Revolt of the Masses

“The mass crushes beneath it everything which is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified..” ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ March 18, 2024  |  [Sign Up]( Revolt of the Masses “[Classical] Liberalism is the supreme form of generosity. It [is] determination to share existence with the enemy... “...that the human species should have arrived at such a noble attitude, so paradoxical, so refined, so acrobatic, so unnatural… “[No wonder] humanity [is also] anxious to get rid of it. It is a discipline too difficult and complex to take firm root on earth.” ― Jose Ortega Y Gasset, 1930 [Special Reminder: In case you missed our late-day announcement yesterday, [The Real October Surprise]( The Essential Investor has merged with legacy contributors to Agora Financial. The new, larger, more inclusive project is called The Grey Swan Investment Fraternity. If you’re interested in the scope and benefits of our new endeavor, please see what prompted us to merge [here](. If you’ve been a member of The Essential Investor, please keep an eye out for your new benefits.] Dear [Reader], March 18, 2024 – For our own sanity, we’ve been trying to articulate why populism is bad. Bad for individuals. Bad for the economy. Bad for a country founded on the idea of political liberty. It’s Monday, so we’ll kick off the week giving it another go. Populism is a political idea; it’s only good for knuckleheads trying to get their mitts on the levers of power. In his book The Revolt of the Masses, the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega Y Gasset tried a similar exercise during the wave of populism that had gripped politics globally by 1930. Substitute “cancel” for “eliminated” and this articulate quote might as well have been written in 2024: The mass crushes beneath it everything which is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and selected. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated. Among the panels at the World Economic Forum in Davos back in January, was one dedicated to the fear that the elites have over losing control of the global narrative. Specifically, the climate narrative. But it spilt into a discussion of the battle over free speech and the spread of disinformation online. The press somehow even interpreted [Javier Milei’s address]( describing how collectivist and socialists had ruined Argentina as a sign that the elites are growing restless. A CNBC report at the time: A growing detachment between political leaders and populations presents the biggest risk in a busy election year, according to Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte. The Allianz Risk Barometer published this month noted that political risk was already at a five-year high in 2023, with some 100 countries considered at high or extreme risk of civil unrest. Asked on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland what he considers the main global risk at present, Bäte pointed to a lack of trust from populations in their governments across major democracies… Why might the people lose faith in their deciders? What went wrong in the 21st century is becoming a popular subject for historians. Here’s Ed Snowden, still “on the lam” in Moscow: If I had to explain how the American Century collapsed in just 3 points, I might say: Impoverishing the worker via union-busting & off-shoring. Unleashing the state by abandoning the gold standard. Continuously erasing essential liberties post-9/11. Snowden gets two out of three, which is not bad. The end of the gold standard allowed government spending, debt, and cockamamie projects to increase enormously. And he’s right that the feds took advantage of a fearful population, post-9/11, to grab more power in the Patriot Act. Union busting and off-shoring, too, may have contributed to lower compensation for the working classes, but the real source of the trouble was the funny money itself. Rather than make things and trade with other producers, Americans could buy on credit. That is the benefit of what Giscard d’Estaing called the “[exorbitant privilege]( of having the world’s reserve currency. After 1971, other countries took America’s green paper and treated it as real money. But there was a big downside. CONTINUED BELOW... >>ADVERTISEMENT<< 2024 – The Real Election Year Surprise In 2016, the October Election Surprise was Hillary Clinton’s email scandal… In 2020, the October Election Surprise was the suppression of all the dirty material on Hunter Biden’s “forgotten” laptop… Now, in 2024, we’re forecasting an October Election Surprise that almost no one sees coming — and this time it’ll be way more devastating than anything you’ve seen before. [Click here to learn about 2024’s real October Election Surprise »]( It’s not at all what you think. CONTINUED... The situation was a little like that of Spain after the conquistadors had seized the gold of Mexico and Peru. Ships ladened with gold arrived in Spanish ports. The Spaniards were rich. The easy money from the new territories undermined honest industry. In the bubble economy of the early 16th century, Spain developed a trade deficit similar to that of the United States today. People took their money and bought goods from abroad. By the time the New World mine petered out, the Spanish were bankrupt. The Spanish government defaulted on its loans in 1557, 1575, 1607, 1627, and 1647. An honest economy functions as people exchange goods and services for money and use the money to buy goods and services from others. They all become better off, together. Distort the money and you distort the whole transaction and sour the relationship between buyers and sellers. Some people no longer have to give to get; they just have to get their hands on this cheap “money.” The new money, created by the Fed, passes through Wall Street. Much of it gets stuck to greedy hands. No surprise then, that in the period 2009 to 2023, the fellow with a hedge fund, an IPO, a SPAC, venture capital, or just an investment portfolio watched his stocks rise by 87% after inflation. The poor working stiff, however, put his savings into a bank account, collected almost no interest, and its real value fell by 45%. But now, [America’s paper money is petering out, too](. The feds can still print it, but the inflation cat is out of the bag. More printing leads to higher prices and higher interest rates. And now, the workers of the world are losing faith in their leaders. Why? Because the decisions made by the deciders have been almost universally bad. Iraq, Afghanistan, Patriot Act, Wall Street bailout, zero-interest-rates policy for 10 years, “stimmies,” lockdowns, Inflation Reduction Act — in every instance doing nothing would have been far preferable. At the turn of the 21st century, the national debt was already $5 trillion. But thanks to this deranged activism, by 2024, the feds had added $29 trillion to the U.S. national debt. Are the elites stupid? Why did they make so many bad decisions? A simple question to kick off the week, you can submit your literate response to: addison@greyswanfraternity.com. So it goes, Addison Wiggin, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. This, perhaps ironically, from the progressive political rag ScheerPost: Western leaders are experiencing two stunning events: defeat in Ukraine, genocide in Palestine. The first is humiliating, the other shameful. Yet, they feel no humiliation or shame. Their actions show vividly that those sentiments are alien to them – unable to penetrate the entrenched barriers of dogma, arrogance and deep-seated insecurities. The last are personal as well as political. Therein lies a puzzle.  As a consequence, the West has set itself on a path of collective suicide. Moral suicide in Gaza; diplomatic suicide – the foundations laid in Europe, the Middle East and across Eurasia; economic suicide – the dollar-based global financial system jeopardized, Europe deindustrializing. It is not a pretty picture. Astoundingly, this self-destruction is occurring in the absence of any major trauma – external or internal. Hmn. You, no doubt, heard Donald Trump tell union auto workers that “there will be bloodshed” in November if he is not elected. Brace yourself: “What does Trump mean by bloodshed?” pundits will debate until Kate Middleton takes back over the news cycle. Does he mean “economic bloodshed? Political violence? The end of the union?” A normal person will just stop at “whaaat!?!” Exhibit A for the “if you’re trying to make actual sense of politics during this election, fuggetaboutitt!” file. Or… why confusion over Joe Biden’s existen…er policies… does not automatically mean Donald Trump has an answer. [Sauve qui peut](. Please send your comments, reactions, opprobrium, vitriol and praise to: addison@greyswanfraternity.com. The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. 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