Recently by Brian Wilson: Letters….We Get Letters
Recently, in correspondence with a very knowledgeable friend of international profile, he commented on an excellent piece "Crisis, Collapse and the Ruling Class" in the current issue of Politics et Cetera (Steven Soukcup/Mark Melcher)
"Like them I am an incurable optimist, but I think the die has been cast that the collapse of the US is inevitable. My conclusions are not philosophical, ideological, or theological. They are actuarial. The status afterwards may eventually be glorious, but there are some very dark days ahead of us."
I agree with the writers and I agree with my friend.
In their summary, one phrase caught my eye.
"Unless things change, dramatically and quickly…."
In my daily preparations to annoy a miniscule radio audience, I faithfully and dutifully troll worthy news and information sources sparkling in the Internet galaxy. In all the paragraphs, pages and pontifications from all sources and all stripes that occasionally focus on the subject of Impending Doom, there is the same caveat-chant:
"Unless things change…", "If things don't change – and soon…", "Changes need to be made immediately…", "…we are on the brink; changes must be made right away…."
Really? Seriously? As my friend noted, it's "actuarial" – and not dissimilar to that other old saw, "If current trends continue…." Of course, they rarely do – so what's the point posting an undependable conditional phrase to justify something that will/will not likely come to pass?
To the writer, after laying out the virtually undeniable, absolutely incontrovertible, mathematically exquisite evidence for some version of the pending Armageddon, they exhort the "Unless Things Change" exhortation. This flies in the face of their preceding excellent analysis and irrefutable conclusions. OK – maybe it's just a "stylistic cliché" – but, if the facts and thesis are to be believed, what purpose is served in offering this willow-the-wisp "Unless Hypothesis", this contradicting pivot that “things” can and must change dramatically and quickly? What about all that economic, political, historical, dynamic proof The End Is Pretty Damn Near?
How about some specifics to counter the Other Specifics used to prove TEIPDN? What (if anything) to do about the trillions and trillions and trillions of unfunded liabilities, (un)anticipated bail-outs, Euro and Eurozone EPIC Fails, unnecessary wars and coming wars with concurrent expenses in lives and treasure and more all-proven and re-proven to be (fanfare please) Unsustainable!
"Unless things change…."? What "things"? Will the trillions disappear? Is there a magic blue pill to cure the GDP's ED? Will gold bars suddenly replace the IOUs in AlGore's "Lock Box"? Will the Welfare/Warfare UniParty have a Paulian epiphany?
(Waiting for laughter to subside……………………….)
I for one would appreciate these really talented and knowledgeable scribblers to present what realistic, pragmatic specific events are required to effect the "dramatic and quick" change(s) necessary for salvation, maybe a return to the Old Normal. Enough of the Doomsday Foreplay. Let's cut to the hardcore to discover those "Unless" thingys that will assure something not so gloomanddoomy and toss the world a life saver.
Frankly, I don't think there is any such "there" there – but nobody has the guts to write it in the specific. Dire warnings are all we're gonna get.
I wrote my friend: "I share your optimism – in a pessimistic way: Indeed, no one has yet offered the "quick" or "dramatic" solution to circumventing the "dark days" to which you allude. If Prof Tyler’s dissertation on the demise of the Athenian Republic has merit, brighter days are just days away. Eventually. And isn’t that the question: How long until we reach Eventually? Will we see Eventually in our lifetime? Our sons? Daughters? Grandkids?
How many years are there in one "Dark Day?"
