Surviving Progress

A great documentary can make you feel as compelled to watch it as it does squeamish about what it reveals. Surviving Progress is one such film. In the course of reviewing the history of debt, Michael Hudson, a former Wall Street economist, renders a characterization of oligarchy in such a stark manner that I was taken aback when he said:

“ 'You will never get back what we have taken from you.' That’s what brought on the dark ages. If you let the concentration of wealth accumulate in the hands of a financial class, this class isn’t going to be any more intelligent in the long term in disposing of the wealth than their predecessors were in other countries.”

He proposes a solution of annulling the debt to the top 10% --the oligarchs, and readily admits it is highly unlikely to happen.

“They would rather annul the 90% right to live than annul the money due to them. They would rather strip the planet, shrink the population and be paid, rather than give up their claims. That’s the political fight of the 21^st century.”

I admit I imagined the belief of the financial class was this bad, but never have I heard anyone put it in such shocking sincerity as this before. At last, it seems all is revealed.