For Having The Wrong Politics
Lifted from the comments, an excerpt from the Joe Rogan Experience, a discussion with investor and tech developer Marc Andreessen:
Forward this video to friends & family to understand just how evil the government has been
pic.twitter.com/XgRnikMK6J— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 29, 2024
The complete three-hour discussion, which I recommend making time for, can be found here. Topics touched on include progressive status bubbles, biased AI, debanking and other deep-state shenanigans, and a march towards dystopia only recently interrupted.
Update, via the comments:
As Dicentra says in reply,
It’s quite a revealing discussion, on many fronts, and worth finding three hours to hear the whole thing.
Much of it is dystopian in its implications, and there’s a recurring sense of getting a chance to avoid a path to nowhere good. The idea of a branch in the timeline, mentioned jokingly early on, did not strike me as inapt. And the description of living in a self-flattering progressive bubble, with continual anxieties about status and expressing The Correct Politics, may be familiar to regulars here.
I was in the car, listening distractedly and pretty much by accident, but soon found myself paying attention. The mechanics of unaccountable state power are not uninteresting, if somewhat disturbing; the sheer foolishness and perversity of Our Betters is a never-ending source of black comedy – say, with the US military using Chinese drones; and the insider description of elite liberals and their world – its vanities and its mismatch with reality – had a certain resonance.
As you might imagine.
Mr Rogan is known, and parodied, for his whoas and wows and what the fucks, but it’s an episode in which what the fuck is not an unreasonable response. And if you’ve wondered how an elite liberal, a Silicon Valley billionaire, starts to, as it were, leave the faith, it’s quite interesting. The process of registering the vanities and incongruities, the social dynamics, the outright lies about topics in which you have some expertise, and so forth.
Now please insert your political views into the scanner.
Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
The debanking thing is terrifying. It’s as dystopian as anything they’ve come up with yet, and that’s saying a lot.
OTOH, when Elon gets X payments stood up, maybe he’ll offer debit accounts where you can store your actual money. Of course, an X debit account would be held by an actual chartered bank (not X itself), but maybe Elon would have enough palanca to prevent people from being politically debanked by that bank.
It’s quite a revealing discussion, on many fronts, and worth finding three hours to hear the whole thing.
Much of it is dystopian in its implications, and there’s a recurring sense of getting a chance to avoid a path to nowhere good. The idea of a branch in the timeline, as it were, mentioned jokingly early on, did not strike me as inapt. And the description of living in a self-flattering progressive bubble, with continual anxieties about status and expressing The Correct Politics, may be familiar to regulars here.
A problem for progressives. Or when the fantasy bumps into reality.
The tendency of the criminal not to confine their antisocial leanings to one sphere, neatly, has been noted here before.
That’s one of Rogan’s best episodes. Definitely watch the whole thing. The bit on using Chinese drones will have you banging your head on the desk.
I was in the car, listening distractedly and pretty much by accident, but soon found myself paying attention. The mechanics of unaccountable state power are not uninteresting, if somewhat disturbing; the sheer foolishness and perversity of Our Betters is a never-ending source of black comedy, not least with regard to the aforementioned Chinese drones; and the insider description of elite liberals and their world – its vanities and its mismatch with reality – had a certain resonance.
As you might imagine.
Mr Rogan is known, and parodied, for his whoas and wows and what the fucks, but it’s an episode in which what the fuck is not an unreasonable response. And if you’ve wondered how an elite liberal, a Silicon Valley billionaire, starts to, as it were, leave the faith, it’s quite interesting. The process of registering the vanities and incongruities, the social dynamics, the outright lies about topics in which you have some expertise, and so forth.
When belief systems collide.
Perhaps. But there’s the danger of that bank, that one bank, being debanked itself. There’s no way, no legal way in our current system, of constructing a safe alternative. I was about to say reasonably safe but none of what is happening is based on reason. It’s pure tyranny. Just like the obfuscation of the meaning of words that undermines our laws. Ultimately, banks are constructed almost entirely out of words and promises. The entity that ultimately determines what words and promises prevail is the government it operates under. The only real alternative is another form of currency or another government system. Not pushing crypto per se as that is another can of worms. Ultimately (yes, on top of the previous ‘ultimately’) it comes down to trust. And we are moving from a (formerly) high trust to a low trust society.
And because I felt you needed some shoe-related news.
You couldn’t replicate our study because you’re ugly.
The State’s willingness to do this is terrifying.
The widespread liberal approval is even more terrifying.
What is it with liberals and totalitarianism? What is it with their cruelty and sadism? (That is, almost entirely, a rhetorical question. Of course.)
Note that a key part of banking is wire transfer. Getting cut off from that would cripple a bank. And how would a de-banked bank offer loans, which are the other side of traditional banking?
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, the feds started to bully banks into giving loans to blacks who had bad credit records. All in the name of anti-racism: Want to open another branch? Want to acquire that little neighborhood bank? We won’t let you do it unless you start making loans to black people who are bad risks.
My liberal friends sneered at my concerns over this abuse of power and promulgation of lies.
So basically they wanted to turn America into China…
Something along those lines. Progress, baby.
Now please insert your political views into the scanner.
..
[ Post updated. ]
I think we all know which one is going to come out on top.
But a Christian who objected would be fired.
Ask the Fuggers. Or the Medicis. Banking has been around long before modern technology. The biggest problem is that small fry get short shrift from banks as small accounts cost more to administer than they’re worth.
Then the CRA got super-charged & hey, presto, you have the entire mortgage sector going South.
Totalitarians vary tactics, not the goal.
Meanwhile, in the progressive mind.
Related.
What if she doesn’t have children but does stay at home (in a locked closet if it can be arranged)?
Watching giant corporations exhibit herd behaviour like a flock of sheep is like watching mountains blink.
Headed for? The U.S. is the brokest country in history.
Sooner or later…
So basically they wanted to turn America into
ChinaCanada…Fixed it for you.
This tactic was used against the Trucker Convoy and its supporters in Canada. To compound the tyranny, the government coerced Go Fund Me to refuse to disburse the millions of dollars of funds that had been raised in support of the protest.
Not that I disagree with the concern but even according to that chart, things were worse post-WWII. This problem is entirely fixable without declaring bankruptcy. Whatever that would mean for what is still the world’s reserve currency. For now anyway. The real problem is the complacency. Ongoing increases in productivity are mostly what has staved off economic disaster so far. Either way, the UK is a bad example to follow. Fortunately (?) there is no greater free market economy in the world right now. Though in a generation or so we could all become client states to El Salvador. For those who believe in The Simulation, that would be apt.
I would remind you of the $221T in unfunded liabilities the U.S. faces.
And the comeback from the well-surely-they-would-never-do-anything-like-that crowd is, “Why do the banks do this? Are they all in on this conspiracy, ho-ho?” Banking is the most heavily-regulated business on earth. The banks know they have to dance to the politicians’ tune or they’re out of the game themselves.
This is the real danger of over-regulation. It’s not simply a drag on the economy and oppressive in and of itself; it can be leveraged. “Nice bank you got there. It’d be a real shame if anything was to… happen to it…”
Yes. Liabilities exceed assets by 0.5%. Right now. And it will get worse unless something very drastic is done. Look, I have been on this issue since the Reagan years when they thought they could magically increase government revenue by cutting taxes. They sold that lie based on some BS from Sweden or some such more socialist country. Fortunately the tech revolution blew those numbers away, so they spent more. Then the cold war peace dividend, and they spent more. My only hope is that Elon and Vivek can kill at least one department. The defense spending and what the TSA, FBI, NASA, etc. spend is insane, horribly inefficient and can be cut significantly. The welfare disguised as social security can be cut as well. There is plenty to cut and also plenty of reason to hope for a booming economy. As bad as this one is, it’s still not technically in recession (though I agree some of that is BS). There are plenty of jobs. Once people actually start working them and are off the dole, start paying their student loans, etc. the economy can be turned around rather quickly. If these things don’t happen, yes we are in trouble*. Nobody listens to me so, here we are.
*Though as someone once said, there’s a lot of ruin in a nation. Fortunately other nations are even worse.