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40 'Frightening' Facts On The Fall Of The US Economy
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
40 Statistics About The Fall Of The U.S. Economy That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe
If you know someone that actually believes that the U.S. economy is in good shape, just show them the statistics in this article. When you step back and look at the long-term trends, it is undeniable what is happening to us. We are in the midst of a horrifying economic decline that is the result of decades of very bad decisions. 30 years ago, the U.S. national debt was about one trillion dollars. Today, it is almost 17 trillion dollars. 40 years ago, the total amount of debt in the United States was about 2 trillion dollars. Today, it is more than 56 trillion dollars. At the same time that we have been running up all of this debt, our economic infrastructure and our ability to produce wealth has been absolutely gutted. Since 2001, the United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities and millions of good jobs have been shipped overseas. Our share of global GDP declined from 31.8 percent in 2001 to 21.6 percent in 2011. The percentage of Americans that are self-employed is at a record low, and the percentage of Americans that are dependent on the government is at a record high. The U.S. economy is a complete and total mess, and it is time that we faced the truth.
The following are 40 statistics about the fall of the U.S. economy that are almost too crazy to believe...
#1 Back in 1980, the U.S. national debt was less than one trillion dollars. Today, it is rapidly approaching 17 trillion dollars...
#2 During Obama's first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined.
#3 The U.S. national debt is now more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
#4 If you started paying off just the new debt that the U.S. has accumulated during the Obama administration at the rate of one dollar per second, it would take more than 184,000 years to pay it off.
#5 The federal government is stealing more than 100 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour of every single day.
#6 Back in 1970, the total amount of debt in the United States (government debt + business debt + consumer debt, etc.) was less than 2 trillion dollars. Today it is over 56 trillion dollars...
#7 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001. That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011.
#8 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.
#9 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into back in 1988. Today, the United States is only tied for 16th place.
#10 Incredibly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been permanently shut down since 2001.
#11 There are less Americans working in manufacturing today than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.
#12 According to the New York Times, there are now approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit.
#13 When NAFTA was pushed through Congress in 1993, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars. By 2010, we had a trade deficit with Mexico of 61.6 billion dollars.
#14 Back in 1985, our trade deficit with China was approximately 6 million dollars (million with a little "m") for the entire year. In 2012, our trade deficit with China was 315 billion dollars. That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.
#15 Overall, the United States has run a trade deficit of more than 8 trillion dollars with the rest of the world since 1975.
#16 According to the Economic Policy Institute, the United States is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.
#17 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.
#18 At this point, an astounding 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
#19 Small business is rapidly dying in America. At this point, only about 7 percent of all non-farm workers in the United States are self-employed. That is an all-time record low.
#20 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.
#21 In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
#22 According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.
#23 The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have as much wealth as the bottom one-third of all Americans combined.
#24 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either "poor" or "low income".
#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
#26 Overall, the federal government runs nearly 80 different "means-tested welfare programs", and at this point more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one of them.
#27 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#28 As I wrote recently, it is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.
#29 At this point, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately $328,404 for every single household in the United States.
#30 Right now, there are approximately 56 million Americans collecting Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to soar to an astounding 91 million.
#31 Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.
#32 Today, the number of Americans on Social Security Disability now exceeds the entire population of Greece, and the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of Spain.
#33 According to a report recently issued by the Pew Research Center, on average Americans over the age of 65 have 47 times as much wealth as Americans under the age of 35.
#34 U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.
#35 As I mentioned recently, the homeownership rate in America is now at its lowest level in nearly 18 years.
#36 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
#37 45 percent of all children are living in poverty in Miami, more than 50 percent of all children are living in poverty in Cleveland, and about 60 percent of all children are living in poverty in Detroit.
#38 Today, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. This is the first time that has ever happened in our history.
#39 When Barack Obama first entered the White House, about 32 million Americans were on food stamps. Now, more than 47 million Americans are on food stamps.
#40 According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of "Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming."
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>>>>I live in OK, and things grow here when you drop seeds into the ground, just about everywhere.
How'd that growing work last year? Talk about scorched earth! BTW, a friend of mine told me about a water well that had just been metered. Waiting for more details.
Remember SQ764? Well the backwoods jerkwater haggis headed hoverround halfwits approved it. Your water has been monitized.
Seer, it wasn't so much set up as simply happen because, let's face it, people want stuff. I agree that this is a finite planet, but it will seem a bit more infinite when there are only a few thousand or so left on each continent (which is part of somebody's plan, I would imagine).
Globalization is working...
...exactly. The destruction of the individual and sovereignty.
"Globalization" is an over-extended, end-of-life thrust. It was essential in order to keep the game going, but this could never last (as there was no other realm for conquest).
I actually marvel at the optimization (that could never have occurred organically), though human hubris clearly overstates what that means (Jevons Paradox notes the insanity).
Entropy trumps any further pushes...
If by "working," you mean "hollowing out," then I agree.
Clinton....Bill started it with nafta .....Hillary will finish us off completely
"This has been going on since Reagan and now is accelerating to record levels. Consider the manufacturing sector in the U.S. alone: in 1979 just before Reagan came to office, there were 21.2 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S. By 1992, after 12 years of Reagan and Bush senior there were only 16.7 million such jobs. According to one study, trade and the growing U.S. trade deficit accounted for 83 percent of the millions of jobs lost in manufacturing alone between 1979-1994. According to the same study, the millions of jobs lost to foreign imports paid on average twice that of new jobs that were created in U.S. export industries during the same period. Jobs lost were clearly being replaced by jobs of lower quality and lower pay.
Apart from assisting and presiding over the launching of a free trade offensive by U.S. corporations in the 1980s, it was on Reagan's watch that a first formal free trade agreement was negotiated by the U.S. with another country, in this case Canada in 1988. The U.S.-Canada Free Trade law served as the precursor to NAFTA. Building on the U.S. -Canada Free Trade agreement, George H.W. Bush in 1990 then developed the plan to extend that agreement to Mexico, thus creating NAFTA, the direct predecessor to the currently debated CAFTA. However, it would take a Democrat, Bill Clinton, to deliver the Bush-corporate vision."Get off your Red team Blue team bullshit.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Central_America/CAFTA_LegacyFreeTrade,...
Excellent. I cringe whenever I hear people bashing Obama & Bernanke individually like they were the first.
He/She(Crash Overide) simply forgot the "/sarc"+1. To quote a famous TV personality(Homer Simpson):
"I for one would like to welcome our new overlords"/sarc
Are you sure that wasn't Kent Brockman? Better check that quote.
For the big international companies - they can now use slave labor without the messy legal problems and social stigma of actually owning people. They don't even have to feed, clothe, house or look at them. What a deal - for them. For the rest of us not so much.
TTGBump...So true and our own local, state, federal governments seem intent to make it nearly impossible, fiscally or through other regulation to start small viable business'. Do they not want folks to work?? That's my uneducated opinion, and if not, why not??
That conclusion is unescapable. As to the reason, simple extrapolation might indicate barriers to entry are a consequence of the protection and creation of monopolies. Laws these days are pretty much written by entities other than our elected officials with goals that do not consider the benefit of the country or the people, but the benefit of those entities. If you put on your tin hat you might extrapolate other, more sinister reasons.
Do they not want folks to work?
Sure, they want people to work---for large corporations. None of these small, independent, autonomous NFIB mom 'n' pop shops---too hard to control. The aim of law--regulatory laws, tax laws, health care laws, and especially financial controls--is to push all workers into the mega-corporation fold. Then, with everyone dependent on Big Capital and Big Government just to eat and pay the rent, people will be much easier to control. Elitist agendas are much easier to implement when everyone is part of a big clueless dependent herd.
Work for yourself. Provide for yourself. Depend on yourself. It's the most subversive thing you can do. AAAND, it's fun.
Excellent +1
Clearly this is MUCH different than Communism! </sarc>
Globalization is working...
And at a breakneck pace for THE Antichrist to appear.Time is short as time goes.
"for THE Antichrist to appear".........Huh? Didn't we already elect him twice?
"Obama tells Morehouse College grads their future is great. Unless, of course, they want jobs. Then, they are totally screwed."
- Leno
Sometimes ignorance is more desireable...
It can all be summed up in this old bumper sticker saying:
Oh, and funnier is to think that Leno's HUGE salary (from NBC/GE) is sucking a lot of money away from more meaningful jobs. But that might just be me being cynical about what constitutes a REAL job (and REAL work).
I see that I was down-arrowed by an NBC/GE supporter.
Fucking pikers...
I fully sympathize with your POV concerning what contitutes a real job. However...
Leno's salary was determined in a free market way, best as I can tell. I'll never begrudge anyone collecting whatever amount of pay that a free market determines they are worth.
I seriously doubt that our television programming works on anything close to a free market.
Of course it's a Free Market. Just ask Judge Judy, making $50,000,000/yr. Luckily her taxes are not so high, since she gifts to charities. some cynical tounges have argued that this amounts to these charities being on the network payroll. /s
The real knee slapper is the number of sheep (coppertops) watching Leno, drinking the kool-aid and buying the shit that pay for the ads that pays his salary. It's almost like capitalism if it wasn't a virtual gulag.
During the long history of the United States, we have taken down the industrialized Marxist ideology. Today, tomorrow, or any day in the future will result in some repeated failures. Not even the Kenyan can change history with the manipulation of Executive Order threats. This is just how our Republic rolls with the punches.
The "Republic" is a virtual construct, it exists in the mind, "Kenyan" or otherwise.
"long history of the United States?" Not compared to other nations.
The demise of ALL empires comes as a result of its inability to acquire resources, a failing which almost always is displayed through wars abroad (which is where the resources are sought from).
It's got less to do with who is sitting on some Throne and more to do with Nature. But, obviously, you are free to make up whatever storyline makes you feel better.
"The republic is a virtual construct".
No, it's a form of government that has been abandoned. It worked relatively well for about 75 years. Got a better idea?
I don't push "ideas," as these are for manipulations and marketing gimickry.
If you don't believe that the "republic" isn't virtual then please indicate its existence within nature.
It was ALWAYS about serving the upper-crust, just as all modern hierarchies are designed to do.
"It worked relatively well for about 75 years"
LOL! ANYTHING can be made to appear to "work well" given a sufficiently short enough time-frame. Oh, and I suppose this 75-years has to do with the Civil War? It's been what, TWICE as many years since the war and folks are STILL whining about it? I wish that BOTH sides had lost, so don't climb on my back about being a supporter of Statism. Things FAILED when Hamilton got his way: so, FAILURE occurred much earlier.
BAD SYSTEMS FAIL - quit making up excuses (or, if you like, you can go back to fantasizing, perhaps engage in some Civil War reenactments)
History and nature have the examples. But, since they probably aren't attractive to you you'd likely just ignore them (despite them being ultimately driven by natural forces).
Thanks for playing!
Sorry, I should have connected the dots more clearly for you...
"Republic" is a form of "government," and governments ARE virtual (human-created) constructs. You will NOT stumble across such an item in the wilderness, in nature: yes, nature does have a sense of hierarchy, but for the life of me I cannot think of any case where another living thing delegates its "power" to some other living thing for the purpose of representing it. In the long-run nature and nature's forces (entropy) WILL win out.
Nature doesn't fail. By your admission the "Republic" failed. I'd think that any system that is deemed GOOD should be robust enough to stave off failure. BTW - the "republic" failed because it grew- BIG = FAIL.
I find your argument incredibly flawed. Just because you will not find any evidence of a Republic in the wilderness of nature does not mean that the idea (or "virtual construct," as you call it) is some sort of misguided enterprise. Now, you didn't say outright that such an undertaking is misguided, but you seem to imply it, and I disagree with your premise.
Human intelligence provides us not only the impulse, but the ability to create organizational relationships that lift us out of the "Laws of the Jungle." The American Republic is such an organization, one that, in my study of human history, is arguably the most enlightened, radical, and freedom-loving ever to be crafted by the minds of men. That such organizations are invaribly corrupted over time does not mean that the attempt is in vain, and nature is replete with examples of internal mechanisms being corrected.
In other words, while the Republic that was bequeathed to us by our revolutionary forefathers has undoubtedly been corrupted as time has worn on, it is not too late for we the people to rise up and reclaim our birthright: A free and republican government that looks after those things that we as individuals are not able to provide for the common well-being - national defense, a common currency, etc, while leaving us alone to do the things that we CAN do without an omnipresent Washington bureacracy.
I don't believe that the Republic has "failed." I believe it can be restored, but it will take vigorous action by a dedicated portion of the citizenry. Whether or not such a citizenry is possible in this day and age, is another debate altogether.
it wasn't free for the slaves that built the republic nor for the land owners, First Nations people, who were killed & raped to form the land of your republic nation.
Slaves did not build the Republic, they enriched they already wealthy segments of society. The "First Nations" folks had been busy enslaving and butchering each other for thousands of years before Europeans got here.
The difference is, the Europeans acknowledged that slavery was morally wrong and setup a form of government that eventually righted those wrongs - something the so called First Nations never accomplished.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
enriched = build.
You asked to be corrected and I'll tell you this: without that enrichment this "republic" would have been ended a long time ago. Maybe something better would come, maybe something worse, hard to say. That timeline never had a chance.
And no, they weren't all enslaving and butchering each other on the scale of the ENTIRE continent. Small skirmishes in comparison to the brutality of Europe and it's that brutality Europeans brought to THIS land.
It worked poorly for Rome. A republic is an empire built on elitist rule, slavery.
Hello Seer,
You where someone on my +500 friend list during MarketWatch blue background website age. Your writings cultivated a moment of eureka today. I would drive traffic from MW to ZH based on link information. We both have a similar ZH membership dates. Frankly, we will not continue to subsidize a European experiment.
Now guess who I was on MW?
First to blink
Like Rome we are rotting from the top and from the bottom. We ate our seeds a long time ago.
The most telling statistic would be to find out how many PRIVATE SECTOR, NON SUBSIDIZED, NON SERVICE JOBS are left in the U.S. That is the base from which all others feed.
Reaganomics in action
People need to quit giving Reagan a bunch of credit ('dis' or otherwise). He was a fucking POTUS, also controlled by TPTB.
No, what we're seeing unfolding (and which the POTUS and its handlers can do NOTHING about) is Mother Nature in action. Growth was always going to end.
Curious note about Ronald Reagan on the ex-military site Veterans Today
And how for a while Reagan actually spoke out against the Trilateral Commission (sister of Bilderberg Group etc) :
« During the 1980 presidential campaign Ronald Reagan blasted Trilateral Commission influence over both the Carter White House and the rival Bush campaign, vowing to investigate the TC if elected. Reagan won the election. On March 30, 1981 he was shot by John Hinckley Jr. ... Hinckley’s father was a Texas oilman and a close friend and fundraiser for TC and CFR member George Bush Sr. [ After being shot ] Reagan, for his part, never mentioned the Trilateral Commission again. »
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/05/26/john-hinckley-jr-the-trilateral-...
I never put people on a pedestal. Hero-worship is not my thing. That said, there certainly were things that could be said were admirable with Reagan; and, there were less than admirable things as well.
TPTB are always standing in the shadows looking to keep their chosen puppets in line. It's not always a given how a POTUS will act when in office, and people will key up on anything they can in order to support their group of PTB (or course no one sees it this way, it's something that only happens with the OTHER "side").
I focus on the System. The players' job is to keep us distracted and confused: they know that keeping the game going is what's important, as if they aren't the ones holding the POTUS throne they at least can be assured as having another shot at sitting their Butts in it...
t always referred to it as the TRi Partition Commission. It was incorporated the very day we were being thrown out of Sigon. The original representation was Europe (Dien Bien Fu anyone in 65) Japan and good ole US of A. What was to be settled was how was the wealth of S.E. Asia to be parcelled out. Remember in this time frame Japan was a powerhouse and we and Europe did not want to cede to Japan the natural resources of that region.
Good ole uncle Rocky. Milestones
Bush the 1st was really the president most of the time, Not Ronnie.
After his assination attempt(why did his ambulance get to the hospital AFTER Brady? ) Hmm. Hinckley's family lived next door to Bush in Texas and was business partner, Hinkley's brother had dinner with W's brother night before attempt.......)
It was really two terms of Bush Sr. Not Reagan......
google "reagan shot planchet"
And for Bush II it was Cheney. Cheney and Bush I. CIA... oil... (and oil being big business requires the financial conduits)
Bush crime family has been in charge since probably Kennedy's assassination. Not nearly enough attention is paid to Mob Boss Prescott Bush, or Harriman, either, for that matter.
Bingo! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSakrYOpJ5s
What the video won't tell you is to look at where the Dulles Brothers started working when they left Princeton.
George Bush paints now, let's forgive him.
Seriously though, thanks for the post. Didn't realize how theify the Bush's were (knew about ww2 stuff)
Seer,
Republicans try to trump Reagan because that's all they have. Reagan was 68 (or 72?) in his first term. He did not even recognize his all cabinet secretaries. An on set of Alzheimer disease.
I can tell you're not old enough to actually remember the Reagan presidency. You can't slip any of that crap past me; I remember the Eisenhower presidency.
You little peanut.
I just got back from Mexico City, and it's pretty clear that the young people down there don't hate American music or media culture. So, what are you saying? People around the world like American music and media culture but they hate the country? I guess it's possible, but I didn't see or feel it.
More like they love our music and media culture but are neutral and disinterested about the U.S. Strange but maybe true.
Which made him the perfect front-man. The "Anchorman-POTUS" for the masses.
In 1990, not many countries hated the United States. Everybody liked the fact that US provided aid to many countries globally.
Today, that list who literally hate US includes but is not limited to :
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Yemen
Iran
Venezuela
Iraq
Egypt
Syria
N. Korea
Tunisia
Libya
Argentina
China and Russia, of course.
Most countries in Africa
Sudan and South Sudan
Somalia
Question is: in how many countries around the world, can an American wave his passport in the middle of city and NOT get attacked, kidnapped, put in jail, killed or harassed?
A true power must be liked by many and disliked by a few, and not vice versa.
A growing dislike over the last decade means no more expansion of Starbucks, Mcdonalds, Citibank etc or all the soft economic power.
Chinese companies for the first time in Middle Eastern history have got access to both Afghan as well as Iraqi oil fields.
Who would have thunk?
Go figure!
"A true power must be liked by many and disliked by a few"...The Empire in the Star Wars trilogy learned this the hard way, as most of us under 50 know...I guess politicians aren't movie buffs?
Politicians are definitely movie buffs....just look at Reagan and Schwarzenegger. Lol
Even Bush landed on a destroyer in a fighter jet was the work of 'special effects'. ;)
Don't forget the movie show that began in 9/11 and ended in 'Zero Dark Thirty'.
But the Clinton 'porn' show was a great 'job'!
You gotta give some credit, eh?! Lol
"My deficit is bigger den dis budget."
"A true power must be liked by many and disliked by a few, and not vice versa."
No, people attack power: that's how it goes in nature, the TOP is always challenged.
Everyone was fairly OK as long as the goods and $$s were flowing. Now that NATURAL CAPITAL is in decline there are more skirmishes for what is left.
China has REAL(?) money. One always looks to side with the up-and-coming power (though this will be short-lived for China). And when China's negotiations for cheaper raw materials starts to heat up then I assure you the warm welcome for China won't be there any longer.
What's sad is that people cannot see the trees through the forest. That is, individuals aren't the same as the POLICIES from where they (individuals) might come from. Best to speak as "<country's> govt" or "<country's> policy is such and such."
For better or worse, China is building infrastructure across Africa which not the British in the 19th century nor the Americans in the 20th did.
China is buying assets in US/Canada as well as Europe and injecting much needed capital. If it is to the Chinese advantage, well, that is how the world works. Cash is indeed king!
China continues to buy assets in Latin America and even Greenland!
Australia and Indonesia only talk to China along with Zambia.
Yes, the system is flawed, but America also took advantage and 'intervened' in Middle East and Africa since oil was found since it suited their needs at the time. While British and many others like French and Portuguese actually conquered and ransacked entire countries from Middle East, India, Africa, Asia etc.
China is neither conquering nor intervening politically for 'regime change'. We shall see that once it happens. Until it happens, it is just guesswork and speculative. China will also do whatever suits its needs as on date.
China is not an angel but nor is America or anyone else for that matter.
China has got something that many call worthless or which no one else has got as much, and it is called money at least, until today.
"For better or worse, China is building infrastructure across Africa which not the British in the 19th century nor the Americans in the 20th did."
Not a fan of history I see.
Think China is unique, that it's going about things differently? No. This is THE model. You have to have "infrastructure" built in order to EXPLOIT resrources.
http://www.academia.edu/1235859/Financing_the_Foe_Rothschild_and_the_fin...
A scandalous era in history if there ever was one, the destruction of Boers and the Republic of Transvaal...
They're letting the Africans in each nation, each city keep the infrastructure in exchange for access.
Hi Seer,
What I meant to say was that the British and Americans did not do AS MUCH over 400 years of ruling Africa, compared to what China has done in just one decade. China has spent over USD 75bn in infra alone over the last decade. http://thebricspost.com/african-union-welcomes-china-infra-investment/#....
British built the railways in Africa, as they did in India among other things like bringing English to Africa aside from hospitals and schooling.
Even some think tanks in US are in agreement but their voices are too muted for the wider press to observe.
http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/is-china-transforming-a...
I already mentioned that Americans gave aid.
Also, wish to reiterate that the Chinese have thus far not interefered in any country's politics which British and US always did. They were always meddling in politics and got in bed with dictators and now that the can of worms is wide open from Libya to Egypt to Tunisia to Somalia to Sudan, things are falling apart, and now......where are the Americans? Resources are still here but they are no longer buying nor interested. This is the reason foreigners call this Americn exploitation which is what is being written in a Thai paper by a Prof from Singapore. http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/352111/us-entering-asian-cent... Great article! A must read for all.
Thankfully, due to resources, many in Africa are being rescued by the Chinese who are their buyer as well as big infra builder to boot, with hopefully no ulterior motives aside from taking the goods and paying for them, and not looting it by colonising Africa.
I could'nt see the trees through the forest on Obama's inauguration day in 2008, nor 2012. I do remember 1 tree though.
Ron Paul.
Lets not pretend that American exceptionalism does not work for millions of Americans.
If we pretend that the "millions" is 3 million (which is roughly what it is) does that qualify your statement? And the other 297 million?
Let's not pretend to pretend that unicorns or white knights exist that can overthrow the looming perils that are under the full control of nature (entropy pushing back on perpetual growth on a finite planet).
BTW - Back when I THOUGHT that govt and politics mattered I supported Ron Paul: I still like him, but my money is better spent locally, within my community (rather than into some advertising company, which, likely backs what TPTB asks to be backed).
You can throw in just about all of South America. We have becme a world wide pariah and I have traveled much of it. Milestones
Dubaibanker, the people in those countries attack, kidnap, jail, kill and harass ONE ANOTHER, too. Imagine being a female in one of those countries??? Hell, imagine being a human in one of those countries???
A bunch of s***holes.
The people in those countries hate the Chinese just as much as they hate the Americans.
In any case, Chinese have destroyed their own future by aborting their baby girls; they're aging like crazy; they're not running anything for long. They'll be a has-been faster than the Japanese became one.
I completely agree with you. There will be anarchy in countries like India. China will sustain itself because it is busy insulating itself from the rest of the world by either buying others or building stuff themselves with this moat around them, called money.
Females are harassed everywhere, whether Middle East, Africa, Asia in the name of religion or tradition or whatever. It is something to do with poverty and illiteracy and superstition more than anything else.
We were all better off 2,000 years ago when the man went to work and woman took care of the house (in a cave). Ever since education and materialism showed up, we are now fighting each other rather than evolve or become better.
However, women are very strong and despite all the problems, they survive and thrive and continue to produce progeny, which a man cannot do it, all by himself. We are at 7bn people on this planet after all and growing! lol.
China has problems, many problems, but they will be the last domino to fall, becauee they have a lot of cash at this point in time when everyone else is drowning in debt. Money does take you far, but only that far, after which other things take over, just ask the US Govt or maybe ask the Greek or Cyprus Govt.
Chinese are not as much reviled in Pakistan or Afghanistan, believe me, becaue they do not interefere in politics, they do not bring military, for the most part they are still a small supplier of guns and ammo to 'rebels'. Plus they are the biggest exporter of many things on the planet which we all crave and need. And they are money lender of the last resort today, a role which USA used to play until a decade ago.
They have social issues but guess what, who doesn't. Japan has been ageing for so many years and they are now floundering, China still has several decades before they peak up in their ageing and they are growing very very fast in their economy which does mitigate some of the downside of ageing. Plus the pot of money does help.
People in China are allowed to have a second kid but only if they pay up or they can have them abroad. As far as Chinese women are concerned, they are poor, and can be found in every street corner all over the world so I dont think they have a woman problem in China. Lol. At least, just yet.
China may be a communist country but Western world is turning faster into state communists than anyone in history has been, just because they ran out of money, nothing else. No wonder, Russians and Chinese are rejoicing and getting closer and the first trip of the new Chinese President was to Russia and no one else. Even Brookings agreed that this is a big one. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2013/04/01-china-russia-en...
The fertility rate in China in 2011 was 1.58 kids per woman; in 2012 it is estimated to be 1.55. You need over 2 to keep a population constant. There are 118 boys born in China, for every 100 girls. We have a family friend from China; she tells us that there are entire towns there that are populated by guys who will never marry. That is really extreme. And it's not as if women from other countries are going to be lining up to marry Chinese men.
Humans were fighting one another 2000 years ago, too. Our primitive forebears were constantly waging war with one another; so do our relatives, the chimps. Google Yanomami; indigenous people in the Amazon. All they DO is wage war on neighboring tribes. And, alas, it turns out that the more murderous men among them, produce more kids.
I thought that the Chinese needed that pot of money, in order to keep the yuan down in value, so that they can keep exporting. They can't just spend it at will. Also, as their wages rise, exports will go down, and so will growth.
I don't deny that China will be a big deal, and a big influence. I jsut think they are going to go down the tubes a lot faster than people think.
I agree with you that India is going to be a mass of riots. They abort their girls,, too, AND they have a fertility rate of 2.59.
You seem to be a repository of facts on female fertility rates and all, and I am not any expert by any stretch of imagination. I do think long term and have some short term views but only on how to make money from changing trends and consequent growth in different parts of the world. I have no clue how female fertility will impact economics but I leave it to the Governments and NGO's and others to take care of that.
Number of countries with riots have risen rapidly over the past decade and I expect them to continue to rise regardless of fertility rates or geography or religion etc. Many things in life only have an impact when 'all other things are equal' and I believe interest rates, fertility rates, population rates, ageing etc had an impact on other areas when all other things were equal and could be calculated but since all other things are not equal any more and all variables are moving without any correlation, so I have no idea where we are headed because past formulaes, especially of Nobel Prize winners are just not working.
Look at Obama, he won a Nobel Peace Prize and he droned the hell out of innocents! How can we have a discussion on female fertility rates in Pakistan or Afghanistan and its impact when bombs are falling from the skies, from 5 miles up.... this was not a part of the equation! lol
Thanks.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/large-german-bank-quits-agricultural-commodities-speculation-a-902151.html#ref=rss
Dizzy, thank you for that link. Some small hope peeking through. Now if only MSM would run with and debate it.
I guess those numbers prove just how much more money we need to print to get ourselves out of this hole. /snark
"#2 During Obama's first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined."
Booyah. Hardest workin' man in politics.
"Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now
I feel good, I knew that I would, now
So good, so good, I GOT you"
Like the Chicago budget Obama is used to. Spend until you can't anymore.
Obama can turn the US into a Detroit.
From prodcing goods to producing debt.
The debt was hidden during Clinton's administration. The game continued on, intensifying, thanks to the wondrous bubbles being blown. Obama happens to have been selected to be the throne-sitter when things were unraveling.
The exponential function. It's easy to generate big numbers with it...
NOTE: Not in any way a defense of this POTUS or any others or other politicians, OR, in defense of bubbles, baby-killers, puppy-kickers or wife-beaters...
Or cigar aficionados, regardless of how you smoke it, er them.
Need more TV
need more Phones
Need more wars.
Wnd of story. Future getting bleak for the USSA.
Don't forget all the infrastructure USA has destroyed around the globe with the likes of Shock and Awe. Then there is depleted Uranium', agent orange etc.
Veering off topic...
I haven't read much about this "Obama-Care" baloney at all.
(I don't think many people have)
Won't it be great if tons of people start getting tax liens on them or even jailed if they don't have this mandated health insurance?
/s
The web has some stories that Muslims are exempt from Obamacare, and there seems to be some truth to it, although slightly complex. Actually, there is a potential exemption for groups of any religion who get themselves organised.
Standard insurance can be religiously prohibited for strict Muslims because of involving forbidden interest (usury) and also being taken as a form of 'gambling'.
Obamacare does allow for religious conscience objections, but this seems to be limited to those like the Amish who opt out of Social Security payments and benefits.
However it does seem that, under Obamacare, Muslims, like Christian groups too, can be exempt from the mandatory insurance requirement, if they join a Muslim 'health-sharing ministry' programme giving health care coverage.
« If an individual is a member of a "health-sharing ministry," - a religious non-profit organization in which members contribute money to cover the medical expenses of those in need - they are exempt from the requirement to purchase insurance. »
http://www.aina.org/news/20111014100244.htm
A rational reason. Thanks.
Still wondering why Bush II gave special treatment to the Bin Laden family after 9/11. Maybe this was also about some health-sharing ministry or something? Anyone have a more rational reason?
Based solely on some of the comments in the threads on ZH, I'd say "strict" (devout perhaps or code for "Saudi") Muslims are exempt because, well, martyrs-in-waiting don't need health insurance now do they?
Bush and Bin Laden families had long history of working together. Problem is people look at GW and Osama, instead of looking at their pappies and their uncles.
Yes. My reply probably should have been up one layer. Meh.
They left their fireproof passports back in the Middle East. They had to go get them and promised to "be right back"
O.M.G. - THE SHARIA ARE COMING! THE SHARIA ARE COMING!
Just pay the penalty and then buy insurance when you get sick.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/20/sharp-shoppers-scuttle-o...
Long #04 low noise loads.
...and bottlecaps.
Long rad-x and Nukacola.
Most of the numbered items could be found, in an analogous form, for all great empires towards the end of their reign.
But
>>>
#21 In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
<<<
signals the potential not just to fade, but to collapse from internal revolt.
This is the difference with Japan - used to be economic power number 2, now headed backwards, but not much chance of revolt because the gulf between rich and small is so much less.
Yes, that is totally the key point about Japan
In the 23 years since their 1990 crash, with all their financial games and QE and public debt increases ...
They kept just about everybody in a job with some spending money, and unemployment stayed low, they didn't just prop up the banks, they made sure keeping workers in jobs was a priority
They never did the USA or EU 'plan' of allowing millions to go unemployed ...
So even if Japan blows up and collapses financially, they will be okay, because they stayed a community
Japan and the last twenty years behaved and happened like it did because the rest of the world/economy was still running. If they went thru the last twenty years starting now, things would have unfolded(and will) much differently I think.
Exactly!
The world has been saturated with risk. There's no place to shuttle any more off for relief (for any failing country).
and then Fukushima happened.
I guess you haven't read about the rice ball guy.
The one the Japanese social service workers intentionally let starve to death a couple of years ago - he kept a journal as he died - because he couldn't/wouldn't conform to their requirements; he was an alcoholic. The last pages of his journal were about how he longed for a rice ball.
As they said, the rules *said* that they should let him starve to death. So they did.
Some community.
There are a lot of really, really, poor people in Japan; a lot of homelessness and a lot of suffering. You are buying the public face story that Japan puts out.
"The U.S. economy is a complete and total mess, and it is time that we faced the truth."
"Facing the truth" means BIG changes in thinking at all levels....
"Facing the truth" means most who suck off the system will suddenly have to start being productive....
"Facing the truth" means people are told the truth that the quality of life depends on one's choices and how hard they work at their goal....
"Facing the truth" means people understanding that life is not "fair"...
"Facing the truth" means people understanding that merely because one draws a breath does not make them entitled...
"Facing the truth" means that wrongs perpetrated on one's relatives 200 years ago does not give them special rights.....
"Facing the truth" means saving more and spending less....
"Facing the truth" means people will have to learn that FAILURE is an option in life, they are welcome to chose it but there are consequences.
"Facing the truth" means that market rigging will have to cease.
None of these things are going to happen. The current system will be run until it explodes.
The U.S. economy is a complete and total mess, and it is time that we faced the truth."
"Facing the truth" means BIG changes in thinking at all levels....
"Facing the truth" means most who suck off the system will suddenly have to start being productive....
"Facing the truth" means people are told the truth that the quality of life depends on one's choices and how hard they work at their goal....
"Facing the truth" means people understanding that life is not "fair"...
"Facing the truth" means people understanding that merely because one draws a breath does not make them entitled...
"Facing the truth" means that wrongs perpetrated on one's relatives 200 years ago does not give them special rights.....
"Facing the truth" means saving more and spending less....
"Facing the truth" means people will have to learn that FAILURE is an option in life, they are welcome to chose it but there are consequences.
"Facing the truth" means that market rigging will have to cease.
None of these things are going to happen. The current system will be run until it explodes.
THIS is exactly their plan, do you not get it yet?.
"Facing the truth" means recognizing the 1% have received as much welfare as the bottom 47%, albeit in different forms. Different tax rules for dividends and capital gains, corporate subsidies (too many to mention), bailouts, backstops, guarantees, tax loopholes for corporations.... I could go on and on.
Of course, but stating that would mean some complicated accounting be done to back up the statement. Much easier to just add up welfare checks and food stamp money. The usual rabble wouldn't understand the accounting needed to show the upper level "welfare" that you accurately speak of. Blame the po' folk 'cause it's easier. Actually, everyone in the country is getting "assistance". I'd say that the top 1% are getting the lion's share -- but that would mean I'd have to do some accounting gymnastics to prove my point. So, I won't say it.
"Facing the truth" means that wrongs perpetrated on one's relatives 200 years ago does not give them special rights.....
What about the wrongs from 20 years ago? Two years ago?
Shall we just forget about any notion of collecting on debts?
But, you're right, it cannot be "fixed." This is what happens when you start off with a system that enslaves (and then after a given group has been given a sufficiently big enough headstart call things "even") and treats people as unequal even though it says that it's charter is to treat everyone equal: All animals are equal except that... We were fucking Orwellian BEFORE Orwell.
My POINT is that if we don't learn from past mistakes will will surely repeat them. Not recognizing what was done wrong (continuing to hide and play games) is NOT evolutionary.
I have a difficult time with the concept of "enslavement" as I think in some ways we are all enslaved because we allow it. Freedom is something that must be fought for and for those who refuse to fight for it, do they not carry some blame for their circumstances? Are debt slaves not somehow responsible for their situation? Are those who are captured in battle and sold into slavery not is some way responsible for their plight? We use slavery or enslavement to imply they are victims without any personal culpability.
As far as equality is concerned, does anyone believe that equality is possible short of universal lobotamy. Does anyone actually want to be equal or do they really want to be equal plus? The competitive nature humans and virtually every other creature on this planet has demonstrated would suggest being equal is only important if you believe you are behind.
Seer,
The "system" fails because the system isn't followed. It is people and their corruptable moral culture cause it to fail. Most of the Republic's founders knew and understood the inherant contradction of slavery being permitted, but had to deal with the world as it was (is- for not much has changed) The Founders had to accept slavery in order to form one Country instead of two - and in the end, the war the Founders hoped to avoid still occured. Was it a moral failing? Sure. Welcome to Planet Earth, and meet the human race.
If you are going to hold groups, rather than individuals, responsible for "debts" - nothing will ever change. Thats just run of the mill tribalism/racism that has been used to justify taking things by force- the age old philosophy might makes right. African tribes kept members of other african tribes as slaves long before Europeans showed up - As did the Native American tribes. They justified it by simply claiming the same sort of debt you are talking about here.
Are the decendants of the African tribes that captured other africans and sold them to Europeans going to also be held accountable? Or are they exempt from this debt because they are black? My (white) ancestors didn't come to America until after the Civil war and originated in Norway. How am I, a 3rd generation decendant responsible for American slavery? I am responsible is some other way? So is everyone.
No one will ever start with a clean slate, because no people or culture has one. Everyone has the blood their ancestors spilled on their hands. Everyone. And that can't be changed, and it cannot be recitifed and debts paid, becase the people who incurred those debts are long dead, and forcing innocent decendants to pay up only incurs another wrong. An Eye for an Eye only makes the whole world blind.
That the American system is flawed ( and getting worse by the minute) isn't news to anyone. Every government is force - and since men control that force, it is, always has been, and always will be used unjustly. You seem to complain a lot about the unfairness of the American system, as if it were somehow unique in this aspect, and I wonder what your basis for comparison is. All of the systems past and present are unfair. The only thing that might be somewhat unique about the American one ( and similar systems) is that they declare that there should be an attempt made at providing fairness, and perhaps it is the inevitable failure on that promise you find particularly disturbing. That failure is human nature in operation, and humans (as a group) suck, and are unlikely to "evolve" to be better in a short timespan. If Men were angels we would have no need of a government.
What isn't clear is what system you feel we could "evolve" to, and how you would accomplish that without using force and contracting a few debts of your own.
but what would Honey Boo Boo and Snooki say?
Subsidizing something is usually intended to encourage the thing being subsidized so why do we subsidize bad behavior and poor decision making. The government and the people who elect the government apparently thing/assume that subsidizing poor people will not create more poor people. We have many examples to look at like the income level of black people in the U.S. since the civil rights act of 1964 has declined! Several of the items listed above are great examples of subsidizes encouraging a behaviour.
Close, but no cigar...
The "subsidy" is to the rich.
"We have many examples to look at like the income level of black people in the U.S. since the civil rights act of 1964 has declined!"
And you provide ONE.
Here's one:
The wages, when adjusted for inflation, of the average worker has declined since the late 60s, since the end of the Vietnam war (or is that since about when US oil production peaked? or, when Nixon declared the US bankrupt?)
Need more Football
Need More Entertainment
Need new IPHONES
Need more IPADS
Need more Basketball
Need more food
Need more sex
Need more of everything
Well now what? what's next? Running out of time and leadership in the USSA. Nice going inbred fucks of USSA.
8 decades of socialism, communism and fascism will do that a country.
so what happens when the bankster class milks the west dry. where will they go next? china and russia and a lot of other countries don't want to play with them anymore. japan is on the fence and so is india. who do they plunder next? is it possible they are done, finnished, caput? or does the world get plundered by a new wave of eastern bankers?
these are important questions because this phase of the game is over. europe and the usa are going to collapse as economic and political entities very soon as the detritus of war. where does the fate of the world lie in the aftermath?
they may go to latin america if they are let in.
but honestly i think the music is just about over, everybody is trying to get their chair
Yeah but jews got to get more money and blacks got to eat and mexicans got to escape mexico.
So keep on working and paying those mortgage and student loans off, patriotic, flag-waving whitey.
The gov't system is broke.
Of course we, the people, would not be able to replace it.
Too many millions of people are too accustomed and dependent on the entitlement.
It's all to be expected when growth stops. Bickering... then war (and we've been all programmed on what targets to pick out, and always the WRONG targets)
Without EBT (foodstamps) Walmart be out of business, take away ebt and social securty payouts and the entire US economy be in the gutter for good. Just my opinion.
Subsidizing the rich in effect...
Without EBT there would be open revolution.
47 million people will not quietly starve to death.
#5 is laughable. Our kids should and will REPUDIATE this 'debt' (out of thin air).
Fuck the Boomers who were all too happy to lap up Bernanke's treats but did not have the integrity, brains or courage to do anything about it.
Shallow thinking...
THE issue is growth. Go ahead, educate people on what it means when growth stops (which was always certainty). You'd be shunned from every fucking corner because people are too unwilling to admit that there is NO solution, that the problem is caused by someone else or some other group.
Careful about crying over things that wouldn't be able to persist. Kind of silly to grab at falling knives (and blame others for also failing).
You nailed it.
If we're lucky we can fractally grow inward, reducing costs to a limited degree, gaining something short-term from it, but the total expansion of actual tangible goods, land, energy, will be limited by the real finite limits of the Earth. End. Period. Done. Malthus was never wrong and woe be to the fucktards that say otherwise.
A tad OT but the Texas legislature really is screwed up on this issue.They tried to make Welfare recips pass drug screening progs BEFORE they got it.Dems said NO!.So what do the turds do?,they are likely to have U E applicants have to pass them!!!!!!.How stupid is that!,UE bennies are not paid out, unless the applicant has PAID IN.
Dumb arses
I guess stupidiy has arrived in Texas.
Nah. The Bushes have been in residence for a while now.
It's the land of no-regulation! Oh, wait!
Are there still Bush family members in Texas? I thought that all went back to their more traditional locations (East coast- ivy league).
Either that or Uruguay or some such.
Paraguay. Milestones
Next step, disability.
Texas unemployment taxes are paid 100% by the employer. It states right in the law that employees can not be charged - can not be required to pay any amount of the unemployment taxes.
If you want to say they earned it because they worked - so it is part of their compensation - it would be a weak position. In Texas the employer pays unemployment TAXES based on a how many employees file claims.
In Texas it is clearly a tax on employers.
Unemployment compensation is a trojan horse. If there was no unemployment compensation people would save in case they became unemployed. This entails the idea of self sufficency and exposes the liability of debt.
Applicants don't pay shit! The employer is forced to pay the benefits plus a premium on wages. I laid a guy off in 09 and my rates went up by ten times! In 2010 I had to let another go (which had nothing to do with the economy but simply my personal greed that had prevented me from saving enough money to continue paying him for another year when I had no work) and my rates were doubled. And this lasts for three years, minimum and is based on a 26 week payout. If they start costing in the 99 week benefits I will not beable to chance hiring anyone.
Wasn't this posted only two or three weeks ago??
Yes soemthing simiilar to but has more in todays posting.
The heart of socialism is central government planning, ie, regulations, taxes, subsidies, etc....We have been on the road to serfdom for many years, and we started running down it in 1965 with the enormous welfare state. It began with the Progressive era during Wilson's time. (Holder used on of WWI's left-over Espionage acts to snoop on the press.) Government in Washington has only grown its power since then. At this point, we are more like the old USSR than a free market country. Hopefully, the dissolution back into sovereign states won't be met with the armed forces this time.
Should change your username to "the wrong view"...
Problems started when we decided to embark on perpetual growth on a finite planet. Failing to understand this BIG PICTURE only allows for all sorts of other diversionary stories to be concocted.
Oh, and peak US oil production and going FULL fiat in the early 70s wasn't really any game-changer....
Fucking pikers...
"Nixxon goes to China". Biggest mistake ever made. They could still be rice farmers but, nooooo. The first NAFTA type debacle.
Large central governments are the problem because they empower stupidity and corruption on a scale that can not be stopped. I really enjoy the exchange of ideas and have no problem with profanity but I do find people needing to express themselves as righteous condescending shits annoying.
I don't know why you seem to be so upset by the math here. Its a self solving problem. When there is no more, there is no more, and the consequences ensue. You find different ( finite) ways of doing the same thing, or you do without. Growth will automatically stop when it can go no futher - and if prices are allowed to float naturally, the scarcity is communicated, and people react accordingly. Demand falls, as the prices rise, and alternatives are sought, and often found. Its always said that "At current rates" will will be out of this or that - but those rates change as the thing in demand is consumed and scarcity develops. Things can't go on as they are is a trivial truism Things never have contuned as they were. That is why Malthus was very, very wrong in his estimate of total possible global food production. Infinite growth is impossible on a finite planet - but determining exactly where those limits are, and what amount of human life is possible and sustainable is a far harder and far more relevant problem- and having different opinons about where those limits are and what can be done to deal with them doesn't make anyone a "piker" - Tommorrow somone might make a discovery that allows cheap space travel or interdimensional travel, and resources are no longer the finite ones located on this planet. Unlikely? Sure. So was feeding 5 Billion people when Malthus was making his predictions. This is not as simple as you would seem to like to believe.
non-governmental consenting worker co-ops are also socialism.
PLay with the terms and make them meaningless if you want.
I will take a voluntary association over one coerced by others any day of the week. Calling that "socialism" doesn't change the reality of what it is.
And nobody even imagines that the government of the United States would ever attempt to confiscate gold again.Better make it ALL precious metals,not just gold.Add in retirement savings too.They'll need the money for the health care bills which will be in the hundreds of billions.
Ponzi is as Ponzi does. Too bad the sheople already accepted TBTF as legitimate, because now there isn't anything anyone can do about it except watch it burn. Suckers!
Somehow I need to convince myself that we live in exciting times and to be proud to face such a challenge. It's just not working for me.
Whats coming ain't going to be fun...
<post removed by commenter>
i like challenge but this is more like a swamp full of bullshit.
Frightening? Not to me and not to the ostriches with their heads in the sand.
Normalcy bias working now with a vengeance. No leadership, none. That's because our goose is cooked and there are no solutions. Just prepare for the worst. No, not that, the very worst. And hope for the best, but the system has gone over the edge. Just look at the moral fiber of our presidents. Eisenhower or Kennedy was probably the last man who led. Look what's hunkered down in the White House now. Symptomatic of a failed democracy. The people are fat and dumb. Anything goes now. Get ready.
Whiner,
Did you read the history when Eisenhower made his speech about military industrial complex. I think it was at the end of his presidency. Kennedy seen to be weak that is why Khrushchev made the move to Cuba.
Teddy Roosevelt was the last president that stood up to money guys. (only my opinion).
Please re read your history.
Khruschev's Cuban move was in response to Kennedy's Turkisk move.
The Cuban crisis ONLY ended when the US backed down on CBM deployments to Turkey Only then,
nothing to do with anthing else JFK did.The US had to back down to avoid nuclear war.
Khruschev won.Kennedy lost.
Strange how that fact is omitted from the history books.
Hey, stop pissing on our myths! He was a serial whoredog, came from a proNazi crime family and was only elected by verifiable voter fraud in all places but Chicago, but nobody is perfect. Admittedly time has a way of bringing things into perspective as even Nixon is starting to not look so bad. damned, we're screwed.