[Pred]

Quote:       Originally Posted by TXplt

TUNA FISH.....OH NO !!!!!! LOL.......My staple in Life But, yes, you're right Pred. And the travel/high demand time for gas is in front of us for the year. Paid $3.57 (easy to remember)/ gal (car uses Prem) for a fill up today. It's just going up. One thing we are fortunate with is we're blessed with an abundance of natural resources (if we only choose to use them), good hard workers, smart minds (if they're pointed in the right direction), clever problem solvers (if we teach a can-do attitude and not listen to the can't do folks), and a the potential for a good way to move stuff around (highways, waterways, railways, airways). This is what made America strong as an industrial power. We can be strong again.

You are right, we have a lot of those people. But answer me this, we know what needs to be done to get us out from under these problems. We have the technology to get out from the control of the big oil companies. BUT, do you honestly believe the powers in charge will allow this to happen before it's to late?

[Rave]

The gummint report said most of the jobs lost are production jobs,the folks are not being laid off,the jobs are gone.
The report's advice is for us to rebuild ourselves and learn to repair what we used to produce.
I guess they don't realize that most of our products are not built to be repaired,but to be replaced when dead?

[ArkansasHunter]

I just wish our federal goverment would just do whats right and take care of what needs to be taken care of and quit worrying which party is the greatest when nither one of them is worth me taken a dump on.

I have this silly fantacy that I will share...I would like to be wearing my beloved Hikeing Boots and walk up to a Congress person like I want to shake there hand,
but instead come down with the Heel of my boots on there toes !!!
A.H

[Seabeescotty]

Git 'R done!!!!

[TXplt]

Quote:       Originally Posted by Pred

You are right, we have a lot of those people. But answer me this, we know what needs to be done to get us out from under these problems. We have the technology to get out from the control of the big oil companies. BUT, do you honestly believe the powers in charge will allow this to happen before it's to late?

I don't know, to be perfectly honest. There's too much "me" in some of our elected officials (who can speak well and look good but do bad things--especially when money's involved). It doesn't help that huge $ go into the media sources and "funding" elections.

The process is ours and we can control this, and can vote them out of office, breaking the power chain. Guess I'll remain hopeful.

[Pred]

I wish I could, remain hopeful that is. But I believe our control is nothing more then a way to fool us into thinking our vote counts. The agendas that exist in Washington today didn't just appear overnight. They've been there for many many years. And I'm afraid we finally hit that point of no return. The rich will continue to get richer until us common folk have no money left to spend. Once their profits drop down to a certain point, they will back off until this country gets back on it's feet. And then the process will start all over again.

[TXplt]

I used to remember a saying "Anyone can mind the helm when the sea is calm" which kind of went hand in hand with "Adversity both builds and shows character." I guess it's along the lines of what I've been told the Chinese interpretation (characters) for crisis are: Danger and Opportunity.

There is real danger and opportunity in our socioeconomic situation now. Our economy is in the treading water stage right now.....especially with energy costs rising and dollars going overseas. It could be great; we seem to get bogged down in the legalisms, regulations, minutia, and worry--thus losing the vision. We could be using our resources right now to build capital in other countries, not vice-versa. Holding resources in "reserve" when your economy is heading downhill is just plain stupid. It's akin to borrowing on your credit cards (with mega-interest) when you could tap your savings account to pay them off (i.e. our natural resources) and get ahead (i.e. build nuclear power plants and other energy sources, and pay off the national debt). What is of greatest concern to me is the way information today is manipulated not reported -- I can't figure out why. I know those with $ who fear liberty and common folks (not all rich or mega-rich people fall into this category) are mistrustful of the people actually making decisions and wielding political power (and firearms) and thus use their influence to slant our information sources (and it's both parties, but the gun control portion seems to always have a D in the party designation). It might be a "control" thing, but the perps may not realize the end result may not go their (or anyone's) way. This may have always been occuring and I just got old enough to see it for what it's worth -- I don't know. Historically, when something "bad" has happened (i.e. severe depression, etc.) there hasn't been alot of safeguard to keep the spark of liberty going in most countries around the world. This is one of the reasons I'm such a strong libertarian and fairly strict constitutionalist. This is really all we've got when SHTF.

I guess if we keep this in mind, and keep our constitution intact, we'll always be able to rebuild if we show the right spirit and attitude. It would be a shame if we needed to get clubbed over the head (i.e. economic collapse) to make this happen. But I'll remain optimistic and hopefully I'll be right

Cheers.

[toolman]

It's funny, everyone seems to think the unemployment rate is higher than what's being admitted by the gov't, but I've been looking for someone at the station for months now.

All I want is someone to pump gas, do state inspections, and an oil change here and there.

So far all I've gotten is drunks, thieves, liars, and cheats. There have been a few that want to pump gas for $15.00\hr, have good credentials except for a drivers license, or will only work certain hrs\days.

Keep in mind, we're offering a decent wage, easy work, good benefits, so where's all of the folks needing a job? I just don't see it, at least not yet.

Where I see the biggest problem is in the cost of diesel. Unless diesel prices drop soon, everything in this country is going up-Drastically!

[sell33]

Quote:       Originally Posted by Pred

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Balkanization may not be that far off. At some point people are going to start taking matters into their own hands, and it's getting close. My town is not huge, and we've never really had much in the way of crime. But now, it's like every other day the story on the front page is a robbery/home invasion. People looking for money and drugs to sell. AH, I think 25% may be a little far off, I still say current unemployment is around 10-15%. However, with the way things are going I could see the 25% in the near future. People are going to have to do whatever it takes to feed themselves and their families. Towns with under 10,000 don't have more then probably 75, if that LEO's. There is only so much they can handle.

So i didn't read the whole post but 75 LEOs in a town under 10k??? my town has about 10500, and i'm pretty sure our number is under 20.....by quite a bit. Although if you count the county sherriffs i bet is up near 50 but they are in the whole county never in town. That seems high to me j/w if where i live is that much different than everywhere else?

o by the way....yes this country is going to shit faster than you can snap your fingers and if something doesn't get done soon i'm about to move far far away before i consider getting married and raising kids in this soon to be shithole....

[Deersniper]

Wait until the new Nafta corridor gets rolling through Texas here. Every where these trade agreements take root, there is mass unemployment. It only helps the toll road builders and the big foreign companies who will destroy what's left of our crumbling infra structure. We paid for these roads only for them to turn them into toll roads. I think they are about to poke us in the eye, again. If there was just a decent court who would bring these oil companies up, the fines would still go to the govt, not the people. I want frequent driver mile rewards! This is price fixing and gouging to say the least. We have tons of reserves here, we don't need the VP's military to go get it for us.

[GlennM]

Ross Perot was right about one thing during his debate with Clinton years ago about NAFTA... (and pardon if memory's not dead-on) "That huge sucking sound you hear are American jobs leaving the country."

Seems nearly everything on store shelves these days says CHINA, TAIWAN, or MEXICO on it. Just another brick in the wall, along with the ridiculous (unjustifiable) rise in diesel fuel.

[Frenchman9]

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 07 Apr 2008 at 04: 35 : 25 GMT is:
$9,443,787,632,916.97

[sell33]

I don't even know how to say that number?? zillions? trillions?????? this is ridiculous i just hope the next president (whoever it is) gets the economy turned around and quick.....god forbid i say this but when clinton was in office we had a surplus!!!

[NRAJOE]

We've been through this before and it will happen again...tighten your belts and hang on...things WILL get better.

[Frenchman9]

i think that that is in the quadrillions(if that is a word)

I am forseeing another worldwide depression here.... and it is most prominent in the US, I am sorry to say, which is one reason I moved out...

[NRAJOE]

Quote:       Originally Posted by Frenchman9

i think that that is in the quadrillions(if that is a word) I am forseeing another worldwide depression here.... and it is most prominent in the US, I am sorry to say, which is one reason I moved out...

Est-vous Américain ou les Français ?
Si vous êtes américain, comment peut-il se tenir pour vivre même ?

[Pred]

I do to french. But something else people don't realize is that our world is quickly running out of food. Many farmers in the US have stopped growing corn, food, because the government is paying them to produce ethanol. Many third world countries are running out of food and having food riots. Sooner or later it's going to start to hit home. And with the rising cost of fuel, food prices are already on the rise.

[Frenchman9]

I am an American, but I moved to france being a) I have had this property for a long time, b) Theres enough space to grow my own food, c) as soon as my membership for the FFT(Federation Francais du Tire), i can get Full auto, pistols, and military spec weaponry. But also because i get a better schooling, I can get a good job out of the Lycee(high school), and make good money at it too. And I can live closer to my relatives in rural France and closer to my inheritance in the mountains of Romania, which i can get to on two or three full tanks of diesel from Nice.
PS: good french better than mine actually

ALSO: update on the National Debt of the USA: The Outstanding Public Debt as of 07 Apr 2008 at 05:48:30 PM GMT is:
$9,443,873,181,025.81
The estimated population of the United States is 303,765,975
so each citizen's share of this debt is $31,089.31.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.69 billion per day since September 29, 2006!

[Coeloptera]

Actually Pred, we still have a global food surplus. It's a distribution issue. Can't ship food to hellholes like Darfur and Angola if there's no infrastructure to receive it.

But this is what happens when we get into a pointless war with no real victory conditions and no end in sight.

This is what happens when corporations, by and large, are beholden only to the shareholders who are only concerned about immediate stock price and profit, not long-term sustainability.

This is what happens when we massively outsource not only production, but also technical jobs, and then import people on work-visas so we can pay them less for jobs we keep in this country.

It will continue and the people eill take it...right up until the moment when a large enough number of us can't feed their families or afford rent/mortgage anymore.

If the government is stupid enough to let that happen...we'll see some fireworks.

- Coeloptera