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Page added on November 21, 2016
Kunstler: Boo Hoo
America didn’t get what it expected, but perhaps it got what it deserved, good and hard. Daddy’s in the house and he busted straight into the nursery and now the little ones are squalling in horror. Mommy was discovered to be a grifting old jade who ran the household into a slum and she’s been turned out to solemnly await the judgment of the courts, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The kids on campus have gone temporarily insane over this domestic situation and some wonder if they’ll ever get over it.
Trump as The USA’s Daddy? Well, yeah. Might he turn out to be a good daddy? A lot of people worry that he can’t be. Look how he behaved on the campaign trail: no behavioral boundaries… uccchhh. He even lurches as he walks, like Frankenstein. Not very reassuring — though it appears that somehow he raised up a litter of high-functioning kids of his own. Not a tattoo or an earplug among them. No apparent gender confusion. All holding rather responsible positions in the family business. Go figure….
Judging from the internal recriminations among Democratic Party partisans playing out in the newspapers, it’s as if they all woke up simultaneously from a hypnotic trance realizing what an absolute dud they put up for election in Hillary Clinton — and even beyond that obvious matter, how deeply absurd Democratic ideology had become with its annoying victimology narrative, the incessant yammer about “diversity” and “inclusion,” as if pixie dust were the sovereign remedy for a national nervous breakdown. But can they move on from there? I’m not so sure.
For all practical purposes, both traditional parties have blown themselves up. The Democratic Party morphed from the party of thinking people to the party of the thought police, and for that alone they deserve to be flushed down the soil pipe of history where the feckless Whigs went before them. The Republicans have floundered in their own Special Olympics of the Mind for decades, too, so it’s understandable that they have fallen hostage to such a rank outsider as Trump, so cavalier with the party’s dumb-ass shibboleths. It remains to be seen whether the party becomes a vengeful, hybrid monster with an orange head, or a bridge back to reality. I give the latter outcome a low percentage chance.
Mommy is all about feelings and Daddy’s role is action and that is another reason that Hillary lost and Trump won. We’ve heard enough about people’s feelings and it just doesn’t matter anymore. You’re offended? Suck an egg. Someone appropriated your culture? Go shit in your sombrero. What matters is how we’re going to contend with the winding down of Modernity — the techno-industrial orgy that is losing its resource and money mojo. The politics of sacred victimhood has got to yield to the politics of staying alive.
President-elect Trump may not know it yet, but events are now in charge, not personalities, not even his super-sized persona. Global trade and economic activity have been winding down all year and it’s finally affecting financial markets kept aloft on borrowed money, sending a strong signal through bonds that the borrowed money may never be paid down, and that additional borrowing will cost a whole lot more — so much more that it will bankrupt the nations that issue it.
That alone will make it difficult for a President Trump to scare up the ready cash for the infrastructure-rebuilding fiesta so many expect. And if he does manage to flush the funding out of the banking thickets, it is liable to carry an inflationary bird flu that will end up killing money all around the world. We won’t be worrying about Trans Pacific Partnerships anymore because letters-of-credit will be unavailable to move large shipments of anything from Point A to Point B. How long after that will it be before the supermarket shelves empty down? And in the event, what will the dollar buy?
It looks like the shit sandwich President Obama has carefully prepared and left in the White House pantry for his successor will take the form of inflation, the dying of your money — or, at least, paper currency. Or, if it doesn’t die outright, prepare for the possibility that you might not be able to get your hands on it, as money markets gate their exits and banks restrict cash withdrawals.
Though it’s clearly a loser strategy now, I suspect that the ragged remains of the Democratic Party will persist in amping up their sacred identity grievances to the point of civil strife without ever understanding the economic dynamics in motion. They don’t know what else to do. Plus, they are captives of the poverty policy racketeers. I also suspect that neither Mr. Obama or Mr. Trump will get around to pardoning Hillary Clinton for the racketeering operation of her foundation, of which the private email server was the least issue — rather, the arrant sale of influence and access to the State Department is the heart of the matter, and anyone paying attention knows it, including the incoming Attorney General. If that circus comes to town, Trump could benefit from the distraction it offers the public.
There’s a lot of talk on the Net about Strauss and Howe’s “Fourth Turning” taking stage now. That excellent book, published twenty years ago, posits the turbulent end of 80-year generational cycles in history. (Blogger Jim Quinn lays it out nicely this week at The Burning Platform). Previous Fourth Turning presidents Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt took the nation through epic bloodbaths and economic dislocation. Donald Trump in terms of demeanor is no Lincoln and no FDR. But he did raise up those children of his somehow, and that’s all we’ve got to go on for the moment.
24 Comments on "Kunstler: Boo Hoo"
Apneaman on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 1:23 pm
If how one’s kids turn out is solely on the parents then how do you explain all the people with shitty parents who turned out ok (without those evil tattoos also – they evil!) What abot orphans who go on to decent lives?
Some say certain traits run in families? Such as cowardness and failure to do one’s duties.
Historian finds German decree banishing Trump’s grandfather
Royal decree ordered Friedrich Trump to leave Bavaria and never come back after he failed to do military service
“The decree orders the “American citizen and pensioner Friedrich Trump” to leave the area “at the very latest on 1 May … or else expect to be deported”.”
“In an effort to overturn the royal decree dated 27 February 1905, Trump wrote an obsequious letter appealing to Prince Regent Luitpold, addressing him as “the much-loved, noble, wise and righteous sovereign and sublime ruler”.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/21/trump-grandfather-friedrich-banished-germany-historian-royal-decree
Go Speed Racer on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 4:24 pm
In Kunstler We Trust
Cloggie on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 6:03 pm
Trump had a meeting with representatives of the MSM.
It was a f* firing squad.
http://nypost.com/2016/11/21/donald-trumps-media-summit-was-a-f-ing-firing-squad/
“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said.
“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source added.
A second source confirmed the fireworks.
makati1 on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 6:45 pm
Ap, how many draft dodgers went on to run the country? Which of the last three presidents NEVER served in the military? Answer: Clinton and Obama. (Democrats)
Bush Jr. was in the National Guard for a short while, but was given an early discharge. After all, he was a Bush child. Wouldn’t do for him to get hurt or killed in a riot or something.
The U$ is run by draft dodgers and whimps with psychological problems.
Cloggie on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 6:47 pm
Panic in the Democratic Party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_UlJvGepl4
The Democratic Party is “going to cease being a national party” if it maintains its current course, admitted Rep. Tim Ryan
“…The average American, the average working-class American, flipped their middle finger to the establishment, the Democratic establishment, the Republican establishment, Wall Street,” he said on Fox Business on Monday. “They think that everybody’s more concerned with the donor class than they the working class.”
makati1 on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 6:51 pm
I am looking forward to the next four to eight years. Finally someone who might just do a significant percentage of his campaign promises. If nothing else, I expect him to upset the apple cart and be the “Gray Champion” in the 4th turning. We shall see. Buckle up!
green_achers on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 7:38 pm
Kunstler has become a cartoon of himself.
Kristen Mcgreagor on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 7:45 pm
Oh Kunstler and his prophecies of doom never fail to disappoint. He’s been warning of shortages for years and massive civil unrest for decades only to be proven wrong again. Sure we’re in a permanent decline, but we have a long way to go before we hit bottom.
I on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 7:47 pm
I agree with Kunstler on all points. But I expand on the following subject.
“I also suspect that neither Mr. Obama or Mr. Trump will get around to pardoning Hillary Clinton for the racketeering operation of her foundation,…..”
Obama responded recently to petitions for a pardon of Edward Snowden by saying he (Snowden) would first have to go to court. That’s the correct answer. It makes no sense to pardon someone of anything less than a criminal conviction.
Hillary cannot be pardoned until convicted. For that reason alone, only Trump may be in a future position to grant a pardon, but she ain’t gonna be convicted before Obama leaves office. Not with the Christmas holidays and all.
makati1 on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 8:23 pm
Kristen, and where is the cliff in your prognostication? 1 year? 5? 10? Tomorrow?
The week before the stock market crash of 29′ everything looked like the wealth would never end. And then …
They start to predict a hurricane when it is just a tropical storm. How long it takes to hit the coast and at what power, are the only unknowns, but it does hit the coast in most cases. This hurricane is on its way and the longer it takes to hit, the more destructive it will be.
Me thinks you read too much propaganda. What is 50 million on welfare/food stamps, a constantly declining standard of living, a steady rise in drug use of all kinds, more and more guns in public hands, all kinds of debt so high it will never be paid, crumbling infrastructure, etc., say about the coming storm? Category 10 at least and just off the coast. Are YOU prepared? Sounds like you are just in denial.
makati1 on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 8:55 pm
For Boat: “Surge In Illegal Border Crossings Forces Officials To Open New Texas Housing Facility”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-21/surge-illegal-border-crossings-forces-officials-open-new-texas-housing-facility
The locusts are swarming….lol
makati1 on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 9:32 pm
Or this one: “Dallas Mayor Admits Police Pension Pushing City Toward “Fan Blades Of Municipal Bankruptcy”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-21/dallas-mayor-admits-police-pension-pushing-city-toward-fan-blades-municipal-bankrupt
Police force in contraction?
GregT on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 10:05 pm
“Sure we’re in a permanent decline, but we have a long way to go before we hit bottom.”
Enjoy your Wile E Coyote moment while you can Kristen, and whatever you do, don’t pay any attention to those who tell it like it is. Ignorance may be bliss, but eventually the 2 x 4 of reality will smack you squarely between the eyes.
Boat on Mon, 21st Nov 2016 11:37 pm
Mak,
So how many are getting through. That is the question. Only a few like you wanted out, most want in. However Russia is catching up fast. Read 80,000 per week are border crashing from the Ukraine.
GregT on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 12:00 am
“Read 80,000 per week are border crashing from the Ukraine.”
Thanks to Vicky Nuland and the US State Department, under the former Secretary of State herself (and hopefully soon to be convicted felon) HilLiary Clinton.
GregT on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 12:13 am
“Only a few like you wanted out, most want in.”
The average IQ in America is 96 Boat. Around 10 points above yours. Most people are not at all smart. You yourself, happen to be bordering on mental retardation.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 12:16 am
mak, complete waste of time with boat. He will not even acknowledge that collapse is a possibility. Won’t believe it until it happens, but so what.
Capitalism and economics and it’s system has already proven itself to be a failure in 2008-09.
The only reason it’s still standing is because of mega taxpayer funded bailouts, ZIRP and an entire banquet of regulatory favors. More debt debt debt.
Call the new system anything you want. Just don’t call it capitalism, because it ain’t.
makati1 on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 12:26 am
Boat: Why I left the FSA: “Some would argue that America is already “great” at a lot of things. After all, the United States is number one in the world in television watching, legal drug use and illegal drug use.
We lead the world in plastic surgery, eating disorder deaths, teen pregnancy and lawyers per capita.
We have the highest STD infection rate in the industrialized world, the highest divorce rate in the industrialized world, and the largest prison population on the entire planet.
We also have the most complicated tax system in the entire world, the largest trade deficit in the entire world, and the largest national debt in the entire world.
So if we want to make America great again, we sure have a lot of work to do.”
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/when-americans-shall-say-peace-and-safety
Americans are good at pointing the finger, but not looking in the mirror. That huge 4X4 of reality is swinging at their face and when it connects….
makati1 on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 12:28 am
Ap, I know, but it so much fun poking sticks at monkeys. LOL
GregT on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 12:35 am
Never mind monkeys Mak, I’m sure that my dog has more on the ball than Boat does. The guy is a complete fucking moron.
Cloggie on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 3:06 am
This is a board full with collapseniks. Interesting is that the coming administration has a key figure who has also very bleak views on what is next in US history, a “fourth turning” of a magnitude of the civil war or the great depression:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nTd2ZAX_tc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI0aAVh0dJc
Steve Bannon sees himself as a “Leninist” in that he completely wants to destroy the leftist and republican establishment.
Collapse will not come from peak oil or climate change in his view…
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060045998
… but it will be financial.
I agree that financial collapse will be first, greatly reducing demand for fossil fuel and pushing the depletion issue further to the background than it already has.
Financial collapse and implosion of the welfare state will have vast consequences for the social cohesion in a very diverse country like the US.
Davy on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 6:02 am
Collapse is an integrated time based process not an either/or event deal. Events are part of the process as well as either this or that variable as the trigger but it is all of the above in the process. The best way to look at it is the climate. If you look at the climate you have components that interact producing changes to all.
Peak oil is and has been a collapse force. The world is not just oil so it is just one variable. Oil is foundational but that misses the point that oil is a resources because of an economy and the human element of attitudes and lifestyles. The climate is profoundly important because it along with geology is “THE” foundation civilization dwells in. It appears climate is longer term and with specific locational effects. The problem with climate is it is appearing more likely daily it is in abrupt change. It is the degree and duration of change that will impact globalism and its survival. If in the course of a decade we have drastic climate change this is more influential on collapse than a century of change. We have had slow boil of climate change up to now but indications are it is shifting gears. The financial system is near thresholds but in today’s world of repression and manipulated price discovery it is difficult to predict. Malinvestment is maintaining demand but bad choices eventually end badly. Ponzi economics have no future.
Anyone of the above factors of collapse in the extreme can cause a systematic collapse of civilization but it is more likely it will be all of them together in a slow entropic attrition that hastens the process until broad based failure of civilizations vital structures occur. At that point what is the point of claiming one or the other the cause because they all contributed? This process will impact civilization which is more than just financial. It is about food and shelter. We can still have a financial meltdown and survive. It is called a depression. What is more dangerous is a profound and sustained disruption to food, shelter, and movement.
We are on a gradient of change and that change is ever so slight but do not be fooled by the current effects. Again look to the climate and look to thresholds and changes to state like when ice turns to water. Systematically we are approaching thresholds of profound change. Like the ocean and the heat build we are saturating our civilization with risk and eventually there will be a break. Every human metric is negative and trending in the wrong direction. Limits and diminishing returns are fully evident. Technology is failing and a big part of the problem. Socially we are in a tailspin of polarization of values and direction.
If there is hope then it is we can slightly change this gradient of collapse to buy us more time. We can moderate the decline giving us more time to adapt to predicaments and even fix some problems. Our biggest challenge today and likely our biggest trap is attitudes and their consequences to confidence. We must change attitudes and lifestyles to reflect a building existential crisis. If you put people into crisis mode you damage confidence which is economic liquidity. Globalism is already teetering near minimum operating levels. Starvation and food insecurity is nearby. This is true of developed nations where the trucks could slow or stop. The 3rd world is close to starvation because there are areas just barely feeding themselves now and if you take away a stable and abundant global food supply its over and their food chain breaks down only this time the rest of the global system is already in food insecurity. At some point there will not be help on the way. This is going to likewise be the case for locations in difficult environmental and or geologic locations because of natural disasters. Someday LA will not be rebuilt when the big one hits. A direct hit to Miami by a Cat 5 storm will be its end. At some point we may still have an adapted global economy but it will not have the wherewithal to do remediation.
This points to you individually and risk management. Most of us can’t make big changes but there are plenty of ways to prepare. One of the biggest is mental and secondly is the basics of food. If you are near a life change point and have the resources do some research and find a place that is lower risk instead of a place that is sunny and warm like so many boomers have done over the last 30 years. People need to quit thinking about golf if they are retiring. If you are between jobs move to a place of security over a place that will pay you more money. Generally a place that will pay you more money will be a place less secure. Every major large population center is at risk. This is now a game of survival preparation not the pursuit of affluence. On the surface it still is about the good life because that is the status quo. Dig deeper and it is about prepping yourself for destructive and in some cases deadly change.
Davy on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 7:56 am
“Obama Set Up The Next President For A Major Recession”… And A Giant Crash Is Coming”
http://tinyurl.com/z6evt3m
Davy on Tue, 22nd Nov 2016 8:19 am
Putin’s use of judo in policy
“Putin: Russia’s ban on Western foods will last ‘as long as possible”
https://www.rt.com/news/367805-putin-west-food-ban/
“We must create viable conditions,”
“Russia’s agricultural production has been given a boost in the wake of deteriorating relations with the West.”
“We really did it responsibly and, in fact, used the short-sighted decisions that had been applied in regard to our country by our so-called partners, who introduced the sanctions,”