"I forgot to get napkins. I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me." —Darializa Avila-Chevalier, primary election winner, New York’s 13th Congressional District
Happy 250th USA! Hope we're around to see birthday 251.
This problem with insanity in today's culture appears to be something that's well above and beyond something as simple as "The Democrats", or offshoots thereof. The evil behind them has very deep pockets, which also control the narratives and media today.
If this viewpoint of mine is even remotely accurate, it's looking very bumpy indeed ahead, as previous civilizations and Empires seem to mostly have a violence-related hard reset as part of the process of collapse.
"Behind Boetie's thinking was the assumption, later spelled out in great detail by David Hume, that states cannot rule by force alone. This is because the agents of government power are always outnumbered by those they rule. To insure compliance with their dictates, it is essential to convince the people that their servitude is somehow in their own interest. They do this by manufacturing ideological systems..."
~ Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
____
Kid: "Daddy? Why are there rich people?"
Dad: "What do you mean by rich? You mean like in spirit?"
Kid: "No-o-o-o-o... Like they have lots of big houses and cars and money!"
Dad: "Ohhh, you mean those kinds. Well, you see, sweetie, our society allows some people to make more money than other people, working no harder than anyone else. Society then allows those with more money to acquire more land than others. Over time, this creates the dynamic for most, if not all, problems we have in society today, from landlessness, homelessness and poverty, to social unrest, war and civilizational collapse."
Kid: "Why does society allow that?!"
Dad: "Corruption, cluelessness or both. Society uses force to uphold rules they call, 'laws', that say that one person with more money can have more land than another with less money."
Kid: "Why can't we stop that!?"
Dad: "Corruption, cluelessness or both again: This setup is upheld by people with guns and weapons, or access to them, like police, security guards and military people-- people who often don't understand this basic and very simple immoral core of our society."
Kid: " :( "
Dad: "Ya; :( "
____
"Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all."
~ Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
____
"The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation."
~ Emma Goldman
____
"Although I admit that the outcome in a stateless society will be bad, because not only are people not angels, but many of them are irredeemably vicious in the extreme, I conjecture that the outcome in a society under a state will be worse, indeed much worse, because, first, the most vicious people in society will tend to gain control of the state (Hayek 1944, 134-52; Bailey 1988; Higgs 2004, 33-56) and, second, by virtue of this control over the state's powerful engines of death and destruction, they will wreak vastly more harm than they ever could have caused outside the state (Higgs 2004, 101-05). It is unfortunate that some individuals commit crimes, but it is stunningly worse when such criminally inclined individuals wield state powers.
~ Robert Higgs, 'If Men Were Angels: The Basic Analytics of the State versus Self-government'
Emma Goldman supposedly controlled the assassins of both Garfield and McKinley with sex. In the "Red Summer" following WW1 all known Bolsheviks were rounded up and deported. Goldman fought back continuously struggling against the cops as they dragged her up the gangplank of a ship going to Russia. They finally got serious and beat the living s..t out of her and threw her over the rail onto the boat. She deserved far worse.
Higgs wrote a tour de force on the depression. It should be read by all the poor souls who believe the canard that WWII ended the depression.
Your fine quotes here endorse the idea that ideologies formed by the idea that human nature can be altered are fallacies. Such ideologies always require less liberty, more authoritarianism, never the opposite.
"If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad it is not safe to permit people to be free , how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good ? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race ? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind ?"
I saw an unsubstantiated story in the last couple days saying George Soros is scared his creation will fail in November so the GOP may keep both houses of Congress. If so, he's allegedly going to simply give up and start funding actual charities. Sure. He's spent over 80 years trying to destroy the West, and now he's going to give up if his side doesn't win?
I've also heard smoke that Soros is worried, but I haven't heard the giving up part. If anything, I think he is trying even harder, which indicates that We The People have far more power right now than we realize.
Not so long ago such behaviors would assure a blowout. Still could if The Sane actually show up for once. If they don't, Last One Out Turn Off The Lights won't apply; there won't be any lights. The masks are off. We're There.
Young and full of knowledge of stuff that ain't so. But smart enough to run in places in which the Brand simply will not lose. The four seats in question are gone. Most other places have enough of the Sane to make a difference -- if they show up.
The Party of Slavery still wants to own and control you! They’ve have destroyed everything they control, the desperation of having to illegally import illegals and barbarians from across the world to survive as a viable Political Party shows they know their policies have failed and they are racing towards oblivion!
A new People’s Party needs to be formed to compete for the People and the Republicans!
Islamists Communist spells trouble, desperation and defeat!
Thank you as always James for your knowledge and insight on the true horror of the left, and how close we are to losing our Republic. Yes, we Americans understand how morally and mentally bankrupt these most vile people are, and are very concerned about how fast their movement has grown, but what makes America different from the past communist revolutions, is the fact that we are well armed, and 1000 times more trained in defending what we believe, love and have lived for our entire lives. We are AMERICANS 💪🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 and those pink haired freaks on the left can only dream of taking down our beliefs and love for country. I know that myself and many millions of other Americans are patiently waiting for the day these most mentally unstable freaks make their move. It will be a historic day for the revival of our Republic. May God continue to bless America and those who fight for her🙏Happy Birthday America 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Just make sure you don't come to New York to resupply your ammo. Queen Kathy has New Yorkers undergo a background check for bullets.
Since I loathe the bitch, I'll add this here: Miss Integrity's husband got the concessions contract for the Buffalo Bills' new stadium after she gave almost a billion taxpayer dollars to the companies building the stadium. Why would she, a lefty, expect the billionaire Pegula family to pony up the funds themselves?
I concur with every bit of today’s dissection of the odious Democratic Party. I wish it ill, and would rejoice to see it dissolved. Trouble is, the alternative in our two-party system is the odious Republican Party which, for most of my life, has actually been the more evil of the two. Yes, there are a handful of admirable Republicans in office today, but will one of them be permitted to run things?
Similarly, I concur in not wishing for this country to be ruled by Pol Pot and a Communist regime. Sadly, the viability of an extreme left here is made inevitable by the Predatory Capitalism that has caused greater wealth disparity between ever fewer alphas at the top and just about everybody else than during the unlamented Gilded Age.
The current system permits Private Equity to devour all: from the Healthcare Cartel to HVAC services and animal hospitals, cornering those markets, jacking prices to exorbitant levels and, again, transferring more wealth ever upward.
Besides wrecking household budgets, this dynamic is wiping out small businesses, which have long been the engine of our economy’s innovation and job creation.
So, sure – let’s bury the Donkeys and dance on their graves. But, unless Predatory Capitalism is reined in, the serfs will inevitably rise up and tear it all down. Trans people with rainbow flags aren’t as skilled in demolition as brawny blue collar types with sledge hammers.
Hmmm, why are immigrants coming here and Europe? What exists about Western Civilization that draws people?
Economic opportunity. Ask them yourself.
Freedom from central control. MAGA, not all of GOP, abhors the Deep State, The Dems want central control, demand it, derive their power from it, as do the RINOS. Socialism has failed these immigrants, that is why they are here. But like Californicators, they bring their socialism with them. Remember what insanity is.
I agree with you that we have come to a point here in America where there is far too much centralization of wealth in the private sector ( are publicly traded corporations still considered private ? ) , but I think that such a state of affairs was made possible by the actions and inaction's of a corrupt and over centralized government .
" They had like one damn job " (: Somebody )and they went about doing everything but . So hell yeah break up the monopolies , bust up the trusts and all that , but restructure the tax and regulatory systems so that it encourages competition at the small local shoestring start up level . Lets foster local profit staying in the communities where these small Mom and Pops reside instead of turning into some complex financial instrument traded about on Wall street by all the big money mucky mucks . Hell , most small communities across the fruited plain have already turned into the modern equivalent of 'Pottersville's ' with huge entities like freakin Blackrock and Bain and so on owning every damn thing . it sucks, soon " all restaruants really will be Taco Bell " ( quote from 'The Demolition Man ') at this rate .
For all you rock ribbed country club repubs out there , sorry but capitalism itself is neither moral or immoral , its a tool that depending upon who is using it can go either way , and its gone way too far one way ,and as I said before it sucks .
Its all about the decentralization of control ,back down to the most local level possible ,of both government and business and that is my antidote , an antidote not without some required suffering and discomfort to achieve its ends but an antidote just the same . As if there even is an antidote where nobody has to take a haircut (their really isn't, not really )
Kudos for acknowledging that this, like most issues, is not binary. Some prolific voices here pretend that, since Communism is not a good system, what we have now is just fine. It's not the least damned bit fine.
Blackrock is our Politburo and Peter Thiel is positioning himself to be our Pol Pot. The rededication to a system which promotes and supports vital communities and that you advocate is our only alternative to a miserable future. Without it, choose your poison.
This week we've seen reports estimating that President Trump and his family have added roughly **$2 billion** to their wealth since returning to the White House, with a significant portion tied to cryptocurrency ventures. What's especially troubling is the lack of transparency about who is investing. If wealthy foreign interests can profit the President's crypto enterprises while simultaneously seeking favorable treatment from his administration, that presents an obvious conflict of interest that deserves serious scrutiny.
That brings me to Kunstler's question about the **$370 billion** in Inflation Reduction Act climate funding overseen by John Podesta. I have no objection whatsoever to auditing those funds. If money was improperly awarded, mismanaged, or diverted for political purposes, investigate it thoroughly. If laws were broken, hold people accountable.
What I object to is the double standard.
Republicans spent years investigating the so-called "Biden crime family." Despite extensive investigations, no evidence emerged showing Joe Biden personally profited from the corruption allegations that were so confidently promoted.
Meanwhile, we have a sitting President whose personal financial interests are intertwined with ventures that can accept investments from people whose identities are not fully transparent. That strikes me as a far more immediate ethics concern than insinuations about what *might* have happened with climate grants.
Kunstler has a gift for directing readers' attention to one hand while the other escapes scrutiny. By all means, audit every dollar of the climate program. But let's apply the same standard to the President's own financial dealings. Accountability shouldn't depend on which party is involved.
I tend to agree Jeff, but…… you can’t possibly believe that Biden‘s Department of Justice investigating Biden‘s corruption was legitimate? Joe Biden has been grifting off of taxpayer money in a government job since he was in his 30s, and all of hunter’s misdeeds and being placed on board of Ukrainian companies? you cannot be serious that you believe that was on the up&up? Also, Democrats are famous for funneling taxpayer money into NGO’s, which then fund the DNC and hire lots and lots of lefty government jobs & college activists. Thank every protest you’ve ever seen. Now that those are being dismantled and the SPLC has been outed as a total fraud that funded the KKK side of things in order to stir shit up, the DNC is sucking wind for donations. Act blue is dead. If the only way the Democrats could raise money was by hiding behind back doors, what is there about that party that is legit? I’m not saying that it has always been that way, but it sure has been crooked since the Clintons. On Trump and the cryptocurrency question, and I don’t know anything about it, admittedly, is Trump using tax payer money? Is he investing his own money? These are two very very different things and not two different sides of the same coin.
Trump is betting ON America, without money from the Treasury collected via taxation . The construct known as 'Biden ' ,betting AGAINST America , took $370 billion in tax revenue and turned it into some form of anti American slush fund or another . So while both may be considered unethical in the strictest technical sense I see miles of difference between the two examples .
BS. That's a cop out. The point is that we should be investigating everything that appears to be suspicious to a point requiring further investigation.
Is your point that since they all do it...that we shouldn't care that Trump just reported earnings of $1.4B of an investment model that's ripe for quid-pro-quo?
I despise the "both sides do it" argument because it doesn't help resolve the issue nor do I find the concept equally applied. For example...they didn't find any corruption when they investigated Biden...so actually...the whole "both sides do it" is a misapplied concept with him.
Jeff----I think most people on this site would agree that grift is bad regardless of whether it is done by Rs or Dem/Marxists and I have been complaining about Mitch McConnel from KY is just as bad as the Bidens. I wonder how much money he and his Chinese connected wife have put away in a safe place for their families ?
But....my question to you is------did you complain about Biden's and almost every other Dem/Marxists grift over the years ? Did you complain about the Clinton's obvious grift in Haiti or their Foundation grift and......the sellout of Hillary and the uranium sale to the Ruskies? Even a peep?
Yes, if any grift went on with Trump's relatives, they should be dealt with but how about putting them to the back of the line and as soon as you and all of the Ds get on board with putting all of the Dem/Marxists in jail, I will be supporting any and all investigations into Trump's family. And......let the courts and a jury in the middle of fly over country be the site for the trials?
This Canadian wishes all my American neighbours a very happy Independence Day tomorrow. That the American experiment has lasted 250 years is a tribute to your people. Just ignore what John Glubb Pasha had to say about 250th anniversaries
Federalism was stabbed in 1861 and bled out in 1913, Raymond. Much good survives in the USA but we've become as centralized as the Roman Empire. Not quite France level, yet, and that keeps us alive, as when different states pursued different COVID policies.
The SCOTUS decision in Trump v Slaughter will be the undoing of the entrenched deep state apparatus of the federal government.
The aptly named Slaughter decision was God’s injection of humor into what can now take place in finally severing that behemoth’s unconstitutional boot on our neck once and for all.
Even the likes of Fauxahontas & Bernie Bro oldsters believe “what’s yours is mine” too, so this new wave of “whipper-snappers” just seem more angry & honest about it.
I read recently in another ‘Stack that republicans have been quietly backing some of these radicals to oust more “moderate” dems & while I know they’ve done the same to republican candidates, it seems a very dangerous game if there is voter apathy afoot (very common in midterms) & a small cadre of radicals seriously motivated to get out & vote. Which seems to be at least 1 reason these DSAs won in the 1st place.
Latest democrat campaign slogan: Vote for us, we want to destroy your country, kill you, steal your stuff and indoctrinate your kids just before we cut their nuts and breasts off. Amazingly, it seems to resonate with a large number of their potential voting base.
They're not hiding it anymore. The spokesperson for the Maine AFL-CIO, is calling for the execution of those who oppose the degenerate Senate candidate.
"Andy O'Brien, a top Graham Platner fanboy and the face of the Maine AFL-CIO, posted Monday that a Democratic consultant who opposes Platner should be executed by firing squad after the "revolution."
JSW, such a good pickup! The unions, particularly the large ones, are neck-deep in the marxist move to overthrow the USA. You tagged the Maine AFL-CIO.
On May Day (May 1, 2026) I was at the DSA area in Boston (I visited among other marxist groups as well). The UAW was clearly and brazenly arm-in-arm with their Comrades at the DSA site in Columbus Park (on the edge of Boston's North End), wearing t-shirts declaring solidarity with DSA.
Get rid of crony capitalism or you get socialism. At some point, young people whose future has been sold down the river of corporate monopoly crony capitalism will find a solution. Now they're trying this one. Offer a better alternative, like dynamic America of 1912, and only the Eugene Debs types (a small number) will choose socialism.
Happy 250th USA! Hope we're around to see birthday 251.
This problem with insanity in today's culture appears to be something that's well above and beyond something as simple as "The Democrats", or offshoots thereof. The evil behind them has very deep pockets, which also control the narratives and media today.
If this viewpoint of mine is even remotely accurate, it's looking very bumpy indeed ahead, as previous civilizations and Empires seem to mostly have a violence-related hard reset as part of the process of collapse.
Soft Landing? Uh, quite a longshot at this point.
Speaking of "long shots," I recommend keeping your firearms handy.
Mr. Thorson----firearms also require ammo------and having a lot is much better than having a little. My suggestion---stock up.
You may also want to invest in the tools to make your own of your favorite calibre.
Google "mouse utopia" and give it a read.
~ It's The System, Stupid ~
____
"Behind Boetie's thinking was the assumption, later spelled out in great detail by David Hume, that states cannot rule by force alone. This is because the agents of government power are always outnumbered by those they rule. To insure compliance with their dictates, it is essential to convince the people that their servitude is somehow in their own interest. They do this by manufacturing ideological systems..."
~ Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
____
Kid: "Daddy? Why are there rich people?"
Dad: "What do you mean by rich? You mean like in spirit?"
Kid: "No-o-o-o-o... Like they have lots of big houses and cars and money!"
Dad: "Ohhh, you mean those kinds. Well, you see, sweetie, our society allows some people to make more money than other people, working no harder than anyone else. Society then allows those with more money to acquire more land than others. Over time, this creates the dynamic for most, if not all, problems we have in society today, from landlessness, homelessness and poverty, to social unrest, war and civilizational collapse."
Kid: "Why does society allow that?!"
Dad: "Corruption, cluelessness or both. Society uses force to uphold rules they call, 'laws', that say that one person with more money can have more land than another with less money."
Kid: "Why can't we stop that!?"
Dad: "Corruption, cluelessness or both again: This setup is upheld by people with guns and weapons, or access to them, like police, security guards and military people-- people who often don't understand this basic and very simple immoral core of our society."
Kid: " :( "
Dad: "Ya; :( "
____
"Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all."
~ Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
____
"The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation."
~ Emma Goldman
____
"Although I admit that the outcome in a stateless society will be bad, because not only are people not angels, but many of them are irredeemably vicious in the extreme, I conjecture that the outcome in a society under a state will be worse, indeed much worse, because, first, the most vicious people in society will tend to gain control of the state (Hayek 1944, 134-52; Bailey 1988; Higgs 2004, 33-56) and, second, by virtue of this control over the state's powerful engines of death and destruction, they will wreak vastly more harm than they ever could have caused outside the state (Higgs 2004, 101-05). It is unfortunate that some individuals commit crimes, but it is stunningly worse when such criminally inclined individuals wield state powers.
~ Robert Higgs, 'If Men Were Angels: The Basic Analytics of the State versus Self-government'
Emma Goldman supposedly controlled the assassins of both Garfield and McKinley with sex. In the "Red Summer" following WW1 all known Bolsheviks were rounded up and deported. Goldman fought back continuously struggling against the cops as they dragged her up the gangplank of a ship going to Russia. They finally got serious and beat the living s..t out of her and threw her over the rail onto the boat. She deserved far worse.
Higgs wrote a tour de force on the depression. It should be read by all the poor souls who believe the canard that WWII ended the depression.
Your fine quotes here endorse the idea that ideologies formed by the idea that human nature can be altered are fallacies. Such ideologies always require less liberty, more authoritarianism, never the opposite.
"If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad it is not safe to permit people to be free , how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good ? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race ? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind ?"
Frederic Bastiat
I saw an unsubstantiated story in the last couple days saying George Soros is scared his creation will fail in November so the GOP may keep both houses of Congress. If so, he's allegedly going to simply give up and start funding actual charities. Sure. He's spent over 80 years trying to destroy the West, and now he's going to give up if his side doesn't win?
Job 1: Send George Soros to Gaza.
Add his son, too.
And Huma?
His son will continue this attack.
I've also heard smoke that Soros is worried, but I haven't heard the giving up part. If anything, I think he is trying even harder, which indicates that We The People have far more power right now than we realize.
We The People 🇺🇸 have all the Power, there are more than 300 Million of us vs The Tyrants and their lost Brown Shirts Sheep!
Thank God for our Founders and all the Patriots who have fought to keep us Free.
Happy Birthday America 🇺🇸 everyone one of us, even you Smoking The Drapes Num Nuts!
Enjoy our 250th Fourth of July 🇺🇸 Celebrations!
I'd ask if you saw it at the Babylon Bee but those articles often come true.....
The Bee suffers from the affect noted by Art Buchwald: Satire struggles to get beyond reality.
God, Art Buchwald. Still brilliant after all these years.
“Yeah! That’s the ticket!” He’s also gonna ask Morgan Fairchild, whooom I dated, out to dinner. Yeah…..
Not so long ago such behaviors would assure a blowout. Still could if The Sane actually show up for once. If they don't, Last One Out Turn Off The Lights won't apply; there won't be any lights. The masks are off. We're There.
The four Dems will get elected. No amount of "sanity" Will prevent it.
Besides democratic socialism, did you notice if there was anything else in common to the four of them?
Young and full of knowledge of stuff that ain't so. But smart enough to run in places in which the Brand simply will not lose. The four seats in question are gone. Most other places have enough of the Sane to make a difference -- if they show up.
OK, I'll bite.
All of them are jihadis, weeping for Arab-occupied Palestine, hating Jews, and with a deep antipathy towards Christianity and western values.
Five of the seven of them are childless. It appears that the hand that throws the molotov is disinclined to rock the cradle.
Talking of antipathy to Christianity, did you know the only Jews not allowed to settle in Israel are Christian Jews?
The only redeeming quality of this queer, islamo-fascist DSA movement is its cannibalistic nature.
The cannibalism usually doesn't start until AFTER a whole lot of innocent people get killed.
Yup. Within the party:
At first, they come for traditional (JFK) Democrats (RFK Jr., Gabbard, Manchin, Fetterman, etc.);
Then, they come for contemporary liberal Democrats (Pelosi, Schumer, Durbin, Clinton);
Then, they come for progressive Democrats (Jeffries, AOC, Booker);
Then, they turn on each other, as all Marxist revolutions do, and it becomes a Last-Man-Standing operation.
The Party of Slavery still wants to own and control you! They’ve have destroyed everything they control, the desperation of having to illegally import illegals and barbarians from across the world to survive as a viable Political Party shows they know their policies have failed and they are racing towards oblivion!
A new People’s Party needs to be formed to compete for the People and the Republicans!
Islamists Communist spells trouble, desperation and defeat!
Thank you as always James for your knowledge and insight on the true horror of the left, and how close we are to losing our Republic. Yes, we Americans understand how morally and mentally bankrupt these most vile people are, and are very concerned about how fast their movement has grown, but what makes America different from the past communist revolutions, is the fact that we are well armed, and 1000 times more trained in defending what we believe, love and have lived for our entire lives. We are AMERICANS 💪🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 and those pink haired freaks on the left can only dream of taking down our beliefs and love for country. I know that myself and many millions of other Americans are patiently waiting for the day these most mentally unstable freaks make their move. It will be a historic day for the revival of our Republic. May God continue to bless America and those who fight for her🙏Happy Birthday America 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Drastic ends for those that attempt Evil’s outcomes is the only solution. There is no negotiation with Satan.
I have three words for the whack-job lefties:
Bring It On.
Also, AMF (which does not stand for Adios My Friend).
Just make sure you don't come to New York to resupply your ammo. Queen Kathy has New Yorkers undergo a background check for bullets.
Since I loathe the bitch, I'll add this here: Miss Integrity's husband got the concessions contract for the Buffalo Bills' new stadium after she gave almost a billion taxpayer dollars to the companies building the stadium. Why would she, a lefty, expect the billionaire Pegula family to pony up the funds themselves?
The same here in CA regarding ammo. Background check every time you purchase.
But not for voting
The irony.
LOL!
You just can't make this shtuff up.
Thanks.
$$$$
I concur with every bit of today’s dissection of the odious Democratic Party. I wish it ill, and would rejoice to see it dissolved. Trouble is, the alternative in our two-party system is the odious Republican Party which, for most of my life, has actually been the more evil of the two. Yes, there are a handful of admirable Republicans in office today, but will one of them be permitted to run things?
Similarly, I concur in not wishing for this country to be ruled by Pol Pot and a Communist regime. Sadly, the viability of an extreme left here is made inevitable by the Predatory Capitalism that has caused greater wealth disparity between ever fewer alphas at the top and just about everybody else than during the unlamented Gilded Age.
The current system permits Private Equity to devour all: from the Healthcare Cartel to HVAC services and animal hospitals, cornering those markets, jacking prices to exorbitant levels and, again, transferring more wealth ever upward.
Besides wrecking household budgets, this dynamic is wiping out small businesses, which have long been the engine of our economy’s innovation and job creation.
So, sure – let’s bury the Donkeys and dance on their graves. But, unless Predatory Capitalism is reined in, the serfs will inevitably rise up and tear it all down. Trans people with rainbow flags aren’t as skilled in demolition as brawny blue collar types with sledge hammers.
Hmmm, why are immigrants coming here and Europe? What exists about Western Civilization that draws people?
Economic opportunity. Ask them yourself.
Freedom from central control. MAGA, not all of GOP, abhors the Deep State, The Dems want central control, demand it, derive their power from it, as do the RINOS. Socialism has failed these immigrants, that is why they are here. But like Californicators, they bring their socialism with them. Remember what insanity is.
Regardless of where you stand politically,, remember that "The Long Emergency" was published over 20 years ago and remember who authored it.
TC
People here say that JHK does not know what he is talking about and his predictions are hooey.
To me, they are right on schedule, if not ahead of schedule.
I agree with you that we have come to a point here in America where there is far too much centralization of wealth in the private sector ( are publicly traded corporations still considered private ? ) , but I think that such a state of affairs was made possible by the actions and inaction's of a corrupt and over centralized government .
" They had like one damn job " (: Somebody )and they went about doing everything but . So hell yeah break up the monopolies , bust up the trusts and all that , but restructure the tax and regulatory systems so that it encourages competition at the small local shoestring start up level . Lets foster local profit staying in the communities where these small Mom and Pops reside instead of turning into some complex financial instrument traded about on Wall street by all the big money mucky mucks . Hell , most small communities across the fruited plain have already turned into the modern equivalent of 'Pottersville's ' with huge entities like freakin Blackrock and Bain and so on owning every damn thing . it sucks, soon " all restaruants really will be Taco Bell " ( quote from 'The Demolition Man ') at this rate .
For all you rock ribbed country club repubs out there , sorry but capitalism itself is neither moral or immoral , its a tool that depending upon who is using it can go either way , and its gone way too far one way ,and as I said before it sucks .
Its all about the decentralization of control ,back down to the most local level possible ,of both government and business and that is my antidote , an antidote not without some required suffering and discomfort to achieve its ends but an antidote just the same . As if there even is an antidote where nobody has to take a haircut (their really isn't, not really )
Kudos for acknowledging that this, like most issues, is not binary. Some prolific voices here pretend that, since Communism is not a good system, what we have now is just fine. It's not the least damned bit fine.
Blackrock is our Politburo and Peter Thiel is positioning himself to be our Pol Pot. The rededication to a system which promotes and supports vital communities and that you advocate is our only alternative to a miserable future. Without it, choose your poison.
This week we've seen reports estimating that President Trump and his family have added roughly **$2 billion** to their wealth since returning to the White House, with a significant portion tied to cryptocurrency ventures. What's especially troubling is the lack of transparency about who is investing. If wealthy foreign interests can profit the President's crypto enterprises while simultaneously seeking favorable treatment from his administration, that presents an obvious conflict of interest that deserves serious scrutiny.
That brings me to Kunstler's question about the **$370 billion** in Inflation Reduction Act climate funding overseen by John Podesta. I have no objection whatsoever to auditing those funds. If money was improperly awarded, mismanaged, or diverted for political purposes, investigate it thoroughly. If laws were broken, hold people accountable.
What I object to is the double standard.
Republicans spent years investigating the so-called "Biden crime family." Despite extensive investigations, no evidence emerged showing Joe Biden personally profited from the corruption allegations that were so confidently promoted.
Meanwhile, we have a sitting President whose personal financial interests are intertwined with ventures that can accept investments from people whose identities are not fully transparent. That strikes me as a far more immediate ethics concern than insinuations about what *might* have happened with climate grants.
Kunstler has a gift for directing readers' attention to one hand while the other escapes scrutiny. By all means, audit every dollar of the climate program. But let's apply the same standard to the President's own financial dealings. Accountability shouldn't depend on which party is involved.
I tend to agree Jeff, but…… you can’t possibly believe that Biden‘s Department of Justice investigating Biden‘s corruption was legitimate? Joe Biden has been grifting off of taxpayer money in a government job since he was in his 30s, and all of hunter’s misdeeds and being placed on board of Ukrainian companies? you cannot be serious that you believe that was on the up&up? Also, Democrats are famous for funneling taxpayer money into NGO’s, which then fund the DNC and hire lots and lots of lefty government jobs & college activists. Thank every protest you’ve ever seen. Now that those are being dismantled and the SPLC has been outed as a total fraud that funded the KKK side of things in order to stir shit up, the DNC is sucking wind for donations. Act blue is dead. If the only way the Democrats could raise money was by hiding behind back doors, what is there about that party that is legit? I’m not saying that it has always been that way, but it sure has been crooked since the Clintons. On Trump and the cryptocurrency question, and I don’t know anything about it, admittedly, is Trump using tax payer money? Is he investing his own money? These are two very very different things and not two different sides of the same coin.
Trump is betting ON America, without money from the Treasury collected via taxation . The construct known as 'Biden ' ,betting AGAINST America , took $370 billion in tax revenue and turned it into some form of anti American slush fund or another . So while both may be considered unethical in the strictest technical sense I see miles of difference between the two examples .
Yawn....they all do it.
BS. That's a cop out. The point is that we should be investigating everything that appears to be suspicious to a point requiring further investigation.
Is your point that since they all do it...that we shouldn't care that Trump just reported earnings of $1.4B of an investment model that's ripe for quid-pro-quo?
I despise the "both sides do it" argument because it doesn't help resolve the issue nor do I find the concept equally applied. For example...they didn't find any corruption when they investigated Biden...so actually...the whole "both sides do it" is a misapplied concept with him.
Jeff----I think most people on this site would agree that grift is bad regardless of whether it is done by Rs or Dem/Marxists and I have been complaining about Mitch McConnel from KY is just as bad as the Bidens. I wonder how much money he and his Chinese connected wife have put away in a safe place for their families ?
But....my question to you is------did you complain about Biden's and almost every other Dem/Marxists grift over the years ? Did you complain about the Clinton's obvious grift in Haiti or their Foundation grift and......the sellout of Hillary and the uranium sale to the Ruskies? Even a peep?
Yes, if any grift went on with Trump's relatives, they should be dealt with but how about putting them to the back of the line and as soon as you and all of the Ds get on board with putting all of the Dem/Marxists in jail, I will be supporting any and all investigations into Trump's family. And......let the courts and a jury in the middle of fly over country be the site for the trials?
This Canadian wishes all my American neighbours a very happy Independence Day tomorrow. That the American experiment has lasted 250 years is a tribute to your people. Just ignore what John Glubb Pasha had to say about 250th anniversaries
Federalism was stabbed in 1861 and bled out in 1913, Raymond. Much good survives in the USA but we've become as centralized as the Roman Empire. Not quite France level, yet, and that keeps us alive, as when different states pursued different COVID policies.
Happy belated Canada d-eh!
The SCOTUS decision in Trump v Slaughter will be the undoing of the entrenched deep state apparatus of the federal government.
The aptly named Slaughter decision was God’s injection of humor into what can now take place in finally severing that behemoth’s unconstitutional boot on our neck once and for all.
Even the likes of Fauxahontas & Bernie Bro oldsters believe “what’s yours is mine” too, so this new wave of “whipper-snappers” just seem more angry & honest about it.
I read recently in another ‘Stack that republicans have been quietly backing some of these radicals to oust more “moderate” dems & while I know they’ve done the same to republican candidates, it seems a very dangerous game if there is voter apathy afoot (very common in midterms) & a small cadre of radicals seriously motivated to get out & vote. Which seems to be at least 1 reason these DSAs won in the 1st place.
Latest democrat campaign slogan: Vote for us, we want to destroy your country, kill you, steal your stuff and indoctrinate your kids just before we cut their nuts and breasts off. Amazingly, it seems to resonate with a large number of their potential voting base.
Burning down their 15-minute cities.
They're not hiding it anymore. The spokesperson for the Maine AFL-CIO, is calling for the execution of those who oppose the degenerate Senate candidate.
"Andy O'Brien, a top Graham Platner fanboy and the face of the Maine AFL-CIO, posted Monday that a Democratic consultant who opposes Platner should be executed by firing squad after the "revolution."
https://x.com/SteveRob/status/2071696173535006850
JSW, such a good pickup! The unions, particularly the large ones, are neck-deep in the marxist move to overthrow the USA. You tagged the Maine AFL-CIO.
On May Day (May 1, 2026) I was at the DSA area in Boston (I visited among other marxist groups as well). The UAW was clearly and brazenly arm-in-arm with their Comrades at the DSA site in Columbus Park (on the edge of Boston's North End), wearing t-shirts declaring solidarity with DSA.
Get rid of crony capitalism or you get socialism. At some point, young people whose future has been sold down the river of corporate monopoly crony capitalism will find a solution. Now they're trying this one. Offer a better alternative, like dynamic America of 1912, and only the Eugene Debs types (a small number) will choose socialism.
Happy 250th to all! God Bless America 🙏🏻♥️🇺🇸