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Joshua Derrick's avatar

It was nice to see this after some frankly delusional posts from other substackers I like on the right (Librarian of Celaeno was the absolute worst offender with his article praising trump’s ascendency as a “return of the king” moment). I agree that all three of these are serious issues, but potentially have a little more hope on the immigration and debt front. I’m cautiously optimistic that we may see more reimmigration to latin America as tough on crime presidents like Bukele take power and destroy the cartels, and America slips further into failed state territory. Now this is very much not in the interest of the globalists, but Bukele in particular seems to be pretty good at playing the different factions of that space off of each other. In terms of debt: it’s going to be bad pretty much no matter what, that’s the limits to growth for you. However, in the short term, excess mortality caused by COVID as a result of the mRNA vaccine design +the upcoming flu pandemic should remove a lot of pressure on social security.

At the end of the day, the gushing over trump represents a failure of conservatism in this country just as absolute as election of Biden represented for real leftists in this country in 2020. The man is personally a liberal: has had many marriages and divorces, is promiscuous, doesn’t engage with western culture on more than a superficial level, and has ordered many abortions. He’s allied with arch-liberal tech bros Peter Thiel, Zuckerberg and Elon Musk for God's sake. In some ways he’s anti-woke, but he supports gay and transgender rights that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. The based trad Christian substack warriors who voted for trump are just as cucked if not more than the libs they think they’re owning.

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Gerald's avatar

I cannot deny your analysis. Furthermore, I agree that the most probable outcome of Trump’s second term is that he’ll be made a Fall Guy, but a fall guy for what exactly? I think for Great Depression 2.0.

Anyway, and I think I’ll be brief this time. Many no-name commenters & public alternative media figures alike are making many valid & thoughtful & profound analyses & predictions (beyond this superficial & short term election victory celebration). I want to offer here something I see discussed only on the fringes.

Here in Japan, where the national debt is about twice as much as the US’s, we still have 1) functioning municipal physical infrastructure ABD functional institutional infrastructure, and 2) a cost of living (COL) that is still calibrated to a single-breadwinner household, including a livable minimum wage.

The point I want to make is the “lies, damned lies, & statistics” point. Mainstream media sources (that I used to read 20 years ago like the Economist & the NYT) will present the reader with valid numbers, but then fail to discuss the US’s crumbling (1) both physical & institutional infrastructures, and (2) a COL that was already in the 1980’s recalibrated to a suburban double-median income household, furthermore to a less-than-replacement reproductive rate. 40 years on, nowadays what passes for “middle class” in the USA is absurd. Even in the hyper inflated single-family-home-price zip codes, all I really see is Poor People who have Big Houses + 2-4 Shiny new Cars.

But they’re poor. Metaphorically speaking, the very misleading US GDP is a Wild West storefront. Behind the rows of storefronts are rows of shacks. The emperor has no clothes. Everything’s breaking down as the direct result of a COL calibrated to the suburban double-income household, a 1950’s dream life (on a single income) has turned into a nightmare. GenZ knows it.

I said I’d be brief, so I’ll conclude here: when Great Depression 2.0 hits, Japan will still have grandmothers & mothers, plus an abundance of tiny little apartments where even low-wage Mom & Dad can still afford to feed & house children in *genuine* middle-class comfort (1950’s USA style):

- safe, walkable neighborhoods,

- a mother who isn’t chained to the corporate loom,

- affordable healthcare,

- including vax freedom of choice,

- functioning municipal physical infrastructure: gas, electric, water, roadways, middle-class public transportation (not our ghettoized public transportation), including bicycle-safe lifestyles,

- a genuine patriotism, a belief in themselves,

- a functioning education system,

- a functioning Made in Japan industrial base,

- 🤔 let’s see here. I’m bet there’s a couple more not coming to mind right now …

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