Neo-feudalism and the Middle Class Crises | Joel Kotkin

John is joined by Joel Kotkin to discuss neo-feudalism and the American middle class' declining faith in democracy, as well as the burden they're facing as a collective.

Joel shares his concerns about how American society is becoming more feudalistic, with various inequality crises exemplified through the concentration of wealth and the ascendency of the so-called 'expertocracy.'

Joel Kotkin is the Roger Hobbes Presidential Fellow in Urban Studies at Chapman University and the author of 'The Coming of Neo-Feudalism'. He is described by the New York Times as "America's uber-geographer", and is internationally recognized as the authority on global, economic and social trends.
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0:00 Intro
0:33 Introducing Joel Kotkin
6:50 Neo-feudalism
15:15 New waves of the concentration of wealth
18:40 Health emergencies and their implications
22:25 Privatization of data
27:50 How should we think about climate change issues?
33:30 Is science settled?
45:35 On Millennials dropping out, and other crises they face
57:10 Emerging technologies
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Conversations feature John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, interviewing the world's foremost thought leaders about today's pressing social, cultural and political issues.

John believes proper, robust dialogue is necessary if we are to maintain our social strength and cohesion. As he puts it; "You cannot get good public policy out of a bad public debate."

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[crowesarethebest]

What a pleasure to sit back and listen to two adults have a serious conversation about humanity's future. No hyperbole, virtue-signalling, or any nonsensical utterances.

[grahamesmith]

Hi John, I want to thank you for taking this subject seriously. Very few of the people I know have any idea of what is coming. The ones I fear for the most our my grandchildren. Thank you for making this discussion one in your series of discussions.

[kaylenehousego]

This is one of those conversations I will listen to more than once . Deeply thoughtful and coherent conversation - thank you both .

[somerandomhomeboy]

We as elders squandered the benefits of prosperity we inherited.Refused to parent our children. Abandoned manners, courtesy and commonsense. Replaced communion with tribal community, personality with identity, and modesty with hedonistic instant gratification. We are a slow boiling frog of a species and the water's getting warmer!

[venividivici]

Probably the most and useful information/interview in the last years, should be broadcasting this everyday to everyone

[mtg]

Joel Kotkins book on Neo Feudalism is a must read for those who are interested in society and culture of western nations. As a father I have taken the information from this book to guide my children into a future where they will be able to avoid the serf class.

[billphilippou]

What an amazing Interview. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the world like this.

[KeithGreene-en]

Wow!!! I have lived, and worked under the NEO-FEUDALISM in my Industry here in Los Angeles for YEARS!!! And I DID NOT KNOW THIS IS WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE!!! Joel Kotkin! YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION FOR ME👍🏾🇺🇸

[galt]

Excellent discussion! I'm going to the library to get Mr. Kotkin's book. Thanks for ongoing excellent content.

[roberthumphreys]

I suggest that there are similarities between our neo-feudalist present (I think Joel's term is spot on) and the feudal past in terms of concentration of knowledge and treatment of physical labor. We have dumbed down education to the point at which children leaving high school have little knowledge and perhaps even less after leaving university with liberal arts or humanities degrees. Plus, they are in debt to the point at which they become indentured, also similar to feudal times. Those with knowledge (primarily the Church in feudal times) used that knowledge to engender fear of damnation in both the the working class (serfs) and the rulers. The neo-feudal equivalent to the Church. The neo-feudal equivalent to the Church is the SJW class in the universities, and big tech with social media replacing the pulpit. The neo-feudal surfs are the working people who know how to fix things, work the supply chains, and grow the food, now lumped together as the Deplorables. As Mike Bloomberg pontificated, all farmers need to do is make a hole in the ground and pop in a few seeds and voila, up pops the food.

[kateoneal]

Thank you so much for this holistic discussion!!!

[brucebarnett]

Very good talk by both participants. Thank-you!

[sukeywatson]

Dutch company DMS ( well funded by the WEF ) is poised to swoop in and “save” food production with their product “meatables”. This is a chemically infused lab product for which of course no one knows the long term health effects. DMS is a big mining and chemical conglomerate. Just another big company set to grab control and wrestle resources from the people. Climate change always happens and it is not necessarily warming that is occurring. That entire premise is based on extremely faulty models and not on actual data. This is not to say we shouldn’t find cleaner sources of energy, we should. We need to do this to preserve the benefits not just to the elites, but to all of us.

[krcalder]

What happened last time?
Mariner Eccles, FED chair 1934 – 48, observed what the capital accumulation of neoclassical economics did to the US economy in the 1920s.
“a giant suction pump had by 1929 to 1930 drawn into a few hands an increasing proportion of currently produced wealth. This served then as capital accumulations. But by taking purchasing power out of the hands of mass consumers, the savers denied themselves the kind of effective demand for their products which would justify reinvestment of the capital accumulation in new plants. In consequence as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing. When the credit ran out, the game stopped”

A few people have all the money and everyone else gets by on debt.
When the credit ran out, the game stopped.

Using debt to keep the system running is what we call a short/medium term solution.
It never works over the long term.

Is that why Keynes added redistribution?
Yes, it stopped all the wealth concentrating at the top.
A strong, healthy middle class blossomed in the West.
The system didn’t need debt to keep it going.

This is what we call a long term solution.

[danielkempton]

I loved the statement, " who are you, to come into my domain/ home and critique me".

[KeithGreene-en]

I bought the Book!!! Great Stuff!!! A MUST READ THANKS MR. KOTKIN👍🏾🇺🇸

[MussbacherIndustries]

A wonderful and enlightening discussion, enjoyed it a lot. The ending however, with the political bashing, was I thought the weakest part of the discussion but, it did lend itself towards who Joel was. Then all of a sudden Joel reversed those thoughts a little when he acknowledged where most of his current support was coming from, interesting. Interesting to hear Joel's views of where California is today. Mr. Anderson a total wonderful program and thank you so much for the chance to hear it freely.

[gregafuso]

In reading Locke I understand his original linking of citizenship with property ownership - it means that the property owner also owns a part of their respective countries and has a vested interest in maintaining individual rights over collective matriarchal, socialism (Like the kid is fond of saying, "Hey that's not fair, she got more" as opposed to the kid that says, "No thanks I can do it myself").

[steviejustamann]

Gday from NZ. After several hundreds of hours in study of climate, i wish highly intelligent people whom still discuss co2 as a dangerous, , WOULD STOP IT! IT'S A LIE! Love to all!

[temizim]

Discussions like this are why I love YouTube