What Would Be Truly Bullish? Actually Fixing What's Broken

Refusing to recognize, much less actually fix, what’s broken hurries our collective rendezvous with consequences.

DMSO Healing Guide: Di... Carter, Martha Buy New $20.87 (as of 11:06 UTC - Details) We’ve come to an interesting juncture in history, interesting because while we’re being assured that AI will solve all problems, including any it creates, back in the real world, AI is incapable of fixing what’s broken because too many people are getting rich off the status quo, and since the status quo is the problem, those who own / control AI will use it to maintain the status quo, guaranteeing that what’s broken spirals into irreversible breakdown.

Richard Bonugli and I discuss what’s fatally broken in a new podcast on what it will take to become Bullish (32 min).

Let’s start with what’s “obvious”: letting what’s broken fester until it implodes the status quo is not bullish, and neither is substituting delusion and denial for a realistic appraisal of what’s actually broken–the essential observe and orient steps in the OODA loop (observe, orient, decide, act).

I’ve often described the two dynamics that are broken that AI can’t fix because those who own / control AI are using it to increase the asymmetrical distribution of wealth and income that are the source of breakdown. Consider healthcare. Everyone except the managers / owners / shareholders of healthcare / pharma cartels agrees healthcare is fundamentally broken and is bankrupting households, employers and the government / nation.

Those profiteering off the status quo healthcare system claim AI is going to reduce costs. They fail to mention this won’t reduce the price, it will only serve to increase their profits. Cut costs by replacing human labor with AI tools, yea, we reap even higher profits. Nobody is claiming healthcare will magically become affordable because a truly affordable healthcare system wouldn’t be as profitable because it wouldn’t be as open to exploitation, fraud, profiteering, extraction and parasitic pricing.

The Bible, Simplified:... Windahl, Zach Buy New $17.08 (as of 08:57 UTC - Details) In the same way, AI can’t solve the other fatal dynamic–widening wealth and income asymmetry–because it’s widening the asymmetry to new extremes. The owners of AI are reaping vast fortunes while stripmining resources to run their AI data centers and laying off wage earners. Rather than fixing what’s broken in America, AI is accelerating the endgame of what’s broken.

Let’s run through why increasing numbers of online comments suggest burning the whole rotten healthcare system down and starting over. Healthcare insurance–which often turn out to be a profitable facsimile of actual insurance–has more than doubled beyond the official rate of inflation. If healthcare insurance had tracked inflation, it would cost $10,000 a year for family coverage in 2026. Instead, it costs $25,000+ annually.

Diagnosis: broken.

Regardless of how you toy with statistics, the reality is administrative costs / bloat / profiteering have soared. Diagnosis: broken.

Meanwhile, back in reality, rapidly aging populations are far from their peak demand for healthcare services. Check out the white line on this chart (courtesy of @econimica) of those aged 65+. While births collapse and the workforce is pressured by AI and the soaring cost of living, millions of elderly retirees are being added to the Medicare beneficiary pool. Diagnosis: broken.

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