I want to wish any and all that may see this the Merriest of Christmas Days, but especially to my family and friends.
Sitting here in my warm and cozy home, listening to the wind blow and the snow fall outside, getting ready to finish the preparations for the Big Morning with all three of my beautiful children home happy and safe... I'm still missing all of you that aren't here. My parents, my baby sister, my brother, all their kids, my in-laws and all their kids, my cousins and all their kids, my very best friends and all their kids... as much fun as we are looking forward to tonight and tomorrow, it's just a little bit less fun without you all here with us.
I pray that God blesses you all with as much love and joy as He has given us, and that you think of us while you enjoy your family and friends on this happy day, because we will be thinking of all of you!
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Want evidence of inflation? How's this...
I live in a pretty small town. Three gas stations, two small markets and a Walmart, two bars and two doughnut shops.
My son was having such a good week this week, and since the morning was going exceptionally well, I decided to treat him to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. That doesn't happen very often. So I go in and order a dozen frosting-covered baked delights, and the bill comes to $7.79. I'm shocked! I'm thinking to myself that it would have been less than six bucks, but here it is almost eight instead. However, I pay the girl behind the counter and load up my treats into the car.
As I'm unloading the goodies, I notice a receipt on the floor of the car that has the logo of the same doughnut shop on it, and stoop to pick it up. It is dated 2-21-13, and is for one dozen doughnuts... total price?
$5.74!
In only ten months, the local price for a dozen raised frosted doughnuts has increased by 34%, or $1.95... with no appreciable improvement in size, quantity or quality of product.
This tells me that the dollars I'm earning at work are rapidly becoming less and less valuable by the week. That, my friends, is inflation.
It also tells me that I need to clean the car far more often than I do.
My son was having such a good week this week, and since the morning was going exceptionally well, I decided to treat him to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. That doesn't happen very often. So I go in and order a dozen frosting-covered baked delights, and the bill comes to $7.79. I'm shocked! I'm thinking to myself that it would have been less than six bucks, but here it is almost eight instead. However, I pay the girl behind the counter and load up my treats into the car.
As I'm unloading the goodies, I notice a receipt on the floor of the car that has the logo of the same doughnut shop on it, and stoop to pick it up. It is dated 2-21-13, and is for one dozen doughnuts... total price?
$5.74!
In only ten months, the local price for a dozen raised frosted doughnuts has increased by 34%, or $1.95... with no appreciable improvement in size, quantity or quality of product.
This tells me that the dollars I'm earning at work are rapidly becoming less and less valuable by the week. That, my friends, is inflation.
It also tells me that I need to clean the car far more often than I do.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
This may be the most disturbing article I've read in years...
I'm almost beyond words... to think that a commissioned officer in the United States military would post THIS is repulsive to me.
I've said in the past, and I'll say it again: the tragedies that bring about these sorts of sentiments are indeed tragedies. Every bit as tragic as the thousands of people that die every year in automobile accidents, or due to on-the-job injuries, or from food-related illness that is easily prevented by moderation in living habits... yet no one is calling for the elimination of cars, power tools, or fast food.
I'm in a bit of a time crunch right now... but this is worth the discussion. I don't car who reads the blog, it is worth putting out there that this Lt. Col. is 100% WRONG... and not deserving of the rank he holds.
I've said in the past, and I'll say it again: the tragedies that bring about these sorts of sentiments are indeed tragedies. Every bit as tragic as the thousands of people that die every year in automobile accidents, or due to on-the-job injuries, or from food-related illness that is easily prevented by moderation in living habits... yet no one is calling for the elimination of cars, power tools, or fast food.
I'm in a bit of a time crunch right now... but this is worth the discussion. I don't car who reads the blog, it is worth putting out there that this Lt. Col. is 100% WRONG... and not deserving of the rank he holds.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
"We have to pass it to see what's in it."
Just in case future generations, our grand kids and great grand kids, log on to our humble site to see what we had to say about the absolute debacle of "Obamacare" (actually titled The Affordable Healthcare Act - if ever a law was misnamed.), I want to assure them of something. The only reason we haven't engaged in a full nuts and bolts strip down of this law post implementation is it is so massive, so utterly coming apart at the seams, so grand in its' failure, that we would have to quit jobs, abandon children, and use bed pans to fully gauge our reaction. Let me boil down what has FINALLY awoken the American people - and typically friendly press - to the realization that this thing is a disaster.
1) The website utterly failed.
All of us - from our little site to conservative talk - have been screaming about the unconstitutionality of mandating health insurance, a government take over of 1/6th of the economy, and another trillion dollars in spending. However, none of that dissuaded the president's admirers, and thus he was reelected. But when they can't "log on", when the site fails, when they are stranded with a little pinwheel icon that never loads, THEN they come unhinged. Limbaugh once said that it wouldn't be a major policy failure that does the president in or costs him popularity, but rather "dissing Beyonce's new album." I think this proves that theory right. 6 people were able to sign up on day one - SIX. A nation accustomed to the speed and versatility of Itunes cannot tolerate such tech incompetence.
2) "If you like your plan, you'll be able to keep your plan."
This will go down as bigger than "Read my lips", "I did not have sex with that woman", and "Mission accomplished." He repeated this phrase, with great emphasis - such as "this we promise", and "period" - at every major stump speech for the last 4 years. Over, and over, and over. In an article found HERE by the daily caller, economists and experts - at the university level - are now saying that at least, AT LEAST 68% of Americans will lose their current private health plans. And for a simple reason: the new "minimum standard", also known as the Essential Benefits floor disqualifies most private insurance as inadequate for not doing things like covering single males for maternity care. Not "leave", actual OBGYN care. This makes these plans illegal to sell now. The president's people will retort that "you're grandfathered in." The problem is that according to the law, if that plan changes in any substantial way, it becomes a "new" plan and loses grandfather status. So what do they declare as "substantial." If your copay goes up $5. Five bucks gets your plan invalidated. But the even bigger problem is the simple economics of healthcare plans - if I can no longer sell it, no longer bring new, healthy young people into that plan's pool, then I can't sustain that pool. I have a fixed group that will age within that plan. Thus I am forced to disband the plan all together before it bankrupts me. This is why people across America are getting notices that they're being kicked off... excuse me, "transitioned" into a new plan.
3.) The heavily subsidized plans offered under the exchange are too often more expensive. I put this under my ATM fee theory. The government can raise taxes to infinity, regulate entire businesses into extinction, and waste billions of tax payer dollars; but if ATM fees are increased from $2 to $3, all hell breaks loose and the people demand action. The same could be said here. The trillions upon trillions this debacle will cost us doesn't seem to register with the average voter (at least not as of 11/6/12). But if their premium goes from $155/mo to $368, they go nuts.
So there you have it. We finally have an uproar. Not over Constitutionality of mandates or universally declaring parts of that mandate void for special groups, or on nation-ending levels of spending, but rather over pages that won't load and Obama's "read my lips" moments(s) . That's fine though... hell, Al Capone was jailed over tax fraud, so I'll take what I can get.
1) The website utterly failed.
All of us - from our little site to conservative talk - have been screaming about the unconstitutionality of mandating health insurance, a government take over of 1/6th of the economy, and another trillion dollars in spending. However, none of that dissuaded the president's admirers, and thus he was reelected. But when they can't "log on", when the site fails, when they are stranded with a little pinwheel icon that never loads, THEN they come unhinged. Limbaugh once said that it wouldn't be a major policy failure that does the president in or costs him popularity, but rather "dissing Beyonce's new album." I think this proves that theory right. 6 people were able to sign up on day one - SIX. A nation accustomed to the speed and versatility of Itunes cannot tolerate such tech incompetence.
2) "If you like your plan, you'll be able to keep your plan."
This will go down as bigger than "Read my lips", "I did not have sex with that woman", and "Mission accomplished." He repeated this phrase, with great emphasis - such as "this we promise", and "period" - at every major stump speech for the last 4 years. Over, and over, and over. In an article found HERE by the daily caller, economists and experts - at the university level - are now saying that at least, AT LEAST 68% of Americans will lose their current private health plans. And for a simple reason: the new "minimum standard", also known as the Essential Benefits floor disqualifies most private insurance as inadequate for not doing things like covering single males for maternity care. Not "leave", actual OBGYN care. This makes these plans illegal to sell now. The president's people will retort that "you're grandfathered in." The problem is that according to the law, if that plan changes in any substantial way, it becomes a "new" plan and loses grandfather status. So what do they declare as "substantial." If your copay goes up $5. Five bucks gets your plan invalidated. But the even bigger problem is the simple economics of healthcare plans - if I can no longer sell it, no longer bring new, healthy young people into that plan's pool, then I can't sustain that pool. I have a fixed group that will age within that plan. Thus I am forced to disband the plan all together before it bankrupts me. This is why people across America are getting notices that they're being kicked off... excuse me, "transitioned" into a new plan.
3.) The heavily subsidized plans offered under the exchange are too often more expensive. I put this under my ATM fee theory. The government can raise taxes to infinity, regulate entire businesses into extinction, and waste billions of tax payer dollars; but if ATM fees are increased from $2 to $3, all hell breaks loose and the people demand action. The same could be said here. The trillions upon trillions this debacle will cost us doesn't seem to register with the average voter (at least not as of 11/6/12). But if their premium goes from $155/mo to $368, they go nuts.
So there you have it. We finally have an uproar. Not over Constitutionality of mandates or universally declaring parts of that mandate void for special groups, or on nation-ending levels of spending, but rather over pages that won't load and Obama's "read my lips" moments(s) . That's fine though... hell, Al Capone was jailed over tax fraud, so I'll take what I can get.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
On prepping and preparedness...
I am not a fan of the National Geographic Channel's "Doomsday Preppers". The show picks the most ridiculous examples of people and the circumstances that they are preparing for, all for the greatest shock value. Absolute swill.
Haven't seen the bunker show, but I suspect that is more of the same. Anyone with the money and resources to spend half a million dollars on an underground shelter that will survive the end of civilization could probably be using the money in better ways.
However, anyone that has endured what we have endured after Katrina and isn't "prepared" for the possibility that such circumstances could repeat is an complete idiot.
As for myself, I watched what paltry preparations I had ready for Katrina wash away with the storm surge. 30 gallons of water, bags of charcoal and cylinders of propane... all floated away when my garage doors failed to stop the 3-foot waves that were beating on them. Garbage cans washed away. No means to use a toilet while the sewer system was flooded. 90% of all stored food contaminated by flood water. Weeks without power. Months without drinking water from the taps. No vehicles. No generator.
Never again.
I now have the means to store, clean and use almost unlimited amounts of water. I have 8,000 gallons in my pool alone. The surrounding hills are covered in natural springs, and an artesian well is located only a few hundred yards from my house. I can cook food with either electricity, propane, charcoal or wood, indoors or out. I can heat water to boiling temps 8 gallons at a time, in less than 15 minutes. I have the means to keep my fridge and freezer cold for as long as I have gas in my vehicles (full tanks, roughly 10 days), and in winter to run my pellet stove for 5 days. My small garden produced enough to provide us with an entire pantry of home-canned pickles, squash, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, beans and peas (although the beans and peas were less a success than the peppers). We have the means and knowledge to can meat, fruit, veggies, and soups. We could live on our pantry and freezers for at least 3 months (probably far longer) with no further groceries (but fresh eggs and milk would be very nice... and my neighbor has both chickens and cows). All three of my children have learned the basics of firearm use, and all three have shown a real ability in shooting targets. The oldest has become quite the baker, too... and enjoys the canning process very much.
I'd be a fool not to have a fire extinguisher or two in my house, and anyone with children that doesn't have a smoke detector should be prosecuted... so why would I chose to protect my family only from fire? House fires are all too common, yes... but isn't a power outage even more common, and more likely? Blizzards, ice storms, spring flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, man-made disasters... all far more likely (statistically speaking) than a house fire... yet I should ignore them or (worse yet, in my opinion) leave the ability to respond and recover from such events to someone else?
Nope. I remember how much help I got from FEMA after Katrina... I'll be handling the "recovery" from such events here all by myself, thank you very much.
Haven't seen the bunker show, but I suspect that is more of the same. Anyone with the money and resources to spend half a million dollars on an underground shelter that will survive the end of civilization could probably be using the money in better ways.
However, anyone that has endured what we have endured after Katrina and isn't "prepared" for the possibility that such circumstances could repeat is an complete idiot.
As for myself, I watched what paltry preparations I had ready for Katrina wash away with the storm surge. 30 gallons of water, bags of charcoal and cylinders of propane... all floated away when my garage doors failed to stop the 3-foot waves that were beating on them. Garbage cans washed away. No means to use a toilet while the sewer system was flooded. 90% of all stored food contaminated by flood water. Weeks without power. Months without drinking water from the taps. No vehicles. No generator.
Never again.
I now have the means to store, clean and use almost unlimited amounts of water. I have 8,000 gallons in my pool alone. The surrounding hills are covered in natural springs, and an artesian well is located only a few hundred yards from my house. I can cook food with either electricity, propane, charcoal or wood, indoors or out. I can heat water to boiling temps 8 gallons at a time, in less than 15 minutes. I have the means to keep my fridge and freezer cold for as long as I have gas in my vehicles (full tanks, roughly 10 days), and in winter to run my pellet stove for 5 days. My small garden produced enough to provide us with an entire pantry of home-canned pickles, squash, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, beans and peas (although the beans and peas were less a success than the peppers). We have the means and knowledge to can meat, fruit, veggies, and soups. We could live on our pantry and freezers for at least 3 months (probably far longer) with no further groceries (but fresh eggs and milk would be very nice... and my neighbor has both chickens and cows). All three of my children have learned the basics of firearm use, and all three have shown a real ability in shooting targets. The oldest has become quite the baker, too... and enjoys the canning process very much.
I'd be a fool not to have a fire extinguisher or two in my house, and anyone with children that doesn't have a smoke detector should be prosecuted... so why would I chose to protect my family only from fire? House fires are all too common, yes... but isn't a power outage even more common, and more likely? Blizzards, ice storms, spring flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, man-made disasters... all far more likely (statistically speaking) than a house fire... yet I should ignore them or (worse yet, in my opinion) leave the ability to respond and recover from such events to someone else?
Nope. I remember how much help I got from FEMA after Katrina... I'll be handling the "recovery" from such events here all by myself, thank you very much.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Welcome to Thunderdome!
Has Tina Turner even spoken a word since then? I don't know.
Have you stopped to notice how popular "end of days" programs are in the past several years? The Walking Dead (my household's must see TV) is as much a survivalist program as it is scifi. In fact the "zombies" stopped being the primary enemy long ago and now simply provide the needed background stress. Your fellow survivors are the real monsters. But its not just them (and their record 16 million cable viewers for the season 4 premier). Revolution (as you mentioned Titus) is extremely popular. The program Jericho (a small mid Western town post EMP/big city nuke attack) was cancelled after the first season, and there was such a ruckus that it didn't "end" (no final episode wrapping things up) that the network actually reconstituted the show for 6 episodes to do just that. And there are a slew of "prepper" reality TV style programs. The only one of those I've seen was on Netflix titled "Doomsday Bunkers." There's only 3 episodes so far (at least on the Flix), but I find the engineering aspect of this business fascinating. This guy was knocking out a decent living building storm shelters and he parlayed that into high end bunkers, the cheapest of which is 70k. The first episode he builds one that is 1600 square feet, complete with a dining area... that's the exact size of my apartment! The price tage on that puppy? A svelte $450k. The doors can take C4 hits, the generators and air systems are triple reinforced, it's a fortress. Now, as to the mentality of people willing to spend such money....
The number one rule on that show and in the "prepper community" (and I didn't know this prior) was you never disclose your bunker or farm location, or what your supplies are. The reason is self evident. In some apocalyptic event your neighbor will kill you for a bag of Doritos, and not even cool ranch, we're talking regular Doritos. And prior to really listening to various preppers explain themselves I would have lined up to make fun. But after having heard them out, I felt like an idiot, ESPECIALLY given my address in late August of 05.' I'll explain...
These people, to the man (and it was all fathers of families with children buying the pricey bunkers), named rationale and reasonable reasons as to why they want these bunkers - #1) natural disaster. While an underground facility may not be realistic where Jambo and I live, I don't think any of us here have to be convinced of the calamity wrought by mother nature. #2) societal breakdown. They very calmly explained it as another Great Depression, collapse of the US dollar, etc, driving people to stealing or looting. Before anyone laughs, remember that unlike in the Great Depression, we live in a "Grand Theft Auto did $800,000,000 in its opening weeked" world now. Last week in Louisiana two Wal Marts got ransacked. Why? There was a snafu with the food stamp debit card which removed their limit. People with these cards called their friends and the shelves of two different Wal Marts were wiped out. It was a disaster. As soon as the snafu was corrected, full buggies and hundreds of "customers" simply abandoned the store, leaving it trashed. Wal Mart has to eat the expense (no pun intended), according to the government, because they knew better than to allow illegitimate sales. They knew these debit cards had a limit. So why did Wal Mart managers allow the deluge of faulty purchases? Simple - they very wisely assumed that if they didn't, there'd be a riot. My point? These preppers may not be right about "when" or "if" society breaks down, but they are right about what it will look like if it does... Doritos will get you killed.
So do any of us doubt the value of a prepped retreat in the face of a natural disaster? Do any of us not think that a serious financial correction is coming, at some point? These "preppers" aren't crazy (by and large). They live in major cities and they don't have a family member with a farm (like me), or have a friend with a family member with a farm (like Jambo - who has practically already plotted his residence in my phone's mapquest incase we beed to "bugout.") These guys aren't nuts, they're prepared. Since when is that a bad thing? Just think about the percentage of American farmers in the 1930's versus now. Yet people call them "hoarders" for having 6 months worth of food stockpiled. How else are they to be prepared? What if they lose their job and need to feed their family? Is losing your job such a fantastical scenario? Sure there are some loons out there, they're part of any segment of society. But above all, they're prepared. That's not crazy, that's the Boy Scout motto.
At any rate, I understand that humans have been fascinated with "end of days" long before Revelations was penned, I just find this recent upsurge fascinating. What's great about these shows - as Jambo well knows - is the post show discussion with the kids. "What would we do Dad?" What about this? If they were coming through that door, who covers it? How would we eat? Would we save the dog? To be honest (and I'm sure Jambo feels the same way), that's my favorite part of the evening, talking about what we would do. For me, all of those conversations end one way - how long would it take, on foot, to get to that farm I mentioned. To put it simply, they have guns and gardens.... I'm in.
Before I click "publish" I wanted to more directly answer your question - what do I think a "breakdown" or collapse would look like? First, Mel Gibson is probably just mean enough to survive, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him at the post apocalyptic meeting around the burning oil drum. Secondly, I don't think under any circumstance the United States will cease to exist, but we could over time be reduced to at least a Western European status of power and wealth, if not an Eastern European status. And how rapid that decline is will dictate how volatile - or violent - society becomes in the interim. Far too often Libertarian-Conservatives fail to qualify the statement "the end of America" by noting they mean as a superpower, not as a nation. So a fiscal calamity, depending on how rapid it is, could make doomsday bunkers worth while. Short of that the only major breakdown I can see is an EMP attack. The technology exists, EMP's are real. Estimates are that in a large scale attack on the US it would leave 150 million dead in the first 6 months. You think about the percentage of farmers - as I mentioned before - today as compared with any other point in our history and you realize how helpless the citizens of every major (and medium) city would be. The kicker is - and this is not conspiracy the Senate held hearings on this in 2012 - to protect our national electric grids with some sort of suped up Faraday Cage, it would cost a paltry (for our government's spending habits) $500 million. The Department of Energy testified that to date, these funds have not been allotted and there is no protection set up to defend against an EMP disabling our national grids.
Thinking about it I guess one could add a natural disaster, but unless you subscribe to Al Gore's snake oil pitch it would only be regional. One storm won't wipe out America. Or perhaps disease. They may not reanimate into "walkers" but a large scale pandemic could make us look like a bad scifi movie for 6-12 months. But I'll stick to my two scenarios that I think are at least plausible sources of a societal breakdown on the level of our favorite TV shows... a rapid financial collapse in the Grand Theft Auto era, or an EMP. In either case I hope Jambo has comfortable hiking boots for the wooded multi day march up Hwy 49... hehe.
Have you stopped to notice how popular "end of days" programs are in the past several years? The Walking Dead (my household's must see TV) is as much a survivalist program as it is scifi. In fact the "zombies" stopped being the primary enemy long ago and now simply provide the needed background stress. Your fellow survivors are the real monsters. But its not just them (and their record 16 million cable viewers for the season 4 premier). Revolution (as you mentioned Titus) is extremely popular. The program Jericho (a small mid Western town post EMP/big city nuke attack) was cancelled after the first season, and there was such a ruckus that it didn't "end" (no final episode wrapping things up) that the network actually reconstituted the show for 6 episodes to do just that. And there are a slew of "prepper" reality TV style programs. The only one of those I've seen was on Netflix titled "Doomsday Bunkers." There's only 3 episodes so far (at least on the Flix), but I find the engineering aspect of this business fascinating. This guy was knocking out a decent living building storm shelters and he parlayed that into high end bunkers, the cheapest of which is 70k. The first episode he builds one that is 1600 square feet, complete with a dining area... that's the exact size of my apartment! The price tage on that puppy? A svelte $450k. The doors can take C4 hits, the generators and air systems are triple reinforced, it's a fortress. Now, as to the mentality of people willing to spend such money....
The number one rule on that show and in the "prepper community" (and I didn't know this prior) was you never disclose your bunker or farm location, or what your supplies are. The reason is self evident. In some apocalyptic event your neighbor will kill you for a bag of Doritos, and not even cool ranch, we're talking regular Doritos. And prior to really listening to various preppers explain themselves I would have lined up to make fun. But after having heard them out, I felt like an idiot, ESPECIALLY given my address in late August of 05.' I'll explain...
These people, to the man (and it was all fathers of families with children buying the pricey bunkers), named rationale and reasonable reasons as to why they want these bunkers - #1) natural disaster. While an underground facility may not be realistic where Jambo and I live, I don't think any of us here have to be convinced of the calamity wrought by mother nature. #2) societal breakdown. They very calmly explained it as another Great Depression, collapse of the US dollar, etc, driving people to stealing or looting. Before anyone laughs, remember that unlike in the Great Depression, we live in a "Grand Theft Auto did $800,000,000 in its opening weeked" world now. Last week in Louisiana two Wal Marts got ransacked. Why? There was a snafu with the food stamp debit card which removed their limit. People with these cards called their friends and the shelves of two different Wal Marts were wiped out. It was a disaster. As soon as the snafu was corrected, full buggies and hundreds of "customers" simply abandoned the store, leaving it trashed. Wal Mart has to eat the expense (no pun intended), according to the government, because they knew better than to allow illegitimate sales. They knew these debit cards had a limit. So why did Wal Mart managers allow the deluge of faulty purchases? Simple - they very wisely assumed that if they didn't, there'd be a riot. My point? These preppers may not be right about "when" or "if" society breaks down, but they are right about what it will look like if it does... Doritos will get you killed.
So do any of us doubt the value of a prepped retreat in the face of a natural disaster? Do any of us not think that a serious financial correction is coming, at some point? These "preppers" aren't crazy (by and large). They live in major cities and they don't have a family member with a farm (like me), or have a friend with a family member with a farm (like Jambo - who has practically already plotted his residence in my phone's mapquest incase we beed to "bugout.") These guys aren't nuts, they're prepared. Since when is that a bad thing? Just think about the percentage of American farmers in the 1930's versus now. Yet people call them "hoarders" for having 6 months worth of food stockpiled. How else are they to be prepared? What if they lose their job and need to feed their family? Is losing your job such a fantastical scenario? Sure there are some loons out there, they're part of any segment of society. But above all, they're prepared. That's not crazy, that's the Boy Scout motto.
At any rate, I understand that humans have been fascinated with "end of days" long before Revelations was penned, I just find this recent upsurge fascinating. What's great about these shows - as Jambo well knows - is the post show discussion with the kids. "What would we do Dad?" What about this? If they were coming through that door, who covers it? How would we eat? Would we save the dog? To be honest (and I'm sure Jambo feels the same way), that's my favorite part of the evening, talking about what we would do. For me, all of those conversations end one way - how long would it take, on foot, to get to that farm I mentioned. To put it simply, they have guns and gardens.... I'm in.
Before I click "publish" I wanted to more directly answer your question - what do I think a "breakdown" or collapse would look like? First, Mel Gibson is probably just mean enough to survive, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him at the post apocalyptic meeting around the burning oil drum. Secondly, I don't think under any circumstance the United States will cease to exist, but we could over time be reduced to at least a Western European status of power and wealth, if not an Eastern European status. And how rapid that decline is will dictate how volatile - or violent - society becomes in the interim. Far too often Libertarian-Conservatives fail to qualify the statement "the end of America" by noting they mean as a superpower, not as a nation. So a fiscal calamity, depending on how rapid it is, could make doomsday bunkers worth while. Short of that the only major breakdown I can see is an EMP attack. The technology exists, EMP's are real. Estimates are that in a large scale attack on the US it would leave 150 million dead in the first 6 months. You think about the percentage of farmers - as I mentioned before - today as compared with any other point in our history and you realize how helpless the citizens of every major (and medium) city would be. The kicker is - and this is not conspiracy the Senate held hearings on this in 2012 - to protect our national electric grids with some sort of suped up Faraday Cage, it would cost a paltry (for our government's spending habits) $500 million. The Department of Energy testified that to date, these funds have not been allotted and there is no protection set up to defend against an EMP disabling our national grids.
Thinking about it I guess one could add a natural disaster, but unless you subscribe to Al Gore's snake oil pitch it would only be regional. One storm won't wipe out America. Or perhaps disease. They may not reanimate into "walkers" but a large scale pandemic could make us look like a bad scifi movie for 6-12 months. But I'll stick to my two scenarios that I think are at least plausible sources of a societal breakdown on the level of our favorite TV shows... a rapid financial collapse in the Grand Theft Auto era, or an EMP. In either case I hope Jambo has comfortable hiking boots for the wooded multi day march up Hwy 49... hehe.
So, I'm curious...
What is the end result of this? Where do we think this will lead?
I'm not one of the "Mad Max" advocates. I do not think that society will fall to ruins around us, or that scenes from movies like "The Day After" or (more recently) "Revolution" will become the norm. I'm not building a bunker and stocking it with MREs, bullets and old silver coins. I don't see this as the end of the United States as we know it.
If I had to guess, I'd venture to suggest that we will see another depression. Just looking at some of the graphs I cited in my last post, you can see why China has passed the US as the single largest consumer of oil on Earth... I say it is because Americans aren't "spending" money like some in government could wish. We aren't buying gasoline like we used to. We aren't travelling like we used to. We aren't "consuming" like we used to.
The generation that produced my gandparents (the Greatest Generation) was the last that seemed to truly understand that individual effort and personal sacrifice were worth far more than government regulations and assistance. They won a world war by doing more and doing without. If people doubt that, just remember what happened when Carter gave his "malaise speech"... only 30 years after the end of WWII, the country freaked out when the President of the US asked America to tighten its belt and suck it up. Ironically, it was coming from such a big-government advocate Carter... but that is beside the point.
I'm busy this morning, but I'd love to hear what you guys think.
I'm not one of the "Mad Max" advocates. I do not think that society will fall to ruins around us, or that scenes from movies like "The Day After" or (more recently) "Revolution" will become the norm. I'm not building a bunker and stocking it with MREs, bullets and old silver coins. I don't see this as the end of the United States as we know it.
If I had to guess, I'd venture to suggest that we will see another depression. Just looking at some of the graphs I cited in my last post, you can see why China has passed the US as the single largest consumer of oil on Earth... I say it is because Americans aren't "spending" money like some in government could wish. We aren't buying gasoline like we used to. We aren't travelling like we used to. We aren't "consuming" like we used to.
The generation that produced my gandparents (the Greatest Generation) was the last that seemed to truly understand that individual effort and personal sacrifice were worth far more than government regulations and assistance. They won a world war by doing more and doing without. If people doubt that, just remember what happened when Carter gave his "malaise speech"... only 30 years after the end of WWII, the country freaked out when the President of the US asked America to tighten its belt and suck it up. Ironically, it was coming from such a big-government advocate Carter... but that is beside the point.
I'm busy this morning, but I'd love to hear what you guys think.
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