Just Exactly How Crazy are We?
This is one of those days when I sit in my office, sipping my coffee in the peace and quiet of early morning, and struggle to find another way to tell the world that we’re all mad as hatters.
Any bright sixth grader could conduct a series of simple and conclusive experiments to determine that the world has limits; that we can’t go on growing forever; that five quarts won’t fit in a gallon jar.
At the same time, a Harvard or Yale PhD of economics will insure us that not only is exponential growth absolutely possible in a finite world; such growth is desirable.
These modern economists suggest that Thomas Malthus was a kook; M. King Hubbert was a nut job; Kenneth Boulding had a screw loose; And that obviously, Albert Einstein wasn’t all that bright.
Operating under the widely held belief that geometric growth is the foundation that utopia firmly rests on, our past and present leadership have run up annual deficits in order to provide more growth than tax collection can support. That deficit incurred under the banner of growth at all costs, has progressed from Millions, to Billions, to Trillions in just 41 years.
I will remind you that should I care to count to just ‘one’ Trillion, it would take me 32,000 years.
Today, our young president tells us, “None of this is my fault. None of this is the fault of my Democratic Congress; George Bush done it all by himself. That crafty George tricked us all”
Mr. Obama goes on to say, “But, I’m no quitter, I don’t quit! Not me. I’m going to run up the deficit by a Trillion or so every year…you know… the one that George forced me to run up, for 10 more years after which economic growth will…” “Psssst, psssst, Mr. President,” someone whispers in the background. “You can only serve for eight years.” To which the president whispers back, “I know that you idiot, I’m building an alibi.”
The actual current proposal really is to borrow Trillions upon Trillions for years to come; after which we will experience the hyper growth necessary to stem the tide of red ink. The sixth grade students that conducted the growth experiments above call this game “kick the can.” Our leadership calls it “Survivor Washington,” and the preservation of the limo and jet service.
Maybe I forgot to tell you; all 535 members of Congress remain on full pay and benefits. Not one of them has lost their jobs, their health insurance, their homes, their retirement, or the limo and jet service. So if you were worried, don’t be, Congress is doing just fine.
I don’t want to wander too far from the subject; we’re all stark raving mad. As we watch what appears to be a double dip U.S. recession coming down the pike and as we observe many of the European nations fall into what appears to be impossible debt and as we gaze at world unemployment rising to unprecedented levels while at the same time bank after bank is being closed…we are told that a greater rate of economic and population growth is the answer to turning the tides.
Let’s play pretend for moment and consider that such growth is possible; that we can actually return to what we refer to as “normal.” That we can add millions and millions of people and provide every one of them with meaningful employment and never run out of anything, including physical space.
Staying with our pretend game, once we put the millions of unemployed folks back to work and have added millions upon millions of new consumers from around the world. And once all of these now fully employed people have new homes, cars, roads, water lines, sewer treatment plants, high speed rails and so on; then what?
Under the current plan (which is the same in nearly every country in the world), we demand that the energy supply, materials, fresh water, food supply, farm land, all current infrastructure, and our physical space, grow at levels that are unprecedented.
Our plan is to continue to provide more and more and more physical inputs, as the new population that miraculously found viable employment in our game of pretend requires ever greater growth in order that they can remain employed. And of course, their children and grandchildren would require even greater growth than that of their parents and grandparents.
How crazy are we? Mad as hatters.
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It’s Back to the Future for me! Not 1956 but, oh I think 1873 would be just fine. Less is more. Fewer people = More Resources
Less Government = More Liberty
Local is far better than Global!
The challenge is to find areas of the country or parts of the world that much more resemble 1873 than they do 2010. There are plenty of rural areas across the US and Canada that fit the bill. Small remote communities that are much more self-sufficient than any big city. I’ve found a very comfortable and sustainable life-raft to observe this long slow train wreck from.
George,
I remember some time back listening to Rush Limbaugh state that raising the National Debt was not a problem and never would be. Being a former sailor, I began to cuss like one and changed the radio station.
What Rush meant was, that raising the National Debt would never be a problem for HIMSELF! And it won’t be. Limbaugh signed a contract through 2016 worth $400 Million.
Our esteemed leadership follows the same self serving notions that Limbaugh follows. THEY, are not planning to ride on our bus.
Your comment that “less is more” is well taken.
A little trivia; The last balanced annual budget occurred in 1969.
President Andrew Jackson, in 1835, became the only President in our history to pay off the National Debt.
Balanced budget in 1969 and we put a man on the moon! We decoupled from the Gold Standard in 1973 and no more missions to the moon ever again! Just an interesting parallel event. Also of interest there were 100 Million fewer Americans back in 1969 the population was about 202 Million. So what has that extra 100 Million Americans got us? 1.6 Trillion in Annual Federal DEBT to name just one. I don’t think that was the Exponential Growth that was promised us by all those Modern Economists.
Sure glad Andrew did it. Otherwise it would be a shoo-in for a skunk.
If you believe in superman, then we all have a chance of coming out of our free fall intact. If you don’t, some simple (but thorough) preparation will go a long ways toward maintaining a reasonable lifestyle for some time to come. There is little to nothing any of us can do to change the outcome of this train wreck that we are going to witness. As I have said repeatedly, study of the truth and sharing such, will ultimately help us find our way to a better direction, but that will occur many years from now. Human nature will never allow us to to live there long term, however. -bb
Yes, we are mad as hatters. We also have a tremendous capacity for being delusional and greedy, not to mention ignorant.
As our predicament becomes clearer, the masses remain as clueless as ever. I see no reason for optimism when so many seem intent on committing suicide on an installment basis.
The best we can do is to stay out of harm’s way and band together with like minded people. I wouldn’t plan too far out, there are too many variables for that to work very well. However, short-term plans are usually prudent.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have lost all patience with the politicians and most of the American populace. I’m afraid that I won’t be very sympathetic to those who complain that life has treated them unfairly when the real hardships set in.
I will be surprised if this country holds together until mid-century. Soon there will be a lot of finger pointing and hateful speech being vented. When people are suffering, tempers get short. When available resources can’t meet demand, I expect that people will behave in very uncivil ways. Our entitlement mentality will rear its ugly head. We will find out how special Americans are, but I don’t think we will like the answer.
Billyb,
I’ve often considered that our approach to economics will someday be seen as delusional as the flat earth society.
Those who embrace technology as the infinite producer for the horn of plenty (cornucopian’s), will some day be seen as blathering idiots. I hope I’m around to witness it.
Greg,
You said, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have lost all patience with the politicians and most of the American populace.”
I hit that fork in the road about a year ago.
I believe that by mid-century, America will no longer be recognizable.
If we are unable to restore employment (which seems to be the case) what we are witnessing today will merely continue until we hit a new low that will be comparable to that of other over-populated and unemployed nations.
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.” WBY
There are those who believe with passionate intensity that intense investment in technology and free markets will “save us”. Others believe that detailed micro-management is the key. Most know that to be in power is in their best interest and strive to believe it is also best for “the people”.
Belief can accomplish miraculous things. It can also unleash nightmares from Hell. I suspect the future holds both.
I think by mid-century the US will resemble Haiti.
Hutch - your quote….“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” WBY.
Who is WBY?
Regardless of who WBY is, it is a good observation. Highly intelligent people are often full of doubt because they recognize the complex the world around them. Idiots on the other hand don’t know any better, so they are highly confident without reason.
It seems we have become a nation of Technological Theists. We believe that the god of technology will come to our rescue. The faithful believe that if everybody thinks something is true, it makes it so. We have become a nation of pathologically positive people. They don’t understand that it wasn’t technology that got us here, but rather cheap energy. When the cheap energy is gone, they are in for a surprise.
I think we are in the classic stage of any empire in decline. Wrecked finances, mercenary armies, wealth inequality to the extreme. Bread and circuses all over again. It will get ugly when people realize that our time has come to an end and they have been hoodwinked into believing the “American Dream”.
Billyb is right, there is little or nothing any of us can do but share our knowledge with those who will listen and try to prepare the best we can.
Gregg, WBY = William Butler Yeats
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw351.html
I don’t know how to be one of “the best”. I am just trying not to get suckered by “the worst.”
Hotrod,
I agree with your surmise and will allow M. King Hubbert to add one more tidbit;
“We are not in the position we were in 1929-30 with regard to the future. Then the physical system was ready to roll. This time it’s not. We are in a crisis in the evolution of human society.”
Think there is going to be any banking reform soon? Think again.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/02/guest-post-the-other-reason-that-the-u-s-is-not-regulating-wall-street.html
“I see no reason for optimism when so many seem intent on committing suicide on an installment basis.” - Greg
Wow! That just hit the nail on the head from the Federal Government, to State Government, to Local Government, to businesses of every shape and size, all they way down to the individual!!
I’d like to pose one question; when did ‘We the People’ lose the title of American Citizen and get labeled with the title of American Consumer?
George, I can answer your question…We became consumers rather than citizens when profits became more important than people.
Here are a couple of interesting news items that may well give us a sneak preview into our own future.
It appears that cracking down on wages and raising taxes is meeting some resistance in Greece as that country attempts to reduce their deficit.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unions-vow-strike-as-Greece-rb-285149569.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=92d9473492529867f61aee47c614379a&ccode=mp
This one is even more interesting. A judge has told Pratt-Whitney that they cannot move their manufacturing offshore. So then, who can and who can’t?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aX2M.nELYf5U
Nuff… We are crazy ’nuff..
We are also dumb ’nuff..
If not, we will get “news” every hour of the day that will get us to that “dumb nuff” level..
We always are…
wma…
We are crazy if we believe our very own government. Here’s a look at a year ago and a look at today. 5 Million fewer employed Americans today than a year ago. Facts and physics sure are stubborn but Liars sure can spin those figures can’t they.
“The unemployment rate the day Obama took office last year stood at 7.6 percent and 134.6 million people had jobs. When he signed the economic stimulus, Obama promised the bill would bolster the economy sufficiently to keep unemployment below 8.0 percent. But the unemployment rate has exceeded 8.0 percent since last fall, and total employment stands at only 129.5 million. The stimulus has been a bust.” You’ll hear that it’s Bush’s fault, you’ll hear that it’s Obama’s fault. There’s plenty of blame to go around but the root cause is Exponential Growth at any and all cost.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Recession-chugs-on_-except-in-government-83765597.html#ixzz0exaDkwHz
This article sums up what we can look forward to as the downhill spiral accelerates.
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2010/02/february-8-2010-corruption-culpability.html
Hotrod,
Good article and in short; Anything that can’t go on forever; doesn’t.