Timely post

Thank you for this timely post, Mike. I see people every time I go to town that are completely unaware of what is happening to the country. They are unaware because they do not take the time to look beyond their immediate circumstances to the people around them who are falling off the edge. As long as one is in the middle of the road, the edge seems too far away to be concerned about. It is when one creeps closer to the edge that realization sets in. Unfortunately, if one chooses to keep the blinders on, the chances of falling off the edge without even realizing what has happened are all too likely.

by Barbara Peterson (46 articles, 80 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 416 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 11:35:16 AM
 

Barbara

As unemployment climbs in the U.S., the collateral damage will become massive. People will spend what retirement and reserve money that they had while attempting to remain solvent.

I reported yesterday that 772,000 people either lost their jobs or failed to find work in the past 90 days.

The latest Household Survey Data from the Department of Labor revealed that 7.8 million Americans are now unemployed. Yet, we continue to allow immigration at the rate of 125,000 per month.

As you suggest, third world status is quite visible to the unemployed. This is the time to prepare for those who can. However, I fear that may be very small percentage of the population.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 12:04:25 PM
 

mr folkerth is a smarty

when the ship comes in for amerika it will have no suites, just steerage. the pilots will just open the hatch and allow us cattle to traipse in with or with-out the cattle prods. whooooo did not know, among the literate, that shrub ,the texas guv of the great executing state, was not a monster! but alas when we talked and tried to cajole the jersies and guernsies among our herds, it was not heeded by the "he looks like a good guy to have a beer with,' and 'he talks to the creator through his friends at the carlyle evangelical church" , bunch of nabobs.

we are preaching again to the choir. someone has got to go on kvetching with the stars, or american idle (due to the ceo of our great notion). here we can get the attention of that 19% of great patriots who follow the fuehrer-in-chief in lock step with the party line.  in fact all our phones , e-mails, etc are now party lines.

hail to the chief of the local branch of the illuminati. we have met the enemy, and it is we the people.

wolfie says moooooo. 

by Wolfie (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 33 diaries, 1208 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 1:34:43 PM
 

Scary and True

This is a great piece, Mike. I have to think that at this point, a lot of people have to be actively blocking their perception of our precarious reality. It is likely too overwhelming to truly examaine what has happened to our country, and many feel they no longer have any say in the actions of the corporatists who have taken over the government that was intended to be "by the people, for the people". They have essentially given up, and the ones that aren't circling the drain already are self-medicating with HDTV cable packages, fast food, alcohol, and 24/7 excess consumption. While I understand the blinders (for the most part), I also strongly feel that we are missing the last chances we will likely ever have to at least try to change things! If Darth and Duh-bya attack Iran, we will see the 3rd world come about here real quick. The consequences of such a folly, both immediate and incremental, will result in the end of what most people think of as America.  

by Anna Van Z (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 2:40:21 PM
 

Anna

In the words of Robert Service, "There are strange things done in the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold," and also by those who run our country.

The current game of restoring our economy by inflating our way out of the current mess is a very dangerous game. Prices are skyrocketing, the dollar is falling, employment is lagging (7.8 million unemployed and counting) and should there not be a speedy recovery, the perfect brew has been concocted to pitch us into depression.

I agree that few people really want to look further than American Idol or Jerry Springer for an answer. It is hard to come to grips that a job is the only thing between us and third world status. Yuck!

We badly need both term limits and campaign financing...but even now, it may be too late until after a total collapse.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 4:26:01 PM
 

GUEST WHAT

ITS ALL OVER BUT THE TALKING ABOUT IT.

by RICHARD SHADE (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 460 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 5:28:07 PM
 

Yep, Maybe Sooner

A lot of folks who I know both professionally and personally are now being forced to take second jobs due to the huge spike in food and gas prices just to feed their kids. There is no end in sight either as this thing is only in it's nascent stages and the collapse of looter capitalism is underway, it is going to be increasingly harder for those high rolling P.R. firms to spin this away so easily anymore. Real people are really starting to suffer for the first time in their lives and you know when the big boys are now openly admitting a "shallow recession" is highly likely the truth is much worse.

Hang on, it's gonna be an express elevator ride to Hell.

Great post

EE

by Ed Encho (8 articles, 18 quicklinks, 56 diaries, 394 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 5:32:43 PM
 

Mostly true of course, and most know it now

I see that you couldnt resist noting the numbers of "known" illegals within our borders, just for fun I guess. If I were Lou Costello Id ask why, if they are known , we dont just pick 'em up and ship 'em back? But Im not and I wont.

Scapegoating really doesnt help, Mike, really it doesnt. These folks are , by and large, decent folks seeking to earn money to feed and clothe their families. That they cannot do so is the fault of our own policies and our rapacious corporations that sell food in Mexico cheaper than the campesinos can afford to sell it. This is , of course, only one such example of our ruinous policies towards the economies of many nations, resluting in a flood of folks risking life and limb to earn a buck.

Instead of looking upon these folks as the "enemy" perhaps we should see in them our own future should we fail to act......

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 5:50:19 PM
 

True but that's how things get fixed

Some 10 years ago I wrote a similar piece. The response from a broad spectrum of society was so overwhelming - I was called a insane crackpot, a lunatic, a man with deep emotional problem, a defeatist liberal alarmist, etc. - that I decided to let time take its course. When a great society enjoy hubris so much there's no much to do but to let the party go on.

So what can be done? Actually, nature is already taking its course and is fixing things. A few tips:

1) Join the corporatist elite crowd. Things are swell in that camp. You don't need a lot of fancy skills, since your job is not to create tomorrow's industry. But you need a lot of international connections. You work is to identify any remaining US industries that can be further donwsized. Bush is your friend as he works hard to sign up 'free trade' packs with ever smaller countries. It's a no brainer to setup shops in these countries. Your rewards will be great. 

2) The Iraq war is in fact one giant security privatization industry. It has been very profitable for established military-industrial complex on the hardware side, and the new privatized security appratus on the service side. It is still not late to enter this exciting field. 

3) Join the medical insurance business. Like the firearm industry supported by the NRA, medical insurance is even more profitable than Wall Street banking and is 'insured' against government over-regulations. Look, people get sick and they'll pay you anything. This industry enjoyed $60B in profits last years and is both recession and socialism proof. You can run wild and make a 'killing'.

4) Join the oil company. Need I say more? But you must be prepared to live overseas, and look at your passport as just another stateless commodity. You flow where the money is. 

5) Finally, I am going to say something scary: join the manufacturing industry. Not now, but prepare and educate yourself for a likely comeback beginning 2010. That's when the US dollar will be roughly at par with the Mexican paso and you will see a reverse flow of illegals across that border. The Chinese will demand a higher quality of auto then they are now getting and boy they can afford them. The best way to satisfy that is to allow the Chinese to buy 51% of GM and Ford, make the Chinese versions of the high end auto in Mississippi and ship them over. (Sorry, not in Michigan, since that state has decided to join Canada in 2010.)

by TomK (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 232 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 6:19:29 PM
 

Thanks

for all the posts and good comments.

And yes I did mention illegals as a negative factor. We had a loss of 80,000 jobs last month and 180,000 new job seekers failed to find work. In the past three months, 772,000 Americans either lost their jobs or failed to find work.

At the same time, 375,000 immigrants entered the U.S. to find that no work exists. I'm not against immigrants, I know why they come here. It's just that I'm FOR American citizens who have no work.

If a person who can't swim jumps in to save a drowning man, the effort is commendable, the results are that two people drowned.

The financial pain necessary for Middle America to get off the couch and stand up and be counted, may well be upon us. I certainly hope so.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 7:00:12 PM
 

But Mike, another false analogy

The jobs lost were shipped overseas, and they were not lost to illegals, as you well know yet continue to imply. The jobs illegals take, not all but absolutely most of them, are jobs no American worker would touch.

This entire issue of illegal workers is a smokescreen to distract the American voter from the real problems besetting our nation. That  Mr. Folkerth continues to support that smokescreen should alert everyone reading his efforts to be very careful where his logic takes you.

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 9:58:44 AM
 

Future history

When the history of the last 20 years is written, sometime in the future, historians will express amazement that a backward nation like China was empowered by the West to become a superpower and the American superpower was gutted. Historians will ask themselves, "How could the American and western people have been so stupid?!!"

That, of course, is the question that we should be asking ourselves.

Stirling

by Lord Stirling (25 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 141 comments) on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 12:17:49 AM
 

More like a question of rope

It's not a question of mass stupidity but one of following the fundamentalist principles of capitalism. America has always been proud it is the only pure capitalist country in the developed world. America has never hesitated to point to the EU as old world defeatist socialist doomed to a dead end. America laughs at the Mexicans for obvious reasons, and ever quick to look down at the Canadians as misguided quasi-socialist with too much French influence. In contrast, America practise superpower capitalism. This is something beyond China's comprehension, we were assured. What is that?

TO UNLEASH THE GREATEST MAGIC OF THE EMERGING CHINESE MARKET, ONE MUST SELL THE STRONGEST, THE MOST ADVANCED ROPES TO THEM SO THAT THE CHINESE CAN USE THEM TO HANG AMERICA WITHOUT EVEN TRYING

There. Wall Street superpower capitalism triumphs again.

by TomK (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 232 comments) on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 1:05:32 AM
 

Lord Stirling

and Tom K. I spent considerable time and ink in my book talking about unchecked capitalism. The result is what we have today. People get sick? What would they pay to get well?

The Mexican will work for less? All we need is a law that allows us to capitalize on that situation. The Chinese will work for even less? Oh joy, how about a law that let's us capitalize on those poor buggers. The new agreements were no problem, Reagan agreed with it, Bush-1 agreed with it, and Mr. Clinton signed both into law. Just ask with a pocket full of money and you shall receive.

The worst part of unrestrained capitalism however is the premise that we can consume finite resources and expand exponentially forever...in a finite world. THAT entire premise must change. Thank you for your well thought positions.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 7:26:17 AM
 

Capitalism makes people stupid.

Let's sit down and play a nice friendly game of monopoly. We'll drink some beer, eat some chips, have some fun. Some of us will feel a twinge of sorrow for the first person who has to sell his last piece of property and sit out the rest of the game, others will be eerily gleeful, thrilled to see someone lose it all and themselves so succesful. After a while, and a couple of more lose it all, the game isn't as much fun anymore, except of course for that ruthless, in your face, unrelenting prick who's stacking his bills and maneuvering your demise. Eventually, if the game goes long enough, everyone will be broke, all losers but one and he's sitting their gloating his winnings razzing the hell outof all of you broken losers. It's always the same, only one wins, everyone else goes flat broke but, hell, it's only a game. Good thing because if it was for real everyone would probably beat the living s**t out of that smug SOB and take all of his property and hotels and house and divvy it up and start all over. Except this time maybe everyone would have a better understanding of the end results and show a little empathy and compassion, realizing that there are limited resources and we all have to survive.

Right wing radicals like to call this attitude weakness.

I like to call it common sense.

by PeterJ (13 articles, 2 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 165 comments) on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 10:00:39 AM
 

Peter J

You're one funny guy Peter...good analogy and a little humor makes it more palatable.

Of course, you hit on a great theme, because monopoly is pure gorilla capitalism. The main difference, in the game you can start over...in life, the winners keep the money!

So, I'll come over and play a nice game of monopoly with you, but you have to buy the beer and chips...hey, that's capitalism at it's finest.

Thanks for the great post.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 1:57:40 PM
 

Home is where the heart is...

     Thanx Mike

     In balance, I hope the many see that what you are saying speaks not to how to fix the big picture but to first fix what we have broken in our own lil worlds. If many of us were to take to heart your thoughts, they'd get 'their' lives in order instead of trying to blame someone else for not fixing it.

     We can rebuild this country. But, it will be from the bottom up, not the other way round.

     peace

by mikel paul (11 articles, 1 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 442 comments) on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 9:36:22 PM
 

No Jobs to go Back To

The area in the midwest where I live is heavily into auto manufacturing. I was employed with various auto suppliers over my working career. Many times I would get laid off for months, from my main employer, but never worried too much, as I knew things would pick up and I would be recalled.  Eventually, in my mid forties, I landed a job  at a large cereal manufacturing company, working 13 years until retiring.  About 4 years ago both of my former employers have closed shop and moved; along with many manufacturing companies here and around the country.  It is tragic what has happened to our manfacturing base in America. The author of this article put it very well; the middle class is being elimanated.

by ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 190 comments) on Friday, April 11, 2008 at 4:16:09 PM