“The next Fourth Turning is due to begin shortly after the new millennium, midway through the Oh-Oh decade. Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood. Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate. Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation and empire. The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
Strauss & Howe wrote these words in 1997. They had predicted the arrival of another Crisis in this time frame in their previous book Generations, written in 1990. This wasn’t guesswork on their part. They understood the dynamics of how generations interact and how the mood of the country shifts every twenty or so years based upon the generational alignment that occurs as predictably as the turning of the seasons. The last generation that lived through the entire previous Crisis from 1929 through 1946 has virtually died off. This always signals the onset of the next Fourth Turning. The housing bubble and its ultimate implosion created the spark for the current Crisis that began in September 2008, with the near meltdown of the worldwide financial system. Just as the stock market crash of 1929, the election of Lincoln in 1860, and the Boston Tea Party in 1773 catalyzed a dramatic mood change in the country, the Wall Street created financial collapse in 2008 has ushered in a twenty year period of agony, suffering, war and ultimately the annihilation of the existing social order.
We have experienced the American High (Spring) from 1946 until 1964, witnessing America’s ascendancy as a global superpower. We survived the turbulent Consciousness Revolution Awakening (Summer) from 1964 until 1984, as Vietnam era protests morphed into yuppie era greed. The Long Boom/Culture Wars Unraveling (Fall) lasted from Reagan’s Morning in America in 1984 until the 2008 Wall Street/Federal Reserve spawned crash. The pessimism built to a crescendo as worry about rising violence and incivility, widening wealth inequality, and the splitting of the national consensus into extremes on the left and right, led the country into a winter of discontent. The Global Financial Crisis (Winter) has arrived in full fury and is likely to last until the late 2020’s. It will be an era of upheaval, financial turbulence, economic collapse, war, and the complete redefinition of society, as the existing corrupt status quo is swept away in the fury of powerful hurricane winds of change. History is cyclical and we’ve entered the most dangerous season, when the choices we make as a nation will have profound long lasting implications to the lives of future unborn generations.
The linear thinkers and so called progressives who believe that history charges relentlessly forward and human ingenuity overcomes all obstacles as the world becomes progressively richer, advanced, and humane ignore the lessons of history that have been re-written every 80 to 100 years for centuries. Generational theory is so simple that even an Ivy League intellectual economist, corrupt congressman, or CNBC anchor bimbo could grasp the basic concept. The four turnings in the ongoing cycle of history match a long human life. There is a reason we forget the lessons of the past. Those who remember the lessons die off after 80 years. The linear thinking status quo keep predicting an improving economy based upon their beliefs that the next fifteen years will proceed in a similar fashion to the last fifteen years. They refuse to acknowledge we’ve entered a new era that cannot be reversed to a previous point in time. Once you’ve experienced the harsh bitter winds of the Winter, you have to deal with months of depressing darkness, harsh conditions, and stormy weather before experiencing the return of the warm breezes of Spring. The tranquil days of autumn are long gone. This dynamic can be clearly visualized by comparing our economic situation in 2007, prior to entering this Fourth Turning, to our economic situation today:
End of Unraveling in 2007 versus fourth year of Crisis in 2012
- In 2007, the unemployment rate was 4.6%; 146 million people, or 63% of the working age population, were employed; and 78 million Americans were not in the labor force. Today, after three years of “recovery”, the unemployment rate is 7.9%; 143 million people, or 58.8% of the working age population are employed; and 88 million Americans are not in the labor force.
- Real median household income was $55,039 in 2007. It has fallen by 8.2% to $50,502 today.
- BLS reported inflation has risen by 12% since 2007. True inflation has risen at twice that rate.
- Median net worth in 2007 was $126,400. By 2010 it had fallen to $77,300, a 39% drop in three years. As of today, it may be a few thousand dollars higher as stock prices have risen and home prices have stopped falling.
- In 2007 there were 5.7 million existing homes sold at a median price of $218,900. Today there are 4.3 million existing homes being sold at a median price of $183,900. Over 1 million of these home sales are foreclosures or short sales, as 30% of all the homes with a mortgage in the country owe more than their house is worth.
- Federal government spending in 2007 was $2.73 trillion. Federal government spending today is $3.8 trillion, a 39% increase in five years. GDP in 2007 was $14.2 trillion. Today GDP is $15.8 trillion, an 11% increase in five years. Approximately 25% of the GDP increase is due to increased government spending.
- Government entitlement transfers totaled $1.7 trillion in 2007. Today they total $2.4 trillion, a 41% increase in five years. Interest income paid to senior citizens and savers totaled $1.25 trillion in 2007. Today interest income totals $985 billion, a 21% decrease in five years. Wall Street bankers needed the money to pay themselves bonuses, so Ben Bernanke obliged.
- The annual deficit in 2007 totaled $161 billion. Today, the annual deficit is $1.1 trillion. We add $3 billion per day to the national debt as a gift to unborn generations.
- The national debt in 2007 was $9 trillion. Today the national debt is $16.3 trillion, an 81% increase in five years. The national debt will reach $20 trillion during the next presidential term. Normalization of interest rates to 2007 levels would result in annual interest expense of $1 trillion, or 40% of current government revenues.
There is nothing normal about our current economic situation. The unfunded liabilities at the Federal, State and local levels of government accumulate to over $200 trillion. Do the facts detailed above lead you to believe we can return to pre-2007 normal in the near future, or ever? Not only has the economic situation of the country deteriorated enormously, the very culprits who created the disaster are more powerful than they were before the global catastrophe caused by their criminal risk taking. The largest Wall Street banks control 74% of all the deposits in the country, up from 66% in 2007, and double the levels from the mid-1990’s. These bastions of capitalism wield all of the power in this country, dictating who wins elections, who writes the laws, and who benefits from the distribution of wealth. Only in a corrupt, crony-capitalist, citadel of kleptocracy could the perpetrators of the greatest theft of national wealth in the history of mankind be rewarded with taxpayer financed bailouts, the ability to borrow an unlimited amount of fiat currency at 0% from a Central Bank they control, write the new banking regulations and be applauded by their corporate mainstream media for becoming even Too Bigger to Fail. This Fourth Turning will ultimately come down to a clash between the people and the Wall Street filth.
Those in power today are using their ample wealth and control over the legal, economic and political systems to pretend that an epic crisis does not beckon at our doorstep. Propaganda and media spin cannot avert the brutally hard choices that must be made over the next fifteen years. The existing system is unsustainable. It can either be changed by choice or after a complete collapse. We haven’t reached the point of regeneracy yet when civic purpose begins to strengthen. The outcome of this presidential election will determine the next phase of this Crisis. Strauss & Howe described the normal course of a crisis in 1997:
“A CRISIS arises in response to sudden threats that previously would have been ignored or deferred, but which are now perceived as dire. Great worldly perils boil off the clutter and complexity of life, leaving behind one simple imperative: The society must prevail. This requires a solid public consensus, aggressive institutions, and personal sacrifice. People support new efforts to wield public authority, whose perceived successes soon justify more of the same. Government governs, community obstacles are removed, and laws and customs that resisted change for decades are swiftly shunted aside. A grim preoccupation with civic peril causes spiritual curiosity to decline. Public order tightens, private risk-taking abates, and crime and substance abuse decline. Families strengthen, gender distinctions widen, and child-rearing reaches a smothering degree of protection and structure. The young focus their energy on worldly achievements, leaving values in the hands of the old. Wars are fought with fury and for maximum result.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
Clearly this country has not reached a common consensus and is split 50%/50% on most important issues. Debates about the role of government are waged with vitriolic passion, but the reality is that, as in past Fourth Turnings, the government has already assumed a greater level of power and control over our lives. The majority believe that government can protect them, provide for them, and pay their way. This is a delusion which will be revealed as fraudulent and mathematically impossible. The incompetent government preparation prior to Superstorm Sandy and the dysfunctional, bureaucratic and painfully slow response afterward are opening the eyes of many people. The decisions which are yet to be made are what kind of society shall we be and who will be required to sacrifice to achieve a positive outcome at the end of this Crisis. Turnings are driven by a mood change in the country and the constellation of generations at that point in time. The generations are now aligned as they always are during a Crisis:
- Boomers entering elderhood
- Gen-Xers entering midlife
- Millennials entering young adulthood
- Homelanders entering childhood
History does not repeat but it does rhyme, because of the cyclical nature of human experience. The specific events that drive this Crisis are unknowable, but the generational response to these events can be predicted with uncanny accuracy. Each generation will play its assigned role during this Crisis. The current generational configuration will propel events and create a feedback loop that will change the course of human history on a scale consistent with the Depression/World War II, the Civil War and the American Revolution.
“What will propel these events? As the saeculum turns, each of today’s generations will enter a new phase of life, producing a Crisis constellation of Boomer elders, midlife 13ers, young adult Millennials, and children from the new Silent Generation. As each archetype asserts its new social role, American society will reach its peak of potency. The natural order givers will be elder Prophets, the natural order takers young Heroes. The no-nonsense bosses will be midlife Nomads, the sensitive souls the child Artists. No archetypal constellation can match the gravitational of this one – nor its power to congeal the natural dynamic of human history into new civic purposes. And none can match its potential power to condense countless arguments, anxieties, cynicisms, and pessimisms into one apocalyptic storm.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
The mood of the country continues to blacken. A simmering anger boils beneath the surface of an everyday façade of normalcy. The middle class majority is being squeezed in a vice, with the rich powerful plutocrats on Wall Street and in Washington DC stealing their hard earned net worth through financial scams, the gutting of our industrial base and a tax system designed to benefit those who write the laws on one side and the parasitic willfully ignorant underclass that is sustained only through the extraction of taxes from the working middle class on the other side. Our society has become a hunger games tournament, with the few benefitting while the many scramble to survive. The stench of class warfare is in the air. The generational resentment and rage is palatable as the Millenial generation has taken on a trillion dollars of student loan debt at the behest of the Federal government, Wall Street and older generations, only to graduate into a jobless economy. The generational contract has been broken, as the older generations will not or cannot leave the workforce due to their own financial missteps. Younger generations are being denied entry level positions, even as the older generations expect them to fund their retirements and healthcare. This presidential election will only exacerbate the anger, disappointment, bitterness and fury among the populace, no matter who wins.
Prophets & Nomads
Can generational theory predict who will win the presidential election? Probably not, but based upon historical precedent, during times of Crisis the country usually turns to a Prophet generation leader who provides a new vision and summons the moral authority to lead. This leader may not have the right vision or have the backing of the entire population, but he is not afraid to take bold action. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was despised by many, but he boldly led the country during the last Crisis. Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election with only 39.8% of the popular vote, but he unflinchingly did whatever he thought was necessary to achieve victory and preserve the union. Prophet leaders like Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin offered the sense of moral urgency required to sustain the American Revolution. Strauss & Howe give a historical perspective on Prophet generations.
“Prophet generations are born after a great war or other crisis, during a time of rejuvenated community life and consensus around a new societal order. Prophets grow up as the increasingly indulged children of this post-crisis era, come of age as narcissistic young crusaders of a spiritual awakening, cultivate principle as moralistic mid-lifers, and emerge as wise elders guiding another historical crisis. By virtue of this location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their coming-of-age passion and their principled elder stewardship. Their principle endowments are often in the domain of vision, values, and religion. Their best-known historical leaders include John Winthrop, William Berkeley, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt. These were principled moralists, summoners of human sacrifice, and wagers of righteous wars. Early in life, few saw combat in uniform; later in life, most came to be revered more for their inspiring words than for their grand deeds.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
Barack Obama was born in 1961. According to the Strauss & Howe generational distinctions, this makes him an early Gen-Xer. His life story matches that of the Nomad archetype. His chaotic early life, confused upbringing by an array of elders, frenetic alienated early adulthood as a community organizer, and his rise to power through his public speaking talent and pragmatic ability to achieve his agenda is a blueprint for a Nomad. Mitt Romney was born in 1947 and grew up during the American High. His childhood was idyllic and privileged. His moral Mormon youth as a missionary eventually devolved into his yuppie “greed is good” career at Bain Capital acquiring companies, making them more efficient (firing Americans & hiring Asians), and spinning them off, while siphoning millions in fees. He has tried to convince Americans to vote for him, based upon his business acumen and moral lifestyle, as the cure for what ails America. With the continued downward spiral of societal mood, record low trust in Congress and 60% of Americans thinking the country is on the wrong track, the odds should favor the Prophet candidate. The 40% of Americans who think the country is on the right track are a tribute to our awful government run public education system or are smoking crack.
The Barack Obama presidency has many similarities to the one-term presidencies of Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan. Both men were overwhelmed by rapidly deteriorating events, an inability to understand the true nature of the Crisis, and failure to inspire the American people to rally behind a common cause. Both men drifted off into obscurity and are overwhelmingly acknowledged as two of the least successful presidents. The men who succeeded them are ranked by historians at the top of the list, even though they are both despised by more libertarian minded citizens as proponents of big government solutions and control. Libertarians will not be happy with developments over the next fifteen years. This Crisis is an era in which America’s corrupt social order will be torn down and reconstructed from the ground as a reaction to the unsustainable financial pyramid scheme which is an existential threat to the nation’s very survival. Civic authority will revive, cultural manifestation will find a community resolution, and citizens will begin to associate themselves as adherents of a larger cluster.
Barack Obama has fallen short as a Crisis leader, just as Buchanan and Hoover fell short. Buchanan also tried to maintain the status quo and not address the key issues of the day – secession and slavery. His handling of the financial Panic of 1857 led to annual deficits that exceeded 13% of GDP during his entire presidency. His legacy is one of failure and hesitation. Hoover was a technocrat with an engineering background who failed to recognize the extent of the suffering by the American people during the early stages of the Great Depression. It is a false storyline that he did not attempt to use the power of the Federal government to address the economic crisis. Federal spending increased by over 20% during his term and he was running a deficit when Roosevelt assumed power. Hoover was an activist president who began the public works programs that FDR expanded and dramatically increased taxes on the rich and corporations in 1932.
Obama inherited a plunging economic situation and proceeded to make choices that will make this Crisis far worse than it needed to be. He has failed miserably in addressing the core elements of this Crisis that were foreseen by Strauss and Howe over a decade before the initial spark in 2008. Debt, civic decay, rising wealth inequality due to the rise of our plutocracy, and global disorder are the underlying basis for this Crisis. Obama’s response was to run record deficits driving the national debt skyward, failing to address the unfunded entitlement liabilities that loom on the horizon, bowing down before the Wall Street mobsters and paying their ransom demands, layering on more complexity and unfunded healthcare liabilities to an already teetering government system, and extending our policing the world foreign policy at a cost of $1 trillion per year. A Crisis requires a bold leader who makes tough choices and leads. Obama has proven to not be that leader. Based on historical precedent and the rapidly deteriorating mood of the country, it would be logical for the country to select Romney, a Prophet generation leader.
No Escape
“Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning the way you might today distance yourself from news, national politics, or even taxes you don’t feel like paying. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted. The Fourth Turning necessitates the death and rebirth of the social order. It is the ultimate rite of passage for an entire people, requiring a luminal state of sheer chaos whose nature and duration no one can predict in advance.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
No matter who wins the election, there will be no turning back. It isn’t Morning in America anymore. It is more like Midnight in America on a bitterly cold dark February night as the gale force winds begin to gust, foretelling the approach of an epic winter blizzard. There are no easy solutions. The opportunity to alleviate the impact of this Crisis was during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, and we made all the wrong choices. Now we will pay the price. An era of depression and violence will be ushered in by an economic calamity that will make 2008 look like a minor blip. The next president will still be presiding over a country divided 50%/50%, with little or no common ground on most of the key issues that must be confronted. But, as we’ve seen in previous Crisis periods, bold leadership and history making decisions did not require consensus or even majority support. Only 10% of the colonial population drove the American Revolution. Lincoln was despised by half the country and not exactly loved by everyone in the North. FDR’s popular support progressively declined during his four terms in office. It is the Fourth Turning events, not the nation, which elevates the person to the apex of power. The regeneracy of the nation will occur during the next presidential term.
“Soon after the catalyst, a national election will produce a sweeping political realignment, as one faction or coalition capitalizes on a new public demand for decisive action. Republicans, Democrats, or perhaps a new party will decisively win the long partisan tug of war. This new regime will enthrone itself for the duration of the Crisis. Regardless of its ideology, that new leadership will assert public authority and demand private sacrifice. Regardless of its ideology, that new leadership will assert public authority and demand private sacrifice. Where leaders had once been inclined to alleviate societal pressures, they will now aggravate them to command the nation’s attention. The regeneracy will be solidly under way.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
The Millenial generation is coming of age faced with the burdens of $1 trillion of student loan debt, a stagnant job market clogged by the Boomer generation that can’t afford to retire because they never got around to saving, ever increasing taxes to fund the promises made to their elders by politicians, and an unfunded entitlement liability of $100 trillion for healthcare and pension benefits they will never see. The mathematical impossibility of sustaining our economic system is absolute. It will require courage, sacrifice, fortitude and a dramatic shift of our egocentric selfish culture to a culture of sustainability and caring about future generations. We’ve made many bad choices over the last few decades. Choices matter. These are the times that will try men’s souls. The choices we make as a nation over the next few years will determine whether this Fourth Turning ends in a renewal of our founding principles or tragedy. Glory or ruin – the choice is ours.
“Thus might the next Fourth Turning end in apocalypse – or glory. The nation could be ruined, its democracy destroyed, and millions of people scattered or killed. Or America could enter a new golden age, triumphantly applying shared values to improve the human condition. The rhythms of history do not reveal the outcome of the coming Crisis; all they suggest is the timing and dimension.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
The next stage of this Crisis is likely to be ignited by a downward spiral of societal trust caused by the next financial implosion, which is certain to occur. A world built upon debt, false promises, interconnected webs of deceitful derivatives, fiat currency backed only by the promises of lying politicians and captured central bankers, and a diminishing supply of easy to access natural resources, is hopelessly dependent upon the willful ignorance of the masses. As long as people want to be lied to rather than facing the truth, those in power can maintain the status quo. Once the jarring realization of reality overwhelms the propaganda and lies of the oligarchs, the battle for middle earth will begin. What will trigger the next phase of this Crisis? No one knows for sure, but based on the fault lines already evident, these are a possibility:
- The inevitable breakup of the European Union with the consequences of massive bank defaults in Europe triggering worldwide bank defaults as the interconnected trillions of derivatives are lit like a string of firecrackers.
- A sudden Greece like surge in interest rates on Japanese bonds results in a collapse of their debt ridden economic system, with reverberations throughout the world.
- The Middle East tinderbox explodes as Israel attacks Iran and the law of unintended consequences takes hold. Alliances and treaties would draw Turkey into war with Syria and Iran. Russia and China could side against the U.S. Iran and their vassals would unleash terrorist attacks and disruption of Middle Eastern oil would drive prices over $200 per barrel, crushing the American economy.
- A showdown on the debt ceiling and/or fiscal cliff results in a stock market crash, derailing the pitiful fledgling recovery created by Ben Bernanke’s QE to infinity measures.
- A tipping point is reached with regards to the amount of debt that can be accumulated by our Federal, State and Local governments. A cascade of defaults could lead to a loss of faith in the U.S. dollar and a surge in interest rates. The defaults and increased interest on the national debt could lead to mass depression or in a worst case scenario – hyperinflation.
- A large terrorist attack in one or more American cities would cause chaos, panic and fear, leading to more government control over our daily lives. This could trigger a counter response by those fed up with an overbearing government presence.
- A catastrophic natural disaster or series of natural disasters would reveal the fragile nature of our just in time economic system. A breakdown of our logistical and infrastructure systems would lead to chaos and mass hysteria as the citizens who believed their government leaders would keep them safe, secure, warm, and fed realized it was all a sham. Their leaders were in it for the power and riches, not looking out for the best interests of the common folk.
No one knows for sure what will trigger the next leg down during this Crisis, but I can guarantee you that things will not be getting better in the near future. Don’t believe the mainstream media or politicians who tell us life in the good old U.S. of A will be back to normal in the near future. And those who predict a long slow gentle decline of the American Empire that can be managed by the oligarchs are badly mistaken. That is not how things roll in a Fourth Turning. Transformative change, chaos, desperate measures, and total war will propel our nation through this cataclysmic saeculum and a positive outcome is not assured. An armed conflict – class war, sectional war, religious war, or war for oil – will be waged at some point and fought to the finish. Fourth Turning wars do not end inconclusively. Each Fourth Turning war has resulted in greater destruction and more horrendous numbers of human casualties. The trials and tribulations that await this nation over the next fifteen years will challenge every living generation to play their roles and bravely confront the tasks needed to reach a new High, just as their ancestors did.
“History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong – the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin. Losing in the next Fourth Turning could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence – perhaps even our nation – might never recover.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
For those who doubt generational theory and believe history is a linear path of human progress, I would point to the last week of chaos, disarray, government dysfunction, and misery of those who didn’t prepare for Superstorm Sandy, as a prelude to the worst of this Crisis. The lack of preparation by government officials and citizens, death, destruction, panic, anger, helplessness and realization of how fragile our system has become is a perfect analogy to our preparation for this Fourth Turning. The brittleness of our infrastructure and lack of redundancy in our systems has left us vulnerable to any large storm. Building mansions yards from a dangerous unpredictable sea is akin to allowing Wall Street bankers to create interconnected financial derivatives which will ultimately result in a great worldwide flood that will obliterate billions of wealth. Going decades without upgrading our power grid, transportation systems, or storm protection is akin to allowing our unfunded entitlement liabilities to accumulate to such an extreme level that it will be impossible to honor and the coming storm will swamp those depending on those promises. The lack of foresight by citizens in having food, water, and backup sources of power and heat in case of an emergency is akin to the millions of people that have lived the good life in debt up to their eyeballs while never saving for a rainy day or their retirement. When the rainy day arrives they panic and demand to be saved by an inept bureaucratic government.
Winter has arrived. The gathering storm is about to strike. Are you prepared?
“Reflect on what happens when a terrible winter blizzard strikes. You hear the weather warning but probably fail to act on it. The sky darkens. Then the storm hits with full fury, and the air is a howling whiteness. One by one, your links to the machine age break down. Electricity flickers out, cutting off the TV. Batteries fade, cutting off the radio. Phones go dead. Roads become impossible, and cars get stuck. Food supplies dwindle. Day to day vestiges of modern civilization – bank machines, mutual funds, mass retailers, computers, satellites, airplanes, governments – all recede into irrelevance. Picture yourself and your loved ones in the midst of a howling blizzard that lasts several years. Think about what you would need, who could help you, and why your fate might matter to anybody other than yourself. That is how to plan for a saecular winter. Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
” The lack of foresight by citizens”… that seems to pretty well sum it up. Good article, Jim. John
We are a pretty polyglot society these days. Not everyone is on the same page. What you consider to be ‘your’ country is, to a beaner from Central America, a new land, to be exploited and shaped in just the same way an English colonist in the 17th century looked upon a native Americans.
Do you really think Filipino nurses working in a hospital in San Francisco know or even give a shit about the American Civil War? The potato famine or any of the other historical markers we mark our history by? Does an Indian immigrant mark his history by America’s or Britain’s?
“The 40% of Americans who think the country is on the right track are a tribute to our awful government run public education system or are smoking crack.”
Very quotable, admin.
if we fight wars, they will be fought over the oil. Who controls it. Who profits,Which country gets to fill their tanks. That’s what I think.
I wish that there a box on the ballot none of the above
I have been off and on around here for a couple of years now. I respect the admin and appriciate the work he does in spreading the word about the burning platform our government has created. Having said that post like these seem more religous in nature then based on observable facts. Like religion we are “taught” that certain historical events played pivotal roles in shaping what will be our future.
The problem i see is that history is written by the winners. History is malable to those with an agenda and facts can be twisted like a bls release. What i read in grade school about abe lincoln is nothing like a read now. Who is telling the truth and who is twisting.
I read the book. I have also read the book of mormon. I place both of them in a pile marked to be determined
In my opinion S&H have not adjusted for technology and the growth of social media as it pertains to rthe 4th turning. Have they ever made any statements about this part of socioty ? To be honest other than the book i hqve notk ept up with the authors. We now seem to have the ability for an idea or “meme’ to circle the globe in days. Of course most of the time it is a dancing cat or a kardashaian or whatever but i think the idea has merit. What if the profit is not a person this time but an idea that captures the culture. I think it will have a trigger (crisis ) but what if our prophet this time is a dancing cat of an idea that brings us to the end of this cycle, either destruction or glory?
What could it look like? What would it be based on. 4th turning cycles tend to see a resurgance of church and temple attendance at the end as people look for answers everywhere to the crisis. Perhaps a meme of a spritual nature could grip the country or world with no one leader.
In any event i wish i was younger or older so i could either not care or not understand the significance of the times we live in. To young to go quiety into the night to old to fightthe good fight.
Nice ad for the book, and plug for Romney. I may buy the book, but would never vote for a Mormon, especially Romney, if I even bothered to vote. The choice is heads or tails on the same coin. Neither run the country. Those who do are no elected. And many are not even Americans. (Think Israel)
That said, I see the US as never regaining their glory. It has gone missing for decades now and is lost. Once the world’s greatest power is now reduced to the world’s biggest debtor/beggar. All we export is war/weapons, death and worthless paper called dollars.
After 278 years of my family living in the Us (1734) I have moved to the Philippines where they have more than two political parties and an actual election/democracy. Not to mention happy, family oriented people and real towns where everyone knows everyone else and they work together.
So, Fourth Turning or not, yes, the West is in for a fall. A very steep and painful ride down the ladder of contraction until they arrive somewhere near the level I enjoy today, IF they are lucky.
Makati1
Glad to see the ignorant masses are as ignorant as ever. Your comprehension skills leave much to be desired if you think I am plugging Romney. I guess foeign educational institutions are as bad as our public schools.
Makati1’s Phillipine paradise
Administrator:
That was one of the most fabulous reads EVER. I’m a fan of your work in general, but really, this is off the charts. Why do I say that?
Because I feel it looming. All of it. The more I see in life… in anecdotal observation… in data… even in vivid imagination, the more I realize that the “storm” is no joke.
No matter what the tales are, no matter how many times I’ve read a historical narrative, I’ve never stopped myself so often throughout the days and weeks and, in reaction to what I see and hear ask myself:
“Was it like this?….”
Never before, with so much repetition have I made the conjecture:
“Yes… very much… in its own way….”
Never before have I concluded, admittedly with a growing and real fear, that it is and IT’S GOING TO FUCKING SUCK ASS and there’s nothing anyone’s going to do about it.
Like finding oneself in a fight you’re not getting out of and knowing full well that IF you do, you’re going to have had your ass beaten, it’s daunting. I guess in a way that’s what it was all about during the last turnings, something that can’t be expressed in any other way…
Thrown into the situation, the hows and whys will have to wait… for now we’re all going to have to tuck our chins and elbows, stand back to back looking beyond the insurmountable, and clock the proverbial beast with no other objective but driving through it, kicking it when its down, and hopefully being able to walk away with limps and a shrugs…
Some things just can’t matter anymore. It’s getting beyond ridiculous in the realm of possibility.
Funny, I got that impression from the picture placement and a few other comments. Sorry if I misunderstood your position.
As for my education, totally US and back when it was still a real education. (50s & 60s) I’m 68 and just moved here 4 years ago when I retired. I’ve been to the Middle East, Dubai twice, and a few other countries. If you never leave the US (North America), you have no idea how different the world is from what you were told. But northeast or south western Philly are close examples of what is to come in the US. I lived in Philly for 4 years before I moved here.
I do like your site and read all of the articles. Once again, sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion.
Bukaki1:
I’m happy to see that the best and brightest of the Philippines have moved stateside while we’ve sent our hapless and lacking there…
Perhaps you would enjoy the welcoming arms of the Chinese Hegemony and their benevolent multiculturalism in the near future.
Nice pic and yes, those places do exist…but then America is only a few years from similar sights.
I could also show you as many places that have million dollar homes and condo towers and malls that would make the US look 2nd class. But, even the people who live in those places are happy and the kids are healthy and play and laugh just as any other kid does.
Too many people have visions of a Philippines that existed during WW2 or the Korean war or Vietnam. That Philippines does not exist for the most part today. Try coming here for a few weeks vacation and see the real Philippines.
Colma, your remarks only show your ignorance. That nurse you will need in the future probably got his/her degree here in the Philippines. Likewise the heart surgeon. There are over 250,000 Americans living here now and more coming all of the time. Thousands are leaving the USS Titanic as it has hit a fiscal iceberg and is sinking.
As for the Philippines in the US. Yes, they do live there for now. But, ask them if they have given up their Philippine Citizenship for America. Most have not. They are buying condos or homes here in the Ps for when they return home. Americans will soon have to go to Asian countries to get decent jobs.
As for China. I don’t see them invading foreign 3rd world countries and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians every year like the US. They don’t have to. They just wait for the US to go broke and they will be ready to pick up the pieces. Don’t assume the US is immune from China.
Bukaki1:
I don’t think you realize your ignorance, and perhaps you have misspoken yet again. Only a buffoon would dare lecture me about the beautiful Pinoy. Find Colma on a map… better yet, ask a Filipino about Daly City.
Like the warnings of the 4th Turning, you have no gauge as those who know have passed. I can guarantee you that I’ve spent more time with veterans of World War II from the land you now hail from. Perhaps you would do better to dig into a history book rather than show up talking shit about a post with nothing but your dick in your lumpia-greased hand.
The China you believe you know is a fiction. If you think for a moment anybody here hasn’t talked at great length of their plans or desires, you obviously HAVEN’T read much here.
I will accept your apologies when you re-read and research a little more as to what the fuck you’re talking about.
Thanks Admin great read. I have been preparing for a total collapse of society for years now. The way I live my life is geared towards survival after the crash, I know it’s going to happen and I can’t live any other way.
Colma, don’t look now, but your ignorance is showing. My father and two uncles served in WW2. One in the Pacific and here in the Philippines. My bro in law spent time here during Vietnam. You assume you know China. Could it be a bias? I do know the Us of A and know that it is headed for the dumpster. The Filipinos living there will come home over the next few years to get away from the police state and the racial bias that is growing there. Wait and see.
Colma and Daly City only come up in maps as in California, USA.
When I get the hose built out in the province, I am hoping my oldest daughter and her family will come to live with me here. We shall see.
Makati1, I am sure many that left Germany when the Nazis came to power were ridiculed too. I know that moving from one’s homeland is a huge step that most are afraid to take. You are obviously happy with your choice and that is the most important thing. I hope all continues well for you.
“Libertarians will not be happy with developments over the next fifteen years.”
That’s ok, after the past 15 (30), we’re getting more used to our disbelief at the idiots that surround us.
“The majority believe that government can protect them, provide for them, and pay their way.”
Yep. Exactly.
Thank you so much for continuing to be my Ben Franklin. You enlighten, you amuse, you shock. Most importantly, you help to wake more up. In awe again, thank you.
Another excellent piece, Admin. Thank you.
Leaving on our fact finding mission to Ecuador in about 24 hours. I’m totally on board with Makati1 “Thousands are leaving the USS Titanic as it has hit a fiscal iceberg and is sinking.”
Yep, we’re looking for an obscure corner of the earth to disappear into as I believe Admin is right on, and the complicated unsustainable systems of first world countries are on a guaranteed path to disaster.
No place will be safe. Obscurity is good. Less complicated is more better.
—————————————————————————————————————————–
On a different note, I remember being glued to the television watching the live coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall–the celebrations, the joy and exuberance–and thinking to myself what a wonderful future was in front of us now that the Cold War and the last vestiges of WW2 were finally finished. It was going to be a whole new world that had learned all the terrible lessons of the past, and the 21st century right around the corner would be a bright horizon. I had small children at the time and I was happy for them and for all of us.
Nearly twenty five years later…..just wow. How has it all gone so badly and how could I have been so stupid?
Everything’s gone off the rails. It didn’t have to be this way.
@Admin – love it. Especially the parts you wrote about ‘progressives’ and ‘linear thinkers’. I couldn’t agree more.
@Colma – BBES, bro. Be safe in Cali.
@Everyone else – wish you well in your preps.
@NYC – Hubris, mutherfuckers. It’s a bitch.
@America – you’re gonna elect a fuckhead for POTUS, again. Obamney sucks ass and all of you know it but you want to vote for someone who ‘has a chance of winning’, and you dont want to ‘throw away’ your vote. So, you throw it away by voting for one of the 2 equally asshole candidates as if one flavor of shit is gonna taste better than the other. Romney has nicer hair and a better looking wife. Obama has nicer teeth and better looking kids. That is as about as deep and significant as the differences go.
Ron Paul R<3ution! Or if you don't want to write him in at least vote GJ. Admin made no shameless plugs for candidates, but there are mine.
Not that it matters. My election prediction – an Obama win… Or theft of the election… Or declaration of martial law and refusing to leave the WH or whatever… Anyway, I think we have 4+ years of Obama coming regardless of how the ballots are cast.
At least we got to find out who The Stig was before it all went to shit…
@Marissa – 2 words explain it all: Baby Boomers.
“Nearly twenty five years later…..just wow. How has it all gone so badly” – Baby Boomers took charge of everything.
“and how could I have been so stupid?” – Baby Boomer?
“Everything’s gone off the rails.” – yeah, no shit. Baby Boomers started the systematic derailing in the 1969-the 1970s by attacking the elders and traditional family values, morals, and culture. Then in the 80s-mid 1990s they turned their attention to attacking the youth and taking over corporate culture making it ruthless, greedy, and unethical. Then in the mid 1990s-today they turned their attention to attacking future unborn generations through debt, taking over government and growing it like a malignant cancer, and empire building around the globe. What we are seeing now is a full 40+ years of concerted effort by the BB generation to destroy America by derailing one American institution after another. Now we have Boomer Family Values, Boomer Culture, Boomer Corporations, Boomer Government, Boomer America, Boomer Debt, Boomer Everything. Its the fucking Age Of Aquarius Crisis the Boomers have been working on for a lifetime. And it’s shitty. But, of course, Boomers deny they had anything to do with it.
“It didn’t have to be this way.” – yes it did. Boomers couldn’t be stopped. And the Crisis will only get worse through the mid 2020s.. FINALLY the Crisis can wrap to a close when BB start declining in overall power as a generation, exit and take their destructive Prophet Generation bullshit with them into the dirt.
As the Storm approaches, I am struck by how pervasive the evil all around seems to be. The only refuge, psychologically and spiritually, is to focus on my own small world, enjoying whatever happy, lovely, or inspiring things I can experience while trying to be a positive influence when I am able.
I never thought I’d become cynical and indifferent to the election process; the only reason I am voting is to participate in local contests and to write in Ron Paul. I can feel myself detaching from my lifelong ideal of being a “good citizen.”. My country embarrasses me much of the time. I wonder how many people struggle with the same kind of paradigm shifting.
It’s a fascinating time to be alive, but it’s not fun. Great article by the way – thanks for all the research you do.
@Marissa
I’d also suggest considering Indonesia. Around the main islands I’m seeing nothing but new businesses opening up and the remodelling of old businesses. Corruption is being squished and there feels like a lot of hope in the air. Just avoid Bali. Too many dick-head Australians and unregulated growth.
There’s always Singapore of course – it’s expensive, ultra-clean (some would say sterile) with functionally zero crime, but you need money there.
SAH, your bitter diatribe of blame game misses some important issues.
Not every country (and the world has approximately 195 countries, you can look it up) had a baby boom after WW2. Yet much of the world is now facing all the same issues. Pretty narrow minded to *blame* the sorry state of affairs on just one generation of people from just one country. This mess is much much bigger than that.
Once you smarten up a little to see that your blame aiming is preventing you from seeing the bigger picture of global theft, corruption, environmental degradation, and corporate government takeover, you might just be a bit less obnoxiously arrogant.
That would be a good thing. Then you might be able to grasp what the real issues are.
” Pretty narrow minded to *blame* the sorry state of affairs on just one generation of people from just one country. This mess is much much bigger than that.”- marissa
Bingo.
Well, it would be a stretch to label either Obama-sama or Rmoney as a “Prophet”, or that once installed in office as POTUS they will actually be “in control” of anything here. Both are Marionettes, and the Puppeteers most certainly are not Prophets, unless you consider Banksters doing “God’s Work” to be Prophets.
After this glitch, you have the small problem that it is hard to imagine how we will get any kind of “Rebirth” 15 years or so down the line, if you figure the 4th Turning hit around 2007-8 or so. So as a cyclical phenomena, I still find it quite difficult to accept as likely that once all the Boomers Die Off things will improve all that much.
The 4 Turnings represent a cyclical phenomena in a general Growth paradigm that has been ongoing since Neolithic times and the invention of Agriculture. I don’t think it adequately represents what will occur in a contraction period for Homo Sapiens. JMHO.
RE
http://doomsteaddiner.org
Citizens you had your last chance with Ron Paul now lets see the USA take the wrap for the last 4 decades of wasted human effort … them are humans not (beings) as there are now only zombies on the left or the right each with their own agenda (power & manipulation) of their opposites. about time for the 4th turning to happen but mother nature will make sure it does.
admin, precise and to the point. Great work!
We’re all #$%^#$ regardless the choice of can kicker A or kicker B.
Reverse Engineer says: Well, it would be a stretch to label either Obama-sama or Romney as a “Prophet”,
RE. Romney being born in 1947 at the end of WWll is a Prophet by definition.
“Prophet generations are born near the end of a Crisis, during a time of rejuvenated community life and consensus around a new societal order. Prophets grow up as the increasingly indulged children of this post-Crisis era, come of age as self-absorbed young crusaders of an Awakening, focus on morals and principles in midlife, and emerge as elders guiding another Crisis”
Obomney a prophet….
Sure, if you believe in the debbil.
~~~~~
BB start declining in overall power as a generation, exit and take their destructive Prophet Generation bullshit with them into the dirt. -SAH
Paint much?
The discussion of moving to another country misses one HUGE point. I believe the world will once again be engulfed in a World War. The United States Military is still the most powerful on the planet and I will take my chances in the homeland. Yes, maybe the nukes will fly and it won’t matter, but why would I want to move to an island and wait for an invasion of a foreign power.
Another great essay – thank you. I will add this book to my list.
I do believe in cycles and rhythms having an impact on humans AND that this information is likely thousands of years old.
A question – and forgive me if it’s addressed in the book – but would it not be possible for the banks that seem to have an inordinate ability to survive, intact, through the centuries – (perhaps because they too understand the cyclical nature of the world) to get out ahead and steer events to their own advantage?
Is it possible that powerful and influential groups – who understand what is coming next even though there are no survivors to tell the tale – can advantageously use these “turnings” to their own benefit and subsequently increase their power and influence to the detriment of the rest of us?
INTJ_4_truth
Bankers have always been a plague on our country and will not willingly relinquish their power and wealth. It would take a person or persons of great courage to confront and take on the bankers and win. Andrew Jackson was such a man.
The Fourth Turning is a Crisis. This is an era in which America’s institutional life is destroyed and rebuilt in response to a perceived threat to the nation’s survival -Strauss and Howe theory.
Well, i cant reply on this since I havent read the book or prescribe to the Strauss Howe theory.
But, Has the nation lost trust in the political and economic system?
Many think so. The 0.1% obviously think things are just hunky dory. The fools of casa blanca are acting as if nothing is amiss.
The dullards and dolts watching the hundred hours of Honey Boo Boo they have recorded on their DVR have no idea whats going on outside their tiny cavern of existence lighted by reality shows emanating from high energy plasma of the oversized sparkle box.
Maybe a mass coronal ejection will fry the diodes, explode the capacitors and fry the hundreds of gigabytes of idiot saturated ram on their reality device and they will climb out of their delusional state and take the trash to the curb.
But I am not wagering that will happen anytime soon.
If we’re discussing Prophet motive and Prophet potential…I think you should consider Ryan. He’s more of a true believer than the others. He could be your guy.
I think that this article just briefly touched on the bottom 90% of the iceberg while focusing on the 10% sticking out of the water.
The fiscal problems we face are very real and immediate. I’d place the point at which we should have started dealing with them much further back than Admin. He says we should have started doing something back in the late 90s and early 2000s. I actually place that point all the way back in 1987, when the Plunge Protection Team was formed in the aftermath of the stock market correction in that same year. Had the financial markets been left to deal with the fallout of their chronic speculative frenzies, then we likely would not be in the position we are. But we are here now, and we have some 25 years worth of bubble to reconcile over the coming decade, regardless of the attempts of Bennie, Timmeh and the rest of Wall Street’s lackeys in the controlling bureaucracies to reinflate the bubble. But these financial problems are the 10% of the iceberg sticking out of the water for all to see. The real problems, as always, are below the surface where very few people are actually trying to look at them.
The real predicaments — the 90% of the iceberg that is submerged — go well beyond Strauss and Howe’s work. They are the two sides of mother nature’s vise that we’re currently caught between: reduced access to energy (liquid fuels in particular) and ecological collapse. Conventional oil production peaked in 2005-06. While non-conventional sources have filled the gap since then, they have much lower EROEI and are not economically feasible when the price dips below a certain level. This will all lead to a relative shortage of liquid fuels in the global north — at least in comparison to the supplies we’re used to having readily available — which will in turn have a negative impact on just about every other area of our economy, even the extraction/production of other forms of energy (nuclear, wind, solar, coal, nat gas, etc).
Ecological collapse is an even bigger predicament. We have convinced ourselves over the last 200 years — and especially over the last 50 — that “the environment” is some “other” out there beyond human civilization and technology. The reality is that we still depend upon the natural world and its functioning ecosystems to provide us with ALL of the necessities of life — food, water, resources for shelter and energy, etc. Those ecosystems are currently collapsing due to human activities like mountaintop removal coal mining, tar sands mining, commercial overfishing of the oceans, deforestation, etc. We are literally in the midst of the sixth great extinction event in the earth’s history — one caused almost exclusively by humans. In the coming decades and even centuries, our progeny will be forced to live with the consequences of these choices, much as the people of Dark Ages Europe dealt with the consequences of the choices made during the Roman Empire — just on a much larger and harsher scale.
From this perspective, it’s not necessarily S&H that we should be studying. We should be studying Tainter (The Collapse of Complex Societies). There won’t be a revival after this 4th turning, because this mother is going down no matter what. The best we can hope for in the shorter run is a better managed collapse. Any renewal in the longer run won’t come through the ballot box or even from a charismatic leader — it will only come from a remnant arising among the people, achieving critical mass that forces leaders to follow, and helping to significantly change the way we live our daily lives.
As a personal example, this is why I spend most of my spare time learning about and practicing permaculture, and why I am trying to leverage the systems currently in place to reduce my dependency on those systems (paying off debt, investing in fruit trees and passive/active energy upgrades instead of financial instruments, etc.). Honestly, I don’t see any way through these predicaments OTHER than taking this kind of a path and centering my life more and more around the permaculture ethics of earth care, people care and return of surplus to the first two. While this doesn’t fit into the kind of grand narrative of great people doing great things promoted by popular history, it DOES mesh well with the “muddling through” borne out of a study of social history that focuses on the way that the actions of regular people in their regular lives can have significant impact on the way that societies change over time.
For the Fourth Turning to have any scientific validity a controlled experiment would have to be done.
I suggest Yugoslavia. Are the Serbs protesting on the behalf of the Bosnians?
I am writing in Ron Paul but Obama will win: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VWEuAt7NGE&feature=share&list=UUdCxhHJVEnkpWP19ATkPd2g
“why would I want to move to an island and wait for an invasion of a foreign power.” -sensetti
Good point, moving to another country and being attacked by the mighty US military would totally suck. It might be a good idea to move somewhere where there isn’t any oil.
What will the next 4th Turning look like?
The Civil War?
WW2?
The American Revolution?
TPC
How about all three simultaneously.
BBES
“Turnings” based on “generations” is linear ideation without clear demarcation of a “line” between the average 18 to 20 years required for “family generations”. Each family contains their “generations”, but society merges all familys into generations that vary by the seconds of what we know as “TIME”, ( which is an abstract NOTHING based upon MOTION). So “generation ideation” as a concept controlling the abstraction known as “HISTORY” in a cyclical manner is reasoning “sand castles of HISTORY” using actual events that occur in REAL points of linear MOTION” of the planet EARTH. We have enough REAL TIME PROBLEMS without being pestered with B.S. nonsensical abstractions. Get REAL, writer. Sincerely Sorry about your mental problems, Doc
Dick Stump
The drivel you just typed makes me understand why the country is in such peril. If gibberish was literature, you’d win a Nobel prize.
“What will the next 4th Turning look like?The Civil War?WW2?The American Revolution?”
Maybe a planetary despot who puts himself in charge of scarce resources…so they won’t be….you know…wasted. Yeah, that’s it. Someone who will control all the oil, water and air, and distribute it for the greatest good for the greatest number.
(shivers uncontrollably)
We don’t need no stinking “Prophet”. The prophet “idea” is futile reasoning to produce “HOPE” is the followers of any idiot claiming such power of foretelling the future! One must look clearly at the present condition of our human race as we are being pulled down the path to ruin by the “History SHAPERS”. Look back at the 100 years under the FEDERAL RESERVE Conspiratorial YOKE. It does not take a prophet to understand if we don’t TAKE the History Shaping Crowd out of their financial POWER positions, in politics, Money, Religion and their MEDIA control they are KILLING our stupid asses (Jackasses that is). Now these BOYZ laid out their road map for HISTORY SHAPING in the 1700’s etc. So it does not take a “Prophet” to predict that millions of USA citizens are dying slow deaths from the poisoned FOOD, WATER, AIR etc because we J>A>s are allowing our history to be shaped by the private BANKERS of the world!!, Wake up DUMMIES, Doc
Dick Stump wasn’t satisfied to shit on the site just once with his conspiracy theories. The capital letters don’t really make you seem CRAZY. Are those voices in your head real?
We are all enthralled by your grasp of world history.
Tell us MORE.
Wow Stumpy that was one of the best examples of circular thinking I’ve ever seen and when I say circular I mean you go round and round and never make a point.
Archetypes, folks…. What is meant by “Prophet” is an archetypical description of a former shitbag hippie who has become not only an irresponsible denier of their role in the destruction of this great country…
Further, having wrecked the hopes of their offspring repeatedly, through divorce and economic calamity, they believe that moving to Asian countries to start new families and collecting retirement benefits somehow translates to respect and forward thinking so lacking throughout their pathetic lives.
When their money runs out or they die, their new families will be chastized and driven out of ethnocentric circles which make up southeast asia, forced to attempt entry to the US where their step and half-siblings will take them in, all the while shaking their heads at the pure idiocy embodied in the situation.
Or something like that.
Obama is a disappointment, but Romney is no prophet. Romney changes his position constantly, so you have no real idea of what he’d do–unless you read books by investigative reporter Greg Palast. Then you’d know for sure that Romney’s job creation is limited to creating them in China.
The vulture capitalist combine that underhandedly took over Delco auto parts included Mitt Romney. They closed Delco, put 25,000 Americans out of work, and shipped every Delco plant to China.
Bain Capital took over 78 companies and dismantled 22% of them. Workers either lost their jobs or, after some companies were reorganized, were offered their jobs back but at a reduced salary and benefits. So if any of you think Romney is going to create middle class jobs, you are delusional.
That said, our problems are so bad that I see no real solutions. You’d better start prepping or you’ll be on the food and gas lines with the rest of America.
sharonsj
You need to read the book to understand the term Prophet. It is a generational term, not a term describing the positive aspects of Romney by comparing him to Moses or Abraham.
Exceptional post Jim and great come back to “Stump Dick”. A couple of thoughts here, First, a lot of talk from your readers of moving to another country is simply stupid. This is all after the fact. The time to do that was 15 years ago and not now out of desperation. Next, a lot of wasted talk about politics. Why? All politics are lies and bullshit. It’s nothing but politainment or as Gerald Celente says, “Politics is nothing but show business for ugly people”. We are simply at the gates of a major transformation period that will come with intense pain accompanied with a huge loss of human life. I guess it will come as a “Black Swan” chain yanking event. Most of the masses don’t really believe we have a critical problem. The American population of sheep are going to have to get their chain yanked before we will all get down to business of getting through this Fourth Turning. Thanks again Jim for all your great articles.
“Each family contains their “generations”, but society merges all familys into generations that vary by the seconds of what we know as “TIME”, ( which is an abstract NOTHING based upon MOTION). So “generation ideation” as a concept controlling the abstraction known as “HISTORY” in a cyclical manner is reasoning “sand castles of HISTORY” using actual events that occur in REAL points of linear MOTION” of the planet EARTH.”
—-Richard Stump
Mama mia, Stumpy, ‘atsa TBP classic, worthy of being archived under “statements that make your head spin.”
Anybody ever see the “Lost” series. Now that is worth seeing. It’s over 100 hours of TV Viewing, but it does make for good TV viewing. It’s better than watching politics and or reading boring books like the fourth turning. Roku Rocks! You can buy it at Wally world on the cheap, if you get Netflix for 8.00 and change a month you can watch all kinds of TV on it. You do need internet access though. Just get the cheapest internet with wireless capability and boom! You can get Roku hooked up to it. You also can have a whole lot of freebie movies on there even if you don’t get Netflix. You wont have a monthly bill, if you don’t want to have one. Anyway as far as the prophet and cataclyst and whatever, I think technology is all we really need and someone that can lead us through the tech world that we need. We don’t really care for people, since they are flawed and they all have an agenda. We only need a man of sin, a man of science, a man made from DNA and technology, who is perfect in every way. Not a man born to a woman or brought up with the elitest. We need someone that has been made by all men and women alike someone that shares something of all of us. He alone can lead this world. He can be our messiah, not the jewish failure that so many are willing to kill for. We need our NEO the “ONE” he can get us through this Matrix and relieve us of the pain that we all inflict on each other. I understand if you dont post this, since you are most likely old and are no longer a viable in neither this society or the one to come. It probably scares you and you probably wish that I didn’t post, I am looking forward to the day when platforms like this no longer exist and people like you are no longer even a memory cell in someones mind. To the future and beyond!
Jesus, this article is attracting some real loonies. Lucille Rothstein is the female Dick Stump on this thread.
Tonto..shit in your nest, move to another nest…rinse, spin,repeat..t’s the American way.