Commercial Intelligence – Page 119 – Public Intelligence Blog

The Crisis of the Middle Class and American Power

Stratfor

Editor's Note: The following Geopolitical Weekly originally ran in January 2013.

By George Friedman

When I wrote about the crisis of unemployment in Europe, I received a great deal of feedback. Europeans agreed that this is the core problem while Americans argued that the United States has the same problem, asserting that U.S. unemployment is twice as high as the government's official unemployment rate. My counterargument is that unemployment in the United States is not a problem in the same sense that it is in Europe because it does not pose a geopolitical threat. The United States does not face political disintegration from unemployment, whatever the number is. Europe might.

At the same time, I would agree that the United States faces a potentially significant but longer-term geopolitical problem deriving from economic trends. The threat to the United States is the persistent decline in the middle class' standard of living, a problem that is reshaping the social order that has been in place since World War II and that, if it continues, poses a threat to American power.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: George Friedman on the Crisis of the Middle Class and American Power”

2014/01/01

SchwartzReport: Truths That Matter

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

The unholy combination of an ethically challenged pharmaceutical industry, and an inhumane greedy industrial agriculture industry may have reached its apotheosis in Walla Walla, Washington, as this report recounts.

Lost Hooves, Dead Cattle, Drug Halted
P.J. HUFFSTUTTER and TOM POLANSEK – MSN News

In those states where the Theocratic Right reigns, making life miserable for the poor is more important than good sense or economic sanity. Here is an excellent example of what I mean.

Minnesota Officials Complain That Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Is A Waste Of Time And Money
TARA CULP-RESSLER – Think Progress

An aging population and an economy that is destroying the middle class quite naturally leads people to question whether they want to have children. Just another unintended consequence of the country's poor social policies that place profit for the few above the well-being of the many. It is a trend with profound long range consequences.

U.S. Population Grows At Slowest Rate Since The Great Depression
JILLIAN BERMAN – The Huffington Post

2013/12/292013/12/29

4th Media: We Don’t Make This Stuff Up!

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

US Plans to Oust President of Ecuador

At the center of Correa’s foreign policy activities is the strengthening of regional Latin American organizations in which there are no U.S. representatives: the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (ALBA), and others.

Military Industrial Complex: Military Spending Destroying The US Economy

Passage of Budget Bill Is NOT a Victory for the American People … Only for the Military-Industrial Complex

Russia Steps in as American Empire Unravels in the Middle East

US power in the Middle East is in decline, and American allies in the region are beginning to think of new alternatives to Washington.

2013/12/292013/12/29

SchwartzReport: Truths That Matter

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

Here is some very exciting good news on batteries.

Mindboggling Consequences In Wake Of Battery Price Drops
HANS STRENG – Clean Technica

I had a reader, who opposes the ending of Marijuana prohibition, write to tell me exactly what this headline says. Here is a good essay that reflects my own thinking as to the response to that charge.

The Lie That Won’t Die: ‘We Don’t Know Enough About Marijuana!”
Paul Armentano – Salon

I find this development particularly interesting because, as sea rise gobbles up large parts of Florida many of these people, or their children, are going to have to leave. And this is not that far into the future. In the short term though it may shift Florida into a purple, or even blue, state. That would significantly reduce the chance another incompetent ideologue like Rick Scott was elected governor. And that would put Florida in a better position to deal with climate change.

New York Soon to Trail Florida in Population
JESSE McKINLEY – The New York Times

Anyone who reads me regularly in either SR or Explore knows my views about the privatization of the American gulag, turning it into a profit making enterprise. Here is further evidence as to how truly bad this idea is.

For-Profit Prisons: Eight Statistics That Show the Problems
KEVIN MATHEWS – Truthout

2013/12/282013/12/28

Jean Leivins: SLATE Falls Short in Covering the Sharing Economy

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence

The only thing more tired than the “sharing economy” meme might be this opinion. While there’s truth in what he and many others before him have said, his post throws the baby out with the bath water. It shows a shallow understanding of the economic transformation underway, and this being Slate, with millions of readers, could turn a lot of people away from an important change.

Who is the Real Sharing Economy Sell Out? Maybe the Media

EXTRACT:

Yglesias’ big miss is that away from the headlines about the latest tech wonder, a real sharing economy is booming. Member-owned credit unions recently earned record profits, member-owned cooperatives are proliferating modeled off the successes like Mondragon, The White House is getting behind participatory budgeting for local governments, 20 states are considering some form of public banking, open source software is eating the software world, and grassroots sharing projects like seed banks, tool libraries, coworking and hacker spaces are spreading like kudzu.

This economy is substantial. Taken together, credit unions make up the fifth largest bank in the US. Cooperatives employ 100 million people globally (20% more than the Fortune 500) and have 800 million members. Coops span major industries – retail, agriculture, housing, transportation, manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, healthcare, and more. There are over 200,000 open source software projects worth around a half a billion dollars. One study put the value of fair use content at $4.5 trillion, one sixth of the US economy. I’m just scratching the surface of all that we share. The mutualized part of the sharing economy dwarfs all the tech-based sharing startups put together.

Whatever you want to call this economy, it’s the real story. While our civilization approaches economic and environmental collapse, the solutions lay right under our nose. This is arguably the biggest story today as our survival may hinge on how this emerging economy unfolds. The question is whether the mainstream media will bring it to the attention of a public desperate for real solutions. If Yglesias’ latest post is any indication, they will pass it up in favor of click bait to boost ad revenues.

Read full article.

2013/12/272013/12/27

SchwartzReport: Truths That Matter

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

This was the lead story about America in the Guardian. It is what people in the U.K. and, throughout the English speaking world, read about us. This is what we are becoming known for: Hungry children and old people, gun violence, religious fanaticism, corruption, the world's largest gulag, poor education, and inadequate healthcare. So much for the “shining city on the hill.”

Demand for Food Stamps Soars as Cuts Sink in and Shelves Empty
KAREN MCVEIGH – The Guardian (U.K.)

Another factor in the carbon to non-carbon transition trend, is the availability of petroleum. This is a determining factor. The probable result I think is the lowering in the price of oil. Ultimately though climate change will trump all other considerations, even profit.

North America to Drown in Oil as Mexico Ends Monopoly
JOE CARROLL and BRADLEY OLSON – Bloomberg

Here is more on the trend I have been telling you about concerning the reaction of centralized power utilities as they realize that the transition out of carbon-based energy is going to require a new economic model.

Utilities Feeling Rooftop Solar Heat Start Fighting Back
MARK CHEDIAK, CHRISTOPHER MARTIN and KEN WELLS – Bloomberg

Here is a particularly elegant and original Akido move by cities to hold the banks accountable. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out.

Miami and Los Angeles Sue Banking Giants Over the Sub-Prime Mortgage Debacle
MARIAH BLAKE – Mother Jones

2013/12/26

SchwartzReport: Truths That Matter

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

In 1933, Major General Smedley Butler, at the time a famous Marine general gave a speech looking back on his military service. He made observations that are, if anything, more apposite today than they were then.

Smedley Butler on Interventionism
Major General Smedley Butler, USMC – Federation of American Scientists – Military Analysis Network

President Dwight Eisenhower amongst all Americans in history commanded a war that encompassed the Earth and, then, served as a civilian President in the world that war created. Looking back across those experiences he saw with a uniquely expert eye the true threat to American democracy.

Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower
President Dwight D. Eisenhower – Public Papers of the Presidents – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960 pp. 1035-1040

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Truths That Matter”