Check All That Apply: Artifice, Suppression, Deceit, Denial, Delusion

November 16, 2023

by Charles Hugh Smith Of Two Minds

Why does the phrase “bread and circuses” keep coming to mind?

In my previous post, I asked Can We Reverse America’s Distemper?, starting from the historical perspective of 50-year cycles of socio-economic cooperation and discord, a cycle documented by Peter Turchin.

I referenced a January 1974 essay (America Agonistes)–50 years ago–in which the author identified three key sources of decay and collapse: rigidity (resistance to change / adaption), deep alienation and the erosion of crucial institutions.

In his recent book End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, Turchin identified America’s perverse wealth pump that transfers wealth from the working / middle classes to the wealthy elites as a core source of systemic risk, a source fueled by the time-honored dynamic of entrenched elites and incumbents rigging the economy and key institutions to serve their interests above the interests of the general public, i.e. the common good.