The following is an excerpt from commentary that originally appeared at Treasure Chests for the benefit of subscribers on Monday, April 17, 2017.
It's frustrating to think there's nothing you can do about it, because it's all around you and pervasive in our society today. It's born in human greed and the desire for power, which are the base modus operandi behind all its manifestations, from America's new found extremes in neo-fascism, to the (Western) police state, to Empire. From the lowest clerk to 'the powers that be', all are equally guilty in allowing its spread in tacitly complicit bureaucracy. It's why the Constitution of The United States of America was put in place - to protect the people from power that corrupts. We are talking about the 'lawlessness' that has gripped the ugly side of our society's collective consciousness - an unfortunate (but natural) element of the growing realization the 'good times' are gone.
Most don't realize what is happening. But for those who do and have decided to look away, or worse, participate, in the growing lawlessness that has gripped the world, shame on you. They are called the seven deadly sins, and 'deadly' is exactly what they are if widely practiced. Greed, pride, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth - it's not difficult to see all of these elements at work in the increasing vice of our collective behavior today, which unfortunately means we are losing our humanity in the process. My recent revelation concerning the per capita debt of the world equaling the value of a Dow unit, symbolizing we are essentially bankrupt as a society, is the math and figurative behind the formula. In our avarice to 'have' (without the associated work), we have borrowed to heavily from the future (via our fiat economies), and now must pay it back.
And process is accelerating in this regard. It's the end of Empire for American and the kleptocrats are not taking it well, because the decentralization process is quickening, and they are losing power. So they are reacting in classic late cycle fashion by threatening to start wars that cannot be won, to turning on the domestic population as foreign aspirations continue to harden, in looking for more defenseless victims. And while this kind of thing can go on for some time before blowback breaks out, which will likely progress into future secession movements and civil war (like in Europe now), eventually the mounting lawlessness of central authorities will be challenged in increasingly profound ways, in the end leading to wholesale status quo collapse up and down the line.
Think of Germany post World War II (WWII).
Of course US bureaucracy did not collapse post WWII. It's done nothing but expand since then, where the colossus has hundreds of vestiges now, comprising an ever expanding percentage of the workforce, just shy of the global average at 20-percent (not including contract, corporatist alliance, etc.). And this trend quickly filled the gap in Europe over the years as well, and got them back on track in leading the trend towards global socialism, which can be seen in this chart. Mature industrialized economies naturally go this way simply because the growing populations demand it. Employment must be manufactured if the manufacturing base itself must be exported in the search for cheap labor (capitalism). Germany and Japan have been able to thwart this trend through productivity improvements and superior craftsmanship, however this is not the case in the US.
No, America depends on its military, it's Empire, in order to maintain the economic stranglehold it has on the rest of the world, which as you may have guessed is a function of it's vast and embedded bureaucracy in the end. All the parasites in New York and along the Beltway must be paid by some means. So if the wealth can no longer be extracted from America alone, increasing empire must be employed. This is why its no coincidence America has more than 1000 installations and bases around the world, with military personnel in some 156 countries. And this is why somebody like Hillary Clinton can run for President and be taken seriously by the seriously deranged. And why Trump can bomb the hell out of countries in illegal acts of war with impunity - because as long as you don't screw with American Empire - you are above the law.
So it will be interesting to see how long the American Empire remains in tact with all the forces at work to decentralize the global power-base in motion these days. Because once the US is unable to export its shitty derivatives and dollars($) moving forward, it will no longer be able to finance the war machine, and America Empire will go the way of the Romans. And make no mistake, it's essentially this existential risk that is emboldening Trump right now to bomb the crap out of America's manufactured enemies (and anybody else who cannot fight back), because he's got to get his financing approved at month's end or both he, and the republic, could be in big trouble. With the US economy now showing visible signs of slowing (see here and here), don't be surprised if more of the same occurs right up until the potential government shutdown on April 29. If that occurs, then what looks like a 'consolidation' in the S&P 500 (SPX) / CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) Ratio could end up an actual reversal.
That's all for today folks. If you want to see the charts, observations, and conclusions that go along with them from this commentary, please visit our site at treasurechests.info and subscribe.
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