It is a way for the Gauleiter in charge to pretend they care for their citizens, no matter business failures led by empire politics and covid excuse and so on, while kneeling down to empire again and again..... a deflection policy, I would say, I am sure bills have gone up for all in NL too as in most of Europe.
At one point, my most important possession was an indestructible opafiets. While I didn't nudge cars off the streets with it, I'm nevertheless convinced it could have handled that task with ease.
The infrastructure there is admirable. Hopefully the structures themselves, and the social values backing them, offer some hope for a non-neoliberal future.
A sturdy fiets is a thing to behold, preferably at least a couple of decades old, with a patina of rust for that timeless quality.
As I was writing this piece, I was thinking about how dedicated the Dutch are to physical infrastructure, but shockingly indifferent to what you might call immaterial infrastructure: all the facilities and services that enable a society to be functional and civilized. There's money for roads, dykes, and canals. But paying for teachers, policemen, and healthcare workers? People are apparently not a good public investment. There's a lot of rot here that doesn't meet the eye.
That indifference is shocking. It's a rejection, ironically, of capitalism. I'm not sure what to call it other than the product of a mephitic, gaseous fantasy.
It's born of a strange mixture of fear and of contempt for the public. These technocrats believe they are non-ideological, that economic questions must be left to them -- and their experts! They worship at the secular altar of "efficiency", and living, breathing human beings are inefficient. Or something. I wish I knew.
Thank you so much for that! I did miss that, though I try to keep up with Brownstone; they publish some great commentaries, and I've come especially to greatly admire those of Jeffrey Tucker, the founder. What the writer of that piece says: they will never be able to pull it off. I see so many people on Twitter who are convinced that Klaus Schwab is literally pulling all the strings. Gives him WAAAY too much credit, as odious a man as he may be. The WEF is losing its luster, is becoming irrelevant. The Duran did a really good segment on this the other day, not too long, 15 min, I think you would find it very helpful, as I did: https://odysee.com/@theduran:e/real-world-leaders-avoid-davos-wef:7
I would definitely encourage you to have a go at this. One thing though: how do we define communism? Many people say China is communist. Thing is, China does "work"; it's a stable, successful society. Then people say: that's because it isn't actually communist, look, they have private enterprise and billionaires. Well, is it or is not communist? Depends on what you mean, I guess. Also, take North Korea. Also communist. Also seems to be a relatively stable place, ie, it "works". Now there may be aspects of North Korean life that we don't like, that you and I would prefer not to live in a society organized in such a way, but that doesn't mean as a system it "doesn't work". Follow me here? Also, free enterprise and socialism aren't mutually exclusive; most societies have a mixture of both.
It is a way for the Gauleiter in charge to pretend they care for their citizens, no matter business failures led by empire politics and covid excuse and so on, while kneeling down to empire again and again..... a deflection policy, I would say, I am sure bills have gone up for all in NL too as in most of Europe.
At one point, my most important possession was an indestructible opafiets. While I didn't nudge cars off the streets with it, I'm nevertheless convinced it could have handled that task with ease.
The infrastructure there is admirable. Hopefully the structures themselves, and the social values backing them, offer some hope for a non-neoliberal future.
A sturdy fiets is a thing to behold, preferably at least a couple of decades old, with a patina of rust for that timeless quality.
As I was writing this piece, I was thinking about how dedicated the Dutch are to physical infrastructure, but shockingly indifferent to what you might call immaterial infrastructure: all the facilities and services that enable a society to be functional and civilized. There's money for roads, dykes, and canals. But paying for teachers, policemen, and healthcare workers? People are apparently not a good public investment. There's a lot of rot here that doesn't meet the eye.
That indifference is shocking. It's a rejection, ironically, of capitalism. I'm not sure what to call it other than the product of a mephitic, gaseous fantasy.
It's born of a strange mixture of fear and of contempt for the public. These technocrats believe they are non-ideological, that economic questions must be left to them -- and their experts! They worship at the secular altar of "efficiency", and living, breathing human beings are inefficient. Or something. I wish I knew.
Very impressive. Not very practical everywhere, but impressive.
If you ever get to Amsterdam, I would be happy to play tour guide for a day!
Hi Colin, Just read this in reference to you earlier comment about technocratic dystopia being impossible to maintain, in case you missed it. https://brownstone.org/articles/technocratic-dystopia-is-impossible/
Thank you so much for that! I did miss that, though I try to keep up with Brownstone; they publish some great commentaries, and I've come especially to greatly admire those of Jeffrey Tucker, the founder. What the writer of that piece says: they will never be able to pull it off. I see so many people on Twitter who are convinced that Klaus Schwab is literally pulling all the strings. Gives him WAAAY too much credit, as odious a man as he may be. The WEF is losing its luster, is becoming irrelevant. The Duran did a really good segment on this the other day, not too long, 15 min, I think you would find it very helpful, as I did: https://odysee.com/@theduran:e/real-world-leaders-avoid-davos-wef:7
I have been thinking and writing about why communism can't work and there are some similarities. (of course)
I would definitely encourage you to have a go at this. One thing though: how do we define communism? Many people say China is communist. Thing is, China does "work"; it's a stable, successful society. Then people say: that's because it isn't actually communist, look, they have private enterprise and billionaires. Well, is it or is not communist? Depends on what you mean, I guess. Also, take North Korea. Also communist. Also seems to be a relatively stable place, ie, it "works". Now there may be aspects of North Korean life that we don't like, that you and I would prefer not to live in a society organized in such a way, but that doesn't mean as a system it "doesn't work". Follow me here? Also, free enterprise and socialism aren't mutually exclusive; most societies have a mixture of both.
This one is also really good. What's in the pipeline here in Europe, as anger and unrest grows: https://odysee.com/@theduran:e/protests-and-strikes-in-france.-uk-and:4