Neo-feudalism and the Middle Class Crises | Joel Kotkin

Comments · 438

• SO

  @somerandomhomeboy · 3 years ago (edited)

  We as elders squandered the benefits of prosperity we inherited.Refused to parent our children. Abandoned manners,courtesy and commonsense. Replaced communion with tribal community, personality with identity,  and modesty with hedonistic instant gratification. We are a slow boiling frog of a species and the water's getting warmer!

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• HF

  @hfwilmot · 3 years ago

  Yanis Varoufakis calls our present system techno-feudalism

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• GR

  @grahamesmith7663 · 3 years ago

  Hi John, I want to thank you for taking this subject seriously. Very few of the people I know have any idea of what is coming. The ones I fear for the most our my grandchildren. Thank you for making this discussion one in your series of discussions.

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• RO

  @roberthumphreys7977 · 3 years ago

  I suggest that there are similarities between our neo-feudalist present (I think Joel's term is spot on) and the feudal past in terms of concentration of knowledge and treatment of physical labor. We have dumbed down education to the point at which children leaving high school have little knowledge and perhaps even less after leaving university with liberal arts or humanities degrees. Plus, they are in debt to the point at which they become indentured, also similar to feudal times. Those with knowledge (primarily the Church in feudal times) used that knowledge to engender fear of damnation in both the the working class (serfs) and the rulers. The neo-feudal equivalent to the Church. The neo-feudal equivalent to the Church is the SJW class in the universities, and big tech with social media replacing the pulpit. The neo-feudal surfs are the working people who know how to fix things, work the supply chains, and grow the food, now lumped together as the Deplorables. As Mike Bloomberg pontificated, all farmers need to do is make a hole in the ground and pop in a few seeds and voila, up pops the food.

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• KR

  @krcalder · 3 years ago

  What happened last time? <br>Mariner Eccles, FED chair 1934 – 48, observed what the capital accumulation of neoclassical economics did to the US economy in the 1920s. <br>“a giant suction pump had by 1929 to 1930 drawn into a few hands an increasing proportion of currently produced wealth. This served then as capital accumulations. But by taking purchasing power out of the hands of mass consumers, the savers denied themselves the kind of effective demand for their products which would justify reinvestment of the capital accumulation in new plants. In consequence as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing. When the credit ran out, the game stopped” <br> <br>A few people have all the money and everyone else gets by on debt. <br>When the credit ran out, the game stopped. <br> <br>Using debt to keep the system running is what we call a short/medium term solution. <br>It never works over the long term. <br> <br>Is that why Keynes added redistribution? <br>Yes, it stopped all the wealth concentrating at the top. <br>A strong, healthy middle class blossomed in the West. <br>The system didn’t need debt to keep it going. <br> <br>This is what we call a long term solution.

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• NO

  @NO-bw5dn · 3 years ago

  Thank you for everything, John.

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• KA

  @kaylenehousego8929 · 3 years ago

  This is one of those conversations I will listen to more than once . Deeply thoughtful and coherent conversation - thank you both .

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• DA

  @DanSme1 · 3 years ago

  Regarding home ownership, it was only one (1) generation (Boomer to X/13th) where EXPECTATIONS were totally turned on its head. My WW2 father had an 8th-grade education. I struggled to complete my college education and a “starter” single-family residence (SFR) was an older 900 sqft fixer-upper. Despite what I taught my three X-Gen sons by both word and action, they would have nothing of it. They expected the university of their choice funded by parents and later a 3,000 sqft “starter” SFR.

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• CR

  @crowesarethebest · 3 years ago

  What a pleasure to sit back and listen to two adults have a serious conversation about humanity&apos;s future. No hyperbole, virtue-signalling, or any nonsensical utterances.

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• TA

  @tacmason · 3 years ago

  Thanks Joel - I also wish all Politicians would get into &quot;Recovery&quot; before they eradicate us ALL !🙄

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• DA

  @DaveTheBasha · 3 years ago

  A free country like Australia. Lol good one

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• MT

  @mtg6753 · 3 years ago

  Joel Kotkins book on Neo Feudalism is a must read for those who are interested in society and culture of western nations. As a father I have taken the information from this book to guide my children into a future where they will be able to avoid the serf class.

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