We are, indeed, facing the crisis we all knew had to come that could destroy the balance kept by traditional powers-that-be. When people lament the “climate crisis” gripping humanity, all roads in the conversation lead to the inevitable reality — to “save the planet” humanity needs to take a drastic hit on their standard of living. This is a reality Big Corporate is not about to highlight.
Given that there are many countries with sovereign self-interests at stake (and even more private enterprise players with even bigger “strategies” at stake), it becomes a question of who is on the hook to cop the most “investment” — or, probably more realistically-worded, sacrifice — in this noble pursuit to “arrest climate change”. Wokedom puts the onus on the “Global North” who, we are told, have much more to give than “the poor” of the “Global South”.
What is missing in this argument is that there are always two sides to a coin. The other side to this woke sentiment is the more confronting question around whether “the poor” are entitled to First World living standards.
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Imagine, for a second, what it would mean for a country the size of India, for example, (or even, for that matter, the Philippines with its enormous population of 120 million) to sport a market where the average household is capable of affording a fridge or two, an air conditioner or three (these are hot teeming countries, after all) a car for every one of its five or seven licensed (and driving student) teenagers, and many other nice things.
We can thank private enterprise for that scary — but mainstream — thought. Big Corporate continuously celebrate the coming of age of the next generation of “newly-affluent” young consumers — keen to jet off to weekend holidays overseas twice or thrice a year, buy the latest throwaway fashions, and drive their big SUVs to buy a toothbrush at the corner Seven-Eleven. Imagine all those phones they will buy and keep for a year or two before they “upgrade” to the next electronic fashion statement. Imagine all the AI (that rely on fuel-guzzling data centres) these people will need to consume to serve as crutches for their ever-eroding abilities to think for themselves.
Imagine all that.
A lot of this is driven by the idea that everyone is entitled to cheap stuff in enormous quantities and “abundant energy” to produce and consume these. Crazy, right? The trouble is, the more popular sentiment is that allowing “global trade” to grind to a halt is crazier — because “the poor” will “suffer the most”. That argument only begs an important Darwinian question:
Are the poor entitled to be rich?
Food for thought. Meanwhile, barriers to trade are coming up, and every suit is shittin’ bricks in their BMWs as they watch their asset charts go red. Entire countries will need to rethink their “cash crops” and the “export machine” they call their “national economy” as the reality of having to produce domestically what they consume bites. What will set apart the men from the boys over the coming months and years will be not who merely survives all that. It will be who thrives in these interesting times.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
My father was a product of The Great Depression. He believed Franklin Roosevelt brought abundance to the majority of Americans.
https://listondonn.ph/a-refuge-from-calamity-2/
WWII realigned global alliances and USA spread the wealth through capitalism and investment.
Donald Trump was elected in 2024 because American goodwill has been exploited by the Libtard-Communist Criminal Cabal we have enabled through imaginary “free trade.”
https://listondonn.ph/what-does-donald-trumps-election-mean-to-asia/
Americans now realize being able to access American wealth has a value. By the time Trump is done re-aligning our relationships the Libtard-Communists will pay the price or become insular doing each other’s laundry.
Philippines will prosper.
Lol. After decades of exploiting developing nations, Angkol Sam act like they’re the victims now.
And oh, both you and benign0 sound like Scott Bessent who said “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream.”
Mga matapobre. Democratization of luxury must’ve ruined the comfy status quo of your beloved western elites who only care about numbers going up on a chart.
Guess who trashed this place to this point? Boys who can’t even master themselves that they have to defile and exploit the female and those they deem to be inferior. There’s no such obscene wealth that didn’t come from domination through savagery or manipulation and deception. No doubt a lot of this has to be unlearned. But if you accept all of it without questioning your moral code, then you must be willing to partake of the hell that you impose on the other.
I don’t hear any Americans claiming to be economic victims. The capitalist world economy has caused more people to live in bounty than ever in history and over recent years plenty of people have flooded illegally into USA from other less fortunate places.
Now a landslide election of Donald Trump has changed the political calculus for the entire world. Economic balance is being implemented.
“Obscene Wealth” is what envious people call something they cannot get enough of.
of course the poor are not entitled to anything except the opportunity for upward mobility.
philippine society, despite the trappings of a seeming “democracy”, is not really much different from pre colonial castes.
we have the alipin sagigilid and alipin namamahay, class e and d
the theres the timawa – the working men, class c
then the maharlika – great warriors, learned men, masters of trades, class b
and finally the maginoo- the nobility, class a.
genetic programming will always prevail
Will the tariffs affect the price of gold? This is important because Filipino athletes have been winning so many Gold Medals lately.