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The Silent Epidemic In A Broken, Deranged System: Stress
Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
The Silent Epidemic In A Broken, Deranged System: Stress
Longtime readers know that I see our system not just as financially sick but as spiritually and psychologically deranging. The illnesses are related, of course--a distorted economic system (i.e. financialization) that rewards parasitic sociopathy and political predation cannot help but make its participants physically and psychologically ill.
Here is a selection of the many entries I've written on this largely ignored topic:
Serial Addictions, Serial Speculative Bubbles: a Sickness Unto Death (Feb. 2, 2010)
Welfare Nation: Addiction, Denial and Magical Thinking (February 1, 2010)
The Wider Context for Twenty-Somethings (Gen Y) in America (February 19, 2010)
Opting Out and the Culture of Entitlement (March 29, 2010)
Readers are often puzzled by the term The Politics of Experience, which is the core of the Survival+ analysis. The term comes from psychiatrist/author R.D. Laing, and I use it to describe the subtle ways that our worldview is molded to make certain forms of political and financial dominance so "natural" that we lose awareness of its arbitrary, carefully engineered structure.
America Is Just Going Through the Motions (November 19, 2010)
The Junkie in the Pool and False Idols (August 10, 2011)
Japan and the Exhaustion of Consumerism (October 18, 2012)
Narcissism, Consumerism and the End of Growth (October 19, 2012)
When Belief in the System Fades (March 12, 2008)
I recently received this commentary from Kenneth Daigle, a 33-year veteran stockbroker/financial advisor on the subject of chronic, systemic stress. (He requested that his full name be published.) Kenneth succinctly ties together the nation's economic distemper, its broken healthcare system and the culture of high expectations and consumerism:
I talk to hundreds of people in my practice, and I want to share with you an observation that I have made. With all the media attention lately on the fact that America has hit 90 million people who are not in the workforce, I see very little being written, asking the big question, WHY?
It is easy to say that the main reason is the entitlement culture affords people the ability to not have to work, but I am hearing the real reason is STRESS. People are reluctant to admit that they just can’t take the pressure anymore of day-to-day living, and the biggest way to relieve stress is to not work.
Think about how our culture is now structured for the average adult: STRESS, everywhere you look--commuting in horrible traffic, as you want to scream in frustration--money stress, to pay rent/house note, tuition, utilities, gas, insurances, vacations, cable bill, rising food costs, and on and on and on--stress from family problems, divorce, delinquency, drugs, crime, infidelity, keeping up with the Jones, etc.
People have too high an expectation of what they should have out of life, and get overly stressed over it all. How does all of this manifest itself? A prescription drug culture (Zoloft, Xanax, etc.) that tricks people into thinking a pill will knock back the stress, when these drugs, in my opinion, only make things worse.
I am hearing more and more that people just want to drop out from it all, as they are reaching a breaking point, and have decided less income and dependency on entitlements will reduce their stress, and is not so humiliating, so giving up working becomes more acceptable, to KEEP ONE’S SANITY.
I know I am correct, from the feedback I hear every day, and the financial media does not see this like I hear it every day. People don't want to admit that they are too weak to deal with stress, so the financial pundits are not aware of this critical factor because they don't talk to Joe Sixpack.
The government can stimulate all they want, but the unemployment/job problem will not improve because the root cause is not being recognized. We have built a culture that is far too stressful for millions of folks, so they do what they must for their mental sanity, by removing the stress of work. It matters not what level of pay they may earn, because their mental health is more critical than high income.
More and more, it is like a spiritual awakening, as people realize chasing after materialism was making them crazy with anxiety and stress. They find not working, and downsizing their expectations, makes it easier to cope with all the other aspects of living. If you wrote about this, perhaps it would help stimulate a national discussion addressing this issue.
Thank you, Kenneth, for your report from the world we actually inhabit, as opposed to the one that is dutifully reported in the mainstream media (i.e. everything's fine, unemployment is only 7.6%, go out and buy a new car, no down payment and easy credit, etc.)
In my view, the high cost of living is a direct contributor to chronic stress. While there are numerous explanations for the rising cost of living--Baumol's Cost Disease ( Productivity, Baumol's Disease and the Cliff Just Ahead December 8, 2010) and the rising cost of energy, to name but two--the one key driver that nobody dares discuss is the state-cartel (crony capitalism) structure of our economy: cartels (defense, energy, sickcare, education, etc.) avoid competition, enabled and enforced by the State (government).
This explains why sickcare and education costs have skyrocketed far above the rate of inflation. Apologists try to invoke Baumol to explain the lack of productivity in sickcare and education, but the primary cause is the cartel structure of these industries which ruthlessly eliminates any real competition.
People respond to incentives and disincentives. If it's easier to fake a disability, get Section 8 housing, food stamps, etc., than it is to earn a productive livelihood, then people will fake a disability, etc.
As it becomes increasingly costly and risky to start a business and hire workers, then people won't start businesses or hire workers--unless they have a guaranteed government contract, i.e. they are quasi-public-sector employees.
Another factor few dare mention is debt-serfdom. By the time the brainwashed consumer has loaded up on the "absolutely necessary" debts--$100,000+ for college, $200,000 for a home mortgage, $20,000 for a vehicle loan, and whatever he/she can swing in credit card debt--the options to escape stress shrivel.
Bankruptcy and opting out is one option, but that requires sacrificing all the signifiers of identity and success--the very factors in a consumerist society that establish not just identity but self-worth and personhood.
I say few dare mention state-cartels and debt-serfdom, because once you question these you question the entire debt-based "growth" that underpins our social order. If people refuse to become debt-serfs, the system will implode. If the cartels were boycotted, the State would implode, because the political order depends on the concentrated wealth of private-sector cartels and the financialization Aristocracy.
In other words: eliminate the real sources of stress and you bring down the entire economic, political and social order. The Status Quo hopes another med or two will make all the debt-serfs' stress decline to manageable levels, but it's not only the individual who needs help adjusting to chronic stress--the deranged system he/she inhabits needs to change.
Kenneth also forwarded these chronic stress-related links:
10 Simple Ways to Live a Less Stressful Life
Are You Stressed Out at Work But Too Afraid To Quit Your Job?
STRESSED AND DEPRESSED: The unreported health crisis of the Obama era
'DISABLED' OUTNUMBER WORKERS IN U.S. MANUFACTURING
Cornell Professor Richard Burkhauser, a disability policy expert, warns, “SSDI is increasingly being used as a long-term unemployment program for workers who, given the appropriate rehabilitation and accommodation, could work.”
The sheer number of people on disability is staggering, without even considering the policy’s other consequences. The number of people on disability, 14 million, is “more than the total number of employees in the manufacturing sector of the economy,” observed Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute.
The government spends more on disability than it does on both food stamps and welfare combined, according to a blockbuster NPR report. The dependency trend and fiscal trajectory continue their death spiral, unmoved by the supposed economic recovery.
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A reminder of the potentially interesting CBC documentary on gold tonight.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/television/Brian+McKenna+ex...
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/the-secret-world-of-gold.html
how can there be stress....2 once in a lifetime oppurtunities in 2 days....APPLE IS BELOW 400.00.....no way we get 3 once in a lifetimes...right?..right?
And don't forget...'Never a better time to buy a house,' [for my son] my realtor tells me for the 82,658th time..while my house is still 38% underwater.
When people are constantly barraged with information from the MSM and the government that is contrary to what their gut feelings are telling them it creates conflicting cognitions. This conflict has a very real physiological effect on most individuals. It manifests itself in stress induced ailments which can only be overcome by analyzing and understanding the Bernaysian nature of the powers which attempt to control our lives. Most people would rather mask the symptoms rather than face the truth. It is difficult to accept that everything one has been taught is not in their best interests, but favors those who hold true power.
Is it an accident that desserts is stressed spelled backwards ? I think not. Go get some strawberry rhubarb pie, chocolate decadence, pavlova, baklava, a slice of ripe fruit, a wedge of cheese, or some real gelato or sorbet. Ommmmm and nom.
Debt less.
Market going down and Dr. Copper going up???? Crazy world we live in. Worst of all, chaos theory predicts it!
Until next time,
Engineer
+1
You don't have to analyze anything. Just throw out all the TV sets.
And make it a family event destroying the tube so when it is disposed of it won't be recycled into another household.
Here in the Netherlands PM Mark Rutte said that we shouldn't feel sombre and just buy that new car and buy that new house and together we can beat the ugly statistics.
What an asshole!
Hey boys and girls - "We made it" - as you smash the 6:30am Monday alarm clock with your fist as you get up and get ready to go to work...
'Moderation' in life 'they' say - where did the word 'moderation' go when the system requires you to work 5 days and be off 2?
Retire at 65 and pray to God that you can enjoy a few years before a fuckin stroke, heart attack or some awful disease hits you.
.
They rule us with that damn calendar - Occult masters of time and space...Monday your pissed, Thursday you start 'feeling' better...Friday =TGIF...and Sunday you to start to panic all over again...
Meanwhile - everyday should be 'Friday' in the sense of the word.
.
It did not have to be like this...no way...
Time to get baked.
Fractional Reserve Banking with Criminals at the wheel is the source of all stress.
Don't mask the symptoms with yoga, booze and drugs. Stop paying interest. It is possible. Let the maggots feed on themselves.
Well ~ If banking criminals get you down... Why not just unwind & entertain yourself by going to see an inspirational Holocaust movie produced & directed by their cousins... Be sure to get the $12 popcorn box & a nice sugary drink or it won't be as fun...
Back in the 50's the Jetsons show was a depiction of what life would be like now as a result of capitalism. The main character had a 2 day work week and he complained about it.
Too bad socialism had to fuck it all up.
Sorry the maggot will drive up electricity, wheat, corn, copper, oil, natural gas, heck they buy your doctor if the could....ANY THING YOU NEED TO LIVE. The law of supply and demand is broken, by tax code that rewards speculators that can draw unlimited money from the federal reserve. Our success of pension funds and saving is being used against us...by SOULLESS CROOKS. Jon Corzine is the embodiment of this. Even when caught a different set of rules applies. Unless direct action is taken against wall street they will happily destroy this country. Chris Dodd and Barney Frank happily played the Washington game and put together a swiss cheese of rules. Unless you get a a strong leader and people in the street....the will leverage up the country like Lehman and Bear....and KILL IT!
What do you suggest? Voting Chris & the fag out of office? Yea, not gonna happen.
They will ony listen to thousands of us marching in to their offices and throwing them out.
Sunday???? Shoot by Saturday afternoon I'm lamenting that in about 36 stinkin' hours I'll be back at this grind again. Rather disheartening to say the least.
yeah, i know the feeling, i leave my alarm clock on on saturday and sunday, just so i can get up and cut it off. then go back to the rack for another hour. and saturday evening i know that its my last free night, because the grind starts again sunday night, you know, get everything done and ready so you can start the new work week off.
i own a small corporation with less than 10 employees and i normally work 50 plus hours a week. i haven't had a vacation since i came back from triple bypass surgery 4 years ago. if i didn't run about 20 miles a week i would probably go batshit berzerk and make the headline on drudge.
No fucking shit it didn't need to be this way. Really what do you need to live as a human? 2500 calories a day, maintain a body temperature of 98.7 or what ever, some kind structure to protect you from the elements, a bag of weed, and some fucking pussy.
you would think that with all the "innovation" and "progress" that we have had over the last 5000 or so fucking years, and being such a advance creature that we could have figured a better way then this rat race bullshit. I think that most of us in one way or another contribute to the forward motion of the system as it takes real work and effort to go against the grain. Great article reinforces the notion of fuck the system.
Consider that for many, an 06:30 start would be considered quite a "lie-in"!
Many still working in jobs that you really DO need start very early to meet your "convenience" standards - e.g. Baking (04:00 start), Milk Delivery (UK and elsewhere) - 04:00 (to load up and be on the round), Postal service (Sorters - overnght job; your "Postie" usually starts around 04:30 - 05:30), Nursing Staff (Shift change at 07:00), Railway / Bus Staff - obviously depending on shift pattern, but the first trains and buses have to have drivers, and they all are traditionally "early starters".
The best advantage of early starting is "no traffic"! More than offsets the slight inconvenience of an early rise!
@BLOTTO,
Yeah, I used to HATE Sunday afternoons because I knew Monday was hours away. Now that I've retired I must say I highly recommend retiring when you can. I have simplified my stuff, my lifestyle, and it may seem like a small thing but I no longer wear a watch, just don't need to be looking at on all the time!
I too can has disability pay?
@ ArdentArgent, if you don't live in Canada you can't watch it?
Relax, and take a Tylenol: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/1440/20130418/tylenol-eases-exis...
Just relax, and have a whiff on me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwkxNWn62Jk
I recommend Yoga, it works.
Absolutely! +1
See how peas-full life can be.
Trail running, horseback riding, and gardening for me; Mrs. Horseman adds yoga and meditation to the list, too.
I tell her that serenity and flexibility are over rated.
meditation and stacking and restacking my gold eagles
looks like you have those trained horizontally instead of up poles...
Wire strung between poles, as it accomodates more crops than just poles.
I kind of do the same thing but I have 4 poles built like a teepee which sort of forms a pyramid, but then have the outsides strung horizonatally... A lot of it depends on your garden space... I'm just trying it this way to see what kind of shady stuff I can get growing underneath while the canopy develops... Probably won't get my peas until June tho...
I've also seen it done [your way], but with a kind of sliding pole [NO JOKES PEOPLE]... Whereby the vine can get taller & taller, but as it does, it gets lowered as the bottom crops are picked off... I caught that idea off a commercial tomato operation, but it works with peas too...
Kind of hokey... But I'm trying this 'pyramid' thing on a whim... 'Power of pyramids' & all that... Dont laugh... I put a crystal pyramid over top a set of planter boxes [just for the lulz] & the damn things produced like I've never seen...
that sliding pole idea would be awesome for hops.
do you know of any good DIY designs for that francis?
p.s. pyramid power is no joke...plants dig it....
http://www.pyramids-power.com/Pyramids-Power-Plant.html
you gotta try orgonite for your next experiment.
Flexible women are never overrated...
Roger that. :)
I leave the Kubota in the shed and move dirt around with a shovel and wheel barrow (this is only fun in the spring and fall). I moved 4 yards around this week that way. My shoulders hurt a little, but I sleep like a baby. And no more chuck holes in the 'South 40'!
Semi-frequent trips to the dragstrip with the old Malibu do wonders clearing my mind, too.
I've put about 300 hours on my Kubota in less than 2 1/2 years. I've got work to do, and I believe in using the right tool for the job! I have plenty of human-level things that need to be done. Hopefully by the time diesel gets unaffordable I'll have done the majority of the too-hard-to-do-by-hand things.
Mrs. Horseman plays the piano, too. Truth be told, she is the most serene person I have ever known, boardering on oblivious. God knew what he was doing when he put her with me.
You got kids? Well, you motherf... you! ;-) ;-)
You beat me to the first peas, I'm jealous. Still have about a week to go for mine; my timing was off this year.
Our garden is our #1 stress reliever. Wouldn't trade it for the world.
Doing power yoga 5 times a week cured my high blood pressure and restored my sanity. I highly recommend it. Even mr miffed took it up after seeing what it did for me.
This video is very inspirational about an American paratrooper who got his life back with yoga. Can't help but cry when you watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Miffed;-)
I just took a Tylenol; no video on Earth can make me cry now. I've an odd urge to become a banker now...
Thanks for sharing:)
Don't underestimate the power of Yoga, it is the only thing I have found to help me decompress after reading Zerhoedge all day.
Lesbian collages are the way to relax.
About ten years ago, I developed a weird reaction to Tylenol. I'd had no problems with it my entire life, but if I take it within 4-5 hours of going to bed, I wake up shaking like I've got a fever (cue the cowbell jokes). This happened at least five times, so I don't even try taking it anymore.
I suppose anything's possible, but I don't really see how I could have suddenly become allergic to it unless the "recipe" was changed.
Maybe you had a virus while you took it, and that triggered an immune response. Possibly.
It happened on different occasions, though — like months apart — not over the course of a few days. But everyone's different, so it's hard to know why I had that reaction.
You may want to investigate your liver then. Particularly your heredity and any associated lifestyles.
Tylenol is EXTREMELY toxic. We see more people overdose on supposed safe amounts. People who try to commit suicide by taking everything in their medicine cabinets often end up with perminant liver damage from the Tylonol. I used to have severe headaches at least 2 times a week. Instead of popping pills to get through it, I finally started to figure out what was causing it. Turns out I'm extremely sensitive to MSG and artificial sweeteners. 90% of my headaches vanished after that. The rest improved with chiropractic adjustments of my neck (due to my work) and yoga. There are other answers but I know how seductive just popping pills to get by can be.
Miffed;-)
Miffed, I used to get chronic headaches, which would NOT respond to aspirin or Tylenol, myself as well --- but only in the summer. I finally figured out that they were due to the aspartame-containing powdered drink mixes that I would take out into the field with me. So I stopped consuming those aartificially sweetned drinks, and my summer headaches immediately disappeared, never to return. And I have heard and read of countless similar cases of headaches related to artificial sweeteners, aspartame in particular.
Aspartame is also suspect in causing serious eye/vision problems. Ask any pilot about Diet Coke..
Definitely can relate to that akak! Mr miffed and I regularly drank diet coke and often consumed food with aspartame and splenda . After doing a lot of research ( including Dr Russell Baylock's Book Excitotoxins the taste that kills which shocked me what aspartate and glutamate do to the brain) I'm convinced these substances play a role in the dramatic rise in brain tumors, Alzheimer's, and other neurological problems. I quit but I had a difficult time convincing Mr Miffed to. He said he couldn't function in the afternoons without a diet coke. He said there is something about it that gave him mental clarity(it's an Excitotoxin). He tried numerous things to replace it, coffee, regular coke. Nothing helped. Finally after getting 2 autoimmune diseases he agreed to try. I was amazed what hell he went through to finally quit. He was very addicted. And this was a guy who had only 1 or 2 Diet Cokes a day. I know people who have a big gulp on their desk and drink it all day long!
Becarefull reading food labels, those assholes are slipping aspartame into everything now unless you are very careful. As if flouride isn't enough! One more reason to buy your food from farmers markets and natural non corporate grocery stores
Miffed;-)
You are correct, and I have very much noticed that accelerating trend over the past decade or so. Things that would have been prominently labeled "artificially sweetened" in the past are no longer so labeled. And just try to find a powdered or instant fruit or tea mix nowadays that does NOT contain that artificial shit --- it is impossible! Fortunately, I mostly only buy basic, minimally processed ingredients, and essentially no prepared or ready-to-eat foods, so I do not have to contend with that kind of crap much myself.
Netflix "Hungry for Change"
http://www.hungryforchange.tv/
Headaches are all "in your head"
Same experience. At about 35 I discovered I had become allergic to MSG (terrible chest and neck pains). Now I read all ingredient lists and never buy prepared foods. Recently after 4 weeks of severe headaches (for which I tried everything) I discovered it was caused when I switched brands of sweetner. The stevia product had lots of fillers. It took 4 weeks to fully recover.
Chicago?
Tylenol will kill you.
Take 'Rhodiola rosea' instead.
anyone who can master growing that in the West will make a killing...it's a pretty amazing plant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodiola_rosea
for those in the warmer climes, passion fruit's pretty good as well
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-17/boston-bombing-suspect-arrested#comment-3462635
Tip e, so right about passion fruit. I put one in 2 years ago figuring it couldn't make it in my climate being a tropical plant. We regularly get over 105 in the summer and low as 25 in winter. Plus we have up to 75 mph Santa Anna winds. I used very good soil and lots of worm castings and my one vine has stretched 50 feet along a chain link fence. It's very healthy and produces massive amount of fruit. Easy to grow and resistant to only the most persistent of birds.
Miffed;-)
a passion fruit a day keeps the xanax away :)
most beautiful flower on the planet (imho) as a bonus.
A durian a day keeps the neighbors away.
haha, you've sure got a hardon for durian ak. must be those spikes ;~)
I've always wanted to try durian. Several people have told me its delicious if you can get over the stench. Have you really eaten it or are you just joshing me?
Miffed;-)
Miffed, I have indeed tried durian, on two separate occasions, and I can definitively tell you that I, the one who will ALWAYS try, and usually enjoy, strong-tasting or outright weird foods, found them so enormously, mind-bogglingly, OUTRAGEOUSLY disgusting and foul that I do believe I would immediately vomit if I were ever to try consuming even the smallest speck of one again. There are simply no words to describe the overwhelming, and overwhelmingly vile, intensity of both their pungent, putrid, rotten-meat-and-spoiled-cheese-decaying-garlic aroma, which despite many things I had read about them previously EXACTLY matched their stomach-wrenching flavor.
I would, in all seriousness, rather suck the maggot-infested putrescence from the bones of a one-month-old decaying roadkilled raccoon than eat any part of a durian again. If you are ever offered the opportunity to try one, I suggest that you run fast and run far --- and even then the smell will most likely catch up to you.
What the fuck! These 2 girls have been pestering me to try it saying it was simply Divine if you could just get past the smell. They likened it to creamy vanilla pudding with a piquant tropical aftertaste. I've been mouth watering in anticipation. Well that does it. I'm going to kick some ass tomorrow at work. Damn I'm pissed. I do run on the exotic side when it comes to food and am willing to try anything at least once. Shit, it sounds really awful. How could anyone like it? Please tell me if you are kidding because two people are going to have a really bad day unnecessarily. Road killed maggot infested raccoon? Dear God this fruit should be erraticated from the planet!
Miffed;-)
Well, Miffed, even in its homeland of Malaysia, it is illegal to carry durians on any form of public transportation or into a hotel, and I have read of many hotel guests who have tried smuggling them into their rooms only to stink up the entire establishment and be summarily thrown out onto the street.
Does that tell you something about durians?
As much as you may think I have been exaggerating here, there is simply no way to exaggerate the foulness of durian --- just the contrary, words utterly fail to fully convey the sheer horror of the experience. The last time I encountered durians, in the farmer's market in Hilo, Hawaii, many of the vendors were complaining about the stench emanating from the one durian vendor (which could not only be smelled throughout the whole open-air market, but outside of it as well), and one of the friends who accompanied me there told me later that that one brief encounter with their stench ruined her whole day --- she was literally nauseated and could not eat for the rest of the day. I have a MUCH stronger stomach than she does, but just the thought of ever trying durian again makes me queasy.
Wow, okay the ass kicking will comense on schedule. How come people would actually smuggle this rotten shit fruit in their hotel? May be some people are immune or genetically unable to smell it? I thank you from saving me from the horrible experience. I owe you one! ;-)
Miffed;-)
You just might be, um, exagerating.
Nope, it's a well-established medical fact that Tylenol causes liver damage. That liver damage is compounded dramatically when one drinks alcohol and takes Tylenol.
CAN cause liver damage. Please be careful with your words, they do have meaning. Drinking CAN cause liver damage. Too much red meat CAN cause cancer. Risk is everywhere, and these blanket exagerations do not encourage critical thinking.
Not to beat this into the ground but: Eating a couple of 18 oz serving of prime rib in one sitting is unlikely to cause cancer nor is overdoing the barbecued ribs on a weekend picnic. It takes a steady diet and a genetic predisposition to cause diet-related cancer from too much red meat.
On the other hand, a single overdose of acetominophen can, indeed, cause liver damage to the point of liver failure. This is a drug that is fine in small doses but dangerous in higher doses or in dehydrated states.
Jena is absolutely right. The info is copious and easy to find. Do not underestimate this system's willingness to poison you. It's not even done out of malice, it's just the easiest way to make a profit.
Too much of everything can cause permanent injury / death:
Too much oxygen - retinopathy and permanebt blindness; also permanent peripheral neuropathy / renal injury / hepatic injury.
Too much water - red cell lysis - cardiac arrest via hyperkalaemia (the real cause of the hgh fatality rates in freshwater drowning - not oxygen deprivation)
On the other hand the literature is full of cases where Patients have survived deliberate ingestion of amazingly high amounts of acetaminophen (Paracetamol elsewhere). Asymptomatic survival of 50g (= 100 x 500mg tablets) is common - becasue absorption of that quantity is poor.
Chronic exposure, especially in the elderly / alcoholics - different situation entirely. For those with any pre-existing hepatic injury (cirrhosis, Hep C) paracetamol can be really dangerous even in paediatric doses.
"Too much red meat CAN cause cancer."
Prove it.
Just take a Prozac and watch American Idol
Watch American Idol, if you like, but better don't take Prozac.
http://ssristories.com/
Obama The Hypocrite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3MuzLezG9s
Legalize cocaine. Problem disappears.
But another problem promptly emerges:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/financial-meltdown-was-ca...
"I'm Jim Cramer, and I approve this message."
"BUY BUY BUY!!!"
"SELL SELL SELL!!!"
"RENT RENT RENT!!!"
My stress level plummeted when I gave up my faith in the species; now I just say "F**k it" and drink beer.
WTF did you have faith in the species in the first place? Human history is of death, deceit and destruction. And everyday we get better at that.
Take Obama, for example. He has never turned down a war.
"Take Obama, for example."
Yes, Please do...
"Human history is of death, deceit and destruction."
How do you know this to be true? Who taught you history?
Exactly. No need to quit your meaningless job as you toil to service your debts for your neo-feudal overlords; simply drink a six of Schlitz.
"Beer, the cause and solution to all life's problems." - Homer Simpson.
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Benjamin Franklin
Without the technologies to enable safe, efficient and long range (interstellar rather than interplanetary) human travel our species will die out on this planet.
That is inevitable, and will occur well before the expected time our local star goes nova (estimates around 6 billion years).
So, the Big Clock's ticking, but we spend more on golf course development than alternative space propulsion / hibernation technologies research.
Very strange set of priorities, don't you think??
the physical buying spree while the price is falling has caused dealer inventory to dry up. (I couldn't buy yesterday for the first time ever, the ZH story about the US mint, India and Thailand stories, Perth Mint was the busiest ever apparently)
So now the dealers are going to go to the COMEX to replenish their inventory. What is going to happen when all these dealers go to the COMEX for the specific reason of taking delivery ?
I was under the impression, perhaps misguided, that somewhere in the fine print of all those contracts was an escape clause providing for settlement by cash.
No, I don't think so.
The dealers need physical inventory to run their businesses. Cash is worth sweet fuck all nothing to them.
Actually most places do not use contracts at all. You pay them, they hand it to you. I do not trust delivery by a third party. If you go that route, yes, they have contractual rights to settle in cash, but then they eat the fee for their offsetting future.
I buy physical all the time. I am talking about the dealers getting their physical. They do have other avenues to get physical but they also probably get some on the COMEX. So there will likely be dealers lining up at the COMEX to get PHYSICAL so they can sell it to you and me.
Comex is supposed to deliver, period. If they are short physical, it seems they delay. I've known folks who have waited months for delivery. They might also offer cash settlement at a premium (which I suppose must remain secret). In a sense, the arrangement is negotiated extra-legal settlement of a default and the premium is liquidated damages.
Not misguided at all. I have read quotes from exchange officials that they can and will settle in cash, with or without premium (probably depending upon your club membership).
I was under the impression that dealers go to the COMEX for legitimate hedging purposes. Most of the physical metal stored in COMEX vaults is not practical for dealers needing coins and bars to sell to the general public.
where are the dealers going to get their physical ?
Even guys like Bill Flekinstien buy physical on the COMEX. That is how he got screwed by MF global
The dealer chain is kinda like the food chain. For example, only a handful of dealers can buy gold eagles directly from the US Mint and maybe three handfuls can buy silver eagles. Those large dealers then sell to the less big dealers (and wealthy individuals), and they sell to the smaller dealers, and on down the line. Fleckenstein and other wealthy individuals can afford to buy and store the 100 oz. good delivery bars from the COMEX, but you don't see too many of those bars listed in the inventory of even the big dealers.
It is pretty hard on relationships as well.
That's really tragic. Ideally, two people who love each other can hold it together and work as the team they're meant to be rather than falling apart separately. That the stresses of life drive good people apart rather than closer together is truly sad.
Couldn't have said that better.i don't know any marriage that can claim its without stresses including ours. Marriage is tough but if you both are willing to love, honor and support one another during the bad times it can work. Funny thing is 2nd marriages have a great rate of divorce than first. It's as if you just brought the same shit that destroyed the first to the next one. I had a dear friend that was going through hell in his 2nd marriage. I told him to divorce this woman ( horrible bitch, even violent towards him!) and figure out why he was attracted to such horrible women. He told me he couldn't because his Church would disapprove. He looked a little funny at me when I walked over to the doorway and banged my head a few times and said nothing. He indured this for another year and then had a wild affair. His Church found out and publicly shamed and excoriated him in front of the entire congregation. I begged him, dump the shitty wife and church, go live by yourself and figure out why you are attracted to women and things that abuse you. He looked deep in my eyes and said " you don't understand. My wife and church need me. You do not" and with that he walked out of my life and Ive never seen or heard from him since.
Miffed;-)
We've got to agree there. We've also noticed that many second marriage couples seem to really "push the boat out" on the glamour / ostentation level of their ceremonies (in Melbourne, the "hip" place to get hitched seems to be either Cuba, or Las Vegas!).
The concepts of "keep it simple", and "work your way up" have now faded into distant history. Expectations are the "Glossy Magazine" wedding and subsequent lifestyle (so "Down Under" we see FIRST Home buyers EXPECTING to buy the five-bedroom (all with en suite) hacienda with fully ducted air con, swimming pool, triple garage and side parking for the RV - I KID YOU NOT!)
And - everyone thinks this strategy is "easy" and "sustainable", in a land where energy costs are sky-rocketing (thanks as usual to political graft and mismanagement for the benefit of a very few, very "well-connected"- and surprise, they all seem to have strong Union "Management" connections). Seems to us quite the recipe for marital disaster (which may explain the rising (and increasingly acrimonious) divorce rate in Australia!)
As for the Church attitude, we always thought "they" were there to help the congregation in times of stress / hardship, not systematically abuse them. One would suggest Atheism might be a significant step up in terms of perceived self-worth.
Yes when we were married in 1982 it cost us.....drum roll.... Under $1200 which my mother-in-law paid for. My father had died the previous year and my situation was very bad. Looking back, getting married at 22 was foolish but I was fortunate to have chosen a very good man and we managed to make it. Both my girls know I will never fund any of the Kim Kardashian type extravagances seen today.
I do have to admit a certain repugnance for fundamental type Christian Churches. This particular church my dear friend was a member really pissed me off especially. When my friend was talking to me he insisted I meet his pastor. Reluctantly I agreed and found him the most smarmy disgusting man I had met in a long while. Consumed with power and demanded absolute devotion from his flock. He knew I had him pegged. In response he demanded my friend Kevin not to ever see or talk to me because I was as he put it " under the devils influence ". Kevin came to talk to me any way in secret. Unfortunately he had to make a choice between my ideas and his church's. He chose the church because my way was just too frightening and unsafe. Really all I feel is just sadness I lost a friend. I have no animosity. I do hope he has found some solace he was such an unhappy man.
Miffed ;-)
I don't remember how much our wedding cost but it wasn't much because we were pretty broke. We took both sets of parents with us to Carmel where it was just the six of us with some sort of non-denominational pastor in a rose garden. Then we stayed for a couple of days for a weekend honeymoon and that was it. I was 25 and he was 32 so we weren't so young but we'd only known each other for five months. We would have gotten married sooner but getting the parents together took longer than expected. No marriage is perfect but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. He's the best person I've ever known. 24 years later we're still here.
We both come from big familes as the younest of five kids, so while it was cool on my side, my in-laws weren't quite so pleased. We had a big reception/party for family and friends a few months later that my parents helped pay for but it took awhile for everyone's feelings to settle down. And then we missed the first family Thanksgiving because traffic getting from Sacramento to Marin County was so bad. I was not popular. (We had TV dinner turkey and my husband says it was the best Thanksgiving he ever had -- no family drama!)
There are a couple of fundamentalists on his side so I certainly understand what you're saying. There is no way to heaven but their way yet the way they live their lives leaves much to be desired. Ultimately we all have to live with our own consciences but I ascribe to the notion that everything counts, even the little ones.
Jena
Buy two BitCoins and Take a nap.
What cars are the serfs buying that only has a 20K loan?
Sheesh, Beemers and Benz's are a lot more than that.
I got my Nissan Versa for $5,600. Thank you cash-for-clunkers!
Funny, when human beings realize that they need each other, they are well-adjusted, and when they are artificially divided, into peer pressure groups, they are maladjusted.
surprise, surprise...
Isn't that the plot of every 80s teen movie?
Don't you - forget about me...
... I'll be alone, standin', you know it baby...
Doesn't seem surprising youth today are reported to be so stressed. Wouldn't you be stressed if you were told you were wonderful and could do anything you wanted to be since you were an embryo? Then when you walk outside the hallowed walls of public education reality smacks you hard in the face. Sometimes realizing its all a crock of shit can be a bit stressful. Living in reality instead of the land of dreams actually is LESS stressful.
Miffed:-)
But, but . .What about all those handsomely paid "Marketing Executives" who can convince "everybody" that "your dreams can REALLY become true!!"
Just look at the spin and hype in ALL the "Popular Media" - ALL driving the dim-witted to "consume". And consume they dutifully do, en Masse!
"Downsizing is for failures". You've GOT to be noticed, and you've GOT to have the most "friends" on Facebook, etc, or you are deemed a "failure" or even worse - "Social Misfit".
Don't "fit" the "accepted norm"? Welcome to the land of the "Social Pariah"! (Or in our case, "eccentric"!) Wait 'till the riots start - then we'll find out wose eccentric, and whose just dumb!
So with 217.8 million people age 18 and over; 35.9 million people age 65; that means there are some 181.9 million working age people. Does that mean we have a 49.4% UNemployment problem? I think so. Carry on....
After opting out (voluntarily, not through bankruptcy), I 'm not invited to parties anymore, nor do I belong to any clubs. Choosing "poverty" over middle class expectations and rewards has caused life long friends to sever all ties. People at church are nice to me.
Peer pressure and clique-ishness don't disappear after high school, unfortunately. Most people want to conform and "fit in," and you're labeled a weirdo and usually end up being ostracized if you go against that.
Group-think dies hard.
Unless you are the crazy nutball that doesn't give a shit about what people think?
pods
+1
Yup.
Either the churchies are just being kind to a less fortunate soul, or they are in desperate need of friends.
I would expect nothing less from you, Mr. Dobbs, jr. icon person. :D
life long friends
1. Then they were never friends to begin with.
2. If you can count your friends on more than one hand then you don't have any friends. Facebook excepted, of course. 400 "friends"...
3. Do anything unorthodox, or be accused of anything and you will find out who your friends are.
You will also tend to "lose friends" if you dare to partake / indulge in the following activities -
4. Live a socially "unconventional" lifestyle (i.e. NOT in what the Masses regard as a "Normal Home").
5. Have ANY strategic plan / provision for even a SLIGHT or transient disruption in normal services (power, water, telecoms, food supply) - you gain the label of "Doomsday Prepper!"
6. Show any thought processes counter to the memes spread via "accepted" MSM propaganda channels (maybe even showing ANY semblance of independent thought these days - labels you a certain terrorist!!)
Mindful of Rush - Subdivisions - "Be cool or be cast out"
Wow, I'm fairly aghast I have any friends at all considering I can check off every selection. Perhaps eccentric screwballs flock together?
Miffed;-)
+1 for the Rush quote.
Friends?
"By the time the brainwashed consumer has loaded up on the "absolutely necessary" debts--$100,000+ for college, $200,000 for a home mortgage, $20,000 for a vehicle loan, and whatever he/she can swing in credit card debt--the options to escape stress shrivel."
I battle my 20 something daughter daily on this.
She says "but dad if I don't have a credit card, I can't establish credit, and then I won't be able to buy a house."
These are the myths that are out there. The bankstas will give anyone with a pulse a mortgage or car loan but they really want people sucked into credit card debt.
Well written.. and 100% true. The bankers have succeeded in making more or less the entire society their slaves
The hamster wheel keeps getting larger, that is what this system creates. The breaking point comes when taxes become unstatainable and fodd/energy prices follow suit. There is an end game and I look forward to a new system.
Actually taxes are already unsustainable, which is why the U.S. is running a $1 trillion a year deficit which is being filled by money printing. When THAT becomes unsustainable, look out below.
The bankers couldn't have done shit without government.
Government has been making people its slaves for 10,000 years.
You've got to live somewhere. So, you're screwed there.
You can't get a burger flipping job unless you have a college education. So, ditto, screwed.
You must buy healthcare/obama care. So, they've got you over a barrel there.
And, you need a vehicle to get to your burger flipping job. So, you're fucked there as well.
Really, the reason those things are going up in price is b/c you have to have them. I'd certainly be nice if the Gov didn't fuck us over on health care. It'd be nice if rent wasn't as much as a mortgage. I'd be nice if there was public transportation to take advantage of everywhere. But, there isn't.
Simply move into the dumpster behind the burger joint. free food, housing, no commute and you won't live long enough to need Obamacare. The American dream lives.
These things are not laws of NATURE........Fuck the Fortune 500
True, you have to at least pay rent.
Forget the burger flipping, start your own business.
Below a certain income, health INSURANCE is free under Obamacare. That's my plan. You can no longer buy health CARE.
If you must have a job, work close to home and ride your bike. I always have, and after working for 30 years I have saved a lot of money.
Try to think critically. Shoot holes in your own arguments and you will find unexpected paths.
You've got to live somewhere but you don't need a McFuckingMansion. Your college degree won't get you a job; a liberal arts education is a liability, not an asset.
Ask yourself: What do I need? It is very little. What you want (or more correctly what your Masters want you to want) has no end.
There can be excesses in everything. Don't confuse Excess with the Excessive costs of "necessities". Even a shitty litte box of a house is $200k or more. A Bachelors of Science (Engineering) from a State school is $40k per year. And shitbox beater car used costs nearly as much as new. I also have no credit card debt, no Cable TV, no cell phone, and don't vacation around the world.
I live a very frugal life. My point is, the stuff mentioned in this article is pretty much necessities. And, the fuckers running the businesses are gouging. Unfortunately, you can only go so far off the grid, especially if you have a family.
There are a LOT of people in Rural / "Outback" Australia who REALLY live "off the grid" - with Families, and the children are usually far better adjusted than those from the "have it all on tap" Metropolitan / exurban communities.
You'd be (pleasantly) surprised to find that the better, more resourceful Interns / Career Medical Officers often have an "Outback Upbringing" background.
Living autonomously and therefore "forecefully responsibly" is a good thing, not a bad thing.
Cheers.
So now people don't work because they can't take the stress of life and it's easier to take anti-depressants?
How about there are no jobs to be had? Have you seen what happens when McDonalds announces that it is hiring 10 people? You get resumes from 10,00 PhDs.
So instead people are expected to take the loan money they can't get from their local neighborhood Too Big To Fucken Fail Bank and greenshoot a new business.
The real American way for sure.
Doing what may I ask? Butlering for politicians and banksters or selling bomb protection suits made in China?
But hey, it's counter productive to say something like this. You should call up your elected representatives and give them constructive ideas which they will be happy to take under advisement just as soon as they are finished denuding you of all your fucking civil liberties.
Here is what is happening out there. Corporate America is reaping the benefits of internships and part time employment. How do you get a free internship or part time employment? It's all about who you know or who you will blow (unless you live in Shenzen).
For most ordinary unemployed people, that means no one.
Ooh, I do like your bomb-suit idea!
Day 3 for me on running ads for someone with quickbook experience. I don't need a college degree in any form, just someone to do the books, who has some experience. Five resumes and not a single one that even looks worth training. It is a 30 hour a week job, with two weeks of vacation, free lunch two days a week, and pays above average for my area to start, which is in the teens an hour depending on experience. Unemployment in my county is around 9%. The last one was hired the first day of running a paper add, now I've got online adds with it. I see that people apply by the thousands for a job, but not directly. I have a friend that ran a add last year for someone to answer the phone, order parts, ship products, etc. and he had two people with 4 yr degrees apply for a $10/hr job. It required no skill or experience though.
70% of working people over 55 are so fed up, that they're ready to retire, if they could afford to.
"Where's that damn lottery ticket, Martha!"
I am an expert on stress folks.
Let me tell you my tale.
Back in 2008 I had a very succesfull and booming cleaning business that was turning some serious wedge, stressfull running it, but I got the rewards from it. A good bunch of lads working for me, and I had not the first clue about finance and banking, me and the boys just went out and done our jobs.
Then over night, I lost 40-50% of my work. Stress? Tell that to the lads I paid off. Tell that to the accountant. Tell that to your wife. Tell that, to yourself.
It nigh on wiped me out, in one month. Sorry to say, I am one of those who take the "Medication", it helps, and then I found places like ZH, they spelled out why it happened to stupid fuckers like me, and it took some time to get my head round the words and acronyms that the "Financial Class" use, but I did.
I've cut this as short as I can, but, we know bitchez, we may have been daft then, we aint now, and we know who done this. You will be repaid in full gentlemen. You ruined me, you ruined the lives of the people who worked for me, you deserve your payback. It took me along time to reconcile the fact I was played. And I genuinely feel sorry for folk who never woke up and found out who fucked them. They were only doing their jobs. Some call them sheeple, they are not, they are just folk who go to work and expect to get paid at the end of the week.
So in closing, stress? Aye, what a thing it is, life should be, and could be more than this. The people who caused the likes of me to nearly give up know nothing, as they dont care the consequences of their actions. So long as they get the green eh?
They will.
Welcome to "The Awakened".
1971,
Yes my good man, I am.
You are not alone. The "majority" may prefer to rely on platitudes ("Hope" and "Change" sound familiar??) but there's a sizeable minority with a very justifiable axe to grind.
And, this sizeable minority tend to have, shall we say, "useful" and "interesting" skillsets.
"Revenge is a dish best served cold". Our time WILL come, and the signs point to "sooner than many expect".
Watch this space . . . .