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Rotting, Decaying And Bankrupt – If You Want To See The Future Of America Just Look At Detroit
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
Eventually the money runs out. Much of America was shocked when the city of Detroit defaulted on a $39.7 million debt payment and announced that it was suspending payments on $2.5 billion of unsecured debt, but those who visit my site on a regular basis were probably not too surprised. Anyone with half a brain and a calculator could see this coming from a mile away. But people kept foolishly lending money to the city of Detroit, and now many of them are going to get hit really hard.
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has submitted a proposal that would pay unsecured creditors about 10 cents on the dollar. Similar haircuts would be made to underfunded pension and health benefits for retirees. Orr is hoping that the creditors and the unions that he will be negotiating with will accept this package, but he concedes that there is still a "50-50 chance" that the city of Detroit will be forced to formally file for bankruptcy.
But what Detroit is facing is not really that unique. In fact, Detroit is a perfect example of what the future of America is going to look like. We live in a nation that is rotting, decaying, drowning in debt and racing toward insolvency. Already there are dozens of other cities across the nation that are poverty-ridden, crime-infested hellholes just like Detroit is, and hundreds of other communities are rapidly heading in that direction. So don't look down on Detroit. They just got there before the rest of us.
The following are some facts about Detroit that are absolutely mind-blowing...
1 - Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, and in 1960 Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the entire nation.
2 - Over the past 60 years, the population of Detroit has fallen by 63 percent.
3 - At this point, approximately 40 percent of all the streetlights in the city don't work.
4 - Some ambulances in the city of Detroit have been used for so long that they have more than 250,000 miles on them.
5 - 210 of the 317 public parks in the city of Detroit have been permanently closed down.
6 - According to the New York Times, there are now approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit.
7 - Approximately one-third of Detroit's 140 square miles is either vacant or derelict.
8 - Less than half of the residents of Detroit over the age of 16 are working at this point.
9 - If you can believe it, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.
10 - According to one very shocking report, 47 percent of the residents of Detroit are functionally illiterate.
11 - Today, police solve less than 10 percent of the crimes that are committed in Detroit.
12 - Ten years ago, there were approximately 5,000 police officers in the city of Detroit. Today, there are only about 2,500 and another 100 are scheduled to be eliminated from the force soon.
13 - Due to budget cutbacks, most police stations in Detroit are now closed to the public for 16 hours a day.
14 - The murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than it is in New York City.
15 - Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that even the police are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".
16 - Right now, the city of Detroit is facing $20 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities. That breaks down to more than $25,000 per resident.
As Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr noted last week, it took a very long time for Detroit to get into this condition...
“What the average Detroiter needs to understand is that where we are right now is a culmination of years and years and years of kicking the can down the road,” said Orr, adding that his proposal should not be seen as a “hostile act” but as a step in the right direction.
Does that sound familiar?
It should.
U.S. politicians have also been kicking the can down the road for "years and years and years".
But eventually you can't kick the can down the road anymore.
Sometimes it is helpful to step back and look at what we have done to ourselves over the past several decades.
For example, back in 1980 the U.S. national debt was less than one trillion dollars. Today, it is rapidly approaching 17 trillion dollars.
And our debt binge has greatly accelerated under Barack Obama.
During Barack Obama's first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined.
Isn't that insane?
In fact, 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.
The following are a lot more facts about our exploding national debt from one of my previous articles entitled "55 Facts About The Debt And U.S. Government Finances That Every American Voter Should Know"...
#1 While Barack Obama has been president, the U.S. government has spent about 11 dollars for every 7 dollars of revenue that it has actually brought in.
#2 During the fiscal year that just ended, the U.S. government took in 2.449 trillion dollars but it spent 3.538 trillion dollars.
#3 During fiscal year 2011, over a trillion dollars of government money was spent on 83 different welfare programs, and those numbers do not even include Social Security or Medicare.
#4 Over the past four years, welfare spending has increased by 32 percent. In inflation-adjusted dollars, spending on those programs has risen by 378 percent over the past 30 years. At this point, more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government. Once again, these figures do not even include Social Security or Medicare.
#5 Over the past year, the number of Americans getting a free cell phone from the federal government has grown by 43 percent. Now more than 16 million Americans are enjoying what has come to be known as an "Obamaphone".
#6 When Barack Obama first entered the White House, about 32 million Americans were on food stamps. Now, 47 million Americans are on food stamps. And this has happened during what Obama refers to as "an economic recovery".
#7 The U.S. government recently spent 27 million dollars on pottery classes in Morocco.
#8 The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently spent $300,000 to encourage Americans to eat caviar at a time when more families than ever are having a really hard time just trying to put any food on the table at all.
#9 During 2012, the National Science Foundation spent $516,000 to support the creation of a video game called "Prom Week", which apparently simulates "all the social interactions of the event."
#10 The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the largest snack food maker in the world (PepsiCo Inc.) a total of 1.3 million dollars in corporate welfare that was used to help build "a Greek yogurt factory in New York."
#11 The National Science Foundation recently gave researchers at Purdue University $350,000. They used part of that money to help fund a study that discovered that if golfers imagine that a hole is bigger it will help them with their putting.
#12 If you can believe it, $10,000 from the federal government was actually used to purchase talking urinal cakes up in Michigan.
#13 The National Science Foundation recently gave a whopping $697,177 to a New York City-based theater company to produce a musical about climate change.
#14 The National Institutes of Health recently gave $666,905 to a group of researchers that is studying the benefits of watching reruns on television.
#15 The National Science Foundation has given 1.2 million dollars to a team of "scientists" that is spending part of that money on a study that is seeking to determine whether elderly Americans would benefit from playing World of Warcraft or not.
#16 The National Institutes of Health recently gave $548,731 to a team of researchers that concluded that those that drink heavily in their thirties also tend to feel more immature.
#17 The National Science Foundation recently spent $30,000 on a study to determine if "gaydar" actually exists. This is the conclusion that the researchers reached at the end of the study...
"Gaydar is indeed real and… its accuracy is driven by sensitivity to individual facial features"
#18 Back in 2011, the National Institutes of Health spent $592,527 on a study that sought to figure out once and for all why chimpanzees throw poop.
#19 The U.S. government spends more on the military than China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined. In fact, the United States accounts for 41.0% of all military spending on the planet. China is next with only 8.2%.
#20 In a previous article, I noted that close to 500,000 federal employees now make at least $100,000 a year.
#21 In 2006, only 12 percent of all federal workers made $100,000 or more per year. Now, approximately 22 percent of all federal workers do.
#22 If you can believe it, there are 77,000 federal workers that make more than the governors of their own states do.
#23 During 2010, the average federal employee in the Washington D.C. area received total compensation worth more than $126,000.
#24 The U.S. Department of Defense had just nine civilians earning $170,000 or more back in 2005. When Barack Obama became president, the U.S. Department of Defense had 214 civilians earning $170,000 or more. By June 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense had 994 civilians earning $170,000 or more.
#25 During 2010, compensation for federal employees came to a grand total of approximately 447 billion dollars.
#26 If you can believe it, close to 15,000 retired federal employees are currently collecting federal pensions for life worth at least $100,000 annually. That list includes such names as Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Dick Gephardt and Dick Cheney.
#27 During 2010, the federal government spent $33,387 on the hair care needs of U.S. Senators.
#28 During 2010, U.S. Senators pulled $72,370 out of the "Senate Restaurant Fund".
#29 During 2010, an average of $4,005,900 of U.S. taxpayer money was spent on "personal" and "office" expenses per Senator.
#30 In 2013, 3.7 million dollars will be spent to support the lavish lifestyles of former presidents such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
#31 During 2011, the federal government spent a total of 1.4 BILLION dollars just on the Obamas.
#32 When you combine all federal government spending, all state government spending and all local government spending, it comes to approximately 41 percent of U.S. GDP. But don't worry, all of our politicians insist that this is not socialism.
#33 As I have written about previously, less than 30 percent of all Americans lived in a home where at least one person received financial assistance from the federal government back in 1983. Today, that number is sitting at an all-time high of 49 percent.
#34 Back in 1990, the federal government accounted for just 32 percent of all health care spending in America. This year, it is being projected that the federal government will account for more than 50 percent of all health care spending in the United States.
#35 The number of Americans on Medicaid soared from 34 million in 2000 to 54 million in 2011, and it is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#36 In one of my previous articles, I discussed how 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.
#37 If you can believe it, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.
#38 In the United States today, more than 61 million Americans receive some form of Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to soar to a whopping 91 million.
#39 Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.
#40 When Barack Obama first took office, the U.S. national debt was about 10.6 trillion dollars. Now it is about 16.7 trillion dollars. That is an increase of 6.1 trillion dollars in a little more than 4 years.
#41 The federal government has now run a budget deficit of more than a trillion dollars for four years in a row.
#42 If right this moment you went out and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.
#43 If you were alive when Jesus Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now.
#44 Some suggest that "taxing the rich" is the answer. Well, if Bill Gates gave every single penny of his entire fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for 15 days.
#45 If the federal government used GAAP accounting standards like publicly traded corporations do, the real federal budget deficit for 2011 would have been 5 trillion dollars instead of 1.3 trillion dollars.
#46 The United States already has more government debt per capita than Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland or Spain does.
#47 At this point, the United States government is responsible for more than a third of all the government debt in the entire world.
#48 The amount of U.S. government debt held by foreigners is about 5 times larger than it was just a decade ago.
#49 Between 2007 and 2010, U.S. GDP grew by only 4.26%, but the U.S. national debt soared by 61% during that same time period.
#50 The U.S. national debt is now more than 37 times larger than it was when Richard Nixon took us off the gold standard.
#51 The U.S. national debt is now more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve was first created.
#52 The U.S. national debt jumped more on the very first day of fiscal year 2013 than it did from 1776 to 1941 combined.
#53 Historically, the interest rate on 10 year U.S. Treasuries has averaged 6.68 percent. If the average interest rate on U.S. government debt rose to that level today, the U.S. government would find itself spending more than a trillion dollars per year just on interest on the national debt.
#54 A recently revised IMF policy paper entitled “An Analysis of U.S. Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: Who Will Pay and How?” projects that U.S. government debt will rise to about 400 percent of GDP by the year 2050.
#55 Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff is warning that the U.S. government is facing a gigantic tsunami of unfunded liabilities in the coming years that we are counting on our children and our grandchildren to pay. Kotlikoff speaks of a "fiscal gap" which he defines as "the present value difference between projected future spending and revenue". His calculations have led him to the conclusion that the federal government is facing a fiscal gap of 222 trillion dollars in the years ahead.
Please share this article with as many people as you can. We are in the process of committing national financial suicide and time is rapidly running out to do anything about it.
Just like Detroit, a day is rapidly approaching when America will not be able to kick the can down the road anymore.
Sadly, our politicians don't seem inclined to do anything about it and most of the population seems to think that our exploding national debt is not a significant problem.
By the time it becomes clear how wrong they were, it will be far too late to do anything about it.
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Not shocked at all.
If you've been to Detroit, ever, how could you possibly be shocked by such predictable inevitability?
"By the time it becomes clear how wrong they were, it will be far too late to do anything about it."
It's already too late...
Agreed. Obama is Nino Brown and we are all living in "The Carter".....
Yeah but the $6000 Detroit house you bought a year ago is now worth $6780.
How's that for the wealth effect?
http://www.planbeconomics.com/2013/05/which-us-cities-saw-housing-prices...
Its sad but its probably true. Detroit is just an example, of what may come.
Layoff / Business Closing List
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
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MOAR DEFICIT SPEND!
.
xoxo
Paul K.
All of your empty factories are because to us.
Sure makes for some great photography though:
http://zfein.com/photography/detroit/
Detroit is coming to America!...
This is not 'kicking the can,' this is intentional neoliberalism. Do you see the rich folks going bust or gettin' richer? It seems the people going bust are a highly concentrated group.....must be a coincidence.
As far as the debt, basic math people..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth
For the math illiterate:
French children are told a story in which they imagine having a pond with water lily leaves floating on the surface. The lily population doubles in size every day and if left unchecked will smother the pond in 30 days, killing all the other living things in the water. Day after day the plant seems small and so it is decided to leave it to grow until it half-covers the pond, before cutting it back. They are then asked, on what day that will occur. This is revealed to be the 29th day, and then there will be just one day to save the pond.
Let's get to the point, shall we?
Africans (other word gets me banned?) revert to African-norm in any system, absent subsidies. In this case with subsidies.
Any questions?
Any questions?
Yeah, what do white folks revert to?
Religion and Farming. Blacks are there to rob them and deal drugs.
The system is the way it is because of blacks. Education to working, everything has been lowered by liberals to advance negros at the expense of white people. Just look at the dumbing down of schools to pass black kids, everyone suffers. The day this country stops proping up black people this country can be number 1 again. Hopefully before China decides to eradicate the white and black races.
Your ignorance is astounding.
The system is the way it is because we have sociopaths running it, and they will say or do anything for the advancement of their own personal power. Some of those sociopaths are of African descent, some are of Jewish descent and many, many of them are of caucasian descent.
The average sheeple has no idea this is going on and they propagate the system for their own detriment, and there are ample examples of that across all racial lines and the false left/right divide.
Human beings in Eastern Europe and East Asia have seen decade upon decade far worse poverty than the animals running amok in Detroit, but have not turned to widespread rape, murder, and gangbanging because of it.
Welcome to Eastern Europe America.....finally it's your turn.
Have fun!
Robocop will fix this mess in Detroit and save the city.
"The fiscal crisis in Michigan is setting up as a gigantic clash between bondholders and city retirees over what money Detroit has left to pay them. Public finance experts have warned that broad societal problems could follow a loss of faith in municipalities' commitments to honor their pledges"
honor their pledges? laugh of the day.
wow..23 confirmed ignorant, misguided, bigots thus far on ZH...very sad but truly american...the bankers salute u...
Lot of stormfront folks on here, astounding levels of ignorance are their hallmark.
Without us, it turns to Africa.....see Detroit 2013.
Without them it is heaven........see Detroit 1940
Get rid of us, you are left with Africa. Get rid of them, it becomes heaven........
Nah, let's run it all into the ground, because equality is such a high goal, that it is worth ruining civilization to attain........
McCarthy and Wallace were both right.
Also Henry Ford. The Dearborn Independent, he predicted it all.
"Without them it is heaven"...
Typical whitey...yeah," it's all (fill n with ethnicity other than cracker) their fault"...
you got a bright future indeed..
The host ("whitey") is forbidden from criticizing the parasite(s).
It's just a coincidence in time. Them just wanted the same thing everyone else wanted: a good job. Unfortunately moar demands of the stockholders and labor unions sent the jobs to China. Just another case of unrealistic expectations. Prepare for trickle up poverty. Locusts always want moar. The meek shall inherit the earth.
Inherent in the system of usury, fractional reserve banking, w/ fiat currency.
I ain't fallin' for no banana [republic] in no tailpipe!
Manchester, England, was 60 years ahead of Detroit.
Detroit is Amerika!
Is that where they test the missiles?
Thanks for the link ACP
Gives a whole new perspective to those Roman aquaducts in the French countryside. The American Empire is falling.
Just numbers:
Area of Detroit = 140 sq miles
Debt = $20,000,000,000
Debt/Sq mi = $142,857,143
Debt/acre = $223,214
Debt/sf = $5.13
If I can get a loan from Benny for the $20B (non recourse) I'll take Detroit at $5/sf --- but I want everybody out by the end of the month.
Why would you pay retail when you could get it for wholesale? Don't you know how to negotiate? Point out all the flaws, how poor the economy is, etc. and you're sure to get it for a smooth $1/sqft.
Yeah, but it's free money...err...Benny Bux, so who cares.
That's what happens when you pay someone $72/hr to build junk, when they should only be getting about $10/hr. Business moves away, and then you have no money to pay taxes.
Benny bux?... Cute ~ Like he invented them all on his own the limestone building he works him prints them all by itself...
Perhaps you prefer Cheesepope Bills of Debt?
BLUEBUX...
Detroit can be a place of opportunity, but not without washing out the debt, the corruption and the mental and cultural blocks to the imagination. This might mean clearing vacant blocks for agriculture, light or heavy industry and refurbishing and retrofitting existing structures, etc..
Detroit needs to disempower the crooks and parasites and the opportunities will be great.
$1/sq ft or $5/sq ft.? Man, were I younger....
At $1,000/derelict house, how much could it cost to just take a track-hoe and a D9 to recover some pulp wood and aggregate and have some farm land? The security costs of keeping out the crack heads might eat you alive though...
To work, one has to enter that community and engage the locals. A real commitment that requires demonstrating and sharing the interests and the benefits. One needs real partners. The other path is plain thuggery which seems to have the upper hand at this time.
Screw even paying for it - offer to erect a 20 foot wall around the lot and you could probably be PAID for constructing a brand new private prison!
not everyone is laying off
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_23429188/american-auto-industry-about-go-hiring-spree
Gotta replace the ones catching on fire.
The PK stimulus plan.
The only reason for the increase is the devaluing dollar, At this time next year a house may be worth close to 20,000
But if it is a foreclosed home, the city will want another $5000 in back taxes.
That's the question I aksed also. Look, just BTFD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jllJ-HeErjU
"It's already too late..."
You forgot to include your definition of "it."
And no, it is not too late, regardless.
The only "it" that is gone is the current rendition of "comfort."
Obviously Liberal politicians in Detroit have there shit together, real pillars in the community!
You should look beyond "liberal politicians" because real leadership has nothing to do with politics.
But we still confuse the two... go figure.
Perhaps put your energy into discerning the real problem that ails us all.
And for the record, Mayor Bing's only fault was that he did not appreciate the sickness of it all.
It is up to an as-yet-unknown force whether or not the current dynamic drives it all into the ground.
I defer to Ayn Rand Cabreado ....
"The basic and crucial political issue of our age is: capitalism versus socialism, or freedom versus statism. For decades, this issue has been silenced, suppressed, evaded, and hidden under the foggy, undefined rubber-terms of “conservatism” and “liberalism” which had lost their original meaning and could be stretched to mean all things to all men.
The goal of the “liberals”—as it emerges from the record of the past decades—was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot—by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli. (The goal of the “conservatives” was only to retard that process.)
In the 1930’s, the “liberals” had a program of broad social reforms and a crusading spirit, they advocated a planned society, they talked in terms of abstract principles, they propounded theories of a predominantly socialistic nature—and most of them were touchy about the accusation that they were enlarging the government’s power; most of them were assuring their opponents that government power was only a temporary means to an end—a “noble end,” the liberation of the individual from his bondage to material needs.
Today, nobody talks of a planned society in the “liberal” camp; long-range programs, theories, principles, abstractions, and “noble ends” are not fashionable any longer. Modern “liberals” deride any political concern with such large-scale matters as an entire society or an economy as a whole; they concern themselves with single, concrete-bound, range-of-the-moment projects and demands, without regard to cost, context, or consequences. “Pragmatic”—not “idealistic”—is their favorite adjective when they are called upon to justify their “stance,” as they call it, not “stand.” They are militantly opposed to political philosophy; they denounce political concepts as “tags,” “labels,” “myths,” “illusions”—and resist any attempt to “label”—i.e., to identify—their own views. They are belligerently anti-theoretical and—with a faded mantle of intellectuality still clinging to their shoulders—they are anti-intellectual. The only remnant of their former “idealism” is a tired, cynical, ritualistic quoting of shopworn “humanitarian” slogans, when the occasion demands it.
Cynicism, uncertainty, and fear are the insignia of the culture which they are still dominating by default. And the only thing that has not rusted in their ideological equipment, but has grown savagely brighter and clearer through the years, is their lust for power—for an autocratic, statist, totalitarian government power. It is not a crusading brightness, it is not the lust of a fanatic with a mission—it is more like the glassy-eyed brightness of a somnambulist whose stuporous despair has long since swallowed the memory of his purpose, but who still clings to his mystic weapon in the stubborn belief that “there ought to be a law,” that everything will be all right if only somebody will pass a law, that every problem can be solved by the magic power of brute force."
"I defer to Ayn Rand"
For a second or two, I surmised that you have me pegged as a "liberal."
It's hard to tell for sure.
More importantly, Rand was a Sociopath.
You Randians (what a strange and sad thing that "Randian," even in the context of the contrived "Ayn," exists) will fight your fight 'til the cows no longer come home.
You are looking for solutions where you don't even get the problem.
But I do wish you well.
If you really want to see what motivated liberals can do when they put their asses in it, come to Detroit.
The liberal mind cannot wrap around objective reality Cabreado because they live in an alternate reality! The adolescent mind of many liberals is to make fun and discount the validity of present and historic economic realities because in their delusional minds they have the grandiose idea that they think they know what they are doing, even though their ideology has failed over and over and over and over again!
Sociopathic pathology has a set of identifying characteristics:
They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.
Feels entitled to certain things as "their right."
Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.
A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.
When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.
Living on the edge. Verbal outbursts and physical punishments are normal. Promiscuity and gambling are common.
Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.
Rage and abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others.
Usually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet "gets by" by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc.
Not concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed.
Tends to move around a lot or makes all encompassing promises for the future, poor work ethic but exploits others effectively.
Changes their image as needed to avoid prosecution. Changes life story readily
Ayn Rand was far from being a sociopath, she understood political reality both empirically and objectively, while having the ability to pull both liberal and conservative covers with surgical precision.
Back to "Sociopathic" characteristics: Who best resembles these characteristics? I will give you a hint, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Ayn Rand was far from being a sociopath, she understood political reality both empirically and objectively, while having the ability to pull both liberal and conservative covers with surgical precision.
Ayn Rand is silly nonsense, good amusements for children and adults with childish minds but that's about it.
You forgot to mention she was an utter hypocrite, ending her life living on the same welfare she had been despising so much in her writings.
So when you are forced by govco to contribute your earnings to that which you abhor, you should refuse to claim your right to your own earnings being returned to you at a later date? Maybe you should learn the meaning of those big words like hypocrite before you go throwing them around like you just read them on HuffNPuff.
She had a fine understanding of architects who saw to it that skyscrapers and massive public works programs using nothing more steel reinforced concrete, glass and sound structural engineering could be built. "crazy indeed" but look at how the world has been changed because of them. Not sure of any "philosophy" that was created as a result. Detroit real estate at a buck a square foot is ironic because that City was built out not up "to accommodate the automobile." I find that scary to all those that have built up actually. What's the value of those things? Are they even in use? Are they just really expensive light bulbs and nothing more?
Fucking hilarious you Rand bashes are. Like all superficial people you attack the person and not the idea. Spend a week or so and re-read Atlas Shrugged and then explain to me how she was not ahead of her time and the book is not true to form in the world we live in.
She was a bit militant for my taste, but that does not mean she wasn't a terrific author that wrote books with a deep meaning.
No hints needed, thanks.
And thanks for the copy/paste.
Should you not be Going Galt now?
Or are you hanging around to see if your "Randian" "philosophy" is not needed, quite yet?
Interesting application.
Still beats your argument Ad Hominem on Rand. Please try again.
Sounds like a good description of all things American to me.
Just what I was thinking. Neo-Conservatives and liberals have expanded the size of government over the past at least 30-35 years. Blaming "liberals" when the Republicans have done the same thing is silly, unless you are arguing liberals infiltrated the Republican Party.
"All politicians"
Excellent post. Leftists have been so successful in America because of their single minded focus on getting their way--this is especially true for those that have no kids, only an ideology. In contrast, most conservatives spent most of their time working and actually trying to raise their families. They don't have the time or energy to make trouble. They compromise in the hope that liberal demands will just go away. They won't--they only get more viriulent and extreme. They plead for "tolerance" of their lifestyle; however, once that tolerance is granted, those pleas quickly transform into campaigns stracize, sue, or even prosecute anyone who disagrees with them. Tolerance is just a one way street and freedom of speech only applies to them. In my old age, I actually expect to see re-education camps set up for "angry white people".
Why do Leftists they hate Joe McCarthy so much? Because they secretly admired his tactics and were pissed that he thought of them before they did. They are now using them freely and regularly. Likewise, they hated Ayn Rand because she saw right through them and knew all their tricks and tactics (at least, until 1940 or so). This was perfectly encapsulatd by the character of Ellsworth Toohey in "The Fountainhead". Even worse, Rand created a coherent intellectual defense against their policies, which is why her books are ridiculed and demonized.
interesting theory, but would this not mean that eventually conservatives would outbreed and outlast leftists? I know many conservatives fathers with leftists children, or the other way round, and find this brand of political antagonism a tad strange. imho your (fine) tirade is part and parcel of a greater culture war that started in the 50's. yes, "angry white people" are becoming a minority, in the US, if demographics don't lie (with angry you do mean mostly men, don't you? 'cause white women are voting more and more differently)
thankfully while they were the dominant political force they shaped a culture of respect and protection versus minorities, didn't they? coupled with a well-greased convention on discourse instead of confrontation? So that their transition to minority will be less painful?
Honestly don't know, just asking, or, better, projecting some european views on a US debate that is quite alien to me
Yes, many conservative parents have liberal children. This is due, in large part, to the educational system (kindergarten through college) which indoctrinates children with the liberal ideology. And liberal bias in the Mass Media doesn't help either. Again, many conservative parents are too busy earning a living to effectively counter it. Many just chalk up their childrens beliefs to teenage rebellion. And, in some cases, junior legitmately wants to be different from the 'rents; but, in most cases, these differences are due to relentless indoctrination. What is really pathetic is when conservative parents save and sacrifice so they can send their children to elite universities--only to see their kids indoctrinated with a set of belief anathema to them.
It remans to be seen how White transition to minority status will play out. I don't think it will be as peaceful as you may imagine because there will be a desire for reparations of some kind to make up for past inequality.
As for Europe, it increasingly appears that your transition will be from Christian to Muslim culture. Good luck with that one.
I know that this is a recurrent theme in US media, but there really aren't that many Muslims in Europe, yet. It goes from 10% in Austria down to less than 1% in Poland. What we have is pockets in certain cities that get a lot of press
Yes, that is the present situation. But the Muslims are having many children and Europeans aren't. Over time, that will result in Muslim majorities. The demographic suicide of the West, including Japan, is another subject I could go on and on about, but just not in the mood today.
Damn GRUNT - If that's not the Democratic Party I don't know what is. (other than progressive Repubs too.)
+1776
Sociopath?
She was as close to a genius with regards to understanding the way men use the power of government force to "help" people.
Call her names. But she foresaw our current situation back when nobody did.
More importantly, Rand was a Sociopath.
Well, as Rand was fond of pointing out, when you point out the facts to a statist, they don't offer a counter-argument; instead, they turn to ad hominem attacks and insults.
When socialized medicine was introduced in Canada in 1962 - just over 50 years ago - detractors warned that future statists would use the fact that 'the public is paying for it' to introduce widespread controls on people's behaviour. So now we have kids forced to wear bike helmets, no salt on our fries, and the neo-fascist Bloomberg wants to ban big sodas and trans-fats. And we see the same pattern everywhere - for every tiny encroachment on our liberty that we give up because "it's not a big deal", we just set the stage for future, and greater, encroachments.
We have highways built for 100 mph that we are forced to drive 55 on. Start a company, and you don't make the decisions on how to run it - the city, the EPA, the union will all run your company into the ground for you. Complain about it, and the government snoops on your phone calls and emails.
Those are facts, my friend. Care to refute them, or explain how it's all for our own good? Best of luck...
Down votes either can't read or do not comprehend...whatev
As Clinton asked, "what is 'is' "?
They call it the negro boon-swang.
Sadly blacks are like a cancer to any society, now it happens to be that Americans love cancer. The best they know is to have some negro around them so they appear "cool". And what is not cooler than to have a negro president just like in idiocracy the movie?
You deserve this folks, remember that when you die and (if there is a god) end up in hell. You are passive, you are guilty.
If only we had more white people in charge like the Bush freaks or Hillary or Cheney or Pelosi or Reid or McCain! If only! God's going to send you to hell for having black people among you! /sarc
No, seriously, what the fuck is going on that stupid crap like the above is up voted? Is this strictly a shit eating neo-con comments area?
- "During Barack Obama's first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined."
Obligatory:
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)
Speech Given on U.S. Senate Floor Objecting To Raising Debt Ceiling Limit
March 16, 2006
Official National Debt at that time: 8 trillion USD (Official National Debt Now? Check the U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time; it's increasing way too quickly to make any number I post relevant for more than a few minutes from now.)
Q.E.D.
Missed you for a while, TIS, glad to see you're back.
Excellent posts, as usual.
+100
Rearrange those deck chairs, baby!!!!!
What a self righteous little prig. How many people did I know in the eighth grade who could do the same sing-song just as well or better. Hope and Change bitchezs.
Obummer's just a bought and paid for corporate cunt.
His words are like the wind outa my ass. He has no principles outside his own purchased interests. He's symptomatic of everything that's going wrong. Romney would be the same.
I'm not sure about your conclusiohn about Romney. He may have ended up the same but for diffrenet reasons. Or he may have been much better. He is a much better person than obama. As to the final Romney results as President - we'll never know.
He's a fucking politican. You're fucking naive to believe he was any different. We have a black guy in the white house. The guy is looting the Country. Liberals stuck on his dick while getting fucked in the ass still preach how great he is hypocracy...
10 - According to one very shocking report, 47 percent of the residents of Detroit are functionally illiterate.
How can this be?...public education is frrreeeee!!!...weee, tralalaaahhh boom sharah...giggle.
Hussein Obama is a delusional marxist.
WOW !
The Various States of Detroitification
who would have thought ....
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS destroyed this city. Welfare paying unwed baby mammas to breed like rabbits, unions destroying their companies while paying off democrats at the same time, public unions doing even worse, and the democratic political machine that is beyond corrupt.
Disgusting. Absolutley disgusting.
Coming to a liberal hood near you.
http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-democrats-destroyed-detroi...
bovine feces(BS).....Detroit is another success of the Fabians
Like I wrote in the Taliban/Qatar thread
"The Pendulum will swing to an equal and opposite amplitude of that which the Western World has forcibly taken it.
Look no further than the erosion of Freedom and Liberty within the United States and Europe for evidence of the commencement of the second half of this unnatural cycle of nature, and natural cycle of man."
The West has borrowed wealth and prosperity from our future selves, through financial sleigh of hand. But like all magic tricks it isn’t real and it certainly isn’t sustainable.
The scales are rebalancing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKC2c225EnE
It's articles like this that remind me to order more ammo.
Especially so because of #18, why chimpanzees throw poop?
Because they can.
THey didn't need to fund a study. Ask Obama, he may have an answer. Every liberal sucks his dick thinks he's infalliable.
TwoShortPlanks : Absolutely!
Thus...
"Dystopian secrecy
fuels clueless wars
Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks' source inside the US Army, has done more to make Americans safer than the Navy SEAL unit that assassinated Osama bin Laden. As his trial proceeds to its foregone conclusion, the greatest threat to the United States is not terrorism but secrecy and the clueless foreign policy that Manning helped expose.. - Chase Madar (Jun 12, '13)"
The Gods of the Copybook Headings always have their revenge.
Nothing an Osborn Knight couldn't fix
"Sadly, our politicians don't seem inclined to do anything about it and most of the population seems to think that our exploding national debt is not a significant problem."
The debt is not the problem, nor is the public sentiment towards the debt.
The problem is corrupt leadership -- and the debt loves that very much.
"most of the population seems to think that our exploding national debt is not a significant problem."
Didn't Chaney say deficits don't matter?
The grand experiment, charge on the infinite credit card as Bernanke and the Fed would put it.
Whatever, most of the customers that come to the small business I work at are government workers and those on welfare. They are the only ones with money. Trickle all over me bitches, I gotta pay the rent.
Its not gonna last, so if your business is dependent on the gov't teat... You are going to have a hard time the next couple years. Hell, we are just entering the tunnel, never mind seeing the light at the end of it.
I'm perplexed. China want's to move 225,000,000 people out of farmlands into "ghost cities" that were slated for foreign buyers?
Let's just solve 2 problems with one decision.
Relocate everybody in Detroit and surrounding urban areas to China
They get people to fill the cities, we get rid of people filling our decaying cities. They get productive workers where we don't have jobs. Saves us money, gets them GDP and tax revenues...
Win win all around.
I have a better idea.
Let's just solve 2 problems with one decision. Relocate everybody in Washington and surrounding urban areas to China...
The rest of what you said also applies.
I'm inclined to agree ;-)
@knuckles
"They get productive workers where we don't have jobs."
not so sure these are "productive workers" anymore ... the chinese can do as well as joe 6pac ... after all thats the idea of the great reset - cut the fat - balancing!!!
If they were productive workers Detroit would be in better shape.
The Chinese once recalled their navy and burned it along with its charts and logs. A drastic step, renouncing empire. Prosperity followed until Europeans showed up with gunboats and opium. Something to think about.
Yes.
A Stroke of Genius!
Your enemies will ALWAYS strike when you are weakest. US can be glad they have not pissed off Mexico or Canada. But thats why the annual deficit is a concern, because its obvious (!) it will result in a moment of weakness, and thats not really a moment when you want to have a lot of enemies.
There are many historical examples. France just after Napoleon (had so many enemies!), the Ottomans prior to WWI, the above China example, you could make the case for Britain and France losing their colonies because they couldn't retain/maintain them post-WWII.
So in this case it will be the US, not losing its colonies, but reserve currency status. And I think, sadly, the impact will be immense.
Things looked fine when i watched 'the Glades'last night
YOU DIDN'T TAKE A STEAMIN DUMP ON THAT CITY!
Isn't hardcore pawn there? Near the 8 mile? Their clientale says it all.
Boom!!!! Love dat city!! They just need to axe the president for some of doughs bailouts!!!
why ARE BLACKS SO VIOLENT? wHY DO DEY WANTS TO BE AXING SOMEONE?
Hey, yo! Let's Keep It Real:
http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/67hgjb/chappelle-s-show-when-keeping-it-real-goes-wrong---brenda-johnson
Don't fucking knock it!
Detroit is the picture postcard American City of Progressive, Regressive, Liberal, Neo-Con and Whateverpolicies one could dream up.
A triumph of Federal mandates, tax policy, economic incentives, clean emissions standards, free trade, labor laws, younameit!
It is the Showcase For and Of America.
Goddamn it
Love it or leave it!
The home of bailouts where the Federal Government Abrogated Debt-holders Rights
Where Modern Unionization priced workers out of markets
The land of unfunded pension and healthcare largesse
America!
Where men is men and women know their place as heads of unmarried households! With bunches of kids... each with a Federal Subsidy!
Breed you fuckers! Breed!
A triumph of America
Where everybody for fucks sake is on some form of take or teat.
Booyah!
Where nobody gives a shit anymore
Where even the Feds stopped an underwear bomber form going to when there was fuck all nothing to destroy anymore
But there is hope!
Want a movie set for dystopian realities?
It is there, real as shit, no false pretenses, because its Modern America Embodied in Detroit City
I wonder why the Canooks haven't closed the bridge to Windsor, already.
Windsor? Drugs!
I plan on taking a trip to Windsor soon. What's to do there besides drugs, strip clubs, gambling, and hookers?
What else do you need??
I went to a comedy club there once, it was pretty funny.
NEOCON? fUCK YOU. HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY jEW BASTARD THAT DOES NOT VOTE DEMOCRAT
Jew Bastard? Screw you. Any moron who believes the Dems or GOP can do anything in office without screwing this country up. It's always the bigots and racists who have the loudest mouths.
We have an Agent-Provocateur amongst us!!
I wonder why the Canooks haven't closed the bridge to Windsor, already.
for the constant reminder of what NOT to do as a country, plus when they need to bury bodies, Deetroight is the place to do it,the smoke from the burning vehicles makes good camo
Welll said! Bravo!
Actually knuckles its more of a picture postcard of globalization and fraudulent free trade agreements eerily resembling Argentina and coming to a city near you if these crooks continue their agenda (21). I hope N.Y is next
Never forget that the real appeal of these 'free trade' deals to the elite resides NOT merely in the fact that American workers get punished by having to compete with yet more and cheaper global labor pools in completely unregulated countries...
BUT
That each and every one of these "Free Trade" deals allows our well connected investors the right to acquire the other nations strategic assets and natural resources in exchange for these new jobs.... purchased of course with newly created fiat dollars loaned out by our investment banking 'industry'... and internationally protected at that.
Plus, the 'well-connected investors' from North America will own the factory that is opened in Bangladesh, so they are directly profiting from the (practically) slave labor.
I stood up and cheered. +1000000000
"I wonder why the Canooks haven't closed the bridge to Windsor, already."
..those Canooks have gone totally bonkers (re:tar sands).
+1
...love the frick'en debt clock page...makes a great desktop.
I think all the people who used to be employed in Detroit got gigs in NYC massage parlors and whatnot. You know, after automation created a bunch of new, more enjoyable jobs. Everything's working the way it's supposed to.
DEMOCRATS HAVE DONE TO DETROIT WHAT OBAMA IS DOING TO AMERICA
Dude. There's this great key on your keyboard labeled "Caps Lock". Do us all a favor and push it.
They need to draft Detroit next:
http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/b224ei/chappelle-s-show-the-rac...
Ted:
Congrats on the trailer park getting wifi. Brew up another batch of that fine Mississippi meth and keep on strong, brother. Hell yeah, fuck that Obammer, you might get'em peached or some shit.
LOL
With a 10% crime solving success rate why do they even need the cops? I get the feeling these assholse are just laying low and collecting a fat paycheck.
cops? in the land of the welfare queen, the drug dealer is king.
I'm sure the police corruption in Detroit would make Chicago PD blush.
<<With a 10% crime solving success rate why do they even need the cops?>>
Silly Otto. Where is muni revenue going to come from if you don't have anyone on parking ticket and speeding duty? It's not like there are any jobs or businesses or anything to generate what used to be called 'income', wreaks sheer HAVOC with your tax base you know, and public sector 'workers' have heaps of salary/perk/benny needs that don't go away just because all your productive people left.
And, AND, what if there's like a protest or something? Who's gonna pepper-spray and rubber-bullet them? You? Someone's gotta do it.
Besides, if we don't have ANY govvy-paid cops, then how would any crime ever get solved? If gov don't do it then no-one will. Without govvy cops, how can we be sure we won't all be murdered in our beds? That's just what will happen if we don't have govvy cops, which is why they put up that sign for our own good, "Enter at your own risk". It makes us all think how important govvy cops are to all of us. None of us wants to go anywhere "at our own risk"...do we? Well then.
When the last govvy-paid cop closes the door on the last copstop in town, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Silly Otto.
(It's not necessary to say, \sarc...is it?)
How about an "Escape From Detroit Survivor Hunger Games" reality tv show?
I'd watch.
Oh, and throw in some "Gamer" weaponry for fx.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny4a-oxOndo
never gets old
hmmmmmm, donuts
Can we collectively kick Obama's and the CongressCritter's "can" down the road...?
#5 Over the past year, the number of Americans getting a free cell phone from the federal government has grown by 43 percent. Now more than 16 million Americans are enjoying what has come to be known as an "Obamaphone".
Well of course. Poor people have the right to be spied on by the NSA too!
I have an even better picture . Explore this! Lost Engineering
Hub cities in the US will never look like that? Everything is relocatable now. You no longer have to trade in NY or Chicago. Whichever country or city offers the best deal. Tax-free zones pop-up all over the world.
Relocate, now before you get absorbed.
#53 means there will be no stopping the printer . Maybe the Hulk will show up and smash.
Philly up next folks......