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posted by on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the no-one's-leaving-until-we-have-unanimous-agreement dept.

The rise of populism has rattled the global political establishment. Brexit came as a shock, as did the victory of Donald Trump. Much head-scratching has resulted as leaders seek to work out why large chunks of their electorates are so cross.
...
The answer seems pretty simple. Populism is the result of economic failure. The 10 years since the financial crisis have shown that the system of economic governance which has held sway for the past four decades is broken. Some call this approach neoliberalism. Perhaps a better description would be unpopulism.

Unpopulism meant tilting the balance of power in the workplace in favour of management and treating people like wage slaves. Unpopulism was rigged to ensure that the fruits of growth went to the few not to the many. Unpopulism decreed that those responsible for the global financial crisis got away with it while those who were innocent bore the brunt of austerity.

2017 Davos says: The 99% should just try harder.


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  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:01PM

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:01PM (#486175) Journal

    Careful with those assertions on the supposed stupidity of democracy. Democracies can be lead astray with propaganda and lies. That's not the fault of the democracy, except for being too credulous. Populism is the garbage out from the garbage fed in to the swarm intelligence by propagandists. Bonus that they also get to malign the very concept of democracy which they're trying to subvert.

    Democracy can also be cheated, for instance by rigging elections. Trump did not win the popular vote. There is doubt whether he really won the Electoral College. The rust belt states handed him the election by very slim margins, and there are lingering questions about vote suppression. There's also FBI director Comey's October surprise, and possible Russian interference. But the US doesn't seem to have any provision for pausing and taking stock. The machinery has to grind on and swear in someone to be president on Jan 20. Full speed ahead and damn the very real questions about the integrity of the vote. Seems to me no one should have been anointed POTUS elect for at least a month.

    I certainly hope that this time around, the public remembers the 2003 Gulf War, and will make it impossible for the Republicans to pull a stunt like that again and get us to invade another nation. The most likely targets right now seem to be Syria or Yemen. They're small and weak, with weak friends, easy pickings for a show of military might and glory. But there's no telling. The entire Islamic world is a potential target. Or, who knows, maybe the Republicans will hoke up reason to invade some leftist country in S. America such as Venezuela. They may shy away from Iran, as it's bigger and stronger and has lots of mountains. N. Korea is protected by China, so that may be out too.

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