I have this thought. Now, I’m not an economist and I don’t pretend to really know how everything works. But I am observant. And I have a theory about the state of things.
If I were to make a thesis statement about it, it would be something like: Corporations, politicians, and billionaires will eventually cannibalize themselves.
I don’t know how long it will take or how it will unfold, and I do wonder if a few straggler entities will still linger in the end, but I feel like we are on a path to self-destruction.
You don’t have to be an economist to know that you can only extract finite resources for so long. Eventually, the resources run out. And when I look at the greater world around me, I see the extraction of both the planet and the human species happening in a way that is far beyond what either one can bear.
Which to me says, eventually something is going to break. It has to. There is no other outcome. Maybe it will happen as a slow rumble or maybe it’ll be a sudden earthquake, but I do think eventually something about this imbalanced relationship is going to break.
This is definitely my opinion, but I suppose I’m writing this because it’s also my hope? We can’t go on this way.
On the factual side, it seems like we have once again (this has happened before in America, in the 1920s) reached a point where our societal inequality is at extreme levels. But now the planet is also hurting alongside the humans.
And because we have built our entire economic model on the continuous consumption of finite resources, both human and natural, it also seems to me that there is no other outcome but for things to begin to collapse. The pocketbooks and patience of many humans are running low, as are our precious natural resources.
I think the most dangerous times in history happen when humans struggle for the very basics of survival, so much so that they begin to feel they have nothing to lose. The result is all sorts of negative consequences from a species that is fighting for, well, life. It seems like we are really close to that scenario if we are not there already.
I hope, therefore, that a collective call to action begins arising. Maybe in 2026. Maybe in 2027. Maybe not until the 2030s (eek, I hope it doesn’t take that long). We need a widespread “fed up” sentiment in order for anything about the toxicity of the current moment to change, because humans tend to only change when staying the same is impossible. And we need sweeping change at this point. A major cleanup, gut job, and remodel.
Because this moment in history is toxic. I kind of liken it to an abuser maintaining control over the abused, but on a really massive scale. It’s true that relationships like these sometimes end badly for the abused, but it’s also true that many abused people eventually rise up. They finally turn their backs on the dynamic and move on to create something new and healthier.
I think there are too many good humans out there to have the end of this story be one of cowering, and of deference to widespread toxicity. And I have hope that, as the rich and powerful begin to eat their own, to turn to infighting and a civil war for the last bits of money and influence, the sane humans will rise back up and quelch them all like a tsunami. It’s long past time we retook control of our lives, of our right to basic dignities like food and shelter and healthcare, and of our precious home that allows us to even exist (planet Earth).