Dark thoughts for dark times.

There are few who now deny that we are in for historically hard times. Those of us who are old enough to think of the great depression as something other than ancient history have a cold fear of a life where prosperity is the scarcest of comodities.

Why did we allow this to happen again? Why did we learn so little from our past mistakes? I am no economist but I am very familiar with the economy of working from paycheck to paycheck. For me debt is something to be avoided not a commodity to invest in. How could the smartest, most educated money handlers not see this coming when even I could see that this mountain of paper would someday fall and engulf us all.

If there is a depression I have no faith in our ability to get out of it. Say what you like but during the great depression it was the Christian ideal of taking care of the less fortunate that prevented many from simply starving to death. Churches banded together and bought food in bulk to feed anyone who happened to be hungry. Charity was a virtue that was practised far and wide. And people were not so selfish as to let others simply die in the streets. I think that it will be much different this time.

We are a country of selfish people. There are many among us who still believe in helping the less fortunate but there are not enough of us to go around. Many more of us would prefer to lock themselves away from any widespread strife and blame the hungry for their lack of forsight and allow them to starve. Breadlines will be absent from the coming economic collapse, they will be replaced by riot police and barracades.

I seriously envision a Soylent Green future for us. The rich will retreat behind their walls and leave the rest of the world to go up in flames. They have no reason to try to salvage the country. They are not the least bit patriotic towards their country, not when they might have to go without something. They have endorsed a kind of Christianity that sees taking care of the poor as a sin and working towards Armageddon as Gods highest purpose. In short the ruling class will gleefully watch the rest of the world die outside their walls and not lift a finger.

There are too many humans on this earth to survive much longer without a drastic change in the way that we do things. But the mere mention of any kind of widespread changes are shouted down with accusations of socialism. It is this 20th century baggage that will be the death of our great nation. In the backrooms of power I am sure that there are whispers of pouring out the great plagues they have made for the time when we become too numerous to feed and too hard to control. Maybe the end times are upon us but I don't see Jesus coming to take anyone away to heaven.

In spite of these fears I have hope that we can let go of the 20th century in time to prevent Armageddon but somewhere, right now, a man is thinking of killing us all off just because saving us would cost too much.

Go hug your children. Call your mom on the phone just to say you love her. Pull your family close and treasure them because if you are poor there are people who want you to die and they have the means to do it.

Forgive my predictions of doom but there has not been enough good news lately.

My dad always believed this.

The Western Pennsylvania KKK members who were burning crosses in the 20s to drive my father (young child at the time) and his family back to eastern Europe (yes!) were coming around to my grandparents' home in the 30's to see if anyone could share a little food or fuel.

Lots of "bosses" ended up sharing with the "hunky" (and I DO NOT MEAN handsome!) workers too.

My grandpap was fire boss and foreman at the local mine and he bent over backwards to make sure the workers did Ok when they closed the mine in 32. It wasn't unusual to share dinner and canning's with most of the neighbors.
I'd like to think we'll get through this S#$t storm pretty much in one piece, but most of us have lost the level of self-sufficiency and sense of community that we had back then. As some of the other post's stated, it can be a great leveler, but the top tier will skate through unscathed. Hope to see you soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwIlJSRQ5ks

Ten years ago I would have thought it to be ridiculous fear mongering -- now, I'm not so sure.

It is far fetched. It requires a level of organization that I do not think exists. But the idea of culling is out there and the bird flu has already been weaponized. All it will take is one fanatic who thinks he is doing Gods work.