Once again, when the truth is spoken, it is not heard. When the truth is written, the mind skips over it. All of this applies to the present, when knowing the truth would be helpful. After the fact the truth is obvious nut then it doesn’t matter.
When the economic depression intensifies it will be said that both the depression and its intensity were unpredictable. What will be experienced by Americans will be the economic equivalent of a thousand year flood. I have been predicting an economic calamity since 2005. In the summer of 2007 I predicted that ordinary citizens would be asked to bear the losses of banks and other institutions. I know these things not because I am smart but because I am paying attention without the limitations of instinctive biases. I am not that smart. My I.Q. is very modest. I am a misfit and misfits have an elevated level of awareness which helps them with survival. I am not part of a herd. I can’t be. I am not qualified for herd membership and wouldn’t be accepted. My vantage point is from outside the herd so I am really good at knowing what the herd is going to do next.
Every person has some potential to be autonomous but they have greater potential to follow instinctive behavior patterns. On history’s time line democracy is a new development. Our founding fathers identified a number of flaws in democracy and put safeguards in our constitution. At the time the constitution was written, because of the nature of the colonies, the population consisted of largely of autonomous people. Because of the nature of the new world autonomy was the norm. The founders did not recognize how much the success of democracy depended on citizens thinking as individuals rather than as members of an aggregation or herd.
After the country was established and became more urbanized, autonomy as a state of existence was less and less imposed on citizens by circumstances. Over time autonomy has been replaced by herd dynamics. Why? It is nothing more than following the path of least resistance. Individuals survived without autonomy for most of history and are constantly drawn backward to their prior state.
What does herd behavior have to do with economics? People have a much stronger pull towards collective action when living as members of a herd. The competition for power within a democracy requires adding more and more economic roles for government. Every new economic role for government requires removing ingredients necessary in a free market system. The income distribution becomes lopsided in favor of the very wealthy because the outcomes of continuing power struggles requires diverting resources to those with political power. The economy becomes too inefficient to grow and eventually collapses. This is the situation we are facing today. The problem is further aggregated because hardly anyone knows what is actually happening. When the collapse occurs you will know that it was predictable. You can say you new ahead of time because a misfit told you so.
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