The Collapse

[pan]

OK, I'm an idiot - how do you upload video?

Watch this

[waldopaper]

Market crap hits fan... was up most of the night following this.

[littleoldme]

I was just reading this one.
http://finance.comcast.net/www/news.html?x=http://absorigins.comcas...

[BO]

More outrage as the fed bails out Bear Sterns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZCNlPwG8o

What can us shmoes do about it? If only there were enough people who understood the implications of this action, we'd have a fighting chance. But there aren't.

[waldopaper]

A: not a fucking thing.
Nobody will "realize" anything until they go to "work" and the doors are locked. Sawdust-bread is $50 a loaf... Simumilk (tm) is $100 a gallon. There will be plenty of "work" for the cops and the "asset-seizure/ collection-prison industry."
"Investors?" my ass. "Vote???" my ass in a hamburger bun. "Ron Paul????" my tattered skid-marked skivvies on a pie-plate. It's waaaayyyyy too late for any of that shit. "Revolution?"
See "Officer Friendly."

[pan]

Saw this comment at George Washington's Blog:

At Least Hilter Got Germany Out of Its Depression

Hitler was a monster. He instituted fascist tyranny in Germany. He launched imperial wars against the rest of the world. He was a homicidal maniac.

But at least he got Germany out of its depression.

Bush, Cheney and the boys are instituting fascist tyranny in America, launching imperial wars against the rest of the world, and are torturing, homicidal manics.

Unlike Hitler, they have gotten us into a depression.

Hitler was a monster. Are these guys much better?

[BO]

I'm pretty sure this is what the beginning of the depression looks like...

Nearly one in 10 Ohioans now receives food stamps, the highest number in the state's history.

Too bad the American people don't even know that their government is at war with them. Too bad they don't realize that they took another fatal blow when the gov bailed out Bear Stearns. Too bad they can't realize that their government is robbing them blind by devaluing the dollar.

What, me worry?

Everything is going to be alright because the american sheeple won't look at the accident. And if you don't look, I guess it means it didn't happen.

Yep, we're all victims. Victims of our own apathy.

What a shame it is to watch this country crumble right before our eyes. And we know who is responsible. Yet we do nothing about it.

[littleoldme]

It really is like watching a slow train wreck.

[BO]

Well, it appears that a few folk get it...

Protesters enter Bear Stearns headquarters

"Bear Stearns employees were alternatively amused and perplexed, taking pictures on their cell phones."

Too bad they left their pitchforks and torches at home. They needed more than signs to be effective. Sociopaths are hard nuts to crack.

[waldopaper]

Here's a review of Orlov's book, Re-inventing Collapse... plus a link to Club Orlov.
Stages of Collapse

Stage 1: Financial collapse. Faith in "business as usual" is lost. The future is no longer assumed resemble the past in any way that allows risk to be assessed and financial assets to be guaranteed. Financial institutions become insolvent; savings are wiped out, and access to capital is lost.

Stage 2: Commercial collapse. Faith that "the market shall provide" is lost. Money is devalued and/or becomes scarce, commodities are hoarded, import and retail chains break down, and widespread shortages of survival necessities become the norm.

Stage 3: Political collapse. Faith that "the government will take care of you" is lost. As official attempts to mitigate widespread loss of access to commercial sources of survival necessities fail to make a difference, the political establishment loses legitimacy and relevance.

Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that "your people will take care of you" is lost, as local social institutions, be they charities or other groups that rush in to fill the power vacuum run out of resources or fail through internal conflict.

Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in the goodness of humanity is lost. People lose their capacity for "kindness, generosity, consideration, affection, honesty, hospitality, compassion, charity" (Turnbull, The Mountain People). Families disband and compete as individuals for scarce resources. The new motto becomes "May you die today so that I die tomorrow" (Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago). There may even be some cannibalism.
....snip....
Although it is possible to prepare directly for surviving Stage 5, this seems like an altogether demoralizing thing to attempt. Preparing to survive Stages 3 and 4 may seem somewhat more reasonable, while explicitly aiming for Stage 3 may be reasonable if you plan to become one of the Big Men.

[littleoldme]

Stage 4 and 5 are already here.Stage 4) Our local food banks shelves are empty, they've been begging for more resources and have way more people asking for help.
Stage 5) I read this morning that people are signing their children as young as 6 up for that stupid cage fighting, ultimate fighting thing. People are soooo fucked in this country. I taught my kids to solve their problems without violence, this is disgusting, they shouldn't have kids if this is their idea of good parenting.

[pan]

Wall Street to shed 20,000 jobs

The tourism industry is providing a silver lining in the cloud hanging over New York as the city benefits from overseas visitors drawn by the weak dollar.

Always look on the bright side of life

[waldopaper]

Not all of us are going to arrive at the same stage at the same time. Some are in stage 5 now... and some have been for centuries. Generally in the US, most of us are at the beginning phase of stage 1. When it generally gets to stage 3-4... that's the time to act forcefully- locally- and wid a quickness... because that's the time that the "magic-pill" Hitler types always show up. They already have... except the message is too lame, the "threat" is too abstract- not articulated well enough- and the the delivery people (Hitler wannabes) are too weak.

When your income is the same... but gas is $10 and milk is $50... the shift will begin wid a quickness.