I think that misses the mark. You should vote, but you don't have to vote for the incumbents. Whether or not you disagree with their politics, that's what the people of Bronx D14 did when they elected AOC over a guy who was just sitting there assuming he got a lifetime appointment with cushy perks from corporates. She went door to door, did the work, got elected. That is what every single politician running to represent you should do. If you never see them or hear aboht what they have done for your neighborhood, forget party, don't vote for their asses and instead vote for the fringe 3rd party who was never expected to stand a chance. That's what I do. Protest vote.
Speaking of horrible politicians, I warned people about Fetterman throughout the Pennsylvania primary season. “He’s a man of the people. Look at how he dresses”, they bleated. Few people believed me when I said he had inherited $17 million from his dad and never had a job. They kinda forgot that he chased an unarmed black man with a gun when he was mayor of Braddock. Now his fan club bemoans his change. He didn’t change. He was always bad news.
I've been thinking about this s lot... how do we vet people to prevent sell outs and betrayals? Of course you cant trust anyone who comes from wealth. But Sinema didn't come from wealth, and she stabbed us in the back as well. Wtf do we do?
I did not know that about Fetterman inheriting millions. I don’t live in PA anymore, so couldn’t/didn’t vote for him, but I had seen and heard him on TV/Internet and thought he seemed like one the good ones. There are some lessons to be learned there, BUT, it was him or Dr Oz. So the lesson to be learned involves more than just being more careful about who we can trust. I heard a song the other day, by a guy named Jesse Welles, not sure, but I think it was called Dogs, but I cannot forget the chorus… “at this point I’ll take a dog and let him lead”. https://youtu.be/GjFsvVZVWV4?si=F8ENkRp7VItq1KQx
I have watched her during oversight hearings, and while I may not always agree with her stances, I often find her line of questioning salient. A lot of people dismiss her as some stupid bimbo, but I don't see it. In fact, it is reckless underestimate her and label her as such, it was the mistake of the people who failed to primary her twice. She also does something I don't see too many of her peers do as effectively: She uses her social media regularly to reach out and update her constituents about what she does, what's going on in the House, informs them about legislation that may affect them or the country, etc... I think that's a pretty smart strategy to remain employed, whether it is as a public servant or in the private sector.
Sorry, "idiotic" was the wrong word, my bad. She is not a bimbo, as you say, and she's not dumb. But she has been rendered weak and ineffective and spineless when it matters. After her first couple of years, she stopped showing leadership or courage. The bastards got to her, and I think she collapsed.
She didn't stand up against the aipac lobby until she absolutely had her back against the wall. She didn't call the genocide a genocide. She isn't showing leadership on the Epstein files. She isn't calling for party leadership to resign. She isn't dong anything about the war or the cost of living or anything Americans care about.
The dems convinced her she needs to play the party game, so she is doing just that... but "The game" is a trap to get people all caught up in rhetoric, and prevent them from actually doing anything.
I think it was Pelosi who “got in her head”. Although she is not as good as we hoped when she was first elected, she is still better than 95% of her fellow congressional colleagues.
The Citizens United decision forever corrupted politics. It’s now become a get rich scheme. I will never vote for anyone who takes a penny from AIPAC or any related Jewish PAC.
I believe politics was corrupted quite before then, but it certainly is one thing that accelerated the corruption.
US politics aside, I am presently reading Thomas Paine in the late 1700's talk quite eloquently about how corrupt the English and (former) French governments are.
(Not only that, he is starting to say by the end of the 1700s that the American government -- the George Washington administration, literally the first Presidency -- has already been corrupted!)
Agree re corruption. I should read Paine again. In the early 1960s, my dad said, “All politicians are crooks”. I was a naive college student at a liberal-leaning college, and how we argued for days about this! I probably argued (mentally) with Paine at first reading.
This bullshit society just gets more and more inauthentic. War on Iran, sanctions against Cuba, are not "terroristic"? And every 18 year old American male must register with the Department of War (OK, that one finally called what it is now) because we are a freedom loving democracy? What's next, grandmothers arrested for baking cookies of color???
I fail to see how having the automatic registration changes anything? In fact, it would be more likely that that now the politicians and their kids are eligible to be drafted than what was done previously.
It means even the symbolic protest possible by not registering is unavailable henceforth. And don't kid yourself, the high and mighty always find means to avoid the trenches.
It appears to me this multi million dollar corporation not only doesn’t like to pay their workers a living wage, but they also don’t like to keep their warehouses up on fire codes. There is no reason that one guy and a 2.00 lighter should be able to set a fire that big if the warehouse was fully equipped with fire prevention equipment. I hope the insurance company refuses to pay out the claim because this is clearly irresponsible business practices that caused so much damage!
We can't vote our way out of the predicament we are in. Money counts more than votes.
It will take a severe crash similar to the Great Depression to wake American citizens up. Sorry but Americans need a good hard economic slap in the face to get the discontentment juices flowing. Still it is hard to see how the Current Political Class will be replaced by representatives beholden to their voters instead of their donors.
Nice work Ken, the US domestic news beat is where you truly excel.
There are groups that have legislation all written and ready to go, to fix the corruption problem in our government. These laws don't even come up for vote because of corruption, of course.
But once the politicians start feeling accountable to the people (ie scared of our pitchforks), more than the donors, they will start taking a look
The basis of capitalism is profit. An investment of capital is made and there must be a return (profit) on that investment which is then invested for profit. This is how billionaires are made. It is said that billionaires can get away with their take because every American believes him/herself to be a frustrated millionaire looking for a chance.
Seeking profit means eternally looking to cut expense. Billionaires don't just disregard the 99%, they actively seek to put the 99% out of work. The "Reagan Revolution" put the 1% on a roll that hasn't stopped right up to this moment. And here comes AI, a godsend to profit and the 1% for whom an enterprise with no human workforce is a wet dream.
The question is only if the 99% are going to dethrone the 1% before systemic/ecological collapse brings down everything. Even if there is a tremendous redistribution of income our fundamental problem of too many people with each one a consumer that wants more (unlimited desire) dooms the way we live.
Capitalism is by its very nature unsustainable because it demands infinite growth on a finite planet. There is no question that it will come to an end. Climate change is telling us about this but we aren't listening because as GWB once said "The American way of life is not negotiable". Mother Nature doesn't negotiate and Trump doesn't recognize Mother Nature, only profit.
If each of us upon death would have all the things we had consumed piled up by the gravesite it would be astounding...cars, herds of animals consumed, furniture, a mountain of electronics and a lake of thousands of gallons of gasoline, all used up by one person. Think of the garbage we put out for pickup not disappearing but piling up over a lifetime. I don't think it hyperbolic to call us monsters of consumption, an unsustainable species, the only one of all life. It's frightening so we ignore it and literally drive on.
I am terrified for what my grandchildren will face regardless of what they do. They, not we, will pay the full price for what mankind has done since the Industrial Revolution. Even with the best intentions and diligent effort to head off collapse the end is coming. The psychological effect of helplessness will be as devastating as material collapse. The only historical analogy is the collapse of the Roman Empire that put the West into the Dark Ages relieved only by the belief that there was a better world waiting after death. We can't face admitting there are consequences to the way we live denying all limits. The result will be dumped on those who follow us.
I recently joined my local DSA and the vast majority of members are young; 20-30; my two 30 something adult children among them. A group of high school students asked our education committee to speak to their lunch group about socialism. This gives me hope. Change will not happen over night, but it will happen.
Carolyn, I do all that I can personally to live a sustainable life even though intellectually I know it will make no difference. I do it because my conscience demands it and I want my grandchildren to recall that grampa and grandma tried their best when the world falls apart on them.
One could well ask me, "if you are convinced disaster is coming unavoidably, why did you have children?" I had a coworker at the time I had kids in the 1980's who said right out he would not have children for that very reason. I thought he was nuts. I was blind to the reality of capitalism because it had been good to me. Life was good, good job with long term security, nice home, carefree comfort. I thought that doing all the right things, recycling, reusing, making things last as long as possible, turning down the heat in winter and turning back the A/C in the summer, would do the trick. I was fooling myself.
It would be easy for me to say that I would not have kids if it were a choice to be made today but bringing a new generation is so much a part of our humanity that I cannot say that, nor could I advise a young couple not to have kids as they are a joy of life. I dearly love my grandkids and it is my anguish that I know there is nothing I can do to stop what is coming. The arrival of AI, a gift to the 1%, only hastens the day. The best I can do is to love them while I remain and to avoid implanting my despair into them. They will come to see the truth for themselves because it will command the attention of everyone soon.
Innovations have caused disruptions throughout the course of humanity. AI is the next generation of disruption, similar to the invention of the wheel, the generation of electricity, flight, the assembly line, mobile phones, the Internet etc. All of these innovations has had a immense transformation on our species. Every innovation has had negatives and positives, why would AI be any different? Humans will adapt to AI.
I have to differ with your view that completely disregards ever- increasing population with the ever-increasing desires of each member of that population. You have nothing to say about the rise of debt, which is the spending of future income for immediate consumption. Individuals are ever deeper in debt, local, state and federal government are ever deeper in debt and all of this hangs on future income that AI is destroying as I write.
But the things you overlook aside, humans in adapting have gone from an animal running on the savanna among other animals to creatures of infinite consumption that disregard the very source of everything we have, the physical world of limits from which we have arisen but that cannot provide for our infinite desires, though we now live beyond what royalty enjoyed in the past and yet we want more.
Our reason takes a distant second place to our desire. We know about climate change but buy ever bigger gasoline burning vehicles, multi-ton 250+ horsepower machines to move one person, alone, a few miles each day. We live in a completely artificial world that we forget depends on the natural one.
Our problem is that we cannot, will not adapt ourselves to limitation even as it stares us in the face. The natural world cannot adapt to our unlimited desire for more of everything. We cannot control ourselves, do not even try to do so and accept no responsibility for what we do, expecting technology to bring a fix for everything as we refuse to be stewards of the planet and defy community telling the individual that there are limits. We are consumers that expect, nay, demand to be served. At the same time each of us gets ever-further away from being self-sufficient. Food appears like magic at the store, so does everything else.
The "American Dream" of endlessly growing consumption has popped and AI, artificial human that it is except in bodily form, dooms employment for a living wage. Machines have always displaced manual labor, but now AI will take white collar work as well.
When enough people get strapped for income, particularly in the modern world where we do not know how to live without what in the past were considered luxuries, revolution will come, attempts to unionize being a precursor that is being bitterly fought by wealth. One cannot adapt to no food on the table, no paycheck, no future prospects and, if employed, no chance of advancement.
Please read "The Rise and Revolt of the College Educated Working Class" by Noam Schieber.
Real pressures from population growth, consumption, debt, and environmental limits are not trivial issues, and ignoring them would be a mistake. But I think concluding that we cannot adapt and are essentially on an inevitable path to collapse is not born out of evidence .
Humans have absolutely expanded far beyond natural baselines, but history also shows that when constraints become binding, behavior does change. Energy is a good example where we are seeing a shift toward efficiency, electrification, and renewables, which is not out of altruism, but because economics and policy are starting to align with the constraints being faced. It’s not easy and is quite messy at times (especially with changing policies), but it’s adaptation in real time, not total denial.
Debt isn’t inherently just consumption it also funds productivity, infrastructure, technology, education, and innovations. The real question is whether we’re investing in things that increase future capacity or just pulling demand forward. There is no proof showing that collapse is inevitable as result.
Regarding AI, I think this is where your argument becomes too deterministic. Every major technological shift has displaced jobs, sometimes painfully. But they’ve also created entirely new categories of work and increased overall productivity. AI will absolutely disrupt all types of jobs, but the outcome depends on how societies respond with labor policy, education, ownership structures and not just based on the technology itself.
Capitalism has never been a fixed system; it has always been shaped by regulation, labor movements, and political choices. The post-war middle class didn’t happen by accident and it was built through policy. If the system is producing worse outcomes now, that suggests the rules need to change, not that adaptation is impossible.
Where I think we differ most is on human behavior. You argue that we “cannot and will not” accept limits. I’d argue that we historically resist limits until they become unavoidable and then we reorganize around them.
I also don’t think it’s accurate to frame humanity as uniquely “monstrous.” Humans are capable of overconsumption, but also of cooperation, innovation, and long-term planning. The same species that created mass consumption also created conservation movements, environmental laws, and global agreements. Those don’t solve everything, but they show that self-correction is part of the picture.
In my opinion we’re facing real constraints and real disruptions (including AI), and the outcomes will depend heavily on the choices we make in response. There’s nothing guaranteed about a positive outcome, but collapse is not inevitable either
Thank you for your well thought out comment. It looks at things on the bright side as if we were rational and forward thinking with a will to change for the future.
You say: "Every major technological shift—from industrial machinery to computers—has displaced jobs, sometimes painfully. But they’ve also created entirely new categories of work and increased overall productivity" and that is true, but AI is different in that it not only will sweep away jobs but will be able to do the jobs that it might create as well. It is a thinking robot that need not be programmed, merely spoken to proceed with work to be done. It is a robot that offers advice, makes suggestions for improving what it does and will never join a union or demand improvements in working conditions. It acts like a human with none of the drawbacks for an employer.
The problem that is us comes from our over-populating the planet to the point that even if population growth stopped immediately, there are far too many people that are stressing everything, at the most trivial level even causing the national parks to require reservations for camping years in advance.
I don't know what your experience is, but I see and hear all around me people planning air travel as a routine thing for fun or vacation, even students talk of going to Europe for a lark. Predictions are for more air travel. I think I mentioned the rush for bigger vehicles, pickup trucks in the city. I have never heard anyone talk of reducing fossil fuel use and this shows in the fleet we see on the road. This is not rational thinking of the kind your comment shows, it is individuals wanting what they want now with no thought of the future.
We disagree. Collapse is inevitable because we live beyond our means as a species. The more money one has the greater the excess as exhibited by Bezos with his $500 million yacht. "If only it were me" people think even if they voice disgust. Capitalism demands more and we are at the limit. "My children will be better off that I was" cannot keep going with each generation and people will be angry, as they are now, when it is obvious it can't. AI will break the system as profit will demand its implementation (as we are seeing) regardless of consequences. All the while, the planet warms.
Love your reporting, etc, but I have to quibble with your characterization of gasoline prices as "obscene". Inflation-adjusted price of gasoline (in 2026 dollars) has hit $3 three times and hit $6 three times. It was above $5 from 2011 until 2014. Even in nominal dollars today's average price of ~$4.15 is on the high side but still not an outlier.
OTOH, we have serious issues with lagging wage growth, political zealotry, policy-driven decimation of the middle class, monopoly power, regulatory capture, etc. These are all real and serious problems; the price of gasoline simply isn't the actual issue.
Fair point, because we're all affected by global events. However, the arson was in the US and my comment was about his specific reference to gasoline prices.
Neoliberalism. Named after the late 20th century economic theory that the rich should exercise total control over all aspects of society, and lie about it.
When the Neoliberals conquered the Earth, it wasn’t in face-to-face military battles like the ancient Romans or British used. Instead, the Neoliberals won by destabilizing and corrupting all competing power structures. Conquest is expensive. Tearing down is easy. To invade and occupy a nation-state would require planning, resources, and intelligence. To disrupt it? That only requires the technological high ground and a total lack of scruples. Destroy the power stations and water pumps. Sabotage their data networks, use your vast financial wealth to bribe political parties to betray their nation, block them from the international financial system, ensure that the mainstream media 24/7 slander and belittle and ignore the patriots.
The primary strength of the Neoliberals was their total lack of shame. You could catch them in lies, or contradictions, they could screw up totally, or rob you blind, and they wouldn’t care. They would just go on saying whatever they wanted to say and doing whatever they wanted to do. Neoliberalism is the application of power without moral restraint. You cannot debate them, you cannot reason with them. You can suck up to them and hope to be rewarded. You can do nothing and they will crush you into abject slavery. Oppose them in the slightest way, and they will destroy you by any means possible. Appeals to conscience are as useful as fighting cancer by asking for sympathy. Ultimately, the only winning strategy for dealing with Neoliberalism is to kill it
They automatically assume we are just going to put up with it while being on the brink of homelessness!!! It doesn't have to be this way! We can have a better future. We have got to cull the Democrats and get people in that care about these things. Honestly, I'm prepared to elect an independent if they are running on issues that will benefit all Americans!
Well, we know this ridiculous regime is going to go with option 1. I expect to see more retaliation like this coming, regardless of this regime's trying to classify free speech as terrorism.
Oh yes, every American child is taught the famous, sacred lines in our constitution: "government of the capitalists, by the capitalists, and for the capitalists."
Let not our holy, precious, foundational way of life be sullied!
“These bitches dirt cheap” referred to the bic lighter he was holding in his hand.
This guy will do life while Todd Blanche rewards Ghislaine Maxwell with a puppy and a laptop for protecting our way of life.
Jury nullification anyone?
Dude! Seriously! It's absolutely disgusting! 🤮
Democrats and Republican politicians alike mouth “affordability” but do nothing.
That’s the bottom line. And neither party will ever get my vote.
I think that misses the mark. You should vote, but you don't have to vote for the incumbents. Whether or not you disagree with their politics, that's what the people of Bronx D14 did when they elected AOC over a guy who was just sitting there assuming he got a lifetime appointment with cushy perks from corporates. She went door to door, did the work, got elected. That is what every single politician running to represent you should do. If you never see them or hear aboht what they have done for your neighborhood, forget party, don't vote for their asses and instead vote for the fringe 3rd party who was never expected to stand a chance. That's what I do. Protest vote.
And look how lame AOC is now. The democratic party got in her head, and now she's just as idiotic as the rest of them.
I rest my case. Thank you!
Speaking of horrible politicians, I warned people about Fetterman throughout the Pennsylvania primary season. “He’s a man of the people. Look at how he dresses”, they bleated. Few people believed me when I said he had inherited $17 million from his dad and never had a job. They kinda forgot that he chased an unarmed black man with a gun when he was mayor of Braddock. Now his fan club bemoans his change. He didn’t change. He was always bad news.
Oh man, I didn't know that about fetterman. Jeez.
I've been thinking about this s lot... how do we vet people to prevent sell outs and betrayals? Of course you cant trust anyone who comes from wealth. But Sinema didn't come from wealth, and she stabbed us in the back as well. Wtf do we do?
I did not know that about Fetterman inheriting millions. I don’t live in PA anymore, so couldn’t/didn’t vote for him, but I had seen and heard him on TV/Internet and thought he seemed like one the good ones. There are some lessons to be learned there, BUT, it was him or Dr Oz. So the lesson to be learned involves more than just being more careful about who we can trust. I heard a song the other day, by a guy named Jesse Welles, not sure, but I think it was called Dogs, but I cannot forget the chorus… “at this point I’ll take a dog and let him lead”. https://youtu.be/GjFsvVZVWV4?si=F8ENkRp7VItq1KQx
I’ve taken my dad’s words to heart: “All politicians are crooks”. He said this in the early 1960s.
I have watched her during oversight hearings, and while I may not always agree with her stances, I often find her line of questioning salient. A lot of people dismiss her as some stupid bimbo, but I don't see it. In fact, it is reckless underestimate her and label her as such, it was the mistake of the people who failed to primary her twice. She also does something I don't see too many of her peers do as effectively: She uses her social media regularly to reach out and update her constituents about what she does, what's going on in the House, informs them about legislation that may affect them or the country, etc... I think that's a pretty smart strategy to remain employed, whether it is as a public servant or in the private sector.
Sorry, "idiotic" was the wrong word, my bad. She is not a bimbo, as you say, and she's not dumb. But she has been rendered weak and ineffective and spineless when it matters. After her first couple of years, she stopped showing leadership or courage. The bastards got to her, and I think she collapsed.
She didn't stand up against the aipac lobby until she absolutely had her back against the wall. She didn't call the genocide a genocide. She isn't showing leadership on the Epstein files. She isn't calling for party leadership to resign. She isn't dong anything about the war or the cost of living or anything Americans care about.
The dems convinced her she needs to play the party game, so she is doing just that... but "The game" is a trap to get people all caught up in rhetoric, and prevent them from actually doing anything.
I think it was Pelosi who “got in her head”. Although she is not as good as we hoped when she was first elected, she is still better than 95% of her fellow congressional colleagues.
The Citizens United decision forever corrupted politics. It’s now become a get rich scheme. I will never vote for anyone who takes a penny from AIPAC or any related Jewish PAC.
I voted for Jill Stein and will never apologize.
I believe politics was corrupted quite before then, but it certainly is one thing that accelerated the corruption.
US politics aside, I am presently reading Thomas Paine in the late 1700's talk quite eloquently about how corrupt the English and (former) French governments are.
(Not only that, he is starting to say by the end of the 1700s that the American government -- the George Washington administration, literally the first Presidency -- has already been corrupted!)
Agree re corruption. I should read Paine again. In the early 1960s, my dad said, “All politicians are crooks”. I was a naive college student at a liberal-leaning college, and how we argued for days about this! I probably argued (mentally) with Paine at first reading.
This bullshit society just gets more and more inauthentic. War on Iran, sanctions against Cuba, are not "terroristic"? And every 18 year old American male must register with the Department of War (OK, that one finally called what it is now) because we are a freedom loving democracy? What's next, grandmothers arrested for baking cookies of color???
Our "way of life"??? Where do these morons come from, how are they fed, propped up?
Have them register Barron Trump first and the sons of every Congress person who go along with the nonsense.
Regarding the draft, every male has for a very long time been required to register for the draft, I am not sure I understand this argument.
Now the registration will become automatic. Just makes it easier for the unworthy, unscrupulous MAGA sic leadership to play its games.
I fail to see how having the automatic registration changes anything? In fact, it would be more likely that that now the politicians and their kids are eligible to be drafted than what was done previously.
It means even the symbolic protest possible by not registering is unavailable henceforth. And don't kid yourself, the high and mighty always find means to avoid the trenches.
It appears to me this multi million dollar corporation not only doesn’t like to pay their workers a living wage, but they also don’t like to keep their warehouses up on fire codes. There is no reason that one guy and a 2.00 lighter should be able to set a fire that big if the warehouse was fully equipped with fire prevention equipment. I hope the insurance company refuses to pay out the claim because this is clearly irresponsible business practices that caused so much damage!
We can't vote our way out of the predicament we are in. Money counts more than votes.
It will take a severe crash similar to the Great Depression to wake American citizens up. Sorry but Americans need a good hard economic slap in the face to get the discontentment juices flowing. Still it is hard to see how the Current Political Class will be replaced by representatives beholden to their voters instead of their donors.
Nice work Ken, the US domestic news beat is where you truly excel.
There are groups that have legislation all written and ready to go, to fix the corruption problem in our government. These laws don't even come up for vote because of corruption, of course.
But once the politicians start feeling accountable to the people (ie scared of our pitchforks), more than the donors, they will start taking a look
How does one guy cause that tremendous amount of damage? Did they not follow fire codes or is there more to this?
Capitalism.
The basis of capitalism is profit. An investment of capital is made and there must be a return (profit) on that investment which is then invested for profit. This is how billionaires are made. It is said that billionaires can get away with their take because every American believes him/herself to be a frustrated millionaire looking for a chance.
Seeking profit means eternally looking to cut expense. Billionaires don't just disregard the 99%, they actively seek to put the 99% out of work. The "Reagan Revolution" put the 1% on a roll that hasn't stopped right up to this moment. And here comes AI, a godsend to profit and the 1% for whom an enterprise with no human workforce is a wet dream.
The question is only if the 99% are going to dethrone the 1% before systemic/ecological collapse brings down everything. Even if there is a tremendous redistribution of income our fundamental problem of too many people with each one a consumer that wants more (unlimited desire) dooms the way we live.
Capitalism is by its very nature unsustainable because it demands infinite growth on a finite planet. There is no question that it will come to an end. Climate change is telling us about this but we aren't listening because as GWB once said "The American way of life is not negotiable". Mother Nature doesn't negotiate and Trump doesn't recognize Mother Nature, only profit.
If each of us upon death would have all the things we had consumed piled up by the gravesite it would be astounding...cars, herds of animals consumed, furniture, a mountain of electronics and a lake of thousands of gallons of gasoline, all used up by one person. Think of the garbage we put out for pickup not disappearing but piling up over a lifetime. I don't think it hyperbolic to call us monsters of consumption, an unsustainable species, the only one of all life. It's frightening so we ignore it and literally drive on.
I am terrified for what my grandchildren will face regardless of what they do. They, not we, will pay the full price for what mankind has done since the Industrial Revolution. Even with the best intentions and diligent effort to head off collapse the end is coming. The psychological effect of helplessness will be as devastating as material collapse. The only historical analogy is the collapse of the Roman Empire that put the West into the Dark Ages relieved only by the belief that there was a better world waiting after death. We can't face admitting there are consequences to the way we live denying all limits. The result will be dumped on those who follow us.
I recently joined my local DSA and the vast majority of members are young; 20-30; my two 30 something adult children among them. A group of high school students asked our education committee to speak to their lunch group about socialism. This gives me hope. Change will not happen over night, but it will happen.
Carolyn, I do all that I can personally to live a sustainable life even though intellectually I know it will make no difference. I do it because my conscience demands it and I want my grandchildren to recall that grampa and grandma tried their best when the world falls apart on them.
One could well ask me, "if you are convinced disaster is coming unavoidably, why did you have children?" I had a coworker at the time I had kids in the 1980's who said right out he would not have children for that very reason. I thought he was nuts. I was blind to the reality of capitalism because it had been good to me. Life was good, good job with long term security, nice home, carefree comfort. I thought that doing all the right things, recycling, reusing, making things last as long as possible, turning down the heat in winter and turning back the A/C in the summer, would do the trick. I was fooling myself.
It would be easy for me to say that I would not have kids if it were a choice to be made today but bringing a new generation is so much a part of our humanity that I cannot say that, nor could I advise a young couple not to have kids as they are a joy of life. I dearly love my grandkids and it is my anguish that I know there is nothing I can do to stop what is coming. The arrival of AI, a gift to the 1%, only hastens the day. The best I can do is to love them while I remain and to avoid implanting my despair into them. They will come to see the truth for themselves because it will command the attention of everyone soon.
Innovations have caused disruptions throughout the course of humanity. AI is the next generation of disruption, similar to the invention of the wheel, the generation of electricity, flight, the assembly line, mobile phones, the Internet etc. All of these innovations has had a immense transformation on our species. Every innovation has had negatives and positives, why would AI be any different? Humans will adapt to AI.
I have to differ with your view that completely disregards ever- increasing population with the ever-increasing desires of each member of that population. You have nothing to say about the rise of debt, which is the spending of future income for immediate consumption. Individuals are ever deeper in debt, local, state and federal government are ever deeper in debt and all of this hangs on future income that AI is destroying as I write.
But the things you overlook aside, humans in adapting have gone from an animal running on the savanna among other animals to creatures of infinite consumption that disregard the very source of everything we have, the physical world of limits from which we have arisen but that cannot provide for our infinite desires, though we now live beyond what royalty enjoyed in the past and yet we want more.
Our reason takes a distant second place to our desire. We know about climate change but buy ever bigger gasoline burning vehicles, multi-ton 250+ horsepower machines to move one person, alone, a few miles each day. We live in a completely artificial world that we forget depends on the natural one.
Our problem is that we cannot, will not adapt ourselves to limitation even as it stares us in the face. The natural world cannot adapt to our unlimited desire for more of everything. We cannot control ourselves, do not even try to do so and accept no responsibility for what we do, expecting technology to bring a fix for everything as we refuse to be stewards of the planet and defy community telling the individual that there are limits. We are consumers that expect, nay, demand to be served. At the same time each of us gets ever-further away from being self-sufficient. Food appears like magic at the store, so does everything else.
The "American Dream" of endlessly growing consumption has popped and AI, artificial human that it is except in bodily form, dooms employment for a living wage. Machines have always displaced manual labor, but now AI will take white collar work as well.
When enough people get strapped for income, particularly in the modern world where we do not know how to live without what in the past were considered luxuries, revolution will come, attempts to unionize being a precursor that is being bitterly fought by wealth. One cannot adapt to no food on the table, no paycheck, no future prospects and, if employed, no chance of advancement.
Please read "The Rise and Revolt of the College Educated Working Class" by Noam Schieber.
Real pressures from population growth, consumption, debt, and environmental limits are not trivial issues, and ignoring them would be a mistake. But I think concluding that we cannot adapt and are essentially on an inevitable path to collapse is not born out of evidence .
Humans have absolutely expanded far beyond natural baselines, but history also shows that when constraints become binding, behavior does change. Energy is a good example where we are seeing a shift toward efficiency, electrification, and renewables, which is not out of altruism, but because economics and policy are starting to align with the constraints being faced. It’s not easy and is quite messy at times (especially with changing policies), but it’s adaptation in real time, not total denial.
Debt isn’t inherently just consumption it also funds productivity, infrastructure, technology, education, and innovations. The real question is whether we’re investing in things that increase future capacity or just pulling demand forward. There is no proof showing that collapse is inevitable as result.
Regarding AI, I think this is where your argument becomes too deterministic. Every major technological shift has displaced jobs, sometimes painfully. But they’ve also created entirely new categories of work and increased overall productivity. AI will absolutely disrupt all types of jobs, but the outcome depends on how societies respond with labor policy, education, ownership structures and not just based on the technology itself.
Capitalism has never been a fixed system; it has always been shaped by regulation, labor movements, and political choices. The post-war middle class didn’t happen by accident and it was built through policy. If the system is producing worse outcomes now, that suggests the rules need to change, not that adaptation is impossible.
Where I think we differ most is on human behavior. You argue that we “cannot and will not” accept limits. I’d argue that we historically resist limits until they become unavoidable and then we reorganize around them.
I also don’t think it’s accurate to frame humanity as uniquely “monstrous.” Humans are capable of overconsumption, but also of cooperation, innovation, and long-term planning. The same species that created mass consumption also created conservation movements, environmental laws, and global agreements. Those don’t solve everything, but they show that self-correction is part of the picture.
In my opinion we’re facing real constraints and real disruptions (including AI), and the outcomes will depend heavily on the choices we make in response. There’s nothing guaranteed about a positive outcome, but collapse is not inevitable either
Thank you for your well thought out comment. It looks at things on the bright side as if we were rational and forward thinking with a will to change for the future.
You say: "Every major technological shift—from industrial machinery to computers—has displaced jobs, sometimes painfully. But they’ve also created entirely new categories of work and increased overall productivity" and that is true, but AI is different in that it not only will sweep away jobs but will be able to do the jobs that it might create as well. It is a thinking robot that need not be programmed, merely spoken to proceed with work to be done. It is a robot that offers advice, makes suggestions for improving what it does and will never join a union or demand improvements in working conditions. It acts like a human with none of the drawbacks for an employer.
The problem that is us comes from our over-populating the planet to the point that even if population growth stopped immediately, there are far too many people that are stressing everything, at the most trivial level even causing the national parks to require reservations for camping years in advance.
I don't know what your experience is, but I see and hear all around me people planning air travel as a routine thing for fun or vacation, even students talk of going to Europe for a lark. Predictions are for more air travel. I think I mentioned the rush for bigger vehicles, pickup trucks in the city. I have never heard anyone talk of reducing fossil fuel use and this shows in the fleet we see on the road. This is not rational thinking of the kind your comment shows, it is individuals wanting what they want now with no thought of the future.
We disagree. Collapse is inevitable because we live beyond our means as a species. The more money one has the greater the excess as exhibited by Bezos with his $500 million yacht. "If only it were me" people think even if they voice disgust. Capitalism demands more and we are at the limit. "My children will be better off that I was" cannot keep going with each generation and people will be angry, as they are now, when it is obvious it can't. AI will break the system as profit will demand its implementation (as we are seeing) regardless of consequences. All the while, the planet warms.
The old fools in power are worried USA is going the way of Britain. They ought to be more concerned we might be going the way of Russia.
I was so fond of that evanescent bumper sticker, "One Evil Empire down, one to go."
Love your reporting, etc, but I have to quibble with your characterization of gasoline prices as "obscene". Inflation-adjusted price of gasoline (in 2026 dollars) has hit $3 three times and hit $6 three times. It was above $5 from 2011 until 2014. Even in nominal dollars today's average price of ~$4.15 is on the high side but still not an outlier.
OTOH, we have serious issues with lagging wage growth, political zealotry, policy-driven decimation of the middle class, monopoly power, regulatory capture, etc. These are all real and serious problems; the price of gasoline simply isn't the actual issue.
Keep up the good work!
Diesel is over $12 a gallon in Australia. It is a myopic attitude to look at gas prices in just the US when the war affects everyone globally.
Fair point, because we're all affected by global events. However, the arson was in the US and my comment was about his specific reference to gasoline prices.
Neoliberalism. Named after the late 20th century economic theory that the rich should exercise total control over all aspects of society, and lie about it.
When the Neoliberals conquered the Earth, it wasn’t in face-to-face military battles like the ancient Romans or British used. Instead, the Neoliberals won by destabilizing and corrupting all competing power structures. Conquest is expensive. Tearing down is easy. To invade and occupy a nation-state would require planning, resources, and intelligence. To disrupt it? That only requires the technological high ground and a total lack of scruples. Destroy the power stations and water pumps. Sabotage their data networks, use your vast financial wealth to bribe political parties to betray their nation, block them from the international financial system, ensure that the mainstream media 24/7 slander and belittle and ignore the patriots.
The primary strength of the Neoliberals was their total lack of shame. You could catch them in lies, or contradictions, they could screw up totally, or rob you blind, and they wouldn’t care. They would just go on saying whatever they wanted to say and doing whatever they wanted to do. Neoliberalism is the application of power without moral restraint. You cannot debate them, you cannot reason with them. You can suck up to them and hope to be rewarded. You can do nothing and they will crush you into abject slavery. Oppose them in the slightest way, and they will destroy you by any means possible. Appeals to conscience are as useful as fighting cancer by asking for sympathy. Ultimately, the only winning strategy for dealing with Neoliberalism is to kill it
Inspiring essay!
Largely stolen from off brand science fiction. Since current events now resemble badly written dystopian SF, it seems appropriate.
See Timothy J. Gawne, titles such as:
"Neo Liberal Economists Must Die!" (A bit topical, aye whut?!)
"Splendid Apocalypse - The Fall of Old Earth"
They automatically assume we are just going to put up with it while being on the brink of homelessness!!! It doesn't have to be this way! We can have a better future. We have got to cull the Democrats and get people in that care about these things. Honestly, I'm prepared to elect an independent if they are running on issues that will benefit all Americans!
I would love to burn it all down and start fresh!
https://substack.com/@chrisarmitage1/note/c-243537706?r=loayw&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Well, we know this ridiculous regime is going to go with option 1. I expect to see more retaliation like this coming, regardless of this regime's trying to classify free speech as terrorism.
Thanks for the stapler reference :)
Oh yes, every American child is taught the famous, sacred lines in our constitution: "government of the capitalists, by the capitalists, and for the capitalists."
Let not our holy, precious, foundational way of life be sullied!
“Isn’t anyone in power curious why that is?”
Of course they aren’t curious. Curiosity is something you have when you are interested. The powerful have no interest in the powerless.
Right. When I read that, I thought, "I hope he's being sarcastic."
We all know psychopaths don't care about anything but themselves.
Maybe they could just tax the rich.