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"The Real Economy Is Somewhere Between The Toilet & A Rat Hole"
Submitted by James H Kunstler of Kunstler.com,
With lakes, swimming holes, rivers, and pools beckoning, I went to a sporting goods chain store at the mall — where else? — seeking a new bathing suit (pardon the quaint locution). The store was curiously named Dick’s. All they had were clown trunks. By this I mean a garment designed to hang somewhere around mid-calf, instantly transforming a normally-proportioned adult male into a stock slapstick character: the oafish man-child.
This being a commodious warehouse-style store, there was rack upon rack of different brands of bathing suits, all cut in the same clown style. I chanced by one of the sparsely-deployed employees and inquired if they had any swimming togs in a shorter cut.
“What you see is alls we got,” he said.
Even the Speedo brand had gone clown — except for the bikini brief, which I wore back during 30 years of lap-swimming, but which I deemed not quite okay for an elderly gentleman on the casual summer swim scene. So I left Dick’s without a new suit, but not before having a completely unsatisfying conversation with one of the managers.
“In the old days,” I explained, “bathing suits were designed to minimize the amount of cloth one dragged around in the water. These clown trunks you sell not only make a person look ridiculous, but they must be an awful drag in the water.”
“That’s what they send us,” he said. “It’s alls we got.”
The Fourth of July rolled in just in time to celebrate the disintegration of Iraq following our eight-year, three trillion dollar campaign to turn it into a suburb of Las Vegas. Me and my girl went over to the local fireworks show, held on the ballfield of a fraternal order lodge on the edge of town. The fire department had hung up a gigantic American Flag — like, fifty feet long! — off the erect ladder of their biggest truck, in case anybody forgot what country they were in. Personally, I was wondering what planet I was on. It was a big crowd, and every male in it was dressed in a clown rig.
The complete outfit, which has (oddly) not changed in quite a few years (suggesting the tragic trajectory we’re on), includes the ambiguous long-short pants, giant droopy T- shirt (four-year-olds have proportionately short legs and long torsos), “Sluggo” style stubble hair, sideways hat (or worn “cholo” style to the front ), and boat-like shoes, garments preferably all black, decorated with death-metal band logos. You can see, perhaps, how it works against everything that might suggest the phrase: “competent adult here.” Add a riot of aggressive-looking tattoos in ninja blade and screaming skull motifs and you get an additional message: “sociopathic menace, at your service.” Finally, there is the question: just how much self-medication is this individual on at the moment? I give you: America’s young manhood.
Does it seem crotchety to dwell on appearances? Sorry. The public is definitely sending itself a message disporting itself as it does in the raiment of clowning. Here in one of the “fly-over” zones of America — 200 miles north of New York City — the financial economy is mythical realm like Shangri-La and the real economy is somewhere between the toilet and a rat hole. Under the tyranny of chain stores, there really is no true local commercial economy. The few jobs here are menial and nearly superfluous to the automatic workings of the giant companies.
I don’t have the statistics but I suspect a lot of the males around here are on federal disability payments, and probably in the psychological categories including “depression,” “learning disabilities,” “ADHD, and so on.” In such a situation, wouldn’t a person benefit from presenting himself as child-like, with a dash of menace? And wouldn’t it be advantageous to look that way all of the time, in case one was unexpectedly visited by a government employee?
Down in Brooklyn, a world away, the young men go about in their hipster uniforms: Pee Wee Herman cut casuals. They’re still role-playing “the smart kid in the class” even though they’ve been out of class for a decade. Their computer dreams of IPO glory are formulated with the tunnel-vision of science fair projects. Left out are the realities of the greater unraveling.
Women are not at the center of this story. Theirs is another story. Let some woman tell it before I get to it.
Never has a society entered an epochal transition with such unpreparedness.
Never has a society appeared so childishly decadent.
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Cheer up. With 0.10% interest rates, even a $10/hour jobholder can borrow $500k.
More windmills!
A guy named Kunt-stler should not be making fun of buying Speedos at Dick's.
Kunstler is German for "pompous leftist windbag."
Okay but what is "sondernauch" German for?
But also...
It means that he is here to be contrary...but contrary to what?
I think that the synonyms of sondernauch, properly employed, is like Schwanzkopf or Fichkopf.
Sprocken zie Deutch, frau cougar_w?
Markets higher...if not today though. Oh, well. Somebody's getting rich off the whole fraud. Just wave the flag, declare Victory and get out .
I collect housing vouchers, EBT benefits, and free fone service. To ease my stressed mind, I enjoy Old 'E' malt liquor, and various flavors of Philly blunts infused with 'medicinal' qualities. Sometimes, after I've impregnated my third of the day, I think about you poor suckas who are so stressed out in your jobs. I feel bad for you. Let me know if I can work your girlfriend out while you are away during the day. Thug life is good!
Well played.
You probably have a future in law enforcement.
specifically, TSA screener.
Maximum rating
"Oafish Manchild" Best line ever!
Yes, must read. Rich with meaning. Thanks!
We don't even own our own common culture. Everything is copyrighted, even the songs we sing in church.
Notice, Jesus is depicted as light-skinned, blue eyed and skinny to avoid copyright infringement.
So an old guy thinks that the younger generation is lazy, dresses weird, and society is doomed because of it. Hmmm...where have I heard that before? Oh yeah! That's what all old guys say...like since the beginning of time. Move along, nothing to see here.
What I want to know is where they get the money for all the tattoos most seem to be love with?? and many still in the closet can 'socially acceptably' admire a guys tattoos and 'look them up and down' rather than act like he is coming on to him (assuming the guy is straight) but again tell me, when even Target workers who make what $10 or $12 an hour can afford ink up and down their arms and those $150 + G shock watches.
What I want to know is where they get the money for all the tattoos most seem to be love with?? and many still in the closet can 'socially acceptably' admire a guys tattoos and 'look them up and down' rather than act like he is coming on to him (assuming the guy is straight) but again tell me, when even Target workers who make what $10 or $12 an hour can afford ink up and down their arms and those $150 + G shock watches.
How is the 'real economy' defined versus the metric, say, the President uses?
To read Krugman, things are better than they would be, and would be even better too, but for evil republicans and gold bugs who.. I don't know, didn't allow enough money printing or "jobs programs" or some such?
I think he's wrong, but have to concede I can't prove it and he has quite a pedigree and cult following.
Thinking that hes a dangerous charlatan is one thing, proving it is another.
Broadly speaking, it seems to me that he thinks he's dealing with immutable laws, like what may have worked 70 years ago works in a totally different world... and that its the only thing that does.
Given how money creation work, all else aside, his approach sure seems to guarantee that the banks eat first.
I am very disappointed to discover that I just wasted several minutes of my life reading about speedo's and shit.
Guess I put too much trust in ZH, assuming everything on here will be relevant and informative.
What? They(The articles) are ALL just people's observations from different perspectives of our shared realities.
Real world economies and the people who dwell in them.
Nonsense. TARP fixed everything - EVERYTHING.
Go back to your couches, complainers.
"Go back to your couches, complainers."
If you can find room on it.
Shit, I came home and found three Mexicans on mine. Then they asked me to get them more beer.
I love the gators we have close by.
As I mention on a thread a while back...gators gotta eat too.
Estoy muy sediento. ¿Puedo tener más cerveza, por favor? Muchas gracias.
Mis allegators tienen mucha hambre. Cuidado para ir a nadar?
"alls we got?" fucking christ
I don't care. 'More for the rest of us' is what I think when I see these meatheads on the streets of Concord, CA. And they are everywhere, shave-headed jugheads wearing wife-beater t-shirts, forearm tats, neck tats - and that's the ladies!
I am in with the two races that will come out on top (the Chinese and the Anglo-Saxon) and just go on with my life. The mouth-breathers, they will get fed US cheese out the back of a deuce-and-a-half parked in the Safeway lot. I will do everything in my power to avoid the fate of this race of slaves.
You are quite the "Useful Idiot", aren't you?
Either that or(thinks) he is getting ahead of the curve by "hookin' up" with Big Brother. gubmint' cheese eater either way...
More what? Pussy? That's a laugh.
All we need to know is that the disconnect between values/standards and the human existence as we see it is becoming greater by the day.
We may have evolved in looks thanks to a razor but in reality cavemen were real men.
Thank goodness we have upstanding, clean shaven "Family Values"-types running this country via their enormous campaign spending.
I'm sure they are working on fixing the soul crushing poverty and that everything will be happy-days real soon!
Just hang in there! "Leave-it-to-Beaver" lifestyles will be brought back to us by our benevolent oligarchs...anytime now would be just fine!
Oh give the "Back in my day." Shit a rest already.
Fucking complaining about swim trunks and long tee shirts.
Get a job!
my dude must be old enough to remember zoot suits hahahaha
James, you need to get outtathere asap, and go somewhere boringly dull, but a helluva lot safer & self-sufficient.
Spent the weekend finally getting my girlfriend to take her GHB (Get Home Bag) seriously, i.e. to understand, accept and embrace the value of it. If she's less than 40 or so miles from home and she has to abandon ship (her vehicle), for what ever reason, i.e. man-made/natural disaster, then at least she can fuel and hydrate up, stay relatively warm, and feel somewhat secure with her 9mm glock, to navigate through the various "challenges" en route home.
I've got two, one of which is always in the back seat of my vehicle. Small one for when I'm 12 hours walking/jogging/running distance from home and the larger one when I've gone to the "Big City" (75 miles) and beyond, and it could take me up to 3 days to circum-navigate potential "obstacles" to make it back home.
Anyway, as spooky as the thought is to have to consider a world where mayhem and chaos in the streets is a real possibility, it's somewhat of a repreve knowing that we have taken a few steps to prepare for the inevitable.
I came across this fictitious story, part one and two (quick reads), this weekend that I read to her. Got her thinking.
What Will Life Look Like When The Lights Go Out?http://theprepperproject.com/aftermath-part-bug/
Bugging Out After An EMP Attack
http://theprepperproject.com/bugging-emp-attack/
Is there some feminist conspiracy behind these styles? They all appear to be designed to make men look ridiculous, childish and not fit for being taken seriously. On this item I agree with Kunstler. It will be interesting to see an appreciation of the drift of female styles. On first glance it would appear that their only purpose is to provide exposed bodies for anatomical analysis and reproductive provocation.
Utilitarian one size fits all bodies in a multiculture/gender/sexual orientation diverse society created by the system for the system....and I pledge allegiance for ever and ever amen.
Don'T confuse the method for the Reason. Feminism may be just a means/Method.
Here, Do a google on. " CIA Women's Lib. Gloria", Ya that should do it.
Part of Homeland Security war preparedness;put camera on every street corner and create paranoia, turn cities into urban hotspots, have them fight with military garbed police, then sign them up and send them to the border to keep all unwanted and unwashed out of our little Utopia.
Anyone thinking Pearl Harbor was a false flag is mistaken. The Mitsubishi-made Zeroes sported real rising sun emblems. If you are referring to prior knowledge of the event, that is a Purple Code story. Sometimes the military and foreign departments make mistakes, such as Iraq, etc. etc .
Calling Peral Harbor a false flag event is inaccurate and might confuse the less informed.
False flag can also be not directly participating but just saying "Here, Let me open the door for you"
Those Airliners plowing into those buildings on 9-11 were quite real. Where the blame was placed was not...(Saudi-Israeli Op)
Those bombs going off at the Boston Marathon were quite real. Where the blame was placed was not...(Saudi Chechnian Op.)
The ships patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin were there. According to Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara the North Vietnamese did not attack.
Yes the Mitsubishi Zeros, the Kate Torpedo Planes and the Zeke Bombers attacked Pearl Harbor. Yes we allowed them as we were tracking the movements of that fleet of Six Aircraft Carriers since they had left Kobe. Yes they sunk eight obsolete World War I Battleships at Pearl Harbor.
But did we starve them out from importing any OIL. They were weeks away from total collapse.
(As a side note...If the rest of the World embagoed the USA from OIL just how quickly would we use our nukes?)
So what did you expect them to do?
No. It was NOT A MISTAKE as it was PLANNED FROM THE START.
Stop being an apologist for the State.
To me, this fashion spells a word: slumped.
Maybe it's all about their interior state being mirrored by their outer appearance.
yes.
all fashion is phony, that is the point of it.
a statement without meaning, an image. like
empty and expensive meaningless words to consume
your life. it is like "the economy" or social
power, bullshit, or some other artistic expression
occasionally communicating insight and beauty but
mostly expressing narcissistic desperation. it is
a challenge, to walk the edge of the razor.
Yes that is true on an individual by individual basis, But there can be correlations in other areas manifested differently, when the numbers are used in aggregate.
For example Shorter dresses during boom times(20's), longer in tough times(30's).
But no one person might act/dress like the norm.
We had sound money in 20's and 30's, not so today--maths and correlations sucks bitchez...
We haven't had sound money since 12/23/1913...
Grumpy old man is grumpy.
100 years ago grumpy old men thought that men who shaved were immature because it made them look like boys.
50 years ago grumpy old men thought the same of men who didn't wear brimmed hats outdoors.
Fashion changes, deal with it.
Pull up your god damn pants.
Oh I'm sorry Mr. Kunstler. We don't have doublets anymore... since the 17th century. Also, nowadays, long wigs are only worn by bald females, trannies and UK judges. We'll try to bring you one full body red and white stripped swimsuit, the latest in vogue by the early 20th century, but can't promise anything. What about some formaldehyde? That might suit you better.
James, try a nice men's shop in Miami Beach. One with lots of belt-less poly gabardine slacks. They'll have just the trunks you're looking for... Think Fred Perry meets Rene Lacoste at the Short Hills Country Club.
Then get a three wheel bicycle and your set for your summer adventure. Don't forget your sun visor preferably with a Geico Logo to go with your Wilson T-2000 Jimmy Connors racquet...
Oh yeah, those trunks are Egyptian cotton (ring spun) twill... $125... On sale. The ones at Dicks are $19...bring your gold card. These are the trunks P Diddy and Jay Z wear... You'll fit right in.
LOL! Fred Perry's stuff is hip and expensive now. LaCoste basic alligator shirts are super expensive now.
I'd also suggest an ascot, and perhaps a monocle. Either can be procured at a local haberdashery.
I prefer loin cloth.
....with a side of grapes under the shade of a gently waving palm frond....
Why are we discriminating against people with really short legs?
Isn't it the reverse? We are trying to make every long-legged man look like the favoured short-legged man?
USA! USA! USA!
My Black rip-stop tactical pant is one size too big to give my legs the room to kick the fucking shit out of "diversity" should it cross my path in a menacing way. Plus the pants are cheap as shit and will last forever. The little pocket on the hip sealed with velcro lets me deploy the .380 in a hurry if I need to, and the big cannon is down my back.
I confess the black sleeveless shirts I wear is pure vanity to show off my gym time and tats.
Oh, and I have an MBA and used to run a successful business, so am I a Cunt-Stler thug or not?
Hmmm.
Do you drive a Harley on the weekends?
No, I drive a beat-up old ratted Harley all of the time
GloryHole Tech LLC
One's reaction to this article is highly dependant on their age. Along with styles that change over time, overall outlooks of different generations change. The more I see of the current generation, the more there is a tangible sense that cool is being as dumb as possible. Not caring is cool. Feeling entitled is cool. Staring for hours into one's smartphone and not knowing how to look another human being in the eye and have a basic conversation is the standard. And, you shouldn't expect anything else. Maybe this is part of our evolution. When we've decimated this planet and are on that long spaceship ride to the next, maybe these skills will come in handy. We'll need something to stare at and we'll probably be talked out by the time we pass Pluto.
Good observations, Who will be able to adapt quickly to different physical realities will be the key factor I believe.
A commercial on tv comes to mind, pizza one. The one named Gordon dressed like Kunstler described, corrects another person and says "It's Gor-Don". (Using two syllables).
The. "Gor-Don"s will have some problems.
Maybe I was a little harsh. Depends on how the day goes, but sometimes these thoughts come to mind. You know, when I see all the Honey Boo Boos and like shows on TV that are so popular. There are some great people in the current generation, just as there are in all. But, the overall feel seems to be trending toward lack of personal responsibility and lack of understanding that life is hard sometimes and you have to work hard to get ahead. The continued demise of the family unit and other things... Again maybe these are all part of evolving, but it seems the wrong direction to a healthy and stable society many times. But then, maybe we weren't meant to have a healthy and stable society and life is what it is. Can help dreaming sometimes though...
Stop watching the mind control box. Cancel cable/satelite. Judging others actions based on your perspective from watching TV will become funny to you once you give it up.
I pretty much stick to watching non-fiction on the tube, but it is informing to take a look at what's poplar, because that's where society is. If you want a feel for the society you live it, it helps to see what they find interesting.
MR - when you have a chance, check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=druOAHVKHCQ
Yes, it could be more a factor of what society is "made" to believe or find interesting.
I pretty much stick to watching non-fiction on the tube...
There is no such thing as it is well written fiction because it has some truth interwoven to make it believable.
TV and Hollywood is for idiots. Viewing their crap enables the overlords and ensures the viewer's serfdom.
I don't know what the fuck Honey Boo Boo is but you need to turn in your man card immediately.
I think it is a sign of cultural disease when fashion sacrifices functionality. I find it almost hilarious when I see a wannabe gang banger trying to run in those giant baggy pants, or having to hold them up with one hand all the time. Why would you not want your pants to fit right and allow you to move as needed? Why did they lower their Civic to the point they can barely scrape up a gas station driveway from the street. It is because they have been tricked and picked up a contagious mental affliction. You can see it in the rich as well. Fawning over frivolous items without utility can only be classified as a sickness.
This is so you can't run away easily!
Funny stuff. The wife and I spent most of the weekend in Newburgh, some 60 miles north of Manhattan.
Had a blast hanging with family and friends around the pool at the house west of downtown. We drove in after dinner for the fireworks on the Hudson Saturday night.
Downtown Newburgh looks like Camden/Trenton/Newark.
An utter shit hole from end to end with nothing but bodegas, nail shops, fucked up buildings, and cholos are far as the eye could see.....60 miles north of the Emerald City.
Funny stuff indeed.
New York is in sad shape. They just won't admit it due to Bernankeyellenism disease.
I do looks forward to watching its demise.
Long shitgum wounds
Kunstler isn't aging well.
The story of America, people attempting to equate degeneracy with fashion fads.
I wonder what this fucker thinks about Washington's faggoty ass wig!
G. Washington. Fucking wigger.
Swim naked then you crabby old fuck!
LOL at this article.
This one needs to go back to the top.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-07/japan-sounds-emergency-warning-...
I think you mean, between a toilet and a glory hole.
Some of us are just concerned when it looks like you are wearing your diddy's pants.
Are diddy pants some oddity I don't know about? Or, care to?
P Diddy.
Whenever I see someone in a suit and tie (especially in hot weather) I immediatly distrust them.
A suit and tie to me is just a costume.
Exactly never trust anyone who is not in jeans and a teeshirt, preferably tennis shoes made in China.
A suit and tie are the bankers halloween costume. Sacrifice to Molech
A suit and a tie is a dead giveaway.
As usual, Jim focuses on the superficial, never daring to name names. He prefers to insinuate that da goyim are just dumb.
In reality, as most of us on ZH can SEE, the reality here is the progressive [ha!] negrofication of America's White youth. I discuss this in my first book The Homo and the Negro (Counter Currents, 2012).
Best laugh: Jim doesn't understand why the swimwear is baggy,since it makes swimming impossible. Well, Jim, because [1] baggy shorts/pants prove you're not a homo (the #1 rule of Judaic/Negro culture) and [2] Homie don't swim.
I do enjoy this place, comments are way above the norm.
I have not been to North America in nearly 5 years, so reading this is like reading about a foreign land from afar.
Except that I was born in that part of New York and I don't recognise the country the author is describing.
You didn't look very hard, did you? http://www.jcpenney.com/men/clearance/st-johns-bay-nylon-swim-trunks/pro...
May I suggest the navy blue? ...it would go well with this: http://imgur.com/gallery/eHf4SNm
BTW, why the f*ck are we reading this when we have a massive storm headed in the general direction of a disabled nuclear plant?
Bring it back
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-07/japan-sounds-emergency-warning-...
Mr Kunstler requests a woman's take. Happy to oblige. Fashion tilts to hooker style. Ridiculously painful 5-inch heels, short short shorts, petro-synthetic waste material for the throwaway girlfriend in a throwaway world. Synth-o "beauty" products in BPA-laced plastic packaging for that endocrine-disrupting effect. Makeup made of petro. Plastic effects for the plastic soul. Avoid shopping malls, Mr Kunstler.
The life of this thread tell us all
I remember when hoods used to like to party, the pee wee types younger ones just stole and the vets chilled with there women, crack dumb jokes and smoke weed and look at car engines, nobody fussed over a cheerio falling on the ground or some made up slight. Chicago could fall off the face of the earth for all I care, maybe a few were ok, but 82 shot, that takes me an hour and a half of shooting, to picture it is just overwhelming. Hospital workers must lush it up hard from bloody floors and endless screaming. I might need something oomphier, even Clint got his automag on his person.
Fuck me, that's Mogadishu and Miami under Griselda had a baby numbers. That better not spread.
Can't have a party anymore, music sucks anyways. At least the older cholos play good oldies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFrMLRQIT_k&sns=em
https://dublinsmickdotcom.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/the-sky-disintegrates...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-07/japan-sounds-emergency-warning-...
Bring it back
Lol. I give you: America’s young manhood.
All the traditional white cultural signals of masculinity were turned negative by the media's culture war (although slightly unraveling now e.g. Madmen). The only forms of masculinity treated as positive for a long while were black forms (jock high fives or gangsta fist bumps). So white copied black.
However black fashion was largely about giving white culture the finger - hence the emphasis on prison styles - hence black fashion being consciously designed to be anti-white. So white copied anti-white.
No wonder they're messed up.
Blame the media's culture war for most everything - it saves a lot of time and is mostly right.
200 miles north of NYC puts you dead spot in Glens Falls, NY, which is white as white can be in the US and quite wealthy too. More ranting idiocy and click-bait form a ZH op-ed contributor.
Creating jobs in a mature market should be required to pass a certain "taste" test. It should be pointed out that while America is creating jobs it is costing a huge amount. I'm referring to the massive government deficit which I feel is the fuel driving our still rather weak growth. Is it sustainable, and just as important are these the right kind of jobs and will they last?
When a job that falls outside the description of government worker fails to make economic sense it becomes a form of working welfare with the taxpayer picking up the tab. We as a country and as a society have paid dearly for each unsustainable job created through government incentives and partnerships, because of the nature of many of these jobs we might even call them temporary. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/04/creating-real-jobs-remains-proble...
Huh? Who in the hell wote this? This guy must get dressed in the closet. The most non sensicial gibberish I have read in a long time.
Hint: start out with simple direct sentences like: The cat sat on the mat.