[ReverseEngineer]

I find myself in a helpless position with respect to some of my friends who just don't really think its all that bad, or going to get all that bad either. These are younger folks mostly, I am thinking in this case particularly of a young couple I know, one of whom was just accepted into a Fashion program at one of the Fashion Industry prep programs down in Los Angeles. So now they both are planning on moving down to LA over the summer.

To make this move, both will be giving up their jobs here. The cost of the school is $24K a year, she has nearly half of 1 year tution saved and is hoping Grandparents will cover the other half. Then of course there are all the costs involved in living in LA.

Now, obviously I consider $24K spent this way on Fashion education is a waste of good Prep money, and obviously also the choice to move to LOS ANGELES of all places at this time to me is insane. However, these are young Alaskas who really haven't lived outside in the "real world", they grew up in Ameirca though with the expectation that it would always be this land of great opportunity to pursue high paying careers in Fashion design or whatever. Getting accepted to the "exclusive" school seems like a really Big Deal and Great Opportunity.

While these folks are friends and listen to my Doomer rants, they don't really believe it will be all that bad. Its just a Recession to them, and so far not even a bad one at that from their point of view, since problems really haven't touched us directly up here in the Mat Valley as of yet. So nothing I say would dissuade them from making this move, and I feel helpless and sad. I can't even make a difference for these friends. Well at least not now. Maybe they will be able to get back here before it gets too bad.

Reverse Engineer

[TWilliam]

It's something I think all of us here on this site have felt at one time or another, RE. It is indeed painful on many levels to watch friends and loved ones make choices that we know they will very likely come to regret in the not too distant future, especially when we've tried to warn them and they blow us off as over-reactive (or worse).

I doubt there's really much that one can do beyond hoping they wake up before it's too late. Even if ultimately our collective efforts to step back from the abyss turn out to be futile, I for one at least am glad I see it coming. I hate being blind-sided...

[Concerned]

No matter how bad the depression. Some people will make money while others starve.

Strange as it may seem these guys getting into fashion may prove successful. Our economy is still quite a lottery in terms of rewarding people.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Concerned', 'N')o matter how bad the depression. Some people will make money while others starve.

[Fishman]

RE
Buy an extra shovel, hoe or maybe a tarp for them when they come back. It's all you can do. If a feudal system develops you will be the lord of the manor and they peasants. How you treat them then will be your choice. It's their choice now.

[wisconsin_cur]

If they want to pursue the "pigman" way of life they get what they deserve right?

We all know people, love people, who are not going to make it out of this. Welcome to the real world. I can think of a hundred of people headed in the same direction and yes you are helpless. Get use to it. Remember "Lord high executioner" that every one you would put up against the wall is someone's friend, lover, mentor, loved-one.

That is why many of us do not demonstrate the same joy at revolution that you espouse. That is why I find that attitude so repulsive.

The only hope is that communications break down before I know what happened to who so I do not have to deal with those emotions... instead, they can just fade away like old friends.

[Aaron]

Bigfoot eat their dead...

[JJ]

What makes me feel hopeless is the constant, endless stream of morbidly obese PREGNANT people I see every day. It seems like every other person I see is pregnant AND on welfare...I can't help but wonder how they are going to feed these kids...

[SeaGypsy]

A simple cockroach trap can provide protien; seaweed or grass tips for minerals@ folate.

Not quite life on the pension; but life.......(?)

They say every casino in the world has a famous suicide spot nearby; cliff or train track etc.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', 'I')f they want to pursue the "pigman" way of life they get what they deserve right?.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JJ', 'W')hat makes me feel hopeless is the constant, endless stream of morbidly obese PREGNANT people I see every day. It seems like every other person I see is pregnant AND on welfare...I can't help but wonder how they are going to feed these kids...

[JJ]

obesity and welfare don't go hand in hand, it just seems that most of the people I see buying groceries with TEXAS STAR cards are obese...just an observation. I wonder if more people on welfare are obese than not? (actually, I think there was some study that poor people are more obese, come to think of it, because of poor diet...)

[Maddog78]

I saw the same.
Cheap food is full of carbs abd fructose.
You can see it in my city.
Drive through the rich part of town, very few obese.
Poor part of town, many obese.
Exercise habits are a factor of course. Maybe it's easier to get exercise if you are wealthier. Motivation and opportunity etc.
Maybe those type A personalties just want to do it.

[JJ]

quote:

What is rarely discussed is that the government's own data show that the overwhelming majority of food insecure adults are, like most adult Americans, overweight or obese. Among adult males experiencing food insecurity, fully 70 percent are overweight or obese.[9] Nearly three-quarters of adult women experiencing food insecurity are either overweight or obese, and nearly half (45 percent) are obese. Virtually no food insecure adults are underweight.

http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/wm1701.cfm

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', 'I')f they want to pursue the "pigman" way of life they get what they deserve right?.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', '
')New fashions every year or two to keep people consuming?

[wisconsin_cur]

I have been trying to make a point to RE, he is so quick to condem so many others and leave them to their fate because of the decisions they make, yet these people has him sad and feeling helpless. I am trying to make the point of empathy to him.

I feel for the people, even though I do not know them because they remind me of plenty of people that I know. I only wish that he who would line so many people against the wall because he considers them pig people could transfer the same empathy to other people whom he does not know, because they are like the people that he does know. Maybe they are not evil but are people making the same kind of decisions as this young couple.

RE has said that you cannot make an omelet (his vision of a new order) without breaking some eggs. When it is people he cares about who are the eggs, all of the sudden he finds his sensitive side. Too bad he cannot extend that same empathy to people who just doesn't happen to know.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', ' ') Perhaps RE will come back and define that they are not pig people and if so what they are since they are sure not moving into the wilderness, preparing to live the hunter/gatherer life he advocates. I would not call fashion a vital industry or something he would value. New fashions every year or two to keep people consuming?

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RE', 'F')or the people who bought into this system, even the apparatchiks who did so at the expense of their souls, being berated by their bosses and stressing out in 100 hour work weeks, they made a compact with the Devil, and they lost the bet. Do I feel the least bit sorry for any of them, the $100K a year trenchers just trying to make ends meet in NYC, where a one bedroom apt could cost you $2500 a month or more? No I do not. If you were so stupid as to buy this game, you now reap the results of that, its YOUR problem, not MY problem. Wannabee Pigmen are not a whole lot different than the Pigmen themselves, they serve also as the apparatchiks of Satan. They will Burn in Hell also.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RE', 'F')or the people who bought into this system, even the apparatchiks who did so at the expense of their souls, being berated by their bosses and stressing out in 100 hour work weeks, they made a compact with the Devil, and they lost the bet. Do I feel the least bit sorry for any of them, the $100K a year trenchers just trying to make ends meet in NYC, where a one bedroom apt could cost you $2500 a month or more? No I do not. If you were so stupid as to buy this game, you now reap the results of that, its YOUR problem, not MY problem. Wannabee Pigmen are not a whole lot different than the Pigmen themselves, they serve also as the apparatchiks of Satan. They will Burn in Hell also.