This is EXACTLY why this country is SCREWED, and there most likely is no way to turn things around.

From Tyler Durden of zerohedge.com
10/20/10

A little reality about the job situation in this country is in order. The unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and parroted by the mainstream media is currently 9.6%.

Once you stop counting people who have given up looking for jobs and "left the workforce", discouraged workers, marginally attached workers and workers forced to work part-time, you magically get a 9.6% rate.

Using the method of measuring unemployment used during the Great Depression and reproduced by www.shadowstats.com, the real unemployment rate is a depression-like 22.5%. The peak unemployment rate during the Great Depression was 25%.

There is no doubt that we are in the midst of 2nd Great Depression, but where are the bread lines and the lines of unemployed winding around the corner? No need. This is the electronic Great Depression – iDepression 2.0.

Your 99 weeks of unemployment and food stamps are direct deposited into your bank account so that you don't have to leave the comfort of your McMansion that you haven't made a mortgage payment on in the last 14 months.

There were no credit cards in 1933. Without a job or a house, you needed to move to where there might be a job. Hence the mass migration from the Midwest to California – ala The Grapes of Wrath.

Today, a neighbor in a matching McMansion down the street, with the perfectly manicured lawn, could be unemployed for three years and no one would ever know. They could sustain themselves on unemployment payments, food stamps, and credit cards. Welcome to the iDepression 2.0.

I agree with the author thoroughly, and have been saying for sometime now that we ARE in a true depression, but I don't understand whay you say "is no way to turn things around."

I think the economy will start to turn around Nov 3 2010, simply because business will breathe a collective sigh of relief and once again start investing in the future.

Life has been put on hold, out of fear of what the libs might do next, that ends after the mid term elections.

Quote from: Solar on October 20, 2010, 01:50:39 PM
I agree with the author thoroughly, and have been saying for sometime now that we ARE in a true depression, but I don't understand whay you say "is no way to turn things around."

I think the economy will start to turn around Nov 3 2010, simply because business will breathe a collective sigh of relief and once again start investing in the future.

Life has been put on hold, out of fear of what the libs might do next, that ends after the mid term elections.

Well Solar, unfortunately there is no "miracle cure" for what the Obamanistas have done to this country since January of 2009, and for what the Bushwackers did the previous eight years, and for what the Clintonistas did for the eight years before that.

A systemic and catastrophic failure of the U.S. economy and the U.S. dollar is going to happen.  Period.  The Republicans regaining control of the House and possibly the Senate is comparable to moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Bank Of America is going to fail in the very near future, and other large banks are going to follow suit.

At the risk of appearing to be playing the "I told you so" card, I have been issuing warnings and offering solutions and advice for almost two years.  Virtually EVERYTHING I have been predicting is coming to pass.

For those of you who believe that "historical precedent" can be used to predict the future of this country, you are fooling yourselves.

The election of the anti-Christ, Barack Hussein Obama, was the beginning of the end of the United States Of America.  I spend almost every waking hour of my life pouring over economic news and statistics and trends and digging deep into the underbelly of investment banking and wall street and things that would either scare the hell out of most people or cause people to shake their heads in disbelief. 

And one day the Sun will cease to exist, but not in out lifetime.
Sorry, but I can't share your optimism of our collapse, there are too many people and business that have a vested interest in our success.

When the U.S. sneezes, the World catches a cold.
Now we have the flu, and the World is suffering, look at Europe, they are having to rethink socialism.
The Asian Countries are struggling and the M/E is a cesspool that will stay a 3rd World pit, the World relies on us too heavily, without us, they are nothing but a bunch of chickens without a Rooster.

No my friend, were not going anywhere, we may do some house cleaning, but were here to stay.

Solar, you're a good man.  I respect your opinions, and I wish I could share your optimism.  But the FACTS can't be ignored. 

Dan touched on just a portion of the financial shenanigans that are going on in this country, and have been going on for DECADES.  I could write a book about the things that Dan didn't mention.

Take care of your family and other loved ones, Solar.  If you honestly believe that this country is going to recover economically and socially, then just go about your business. 

If you have ANY doubts, then the time is YESTERDAY to switch to "survival mode".  Stockpile, prepare, protect, and survive.  I wish I were wrong, but I don't believe I am, and I am doing my best to take care of my loved ones, and prepare my friends by offering them advice and guidance.

Military coup or civil war.  Either way, EVERYBODY will suffer, and the degree of suffering will depend on how prepared the people are.  Those that are READY for the inevitable will emerge on the other side.

Quote from: AmericanFlyer on October 20, 2010, 08:04:27 PM
Solar, you're a good man.  I respect your opinions, and I wish I could share your optimism.  But the FACTS can't be ignored. 

Dan touched on just a portion of the financial shenanigans that are going on in this country, and have been going on for DECADES.  I could write a book about the things that Dan didn't mention.

Take care of your family and other loved ones, Solar.  If you honestly believe that this country is going to recover economically and socially, then just go about your business. 

If you have ANY doubts, then the time is YESTERDAY to switch to "survival mode".  Stockpile, prepare, protect, and survive.  I wish I were wrong, but I don't believe I am, and I am doing my best to take care of my loved ones, and prepare my friends by offering them advice and guidance.

Military coup or civil war.  Either way, EVERYBODY will suffer, and the degree of suffering will depend on how prepared the people are.  Those that are READY for the inevitable will emerge on the other side.

\
I guess where we part ways is in the results, cows still need to be milked, dairies will still sell that milk, consumers will still buy the milk, life will not end.
America is not Government, America is the people, Americans have a can do attitude, we will persevere.

I don't see where you think people will suddenly start fighting in the streets, I see protests, but I just don't see a gloom and doom end to America.

Solar, the problem is that the "America" that you envision, and that I remember from my youth, no longer exists.

The "can do" attitude has been replaced by the "I don't need to do it" attitude.

Yes, there are still people in this country who know what hard work is.  Yes, there are people in this country who are independent and don't want or need government intervention to survive.

But, this is not the 1930s or 1940s or 1950s or 1960s. 

This is the age of HDTV, Wii and PlayStation 3, the iPad, iPhone, iPod, Blackberries, the internet, and thousands of other innovations that have made this country LAZY and made life too EASY.

Today millions of people get food stamps, subsidized housing, Medicaid, and all sorts of freebees from the government.

No, I don't have much confidence in this country, as a whole, and the intestinal fortitude and survival skills necessary and needed to survive.

The leeches and spoiled lumps of humanity that permeate every corner of this country will try to take what the rest of us have.

For your scenario, there would have to be a complete breakdown of social mores.
The social contract that we all live by, from driving on the right hand side of the road, to baby rape.

You really need to rethink your conclusions, for people to start raping pillaging, actually requires agreement of association.
How many people do you know willing to toss a lifetime of morals aside, just for short term gratification?
I know of none.

Quote from: Solar on October 21, 2010, 08:29:04 AM
For your scenario, there would have to be a complete breakdown of social mores.
The social contract that we all live by, from driving on the right hand side of the road, to baby rape.
You really need to rethink your conclusions, for people to start raping pillaging, actually requires agreement of association.
How many people do you know willing to toss a lifetime of morals aside, just for short term gratification?
I know of none.

You are completely misinterpreting my "scenario", Solar.

What if there were no electricity, no fresh water, no food, no medical care, no medicines, and no local law enforcement in this country? 

What if the entire infrastructure of this country came to a grinding halt, or collapsed? 

What if the scenario involves feeding your family?  Protecting your family?  How far would YOU go to provide just the BASICS for your family?

What do you think the millions of people who live in the "big" cities in this country would do?  These people are used to city water, city services, grocery stores on every corner, and all the other conveniences they need.  They have NO CLUE how to survive on their own. 

If your child needed medication to stay alive.  If your wife or mother or father needed insulin to stay alive.  What would you be willing to do to obtain those medications?

If your children and grandchildren parents and wife had no food and water, and you lived in an area that could easily become unsafe if the "city dwellers" decided to venture out into the countryside, what would you do to feed and protect your family?

How far would you go?  What would you be willing to do?

What if you had a stockpile of food and water and medical supplies and you had the means to protect your family and defend your homestead?  How far would you go to protect what is yours from intruders?

THAT is what I am talking about, Solar.  And these are the questions that everybody should be asking themselves right now.

For your scenario to work, the entire North American Continent would have to fail, we do have neighbors, ya know.

But not only them, but the entire World would have to fail first, think about it, most of the 3rd World Countries are halfway there, and years behind us in societal development.
For your scenario to work, our Military would have to been dismantled long before our society could collapse into a wasted heap.

But before we could even get close to all out "every man for himself" scenario, some other Country will pick up the pieces.
Do you really think people are willing to let another Country rule us?
Not even close to that.

Thing is, you have been focusing on the doom aspects entirely, take a step back and look at the other side, you will see that the US is nowhere close to collapse, if anything, were closer to a civil war than collapse, and were not even close to civil war.

Put away the Mad Max movies, and take a deep breath and relax, it ain't all or nothing. ;)

Better to have a plan ready for events that never take place than to be caught totally unprepared when it does. Nobody planned for the Great Depression (they just exacerbated it with FDR spending). Nobody appears to be planning in the event of small-scale tactical dirty-bombs being set off near the true distribution hubs of the Internet, which would freeze the computer-driven world of banking and commerce (as well as us civilians just yakking away).

You wouldn't HAVE to drop a nuke to create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to kill what makes American PRESENTLY run.

Optimism is one thing but prudence is another. We do need fall-back plans. FEMA's "Hell of a Job, Brownie" should be their poster boy for that.

Quote from: quiller on October 22, 2010, 06:43:51 AM
Better to have a plan ready for events that never take place than to be caught totally unprepared when it does. Nobody planned for the Great Depression (they just exacerbated it with FDR spending). Nobody appears to be planning in the event of small-scale tactical dirty-bombs being set off near the true distribution hubs of the Internet, which would freeze the computer-driven world of banking and commerce (as well as us civilians just yakking away).

You wouldn't HAVE to drop a nuke to create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to kill what makes American PRESENTLY run.

Optimism is one thing but prudence is another. We do need fall-back plans. FEMA's "Hell of a Job, Brownie" should be their poster boy for that.

Preparing for the end of times is by far different that a week of disruptions.
Fallout shelter, radiation suit, freeze dried food for ten years of sustenance....etc
There is no end to preparations, I have enough to sustain ST and myself for a lifetime, but the quality will be a mere shadow of what were used to.

Point is, whatever happens, it will not effect more than 1% of the population, it will just seem like more, thanks to the media hyping it and bringing it close to home with 24 hour coverage.
The best preparation a man can do is to get the Hell out of the city. 

But I just don't see where all this prophecy of the end times is coming from.
We have a Marxist in the WH and suddenly people are talking of the Nation collapsing?

Man has been predicting the end of times since long before the written word, I highly doubt we could be so fortunate as to see God show up and smite us all.

Quote from: Solar on October 22, 2010, 07:02:22 AM
Preparing for the end of times is by far different that a week of disruptions.
Fallout shelter, radiation suit, freeze dried food for ten years of sustenance....etc
There is no end to preparations, I have enough to sustain ST and myself for a lifetime, but the quality will be a mere shadow of what were used to.

Point is, whatever happens, it will not effect more than 1% of the population, it will just seem like more, thanks to the media hyping it and bringing it close to home with 24 hour coverage.
The best preparation a man can do is to get the Hell out of the city. 

But I just don't see where all this prophecy of the end times is coming from.
We have a Marxist in the WH and suddenly people are talking of the Nation collapsing?

Man has been predicting the end of times since long before the written word, I highly doubt we could be so fortunate as to see God show up and smite us all.

Liberals would invite Jesus to supper, listen to what He had to say, and then ridicule Him. That's provided the Big Guy didn't just explode our Sun, or send Earth into it.

We have a Marxist in the White House and the nation IS collapsing. We hope 11/2 will begin the healing, but this isn't reversed yet by any means and the effects of Obamatrauma will affect us for decades, not just the few unthinkable years of Hussein's illegal presidency.

...But collapse in the sense of bomb shelters, MREs and that stuff? I do not underestimate the liberal thieving mentality bringing looters to every community in crisis. Detroit, 1968 was a great example (just as it was in 1943). Close a blind pig and watch a city burn.

So we're arguing rate of decay and whether democracy can be restored and us brought back from the precipice which the MRE-gobblers see is coming, and we mere mortals do not. Okey-dokey. Hoard your guns, reloading equipment, and anything else you can afford. It's your money. In America you are free to spend it however you want.

You'll be the guy with coffee when interstate trucking breaks down and goods don't get to our grocery stores, because someone hijacked the load. I'll be seriously pissed from caffiene deficiency, you'll be laughing your ass off that I didn't follow your example, and Solar will be standing there like I am, no MREs in hand and a long face on finding anyone who HAS.

I can live with that. I just believe it'll happen sooner than later if the same Arab scumbags keep getting the weaponry to put their payloads in range of the continental United States.

Every community in America is now running on computerized records, which can be instantly wiped out in an EMP attack. It is unadulterated fantasy to believe that American business has 100% reliable, protected data back-ups, to regain even a SEMBLANCE of its former organization.

They don't have to put any soldiers' boots on our soil. They just have to set off strategically-placed suitcase bombs and wipe out computerized America.

I just don't see it as an issue, cities, large ones at that do not comprise the majority of the Nation, never has, never will.
The food does not come from the cities, nor does the water, cities are merely the largest consumers, it is rural America that made this Country, not the other way around, and it will be rural America that bails it our.

Would it really be all that bad if th Bay area disappeared, or NY or Chicago?
Of course I jest, but really, the Country could easily function without them.

Quote from: Solar on October 22, 2010, 07:49:42 AM
I just don't see it as an issue, cities, large ones at that do not comprise the majority of the Nation, never has, never will.
The food does not come from the cities, nor does the water, cities are merely the largest consumers, it is rural America that made this Country, not the other way around, and it will be rural America that bails it our.

Would it really be all that bad if th Bay area disappeared, or NY or Chicago?
Of course I jest, but really, the Country could easily function without them.

I live 30 miles in any one direction from the nearest freeway (the most likely path they'll take when the city shuts down its water, like Detroit can, affecting suburbs as well). There are long dark roads that scare city drivers. We are used to dark roads, and they will never see us coming.

Erecting roadblocks into the county would pose little problem, and these local SWAT-happy badge-polishers with all their DHS money (and customized T-shirt uniforms) are now chafing at the leash to try out those MP-5s and other toys for helping make someone's day. (Something to do while you're waiting to finish off a wandering possum in town, or maybe a wounded deer. We haven't had a cop shot much less killed in decades.)

Will the city folk come out to the country? Yes. And we will bury all looters, regardless of status. They'll try something else after word gets around, and it will. Here there be Gun Owners, not Victims.