Reality Based Community

Life in the Empire

Note this started out as comments on an article by Ellen Brown about beneficial uses of credit, but segueyed into discussion (possibly) about mitigating some of the worst aspects of decline, like uncontrolled brutality. The hippie culture was an economic decline, and if left un-harassed probably could have survived, but its all about resources in the end, especially property and human resources:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/PLAYING-THE-BANKING-GAME--by-Ellen...

This was my response:

Again a very nice article. It blends well with an idea I just had and fielded on Facebook for opinions: a loose US confederacy. Many respondents actually think we are headed for a financial meltdown that may decay into Armageddon. So to them a break-up sounded like a way to beat the devil to the punch.

I experienced Armageddon first hand on Sept 11, 2001 and survived, so I am not that concerned. My motivation is my Empathy Model that says that the height of the pyramid is somewhat geometrically proportional to chaos caused by communication inefficiency, over-pay at the top, excessive levels of mid-management, and a lack of emotional communication (as opposed to digital communication) between the top and foundation allowing for a lack of empathy (Moore's Roger and Me).

Lets see... NE SE MW SW Cali NW, that's 6 regions. Instant 600% improvement (except possibly in Texas).

The "beauty part" of this idea is that the South will definitely support it. And would require the US Military to stay intact, again a Southern-friendly idea, and the rest of the red states will follow the South.

Your concern that "today we are in a dangerous deflationary spiral" I still think is unwarranted.

The US is historically the greatest charity nation, and we might actually apply charity at home. I cannot see the prison population rising, as that would be impossible. And 90% of the crime problem is the cocaine (and methadrine) problem.

If the US experiences deflation, things get cheaper, evening out the effects of depression. We would need to outlaw eviction, so that people can maintain their communities, start to provide public transportation because much of our expenses are for transportation, allow for Internet "mesh grids" to allow for free communication, and open all the closed factories.

School districts would have be dismantled allowing a restoration of the community school, eliminating many highly-paid but otherwise psychotic administrators (I have met them). Government could be fired by the bucket-load taking with them all the fantasy rules they create; self-determination would be applied to every community, another important component of the Empathy Model.

Who would lose? Well, the rich of course--but we never needed the anyway, and a lot of other empathic defectives such as plastic surgeons. I estimate that 90% of the human effort is wasted supporting the obsessive desires of this gambling, drinking, lying, whoring class, so in theory we have an allowable 90% wiggle space for deflation.

That would meet the 90% possible savings in energy we can create by taxing the parallel waste that the luxury class creates in their typical industries, such as advertising, and sub-division, shopping mall, and destination recreational development. Maybe even 95% wiggle room. You DO know that the bad debts were for sub-division housing and malls, don't you? (Say "yes")

Well, with a decline in waste like facilitated by allowing the majority of the money (and not capital) to remain in the bank accounts of the working class, who would then invest in sane production strategies, instead of monstrosities such as the previously mentioned and places like Dubai. We already have the instrument: the 401K plan.

And speaking of oil-producing monstrosities... no more terror funding!

Woo hoo, a perfect world, and its not just me, John Wesley proposed this, so it is actually conservative in nature.

He would probably be upset to know that ex-pres George "Trickle Down Theory" Bush is a Methodist, though.

~~John

Views: 112

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I just posted an article I wrote in 2002 as a blog entry that deals with Human Sacrifice.
Yum (no, seriously I need to look at it)
Ahem... the Irish were free, the Romans did not occupy Ireland, England was the country under occupation at that time.
The Roman Church occupies lots of places especially Ireland. The Roman Church inherited Europe when Rome moved to Turkey.

As it happens, Rome didn't trash England like it did the rest of Europe, probably because Roman ships could not venture out into the Atlantic and would have instantly perished near Britain, allowing the colonials to just get along rather than pillage.

The Dark Ages didn't start with the collapse of Rome though that helped, because the Roman colonials, or "coloni," forgot to educate the locals. The Darkness started with the arrival of the Roman Church. It is pointed out that Merlin the wizard would have been executed if he lived longer; under the Roman Church, science was a capital crime--emphasis on "capital," a Roman invention.
I just invited a few more OEN folk to stop in.

Why not (controlled collapse)? I'll tell ye why not. Just last night I was trying to explain to a group about how young Germans visiting the USA are rather surprised by the US flags plastered everywhere.

Said one group member: "Yah... but our flag is the only flag on earth that represents freedom and democracy." My jaw dropped. I was about to respond..., when another group member managed a more reasoned response. Good thing. I was about to say something like: "...what the FUCK??? I mean, what the fucking fuck-nobble-fuck is 'freedom and..." whatever the fuck you have been programmed about only-on-earth about cloth-bits the fucking dreeble-blazz the bullshit fuck-nog smoke-ass FUCK the FUCK-KNOB FUCKING FUCK??????

Well... good thing THAT didn't go down. Point is... there are so many still "enraged" about "9-11" even though they have no fucking idea of what it means or where it came from or the whole matrix-fuck-diddle corn-hole. Never mind the whole culture-of-looting "economic" clusterfuck that won't mean shit until they lose their "jobs" and then they'll join the brownshirts.

It's worse than we can possibly imagine kids... and I know from reading your shit over the past 6 years... we can imagine A LOT. Best listen again to Orlov's shit... food, shelter, transportation, security. THAT'S IT... little else.

It's worse than I thought... and I KNEW it was bad.
Waldopaper, thanks for reminding me of this site. I joined a while ago but became distracted (usefully it turned out) by economics and spent a while obsessed with learning as much as I could. Still am. But I forgot about places I had inhabited (except for what have been mainstays such as OEN, PP WRH etc. )

I also highly recommend the deep politics forum - http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/

and

Urban Survival ... George Ure .. associated with the Time Monks... usually at least interesting, daily financial and situational comment at

www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm

hope you don't mind the plugs....
So I am right to form a militia here in the Southern Berkshires? Locals are ready to go, even visitors love the idea, but not NY Times readers, oh nooooo....
Urban Survival is one of my daily stops. He's a great read, and his predictions have been right on so far.
Shoulda said, "here's your freedom, fucker" and knocked his teeth out with your laptop. Well, OK, maybe not. But, it is fun to fantasize.

We're pullin' da kid out of Catholic school. I never wanted him to go there in the first place, but da wife was raised catholic and thought it would be safer than the local public schools. We lucked out a found a technical academy in our neighborhood that's not connected to the regular school. So that's where he's going next year.

Found out the Catholic school system is all about punishment and guilt. As Gomer used to say, Surprise, surprise. Couldn't do it anymore. I feel so fookin' relieved. Half the congregation were rapid--albeit, rich-- republicans. And truth be it, I never had the gumption to tell 'em to fuck off when I shoulda. Now, I guess I won't have an excuse. Well, in four months anyway....
out of Catholic school. I never wanted him to go there in the first place, but da wife was raised catholic

Raised neo-Roman, not Catholic, I am still learning but there is a big difference. The split was apprently in about 300 AD about the time Rome split to Turkey...

Read on BROTHER!!

We lucked out a found a technical academy in our neighborhood that's not connected to the regular school.

Cool, I want to open one myself. I was an executive-level technologist till 2002 when we ALL got fired and the job when to the upper-caste of India in Bhopol.

Found out the Catholic school system is all about punishment and guilt.

Guilt goes with punishment, as punishment is trauma. So much so the truama of a plane crash automatically causes "survivor guilt" as survivors attempt to rationalize the synthetic feelings they are having.

I never had the gumption to tell 'em to fuck off when I shoulda. Now, I guess I won't have an excuse. Well, in four months anyway....

Do it BROTHER!! Actually, its no big deal, the Repubs are down for the count, though Obama is delaying the coup d' grace, odd

On guilt and trauma: Aaron Beck created cognitive therapy making him the best known psychologist. This is what he wrote, he uses guilt as a tool to get what he is looking for in patients, his words:

"Guilty feelings are the main deterrents to harmful behavior (Roy Baumeister) but those feelings are not experienced during a hostile sequence. People feel guilty after committing an act they consider wrong. The memory of an incident may influence their behavior the next time an incident happens, it acts as a deterrent since it prods the individual to avoid something which creates feelings of guilt." (from Prisoners of Hate)

While this seems to make sense in the context of our society, it ignores the natural relationships that people in which violence has no place. What he is describing is the collapse of natural humanity, for which there may be remorse later, ignoring healthy humanity.

I think this is a disguise, a way to use guilt to control people, to justify trauma.

RSS

© 2024   Created by waldopaper.   Powered by

Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service