What Happens When You Don’t Build a 21st Century Economy? This Does — By now, you can see: it’s not over. What began with Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse is still intensifying. “Jitters,” as they say, are racing through the financial system. What’s all this really about? …

(Why) Our Economies Are Trapped in an Arms Race They Can’t Win — Take a hard look at our economies. What do you see? Here’s what I see: they’re trapped in an arms race they can’t win. What do I mean by that? Another month — another brutal round of interest rate rises. Don’t worry — this isn’t just going to be about…

The Crisis America Doesn’t Talk About, And Its Warning for the World — There are many ways that America’s a uniquely failed society, from shootings to rising authoritarianism. But of all these ways, one still flies under the radar much more than it should. The way America treats its elderly. It’s unconscionable. A scandal. A failure of grave — and terrible — proportions…

Five Levels of Ruin — And Where Our Civilization Ranks — One of the things that I find interesting these days, in a kind of sardonic way, is this. “Doom” has gone mainstream. You can read articles about it in the august pages of the New York Times. And those articles always have the same slant: “We’re not doomed!! Stop being…

If You Don’t Think the Future of Human Civilization Is at Risk, Think Again — It was just yesterday that I wrote about whether or not we’re “doomed.” As if right on cue, today, the UN released its “final warning” on climate change. And if you think I’m a “doomer,” well, it turns out I’ve got nothing on…the world’s best scientists, who wrote much of…

Are We “Doomed”? Wrong Question. Why Is Everything Falling Apart, Faster and Faster? — If you read newspaper columns — like I do — you might have noticed there’s a new sort floating around. It goes like this. The “Doomers” Are Wrong!! Look at Those Foolish Doomers!! We’re not Doomed — So Why Do These Damned Doomers Keep on Saying We Are. It’s funny…

A New Dark Age is Falling — And We Might Be Powerless to Stop It — One of the defining features of this age is a paradox. It goes like this. 1) The world is going to hell, and 2) we’re powerless to stop it. Do you feel it? That aching, infuriating, paralytic sense of powerlessness that defines now? Take a hard look at the world…

Here’s a Hard Fact. Water Demand Will Exceed Supply By 40% In…Seven Years. Then What? — One of the themes we discuss here is an uncomfortable but necessary one. The Age of Abundance is over — and now the Age of Exinction is here. Extinction doesn’t mean we all die, the Last of Us style — but it does mean that our civilization is now at…

You Know What Else Fails on a Dying Planet? Banks. — It’s the question on a lot of minds right now: are we headed towards another financial crisis? Let me answer it. We’re already in one — we just don’t recognize it yet. What do I mean by that? Earlier this week, I explained what really killed Silicon Valley Bank. No…