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Guest Post: How Does This End?
Originally posted at Monty Pelerin's World blog,
When Suckers Finally Realize
The fleecing of the American public continues.
The theft takes different forms, but it all serves one purpose — to transfer wealth from the average Joe to the crony corporatists and their political lackeys. Here are but a few examples of how this has been accomplished:
- Bailouts for the wealthy and well-connected are paid for by the unconnected middle class.
- Subsidies are provided for unworkable schemes submitted by political donors and favorites. These schemes inevitably fail and the tax-payer is left holding an empty bag.
- Laws are routinely ignored when “friends” need help. In identical circumstances, would you receive the same treatment as Jon Corzine?
- Despite the biggest theft in world history, no one was prosecuted. The Savings and Loan crisis in the 1980s was trivial in comparison to the recent financial crisis. More than a thousand S&L executives were prosecuted.
- Ever-increasing sacrifices in the form of higher taxes from the productive sector are demanded to continue the plush living of the ruling class.
Capitalism and free markets depend upon trust, integrity, property rights and the rule of law. Without these, there are no advantages to free markets. Nor are there any incentives to create wealth. Instead, an economy becomes little more than a massive plunder scheme where the powerful exploit the weak. No economic recovery is possible under such circumstances.
When Suckers Revolt
As people recognize what is happening, they alter their behavior. Three reactions are to be expected:
1. Some will become discouraged when they realize the game is stacked against them. They will diminish their efforts to succeed, even perhaps dropping out of the game altogether. Given the enhanced returns to not working, it should not be surprising that this alternative has become popular.
2. Others will adopt the same behavior as the ruling class. They will exploit those lower on the food chain than themselves. Justice Brandeis warned of the implications of government misbehavior:
In a government of laws, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipotent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. If government becomes a lawbreaker it breeds contempt for law: it invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan described the process of declining moral values as “defining deviancy down.”
3. Others may resort to acts of violence. These reactions could be isolated domestic terrorist acts against government and corporations seen as the exploiters. Or the acts might be broader based where the poor see fit to attempt to take from the wealthy. They also could manifest in wide civil unrest against the government if it is seen as the cause of misery or if it is seen as intending to default on promises made.
All of this behavior is anti-social and it is unproductive. It reduces the output of the economy, further exacerbating the problems.
How Does This End?
It is difficult to know how the current condition ends. Here are a few possibilities, with some opinion added:
- Will our ruling class alter its behavior? That is very unlikely. History provides no examples where power is willingly relinquished.
- Will our economy collapse? That is a likely outcome, although the process could take years or decades.
- Will social unrest occur? Probably. The government, at some point will be unable to honor its promises. It is broke and left with the printing of money as its primary source of funds. Stopping the printing means dishonoring promises and likely plunges the country into civil unrest.
- Will hyperinflation occur? If the government continues to print, that seems to be the inevitable result.
Issues That Need To Be Solved
We are too far into this economic disaster to escape without an economic collapse of some sort. Return to normal economic times is impossible without a complete and thorough purging of the economic distortions and capital mis-allocations produced from decades of government interventions.
The following issues prevent a recovery:
- No economy can prosper without a strong middle class. They are the productive class in society. They are the small businesses and job creators. Without them, society does not produce. Without production, there is only poverty.
- Inflation, the cruelest tax of all, is driving up prices while wages and salaries do not keep pace. For those without wealth, there is no way to protect against this theft. For those with wealth, they can rearrange investments to take advantage of inflation, particularly if they are privy to what is coming next.
- The economy is dysfunctional. It no longer functions efficiently as a result of the burdens it is forced to labor under. The price system has been made less efficient as a result of inflation, manipulated interest rates, subsidies, penalties and other impediments. It no longer provides the information needed by economic actors to make proper decisions.
- Regime uncertainty discourages action. When economic actors are unable to judge the future, they pull back. Money goes to the sidelines or out of the country.
- US economic policy and the uncertainty of what comes next has been a great job creator for other countries.
- Economic growth cannot be forced by central diktats. It occurs only in a climate that is receptive and friendly to risk-taking. It is hard to imagine a worse environment than the current one. That is why there is no investment and no hiring.
What Is The Outlook?
There should be no optimism regarding government changing its ways. History suggests it never does.
The recent plunge in the gold market suggests government has gone all in in its attempt to continue exploitation. Chris Martenson commented on this event:
I am very disappointed by, but not surprised at, the latest transfer of weath to the bankers from everyone else. The most recent gold bear raid has vastly enriched the bullion bankers, once again, at the expense of everyone trying to protect their wealth from global central bank money printing.
Gold is considered a safe-haven against government plunder. It is one of the few escapes from fiat currency debauchery that the small investor has. Whether this latest attack on gold was to make the bullion bankers better off or to scare those trying to protect themselves against government exploitation is irrelevant. When government intervenes (assuming it did, and the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong) in markets in such a manner, it is no longer a referee. It has chosen a side and is a participant in the game. There can be no fair competition when one team owns the referee. That is what happens when government participates in markets.
Historians judge that it took Rome almost two hundred years to die. That determination depends very much upon what you mean by “die.” Arguably Rome died much earlier than historians acknowledge. Rome was dead-man walking before the couple of hundred years it took for it to fall down.
The US is in similar position. Unless you believe in the miracle of sovereign resurrection, the US is over. The coroner-historians have not pronounced death yet, but they, like with Rome, are behind the curve. This dead man too will eventually fall down.
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Capital consists of labor as well as land or gold, by making a man a debt slave you steal his labor and are therefore a thief.
How does this end? With terror and slaughter, that's how.
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
You know its the end when you find, starved to death people, wearing signs " will work for healthcare".
Obama is giving Healthcare to non-workers. People who work are at a disadvantage.
All you have to do is watch Obama at that church pontificating, waning philosophic, euphamisms galore, "you will run again" (yes, he said that, OMFG).
Good Lord I just can't believe it; one paragraph would have done it, then let the religious leaders speak in the church.
Instead we have the POTUS serving as religious figure: Priest - Judge - Ruler - Royal - our Kim Jong-Un messianic figure.
i can't believe people don't egg obama when he pulls out his late night preacher voice. what a phony.
They do in private, but it's not egg, quite the opposite.
Had to use an old speech, the "we won the gun battle and are now going for the black powder" speech was moot.
Banning black powder is racist. You will have to settle for banning Pyrodex only.
i love the over representation of boogie down wonderland in our media. we need more of them
A pathetic bitch-goddess he is.
“Person of interest” to be deported after Obama had unscheduled meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister
Was it the Boston Marathon Man?
The economy is bad and getting worse. It's so bad that.... today our local homeless guy found 3 people squatting in his cardboard box.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oShTJ90fC34
It all ends with a new monetary system from outside the US (the West) which will turn the post-WWII tables on who dictates terms of world trade to whom. The currency war is global and we are POWs of all the banks and just waiting to find out our fate.
The West will lose WWIII, The Great Currency War. The terms of surrender to the East will be the global resources which is what it's always ultimately about.
You know it's already a losing battle for USD supremacy when allies are already switching sides to the eventual winner, and future world hegemon, China. Witness: Australia, BOE, Japan switching to support the Dollar Exclusion Zone. Stampede is just starting.
It all ends with a new monetary system from outside the US (the West) which will turn the post-WWII tables on who dictates terms of world trade to whom. The currency war is global and we are POWs of all the banks and just waiting to find out our fate.
The West will lose WWIII, The Great Currency War. The terms of surrender to the East will be the global resources which is what it's always ultimately about.
You know it's already a losing battle for USD supremacy when allies are already switching sides to the eventual winner, and future world hegemon, China. Witness: Australia, BOE, Japan switching to support the Dollar Exclusion Zone. Stampede is just starting.
Smart comment.Who has the resources necessary for supporting the true fundamentals- Food, Shelter and Water?
If the West goes down so too will the global system, in which case the East taking it over will mean little. Yes, China and Russia have the potential for a more regional trade situation (complimentary), but this only holds as long as oil and NG from Russia can hold up (otherwise it's a pull-back in trade and China is fucked sooner rather than later).
There are only a handful of countries that are even close to having the ability to maintain (though at reduced levels) anything resembling a current "way-of-life:" U.S., Canada and Russia. (I'm sure that there are countries in South America that aren't too far off, though I'm not very versed in things there).
One has to measure things based on REAL capital- nature's capital, for all else is fiction.
You could almost add France to that list-if they had oil. Their north African interests will not be easy to keep, but if they can revoke their ruinous socialism they have a viable population to agri production ratio-always a good starting point!
Douuble
The battle is taking place now. I looked at the photos on Infowars this morning and was startled to see the Blackwater operations with their big backpacks and detonators at the finish line before the bombs went off. It is pretty startling stuff. Many are joining the sharing of documents to bring these bastards down. They are crooks and killers. Globalist banksters have no reason to treat the United States of America any different from Syria or Lybia and they are attacking the US at this time. Eric Holder can only protect them from being brought to justice for so long.
May they rot in hell, which is where I'm sure they are already.
Expendable loose ends ,tied with extreme prejudice, once thise
photos went public.
Holder doing a pretty good job right now of protecting the likes of Corzine, Geithner, Bernanke, and all the other crooks responsible for the crash. Oh, and his boss, too, of serious treasonous and seditious acts.
Yeah, if not for these crooks we could have kept rolling with the "perpetual growth on a finite planet" meme! </sarc>
Good point yet unrelated....
http://blog.yardeni.com/2013/04/brave-new-world-excerpt.html
In the Brave New World (BNW), robots like Baxter will replace assembly line workers. In this world, the risk of ultra-easy monetary policies isn’t consumer price inflation. Even now as we approach the dawn of the BNW, such inflation remains remarkably low despite the best efforts of the central banks to boost it. The CPI inflation rate among the G7 economies was only 1.6% y/y during February, and even lower at 1.4% excluding food and energy. In the US, PPI inflation rates are close to zero. In the euro zone, the CPI inflation rate is just 1.7%, and 1.4% excluding food and energy. Japan continues to experience deflation despite years of NZIRP and QE.
In the BNW, pumping more liquidity into financial markets won’t stop consumer price deflation, but it will inflate asset prices, a.k.a. asset bubbles. Central bankers like Ben Bernanke at the Fed and Haruhiko Kuroda at the BOJ are still using models based on the 1930s. They are clueless about the BNW. That’s why they are so committed to doing whatever it takes to avert deflation. They can’t even imagine that productivity-led deflation should be welcomed as the best way to boost the purchasing power of all consumers, whether employed or on government support.
They can imagine it alright, they just aren't allowed to go there. Productivity led deflation without a socially darwinist deflationary spiral requires something modern politicians are utterly incapable of doing ... significantly raising the taxes on the truly rich. The poor get poorer, the rich gets richer ... that's the only way the pendulum is allowed to swing any more, law of gravity be damned.
Also there is the problem that unemployment erodes public morals. As a species we are just too big a bastards to quietly lead a life of luxury while robots do most of the work, without a capitalist rat race giving us the opportunity to raise ourselves over others we turn to crime to do it any way.
"The CPI inflation rate among the G7 economies was only 1.6%"
Canada just came out with an adjustment on their 2013 growth forecast, 1.5%. NEED MOAR GROWTH (to overcome inflation). We'll continue to push on the GO pedal as things continue to slow down, continuing to wonder why the fuck it doesn't work. Not enough of nature's capital to support our perpetual growth habits...
According to Morgan Stanley:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136669710/The-Great-Monetary-Easing-Part-Three-Morgan-Stanley
Observing central banks’ recent actions and talk around the globe makes it increasingly likely that we are about to witness the third instalment of the ‘Great Monetary Easing’ that started to play out when the credit bubble burst five years ago. An even more expansionary global monetary policy stance, at a time when global growth has troughed and is starting to pick up, suggests that policy makers are becoming increasingly more tolerant of higher inflation outcomes in the future. Higher inflation – provided nominal interest rates can be kept low – would be an important contributor to alleviating the debt burden of the private and the public sector. Central bankers now seem to be more willing to embrace this argument and take action to ensure that interest rates in fact stay low, despite the cyclical recovery.
So what’s behind the recent change in tone amongst central bankers in the advanced economies which seems so at odds with accumulating signs of an upturn in the global economic cycle? We have two explanations: (i) worries about excessive currency appreciation and (ii) worries about higher bonds yields.
"accumulating signs of an upturn in the global economic cycle? "...
you are kidding right?
Get with the program! If we repeat the lie enough it'll come true! </sarc> (duh)
Next up, God and Unicorns...
CBS Documentary to break JPM whistleblower story....
http://silverdoctors.com/the-secret-world-of-gold-cbc-documentary-to-tak...
"At 9pm EST tonight, Thursday 4/18, the CBC is set to broadcast The Secret World of Gold, a detailed documentary exploring the co-ordinated manipulation of precious metals:"
Can't wait....Tonight at 9pm est.
Brian McKenna didn’t predict the recent nosedive in gold prices, but he knows someone who did.
“Andy sent me an email early Friday morning,” recounted the Montreal director. “He said, ‘There’s a big event happening. Someone’s dumping 500 tons of gold into the market.’ That ended up driving the price down by $78 an ounce. And 500 tons is 16 million ounces — we’re talking about a serious intervention here. Who’s got that kind of money?”
“Andy” is Andrew Maguire, a key source in McKenna’s fascinating new film The Secret World of Gold, which premières Thursday at 9 p.m. on CBC-TV. The hour-long documentary plunges into the dramatically rich narrative of gold, unveiling some shocking facts along the way.
“I was just going to do a history piece, until I stumbled over a whistle-blower,” McKenna said.
Sorry it's CBN not CBS....
No, it's CBC. Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
sorry, I totally screwed that one up
CBC actually (Canadian Broadcast Corporation)
And in a change to the advertised programme we bring you a special message from the President of the USofA.
This might seem as an unpopular and unlikely option in today's secular age.
But the Romans, under considerably economic stress (from taxation to pay for troops), where the state becomes merely a more familiar plunderer, opted for a new "trust" system, Christianity. Christianity supplemented and replaced the old trust systems, of Roman citizenship and rule of law, when the prior systems failed to provide security of any value.
Similarly, multiple cults and religions became a luxory that could no longer be tolerated when the life of the average Roman citizen was so precarious. So the new Roman government (Byzantine or Goth) shoved Christianity down the people's throat.
I'm not saying Christianity is the 21st or 22nd century's answer, whatever my personal preferences. More tightly wound social/religious systems that provide trust, like Mormonism or Islam, might serve the purpose as well.
Islam does have the advantage, even if you're poor Islam always gives men the opportunity of a fleeting feeling of superiority while they beat their wifes.
Fuck, if it comes to Islam having to save humanity from itself I hope some super disease or global nuclear war wipes the slate clean instead.
Well, if I recall correctly Islam (Sharia Law) forbids "usury"..........that's certainly a good start.
Riiiiggghhhhtttt, cut off hands, rape women, stone them, behead infidels super...
yah, but we gets to keep moar monies!!!
seriously, religion goes fist-in-glove with nationstate building - religion justifies certain gender'd behaviours that cultures need to grow financially, pair-bonding creates consumers, and even those who don't tie-their-knots consume to appear attract-tive, to be seen.
doubtful humanity will ever give up these mental chains that translate into actual life-bondage - but individuals do, and continue to.
wake up, drop out.
oh, and if you believe "mormonism" doesn't breed distrust in others, then how 'bout those secret ceremonies in their Masonic Freemason temples, complete with special "garments" for the privileged? how is that not an exclusive club, very similar to certain other religions? and they have rules about doing business with each other very similar to certain other religions. . .
the nature of religions is competition for members, and out-casting those who are NOT members. . . for "god" is a jealous, vengeful god, so saith He.
Oh, sure, they "ban" usury. So how does business get done in a world where - even in Shitistan, etc. - time is money? Like this: Abdul & Fatima want to but a $100,000 house. So they go to a banker who tots up the $ cost of x years at y% to come up with total payments z. Call it $300 grand. He then buys the house for A&F, sells it to 'em for $300,000 at "0%" interest, and holds the note till they pay that $300K "z" off. Just like Morgan & Goldman (used) to.
Next lesson: getting around adultery taboos with the help of daily, weekly or monthly "wives". Sure about that "Good Start" you wrote of?
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own." - Thomas Jefferson
Gott mit uns?
POWER = ABUSE. As long as you have anything other than some flat hierarchy you have those acting OVER others, which will ALWAYS bring abuse.
I have no problems with benevolent intent, but when it comes to application... And ALWAYS the basis is oppression, EVERYONE is oppressed (and if only THEY could impose THEIR <fill in the blank> the entirety of the world would be set right [and if not, which will certainly be the case, OTHERS will be blamed for not believing, for not saluting properly...]).
This ends like many/most of the circumstance when the currency is devalued at major powers. Rome, 1790 France, 1917 Russia, 1922 Germany. These are the models and the lessons are plain enough for those who will look.
Eventually the people get "hungry" and they take their anger out at a "group" that is an easy target, Christians in Rome, the rich in France, the Jews in Germany. A dictator takes over and he sets the new agenda, Napoleon, Hitler, Lenin, etc. They lead the country to "stability" and eventually war which changes the nature of their country forever. After a lot of death and mayhem of course.
So overlay these historical episodes on America (and the world for that matter) and you can reasonably predict what will occur.
It is not pretty, but that it the way it is going. Only God can change the path we are on, and He has lifted His protective shield and is letting us see what happens when we ignore/reject Him.
sschu
nice analysis till the imaginary stuff at the end.
"It is not pretty, but that it the way it is going. Only God can change the path we are on, and He has lifted His protective shield and is letting us see what happens when we ignore/reject Him."
Go forth and multiply - on a finite planet. FAIL! Next "solution?"
Here's the reality that people cannot handle: humans are deceptive, this causes problems when one is being deceived; BUT, in order to mitigate the impacts of deception from others one has to engage in deception. Deception is a built-in, it's in ALL of nature. When it comes down to the matter of survival I think I should not trust anyone else who proclaims what is in MY best interest (a govt bureaucrat OR some priest), and I'm sure that "God" would want it that way, otherwise I would be welcoming my own demise, committing suicide (which, I've been told, is not what "God" wants).
You identify a number of very solid Biblical principles, but may not realize it of course.
Go forth and multiply - on a finite planet. FAIL! Next "solution?"
Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Genesis 9:7
And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
In G 1:22 this was of course before the fall, so multiplying was not an issue since God was providing and there were endless resources. In G9, this was after the flood and there was no one around. Hence “replenish”. But very early on it was known that are time here is limited as well as painful in many respects.
humans are deceptive
Yes, unfortunately we are all fallen and subject to the frailties of this fallen world.
I think I should not trust anyone else who proclaims what is in MY best interest
Agreed. I make no such claim to know what is in your best interest, but God does. It is entirely your choice to accept or decline his offers of blessings. I have made my choice.
You speak (some) truths!
sschu
All's I know is what I see and it looks more grim every day...people are tapped out and now sucking out their 401(k)s [if they have one] since they already sucked out all the money from their overpriced house-boxes. Consumer spending is a HUGE portion of our GDP so I am thinking we may see a negative 3 or 4% GDP coming up, and a more severe depression for 80-90% of the peoples.
I hope not but it seems to be going from worse to worser.
True enough. And yet, In Vegas, the RE Meltdown & unemployment capital of the US, the bars and especially the restaurants are all doing land-office business. Expect a wait just about ANYwhere on Fri/Sat nights. The *locals* places, not just the strip.
I ask again, for like the millionth time, WTF?
vato,
Same in Portland O and San Diego. One hour wait in SD the other night at a yelp 3.5 star eatery!($35 a plate!) Same in Portland 6 weeks ago.
New crossover SUV's running around, heavy mid weekday traffic. Lines at the phone stores.
Bread and Circuses, maybe?
Know where to look for the true signs...
Looking in places where wealth circulates isn't where you'll find the failures of the circulation of "wealth." Take a walk around the back-streets and alleyways, under the bridges. Or, you can just look at how it's been for a LONG time (even during all the BOOM times), in places like this:
http://craigandange.com/?p=1965
This is on the outskirts of where my wife grew up.
If inflation were calculated properly GDP would have been negative for many quarters up to now...
Yes, but why not use that 401k? I mean, TeeVee tells me I don't need it. the democrats are giving me everything I'll need when I hit 62, or is that 67, but then I'll have FREE healthcare, all the food and drink I need, an Obama phone, I'll probably be able to live close to everyone else in the new 'condensed housing sectors' for those that cannot provide for their own retirement.
If giving speeches was how you won games..........Obama would never lose and would probably be the best president, ever.
I mean, you would think the first "black" (well, he's half black) president would be a game changer, someone who inspires, brought real change, and would challenge the power structure.
Instead, he's lied over and over again while at the same time, enriching his buddies. In short, same shit, different day....just like the last 35-40 years.
If you went back in time to talk to the esteemed Frederick Douglass, who was a great mix of libertarian anarchist and empancipator, and told him that the first man in color's presidency was basically 8 years of, "meh" - he'd probably jump off a bridge.
I gave you a thumbs up but are you a disappointed Obama voter? Sounds like it.
First and foremost, PLEASE, let's get over the idea that this guy is a great orator. He is not. He sucks. He puts people to sleep, he has a cadence and delivery that just plain sucks. He has more ands, ums, uhs than John Kerry has Heinz money, he isn't inspirational...he doesn't get people going...just other leftist lackeys that like his class warfare rants.
I think that what Frederick Douglass would be most pissed about is the fact that the first 'black' president (we all know Bill Clinton was really the first black president if you remember those declarations) is the guy that put us all in chains, the chains of debt serfdom.
<<<<. Better orator = Mike Tyson
<<<<. Better orator = Barry Obama
Clinton was a way better bullshitter than Obama. Listen to some of his old speeches, he can almost sell you no matter how much you hate everything he stands for.
Obama reads off a teleprompter and isn't very good at that. I know his supporters eat his stuff up, but if you are not already a fan, he couldn't sell you an ice cold beer in the desert.
How could POWER fail us? </sarc>
Really, WTF do we need "leaders?" Leaders are ABOUT convenient scapegoating. We use them to hide our failures, and their absorption ("representing" us) of our power necessitates that we fail MORE (or is that MOAR?).
Ask why the Department of Homland security ordered 1.6 billion rounds of ammo.
The Department of kill-off civil unrest for bankster stealing.
It's coming, otherwise there would be no reason to order that quantity of ammo.
Take away the guns and shoot-to-kill citizens that object.
I doubt we will see a Zombie Apocalypse, but there will be mobs of hungry people walking the streets and assaulting government buildings - and that is why the Department of Homeland Security needs all that ammo.
Yup, definitely 'zombie' assaults in our future, but I don't think it'll just be fed buildings that will be targets. I'm guessing many of those zillions of hollow-points will end up in the weapons of a soon-to-be-drastically-expanded DHS/SS whom will be assigned to protect homes & families of the 'elite' (congress,banksters,etc) . IMO its just a matter of time before they are targets.
RE:
Because there are 2.2 billion Muslims in the world.
RE:
This is what I am going to do soon. The best thing to do for your life, is to decouple yourself from the corporate serfdom that is the American work life.
I've pared my expectations - myabe that's what "they" want - but I also know "they want" me more in debt - so "they" and "their economy" can go suck a dick.
Do things because YOU WANT TO, not because you are "forced" to.
We're decoupling from a huge illusion. Even IF TPTB wanted to warn us, were benevolent and wanted to communicate that we would be better off dumping the System, how many wouldn't take this as some contrarian play?
People end up being WAY too emotionally charged (running around pointing out how everyone else is the "bad guy") and feeling that they are being forced to give stuff up, never are they questing whether it would even be possible to retain stuff (given the reality of the world, which we've been shielded from).
I choose to be the steward of the land I am on and to endeavor to produce food for as many people as I can. I wish to transfer all that I know to the next generation ready to accept carrying this on. Fine, many might say, "what about those who would wish to TAKE from you?" Well, one need only look at how effective the paranoia of "terrorism" is at freezing us. When we don't have things to hide behind ("leaders") we are pretty much forced to confront ourselves; I believe that this is the point at which we can actually evolve.
Ask why the Department of Homland security ordered 1.6 billion rounds of ammo.
The Department of kill-off civil unrest for bankster stealing.
It's coming, otherwise there would be no reason to order that quantity of ammo.
Take away the guns and shoot-to-kill citizens that object.
Uh, way more than that,another 7,000 M4's, and 2,717,100k men under arms, and w/all the gear to go w/ it,and drones everywhere. Competely re-furbed MRAPS, for serving warrants............SURE!
I believe that instead of some offensive campaign it'll be TPTB circling their wagons. If things break down then those factories making all these things are going to be disrupted. And, really, how different is than from many here that are stockpiling weapons?
I believe in moderation. Entropy will always pare excesses...
Too much countryside to control. History tells us where the limits of control are. However, my aim isn't to hold out in the country, it's to LIVE there.
IMHO, this global house of cards is close to crashing sooner than decades away. With information spinning at the speed of light, with money being created out of thin air, with one push of a red button, with humanity stressed to the maximum, all bets are off. This thing could blow at any time, everything is fake, including people, and even though it looks like this mountain can stand for some time, all it will take is one disaster to tip the scales, and look out, thar she blows! I have no timeline, but we are living in a tinderbox, fiscally, morally and geopolitically. Here today, gone tomorrow. At any given time, things could cascade out of control, one can never put a timeline on it.
No way to compare today with Roman times, other than there is a certainty of failure.
The way I see it is that the total process will take decades. However, it is not like a straight line down between now and then. I fully expect there will be terrifying events, massive and sudden changes, etc. along with some ups and periods of what seems like quiet (all considering). And the path will be different for different places and people.
Um... I don't think that this is any procedural "process."
Things will happen differently in different places and at different times. However, to discount Abi's point misses the hockey-stick nature of things- hockey-sticks represent heightened intensity over time, a quickening of pace which tends to diminish the sense of available time for reaction.
Another thing to consider is that tipping points can be pushed forward due to recognition of their pending arrival. Right now this is what I believe is being "managed." Ultimately, however, one cannot hide what is see-able/in plain sight. Doors seem to pick up momentum after they start to swing...
+100.... So many people are siphoned off now, just bracing for impact. People have figured out the MSM is total bullshit and they're turning to more believable media outlets which speaks to the problems they face.
They jumped the shark...
C-BS? LOL!
OK, with that demonstration of expert wisdom you are hereby accepted into the ZH club. </sarc> Yeah, I know, sometimes one just has to blurt out the obvious, I'm guilty as well, but sometimes it starts to build up as much static/chatter as does the MSM...
Rome basically 'died' when power was shifted from the Senate to the Emperor and a small group of elite that could bend and twist laws at their will. This is America today, and just like Rome, the elite cannot be prosecuted or held to any laws passed by the Senate. And just like Rome, America will also end with the barbarians (ZH'ers) holding barbaric relics (gold), while the rest of the 'empire' collapses.
Rome started it's slide with the murders of the Gracchi brothers.... not unlike JFK and RFK here, so while the zenith of power in each Empire was yet to occur, the seeds of its demise were planted...
Facinating analogy. Well said. +1
and marked the rise of "emperors" and new levels of monetary experiments.
Similarly as well, there was a false choice... Endorse the growing corruption or endorse populism.
This isn't just America. America is a template for the world. It's the same everywhere.
Growth killed Rome.
All the actors in the story only altered the time-frame. The story of continual/perpetual growth always hits the cliff. Call it "over-reach," call it whatever, but what it IS is about exceeding the carrying capacity of the place you inhabit. Human hubris paints all around this picture in efforts to avoid actually making it appear because if it did then we would not follow the carrot-and-stick charade that has been used by "leaders" throughout history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_during_the_Roman_period
Bernanke $1 trillion a year printing money is 1/10 of the sp500 total market value. A few days of Wealth Destruction and all that money is gone. Do you know how are printing money like crazies??? Canadian with their housing bubble. it's all about velocity.
Thank you, Mr. Perlin. beautifully stated.
.
Sounds like the R&R study doesn't stand up to peer review, or could it be a couple of economists (R&R) just got the results that fit there ideology?
Major Errors Undermine Key Argument For Austerity Frequently Cited By Media
Sorta like the techniques used by the tobacco and fossil fuel industries vis a vis health risks and AGW....
Why am I not surprised?
I wish I could hack into bank accounts "god-mode" style. I'd love to see how R&R have been eating since their "report" to Congress.
Economists are, in the end, just fluffers for bankers.
the first time i realized something wasn't right was when a realtor told ME how much loan i could afford to take on..... i'lll never forget it, in the late 1980's. i was trying to purchase a home, & being prudent, i wanted something small & affordable. the realtor took out her calculator & told ME that i could afford at least double what i was looking to borrow.
The most corrupt industry afoot and at the core of the entire crisis, yet now reinflating once again.
http://www.safehaven.com/article/29523/shale-oil-is-a-big-game-changer-for-dow-to-gold-ratio
Although a majority of analysts profess to be wary of a dangerous bubble that's brewing in the in G-7 bond markets, - the Fed has successfully enforced its policy of "Financial Repression," with purchases of $45-billion per month of US T-notes. Offered at a yield at 2.88% today, the Treasury's 30-year bond is yielding -25-basis points less than a year ago. The Fed is simply following the blueprints of the Bank of Japan. Although the US T-bond market is a ticking time bomb that could explode at anytime, for now, the Fed is doing a masterful job of rigging the T-bond market at ultra-low yields.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/24/markets-struggling-serious-drug-habit
The US is obsessed by the Great Depression. It is the single biggest economic event of American history and is embedded in the national psyche. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, made his mark by studying the policy errors of the 1930s and is determined not to repeat one of them: an over-tight monetary policy. America's recovery has been modest by historical standards. Unemployment has remained much higher than the Fed would like, and it wants to see the jobless rate below 6.5% before it even thinks about tightening policy. Even that might not prompt action, according to the Fed's vice-chairman Janet Yellen.
David Brown, of New View economics, says: "We are back to bubble economics and the super-accelerant added by the central banks is the propellant that will take this rally back above the upper hemisphere in the coming years."
He adds: "The Fed is going to be the last agent that will want to upset the applecart on the risk-on revival to date. It has plied the markets with more liquidity than anyone else. It wants risk-on. It wants irrational exuberance. It wants four dimensional easing – easy money, easy rates, easy currency and easy fiscal policy. It wants stronger growth and the lower cost of capital to markets is all part of that plan. Strong equity markets and stronger financial wealth perceptions are central to this. If consumers feel wealthier because their stocks go up and house prices start to stabilize, then that is part of the game-plan too."
Bubble = Ponzi
Perpetual growth on a finite planet = Ponzi
All written that does not properly account for this second equation is BUNK, no matter how well it sounds, no matter how much it strikes out at the existing follies.
Challenge the premises!
It ends when people finally stop believing in snake oil, the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.
"But... I want to believe". - Polar Express
The "I want to believe" started with the hope that there is life after death. Men, who thousands of years ago would otherwise have failed due to lack of courage or good hunting skills, or women who were too unattractive for a mate, quickly filled this latent demand with superstition and shamanism, which eventually evolved into formal beliefs and structures of Organized Religion. Regardless of the beliefs' trappings, rituals or concepts, they ALL share the common denominator of "Belief". Over time, this became part of our genetic makeup. Well, for most people.
Religion is the truly universal deodorant to a life that can otherwise get quite smelly. It does not change things, but it makes things smell better -- even though the real cleansing of soap & water would do better.
It started with "go forth and multiply." We were never told/instructed as to when to stop. We're firmly entrenched in operating under the notion that there can be perpetual growth on a finite planet.
All "solutions" that do not address the flawed premise are merely pitches by folks who are looking to profit from a turning/shuffling from one side of the sinking ship to the other.
Was thinking about this a while ago. Seems that the "growth" mantra really made sense for all of history. A matter of survival, of conquest even. So, not surprising that systems, attitudes, behaviors and such are all geared for this line of thinking. And predators know how to exploit it, of course.
Anyhow, suddenly technology takes off. Cheap energy rules the day. Population simply explodes. In the grand scheme of things, it would seem like an instant. A tiny fraction of our history. But, here we are.
Our collective "oh shit" moment is here.
no, sorry, while superstition might have provided a base for "formal beliefs and structures of Organized Religion" - shamanism did not.
shamans deal with Nature, with the natural world, that which has been gendered "she" - "organised religions" are built on the SkyFather meme, a big inaccessible Daddy with rules, laws & a need for monies to grow, and armies to conquer more stuffs for more monies to grow, etc. etc.. . .
sounds like a prototype for nationstates? because organised religions ARE just that.
shamans served their community, organised religions serve themselves.
'America's 100 Year War's and how Deficit's Don't Matter, by the biggest fucking, 'war`ring traitor' in American [cheney] History!?'
'The Cost of a Second 100 Year War': ancien Regime... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancien_R%C3%A9gime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Hundred_Years%27_War
and, a surreal Carthaginian 'Romanesque pax`Americana'... fomented by a 'Perfidious Albion'? :-0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfidious_Albion
Another Ludwig Von Mises article, where most of the variables are ignored, ->>>free market is a utopia. You need nice equations and simple concepts to sell a lot of books.
'Americans' love peddling ideas.
And you love peddling blind bigotry, hypocriticality and self-denial.
Lies, hatred and offuscation: "Made in China".
As usual, it is all against the elite, the poor etc with the wretched 'american' middle class taken in the middle and paying for the excess of the extrema.
In 'american' societies, the 'american' middle class aka WeThePeople rules supreme.
The business of extorting the weak, farming the poor is run at the benefit of the King class aka the 'american' middle class.
The welfare of an 'american' middle class relies on the servants serving the middle class in all forms. It includes people and institutions.
'Americans' had to bail out certain institutions, corporations, people in order to keep their welfare.
The transfer of wealth keeps going but always toward the same recipient: the 'american'middle class.
It only happens that the 'american' middle class is too numerous for the planet to sustain and therefore, to save the 'american' middle class, some part of it must be sacrificed.
As usual, it is AnAnonymous against the facts, the poor attempts at propagandizing, etc with the wretched ZH reader taken in the middle and paying for the excess of his citizenism extrema.
In 'chinese' citizenism trollfoolery societies, the roadside-dumping anus rules supreme.
The business of extorting the river pig, farming the poor dog wokery is run at the benefit of the King class aka the 'chinese' citizenism class.
The welfare of the chinese citizenism self-contained insanitational bubble of reality-denial relies on anti-American bigotry serving the chinese communaughty ruling class in all forms. It includes chinese citizenism people, institutions and river pigs.
'Chinese' citizenism citizens had to bail river pigs out of certain rivers in order to keep their JKC franchises going.
The transfer of filth keeps going but always toward the same recipient: the chinese citizenism consumption class.
It only happens that the 1.3 billion rabbit-breeding Chinese middle class is too numerous for the planet to sustain and therefore, to save the chinese middle class, some part of the rest of the world must be sacrificed.
Mao See Dung had all an arsenal of funny ideas on how the issue of poverty, of dangerous classes should be treated, reservation camps, neutering campaign and all.
The Chineses was a perfect test field to run a few experiments on the practicability of the policies.
With the coming of the Chinese Citizenism Communautist Party, came the idea of non humans, the only way the Chinese citizenism system found to resolve its inner contradictions. Every human being is entitled to rights, if some are not, that is because they are not human beings, but half-man half-thing.
Wonderful Chinese Citizenism Communautist ideas that found their echo chamber in Tibet with Peoples 'Liberation' Army forcible persuasions the adequate applications with that.
Ungrateful Tibetans...
At least you can pound your Chinese chest over one child laws and targeting females for abortions. Hey! If they offer retroactive abortion would you please volunteer? Alternatively, find a nice big rusty nail and hammer with your face. Repeat soon and often. Does your mom have any kids that lived?
It has become a very stylish thing to do to call others sheeple. It is no longer counter-culture or contrarian to do so. So, please stop pretending/imagining that you are enlightened and everyone else are sheeple. It is arrogant and shows hubris.
try telling that to a non-believing... deaf and dumb ram`wether?
You are right- you are so smart and everyone else isn't.
You're an idiot --- quite literally a sheeple, as it were --- if you truly believe that the average person is not only not misinformed, but actually deluded, on many if not most major financial and political matters today. Your attempt to deny the obvious marks you as either dishonest or unintelligent.
+1000
My wife's CA friend for 30 years can not physically function without watching TV and/or doing and thinking what her Svengali "pastor" orders her to. What kind of contribution does this idiot make to sociey? She votes, BTW.
I'm against violence. But, if society's gonna enforce the death penalty, in my book, kill all the pastors, priests, and rabbis (not necessarily in that order) first, then the lawyers, bankers, politicians, and heads of NGO's.
Effective Federal Funds Rate from 1954 to 2013:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136581486/Effective-Federal-Funds-Rate-1954-to-2013-Federal-Reserve
I say we take off an nuke the site from orbit. Its the only way to be sure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbfMkh940Q
It won't take 200 years for this mother to break down. Everything is so fragile and interconnected, it will be hell on earth. 9 meals from anarchy now and forever.
End? What ends? As long as EBT and iPads are free flowing, there won't be anything you have imagined. What really triggered the French Revoltion was widespread hunger.
That's coming...don't worry
I would like to submit a different possible ending.
People reorganize under local leadership. Trade, Education, Culture becomes locally centered. Technological advancements are revised to accomodate smaller zones and less global advancements. Military super weapons are disabled.
An age of enlightment occurs where adults actually learn new skills rather than assume their education is over at manhood and womanhood. Enlightment leads to less desire for phony valued items and a greater desire for self improvement, respect of nature, and the valuation of others.
Property rights are earned and held sacred. Families no longer disperse but remain together for longer periods for the greater good of all. Fear of economic, religious, and other oppression is replaced with acceptance of differences.
Humans once again work on the betterment of humans and not individual gains.
Team A doesn't win, Team B doesn't win. The humans win. We stop abusing each other and work together.
This ending may not occur. However, it is certainly more pleasing thanothers put forth. While the odds on a negative ending may be 95% or even higher. Nothing is absolute.
We have a chance, even though it is a small one.
Utopia? I love the idea but I would place the odds of this happening at .00001 %
The market is turning and so is the worm! Gonna' be a lot of unhappy people! Get your popcorn ready....
"Capitalism and free markets depend upon trust, integrity, property rights and the rule of law."
Ooh, that SOUNDS soo good!
Let it out of the lab!
And then?
"Rule of law" requires enforcement powers, powers to exact violence. Give someone else the power to kill you and you're comfortable with this?
Look what the so-called "conservatives" are doing in all their encouraging of ensuring that we have "discipline," that we can punish others. "We MUST have a strong military, and police force" which opesn the door for infinite abuse.
Conservative, liberals, Red Team, Blue Team... IT'S ABOUT POWER!
Face it, one can TALK about how one wants the "rule of law," but when it gets down to what that can possible mean, well... we'll start pointing fingers and blaming others for why the "rule of law" is fucked up, and when "we" get in to position to "correct" the "rule of law" we do so in ways to make sure to punish those who wer punishing us, because THAT is how you wield power- you club others over the head!
It's ALL WORDS! And words will be used to command folks to push buttons to drone your ass, all in the name of preserving "The American Way of Life," of preserving "the rule of law."
I completely GET the point/desire, and as much as I DO like the sound of it, this ain't a perfect world, humans are, by nature, deceptive, I'm a realist. Provide a power seat and any group is going to seek it out, all, I'm sure, saying wonderful things, telling us how much better Their program is. The power seat is a pile of shit, it attracts disease, it stinks. Why demand that it exist? (pretending that one can have ONLY the good parts is not realistic- and, I'd hate to think of such a world in which everyone thought the same way- group-think is just plain dangerous).
+1.
until folks realise that ideal-ising words that don't work in the "real world" - in fact, treating those words similar to religious ideals, that also don't "work" in the real world, then THIS is what we get.
endless abuse of power, over.
Seer,
"Provide a power seat and any group is going to seek it out, all, I'm sure, saying wonderful things, telling us how much better Their program is."
Thar 'tis. We are here because the Tenth didn't stop at "Congress Shall Make No Law."(Among a few other slight tweaks that might have clarified intentions)
Local State's are at least a little more manageable than Central Leviathans.
But, to paraphrase, rest assured, the Tree of Liberty will again be nourished with the blood of patriots and tyrants. That will mark the end of this phase. Let's hope the Bolsheviks don't win!
Nullification might have been a neater solution, but we are well past that now. At this point, might be best to stand back, so as not to get any on us, until the time comes to step forward with some "suggestions."
I can think of a few (several million) of US citizens who can claim it's dead.
I still believe it has cancer and we must simply remove this cancer so that the host may survive. Whether or not the cancer may be sufficiently removed without killing the patient in the process is the question.
The question remains what would make the have's give up their desire for total control over the have nots?
What would make the rich give up on being rich so that all people could share equally?
So a man who can buy all the women, and cars, and houses he wants would stop this why?
Would personal development be enough?
I can sit on my ass. Spend daddy's money. Have food, drugs and sex brought to me around the clock.? Or I can develop my ability to create, build, and inspire.
What is wealth? What you acquire or what you create from within? Who sets the value on wealth?
Conversly, will the those who act helpless give up acting helpless? Enlightment must work for all at almost the same time. Otherwise, a small group of selfish individuals would attempt to recreate the same society we have now, just with that small group in charge.
I have to agree with those who believe the turning is already happening. I've been watching the stock market closely for years and this bull market is now in its 50th month. The outer limit for "normal" bull markets is about 63 months, so there's less than a year left in this one at the max.
I'm thinking it's turning from bull to bear right now and people are going to be blind-sided because they're simply not astute about how things work. Daily new highs vs. new lows just went negative yesterday and if the trend holds today, it will be negative again today. If new lows continue to overtake new highs for a couple of weeks, the trend will be hard to reverse and the markets could be in for more than just a 10-15% correction. A bear market is coming, sooner or later. That much is assured.
The other thing that tells me we're nearing another major event in the ongoing collapse is the disparity between paper and physical gold and silver. It's getting downright absurd. Washington quarters on ebay are selling in quantity for 25-35% over the paper price.
Lot of 40 quarters just ended on eBay for 212.50. Price per quarter is $5.31. With silver currently at $23.17, a Washington quarter should sell for $4.19, or that just-ended auction should have gone for $167.60. That's a 27% premium.
http://www.coinflation.com/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/40-US-Washington-90-Silver-Quarter-Coin-Lot-10-0...
That's what I see happening. Price dislocations, lack of price discovery everywhere leading to widespread panic buying, selling, mispricing of assets, etc.
The end is near.
Read thru these search results, I'm just saying Boston has a well documented problem with leaking natural gas; and leaking nat gas could accumulate in sewers and create an explosion.
https://www.google.com/search?q=boston+leaky+natural+gas
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/03/28/1786281/are-exploding-manhol...
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/11/20/boston-riddled-with-mostly-small-natural-gas-leaks-boston-university-study-finds/Cp0qa70qfhel9uNtlykQCK/story.html
"The vast majority of the leaks are tiny, although six locations had gas levels higher than the threshold at which explosions could occur. Although there have been no reports of explosions in Boston from any of the leaks, the study comes three years after a Gloucester house exploded probably because of a cracked and corroded gas main dating to 1911."
The question must be revised to individual honor vs material value.
Material value can be stolen but individual honor can not be.
At one point material value represented individual honor. That is no longer the case. Material value now represents your closeness to power and banks. Banks create material value out of air and then dilute it. That value has no representation of individual honor or dishonor. That value represents a reinforcement of the status quo whether it is an honorable or dishonorable status quo.
So if I have grown some corn and my neighbor asks for some in return for some of his wood we are trading honor for honor. If I trade corn for value just printed it is not the case. I have traded corn for nothing no matter how honorable I am. My participation in the ponzi devalues my honor. Eventually what ever I trade the printed value for comes back to me and says you gave me nothing for somehtin.
The US is in similar position. Unless you believe in the miracle of sovereign resurrection, the US is over. The coroner-historians have not pronounced death yet, but they, like with Rome, are behind the curve. This dead man too will eventually fall down.
Bullshit!!
If we would "ever" perform "The Purge", we could have this country back on it's feet within a year. Nowhere else on earth does the will, drive, smarts, skills, and just damn guts reside like the US.
We have a bunch of asshole bankers and puppet politicians. They ALL need to hang. When that has been done measures need to be put in place to never let them rise to power again. "As soon" as some new greedy ass POS kicks it into gear....... head-shot...... end of problem.
Gosh what a badass you are. How many banksters have you hung or shot in the head so far? Yeah, that's what I thought.....ZERO!! Americans are a bunch of sheep for the most part, just like the British, the French, the Greeks, etc, etc. Way too busy texting on their icrap device or mesmerized by the latest celebrity gossip. Most Americans could not pick Ben Bernanke out of a 3 man lineup or tell you who he is or what he does. They likely CAN tell you which team is ahead in some meaningless sporting contest or what Lindsay Lohan is being charged with this week.
The point of this rant is:
a) you are totally full of crap
and
b) the vast majority of humans, including Americans (of which I am one) are ignorant and oblivious to the state of affairs in the world and quite content and happy to remain that way.
Very sad indeed.
And by the way, I used to think Duhbya was the worst president ever! I voted for Obummer hoping for change......and got none and then some. Obummer has made Duhbya look like a GOOD president by comparison. What a country and what a world! Please stop this ride. I want to get off.
You voted???? And who's the one full of crap?
Actually, there are many Americans waking up to the truth, but I can pretty much tell that you'll be sitting on your ass when things start to happen. Very sad indeed.
You voted for Obama? Who told you in 2006 energy prices would necesarily skyrocket if he came to power. Who told Joe the plumber that he would redistribute your wealth? Then you sir are the one who is full of it. Ya, he is a follower of Saul Alinsky, who gives a nod to lucifer, and who says to overload the system with welfare in order to overthrow it. Bush was not a great president, but the Oblahblah is the worst...and you are partly responsible for him being there...chump! If you did not know these things then you should not be allowed to vote, period.
We have a remedy. Do what Harding/Coolidge did in the 1920's. Cut taxes, cut govt, cut spending by at least 50%.
Too bad this will be the last thing tried.
Are we not men? We are DEVO!!
the only working theory applicable that can revive the usa is the phoenix theory that posits the path to resurrection goes through destruction first. so the catalyst for destruction has to be introduced before resurrection can be considered. anonymous has tried to be the catalyst. the occupy movement tried to be a catalyst. it is clear that the historical catalyst that has a record of working is a direct violent assault upon the leadership of .gov and business. since the american people have no balls, they will have to suffer the continued ass raping quietly so they don't get beat or killed by the rapists because they resist.
Good article.
It's the best overall view of the government-bankster-central bankster shambles we now live in that I've read.
Expecting these criminals to reform their ways is a non-starter. Change will come from the people and will have to be imposed on them.
How does this all end? Wouldn't we love to know. Unfortuneately, we don't get that priviledge, but get to live it, whatever it brings.
It ends badly, like everything mankind manipulates. Got food today?
None of this is new - the general public just has an Amnesia about history post WWII.
For 70 odd years between 1850 - 1920 the US saw domestic terrorism using all manner of bombs and assasinations on a scale that would horrify your average citizen today if they knew. The advent of dynamite in the lates 1800's made this possible.
The new Industrial Capitalists and what became know as Wall St as a Financial and Political power were fighting running battles with Unionists, Anarchists and Socialists and the stakes were very high. This was the reason we saw the rise of a new institution called the FBI with a young guy by the name of J Edgar Hoover whos very goal was to put an end to all of this.
This stuff is the very gritty stuff that was the hotbed of the advent of The Lightbulb, Power, Railroads. There is a long history of terrorism in the US that the powers that be would rather US citizens not be aware of. We are simply reverting to the historical norm as the money tide goes out.
Interesting fact
"at the corner of wall and broad streets in lower Manhattan,there is a memorial to the victims of terrorism. It is easy to miss—just a dozen or so pockmarks along the north face of the old Morgan bank. The building has no plaque, no statue, no list of names. Only a tourist sign
around the corner, set off from the bank’s ornate front entrance, gives any mention of the terrorist attack that occurred here on a cloudy day
almost nine decades ago. On September 16, 1920, as the bells of Trinity Church chimed the noon hour, a bomb planted on a horse-drawn wagon exploded into the lunchtime crowd at Wall and Broad, shattering windows throughout the fi nancial district, killing thirty-eight people and wounding hundreds more. Until the Oklahoma City bombing"
The Day Wall Street Exploded A Story of America in its First Age of Terror - Beverly Gage (2009)
So true... the drive by dynamiting of the 20s and 30s make today's drive bys look tame by comparison.
I spent a few years living in Australia and the Aboriginal health care system there is an interesting example. The rural health system has been in place since the mid-70's. A huge pile of money has been spent and their average health is worse than it ever was. An army of lobbyists in the Capitol Canberra defend their turf aggressively,disparaging any counterarguments or facts as racist.This became a political shitstorm with the emergence of an anti-entitlements platform in the establishment of the One Nation Party,under Pauline Hanson (later to become Senator Hanson). Again the politically correct crowd labelled her as a racist,and the very controlled media in Australia largely cooperated in the ambush. It is a fact that these social programs grow way beyond the original design,turning into an Industry,with waste and fraud,generating a plethora of studies,mountains of paperwork,rental cars,free flights for conferences,etc.,etc. Any momentum towards accountability or economies of funds are of course opposed.This is in addition to the royalties generated from the mining leases on tribal lands,running into millions. The reason I mention this at all is it seems so close to the GSE's in America,Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which are at least partly responsible for the housing bubble in the USA,along with the very low interest rates from the FED. Again a program for the poor and minorities was exploited and ballooned all out of control. One of the complaints between the health care systems of the US and Canada is the lower administration costs (paperwork) of the Canadian system. If they looked at the Australian Aboriginal health system administration costs/benefit ratio over forty years the Canadian auditors would gasp,if not enter into a state of apoplexy.
It won't end. Some, the wise, will survive. They will go on. The wise will go on forever.
You know something is very wrong, but I don't think you have the answer.