Comments on: Davos’s time is up

By: Mark Chapman

Mark Chapman — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 19:23:00 +0000

Actually the historical record shows the opposite – the rich have the most to lose from structural social disruption – revolution and war. At least in the richer more developed parts of the world the state, when under pressure, raids the wealth of the rich to respond to the fiscal crises created by war. The main reason inequality of both wealth and income lessened enormously between 1914 and 1945 was because of the two world wars. The shock of the experience created a social cohesion/”fat” which lasted into the 1960s. Since then it has been back to what happened in the late nineteenth century. This time round tho the shock will come from climate change and will, if we are open to reading the evidence, most likely destroy our civilisation in the next generation – maybe in the next ten years – may in two generations. Its impossible to say with precision because positive feedback systems are highly sensitive to initial conditions. What we do know is the arctic is 99% certain to be ice free in the summer in the next 10 years (check out the graph). And if you know your earth science then you know that that is the structural tipping point which will remove all ice from the region within a short period thereafter. After that “all hell will break lose”. So what we can be sure of isthat its coming. And so it is in greatest interests of the capitalist class to (attempt to) deal with climate asap. The more intelligent know this. But again the evidence shows the individual intelligence is trumped by group herding when it comes to dysfunctional collective behaviour (check out the 2007 crash – watching “the big short” shows it well). Insomuch as we all eat and breathe – we are all in this together when it comes to extinction.

By: Markthearcher

Markthearcher — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 18:37:00 +0000

Very interesting. Yes we know Davos is a waste of space, however, this is where the
money men get their adrenalin rush. With a current account deficit of £40 Bn, Interest payments of £49 Bn and a National Debit of £1.8 Trillion, together with £600 bn of Q.E.
one can understand why Britain is in the current state of indebtedness and inflation at
3% per annum. The folks at the top are just incompetent. !n 1960 a three course meal
cost 9 shillings and 6 d, today (about 50p in our currency). This same meal today can
be had for £25/£30. That’s inflation for you. Savers are funding the deficit thanks to the
ultra low interest rates they get. They could not run a Whelk stall, Brexit negotiations
included.

By: Zen9

Zen9 — Sun, 28 Jan 2018 09:08:00 +0000

Rather the captain and officers are up in the crows nest and will be the last to drown as the ship sinks.
Meanwhile we’re in the bilges up to our necks in the flooding water.

By: Stephen Ferguson

Stephen Ferguson — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 22:33:00 +0000

“What next?”

The bedrock of neo-liberalism is that the state is broke. That false premise leads to the equally false conclusion – that money ‘grows on rich people’. Yet nothing could be further from the truth…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDL4c8fMODk

By: BC

BC — Sat, 27 Jan 2018 16:04:00 +0000

This is excellent but I’m not so sure about your view that neoliberalism is failing. It’s sponsors are not really worried if it pitches the whole world into poverty and environmental degradation provided that they get the lion’s share of the mess left behind. Effectively, they would rather destroy the world than share it. So far, that appears to be proceeding according to plan.