In This Article

• Why immigration fear is a feature, not a flaw, of scarcity-based economics
• How psychopathic traits rise in systems seeking perfection
• What happens when we eliminate all “slippage”
• The role of ReGenesis Economics in reframing social threats as capacity
• How regenerative thinking offers a way forward from division and cruelty

Why Immigration, Racism, and the Economy Are All One Systemic Mess

When a family crosses a border, the system doesn’t see people, it sees cost. When a Black man walks into a boardroom, the system doesn't see talent, it considers a threat. Our economic model has trained us to view newcomers not as potential, but as competition. The immigrant, the outsider, the "other" becomes a burden instead of a resource. This isn’t accidental. It’s what happens when your economic framework is built on fear, fear of loss, fear of scarcity, fear that there's not enough to go around. In such a system, someone must lose for someone else to win. That’s the grim logic of zero-sum capitalism.

Years ago, I began to see how deeply this fear-based model shaped everything, from immigration policy to social trust, from boardrooms to ballots. So I coined a term: ReGenesis Economics. It’s not a rebrand or utopian fantasy. It’s a declaration, that we can build systems not on fear, but on regeneration. Where traditional economics sees life as a pie with too few slices, ReGenesis sees it as a garden, one that grows richer when more hands contribute.

But that’s not how our current system works. Our legacy economic model, let’s call it Competitive Scarcity Economics, was designed by the few, for the few, under the myth that resources are limited and people are inherently selfish. From that premise, we built systems that reward hoarding, extraction, and manipulation. Those who benefit from this model have every incentive to sow division, because the moment we collaborate, their monopoly collapses. So instead, inclusion becomes a liability. Diversity becomes a danger. Fear becomes the dominant policy lever.

ReGenesis Economics flips that logic on its head. It reflects how healthy systems actually survive and thrive: not through domination, but through cyclical renewal. The word itself carries meaning, of repair, of rebirth, of self-correcting, life-affirming design. Unlike extractive economics, which depletes both people and the planet, ReGenesis Economics prioritizes human and ecological well-being as core infrastructure. It reminds us that real wealth isn’t what we hoard, it’s what we circulate, what we nurture, and what we pass forward. Until we speak in the language of regeneration, we’ll keep building systems that collapse under the illusion of control.

The Slippage Illusion: When Perfection Becomes a Weapon

Every system has slippage, inefficiencies, mistakes, unpredictabilities. In healthy systems, that “slippage” isn’t a flaw; it’s a feature. It creates room for flexibility, for learning, for course correction. It allows the system to breathe, adapt, absorb shocks, and evolve. But in rigid, extractive systems, slippage is viewed as failure. The entire purpose becomes eliminating it, making everything trackable, profitable, and optimized to the point of exhaustion. What happens when you try to eradicate all slippage? You don’t create efficiency. You make a machine. And machines don’t tolerate humanity, they grind it up in the gears.

The American healthcare system is Exhibit A. We've allegedly squeezed out all the “waste,” streamlined everything, digitized billing, offloaded labor onto patients and nurses, and yet we pay 50% more than other developed countries for worse outcomes. Why? Because we’ve confused profit-maximization with efficiency. We’re so obsessed with cutting costs that we’ve cut out the soul. We’ve built a system that is clinically efficient at generating revenue, but catastrophically bad at producing well-being. Human needs don’t fit into spreadsheets, and trying to make them fit only creates misery. The more we tighten control, the more chaos leaks out somewhere else, in burnout, bankruptcies, and untreated illnesses.

Public education is another case study in the wrong kind of slippage. Instead of funding schools as regenerative environments that grow people, we've turned them into compliance factories. Metrics, tests, surveillance, behavioral controls, all in the name of eliminating inefficiency. But what gets stamped out with the slippage? Curiosity. Creativity. Individual growth. The more we try to make education “accountable,” the less accountable it becomes to real human development. And just like in healthcare, the logic of perfection rewards those who manage the numbers, not those who serve the people. In ReGenesis Economics, slippage is not the enemy, it’s the breathing room that lets the system evolve. Without it, we don’t build resilience. We make a pressure cooker that is waiting to explode.

Enter the Psychopath: How Systems Invite the Worst Among Us

If you try to create a system that punishes every mistake, who rises to the top? It’s not the empathetic collaborator or the humble problem-solver. It’s the person who feels nothing when others suffer. The one who doesn’t flinch at collateral damage. The one who sees people as pieces on a chessboard to move, sacrifice, or discard. In short: the psychopath. When perfection is the standard and fear of failure dominates, those who can act without guilt, without conscience, and without emotional interference gain an edge. The system isn’t broken, it’s working precisely as designed, just not for the benefit of most people.

Research confirms what our instincts already tell us. Studies show that psychopathic traits, like manipulativeness, shallow affect, and lack of empathy, are significantly more prevalent among CEOs and high-level executives than in the general population. And why wouldn’t they be? In systems built on zero-sum competition, domination, and aggressive cost-cutting, traits that would be considered pathological in everyday life, these traits become survival tools at the top. These systems don’t just tolerate sociopathic behavior, they actively reward it. Compassion becomes a liability; indifference becomes an asset. It’s not just about capitalism gone wrong, it’s about designing our institutions to elevate those least equipped to care for the collective good.

And it doesn’t stop in the boardroom. In democracies under stress, the same dynamics creep into politics. When people are afraid of economic collapse, of demographic change, of losing status, they become more susceptible to authoritarian messaging. Throughout history, financial instability has given rise to leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. Today, we’re seeing the same psychological patterns emerge under different flags. Trump’s rise didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was the culmination of decades of trickle-down economic cruelty, media manipulation, and eroded public trust. People don’t rally behind strongmen because they want cruelty, they do it because the system has convinced them that only cruelty will protect them. It’s not just a leadership problem. It’s a systems design failure, and we’re all living in its shadow.

The Psychopathy Pyramid: A Rotten Hierarchy

It’s tempting to point fingers at the 1% and call it a day. But psychopathy isn’t just about the top. Research suggests that 10–15% of people may exhibit strong psychopathic traits, and another 30–40% will engage in destructive behavior if it benefits or protects them.

That means more than half the population could either lead, support, or silently enable psychopathic leadership under the right conditions. That’s not a glitch. That’s how dominance-based systems function when stretched to the breaking point. It's the cost of trying to achieve control without compassion, efficiency without empathy, order without justice.

ReGenesis Economics: A System That Bends, Not Breaks

ReGenesis Economics begins with a radical yet ancient premise: people are basically good. Yes, some cheat. Yes, some exploit. However, most, when given support, inclusion, and purpose, want to contribute, not cause harm.

This model isn’t about utopia. It’s about balance. It accepts slippage as part of life. It values flexibility over rigidity, regeneration over extraction. Where traditional economic models treat humans like cogs in a machine, ReGenesis treats us like roots in an ecosystem, connected, vital, and capable of renewal.

In this frame, immigration isn’t a risk. It’s a resource. Diversity isn’t a disruption. It’s a design feature. And slippage, those little inefficiencies, exceptions, and unpredictabilities, that’s not failure. That’s life.

The Fourth Turning and the Ebb of Regeneration

If you zoom out far enough, you see the pattern. Societies go through seasons. Renewal, growth, collapse, rebirth. The Fourth Turning theory maps this cycle, but ReGenesis Economics explains it. The more we suppress regeneration, creativity, cooperation, human messiness, the harder we fall. The longer we suppress it, the more catastrophic the reset will be.

We’re living that reset now. And we have a choice: double down on the control systems that brought us here, or re-anchor ourselves in the regenerative logic that sustains all life. One path leads to fascism, as exemplified by a spreadsheet. The other is something worth saving.

Building Trust Funds, Not Time Bombs

Think of the world as a trust fund. If we live on the interest, the renewable capacity of people, planet, and community, we can thrive for generations to come. But if we consume both interest and principal, if we extract more than we regenerate, we eventually face collapse. That’s not theory. That’s math.

The current fight over immigration and racism? It's the shadow of a system in collapse. But ReGenesis doesn’t ask us to start from scratch. It asks us to begin again, with reverence, not rage. To reset, not repeat. And most importantly, to finally stop confusing cruelty with order.

About the Author

Robert Jennings is the co-publisher of InnerSelf.com, a platform dedicated to empowering individuals and fostering a more connected, equitable world. A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, Robert draws on his diverse life experiences, from working in real estate and construction to building InnerSelf with his wife, Marie T. Russell, to bring a practical, grounded perspective to life’s challenges. Founded in 1996, InnerSelf.com shares insights to help people make informed, meaningful choices for themselves and the planet. More than 30 years later, InnerSelf continues to inspire clarity and empowerment.

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This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. Attribute the author Robert Jennings, InnerSelf.com. Link back to the article This article originally appeared on InnerSelf.com

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Article Recap

ReGenesis Economics reframes immigration and diversity as capacity, not threat. By acknowledging slippage and rejecting perfection, we reduce the rise of psychopathic leadership and build resilient, regenerative systems. Scarcity-based systems create division; regenerative ones create belonging. That’s the pivot we must make, before the next cycle begins.

#ReGenesisEconomics #ImmigrationAndEconomy #PsychopathicLeadership #ScarcityVsRegeneration #EconomicJustice #InclusionMatters #ReframeTheSystem #FourthTurning #RacismAndSystems #BottomUpChange