Editorial
Will the Market Do What Western Leaders Cannot?
It's a sign of the times. President Barack Obama's ballyhooed fiscal commission on Friday failed to come up with a plan to curb the US budget deficit. For close to a year, the panel has been laboring on US$4 trillion in cuts that would take place, approximately, over the next decade to pare the federal deficit to 40 percent of gross domestic product by 2035.
The deal was that the plan would be brought to the floors of the House and Senate if the proposal had the support of 14 members. But the vote was three shy of what was necessary. No deal. No vote. One more nail in the coffin of American fiscal solvency. What will happen now? Well, there have been pledges from various House budgetary authorities that some of the recommendations will be put in place anyway. But here is a question: Is US$4 trillion enough to put America back on a firm fiscal footing. The answer in fact may be "no."
Here at TheDailyBell.com, we tend to be libertarian-conservative in our outlook: government is the problem, not the solution. To rely on government to clean up the mess that has been made is a little like relying on an out-of-control bully to bring harmony and discipline to the classroom. It's not likely to happen. America's financial house is in disarray. Its unconstitutional progressive tax structure has been crying out for reform since World War II. Even the nation's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is a tax cheat. Meanwhile, thanks to the Federal Reserve, the dollar has lost between 95 and 99 percent of its value in the past 100 years. So much for the idea that the Fed is an "inflation fighter." Inflation "maker" is more to the point.
Various states (large ones like California) are starting to "formally" go broke. Other states and municipalities, facing tremendous budgetary problems, are beginning to cut what have been considered vital public services such as public education and police and firefighting services. Even the most sacred of cows – the municipal pension – may be in danger. What happens if municipalities simply cannot pay? If the till is empty, promises cannot be kept.
Here's a number to startle you: America's debt may not be US$13 trillion (the normally quoted figure) or even US$50 or US$100 trillion – figures that emerge when some unfunded liabilities are added in. According to U.S. economist, Laurence Kotlikoff, America's national debt is $200 trillion, when Baby Boomer demographic demands are calculated – including Social Security, public union, pension and health-care demands on the public purse. That's a mighty big figure. America, in fact, is destitute.
It's no surprise to us. At the Bell, we've been predicting a monetary and fiscal meltdown for years. We've also predicted the return to some sort of commodity-money standard, and that seems to be taking place, given the many countries that are dissatisfied with the way America is handling its financial affairs. It's hard to believe that only ten years ago, America's financial house was a good deal tidier than today. But that was before the advent of the George Bush administration. Two wars and one economic crisis later, America's budget is in ruins. Now it's the Democrats turn. But everything the Obama administration has done to "fix" the problem has in fact made things worse.
The Obama administration relies on what has been called "Keynesian economics" after the quasi-socialist 20th century economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes was certainly (and unfortunately) the most influential economist of his generation, and the main thrust of Keynes' theories was that government itself could smooth out the bumps in the business cycle using monetary and budgetary tools. Basically what Keynesianism has come to mean is that the government can print money (using the power of a central bank) and spend money (borrow money and raise taxes) to create "make work" projects that keep people employed until a given economic crisis eases. The idea, to put it bluntly, is to maintain the current system and pay people just enough to survive (and eat) so that the system itself doesn't collapse from bankruptcy or into popular rebellion.
But this time around it's not working. The fiat-money, central banking system has been around for 100 years and has reached the end of its manipulative life. Central banks around the world delinked from gold some 40 years ago and this has gradually ruined the credibility and value of the world's reserve currency, the dollar. Now Russia, China and even South American countries are trying to remove themselves from dollar dependency. There is much talk of relinking paper money to some sort of underlying commodity so that governments (like the US) cannot spend themselves into oblivion.
The trouble is that there is one dirty little secret that no one talks about: almost every country in the world has a central bank and because of dollar reserve policy all these countries are delinked from money metals as well. This has never before happened in the history of the world. The ramifications are substantial. China's price inflation is running nearly out-of-control because that country's communist leaders have printed so much paper money that the currency is steadily losing value. India is in the same boat and so are a number of countries in South America. The European currency has not necessarily been overprinted – but as a result EU countries are going broke because they cannot debase their currencies as they have in the past.
The only solution is to return to some sort of commodity money. Gold and silver have served faithfully as such money in the past. At the Bell, we've long predicted the return of some sort of tangible monetary standard, perhaps even a gold and silver standard (called bimetalism). With current electronic facilities the supply of gold and silver in the world can be digitalized and circulation anomalies can be smoothed out. The criticism that there is not "enough" gold and silver is actually a moot point. There is always enough, especially if "free banking" polices are employed. Before the Civil War, the US was on a quasi-free banking standard and such standards have succeeded, on and off, throughout history.
The Internet itself is a "game changer" – as we often remark at the Daily Bell. The information about alternative monetary systems as well as the ability to create and market news kinds of money have spread far and wide throughout the world thanks to this new form of electronic communication. No longer do thinking people – the two percenters who matter – believe that only government solutions are the answer to economic and social problems. In fact, every law – every regulation and mandate – is a price fix, placed upon the larger society by force and distortive to the larger community. Inevitably, price fixing is inefficient and creates queues, scarcities and even rationing of some goods and services.
Central banking is a massive kind of price fixing of money – as central bankers "set" interest rates, distorting economies and causing terrible booms and busts over time. Western regulatory democracies fix prices (and create queues and shortages) every time a law is passed or a regulation is introduced. Over time, the distortive effects add up until economies have trouble functioning, unemployment becomes the rule rather than the exception and peoples' standard-of-living plummets to rudimentary levels. This certainly seems to be happening now.
Government has caused these problems. The useless laws, absurd environmental regulations, fiscal deprivation and monetary dysfunction are not apt to be cured by the same "bullies" that proposed, implemented and enforced them. So what will happen? Over time, Western societies may gradually collapse, not all at once and not in a manner much remarked upon, certainly not in the mainstream press. But slowly, the market itself may reassert its dormant power.
While government leaders meet in Geneva or Cancun, normal people will begin to use gold and silver – or even barter – instead of increasingly worthless paper. People will gradually withdraw their paper savings from banks and purchase goods and services of some significant value. People will work off the books to avoid taxes that are squandered on inflated municipal pensions; they will create communities that function away from – beyond increasing government dysfunction. It is already happening – no matter whether one approves or not – and the Internet is providing considerable support.
There is ample historical precedent for this sort of change. The Gutenberg press – the Internet of its epoch – helped spawn a whole wave of free market thinking: the Renaissance, the Reformation, even the Enlightenment. It survived attempts at censorship, licensing, etc. But there are other examples, too, even earlier, including those of great, ancient South American civilizations that collapsed mysteriously, much to the History Channel's puzzlement. We are told that the Mayans and others abandoned their fabulous cities because of drought and other environmental factors. But it is just as likely that the sophisticated tribes that provided the labor finally tired of the incessant warfare and bloodletting of the day. Each city was, at times, a mini-nation, battling with all the others.
After a point, perhaps, "civilization" became too much; the tributes became too much; the regulations became oppressive. Were the cities, then, simply abandoned ... their inhabitants refusing to support societies that demanded so much but gave so little in return? And where are the descendents of these tribes today? In fact, they still exist throughout South America, farming and worshipping as they always have; the vibrant survivors of great, but oppressive cultures. Yes, they have survived and life goes on. The markets work; people prosper. Only the cities have crumbled.
A Personal Plea: Approximately 4 months ago we established a new foundation to promote the philosophy of free-market thinking around the world. In addition to my responsibilities as the CEO of Appenzeller Business Press (the publisher of TheDailyBell.com), I am pleased to serve as the executive director for The Foundation for the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking.
The Foundation, based in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, which is one of the most experienced and established jurisdictions in the world for establishing and operating a charitable, non-profit foundation, is built upon the idea that the best form of government is the one that governs the least.
Our focus is to promote and support the widespread advancement of laissez-faire economic principles, commonly associated with the Austrian School of Economics. We believe that civil society advances when individuals recognize and embrace the philosophy of Misesian "human action."
An advisory board of top free-market thinkers supports The Foundation in achieving its objectives. Financial assistance is provided to both individuals and enterprises that in the estimation of The Foundation can make a difference in terms of supporting the advancement of free-market thinking.
Unlike many educationally oriented non-profit enterprises, The Foundation does not offer a tax-exempt status to donors. As a free-market oriented effort, it does not seek to provide government tax benefits to individuals as an incentive for support. The reason to donate, in the estimation of those involved with The Foundation, should be the cause itself.
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Posted by Puck T, Smith on 12/16/10 08:29 PM
"While government leaders meet in Geneva or Cancun, normal people will begin to use gold and silver ‒ or even barter ‒ instead of increasingly worthless paper. People will gradually withdraw their paper savings from banks and purchase goods and services of some significant value. People will work off the books to avoid taxes that are squandered on inflated municipal pensions; they will create communities that function away from ‒ beyond increasing government dysfunction. It is already happening ‒ no matter whether one approves or not ‒ and the Internet is providing considerable support."
Agorism.
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Posted by Sidharth Sankar on 12/07/10 03:36 AM
You state:
"Government has caused these problems. The useless laws, absurd environmental regulations, fiscal deprivation and monetary dysfunction are not apt to be cured by the same "bullies" that proposed, implemented and enforced them."
Absurd environmental regulations!
There are certain "costs", especially long-term environmental costs, that markets have not "priced" accurately. That's why you need some form of regulation. I'm willing to accept that regulation, for the most part, has been ham-handed.
I'm a liberal-conservative myself; but, I strongly feel the cheerleaders of the liberal-conservative camp, or or that matter, any other camp, often times go overboard in their enthusiasm.
I think you'd be better off trying to understand why the market sometimes mis-prices long-term, unclear, and sometimes, unknowable costs.
Reply from The Daily Bell
"I think you'd be better off trying to understand why the market sometimes mis-prices long-term, unclear, and sometimes, unknowable costs."
Why?
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Posted by Romney on 12/06/10 01:32 PM
Got in the mail today my annual requirement to file a report and pay a fee to the Los Angeles County Fire Department Health Hazardous Materials Division. It takes me about 3 days and a secretary to compile the phone-book-sized report (due to the requirement that I submit all my MSDS forms for every chemical I use in my factory in California, which, of course, I question how do they know/not know I use any of them at all?), all in the name of looking mostly for lead, explosives and toxic materials.
Your analogy of the bully in the classroom is OK, but I was thinking it should be "like asking a toddler who just finished a bowl of spaghetti to clean up after himself."
Finally, although we are all gonna die, it is sad to see China is capable of building vast networks of roads and rail, fabulous bridges, 3 Gorges dam project, and so many things the USA USED to be able to do. Now we can't get out of our own way. "Cutting vital services" because municipalities are broke with bloated budgets? I don't get it. EVERY DOLLAR SPENT goes to a human being. A car or electricity or raw materials DO NOT CARE about money, whether it is paper, electronic or metal. The way to reduce our deficit is to STOP SPENDING MONEY.
Problem solved, NEXT.
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Posted by Jonathan on 12/06/10 05:40 AM
Bravo! Great insights promoting understanding for the 2%! What about a paypal donation system; the easiest of all?
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Posted by Zenbillionaire on 12/06/10 03:31 AM
@DB
"Metaphor?"
Well I certainly hope so :) But it is a pretty common theme among the heathen philosophers I hang out with. Besides, I really do like Vienna, I just wouldn't want to live there.
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Posted by AmanfromMars on 12/06/10 01:24 AM
"We can beat 'it' as a virus.
We must spread not via any sort of frontal assault, but quietly. We need to continue gaining hearts and minds by unmasking the deceptions upon which the existing order depends." ..... Posted by Robert on 12/5/2010 2:11:13 PM
Robert,
What do you know of the likes of Conficker and Stuxnet and how they do what they are suspected of doing, although that which they are thought of doing is pure speculation really.
In the world of such virtual exotics, the reality of them being able to do anything that is suspected of them, and in the background totally undetected by the System and any intelligence or algorithm used by present, prevailing systems' programmers and metadatabase analysts/semantic reverse engineers, makes them an overwhelmingly powerful tool in the hands/hearts and minds of an Invisible and Intangible Being/Team/Meme/Gene.
It will certainly take a lot more than is offered here daily on the Daily Bell to make any difference in a change of direction with better and more equitable leadership, for talking the talk without walking the walk can easily be used and abused by failed systems to seek out their most able and most dangerous of competitors/opponents/contemporaries as they explore in their fancy prose and rhetoric the infinite possibilities for Change available to Man with Imagination and Passion and Compassion, as opposed to the dogged and destructive adherence to a Failed Program just because a few goons/toons sat right at the top think they control everything with Money Supply, whether that be merely a pretty paper given a magic number ... 5/10/50/100/500/1000 ..... or even simpler than that, with the instant credit and debit of electronic transfer.
You buy my business for, oh let us say for the sake of a good argument, the bargain price of an nine figured nine figure sum, which would be just 1 short of a sweet billion, and nothing will be moved or changed other than figures which are transferred to another active account/live server, but one person will be richer by a billion pounds and no one will poorer, for all parties involved will be significantly smarter.
However, the fact that those who are significantly smarter and richer are still just a very few at the top of their field hasn't changed, and hardly ever will ......... until and unless of course, a new field arrives which creates both better and beta opportunities.
And the Internet is a new field, but do not make the simple mistake of thinking it Elemental and Elementary, for just as the term "military" conjures up myriad forces and supporting services, with some of them black and unknown and "Need to Know" and deniable, with active assets expendable/subject to sacrifice and program burn, so too does CyberSpace have its CyberIntelAIgent Security Services and Stealthy Special Forces. Indeed, Uncle Sam has stood up a whole new Command to try and gain Virtual Control of what is in both Reality and Virtual Reality, the Information and Intelligence Space.
And as Outrageous Success and Massive Good Fortune will only come to those with the right Intelligence, let us wish them well in the venture which has cloning mirrors in every Switched on and Plugged into the Net Nation with some administrations really getting into a pickle and creating conflicts for themselves within the field by fragmenting effort into multiple petty empire building executive bodies. As evidence of that I would just introduce you to some of the UK's official fledglings, ... Office of Cyber Security & Information Assurance (OCSIA)/Cyber Security Operations Centre/UK Defence Cyber Operations Group, to name but three ...... which would all be vying to do exactly the same thing for so many different interests/clients/masters/pimps ..... ergo will they all falter and fail in their every subjective objective.
Resolution of the present Money Control problem will not be delivered by Incumbents who have spectacularly demonstrated that a change of their leadership is of no interest to them, for a brace of years on into the crisis, and nothing has changed at the top with no one made accountable for catastrophic failure, and thus will the program continue on its rapid descent into total collapse? And shared as a question because the truth of matter causes the fool to rise and deny that anything is wrong, whenever so much is not right and in doing so, confirm and exercise a stupidity rather than share any useful and valuable intelligence.
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Posted by Mel on 12/06/10 12:15 AM
What Dec 7th Bank Run?
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Posted by Zenbillionare on 12/05/10 08:01 PM
@ DB
"Go away from the ancient cities, not toward them."
I understand what you say, I have pursued isolation from the big cities in my own way and I have to a very large extent achieved that goal; I live in isolation, I am "cocooned". I have my music and art, I have my friends and family. I have my horses, dog and cat. I Have my wife and children. I have my home and my garden.
A guest who visited last summer who was a student of Zen and the eastern philosophies said "you can't stay here". She suggested that it was necessary for my development to go back into the world. This is my attempt to do that without risking injury. I am almost certain she would not approve :)
I for one, love the great cities; Vienna, Prague and maybe even London/New York. I love the arts, the architecture and the aspirations to beauty that they represent.
I will go back.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Oh, come on Zenbillionaire! ... Metaphor?
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Posted by Zenbillionaire on 12/05/10 07:40 PM
First I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to gift in real money. I will be in touch with your offices to arrange the donation. Unlike others, I prefer this method. Yes, it is more difficult, but it also assures a desire to actually do a little work now and again to preserve freedom. I applaud you. Best Regards.
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Posted by Gary Anderson on 12/05/10 02:59 PM
I don't discount educating people to shun credit and to as you say, "drop out". I encourage that. But I am saying that historically, the only way to keep moneychangers from abusing the people is through government power. Indeed, Andrew Jackson risked his life to kick out a national bank. Perhaps a combination of personal restraint and heroes in government could reign in the predators.
Reply from The Daily Bell
"and heroes in government."
This is where the cognitive dissonance kicks in for us ...
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Posted by Gary Anderson on 12/05/10 02:21 PM
Daily Bell, when you say that mercantilism is always the result of regulation, that is most likely true. But perhaps an exercise in sovereignty would cause grave punishment to these banksters. It has been done before, long before:
Click to view link
''No money changer who may fail, and none who has recently failed or in times past failed, shall again keep a bank or hold any office under the Crown'' and ''Until he shall have satisfied all demands, he shall be detained on a diet of bread and water.''
Our only hope against the banksters is sovereign might, because deregulation plays into their hands. I proved it with my links to Business Insider wouldn't you agree?
Reply from The Daily Bell
Our only hope against the banksters is sovereign might, because deregulation plays into their hands. I proved it with my links to Business Insider wouldn't you agree?
No, Mr. Anderson. More and more we believe the key is "turning on, tuning in and dropping out."
If you are self-sufficient and refuse to be involved in "modern society" with its state-monopoly justice, consumerism, regulatory democracy, military-industrial organization, central banking-based economy, and if enough people are awake enough to do so, then the system itself will begin to fail.
But to erect other large regulatory societies is to invite the same horror to begin again. They Maya in our view left their terrifying, blood-stained cities and DID NOT seek to rebuild them.
Mel Gibson, one of the great movie-makers of the 20th century got it right. Go away from the ancient cities, not toward them.
Nice website.
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Posted by Robert on 12/05/10 02:11 PM
Happening? I would say yes. Everywhere though is still an unproven desire.
If 'we' should hope for revolution, then we need to understand what we elect to rebel against. I would name 'it' as lies, deception, the perversion of reality AKA natural law.
We are only in a battle that has been an incessant war. I do perceive that the 'good guys' have been gaining ground lately, but we (in my opinion) must consider context and the enormous superiority of our opponents infrastructure.
We can beat 'it' as a virus.
We must spread not via any sort of frontal assault, but quietly. We need to continue gaining hearts and minds by unmasking the deceptions upon which the existing order depends.Ideological partisanship has, I believe been one of their more effective weapons. I perceive a weakening of that tool as the internet continues to provide opportunities for the curious to explore alternatives to the rubbish constructed by the elite.
I'm just rambling at this point but the last thing I will say for now is that I do believe that a defining moment in my life was when as a child (10?) I determined that 'big time wrestling' was a staged show. Prior, I would watch with fascination as these huge guys beat the s--t out of one another and I was enthralled!
I remember a day though where they began hitting one another with steel fold up chairs. At that point I realized that it was fiction. That was when ( I think) I became a skeptic. Have a good week.
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Posted by Gary Anderson on 12/05/10 01:50 PM
I have one issue with this great website that I have to address, if you permit. I believe strongly that lack of regulation of the shadow banking system led to the housing bubble and mass securitization.
So, I would have to say that I cannot trust crony capitalism to return to free market capitalism. I wrote a little article published by Business Insider that addresses the Phil Gramm lie regarding the CRA and it's influence on subprime lending, which actually was small.
Indeed, the subprime trading that hurt America's mainstreet the most was shadow banking lending which was encouraged by the Fed at every turn:
Click to view link
Also note, that I have addressed Roubini's Bloomberg debate with Gramm, where he let Gramm get away with saying that the CRA (and over regulation) was the root cause of the subprime crisis:
Click to view link
I say over regulation was not the cause of the subprime crisis, but rather is a big lie through which the banksters hope to start the casino yet again.
Reply from The Daily Bell
But Mr. Anderson (!) who do you think makes the regulations? The history of mercantilism is now 5,000- 10,000 years old, easily. The only way to kill mercantilism is to do away with regulation, which never works and which over and over again provides a control-mechanism for the elite ...
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Posted by Bill Ross on 12/05/10 01:40 PM
DS: "inquiring mind begin to make connections. This is happening everywhere, yes?"
Survival threats are anti-soma. It is no accident that the highest value of mankind is life. It is no accident that the best state / law pretexts (lies) involve "best interests of the majority" which they interpret as life.
It is no accident that the fortunes of our rulers are in decline. They attacked the majority, a fatal error. This is happening everywhere, yes?
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Posted by Robert on 12/05/10 01:02 PM
Maybe I'm just having a good day?
Maybe my desire to support the efforts of the DB has created a bit of synchronicity? I can't know, but this is damn good, and the source is impressive.
Reggie Middleton is a post partisan genius.
Click to view link
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks for the link.
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Posted by Robert on 12/05/10 11:57 AM
Obviously not "everywhere", but I do believe that as old 'stories' continue to be proven as false, more and more people seek answers.
I was often a bit annoyed by the Bell staff making frequent reference to the Gutenberg press. I considered those references to be rather silly and something of an annoying fetish.
I don't see that anymore. The parallels are striking and provide for some optimism in a world that otherwise offers little at the macro level.
I'll do what I can to help spread your message 'meme'.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Well, thanks. We are repetitive. But we are one tiny elvish voice amidst a sea of blogs and mainstream media voices. And not everyone comes here every day. And sometimes an article is picked up and disseminated, etc., etc. So perhaps we tend to be a bit self-referential. (But you can always skip over the familiar parts, can't you?) Thanks again for the kinds words ... and for spreading the word ...
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Posted by AmanfromMars on 12/05/10 11:57 AM
"It suggests almost a conspiratorial view of history, as though powers and principalities were working behind the scenes to influence the direction of human affairs without being seen. But if that were true, then everything we know would be a lie. We would be living in a political equivalent of "The Matrix," where everything that is obvious is false, and everything that is true is hidden.
Do I propose such a theory?" ....
Click to view link
Thanks for hyperlink, Robert, [on 12/5/2010 10:55:59 AM] and whenever one considers the lies and deceit which we now are fed by mainstream media every day, it does have one pondering on the nature of reality and how one directs it in a manner of one's own choosing, although admittedly, that is a much bigger picture program which very few indeed are intelligent enough to master.
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Posted by Robert on 12/05/10 10:55 AM
I adore what you folks do. I would dearly love to provide some financial support as I consider your services to be of great value. Unfortunately, I (due to poor decision making for which I am responsible) am not able to offer money.
I 'feel' truly compelled to contribute though in some way and so I offer this.
Click to view link
Hope that it helps build the case.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks. Very interesting watching an inquiring mind begin to make connections. This is happening everywhere, yes?
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Posted by AmanfromMars on 12/05/10 03:27 AM
"I guess you're saying markets in terms of actual human beings interacting with each other (bartering, black markets, underground economy) will cut to the truth of things. And that will invite violent aggression.
People participating in these activities will be labeled terrorists and worse."....... Posted by ScipioNasica on 12/4/2010 11:45:03 AM
Many will be falsely labeled, ScipioNasica, because of course, you cannot run a War of Terror campaign without inventing new terrorists who generate billions of dollars of third party work, for the expense of nickels in that which your target groupies would be primed to be doing. Which we are seeing and learning all too often, is usually a matter of grooming of angry, widely ignorant impressionables in a right dodgy game of entrapment.
And of course, being in charge and in control of both sides, allows you to milk and bilk the System to exhaustion. But it is the System which is being used and abused, with all of its major wealth eventually and increasing quickly, for that is how these things happen, being transferred to Alternative Investment Marketeers, who are nowadays most probably best imagined as Ethereal Point Spokepersons and Spooks for Virtual Great Game Player Syndicates and Global Asset Management Boards.
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Posted by Jacob on 12/05/10 12:38 AM
@ScipioNasica
Grim tidings indeed. I reluctantly agree with your observation that powers in control always play to win. As such, I see no reason to believe in their collapse. I believe they will radically augment their modus operandi, with no retreat from fiat money.
I expect to see Fiat Money II, where governments collaborate, introduce and exercise extraordinary financial measures to guarantee uninterrupted survival. The main difference will be that past illusions of freedom heretofore assumed will disappear, as will much of the pseudo free market, cleverly marketed under the guise of necessary "emergency" response.
I expect paper currencies to slowly disappear. Money will have become fully digitized and enjoy enforced monopoly status. Precious metal price appreciation is already taxed [U.S.] on sale as ordinary income rather than as capital gains, rendering confiscation unnecessary. Barter is already taxed as imputed profit. Hidden barter will be risky, costly if caught as possible income tax evasion, and therefore rare. "Off the books" operations will never achieve more than fringe status.
There are now too many canaries in the coal mine to avoid alarm: worldwide military bases, military operations with absent or illogical rationales, TSA supervision and inspection of soon every means of mechanized travel, hyper mercantilism, CODEX, FDA control over all food production and distribution, public sedation by water fluoridation, worldwide electronic communication surveillance, secret FEMA internment camps, politics with an unprecedented level of disconnect from the electorate.
Society may be experiencing Milgram and "slow boiling frog" experiments to usher in a form of stratified command, with only those freedoms and pleasures that don't threaten efficient order and control.
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