The Coming Siege of Austerity

[Pale Blue Dot]

Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler

It's a curious symptom of the consensus trance zombifying the American public and its auditors in the media that something like a "recovery" is now deemed to be underway. And, as events compel me to repeat in this space, it begs the question: recovery to what? To Wall Street booking stupendous profits by laundering "risk" out of bad loans with new issues of tranche-o-matic securitized paper? This I doubt, since there isn't a pension fund left from San Jose to Bratislava that would touch this stuff with a stick, even if it could be turned out in collector's editions of boxed sets. Does it mean that American "consumers" (so-called) are awaited momentarily in the flat-screen TV sales parlors with their credit cards fanned-out like poker hands, ready for "action?" Not too likely with massive non-performance out in cardholder-land, and half the nation's electronics inventory wending its way onto Craig's List. Are we expecting more asteroid belts of new suburbs carved in the loamy outlands of Dallas and Minneapolis, complete with new highway strips of Big Box shopping and Chuck E. Cheeses? Go to banking's intensive care unit and inquire (if you can) among the flat-lining production home-builders and the real estate investment trusts on life support when they expect to rev up the heavy equipment.

The idea that we're about to resume the insane behavior that induced the current epochal malaise of economy is so absurd it will only be heard in the faculty dining halls of the Ivy League. And if America is not picking up where it left off eighteen months ago -- the orgy of spending future claims on wealth unlikely to accrue -- then what is our destiny? Based on what's out there in the organs of public thinking, it seems that we don't want to think about it.

So many forces are arrayed against a return to the previous "normal" that we will be lucky, in another eighteen months, to still find ourselves speaking English and celebrating Christmas. What's "out there" is a panorama of mutually reinforcing critical problems pertaining to how we live on this continent. Like the obesity, heart disease, and diabetes that plague the public, these problems are disorders of lifestyle habits and the only possible "cure" is a comprehensive revision of lifestyle. With the onset of spring weather and the cheez doodles and monster truck rallies and Nascar tailgate barbeques and the drive-in beer emporiums all beckoning, can the public public shift its attention from these infantile preoccupations to saving its own ass?

So far, the most striking piece of the economic fiasco is the absence of any galvanizing spirit among the millions getting crushed in the tragic unwind of our relations with money. It will be interesting to see, for instance, if there is any uproar over the evolving story of Goldman Sachs's latest raid on the US Treasury, after booking billions in taxpayer-funded payouts funneled through AIG, based on double-hedged credit default swaps. Such magic tricks are understandably hard to follow, but a dozen-or-so federal attorneys with a middling background in differential calculus might suss out the trail that leads from Ben Bernanke's work station to Lloyd Blankfein's cappuccino machine.

Something similar may be said in regard to revelations last week of White House economic advisor Larry Summers' connection with a number of hedge funds shoveling millions into his deep pockets for showing up once a week to cheerlead their "innovations" -- not to mention his shadowy visits to the Goldman Sachs gravy train even after he signed onto the Obama campaign. As long as the stock markets seem to rally -- no matter what else is really going on in America -- nobody will pay much attention to these disgusting irregularities.

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/

[Taverner]

1. Yes and its good

We need the cash to fund the real overhaul

All things in good time

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Still have those blinders on, huh?

I challenge you to watch Chris Martenson's Crash Course - yes, all 3 and 1/2 hours of it - and then tell me where this "cash" is going to come from for the "overhaul".

[Taverner]

3. The cash will come when it is shown how to make money

Government contracts is one way to wade through this

Stimuli is another

Right now its the Government's job to fit this - the investors have all hidden their money. When they find their taxes haven't gone up that much, they will reinvest.

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. So you're not going to watch?

You're just going to plug your ears, whistle, and pretend everything will work out the way you want?

YOU are who the OP is about.

[Taverner]

5. No - the OP's premise is wrong

And don't get me wrong - there will be some major upheavals going on. Only this time, there will not be the USSR to take advantage, so they will sputter. And people will die.

But here, there is enough of a cushion to keep things going until we can make money off things. Just don't be surprised when that way is a very unethical way.

[Delphinus]

6. I love this question:

And if America is not picking up where it left off eighteen months ago -- the orgy of spending future claims on wealth unlikely to accrue -- then what is our destiny?

What is our destiny? What are each of our destinies?

[tavalon]

8. Our collective destiny is to find a new way forward

We will look back at this heady necessity and romanticize it I suppose, but from where I stand, it looks shit your pants scary and many of us will likely die in the coming change. Doesn't sound like much fun.

So, I guess I need to head down to the gungeon when I get up and get some advice.

[tavalon]

7. I read his website and I have now ordered his books

I figure when I can't afford anything, at least I'll have useful books.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. The Long Emergency is incredibly informative and scary...

I had to take several breaks when first reading it cause it was just too much.

Made by Hand is good, but he is better at non-fiction.

[roamer65]

10. The New Realism.

Americans are beginning to realize they are not as wealthy as they thought and the economic future of this country will be a downward spiral. People are going to either switch to a savings-based mindset or go bankrupt.