Positive Reconstruction and the Four Horsemen of the Dumbpocalypse

In the interest of literary allusion, let’s call the four trends discussed last week the Four Horsemen of the Dumbpocalypse. Make no mistake, what’s being done to our country is dumb, as well as revealing the nature of the oligarchy which rules us. In many ways, the American people today are much like the Christians of first-century Rome - ruled by elites we feel powerless to challenge. And the oligarchy wants to bring about the destruction of the state and the creation of feudal technocracy. Don’t take my word for it, read what their so-called thought leaders write! 

With that in mind, it is our guess that these horsemen have been set loose quite intentionally. They seek to lay waste to this country to build a world run by unaccountable CEOs and mass surveillance. It appears their blueprint is a version of what Russia experienced after the collapse of the Soviet Union; a plummeting living standards, combined with dirt cheap assets to be bought up by the oligarchs, while reinforcing the internal security state to crush domestic dissent and maintain an illusion of power and authority.

Without further ado, let’s meet the four horsemen of the dumbpocalypse!

The Horsemen: A Rendering in Crayon and Ink. Circa 2025. Artist Unknown

ICE: The White Horse a.k.a. Conquest

Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come!" I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

• Revelations 6:1-2

Just as everyone lives as the hero of their own story, so do the agents of state power view themselves as the upholders of law and order. They’re working for the glory of Rome, I mean, Making America Great Again, so It’s appropriate, I suppose, that those building a white ethno-state would be associated with the white horse. No one these days is trying to be particularly subtle… I did not know this, but in the original Greek, this horseman is named Zelos. Translation, the first horseman is ‘zealous’ and revels in conquest and glory for the empire.

Over the past months, we’ve watched the administration transform ICE from a duplicate enforcement agency (it was created in 2002 to do the job USCPB already did, meaning it’s a duplicate agency), into an unaccountable secret police force. With the recently passed budget, ICE funding goes from about $20 billion to $180 billion, making it better funded than the US Marine Corps. On top of that, the current regime allows ICE to operate outside the law, with little-to-no accountability. They’ve already built one concentration camp and have been given a mandate to fill it, in addition to the numerous private prisons they currently operate. Alligator Auschwitz gets billed as a pass-through facility, which would be funny if it wasn’t a human rights violation in the making, but the regime also sends deportees to gulags in El Salvador, thus outsourcing prison jobs and making a mockery of both their claims to be making America safe and bringing good-paying jobs back to America. 

If ICE were a starter kit for dictators, it would be the deluxe package, with human rights abuses thrown in for free! And if you feel that this won’t affect you, we know they’re already deporting naturalized citizens. Do you really think a lawless agency operated by a man-child who told a reporter they’re looking at suspending habeas corpus, would hesitate to start snatching US citizens off the street if the dear leader said so?

I suspect that turning ICE into a secret police force, thus ripping off whatever veneer remains on the notion that all the policing going on in the US is ‘for your protection,’ will make people MORE likely to resort to radical action in the face of state repression. The counterpoint to this argument would be that Americans are fat, lazy cowards who won’t stand up for themselves. Or put more charitably, we’ve got enough nice things we won’t want to see broken by taking on a heavily armed and increasingly repressive state. 

Ten years ago, I might have agreed with this sentiment. After all, we watched both Democrat and Republican administrations turn the weapons of the empire against the American people. And instead of pushback, the media justified these violations of the Bill of Rights as acceptable in the context of the War on Terror. When the Bush administration kidnapped ‘terrorists’ and held them indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, they weren’t targeting US citizens. (except that one time…) When the Obama administration used drones to kill Afghans 8,000 miles away, they weren’t targeting US citizens (wait, they did that too?).

How long will Americans be able to call ourselves the land of the free while being, in fact, quite unfree on our own streets?

Tariff - The Red Horse a.k.a. War

When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come". And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from Earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

• Revelations 6:3-4

Second, the regime has ramped up the class war, disguised as a trade war. By placing large tariffs on the roughly $3.5 trillion in goods and services imports to the US, the regime instituted one of the largest tax increases in US history. And those taxes will be felt most by everyone outside the richest ZIP codes. This escalation of the class war will not only make imported goods more expensive because of higher taxation, it is coupled with policy intended to drive down the value of the US dollar abroad.

Against a basket of currencies, the US dollar has dropped 10% over the last six months, and down 6% over the last year. A stronger dollar makes the cost of imports cheaper, and the great many things the US imports at lower prices allows meager incomes to stretch further. Additionally, 10% isn’t necessarily a huge drop, and, in a different context, would go unnoticed by much of the population. But 2025 is not ‘a different context.’

At the same time the dollar loses value and drives up the costs of imports, the current regime keeps slapping tariffs on imports, driving their cost up even more. And not just on economies we might consider rivals, but on allies and friendly trade partners. And on goods like copper, which we don’t produce here, because we mined all the cheap sources. This will make new construction of houses and businesses more expensive, at the same time the demand for new housing and construction of factories to supply domestic manufactured alternatives to imports is also on the rise. Truly, we are living through the dumbpocalypse. 

As the trade war turned class war drives down the value of the dollar and drives up the prices of imports, Americans will experience a real decline in standards of living. To be clear, we’ve been experiencing that for decades, but the sudden drop due to costlier imports will be acutely felt. A sharp rise in the cost of imports due to a collapse in the value of the Russian rouble led straight to the 1905 and 1917 revolutions. But let’s not jump straight to the Petrograd Soviet yet. After all, this is supposed to be a positive scenario.

 All this comes at a time when real wages continue to decline. Apologists for the regime would say that this will stimulate demand for domestic production of goods, which might be manageable if the government or private sector were spending money to build industrial facilities. Even if the government and private sector spending where there, the regime is driving up the cost of building out the industrial base, as mentioned above. Instead of well-crafted industrial policy, Congress pulled funding from industrial policies put in place under the previous president, and just passed a massive tax cut for the rich.

If the wake of the 2008 financial crisis is any indication, the rich will use the gains from their tax break to buy up assets, rather than invest in industries which may, or may not, receive tariff protection. In effect, both imported consumer goods AND assets, like housing, will go up in price, as wages remain stagnant. Speaking of which, let’s look at the third horseman.

Stagflation - The Black Horse a.k.a. “Famine” 

I When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come". I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine"

• Revelation 6:5-6

*said in an Austin Powers voice* 

“Stagflation is back, baby!”

Based on the bitter feelings old folks catch about President Carter, it wasn’t any fun in the 70s, and won’t be this time. For those who missed this lesson in economics because you weren’t alive at the time, stagflation describes a situation in which an economy experiences BOTH above-average inflation and a decline in hiring or job creation. In short, even if you can get a job, it won’t pay you near as much as it did the year before. 

Funnily enough, our current situation almost mirrors the aforementioned passages from Revelations. As the regime’s policies bring about stagflation, making necessities like “wheat and barley” more expensive, the regime specifically exempted tech imports from the tariffs placed on Chinese imports to keep luxuries like ‘oil and wine’ from becoming prohibitively expensive. God forbid we inconvenience the rich even in the slightest. But back to the economics of it all! 

Currently, the rate of inflation in the US is still above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of  2% or lower, and will probably go higher due to the trade war. At the same time, the rate of new private-sector hiring dropped into negative territory in June, and had been declining before then. Add to that the 250,000 federal employees which have been laid off over the last few months, who will cut back their spending while they look for new jobs, and you have a recipe for declining wages and rising prices.

 With fewer jobs and stagnating wages, we can look forward to even more economic pain than the country experienced in the 1970s. For starters, at that time most consumer goods were still made in the USA. Also, we weren’t fighting a trade war with literally everyone at the time. Granted, people probably wanted to fight a real war with OPEC over high oil prices, but that’s beside the point. In the 70s, Congress was not pursuing a policy of cutting spending that benefits Americans in favor of tax cuts that benefit the very, very few. For now, get used to higher prices generally, fewer jobs, lower wages, AND more expensive imports. The upside, I suppose, is that people will have to get good at reducing, reusing and recycling, so the economy might be a bit greener. Speaking of green, one translation of the color of the next horse isn’t just pale, but pallidus, or pallid, as in the green-yellow color of a corpse…

Debt - The Pale Horse a.k.a. Death

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

• Revelations 6:7-8

Lest we be accused of hyperbole, make no mistake; driving up the nation's debt to finance tax cuts for the rich, while cutting spending on programs American citizens actually benefit from, WILL cause deaths. Many, many deaths. But to reach that conclusion, come with us on one last dreary journey through the minutiae of fiscal policy.

 

We should say up front that the problem won’t just come from cutting federal programs and services combined with debt piled up by cutting taxes. We can expect a sharp increase in interest payments on the debt, ie, the cost of debt service. This process is already underway, as bond ratings agencies have downgraded US government debt several times over the last year. These downgrades drive up interest paid on the debt, as those lending the government money want a higher return in case the government were to default on the underlying debt. Assuming the government still wants to pay for agencies like ICE while having to spend more on debt service, Congress will be forced to cut spending elsewhere. As discretionary spending continues to fall, this leaves cuts to defense spending, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

We should add that not all government debt is bad. We, as a society, get returns on investments in health care, education and infrastructure, even if those returns aren’t always literal repayment of debt. Instead, those returns often show up in terms of longer life expectancy, scientific advancement or greater economic activity. The current lack of investment in those fields which most benefit the most Americans, will probably shave percentages off GDP growth over the coming years. And kill people. We know what happens in societies that don’t invest in vaccines and public health. But back to the dollars and cents.

Congress took a hatchet to Medicaid this spring, though those cuts won’t kick in until after the 2026 midterms. While it may be bold of me to assume there will be any more free and fair elections, clearly the ruling party in Congress feels there will be. But when those cuts do kick in, forecasters expect literally tens of thousands of Americans to prematurely die due to more expensive health care. At the same time, these cuts will likely bankrupt rural and urban hospitals alike. And this says nothing of the potential risks of cutting CDC, NWS and NOAA funding at a time of resurgent infectious diseases and a more unstable climate. Look at what recently happened in the Texas hill country, keeping in mind that funding cuts to the Weather Service and state cuts to local responder agency funding, and tell me with a straight face that these fiscal policies do not resemble the approach of a Pale Rider, with Hell following close behind.

This begs the question, which big-ticket item will be up next on the chopping block? And how will the various populations affected by those cuts react to those cuts?

This version is way better than that crayon sketch up there!
But it's a bit too gloomy. 

Before We Turn the Horsemen Loose…

… we want to thank you for making it this far. We promised an optimistic scenario, and so far, this series of posts have read as litany of chaos and class warfare. Fear not, dear reader, for this story has a much happier ending than the Book of Revelations. Or maybe I'm not reading the final book of the Bible correctly? Seriously. It’s great that Jesus comes back and establishes the New Jerusalem at the end, but did it really require quite so many trials and tribulations? 

There are additional trends which will happen in the background, but may not have impacts quite as overt as those mentioned above. Watch labor force participation. In the 60s and 70s we saw a demographic shift as women entered the workforce. Now we are seeing labor force participation dropping. Why are they dropping out? Where are they going? Also, student loan and credit card debt continue to drag down household income and average earnings. As with workforce participation, increasing household debt will drive the sense of desperation that puts people in a revolutionary mood… 

And all of this will happen against a backdrop of increased Federal spending on debt service, which, historically speaking, crowds out private sector lending. And if those payments on interest on the debt reach levels that threaten the fiscal solvency of the government, what happens? Besides a further cratering of the value of the dollar and the monetary foundation of our country coming into serious question for the first time since the 1861-1865 Civil War?

We could have written entire posts about each of the aforementioned trends. Indeed, people have written entire books on the subjects of government repression, disastrous tariff policies, stagflation and government debt default. Our goal here is to tell a story, and the factors driving the story can’t get too much in the way of pushing the narrative forward, and ask the question, what happens when, sooner or later, Americans feel they have nothing to lose?

Our guess is that people will get up off the couch and lash out at anyone who seems like a good target. And with the current regime driving the news cycle and loudly claiming they are in complete control of everything going on in the country, they will likely make a very inviting target. And that’s where we will start the narrative next time.

Positive Reconstruction and the Next Five Years

In the longer series of posts I wrote about the next hundred years of the dystopian future we’re building right now, The Long 21st Century, I outlined a number of factors influencing North America. The posts focused on the US, Mexico and Canada, going forward in five-year chunks, all the way to 2050. While I do plan to circle back and finish up those posts going at least through 2075, for now, I want to take a more optimistic look at the near future. 

    Up front, it should be said that this is a rosy path forward, and I don’t think it the most likely scenario. If the range of possibilities before us exist on a spectrum, this scenario would fall on the far end, in the best potential 5% of possibilities and I won’t drop any deus ex machina contrivances into the scenario. No LLM will suddenly gain self-awareness and fix all our problems. Nor will some genius in mom’s basement figure out how to make cold fusion work. Even as promising as gene splicing appears, we won’t all receive a shot making us immune to infectious diseases and cancer. As great as those outcomes may be, it doesn’t look like any of them will happen any time soon, if ever. Alas, the future we will get, will be one we build, so let’s put our work boots on, shall we?

It is officially off to the printers!

What Sort of World Have We Been Building?

For some excellent background reading, I suggest you check out our forthcoming book Inequality by Design (available for pre-order now, out August 25th, 2025). The short version is that no matter how bad you think economic inequality is, it's actually much worse. That said, pick up a copy of the book, as the longer version is more nuanced, and a bit more hopeful than the short version. 

In addition to the trends discussed in the book, certain actions taken by the US Government since January 2025 will have to serve as the backdrop for this more positive scenario. First is the transformation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a secret police force, complete with concentration camps and a complete lack of accountability. Second, the sudden and massive tax increase disguised as ‘fighting a trade war’ initiated by the President will make imported goods more expensive. Third, the warning signs abound in the data that stagflation isn’t just trying to get in the house, that it’s in the room, right behind us, driving up grocery prices and looking to feed on us next. Finally, thanks to recent legislation passed by Congress, even more debt will pile onto the Federal government’s balance sheets, and paying ever-higher interest on that debt will crowd out useful spending on things like highways, schools, public health, in favor of a police state bearing a cross and wrapped in red, white and blue.

Hopeful Independence Days

As discussed last week, more than a few options remain open to us, even at this late date, to take power back from the oligarchs. Unfortunately, I feel that window is rapidly closing, and may not crack back open until three or four generations have passed. But let’s avoid such negativity for now, shall we?

Available where books are sold. Even from THAT bookseller.

As promised last week, here’s a third excerpt from our upcoming book, Inequality by Design (available August 25th, published by Upriver Press):

How might a positive reconstruction scenario affect our fictional characters’ children and grandchildren? As with the previous scenarios, the grinding impoverishment of those outside elite circles drives labor unions and non-unionized workers to start a general strike in early 2028. Groups of concerned citizens within unions and churches call on people who work in certain sectors to call in sick and take a day to “walk in the park.” 

Due to widespread nonpartisan participation, the strikes are surprisingly successful. The economy grinds to a halt. Ports close. Truckers stop driving. Teachers do not show up for class. Stores close. Corporate offices are empty. However, America’s oligarchs double down on confrontation by relying on government force. Because the strikers and protesters are peaceful, that tactic backfires. Fence-sitters begin to sympathize with the movement. Those not actively participating in the strikes refuse to pay taxes or patronize corporations run by oligarchs or who oppose American Solidarity. During the next election, people vote out state and federal politicians who support the oligarchy. Many people leave their employment with big firms in favor of starting, or joining, existing cooperatives and  employee-owned firms.   

Marty Junior is just never the good guy in
any of these scenarios, is he?

Marty’s oldest son, Junior, who has a degree in cybersecurity, ends up working in corporate security for a firm that supports the status quo. He thinks the American Solidarity movement is filled with dupes and wild-eyed anarchists. After the general strike and the great conglomerate breakups of the early 2030s, Junior moves his wife and kids abroad. They first travel to Europe, then to the Russian Federation, where Junior works for a St. Petersburg-based cybersecurity firm. The family settles in a neighborhood dominated by American expats, many of whom left the US, following their oligarch bosses. After many bitter years resenting the new order, Junior finally contacts his brother and sister, hosting a family reunion at a dacha outside St. Petersburg in 2053.

Across the multiverse, Jillian sports good hair,
 even seven months pregnant.

Jillian, with her medical degree, returns to the US from Canada just as the general strike heats up. She and her husband spend free time providing first aid and some emergency surgeries to people in need. Congress, in the wake of the general strike, passes a cornerstone law that breaks up medical insurance monopolies and bans private equity firms from owning hospital networks. Jillian, her husband, and their clinic’s medical staff restructure the organization of their clinic, operating it as a worker-owned co-op. Jillian lives a quiet life, a clear conscience, a good salary, and a stable marriage with three kids.

Did you know railroad workers like Bobby
must end a strike if ordered by the 
President?

Marty’s youngest son, Bobby, participates in the general strike and quickly joins the militant side of his local American Solidarity organization. Deeply angered by police violent actions against protesters in a local park, he comes within hours of driving a truck full of explosives to a police station in downtown Detroit. Word reaches him, just in time, that the governor resigned and appointed a labor leader as the replacement, effectively giving in to the protestors’ demands. After several years, and seeing that reforms are working, Bobby ends up working for a reformed police department, which now focuses on policing violent crime rather than on criminalizing poverty and vice. By the end of the 2050s, he retires as a captain and moves to north Ohio to be closer to Jillian and his nieces and nephews.

Here backpack contains nothing but hand-
printed copies of The Anarchist's Cookbook.

Jenny’s granddaughter, Allison, joins Solidarity Memphis. She gathers intel and plans demonstrations. She never opts for the violent side of the movement, but she is nevertheless arrested on trumped-up charges and spends several years in and out of jail. With the election of a pro-Solidarity governor, she and many others are released in 2033. A year later, Memphis voters elect her as a state representative. Her experience with the movement makes her an ideal legislator to oversee implementation of Tennessee’s revocation of corporate charters and the turning over of corporate assets to the employees. Allison eventually leaves public office, deciding to run a repurposed strip mall that is home to for-profit businesses and mutual aid organizations. The economy is much more equitable, but people still have problems that require a helping hand. On this path forward, Allison lives a quiet home life with her wife, adopting a pair of orphans whose single mother died in the protests.

Independence Day, 2025

Let's Talk About Freedom...

It’s been a few weeks since the last post. Short version of the story; life got a bit busy. From here until the end of August, I should be able to resume posting once a week. My plan is to step away from the dystopian series for just a bit, both to write with a bit more optimism, and to address current events, but in my life, and in the wider world. Without a doubt, things have gotten interesting.

"Hashtag FREEDOM, Jeffers!!!"
-Patriots at Bunker Hill.
I refuse to cede the imagery of our past to the reactionaries. 

“May you live in interesting times.” is purportedly a Chinese curse, meaning the speaker wishes that the object of their derision should live through an era defined by violence, privation and political upheaval. While there’s a great degree of controversy over whether the curse in question actually originated in China, the sentiment still applies - periods of upheaval are usually most interesting when serving as the backdrop to a rollicking adventure story or steam romance. Or both. Living through such times tends to take a lot of the fun out of it. And yet, here we all are, living through time which future Americans might end up labeling as ‘interesting.’ And how convenient that the current regime just finished building a concentration camp in the Satire State, and the Leader just signed a bill which seeks to ensconce the American oligarchy in a legal framework that would turn Roman patricians and Bourbon aristocrats quite green.

So what should our response be? That answer differs for different people, families and communities. For myself and Dr Ryan Mattson, our response was ‘let’s publish a book that will surely not put us on some enemy of the state list.’ And we have a publication date! Our editor at Upriver Press tells us Inequality by Design: How a Rigged Economy Fractures America and What We Can Do About It, now has a set publication date of August 25th. It’s available for pre-order now. You COULD buy it from a big bookseller, or you can order it through bookstore.org, which donates a portion of purchases to local bookstores. In the spirit of the July 4th holiday, let us take a look at ways Americans might declare their independence from our would-be oligarchs-turned-overlords, as well as a pair of excerpts from the book which focus on what good could come of this interesting moment in which we live. With that in mind, I present you the first excerpt from Inequality by Design.

​​The Positive Reconstruction Scenario

American novelist Jack London wrote: “A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.” London grew up poor in late nineteenth-century California. He experienced the cruelties of an oligarchic system. In the quoted short story, the narrator, a hobo and spinner of tall tales, convinces a kindly Reno homemaker to feed him before riding the rails west to California. The narrator suggests that only the poor can be relied on for kindness and charity without need of deception. Those who find themselves in comfortable positions in life must be lied to, told stories they can believe, if one wants a free meal.

I bet he's daydreaming about pitchforks and torches.

Unfortunately, Jack London died in 1916, and did not live to see the positive reconstruction which emerged from the wreckage of the Great Depression. When we use the term reconstruction, we mean that the political economy has fallen to pieces and must be put back together. This is the way that historians use the word to describe the period after the US Civil War, which had shattered the dominance of the rural aristocracy and ushered in the age of urban industrialists. The leadership class of the country was new and the terms of the social contract were up in the air. 

For those of us outside the circles of economic power and influence, how can we afford to help our fellow citizens when we can barely help ourselves? And how can we change the trajectory of the US economy when we lack power and influence?

We can all hope that a positive reconstruction scenario becomes reality. And what does the term positive reconstruction mena, exactly?  In this case, a mass movement emerges that successfully challenges the economic and political power of the oligarchs without resulting in a breakdown of the constitutional order or a breakup of the nation. We do not think that political leaders of either party will bring about change. Rather, change will require a grassroots movement led by people who know the cost and value of true charity. 

And how might true, positive reconstruction come about? This change could occur in several ways. For example, a couple of oligarchs might recognize the precarity of our situation, break ranks with their fellow billionaires, and cross the metaphorical picket line. This has happened before in American history. Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt both recognized the needs of common people, and acted against their own class interests to push meaningful reforms. Theodore Roosevelt engaged in trust busting of monopolies and added workplace protections that helped millions of Progressive-Era Americans. In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt entered office at a time when it looked like the project of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism had failed. The New Deal offered not just economic, material assistance to US citizens, it represented a viable response to the rising tide of totalitarian movements of fascism and communism. The New Deal gave people some hope by establishing programs like Social Security, rural electrification, and Works Progress Administration. Today, however, hoping for a self-aware billionaire or political leader to save us seems foolish, to put it mildly. 

There is another route to real reform. In this case, we would see the emergence of a movement based on class solidarity between the poor, working, and middle classes. Those outside the top income brackets finally recognize that the economy runs only because they show up to work. Perhaps a general strike pushes lawmakers to enact specific reforms, to steer the ship of state away from the metaphorical iceberg. Those reforms open the door for new political leaders who have never made six figures and who are not beholden to billionaires. By 2040, a new consensus takes hold that only those representing the working majority belong in state and national governments. 

Yet another possible route to a positive reconstruction scenario occurs when people recognize their collective power as consumers and disinvest themselves from the current economic model. In addition to founding co-ops and mutual aid societies, they refuse to buy products from companies owned by oligarchs. In this scenario, enough working people withhold financial and labor support from massive businesses to cause the breakup or collapse of America’s largest corporations, thereby reducing their political influence. This route would enrich the rest of us and breathe new life into local economies. This third approach to reform is highly appealing because it requires no wrangling with a corrupt political establishment. It only requires that consumers (collectively) defund the oligarchs.

In the positive reconstruction scenario, democracy is not merely a buzzword. Rather, citizens participate in the change, both at work and in the community. It would lead to truly free market. A diverse array of firms would compete at the local and regional levels to efficiently provide the best goods and services, and the surplus wealth generated by those firms would stay with the people who work them, rather than siphoned off by distant financial institutions and shareholders. Ideally, Americans would see their wealth grow in alignment with the nation’s GDP and experience a rebirth of culture and civic spirit. 

Just substitute your name for 'Luanne'

End Excerpt One, Now, How Do We Make It Happen?

While wild speculation about what COULD happen is fun, it does beg a central question: HOW? What tools do we, the people, actually have, to effect the larger system of political economy designed to extra wealth and value from our labor, then discard us as soon as we a too sick or elderly to show up for work? Well, there are certainly a few options, though this list is by no means exhaustive.

 

• BOYCOTT - This one has a long, effective history of working, as long as the target is narrow and specific. The Montgomery Bus Boycott by black citizens to protest racial segregation on the city’s public bus system took over a year, but it did produce results; in the end, the city of Montgomery abolished segregated seating on its buses. I personally like the option, as one of the few commonalities we Americans have as a culture anymore revolves around buying stuff, thus the ask doesn’t seem too much, “Don’t buy from XYZ companies, they fund the oligarchy.” And we could follow up that statement with, “And here’s smaller companies or local producers.” While it’s a bit of a surface ask, it’s one that’s easy and actionable for most people. With enough participation, we could drive a number of large companies into the red, while bolstering producers and businesses not owned by the 1% and their private equity funds.

• DIVESTMENT - This one asks people to move their money (usually savings) out of banks or investment firms, and put it with smaller, local organizations. This one is a bit more of an ask, as the giant banks and investment funds usually offer better returns on investments, as they can leverage larger investment pools and afford greater risk. Of course, that greater risk can backfire, as it did in 2008, but all investments run some amount of risk. In today’s case, a mass-movement of Americans taking their money out of the biggest banks and putting it in smaller financial institutions like local credit unions or small banks would both bolster local economic activity, and if enough people participated, would probably destabilize the wider banking system. Now we’re really getting the oligarch’s attention. 

• DEBT STRIKE - Withdrawing assets or buying local would cause a real headache for the ultra-wealthy, buy it might not be enough to make them pick up the phones and tell Congress to pass Medicare for All, raise the minimum wage, or, terror of all terrors, raise taxes on the rich. If we really want to get their attention, we need to go after the lifeblood that keeps them uber-rich: their cash flow. Most of us can barely afford rent, car payments, medical bills, student loans or credit card debt. So what if we all just stopped paying? They can’t evict us all. And for those the system comes after? We’ll get to that, but to break the power of the 1%, we will probably have to break out the biggest cudgel. 

• GENERAL STRIKE - My favorite option, this one is a bit like turning the volume up to 11, and shouldn’t be the first place we go, through it will almost certainly have to be the last. A general strike is exactly what it sounds like: Americans everywhere walk off the job until our demands are met. This differs from a sectoral or localized strike in that it requires all of us to act together. And it would almost certainly involve retaliation be the oligarchy beyond the evictions and repossessions which would follow from a debt strike. A general strike would result in specific legal action against workers in certain sectors: public safety, medicine, and even railroad workers cannot legally strike. BUT, they could get sick in large numbers, and at opportune times. If a general strike really got going in this country, I would expect the regime to use violence, either by the state or non-state actors, against anyone seen as promoting or organizing the strike, and that brings us to the crucial, final ingredient needed: solidarity.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  Make all the cheese eating surrender monkey jokes you want,
  these people know what to do when the rich and powerful try to boss them around. 

  
  

But What Do the Books About Old-Timey People Say?

You had to know I couldn’t make it through a post without drawing on historical examples. For the first case, I would direct people to look at our own history. In the years before the shooting began in 1775, the New England colonies set up parallel institutions which, in many places, had already replaced the legally-recognized British courts and legal codes, with local organizations of representation and legal settlements. In Massachusetts in particular, the colonials set up the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to act as a legitimate government, as the official colonial government run by Thomas Gage exercised little authority outside Boston. The provincial congress eventually morphed into the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which today we all know and love to mock for its high taxes, red tape, and above-average wages, excellent public schools and healthier population than the rest of the country. The lesson I take away - start a revolution, get positive results. 

For another example of setting up parallel systems in the face of repression and state violence, in the years before the 1917 revolution, workers and peasants across the Russian Empire set up soviets. Local organizational bodies which could offer representation, material support and dispute mediation. When the February Revolution forced the abdication of Tsar Nicholas, the soviets became the regional councils, courts and sources of charity to which most peoples of the empire respected. Crucially, these elected bodies were seen as MORE legitimate than the provisional government set up by the liberal reformers and conservative aristocrats in the wake of the tsar’s abdication. Thus, when Lenin returned in the summer of 1917 and called for all power to the soviets, it was not read by the majority of the population as a power grab, but as a reasonable proposition. Of course, the results of the 1917 October Revolution were, shall we say, mixed…

You knew I couldn't make it through a post
without a reference to the good people of St
Petersburg. The REAL one, not the Florida
knock-off.

No scenario, even this optimistic one, can run its course free of violence, but I promised today’s post would be positive, not just by the ends, but the means as well. So let’s take a look at a more recent example: Poland in the 1980s. It is important to remember that Poland’s Communist government tried to suppress that nation’s solidarity movement in the 1980s. At least one hundred people died during strikes and protests. About fifteen thousand people were arrested. Many more lost their jobs. As many as seven hundred thousand people left Poland in the years between the declaration of martial law and the end of the Communist government in 1989. 

Post-Communist Poland experienced a short-term economic contraction from 1989 to 1992. This was followed by a few years of moderate growth through 1994, and then robust growth through 1999. The World Bank estimates that the Polish economy was 20 percent larger in 1999 than it was in 1989. 

It would not be surprising to see similar types of events unfold during and after an American Solidarity movement and a positive reconstruction effort. In the US, the solidarity effort would likely be met with resistance. The oligarchy will find it unthinkable to relinquish power, money, and influence to average people. The US has a much larger population than Poland, so the movement could lead to a higher number of deaths, injuries, and emigrations between the time of the general strike in 2028 and 2033. 

However, just as Poland experienced long-term economic growth, we would expect the US economy to also rebound after a temporary contraction. We doubt that the US economy would grow by 20 percent in a decade, as was the case in Poland; nevertheless, the US would grow considerably in a post-reform era. Newly approved economic policies designed to prevent the redistribution of wealth to the top 1 percent would enable average Americans to gain an additional $15 trillion for their hard work. This would occur, in part, by giving ownership of publicly listed companies to the employees, as described earlier. Profit sharing plans in smaller firms would spark wage increases and economic growth, because a huge population of average Americans would have more to spend.

All jokes aside this is a 
REALLY GOOD show.
Also, the Empire are the 
bad guys. I can't believe
that's even a debate, but 
here we are...

 I bring up all this old-timey business because, with apologies to the writers of Andor, rebellions cannot be built on hope alone. They also require preparation, planning, and organizations which rely on the loyalty and respect of those they claim to represent. Especially if the people driving them expect to produce a positive reconstruction of the political economy of their county in the aftermath. And what might such a new economic order look like? What sorts of incomes would Americans enjoy if they owned the companies they worked for? What if the tax code did not give massive support to the rich? 

Excerpt Two From Inequality by Design

At the beginning of the book, we presented the RAND Corporation’s findings that approximately $50 trillion had trickled up to the wealthiest sectors of the economy during the previous forty years. Using that study as a basis, we can ask what incomes might have looked like if that redistribution of wealth to top income brackets had not occurred. When we do the math, we discover that income goes up for everyone, except for those in the top 1 percent. Even an income earner in the top 5 percent would see a minor bump in income. So, there should be plenty of widespread, diversified support for a positive reconstruction effort. 

	Current (2025)	2065  Current Trends	2065 Positive Reconstruction
25th %	$‎ 39,600	$‎ 46,728	$‎ 85,932
Median	$‎ 62,000	$‎ 73,160	$‎ 134,540
75th %	$‎ 97,200	$‎ 136,080	$‎ 210,924
90th %	$‎ 159,600	$‎ 274,512	$‎ 347,928
95th %	$‎ 229,200	$‎ 479,028	$‎ 498,510
99th %	$‎ 949,200	$‎ 2,809,632	$‎ 697,662
Top 1 % Mean	$‎ 1,660,800	$‎ 7,938,624	$‎ 755,664

Figure 10-1: Comparison of incomes in a status quo economy versus a positive reconstruction scenario, 2025 and 2065.

Looking at figure 10-1, we can see that if current policies persist, Americans earning the median income would take home $61,000 less in wages in 2065 than they would if Americans could sustain a positive reconstruction scenario (using the RAND study as a baseline). Such a movement, let us call it American Solidarity, would not be easy, but with widespread unity, it could successfully browbeat both political parties into embracing thorough economic reforms without moving the nation into communism. Again, the goal is to create rules that work equally for all people—not just the top 1 percent—within a healthy free market system.

We say both political parties for a reason. Pushing the oligarch-backed candidates out of both parties would prevent our elections from turning into red versus blue, urban versus rural referendum that divides us as Americans. Additionally, in the American electoral system, third parties operate at a perpetual disadvantage, so their candidates are extremely unlikely to muster enough support to replace one of the two oligarch-controlled parties. 

Is such a strategy workable? Could people on both sides of the proverbial aisle work together for a shared goal? Fortunately, history is not only full of negative examples. In the 1960s, environmentalism found considerable support in both parties. A Democrat-controlled Congress passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and created the Environmental Protection Agency. Republican President Richard Nixon, of all people, signed those bills into law with the support of environmentalists within his own party. So, despite the obstacles, we think it is possible to convince voters in both political parties to vote out corporate-sponsored legislators at the state and federal levels, and to forge a clear set of demands for economic reform. Collective strength is essential. That could start by organizing ourselves in civic groups that meet at least three criteria: open to political discourse; large enough to reach a critical mass of potential voters; operate outside the direct control of oligarchs. An initial list of organizations that meet these criteria include labor unions and churches. Both groups have, in the past, openly supported movements that sought to charge the US economic order.

To be clear, an American Solidarity movement should not control these organizations because they would quickly become targets for state harassment or even violence. Rather, American Solidarity should use the organizations as venues for people to discuss and implement was to produce systemic change. 

Oklahoma, the authors’ home state, provides a great example. In its last years as a territory and in the initial decades of statehood, Oklahoma churches often hosted revivals during which speakers called openly for attendees to vote for candidates who would overturn the economic order. Like churches today, rural parishes tiptoed right up to the line of political speech without stepping over it. In the 1910s and 1920s, Oklahoma’s impoverished sharecroppers saw the Socialist Party as the only one that would hold wealthy landowners to account for stolen wages, evictions, and other abuses. At one point, Oklahoma City elected a socialist mayor. Numerous local offices were held by members of the Socialist Party. It is no coincidence that the first Oklahoma state flag had a solid red background with a large white star in the middle. After the Red Scare of the early 1920s, the state legislature retired the maybe-a-bit-too-left-leaning red flag and created the current flag with its light blue background and Osage war shield.

This anecdote from Oklahoma’s past shows that the people of this country have a long tradition of fighting the established economic order. Look at your local history. Find ideas about how communities previously organized against exploitation and abuse. We suspect that your state has a rich tradition of “sticking it to the man.” Did every effort succeed? No. Oklahoma in 2024 is hardly a hotbed of anti-establishment thinking. Nevertheless, real change is still possible. 

Next week, I will present a third excerpt from the book. In it, we will look at che characters from the ‘Keeping it Personal” posts of the past few months. But instead of tormenting with the store-brand mix of Blade Runner and Children of Men we are living through, we will but them in an America that, starting in 2025, chooses a different path. And make no mistake, the future is yet unwritten. As a wiser man than I once wrote, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”