I have come to see the emerging Trump/Musk/Murdoch oligarchy as the embodiment of our collective karma, here in the industrialized West. For centuries, now, we have grabbed whole continents (Africa and both Americas, Australia/New Zealand, etc.) and exploited and traumatized vast ancient civilizations (India and China) only because we were the first to master transoceanic navigation and commerce, and later to discover, mine, and burn coal, oil, and natural gas for an unlimited energy supply. All while proudly proclaiming our moral superiority, due first to hegemonic Christianity and later to the humanistic ideals of the European Enlightenment. Both of which served us well (for a while) but demonized, enslaved, and exploited everyone else (in order to justify our feeding frenzy on their natural resources to serve our insatiable appetite for money and consumer goods.)

But now the bill has come due for all of this exploitation, genocide, and pollution in pursuit of our own “freedom” and affluence. The new oligarchs will not be satisfied until they own it all and the rest of us either work for them and buy their toys, or are doomed to marginalization, imprisonment, hate campaigns, or violence and starvation.
But their days are numbered, as are ours.

The best we can do is grow gardens, grow community, and grow awareness, reducing our dependence on the money game by relying on one another locally.

Money is only one form of capital—and it is zero-sum, so it guarantees that the rich will get richer while the poor get poorer. But there are 7 other forms of capital—5 of which are positive-sum: the more you have, the more I have. These are experiential, intellectual, social, cultural, and spiritual forms of capital. They all can be cultivated by learning, teaching, healing, and creating.