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End Of The Empire

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

If the top 1/100th of 1% crowding airports with their private jets isn't afraid of impoverished, disenchanted debt-serfs with pitchforks, they should be.
 

By End of the Empire I refer not to the collapse of American Imperial power but to the excesses and anxieties that characterize the decay of Empire. I have covered the dynamics of Imperial decay before: How Empires Fall (April 17, 2013): 
The imperial tree falls not because the challenges are too great but because the core of the tree has been weakened by the gradual loss of surplus, purpose, institutional effectiveness, intellectual vigor and productive investment.
 
What I want to address today is the psychological characteristics of Imperial decay: a jaded populace that seeks distraction from their anxieties in excess. We know what characterizes empires on the make: a populace that is vigorous, confident, brimming with abilities and more than willing to engage in spirited intellectual debate on key issues.
 
What characterizes the American populace today? Jaded, unwilling to sacrifice comfort and convenience for long-term gain, incapable of honest debate, brimming with resentful excuses, insecure, anxious, fearful, depressed, distracted, self-absorbed. These last seven are of course the key traits of permanent adolescence, the state of arrested development encouraged by consumerism.
 
But they also characterize an Empire that has lost its edge, its ability to sacrifice for a common good, its confidence in its leadership and institutions, and its focus on building value rather than consuming.
 
Longtime correspondent Kevin K. recently submitted a comparison of the cost for a family of four to attend an NFL football game. San Francisco led the pack at $641 per game for average seats and a few drinks/hot dogs. (Scratch the $10 program and the $22 hat and that drops it all the way down to $609.)
49ers stadium priciest in NFL for a family of four: $641
 
The cheapest outing in the league came in at $345. I confess I'm frugal (hey I'm a writer, frugality is part of the package), but $345 doesn't strike me as particularly affordable. That's two months' groceries in our abode, and $641 is the cost of a 3,000-mile car-camping trip.
 
It's remarkably easy to drop $600 on a dinner for four at a high-end eatery (with wine, of course). It's almost laughable to look at archived menus of top-end restaurants in the 1960s; even in major bastions of old wealth like San Francisco, the fare at the best restaurants in town in the 1960s would barely pass muster at a decent cafe nowadays in terms of sophistication and complexity.
 
There is no way to parody current high-end restaurant fare: it is its own parody.Whatever bizarre combination of ingredients you might propose in a parody is on the menu at some fancy bistro--with a straight face and hefty price tag.
 
You know we're in trouble when parody has been rendered impossible.
 
Want to attend a live rock concert with a big name band? $600 might buy you two decent seats--or not. Even lesser names cost in excess of $100.
 
The median household income in the U.S. is around $51,000. A house in a "nice" neighborhood in many Left Coast cities costs $1,000,000. These are not mansions or the best house in town: these are average homes.
 
Although I can't find statistics to verify this, I am fairly confident that this ratio of median income to average houses in "nice" Left Coast neighborhoods (20 to 1) far exceeds the extremes of 1929.
 
$105,000 income puts a household in the top 20%, and $150,000 puts a household in the top 10%. How many football games (or meals, weekends away, concerts, etc.) at $600 a pop can a household earning $105,000 afford? How many should a household indulge in, given the pressing need to save for investment and emergencies?
 
We all know households that have no business squandering these sums on entertainment do so for two reasons: entitlement and aspirational spending. Imperial populations feel entitled: to bread and circuses (food stamps and 24-hour sports channels), to high-paying, secure jobs where sluggards can't be fired, to trust funds (so we don't have to lower ourselves to do work that is not fulfilling), to pills that cure us of ailments we nurtured with our unhealthy lifestyles, etc. etc. etc.
 
Everyone aspires to look like they belong in the elite. The top 10% want to look like they're 1%ers, the top 20% want to look like top 5%ers, the top 40% want to look like top 10%ers, and so on.
 
The absurd excesses of consumerism are driven by one key dynamic: the top slice has never been wealthier or had so much free cash to blow on excess consumption.
 
The top 1/10th of 1% has never been wealthier, the top 1% has never been wealthier, the top 5% have never been wealthier, and the top 10% have never been wealthier. People wonder why they're "poor" despite earning $250,000 a year, and yet they seem unaware of where their earnings go because they're entitled to all the goodies: by golly, we worked hard and we deserve it.
 
Even if we didn't work hard, we still deserve it, because we're special.
 
One would imagine that the populace of an Empire at its zenith would feel euphoric, confident, secure, fearless: chomping at the bit to go out and do great things not just for themselves but for the Empire.
 
Instead, we see a populace on anti-depressants, insecure, anxious, burdened by ill health, jaded by 24 hours of everything, every day, distrustful of its corrupt leadership and self-serving institutions, and beneath the rah-rah phony cheer, fearful that the whole rotten contraption might give way before they secure their share of the Imperial swag.
 

If the top 1/100th of 1% crowding airports with their private jets isn't afraid of impoverished, disenchanted debt-serfs with pitchforks, they should be.

 

 

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Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:05 | 5303621 tempo
tempo's picture

The rich all own islands w guards and lots of gold, but even those will become crowded and can easily be overrun as the poor capture weapons like isil did in Iraq.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:13 | 5303668 DeadFred
DeadFred's picture

Or maybe a case or two of ebola inside the compound to spoil the celebration

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:44 | 5303894 Syrin
Syrin's picture

They vaccinated themselves years ago against Ebola.   Why do you think they're letting it spread?   They shut down flights over swine flu which was LESS virulent than the regular flu.   Why?   They weren't prepared/vaccinated for swine flu.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:15 | 5305695 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

"They shut down flights over swine flu which was LESS virulent than the regular flu.   Why?"

 

PC has a heirarchy of ethnic groups. The people likely to be carrying Ebola are from the groups near the top of that heirarchy whereas the people who were likely to be carrying swine flu were from the middle. PC is only fully insane when it involves people from the groups at the top of the heirarchy.

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:46 | 5303905 max2205
max2205's picture

CS must live in NYC....what a bunch of horse shit

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 14:00 | 5304293 Sophist Economicus
Sophist Economicus's picture

CS lives in the lint of his navel

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:20 | 5304114 seek
seek's picture

To spoil the story arc of a 10-year old TV show, that's the exact season-ending plotline of "Jeremiah." A single infected person is smuggled into a facility that looks an awful lot like Mt..Weather or Site R, where the remnants of the US government are plotting to re-take-over the country while safe and secure in their underground base. I just re-watched the season since it seemed apropo.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:24 | 5303757 hootowl
hootowl's picture

They will eventually need food.

 

Keep your powder dry.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 14:07 | 5304311 EBT excepted
EBT excepted's picture

dey ca' eat da po' peeps...save some ebt money...

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 14:57 | 5304574 exSSNcrew
exSSNcrew's picture

Plenty of deer and stored grain on my estate.    The Hoi polloi will starve and riot first.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 15:53 | 5305004 7.62x54r
7.62x54r's picture

Is your estate within one automobile gas tank drive distance from a large city?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:00 | 5305625 exSSNcrew
exSSNcrew's picture

Yes, but only if the several bridges are all left intact.  

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:18 | 5305707 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

They'll come and eat you like in a zombie movie. That's why they're starting to produce movies like "World War Z", "Elysium" and "Hunger Games". Subconsciously the more sensitive ones are starting to see the future.

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:12 | 5304075 jemlyn
jemlyn's picture

No need to invade, just send in the drones.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:05 | 5303622 tempo
tempo's picture

The rich all own islands w guards and lots of gold, but even those will become crowded and can easily be overrun as the poor capture weapons like isil did in Iraq.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:36 | 5303829 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

They have the guards to worry about then.  It would make a good movie.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 19:27 | 5306032 CapnJackDaniel
CapnJackDaniel's picture

I'd give it about 3-6 weeks before the guards figure out who's REALLY in charge behind the walls of those rich folks' compounds :) 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 11:53 | 5303532 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Great point. Disable their jets so they can't flee like cockaroaches.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:02 | 5303600 alfred b.
alfred b.'s picture

 

     ...but they are the cockroaches!!!

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:14 | 5303673 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

Most cockroaches don't fly, just crawl in dark places...

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:39 | 5303855 upWising
upWising's picture

ANYONE who has visited Florida ("Flawed-duh") knows there are NO cockroaches in the whole state.  There ARE "palmetto bugs" that fly crawl and swarm.  They LOOK like cockroaches but they are "palmetto bugs."

Funniest thing I EVER saw was a "Palmetto Bug Mobile" wherein palmetto bugs had been pierced with a needle and strung in strings with fishing line and then hung over the kitchen table (!!!) from a piece of driftwood.......they just floated around over dinner in the soft breeze.

Maybe do the same with the 1%?   They could be made into "One Percent Mobiles" and hung over the central fountain  in the shopping malls. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:45 | 5304229 Super Hans
Super Hans's picture

Periplaneta americana

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 11:55 | 5303546 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

bet they are moar afraid of ebola escargot right about now

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 11:57 | 5303557 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen America.

You're done with. You worshiped your worthless paper for far too long and tried to spread it's evils throughout the world as "SOUND" money.

Good riddance!

Good bye to the "GREAT" Satan and "ALL" of it's spawn.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:16 | 5303691 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

In '08-'10, people laughed / could not entertain the thought when I told them that the dollar will be worthless someday soon. Same thing applies today.

Someday it won't, but that day will be a radically different day than anyone ever knew in the last however long goldfish memory goes back.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:28 | 5303785 centerline
centerline's picture

Most of us that really got fired up back in 08' and starting getting "educated" pointed out stuff that has already happened... and still does not get any attention.  Amazing, isn't it?

Most people are fullyprogrammed now to reject anything that does not "feel good."

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:09 | 5304056 TVP
TVP's picture

" Diet, injections (Vaccines), and injunctions (Laws) will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible. "

-Bertrand Russell, 1952

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:16 | 5304099 bbq on whitehou...
bbq on whitehouse lawn's picture

Not impossible. "You must unlearn all that you have learned." Yoda

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 14:30 | 5304423 SubjectivObject
SubjectivObject's picture

Yes, and under what possibility to find a mentor and supporting environment that to have the chance of happening?

Thu, 10/09/2014 - 06:19 | 5307514 Alvin Fernald
Alvin Fernald's picture

The chance is decent if you are looking. Here is an alternative:
https://freestateproject.org/about/101-reasons-move-new-hampshire

Thu, 10/09/2014 - 11:34 | 5308819 ComputerNerd
ComputerNerd's picture

I'm moving to the first state that secedes.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:17 | 5304108 Dr. Richard Head
Dr. Richard Head's picture

Trying to turn people on about the fiat debt dollar was about as worthless as Ferguson, MO protestors trying to get Cardinal's fans to turn away from their baseball to see the police state.  Protestors were spit at and had lit cigarettes tossed at them by the zombies.  People in the US are now fully conditioned to keep the circuses running so they can join their tribe for the game.  Makes me sick and makes me drink constantly.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 15:27 | 5304820 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

It's a hard road.  They just don't want to know.  They often roll their eyes or say, "It's not like you can do anything about it".  The extent of the shock will be mindblowing.  We are nearing the day.  It simply cannot go on much longer.  Every conventional indicator is flashing red.  Hang on.  Oh yeah, and load up on the booze.  Cheers Doc!

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:30 | 5305506 Acidtest Dummy
Acidtest Dummy's picture

Mind blowing shock from mass _dis-illusionment_ will likely result in mass hysteria(s) like contagious laughing, dancing and crying. People will likely DIE of exhastion from too much laughing, dancing and/or crying. Others have discussed at length the risks of Our Impending Catastophy so I am trying to imagine possible upsides.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:30 | 5305511 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Dr. Richard,

...and makes me drink constantly.

Switch to weed. Its not so damaging. Around here, people infuse their moonshine with medicinal herb concoctions, so they're getting healthy while they're getting sick.

Hang in there. This can't go on forever ...

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:14 | 5305689 ImGumbydmmt
ImGumbydmmt's picture

+1,000

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 15:38 | 5304895 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

Funny, I don't recall forcing anybody to take American money instead of the fake warehouse receipts issued by their own shithole governments. Given the free CHOICE between their own currency and that of the US, which one do you think they prefer and have preferred since Japan knelt in submission in 1945?

Look at the current rise in the strength of the US dollar. Why would anybody be crazy enough to want their life savings in the hands of Barack Obama and the Fed? The answer is that it is safer there than in the hands of their own country's government and central bank authorities. Pretty sad commentary on the state of things beyond the borders of the Great Republic.

The good people of the American heartland are the only thing that stands between you and your putative masters. If we go down, you're already long gone. But they aren't worried about the already subdued peasantry such as yourself at all-- only us.

We still count because we are outside their control and still able to do something about it.

We're the Americans and we piss on the graves of everyone who shouts about burying us, you damp little man.

 

 

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:23 | 5305475 CrabNuggetOne
CrabNuggetOne's picture

..'Funny, I don't recall forcing anybody to take American money'

Stupid cunt, that's the ONLY thing US foreign policy (murder) tries to achieve/maintain. Use the dollar or die. Fuck you. Stupid cunt.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:21 | 5305728 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

"Good bye to the "GREAT" Satan and "ALL" of it's spawn."

 

The UK govt. sent a trade delegation to India a year or so ago offering unlimited mass immigration into the UK in exchange for the banking mafia getting full access to India's financial sector.

 

The "spawn" intend to survive the destruction of the West and infect the East and if they succeed then Indians are doomed to follow the exact same route.



Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:01 | 5303572 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

They'd only be so very lucky to just have pitchforks to fear.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:44 | 5303883 exomike
exomike's picture

If you're talking about the heavily armed Second Amendment Bozos forget it. At best they will shoot the wrong people.

There have been thousands of mega million and mega billion Bank Robberies and the fucking Second Amendment "patriots" have not shot one fat cat bankster nor have they used their fancy automatic large magazine Assault penises to round up even one bankster to hang from the nearest lamp post.

Meanwhile we've lost the entire rest of the Bill of Rights while they cling to God and their Guns and send their sons 5000 miles away to die or get their brains scrambled fighting goat fuckers to protect our freedom. (Sic, Singular)

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:53 | 5303943 g'kar
g'kar's picture

Most of us bozos cling to rule of law as futile as it seems. Put us bozos backs against the wall and that goes out the door.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:57 | 5303979 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Note: the winner makes the new law and usually grants amnesty for the home team. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:04 | 5304019 TuPhat
TuPhat's picture

There is no such group of Bozos that you refer to.  If you actually met a group of people who care about their country and their rights they would not resemble anything you have described.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 11:59 | 5303577 starman
starman's picture

The glory days of America ended around 1959! 

Rip USA. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:22 | 5303748 RattNRoll
RattNRoll's picture

1988 was the day it ended for me.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:45 | 5303903 exomike
exomike's picture

It ended in 1981 but you still think the Gipper was great.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:07 | 5304045 RattNRoll
RattNRoll's picture

The gipper wasnt great but the 80's were the best times.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:10 | 5304060 g'kar
g'kar's picture

New Wave..some great tunes

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:30 | 5305784 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

The 80s were the peak because the 80s were when the banking mafia finally removed the last obstacles to their rule and once that is achieved it is downhill all the way.

 

(Half the things the banking mafia have been doing used to be illegal and were only made legal in the mid 1980s to mid 90s. When they finally succeed in their long-term aim of removing all the brakes to their scams the banking mafia can destroy an economy lightning fast.)

 

So both the best of times and the worst of times.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 20:47 | 5306452 willwork4food
willwork4food's picture

True that. After a very crappy recession in the late 70's it was a breath of fresh air to have Reagan in. I was in my early 20's, barely surviving. Amazing seeing the building going on then when it was all so dark.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:27 | 5303782 dontgoforit
dontgoforit's picture

It's going to be difficult, but we will come back.  Things will get better.  We've had a bad run of leadership and it can't go on forever.  If God is for us, who can be against us?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:42 | 5303870 upWising
upWising's picture

AMERICA!
Jesus' Favorite Country ©

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:18 | 5305710 ImGumbydmmt
ImGumbydmmt's picture

What country does this sound like?

Revelation 18 New International Version (NIV) Lament Over Fallen Babylon

18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted:

“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’[a]
    She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.
For all the nations have drunk
    the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
    and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”

Warning to Escape Babylon’s Judgment

Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

“‘Come out of her, my people,’[b]
    so that you will not share in her sins,
    so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven,
    and God has remembered her crimes.
Give back to her as she has given;
    pay her back double for what she has done.
    Pour her a double portion from her own cup.
Give her as much torment and grief
    as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
    ‘I sit enthroned as queen.
I am not a widow;[c]
    I will never mourn.’
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
    death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
    for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

Threefold Woe Over Babylon’s Fall

“When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:

“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
    you mighty city of Babylon!
In one hour your doom has come!’

11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.

14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ 15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16 and cry out:

“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
    dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
    and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’

“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ 19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:

“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
    where all who had ships on the sea
    became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’

20 “Rejoice over her, you heavens!
    Rejoice, you people of God!
    Rejoice, apostles and prophets!
For God has judged her
    with the judgment she imposed on you.”

The Finality of Babylon’s Doom

21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said:

“With such violence
    the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,
    never to be found again.
22 The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters,
    will never be heard in you again.
No worker of any trade
    will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone
    will never be heard in you again.
23 The light of a lamp
    will never shine in you again.
The voice of bridegroom and bride
    will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world’s important people.
    By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people,
    of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:28 | 5304152 escapeefromOZ
escapeefromOZ's picture

I am afraid that you are trapped . You cannot escape . The system is rigged through the money corruption . When you need to have billion of dollars to finance an election campaign , you are assured to be dependent on the donors.( Banks, Oil , the war Industry and other lobbies .
Not to dismiss also other forces that control the vote counting .
I cannot see any way out unless there is a coup d'etat , but this could also be for the worst , alternatively some unpredictable cosmic event , or war .
America was a wonderful dream until it lasted . Now the dream i dead and it will never come back .

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:31 | 5305790 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

Jesus hated money-lenders.

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 20:26 | 5306357 dark_matter
dark_matter's picture

And organized religion.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:58 | 5303986 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

The Supreme Court giving it to Bush instead of a run-off with Gore disenfranchised me. 

 

That's not to say you are wrong. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:37 | 5305538 Acidtest Dummy
Acidtest Dummy's picture

Should have voted for Nader. Would have been so much more fun.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 23:52 | 5307141 den1313
den1313's picture

You are so well indoctrinated by propaganda that you have no idea what really happened. The democrats tried to use Florida to steal the election because Gore could not carry his home State of Tennessee. The Supreme Court told Florida to obey its own laws.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:07 | 5304044 explosivo
explosivo's picture

I'd say 1971.

Thu, 10/09/2014 - 06:58 | 5307560 Alvin Fernald
Alvin Fernald's picture

It seems to me the US died between 1787 and 1791.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:00 | 5303579 pods
pods's picture

Well I am not going to argue that the middle class is getting shafted, but most of these are wants, not needs.

On the other side, $350 buys two MONTHS of groceries?  Times that by 3-4.

pods

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:11 | 5303658 centerline
centerline's picture

My son (teenager) plows through $350 a month on his own I'll bet.

CHS must be eating Raman noodles for every meal.  lol.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:36 | 5303831 dontgoforit
dontgoforit's picture

My wife is an accountant.  There's just the two of us left at home after raising 3.  So far this year we've averaged $301/mo for food & consumables (soap, etc.)   If it's not on sale, we don't buy it.  When the sale is good, we buy a lot of it and stock up.  We eat out only when it's a special occasion - and yeah, I agree with the author - blow a couple hundred for 4 for dinner when that could feed two of us for 3 weeks or so - yeah, we do look at it that way.  We keep the thermostat a little high in the summer and a little low in the winter.  When we buy clothing, it's the 50% off clearance stuff.  We have ways of getting new ASICS shoes for around $15.  We've saved a fair sum of money, have physical metals, numerous weapons, lots of ammo and a good 'what if' plan.  For us the thing is, we scrimp where we can so we can do the things we want or do the things we have to do if the need comes up.  It's a challenge for us, but we have also been pretty lucky.  We put our full faith and trust - not in the money, the gold or the guns - in God.  He's why we live.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:49 | 5303929 MrButtoMcFarty
MrButtoMcFarty's picture

We have ways of getting new ASICS shoes for around $15.

????

This 240# jogger wants to know the secret! I go through 3-4 pair a year...and Asics are only ones that fit my troll feet.

Pretty please??

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:54 | 5303955 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

Long ASICS for wide feet!

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:57 | 5303978 BouncyTheWonderbunni
BouncyTheWonderbunni's picture

I have ginormous feet 14 extra wide New Balance makes some really wide shoes

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 16:15 | 5305149 dontgoforit
dontgoforit's picture

We get $10 off coupons for Kohls and we get things in the mail for 20-30% additional off any sale item.  We peruse their clearance shoes and I have six pair of ASICS that ran from around $90 -$110 on clearance which with the discounts, we've gotten for under $10 to around $16.  It's one of those things we don't expect to last forever, but it's been a boon for the last 3 years.  I've got troll feet, too.  I like my New Balance and Rockport has always been kind to my old feet, but nothing fits me better than ASICS. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:13 | 5305428 roadhazard
roadhazard's picture

I go to a Rockport store where if you by one pair can you get another for half price.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:41 | 5305551 conscious being
conscious being's picture

6 pairs?! How many feet do you have? Your not channelling Imelda Marcos are you?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:08 | 5303982 centerline
centerline's picture

Years ago I speculated where the squeeze would come.  So far, I have been spot on.

Back then I created a list and plan for each item (consumables, cable, phones, power conservation, etc.).  This way my wife would better understand and cope with reality.  If I had my way, back in 2008 I would have made radical changes all at once.  But, other people just can't get there so fast.  They have to make the journey one step at a time.  So, each month I step us little by little into more and more action items on the list.  As things unfold, it gets easier and easier to make changes.  Damn near impossible to NOT see writing on the wall at this point.

Food/consumables is the big ticket in my house for sure.  The largest single line item.  The trick is to eat healthy and keep bills down at the same time - especially with teenagers.  Inventory control really becomes the critical exercise.  If it was just my wife and I we could live on a fraction of the budget.

At the same time, we strove to make our house the place where our kids and thier friends are always welcome.  And in doing so, I always have an extra mouth or two to feed.  Which I gladly do.

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 15:40 | 5304914 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

We're of the same cloth centerline.  Feels good.  It can be a pretty lonely calling.  Best of luck.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 22:27 | 5306822 willwork4food
willwork4food's picture

Same here. Although $ are limited, I've been the gremlin in the fam that stocks up. Someone needs to do it. I just hope I time it right.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:25 | 5305748 ImGumbydmmt
ImGumbydmmt's picture

Sir,

You and yours are welcome at our campfire anytime.

God Bless.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:12 | 5303667 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

He is not counting the meals that he gets when he writes complimentary articles to TPTB

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:30 | 5303791 FrankDrakman
FrankDrakman's picture

Ten years ago, I was a marginally employed telemarketer making $10/hr, or $1400 a month, gross. After taxes, etc., I had a little over $1100 left. $700/month rent, $200/month bus pass - about $30/wk for food. I bought meat on sale, bought a lot of Ramen I'll admit, and bought a lot of vegetables from the "last day" bin. (Also, stocked on 50 lb bag of spuds, 20 lb bag of onions). Can be done - it's boring, but it can be done.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:40 | 5303861 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

I bought a $4 bag of potato chips once. It was like going to a football game :)

 

Never again:)

 

Bitchez

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:03 | 5304014 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Well, a person needs p00nt@ng so they’ll spend $600.00 on concert tickets. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:29 | 5304156 edifice
edifice's picture

Nonsense; if you have to spend that much, you aren't doing it right. Besides, Western women aren't worth that premium. Self-entitled so-and-sos.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 14:52 | 5304557 MansaMusa
MansaMusa's picture

That's what backpage is for

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:43 | 5304226 DadzMad
DadzMad's picture

Great point pods....wants vs. needs.

We've taken some measures recently to cut our spending, more for the soul than for the dough.  We reduced our cable package to a handful of basic channels and we're finding out we don't miss it a bit.  I looked around the room the other night, the dog laying on the rug in front of the fire, my wife and 6 year old daughter practicing reading a book, and me with a bourbon and Eric Hoffer.  It was sublime.  I dig a few shows, but that fuckin' TV is poison.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:44 | 5305571 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Do you and yours a favor and toss the TV. Added bonus is no cable bill.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 20:21 | 5306335 dark_matter
dark_matter's picture

Yea. Netflix is better anyway.

Thu, 10/09/2014 - 07:19 | 5307600 Alvin Fernald
Alvin Fernald's picture

Tv = Telescreen

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:00 | 5303584 Richard Chesler
Richard Chesler's picture

Serfs can always "hope" that a cocksucking puppet will "change" things. lol

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:19 | 5303711 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen Chesler.

I lol'ed too. Stupid Americans.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:02 | 5303599 limacon
limacon's picture

See the end of the Western Roman Empire

http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2005/08/roman-empire-knowledge-matter-and....

The top echelons forgot Civilization. See

http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2011/07/anchovies-and-fall-of-empires.html

Sushi , anyone ?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:13 | 5303603 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

If the top 1/100th of 1% crowding airports with their private jets isn't afraid of impoverished, disenchanted debt-serfs with pitchforks, they should be.

The NSA/CIA  has been running this country since November 22, 1963 when Kennedy's brains were shattered in a thousand pieces after he had promised to shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.

NSA/CIA and the 0.01% own and control the media, spy on Congress, Supreme Court and White House and you, add fluoride to your drinking water (makes you much less likely to rebel and Fluoride has been completely banned in Israel recently) and feed you toxic GMO foods.

Nothing is going to change in the land of the fee, home of the slave.  They will scare you with ISIS, Ebola, DHS and friendly police who will separate you from your cash.  Not to mention, 250 million arrests in the last 20 years and easily the largest prison population in the world.  Besides, football and dancing with the stars and celebrity nude photos will keep the hoi polloi occupied.

Keep drinking those toxic diet drinks and eating that toxic fast food and watching that idiot box.  You will be so fat and stupid that you will not care what happens to you.

 

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:37 | 5305822 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

You're forgetting that if the banking mafia have all the money the economy simply can't function. The root of their own destruction is in their own behavior.

 

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:03 | 5303611 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

The average American isn't 'unwilling' to sacrifice comfort for long-term gain. He has just learned that it isn't worth it. Why give up something today for some "future gain" that will, in all probability, be either taxed, stolen or inflated out of existence? Why not just spend it today while you can?
People aren't that stupid you know...if you expect them to act responsibly, then you must put a responsible system in place. If not, well then, you do get what you pay for, you know what I mean?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:16 | 5303690 monad
monad's picture

What you are describing is operant demoralization. Viddy this: Psych Warfare: subversion and control of western society


 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:45 | 5303904 centerline
centerline's picture

Well.  That is terrifying.  You know what else is terrifying?  That it doesn't even have to be the result of a plan.  It is just the path that human nature follows.  And when we get a convergence of factors (cycles), ugly shit happens.  Our trajectory is going to be similar to this - some variation of it.  YMMV depending on location.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:41 | 5305843 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

"That it doesn't even have to be the result of a plan.  It is just the path that human nature follows."

 

I think that is likely true - if a parasitic niche is available then some group or other will eventually fill that niche - but if it becomes understaood that a particular niche is parasitic e.g. the banking mafia, then that particular weakness to the consequences of human nature can be fixed.

 

(That would still leave others but it would be an improvement.)


Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:03 | 5303616 edifice
edifice's picture

I earn the median income and do not live on a coast and, I can tell you, it is a kibbles & bits existence. This while being single, no kids, no mortage, no car payment, nothing.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:05 | 5303620 Bell's 2 hearted
Bell's 2 hearted's picture

everyone just needs to channel their inner "herman cain"

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:20 | 5303708 TomGa
TomGa's picture

Unfortunately, the outer "herman cain" got channeled somewhere his wife didn't approve.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 20:18 | 5306326 dark_matter
dark_matter's picture

999 = 666 on its back.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:07 | 5303640 Hubbs
Hubbs's picture

Nah, no worry. Masses are way too comfortable, too many diversions cell phones, NFL football games to keep them distracted, while at the same time enough EBTs to keep them fed. Ain't gonna happen for a long while. Slave on you middle class workers and like it. We are outnumbered.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:09 | 5303642 aleph0
aleph0's picture

Another sure sign of End of Empire is when the best "Chefs" ( cooks ) are paid handsomely and incessantly praised .
This is currently the case in Germany ... incessant TV-Shows of the Best Chefs preparing Luxuious Food that only the SuperRich can afford to eat  .... ( without throwing up on seeing the Reciept ).

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:08 | 5303646 limacon
limacon's picture

The peak moment of US power and prestige is known precisely :

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the very first man to walk on the moon. ... At 4:17 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969, the landing module landed on the moon.

Things have been going downhill since then , at first hardly noticeable , lately more precipitously as panic and greed consumes the ruling elite .

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:19 | 5303705 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

The Apollo program was one good proof of American "exceptionalism" (in a positive sense)... and it was cut short !

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:24 | 5303752 centerline
centerline's picture

And sadly, about our only chance as a species to outlive our adolesence is to get off this planet and onto others. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:44 | 5303884 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

We take our flawed human nature wherever we go.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:47 | 5303909 centerline
centerline's picture

Yup.  Got to spread like a virus or die off.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:58 | 5305623 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Nobody went to the moon. Nobody rode a dune buggy on the moon. Nobody gets off this rock for a variety of reasons, starting with the Van Allen radiation belt. Btw, NASA has misplaced all its original moon video. All that remains is video shot from a monitor screen. Nice move if you don't want no forensic examination.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:44 | 5305851 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

The "we can't go into space" propaganda is part of the demoralization strategy.

 

(I'm not saying you personally are doing that as you may not realise it is part of a strategy.)

 

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:21 | 5303729 gabeh73
gabeh73's picture

The idiots that believe we landed on the moon are part of the problem....so brainwashed they can't even think critically. "It is true! I watched it with my own eyes!" I here them exclaim....hilarious.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 17:55 | 5305604 Acidtest Dummy
Acidtest Dummy's picture

USSR was a third world sure, but if those idiots hadn't done it (landed on the moon) USSR would have used it for propaganda. True story bro.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:58 | 5304285 Karl von Bahnhof
Karl von Bahnhof's picture

... And likely was completely faked with new technology (then) called tele-vision

http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/Apollo1.html

http://www.aulis.com/composites.htm

USSA situation is even much worse than anynone think

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:02 | 5305635 conscious being
conscious being's picture

Much worse.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:15 | 5303685 centerline
centerline's picture

Gonna end badly.  Very badly.  Count on it.

Those in top, top, top % know it and have the ability to do something about it. 

The folks at the "so called top" that are going to get burned are the %'s below the very top.  Right down through the middle class.  It's all coming down - like the 911 towers plowing right through the floors with ever greater mass (progressive collapse).

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:30 | 5303793 deadelephant
deadelephant's picture

Absolutely.  The financial problems are going to bring down the system, but it is the cultural problems that caused them and kept us from correcting them.  There are tons of sheeple in the top 20% that will ride the system down just as quickly as they rode it up.  Very few at the top are smart enough and have enough forsight to leverage their current resources to protect themselves.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:45 | 5303895 Tapeworm
Tapeworm's picture

do the physics on the progressive collapse. A high school teacher has easily understood videos on how that is impossible the way that the fable goes.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:16 | 5304104 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

NO one will be safe from a general economic/social collapse.  Fukushima alone may be an extinction event if the spent fuel looses cooling -- there are scores of spent fuel pools around the northern hemisphere.  All of them are within days of lighting up without infrastructure support--they have to be cooled and that means water has to be pumped.  That requires electricity and machine maintenance.  Standby backup generators require fuel and maintenance.   Some may survive for a while in high tech shelters but I doubt the species would survive long enough to find the surface habitable.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:51 | 5304259 centerline
centerline's picture

Always wondered about that... nuclear power plants.  Hard to believe that there is no "oh shit" plan for these - rapid decomission or something of the sort. 

A massive solar flare could easily do enough damage to melt down basic social infrastructure.  Even if the generators are isolated and can function, it wont matter much when everything around it is in flames. 

Brilliant.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:59 | 5304280 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

No problem really -- they will just raise the "safe level" of exposure (as Japan and Obama already have).  Problem solved!

Seriously though there is no plan for spent fuel -- I've read that "dry cask" storage is a workable alternative but it takes time costs money and few are doing it.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 20:13 | 5306300 dark_matter
dark_matter's picture

Map of nuclear power plants at http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/fallout/

Bye, bye east coast.

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:17 | 5303695 Ratbagger
Ratbagger's picture

$345 is two month's groceries?

What are you eating two bowls of top ramen and rice every day?

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:28 | 5303779 madcows
madcows's picture

perhaps he's a family of three, He, Himself and his happy hand.

our household runs about 775 a month for groceries.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:32 | 5303798 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

Fuckers living on 50 lb. sacks of Alpo.

 

After reading that, I take the whole article as Bulshi....Which it is.

 

Bitchez I pick up pennies.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:41 | 5303859 Tapeworm
Tapeworm's picture

CHS does run good articles on how he is able to eat well, and supplies the recipe.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:50 | 5303930 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

I may not enjoy a $600 meal out, but you, sure as shooting, are going to find a Gal. of milk, pound of Butter and 3 qts of ice cream in my fridge. That alone will cost his ass $11 a week or $93 for two months.

 

It was a foolish statement and one no one in their "right" mind is going to adhear to, unless they are fucked.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:58 | 5303981 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

The other night I got home late from work and dinner was long gone (with 4 kids in house).  I made myself some french toast.  Sat down and says to the wife, wonder what that meal just cost me?  4 pieces of white bread, egg, milk, butter, and a bit of syrup.  I'm thinking $2 tops.  She looks at me, shakes head, and says why does that make you happy.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:06 | 5304043 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

The pieces of bread could be 2$ if they are good bread.

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 14:36 | 5304460 FrankDrakman
FrankDrakman's picture

Don't have to be.. just got back from France, where every local supermarket had hot, fresh baguettes in a corner for .79 Euro; go to a patisserie and get an artisanal one for 1 Euro ($1.25). Better bread than I normally eat here in North America, and I don't eat Wonder Bread, ever.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 20:03 | 5306243 dark_matter
dark_matter's picture

I think he supplements groceries he buys with stuff he or friends grow themselves.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:17 | 5303698 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

"Instead, we see a populace on anti-depressants, insecure, anxious, burdened by ill health, jaded by 24 hours of everything, every day, distrustful of its corrupt leadership and self-serving institutions (which it is unwilling to prosecute and punish before it is too late), and beneath the rah-rah phony cheer, fearful that the whole rotten contraption might give way before they secure their share of the Imperial swag."...

Fixed it!

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:20 | 5303712 beaglebog
beaglebog's picture

It ain't the 1% which is the problem.

 

It's the 90% which facilitate them. These are the people who execute the dreams of madmen.

 

 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:27 | 5303774 655321
655321's picture

do you blame lab rats for their fate?  Same thing.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 18:47 | 5305865 tumblemore
tumblemore's picture

The 1% own the media

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:21 | 5303720 655321
655321's picture

Yawn, all by design.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:22 | 5303726 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture

JustObserving + Brilliant

Could not have written it better.

1% have little to fear, except dying

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:23 | 5303749 gabeh73
gabeh73's picture

They might have fear if the NFL ratings start to decline...until then I don't see them worrying much.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:22 | 5303730 Bushogboner
Bushogboner's picture

They can hop in the G5 to Cayman or Perlas or wherever. We will be coming for them in due time by sea....

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:25 | 5303740 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture
  But on the other hand. . as Steinbeck wrote:

 

“And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored the three cries of history. The land fell into fewer hands, the number of the dispossessed increased, and every effort of the great owners was directed at repression. The money was spent for arms, for gas to protect the great holdings, and spies were sent to catch the murmuring of revolt so that it might be stamped out. The changing economy was ignored, plans for the change ignored; and only means to destroy revolt were considered, while the causes of revolt went on.”

  John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:35 | 5303813 deadelephant
deadelephant's picture

Or as my accountant puts it, "pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered".  those that never learn the definition of "enough" can never be happy or secure.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 13:15 | 5304095 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

‘when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need

Exactly.  How do we protect our Ebola supplies from the hoards in a subdivision?    What does one do when the girlfriend shows up with her family, and then the wife starts asking questions?? 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:24 | 5303760 RattNRoll
RattNRoll's picture

The big fancy homes are gonna ez targets once she blows.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:36 | 5303762 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

No one wants the dreaded "engine light", because that will cost you $300 or more at your friendly neighborhood mechanic.

No one wants the dreaded "ticket", because that will cost you $300 or more at your friendly neighborhood popo station.

No one wants the dreaded "A/C went out", because that will cost you $500 or more at your friendly neighborhood HVAC shop.

No one wants the dreaded "Root canal/crown", because that will cost you $2,000 at your friendly neighborhood Dentist.

 

Truth is, no one wants, they fucking need it....

 

Bitchez

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:26 | 5303767 himaroid
himaroid's picture

Use your dollars while you can. Buy useful items that will not be available with supply chain breakdown. That is possible even without total systemic collapse. It would be nice if the system only partially breaks, but holds together. Maybe then the nuke plants will not melt down. In that case, all these preps for nothing. 

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:41 | 5303866 deadelephant
deadelephant's picture

The only reason society made it through the great depression was because a significant portion of the population were still subsistence farmers and people had work ethic and values.  Society has progressed from being a horse drawn wagon, to being a jet aircraft.  There are no partial collapses of jet aircraft.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:25 | 5303771 moneybots
moneybots's picture

"If the top 1/100th of 1% crowding airports with their private jets isn't afraid of impoverished, disenchanted debt-serfs with pitchforks, they should be."

 

Why would Warren Buffett be afraid of the masses, when he is crony with the government?  They have his back.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:47 | 5303806 alexcojones
alexcojones's picture
 

"At her launching in May 1911, the British press hailed the White Star Line's 46,000-ton superliner Titanic as 'the Wonder Ship,' the most luxurious, the safest ship afloat,". Despite the media rapture that heralded the Titanic as the most marvelous ship afloat, several of her crew deserted. "The rumor had started several days before the Titanic left Southampton ," said then second mate Bisset. "Newspapers for months had been printing articles extolling her wonderful qualities, but on the morning when she was due to leave Southampton , twenty two men who had signed on in her crew were missing."

 

Is America the SS Titanic?


   "The star-crossed super ship Titanic sank because it struck frozen water. The star-crossed super ship America will probably sink under endless zeros on a computer screen, bankrupt, sinking by the bow, her warships sent halfway around the world to hasten her sinking, her citizens rushing to the stern."
We Zerohedgers are like the guys that jumped ship on the Titanic
Star-Crossed Super Ships: Titanic, Enterprise, America
Wed, 10/08/2014 - 14:24 | 5304362 New World Chaos
New World Chaos's picture

JP Morgan owned the White Star line, which owned the sister ships Titanic and Olympic.  Olympic was a lemon, and had also been in a collision which caused serious hull damage, and insurance wouldn't pay and wouldn't renew.  JP Morgan could get insurance for the Titanic.  So he swapped the ships!  But he couldn't hide the truth from the boiler crew.  There was only one logical explanation for the years of grime in the works.  22 ZH-minded crew bugged out.  JP Morgan himself was booked on the maiden voyage but he bugged out due to "illness" (taking some cronies and nice statues with him).  Two days later, he was in good health at a resort with his mistress.

As an added bonus, JP Morgan killed some prominent people who were fighting the creation of the Federal Reserve.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1012934/pg1

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:36 | 5303821 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

History doesn't repeat but it does rhyme...

 

This next collapse will be interesting because previous collapses were at a regional or semi-continental level (even the Roman empire was limited). Now for many and varied reasons the entire global economy has become closely interlinked, one sneezes and everybody catches cold. Just to make it worse self-reliance has to a large extent become passe unlike the great depression when most people knew how to do for themselves. Instead it's now pre-packaged, frozen or ready to wear.  We as a race have become greedy, short-sighted and proud of our ignorance, this will not end well. I figure at best we are in for several years of slow implosion and expect that the world will lose two thirds of its population and I figure I'm being optimistic.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 15:33 | 5303822 FrankDrakman
FrankDrakman's picture

There is no way to parody current high-end restaurant fare: it is its own parody.Whatever bizarre combination of ingredients you might propose in a parody is on the menu at some fancy bistro--with a straight face and hefty price tag.

yes, here in Toronto, there's a restaurant that serves (as a garnish to a couple of tiny new potatoes) "dirt". The chef proudly describes how he goes on his hands and knees to gather it from the base of just the right trees, doncha' know? If it comes from too near pine trees, for example, it will have a 'resiny, off-putting' taste. What was off-putting to me was nearly breaking a filling on a piece of mineral. $85 Cdn for the dinner (which left me hungry) without the 'wine pairings', which added another $40 for 4 small glasses of vino.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:37 | 5303835 Tapeworm
Tapeworm's picture

"chomping at the bit"

 Look, if you are to use a cliche, get it right.

 A horse "champs at the bit", where the horse throws its head up and down. It is a bad habit of some horses to throw the weight of the bit.

 Speaking of horses, I am tired of those that write of reign when they mean rein, etcetera.

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