At The Heart of Brexit, Trumpism, Tax Havens, Billionaires and Climate Change is — Greed
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If humanity is to survive, we urgently need to revolt against the greediest in our midst.
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed — for lack of a better word — is good
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
The words above are from the iconic Oliver Stone film Wall Street.
It is no coincidence that the greatest wealth transfer in human history is currently taking place. Strictly speaking, this has been the case for the last twelve to thirteen years and it has picked up a high degree of momentum since last year.
The mindset of those who have accumulated to last too many lifetimes is: never let a crises go to waste.
A mindset that was so memorably brought to life in Klein’s magisterial book: “The Shock Doctrine, The rise of Disaster Capitalism”.
In a follow up article in the British guardian about her book, we get to see how this mindset was skillfully deployed to attain power, not only in the age of Trump, but also by the current British premier in getting Brexit done.
This strategy has been a silent partner to the imposition of neoliberalism for more than 40 years. Shock tactics follow a clear pattern: wait for a crisis (or even, in some instances, as in Chile or Russia, help foment one), declare a moment of what is sometimes called “extraordinary politics”, suspend some or all democratic norms — and then ram the corporate wishlist through as quickly as possible. The research showed that virtually any tumultuous situation, if framed with sufficient hysteria by political leaders, could serve this softening-up function. It could be an event as radical as a military coup, but the economic shock of a market or budget crisis would also do the trick. Amid hyperinflation or a banking…
