Remember the 2 + 2 = 5 bit in the book "1984"? That was in reference to the Soviet claims that they met all the production goals for their 5 year plan in 4 years. The slogan was something like, "We achieved 5 in 4".<p>The production figures were all fraudulent, of course. The industrial figures weren't just wrong, but hid the fact that Russian argicultural had been set back 40 years--not to recover until the 1980s.<p>Back then, "Prosperity" was the ticket. And "Prosperity" meant smokestacks. What's the best way of making more smokestacks? Everyone has a pre-packaged solution to every problem, of course, which is phrased in various ways but amounts to:<p><i>We</i> control <i>you</i>.<p>IE, control of the means of production. That's the solution--and since it precedes the problem, and since it doesn't actually solve any problems anyway, it has to search around pretty hard looking for a reason. Back then, the crisis was "Not enough smokestacks". In later years?<p>Umm. Poverty? Inequality? Pollution? Global cooling? Global Warming? ... The solution to "Global Warming" is of course "We need fewer smokestacks". Since people aren't likely to shut their smokestacks off willingly, the REAL solution is,<p><i>We</i> control <i>you</i>.<p>...after seizing the means of production.