The King's English

(HSBC, apparently, doesn't want to hear bad tidings, as it wouldn't Submit the following. The reference is to this piece.)

Well, it is comforting that fascism reigns supreme amongst the bankster crowd. Mr. King listed 5 reasons for a decline of The West. He missed out.

The most important proximate cause of the decline is the rich waging war on the poor (see: Warren Buffett). Since the 1973 OPEC/Arab oil embargo, the 1% and .1% of Western countries have amassed an unprecedented proportion of wealth; not seen in the modern era. One must needs return to the US Gilded Age, and the economic wasteland of the time. Just as the Right Wingnuts of the USofA want a country that looks as it did in 1850, it appears Mr. King does too. Unfortunately, there isn't another virgin resource continent (virgin, if one chooses to decimate those already living there) to be had.

In fact, economic growth is doing quite well, if you look narrowly at capital/labour productivity. What's missing is a method of distribution. Oddly, Mr. King channels Adam Smith, but ignores Smith's open disdain for capitalists. He really should re-read the book.

The reference to the French Revolution is particularly galling: the revolution happened because "Let Them Eat Cake" was the modus operandi of the rich.

The excesses have been two fold: the 1% grabbed an outsized share of GDP, and the rest took to home equity loans (made easily available by banksters, at a nice up-front profit) to maintain subsistence.

Blaming the poor for economic decline is a trite approach; blame the victims.