Andy
There’s a lot in there I agree with and a lot I find unconvincing, but the thing that really jumped out to me was this line:
Elites seek to concentrate profits. In our book Why Nations Fail, we compare Bill Gates and Carlos Slim. In the book, we point out that while Gates made his fortune through innovation, Slim did so by forming a telecommunications monopoly thanks to his close relationship with the government. It is an example of the link between monopolies and clientelism that has been seen throughout history in Latin America since colonial times.
I’m sorry, what? Does he not remember Microsoft losing perhaps the most famous successful American antitrust case of the last fifty years?
I don’t think this guy is dumb, but I don’t know how to fully take him seriously when he says something like this in passing.
Yeah, which I think is a real weakness in the reporting.
40k dead is bad, but it’s a rounding error of the total population.
A tenth of the total population dead, a fifth or a quarter of the population subjected to severe permanent disabilities, and nearly the entire population displaced, homeless, and presently starving to death is a clear genocide. They really are trying to exterminate them. It strains my ability to comprehend. In any case, “40,000” does not begin to capture the current scale of what has become a pretty standard, unambiguous genocide.
Respectfully, as a resident of Oakland CA, I kinda hate this, even as a joke.
Nationally, we’re the stand in for conservative fearmongering. But Oakland has big dreams. We’re a town with incredible culture and community trying to do the best we can with limited resources in the face of so many oligarchs who just see endless opportunities to kick us while we’re down.
Oakland wants to be Wakanda. But most residents feel like we’re getting mugged by landlords, then having our shoes swiped while we’re bleeding on the concrete by thieves.
I mean… Isn’t the elephant in the room that this is not going to happen if Trump wins?
It’s like speculating over whether either candidate might push for am arms embargo against Israel after the election.
I don’t really see any ambiguity here. If Trump wins, Zelensky should probably prepare for a complete end to support from the US, right?
Am I missing anything?
Damn, that’s rad as fuck
Yeah. I think there’s a lot she could do with the stories, but I really need more hope right now. I think Parable of the Sower managed to provide just enough of that.
I don’t fault her for being so brutal. It’s honest. Reading both this and Parable of the Sower, I couldn’t help thinking that there are people in Haiti and Palestine for whom these books are just their present reality. I even feel bad that I’m so demoralized, because I know that I need to toughen up. This is what the real world looks like. But I need to have enough composure to be an effective dad and activist, and it takes a balance for me to do that. Too much truth can leave me too drained and despondent to be the force in the world I want to be.
