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Canadians and Europeans love to look down on Americans, we already know this. Thats all your comment adds is an example of that. People and movements (including

Canadians and Europeans love to look down on Americans, we already know this. Thats all your comment adds is an example of that. People and movements (including the Trump supporter movement which you are alluding to) are very complex. And frankly you just don't understand.

PeterStuer 10y ago
I'm sorry if that is what you get from this. Believe me, we have more than enough of our own Trumps over here too and there is absolutely no distinction between our own neo-liberal heists and yours.
matthewmacleod 10y ago
And frankly you just don't understand. Well, it would be helpful if you could explain rather than just complain. The Trump phenomenon is baffling to many of us outside of the US. I can obviously grasp some of the key reasons – anti-establishment feeling, for example – but equally I'm confused by other aspects.
- internaut 10y ago
  I'm outside the USA but I get it. Average living standards are falling despite the general impression given by politicians and journalists. This is also true in Europe. The West isn't doing as well as advertised and this traces back to the early 70s. Attrition has been going on for decades. If you find this incomprehensible then you've got to understand if you are in SV or a major city that you're in the Core of the system, it is the Peripheral that first runs into difficulties when a down cycle appears. Take countries such as Venezuela, South Africa. These are places on the edge of our economic system and they are blowing up. It is easy to ignore this because they were always, from our perspective, borked. In fact they used to be doing much better in the past. The key point to grok is that many of our 'stats' about the world are incorrect. Interest rates are not really at zero percent. The economic system is fracturing and traditional models/tools don't work anymore. This is what it looks like when a complex system is in danger of falling to pieces. Larry Summers is borrowing from the same technological stagnation playbook as Peter Thiel. Oil prices halve without meaningful changes in economic growth. Hmmmm. Maybe something is up. tldr; This is <del>Bat</del> Bear Country!

PeterStuer 10y ago

I'm sorry if that is what you get from this. Believe me, we have more than enough of our own Trumps over here too and there is absolutely no distinction between our own neo-liberal heists and yours.

matthewmacleod 10y ago

And frankly you just don't understand. Well, it would be helpful if you could explain rather than just complain. The Trump phenomenon is baffling to many of us outside of the US. I can obviously grasp some of the key reasons – anti-establishment feeling, for example – but equally I'm confused by other aspects.

internaut 10y ago
I'm outside the USA but I get it. Average living standards are falling despite the general impression given by politicians and journalists. This is also true in Europe. The West isn't doing as well as advertised and this traces back to the early 70s. Attrition has been going on for decades. If you find this incomprehensible then you've got to understand if you are in SV or a major city that you're in the Core of the system, it is the Peripheral that first runs into difficulties when a down cycle appears. Take countries such as Venezuela, South Africa. These are places on the edge of our economic system and they are blowing up. It is easy to ignore this because they were always, from our perspective, borked. In fact they used to be doing much better in the past. The key point to grok is that many of our 'stats' about the world are incorrect. Interest rates are not really at zero percent. The economic system is fracturing and traditional models/tools don't work anymore. This is what it looks like when a complex system is in danger of falling to pieces. Larry Summers is borrowing from the same technological stagnation playbook as Peter Thiel. Oil prices halve without meaningful changes in economic growth. Hmmmm. Maybe something is up. tldr; This is <del>Bat</del> Bear Country!