Generational theory, international history and current events
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by Higgenbotham » Sat Oct 31, 2026 3:08 pm
Higgenbotham wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2026 10:25 pm These quotes remind me of an interview with Nomi Prins a couple decades ago. She was asked what the concerns of her Goldman colleagues were with regard to the ethics of what they were doing during subprime and were they concerned with any fallout that would have resulted from that. She said the only thing on their minds was closing the next deal.
Nomi Prins worked in the upper echelons of the financial world as a managing director at Goldman Sachs and a senior managing director at Bear Stearns as well as a strategist at Lehman Brothers and an analyst at the Chase Manhattan Bank. During her time on Wall Street, she grew increasingly aware of and discouraged by the unethical practices that permeated the banking industry. In 2002, she left and has since become a journalist and writer and leading authority on financial and monetary systems. She is author of ‘Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World’ as well as “All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power and ‘It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street’. From your experience within some leading international banks, what did you learn about the nature of the corporation? The general theme is that all major multinational companies are driven by the bottom line. This means maximising profits and minimising costs. This might seem obvious but it permeates everything they do, the taxes they avoid, risks they take, and what they do in communities. I worked in four major international banks, and from the inside, upper management simply doesn’t care about how their activities impact the outside world. For example, working at Bear Stearns in London in the 1990s, I was involved in a product that involved a major expansion of debt in emerging and corporate markets, looking at new ways to repackage and sell off or trade that debt, so that the bank could profit multiple times from a single bond. At the same time, activists with the Jubilee 2000 initiative, were campaigning on the streets, pointing to the dangers of these debts for needed investments in health, education and so on and looking to reduce the debt burden. But none of that mattered on a day to day basis within the banks anymore than current citizen demonstrations do, except in that they might move markets on any given day. Corporations are also very much driven by short-term profit gain and how to translate favourable quarterly and annual results into higher share prices. In the banking sector, and most corporations, the higher up people are in the firm, the more likely they will receive part of their compensation in the form of shares, stocks, or options on an annual basis, so everyone cares most of all about what was made that year at the firm and how it impacted share prices. There may be internal meetings on five year-plans or products, but the whole of corporate culture is geared to those annual profits. This shapes corporate culture, by increasing competition between departments and within departments with everyone wanting to get the most credit for what they are doing, so as to have it reflected in their year-end bonuses. I experienced this personally at Goldman Sachs in New York, where I was running a department expanding the credit derivatives market that would ultimately play a role in the financial crisis. I had worked on a successful deal with several internal groups made up of many pieces worth millions of dollars to the firm, and when I took the stairs to the next floor to let the head of the division, Lloyd Blankfein, know about my group’s role in the deal, I found a colleague from another department already there inside the office pretending it was their deal, so as to take credit for it. He ultimately rose to a very high level there.
by Higgenbotham » Fri Oct 30, 2026 10:25 pm
Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Oct 22, 2026 5:06 pm I've talked pretty extensively here about what I call The 97th Percentile. In a high school class of 300, The 97th Percentile could ideally be characterized as those who ranked from roughly Position 4 through Position 15. They are those who do the work without question and strive to do the best job they can. You could spend somewhere between 4 and 12 years around these people and get a pretty good feel for who fits in at that level. If a teacher is an entitled goldbrick who teaches two classes while wasting oodles of taxpayer money, The 97th Percentile will fear, aid and abet him without question. I'll get back to that in a minute. That bring us to the point of the quote above from Charles Hugh Smith, "devote every waking hour to enriching the most avaricious few for their share of the loot." This might sound a little harsh to some. It does to me. I mean, I know some of them are good people. At best, they probably didn't intend for their actions to produce that result. But that is what has happened, and at best they were too myopic to see the result. But that is in fact, in the big picture, the result that was produced.
Higgenbotham wrote: Sun Oct 25, 2026 11:47 am While the sentiment of Charles Hugh Smith is admirable, generational change is not about people willfully and proactively adopting a new set of values. For the vast majority, it's about being shocked to the core by generational panic first. The change comes after that.
Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2026 6:18 pm People are occupied with current concerns. They have many and it doesn't seem the coming global food crisis is on the radar.
aedens wrote: Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:03 pm Time will enact a common price as they are consumed by todays wisdom. Same as it ever was.
by aedens » Fri Oct 30, 2026 3:18 pm
by Higgenbotham » Fri Oct 30, 2026 2:35 pm
aedens wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2026 6:27 pm Well we only got a head start from 2019 and they will learn its not different this time.
by aedens » Fri Oct 30, 2026 9:44 am
by aedens » Thu Oct 29, 2026 6:27 pm
by Higgenbotham » Thu Oct 29, 2026 6:18 pm
Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Oct 22, 2026 5:06 pm When I talk to someone like the good professor...I sometimes probe around the edges a bit to see where their minds are at... ...I also discussed things people can do in retirement with an emphasis on the fact that anything anyone can do in retirement as far as income goes outside of their area of expertise strictly falls into the category of being a hobby unless the world changes radically from what it is at present. I said, for example, someone can garden as a hobby, but that will never be anything more than that unless supply chains radically change from what they are. I said it's not like gardening in present conditions is going to result in an income of $20 per hour or higher. Maybe you get more nutritious food, but that's about it. He enthusiastically agreed with all of that but had no comments.
by aedens » Thu Oct 29, 2026 5:55 pm
by Higgenbotham » Thu Oct 29, 2026 3:15 pm
Higgenbotham wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2026 1:11 pm Higgenbotham wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2026 1:37 am AI has its limitations as demonstrated. Though I do believe that Burja comes closer than anyone I've run across to articulating the same reasons this is not an information age, why it's not, and what would generally be required to get to an information age. Based on the topics of the last few posts, and since we are talking about a sociological viewpoint which aligns with that of this Dark Age Hovel, it might be useful to bring up a phenomena that I call Stacking. Everyone knows what Stacking is and, since it's a pervasively engrained late stage Industrial Age sociological phenomena, everyone has experienced it. It's what everybody does to some extent and nearly everybody does it willingly. So the only thing new here to anyone might be how it's framed and some of the specific examples to be discussed. But everyone has encountered their own specific examples. Stacking might be thought of as like a Jenga pile. For practically every individual in this late state Industrial Age, more and more responsibilities are stacked on top of other responsibilities and no responsibilities are ever removed in a planned fashion.
Higgenbotham wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2026 1:37 am AI has its limitations as demonstrated. Though I do believe that Burja comes closer than anyone I've run across to articulating the same reasons this is not an information age, why it's not, and what would generally be required to get to an information age.
Higgenbotham wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2026 12:20 pm If someone were to try to source the same quality food as was available in the late 1960s, they have quite a task and quite an expense on their hands. Just buying "organic" probably won't cut it. The alternative is unhealthy and chronic condition-riddled children who may not even be able to reproduce a couple generations from now. 15% already can't as sperm counts and testosterone levels decline. Vegetables are now half as nutritious than 60 years ago. Experts have worked out why Fewer than a third of wheat varieties used in bread released since the 1960s meet the recommended zinc target, due to poor soil quality Rebecca Whittaker Thursday 08 October 2026 10:11 BST Wheat, apples and carrots are half as nutritious as they were in the 1960s, a new study has suggested. Due to declining soil quality the nutrients in fruit and vegetables have also drastically declined. The study, by researchers at Deep Science Ventures (DSV), found twice the number of fruit and vegetables need to be eaten today to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper than 60 years ago. Researchers found food such as cereals and bread, as well as carrots, apples and peas had lost 20 to 50 per cent of several key nutrients. Sian Ferguson, Trust Executive at The Mark Leonard Trust said: "Healthy soil is the foundation of healthy food. This report shows that rebuilding soil health is one of the few measures that can improve nutrient density, yields and climate resilience all at once, and farmers can do it profitably today.” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 63325.html
Vegetables are now half as nutritious than 60 years ago. Experts have worked out why Fewer than a third of wheat varieties used in bread released since the 1960s meet the recommended zinc target, due to poor soil quality Rebecca Whittaker Thursday 08 October 2026 10:11 BST Wheat, apples and carrots are half as nutritious as they were in the 1960s, a new study has suggested. Due to declining soil quality the nutrients in fruit and vegetables have also drastically declined. The study, by researchers at Deep Science Ventures (DSV), found twice the number of fruit and vegetables need to be eaten today to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper than 60 years ago. Researchers found food such as cereals and bread, as well as carrots, apples and peas had lost 20 to 50 per cent of several key nutrients.
Sian Ferguson, Trust Executive at The Mark Leonard Trust said: "Healthy soil is the foundation of healthy food. This report shows that rebuilding soil health is one of the few measures that can improve nutrient density, yields and climate resilience all at once, and farmers can do it profitably today.”
Earth's Living Water is the complete investigation and authoritative reference text, over 760 pages, comprising 71 chapters, nearly 240,000 words, and over 650 references. It traces the mineral-charged water beneath the living world through its whole arc: how that water was understood across centuries, how modern science came to overlook it, how a hundred years of agriculture, industry, and modern water treatment practices have degraded it, and how it might be restored. Fully documented and broad in scope, it is the definitive work at the foundation of the series.
The Silent Aquifer: Humanity’s Accelerating Food and Water Crisis is about the emergency at the core of Earth’s Living Water, but at its sharpest. Focused, fast, and evidence-driven, it uncovers a synchronized planetary change in the chemistry of the water beneath the world’s farmland, a change Dr. Kory named The Geohydrological Shift. Beginning with the Green Revolution and compounded by the world's industrial activity, this shift is quietly moving civilization toward being unable to feed and water itself, while the world’s alarm stays fixed on carbon and climate. It is a warning in the tradition of the great environmental reckonings, and, unlike most of them, it carries a practical, evidence-based map of the way back. For readers of Silent Spring, Cadillac Desert, and Dirt.
by Higgenbotham » Thu Oct 29, 2026 12:15 pm
Higgenbotham wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2026 4:17 pm Higgenbotham wrote: Tue Oct 06, 2026 5:07 pm Public school enrollment is declining across the West, as the article points out. It's estimated that somewhere around 500 public elementary schools shut down in the US last year and this is only the beginning of a long term trend. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indica ... enrollment Unfit to Print WHERE DID ALL THE KIDS GO? Portland’s progressive experiment failed families Amber Duke Oct 08, 2026 Portland Public Schools told the community this week they’re planning on closing up to 14 schools due to declining enrollment, prompting backlash from parents and students who are furious about the disruption and displacement. But looking at the numbers, it seems Portland doesn’t have much of a choice. The school system has lost 6,000 students since 2018, and they expect another 3,400 or so to disappear by 2031. Portland isn’t the only school district confronting this problem. The Washington Post reports that public schools are closing around the country, partially due to declining birth rates. Portland is a bit more unique, though, in why enrollment is declining so rapidly. The city is suffering from a problem of its own creation: families are fleeing, and the ones who stay are pulling their kids out of the public school system. In other words, families aren’t keen to stay in a city that has become the national poster child for crime, disorder, and progressive governance gone too far. https://stateoftheday.us/p/where-did-all-the-kids-go
Higgenbotham wrote: Tue Oct 06, 2026 5:07 pm Public school enrollment is declining across the West, as the article points out. It's estimated that somewhere around 500 public elementary schools shut down in the US last year and this is only the beginning of a long term trend. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indica ... enrollment
Unfit to Print WHERE DID ALL THE KIDS GO? Portland’s progressive experiment failed families Amber Duke Oct 08, 2026 Portland Public Schools told the community this week they’re planning on closing up to 14 schools due to declining enrollment, prompting backlash from parents and students who are furious about the disruption and displacement. But looking at the numbers, it seems Portland doesn’t have much of a choice. The school system has lost 6,000 students since 2018, and they expect another 3,400 or so to disappear by 2031. Portland isn’t the only school district confronting this problem. The Washington Post reports that public schools are closing around the country, partially due to declining birth rates. Portland is a bit more unique, though, in why enrollment is declining so rapidly. The city is suffering from a problem of its own creation: families are fleeing, and the ones who stay are pulling their kids out of the public school system. In other words, families aren’t keen to stay in a city that has become the national poster child for crime, disorder, and progressive governance gone too far.
21 Seattle schools under review for closure, merger plan Oct. 28, 2026 at 5:00 pm Updated Oct. 28, 2026 at 6:24 pm By Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks Seattle Times staff reporter Families are scrambling for more information in the wake of an announcement by Seattle Public Schools that it is considering closing and merging several schools. Superintendent Ben Shuldiner announced the plan in his weekly newsletter to families Sunday, after principals at 21 schools began sending emails Friday to families notifying them of possible consolidations. The proposed closures and mergers come as the district wrestles with declining student enrollment and ongoing budget concerns. On Tuesday, Seattle Public Schools released the following list of schools under consideration for potential mergers:
The Seattle Public Schools student population hovers just under 50,000. The district, like public schools across the country, has been grappling with shrinking enrollment in recent years. That’s down from roughly 56,000 students prepandemic, and nearly half the enrollment the district saw more than 60 years ago. Falling birthrates are largely the cause for enrollment drops nationwide, but Shuldiner said the district can and should take responsibility for its part in contributing to the decline.
AI Won’t Fix American Education by Sonia Murro Sonia Murrow is a professor of social studies education and education history at Brooklyn College, CUNY. Aug 7, 2026 10:36 AM CT Every generation seems to find a new approach to fix American education. Today, it's artificial intelligence. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, investor Marc Andreessen, and a growing number of policymakers argue that generative AI will democratize education by giving every student a personalized tutor, writing coach, research assistant, and study partner available around the clock. If every child has access to individualized instruction, they suggest, longstanding achievement gaps will begin to narrow. It's an appealing vision. It is also a familiar one. As a historian of education and former public school teacher, I have spent more than 35 years watching education reforms arrive with extraordinary fanfare and confidence. Each was promised to transform opportunities for disadvantaged students. Each produced some genuine benefits. Yet none fundamentally changed the inequalities that shape educational achievement in the U.S. That is because Americans have long asked schools to solve problems that originate far beyond the classroom.
If we really want to narrow opportunity gaps, we must stop expecting educational innovations—whether charter schools, standardized testing, or artificial intelligence—to accomplish what only broader economic and social reforms can achieve. AI may transform how students learn. It will not, by itself, transform the unequal society that shapes students' lives and in which they learn.
Higgenbotham wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2013 1:49 am And he was talking about the appearance on the world stage of individuals, and he was speaking to the growth of the population and the appearance of new individuals coming into the mass of humanity, and these individuals evidently are barbarians. They came too suddenly to be educated and for the knowledge of how to keep the Western way of life alive. And so these people have increased and now they have taken over power and so now we're in the hands of barbarians. They have no idea of how our society came to be and what is necessary to keep it going. And they're fiddling with the controls. You might think of a monkey flying a 747. They have no idea what they are doing and this is not going to end well with the barbarians at the controls.We don't have people with a true background of education in history and economics and politics. They're all working on the spur of the moment. They're experimenting to see if this works and see if that works and I really have very serious doubts about the survival of our civilization under such people. I rather expect that a great crisis is coming when the grain will be sifted from the chaff. We're going to see a great separation. Some people are just not going to make it and the old truths are going to come back into fashion because of the need for survival.The elites are really not elites. They're just as vulgar as the mass. We do not have elites anymore. The elites are really in their attitude and in their behavior they are not elites, they are mass. An elite does not just consent to anything, you know. An elite has his values and his firm convictions. He is striving for something better which he may not be able to achieve but at least he is making an attempt. We don't have anybody attempting anything. Nobody wants to risk anything.We don't have an elite and I don't see an elite anywhere. Well, there's one guy who I consider to be elite and who is it? Vladimir Putin. There's a man who's got some backbone at least. But I don't see anybody else on the world stage.And I think that's something that we need in the world. We can't just go on this way but we are going on this way and we shall go on, continue on this way.I think that we're going to see eventually a series of bankruptcies. And I think that the rise in the interest rate is probably the fatal sign which is going to ignite a derivatives crisis that is going to bring down the derivatives system. There is something like a quadrillion of derivatives and most of them are interest rate derivatives. The spiking of the interest rate in the United States may set that off. And I think that what is going to happen in the world is that eventually we're going to come to a moment where there's going to be massive bankruptcies around the world and what is going to be left when the dust settles is gold and some people are going to have it and some people are not. And then the problem will be to hold onto what you've got. Because it's not going to be a very pleasant world. That's what I see coming, my friend. --Hugo Salinas Price (transcribed from the link above) "In 1987 Ricardo succeeded his father Hugo Salinas Price as CEO of Grupo Elektra. He is the fourth richest person in Mexico behind Carlos Slim Helu and the 34th richest person in the world with a wealth of around US $17.4 billion in 2012." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Salinas_Pliego
And he was talking about the appearance on the world stage of individuals, and he was speaking to the growth of the population and the appearance of new individuals coming into the mass of humanity, and these individuals evidently are barbarians. They came too suddenly to be educated and for the knowledge of how to keep the Western way of life alive. And so these people have increased and now they have taken over power and so now we're in the hands of barbarians. They have no idea of how our society came to be and what is necessary to keep it going. And they're fiddling with the controls. You might think of a monkey flying a 747. They have no idea what they are doing and this is not going to end well with the barbarians at the controls.
We don't have people with a true background of education in history and economics and politics. They're all working on the spur of the moment. They're experimenting to see if this works and see if that works and I really have very serious doubts about the survival of our civilization under such people. I rather expect that a great crisis is coming when the grain will be sifted from the chaff. We're going to see a great separation. Some people are just not going to make it and the old truths are going to come back into fashion because of the need for survival.
The elites are really not elites. They're just as vulgar as the mass. We do not have elites anymore. The elites are really in their attitude and in their behavior they are not elites, they are mass. An elite does not just consent to anything, you know. An elite has his values and his firm convictions. He is striving for something better which he may not be able to achieve but at least he is making an attempt. We don't have anybody attempting anything. Nobody wants to risk anything.
We don't have an elite and I don't see an elite anywhere. Well, there's one guy who I consider to be elite and who is it? Vladimir Putin. There's a man who's got some backbone at least. But I don't see anybody else on the world stage.
And I think that's something that we need in the world. We can't just go on this way but we are going on this way and we shall go on, continue on this way.
I think that we're going to see eventually a series of bankruptcies. And I think that the rise in the interest rate is probably the fatal sign which is going to ignite a derivatives crisis that is going to bring down the derivatives system. There is something like a quadrillion of derivatives and most of them are interest rate derivatives. The spiking of the interest rate in the United States may set that off. And I think that what is going to happen in the world is that eventually we're going to come to a moment where there's going to be massive bankruptcies around the world and what is going to be left when the dust settles is gold and some people are going to have it and some people are not. And then the problem will be to hold onto what you've got. Because it's not going to be a very pleasant world. That's what I see coming, my friend.
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