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