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by Douglas Rushkoff (3-24-20)<\/h1>\n\n\n\n\nMedium member since Nov 2018\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAuthor of Team Human, Present Shock, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, and host of the Team Human podcast\u00a0http:\/\/medium.com\/team-human<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nH<\/strong>ave you heard the good news? Donald Trump is\u00a0suggesting<\/a>\u00a0our freeze on businesses as a measure to curb coronavirus may end as soon as Monday. Yes, allowing people to go back to work could lead to more widespread infection, but the deaths of a few hundred thousand \u2014\u00a0if not a few million<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 more of us is a small price to pay for rescuing the American economy from collapse. In the president\u2019s words, \u201cwe can\u2019t have the cure be worse than the problem itself.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n\nTrump\u2019s message is clear: The economy is not here to serve human beings; human beings are here to serve the economy. Those of us who die in service to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are mere externalities to the higher priority of capital growth. Like the destruction of the environment, our illnesses and deaths are a necessary cost of doing business. We cannot surrender to the depressing verdicts of doctors and scientists, lest we deflate the hope and optimism that make America great.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThose who will benefit most from our sacrifice \u2014 the billionaires whose fortunes are based almost solely on the economy\u2019s continuing ability to grow \u2014 are already preparing for their escape. They\u2019re\u00a0booking private jets<\/a>, ready to depart for their\u00a0isolated doomsday compounds<\/a>\u00a0once they feel they themselves are at genuine risk.\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a variation on the \u201cinsulation equation\u201d I wrote about a couple of years ago after meeting a group of billionaires who wanted advice on how to maintain\u00a0security for their doomsday bunkers<\/a>\u00a0in the event of societal collapse. The object of the game, as they see it, is to earn enough money to insulate themselves from the very damage their ventures have both directly and indirectly created in the first place. It\u2019s a self-perpetuating nightmare: The more environmental and social damage they do, the more money they must earn to protect themselves from the devastation they leave in their wake. And the more committed they become to saving their asses and leaving the rest of us behind when a real crisis emerges.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\nLike the destruction of the environment, our illnesses and deaths are a necessary cost of doing business.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\nTo be fair, this worldview is a natural extension of a market ideology that already accepted human casualties as a metric on the balance sheet. As Trump fairly argued, \u201cyou look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we\u2019re talking about. That doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re going to tell everybody, \u2018No more driving of cars.\u2019\u201d We calculate the relative cost of human lives every day as we go about our business, and we accept the trade-off between, say, the cost of making an automobile safe and the need to make it profitable.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThis is, in certain respects, the American way. As Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told Tucker Carlson<\/a> on Monday, \u201cNo one reached out to me and said, \u2018as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?\u2019\u2026 If that\u2019s the exchange, I\u2019m all in.\u201d The underlying premise is simple: Our coronavirus<\/a> shutdown stalls the God-ordained expansion of the U.S. economy. It is a misguided preservation of the weak and elderly. Are we really going to let our great market go belly up?\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThis is a quasi-fascist worldview, where we stop forcing ourselves to make decisions on behalf of the losers, and start making them on behalf of the winners. Besides, as Ayn Rand taught us<\/a>, the more we cater to the weak, the more we weaken ourselves as a society and gene pool. This is natural selection.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nOf course, most of the people arguing we take these public health risks are themselves in little or no danger at all. They\u2019ve got private concierge doctors<\/a> working around the clock to obtain the necessary tests and ventilators should they not make it to their hideaways in time. No, the risks are entirely borne by those of us who can\u2019t afford such measures. It\u2019s a lot easier for the wealthy to hang on to their positivity.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nTo be fair, though, there\u2019s an internal logic to this approach \u2014 one as old as the American spirit of optimism. When Trump tore into a TV reporter<\/a> who asked that he respond to Americans who fear for their lives, he wasn\u2019t simply obfuscating. He was chastising the press for undermining America\u2019s ability to apply positive thinking to the crisis. \u201cYou ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism,\u201d Trump replied crossly.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nRemember, Donald Trump was raised in the church of Norman Vincent Peale<\/a>, author of the massively influential The Power of Positive Thinking<\/em><\/a> \u2014 source material for every bootstrapping spiritual movement from the \u201cprosperity gospel\u201d to The Secret<\/em>. From the age of six, Trump sat in the pews with his family at Peale\u2019s Marble Collegiate Church listening to his sermons about how we can create the success we want through visualizing it \u2014 as Peale tells it, \u201cformulate and staple indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding\u201d \u2014 and never giving in to \u201cfear thoughts.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAt least for Trump and his ilk, the choice to talk and act positively in the face of all evidence to the contrary is not a cynical one. As late as 2009, when he was more than a billion dollars in debt and facing foreclosure, he depended on \u201cthe power of being positive.\u201d He\u00a0told\u00a0Psychology Today<\/em><\/a> that year, \u201cWhat helped is I refused to give in to the negative circumstances and never lost faith in myself. I didn\u2019t believe I was finished even when the newspapers were saying so.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSeen in the very best light, Trump is attempting to apply the power of positive thinking to both the economy and the virus. As far as the stock market is concerned, there\u2019s some sense to this. Markets are emotional. There\u2019s nothing like hope for the future to justify high price\/earnings ratios, stoke consumer spending, and spur investment.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBut can hope kill the virus? We know the placebo effect is real. Can we think and grow healthy the way Napoleon Hill told us to Think and Grow Rich<\/em><\/a>? That would be reason enough to keep a doom and gloom scientist like Dr. Anthony Fauci off the stage at the press conferences.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBut not even Trump is enough of a true believer to believe positive thinking can wipe out the virus single-handedly. It can, however, galvanize our resolve \u2014 however foolishly. That\u2019s why he is calling on us to make sacrifices, and to essentially wish the virus away.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nFor those titans of industry depending on perpetual economic growth, an extended shutdown actually poses a greater risk than meets the eye. The longer we pause from business as usual, the more time we all have to reevaluate the economy we\u2019ve been born into. Yes, we need food, water, shelter, and maybe a communications infrastructure. But not a heck of a lot else. At times like this, we can see the value in farmers, teachers, and doctors\u2026 but all those guys in suits going to the city to trade derivatives, make marketing plans, and coordinate global supply chains? Not so much. The real danger here \u2014 what the billionaire preppers understand \u2014 is that any one of these \u201cblack swan\u201d phenomena could be \u201cthe event\u201d that destroys our willingness to keep running on the hamster wheel. They want us to go back to work, but for what?\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThey say it\u2019s to save the economy, but they\u2019re not talking about the real economy of goods and services. The American economy they\u2019re concerned about is based primarily on debt. Banks lend money to businesses who then pay it back, with interest. Where does the interest come from? Growth. Without growth, the whole house of cards comes down, along with the wealthiest among us. We all have to believe in order to keep the hope alive and billionaires in their bunkers.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAs far as the ultra-wealthy are concerned, the virus to be afraid of is less a medical challenge than a memetic one. We are waking up to the fact that we\u2019ve been slaves to an exponential growth curve for the past 40 years, at least, and really much much longer. And we\u2019re witnessing how the same exponential growth that gave the billionaires their fortunes is responsible for the fact that 40% of Americans have less than $400<\/a> in the bank for an emergency. The need for exponential growth also explains how we surrendered basic manufacturing and food resiliency to tenuous global supply chains. Sure, we can go back to work, but we can\u2019t even make our own respirators.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nImagine if our main reason for returning to work was to make and do the things people actually needed to live good lives, instead of simply doing our part to keep the wealthy safely protected from the rest of us.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s<\/em> some positive thinking.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Douglas Rushkoff (3-24-20) Medium member since Nov 2018 Author of Team Human, Present Shock, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, and host of the Team Human podcast\u00a0http:\/\/medium.com\/team-human Have you heard the good news? Donald Trump … Continue reading
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTrump\u2019s message is clear: The economy is not here to serve human beings; human beings are here to serve the economy. Those of us who die in service to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are mere externalities to the higher priority of capital growth. Like the destruction of the environment, our illnesses and deaths are a necessary cost of doing business. We cannot surrender to the depressing verdicts of doctors and scientists, lest we deflate the hope and optimism that make America great.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThose who will benefit most from our sacrifice \u2014 the billionaires whose fortunes are based almost solely on the economy\u2019s continuing ability to grow \u2014 are already preparing for their escape. They\u2019re\u00a0booking private jets<\/a>, ready to depart for their\u00a0isolated doomsday compounds<\/a>\u00a0once they feel they themselves are at genuine risk.\n\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a variation on the \u201cinsulation equation\u201d I wrote about a couple of years ago after meeting a group of billionaires who wanted advice on how to maintain\u00a0security for their doomsday bunkers<\/a>\u00a0in the event of societal collapse. The object of the game, as they see it, is to earn enough money to insulate themselves from the very damage their ventures have both directly and indirectly created in the first place. It\u2019s a self-perpetuating nightmare: The more environmental and social damage they do, the more money they must earn to protect themselves from the devastation they leave in their wake. And the more committed they become to saving their asses and leaving the rest of us behind when a real crisis emerges.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n
Like the destruction of the environment, our illnesses and deaths are a necessary cost of doing business.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\nTo be fair, this worldview is a natural extension of a market ideology that already accepted human casualties as a metric on the balance sheet. As Trump fairly argued, \u201cyou look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we\u2019re talking about. That doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re going to tell everybody, \u2018No more driving of cars.\u2019\u201d We calculate the relative cost of human lives every day as we go about our business, and we accept the trade-off between, say, the cost of making an automobile safe and the need to make it profitable.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThis is, in certain respects, the American way. As Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told Tucker Carlson<\/a> on Monday, \u201cNo one reached out to me and said, \u2018as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?\u2019\u2026 If that\u2019s the exchange, I\u2019m all in.\u201d The underlying premise is simple: Our coronavirus<\/a> shutdown stalls the God-ordained expansion of the U.S. economy. It is a misguided preservation of the weak and elderly. Are we really going to let our great market go belly up?\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThis is a quasi-fascist worldview, where we stop forcing ourselves to make decisions on behalf of the losers, and start making them on behalf of the winners. Besides, as Ayn Rand taught us<\/a>, the more we cater to the weak, the more we weaken ourselves as a society and gene pool. This is natural selection.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nOf course, most of the people arguing we take these public health risks are themselves in little or no danger at all. They\u2019ve got private concierge doctors<\/a> working around the clock to obtain the necessary tests and ventilators should they not make it to their hideaways in time. No, the risks are entirely borne by those of us who can\u2019t afford such measures. It\u2019s a lot easier for the wealthy to hang on to their positivity.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nTo be fair, though, there\u2019s an internal logic to this approach \u2014 one as old as the American spirit of optimism. When Trump tore into a TV reporter<\/a> who asked that he respond to Americans who fear for their lives, he wasn\u2019t simply obfuscating. He was chastising the press for undermining America\u2019s ability to apply positive thinking to the crisis. \u201cYou ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism,\u201d Trump replied crossly.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nRemember, Donald Trump was raised in the church of Norman Vincent Peale<\/a>, author of the massively influential The Power of Positive Thinking<\/em><\/a> \u2014 source material for every bootstrapping spiritual movement from the \u201cprosperity gospel\u201d to The Secret<\/em>. From the age of six, Trump sat in the pews with his family at Peale\u2019s Marble Collegiate Church listening to his sermons about how we can create the success we want through visualizing it \u2014 as Peale tells it, \u201cformulate and staple indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding\u201d \u2014 and never giving in to \u201cfear thoughts.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAt least for Trump and his ilk, the choice to talk and act positively in the face of all evidence to the contrary is not a cynical one. As late as 2009, when he was more than a billion dollars in debt and facing foreclosure, he depended on \u201cthe power of being positive.\u201d He\u00a0told\u00a0Psychology Today<\/em><\/a> that year, \u201cWhat helped is I refused to give in to the negative circumstances and never lost faith in myself. I didn\u2019t believe I was finished even when the newspapers were saying so.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSeen in the very best light, Trump is attempting to apply the power of positive thinking to both the economy and the virus. As far as the stock market is concerned, there\u2019s some sense to this. Markets are emotional. There\u2019s nothing like hope for the future to justify high price\/earnings ratios, stoke consumer spending, and spur investment.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBut can hope kill the virus? We know the placebo effect is real. Can we think and grow healthy the way Napoleon Hill told us to Think and Grow Rich<\/em><\/a>? That would be reason enough to keep a doom and gloom scientist like Dr. Anthony Fauci off the stage at the press conferences.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBut not even Trump is enough of a true believer to believe positive thinking can wipe out the virus single-handedly. It can, however, galvanize our resolve \u2014 however foolishly. That\u2019s why he is calling on us to make sacrifices, and to essentially wish the virus away.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nFor those titans of industry depending on perpetual economic growth, an extended shutdown actually poses a greater risk than meets the eye. The longer we pause from business as usual, the more time we all have to reevaluate the economy we\u2019ve been born into. Yes, we need food, water, shelter, and maybe a communications infrastructure. But not a heck of a lot else. At times like this, we can see the value in farmers, teachers, and doctors\u2026 but all those guys in suits going to the city to trade derivatives, make marketing plans, and coordinate global supply chains? Not so much. The real danger here \u2014 what the billionaire preppers understand \u2014 is that any one of these \u201cblack swan\u201d phenomena could be \u201cthe event\u201d that destroys our willingness to keep running on the hamster wheel. They want us to go back to work, but for what?\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThey say it\u2019s to save the economy, but they\u2019re not talking about the real economy of goods and services. The American economy they\u2019re concerned about is based primarily on debt. Banks lend money to businesses who then pay it back, with interest. Where does the interest come from? Growth. Without growth, the whole house of cards comes down, along with the wealthiest among us. We all have to believe in order to keep the hope alive and billionaires in their bunkers.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAs far as the ultra-wealthy are concerned, the virus to be afraid of is less a medical challenge than a memetic one. We are waking up to the fact that we\u2019ve been slaves to an exponential growth curve for the past 40 years, at least, and really much much longer. And we\u2019re witnessing how the same exponential growth that gave the billionaires their fortunes is responsible for the fact that 40% of Americans have less than $400<\/a> in the bank for an emergency. The need for exponential growth also explains how we surrendered basic manufacturing and food resiliency to tenuous global supply chains. Sure, we can go back to work, but we can\u2019t even make our own respirators.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nImagine if our main reason for returning to work was to make and do the things people actually needed to live good lives, instead of simply doing our part to keep the wealthy safely protected from the rest of us.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nNow that\u2019s<\/em> some positive thinking.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Douglas Rushkoff (3-24-20) Medium member since Nov 2018 Author of Team Human, Present Shock, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, and host of the Team Human podcast\u00a0http:\/\/medium.com\/team-human Have you heard the good news? Donald Trump … Continue reading