“It is, of course, the first recourse of every elitist to see social barbarism in others.”
–Graham Joyce
December 19, 2024— We don’t say things like this often, but we agree with the Federal Reserve.
Jerome Powell didn’t quite come off as the Grinch ready to steal the Santa Claus rally yesterday, even if that’s the meme being portrayed by the financial press and how market traders reacted.
Rather, Powell spoke to a key truth: We face rising uncertainty, and a resurgence of inflation, particularly if Trump kicks off a nasty trade war.
In the meantime, we have a new uncertainty over a government shutdown. A potential Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government failed to pass.
The incessant legislative sleight of hand stopgap bill was filled comme d’habitide with all sorts of goodies, including a giant pay raise for members of Congress, from $174,000 per year to $243,000.
After the cumulative 20%+ inflation of the past four years that have left many Americans fit to be tied, a group of imbecilic Reps thought it was a good idea to try and shoehorn in a 40% raise for themselves.
And… a provision allowing members of Congress to opt out of their own onerous Afforable Care Act.
What the?!
Trump, and DOGE co-chair Elon Musk campaigned heavily against the CR on X. Allowing this CR to pass would have hobbled Trump’s second term before it even started, and kept the inflationary goodies pouring out of Washington at a time when the swamp needs a chainsaw-powered trimming.
In a way, the elites and their commitment to spending beyond America’s tax receipts are also an inflationary pressure, even if that’s not what Powell had in mind when he spoke yesterday.
The elites will continue to do their thing. The more the elites show this kind of disdain for the taxpayer, the more Trump will benefit.
Somehow the same political stench and class antipathy that politicans like Harris, Biden, Pelosi and Schumer bear with utterly tone-deaf arrogance and condescension doesn’t rub off on Trump or Musk.
Looking more closely at how the establishment is getting destructive in a desperate bid to maintain its power, we turn to a guest essay from Eguyppus. ~ Enjoy, Addison
Losing Alignment: Why Have Establishment Politics Become So Destructive, Immoderate, and Self-Defeating?
Eugyppius, A Plague Chronicle
I want to write speculatively about a big problem that has been bothering me for a while.
Consider the dual shock of Trump’s electoral victory and Brexit in 2016, the triumph of Trump’s reelection just last month, and the repressive, authoritarian turn politics have taken in Germany specifically and in Europe more generally. All these things are an expression of or a reaction to rising political discontent among ordinary people. This discontent is fuelling populist political movements across the West that our governing elite are increasingly unable to control.
My radical thesis is that this should not be happening. Our rulers ought to appease the restless masses by preempting their political demands – not because they are happy benevolent paternalistic overseers with our best interests at heart, because it is in their interests to do so.
In the United States they should’ve dialled back the racial egalitarianism and the transgender nonsense as soon as it started to generate serious pushback, and they should’ve taken steps to restrict migration before Trump ever came within reach of the Oval Office. Here in Europe, they should be winding down climatism and also taking any number of steps to close the borders. Yet they are either not doing these things, or they are not doing them hard enough.
As popular sentiment drifts away from them, the elite here in Germany if anything have grown more radicalised. The United States witnessed a similar dynamic well through Biden’s presidency – one that ultimately cost the American establishment not only the presidency and the legislature, but also all initiative for the next two years at least. In older and more pacified Europe, our rulers mostly retain command of their governments, but they are losing control of the political dynamics nonetheless.
“eugyppius,” my critics will say, “you are being very naive.” (My critics love to call me naive.) “The elites want to deindustrialise Europe. They don’t care if it makes people mad. They want to import a new client class. They don’t care if it inflames the populist opposition.”
Even were I to grant these arguments, I would find them insufficient. It’s no good to pursue a programme of deindustrialisation (assuming that that goal makes sense for anyone) if you end up getting thrown out of office before it can be realised. It’s no good to import clients from the developing world if you create a populist opposition that disempowers you before these clients can yield any meaningful political dividends.
At the end of the day, we must remember that the ruling elite and their political parties adopt policies as a means of staying in power and winning elections. The content of these policies is strictly secondary. Yes, enriching oneself and one’s allies also matters; appeasing important factions and constituencies is important. If you lose control of the political apparatus, though, there’s no point. The advantages that climatism and migrationism once promised our rulers are no more; these lunacies now merely inflame the political opposition and attenuate elite control. That is a great problem.
Understanding this phenomenon is very important, because it is at the core of what is wrong with our countries. ~ Eugyppius, A Plague Chronicle
Regards,
Addison Wiggin,
Grey Swan
P.S. Eugyppius (circa 460 – circa 535, Castellum Lucullanum) was a disciple and the biographer of Saint Severinus of Noricum, just in case you were wondering.
P.P.S. Philip from Down Under in Australia has a comment in the subject:
Have the elites been trying to “domesticate” the population?
The failing education system, the legal system, the bloated bureaucracy, all the laws created in relation to taxation, free speech, the intrusion of the state into family affairs & our private lives.
Perhaps the elites are finding out that some of the population is not “domesticated”. They can think for themselves, they want their freedom, they expect the government to stick to what it is meant to do, they will hold the elites accountable.
Hopefully there will be a peaceful revolution in the western world – before it is too late.
Thank you for your great & interesting informative writing.
Have a great Christmas & New Year.
Philip isn’t alone in his observations. Reader Jerry from California writes:
The needed D.O.G.E. is the Department of Government Elimination.
Thanks, Addison, for the ever-insightful clarity from yourself and the great friends you publish, many of whom I read, like Bill Bonner and Porter Stansberry.
As I said in my top line, like Argentina, we need the chainsaw being wielded to Eliminate the cancers, not trim them into pretty shapes.
Your thoughts… on demographics, the West’s decades-long experiment with socialist programs built on unsustainable deficits and the Trump admin’s challenge to drain the swamp again in 2025… are welcome here: addison@greyswanfraternity.com
How did we get here? Find out in these riveting reads: Demise of the Dollar; Financial Reckoning Day; and Empire of Debt — all three books are now available in their third post-pandemic editions. You might enjoy one or all three.
