Several weeks ago I had to drive west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to pick up my son after his sophomore year at Penn State. I’ve made this trip a dozen times over the last few years, since this is my second son attending Penn State, with a third starting in the Fall. It’s a tedious, boring, protracted, four hour trek through the rural countryside of the Keystone State. During these trips my mind wanders, making connections between the landscape and the pressing issues facing the world. I can’t help but get lost in my thoughts as the miles accumulate like dollars on the national debt clock.
More often than not I end up making the trip in the midst of bad weather. And this time was no different. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a meandering, decades old, dangerous, mostly two lane highway for most of its 360 mile span. Large swaths of the decaying interstate are under construction, as the narrative about lack of infrastructure spending is proven false by visual proof along the highways and byways of America.
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The real infrastructure crisis is below ground in urban shitholes where 100 year old water and sewer pipes fail on a regular basis, but bankrupt Democrat politicians divert their steadily declining tax revenues to bloated pensions of government lackeys. Infrastructure spending is only interesting to politicians if they can name it after themselves and have a ribbon cutting ceremony. Replacing water and sewer pipes before they explode isn’t sexy, so it won’t be done.
A winding two lane highway, with a speed limits of 70 mph, and jam-packed with 18 wheelers driven by sometimes sleepy and often aggressive truckers already leads to a pressure packed few hours. Add rain to the mixture and you ratchet up the blood pressure. Ramp that up to torrential downpours and heavy fog and you’ve got white knuckles, strained neck muscles and an occasional prayer regarding that big rig crawling up your ass. I was lucky enough to be faced with torrential rains and fog for the first two hours of the trip. I was tense, cautious, concerned and careful.
The way I felt during that treacherous drive is how I feel about the course our country and world is facing as the precarious and perilous portion of this methodical, but ultimately bloody Fourth Turning, reaches its climax. Since the election of Donald Trump in November, it feels like dark storm clouds have been gathering just over the horizon. I supported Trump for president and was among the few who believed the silent majority (aka deplorables) in flyover country were not being taken into account by the corrupt liberal mainstream media rigged polls.
I was elated that Hillary Clinton was not going to be my president. Trump’s rhetoric regarding illegal immigration, repealing and replacing Obamacare, cutting taxes, reducing spending, reversing our interventionist military adventures, cutting government red tape, and keeping the Supreme Court from going further left, was music to my ears. I found his relentless assault upon the fake news media and left wingers to be extremely entertaining during the campaign and have continued to be amused by his pugnaciousness and daily tweet storm launched against CNN and the rest of the fake news media.
The focus of my writings and blog over the last nine years has been on the economic issues which imperil the future for my children and the children of millions of other hard working Americans. Trump’s accomplishments thus far include filling the vacant Supreme Court slot with a conservative judge, backing out of TPP, backing out of the Paris Accord, reducing illegal immigration through enforcement of existing laws, and reversing numerous Obama executive orders.
As someone who concentrates on fiscal issues, I’ve been disappointed with many of Trump’s cabinet selections, failure to lead on the Obamacare repeal and replace efforts, lack of progress on tax cuts, unwillingness to address the $200 trillion of unfunded welfare liabilities, inability to make progress with his wall, and his seeming capture by the military industrial complex.
Trump’s victory has prompted an all-out assault from the violent left wingers funded by George Soros and spurred on by the unrelenting fake news media outlets. They will stop at nothing to discredit and destroy Trump’s presidency. Violence on left wing campuses across the country, where they have safe spaces to burn and destroy, has begun to be met by Trump supporters willing to fight back when confronted.
The relentless fake news propaganda spewed by MSNBC, CNN, NYT, Washington Post and the rest of the left wing media incited a radical lefty to try and slaughter dozens of Republican congressmen. The false narrative of right wing violence has been obliterated, as left wing domestic terrorists are intent on creating a civil war in order to violently overturn the legal outcome of a fair election.
Trump’s non-interventionist bombast during the campaign has proven to be empty promises as Deep State neo-con operatives, on the behest of the military industrial complex, have gained control of Trump’s foreign policy agenda. Missiles have been launched into Syria based upon a false flag gas attack blamed on Assad’s forces. Trump continues to arm supposedly moderate rebels (aka Al Qaeda) attempting to overthrow the Assad regime.
More American troops continue to be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Is this 2003 or 2017? I’m sure we’re on the verge of winning this time. Provoking Russia through NATO aggression, war games, and missile placements is being ramped up. Aggravating relations with China by contesting their claims to the South China Sea islands and openly supporting Taiwan has the potential to create dire unintended consequences. Or maybe they are intended consequences. Coming conflict with North Korea and their fourth largest military in the world appears imminent.
Neo-cons are thrilled with their success thus far. Whenever Trump shows even the hint of compromise with Putin or lack of interest in starting World War III, the doddering old fool McCain and his lapdog Graham are rolled out to condemn Trump’s cowardice. According to the neo-cons Putin is a diabolically evil enemy intent on ruling the world. In reality, he is just as evil as every other world leader. The slimy liberal politicians continue to use the false Russia narrative as a cudgel to beat Trump into submission. The Deep State game plan is to block Trump’s domestic agenda of replacing Obamacare, cutting taxes, and building the wall.
The true controllers of our world know when presidents are under assault by their opponents and can’t achieve domestic success, they turn to military interventionism as a way to rally the masses utilizing false patriotism. With the corporate media flogging the Deep State approved war propaganda, they are attempting to force the president into military conflict, benefiting their military industrial complex partners. The non-critical thinking, easily manipulated populace, is putty in the hands of the propaganda machine and is soon foaming at the mouth for blood. Half the country actually believes Vladimir Putin interfered in our election to benefit Trump. Not a shred of proof has been presented and never will.
I’ve spent the last nine years operating an anti-establishment website, with the purpose of trying to pull back the curtain on the Deep State operatives in the government, military, Wall Street, mainstream media and central banking. I’ve written so many articles revealing the falsity of government generated unemployment, inflation, and GDP propaganda, the criminal activities of Wall Street bankers, the treasonous actions of the Federal Reserve, the seditious activities of corrupt spineless politicians, the false flags provoked by the military industrial complex, and the contemptible propaganda peddled by the corporate media, that I’ve reached the burnout phase. I’ve grown tired of writing the same article every month discrediting government falsehoods.
When I watch supposed financial “journalists” mouth the Federal Reserve and BLS false narrative of inflation running “dangerously” below 2%, when I know for a fact prices over the last year are higher by 9% for gasoline, 8% for natural gas, 8% for heating oil, 20% for copper, 16% for wheat, 5% for corn, 16% for pork, 11% for beef, at least 10% for health insurance, 4% for college tuition, 3% for autos, 4% for apartment rents (to all-time highs), and 14% for home prices, I am no longer outraged.
If the citizens of this country can’t figure out they are being screwed and lied to by the government, another article from me isn’t going to help. The real cost of living for the average American is rising 5% to 10%. The one cost the Deep State has thoroughly under control is the wages of average working Americans. They’ve successfully kept real wage increases in negative territory for two decades.
I hear talking heads on the boob tube every day blathering about the “strong” jobs market and either truly believing the bullshit shoveled by the BLS every month or just mouthing the words written by their corporate media bosses. Only an utter moron would believe you really have a 4.4% unemployment rate when 102 million out of 255 million working age Americans aren’t working. For the math challenged, that’s 40% not working, hovering near all-time highs. That number was 35% at the beginning of this century. And it’s not due to Boomers retiring, as the percentage of men 25 to 54 years old not working is at record highs and the percentage of Americans over 55 working has soared. The percentage of teenagers not working is also at record highs.
In addition, 26 million of the 153 million employed Americans are working part time for low wages and minimal benefits. Almost 10 million Americans declare themselves self-employed (aka selling crap on Ebay, blogging, writing the next great novel). Another 8 million Americans hold multiple jobs. Then we get to the fact 21 million non-producing people are working for the government, getting paid from the tax dollars generated by those working for companies producing something. When it is all said and done, there are approximately 94 million full-time workers in private industry paying taxes to support 102 million non-workers and 21 million government workers. In what world does this represent a strong job market?
What passes for a financial journalist today can’t seem to utilize critical thinking skills to connect the dots of a failing economic system, dependent upon an ever accelerating level of debt. The miniscule downturn in consumer debt in 2009, barely perceptible on the chart below, almost collapsed the worldwide financial system. As you can see, the pitiful economic growth achieved since 2009 has been artificially produced through the issuance of $1.2 trillion of debt in eight years – most of it in the form of subprime student loans and subprime auto loans. For some perspective, it took from 1950 until 1995 (45 years) to generate the first $1.2 trillion of consumer debt, and then from 1995 until 2007 (12 years) to generate the next $1.2 trillion.
It is duplicitous for supposedly highly educated central bankers, financial “experts”, and journalists to pretend inflation is under control and jobs are plentiful when the evidence of economic contraction is everywhere. GDP, even using a fake inflation adjuster is still in the toilet, running below 2% when everyone knows 68% of it is generated by consumer spending. A record number of retail store closings and retail bankruptcies is baked in the cake for 2017, worse than the recession of 2009.
Restaurant sales have been falling for sixteen straight months. Auto companies have leased or loaned a car to every person in America that can fog a mirror and scratch an X on a lease or loan document. Auto sales are starting a multi-year decline as loans go bad in record numbers. Should that be shocking when the average financed amount has risen to $29,000 and the average loan term now exceeds 67 months – both record highs.
At least 25% of all student loans are in default. The taxpayer is going to be on the hook for hundreds of billions in loan losses. The heavily indebted millennials with lousy jobs are not boosting the economy by spending money they don’t have. They can’t buy houses and are stuck living in their parent’s basements. Broke Boomers are being forced to work in retirement and restrict their spending since they saved virtually nothing for their retirement years. Gen Xers are caught in the middle, supporting their kids and their aging parents. It’s the perfect storm.
So even though I and numerous other thoughtful, honest bloggers (Zero Hedge, Jesse, Hussman, Martenson, Stockman, Charles Hugh Smith, Denninger, and dozens of others) have documented the dire circumstances facing the nation, central bankers at the behest of their Deep State masters, have engineered the stock markets and high end real estate markets to all-time highs, as their looting and pillaging scheme accelerates.
My frustration and disillusionment with a world gone mad has begun to affect my mental state. I’m losing my sense of outrage which has driven me to write for the last nine years. It isn’t worth the expended energy when it will change nothing. I’m resigned to the inevitability of economic collapse. It’s just a matter of when. Bloggers and writers who make a living at it, must write daily articles of doom to generate page views. Since no one can reliably predict the timing of the collapse, I’ve grown tired of reading and writing the same old shit.
The analogy between driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike during bad weather and my mental state is useful in understanding where I see things headed. There is danger lurking around every bend in the road. Construction zones suddenly appear forcing you to change course in an instant. Aggressive drivers tailgating and weaving in and out of traffic create havoc. Sleep deprived truckers let their big rigs drift into your lane, with no room for you to maneuver away.
When you enter the three separate tunnels through Blue Mountain and its brethren, you feel claustrophobic as if the walls are closing in and there is no way to escape. During torrential downpours I’ve navigated during multiple journeys to and from Penn State, the pure terror of not being able to see 50 feet ahead while hydroplaning on a flooded roadway with an 18 wheeler in the lane next to you is hard to describe.
The road directly ahead is blanketed in the fog of uncertainty. Anyone declaring they know what will happen in the near future with any level of certainty should be regarded with suspicion. But if you have studied history, you realize people never learn the lessons of history, so they will always create and encounter the same problems and make the same mistakes. Human nature has not changed down through the annals of antiquity.
The desire for wealth and power by sociopaths, delusions of grandeur among the rich, tendency of human beings to act in a herd like manner leading to bubbles and busts, and an overall ignorance of the masses, are constants across the millennia. Those at the top of the chain utilize mass media propaganda tools to control the minds of the many, but their hubris eventually leads to their downfall.
“Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions. Thus, it is an easy matter for him who carefully examines past events to foresee future events in a republic and to apply the remedies employed by the ancients, or, if old remedies cannot be found, to devise new ones based upon the similarity of the events. But since these matters are neglected or not understood by those who read, or, if understood, remain unknown to those who govern, the result is that the same problems always exist in every era.” – Machiavelli
My apathy in trying to predict when the next financial catastrophe or world war will happen is driven by my belief we are in the midst of a two decade long Fourth Turning period of crisis which began with the financial storms hitting in September 2008. What I’ve come to realize is how slowly Fourth Turnings progress. They proceed at their own pace.
There is an initial death defying event, followed by what appears to be actions taken to alleviate the crisis, lulling the masses into thinking all is well. It’s a false sense of comfort. GDP has grown by a pitiful 30% since 2009, while it grew by 60% from the bottom during the Great Depression. Do you hear highly paid mainstream media shills providing that interesting data point?
The deaths of 65 million people followed the initial lull during the last Fourth Turning. We are currently in another lull (or eye of the hurricane), with an intensification of storms over the horizon. No “solutions” introduced since 2008 have solved anything. They have just exacerbated the debt problems, guarantying the next financial crisis will be devastating and global in nature.
Every Fourth Turning has involved earth shattering levels of violence and war. It is highly doubtful we will avoid a similar or worse fate. Fourth Turnings are resolved in blood, tears, atrocities, courage and the actions of heroes. The narrative of rainbows leading to a pot of gold for the American empire will soon be confronted with lightning bolts of reality.
Just as you can be experiencing a relaxing drive along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in bright sunshine, you can turn on the weather report and find out blizzard warnings have been issued for the road ahead. Many of the drivers are oblivious to the warnings as they never listen to weather reports. Many hear the warnings but ignore them, preferring to live in denial. Others recklessly speed up and try to outrun the storms. Very few heed the warnings and get off the road for the safety of shelter. The weather can change in an instant. Sunshine dissipates rapidly as a winter blizzard engulfs the countryside, paralyzing the economy, overwhelming modern technology, exposing weaknesses, and creating havoc on the roadways as the unprepared pile up in a devastating crash.
“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
This Fourth Turning has over a decade of continuous storms to come. We will not recognize this country when the climax is reached. It could be far worse country or a revitalized nation. The outcome will depend upon the actions we take as individuals and as a country. Cheering for your side in today’s political side shows, meant to distract you from focusing on the true enemies of freedom, is a worthless exercise. Turn off the TV and think for yourself. The generational dynamics and darkening mood will drive the reaction to events as they unfold over the next decade. Batten down the hatches and prepare to navigate through the deadly storms bearing down upon the nation.
I just came back from a week in the states , haven’t been back for two years, been living in Asia for two decades now. First two days was culture shocked as usual, but the stories of dysfunctionality among families has grown worse. It gets worse every time I visit. Now it’s heroin and or pills. This doesn’t happen in a good economy I tell them, they don’t understand me. Guy down the street blew away his wife on the front lawn as the kids watched. My hometown of 5000 used to have 8 cops and we knew them all, now they have 40 and the population has barely grown. They all make 150k on the beat, with ridiculous golden parachutes at 50 years old. This is what happens when u don’t go to town meeting or the pta for a couple of decades, but it’s easier to blame obama. Everyone is in love with their cars and that’s all they talk about, who cares? Everyone is bitching about apartments popping up and section eight housing. The real mafia is still entrenched in certain towns, and the old mafia of politicians is milking other towns in the name of prosperity, letting eyesore future ghettos be built. Only one sibling and I are on the same wavelength as some here. The resist crowd, many good friends are just as clueless as the trumpets, who think that war criminals like bush are heroes and they are going to heaven, not complicit in genocide. These who see no wrong in dumps deranged tweeting and constant fumbling, flip-flopping and war mongering. Nobody cares as long as they got theirs, their kids are not serving in the army, or no one they know has been blown away by some lunatic, yet. The worst ones are the generational wealthers who have never worked a hard week in their lives, they spout the most patriotic nonsense, especially on social media, and everybody gives them a big old thumbs up, clueless. Served 4 years in the army in peacetime?, became even more of a governmint leech, now they’re a frickin hero for life, I got more respect for the kid who started his landscaping business at 18 and now has a fleet of trucks going out. At least gay weed is legal to numb the pain.
I am not a regular poster on this website, even though I do find your articles extremely enlightening and highly informative. This particular article hits home as I also find myself sick and tired of all the chaos, polarization and divisiveness that continues in DC and this nation. Quite honestly, I no longer believe that our nation will be saved even with President Trump in office (I supported him, btw). Unfortunately, it is clear that the DC Swamp will not be drained as Trump has stated and it is also clear that the Republican Majority is not willing to support Trump’s (and We, the People) Agenda. Many of those Republicans are Establishment shills and nothing more, they will continue to enrich themselves whilst enacting the NWO agenda (and blocking Trump). At this point, it is about preparing one’s self for when SHTF emotionally, mentally, physically and most of all spiritually (seek refuge in the Lord). Thanks to websites like yours, the remnant hears what is happening, what is coming and how to prepare as best as possible.
I concur with the gentleman who posted above, YOU are one of the voices calling out in the wilderness for the remnant to hear. What you are doing isn’t in vain, it is desperately needed especially by people like myself who can hear and see (Thank You Lord). Just know that there are people that are extremely Thankful for your articles and website, I am one of them. May God Bless you and your family and keep you safe.
Admin, there’s another one to had to the Remnant. I’m sure there are others. There are several first-time posters here. The article looks quite the success.
“I’ve grown tired of writing the same article every month…another article from me isn’t going to help…”
Possibilities: Check premises, motives, perspective\synthesis. In general, & as regards writing (anything) in particular.
Cuz it has all been written, over & over again, forever. Needing it to matter, in terms of some “end” result, when it never has – because process doesn’t have any ends that are not arbitrary, fictitious, hindsighted snapshots of the constant movement – is something that might be examined, dealt with.
“My frustration and disillusionment with a world gone mad has begun to affect my mental state. I’m losing my sense of outrage…”
The human world has always been mad. Outrage belongs to a season in particular lives. Not all lives, tho. But outrage net-net is usually non-productive at best, counterproductive at worst. Same for illusions. As for outrage based *in* illusions…. Losing it\them, getting thru that season, is a good thing. Maybe that’s what all your writing has actually been about. Therapeutics. Muscle building. Etc.
“Since no one can reliably predict the timing of the collapse, I’ve grown tired of reading and writing the same old shit.”
Prediction is an industry, or a pastime, that feeds back into what it comes out of – the illusion of control. Trying to predict-control what can’t be predicted or controlled will tire you out, soon or late. Unless, maybe, you’re just messianic crazy. But the market for that nonsense never gets tired. Some pushers know not to sample the product, to just sell it; some don’t. Look at Tommy Lee Jones’ perfect, haggard face & body language in NCFOM. And listen to Ellis’ dx\rx. “What you got ain’t nuthin’ new…you can’t stop what’s comin’…it ain’t all waitin’ on you…that’s vanity.”
“There is danger lurking around every bend in the road.”
Always. Not some new feature of the current times.
“Anyone declaring they know what will happen in the near future with any level of certainty should be regarded with suspicion.”
That’s a fact. Same for far future, too.
“But if you have studied history, you realize people never learn the lessons of history, so they will always create and encounter the same problems and make the same mistakes. Human nature has not changed down through the annals of antiquity.”
The lessons of history are that it spiral-rhymes & that people ride it, they don’t drive it. Human nature is a bounded function. It’s a pot filled with slurry kept in colliding suspension by agitators…that are fractal. Plenty of particulates have mini-rotors spinning from their beanies.
“you can turn on the weather report.. The weather can change in an instant.”
And the weather has nothing to do with me. If it’s inclement or extreme & I can get out of it, I will or will try to. If I can’t, I can’t. But all the forecasts in the world, all the fight tapes, race tapes, game tapes, preparation, training, “discipline,” experience that gets used to “explain” after the fact what happened…doesn’t. It only supplies the compulsion to narrate. To tell, or write, stories. To apportion credit, which, per Darwin, nobody actually deserves. How it goes are the brickbats. How it went, in words, is the mud-straw mortar that assembles the brickbats into narrative that, all too often, is more about armoring characters than telling the truest true possible at that moment in time.
Que sera, sera. You don’t need to know what’s going to happen when to enjoy yourself, be productive. OCD need to know (the unknowable) can wreck enjoyment, productivity. Either case, all others too, is function of the individual nervous systems dealt. Otoh, lol, what a hand in the hand is worth depends on many things beyond the hand itself. Value is subjective, & that includes the value assessments of your hand by all other players.
Jim, I feel your frustration but don’t back down. Yes, you are preaching to the choir mostly here at TBP but the choir is GROWING by the day. More and more people are waking up, and every voice like yours needs to be heard. When your articles get picked up by other websites, it’s exponential readership.
Thanks for all you do.
Viva la revolution!
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I just want to reiterate what everyone else has so eloquently said here, the many great words and accolades are well deserved Mr. Quinn.
Thank you to all the great commenters and readers of this site. It’s a privilege to know you all virtually. You guys write the best comments on the internet. The quality is far superior than any other site. I learn more from the comments than the articles.
You’ve boosted my spirits.
Maybe we’ll all get to meet someday at the TBP internment camp. 🙂
I’ll bring the wirecutters, picks and shovels, dynamite and smoke bombs. Instant jailbreak!
The barbed wire on the top of the fence is angled in.
Hey! I won’t stop reading if you won’t stop writing!
You think nobody hears? I bumped into TBP about a year ago, and now read it daily. ….call me the remnant.
thanks for writing
I really identify with many of the ideas presented here and throughout your writing as well as that of others here. I don’t know where my thoughts begin and others’ end. This place is the Google of thought-space. You know what I am thinking even before I do. It is eerie to imagine that you have indoctrinated me so well or maybe I always thought this way.
I wasn’t looking for a place to support my deep suspicion of the people in charge, that was always something I had sublimated as un-American, un-patriotic. Still, reality took a big hit during and after the Clinton regime. The once solid ground we called America began to crumble underfoot. Bridges and refineries were destroyed in an unexplained manner after 9/11. War was declared on thin premises.
The cops began performing home invasions. Magnum force was no longer a movie. Honest demonstrations were blacked out and the only thing good enough to show on the nightly news was the latest black uprising. We could see that white lives no longer mattered. Nightly protests over an insignificant death was more important than anti-war, anti-banker demonstrations.
Yet, nobody noticed as they spent their time creating funny memes for Facebook. After a few FB murders, nobody wanted to have a serious conversation in that social media. You could try, though I never did, to have a serious conversation on ZH but you got dogpiled by people eager to suppress your version of reality for their AltReality.
Then, one day you spot a tiny light. A small bulb can be seen for a mile or two, bright lights carry much farther. You see a light out there and you follow it. You find a raucous party going on. The price of admission? Nothing. But you can’t stay if you aren’t willing to listen or learn. You can’t learn if you have an ax to grind.
Just when I thought I’d heard it all, my buddy Vodka suggests I read No Country For Old Men. The book delves into the very essence of TBP, the heart of the Platform. Thanks, Vodka.
Thank you Mr. Quinn for everything!
“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men
El Friendo,
I’m glad you enjoyed the book. Both my parents were voracious readers. Dad only had time for a couple of books in any given month, but mom would finish a 600 page James Michener novel in a day and a half.
Michener was the first to spread the word on McCarthy’s talent back in the early 90’s. Random House couldn’t even give his books away. But thanks to Michener and others they persuaded Random House to keep him in their writers stable. The rest is history. As a comparison, a First Edition Michener would have 750,000 printings, making it worthless to a collector. A McCarthy First Edition, from his early books, would only have a run of 5,000 (the minimum required by the printing firm) and of those, 3,500 would end up remaindered. If you happen across a First Edition of Cormac McCarthy’s early works at a yard sale, snatch it up. It is worth more than its weight in gold to collectors.
I read TBP because of the topics discussed, but it was the quality of Admin’s writing that made me immediately book-mark it years ago when Ol’ Remus linked to it.
“You see a light out there and you follow it. You find a raucous party going on.” – El Coyote.
Yep. That’s TBP exactly.
I posted this and WordPress ate it. I posted again and the former was somehow rescued from the trash-bin. Thus the duplicate, at least in thought rather than exact words.
BTW, Michener didn’t have “750,000 printings”. He would have 750,000 books printed for a First Edition. Obviously a big difference.
“You see a light out there and you follow it. You find a raucous party going on.” – El Coyote
That definitely sums up TBP. Ol’ Remus linked to a piece Admin wrote a few years back, I appreciated both the topic and his writing talent and immediately book-marked TBP.
I’m glad you enjoyed Cormac. He’s a great talent who was nearly released by Random House because they couldn’t even give his books away. James Michener helped convince them that he was a special talent worth keeping. The rest is history.
As a comparison, a Michener first edition might have 750,000 printings, making them worthless to collectors.
Cormac McCarthy’s first editions would only be 5,000 (the minimum the print-house would run) and of those, 3,500 would be remaindered. If you come across an early McCarthy first edition at a yard sale, snatch it up because it’s worth its weight in gold to collectors. I’m happy he got to taste success in his life. Some great writers don’t experience it while still alive.
You are turning into one hell of a writer yourself, EC.
Great comment thread, one of the best.
This is all in the natural order of things.
Man is imbued with certain characteristics that make him violent and narcissistic, with only a veneer of civilized behavior covering his true nature of feral selfishness. We are still evolving and perhaps this time, this Fourth Turning, the process will end with our extinction. The universe won’t even notice.
When I told my wife of 41 years that I was reading the comments to Mr Quinn’s latest article she asked me why am I in a hurry to see the ongoing party come to an end. She believes as I do that what follows is likely to be WW3. Could it possibly be that TPTB really do have our best interests in mind as they keep the plates and balls in the air. I really don’t think so but I’m actually somewhat ashamed to want my beliefs vindicated at the expense of so many lives. Great writing as always Jim. Thanks.
Yes indeed. Drove that road many times. Driving it now. We all are.
If you need a rest from the battery drain, pull over. God speed brother.
I agree, wholeheartedly. Sometimes the choir is all that one has to preach to, but they will remain (for the most part) steadfast in the principles you introduce to them.
While you may not “convert” bew blood, you can continue do make quite a difference among those of your manner of thinking.
I, for one am most grateful for your efforts.
I believe the PA Turnpike was the first four-lane highway in the US, and when it opened it had no posted speed limits. It became famous as a place where people used to blow up their Thirties-era engines by trying to cruise at 85-90 mph. Now the poor old road is need of constant repair due to the high volume of traffic and lack of highway repair funds. Pretty much all of the other Interstates, built in the Fifties and Sixties, are in the same condition, as the transfer payments to all the welfare recipients, teachers’ unions, Social Security dependents, etc ate up much of the national tax revenue. There’s no such thing as a free lunch – the funding has to come from somewhere.
Admin,
I love your essay/article/writings…and it stirred
my heart. My biggest fear (anticipation) was you
would say you are ending the blog. I LOVE this
place, and if it ended I would grieve.
Best statement you made was “turn off the TV”…
I did and I stopped having a sick stomach feeling.
No, I don’t miss it for a minute.
I can relate to the driving issue. I have to go 3 hours
to get to the city, my Mom, soon to be 92. Mom has a
companion, male, that is with her everyday. A boon
for me. In contrast, the Mr. took a job driving back
and forth to Tampa to pay for his innumerable
flights. Lives on a boat in FL. His parents are 90 and 90 and while not “ill” they need his help and want
his help. I am proud of him, absolutely.
Therefore, I can appreciate Stucky’s situation. We can
all be proud of him as well, because he is a real MAN.
The 4rth, will vary by location. Location, location,
location.
Tampa, I understand now, the buying and the selling.
You tried to create a retreat. Sorry it didn’t work out
the way you planned. Good luck to you and your wife.
I think the comments were excellent! Thank you to
all.
Love, Suzanna
Great article as usual, Jim. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? Our society is one gigantic finger of instability in a tempestuous Western world. Yet when you try to explain this in layman’s terms to coworkers over lunch, they look at you like the drooling Leo on Twin Peaks, post-shooting.
It doesn’t seem to matter what the topic is. I had a former coworker raving to me about how awesome Tesla is. When I asked him what energy source powered the car, how much energy was consumed in manufacturing it (from tires to circuitry), if they’ve turned a profit, how much govt. is subsidizing it, etc…
Don’t despair though. Thomas Paine wasn’t trying to reach the entire world. Or maybe he was, I don’t know. What I DO know is that he reached a sufficient number of critical thinkers to cause a tipping point. When all else fails, go plant a small scale food source. If that’s too constructive of an activity, my fallback is fail safe: Go fuck with a dimwitted Free Shitter. They’re everywhere and my wife still to this day tells me she can’t figure out how I’ve never been sucker punched.
All these comments collectively pretty much say it all. God bless yourself, your Mrs., and all of your family. The walk continues for you and yours, and all of us. I do indeed hope that you keep on plugging for the sake of the remnants! You truly have been one of the soldiers in the Good Fight. Thanks for all you’ve done.
While i enjoy the eloquent writing im lost for why its so great ? Actually a long waste of time.
“Zero Hedge, Jesse, Hussman, Martenson, Stockman, Charles Hugh Smith, Denninger, and dozens of others) ” really ?? While nice reads all like here , too chicken to call out names .. What good are you doing? NONE “Deep state” Come on have some guts..So tired of this … What i read from the Brother Nathaniel s of the world (realjewnews.com) Chris Bollyn, Smoloko , Henry Makow. These are the blogs that will turn your world upside down into whats been kept from you. Feel free to answer the question next time author. Why wont you ? You still believe 19 Saudis did 9-11? May i introduce you to the Easter bunny ? How bout Santa Clause ? Either we, the author, collective start chanting loudly, “The Goy knows” or we will perish. This is no longer sitting on a blog and bitchin. Those days have past . Our families future is on the line.
Geeze Jordan!
You appear to fashion yourself a real life Napoleon. What the fuck are you doing wasting your time here? I mean fer fuck sakes, time for you to hit the road while it is still summer. Watch for the ruts as they will no doubt cause you much grief and pain from the hemorrhoids that are most likely hanging out of your ass.
Be sure to tip the Poles on your way thru and bring a real sharp knife as you will likely have to eat the horses that brought you to Moscow when the winter finally gets there.
And if I may speak for the crew at TBP, you can Bite me as well.
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Thanks for all the great articles and insights over the years, and I hope you’ll continue.
All of your readers, I’m sure, can relate to the fatigue you are experiencing with covering current events.
I’ve given up. I don’t talk to family or friends about this anymore because their eyes glaze over. My time is better spent preparing for the inevitable alone. The average IQ and common sense of Americans has been dropping gradually for decades, to the point where trying to explain even simple math to them is futile at this point, and just pisses me off.
When things blow up, I hope the good guys get control. I don’t see that happening except in small pockets of the country, so my advice to all is to move to an area with predominantly like minded people if you want to survive. All the training in the world won’t prepare you to tackle what’s coming alone.
And turn off that fucking television.
Every prophet in history has felt the same way, JQ – it comes with the territory.
I periodically read and have quoted Ezekiel 33:1-11 as an example of what you and the rest of us do in our own way – we are the watchmen and it is our duty to sound the warning. If we foresee the evil and don’t do as ordered, the blood is on our head. We cannot control others, but their responsibility is theirs.
As one of my son-in-laws said a few years ago – “You work will prove itself most likely after your demise!”
Thanks a lot, eh?:)
Keep writing – and that’s an order!
Well, I enjoyed it. It’s “continuing motivation” to use what time I have left wisely: currently involved in building a debt-free “pay as you go” home that we will own outright when finished. Not expecting any kind of retirement $, so I’m taking control of the things I have in my life now- good health, motivation, decent job- and making sure I can pass on knowledge and a good work ethic to my descendants. Will then expand the “mini farm” so we can sustain ourselves, and add to the community around us. I just need a few more years of “peace and quiet”…[img]https://www.flickr.com/gp/8512405@N03/24vPBB[/img]
Back in the early 90’s, after I’d had some experience as a long-haul trucker on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, my uncle, who was a state representative in Harrisburg, was visiting my father in Denver. He found out that I was a trucker and asked me which state had the worst roads in the nation. I looked him in the eye and said, “You should know that since you are a politician in it.” Then I asked him why it was that the tollroad was so lousy when the free road was so good. He couldn’t answer the question.
It is too bad to hear that the road hasn’t improved in a quarter century.
Just trying to spend as much time as I can sitting in my backyard after work. breathing not thinking and watching the trees and birds.
Today is the 73rd anniversary of the Allies taking St. Lo. in Normandy. The hedgerows were 10 feet high and hid snipers and artillery.
I can’t let you praise Hitler and not be reminded of what American, British, and Canadian young men did. And not for a second did Adolf care about Germany…not its great culture or faith or people. His folly cost them everything…honor, esteem, and moral credibility.
Come to the 8th Air Force museum here in Savannah and see what Hitler thought of Christianity….
“The 8th Air Force museum here in Savannah”?
You must not be from around there… The locals ALWAYS refer to it as the “Mighty 8th”.
I’ve visited it as well… nice museum but there are far better places to see aircraft in USA.. even within a 2-3 hr drive of the Mighty 8th Museum.
So you think you know something about that area…
Did you know Richmond Hill was Henry Ford’s summer vacation home?
Did you know he received the highest medal of honor from the Reich for a non-German person?
In a letter written in 1924, Heinrich Himmler described Ford as “one of our most valuable, important, and witty fighters”. Ford is the only American mentioned favorably in Mein Kampf, although he is only mentioned once: Adolf Hitler wrote: “only a single great man, Ford, [who], to [the Jews’] fury, still maintains full independence…[from] the controlling masters of the producers in a nation of one hundred and twenty millions”.
Did you know the ((Communist Federal Reserve Act)) was created on Jekyll Island, GA?
Did you know there is a ((JEWTOWN, GA)) on St. Simons Island, right across from Jekyll Island?
Enough about that area…
Did you know the ((bolshevik revolution)) was funded out of NYC?
Did you know the “American, British, and Canadian young men did” fight to preserve ((Communism)) and ((USSR)) against the Christian Nations of Europe?
Did you know about ((Eisenhower’s death camps)) where he starved German POWs even though there were enough food rations for them?
Did you know about the 8 to 88 year old gang rape of women in Christian Europe after the war?
USA troops also raped European women after the war…
I knew a D-DAY devout Christian paratropper from Savannah.. he was a close family friend and he died in the late 1990s. He didn’t like talking about the war because he found out later he fought against Christians to preserve ((Communism)).
Perhaps you should look up this documentary on youtube and maybe you will learn something.
Hellstorm – Exposing The Real Genocide of Nazi Germany
Nice to know other people understand the world is going to hell in a hand basket,
“whistle and ride”-my grandfather on riding to work on the streetcar and life in general.
Strange how I notice these synchronicities…
I live in Johannesburg, South Africa – that African shithole to all the STM’s around here.
I’m writing this not to make light of Admin’s trip, but just to compare and contrast.
This time of year it’s winter, although this year it’s been a very warm one, average 15C. Schools close and lots of folks go on a pilgrimage to Durban, SA’s sub-tropical beachfront playground. 1 weeks worth of beach sunrises comin’ up.
So we hit the road on a Monday morning early to avoid the heavy rush hour traffic. The N3 to Durbs is 370 miles (600km) of dual lane tolled highway with mostly a 120kph speed limit. The day dawns clear and dry – typical. In no time at all we’re clear of the city limits and into the far southern urban reaches that once were largely tin shanty townships but now are small 4 roomed houses with electricity and running water. No more dense smokey patches drifting over the highway like I remember it.
A fair number of trucks transporting 40ft containers and other stuff. They are limited to 80kph and are like ducks in a row in the left lane. (we drive on the left here). In the 2000km round trip I never had an 18+ wheeler up my arse. The truck driver skills and road manners have improved since even 10 years ago – black drivers for the most part in case you’re wondering. No overloaded or unroadworthy trucks.
Every time I do this stretch I’m always surprised at how well the entire 600km road surface, markings, signage etc. have been maintained. For a total of about $25 toll end-to-end this is a world class road. A long ecosystem, with weigh stations, rest stops, break down patrols and almost no on or off ramps. The road surface is by turns tar and concrete. There were 3 or 4 stretches of 1-3 km of road repairs with workmen actually pouring concrete.
This is not to say there are no treacherous parts. Van Reenens pass can experience thick fog, snow and rain/hail, the Marianns Hill is a 3 km stretch of steep downhill near Pinetown outside Durban. Trucks have to stop at the top, then crawl down in low gear and stop to cool brakes again at the bottom. Often in thick fog.
Scenery? Near Joburg and through the Free State mostly corn and cattle/sheep farming. As you come down the escarpment through the KZN midlands dairy cows and umbrella thorn.
100km from Durban it gets wetter and warmer, mainly forestry and sugarcane fields .
Pollution? None. No litter, no smoke apart from the road crews burning fire breaks.
General decrepitude? Also none. In fact way less than 10 years ago and a world of difference to 30 years ago. Sure, small towns the highway has bypassed are not as alive as they once were, but overall I think the situation has improved.
And keep on writing Admin. I enjoy the American vignettes, a small vicarious look into the window of other peoples lives, if only to use them as a baseline to do comparisons to here, there, anywhere.
not many left on this thread une,as it’s a couple of days old but guys here like to know what is going on over there-post more often-
Yeah, SA is fine except for all the murders, kidnappings, rapes, etc. Yep, a real nice place.
Rather than sink in to despair, I use my 4 z score above the norm mind to visualize calming scenarios:
1) HRC and Henry Kissinger are out for a drive, Debbie Wasserman Schultz jumps in front of the car. Henry’s driver, passes out when he realizes Medusa is not a myth. The car careens out of control, miraculously running over every feminist, BLM member, and Mohammedan in NYC. Although Kissinger is killed in the crash, and HRC shits her pantsuit, she survives, gets out of the car, and screeches, “we came, we saw, he died.” Just as OJ gets out of prison, with poor eyesight, mistakes HRC for one of his white ex-wives still living, and he sticks a sharpened Bruno Magli shoe sideways up her not inconsiderable arse. She climaxes instantly, triggering a series of Parkinsonian shudders, culminating in a methane plume that takes out the rest of NYC’s Joos, who have very sensitive proboscis.
Rather than list my other fantasies, you can just re-arrange the Illuminists, and their besotted useless eaters for any type of melanin rich, cerebral horsepower lite troglodytes.
Hang in there Jim, the fields must be burned to insure a great, new crop. America 2.0, The 4th Re-Boot.
capt,were you drinking or off your meds?
weird fantasies–
I do miss Fowler and Fletcher, TampaRed! No meds, ever. No alcohol, unless it is a fine Chateau Le Pin. One of my ex-wives loved that shit!.
Am just a wee bit tired, as is our esteemed Admin. The Normal Curve we all try to elevate on both ends (or depress) is compliant; however, that thing always snaps back. The problems we all want to solve are endemic to species. We will always see evil, collude with and subsume the swilling and somewhat intellectually challenged masses. Using them as a rather efficient club against honor, decency and integrity.
Great line in the great movie, No Country for Old men…”You can’t stop what’s coming.” Jim, finally is aware. He has traversed to a new branch, and it gets both scarier and more assured the higher you go.
Mr. Admin,
I’m attempting my first post here. Sorry that I’ve never found this site before. Like you, I feel the world changing for the worse and have spent years blaming “the man” in his various concoctions. And I was wrong. I’m going to tell you, and other posters here, what the problem really is. You are not going to believe me, but that is okay. And, since this thread is a few days old, nobody will read it anyway.
The real problem is that the marginal returns on the industrial revolution have declined to a point that they no longer pay for themselves. When a pair of shoes could go from 6 months pay to 6 hours, industrial automation was a huge benefit to society. Today, having an app to take a picture and send it to a friend provides no real economic benefit. But that’s what our great inventions are today. The automobile could pay for itself, because the owner could now travel greater distances to find much higher paying jobs. Today, you can write software on-line, but you’re competing with a PHd in Bangladesh willing to work for starvation wages. Roads and water pipes don’t get fixed because they’re expensive to fix. And you are no longer willing or able to pay for it. The media wants you to believe its too expensive because of government worker pensions. But here’s a secret: they had pensions 40 years ago too. And it wasn’t too expensive then. What really happened is that you lost yours, and you have no way of paying anymore.
People’s pay isn’t rising because productivity isn’t rising. Productivity isn’t rising because there are no great inventions that can make that happen. So the only way for pay to increase is by taking it from the wealthy class. That used to be done by labor unions. But labor unions require mass employment industrial settings. Those don’t exist anymore. And profits are at all time highs in a miserable economy. And those profits are moving offshore as fast as they can. That’s the sucking sound of wealth being drained for the benefit of the few.
Real invention that brings jobs and prosperity has collapsed. Corporate investment has collapsed. Labor unions and wage growth have collapsed. And those things aren’t coming back. That’s behind what you are feeling.
The wealthy and powerful have known about this for decades now. They are working hard to accumulate as much of the assets of the world as they can. To centralize the control of wealth and put it beyond the reach of the average person. That is the purpose of globalization, control of the media, and the militarization of the police. They’ve done it. They’ve won. That’s not going to change either. They control both political parties completely. If you find yourself complaining or blaming “liberals” or “conservatives”, know that your mind has already become controlled. I say that knowing you will never believe me.
This is the New World Order. We are living in it. Nothing is going to implode. It is just going to go on and on like this well past the end of our and our children’s lives. Do the best you can. That is all you can ever do.
You made a great comment Jon. You should stick around for a while.
Thanks! Didn’t expect anyone to ever see this.
See what? 🙂
“the head of the U.S. Patent Office advised President McKinley to close the office because “everything that could be invented has been invented.”
This is apparently considered apocryphal now, and may be an early example of “fake news”, but I doubt it’s any more true now than it was then.
Keep trying though, Jon S., and we’ll keep hoping for you. New voices here are always welcome, and if they make sense they stay welcome. Cheers on your debut! Now write SOMETHING ELSE!
Fun fact about the Pennsylvania Turnpike, it is basically the military road that John Forbes built in 1758 to march the British army from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh (then Fort Duquesne) in order to seize it from the French. In this way too, it is a good analogy for the state of our country. Systems that were purpose-built, and once made sense, are simply continued for the sake of continuing them. They are built and added upon and as the decay sets in the, the rust is painted over. Our roads were designed for a time when 2/3 fewer people inhabited the country. Our school systems were designed for a time when children were mostly higher IQ non-savages growing up in nuclear families. Our bureaucracies were designed for a time when people still largely prized their dignity and self-respect. Now they are little more than savages trying to milk every last dime, benefit and vacation day from them.
I read the doom stuff from for about a solid three years. Yes, we’re in a slow decline, that may very well turn into a sharp decline again. More than that, we are in a society decline, really a nosedive, where simple social arts like conversation, dating, decency, respect and decorum are becoming non-existent. This is due to many factors including zombifying technology, social networking, prolific degenerate entertainment, racial rabblerousing, the gay agenda, single mother worship and about a million other reasons that were barely on the radar of the common man pre-Obama.
The breakdown of social norms has for me become far more interesting than impending financial doom or the gold, silver, or bitcoin price of the day. The rage most Americans feel in everyday life is due to the intersection of the collapse of social norms with outdated and outmoded static systems and institutions. Like trying to weave between 75 mph 18-wheelers on what is essentially an upgraded 18th century military road designed for wagons.
My advice. Stop reading the doom everyday. Everyone here has read enough that they know what’s coming. The bulk of it has become a cottage industry. Pump out some hyperbolic Youtube videos every three days and watch a few clickbait dollars roll in. I still check in with quality sites like this, frankly, because people suck, and the kool-aid society demands everyone to be positive all the time in public. To vent is social suicide and there are only a few places like this where it’s permissible to do so. Also, find a place where you can live happily. You aren’t really going to escape the doom, when and if it happens in your lifetime. But if you are living in the frozen beehive non-English speaking cities of the Northeast, surrounded by communists in Illinois or California, tiptoeing over syringes in Portland or Seattle… why? Find a place you like free from the hordes and largely forget about the doom. The OP likes Colorado. The less populated parts of the South are also nice. Sunshine can do wonders even for a rotting edifice like the United States.
[13] And he said to them: Go, and see where he is: that I may send, and take him. And they told him, saying: Behold he is in Dothan. [14] Therefore he sent thither horses and chariots, and the strength of an army: and they came by night, and beset the city. [15] And the servant of the man of God rising early, went out, and saw an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and he told him, saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we do?
[16] But he answered: Fear not: FOR THERE ARE MORE WITH US THAN WITH THEM. [17] And Eliseus prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and BEHOLD THE MOUNTAIN WAS FULL OF HORSES, AND CHARIOTS OF FIRE ROUND ABOUT ELISEUS.
Jim, victory is for God to give — it belongs to us to fight. Like so:
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I SHALL ATTACK. – Marshall Ferdinand Foch
Why did we give up the Bellamy Salute??? political correctness?? Sieg Heil fuckers….
Jim I am mostly a lurker, and only occasionally post anything. But I am trying to be a remnant, and what you write has value and meaning to me. Important perspective, color, context and reminders.
Thank you for doing it.