Taxes Taking Their Toll
I just enjoyed a lovely function as a guest of the Australian Hotels Association. As a past publican, there'
Another failed nation state is testament to the socialist ideal. The brutal reality of repeated failure doesn't dissuade others from pushing this political poison.
Sri Lanka is the latest poster child for Socialism.
Like every other example, the benevolence of the socialist cause has seen it reduced to a bankrupt and broken nation.
But Sri Lanka wasn't just impacted by socialist politics. It is also a victim of the corporate socialist culture sweeping the world.
We've come to know that policy playbook as ESG.
That's the acronym for Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance which prioritises feel good decisions over live well profits. The ESG mantra has been pushed by the world's largest asset manager Blackrock and is also a key plank of the World Economic Forum.
ESG has also been wracked by corruption as a bunch of profiteers rush to cash in on the trend. It's pushing companies to go woke.
ESG was wholeheartedly embraced by Sri Lanka which turned their entire economy upside down to comply with this new mantra.
They lend themselves to the term 'Go Woke, Go Broke'
Sri Lanka went green in 2021, banning chemical fertiliser and making he entire country's agriculture organic. This saw crop reductions of between 40 and 50 per cent.
The people went hungry.
They were not comforted by the country's near perfect 98.1% ESG compliance score. In this respect, Sri Lanka led the world, matched only by the economic powerhouse of Tajikistan.
The people were also relieved of permanent access to power as the grid was unable to be powered due to a shortage of fuel and money.
Inflation was officially at 54% (in June) with food prices rising 80.1% and transportation 128% since May.
To make matters worse, the Sri Lankan socialist government accepted a Belt and Road loan from China which they are now busy looking to call in.
That will likely hand control of a key national port to the Chinese Communist Party.
All in all, it's another clear showing that Socialism - in whatever form it is promoted - is a disaster for those living under it.
Yet there are still those who push this sick and broken mantra claiming that each new iteration is somehow better than the previous.
It never is. The end results are always the same whether it is called progressivism, ESG or some other new euphemism.
Unfortunately, the world is being hoodwinked as governments and corporations all over the world bake socialist principles into their policies.
These are accompanied by the soothing promises of a better life 'just around the corner' if only we can 'adopt one more substantive change'.
These are abject lies designed to hide the failings until it is too late to prevent the catastrophe unfolding.
At some time, the people wake up and ask: "How did we get here?"
The answer to that lies in 14 words from Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.
“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, then suddenly.”
Any keen observer will know that the gradual process of going broke is now over.
Sometime soon, suddenly, everything will be very different.
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