Comment (edited) Officially the GDP has doubled since 2014. From what I and my friends see:
- Productivity growth in MOST sectors is pretty low since 2014.
- Innovation in the service sector is limited to low productivity services like delivery services (yes they are backed by high productivity digital services but that a small GDP contribution).
- Xi Jinping cracked down or discauraged many innovative sectors because they didn'T fit his vision.
- Money was funneled into whatever he liked. A LOT of infra and housing - but also SELECT high tech sectors, which he pampered with ridiculous amounts of money.
- A lot of money went into foreign investment, which was mostly unprofitable. But this has been scaled down a lot already.
- In the "focus industries" (but also in general) the internal competition is so bad that nobody makes a profit, everybody is just betting to come out on top in the end.
- For workers, even the highly qualified ones, this competition is pure hell. Quality of life is miserable. not in material terms, but psychologically, school pressure, work pressure, "get married and make children" pressure ...
I see many many similarities to Japan in the 80s. Just on steroids. And we all know how this ended. BTW, I also speak Japanese and know the country well. Don't believe the conspiracies. The Japanese economy was a bubble in the 80s and everybody knew it.
In his blog Unqualified Reservations, which he wrote from 2007 to 2014, and in his later newsletter Gray Mirror, which he started in 2020, he argues that American democracy is a failed experiment that should be replaced by an accountable monarchy, similar to the governance structure of corporations.
Yarvin has been described as a "neo-reactionary", "neo-monarchist" and "neo-feudalist" who "sees liberalism as creating a Matrix-like totalitarian system, and who wants to replace American democracy with a sort of techno-monarchy".
Yarvin's ideas have been influential among right-wrong-libertarians and paleolibertarians, and the public discourses of prominent investors like Peter Thiel have echoed Yarvin's project of seceding from the United States to establish tech-CEO dictatorships. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, an informal adviser to Donald Trump, has spoken approvingly of Yarvin's thinking. Political strategist Steve Bannon has read and admired his work. Vice-president JD Vance has cited Yarvin as an influence, saying in 2021, "So there's this guy Curtis Yarvin who has written about these things", which included "Retire All Government Employees" or RAGE, written in 2012. Vance said that if Trump became president again, "I think what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, and replace them with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country and say, 'The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.'"
Techno-fascism (techno-populism), a term introduced by Janis Mimura, describes a form of authoritarian rule where technical experts and a technological mindset are central to government and society. It suggests a fusion of state power with the influence and control exerted by technology and tech companies, potentially leading to a system where technology is used to suppress dissent and concentrate power.
Techno-populism is either a populism in favor of technocracy or a populism concerning certain technology – usually information technology – or any populist ideology conversed using digital media. It can be employed by single politicians or whole political movements respectively. Neighboring terms used in a similar way are technocratic populism, technological populism, and cyber-populism. Italy's Five Star Movement and France's La République En Marche! have been described as technopopulist political movements.
Technocratic Rule: Techno-fascism is characterized by an emphasis on technical expertise and data-driven decision-making, often at the expense of democratic processes and public participation.
State and Corporate Tech Power: The term highlights the increasing convergence of government power and the power of technology companies, potentially leading to situations where tech companies wield significant influence over government policy and public discourse.
Suppression of Dissent: Techno-fascism can involve the use of technology to monitor and control citizens, restrict access to information, and limit freedom of expression.
Concentration of Power: This form of authoritarianism often involves the concentration of power in the hands of a select few, potentially leading to a situation where the needs and interests of the majority are overlooked.
Examples and Concerns:
Rise of Big Tech: The growing influence of tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, along with their ability to collect and analyze vast amounts of personal data, has raised concerns about potential manipulation and control.
AI Development: Unfettered AI development, particularly if it's used for surveillance or propaganda purposes, could pave the way for techno-fascism on a global scale.
Social Media Manipulation: The ability of social media platforms to spread misinformation and polarize public discourse raises concerns about their potential to be used to manipulate public opinion and undermine democratic processes.
In essence, techno-fascism raises the specter of a future where technology is used to create a highly controlled and authoritarian society, one where the voices of the people are silenced and the power of the state is wielded by a select group of technocrats and tech giants.
"When a phalanx of the top Silicon Valley executives—Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Google’s Sundar Pichai—aligned behind President Trump during the Inauguration in January, many observers saw an allegiance based on corporate interests. The ultra-wealthy C.E.O.s were turning out to support a fellow-magnate, hoping perhaps for an era of deregulation, tax breaks, and anti-“woke” cultural shifts.
The historian Janis Mimura saw something more ominous: a new, proactive union of industry and governmental power, wherein the state would drive aggressive industrial policy at the expense of liberal norms. In the second Trump Administration, a class of Silicon Valley leaders was insinuating itself into politics in a way that recalled one of Mimura’s primary subjects of study: the élite bureaucrats who seized political power and drove Japan into the Second World War. “These are experts with a technological mind-set and background, often engineers, who now have a special role in the government,” Mimura told me. The result is what, in her book “Planning for Empire” (2011), she labelled “techno-fascism”: authoritarianism driven by technocrats. Technology “is considered the driving force” of such a regime, Mimura said. “There’s a sort of technicization of all aspects of government and society.”"
N.B. Many Muslims who have immigrated to Western nations have fled Islamist violence and its accompanying socio-economic dysfunction. Wanting only a better life, they continue to suffer the side effects of their host populations' understandable distrust of those associated with socially-dysfunctional, violent Islamist youth.
Death to America is an anti-Americanpolitical slogan widely used in North Korea (as Death to the United States imperialists), Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Pakistan. Originally used by North Korea since the Korean War, Ruhollah Khomeini, the first supreme leader of Iran, popularized the term. He opposed the chant for radio and television, but [did] not [oppose the chant] for protests and other occasions.
The literal meaning of the Persian phrase"Marg bar Âmrikâ" is "Death to America." In most official Iranian translations, the phrase is [DIS]translated into English as the less crude "Down with America." The chant "Death to America" has come to be employed by various anti-American groups and protesters worldwide.
...
Islamism (also often called political Islam) is a religio-political ideology. The advocates of Islamism, also known as "al-Islamiyyun", are dedicated to realizing their ideological interpretation of Islam within the context of the state or society. The majority of them are affiliated with Islamic institutions or social mobilization movements, often designated as "al-harakat al-Islamiyyah." Islamists emphasize the implementation of sharia, pan-Islamic political unity, the creation of Islamic states, (eventually unified), and rejection of non-Muslim influences—particularly Western or universal economic, military, political, social, or cultural.
In its original formulation, Islamism described an ideology seeking to revive Islam to its 'past assertiveness and glory, purifying it of foreign elements, reasserting its role' into "social and political as well as personal life"; and in particular "reordering government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam" (i.e. Sharia). According to at least one observer (author Robin Wright), Islamist movements have "arguably altered the Middle East more than any trend since the modern states gained independence", redefining "politics and even borders".
... Supporters of Hezbollah, the Shi'aIslamic [Islamist] militant group based in Lebanon that is closely aligned to Iran, regularly chant "Death to America" in street demonstrations. A week before the March 20, 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah declared, "In the past, when the Marines were in Beirut, we screamed, 'Death to America!' Today, when the region is being filled with hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, 'Death to America!' was, is and will stay our slogan."
The slogan of the Houthis, a Shi'a rebel group in Yemen also supported by Iran, is "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, A curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam."
Iranian officials generally explainclaim that the ["Death to America"] slogan in its historical context has been provoked by the U.S. government's hostile policies towards Iran and expresses outrage at those policies, and [LIE that it] does not wish for literal death for American people themselves. In a speech to university students, Iran's Supreme Leader, Khamenei, interpreted the slogan as "death to the U.S.'s policies, death to arrogance." Following a meeting with Army and Air Force commanders, Khamenei declaredprevaricated that the Iranian people are not against American people, but that "Death to America" means down with American leaders, [at the time, DUH(UNpresident)], John Bolton (National Security Advisor), and Mike Pompeo (Secretary of State).
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.” ― Winston Churchill, The River War .
24-10-11 Former [Taiwanese] President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is set to visit Europe, marking her first international trip since leaving office, according to multiple news reports. The visit will include stops in the Czech Republic, France, and Belgium, where she is expected to engage with both local and European Union (EU) politicians.
