"In the US, for example, during the 1960s and early 1970s, the greatest beneficiaries of economic growth were the poorest 20%. But from 1980 onwards, the proceeds of growth were transferred from the poorest people to the ultra-rich. Median income in the US rose at just one-third of the rate of GDP growth, while the income of the richest 1% rose at three times the rate. By comparison to the pre-neoliberal trend, the bottom 90% lost $47tn between 1975 and 2018. Between 1990 and 2020, the wealth of US billionaires, adjusted for inflation, increased roughly twelvefold. There’s a similar story in the UK. Of the poorest 10% of households, almost half now have more debts than assets." George Monbiot. https://www.monbiot.com/2022/09/21/the-undead/
What is not mentioned in this paragraph is mental health. When the world you live in is a lie and no-one responds to your truth, you realize that your life is redundant, and if your life is redundant then so is everyone else's.
What is left? Go to war. Be a soldier trained to kill. If your application is rejected, buy a gun and kill others at random. You may get to be famous with a generalized name "shooter".
Society is just a facade that provides entertainment. Political arguments, elections, celebrity.
When life on this planet dies and there is no voice or memory, until the next tardigrade awakens and moves, nothing will matter until it begins the whole scenario again.
Monbiot dares to write with wisdom. "We need real, inspiring alternatives, positive visions of a better world, rather than competing modifications of the disastrous ideology that got us into this mess. We need hope."
Well-said, Janet!
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