Clusterfuck Nation: The American public is about to undergo a severe mood adjustment.

[kpete]

(Source: All Fall Down (c) 2008, Jim Kunstler.

.......................

Even at this point, the current crack-up in world finance makes the 1929 crash and the events of the 1930s look in comparison like an orderly small town auction of somebody's grandmother's effects. Back in that sepia day, America had plenty of everything except ready cash. We had, especially, plenty of our own oil, and -- you're not going to believe this but it's true -- the stuff was selling for as little as ten cents a barrel, it was so abundant. And yet still, America in the 1930s plunged into a dark depression of inactivity, loss of confidence, and impoverishment.

This time around, things could get more disorderly. Personally, I think we may be beyond the reach even of fascist authoritarianism, because unlike the programmed industrial masses of the 1930s, we are unused to regimentation, to lining up at the factory gates and the movie theaters. Back then, society was so regimented that everybody wore uniforms in-and-out of the military. Look at movies from the 1930s. Every man-jack wore either a necktie and hat or overalls. The industrial masses behaved like termites. Once unemployment hit, they were waiting to be told what to do, to line up for something. It worked fabulously for Hitler, who took every advantage of this mentality. Luckily, the US went for Roosevelt (both FDR and Hitler entered office the same winter of 1933, by the way). FDR was more like everybody's kindly Uncle Frank, and his reassuring persona enabled Americans to suck up their bad luck and altered circumstances. Many of them retreated to the family farm (which still existed then) and waited things out -- and, anyway, the melodrama of the Great Depression soon resolved in the Second World War when Hitler's love of regimentation led him into military misadventure. He shouldn't have picked a fight with someone who had so much petroleum -- end-of-story.

Okay, what happens here and now? To this point (9:am Monday October 6, 2008) events have been proceeding under a veneer of still-just-barely-credible authority. We (as represented by congress) have allowed Mr. Paulson to advance and activate his remedies. As things unspool further, he will be out of credibility, perhaps in a few days, and it's unlikely that his successor will have any either. Mr. Bernanke has simply gone AWOL. Notice, he has vanished from the media landscape. We may soon be hearing the declaration of various "emergency" measures involving the allocation of food and the rationing of oil products. The Big Bailout of last week may be partially rescinded as it becomes obvious that it has had no effect -- I believe about half the $700 billion has already been allocated, which is to say: lost. I realize these things sound pretty extreme. But forces have been set in motion and momentum rules. One thing for sure: the American public is about to undergo a severe mood adjustment. There will be fewer American Idol fans and worshippers of Donald Trump by the close of business on Friday.

more at:
http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/

[SidneyCarton]

1. Interesting analysis.

I'm not sure the attitude adjustment will come as soon as Friday, but change is coming, and not necessarily Obama's hopeful change either.

[cliffordu]

2. Man, I loves me some Kunstler. He is one of the toughest brains around.

[UK populist]

3. I think the 2 Naomi's(Wolf & Klein) are closer to the truth

[TahitiNut]

8. Ditto. We're more likely to succmb to the "fascist shift" than go wobblie.

Even in the 1930s, it was close to a toss-up. Only the specter of an extreme shift to the left served to keep the American Fascists at bay ... political appeasement of the left to "save" capitalism from the capitalists.

There is no "world workers" movement any longer and organized labor is at its weakest in 100 years ... even Poland's Solidarity movement has dissipated. The Joe Six-Pack skulls are packed solid with the fecal matter of Fox-Fascism ... American Idol, nationalism, worship of mediocrity, blame-mongering and scapegoating. ANYONE who can still accommodate Sarah Palin or George W. Bush in ANY kind of position of public trust is batshit insane - arrogant ignoramuses without the capacity to learn. This is the brown-shirt mentality ... sociopaths and bullies.

It's gonna get worse before it gets better.

[UK populist]

9. "W" might succeed where his Grandad Prescott failed

radio link to bbc radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

If this doesn't work in the US below is a text link to the story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

[Chimichurri]

4. We need this adjustment. The idea that you can live way beyond

your means with money you borrow and cannot realistically afford to pay back is unsustainable. We have a false wealth built on credit. This ideology was put into action to replace the lost jobs and wages once outsourcing began making a real impact on income. We consume as a people and in order to keep the consumption up, the money managers had to give us credit to make up for the dwindling paychecks.

I know the folks on CNBC and elsewhere like to blame this economic catastrophe on the over leveraged American worker but it was ultimately the policy furrowed in by the Reagans and the Greenspans that allowed for this debt driven over-consumption to flourish.

Having said that, we do need to sober up from this frenzied bender. It won't be easy but the piper has to be paid eventually.

[Greyhound]

13. The American economy is utterly dependant on the drunken binge.

We will sober up and find that, sober, we can't sustain the economy.

We are running on about $4T of capital that is leveraged beyond the point of feasibility, IOW, there simply isn't enough money circulating down here in the streets to keep the Ponzi scheme going. What we are seeing now is the people at the top of the pyramid taking as much as they can out of the long con before it collapses completely, and we're just standing here pathetically crying, "please don't hurt us any more".

[Chimichurri]

15. Absolutely true. After the dust settles however, people by nature

will begin to innovate again. This time valuable lessons will have been learned, like after the Great Depression. At least that is the hope. There was a strong progressive movement in the 1930s because of the robber barons laissez fair economics which ran this economy into the ground. Just like their heirs have done with this global catastrophe. The damage will be much more painful today because as Bernanke said, 80% of our output is the service sector. Manufacturing has been outsourced. Back then we actually made things. All we do is borrow and the public at large seems to be okay with that til the worst comes staring them in the face. That is when they will rethink things. Which is why I say we need this adjustment.

I don't hear anyone touting the "free markets" anymore. When I do, it's the Kudlow's of the world doing it and they don't count.

[Horse with no Name]

5. We have spent the last few months refurbing our house

Moved bedrooms around...made a quasi-apartment for my daughter and her new husband and have decided to "rough it out" together.
Right now, we have 5 working adults in our house. For the time being, jobs seem pretty secure but there isn't any way we will ALL lose our jobs, so even if someone does, we are insulated. We all pay a set amount each month. Bills and groceries come out of that. We have also built an emergency fund into that as well and have been stockpiling some cash.
We planted a garden. We have been stocking up on canned goods and food. The freezer is full.
By combining our resources, I have to say that our lifestyle is pretty good at this point.
With the money we are all saving...we are all able to pay off our other debts rapidly.
I highly suggest anyone that can combine households to do it. Post haste.

[conscious evolution]

6. I agree.

I have been living in a co-op house for the last year and we have been doing pretty much the same thing.
Buying in bulk.
Big gardens.
Stocking up the pantry and freezer.
Solar powered well with storage tank.
Family plans on cell phones.(it surprised me how much money that one saved me.)


It is amazing how living expenses go down in such an enviroment.Even with most of us only working part time we are doing ok.

[Gregorian]

7. Not to mention there's three times the number of people here. See this link.

Kunstler has been seen in a documentary that discusses other issues as well. And he's absolutely spot on. I trust his judgment.

http://www.postcarbon.org/

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Don't worry! This time around, we have Bush and Cheney waiting to pick up all the pieces

and put them under their power.

[ThomWV]

11. I have never seen such happy horseshit in my life

If you honestly believe this:

"and his reassuring persona enabled Americans to suck up their bad luck and altered circumstances. Many of them retreated to the family farm (which still existed then) and waited things out -- and, anyway, the melodrama of the Great Depression soon resolved in the Second World War when Hitler's love of regimentation led him into military misadventure."

Then there is not one single chance on the face of this earth that you and I could ever have a meeting of the minds. That is a description of the times that is so very far off base that even to challenge it is to great a task. Suck up their bad luck indeed, and if you can call the horrible period from 1929 until 1942 a time in which the Great Depression was "soon resolved" then we have a much different sense of time as well. Oh, and I do not consider it appropriate to call the suffering of this nation, and indeed the entire world a "melodrama". You are so out of touch with the reality of the Great Depression that is is simply astounding.

[OakCliffDem]

12. Kick

[Strelnikov_]

14. KunstlerCast #33: The Great Bailout 2008

http://kunstlercast.com/

The Ponzi Algorithms that Got us Here

James Howard Kunstler comments on the Great Bailout of 2008 and how we got into the current financial crisis. As the U.S. manufacturing economy withered away, Americans sought to gain wealth by getting something from nothing through Ponzi scheme investment algorithms. By assuming liability of bad mortgages, Congress may be in position of attempting to prop up the value suburban houses. But Kunstler believes the housing values will continue to go down, no matter what happens. And the truth is that we shouldn't want that devaluation to stop because we need to reach a point where the median price of a house is equal to the median income of the average America. The true damage may yet to be seen. Kunstler also explains his meme that the GOP is the party that wrecked America.

[Eurobabe]

16. Kunstler nails it.

We read him for our Preservation class in grad school, "Home from Nowhere," etc. :thumbsup: