Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
From low-Earth orbit, we see only the mighty sprawl of immense power. The internal gearing driving contradictory dynamics is buried beneath the grandeur and the euphoria.
The consensus holds that things are looking up as the mighty forces of technology, political change and the market are all in confluence, reinforcing each other in a New Roaring 20s that will remake America and the world for the better.
The potential is certainly present, and so the question boils down to: is the system that’s in place able to accomplish all these transformative changes–including transforming itself along the way? For this is the catch in euphoric expectations–let’s call it Catch-20, in a nod to Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, in which the request to be relieved of duty due to insanity is proof of sanity.
Catch-20 is the system has to first transform itself as the means to accomplish all the wonderful things, but it’s incapable of transforming itself due to the vested interests who will move heaven and earth to keep it locked in its current configuration. The euphoric expectations are based on the belief that the system as it is today is…
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