Category Archives: Capitalism in Decay

Capitalism in Decay

USAID, Democrat as much as Republican

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Grayzone report on the International Republican Institute’s sponsorship of trans events in Bangladesh, IRI’s funding coming from the National Endowment for Democracy.

So why did transgender people make up a quarter of the IRI program’s participants, in a country of 173 million where a 2022 census found they comprise just 0.007% of the population? The IRI documents suggest it’s because the Institute views gay and transgender people as uniquely disruptive actors who can be deployed to manipulate political realities overseas: “Facing discrimination and prejudice, LGBTI people tend to participate in social change activities to eventually bring changes to politics.”

    Also:

All told, between March 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020, the Republican group sponsored 160 photographs, 30 paintings, 21 theatrical shows, five short films, three “transgender dance performances,” three documentaries, two rap songs and accompanying music videos, and one book. Meanwhile, IRI staff had “identified over 170 democratic activists who would cooperate with IRI to destabilize Bangladesh’s politics,” they wrote. 

Using wokeness in service of a political agenda to overthrow a country’s government and install a US aligned regime. Yeh, that sounds about right.

https://thegrayzone.com/2025/02/07/republicans-transgender-dance-bangladesh/

Capitalism in Decay

Understanding Trump as Ubu Roi

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In explaining the Trump phenomenon, intelligence might hinder one’s understanding of “the don”. Highly intelligent people tend to attempt to want to make order out of chaos and sense out of nonsense. They have a hard time understanding an intellect that is subpar, in a person who has achieved such heights of political power; they’re inclined to think that there must be something there they are not seeing.

The more they scrutinize the situation, the more they connect dots that should be but aren’t there. Kevin Barret had an interesting article comparing Trump to Ubu Roi and I think he may be on to something there, perhaps, that could help us understand from a less educated perspective.

The don appears to be working from more of a mob boss mentality and it’s hard for intellectuals to understand this more instinctual, “might makes right” position, as opposed to a more traditional and diplomatic, civilized perspective.

Trump has been sent by the Masters to paint a total strategic loss as a victory, and from what I’m seeing, his strategy is this: if there’s no way to stop the Russians in Ukraine, then we’ll just grab whatever we want to show how big and strong we are, by beating up a bunch of smaller countries and economically canabalizing the E.U. vassal states, like Saturn devouring his children.

We’ll see if he is really stupid enough to follow through on his claim to seize Gaza. Perhaps there’s something more to Trump’s maneuvers, as the world is unifying against this outrageous crime. Will he actually force the Israelis into the two-state solution they fear most, or a one-state solution of the Israelis and Palestinians, as the Iranians have long advocated? It seems to be kind of leaning more towards the Ubu Roi perspective, right now.

Capitalism in Decay

The Seeds Of Social Revolution: Extreme Wealth Inequality

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[ . . . ]

For a rundown of the policies that have exacerbated wealth inequality, consider the following excerpts from Time magazine, September 2020: The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90% — And That’s Made the U.S. Less Secure.

“There are some who blame the current plight of working Americans on structural changes in the underlying economy–on automation, and especially on globalization. According to this popular narrative, the lower wages of the past 40 years were the unfortunate but necessary price of keeping American businesses competitive in an increasingly cutthroat global market. But in fact, the $50 trillion transfer of wealth the RAND report documents has occurred entirely within the American economy, not between it and its trading partners. No, this upward redistribution of income, wealth, and power wasn’t inevitable; it was a choice–a direct result of the trickle-down policies we chose to implement since 1975.

We chose to cut taxes on billionaires and to deregulate the financial industry. We chose to allow CEOs to manipulate share prices through stock buybacks, and to lavishly reward themselves with the proceeds. We chose to permit giant corporations, through mergers and acquisitions, to accumulate the vast monopoly power necessary to dictate both prices charged and wages paid. We chose to erode the minimum wage and the overtime threshold and the bargaining power of labor. For four decades, we chose to elect political leaders who put the material interests of the rich and powerful above those of the American people.”

[ . . . ]

Here’s the data on our asymmetric distribution of wealth again. You can skip this if you’ve already seen the charts.

The RAND study Trends in Income From 1975 to 2018 concluded that capital siphoned $50 trillion from labor from 1975 to 2018.

Using data from the Federal Reserve’s FRED database (series A4102E1A156NBEA), correspondent Alain M. calculated the actual sum for the period 1970 to 2022 (2022 being the most recent data available) was a staggering $149 trillion: his spreadsheet is available here as a PDF: Employees Share of Gross Domestic Income 1970-2022.

If wage earners’ share of Gross Domestic Income had remained at 51% instead of declining to 43%, wage earners would have received an additional $149 trillion over those 52 years.

Read more

https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-seeds-of-social-revolution-extreme.html

Capitalism in Decay, Uncategorized

Goodbye Middle Class: Half Of All American Workers Make Less Than $43,222.81 A Year

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by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

It is that time of the year again.

The Social Security Administration has finally released the final wage statistics for 2023, and they are quite sobering.

According to the report, last year the “median wage” in this country was just $43,222.81. In other words, half of all American workers made less than $43,222.81, and half of all American workers made more than $43,222.81.

That is terrible news, because the cost of living has been rising much faster than paycheck have. More people are being squeezed out of the middle class with each passing day, but most Americans don’t even realize that this is happening because the media isn’t really talking about it.

Poverty, homelessness and hunger are all growing all around us, and if we stay on the path that we are on the middle class will continue to be systematically eviscerated.

Once upon a time, the vast majority of the country could afford to live a middle class lifestyle.

But now those days are long gone.

A study that was recently released found that it now takes more than $100,000 a year for a typical U.S. household to live “the American Dream” in all 50 states, and in 29 U.S. states it takes more than $150,000 a year…

A household would have to spend more than $150,000 a year to live the dream in 29 of the 50 states, according to an analysis published in April by the personal finance site GOBankingRates.

According to the report, the optimal American lifestyle would cost $137,842 a year in Ohio, $147,535 in Texas, $159,932 in Florida, $194,067 in New York and $245,723 in California.

The state that has the lowest cost of living is Mississippi.

Living the American Dream only costs $109,516 a year in that state.

Needless to say, someone earning $43,222.81 a year is not going to be able to live the American Dream anywhere in the nation.

Even if there are two people earning $43,222.81 a year in the same household, that still isn’t going to get you anywhere close to living the American Dream.

When I was growing up, my father worked and my mother stayed home with the kids, and we were still able to live a middle class lifestyle.

But now most households cannot afford to live a middle class lifestyle even if both parents are working.

After reading that, is there anyone out there that would like to disagree with me about the fact that we have been experiencing a long-term economic decline?

What I have been warning about all these years has been slowly but steadily playing out right in front of our eyes.

Not too long ago, a Wall Street Journal/NORC poll found that only about one-third of the entire U.S. population actually believes that the American Dream “is still alive”…

Only about a third of U.S. adults believe the American dream is still alive, a Wall Street Journal/NORC poll published Wednesday found.

A survey of 2,501 people conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute twelve years ago found more than half of respondents believed the American dream “still holds true,” but now only a third feel that way, according to a recent WSJ/NORC poll of 1,502 adults. The study also found an increasingly large gap between people’s economic goals and what they think is actually attainable — a trend that was consistent across gender and party lines, but was especially common amongst younger generations.

Nobody out there can deny what is happening.

This is our country now, and conditions are getting worse with each passing day.

One of the biggest reasons why the American Dream is out of reach for most of the population is because home prices have gone absolutely haywire over the last four years…

Twenty-four percent of likely voters who rent their homes said that “the cost of housing” is the most important economic issue they’re considering as they decide their vote, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS between September 19 and 22.

That’s no surprise: The US is facing a once-in-a-generation housing affordability crisis. In the four years through August 2024, national home prices have risen 45%, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median sales price of a home in the US hit a record high this summer and now hovers just below that level.

Renting used to be an affordable alternative for many people, but these days close to half of all renters in this country “spend more than 30% of their income on housing”…

Nor has renting become any easier than buying. Nearly half of US renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, qualifying them as “cost-burdened,” according to US Census data from September.

In September 2024, the median rent in the U.S. was $2,050 a month.

How are you supposed to be able to afford that if you are making just $43,222.81 a year?

Increasingly, America is being divided into the “haves” and the “have nots”.

If you don’t know which group you belong to, let me clue you in. If you are not making more than $100,000 a year, you are definitely among the “have nots”.

Unfortunately, economic conditions are rapidly getting worse, and we are seeing high profile bankruptcies happen at a pace that we haven’t seen since the global financial crisis. For example, one of the largest crafting chains in the U.S. just filed for bankruptcy…

Joann — the craft store chain formerly known as Jo-Ann Fabrics — has filed for bankruptcy amid ongoing financial troubles.

But DIYers need not worry just yet: The company’s more than 800 stores nationwide will remain open and its website will stay active as the Hudson, Ohio-based company restructures its finances.

As hordes of businesses fail all over the nation, our historic commercial real estate crisis just continues to intensify.

If you doubt this, just check out these numbers…

The delinquency rate of office mortgages backing commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) spiked to 9.4% in October, up a full percentage point from September, and the highest since the worst months of the meltdown that followed the Financial Crisis. The delinquency rate has doubled since June 2023 (4.5%), according to data by Trepp, which tracks and analyzes CMBS.

I don’t even have to tell many of you what those numbers mean.

We are headed for a historic meltdown, and it is going to absolutely devastate small to mid-size banks from coast to coast.

Meanwhile, most Americans are just barely scraping by from month to month as our standard of living steadily deteriorates.

We are in far more trouble than most people realize, and the months ahead are going to be extremely challenging.

Capitalism in Decay

Why Did I Move out of the US — Part II

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Revolutionary Communists of America host major rally in Philadelphia, USA

On Sunday, the newly-formed Revolutionary Communists of America (RCA) held their inaugural Congress in Philadelphia, officially launching their American chapter as part of the global Revolutionary Communists coordination, a movement active in numerous countries, according to Business Today.

After the Congress, around 500 RCA members marched through the streets of Philadelphia, waving red flags emblazoned with the hammer and sickle. The demonstration attracted significant attention on social media, drawing criticism from notable figures like Elon Musk, CEO of X and Tesla. Musk, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $238 billion, shared a video of the protest with an exclamation mark, highlighting his disapproval.

Capitalism in Decay

Why Did I Move Out of the US

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Answer: The disintegration of the US along racial, class, gender, etc. lines, not unlike South Africa.

 

 

The full text of that post is, 

So, America is heading the direction of South Africa.
Though we aren’t in the same abysmal state as of yet, we are in a very dangerous situation where we can see the cliff ahead – South Africa-style chaos – but run toward it at full speed regardless
A competent, self-confident society would change course before it’s too late. But, like South Africa, we might just commit civilizational suicide instead

Tanner concludes his thread on a hopeful note: 

If you’d like to stay in touch
You can follow Will Tanner on X here, and his American Tribune here. 

 

Capitalism in Decay

Must Watch: Sachs on Carlson

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Tucker and Sachs!

Must watch

Jeffrey Sachs with probably the smartest and most accurate assessment of the Ukraine war, and American foreign policy more broadly, ever caught on tape.

(20:17) Why did America push for Ukraine to Join NATO?

(58:34) What is a Neocon?

(1:25:28) Regime Change Never Works

(1:36:27) Who Blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline?

(2:01:45) COVID Origins

Capitalism in Decay

Woke Curriculum, Training in the US Military

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by Jim Hoft via The Getaway Pundit

The United States Military Academy at West Point is introducing a new curriculum that includes courses on “deconstructing patriotism,” “cross-dressing in the military,” and other topics related to gender norms and representation.

These courses are part of a broader initiative by the Biden regime to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) propaganda into the curriculum over duty, honor, and country.

Former Navy SEAL and Representative Scott Taylor (R-VA) tweeted his concerns after the curriculum was reportedly shared with him, stating, “This was sent to me, classes at U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Quite sure China and Russia are not teaching this nonsense to their officers. Fix yourself.”

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton also weighed in, calling out the Biden regime for “abusing cadets at West Point” through indoctrination.

The controversial courses are as follows:

  1. Deconstructing Patriotism: Exploring Postmodernism and US Army Recruitment Amidst the Lack of a National Narrative
  2. Uniformed Perspectives: The Evolution of Cross-Dressing in the Military and Gender Norms
  3. Do My Leaders ‘Get’ Me?: Unpacking the Importance of Representation in the Military
  4. Harder Rights: An Approach to Espoused Values and Behavior Inconsistency

The point of contact for these courses is Dr. Morten Ender, Professor of Sociology and Co-Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Studies Minor at West Point.

Dr. Ender has published on related topics, including a paper titled “Dinner and a Conversation: Transgender Integration at West Point and Beyond,” and “Inclusion in the U.S Military: A Force for Diversity.“

These courses are a distraction from the Academy’s mission to produce leaders capable of winning wars.

The Pentagon suggested that the United States military entered 2024 with its smallest size and lowest qualification levels in nearly eight decades. This development raises significant concerns about national security and military readiness in an era of evolving global threats.

According to Daily Mail, the total number of active-duty personnel has dropped to levels not seen since the early 1940s, a period before the U.S. entered World War II.

The emerging challenges in military recruitment are becoming increasingly evident, as seen in this year’s significant shortfall of 41,000 personnel. This gap highlights the widening disconnect between the military establishment and the younger generations.

Recruiting has been hampered by the COVID-19 vaccine mandates as well as an increasingly woke military atmosphere where trans soldiers are give special privileges while Christian soldiers are persecuted, bases host drag shows, and leaders with a history of anti-white statements are hired.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth claimed that ‘woke’ criticisms of the military hurt recruiting. Over the last three years, it has been widely reported that recruiting is way down across all branches of the U.S. military.

It’s fascinating that this official is claiming that woke criticisms are the problem, not the woke policies that have been put in place.