|
|
 |
Go Ahead and Rage at Boomers, But the Problem Is the Entire Economic Order August 1, 2025
The entire economic order is bankrupt--ideologically, politically and financially.
A friend sent me a clip of Tucker Carlson going off on the Boomer generation, and I get it. Tucker's takedown was epic and entertaining (at least for me), but his disgust and rage were real. So let's dig into the sources of those emotions. If you watch the clip, it's apparent that what really disgusts Tucker is the sanctimoniousness of the Boomers he references, the glibness of their virtue-signaling and claims to righteousness and significance. This extends to the financial level, where the sanctimony is expressed as a high-minded confidence that "we earned it," overlooking the trillions of dollars handed to them on a Federal Reserve / bubble-economy / entitlements platter. I think we all get that, but the problem isn't the Boomers, it's the entire economic order. The Boomers were just the hitchhiker who were lucky enough to be picked up by the big-finned Cadillac on the way into Vegas. Even if everyone were absolute saints, they'd still own most of the wealth. Here's why. When Social Security was enacted in the 1930s, the retirement age was 65 and the average lifespan of Americans was 62. In other words, the program was intentionally designed to be self-funded (paid by a very modest tax on wages paid by both employer and employee) and act as a safety net for the fortunate few who lived long enough to collect it but who weren't lucky enough to be wealthy. As the economy boomed in the postwar era, the age of retirement (at a lower percentage of full benefits) was lowered to 62 as the average lifespan increased to 70 by 1965, when Medicare and Medicaid were enacted. At their inception, these programs were mere fractions of federal spending, and appeared to be "good things" that were affordable. The Boomers weren't born in the 1930s, and in 1965 they were kids. These entitlements were initiated in response to the grim reality that old age for the non-wealthy was generally a ticket to poverty. Fast-forward to today, and the average lifespan is 80 (with millions of elderly living a decade longer) and 3/4 of adult Americans are at risk of lifestyle diseases / metabolic disorders due to an unhealthy diet and poor fitness. Over half of Americans are diabetic or prediabetic. 
The entitlement programs to aid the elderly that were modest decades ago are now almost 50% of the entire federal budget, dwarfing all other spending. Entitlements aiding young families are so modest they aren't even a blip compared to the soaring budgets of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. (Disability entitlements were added to Social Security, greatly expanding the program's costs.) The budgets of these entitlement programs are on unsustainable parabolic trajectories. Medicare: 
And Medicaid: healthcare has soared from 5% of GDP to almost 20%. "Unlimited free money" tends to do that... 
Now we come to the main course, neoliberal economic magic. The basic idea of neoliberal economics is if we just free market forces, that will permanently generate growth and wealth. The net result was an orgy of financialization that benefited the few, not the many, and so policy makers turned to inflating asset bubbles as the "cost-free" way to boost growth and wealth. By lowering interest rates and flooding the economy with low-cost credit--monetary stimulus--assets will skyrocket, generating a wealth effect that loosens the purse strings of the asset owners as they see their wealth rise without them having to create any value whatsoever. Just sit back and watch your house and stock portfolio generate thousands of dollars of "free money." The other neoliberal theory was "trickle-down economics": as the upper-middle class and wealthy spent freely, some of their immense gains in income and wealth would trickle down to the bottom 90%. But since the vast majority of the economy's gains were flowing to capital/assets rather than wages, this didn't happen. What happened instead is the already-rich who owned most of the assets got richer while those depending on wages got poorer. Add these forces together and what you get is extreme generational wealth inequality. Those who bought houses in the 1970s, 80s and 90s have profited immensely from housing bubbles #1 and #2 (the current bubble), and from stock bubbles #1 (dot-com), #2 (2007-08) and now #3 (The Everything Bubble). 
The entire economic order is bankrupt--ideologically, politically and financially. If nothing changes at the fundamental level, the rich will continue to get richer at the expense of those priced out of the bubblicious assets, and the older generations will continue to accrue unearned wealth while younger wage earners are reduced to debt-serfdom and wage slavery. It doesn't have to be this way, but we're going to have to change our values and the fundamental structures of our economy if we want a different outcome. Check out my new book Ultra-Processed Life and my updated Books and Films. Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com Subscribe to my Substack for free My recent books: Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases originated via links to Amazon products on this site. Ultra-Processed Life print $16, (Kindle $7.95, Hardcover $20 (129 pages, 2025) audiobook Read the Introduction and first chapter for free (PDF) The Mythology of Progress, Anti-Progress and a Mythology for the 21st Century print $16, (Kindle $6.95, audiobook, Hardcover $24 (215 pages, 2024) Read the Introduction and first chapter for free (PDF) Self-Reliance in the 21st Century print $15, (Kindle $6.95, audiobook $13.08 (96 pages, 2022) Read the first chapter for free (PDF) When You Can't Go On: Burnout, Reckoning and Renewal $15 print, $6.95 Kindle ebook; audiobook Read the first section for free (PDF) Global Crisis, National Renewal: A (Revolutionary) Grand Strategy for the United States (Kindle $6.95, print $16, audiobook) Read Chapter One for free (PDF). A Hacker's Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $6.95, print $15, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF). Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World (Kindle $3.95, print $12, audiobook) Read the first section for free (PDF). The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake (Novel) $3.95 Kindle, $12 print); read the first chapters for free (PDF) Money and Work Unchained $6.95 Kindle, $15 print) Read the first section for free Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com. Subscribe to my Substack for free Ultra-Processed Life print $16, (Kindle $7.95, audiobook, Hardcover $20 (129 pages, 2025) 
Ultra-Processed Life: the substitution of a synthetic, commoditized, very profitable facsimile for what was once authentic. Ultra-Processed Life is my term for everything that is analogous to ultra-processed snacks: attractively marketed, instantly alluring, easy to consume, addictive by design, tasty in the moment but harmful over time, its origins a black box of unknown processes, the brightly colored product bearing no resemblance to the real-world ingredients, an idealized form of what is inherently imperfect, untethered from the natural world or the future, disconnected not just from the consequences of our consuming the snack but disconnected from the consequences unleashed by those consequences. This book recounts my journey of discovery of how our everyday realm has drifted away from the foundations of human life and happiness without our noticing. As with many others, the catalyst for my exploration was a life-threatening medical crisis that did not have a specific cause. This led me to wonder if our entire way of life is like an ultra-processed snack: tasty but not healthy, edible but stripped of the nutrients we need to be healthy, addictive by design. Read the Introduction and first chapter Reader Jeff H. "Having this book during the life stage of middle age and two teens coming of age couldn't be better-timed. Smith makes a compelling case for us to refocus on what truly matters: community, meaningful work, and simply starting a small vegetable garden. Getting out of the rat race can be done locally and incrementally. It just takes a willingness to experiment, connections with others and a large dose of patience. There is a big difference between blame and responsibility. We may not be to blame for our current predicaments in modernity, but the responsibility is ours (responsible = response-able; able to respond). It is our duty to instruct the next generation about the reality of the situation and guide them along a better path." The Mythology of Progress, Anti-Progress and a Mythology for the 21st Century print $20, (Kindle $9.95, Hardcover $24 (215 pages, 2024) audiobook, Read the Introduction and first chapter for free (PDF) 
What if growth--and policies to accelerate growth--are no longer working because our fix for every problem--growth at any cost--is failing? We're told Progress is inevitable as a result of technology, but everyday life is getting harder, not easier--the opposite of Progress, what I call Anti-Progress.
What if the real source of the unraveling is far deeper than economics or politics? What if the problem is what we see as the inevitable destiny of humanity--Progress--is actually a modern mythology, disconnected from the real-world consequences of growth for growth's sake? We indignantly reject that Progress is a mythology, but our need for mythology hasn't gone away because we've mastered technology; we've created a modern mythology of technology that is heedless of its own consequences. To truly progress, we need a new mythology aligned to 21st century realities. That's the goal of this book. Read the Introduction and first chapter for free
Recent entries: Go Ahead and Rage at Boomers, But the Problem Is the Entire Economic Order August 1, 2025 AI for Dummies: AI Turns Us Into Dummies July 30, 2025 What RussiaGate Did to America--and to Me July 28, 2025 Is the Epstein Affair a Watershed Moment? July 25, 2025 AI: Over-Promise + Under-Perform = Disillusionment and Blowback July 23, 2025 Maybe AI Isn't Going to Replace You at Work After All July 21, 2025 The Grown Up Tax Bill: Sorry, Grown-Ups Are Out of Stock July 18, 2025 Can the Developed World Grow Its Way Out of Stagnation? July 16, 2025 The United States of Impunity July 14, 2025 Three Choices, None Good July 9, 2025 Illiquid, Overvalued July 7, 2025 To Make America Great Again, Start Here July 4, 2025
America's "HealthCare" System Is Now a Structured Financial Skim/Scam
July 2, 2025
Contributions/subscriptions are acknowledged in the order received. Your name and email remain confidential and will not be given to any other individual, company or agency. All contributors are listed below in acknowledgement of my gratitude.
Mastery requires reading and doing.
Of Two Minds Site Links home musings my books archives books/films policies/disclosures social media/search Aphorisms How to Contribute, Subscribe/Unsubscribe sites/blogs of interest original music/songs Get a Job (book) contributors my definition of success why readers donate/subscribe to Of Two Minds mobile site (Blogspot) mobile site (m.oftwominds.com)
HUGE GIANT BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: Nothing on this site should be construed as investment advice or guidance. It is not intended as investment advice or guidance, nor is it offered as such.... (read more) WHY EMAIL TO THIS SITE IS READ BUT MAY NOT BE ACKNOWLEDGED: Regrettably, I am so sorely pressed for time and energy that I am unable to respond to the vast majority of emails. Please know I read all emails, but I can only devote a very limited number of hours to this blog and all correspondence.... Subscriptions to the Weekly Musings Reports Subscribers enable Of Two Minds to post free content. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales alone. Your financial support is very much appreciated. Subscribers ($7/mo) and those who have contributed $70 or more annually receive weekly exclusive Musings Reports ($70/year is about $1.35 a week). Each weekly Musings Report offers four features: 1. Exclusive essay on an extraordinarily diverse range of insightful topics 2. Summary of the blog this week 3. Best thing that happened to me this week 4. From Left Field (a curated selection of interesting links) There are four easy ways to subscribe: Substack, Patreon, US Mail and Paypal: How to Contribute, Subscribe/Unsubscribe to Of Two Minds What subscribers are saying about the Musings: "What makes you a channel worth paying for? It's actually pretty simple - you possess a clarity of thought that most of us can only dream of, and a perspective that allows you to focus on the truth with laser-like precision." Jim S. Thank you very much for supporting oftwominds.com with your subscription or contribution.
Extra-Special Bonus Aphorisms:
"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity." (Douglas MacArthur) "We are what we repeatedly do." (Aristotle) "Do the thing and you shall have the power." (Ralph Waldo Emerson) "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." (E.F. Schumacher, via Tom R.) "He who will not risk cannot win." (John Paul Jones) "When we drink coffee, ideas march in like the army." (Honore de Balzac) "Progress is not possible without deviation." (Frank Zappa, via Richard Metzger) "Victory favors those who take pains." (amat victoria curam) "The man who has a garden and a library has everything." (Cicero, via Lee Bentley) "A healthy homecooked family meal and a home garden are revolutionary acts." (CHS) "Do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything." (Napoleon Bonaparte) "The way of the Tao is reversal" Or "Reversal is the movement of Tao." (Lao Tzu) "Chance favours the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur) "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." (Winston Churchill) "Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasures." (Rumi) "The realm of gratitude is boundless." (CHS, 11/25/15) "History doesn't have a reverse gear." (CHS, 12/22/15) Smith's Law of Conservation of Risk: Every sustained action has more than one consequence. Some consequences will appear positive for a time before revealing their destructive nature. Some consequences will be intended, some will not. Some will be foreseeable, some will not. Some will be controllable, some will not. Those that are unforeseen and uncontrollable will trigger waves of other unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences. (July 8, 2014)(thanks to Lew G. for retitling the idea.) Smith's Neofeudalism Principle #1: If the citizenry cannot replace a kleptocratic authoritarian government and/or limit the power of the financial Aristocracy at the ballot box, the nation is a democracy in name only. The Smith Corollary to Metcalfe's Law (The Network Effect): the value of the network is created not just by the number of connected devices/users but by the value of the information and knowledge shared by users in sub-networks and in the entire network. (CHS, 4/6/16) My Credo of Liberation: I no longer care if the power centers of our society--the distant, fortified castles of our financial feudal system--are changed by my actions, for I am liberated by the act of resistance. I am no longer complicit in perpetuating fraudulent feudalism and the pathology of concentrated power. I no longer covet signifiers of membership in the Upper Caste that serves the plutocracy. I am liberated from self-destructive consumerist-State financialization and the delusion that debt servitude and obedience to sociopathological Elites serve my self-interests. (Thank you, Klaus-Peter L., for reminding me) "We've become a culture of excuses rather than solutions: solutions always require sustained effort and discipline." (CHS 4/9/16) "Fraud as a way of life caters an extravagant banquet of consequences." (CHS 4/14/16) "Creativity = problem solving = value creation." (CHS 6/4/16) "Truth is powerful because it is the core dynamic of solving problems." (CHS 7/21/17) "We live in a system of human emotions that masquerades as a science (economics)." (CHS 1/1/18) "Always remember, your focus determines your reality." (George Lucas) "Diversity is for poor people. Sameness is for the successful." (GFB) "When power dissipates suddenly, it dissipates completely." (CHS 7/14/19) "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." (Henry David Thoreau) "Markets cannot price in the value of non-monetized natural assets such as diverse ecosystems." (CHS 7/14/19) "Magical thinking isn't optimism, it is folly." CHS 1/3/22) "Tune in (to self-reliance), drop out (of hyper-consumerism and debt-serfdom) and turn on (to relocalizing capital and agency)." (CHS 1/5/22) "The path to everything you desire starts here: like yourself as you are right now." (CHS 11/20/22) "There are only two signals: how many essentials you produce and share and if you're consuming less with better results. Everything else is noise." (CHS 12/17/22) "Liberation is no longer needing any confirmation or feedback from others or the world for one's sense of self. Wealth, fame, recognition, admiration, praise, prestige, approval, sainthood, martyrdom, success: none are needed, none are desired." (CHS 12/26/22) "When fame, wealth, prestige, status and glory are out of reach, you're free to pursue other more valuable things." (CHS 2/6/22) "It is the sacred duty of every activist who seeks to better their community to grow and share as much life-giving food as is humanly possible." (CHS 6/15/23) "Being anonymous, gray and unknown is the ideal state of freedom." (CHS 3/15/24) "We seem to have entered a world of anti-leisure and anti-productivity in which the unpaid shadow work demanded to keep all the complicated digital bits in motion obliterate our leisure and productivity." CHS (5/22/24) "It is axiomatic that failing systems work the best just before they fail catastrophically." Ray W. "Looking younger is mere technique; thinking younger demands creativity." CHS (10/16/24) "Tell me what's taboo and I'll tell you the truths that threaten the status quo." CHS (12/15/24) "This is the core of the Attention Economy: the ultimate addiction is the addiction to ourselves." CHS (1/28/25) "If You Seek the Truth, Look for What's Taboo." CHS (7/18/25) "My definition of self-reliance: the less you need, the easier it is to get what you need." CHS (7/26/25) "Mastery requires reading and doing." CHS (7/28/25) |
|
||||||||||
|
All content, HTML coding, format design, design elements, original images, videos and musical compositions
and recordings on www.oftwominds.com are protected by copyright © 2025 Charles Hugh Smith, All global rights reserved in all media, unless otherwise credited or noted.
Terms of Service:
All content on this blog is provided by Trewe LLC for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at anytime and without notice.
Our Use of Generative AI Tools Policy:
Our Privacy Policy:
PRIVACY NOTICE FOR EEA INDIVIDUALS
Notice of Compliance with
The California Consumer Protection Act
Regarding Cookies:
Our Commission Policy:
|
|
|
|||||
| home email me (no promise of response, sorry, here's why) mirror site | |||||
