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Transparency might be called "the three Ts" because it implicitly requires Truth (as opposed to facsimiles of transparency, misrepresentations, deceptive accounting, manipulated data, etc.) and Trust that the feedback from auditors and oversight mechanisms has not been compromised by Elite and/or State interference/influence.

Without truth and trust then transparency degrades into just another simulacrum of authenticity packaged for propaganda purposes.

3. Accountability. A key goal of propaganda, simulacra, facsimiles, misrepresentations, manipulated data, disinformation, secrecy and complexity itself is to misdirect or diffuse accountability from those benefiting from looting, embezzlement, bribes, fraud, sweetheart contracts, gaming the system, monopoly, etc.

There are two ways to eliminate accountability: break the link between action and consequence--that is, incompetence or criminal behavior draw no countering action such as termination, investigation, clawback of embezzled funds, etc.--and confuse/craze the chain of responsibility so that no one individual or group of individuals is held accountable for their actions (or inaction).

For individuals and households, accountability starts at home.

4. An Adult Understanding (Triage and Trade-offs). As we have described above, the marketing/media complex and entitlement/victimhood mindset propagated by the Savior State have both encouraged and incentivized a permanent adolescence which is dominated by justifications, excuses, impulsive desires, instant gratification, low competence, irresponsibility, self-destructiveness, profound internal insecurity and a reliance on shrill claims of victimhood and need.

Engagement, transparency and accountability are incompatible with permanent adolescence and require what I term an adult understanding of life: that cost-benefit analyses are required on all time scales (short, medium and long-term) and that trade-offs must be made in all situations. An adult understanding grasps the necessity for triage, the always difficult and occasionally ruthless sorting of dead-end strategies from those which may yet be productive. Distinguishing needs from wants is also a form of triage.

As the Savior State implodes in insolvency, permanent adolescence will yield ever more marginal returns (the greater the effort and energy invested, the lower the returns). Recognizing that is the first step to an adult understanding.

A productive second step is seeking to leverage existing assets (financial, skillsets, networks, etc.) and reworking incentives to reward productivity, creation of value and surplus.

5. Redundancy/Distributed Risk/Hedging. One of the key tenets of this entire analysis is the rising vulnerabilities and risks created by long, fragile supply chains and highly concentrated wealth, power and production. Examples abound: if all the electrical power to a region is carried by one set of transmission lines, then that system is far more vulnerable to disruption than one with multiple or redundant lines.

This is yet another case in which markets fail at the least opportune time. It is more profitable to concentrate production and transport than to distribute over a network, and much cheaper to rely on one line or center of production than to invest in redundant systems. Thus when the sole supplier/transport fails or is disrupted, the market spirals into panic because there is no short-term alternative source or supply.

At the household level, hedging, redundancy and distributing risk comes down to actions such as: having a backup skill, trade or alternative source of income; when wheat is cheap, then buy quantities in secure storage against the inevitable time when it become dear; when gasoline is cheap, buy a futures contract which will rise in value if gasoline skyrockets in cost.

Put another way, distributing risk lowers the vulnerability of an entire system. In the present era, the rentier-financial Elites and the State have colluded on a breathtakingly profitable