This site is a set of interrelated blogs. The general intent is to document the changes that are occurring in the society of the United States, along with analysis. Further, the intent is to “give it you straight.” As such, the focus is getting to what is really going on, sans propaganda and comforting platitude. And as much as possible without a particular political bias (to be clear, I will eschew a lot of both liberal and conservative assumptions).
There is no getting around it, but there is a general theme of unraveling in play, now, and for some time. For one, this site will document various aspects of this unraveling. It also seeks to give a perspective as to why this unraveling is occurring – with analysis rooted in historical development. And attempts to give some idea as to what lies ahead.
Some of the material that I am using include:
- Classic works such as The Image, Revolt of the Elites, Understanding Media, Amusing Ourselves to Death
- All sorts of more recent work, such as The Shallows, and discussions dealing with the theme of techno/neo-feudalism
- Authors such as Peter Turchin, Marshall McLuhan, [ ] Postman, Chris Hedges (to list a few that I find useful)
- History of empires, such as the Roman Empire, and empires described in recent work by Ray Dalio – Dutch, Spanish, and British – and how their experience helps shine light as to what is occurring here
- Statistics, such as that relate to the (huge) wealth gap, income levels, electronic media usage and so on that I see relevant to the overall theme
- I will add more to this list later on
As for the title Late Cycle, the reference is to a late phase of development of a social-economic entity, marked by a rise in problems and crises. If the theme seems off base, I invite the reader to attempt to answer the following questions:
- Why are so many Americans dependent on government transfer payments (including Social Security and Medicare)
- Why are we so dependent on debt – with levels in all three sectors, public, private, and corporate, at record levels
- Why are a number of once vibrant down towns so run down, with many stores closed and overwhelmed by homeless
- Why is wealth distribution so skewed
- Why, in the wake of the dot-com bubble, have we seen not one but two more speculative bubbles in a relatively short span of several decades
- Why has the average life expectancy actually declined (not by a large amount, but still, the trend is eye opening)
- Why have the recent presidential elections been dominated by two old men who both should have been put out to pasture (playing golf; also, I am looking at Harris as an extension of Biden)
- How did Trump get elected two times (and consider how he was outspent in the recent election)
- And why are so many recent college graduates, armed with the computer science degrees that are supposed to be their ticket to interesting, well-paying jobs, finding it so difficult to find work
This site is an exploration of these questions and discussion of underlying causes. And acknowledges we are living in a dramatic period, where an order that has been in place since mid-twentieth century is unraveling.
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