Guest Post by Jim Kunstler
All Hillary had to do last week was show up and stand at a podium for ninety minutes without swooning while Donald Trump barked and grunted his way through the half-assed press conference we like to call a “debate.” It was all I could do to keep watching the nauseating spectacle. It made you want to reach out and whap your TV upside its head, or maybe just shoot the fucker, like Elvis used to do.
The torment of who or what to vote for has become unbearable. I’d considered casting mine for Johnson / Weld, until Gary Johnson demonstrated that the front end of his brain is missing. Aleppo? Wasn’t he one of the Marx Brothers? I sense that Jill Stein of the Green Party is more Social Justice Warrior than EcoWarrior, and the last thing I want is for the rest of America to become one big college campus rife with trigger warnings and micro-aggression persecutions. Vote for Trump? Not if you chained me to the back bumper of a Toyota Landcruiser and dragged me over six miles of broken light bulbs. Hillary? Make that nine miles, and throw down some carpet tacks.
But wait a minute…! Here’s something to consider: a proposition put out by David McAlvany on his podcast last week: To Understand Election 2016 You Have to See 2020. (The new podcast is posted on Wednesdays, so to listen after Oct 5 you’ll have to click back a week.) The idea is that the winner of the presidential election is sure to be the biggest loser because the global economy is in the process of tanking, Long Emergency style, and the global finance system is going down with it. Whoever presides over this fiasco from the White House is going to be a bigger bag-holder than old Herbert Hoover in 1929.
The salutary part of the story is that such an epochal crack-up will sweep the establishment out of power. In the present case, this means discrediting the crony-capitalist, revolving-door grifters of the Wall Street / Washington axis, plus the neo-con military empire-builders bent on starting World War Three for profit, plus the economic central planners of the Federal Reserve whose desperate meddlings have nearly destroyed the necessary operations and meaning of money. And the cherries on top to get thrown out with the rest of this giant shit sundae would be the campus cultural Maoists. In short, vote for Hillary and let history flush them all out of the system.
A vote for Trump would let the aforesaid villains and bunglers off the hook because supposedly Trump represents free market business interests, and if he got elected they would be blamed for the economic and financial cataclysm which has been in motion for going on for two decades — and has accelerated mightily under the genial Obama. Whatever else you might say about free markets, had they been allowed to operate naturally, a lot of dead wood might have been cleared out of the financial forest by allowing failing institutions and companies to crash and burn. Instead, they were artificially propped up and hosed down with bailouts and other accounting frauds at all costs. The cost turns out to be the coherent workings of markets.
There can be little question that Hillary represents so much that has gone wrong in American public life under the Baby Boomer regime. The fact that she will be the oldest president ever at inauguration itself says a lot about the limitless cupidity of the Boomer political gen. They just don’t know when to stop. It’s history’s job to stop them now, nature’s way, by seating them at the banquet of consequences for all their poisonous cookery and quackery.
Watching these lamebrain debates, you get the impression that the folks running things, including media stars like the debate moderators, lack the slightest clue about the gathering economic storm. They are too busy reading the false weather reports posted by the Fed and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both Hillary and Trump seem to believe that we can winkle our way back to a 1962-style economy if we click our ruby slippers three times. That is not going to happen.
There are too many people on-board the planet and too few resources to keep them all going. It’s hard to say whether we might have managed the necessary contraction, say, starting back in the 1970s when the writing was on the wall and a truly honest president (one Jimmy Carter) spelled it out in plain English. We blew it, electing Ronald Reagan to enable the final feeding frenzy of the techno-industrial age.
Now it’s up to natural forces — and their galloping horsemen — to get the job done. So let us by all means throw out votes behind Hillary and let her rip so we can move on from there sooner rather than later and find new ways to remain civilized in the coming disposition of things.
Hillary being blamed for the sinking ship is probably the best argument one person could make for “voting” for her.
That and getting this next world war under way so the young can know peace in their lifetime instead of being forced to muddle thru the limbo we currently inhabit.
Kunstler sums it up nicely. Yeah it’s a shit sundae.
There “ARE” bad ideas: Unlimited immigration, endless entitlements, SJW, bathroom people, trigger people, safe zones, Muslim religion, BLM to name a few. We need to be a catastrophe to wipe it out
and bring back some sanity and commonsense to life.
But I’m still voting for Trump. Let’s hope the silent majority is vocal enough to come out and vote too.
Brilliant. Let’s let Hillary stack the Supreme Court with more Ginsburgs, appoint SJW judges all across the land to micromanage our lives, start WWIII with Russia, confiscate what little wealth remains with breathtaking death taxes, go completely open borders and let the world in, all things she proposes and stands for. And undoubtedly just the tip of the iceberg. Yes indeedy, that’s a real plan. Think we will have a country left to rise up from the ashes? Not even remotely likely in the form we know it. Trump may be an ass in your opinion, but guess what, he doesn’t push any of those agendas. We know what Hillary is and if you want her victory then you march in lockstep with her. The humorous part is the “but, but, but…. never thought it could be this bad” editorials you would write afterwards. Grow up and face reality, we have a known putz and an unpolished businessman. Who do you want to stake your life and future on because there is no other choice and not voting or voting third party gives us a certain disaster. Do you really want that?
JHK said; ” Vote for Trump? Not if you chained me to the back bumper of a Toyota Landcruiser and dragged me over six miles of broken light bulbs.”
Shit fire Jimbo! That’s a great idea! Be seein’ ya!
Mr. Kunstler seems to think it will be crash….. burn…. recovery; and be over in a relatively short timespan. i.e. Our children will see peace. I see it more like crash…..burn….conquer. Or maybe crash….burn….conquer….genocide. Absolute surrender is not always the best strategy, imo.
JK you damned genius; now that’s the ticket: vote for Ms Hitler sick in body, head and soul at the country’s most perilous economic, social and foreign policy time since the 20s and 30s; vote for Ms Tyrant for guaranteed total failure and destruction …that will wise up the voters four years from now and save us.
A weekly Kunstler diatribe that I actually can support (sorta) for once. While I’m a Trump fan and have been since early in the process I’m merely a single issue voter…a country without borders is no country at all, and for that I’m not voting for Hitlery. That said, whoever wins has one enormous shit sandwich to digest. At least in the debate TRUMP had the integrity to say that we are living in a bubble, propped up by a partisan and complacent FEDERAL RESERVE. For that I have another reason to vote Trump. Meanwhile Hitlery shills for more of the same – kick the can to infinity.
If I were Kunstler, he of the two Obama votes, the last thing I would do to humiliate myself is give voting advice to anybody.
I only continue to read his tripe to get a grasp of what passes for thinking inside a liberal brain.
Gayle,
What excellent remarks so very succinctly said!
“The idea is that the winner of the presidential election is sure to be the biggest loser because the global economy is in the process of tanking, Long Emergency style, and the global finance system is going down with it. Whoever presides over this fiasco from the White House is going to be a bigger bag-holder than old Herbert Hoover in 1929.”
Absolutely 100% agree. I cannot stomach the thought of a Clinton presidency unless she and her underlings are held responsible for the global meltdown.
@Heff,
Clinton et allia are the tools, the front men, the pushers,
for the bankers. The bankers are intertwined and tools for the
Royals and Oligarchs/The Pilgrim Societies.
Not to say they, the tools, don’t deserve punishment for their
crimes for profit. As Wolf Gray would say (and did) PFE,
profit for evil. Drone strikes in a country, to “get” a terrorist?
BS…drone strikes against whomever to strike terror/terror strikes.
I want to know if Trump will continue the drone bomb program.
If he will NOT then he is our guy.
Let’s all vote for the bitch, I would vote for a homeless man before her. She is selling us down the river and the boat has a hole in it. People that vote for her are dumb and lie, yet they say I fell your pain bullshit, turn your back to them get a knife in it. I’m going to say it FUCK her and everyone that likes her.
When things are headed for toilet, men always give the reins to a woman. The woman takes the fall even tho the men preceding her are wholly responsible for the ensuing calamity. Look at Yellen! A patsy if I ever saw one.
Were not down the toilet yet, but were circling the rim and the men know it. There will surely be blaming game played when it all plays out. Is it going to be another Hoover named Trump? Hoover did everything right? The Demos blamed the Crash on him, but it was the Fed that created the problem and the FED was a Democratic doing and it was a Democratic doing that dragged the Great Depression on for 10 yrs. Ben Bernanke was wrong about the cause of the Great Depression and has been wrong ever since. The only thing he did brilliantly was get out of Dodge before the SHTF giving Yellen the chance to go down in history as the biggest scapegoat since Hoover.
This isn’t 1929 and people are smarter today. They are not going to fall for the mantra that Trump was the cause of the Great Great Great Depression that just over the horizon barreling toward the world like hurricane Sandy. Already people know were in f**king trouble, which is why Trump is being championed by the little people. At least there is some hope with Trump and no hope with HiLIARy.
I don’t buy Kunstler’s take.
HEY JIM, ARE WE OUT OF OIL YET?
NO?
* continues to smash light bulbs with a hammer*
HSF: to be fair, Peak Oil does not mean “run out of oil”.
I understand where JK is coming from. I just happen to strongly disagree with it. He’s making a LOT of assumptions of what MIGHT happen when either is elected. Again, his assumed scenarios, while possible, are unlikely as there are dozens, if not hundreds, of possible scenarios …….. ranging from “Oh! Fuck! The world is ending!” to “Well, fuck. We kicked the can down the road AGAIN!” lol
Vote for Hillcunt??? NO!!!! YOU FUCKING MORAN!!!!!!!
I was thinking about how to respond to this nutjob (vote hillary! Of course, kunstler, you were always going to) but i have to say, HSF, jimbo and stucky pretty much have this covered. Nice work, guys.
I am familiar with the argument that Hillary should win so she can get credit for the next wave down. There are two problems with that:
1) There are going to be many big waves down. We’ve already been through 2 since our economic peak 16 years ago.
2)The bankers are still firmly in control of the economy. Which means printing money will always be an effective option (for the 1%). No matter how bad it gets for the average person, they will control the economic statistics and they will control the media which means they will be able to convince the downtrodden that everything is fine. They only need to convince 51% of the plebs to ensure the continued expansion of wealth for the 1%.
all you need to know.
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Couple of quibbles
The lack of resources is not at all even remotely a problem, maybe some day but not now.
Hoping Hillary gets the blame is just delusional. Every media outlet and academic will blame it all on unbridled capitalism just like every other problem caused by government interference in the markets and demand we do more of what actually caused the problem.
Plus the constitution will be completely gutted by her new justices.
JK is onto something but, as usual in his Liberal/Socialist belief system can’t see it.
In 2007/2008/2009 the banks were busy calling in notes from small business. Even companies that NEVER missed payments and still had enough cash flow to make the payments.
Our bank in 2009 demanded $280,000 at the MOMENT the stock market crashed. Didn’t matter it was a credit line that had JUST been reaffirmed (cost of $3,000 for that), didn’t matter that we NEVER missed, nor were late, on ONE payment. Nope, all that mattered was that they crashed stocks and took our asset values down and now demanded payment.
Hub was LUCKY. His daddy had the cash to bail him out else our business would have closed that day. I heard of many other businesses that were not so lucky and they closed taking their revenues, tax payments and employees down with them.
My gut tells me that Trump, even if he wins, will NEVER make it to the end of his swearing in ceremony. Or the DHS will “suspend” the results (freaking Russia, we better send our kids to die for our corporations, ‘er country, again).
BUT if he does win, it isn’t much of a stretch to believe that if the banksters are scared he may touch their golden goose (even though he has proposed exactly nothing that would break their hold over our country/government, he even has one lined up to work for him already) and they will silently, with the 100% complicit corruption of the MSM, start yanking notes again.
On a good note, I see many of my fellow businessmen believing, simultaneously, that either Trump will “fix it,” or this current downturn is just a temporary blip, and taking on debt right now.
EXACTLY what happened right before the rug was yanked out last time.
Which, btw ,for those that used to know me and may care one way or the other, has led me to cashing out my tiny brokerage account today to convert it into an attorney’s payment. Hub is in process of going $450,000 in debt to buy an industrial building out of his father’s estate. Buying at the height of the value, height of the insanity and AFTER the downturn has already become evident.
I worked my ass off, went without a paycheck for three years, and amassed $10k in credit card debt keeping my daughter fed, the doctor paid and our lights on the last time. NO WAY am I signing back up for this shit. Last year, for the first time since I married him in ’04 I could breathe again. And he wasn’t even going to tell me. Had I not been tasked with emptying out his email account (storage limit reached because of all the legal documents concerning this sale/loan/purchase), I would never have known until tax filing time next year.
So, while the world burns I’ll be slogging it out in divorce court. Oh. What. Fun.
Good luck all. I really don’t think it matters which way this election goes. Either way WE lose, either way “they” always win. If it mattered which flavor/person was elected, we wouldn’t get a choice anyway. The Deep State, or Cabal, or MIC, or Banksters, or Jesuits, or Bilderbergs, whatever you wish to call them will still be in charge.
But hope and change sure feels good in the meantime, doesn’t it?
TE- God bless and keep you and your child. We are all here if you need us.
TE, best of luck and crooked lawyer to you. It’s been a long time coming for you and I hope it all goes quicker and works out better than you expect. Don’t be a stranger!
TE,
Sorry to learn of your trouble. Same/similar thing happened
to me. I could NOT take it any more…hideous business
decisions, so I orchestrated a divorce. We were poorer and
miserable. We got married again, and it works. Are you sure
you can’t salvage things? What $ there is will go to attorneys
and etc. and be wasted. It is bad this happened behind your
back. Is the man abusive? or just a dummy? Dummy can be
fixed. Anyone can be a dummy sometimes.
Good luck,
Suzanna
Nice try Jimmy, but the only idiots that would fall for that crap are already registered as Democrats. Do you really think she will ever be held responsible for anything? This sucker is going down and we need a good captain. SULLY WHERE ARE YOU???
It seems to me that the GOP has been playing this strategy for years. They were not serious about winning the presidency in 2008 and 2012. I thought at the time that they were convinced the big crack up was coming and they wanted the Dems to take the blame. Eight years have passed by and TPTB have manged to luck out and hold the status quo pretty much together, but the GOP still doesn’t want the presidency. Trump has upset the apple cart.
Suggesting that we vote against our own self-interests to hurry up and get it over with is stupid advice and is something that only someone out of touch would even suggest. The people are not angry at one party or the other. The people are angry about the system. It doesn’t matter who is in power when the shit goes down, all the ruling class elite (politicians, bankers, hedge fund vampires, mega corp CEOs, etc.) will take the blame and hopefully pay the price.