“The economic system previously known as capitalism”

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The problem with the term “capitalism” is that it tends to marginalize the discourse on the human nature and selfishness which goes back thousands of years and offers profound insights, and solutions. The issue of greed and gluttony goes far back in Greek, Roman and Hindu texts, as in the core classics of  Buddhism and Daoism which offer us much we will not find in Marx or in Piketty.

But it seems that once we start talking “capitalism” and economics, all that wisdom from philosophy and literature goes out the window. We are lost in a narrow definition of production and consumption.

 

In addition,  technological evolution, the emergence of computers and the transformation of money and the perception of reality by the advancement of means of reproduction (AKA Benjamin) have promoted accelerated cycles of exchange which are increasingly virtual and increasingly imaginary and ideological. We find ourselves in a system profoundly different from capitalism and industrial production finance in the 19th century, when Marx wrote, or the 20th century, or even in 2000. So perhaps we would do better to suggest that just as we are now in the Anthropocene age (and not the Cenozoic age) so also we are in something quite different than “capitalism ” as described in 1850,  or even in 1980.

The dawn of the age of “psychopathocracy”

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I am not a political scientist, but I felt compelled to coin a new term to describe the new form of governance we see emerging around the world.

I refer to this model as “psychopathocracy” a term which describes the rule by psychopaths, those who are mentally unstable in a sense that strips them of their humanity and makes them incapable of determining what is in their own interests, or in the interests of others.

Goya

This state often features paranoid obsessions.

When Donald Trump’s National Paranoia Advisor John Bolton spoke with Martha Raddatz  of ABC News and stated that he was convinced that not only Russia, but Iran, China and North Korea would meddle in the Midterm Election, he was giving voice to precisely such paranoid views (granted their political value to him).

Bolton stated,

“I can say definitively that it’s a sufficient national security concern about [in addition to Russia] Chinese meddling, Iranian meddling and North Korean meddling [in the coming election] that we’re taking steps to try to prevent it, so it’s all four of those countries, really. I’m not going to get into the – what I’ve seen or haven’t seen, but I’m telling you, looking at the 2018 election, those are the four countries that we’re most concerned about.”

We have to wonder whether that election will ever take place.

 

I also want to mention Thomas Mann’s insight:

“The insipid is not synonymous with the harmless”

Mann suggests that many mistakenly assume that because the actions of certain people are foolish, dreary and banal they are therefore of little consequence. But as Mann learned in Germany of the 1930s, the banality of political discourse has nothing to do with its potency, or with its destructiveness.

 

「もう一つの安全保障問題」ハフィントン・ポスト

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ハフィントン・ポスト

「もう一つの安全保障問題」

2018年08月13日

 

エマニュエル　パストリッチ

 

[wpvideo kX6uParD]

 

一握りの億万長者とその仲間たちが北東アジアの安全保障危機をどのように解決しようとしているのかについて、私たちは最も歪曲した奇怪なおとぎ話を聞かされています。

私たちがずっと念頭においている安全保障の危機は、北朝鮮（朝鮮民主主義人民共和国）の核兵器に対する懸念ですが、この懸念は、自分の核兵器を解体せずに数兆ドル規模の次世代核兵器開発計画を発表するような米国の露骨な核拡散防止条約の違反行為とは無関係のように扱われています。

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