Celebrants, you'd better look to your left. Second, the stain of capitalism's contemporary record ought to dampen triumphal celebratory spirits. To win a race as a hobbling, teetering, washed out, witless fool doesn't justify a flashy victory lap much less claims of future accomplishments. Last night I saw a TV ad for a network news show. Network executives have apparently assembled compelling evidence that delivering more and uglier crime stories will boost their audience share.
Capitalism creates hunger for criminality.
Violent crime is up 37 percent in the past decade. Even horribly understated official reports tell us that roughly one person in 20 suffers some sort of burglary, larceny, motor-vehicle theft, aggravated assault, forcible rape, or murder each year. The U.S. has approximately 250 reported rapes each day. That's one every six minutes. And for every rape reported, there is another one, another two, another three, that go unreported.