America, Global South. Global South, America

The term Global South was originated by some guilt-ridden, elitist academic type somewhere to describe the majority of the world that lives in shit conditions compared to their fellow humans in the Global North. It is the new way of saying “third world” or “developing countries” and it just got bigger. Today, the United States stands at the peak of its existence. As a people, Americans have divvied up the land and its contents, created and sold real and intellectual property and just generally capitalized on their geographical luck with zero foresight. The government has played a big role in encouraging, enabling and financing this disaster. The rest of the world has too, to some extent.

Now, the citizens of the US are faced with many problems that did not burden their ancestors. Peak Oil, the National Debt and a credit-fueled culture of consumerism have forced the US into an untenable position. With trillions of unfunded liabilities (both public and private), the financial strain of multiple wars and the economic burdens of maintaining the economic empire, the US has reached the peak of its prosperity and global dominance. Does that mean that we will all relocate to a shanty at our nearest landfill? Not exactly. What it certainly means is the end of a few things that most of America has come to take for granted.

Retirement

When I first started this website, I wrote an entry called “you don’t deserve to retire.”

In it I explained that if you are putting money in your 401k, planning to take out a reverse mortgage and/or depending on your pension to retire and you are under 55 you are delusional. Your golden years will be the leanest of your life, if you live to see them. The boomer generation, along with your parents’ “greatest generation” put absolutely no thought at all into a sustainable future. You all consented to the status quo and wasted our formerly-abundant natural resources on shit like 1/4 acre lots adorned with poorly constructed housing, the American car culture, cheap and shitty food, worthless consumer goods and copious amounts of alcohol and drugs (prescription and illegal). You also offered up your consent to the insanity you now call your federal and state governments who delusionally try to figure out new and exciting schemes to keep you under their boot heel. All the while, you forgot the lessons of your Grandparents and Great-Grandparents who generally lived more sustainable and self-reliant lifestyles.

Health Care

America has somehow managed the feat of extending our collective life expectancy while simultaneously increasing our obesity and pumping us all full of harmful chemicals via what we decided to call “food.” As the baby boomers are aging the burden on our health care system is increasing dramatically. This will inevitably culminate in the slow deterioration of health care for the vast majority of your progeny. For that, on behalf of my and future generations, I thank you. To make matters worse you also instilled in us, through the education system along with other social structures, a severe sense of entitlement on government institutions with quickly-emptying coffers.

Education

Speaking of the education system in America, it is another sacred cow of the establishment along with the health care system. Education is largely publicly funded and is another example of infrastructure that was designed and developed around mid-20th century notions of prosperity and need for certified cogs in the growth machine. That educational model has left us with an extremely over-educated population in fields that don’t merit a quarter of the population. Too few engineers and hard scientists, too many liberally educated social scientists and health care specialists. And far too many MBAs and lawyers. Most people could thrive in their profession with a fraction of the education they had to receive to qualify.

Conclusion, we’re fucked

All of this means that the world you leave behind when you finally croak will be a much harsher place than the one you inherited. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunities you had to plan for a beautiful and sustainable country, you have milked it to the verge of bankruptcy and sunk the majority of the population into a new poverty. The middle class will disappear and the US will slowly come to resemble much of the rest of the world with a few very rich elites and a whole lot of really poor people.