Psychopath economics: part 3 history repeating

Part 2 of Psychopath Economics looks at the interplay between three factors in societies past and present ? belief systems, the logic of power and patterns of consumption ? and contends that with their increasing domination, elites become more remote, psychopathic and parasitic. Anthropological studies suggest this recurring phenomena plays a significant role in societies? rise and fall.Looking at this ?cycle of civilisations? from afar, it?s notable how belief systems remain strong in declining societies and how elites continue to enforce their domination right up to the point of collapse. Psychopathic elites do not willingly concede their power. Far from it: they tighten their grip. This fatal combination of an elite?s power and humanity?s ability to delude itself of obvious truths is one of history?s clear warnings.Part 3 ? History Repeating ? shows that though today?s civilisation is considerably larger and more complex than any before it, the same very human patterns are in play. The elite has everything but still wants more; consumption levels are unsustainable and rising; and we have a social world that is completely detached from the real world.History Repeating looks at the machine (the financial system, work, consumption and social mobility), the players enforcing it (the corporations and the state) and the belief systems that support and justify it (consumerism and neoliberalism). It contends that the elite is using its economic power ? ?the bull? ? to manoeuvre ?the herd? into a position of dependancy and confusion, so its control is absolute.It is subordinating and capturing states through austerity and free-trade deals, so as to remove or neutralise democratic alternatives to corporate power. Meanwhile, narratives over the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are superseded by the reassuring symbols and narratives of comfortable lifestyles; of independence, status, sex and security.The elite?s ultimate aim is to ensure that corporations are the sole providers for all human need so it can extract economic rents from the herd. The herd, now cast as worker-consumer drones, creates all the wealth but is trapped in a spiral of declining real incomes. Meanwhile, the gap between its reduced means and its marketing-fuelled aspirations is filled by debt.In this way, the herd is merely a dehumanised factor of production and consumption which, along with natural capital, is exploited to its natural limits. Not only does this increase the risks of social breakdown, but the exponential rise in the consumption of natural capital is driving us towards catastrophic climate change and resource depletion.However, despite the overwhelming evidence of the system?s collapse, the elite keeps driving for more, viewing the planet?s diminishing capacity to sustain human life as a price worth paying for its continued domination. This is the definition of psychopath economics. And as our children will soon discover, we are still to count its greatest costs.