Join, or Die

[Anti Federalist]

Yes,
As an old Ex =Con and Ron Paul supporter, I can say the Donald Trump has Done me less harm than previous, and Promised administrations.

That's pretty much my situation.

It's only taken a month for the incoming administration to have drastic negative effects on my business.

[r3volution 3.0]

Yes, pretty much that.

The debt is meaningless at this point...it will never be repaid...like saying I'll dog paddle the 4 light years to Alpha Centauri...numbers so stratospheric as to be meaningless.

I feel bad for whoever gets left without a seat when the music stops, but other than that, it's of no further concern of mine.

And no, I don't think that this administration has done nearly enough to serve that constituency.

This administration will prove to have done markedly better than the incoming administration will, however.

Yes, it will absolutely never be repaid in real terms (it will be inflated away).

But this isn't just some *economic issue* to be relegated to the back of the line.

This is what I keep telling you people...

If you want to have any kind of functional culture, you must avoid economic disaster. How did Weimar culture work out? Not well, by most accounts. If you want every other daughter in the country hooking for food, and you think that will be good for the culture, then by all means ignore the economic situation. Otherwise, wise up.

[pcosmar]

That's pretty much my situation.

It's only taken a month for the incoming administration to have drastic negative effects on my business.

Was never a Fan of Trump, (watch and see)

He may turn out to be the Conservative Democrat I have been hoping for,, for 30 years.

stiil don't like his 'style" but hope for the best.

[r3volution 3.0]

Yes,
As an old Ex =Con and Ron Paul supporter, I can say the Donald Trump has Done me less harm than previous, and Promised administrations.

You just wait (and when prices rise, please, don't blame the poor grocer or gas station man).

[pcosmar]

You just wait (and when prices rise, please, don't blame the poor grocer or gas station man).

I will blame the State Governors for the Lockdown that destroyed the Economy.

[Occam's Banana]

Yes, it will absolutely never be repaid in real terms (it will be inflated away).

But this isn't just some *economic issue* to be relegated to the back of the line.

This is what I keep telling you people...

If you want to have any kind of functional culture, you must avoid economic disaster. How did Weimar culture work out? Not well, by most accounts. If you want every other daughter in the country hooking for food, and you think that will be good for the culture, then by all means ignore the economic situation. Otherwise, wise up.

I don't disagree with any of this. But at this point, economic disaster isn't going to be avoided. There is no policy (whether Earthly or Martian) that is both curative and politically feasible. The hole that's been dug is too deep and things are past the point of no return. (As AF put it, one might just as well try to "dog paddle the 4 light years to Alpha Centauri.") The only question now is when and how reality will finally call in its chips, not whether we can win enough of them back to stave off catastrophe. We can't. Either nothing at all is going to be done, or whatever little will be done will be too late and woefully insufficient. Like trying to command the tides, agitating against the event itself [1] will serve little purpose except as an exercise in futility and a demonstration of impotence, which can only frustrate and dishearten us.

Regardless of our endeavors, the can is going to continue to be kicked until the road runs out. That is the nature of the beast that has been created, and there is nothing we can do about it; perhaps once there was, but the beast's momentum is now too great. If anything, it may be for the best that the inevitable not be delayed, even if we could stave it off for a while longer. Drawing things out might well make the consequences worse - broader, deeper and more intractable.

As for cultures and economies, they do not function entirely separate from one another, like independent stovepipes associated with different fires. They are both manifestations of human action - symptoms, if you will, of the same underlying pathologies. As in any negative feedback loop, if either becomes significantly dysfunctional, the other will become so as well. This fact pertains to all political arrangements, but it is especially evident in democracies, where economic policy tends to be more tightly coupled with the whims of the masses (if only as a sop to keep them quiescent - or to marshal them in support of some party or faction).



[1] Note that I say "against the event itself." There are other practical reasons to "agitate" against economic insanity, such as for the sake of whatever notice posterity might take of our protestations (à la the "Irish monks" analogy r3v has used elsewhere). But preventing the consequences of present circumstances from running their inexorable course is not among them.

[pcosmar]

I will blame the State Governors for the Lockdown that destroyed the Economy.

@r3volution 3.0
Was out with Crowds in April,,to reopen the state..and all summer..



And the Election was Stolen.. and the People around this area are pissed.
But most Blame the State Governor and current legislators....

[osan]

My idea to buy time, and stave it off for another four years by supporting Trump has failed.

Whose idea should we try next?

The only solution now is to kill the Tyrant. War is the only response that holds even the least chance of success, and here we speak about the short-term.

We almost certainly will not make the only decent move left to us. Why? Because we are less than $#@!, which will at least give one's garden good cause to be fruitful, whereas we the people produce no effect in the world worthy of so much as one's derision, much less anything better.

The people who won this land risked everything, and many died in the process. We are all to timid, too greedy, too corrupted to go out and start shooting those who daily disparage our innate freedom. Therefore, we are screwed.

I suppose it was good while it lasted.

[r3volution 3.0]

I don't disagree with any of this. But at this point, economic disaster isn't going to be avoided. There is no policy (whether Earthly or Martian) that is both curative and politically feasible. The hole that's been dug is too deep and things are past the point of no return. (As AF put it, one might just as well try to "dog paddle the 4 light years to Alpha Centauri.") The only question now is when and how reality will finally call in its chips, not whether we can win enough of them back to stave off catastrophe. We can't. Either nothing at all is going to be done, or whatever little will be done will be too late and woefully insufficient. Like trying to command the tides, agitating against the event itself [1] will serve little purpose except as an exercise in futility and a demonstration of impotence, which can only frustrate and dishearten us.

Regardless of our endeavors, the can is going to continue to be kicked until the road runs out. That is the nature of the beast that has been created, and there is nothing we can do about it; perhaps once there was, but the beast's momentum is now too great. If anything, it may be for the best that the inevitable not be delayed, even if we could stave it off for a while longer. Drawing things out might well make the consequences worse - broader, deeper and more intractable.

As for cultures and economies, they do not function entirely separate from one another, like independent stovepipes associated with different fires. They are both manifestations of human action - symptoms, if you will, of the same underlying pathologies. As in any negative feedback loop, if either becomes significantly dysfunctional, the other will become so as well. This fact pertains to all political arrangements, but it is especially evident in democracies, where economic policy tends to be more tightly coupled with the whims of the masses (if only as a sop to keep them quiescent - or to marshal them in support of some party or faction).



[1] Note that I say "against the event itself." There are other practical reasons to "agitate" against economic insanity, such as for the sake of whatever notice posterity might take of our protestations (à la the "Irish monks" analogy r3v has used elsewhere). But preventing the consequences of present circumstances from running their inexorable course is not among them.

I quite agree that the situation is irrecoverable (until the next turn in the anacyclosis, anyway). So, the question is what is to be done now? Well, as you mention, I advocate the Irish monk solution. What that entails, inter alia, is keeping perspective and continuing to criticize the increasingly heinous activities of the politicians. Posterity isn't going to look kindly on (or have any records about or from) those of us 'monks' who decide to join with the barbarians on some ultimately trivial issue where our interest temporarily align, which is how I view AF's approach. "Well, these barbarians are marginally better than those, so...etc."