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Is this COLLAPSE? [1]

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Date: 2023-09-05  

Are we already in the early stages of societal collapse? Or are we, like a frog being slowly boiled, still unaware of what may come?

We’ve read what’s been happening in San Francisco. “A very similar MO from what’s been reported in other cities, and significantly more violence reported with it.” Mass looting of retail businesses has led to many businesses moving out of the Bay Area, causing a retail desert. One can imagine what this will do to the area’s tax revenue.

In London, on August 9 a flash mob of looters, apparently organised on social media, gathered and attempted to mass-burglarise JD Sports, a shop (store) that sells trainers (sneakers). The post urged people to follow a “dress code” of balaclavas and gloves and said, “Don’t come if you can’t run”.

In Collapse, by Jared Diamond, one common scenario that causes societal collapse is the skimming off of nearly all income and capital to be enjoyed by only those at the top. This happened to the Mayans. Those at the top — the priests — insisted that their houses and edifices be coated in elaborate plaster decoration, to the abandonment of agriculture, and when the plaster ran out, so did the people’s patience. The priests were deposed and the plaster palaces abandoned. The Mayans still exist as a shadow of their former selves.

I see Elon Musk as one of these priests. His Twitter edifice now lacks plaster. He fritters away vast sums on things that have zero benefit for 99.9% of us. He’d rather send other ‘priests’ into space on tourist rockets than fix things on Earth. And there are many, many more, as you well know. All these super-rich, all these oligarchs.

Meanwhile the TV continues to pump out adverts for things that many cannot afford. Ludicrously expensive ‘must have’ trainers and other fast fashion. Just look at the current price of vehicles. Of housing. Of food. Once, most of us could afford all the basics and didn’t feel too pinched. Now though, corporates are buying up housing and rack-renting it out. Crops are failing due to climate change. Prices of commodities rising cazily due to war and inflation.

HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE HAVE BEFORE SOCIETY GOES TITS UP?

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