusion among those charged to cooperate. 

Unintended consequences? Feature or bug? You be the judge. I say this process has proceeded as envisioned.

The second article--Another black swan in America's future?--expands on the results of this process and suggests that a destabilizing process is under way in America that could lead to a very unpredictable future.

The author first notes four events in the recent past that he categorizes as Black Swan events, brought on by the rise of the Corporate State:

1. The election of Trump;

2. Covid and the anti-science response--State and media induced mass hysteria;

3. Establishment sponsored street violence; and

4. The electoral coup--notable, he says, both for its boldness and its success.

Obviously, the 2-4 events were Corporate State responses to the first event, and were carried out by the combined forces of the major corporate sector and the Establishment political institutions.

He then moves on to the unbalanced nature of our economy in the wake of these events--while recognizing that the roots for some of this go back years:

Since mid-March of last year, while Main Street suffered economic pain from the Chinese flu lockdowns, the wealth of U.S. billionaires grew by a whopping $1.3 trillion. Here is how the top five fat cats made out in terms of wealth increase and as a percentage growth in their wealth during this past year of pain: 

Jeff Bezos — $76.3 billion (67.5%) 

Elon Musk — $158 billion (642.4%)

Bill Gates — $25.7 billion (26.2%)

Mark Zuckerberg — $41 billion (75%) 

Warren Buffett — $24.2 billion (35.8%)

How can this be justified? It can't. What it shows is that the government and the Fed are more concerned with rewarding the top 1 percent than they are the ordinary Americans. ... 

Maybe the free-market purists at places like the National Review defend this as capitalism in action, but I call it corruption of the highest rank.  The future of America has been sold for a bowl of porridge.  Funneling trillions of dollars to financiers, "woke" corporations, billionaires, and others of that ilk is no way to hold a society together.

That, of course, is part of the point in the first article--the populist trend on both Right and Left is a response to these developments of the metastisizing Corporate State, which is increasingly--under cover of the Covid Black Swan--seeking to suppress unrest across a broad spectrum of American society. The author goes on to predict major financial crises, any of which could take most people by surprise. He then concludes:

 

... Given the polarized state of the country and the lack of trust in government and other institutions, anything can happen then. Anything.

What's going on currently with the Establishment Left in Congress attempting to push through a radical agenda of self perpetuating empowerment--behind the theatrical hoax of a military occupation of the Imperial City--is undoubtedly driven in significant part by fear that, yes, anything could happen. So we'd better push this through ASAP. That, however, is unlikely, due to the inbuilt institutional inertia of the US Senate.

[BTW, for a semi-humorous take on "insurrection theater", I highly recommend another short piece at American Thinker: Dumbest ‘insurrection theatre’ stunt of the week.]

Thus, a further desperate tactic: Sowing distrust and hate within American society under the cover of Social Justice campaigns. Thus the bogeyman of White Supremacy. And yet polling shows that that desperate throw of the dice is also failing.

[For one of many examples, watch this Tucker segment. Note that the White Supremacy meme is deployed to defend the social control measures of the Covid Black Swan. I strongly recommend starting at the 6:00 mark:]

Finally, as to the Cult of Fear. Brandon Smith, via Zerohedge (How The Fight Over American Freedom Will Probably Escalate), predicts that the Ruling Elite will attempt in the near future to double down Covid Panic, precisely because their efforts to sow panic and, thus, compliance in the populace are beginning to fall short. Symptomatic of this is the growing Vax resistance as well as the trend in Red States to reopen. This latter--a manifestation of panic fatigue and a desire to return to normal life--he speculates, is what forced the obscenely premature Vax rollout. People are learning more and are now less afraid of Covid than of the Vax.

What happens next? Here is the current state of play, as Smith sees it:

The fear of coronavirus is waning. The globalists have indeed failed in epic fashion. But, this doesn’t mean that they are going to give up. If my experience studying psychopathic people tells me anything, it is that when these lunatics are cornered they tend to double and triple down on their failures.

The question is, what will happen next? The establishment will need maximum instability and chaos in the near term if they hope to salvage their Reset project. If they wait too long awareness will spread and they might not get another chance for many decades to come, if ever. Here are the events I expect to see over the course of the next year…

Covid Mutation Hype

The globalists are doomed unless they can keep the pandemic panic rolling forward. For now, puppets like Biden and Fauci are going to pretend as if a full reopening of the economy is going to happen. This us a lie. Already we are seeing Biden waffling on when a reopening will take place. He has indicated that it will be at least a YEAR before the shutdowns will completely end, and this is predicated on the majority of Americans submitting to vaccinations and medical passports.

In other words, the establishment is telling us that they intend to hold the economy hostage until we take the jab and give up our freedoms.

Signs of Smith's prediction are ready at hand. Double and Triple Masking--an obviously desperation hype move. But most prominent, or so it seems to me, is The Variant narrative. But even that seems to be falling short, as more State reopen and the percent of the population that continues to resist the Vax remains very high. The two year window until Election 2022 will not stay open much longer, until campaigning begins. Can the Dems really keep two or more balls in the air that long? The Covid Hoax ball, the Vax ball, the Insurrection Hoax ball? IMO, that'll prove tough.

To conclude, commenter Cassander has recommended a lengthy blog post that is also worth reading in its entirety: Fear is the New Smart. While the piece is mostly about vaxxing, the beginning in particular--which I'm pasting in--captures the desperation of the Ruling Elite to inculcate Fear as a reflex way of viewing the world and our fellow men. Note that there's essentially zero dissimulation going on here, no attempt to hide enormity of totalitarianism that's being advocated--a sure sign of desperation:

The Washington Post said recently: “The anti-vaccine movement is comparable to domestic terrorism, and must be treated that way”, while the Guardian had this:

“When it comes to shifting attitudes to vaccines, it is crucial to distinguish between public information campaigns that seek to educate the public and those that seek to persuade them,” said Philipp Schmid, a behavioural scientist researching vaccine scepticism at the University of Erfurt. “[..] if you don’t proactively tackle the problem at all, you end up playing catch-up with the anti-vaxxers. In a way, governments have to work on a parallel vaccine rollout – immunising the public against science denial.”

But WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said: “it’s very important for people to understand that at the moment, all we know about the vaccines is that they will very effectively reduce your risk of severe disease. We haven’t seen any evidence yet indicating whether or not they stop transmission.” And Dr. David Martin claimed: It’s Gene Therapy, Not a Vaccine. One might add: It’s not science, it’s a sales job.

Yes, it's a sales job, and what they're selling is Fear as a way of life. For the sake of future generations we should not be buying.