This is not the same world it was on January 20, 2025. Things we are accustomed to are being yanked away. And things we were taught to believe are true are now being called false. Plus some of the things we’re being told are not true at all.
The trend in governance is turning upside down. For 90 years, democracy was taking over the world. Today, it’s autocracy that’s on the rise. More people live under autocratic rule today than at any point in the last 50 years.
Only 12% of the world’s population now live in democracies. Dictatorship is spreading. Including in our own country. The President says, ““A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.’” And Fox News Jesse Waters defended the president’s mental powers by saying, “You can’t be a dictator with dementia.”
But the truth is that we have opted out of our role as the leader of the free world. And China is moving step-by-step to be the leader of a new world order. An order in which we are the bad guys.
While the world’s balance of power shifts, the president says we are in our golden age. But there are fewer jobs and the American economy is slumping. Twenty three American states are in recession. Another thirteen are treading water.
Meanwhile, we are told that inflation is down. But inflation is still going up. The price of a pound of beef has risen 43% since 2020. And since 2020, the price of eggs has doubled. Plus, for the first time in history, the price of a car in America has broken the $50,000 barrier.
When it comes to inflation, fewer jobs and a declining rate of economic growth, we are confused and uncertain. Why? The monthly employment figures and economic growth numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics aren’t coming out. And when they do come out, they may be tampered with to fit the administration’s favored narrative.
One reason the statistics are not coming out? We are in a government shutdown. One that may last longer than the president’s last record-breaking shutdown in 2019. Which means that you can’t call a government agency to check on your parents’ Social Security status. And you can’t call the IRS for help with your taxes.
But those are not the only reasons some of us feel dazed and confused. Our foreign policy is changing every week. Two weeks ago, our tariff on China was 35%. Last week it went up to 100%. But in two weeks, when our president meets with Xi Jinping in South Korea, it is likely to change again.
And our trade war with China is putting seventh-generation soybean farmers out of business. What’s worse, we’ve just given Argentina $20 billion dollars. Despite the fact that Argentina is selling China the soybeans our farmers can’t.
Underlying all of that, the very definition of what’s true is under fire.
Science, the field that has always provided reliable answers to our questions, is being torn apart. Institutions the world looked to for scientific leadership have been shockingly destabilized and have been undermined by demands to follow a political party line.
This includes legendary science centers like the National Science Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control.
At the same time, universities that once spoke to us with authority are now being kidnapped by foreigners. Since the early 1980s, oil-rich nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have funded professorial chairs and entire branch campuses in Qatar for universities from Harvard and Princeton to Stanford, Georgetown, Cornell, Northwestern, and Texas A&M. Then came Students for Justice in Palestine. This group’s hidden solution for the problems in the Middle East is genocide. That’s the meaning of their slogan, “From the river to the sea.” What’s between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea? Israel. And Israel, Students for Justice in Palestine believe, should be destroyed.
The result? Campuses have been frozen by demonstrations covertly calling for the extermination of a sovereign nation, Israel. And for the death of its people. For genocide.
In other words, truth is under fire. Our daily lives are under fire. No wonder some of us are going nuts.
______
About the author: Howard Bloom of the Howard Bloom Institute has been called the Einstein, Newton, Darwin, and Freud of the 21st century by Britain’s Channel 4 TV. Bloom’s new book is The Case of the Sexual Cosmos: Everything You Know About Nature is Wrong. Says Harvard’s Ellen Langer of The Case of the Sexual Cosmos, Bloom “argues that we are not savaging the earth as some would have it, but instead are growing the cosmos. A fascinating read.” One of Bloom’s eight previous books–Global Brain—was the subject of a symposium thrown by the Office of the Secretary of Defense including representatives from the State Department, the Energy Department, DARPA, IBM, and MIT. Bloom’s work has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Psychology Today, and the Scientific American. Not to mention in scientific journals like Biosystems, New Ideas in Psychology, and PhysicaPlus. Says Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Evolution’s End and The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, “I have finished Howard Bloom’s [first two] books, The Lucifer Principle and Global Brain, in that order, and am seriously awed, near overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he has done. I never expected to see, in any form, from any sector, such an accomplishment. I doubt there is a stronger intellect than Bloom’s on the planet.” For more, see http://howardbloom.net or http://howardbloom.institute
______
References:
**Domestic Politics: Dictatorship and Institutional Trust**
Duffy, Brian. “Trump Wonders: ‘Maybe We Like a Dictator.’” *Time*, October 14, 2025. [https://time.com/7312196/trump-americans-maybe-we-like-a-dictator/].
Express. “Fox News Host Suggests Americans Want Trump as a Dictator.” *Express*, October 15, 2025.[https://www.express.co.uk/news/us/2118962/fox-news-donald-trump-dictator]
Salter, Sid. “Broken Trust with Our American Institutions Threatens the Future of Our National Identity.” *Northside Sun*, October 2, 2025. [https://www.northsidesun.com/broken-trust-our-american-institutions-threatens-future-our-national-identity]
Associated Press. “National Pride Is Declining in America. And It’s Splitting by Party Lines.” *AP News*, June 14, 2025. [https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/national-pride-is-declining-in-america-and-its-splitting-by-party-lines-new-gallup-polling-shows/]
—
**US Government Operations and Budget**
Choi, Joseph. “One-Quarter of CDC Staff Targeted by Layoff Notices: Union.” *The Hill*, October 15, 2025. [https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5556514-federal-layoffs-cdc-union/]
Stone, Judy. “Mass Firings and Rehiring at CDC Create Chaos, Fear.” *Forbes*, October 13, 2025. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2025/10/13/mass-firings-and-rehirings-at-cdc-create-chaos-fear/]
Vasquez, Krystal. “Congress Pushes Back on Trump’s Proposed Cuts to NSF.” *Chemical & Engineering News*, September 17, 2025. [https://cen.acs.org/policy/research-funding/Congress-pushes-back-Trumps-proposed/103/web/2025/09].
Yilek, Caitlin. “Trump Signs Rescissions Bill Clawing Back Foreign Aid, NPR and PBS Funding.” *CBS News*, July 24, 2025. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-signs-rescissions-package-foreign-aid-npr-pbs-funding]
Horsley, Scott. “Shutdown Has Already Delayed the Jobs Report. More Critical Reports Could Be Held Up.” *NPR via OPB*, October 3, 2025. [https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/03/shutdown-delays-jobs-report-and-more-key-data-may-be-held-up]
Bonilla Muñiz, Leslie. “Federal Shutdown Could Hurt Government Services Including WIC, SNAP in Indiana.” *The Republic*, October 13, 2025. [https://www.therepublic.com/2025/10/13/federal-shutdown-could-hurt-government-services-incuding-wic-snap-in-indiana/]
—
**China and Global Power Shift**
Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. “China’s New World Order.” *Axios*, October 11, 2025. [https://www.axios.com/2025/10/11/china-new-world-order-xi-jinping].
Myers, Steven Lee. “Xi Jinping’s Vision for a New Global Order.” *The New York Times*, October 10, 2025. [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/world/asia/xi-jinping-global-order.html].
Kuo, Lily. “Xi Jinping Hosts Putin and Kim at Military Parade.” *The Wall Street Journal*, October 6, 2025. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/xi-jinping-putin-kim-jong-un-parade-2025].
Schoen, Douglas E., and Carly Cooperman. “The US Cannot Abandon Its Leadership Role in an Increasingly Dangerous World.” *The Hill*, September 15, 2025. [https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5501818-us-leadership-global-assault/].
—
**Trade and Economic Impact**
Chicago Sun-Times. “Farmers Urge Ending the Trade War as China Shuns U.S. Soybeans.” *Chicago Sun-Times*, October 15, 2025.[https://chicago.suntimes.com/money/2025/10/15/farmers-trade-war-china-us-soybeans]
NPR. “‘We’re Not Doing Well’: U.S.-China Trade War Taking a Toll on American Soybean Farms.” *NPR*, October 9, 2025. [https://www.kunc.org/2025-10-09/were-not-doing-well-u-s-china-trade-war-taking-a-toll-on-american-soybean-farms]
USA Today. “Trump’s Tariff War with China Puts American Farmers at Risk.” *USA Today*, October 15, 2025. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/10/15/trumps-tariff-war-china-soybean-farms-risk/86692005007/]
Knox, Olivier. “Nearly a Million Jobs Just Vanished.” *U.S. News & World Report*, September 10, 2025. [https://www.usnews.com/news/u-s-news-decision-points/articles/2025-09-10/nearly-a-million-jobs-just-vanished]
Forbes. Pequeno IV, Antonio. “Average US New Car Price Surpasses $50,000—An All-Time High amid Surging EV Sales.” *Forbes*, October 13, 2025. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/10/13/average-us-new-car-price-surpasses-50000-an-all-time-high-amid-surging-ev-sales/]
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “The Employment Situation — August 2025.” *BLS.gov*, September 5, 2025. [https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_09052025.pdf]