A note to anyone becoming frustrated with perceived ‘non-responsiveness’, the damn system does not notify me if anyone leaves a comment. The couple of comments I have found to date I stumbled upon during one of the occasional ‘sweeps’ for comments that I conduct.
I’m not ignoring you, I just don’t know if you’re out there or not.
I often get the impression I am repeating myself but I suspect this is due to ‘their’ (yes, I am referring to the infamous ‘they’) persisting in pulling the exact same shit, over and over again!
I’m trying to ‘break the circle’ but it is difficult.
What doesn’t make things easier is how other commentators often ‘gloss over’ the significance of what they tell you…like we see in this article by Henry CK Liu. Perhaps Henry has fallen into the same ‘trap’ I often find myself in. You ‘assume’ the reader is already aware of the one factor that makes the whole unbelievable situation possible.
Read Henry’s piece with the thought that it is ‘the only game in town’ in mind and it takes on a whole new meaning! Ironically, this all-important factoid is a ‘game changer’ with far reaching implications. That said, it is perfectly understandable that this disturbing fact is commonly overlooked.
I’m a little ‘late to the party’ with this next piece which provides us with a ‘creative’ look at what might happen in some parts of the country after the Republican’s ‘finish’ destroying the tax mechanism that supports ‘civil society’.
The missing piece of the puzzle here is the failure to acknowledge that ‘Law Enforcement’ does what it does for a paycheck (and in most cases a darn good one!) Although admittedly, Mr. Roberts does, er, ‘compensate’ for this bit of wishful thinking by taking the ‘privatized’ approach. That the cops will compensate themselves by becoming robbers!
What a joy that will be!
The Year America Dissolved
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
It was 2017. Clans were governing America.
The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable.
As society broke down, the police became warlords. The state police broke apart, and
the officers were subsumed into the local forces of their communities. The newly formed tribes expanded to encompass the relatives and friends of the police. [Left to your imagination is just how ‘small’ a tribe that would be. The only ‘friend’ a cop has is other cops…and even they don’t trust each other.]
The dollar had collapsed as world reserve currency in 2012 when the worsening economic depression made it clear to Washington’s creditors that the federal budget deficit was too large to be financed except by the printing of money. [Sadly we’re already well beyond that, the ‘monetization’ of shadow debt continues unabated, bankrupting us all.]
With the dollar’s demise, import prices skyrocketed. As Americans were unable to afford foreign-made goods, the transnational corporations that were producing offshore for US markets were bankrupted, further eroding the government’s revenue base. This process is already underway, the fact that most people can’t afford replacement goods is what’s keeping the supply lines and retail outlets from collapsing overnight.]
The government was forced to print money in order to pay its bills, causing domestic prices to rise rapidly. Faced with hyperinflation, Washington took recourse in terminating Social Security and Medicare and followed up by confiscating the remnants of private pensions. This provided a one-year respite, but with no more resources to confiscate, money creation and hyperinflation resumed. [‘Fanciful’ in the extreme! Everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line (Everyone who needs to pay for heating fuel five months out of the year) would have hung their ‘elected representative’ from the nearest phone pole and marched on Washington immediately afterwards…throwing NY City (Wall Street) into Atlantic on the way past.]
Organized food deliveries broke down when the government fought hyperinflation with fixed prices and the mandate that all purchases and sales had to be in US paper currency. Unwilling to trade appreciating goods for depreciating paper, goods disappeared from stores. [Which resulted in their near immediate looting…probably with the local police lending a hand.]
Washington responded as Lenin had done during the “war communism” period of Soviet history. The government sent troops to confiscate goods for distribution in kind
to the population. This was a temporary stop-gap until existing stocks were depleted, as future production was discouraged. Much of the confiscated stocks became the property of the troops who seized the goods. [Consider this ‘fair warning’: hide your ‘stash’ well! They can’t steal what they can’t find…and PS by the way; the ‘authorities’ aren’t the only ones seeking to relieve you of your supplies. Marauders and Desperadoes will abound!]
Goods reappeared in markets under the protection of local warlords. Transactions were conducted in barter and in gold, silver, and copper coins. [Fanciful indeed! Most ‘transactions’ will be conducted in ‘lead’ (or cold steel if you’re really unlucky!) No one in their right mind would go near a market if they saw the same thieves that have already robbed them ‘protecting’ the place!]
Other clans organized around families and individuals who possessed stocks of food, bullion, guns and ammunition. Uneasy alliances formed to balance differences in clan strengths. Betrayals quickly made loyalty a necessary trait for survival. [There’s truth there! ‘Trust’ will be worth more than a bushel of gold, sadly for a similar reason, ‘rarity’.]
Large scale food and other production broke down as local militias taxed distribution as goods moved across local territories. Washington seized domestic oil production and refineries, but much of the government’s gasoline was paid for safe passage across clan territories. [I find it extremely amusing that anyone thinks Washington will survive more than minutes after martial law that precedes the suspension of retirement/disability benefits is declared!]
Most of the troops in Washington’s overseas bases were abandoned. As their resource stocks were drawn down, the abandoned soldiers were forced into alliances with those with whom they had been fighting. [That’s probably the most ‘accurate’ bit of speculation in the whole piece, made that much worse by the fact that the ‘resources’ to bring the troops home will be hoarded by the already wealthy…for sale on the ‘black market’.]
Washington found it increasingly difficult to maintain itself. As it lost control over the country, Washington was less able to secure supplies from abroad as tribute from those Washington threatened with nuclear attack. Gradually other nuclear powers realized that the only target in America was Washington. The more astute saw the writing on the wall and slipped away from the former capital city. [That’s a ‘wildcard’ few ever speculate about, ‘nuclear blackmail’. Will our overlords attempt to hold others hostage once paper currency proves worthless? How much ‘collateral damage’ will this ill-conceived, albeit desperate, strategy cause? Will we really have to deal with the ‘third most powerful man in the world’? (The Captain of a nuclear submarine)]
When Rome began her empire, Rome’s currency consisted of gold and silver coinage. Rome was well organized with efficient institutions and the ability to supply troops in the field so that campaigns could continue indefinitely, a monopoly in the world of Rome’s time.
When hubris sent America in pursuit of overseas empire, the venture coincided with the offshoring of American manufacturing, industrial, and professional service jobs and the corresponding erosion of the government’s tax base, with the advent of massive budget and trade deficits, with the erosion of the fiat paper currency’s value, and with America’s dependence on foreign creditors and puppet rulers.
The Roman Empire lasted for centuries. The American one collapsed overnight.
Rome’s corruption became the strength of her enemies, and the Western Empire was overrun. [Rome’s citizens welcomed the invaders with open arms, which later proved to be a big mistake…]
America’s collapse occurred when government ceased to represent the people and became the instrument of a private oligarchy. Decisions were made in behalf of short-term profits for the few at the expense of unmanageable liabilities for the many.
Overwhelmed by liabilities, the government collapsed.
Globalism had run its course. Life reformed on a local basis.
Yes, something resembling ‘organization’ will ‘persist’ after the collapse and we will once again find ourselves ‘at odds’ with those fighting to preserve a ‘status quo’ that ignores the common good.
Since ‘law enforcement’ is a ‘gun for hire’ proposition, the local, er, money interest will fill the void made by our ‘elected’ representatives…without so much as a ‘by your leave’.
Which is to say that once the paychecks stop (and it becomes obvious that the pension funds are screwed beyond salvage too, the cops will, er, ‘seek employment’ with whoever promises to pay them. Even if that is their former…er, adversaries.
Which, as Hollywood has popularized, the higher up the ladder you go, the more ‘overlap’ you find between law enforcers and law breakers.
The world is a dangerous place, but it always has been.
Prepare.
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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