Exploring the root causes of West's decay

Our problems are systemic, baked in the system of incentives that define Western Civilization. As we now know, the solutions could be quite straightforward.

In his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly in October 2014, Noam Chomsky opened with the statement that, "Many of the world's problems are so intractable that it's hard to think of ways even to take steps toward mitigating them." Since that speech, circumstances only deteriorated further and in addition to the festering social, political and economic crises plaguing the developed world, we find ourselves inexorably sliding toward another World War.

Why are our economies chronically in crises? Why are the poverty rates rising? Why do we have people sleeping on the streets? Given the extraordinary levels of productivity of modern industrial economies, how come we aren’t battling crises of overabundance or feel anxious about how to properly enjoy it all? Furthermore, given that all sane people around the world detest war, why are we seemingly so powerless to prevent it? Do all these wars result from the democratic will of the people?

Clearly, this is not the case, so there must be some systemic disfunction at the core of our “democracies,” which perverts the will of the people and runs its destructive course regardless of what people want. Indeed, our democracies seem to have a dark magic to them as they increasingly deliver much of what the people abhor (misery at home and mayhem abroad), while failing to deliver what the people do desire, like liberty, prosperity and security.

In this, our democracies seem to display many of the same exact symptoms of disfunction that have plagued oligarchic, imperial powers from Greek antiquity down to the present day. Last week I had the privilege to join one of my favorite historians, Matthew Ehret for a free-ranging discussion on these matters. In part two of the interview, we focus on many of those symptoms, where they originate from, but also on solutions that could help us change course and turn the tide of history toward a better future for humanity. The 55-min. segment is available at the following link:

https://rumble.com/v4ftf2c-connecting-the-dots-with-matt-ehret-and-guest-alex-krainer-part-2.html

Alex Krainer – @NakedHedgie is the creator of I-System Trend Following and publisher of daily TrendCompass investor reports which cover over 200 financial and commodities markets. One-month test drive is always free of charge, no jumping through hoops to cancel. To start your trial subscription, drop us an email at TrendCompass@ISystem-TF.com

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