BlackEconomics.org®
We are hurtling toward the end of 2024 and into 2025. There is great anticipation and expectation on many fronts. Given existing uncertainty and at the deepest level, we are enquiring in two words: “What Now?”
The wise ones among us are posing this question seeking multiple answers: Not just short- or medium-term answers, but insights about our long-term future—assuming that we should be so bold as to contemplate something over which some contend we have little-to-no control. A sad fact is that a failure to contemplate and plan long-term means we may very well end up at the mercy of those who were wise enough to plan.
Let us explore “What Now?” from an economic perspective. To do so, it is critical that we establish the status quo—our starting point. The reality is that, as Dr. Na’im Akbar explained over two decades ago: “The Western World Mind has produced no substantively new ideas/thoughts for hundreds of years.”(i,ii) Creativity is lacking! Consequently, with the absolute requirement (in the Western World view) to achieve economic growth forever and always there is the option of benefiting from knowledge of the musical practice of variating on old economic ideas/themes. Barring that, a second and less desirable option is to invert creativity and production and mirror them negatively based on Schumpeter’s well-known concept: “Creative Destruction.” The concept can be described as generating “economic growth” by destroying and rebuilding what was destroyed.(iii)
No new creative and productive ideas means that:
- Wars are instigated so that economic activity can restore that which is destroyed—except for lost lives.
- Sickness (viruses) is purposely injected into systems and beings so that effort is required to produce healing—for those that receive the healing in time.
- Instead of imparting truthful knowledge ubiquitously, falsehoods are promulgated selectively that create confusion and uncertainties that disrupt proper functioning of the mind so that those with knowledge can benefit from “helping” return the confused and anxious to normalcy—for those who have not succumbed to the mental pain.
- With an intent to self-benefit as controllers or puppeteers, false lines of demarcation are drawn that differentiate and separate groups of economic agents causing those forced to the socio-economic bottom to serve as fodder, grist, and raw material for profitable production of those at higher socio-economics levels.
While some place the stamp “economic planning” on such operations, this is not “good” economics at all.(iv)
We should all open our eyes and minds and realize that early humans, who came into a self-awareness characterized by self-conceit and greed, initiated the path that brought us here. When the first “deceiver-entrepreneur-lord-ruler” convinced independently living families/groups to abandon their self-reliance and self-determination to come under the former’s protection or provision of an inadequately assessed but nonetheless perceived slightly improved quality of life in exchange for “paid” labor, sliding began down a slippery slope that has brought us to our current condition. This condition is characterized by an environment that we are told and urged to believe is lovely, favorable, and right for us.
Our continuous acceptance of this bait pablum is only because we are deaf, dumb, blind, and unawake to reality. Many who can hear, speak, see, and are “woke,” generally agree that our world and lives are not going rapidly to hell in handbasket, we are already in a hell.
The initial deceivers-entrepreneurs-lords-rulers innovated and alienated humans from peace and harmony with creation. They enabled the destruction of natural mechanisms that ensured ecological balance on the planet. This great deceitful game has nearly run its course and is reaching its end. How much further negative mirroring of creative production can occur before wasteful use of resources will exhaust essential requirements and/or it will become impossible to restore the required ecological balance.
For the Western World, the game and bet has always been that its “science” could outpace nature. To obtain an answer concerning who will be the ultimate winner, we should ask: How can descendants with only partial knowledge outwit and outpace antecedents who possess more complete knowledge?
The answers for “What Now?” are clear: The deceivers-entrepreneurs-lords-rulers have carried us toward destruction. Absent fresh new creativity, an ever-present requirement for economic growth guarantees doom.
Relatedly, the very thought that inanimate entities (artificial intelligence systems and robots) could be authentically creative is fallacious in its inception because these entities are not alive, their starting point is existing knowledge, and they have no direct access to the divine source of true creative inspiration and life. At best, inanimate beings will be able to operate as musicians and variate on existing themes.
However, there can be a silver lining in every cloud. Technology can be leveraged to scour the world’s population; identify those who display prolific creativity naturally; recognize those who are best prepared to reflect empathy and humaneness; nurture and develop them; then set them to the task of innovating the planet and its people back to balance and sustainability without avarice and greed. Do you know a People who broadly reflect these characteristics and capacities best?
Global leadership comprehends that its failure to modify the current economic paradigm will continue to produce worsening crises. To stave off these crises, global leadership will continue to tighten the screws on the powerless with increasing authoritarianism. It is common knowledge that we just witnessed a strategic salvo and primer in this regard by South Korea.(v) President Elect Trump recently hinted that those who meted out justice to January Sixers should be jailed, which could be the onset of authoritarianism never known in the US.(vi)
At the same time, global leadership has little choice if it chooses to retain its grip on control and power. The global awakening to the underlying nature of great deceivers-entrepreneurs-lords-rulers spells their death knell. No one wants to die. Most recently, the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is a bad omen for global leadership.(vii) Overall, look for conditions to worsen before they improve. However, to rightfully reflect favorable self-interest, to plan and work to survive, and to flourish, there is the LTSPFBA. (viii)
©B Robinson
121424
i See Na’im Akbar (circa 1999). “Na’im Akbar at McClymonds High School Nomo Lectures.” YouTube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVhD92ftFAg (Ret. 121224).
ii It is logical to view modernity and advancements in science and technology as evolving out of existing scientific and technological knowledge and not the result of producing something, the fundamentals of which have never been known.
iii Joseph Schumpeter (1942). Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York. Harper: Harper and Brothers.
iv The inference is that “good” economics results from “non-Schumpeterian production.”
v Reuters (2024). “Full Text of South Korea’s Martial Law Decree.” Reuters. December 3; https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/full-text-south-koreas-martial-law-decree-2024-12-03/ (Ret. 121424).
vi Ashley Murray (2024). “Trump Says Liz Cheney, Mississippi Congressman ‘Should Go to Jail’ for Jan. 6 Probe.” Idaho Capital Sun. December 9; https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/12/09/dc/trump-says-liz-cheney-mississippi-congressman-should-go-to-jail-for-jan-6-probe/ (Ret. 121424).
vii Rob Picheta and Helen Regan (2024). “After Decades of Brutal Rule, Bashar al-Assad’s Regime Has Been Toppled. Here’s What You Need to Know.” CNN World. December 9; https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/09/middleeast/syria-assad-rebels-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html (Ret. 121424).
viii The Long-Term Strategic Plan Panel (2023). Long-Term Strategic Plan for Black America. The Long-Term Strategic Plan Panel; https://www.ltspfba.org/LTSP/fin_ltspfba_071223.pdf (Ret. 121224).