Comments by "Curious Crow" (@CuriousCrow-mp4cx) on "We’re entering the Age of Aggression – a new era in political economy" video.
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How does Elon square importing foreign labour without training American citizens to do the work he wants migrants to do?
By now, you should be feeling a little unsettled, as you should be. Embrace that feeling and go where it leads you. It will remove the scales from your eyes about the nature of Musk, Trump, and all the post-truth authoritarian populist spivs who claim to represent "the people." They don't. They represent themselves, their kith and kin, and who is in their pack. And it isn't you, nor your loved ones, your peers, or your class. You think extortion can benefit you? Then why not elect a modern Al Capone? who is extracting his cut from you and your class right now. Your grievances are valid, but misdirected. Foreign corporations do not run your economy. They do not set the rules you live by. Nor to they tell you it's your fault that you are a failure according to their standards, when you have to go bankrupt to pay your medical bills. Did you ever watch the HBO series "Succession"? There's a line in the script of Season 1 Episode 9 where the wealthy media mogul Patriarch of the family says:
"I don’t like being outside the US for too long... There's a mercilessness I miss... Fucking without a rubber. Everywhere else feels soft... All of it. Slaves, cotton and sugar. This country was nothing but an off-shore factory for turning evil into hard currency ."
The last sentence was broadcast as:
"This country was nothing but an offshore factory for turning suffering into gold."
Suffering was almost always part of the deal until 1945, when America got "soft" as the means to prevent communism or socialism taking over. The GI Bill stopped the repeat of what happened after the end of World War I. Unions were allowed, and wages were allowed to rise so that Consumerism could be embedded, and American exports could flow outwards to the territories of the old world that was being rebuilt. American multinationals could walk in through the doors American politicians had kicked down as the price for fighting a 2nd world war. And American workers enjoyed the benefits that came. But, it was built on shifting sands. The American economic empire was a victim of its own success. It couldn't last when fighting communism was so damn expensive, even though American banks were in cahoots with British and European banks to get around US capital controls. Fear. Everyone needed USD and US Treasuries, but there were never enough. American bankers created securitisation of debt in an attempt to fill the gap, but as a consequence, put in place the foundations of the house of cards what would come crashing down in 2008. You know the rest. The postwar consensus was too expensive for elites to maintain, and a demographic and technological shift ensured it's demise. The American Dream, could not withstand reality. And all through that American elites did not care about you and yours. They did what they did for you to prevent you picking up the pitchforks. And so, using the insights of politics, economics, and psychology, they sought another method - the Enemy Within. Old wine in new bottles BTW. Every empire has used it in its old disguise as Divide and Rule, and America was no different. Blacks and immigrants, were always convenient scapegoats with thing went wrong. And the politicians could harvest your resentment and make political capital out of it. But, when things continue to go bad, you need new scapegoats to deny and deflect from the reality. So trans, BLM, Antifa, Immigrants, Blacks, and finally foreign corporations. How convenient.
What doesn't change is that American workers continue to suffer. Sufferings part of the deal. Nevermind the employees' slice of the GDP pie keeps shrinking year after year, whilst fat cats get fatter year after year.
Extortion rackets never end well, and the costs outweigh the benefits. Especially as your favourite elites like Musk and Trump will inflict the costs of those tariffs on consumers like you. So your standard of living will fall, as importers pass on the added costs of tariffs on to you, the consumer.
Now, with the fires in California, there's going to be an uplift in inflation, even before Trump can apply any tariffs, which add more inflation on top. If your feeling the pinch now, just wait until Easter if Trump starts throwing out tariffs like confetti in his first 100 days. If the more grounded analysis wins out, Trump will impose very few tariffs, and those will be symbolic. If it doesn't, you had better punch some extra holes in your belt, because it will need to cinch tighter to hold your pants up. Good Luck.
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