DJP
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“Wasn’t it always?”
Of course, oligarchic influence is nothing new. But what is perhaps new, or at least at a new level, is the extent to which social media echo-chambers and single-viewpoint alternative media outlets are skewing people’s perceptions. I’ve heard this cycle being described as “the podcast election”. But this is just a hunch, I don’t know what hard data would say – this is what people like Allan Lichtman will have to be working on.
Thought it would be interesting to hear what the creator of the “13 keys” would say. In short, from the comments section, “The keys only work if everyone lives in the same reality”. The polarisation of news sources, and the level of disinformation present within them, has led to a breakdown of the keys as a predictive model. US “democracy” is now completely under the control of oligarchic power.
“There are no considerable differences in economic policy between the Republicans & Democrats.”
There was only one candidate running on a protectionist platform, so there definitely are significant differences.
“The election of Trump was the US proletariat’s imposition of its dictatorship”
A proletarian dictatorship enacted through unchallenged oligarchal power perhaps?
“In my opinion, Trump won because Americans blame Biden for the cost-of-living crisis (due to the myth that governments control the economy, when it’s the other way ’round).”
I think this was a (or the) major factor too. Though there was more than that going on.
“The USA didn’t significantly reduce its GHG emissions during the Obama & Biden presidencies, & illegal immigrants weren’t exactly treated like royalty, either.”
Of course that’s true, but that doesn’t mean that things on those fronts won’t now be significantly worse.
The dangers that are posed by the Trump election (mass detainment of ‘illegals’, political retribution through abuse of the legal system, loss of access to reproductive health-care, an increase in fossil fuel extraction, and it goes on…) should be taken seriously.
This time Trump is surrounded by yes men and 1/3 (which will rise to 5 out of 9 in the coming years) of the Supreme Court has been appointed by him.
Mere ‘belief’ in democratic resilience (as the website front page currently claims) is beginning to look a bit weak.
I thought this FT podcast is worth listening to, or reading.
https://www.ft.com/content/3686960c-8704-457c-a1cf-695e5e2665d8One day perhaps. In the meantime here’s a talk from medical doctor and bestselling author on the subject, Chris Van Tulken
I want to make the case that obesity and diet related disease is therefore commerciogenic, it’s driven by profit incentives and more and more my research focuses on working with economists and with agriculturalists to understand how financial incentives drive this pandemic.
I guess that’s a start, but from over a decade ago. The recent press about ultra-processed foods isn’t just about added sugar though, but how certain industrial production methods – driven by the need to make a profit – have led to a widespread decrease in the nutritional and satiating value of food. You can see the causal link between this and the, very real, obesity crisis.
Actually, if the words “low sugar” are printed on the packaging of a food item then that is a good indicator that the food is a UPF. They’ve just swapped the sugar out for some artificial sweetener – which are now increasingly being linked to bad health outcomes.
I’m surprised there hasn’t yet been an article in the Standard about ultra-processed foods and the profit motive that creates them.
The CWO’s review of a new book about Pannekoek
The book is actually written *by* Pannekoek. The review doesn’t particularly say anything about the actual contents of the book, just what they think should have gone in the introduction.
The best book *about* Pannekoek is probably this one:
https://libcom.org/article/anton-pannekoek-and-socialism-workers-self-emancipation-1873-1960-john-gerber
