Life is not going back in America to the way it was pre-2007 no matter how much the Federal Government, The Federal Reserve and US Treasury, Congress and their lackeys on Wall Street and friends along the Boston to DC corridor pretend nothing has changed. The financial world has it backwards, their ego is not allowing them to recognize a very clear simple fact, that can easily be figured out by watching the Stock Market and their flunkies at the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and on CNBC. The Federal Government, the Fed, Treasury and FDIC are propping them up and Wall Street financiers and bankers are castrated servants.
The actual working real private sector and American people know this. It is only a matter of time before the facade crumbles and the Northeastern so-called elites Masquerade Ball will be over. The show will go on for the rest of the country but without them. How and when this will happen is not yet determined but that it will, much sooner than many realize, is just as certain as a Ponzi scheme eventually reveals itself. Politically and socially two seemingly opposing sides are signalling the same message. Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich may differ politically on fundamental responses but both agree on the inappropriate actions of the Federal Reserve and the banking system. The Tea Party coalition and unionists heartily disagree over basic policies, but are in the same league in believing that the current two political parties are engaging in business as usual, being unresponsive to constituent demands.
What will spur the fall? Anything can happen but three things stand out as the source of a breakdown of the system as we know it. Money cannot continue to be printed without having any intrinsic value and the debt crisis of governments all around the world will eventually reach a stalemate exacerbating a currency crisis. The chain of supply for essential parts and goods has been disrupted by the tragedy in Japan and will worsen with the war on Libya. Also, the war on Libya is only the outward manifestation of festering full blown disputes and conflicts in the entire Middle East, that will not be resolved diplomatically or easily and not without further battles.
It's fascinating that people on polar-opposite sides of issues seem to be understanding things the same way lately. When Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich can agree that the government's methods of propping itself up are based on, well, NOTHING, then I think we're in a better place than we were, because both sides are acknowledging that there is no Wizard of Oz. It's a start.
ReplyDeleteI come at this from the side of a fiscal conservative, libertarian at heart but not party. I can see a little of the writing on the wall, but it seems to be more than our so-called representatives can make out, assuming they're even trying to read the words. This is the best country in the world, and our government is trying to steal it from us. Whether it's insane entitlement programs or the hush hush attempt to define our legal system as secondary to the UN, it's all bankrupt, monetarily and viscerally.
I'm intrigued by the three breakdown catalysts you mention. They all make sense to me, but my money would be on the chain of supply being the match that lights the fuse. Money is something we all need, but it's always been sort of a relative need and I think any of us could look at our need for it and pare down some. As for Libya and the Middle East, the average American honestly doesn't realize anything about shipping ports and where things come from. We don't. We DO have the ability to discern the difference between entering countries for human-rights reasons, and toppling sovereign governments which are not causing us trouble. As much as I despise Kaddafi (and as many ways as the government and media spell his name) I think we all see this as a mere distraction. If not, I ask: Iraq, anbody? Afghanistan?
Chain of supply hits home the closest to most people. I'm not saying it's right, but it's how it is. Self-interest is a major motivator, more than gas going up a nickel or a list of dead GIs. Again, I'm not saying it's right. But it is how things are. My money would be on chain-of-supply breakdowns, both internationally and domestically. After all, a lack of Saudi oil and a lack of NY tax money to cover the state-given health care to its workers is almost the same thing. Change it to lack of supply, and its the same thing.
Though I've said too much, I don't deny any of it. Thanks for the post, JR!
I'm reading where the Tea Party coalition is "disgusted" with Boehner and standard issue Republicanism and making it known to them. At the same time the Kucinich followers and far left are letting Obama and the standard issue EEOC-union-liberal coalition know the same thing. 2012 is going to be one of the most interesting elections than even contentious ones in our times. I really think a lot of politicians are going to be fighting for their political lives and will lose. If not completely then, certainly bu 2014.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree 100% on supply chain is going to be the weak link (sorry for the pun) but I also see the unrest in the Middle East as part of that. We need oil to manufacture and transport goods and now the oil fields of Libya are smashed to smithereens...
In states like Arizona, Montana, Wyoming that don't have the legacy of public service unions, it's a given that medical benefits to state workers is going to be retracted. Already the retirees of the counties (in Arizona almost all of government workers at all levels is one fund) are now having to pay the full cost of their medical premiums. That's about $900-1200 a month because they tend to be a relatively small pool of people for insurers and most have bad health from not taking care of themselves. The screeches of "they promised us we would get free health care" is falling on deaf ears. Uh...where is that in writing? It was an implied contract, never a bargained one. The only real public unions here are firefighters and police and the schoolteachers.
They don't get "we ain't got no money" but when Medicaid and social services are being cut off for people who really need it...there's not a lot of sympathy for 55 year old clerical retirees.
You comment about the political class trying to steal our government from us is dead on. It gets a lot of attention and press here and I really do think we're going to see at a minimum an upheaval of epic proportions in the near future.
Excellent comment and points Mike. Thanks!
I can't even speak anymore JR. Too busy just trying to survive. This country has become like a strange land, changing so quickly, it's hard to keep up and grasp what is really happening.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog and enjoy it. Keep it up! ;)
Maryann...so glad to know you're reading. Out West we have always tended feel alienated from the Big Government" politicians way Back East, thousand of miles away with no real understanding of how real clocks tick. I'm beginning to think that in other regions of the country, such as yours, the sense of being a stranger in a strange land is a new one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support and hang in there. We will, as a country survive this, although being half-Brit and an immigrant from their...the riots in London have taken me aback. I knew the English were more alienated because I witnessed the 70s there but the way the anger has mushroomed is I think is something we might expect in a different way...because we ARE Americans and it IS OUR government much more than it ever was in the UK.
I've been struggling this winter with the same condition you have btw, but I do work to keep going. This blog helps a lot. Maybe do some vlogging even if you don't feel like it? ;~}