charleshughsmith | Things change, supposedly immutable systems crumble and delusions die. That's the lay of
the land in the
The Empire of Uncertainty I described yesterday.
It's difficult not to be reminded of the Antonine Plague of 165 AD that crippled the Western Roman
Empire. The exact nature of the virus that struck down as many as one-third of the Empire's
residents is unknown; it's thought to be an early variant of measles or smallpox.
One would have guessed the populace achieved "herd immunity" after the first wave devastated
the Empire, but that's not what happened. The plague continued until 180 AD, and recurred
a decade later, continuing to sow misery and economic costs.
Valiant co-Emperor Verus fell ill and died in 169 AD, leaving his adopted brother Marcus
Aurelius to struggle on as the sole leader of Rome's efforts to repel invasions and maintain its
defenses.
What's different now is the extreme fragility of America's financial and social orders.
The apparent strength of the economy rests on increasing extremes of financialization
and its corrupting fruit, soaring wealth/power inequality.
"The market" would have us believe corporations profiting from "engagement" (i.e. divisiveness
and turmoil) are the most valuable assets in the land. If the Empire's most precious assets
are the derangements of "engagement," then what else do we need to know about its advanced
fragility?
If data stripmined from debt-dependent consumers is the most profitable resource in the
nation, that's a definition of distortion and delusion. It's almost as if the American
economy and social order have discounted the material world, as if financial leverage, data-mining
and "engagement" are all that really matters and the material world will magically take care of
itself.
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