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Page added on December 21, 2015
Kunstler: Christmas Present
Theory du jour: the new Star Wars movie is sucking in whatever meager disposable lucre remains among the economically-flayed mid-to-lower orders of America. In fact, I propose a new index showing an inverse relationship between Star Wars box office receipts and soundness of the financial commonweal. In other words, Star Wars is all that remains of the US economy outside of the obscure workings of Wall Street — and that heretofore magical realm is not looking too rosy either in this season of the Great Rate Hike after puking up 623 points of the DJIA last Thursday and Friday.
Here I confess: for thirty years I have hated those stupid space movies, as much for their badly-written scripts (all mumbo-jumbo exposition of nonsensical story-lines between explosions) as for the degenerate techno-narcissism they promote in a society literally dying from the diminishing returns and unintended consequences of technology.
It adds up to an ominous Yuletide. Turns out that the vehicle the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee was driving in its game of “chicken” with oncoming reality was a hearse. The occupants are ghosts, but don’t know it. A lot of commentators around the web think that the Fed “pulled the trigger” on interest rates to save its credibility. Uh, wrong. They had already lost their credibility. What remains is for these ghosts to helplessly watch over the awesome workout, which has obviously been underway for quite a while in the crash of commodity prices (and whole national economies — e.g. Brazil, Canada, Australia), the janky regions of the bond markets, the related death of the shale oil industry, and the imploding hedge fund scene.
As it were, all credit these days looks shopworn and threadbare, as if the capital markets had by stealth turned into a swap meet of previously-owned optimism. Who believes in anything these days besides the allure of fraud? Capital is supposedly plentiful these days — look how much has rushed into the dollar from the nervous former go-go nations with their wobbling ziggurats of bad loans and surfeit of production capacity — but what actually constitutes that capital? Answer: the dwindling faith anyone will pay you back next Tuesday for a hamburger today.
We now enter the “discovery” phase of financial collapse, where things labeled “capital” and “credit” turn out to be mere holograms. Fed Chair Janet Yellen herself had a sort of hologramatic look last Wednesday when she stepped onto her Delphic platform to reveal the long-heralded interest rate news. Perhaps Mrs. Yellen is a figment conjured by George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic shop (now owned by Disney). What could be more fitting in a smoke-and-mirrors culture? Anyway, the rude discovery that capital is not what it has appeared to be is now underway, with the power to derail political systems and societies.
Is there anyone who thinks the Presidential election campaign is not completely deranged? Well, it is the analog for America’s deranged financial polity. The graceless Mr. Trump necessarily reflects the just grievances of the great public wad, but has anyone noticed that he is incapable of stringing together two coherent thoughts? I suppose one thought at a time — or maybe a percentage of one thought — is enough to satisfy the sputtering masses, faced as they are by the arrant theft of both their patrimony and their future. But it adds up to something like flying blind through a shitstorm with your pilot in the throes of cerebral infarction. I don’t want to be on that plane.
Then there’s the giant flying reptile known simply as Hillary. She will blow up the sad and noisome remains of the Democratic party and then she will preside over the blow-up of the USA as an advanced techno-industrial society. That final outcome may be inevitable one way or another, but the journey there need not be so harsh. America needs a vision of something other than itself as a permanent demolition derby, which, by the way, will not be “solved” by pushing everyone into a Tesla instead of a Ford F-150.
It’s not just the Federal Reserve; everything around us is backed into a corner. Come January, when the dazzle of Star Wars
fades away, you will hear instead through the long dark nights a howl of raging animals. Merry Christmas to all.
109 Comments on "Kunstler: Christmas Present"
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 11:22 am
What Davy calls inaccuracies is really just his inability to admit the brutality of the American empire. All empires, since the first one, follow a basic blueprint and violence is at the foundation.
School Of The Americas: Training Torturers & Secret Police For US-Backed Dictators Since 1946
Over 64,000 soldiers have been trained to oppress, smash dissent, and maintain American imperial order since the “school” first opened.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/212023-2/212023/
JuanP on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 11:56 am
Hello, My not honoring my traditions has nothing to do with having lived in the USA as an adult at all. It is just the way I am. I have always made my choices and decisions based on my knowledge and experience with very little consideration paid to other people’s opinions.
I threw my last birthday party when I became ten years old. I have disliked Christmas since I was seven and haven’t celebrated one with my family since I was sixteen. I never celebrated my country’s national holidays. I was expelled from three high schools as a teenager because I would not yield to bullying and brainwashing. I was forbidden from attending mass at my local church when I was ten after I started jumping up and calling the priests liars every single time they lied. I also shouted at the whole congregation and called them cowards and hypocrites because they wouldn’t stand up for the truth.
Like I said, it’s just the way I am. By the time I came to the USA my character and personality were already completely formed. Please don’t blame the USA for the way I am because that is not fare. The USA has done many, many horrible things in their brief existence, but they are definitely not responsible for the way I am. Blaming Uruguay and Uruguayans would make more sense, but I, personally, blame myself.
onlooker on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 11:57 am
Yes Apeman much of the atrocities that have occurred in Central and South America can be linked to that school.
Here is another link:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Terrorism/SOA.html
JuanP on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 11:58 am
I meant to say that blaming the USA is not fair.
onlooker on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 12:00 pm
Yes you can blame the USA for alot of things but not for encouraging critical thinking or thinking outside the box.
JuanP on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 12:02 pm
Ap, I still react physically to any mention of the US School of the Americas. I was chewing and choked on my food when I read your comment. I don’t want to go there because it would disturb me deeply. I will just say that IMO it was one of the most evil institutions created in human history. I have met several of their graduates through the years and every single one of them was a motherfucking prick.
Revi on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 12:27 pm
I lived in Central America in the early 80’s. It was a really scary place, in part thanks to the School of the Americas. They taught the Guatemalan government how to be insanely brutal. I am worried that those chickens could come home to roost. This next election could be the one when we vote in leaders that are similar to those who ruled Central America in the 80’s.
onlooker on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 1:02 pm
This is the type of thing that makes you wonder about the phychopaths who run this world.
22 People Killed by US Airstrike on Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan
Link: http://othervoicesotherchoices.blogspot.com/
Davy on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 1:08 pm
I find it amusing how my comment goes from a comment on Christmas in America and twisted into a comment on the School of the Americas.
Davy on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 1:14 pm
You know you are on to something when they start the personal attacks without provocation. It is censorship in action. Unless you have comments in line with their narrative you are a focus of the attacks. What is amazing lately on this board is it is a group effort. Cool and the gang.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 1:35 pm
When empires crumble the elite always turn on their own populous. This is already well underway in the US and other western countries to varying degrees. If the Trumpenfuhrer gets elected don’t be surprised if the confederate brownshirts (caucasian shirts) start patrolling the streets for un-American activities, like questioning authority or not cheerleading enthusiastically enough. Punishment will be swift and severe. Many thought Hitler was clown too. Either way, the manifest destiny mindset will continue to be turned on the citizenry. No country forged in that much violence is going to go quietly into the night.
America Has Been At War 93% of the Time – 222 Out of 239 Years – Since 1776
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-war-93-time-222-239-years-since-1776.html
Trump’s Embrace of Totalitarianism is America’s Dirty Little Secret
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/30/trumps-embrace-of-totalitarianism-is-americas-dirty-little-secret/
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 1:48 pm
Davy, you’re the one with the censorship mentality – sometimes subtle, sometimes not. No one on this board spends more time trying to get others NOT to talk about a specific subject – Empire. Of all your strategies, the poor me I’m being attacked victim card is the lamest one. I am not responsible for you attaching your identity to the empire. Maybe it’s about defending the 1% family since the 1% have the lion’s share of the wealth and blood on their hands. Was grandpa a war profiteer? Great granddad a slave owner? An industrialist exploiting child labour? Where the family wealth come from? Who got fucked over?
JuanP on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 1:49 pm
Apneaman, I completely agree. It is the motherfucking American one percenters that are mostly responsible for having ruined the USA, particularly the white Christian and Jewish ones. Not the poor, the latinos, the blacks, or the aliens, be they legal or illegal. And this is nothing new or exceptional; every empire that ever existed went through the same. Americans are victims of their circumstances.
onlooker on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 2:00 pm
We are not directing righteous ire at the general masses of the US it is against the elite. I speak as someone who has lived all his life in the US and would like nothing more than to be proud of my country. But unfortunately, the actions and policies of this country manifest the worst in human behavior. This is an Empire and everything they have done confirms it. That is not to say that others, other governments/elites are innocent far from it. But the truth is that via this country the true 00001% rulers have forged a horribly unjust, unequal and unsustainable world. Those are the facts and nobody should wish to hide the facts unless they deny them or have some ulterior motive.
Davy on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 2:17 pm
Like I said you know you are winning the idea battle when they start the personal attacks. Their responses become standard efforts at redirection so as to try to entrap you in a new conflict. What is so interesting these days is the group coordination. It has greatly changed the message of the board.
If you do not agree with the general message you are attacked from multiple directions. This reminds me of hyenas when they rid the pack of a unwanted member.
We are witnessing coordinated extremism of a band of brothers dedicated to a message of intolerance for anything that infringes on this bands message. We know what that message is but what we don’t know is how long they can enforce censorship through personal attacks and idea forcing.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 2:20 pm
David Cameron’s ‘counter extremism’ experts work with far-right Donald Trump sympathisers
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/donald-trump-s-trojan-horse-in-britain-bdb40f7d1867#.jyq4fc2bu
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 2:26 pm
Davy, you know what a real personal attack is? How about when someone (YOU) challenges another commenter to a knife fight like you did a while ago? How about when you said in your anger to another commenter that you shit and piss on them? Shut the fuck up Davy boy. You and that other 1%er man child, the Donald, have much in common.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 2:53 pm
Surprisingly insightful from a libertarian investment blog.
Et Tu, Brute? (How Empires Die)
“And in so-observing, those of us who have studied the history of empires note that history is once again repeating itself. Time and time again, great empires build themselves up through industriousness and sound economic management only to subsequently decline into debt, complacency, and an entitlement mind-set.
Over the millennia, empires as disparate as Persia, Rome, Spain, and Great Britain rose to dominate the world. Of course, we know how those empires turned out and, by extension, we might hazard an educated guess as to how the present American Empire will end.
In the final throes of empire-decline, we invariably observe the more sociopathic trends of a failing power, such as we’re seeing today from the US.”
http://www.internationalman.com/articles/et-tu-brute-how-empires-die
Davy on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 2:55 pm
When you really know you got them is when they reach and reach and reach. Some people don’t know when they have been beat like a drum.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 3:18 pm
“you got them”
What have you got Davy? Can you be specific? “reach and reach and reach.” WTF is that? Sounds pretty vague hollow and meaningless to me. Seems remarkably brief for the board bloviator.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 3:20 pm
Polls may actually underestimate Trump’s support, study finds
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trump-polls-20151221-story.html
Hello on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 3:29 pm
Ape:
What’s your point?
Every empire dies. Every planet dies, every solar system dies. Such is nature.
But I hope you’re not as naive as to believe that the successor to the US will be all flowers and peace and worshipping the Apeman, or are you?
JuanP: I hope you realize that even ‘truth’ is relative. And maybe what you call ‘truth’ might not be so true after all.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 4:22 pm
Hello, what’s your point? If a bad guy was about to shoot your entire family would you still be so cavalier since they are going to die someday anyhow? What makes you think there is going to be a successor empire this time? You think I’m all about flowers and peace? You would be wrong. For example I’m totally alright with how the allies bombed the shit out of Germany in WWII, since they were the expansionist aggressors and had it coming.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 5:02 pm
‘Almost too late’: fears of global superbug crisis in wake of antibiotic misuse
Antibiotic Research UK director says chances of salvaging most important drugs are 50-50 after resistant bacteria found in pigs and humans in England and WalesTuesday 22 December
“It is feared the crisis could further penetrate Europe as displaced migrants enter from a war-torn Middle East, where countries such as Syria have increasing levels of antibiotic resistance.
Dr Brown told said: “It is almost too late. We needed to start research 10 years ago and we still have no global monitoring system in place.”
“The issue is people have tried to find new antibiotics but it is totally failing – there has been no new chemical class of drug to treat gram-negative infections for more than 40 years.
“I think we have got a 50-50 chance of salvaging the most important antibiotics but we need to stop agriculture from ruining it again.”
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/22/almost-too-late-fears-of-global-superbug-crisis-in-wake-of-antibiotic-misuse
efarmer on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 7:34 pm
I very much admire Jim Kunstler’s writing in book or blog formats and have for many years. I am however glad he is not my dentist.
efarmer: “How do they look Dr. Jim?
Can you fix them, especially those two that throb all the time?”
Dr. Jim: “Well when you were a kid and your choppers all fell out and you looked like a pumpkin, you should of had a clue. All I can do is tell you the myriad of things that are going to defeat your choppers, and that no matter what you do it is futile, your going to lose. I am wrote a book called “Teeth Made by Hand” about where Dentistry is going after all this plastic resin, Insurance, and high tech pharmaceutical crap hits the big fan. You ought to read it. Let’s face it kid, everything I am going to do today for you is a stop gap to just slow the process. I got a deal for you and your hopelessly sprawled out suburbia teeth. Dr. Jim will get a canvas and I will paint you with good teeth and a big smile so you can hang it on the wall and just point up to it when you want to flash a smile. I got my paints and brushes right here ready to go.
efarmer: Wow Dr. Jim, that sure is bleak, any possible solution that is less gloomy?”
Dr. Jim: “Nope, you’re fucked kid, no sense stringing you along. How are you paying today?”
efarmer:”Your choice, 10 bags of freeze dried beef stew, or I pedal the bicycle that powers your dental drill for 3 hours while drinking Red Bull. I figure that way I won’t run out of energy and have the people screaming while you drill like that last time. Oh, do you take Bitcoin? I am flush with Bitcoin.”
makati1 on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 7:47 pm
efarmer, I hope you are not placing your faith and wealth in emoney. That vaporizes when the internet ceases to exist. We came close last year when the solar flare missed the planet by a few days. Next time…
GregT on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 9:12 pm
“Happy winter solstice everyone.”
Thanks Ghung! Looking forward to the days getting longer.
Apneaman on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 10:13 pm
Taxpayer funds that could be used to relocate folks are being spent to protect the properties of the wealthy for a few years more.
Geology Expert on Miami Beach’s Counter-Flooding Measures: Money Down the Drain
“To cope with its recurrent flooding, Miami Beach has already spent something like a hundred million dollars. It is planning on spending several hundred million more. Such efforts are, in Wanless’s view, so much money down the drain. Sooner or later—and probably sooner—the city will have too much water to deal with. Even before that happens, Wanless believes, insurers will stop selling policies on the luxury condos that line Biscayne Bay. Banks will stop writing mortgages.”
http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2015/12/15/miami-beach-counter-flooding.php
makati1 on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 10:15 pm
I no longer put up a Pagan tree and decorate it with fancy junk. The only holiday I celebrate is New Years by going up on the roof deck and watching fireworks for an hour or so. Millions of them as far as the eye can see.
peakyeast on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 10:46 pm
@makati: The very same here. 🙂
peakyeast on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 10:54 pm
@GregT: Happy life to you. 😉
GregT on Tue, 22nd Dec 2015 11:00 pm
And a happy life to you as well Peaky. May your days get longer, brighter, and warmer!
makati1 on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 6:49 am
Guys, be patient. The Ozark redneck is about to board the family’s jet to the Bahamas or someplace warm for the holidays. All expenses paid, probably by you, the taxpayer, as a ‘business expense’. There he will kiss butt to keep his place in the inheritance queue.
LOL
Davy on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 7:27 am
Merry Christmas to you too Mak
JuanP on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 7:41 am
Ap, I was just telling my wife exactly the same thing this expert said yesterday while driving through Miami Beach’s streets. The first program to deal with floods was $100 million in bonds. Now they are doing a $250 million program, but the situation is getting worse everyday regardless. I told my wife, the next time it will be $500 million, and then $1 billion, and so on until they go broke. And the city will keep getting more and more flooded all the time because everything they are doing is not enough to prevent the situation from deteriorating. And we are still building high rises and single family mansions like there is no problem. It is absolutely crazy.
onlooker on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 7:50 am
Yes Juan crazy. It is all about the culture of denial of the entire predicament we are in. One can just as easily point to other examples. The momentum of civilization is not going to be stopped that easily. It will be from a combination of disasters and consequences and also as Kunstler stated “we will keep doing what we are doing until we cannot, then we won’t”
Apneaman on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 2:10 pm
It seems an increasing amount of the little people will be spending their christmas in a tent…..if they are lucky. This is usually the point where some corntard like boat counters with yabut $1.68 gas.
These 15 Cities Are Destroying Homeless Camps Just Days Before Christmas
“The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that on any given night, there are over 578,000 Americans sleeping on the streets. At the same time, there are at least 10 million vacant homes across America that are lying empty.”
http://usuncut.com/news/15-cities-destroying-homeless-camps-just-days-before-christmas/
Once in awhile they get a reprieve from a compassionate judge, but still if governments are treating them like this now what happens when it gets really bad?
B.C. Supreme Court sides with homeless, forbids city from banning camps
“The two parties have been embroiled in a longstanding dispute, which culminated in 2013 with city staff dumping chicken manure on the camp in an effort to drive its residents away. Tents were also slashed and pepper sprayed by police.”
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-supreme-court-sides-with-homeless-forbids-city-from-banning-camps-1.2620120
My feeling is that the very sight of the growing number and size of these camps in the land(s) of milk and honey are an obvious indicator that the system is crumbling. If you’re a manager of the system this reflects poorly on you (even though you are but 1 part of a much greater problem) and is a threat to your carrere/mortage/pension. The NIMBYs may call for a change of guard, so the knee jerk response to a failing system is to once again scapegoat and attack the weakest. Under BAU these camps are only going to grow. How long until the soccer moms are calling for blood?
Apneaman on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 3:22 pm
2015: The Year of Lying Dangerously
“The crash of the industrial age proceeded apace in 2015. One reason that is not well understood is that a different, parallel trend — the onset of moral bankruptcy accompanying the collapse of American Empire — also accelerated this year, often obscuring the economic news, often by design. Whether one is causing the other, or both are caused by something else, is something for the historians to sort out, if there are any historians. Right now, both are happening too fast to analyze. But let’s focus for a moment on the moral decline.”
http://www.dailyimpact.net/2015/12/23/2015-the-year-of-lying-dangerously/
peakyeast on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 5:02 pm
@apneaman: What I find so appalling is the complete disconnect from reason in the treatment of the homeless people.
It cost 85$ a day to have a person in prison – or 2550$ a month or about 31.000 a year. Or a pretty good life if in freedom.
In essense: Society is so absurdly perverted that it actually wants to pay EXTRA in order to abuse, mistreat and ruin peoples lifes.
That is even sicker than most deranged psychopaths ever get to be.
makati1 on Wed, 23rd Dec 2015 8:45 pm
peaky, no one can make a profit off of the homeless and destitute. They can make bundles off of corporate owned prisons, paid by you, the taxpayer.
If half of the prison money (~$30,000,000,000.00) went to the ~600,000 homeless, they would each get about $50,000 per year.
2,000,000+ prisoners X $30,000 / 600,000 homeless = $50,000.
The Us is one screwed up, greedy nation. You can blame the government, but the people put the government in place and don’t change it so they are also to blame. Maybe more so. “Let someone else do it!”
Apneaman on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 12:29 am
Unseasonable Greetings in a New York Searching for Jack Frost
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/nyregion/white-christmas-not-a-chance-in-an-unusually-balmy-new-york.html
makati1 on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 12:41 am
Davy, I don’t celebrate any holiday except New Years. They are ALL about money, nothing else. Religion is just another long existing scam which is now tearing the world apart.
So be it. Dust to dust. Nothing after. “Live life to the fullest”, the saying goes, because when it ends, there is no other.
Davy on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:04 am
Makster, I know your religious positions goofy, I was responding to your unprovoked personal attack nicely. As for your earlier personal attack, you mention me kissing my families ass for inheritance, ok fine. Nice sounding attack but bs.
You on the other hand have real issues of ass kissing. You need to consider the boyfriend you have this Platonic relationship with and your need to ass kiss. You have no property in the P’s. All you have is a relationship with a man allowing you a faux farm to doomstead on. You cross your boyfriend then he kicks you out and you are homeless. How is that for seasons greetings?
P.S. Mak, for board tranquility leave me alone why incite discontent. You are the primary reason this board has polarized.
Davy on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:23 am
Sounds like the homeless thing is spreading north to the land of “milk and honey”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-23/canadas-depression-surging-crime-soaring-suicides-overwhelmed-food-banks-and-worst-y
Apneaman on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:30 am
That’s the christmas spirit (of hate) Davy. No mak is not the primary reason this board has polarized. A board cannot be polarized; only people can. This is you, yet again, attempting to gain allies and form a coalition. There is no “we” around here, so stop your high school game playing. I actually think you just insulted the other board participants by suggesting they can be so easily influenced simply by reading maks comments. Davy thinks y’all is gullible fellas. On the other hand, maybe mak is a master of debate and rhetoric and you’re just jealous of his abilities.
Apneaman on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:32 am
Davy, I already posted a story about that the day it came out over 2 week ago. Try and keep up.
Apneaman on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:33 am
http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmonton/2015/12/07/suicide-rate-rises-by-25-per-cent-in-alberta.html
Davy on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:33 am
Cool and the “Gang” coming to the rescue
Davy on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:35 am
How about China’s answer for the homeless:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-23/china-proposes-fix-its-crashing-housing-market-transplant-100-million-farmers-its-ci
Apneaman on Thu, 24th Dec 2015 4:56 am
I’m jealous. I want to be the board polarizer. It’s always been a dream of mine ever since I came here. Maybe for christmas, I’ll get that 12 disk DVD course
“How to polarize blogs like a pro by mak the knife”