THE AVALANCHE

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Posted on 9th January 2013 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

Michael Ramirez Cartoon

28 Comments

  1. flash says:

    Embrace the doom and enjoy the litte time you have left…it’s the only sane option.

    From reading the Look Inside @ Amazon , this appears to be a o’ so timely read.

    Enjoy the Decline
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AY5WUY0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=captaicapit06-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00AY5WUY0

    blogs here:http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/

    …one of the good guys.

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    9th January 2013 at 8:58 am

  2. flash says:

    the sample…

    Enjoy the Decline (Kindle Edition)
    by Aaron Clarey

    ENJOY THE DECLINE

    Copyright © 2013 Aaron Clarey
    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Aaron Clarey.

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Chapter 1 Psychological Adaptation 6
    Chapter 2 The New Economic Reality 27
    Chapter 3 The Art of Minimalism 57
    Chapter 4 Mortal 75
    Chapter 5 Family and Friends 87
    Chapter 6 Career and Education 115
    Chapter 7 Finance and Investing 124
    Chapter 8 Plunder 141
    Chapter 9 SHTF 153
    Chapter 10 Fight or Flight 164
    Chapter 11 Revenge 178

    CAVEAT

    In intellectual honesty I have to warn the reader that though “Enjoy the Decline” was meant to be an uplifting book, parts of it are incredibly depressing, if not, outright debilitating. This was not meant to depress the reader, but was rather a required and natural consequence of having to speak candidly and truthfully about the economic and political condition of the United States. Therefore, I strongly recommend reading no more than one chapter at a time, specifically the chapters in Part I, as those are the chapters that are particularly depressing.

    Additionally, regular readers of Captain Capitalism may wish to skip Chapter 2 – “The New Economic Reality”- in that it is merely a review of the economic condition of the United States. This isn’t to say it wouldn’t be a good refresher course in economics or that you wouldn’t enjoy it, but it is largely intended for new readers unfamiliar with some basic economic concepts and statistics.

    It is my sincere wish that this book proves useful to you and provides everybody with the necessary hope and know-how to “Enjoy the Decline.”

    PREFACE

    Any doubt about the future of the United States and the direction the country was heading was quickly eliminated in the election of 2012. Most of us were hoping the first four years of the Obama administration was a fluke in American history. That his election was only possible because of a childlike naivety on the part of an ignorant electorate. That the voting public, temporarily star-struck, opted to vote with their emotions and not their heads. And that after four years of the worst economic performance of any president since FDR, people would wake up, grow up, realize the error of their ways, and vote like mature adults the next time around.

    Unfortunately most of us were wrong.

    With the election of 2012 the American people have made it very clear which path they wish to take the United States down – socialism. Whether cognizant of this fact or completely ignorant about it, it doesn’t matter, people voted the way they did. They could still be fawning over President Obama like a teenage girl or Chris Matthews. They could be the typical voter who votes for socialism because it sounds “nice.” They could be the galactically ignorant soccer mom who believes no amount of other people’s money is too good for her children. Or they could be fully informed socialists knowing damn well what they’re doing confiscating other people’s money. The reason why doesn’t matter, all that matters “is what is.”

    Of course “is what is” is a devastating blow to lot of conservatives, libertarians, freedom-lovers and what I henceforth refer to as “Real Americans.” Not just because politically or ideologically “our team lost,” but because our entire lives and all of our futures are now in question.

    Understand that you, me and everybody else who loved America, believed in America, and loves freedom grew up under some basic assumptions. And not only did we grow up under these basic assumptions, we based our lives and our decisions around these premises. We assumed the United States would continue to be the freest country in the world. We assumed we would be able to keep the lion’s share of our income and wealth. We assumed hard work, innovation, and efficiency would be rewarded. We assumed if we worked hard at something our dreams could be realized. In short it was all that made America not just great, but the most successful country in the history of the world and we poured our hearts and souls into these beliefs.

    Unfortunately, with these basic premises no longer certain all of the work, effort and time we put into our lives, and therefore our futures, are also no longer certain. Did you attend college to become a doctor? Well too bad, you may have wage controls with Obamacare. Did you work hard to become an engineer and create something? Too bad, we may have to confiscate your income at a 60% level. Did you have dreams of starting up a motorcycle shop? Too bad we’re going to regulate and tax it out of existence. Were you planning on marrying a nice girl? Too bad, feminism has destroyed the quality of women. Did you want to have children? Too bad the state will raise your children. Did you want your children to have a better life than you? Too bad, your generational peers voted to mortgage your children into financial slavery. Say, nice sizeable 401k plan you have there! Too bad, we’re going to nationalize it just like Argentina did.

    The end result is EXTRAORDINARILY depressing. Not only is it increasingly likely you’ve lived your life in vain, but you’ve lived a significant percentage of your life in slavery. Worse still any dreams you had are becoming rapidly impossible. And even worse than that is without your dreams there’s nothing you can uniquely achieve that would define you.

    In short your life has no meaning.

    This epiphany, whether consciously realized or not, obviously takes a devastating toll on all Real Americans. Anecdotal though it may be, everyone I personally know is more depressed today than they were a decade ago. I know more than one rugged individualist contemplating suicide. And there’s no shortage of old men I know who MEAN IT when they say,

    “Thank god I’m not going to be around to see this country collapse!”

    The entire population of Real Americans is defeated emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. With no purpose or future they are simply asking “Why go on? Why continue? Why did I work so hard? What is left to live for?”

    But dire as the situation may be, there is some hope. Genuine hope, not the hope that is found in presidential speeches and pablum. Hope that is practical, real, and will yield results. However, this hope comes from the only place real hope can come from – within – which means we have to focus on ourselves and what is within our control to realize this hope and capitalize on it. This isn’t to say that the world will turn out all roses and dachshunds, nor is it going to be the “faux depressing type of hope” akin to when your mother would say,

    “Well at least you aren’t a cancerous, Ebola-infected, starving, blind quadriplegic, leper living in war-torn Ethiopia with lice!”

    But at minimum this book will show you there is a future, you can live a happy life, the left will get their comeuppance, and no matter how bad it gets, there is always a way to “Enjoy the Decline.”

    CHAPTER 1
    PSYCHOLOGICAL ADAPTATION

    “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”
    -Ephesians
    Berlin 1945

    Too tired to play video games, but not tired enough to fall asleep, I found myself watching The History Channel late one wintery night in Casper, Wyoming. I managed to finish two episodes of “Pawn Stars,” before the programming switched to a WWII documentary. I debated turning it off and going to bed, but glad I didn’t’ because it proved to be one of the most interesting, but dark documentaries I’ve ever seen.

    Specifically, it was about civilian life in Berlin while under the siege of the Russians in 1945. Berlin was nothing but rubble, supply lines were shot, and life for the average Berliner was wretched. They couldn’t escape to the east in fear the Russians would kill or rape them (or both). And they couldn’t escape to the west, not out of fear that the Americans and Brits would do the same, but that the Gestapo would kill them. This left them trapped in a city that not only couldn’t support the population, but a city that would become their grave. To survive they resorted to desperate acts. They ate horses, leather from furniture and whatever else they could find. And if this wasn’t enough it was all under the maddening backdrop of constant Soviet shelling. It was arguably some of the most miserable living conditions humans had ever suffered.

    But where the documentary took a particularly dark turn was when it started showing footage of Berliners throwing parties in the midst of this hell. I didn’t understand it at first until the narrator explained since these people were doomed, they logically came to the macabre conclusion they might as well live it up while they could. Such “maniacal levity” was also documented by Albert Speer in his book “Inside the Third Reich” as he witnessed people being irrationally happy and cheerful even though their demise was imminent. The documentary became even more morose when a lot of these parties ended up becoming “suicide parties” where the participants would break out the hidden booze, whoop it up one last final time, and then all commit suicide at the end of the evening.

    Of course the theme of the documentary did nothing for my sleep, but making it worse was that all these videos were visually dark and poorly lit. Since the city was constantly being shelled, there was no electricity. This left bonfires as the primary source of light and gave the videos a particularly eerie and barbaric feel as you saw people mix in and out of the shadows, all laughing maniacally. Booze would flow, people would laugh, glasses would break, participants would fall over one another, but it was as if the party was being held at the Arkham Asylum. They were no longer humans, they were turning into animals. They were no longer sane.

    Or were they?

    For it’s one thing to lay there, comfortably on a futon with a full meal and a shot of Rumpie in your stomach and do some Monday morning quarter-backing 67 years after the fact. It’s another thing to have lived it and experienced it. And while we enjoy the luxury of warmth, food, security and safety, the besieged Berliners of 1945 had no such luxuries.

    Were their actions dark?

    Yes.

    Were their actions morose?

    Most certainly.

    Were their actions macabre?

    Absolutely.

    But they were also 100% completely logical, sane and right in doing what they did.

    Bad as it was, dire and futile as it was, they were still about their wits. They had no option to flee, they had no option to fight, so what else were they supposed to do? Their only other option was to enjoy what little time they had left. If anything it is a testament to the optimism of humankind and the resilience of the human mind. Even in the darkest pits of hell, people still did what they could to enjoy it. And it is here that we need to pull a lesson from the besieged Berliners because if there is an example of enjoying the decline (although an incredibly EXTREME example), occupied Berlin and its “last hurrah parties” are it.

    Naturally the plight of citizens in 1945 Berlin is not perfectly analogous to the plight of Real Americans in 2012. We do not have the Russians at the outskirts of town waiting to slaughter us. We do not have a secret state police hanging us if we’re caught trying to escape. We have food, clothing, shelter, safety and freedoms that simply do not compare to 1945 Berlin. However, we do share four key things in common:

    1. A environment that has changed on us rendering our previous plans impotent

    2. A situation we are powerless to control

    3. A situation that requires we change our psychology to understand it

    4. A situation that requires we change our behavior in order to make the best of it

    In short, we must do what the besieged Berliners did in 1945 – change our psychologies allowing us to not just adapt to our new environment, but maximize the pleasure we can gain from it. For achieving a similar such psychological adaptation is key to not just maximizing what life we have left, but enjoying the decline in the United States today.

    Letting Go of the United States

    The first psychological adaptation or “epiphany” you need to have is arguably the hardest – you need to let go of the United States.

    If there was ever a country to love, it was the United States. With its glorious and unrivalled history, as well as all the good it has done throughout the world, as well as all the promises it has given her people, no country in the history of the world even comes close. It is the single best thing to happen to all of humankind, ever, period. If the United States were to be in female form it would be a combination of Jennifer Aniston, a young Ann Margret, a young Sophia Loren with a splash of sassy Katherine Hepburn and a touch of naughty Bettie Page. It will never be repeated or even rivaled. Therefore it is the hardest thing for any Real American to watch the United States slowly get beaten to death.

    Whether you’d like to admit it or not, the United States is in terminal decline. Making it even worse, is its inevitable demise will not be at the hands of a stronger foreign force, but rather at the hands of its own unfathomably ignorant citizens brainwashed and duped by its own unfathomably evil citizens. It is an internal cancer that is eating away at our beloved nation and despite our best efforts it is spreading.

    It is here we have to realize that the United States, no matter how much we love her, is no different than a loved one or a family member. She is finite, she has a life cycle, and like all empires in the history of empires, she too will fail and die. The issue is whether we can accept this or not for our own mental health. Just like dealing with a dying family member, there comes the point in time that we have to admit the inevitable and let go. Not for the sake of the dying, but for our own mental sake. If we can’t accept this reality, the only people we hurt are ourselves. Of course this doesn’t mean we don’t do what we can to hopefully bring our loved ones back, but at the same time we cannot be delusional about it.

    We must also realize that, for better or worse, the United States is a democracy and this is what the people wanted. Opposing it would not only be against the principles of the United States, but it would also be the definition of tyranny. This should provide you some solace, or at least assuage any guilt you have, in that you were not responsible for the demise of this country. You did what you could. You did your best. You voted, you were politically active, you tried to convince people to vote for freedom, you lived up to your civic responsibility. That’s all anybody can do. The rest of it is outside of your control because this is a democracy regardless of how ignorant the electorate.

    Finally, we have to admit that the country is changing.

    In the movie “I Am Legend” Will Smith plays a post-apocalyptic scientist trying to find a cure for a disease that infects humans and turns them into zombies. He has no human contact, and only his dog for companionship. In one of the sadder scenes his dog gets infected and starts to become a zombie itself. Tortured by the fact he knows what he has to do, Smith’s character caresses the dog, hugs it one last time, and proceeds to break its neck. We must also come to this same realization.

    Soon the body that lay before us will no longer be the strongest most successful nation we all grew up with and loved. It will be nothing more than a pile of cancerous cells resulting in a completely different, vastly inferior, and (most likely) more hostile country. It is here you must let go of and divorce yourself from the United States. Not because we don’t love her, but because as a country she no longer represents the freedom, liberty and happiness she once did. She will become a completely different being.

    There is good news, however.

    While we may mourn the loss of the United States, America will continue on forever. The reason why is the United States is a country. A physical location. A plot of dirt and water defined by imaginary lines denoting its borders. There is nothing inherently special about the physical United States. It is the people, the ideas, and above all else the concept of America that has made this land great. In other words, just as you don’t love a person for their elbows, their toenails or their hair, but rather their personality, so too do you not love a country for its physical traits, but rather what it stands for and the opportunity it provides. So no matter how many socialists they vote in and no matter how many taxes are passed, America will never die because it is an idea. It is an ideal. It is a law of human nature that free people, allowed to pursue their dreams and keep the vast majority of their wealth will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be a greater people and form a greater country than any other form of government. And just as you cannot kill the Law of Gravity, so too can you not kill the Law of America. America will live on forever.

    1 in 300,000,000

    Another psychological adjustment you must make in order to enjoy the decline is to realize what you do and do not control. Quintillions of calories of energy are spent every year by Americans worrying, fretting, and concerning themselves over things they simply do not control. For example I sit in amazement every year watching Minnesota Vikings fans build themselves into seizures as they see the abysmal performance, year after year

    …after year

    …after year

    of the Minnesota Vikings:

    The cursing, the swearing, the cheering, THE TOUCHDOWN…….the flag, the reviewing, the penalties, the REVERSAL OF THE TOUCHDOWN, the MORE ANGRY CURSING, the THROWING-OF-THE-REMOTE, and even the full-grown-man-crying.

    All because a bunch of guys WHO THE FANS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH, HAVE NEVER MET, AND HAVE NO PERSONAL RELATION WITH threw a funny looking ball badly and didn’t run good enough!

    The reason we can all laugh is because ultimately one group of large men throwing the funny looking ball better than another group of large men really has no material effect on us or our lives. However, the trick to realizing what you do and do not control becomes much more difficult when it’s over something that DOES affect you. The weather, the stock market, the economy, elections, etc. Even though you consciously and mentally know you do not control these sorts of things, because these things affect you, you cannot help but worry and fret over them.

    It is here I have to be intellectually honest and admit to a bit of hypocrisy. It’s not like I go through life never letting things outside of my control bother me. Everybody, no matter how stoic or indifferent, will still occasionally worry about things outside of their control. We are all human. But at least having the ability to recognize or “catch yourself” when you are unnecessarily fretting over something outside of your control, even occasionally, will still prove beneficial. It will result in less worry and less stress in your life. It will result in better mental health and less depression. And it will allow you to forgive yourself, assuage your guilt, and find peace of mind over a situation you ultimately are not responsible for.

    It’s not easy to develop this mindset, but two quotes I have found help:

    “Whatever happens, happens.”
    -Spike Spiegel

    “Worry is unnecessary interest on a debt that has to be paid.”
    -Fortune Cookie that Paraphrased William Inge

    While the most obvious and immediate practical application of having this skill would be accepting the election results of 2012, because of the increasing presence of government in our lives the ability to recognize what we do and do not control will prove to have many other uses in the future.

    For instance, as the government grows larger and larger, it will crowd out more and more of the private sector. With higher taxation and more government regulation this will result in less economic opportunity for entrepreneurs, innovators, inventors, dreamers and just plain hard workers. Being one of these industrious sorts you may have dreams of starting a company, enriching yourself, or just having a successful career. But with taxation so high, regulations too restrictive, and capital so scarce, your dreams of starting a motorcycle company or inventing a new medical device is nearly impossible. The error you will make (especially men) is blaming yourself for failing to realize your dreams, when in reality it was outside of your control. It was doomed from the beginning. You do yourself no service misplacing the blame on yourself.

    Another perfect example (again, disproportionately affecting men) is not being able to provide for your family. Say you work in the construction business circa 2005. The housing market is booming, you’re making money, and you can finally afford that trip for you and your family out to Yellowstone. All of the sudden banks start going bankrupt, real estate developers embezzle funds and go overseas, and the whole housing bubble pops. Contracts are cancelled, general contractors aren’t paying, and you get laid off.

    Why did you get laid off?

    The reality is because a bunch of inept bankers, criminal real estate developers, amoral mortgage brokers and corrupt politicians created the world’s largest housing bubble. But ironically, the average man during the Great Recession probably took this personally, illogically blaming his sole self for the entire financial crisis of 2009. Worse still, men across America felt an incredible amount of guilt and shame for not being able to provide for their families. And worse than that, how many men committed suicide because of a recession that was not caused by them? All of this can be avoided in mastering the skill of recognizing what you do and do not control.

    Now we can go on citing limitless number of examples where it’s good to have this skill. But in general the way this skill is going to serve you best is realizing you are in an environment that is becoming progressively more hostile towards the individual. Government spending already accounts for 40% of GDP and given the 2012 election results, it will only get higher. Additionally, there are social consequences to an ever-expanding state as well.

     Would you like a father daughter dance at your local school? Too bad, it’s been banned.

     Want to light up a cigarette at a bar? Too bad, it’s been banned.

     Want to carry a gun for personal protection? Too bad, it’s been banned, besides you’re too stupid to be trusted with a gun.

     Want to have a 32 ounce soda in New York City? Too bad, it’s been banned, besides you’re too stupid to be trusted with your own diet.

    These social violations are nothing more than a harbinger of things to come as the government expands and the individual shrinks. Again, all outside of your control.

    Ultimately, the key to “learning to let go” is to realize you are just one person in a democracy of 300 million. It isn’t the government or the state that you are fighting as much as it is the stupidity of the other 299,999,999 Americans. You by your little lonesome, no matter how right and correct, cannot overcome such odds and will have to suffer the consequences of the majority’s ignorance. Acknowledging these lopsided odds allows you to let go and enjoy life. Besides, ignorant people are definitely one of the things you will never control.

    There Are Only Fat Chicks in Casper

    “The Beacon Club” is the only real dance hall in the town of Casper, Wyoming, and as far as my knowledge tells me, it is the only dance hall in the entire state. Upon moving to Casper I was thankful to have such a dance hall as I enjoy ballroom dancing. However, experience has told me that in order to get the most out of dancing I need a partner who meets some um…”physical qualifications.” More bluntly, I’m a smaller fellow and I can’t dance with 180 pound heifer of a woman in fear I’d get crushed. Regardless, there I was, my first night heading out to “the Beacon,” hopeful to find somebody my size. I was quickly let down when I walked in and realized the average woman in Casper doesn’t weigh 180 pounds, but more like 240.

    Matters were only made worse due to the demographic make-up of the town. Casper is heavily reliant upon coal, gas and oil meaning there is a disproportionate number of men relative to the number of women. This went a long way in explaining why I would see pretty decent looking guys with absolutely heinous women, and it also explained the cool, if not outright mean reception I’d receive from quite average-looking women when I’d ask them to dance. It wouldn’t just be a polite “no thank you,” but rather a childish giggle and “whatever” as if I had propositioned them for sex. It wasn’t until I went to the senior center that I found an audience of women willing to dance. Of course, dancing with 93 year old Tilly had its drawbacks. You couldn’t turn her too fast, you couldn’t dip her, and you certainly couldn’t flip her. Soon dancing proved so problematic I gave up. It wasn’t until I moved out of Casper 8 months later that I had my next dance.

    The point I’m trying to make is not one of the fat women in Casper, but one of rational versus realistic expectations.

    Was it rational for me to expect there be a HANDFUL of reasonably in shape women capable of dancing in Casper?

    Yes.

    Was it reasonable of me to expect a certain modicum of courtesy and etiquette when asking them to dance?

    Yes.

    Was it within the confines of sanity to expect out of a town of 60,000 I should find at least ONE girl who wasn’t morbidly obese and would qualify as a dance partner?

    Certainly.

    But rational as my expectations were, they weren’t realistic. There were no such women in Casper. Most of them were overweight. Most of them didn’t have the patience or desire to learn to dance. Most of them were not receptive to having an “advance” or request made of them to ballroom dance. And so no matter how reasonable and rational I was being in my expectations, those expectations were trumped by something far more powerful – reality.

    Sadly this “rational vs. realistic paradox” applies in another regard when it comes to a pillar of American life. And unfortunately, this pillar is one of our most holy and scared institutions – the American Dream.

    The American Dream (typically defined as a house, a career and a family) is not outlandish nor egregious in terms of rational expectations. Most people SHOULD be able to buy a house. Most people SHOULD be able to have a family. Most people SHOULD be able to have a decent career. And most people SHOULD be able to afford children. But with economic growth decreasing and a mandate by the American electorate to pursue socialism the American Dream is not only under threat, but becoming outright impossible for most youth.

    First, in order to achieve the American Dream you need money, namely a career. With the Great Recession unemployment has been at European levels and nearly double that for younger generations. This also does not speak to underemployment where some estimates have half of people under 25 working nowhere near their potential. Sure they have a job, but with a master’s degree they’re only making $9 per hour as the local barista. Further crippling the financial future of most youth is their crushing student debt. Even if they were gainfully employed they still have to service their mountain of student loans, leaving little, if any money for the purchase of a home.

    Second, let’s talk about the home. Not only have our younger generations suffered an education bubble, they also witnessed the housing bubble. You would think the lower prices that ensued with the popping of the bubble would help them, but unfortunately the consequential government regulation makes it nearly impossible for recent college graduates to qualify for a loan. Worse still are the young go getters who were ahead of the curve and bought property before the bubble burst. Not only are they most likely underwater on their mortgages, they are unlikely to get refinanced because of the sea of red tape they must go through to qualify for HARP, HARP II, HARP III, The Return of HARP and whatever other nonsense has come out of Washington. Finally, the housing bubble and the ensuing financial crisis has put a bad taste in the mouths of any future prospective home buyers. Seeing their parents get foreclosed on, the stress involved with trying to get refinanced, or seeing their friends suffer the same, younger generations view housing as a liability, not an asset. And forever increasing property taxes may prove them right.

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    9th January 2013 at 9:02 am

  3. Pirate Jo says:

    Feminism made the girls in Casper, Wyoming fat?

    Actually, this looks like a great read. I think I’ve already processed the depressing stuff and got over it, so I don’t think it will bring me down.

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    9th January 2013 at 11:36 am

  4. flash says:

    71V9APD899L._SL500_AA300_.gif

    You’ve come a long way, baby…
    tumblr_m4d351Umrz1ruj6doo1_500.jpg

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    9th January 2013 at 12:03 pm

  5. Pirate Jo says:

    Flash, that’s hilarious! Don’t think I’ll add it to my reading list, though. I just ordered the book you excerpted from Amazon – B&N doesn’t have it yet, and I am not a patient person, even if I do love my Nook reader.

    I think what makes his perspective so refreshing is that, unlike most people I know, he has accepted reality and acknowledges that it sucks. I share his views, but don’t discuss this kind of stuff with people in real life, because they either have no idea what is going on or they just assume things will work out by themselves. So it’s fruitless to talk to people about how mad this stuff makes me, because first I end up having to spend two hours educating them and then they pronounce my worldview “depressing” like it’s MY fault things are the way they are. My worldview may be depressing, but it is also accurate.

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    9th January 2013 at 12:32 pm

  6. Kill Bill says:

    The debt ceiling will be broken thru like a hypersonic jet passing the speed of sound.
    375px-US_Public_Debt_Ceiling_1981-2010.png

    But the kabuki theatre will continue as the front row talking heads talk of how real the show is

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    9th January 2013 at 12:44 pm

  7. flash says:

    PJ- but don’t discuss this kind of stuff with people in real life, because they either have no idea what is going on or they just assume things will work out by themselves.

    I discuss the current situation concerning bankster pwned politico shills, job killing regulation/zoning/taxation overtly at public meetings, shopping, neighbors, and family as often and as loud as I can, because when the whip comes down , I don’ t want nary sniveling one of these people to say they didn’t know.

    Only a total idiot ignores smell the smoke of fire wafting up from the basement and to tell me you didn’t know is admitting to me you’re a either lackadaisical imbecile or a gutless liar, neither of which I want to be associated with after the inevitable shitstorm clears.
    I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
    Silence complacency is no longer and option.
    And it’s our duty as Americans

    Isaiah’s Job

    by Albert Jay Nock
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/nock3b.html
    by Albert Jay Nock … There is a Remnant there that you know nothing about. They are … Your job is to take care of the Remnant, so be off now and set about it.” …

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    9th January 2013 at 12:55 pm

  8. flash says:

    flash says:

    PJ….sorry about the harsh tone, afterall TBP is the choir.
    Certainly , we all have something to lose by alienating , friends, family and associates and I wouldn’t want anyone to jeopardize their livelihood just to prove they’re analysis of the current dire political/economic situation is correct , but there will be a price to pay for silence just as there is spewing what many of the sheep consider vitriol .
    I’ve even had people tell me that those ringing the warning bell are not the harbingers of hard times , but the cause of via propagation of bad news i.e.negative energy.

    One has to be their own judge in aliening others ,especially those they depend on.
    Everybody can’t be a hard-ass….just sayin’.

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    9th January 2013 at 1:33 pm

  9. Stan says:

    We damn well just have to accept it and do the best we can because its a done deal

    America as we once knew it is over – never to return!

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    9th January 2013 at 1:51 pm

  10. Didius Julianus says:

    He moved out of Casper… some of the remnant is in other countries, keeping the idea alive and, yes, realizing that when the SHTF , it will affect all places. Trying to be prepared, informing people (many more listen and understand in New Zealand that among my friends/family in the U.S. Now that’s something to ponder!)

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    9th January 2013 at 2:36 pm

  11. Pirate Jo says:

    That’s okay, flash – I’m pretty sure your background and experiences are different than mine. I grew up with a mom who is a Jehovah’s Witness. I got dragged around as a kid when she went knocking on doors, warning people about “Armageddon” because she thought she was saving lives. Plus if you’re a JW you get great tribal bragging rights if you have a lot of conversion scalps hanging from your mantel.

    Well who really wants someone’s religion crammed down their throats? Alienating friends and family is exactly what she did – basically ALL of them – until only the Witlesses were left in her life.

    I try not to have the social skills of a sledgehammer. If there’s a conversation going on, a comment here or there, or a cynical joke, can either further the conversation or shut it down. I don’t push my views on people who aren’t interested, because my early exposure to that kind of thing turned me off to it completely. I think that if you can’t judge whether your audience is interested and learn when to STFU, you risk alienating yourself from everyone who isn’t drinking the same Kool-Aid.

    When the shit comes down, why do you care if anyone in your family says they didn’t see it coming? It really isn’t your problem.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 2:38 pm

  12. Didius Julianus says:

    Agree with the comments of knowing when to talk and when to be quiet. Some people will never understand and some people will take the seed you planted and it will spring forth at some point in the future.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 2:41 pm

  13. Olga says:

    All I generally say is something along the lines of …..

    What idiots we were to off-shore our industrial and manufacturing base but now that our GDP is in China I wonder what’s next on the agenda?

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 3:23 pm

  14. flash says:

    PJ-When the shit comes down, why do you care if anyone in your family says they didn’t see it coming? It really isn’t your problem.

    Mainly because I’m going to be the one taking care of their sorry asses…can’t very well let the morons starve or wande4r homeless …blood thicker than water and all ..

    And, I already have my hands full.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 3:38 pm

  15. Administrator says:

    White House won’t fully rule out $1 trillion coin idea

    January 9, 2013, 3:27 PM

    White House press secretary Jay Carney laughed on Wednesday when he was asked about the idea to mint a $1 trillion coin as a way of getting around the U.S. debt ceiling. But he didn’t entirely take it off the table.

    “The only option,” Carney told reporters, is for Congress to “do its job” and raise the debt limit.

    Carney fielded several questions about raising the debt limit, including about the coin and the push by some Democratic lawmakers for President Barack Obama to consider using the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to bypass Congress. He endorsed neither and said “There is no Plan B.”

    “Nothing needs to come to these kinds of speculative notions” like the $1 trillion coin, he said. He repeated that Obama won’t negotiate over the debt ceiling.

    But the fact that the Mint the Coin movement is being discussed at White House press briefings is a sure sign that negotiations are really just getting started.

    – Robert Schroeder

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 3:44 pm

  16. Administrator says:

    Panic In California As Thousands Of Food Stamps Cards Suffer Brief Outage

    Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/09/2013 16:53 -0500

    This past weekend, as part of a system update to the CalWIN software of California’s Social Services department, HP accidentally cancelled EBT cards for some 37,000 Californians. The OC Register reports that eighteen counties were affected in the CalFresh chaos (the ‘friendly’ name given to California’s food stamp program – also formerly known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP). While we worry for the strippers and liquor stores, CalWIN and Xerox (the state’s primary contractor for administering CalFresh) developed a process to reactivate the cards by Tuesday morning. While this must have been a tough day or two for many, we wonder if Geithner’s ‘extraordinary’ efforts to extend the debt ceiling deadline have perhaps gone a little too far?

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 5:03 pm

  17. stalker says:

    flash, we may yet find your rotted corpse two or three months along. dead from reading this stuff meant to be uplifting: “Not only is it increasingly likely you’ve lived your life in vain, ….In short your life has no meaning.” Is it your plan to kill off boomers by depressing them to death?
    Good thing i don’t set my watch by the opinions i read on this site, a lot of the articles are interesting, some are informative and some are downright worrisome but i am not on the path you are on, we are contemporaries that is true, and we may suffer the general times but i plan to observe your decline, not experience it because my life has meaning and always will have meaning as long as my eyes are focussed above and not on this dark place. Sad to say, the America I love is six feet under. The new America? You can have it.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1

    9th January 2013 at 8:25 pm

  18. flash says:

    stalker , reality is what it is and the opinions and philosophy contained in Aaron Clarey’s Enjoy the Decline are not mine, meaning I may or may not agree with any or all .

    That said, informative is the only weapon available in the war against systematic dysfunction and if that reality of that depresses you then so be it.
    Far from being depressed, I for one rejoice in the fact that there are the likes of Aaron Clarey willing to broach subjects that the self-delusional find unconformable.
    Ignorance will not save you.
    There is no new America.
    The land is here as it has always been.
    If it the principles guiding the ideology of individual liberty via rule of law of which you refer to as America, meaning the nation, then be aware that liberalism in the classic sense is older than US and indeed harkens back to ancient times.There is nothing new in the principles establishing liberty or tyranny…its all been done before.
    Land mass has nothing to do with either.These principles inherently exist in human nature and are exercise by such.

    For me,Franklin nailed it when he said ,”Wherever freedom is, that is my country.

    “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
    ― Aristotle, Metaphysics

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 6:37 am

  19. flash says:

    BTW, stalker ..I didn’t thumb you down.I’m glad you brought your opinion to the table, bare as it may be.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 6:38 am

  20. Pirate Jo says:

    “Not only is it increasingly likely you’ve lived your life in vain, ….In short your life has no meaning.”

    What does “meaning” mean? Or this stuff about having a purpose – like you’re born with a “purpose” stapled to your upper left-hand corner. MUST life have a purpose? Do you really need someone to give you something to do, or can you just be creative and entertain yourself?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 11:02 am

  21. Stucky says:

    “All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Aaron Clarey.”
    ———– from flash’s incredibly long c&p

    Well? Did you get permission from Aaron Clarey??? DID YOU, PUNK????

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 11:24 am

  22. Stucky says:

    “I was quickly let down when I walked in and realized the average woman in Casper doesn’t weigh 180 pounds, but more like 240.” ———— flash’s article

    Picture AWD in that town. If you’re not chuckling this very moment you have no fuckin’ sense of humor.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 11:35 am

  23. flash says:

    Stuck-Well? Did you get permission from Aaron Clarey??? DID YOU, PUNK????

    No ,but at least two copies of Captain Capitalism’s book was sold though TBP …hopefully that’ll knock a few years off my prison sentence.I plead the mercy of the court.

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 11:42 am

  24. anotherjuan says:

    flash, stalker might have confused you with Walter Samaszko Jr. I think you sound like a good person to go to the wall with, hope it never comes to that.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 2:56 pm

  25. anotherjuan says:

    What does “meaning” mean? Or this stuff about having a purpose – like you’re born with a “purpose” stapled to your upper left-hand corner. MUST life have a purpose? Do you really need someone to give you something to do, or can you just be creative and entertain yourself?

    PJ, you’re some philosopher! of course you can exercise your liberty and choose your own creative entertainment. you can decide what your purpose is according to your freedom to choose. no matter how entertaining, your baby, child of your creativity must have meaning for you and for others if you want to leave some legacy. meaning is the difference between humans and animals. if your life has no purpose, you may find you have no meaning. then you find yourself in that lost situation of kristofferson’s ‘sunday morning coming down’. a man coming to the realization that something is missing in his life on a certain sunday morning

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 3:15 pm

  26. Pirate Jo says:

    What if you don’t want to leave a legacy?

    What if it’s like going camping, and you want to take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints?

    I don’t think my life has purpose or meaning beyond whatever I feel like doing with it. But this doesn’t make me feel lost, or that something is missing in my life – It really doesn’t bother me at all. People set themselves up to disappoint themselves, thinking they have to be important.

    It reminds me of this video:

    http://www.maniacworld.com/dance-monkeys.htm

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 4:29 pm

  27. flash says:

    anotherjuan-I think you sound like a good person to go to the wall with, hope it never comes to that.

    Thanks for the compliment, but I have to say, if it’s “to the wall” then , no thanks, you go on without me.
    I’m extremely allergic to lead.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 5:26 pm

  28. anotherjuan says:

    flash – a little dark humor in a dangerous world.
    PJ – your question on choice reminded me of a recent article in Atlantic on happiness, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing,” Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning, “the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
    besides, your argument might be going in circles, (like the person who desires to achieve perfection by having no desires, yet still has a desire….) because in writing here, you impact your readers and leave that legacy of thought.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    9th January 2013 at 6:03 pm

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