Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Psychopath Economics: Part 1 – The Bull & The Bewildered Herd
    Psychopath Economics: Part 1 – The Bull & The Bewildered Herd
    Psychopath Economics: Part 1 – The Bull & The Bewildered Herd
    Ebook142 pages2 hours

    Psychopath Economics: Part 1 – The Bull & The Bewildered Herd

    By Peter Batt

    2/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    More than politics, economics is the art of the possible; a discipline that goes to the heart of how we live our lives. It can deliver riches beyond dreams, as well as the famine of nightmares. Its exercise exceeds even war as the ultimate expression of human power. Indeed, economics is usually the war itself.
    The 2008 financial crash and its aftermath has exposed many of our comfortable beliefs about how our societies work. Criminals in suits are showered with riches, while people who actually make things of use increasingly struggle to make ends meet.
    We see that hard work doesn't necessarily pay; that we don't live in a meritocracy; that the avenues to progression are increasingly blocked; that the system just isn't fair. Growing inequality has created a widespread sense of injustice.
    But human societies are very rarely egalitarian. And in this respect, today's elite – the so-called '1%' – is treading a well-worn path. Most, if not all, civilisations of the last 5,000 years were hierarchical and distributed their wealth according to power and status. History suggests that populations grow and are sustained by their ability to exploit the natural resources available to them, as well as their own people.
    As civilisations rise from the land, a social pyramid inflates and elites emerge at the summit. Once at the top, elites maintain, increase and extend their power by relentlessly reinforcing the hierarchy and consumption patterns that gave them their dominance. An elite might have everything, but it's never enough. It's a dynamic that steadily undermines the pyramid's whole social and environmental foundations.
    Psychopath Economics is about legitimacy and the logic of power. In it, journalist Peter Batt argues that power is ultimately psychopathic because, in its purest and most effective form, it applies a cold, calculating focus on achieving its aims to the exclusion of everything and everyone else.
    Psychopaths tend to be charismatic, effective and fearless. They are attracted to power, just as they are attractive in power. They are results-driven and dynamism, and have an unshakable focus on goals. But they lack any emotional connection or concern about consequences.
    From this flows a number of conclusions. To start with, psychopathic power is destructive; it seeks to exploit human and natural capital to breaking point. It exhausts the land and targets those within society least able to resist. This is ultimately self-destructive and today's societies have all the hallmarks of a civilisation careering towards collapse.
    Secondly, an elite is not terribly interested in reasoned arguments for change, because that, by definition, would suggest that it will concede some power. Inequality is a self-reinforcing process, and psychopathic power makes no concession without a threat.
    So, thirdly, any change of direction is dependant on the herd actively disrupting the system.
    Psychopath Economics looks at the interaction of three dynamics: belief systems, consumption and the logic of power. Written in four parts, the first gives an overview of the whole book before looking at today's mainstream economic narrative as a belief system designed to legitimise and hide the unequal exercise of power, and the true motivations of those who wield it. Peter Batt uses the market imagery of the bull, the faceless power of capital, and Walter Lippmann's concept of the 'bewildered herd'. It argues that neoliberal economics is a belief system created by the psychopath, for the psychopath.
    Part 2 looks at how belief systems and the logic of power drive societal development and collapse. Part 3 takes these themes and looks at how they are playing out today. The fourth and final instalment looks at why and how the 'herd' can repatriate power and potentially break the cycle by disrupting the system, most likely via debt denial, anti-branding and direct action.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPeter Batt
    Release dateJun 7, 2015
    ISBN9781310181320
    Psychopath Economics: Part 1 – The Bull & The Bewildered Herd
    Author

    Peter Batt

    I'm a journalist of 30 years experience that includes freelance writing and production roles for private clients and at various UK national newspapers – and particularly the Times Educational Supplement, the Independent and the now-defunct Sunday Business. In 2007, I developed and launched a mainstream-style green consumer magazine in the UK, called GreenerLiving, as a means of promoting sustainable change ‘within the system’. However, GreenerLiving closed during the post-crash recession, and I became managing editor of the international ethical business title, Ethical Performance. However, I felt that the CSR sector has not succeeded in changing corporate priorities anywhere near fast enough, and so I decided to leave the treadmill of corporate employment and debt accumulation to focus on my own projects. Now poorer but a billion million times happier, I write on political, economic and social issues – usually seriously, but I also like a bit of satire. I’m currently writing Psychopath Economics, a book about belief systems, the psychopathic logic of economic power and the rise and fall of societies. In the book, I argue that civilisations rise and fall in a cycle often driven by psychopathic elites, and that if we are to halt the downward arc of today’s cycle, then ordinary people must challenge the elite's power via debt rebellions and by 'democratising' the creation of ideas, particularly when it comes to intellectual property and branding. This book is my contribution to the grassroots momentum for change that I believe we very badly need.

    Related to Psychopath Economics

    Related ebooks

    Public Policy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Depths Of Evil

      Feb 18, 2021

      The Depths Of Evil
      4 min read

    • Article

      Man United

      Feb 25, 2022

      The philosopher Nina Power believes men are under attack. Western society has done away with “the positive dimensions of patriarchy”, that is, “the protective father, the responsible man, the paternalistic attitude that exhibits care and compassion”.

      2 min read

    • Article

      We Are All Realists Now

      Feb 16, 2022

      We Are All Realists Now
      12 min read

    • Article

      Time To Resist

      Oct 7, 2019

      Time To Resist
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Devil’s in the Diction

      Oct 5, 2017

      The Devil’s in the Diction
      2 min read

    • Article

      Doughnut Economics

      May 16, 2018

      Doughnut Economics
      15 min read

    • Article

      Natural Orders: On Hilary Leichter’s ‘Temporary’

      Mar 5, 2021

      To be a temp, in other words, is to be an interim human being. It means having almost no rights and begging for scraps to survive. It means hearing, from comfortable superiors, that the world is reasonable and fair, that all you have to do to earn yo

      11 min read

    • Article

      A Complex Ecology

      Sep 8, 2022

      I THINK THIS COLUMN MIGHT BE bad. Just, I guess, to show my hand from the outset. As I wrote that, I realised that you may be a reader who has found that my columns have all been bad… in which case, this column might be doubly bad. Apologies for whic

      4 min read

    • Article

      Bubble, bubble, TOIL & TROUBLE

      Oct 23, 2020

      We’ve all heard about the infamous boiled frog experiment. Chuck a frog into a pot of boiling water and he’ll leap back out again. But if you put him in a pot of cool water and heat the water very slowly, he won’t realise the peril he’s in until it’s

      4 min read

    • Article

      United, Not Divided

      Nov 3, 2022

      One of the most depressing aspects of the Salman Rushdie stabbing is the way that it so quickly became folded into our ongoing obsession with the so-called culture wars. It is extraordinary and saddening that when writers as august as Philip Pullman,

      3 min read

    • Article

      What Water?

      Sep 10, 2023

      What Water?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Bird’s Words

      Oct 24, 2022

      A few weeks ago, perhaps a month, I stopped working on a paper I was writing called It’s Expensive Keeping People Poor. The paper was about the lack of productivity that befell what you might call ‘the poverty industry’: that is, all of the people an

      4 min read

    • Article

      Narratives And Numbers

      May 15, 2020

      Narratives And Numbers
      3 min read

    • Article

      Yet Another Indecent Proposal

      Oct 13, 2022

      “WE ALL BELIEVE in democracy, my dear, but some of us are too well mannered to practise it.” I can't remember where and when I first heard this quote – I may even have dreamt it or made it up – but it's probably from an Oscar Wilde play. It must have

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Word

      Mar 31, 2018

      Of the many societal forces that affect us – family, community, government, technology etc. – the economic paradigm under which we live arguably has the most effect on our lives. It can make or break our employment options, it provides technological

      1 min read

    • Article

      Power Struggle

      Jul 30, 2018

      Power Struggle
      5 min read

    • Article

      Are Lifestyle Politics A Distraction?

      Aug 14, 2022

      TANSY: Of course it’s vital people make the most sustainable choices they can – but this is a small part of the equation and gets too much attention at the expense of collective political and systemic change. The last 40 years have seen a massive ris

      5 min read

    • Article

      Running On Empty

      Nov 6, 2023

      In reply to “Under the pump” (October 28), in 1976, the Listener published a small advertisement notifying readers of a published report, Tragic inefficiency of New Zealand’s neglected ambulance services. This led to 250 copies being distributed thro

      7 min read

    • Article

      5 Minutes With Nicky Falkof, Associate Professor, Wits

      Aug 22, 2022

      When will the South African media narrative around fear and social inequality evolve? The short answer is that I don’t know. The emphasis on risk, threat and fear seems to be endemic to much global media, rather than specific to South Africa. We coul

      3 min read

    • Article

      Growth for Whose Sake?

      Nov 26, 2018

      Growth for Whose Sake?
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Psychopath Economics

    2/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Psychopath Economics - Peter Batt

      Psychopath Economics

      The Bull & The Bewildered Herd

      the first of four parts

      by Peter Batt

      for Ellie, Sula and Louis

      Published by Peter Batt at Smashwords

      Copyright © 2015 Peter Batt

      Cover design by Peter Batt using original artwork by Chrissy Norvell

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      The arguments outlined in this book do not constitute financial advice and should not be construed as such. For financial advice, always consult a qualified financial adviser.

      riot shields voodoo economics in turn your turn

      it’s just business cattle prods and the IMF

      I trust I can rely on your votes

      when I go forwards you go backwards

      and somewhere we will meet

      I go forwards you go backwards

      and somewhere we will meet

      from Electioneering by Radiohead

      c

      Contents

      Preface

      Chapter 1 Introduction

      Power and consent

      Running off a cliff

      Psychopath economics

      Forewarned is forearmed

      Feel the power

      The reality gap

      Chapter 2 The Failure of Economics

      I The Ideological Science

      Inequality bingo

      Money as power

      Enslaved by debt

      II To Hide An Elephant

      Who pays the piper?

      Neoliberalism

      Money over matter

      Robin Hood in reverse

      Yet more debt

      III Weapons of Mass Destruction

      An abdication of responsibility

      Insolvency abuse

      Theft by another name

      IV Where to Now?

      Endnotes

      Acknowledgements

      About the author

      Preface

      More than politics, economics is the art of the possible. It can deliver riches beyond dreams, as well as the famine of nightmares. Its exercise exceeds even war as the ultimate expression of human power. Indeed, in the competition for finite resources, economics is more often the war itself; a war once silently waged primarily by Western elites against the developing world. Now it seems to be increasingly directed by Western elites and their governments against their own citizens.

      But the four parts of this book covers much more than just economics. It’s also about how we use symbols and narratives to label and understand the world around us. It’s about the logic of power; where it’s held and how societies respond to its exercise. And it’s about human societies and their relationship with the land – a relationship that tells us about the rise and fall of civilisations. In this way, this book’s perspective is located as much in politics and social psychology, with a bit of history and anthropology thrown in, as it is in economics.

      Economic themes, though, are this book’s starting point, and specifically the economic narratives that dominate much of the West today. Economics is a belief system that’s central to how people understand who gets what and why, and the economists’ ideas subtly shape our perceptions of everyday things; from the money in our pockets and bank accounts, to why we deserve our rewards in the first place. We might not like them but what the economists say is important because their theories have such a pervasive impact on our lives.

      Secondly, economists often present themselves as independent experts working in a kind of natural science. The appearance of science creates a respectful space that few politicians enjoy and which, more importantly, makes us much more likely to blindly accept what they say. This is, as I argue in the book, a mistake and my reason for writing this, apart from anger, is to emphasise that it is in all our interests that we engage with the arguments. We don’t all have to be experts – as, indeed, neither am I – but by deferring to the cult of the economics expert, we are conceding power.

      Here we have to make a distinction between the so-called ‘mainstream economics’ of TV and most newspaper commentators, along with the academics, market analysts, bankers and regulators, as opposed to the mavericks, who have been banging this drum for years. The former accept current narratives on market practices and government and central bank policies, if not at face value, then likely because facts on the ground have been changed. The mavericks, by definition, are dissenters, some of whom see their mainstream counterparts as engaged in a cruel deception that explicitly seeks to manipulate markets and minds. The mainstream narrative is increasingly incredible – at least to me.

      While there are many economists who are passionate and genuine in their search for ‘truth’, whatever that might be, the economists’ ‘science’ is more apparent than real. In today’s world, the mainstream economist’s parables are every bit as likely as the politician’s and propagandist’s to rely on profoundly-flawed assumptions.

      I am not an economist myself, but I don’t think you have to be to see the discipline’s shortcomings. In my view, those who believe mainstream economics is unconnected with reality are right. Many would be amazed at, for instance, the concept of fairness and the assumptions around human motivation that lie at the heart of mainstream economic theory. Many more – including quite a few economists – would be even more amazed to discover the real origin and nature of something as basic as money and debt, a big issue in this book. Indeed, I’ve come to realise that working as an economist doesn’t preclude you from being as in the dark on economic functioning as anyone else.

      And much of the stuff that economics hides from itself and the general public could easily cause a scandal if better understood, generally because it relates to the silent possession and exercise of power. In the course of researching this book, exposing the elite’s invisible exercise of power became one of my primary motivations. Increasingly unchallenged in the developed, mainly English-speaking industrialised nations, this power is progressively transforming capitalism into a new form of colonialism. Vast reservoirs of money are spirited away in offshore tax havens from which the elite can separate itself from the great mass of humanity – the so-called ‘bewildered herd’ – and often with the collusion of their own governments.

      In writing this book, I have tried to produce something that’s useful for people as frustrated as I am with the unreality of it all. I’ve tried to present the arguments in as clear and accessible manner as possible so it is readable for a mainstream audience. I’m not simply trying to sell a book here; this is my small contribution to a grassroots movement for change, so that inequality and the banks’ parasitic existence are no longer simply accepted as inherent parts of our economic system. It’s an ideal, I know, but any loosening of the elite’s power would be welcome.

      To this end, I’ve tried to avoid jargon and technical explanations. This hasn’t always been possible, partly because I can’t always ignore the economists’ technical concepts, and partly because the systems I’m describing are sometimes genuinely complex. For instance, chapter 1, on the Failure of Economics, seeks to show how technocratic language is used to give respectability to an unedifying bunfight of industrial-scale theft and corruption – a theme continued in this book’s third instalment. In the process, I could use any number of words to describe the actors in this great drama – the oligarchs, kleptocrats and plutocrats. But, for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to stick with the word ‘elite’ to cover them all.

      The truth is that despite all the trappings of science, it’s the mainstream economist’s client – the corporate and financial elite – that shapes the agenda. Critical but inconvenient issues, such as mountainous household debt and the debt colossus that is the derivatives market, are typically met with a deafening silence while others, such as public debt, fuel a constant background chatter of haranguing analysis, along with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. A focus on convenient facts reflects a strategy designed to hide and protect the elite’s economic stake, while helping it to outmanoeuvre competing centres of power.

      However, this strategy’s success alone doesn’t explain why the inconvenient facts make little impact beyond those with a keen interest in the subject. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, the information is out there for anyone interested in finding it. Only, so far at least, it hasn’t made a sufficient difference. Where I have used economics terminology, I’ve tried to link them to webpages – usually on Wikipedia – that will both give more detailed descriptions and will exist for some time.

      When I decided to write Psychopath Economics, I initially set out to answer two core questions. The first revolves around why wealth and opportunity is distributed so unequally, even when there’s an abundance. What is it about our psychology that makes us happy to deprive others of their basic needs for life? Of course, this question doesn’t just relate to the elite; the majority of us in the West are extremely well off compared with citizens across the developing world. Why do we so easily accept the predicament of those less fortunate than us? Attributing this behaviour entirely to selfishness doesn’t get to the root

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1