Ditching DEI
My favourite Costa Coffee shop used to recognise the value of the coffee farmers on which it depends in the pictures that adorned the walls. However, the Costa Coffee chain are no longer overtly demonstrating their respect for the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I am guessing that this is a side-effect of the Trump administration, which does not encourage respect for any of these themes. The message from Trump is clear, those that serve the wealth hierarchy are to be bullied and bossed, deluded and deceived, rather than respected. This is the machismo image favoured by the toxic wealth hierarchy which has poisoned all of humanity and gives rise to ever increasing global injustice.
The inter-generational justice is accelerating now as Trump’s administration is now closing scientific research centres that monitor climate breakdown and ecosystems collapse. Our future and our children’s was already in jeopardy, but any little rays of realism coming from scientific quarters are now being studiously snuffed out.
Unfortunately, I do not have photos of the pictures that used to hang on the walls that impressed me so much with their subliminal messaging. However I did find evidence that Costa had been attacked in the past for ‘woke’ messaging with a picture that celebrated transgender. Woke is a term used for anything that people feel is an uncomfortable reality that they prefer to ignore. This dismissive term can be applied to anything from the quality of an individual like transgender, to something that affects us all, like climate breakdown ecosystems collapse. ‘Woke’ refers to awkward truths that many prefer to deny.
No Brown Faces Allowed on the Walls
The recent redecoration in my favourite Costa now means that there are no longer any brown faces smiling out at customers. The man in the image shown above looks rather like Mark Zuckerberg. We can no longer escape the influence of billionaires when we share a coffee with friends. Furthermore, we are shown reminders of the heartless society that we have constructed, with pictures that appear to worship industry and concrete. Water is shown in pipes rather than rivers. Are we being asked to despise Nature? We are certainly being encouraged to despise the themes of diversity, equity and inclusion. It seems as if respect for other humans and other life forms is now regarded as a human weakness.
Christian Hypocrisy
What does being a Christian country mean nowadays? The UK continues to be best buddies with a country across the pond that has no respect for people with brown skin or funny accents, any people ‘not like us’. An article in Salon reveals that some denominations of Christianity are starting to feel uncomfortable with the inhumane treatment of immigrants in the USA. Pope Leo is speaking out against the wealth hierarchy and the abuse of immigrants in the USA but most Christians are ignoring these messages.
In the UK Nigel Farage seems determined to persuade us that there is some treasured culture that is being lost to ‘immigrants’, thus encouraging xenophobia. The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer was keen to point out her own enthusiasm for the xenophobic ideology of Zionism at a recent Friends of Israel event.
We continue to endorse enormous unnecessary waste every Christmas time, as our shops turn the entire winter period into an orgy of coercive consumerism that neither Nature nor humanity can afford.
Admiring Narcissism and Corruption
It is a direct consequence of our toxic wealth and power hierarchy that causes many to admire people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Our society compels us to respect people in positions of extreme wealth and power. The competitive priorities that underpin our foolish socio-economic model mean that most people feel obligated to show powerful people genuine admiration and respect. That consequence will continue, until we challenge the wisdom of maintaining such an unequal hierarchy.
I have a friend who perceives Trump as a marvellous leader whose actions are ‘Making America Great Again’. Below I dissect his framing, shown in italics, about Trump’s perceived achievements, which he sent me in a recent email.
On Venezuela Strikes: “We’re protecting American lives from narco-terrorists flooding the USA with drugs. Previous administrations did nothing while cartels killed Americans with fentanyl. This President is finally taking decisive action. Democrats who criticize this want open borders and dead Americans.”
We should really be asking: ‘Why are the people in the richest most powerful country in the world resorting to drug dependency?’. To me it seems that Americans are deeply messed up psychologically. Their craving for power and wealth has caused them to admire a man that numerous psychologists classify as a malignant narcissist. Clearly the USA culture is deeply unsatisfying and toxic. The UK also suffers from a similar toxic culture, otherwise we would be unanimously horrified at the current behaviour from the USA.
On the Kennedy Centre: “The Centre board voted unanimously. The President saved a failing institution that was losing money and relevance. Adding his name recognizes his contributions while honouring Kennedy’s; Democrats are just upset because Mr Trump is popular and successful. Let’s celebrate both great presidents.” — To me this is further evidence of malignant narcissism.
On the Epstein files: “We released more than any previous administration. The redactions protect victims and ongoing investigations, exactly as the law prescribes. Notice how the files show Clinton everywhere? That’s what Democrats wanted to hide. Trump is delivering the transparency that Democrats blocked for years.” –The Epstein web of intrigue and sexual exploitation reflects the toxic nature of the wealth and power hierarchy that binds the USA, the UK, and Israel deep into decades of ecocidal and genocidal activities. This poison has infiltrated the entire political scene in all these countries; both left and right are equally contaminated with the scars of wealth and power. Russia is probably involved in that same toxic web of power. Robert Maxwell, father to Ghislaine Maxwell, was suspected of being a secret agent of a foreign government, possibly a double agent or a triple agent, and ‘a thoroughly bad character and almost certainly financed by Russia’.
On economic claims: “The RAND report is leftist propaganda. Mr Trump inherited Biden’s disaster: record inflation, open borders, crime everywhere. The economy was unhelpful for working families. The President cutting regulations and taxes to unleash growth. The real ‘theft’ was Biden’s spending that crushed the middle class.” The RAND report is further evidence that the entire wealth and power hierarchy is corrupt and not working in the interests of humanity; this applies right across the political spectrum. AI is a huge drain on natural resources, and we are facing an existential polycrisis. None of this reality is recognised in the RAND report.
On broader “lawlessness” charges: “The President is restoring law and order after Biden’s chaos. Every action is legal and necessary. The ‘experts’ Richardson quotes are the same people who tried to jail Mr Trump, impeach him twice, and rig elections. They’re terrified he’s draining the swamp.” The judicial system has always been a tool to prop up business as usual. The wealth and power hierarchy are so deeply toxic and corrupt nowadays that our judicial systems are unable to cope with the level of greed and selfishness that growth economics has inspired in the breasts of our businessmen. The work by The Transparency Task Force in the UK reveals the weakness of the UK Financial Conduct Authority and other financial protection measures. We need to rethink what is important for collective survival and construct a judicial system around that.
In General: “Democrats and their media allies are hysterical because Mr Trump is actually delivering results. Strong borders, crushing cartels, exposing Epstein connections, rebuilding American institutions. They call it ‘lawlessness’ when Republicans enforce laws they ignored. This is what voters elected him to do.” None of these actions addresses the toxic nature of the wealth and power hierarchy. None of these actions addresses climate breakdown or ecosystems collapse. None of these actions addresses global injustice and inequality. However, these actions do make America great; America is now the greatest example of human idiocy that we have achieved since we arrived on Earth. The greatest waste of resources, and power, and ingenuity that could possibly be imagined; for that we can award top marks to MAGA!
Unfortunately both the UK, and Israel are also deeply entangled in the same brand of ecocidal and genocidal unwise behaviour that currently dominates in the USA.
Published on LinkedIn Christmas Day 2025
This article serves as a Christmas message to the wealthy world. We have thrived for a long time on hypocrisy, delusion, and denial. For so long, that it is increasingly difficult to recognise what is genuine when we see it.
The wealth hierarchy stands firm today, destroying Earth’s ecosystems every minute of every day deeply entrenched and very unwise habits. We shall need new stories that challenge these cultural habits that prevent us from doing anything to alleviate our predicament. These habits can be named as: exponential growth economics, pronatalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and serving the wealth hierarchy without challenge. None of these habits are supported by Christian doctrine.
‘Go forth and multiply!’ was appropriate advice when we first walked the Earth. This advice does not apply in a world in accelerating ecosystems collapse. Instead we should consider ‘Thou shalt not kill!’. Our habits have now become ecocidal, genocidal and suicidal. We urgently need to rethink. A Global Aspiration to return within the carrying capacity of Earth would be a good idea to steer us into a wiser direction.
Barry’s Economics recently analysed Dicken’s story of a Christmas Carol in terms of understanding one’s impact on others. This is a helpful contribution to the morality discussion regarding the toxic wealth and power hierarchy: Dickens Was An Economist — Barry’s Economics