I think there is a much deeper dynamic underlying this issue.
Modern finance and bacteria operate on the same infinite growth formula. The problem is when it reaches the boundaries, whether edge of the petri dish, or resources and geographic and political limits.
The advantage of multi-cellular organisms is being able to better navigate the situation.
As societies evolved as social super organisms, government functions as the nervous system, while money and banking are blood and the circulation system.
As cells within this body, people naturally resent the power of government, while becoming addicted to the accumulation of money. Which gives banks all the power.
So the only real job the flunkies allowed in office have, is running up the debt the banks need to grow metastatically. The secret sauce of capitalism is public debt backing private wealth.
Russia and China have effectively gone back to private government, with Putin and Xi as respective CEO's, to control their oligarchs which is why our oligarchs hate them so much.
In order to have government as a public utility, banking has to be as well. When the medium enabling markets is privately managed we are all tenant farmers to the banks.
What a great comment, thank you, John! I love the analogy. "The secret sauce of capitalism is public debt backing private wealth" is a great line. It really condenses our situation down to a nutshell.
To bring your comment back around to growth limits where it started, the metastatic growth of the banking sector is easy for us "tenant farmers" to ignore so long as the size of the overall economic pie is growing.
But as practical growth limits are reached, the banking sector has been permitted to continue its growth apace...at the rest of our expense. That seems to me to be the real engine under the hood of US politics since the 1980s. And it's why Dr. Hudson is such an important voice in 2024.
I have to say that having grown up around more horses and cattle than people and realizing from an early age that most formal education, not focused on a particular field, is more indoctrination than enlightenment, I come from a seriously heretical point of view. I call myself a feral philosopher.
As Dr Hudson is arguing, while our technology might have evolved, our social and cultural foundations have been sidetracked since Ancient times.
For example, as mobile organisms, this sentient interface our body has with its situation functions as a sequence of perceptions, in order to navigate, so our experience of time is the present going past to future.
It is the basis of culture and civilization, as narrative and history and since human knowledge is a function of building on what we learn from those before us, foundational to academics.
The reality is that activity and the resulting change turns future to past. Tomorrow becomes yesterday, because the earth turns.
There is no dimension of time, because the past is consumed by the present, to inform and drive it. Causality and conservation of energy. Cause becomes effect.
This going off topic, simply to show how deep the conceptual issues go.
As it is, humanity getting back on track is going to take a serious reset, that very few are willing to explore.
I'm typing this on my cell phone, because I've been blocked on Substack at my computer account for crossing a particular line.
If you look up my name and "God's Problems," you will better understand.
Basically I pointed out that monotheism is a category error, as ideals are not absolutes. That it has been a tool for top down authority, from Ancient Israel as a monarchy, to Constantine putting the Roman Empire together, to the Catholic Church as the eschatological basis for European monarchy. Divine right of kings, as opposed to consent of the governed.
Democracy and republicanism originated in pantheistic cultures, as metaphor for the many ideas, ideals, factions, aspects of reality interacting.
When the West went back to poplar forms of government, it required separation of church and state, effectively culture and civics. Separating the civil structure from its moral foundation.
Which leaves banking as the power in control. Mammon.
So either this starts to interest you, or you don't want to touch it with a ten foot pole.
Personally I know the system has to crash itself, before most will be willing to look that far outside the box. Having been mapping it out for decades, I can wait a few more years.
It first occurred about two days after I posted it. Usually what I have to say tends to go over the heads of those potentially threatened, as they tend not to think outside their boxes.
So I initially assumed it was a rogue moderator and when I finally bothered to dig into it, the help guy, Tex, ran through the usuals. Though I'd had my son in law do that, even downloaded chrome onto my old Mac.
Then he asked for a screenshot, so I sent him one that showed no post button under the comment box and with the browser on the share button, had "run script (void 0) as the address line. I also pointed out most of the buttons didn't show any address. That's when the conversation ceased. So I'm assuming it was more than a rogue moderator.
Basically I have limited computer time and just went back to Medium.
I do have some other posts on the Substack. The one called, Why Culture is not Reality, is fairly long. An unmentioned journalist told me he might post something of mine, but it fell through, so having sat in my draft box most of the summer of 23, is fairly long.
The fact I'm a nobody does make it easier and the less said, the less evidence.
I realized long ago that the greatest danger to the system is itself. It's like a scab, in that the more unmoving and corrupt it becomes, the more it separates from the underlying flesh.
The high priests of Mammon have been firing the smart ones that wouldn't do what they are told and hiring dumb ones that would, that now it's a fight between the 12 year old boy and the 14 year old girl to see who gets to play Captain, while the engine rooms fill with water and first class heads for the lifeboats with the cases of champagne.
Watching from up here in the cheap seats, it's interesting to see it playing out.
Meanwhile I'm out in the woods with a telehandler and a chainsaw, collecting logs.
I think there is a much deeper dynamic underlying this issue.
Modern finance and bacteria operate on the same infinite growth formula. The problem is when it reaches the boundaries, whether edge of the petri dish, or resources and geographic and political limits.
The advantage of multi-cellular organisms is being able to better navigate the situation.
As societies evolved as social super organisms, government functions as the nervous system, while money and banking are blood and the circulation system.
As cells within this body, people naturally resent the power of government, while becoming addicted to the accumulation of money. Which gives banks all the power.
So the only real job the flunkies allowed in office have, is running up the debt the banks need to grow metastatically. The secret sauce of capitalism is public debt backing private wealth.
Russia and China have effectively gone back to private government, with Putin and Xi as respective CEO's, to control their oligarchs which is why our oligarchs hate them so much.
In order to have government as a public utility, banking has to be as well. When the medium enabling markets is privately managed we are all tenant farmers to the banks.
What a great comment, thank you, John! I love the analogy. "The secret sauce of capitalism is public debt backing private wealth" is a great line. It really condenses our situation down to a nutshell.
To bring your comment back around to growth limits where it started, the metastatic growth of the banking sector is easy for us "tenant farmers" to ignore so long as the size of the overall economic pie is growing.
But as practical growth limits are reached, the banking sector has been permitted to continue its growth apace...at the rest of our expense. That seems to me to be the real engine under the hood of US politics since the 1980s. And it's why Dr. Hudson is such an important voice in 2024.
Nathan,
Thank you for the reply.
I have to say that having grown up around more horses and cattle than people and realizing from an early age that most formal education, not focused on a particular field, is more indoctrination than enlightenment, I come from a seriously heretical point of view. I call myself a feral philosopher.
As Dr Hudson is arguing, while our technology might have evolved, our social and cultural foundations have been sidetracked since Ancient times.
For example, as mobile organisms, this sentient interface our body has with its situation functions as a sequence of perceptions, in order to navigate, so our experience of time is the present going past to future.
It is the basis of culture and civilization, as narrative and history and since human knowledge is a function of building on what we learn from those before us, foundational to academics.
The reality is that activity and the resulting change turns future to past. Tomorrow becomes yesterday, because the earth turns.
There is no dimension of time, because the past is consumed by the present, to inform and drive it. Causality and conservation of energy. Cause becomes effect.
This going off topic, simply to show how deep the conceptual issues go.
As it is, humanity getting back on track is going to take a serious reset, that very few are willing to explore.
I'm typing this on my cell phone, because I've been blocked on Substack at my computer account for crossing a particular line.
If you look up my name and "God's Problems," you will better understand.
Basically I pointed out that monotheism is a category error, as ideals are not absolutes. That it has been a tool for top down authority, from Ancient Israel as a monarchy, to Constantine putting the Roman Empire together, to the Catholic Church as the eschatological basis for European monarchy. Divine right of kings, as opposed to consent of the governed.
Democracy and republicanism originated in pantheistic cultures, as metaphor for the many ideas, ideals, factions, aspects of reality interacting.
When the West went back to poplar forms of government, it required separation of church and state, effectively culture and civics. Separating the civil structure from its moral foundation.
Which leaves banking as the power in control. Mammon.
So either this starts to interest you, or you don't want to touch it with a ten foot pole.
Personally I know the system has to crash itself, before most will be willing to look that far outside the box. Having been mapping it out for decades, I can wait a few more years.
I read your essay, John, and it seemed pretty good to me. I'm having trouble understanding how and why Substack blocked you. Can you say more?
It sure is gratifying to see that other folks are thinking about things like time and Platonism with respect to economics!
That's an interesting question.
It first occurred about two days after I posted it. Usually what I have to say tends to go over the heads of those potentially threatened, as they tend not to think outside their boxes.
So I initially assumed it was a rogue moderator and when I finally bothered to dig into it, the help guy, Tex, ran through the usuals. Though I'd had my son in law do that, even downloaded chrome onto my old Mac.
Then he asked for a screenshot, so I sent him one that showed no post button under the comment box and with the browser on the share button, had "run script (void 0) as the address line. I also pointed out most of the buttons didn't show any address. That's when the conversation ceased. So I'm assuming it was more than a rogue moderator.
Basically I have limited computer time and just went back to Medium.
I do have some other posts on the Substack. The one called, Why Culture is not Reality, is fairly long. An unmentioned journalist told me he might post something of mine, but it fell through, so having sat in my draft box most of the summer of 23, is fairly long.
Wow, what a bizarre story. You'd think they'd at least let you know that you're getting banned. Very troubling indeed, John.
I guess it's the times.
The fact I'm a nobody does make it easier and the less said, the less evidence.
I realized long ago that the greatest danger to the system is itself. It's like a scab, in that the more unmoving and corrupt it becomes, the more it separates from the underlying flesh.
The high priests of Mammon have been firing the smart ones that wouldn't do what they are told and hiring dumb ones that would, that now it's a fight between the 12 year old boy and the 14 year old girl to see who gets to play Captain, while the engine rooms fill with water and first class heads for the lifeboats with the cases of champagne.
Watching from up here in the cheap seats, it's interesting to see it playing out.
Meanwhile I'm out in the woods with a telehandler and a chainsaw, collecting logs.