Charles Hugh Smith – The decline of middle class capital is partly self-inflicted.
Conventional explorations of why the middle class is shrinking focus on economic issues such as the decline of unions and manufacturing, the increasing premiums paid to the highest-paid workers and the rising costs of higher education and healthcare.
All of these factors have a role, but few comment on the non-economic factors, specifically the values that underpin the accumulation of capital that is the one essential project of middle class households.
Daniel Bell’s landmark 1976 book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism held that”capitalism–and the culture it creates–harbors the seeds of its own downfall by creating a need among successful people for personal gratification–a need that corrodes the work ethic that led to their success in the first place.”
I would phrase this in the language of values and capital:
The primary cultural contradiction of the Great American Middle Class is the disconnect between the values needed to build capital and those of gratification via debt-based consumption.
Accumulating capital–not just financial capital but human and social capital– requires a distinct set of values and soft skills: Continue reading
Humanity is no doubt at a crossroads. Critical and key decisions have to be made now that will affect all of our futures.
Love and Fear exist as the two greatest spiritual forces expressed in the duality of our current everyday lives. Likewise, the energetic vibrational frequency cast out through these two powerful states is polar opposite in nature. In embodying a state of love, the energetic chakra point of our heart begins to spin its toroidal vortex wheel at a much stronger and faster pace which grows in force and vibration over time. This allows for radiant states of joy, peace and love to unfold in our everyday lives. Yet working to heal and strengthen the love muscle of our hearts is not as simple as just pushing a button. In this article we will delve into several techniques for generating greater states of love and radiance in our lives through tapping into the power of our hearts.