“Follow the Money” Is a Little Bit Different Than “Who Benefits?”
Note: This post was, inadvertently, sent only to paid subscribers. It was meant to be sent to all subscribers and so I'm reposting it. Sorry for the duplicate for you paid subscribers.
There are ‘tests’ I try to use when following a story, coming up with a projection, trying to understand those who run the world, or simply thinking about how badly we fared as a human species trying to work out a reasonable agreement with the planet we live on.
One of those tests is ‘follow the money’ and it works pretty well on how Americans came to be followers instead of leaders
In my lifetime, we went from our government running surpluses to falling $trillions behind, abandoning the world’s largest producer to become its largest consumer and move from single-earner households to families pooling their resources to keep food on the table.
In a single lifetime? How is that possible?
When those of us who remember those times die off (and we are going), there will be no memory left behind, and the written history will be called ‘fake news’ or ‘alternative history.’
In my younger days, a graduated income tax that topped out at 92% sufficed to run the government, hospitals provided care ins…