1. - 2020 is the beginning
of the age of catastrophe.
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2. It's kind of the future
warning us
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3. about what's
on the cards for us,
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4. because the grim truth
that I think we're not facing
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5. is that our civilization
is now beginning to collapse
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6. in very real
in very serious ways.
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7. - Most Americans are comforted
in the belief
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8. that their government
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9. and the country's best
and brightest
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10. will step up to protect them.
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11. - The entire idea of
American exceptionalism
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12. and the illusion
of national security
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13. is that we are strong
and we can take a blow
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14. or that we'll protect Americans
from some sort of major attack
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15. or some sort of cataclysm.
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16. But the truth is that we are
very brittle right now.
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17. - We're always looking ahead,
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18. ahead to an America
that never leaves anyone behind.
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19. - Just filming, just filming,
My God!
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20. - But what if it turns out
that the greatest threat
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21. in this age of catastrophe
is that this idea —
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22. that Americans will pull
together in times of crisis —
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23. is dead, killed by decades
of treating American freedom
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24. as the freedom
to get ahead at any cost.
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25. - During normal times,
it's easy to think,
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26. oh, the elite,
the one percent,
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27. they're actually concerned
about everybody's welfare.
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28. But then in that moment
of crisis,
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29. when elites treat it as
an opportunity for profiteering,
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30. rent seeking, gouging
from the public purse,
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31. that's the recipe
for a failed state.
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32. - For over 70 years,
our leaders have told us
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33. one thing
under the bright lights...
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34. - The protection of the lives
and property of Americans
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35. is the responsibility
of all public officials.
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36. - I care we're trying...
- And it is my first duty
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37. as president
to protect the American people.
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38. - We have it so well
under control.
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39. - But America's shadow government
has spent trillions of dollars
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40. on secret plans
that serve one premise:
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41. when the shit really hits
the fan, we're on our own.
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42. - I have nothing!
Nothing!
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43. - And while the government
leaves us to fend for ourselves,
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44. the elite suck us dry
to fund their own escape.
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45. Since the Cold War,
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46. the threat of nuclear
annihilation was real,
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47. but the story that we are
somehow all in this together
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48. was closer to a cartoon.
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49. - The best protection of all
is the special shelter
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50. built according
to specifications
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51. of your local
civil defense organization.
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52. - Instead of protecting
the American public
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53. by reducing the threat...
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54. the U. S. government sinks
billions of taxpayer dollars
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55. into new and more sophisticated
weapons of mass destruction.
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56. One of those was codenamed
Starfish Prime.
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57. In 1962,
American military scientists
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58. launched an experimental warhead
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59. from a remote island
in the Pacific.
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60. - On Johnston Island,
missile preparation for the July
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61. launch of
the Starfish Prime shot
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62. was one aspect of
an extensive team effort.
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63. - The experiment was designed
to test the effects
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64. of nuclear explosions
in outer space.
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65. - Equally important was the need
to know
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66. the effects of high altitude
nuclear bursts
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67. on military command
and control systems
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68. which require
long range communications.
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69. - The explosion caused a massive
electromagnetic pulse,
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70. known as an EMP.
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71. The pulse fried electronics
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72. hundreds of miles
away in Hawaii.
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73. It even blew out rows
of streetlights in Honolulu.
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74. The Starfish Prime experiment
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75. exposes a frightening
new possibility.
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76. What if something as simple as
a basic infrastructure failure
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77. could deal a fatal blow
to America?
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78. It's a scenario
that has troubled
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79. doomsday planners ever since...
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80. because it's a lot easier
to imagine the lights going out
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81. in a mushroom cloud
over New York City.
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82. And when the basic things
we all take for granted
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83. suddenly stop working,
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84. in the end, that may be
just as destructive
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85. to our way of life.
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86. 2020 has shown us
that the boundaries
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87. between some distant
future apocalypse and reality
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88. may be thinner than
we'd like to believe.
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89. It has given us a preview
of what things look like
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90. when our way of life
starts to break down.
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91. - The fundamental basic
institutions
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92. and structures of life
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93. that we took for granted
have snapped apart like that.
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94. - What if the coronavirus
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95. is just a shot
across the bow,
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96. a warning
of what the future holds?
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97. - I think most people are very
conflicted about this
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98. in the sense that we long
for a return to normalcy.
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99. But there's also a part of us
that says, you know,
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100. normal isn't coming back —
this is it.
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101. - We've already seen how fragile
our supply chains are,
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102. thanks to the pandemic.
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103. We've got a little preview of it
through things like
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104. farmers having to harvest
their crops
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105. or slaughter their livestock,
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106. but not being able
to bring them to market.
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107. And so they just destroyed it
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108. because small elements
in the logistics broke down.
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109. If there's a total breakdown,
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110. that's going to be
a lot more frightening.
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111. You'll recall that at the start
of the pandemic,
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112. there was a widespread
toilet paper shortage.
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113. - It's only one per customer.
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114. - So multiply that, you know,
minor inconvenience
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115. and it probably cascades.
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116. - The government will tell you
that when there's a disaster,
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117. you could be on your own
for the first 72 hours.
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118. But if a cataclysmic disaster
really happens,
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119. not everyone assumes
that the government —
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120. or anyone,
for that matter —
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121. is really coming to help.
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122. - Rich people in government,
they take care of themselves,
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123. but for the middle class
and for lower-income folks,
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124. you're absolutely on your own.
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125. - In the foothills of
the Colorado Mountains
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126. is a secluded camp
called Fortitude Ranch.
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127. It's run by Drew Miller.
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128. With a Ph. D.
in public policy from Harvard,
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129. he's a respected figure
in what used to be
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130. considered a fringe movement.
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131. - We kind of had a phrase
decades ago
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132. in the prep industry
called "72 hours to Animal,"
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133. saying, you know, for the first
couple of days,
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134. people will react okay,
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135. but eventually when there's
no food,
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136. no water,
and panic starts spreading,
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137. people are going to get to their
basic instinct of survival,
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138. and it's going to be lawless.
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139. We don't believe that anymore —
we believe it's more like
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140. 72 seconds,
or 72 minutes to animal.
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141. Chaos is going to break out
within the first hour or hours.
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142. - A former Cold War
military intelligence officer,
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143. Miller has inside knowledge
that most people don't.
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144. - Government's
number one priority
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145. is taking care of themselves.
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146. Police number one priority,
continuity of government,
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147. taking care
of the elected officials.
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148. No one is going to be responding
to your call
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149. for help in your little house,
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150. saying, hey, there's a marauding
group coming through,
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151. breaking into houses,
taking goods and stealing.
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152. So if you're
a government official,
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153. you'll be taken care of.
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154. But the rest of us
are pretty much on our own.
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155. - Go! Back up! Back up!
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156. - We're prepared to
defend ourselves.
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157. We don't just stockpile food,
we have guns and ammo too,
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158. but a lot of
the population does not,
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159. and they're going to be victims,
unfortunately, in that case.
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160. The major weapons we recommend
for our members
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161. are either an AR-15,
which is not an assault rifle.
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162. It's a defensive rifle.
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163. People say,
"Oh, you don't need this,
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164. this is just for
the military" —
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165. well, in a collapse situation,
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166. if you've got a marauder group
coming after you
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167. and they got a lot of people,
got a lot of weapons,
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168. you do need a lot of rounds.
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169. - In 2020, fear spread far
and wide beyond Fortitude Ranch.
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170. As the U. S. economy ground
to a halt
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171. and millions of Americans
were put out of work,
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172. we witnessed how vulnerable
our way of life really is.
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173. - I think people
are scared shitless
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174. about two things —
they're related.
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175. The first is the idea
that we have built
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176. a technological society
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177. whose comforts we are
reliant upon,
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178. whose coordination we need to
sustain our current population,
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179. that if you just turned off
all the machines tomorrow,
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180. the kind of handmade version
of our society,
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181. where all the crops were brought
in by hand and so on,
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182. would provoke mass die-offs.
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183. And the story we've been sold
is part of the other fear,
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184. which is that our institutions
are no longer trustworthy,
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185. that they have become not
truth-seeking exercises,
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186. but rather auction houses
in which people
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187. who are powerful and wealthy
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188. can buy a version of the truth
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189. that suits
their parochial ends.
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190. In a world in which the Sacklers
successfully convinced the FDA
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191. that opioids weren't dangerous
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192. and kick-started
an opioid epidemic
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193. that killed
200,000 Americans —
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194. more than died in Vietnam —
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195. and where the Sacklers
themselves became richer
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196. than the Rockefellers,
how do you trust an institution?
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197. - Something like an EMP attack
would wipe out
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198. not just the infrastructure
that we have,
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199. but we would see very,
very quickly the distance
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200. between the importance
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201. by which the government
seeks their own survival
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202. and the survival
of the American people.
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203. This idea of national security
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204. would collapse
almost instantaneously.
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205. - But in the age of catastrophe,
it doesn't really take an EMP
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206. to see what happens
when the lights go out...
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207. and our basic institutions
start to fail us.
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208. We all just lived through 2020.
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209. - So what happens when somebody
now doesn't have a job,
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210. doesn't have the basic
kind of access
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211. to resources that we take
for granted in the rich world,
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212. you turn on the tap,
water doesn't come out,
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213. you go to the store
and there's not enough food,
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214. you press the button
and there's no electricity.
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215. What happens?
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216. Well, history tells us,
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217. when people grow
suddenly poorer,
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218. what happens is massive waves
of authoritarianism and fascism.
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219. History tells us that
in absolutely unsparing terms.
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220. So that's the story of Weimar
Germany becoming Nazi Germany.
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221. It's the story
of Stalinist Russia.
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222. It's the story
of the Islamic world.
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223. It's also the story
of America today.
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224. - What if the doomsday scenario
that politicians planned for
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225. since the Cold War turned out
to be a lot less obvious
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226. than a nuclear bomb or EMP?
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227. What if it's our economy and
the collapse has already begun?
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228. - It's the first wave
of a deadly pandemic:
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229. most of America
is under lockdown,
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230. the country's economy grinds
to an almost complete halt.
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231. It's the worst economic drop off
in modern history.
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232. Borders are closed,
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233. lines at food pantries
stretch for miles,
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234. in cities across America.
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235. - You're all set,
have a wonderful apocalypse.
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236. - It feels like this is what
the beginning of doomsday
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237. and the apocalypse
might feel like.
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238. - This is a government soup
kitchen giving free meals
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239. to these men who were once
skilled workers in a factory.
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240. - America has seen
an economic collapse before.
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241. During the Great Depression,
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242. the nation was brought to
its knees.
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243. - These people had come to depend
on government relief.
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244. And where did this happen?
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245. Right here in these
United States.
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246. - But during the Cold War,
government planners
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247. imagined something even
more catastrophic —
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248. nuclear war.
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249. Their plans involved
almost nothing to ensure
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250. the survival
of ordinary Americans,
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251. but they were concerned
with what to do
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252. with those who somehow survived.
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253. And in order
to put them back to work,
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254. they would need a way
to pay them.
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255. Hidden under
the Virginia mountains
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256. is one of the least known
chapters of the Cold War.
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257. There, the Federal Reserve
constructed its own
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258. mountain bunker,
known as Mount Pony.
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259. - Walking down there
is a series of hallways
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260. about as long
as a football field.
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261. And they're cold,
they're made of concrete,
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262. they're lit
with fluorescent lights,
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263. and lining the hallways
on both sides
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264. are these big, steel,
reinforced doors.
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265. - On one floor of
the Federal Reserve bunker,
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266. a massive steel blast door
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267. leading to
a 22,500 square foot vault.
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268. - That's where they stored
the billions of dollars
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269. of U. S. currency.
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270. - It was one of the largest
vaults in the world.
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271. It contained row after row of
nine-foot-high stacks of cash.
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272. 700 million pieces of currency,
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273. much of it in the form
of $2 bills.
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274. - This coincided in the 1970s
with the period
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275. when the U. S. reintroduced
the $2 bill
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276. and Americans
rejected it widely, so the Fed,
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277. rather than pulp the money,
set it up in its own bunkers,
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278. assuming that after
a nuclear attack,
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279. Americans would be less choosey
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280. about which currency
they were using.
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281. - The plan was to
stockpile enough cash
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282. to replenish the supply east of
the Mississippi for two years —
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283. long enough for the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing
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284. to rebuild its précis.
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285. Smaller bunkers
hidden in abandoned mines
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286. and other military bases
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287. were scattered
around the country.
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288. But the government didn't stop
with a plan
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289. on how to pay citizens to work.
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290. They also wanted a plan
to take that money back.
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291. And so the engineers of the
apocalypse turned to the IRS.
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292. - The joke is that there are only
two constants in life:
Copy !req
293. death and taxes.
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294. And so even in a nuclear attack
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295. that held true.
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296. And if one didn't get you,
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297. the IRS wanted to make sure
that the other did.
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298. - The IRS
and the Treasury Department
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299. gave a lot of thought to
figuring out
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300. how they could assess and raise
taxes after a nuclear holocaust,
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301. debating what happens to
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302. mortgages on homes
that have been vaporized,
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303. or wondering how to assess
the value of properties
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304. post attack.
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305. - Part of what makes these plans
so strange
Copy !req
306. is realizing just how unworkable
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307. they would have been under
almost any actual emergency.
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308. - While those impractical
government plans
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309. are sitting
on a shelf somewhere...
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310. When a real economic emergency
actually arises,
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311. the government is left
scrambling to find a way out.
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312. It's 2007, and America's
wealthiest
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313. financial institutions
have been getting rich
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314. by pushing loans and mortgages
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315. to people
who can't afford them.
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316. Across America, roughly three
million homes are foreclosed on,
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317. turning parts of cities
into ghost towns.
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318. - The housing downturn
and the surrounding uncertainty
Copy !req
319. are significantly impacting
our financial institutions
Copy !req
320. and capital markets.
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321. - But the subprime
mortgage crisis
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322. doesn't just hurt homeowners.
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323. The greed
and irresponsible behavior
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324. of financial institutions
Copy !req
325. has a ripple effect
on the global economy
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326. leading to the Great Recession
in 2008.
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327. By the end of 2009,
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328. more than 15 million Americans
are unemployed.
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329. Facing bankruptcy,
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330. the financial giants
that caused the crisis
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331. are considered too big to fail.
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332. - Wall Street bet that
the government would rescue them
Copy !req
333. if they got into trouble.
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334. It appears that bet may be
the one that pays off.
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335. - Without them, the economy faces
a meltdown.
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336. And so the government steals a
page from its nuclear playbook,
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337. the elite get saved, only this
time it's not in bunkers
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338. under mountains of concrete,
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339. it's under mountains of cash.
Copy !req
340. - And you can sit there and say,
well, if they hadn't done that,
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341. the whole financial system
would have melted down.
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342. But the fundamental problem
was that they extended
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343. all of the support
to the financial institutions,
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344. but didn't actually extend
the same level of support
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345. to ordinary people.
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346. - While foreclosed homeowners
are living in their cars,
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347. 45 billion taxpayer dollars
get funneled to JPMorgan,
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348. Goldman Sachs,
and Morgan Stanley —
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349. institutions that paid out
$18 billion
Copy !req
350. in bonuses to bankers
and executives.
Copy !req
351. Of a $475 billion bailout
authorized by Congress,
Copy !req
352. only 6% goes to help
underwater homeowners.
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353. Most of the rest goes to banks
and financial institutions.
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354. In the two years
after the recession,
Copy !req
355. the net wealth
of most Americans shrinks,
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356. while the richest actually
increase their wealth
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357. by almost 30%.
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358. - And that created not just
a deep
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359. and lasting sense
of economic pain
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360. for millions of
ordinary people,
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361. but it also creates this lasting
sense of anger and unfairness
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362. and a feeling that basically
the elites are going to
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363. get protected
if something bad happens,
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364. but ordinary people aren't.
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365. - In 2007 and '08, the unmasking
was quite shocking.
Copy !req
366. What happened in the years
just after that,
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367. where the bailouts
were quite controversial,
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368. it appeared as the polluters
got paid,
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369. the people under water
in mortgages
Copy !req
370. did not get restructuring.
Copy !req
371. The Tea Party was spawned
on the right in America.
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372. Occupy on the left.
Copy !req
373. - When do we want it?
- Now!
Copy !req
374. - And when inequality
was exacerbated by the bailouts,
Copy !req
375. the disintegration
of credibility and faith
Copy !req
376. spread like wildfire.
Copy !req
377. - The Great Recession
was only the beginning.
Copy !req
378. While the economy
gradually recovers,
Copy !req
379. inequality in America worsens
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380. and a new class of elite
becomes even more powerful.
Copy !req
381. - In March 2020, Elon Musk
laid off nearly 300 janitors
Copy !req
382. and shuttle drivers
due to COVID-19...
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383. sending his lowest earners home
without pay.
Copy !req
384. As these struggling workers
join soup lines
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385. and food pantries
around the block,
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386. Tesla's stock price quickly
rebounded the following month,
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387. and Musk's net worth
soon more than tripled
Copy !req
388. to over $90 billion.
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389. - Is this really worth it,
Mr. Musk?
Copy !req
390. - This is an uncomfortable truth
about America today.
Copy !req
391. It's not just that when
the world is facing collapse,
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392. those at the top
get the chance to survive.
Copy !req
393. Today, they rise
to even greater heights
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394. by getting even richer
and more powerful.
Copy !req
395. Nine years earlier,
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396. the streets of New York City
erupt in protest.
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397. - All day, all week,
occupy Wall Street!
Copy !req
398. All day, all week...
Copy !req
399. - Since the Great Recession,
Copy !req
400. inequality
has only gotten worse.
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401. The wealth of elites
has soared to new heights
Copy !req
402. while ordinary Americans
continue to suffer.
Copy !req
403. Poverty in America
takes on new meaning.
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404. - Why should anybody
in a rich country
Copy !req
405. have to choose between their
life savings and their life?
Copy !req
406. Have to choose between
their home and basic medicine?
Copy !req
407. Have to choose between keeping
the water and heating on
Copy !req
408. or educating their kids?
Copy !req
409. - Why can't I have a home,
why I can't afford my rent?
Copy !req
410. - These choices don't make sense
Copy !req
411. and they're the choices
that everyday Americans make.
Copy !req
412. These aren't the choices of like
a small kind of underclass.
Copy !req
413. Right? These are the choices
that the people formerly known
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414. as the American middle class
have to make.
Copy !req
415. So America is really
a place of extremes.
Copy !req
416. You know, you have
trillion-dollar companies now.
Copy !req
417. In a historic —
Apple and Amazon,
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418. the world's first
trillion-dollar companies.
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419. You have 50%
of all new jobs in America
Copy !req
420. working a low-income
service jobs,
Copy !req
421. it's a polite economist's way
of saying
Copy !req
422. people are becoming
servants again.
Copy !req
423. History is repeating itself.
Copy !req
424. People are falling
into peasantry and servitude.
Copy !req
425. - Over the last four decades,
Copy !req
426. the wealth of
the richest Americans
Copy !req
427. has continued to climb,
Copy !req
428. but since the 1980s,
Copy !req
429. the average working-age American
has seen almost zero growth.
Copy !req
430. Today, the top 1%
in America
Copy !req
431. earned more than 80 times
the bottom 50%.
Copy !req
432. - If I say that inequality
in America
Copy !req
433. is reaching third world levels,
Copy !req
434. they don't believe me.
Copy !req
435. And in some respect,
they're right.
Copy !req
436. But there are people
who have to beg,
Copy !req
437. who will never pay off
their debts successfully.
Copy !req
438. So there is not maybe perhaps
yet the level
Copy !req
439. of absolute deprivation that
there is in the third world,
Copy !req
440. but the level of inequality
has produced real degradation
Copy !req
441. in America,
real relative poverty.
Copy !req
442. - We're here to say
enough is enough.
Copy !req
443. In New York City,
we have been protesting
Copy !req
444. over three months now, and we're
just getting started.
Copy !req
445. - Since the start
of the coronavirus pandemic,
Copy !req
446. a record 40 million Americans
have filed for unemployment.
Copy !req
447. In July, an estimated
30 million reported
Copy !req
448. not having enough to eat —
Copy !req
449. that's one in every 10
households.
Copy !req
450. Yet that same month, JPMorgan,
the same financial institution
Copy !req
451. that helped cause
the 2008 recession
Copy !req
452. and received billions
of taxpayer dollars in bailouts,
Copy !req
453. posts one of
its best quarters ever.
Copy !req
454. During the first weeks
of the pandemic,
Copy !req
455. as the unemployment rate
in America nears 15%,
Copy !req
456. the billionaires' wealth
actually increases.
Copy !req
457. - The American economy has been
completely divorced
Copy !req
458. from the fates of the people.
Copy !req
459. This is a sad fact
Copy !req
460. that we can see
when unemployment numbers go up
Copy !req
461. but stocks rise.
Copy !req
462. And the truth is
that this notion that somehow
Copy !req
463. or another the economy
is somehow or another simpatico
Copy !req
464. with the fates of the people
is a complete fiction.
Copy !req
465. - As people do poorly,
the banks can still do well
Copy !req
466. because more is being borrowed,
Copy !req
467. more is being spent.
Copy !req
468. The government printed
a trillion,
Copy !req
469. two trillion,
three trillion dollars.
Copy !req
470. The more they print,
Copy !req
471. the better the balance sheet
is for the lender.
Copy !req
472. And that's — that's the thing
that matters.
Copy !req
473. So you can end up with everybody
poor and out of work,
Copy !req
474. two-thirds, three-quarters
of the people out of work,
Copy !req
475. but the ones who've got
that S&P 500 index fund,
Copy !req
476. that's still going up.
Copy !req
477. - Of course, we're seeing
one industry
Copy !req
478. after another being bailed out,
Copy !req
479. but it is made more
and more clear by the day
Copy !req
480. that the fate
of American people themselves
Copy !req
481. is not being taken
in consideration
Copy !req
482. and is certainly not given
the weight of taking care
Copy !req
483. of businesses and corporations.
Copy !req
484. - During a pandemic
Copy !req
485. and the worst unemployment
crisis in modern history,
Copy !req
486. needy Americans scrape by
on modest government handouts.
Copy !req
487. - You don't have a job,
you don't get health care.
Copy !req
488. You don't have health care,
you die.
Copy !req
489. Barely anybody makes enough
to pay off their debts
Copy !req
490. or afford a decent standard
of living.
Copy !req
491. You have to care about yourself
the most and you barely have
Copy !req
492. any money left over
to care about anybody else.
Copy !req
493. - These problems aren't invisible
to the people
Copy !req
494. who have the power
to do something about them.
Copy !req
495. Think about this:
Copy !req
496. Amazon has 876,000 employees.
Copy !req
497. If Jeff Bezos gave each employee
a $100,000 bonus,
Copy !req
498. he would still be richer
than he was
Copy !req
499. at the start of the pandemic.
Copy !req
500. - If we taxed 60%
of the windfall gains
Copy !req
501. these billionaires made from
March 18th until August 3rd,
Copy !req
502. we could raise over
$420 billion.
Copy !req
503. That's enough revenue to pay all
of the out of pocket health care
Copy !req
504. expenses for every man,
woman and child in this country
Copy !req
505. over the next 12 months.
Copy !req
506. So that's the choice
that we have to make.
Copy !req
507. - Bernie Sanders gives voice
Copy !req
508. to a popular movement
of young Americans,
Copy !req
509. an existential threat
to the wealthiest people
Copy !req
510. in the country.
Copy !req
511. - It is morally obscene
for billionaires
Copy !req
512. to use a global pandemic
Copy !req
513. as an opportunity
to make outrageous profits
Copy !req
514. and to very substantially
increase their wealth.
Copy !req
515. - What happens with elites is,
Copy !req
516. when they're left
to their own devices,
Copy !req
517. they get greedier and greedier
and they get paranoid.
Copy !req
518. They develop a fear
of the slippery slope
Copy !req
519. that any infringement
on their prerogative
Copy !req
520. will lead to more
and more and more,
Copy !req
521. and pretty soon the — their
heads will be in the guillotine.
Copy !req
522. - It's 2017, just after
Trump's inauguration,
Copy !req
523. media theorist Douglas Rushkoff
shows up at an exclusive resort
Copy !req
524. to deliver a talk
about the digital future
Copy !req
525. to a group of
wealthy tech executives.
Copy !req
526. - I was in the green room
waiting to go on
Copy !req
527. when five men came in
to the green room
Copy !req
528. and sat around this little table
they had there,
Copy !req
529. and I found out that there was
no talk for me to go do —
Copy !req
530. that these guys were the talk.
Copy !req
531. And they didn't want to hear
the whole thing I had prepared,
Copy !req
532. they just started peppering me
with these questions —
Copy !req
533. like, "Bitcoin or Ethereum?"
Copy !req
534. Which one should they bet on?
Copy !req
535. Or augmented reality
or virtual reality,
Copy !req
536. which did I think would win?
Copy !req
537. And then the third question,
the one that made me realize
Copy !req
538. that this was more
than I signed up for,
Copy !req
539. they said,
Alaska or New Zealand,
Copy !req
540. meaning where should they
situate their bunkers
Copy !req
541. for the event?
Copy !req
542. - For years, New Zealand has been
Copy !req
543. an apocalypse escape destination
for America's elite.
Copy !req
544. Notable home buyers include
the tech tycoon Peter Thiel,
Copy !req
545. an outspoken supporter
of Donald Trump.
Copy !req
546. He's also bet that America
was not the place to be
Copy !req
547. if things collapsed,
Copy !req
548. so he arranged for a New Zealand
passport just in case.
Copy !req
549. Other American elites
were getting similar ideas.
Copy !req
550. - The rest of my hour with them
Copy !req
551. was them asking me all these,
like, really specific questions
Copy !req
552. about how to water test
their plans for the apocalypse,
Copy !req
553. for the electromagnetic pulse,
Copy !req
554. for the economic downturn,
Copy !req
555. or the disease or war
that would necessitate them
Copy !req
556. leaving their Silicon Valley
ranches and retreating
Copy !req
557. to these fortified bunkers
in the middle of nowhere.
Copy !req
558. - The government's secret plans
to save itself
Copy !req
559. now have competition from
the secret plans
Copy !req
560. of the 1%.
Copy !req
561. From converted Cold War bunkers
and missile silos
Copy !req
562. to specially outfitted yachts,
Copy !req
563. a doomsday industry caters
to the mega rich.
Copy !req
564. Luxury bunkers
with indoor pools,
Copy !req
565. artificial sunlight,
and supplies
Copy !req
566. to stay sealed off
from the world for years.
Copy !req
567. From the Cold War till now,
Copy !req
568. the most powerful people end up
being the ones most afraid.
Copy !req
569. And today, even as the actions
of a few at the top
Copy !req
570. have helped pushed poverty rates
Copy !req
571. near their highest levels
in half a century,
Copy !req
572. it's the rich
who fear losing control.
Copy !req
573. Elite anxiety is on the rise.
Copy !req
574. - The billionaires,
they understand
Copy !req
575. that they're playing
a dangerous game,
Copy !req
576. that they are running out
of room
Copy !req
577. to externalize the damage of
the way their companies operate.
Copy !req
578. Eventually there's going to be,
you know, the social unrest
Copy !req
579. that leads to your undoing,
Copy !req
580. which is why these same people
Copy !req
581. are looking
at creating bomb shelters,
Copy !req
582. going to Australia
or New Zealand.
Copy !req
583. - What I would say is this was
sort of an acceleration
Copy !req
584. of the notion of what we had
called gated communities,
Copy !req
585. where you try to insulate
yourself from the social discord
Copy !req
586. that's outside.
Copy !req
587. But here it was
an evacuation plan.
Copy !req
588. - For the billionaires
in the green room with Rushkoff,
Copy !req
589. the biggest concern
is protecting themselves
Copy !req
590. from the unruly masses.
Copy !req
591. - The question we ended up
spending the majority of time on
Copy !req
592. was how do I maintain control
of my security force
Copy !req
593. after my money is worthless?
Copy !req
594. So these guys had already
secured Navy SEALs
Copy !req
595. and security forces
to come
Copy !req
596. and guard
their facilities for them.
Copy !req
597. But if the U. S. economy
goes belly up,
Copy !req
598. if the government's gone,
if dollars are worthless,
Copy !req
599. then why are those guys
going to stay and protect them?
Copy !req
600. Once they start talking
in those terms,
Copy !req
601. it's really easy to puncture
a hole in their plan.
Copy !req
602. So you've got 20 Navy SEALs
hired to protect
Copy !req
603. you and your family
from the marauding mobs
Copy !req
604. of people
with Jeeps and bazookas —
Copy !req
605. let's say that they've got great
weapons and great strategies.
Copy !req
606. Why are they defending you?
Copy !req
607. You know, why are they
letting you be in charge?
Copy !req
608. Why won't they want
their commander
Copy !req
609. to be the one in charge?
Copy !req
610. Any monarch or ruler who is
depending on their military
Copy !req
611. to maintain their power
Copy !req
612. ends up in —
in a military coup! Right?
Copy !req
613. They end up taken over
by their junta.
Copy !req
614. That's not —
it doesn't work that way.
Copy !req
615. So what can we do?
And there's like,
Copy !req
616. so one of them said,
oh, I was thinking, you know,
Copy !req
617. we could do shock collars,
Copy !req
618. you know, get them
to wear shock collars
Copy !req
619. so I could, you know, zap them
if they're going to go off
Copy !req
620. and they understand that that's
the price of —
Copy !req
621. I mean, shock collars?
Really?
Copy !req
622. You really think short collars
are going to work?
Copy !req
623. They're going to wait till
you're as sleep in order to grab
Copy !req
624. the little control button —
it's just not going to work.
Copy !req
625. - Rushkoff offers
a simple solution
Copy !req
626. overlooked by the billionaires
Copy !req
627. despite all their
elaborate planning.
Copy !req
628. - They were like saying,
"So what do we do?
Copy !req
629. What do we do?"
And I said, well,
Copy !req
630. if these guys are already
working for you,
Copy !req
631. like, pay for their kid's
bat mitzvahs now.
Copy !req
632. The idea was,
if you're nice enough
Copy !req
633. to your security people now,
Copy !req
634. then they're going to be
more reluctant to kill you
Copy !req
635. because they'll think
before they pull the trigger,
Copy !req
636. "Aw, he paid for my daughter's
bat mitzvah," right?
Copy !req
637. - The arrogance of
the American rich is staggering.
Copy !req
638. It's so interesting
when one gets to deal with them
Copy !req
639. and you realize how ridiculous
their ideas are.
Copy !req
640. And they really think that they
can play gilded survivalists
Copy !req
641. when the society that they're
ripping off collapses —
Copy !req
642. and they can't.
Copy !req
643. - Behind the thinking of
the Cold War's doomsday planners
Copy !req
644. is a strange mentality.
Copy !req
645. It's okay to destroy the planet
and kill nearly everyone on it,
Copy !req
646. because if you're one of
the elite, you get to survive.
Copy !req
647. - These crazy Cold War bunkers,
like fantasy landscapes,
Copy !req
648. they're kind of like monuments
to elite delusion and paranoia
Copy !req
649. because they won't work,
but they embody
Copy !req
650. this self-justification —
"Yeah, sure, we can invest
Copy !req
651. billions of dollars,
trillions of dollars
Copy !req
652. in atomic weapons
and even use them,
Copy !req
653. and civilization will survive."
Copy !req
654. That's deranged thinking.
Copy !req
655. - I'm going to lay
the facts before you —
Copy !req
656. the rough with the smooth.
Copy !req
657. Some of these security facts
are reassuring;
Copy !req
658. others are not.
Copy !req
659. They are sternly demanding.
Copy !req
660. - The threat of
global annihilation
Copy !req
661. was at its peak
during the Cold War.
Copy !req
662. So was the belief that you could
really survive an apocalypse.
Copy !req
663. - These elites,
Copy !req
664. with this — this kind of
bunker mentality,
Copy !req
665. which is inherited
from the Cold War,
Copy !req
666. it's kind of like gentrified
from the — the middle class
Copy !req
667. - 50s version of it,
which was equally insane —
Copy !req
668. the family of four will dive
into a basement in the backyard.
Copy !req
669. Right?
Copy !req
670. - The goal is adequate
fallout shelter space
Copy !req
671. for every man, woman and child.
Copy !req
672. - Probably many viewers
cracked open
Copy !req
673. their parents or grandparents
bunkers at some point and found,
Copy !req
674. "Oh, lo and behold,
this is like, you know,
Copy !req
675. flooded with three feet
of stagnant water.
Copy !req
676. And, you know these cans of
beans are all corroded,"
Copy !req
677. you know, proving that this —
this fantasy
Copy !req
678. of living through an atomic war
Copy !req
679. was just that, a fantasy.
Copy !req
680. - When you're up in God knows
where, you know,
Copy !req
681. in the —
in the space station
Copy !req
682. where Jeff Bezos
or Elon Musk live,
Copy !req
683. you don't have to worry anymore
about the regular people.
Copy !req
684. Or if you do, that's why you're
building your space station —
Copy !req
685. to get away
from the civilization
Copy !req
686. that you needed
to rape and pillage
Copy !req
687. in order to amass
that level of wealth.
Copy !req
688. - Coronavirus has widened
Copy !req
689. the already
enormous wealth gap in America.
Copy !req
690. Radical inequality
often leads to revolution.
Copy !req
691. And as far as the 1%
are concerned,
Copy !req
692. the guillotines are coming.
Copy !req
693. - We love to ignore the history
and we love to pretend
Copy !req
694. that we've progressed, you know,
beyond the old challenges
Copy !req
695. and that we're now hitting
new material.
Copy !req
696. We're not hitting new material.
Copy !req
697. This is just class war
all over again.
Copy !req
698. - During normal times,
the story we get from elites
Copy !req
699. is that anyone can become rich
if you just work hard enough,
Copy !req
700. and anyone who's poor,
it's basically their fault.
Copy !req
701. Well, when suddenly everybody
is suffering economically,
Copy !req
702. that stuff goes out the window.
Copy !req
703. It's ideologically
destabilizing,
Copy !req
704. and I think there's
a possibility
Copy !req
705. that people will start
seeing through all these myths
Copy !req
706. and start seeing the situation
for what it is,
Copy !req
707. which is a struggle
between classes,
Copy !req
708. between the vast majority
of people
Copy !req
709. who work for a living
and sell their labor
Copy !req
710. and are dependent on
a functional labor market;
Copy !req
711. and this tiny, really,
really powerful,
Copy !req
712. really, really rich elite.
Copy !req
713. - As the pandemic
death toll surges...
Copy !req
714. new waves of poverty
spread around the world.
Copy !req
715. The planet records its hottest
month on record,
Copy !req
716. and California burns.
Copy !req
717. Elon Musk announces
plans to colonize Mars.
Copy !req
718. - What they were
really looking at was,
Copy !req
719. How do I earn enough money
to insulate myself
Copy !req
720. from the reality I'm creating
by earning money in this way?
Copy !req
721. You can't —
you can't go it alone.
Copy !req
722. The only possible solution
is to make the world a place
Copy !req
723. that you don't need
to retreat from.
Copy !req
724. It's such an easier,
high probability strategy
Copy !req
725. for success
than the course that they're on.
Copy !req
726. But — but they can't stop.
Copy !req
727. They still think
about technology
Copy !req
728. as a way to insulate themselves
from the real world.
Copy !req
729. They want to insulate themselves
from us because they know
Copy !req
730. what they have to do to us
to maintain the privilege
Copy !req
731. that they're — that they're
trying to live in —
Copy !req
732. that —
that privileged bubble.
Copy !req
733. The most powerful people
in the world,
Copy !req
734. you know, they see themselves
as utterly incapable
Copy !req
735. of actually creating a future
Copy !req
736. in which everything's
going to be okay.
Copy !req
737. They're going to bet
all their money
Copy !req
738. on how do they as individuals
Copy !req
739. somehow survive
that disaster?
Copy !req
740. They're destroying
the whole thing,
Copy !req
741. they're destroying
the whole thing
Copy !req
742. because they can't see a way out
Copy !req
743. because of that paucity
of imagination,
Copy !req
744. because they don't want
to acknowledge
Copy !req
745. the larger operating system
on which they're functioning,
Copy !req
746. and they're slowly
waking up to it.
Copy !req
747. But rather than sort of come
out of their mental bunkers
Copy !req
748. and look at, wow,
how could I operate
Copy !req
749. in a less destructive,
extractive way?
Copy !req
750. Instead, they're just thinking,
what's my safety plan?
Copy !req
751. What's my escape hatch?
Copy !req
752. How much food do I need
to stick in my basement
Copy !req
753. in order to survive the thing?
Copy !req
754. - People who believe
the disinformation,
Copy !req
755. misinformation, we've seen will
do some pretty extreme things.
Copy !req
756. If you actually believe
Copy !req
757. the theories that are espoused
by QAnon as reality,
Copy !req
758. they would probably warrant
some pretty dramatic responses.
Copy !req
759. - Our president walked out there!
Copy !req
760. Went in front of the church!
Copy !req
761. And held a Holy Bible!
Copy !req
762. In front of
that American church!
Copy !req
763. - Conspiracy theories
can exist and thrive
Copy !req
764. because the world
is full of actual conspiracies.
Copy !req