The COVID pandemic was a big test of an approach called the Great Reset, and the reaction has let The Great Reset’s proponents know that they can go ahead. The Great Reset is no shadowy conspiracy theory; it’s right out there in the open. See this from the World Economic Forum, September 2020 (emphasis mine – and note some of the phrases with which we’re already familiar from the Obama years)
Read the whole post. I need hardly tell you how disturbed I am by the Great Reset idea.
It looks to me like this is the typical catastrophizing that happens about very generic rhetoric that shows up in every crisis. How is this different from the previous worrying about the New World Order or the left-wing worrying about neoliberals manufacturing crisis to enable shock therapy?
It’s just very normal that activists see economic or other shocks as a big opportunity to do the things they’ve always wanted to do. So it gets a big name and a big push and generally nothing comes of it. If you think this stuff is unusual, you should check out what these organizations put out previously. They always have big plans to restructure society and reset capitalism. Sure, you should push back, but this is just standard politics and not some scary new threat.
Exactly right David. In an era that has seen the breakup of the Soviet Union, Brexit and doubts about the survival of the E.U., the prospect of war between Sunni and Shia Islam, and increasing talk of secession and civil war in the U.S. the main threat here is seen as…looming world government.
By the way, the Simpsons clip in the link was intended by their notoriously leftist Hollywood writers to satirize, not endorse, this kind of paranoia. More evidence that irony is dead.
I was heartened to read this: “the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies.” Anyone who thinks this can happen is completely unrealistic; I’m not worried.
Thanks for linking to Neo, a blog new to me but which I anticipate following.
Wikipedia has an interesting entry on the Great Reset and its agenda.
Tellingly it apparently originated with a prince and an NGO.
It’s also always amusing to read wiki entries that debunk alleged conspiracy theories advocated by mysterious (non?)entities like “QAnon” whatever that is, apparently another boogie man lthat is some serious threat to the world like ike incels, alt-right, white nationalists, whatever, cooked up to smear critics. Meanwhile another business burned down with impunity for having an owner unwise enough to publicly criticize antifa, Trump supporters stabbed in the streets and houses bombed, chaos and madness unleashed. Good times.
Reading between the lines, the underlying grift of the great reset appears to be normalizing stakeholder capitalism so that private businesses will be socially obligated to fund NGOs in increasing amounts at the expense of investors, shareholders, and bondholders. Probably a good time to pull one’s money out of financial instruments and put it into something safer and more stable before it gets given away to some scam artist tax-exempt. Stakeholder capitalism was embraced by Tyler Cowen in his Love Letter to Big Businesses That Fund His Various Rackets.
Professor Bainbridge is my personal go-to expert on stakeholder capitalism. A recent post points out stakeholder capitalism is a big favorite with failing corporate managers trying to divert attention from financial performance, quoting a study:
“Based on an analysis of public communications around earnings announcements, we find that managers are 34 to 43 percent more likely to cite stakeholder value maximization during periods following earnings announcements that fall short of market expectations. This finding is consistent with concerns that the inability to measure stakeholder value may reduce managers’ accountability for firm performance. ”
“https://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2020/11/managers-flee-to-esg-when-their-company-is-underperforming-for-shareholders.html
In another post he quotes Andrew Abela in the WSJ for the proposition that woke capitalism is no capitalism:
“In practice, “woke capital” does little more than pay tribute to progressive causes through marketing and posturing. The problem for companies that play along is that the proponents of many progressive causes are hostile to free enterprise itself. The best that such companies can hope for is short-term appeasement. …
Another problem with woke capitalism is that it simply doesn’t work. One of my students recently reviewed 30 cases of companies engaging in political activism. Twenty-seven generated a “negative outcome,” or backlash. This shouldn’t be surprising. The U.S. is sharply divided on political and social issues. There isn’t much upside for a company to take a stand on abortion, same-sex marriage or complex racial issues, especially when such themes are irrelevant to its business.”
Capitalism’s goose just might be cooked. The raw authoritarian power flowing into the hands of NGOs (see:
https://www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Commanding-Ideas-Think-Tanks-as-Platforms-for-Authoritarian-Influence-Rolland-Dec-2020.pdf?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=site&utm_campaign=intellectual%20inquiry
anti business attitudes spread by figures like the Pope and Hollywood celebrities, and the state-media complex offer significant traction.
A top priority for those genuinely interested in promoting human welfare and flourishing should be to eliminate tax benefits for charitable donations and tax exempt organizations across the board.
These people have the false notion that much of this was designed in the first place. The economy is an emergent order. Unlike Philo above, this worries me greatly since attempts to design within emergent order will have disastrous consequences.
Sorry, Arnold. No great reset for you! What about them? read
https://www.lareviewofbooks.org/article/so-weve-won-now-what/
https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2020/12/15/nowhere-to-go-n1210997
And what is the probability of this happening? Plausible, sure, but highly probable ?