4 Horsemen: 98 minutes to understanding Babylon The Bandit

[Don1]

Well let's see...most will not understand the true message in this film...In fact 90% will refuse to spend the time of a football game to view it ... So this is for those few who are not yet Lab Rats trapped in Babylon's Maze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquHSPJU

[Islandman]

Not a bad watch. I agreed with a lot more of it than I thought I would after watching the first 15 minutes.

It certainly was on point when discussing phenomema like the global plutocracy that effectively controls the governments of the world, the distraction of the sheeple from reality with an overindulgence in entertainment, the military industrial complex and quite a bit more.

What I took issue with was some of the usual misinformation, or at the very least the suggestion, that global poverty is increasing when in fact extreme poverty has been dramatically reduced globally over the last 25 years or so. However growing inequality is certainly a major problem , and to be fair that is the point that was emphasised. In terms of money supply and creation, while I am skeptical of much of the games played by central banks I am not convinced that a return to the gold standard is a good idea.

Depletion of natural resources is another tricky one. The documentary makes good points about the pressure that a growing human population places on the planets resources but I am not as pessimistic about the eventual outcome, because I am such a believer in human innovation. The world is not running short of water, more than 2/3 of the planet is water. What we are running short of is POTABLE water. Similarly, there is no shortage of energy sources, the sun alone supplies more energy than we could ever hope to use, what we have a limit on is hydrocarbon energy sources. Innovation can solve these problems if the right incentives, support and focus necessary to solve them are in place. 50 years ago it was widely thought that the rate of population growth would result in mass starvation, but innovation in farming has resulted in more food production than ever before. Granted we still have a fairly serious distribution problem, but starvation is undoubtably less common than it was when the population was one-third of what it is today.

Nonetheless I certainly agree with the argument that people, especially so-called educated people, need to wake the f.. up and understand the forces at play in the world so they can effectively plan for the uncertain roads ahead. Those changes could turn out to be orderly or messy, but either way they will be substantial.

[Don1]

Nice analysis.

I agree that some of the assumptions in the doc are questionable and that innovation in solving problems is a wild card which may change the game in some areas and nullify doomsday propositions.

However I have to agree with what I believe are the more important theses put forward:

1.The form of capitalism which is now dominant is a corruption of the the more progressive type which emerged post Great Depression when the worst excesses of the Robber Baron/Gilded Age era were curbed by progressive government legal action.

2. The above means we have returned to a Robber Baron era where corporations & plutocrats increasingly own the two major parties and the political system. This is why we see billionaires like Bloomberg buy their way into office and others like the Koch vampiyas self select office holders nationwide... look for that corporate corruption to metastasize.

Between the Citizens United decision and others granting corporations the same electoral financing status as ordinary people and the overwhelming lobbying of corporations on Congress to the extent where INDUSTRY often WRITES LEGISLATION.... the oligarchs have the political system locked. When I see people complaining about the negative effect of unions on US political economy and nothing about corporate corruption...mi juss affi laff. Such sheeple have swallowed the Corporate Media propaganda wholesale

3. The increasing domination of the economy by Wall Street lottery games (Banksters) ... enabled by the removal of Glass-Steagall restrictions (under Clinton!)and the cheap money printed from thin air (backed by nothing) by the Fed, is a prescription for another massive meltdown. When that happens, its scope and effects... that's unknown. But it may be worse than 2008

4. The massive consumerism, growing inequality and huge debt of the US govt are unsustainable... However the economic model of the deformed capitalism we see now actually DEPENDS on this unsustainable madness for it to continue... i.e. a classic dilemma from which there is ultimately no escape. So it is almost a statistical certainty that there will be a big crash.... which of course means another global systemic meltdown

5. All the above most probably indicates that the West is in an age of decadence and is in danger of losing its preeminent status.... and that the post WW2 geopolitical system we have grown accustomed to (and some actually think is permanent! ) will see significant changes.
Meaning that while the West will still be powerful & important... they won't be the only game in town or able to freely boss & bomb other nations at will. It may even mean another war between the big powers.

Given these trends the next 20 years are going to be much more tumultuous than the past 20.... So like Shell, having a Plan B for a possible mad "Scramble" scenario... is a wise choice