In a Dublin talk last week, Dmitri Orlov bears out my repeated theme of diversity, dispersion and disconnection - the way in which efficiency and survival are at odds. It's also a theme of James Howard Kunstler. Even Rob Kirby's latest post refers to a "financial ecosystem" and asserts that the concentration of power at the top threatens the structure.
Big changes are on the way. Jesse reports on how the world is weaning itself off the dollar; the Contrarian Investor notes how China is cornering the market in rare minerals vital to modern technology.
There is a power struggle - a host of power struggles - going on. The good news is that life goes on, too. The bad news is that not everybody makes it.
Don't be the doughboy this time.
It won't be who has the most people who necessarily wins - you have to feed them. It is more likely to be the places who have the technological advantages.
ReplyDeleteThe bad news is that it is a linear descent. This is not the parabolic future envisaged by the economists.
ReplyDeleteI tend to get twitchy when I read things like
ReplyDeletethe ranks of people whose area of expertise is in the manipulation of arbitrary rules and arithmetic abstractions rather than in engaging directly with the physical world
Nick - it is not clear what exactly makes you twitchy. My reading of much of our current mess is that too much investing was done without understanding the numbers. We need political and business leaders who understand science and technology.
ReplyDeletePaddington - naturally I agree with your last two sentences.
ReplyDeletethe stuff I cited from Orlov's material: he's attacking the people he characterises that way (to be more precise: he's attacking the empowerment of such people)
To me, it's similar to what you'll often hear in Germany: attacks on what they call 'New York financiers'
this is barely-disguised code