[ReverseEngineer]

So how long do people just wallow in the anti-depressant fueled malaise here? It seems to me at some point there will be a backlash. I suppose after the anti-depressants run out? Have we reached Peak Anti-Depressants yet?

If you assume that a backlash is inevitable, in what form will it come? Will we have Monks setting themselves on Fire as in Vietnam and Tibet? Imagine the fire of some 900lb McBurger Addict on the White House lawn! Talk about fuel to burn for days! LOL. Maybe 500 Stockbrokers will join in a mass suicide pact and jump off the Empire State Building? Or will 10,000 GunToting Texas Rednecks led by Chuck Norris make a Suicide Run on the local IRS office screaming "Remember the Alamo!" LOL

Where and when will the TENSION be broken? What will be the Match to Light the Fire under the complacent assholes of America?

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[bencole]

A very good article, thanks.

[TWilliam]

Where and when will the TENSION be broken? What will be the Match to Light the Fire under the complacent assholes of America?

I maintain that as long as the TVs continue working and the Budweiser remains available at the local 7-11, we're unlikely to see any wide-scale revolt. I still suspect that's why Obama had such a cow about delaying the digital rollout. Bread & circuses donchya know...

[TWilliam]

Meh, could be doc!
Myself, I do not watch much tv.
We are switching from cable to digital tv box next month anyhow.
So we will lose all of the "extra" channels.
And I do not drink "bud"!
Whiskey for me, doc! 100 proof, or nothing.
Got some in front of me right now.

Haven't owned a TV in years meself. And I wouldn't drink Bud on a bet (tho' I might smoke some... ). An occasional microbrew is about my only vice nowadays. Or a rare wodka & splash. That, and this place. Oh, and a cup of good coffee most mornings...

[ReverseEngineer]

I'm off the booze, but I have a bottle of 18YO Glenlivet Single Malt ready for the day the Big Show comes to a Theater Near me Whether I have to go stand up in front of the Mob to speak the TRUTH or whether I have to go give myself up to the Bear, I think I'll need it. Its waiting for me.

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[Sixstrings]

When Peggy Noonan has gone Doomer, then the end is nigh.

Five weeks ago, when I asked a Wall Street titan what one should do to be safe in the future, he took me aback with the concreteness of his advice, and its bottom-line nature. Everyone should try to own a house, he said, no matter how big or small, but it has to have some land, on which you should learn how to grow things. He also recommended gold coins, such as American Eagles.

I went to the U.S. Mint Web site the next day, but there was a six-week wait due to high demand. (I just went on the Web site again: Production of gold Eagle coins "has been temporarily suspended because of unprecedented demand" for bullion.)

[ReverseEngineer]

When Peggy Noonan has gone Doomer, then the end is nigh.

Doomers RULE! If you aren't on the Doomer Boat by now, you are SOL. Far as American Eagles and Gold Coins go, if you have some I doubt anyone will trade you a Twinkie for one of them. Buy some good Fishing Tackle. Invest in your FRIENDS. Prepare for the worst while you hope for the best. Above all, prepare yourself mentally for the day you have to CHOOSE which side of the line you stand on when the Big Show comes to a Theatre Near You. Make the RIGHT choice, and you wil go to Everlasting Glory in the Kngdom of Heaven. Make the WRONG choice, and you will Burn in Everlasting Torment in Damned to the Fires of Hell.

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[vision-master]

When Peggy Noonan has gone Doomer, then the end is nigh.

Doomers RULE! If you aren't on the Doomer Boat by now, you are SOL. Far as American Eagles and Gold Coins go, if you have some I doubt anyone will trade you a Twinkie for one of them. Buy some good Fishing Tackle. Invest in your FRIENDS. Prepare for the worst while you hope for the best. Above all, prepare yourself mentally for the day you have to CHOOSE which side of the line you stand on when the Big Show comes to a Theatre Near You. Make the RIGHT choice, and you wil go to Everlasting Glory in the Kngdom of Heaven. Make the WRONG choice, and you will Burn in Everlasting Torment in Damned to the Fires of Hell.

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[Ludi]

So how long do people just wallow in the anti-depressant fueled malaise here? It seems to me at some point there will be a backlash.

Then we'll just curl into a fetal position and stop functioning at all.

[simplelife]

When Peggy Noonan has gone Doomer, then the end is nigh.

Doomers RULE! If you aren't on the Doomer Boat by now, you are SOL. Far as American Eagles and Gold Coins go, if you have some I doubt anyone will trade you a Twinkie for one of them. Buy some good Fishing Tackle. Invest in your FRIENDS. Prepare for the worst while you hope for the best. Above all, prepare yourself mentally for the day you have to CHOOSE which side of the line you stand on when the Big Show comes to a Theatre Near You. Make the RIGHT choice, and you wil go to Everlasting Glory in the Kngdom of Heaven. Make the WRONG choice, and you will Burn in Everlasting Torment in Damned to the Fires of Hell.

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Salvation is not about our choices, it is about God's choice.

[ReverseEngineer]

Salvation is not about our choices, it is about God's choice.

Of course. However, God only chooses those who choose right

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[jbrovont]

This reminded me of an interesting article I read in Science a few years back about the statistics of duration. Basically if you define the "beginning" and "end" of an event as the 2.5% tail at either end of its timeline, then at any random point, there's a 95% chance that you're neither at the beginning or the end of it. There was a lot more to it, especially regarding selecting a good estimate of just how long the "beginning" and "end" should be, but it was pretty interesting. The thesis of the article was that if you select the length of the "beginning" of an event's timeline well, you can fairly accurately predict how long it will last in a surprisingly large variety of situations.

[eastbay]

Interesting article.

Attendance at my temple has been up quite a bit lately. Today was more crowded than I've ever seen.

[simplelife]

Of course. However, God only chooses those who choose right

By works shall no man be justified. It is by grace though faith in Christ we are saved. It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

[ReverseEngineer]

By works shall no man be justified. It is by grace though faith in Christ we are saved. It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

A man is measured by the content of his character and the strength of his will. It is only through his devotion to his fellow man that he can find Grace in God.

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[simplelife]

A man is measured by the content of his character and the strength of his will. It is only through his devotion to his fellow man that he can find Grace in God.

I personally have been lead to trust the christian scriptures on these matters. We may have to agree to disagree.
To kinda stay on topic did you notice the OP link basicly said let the free markets work and we will self correct?

[ReverseEngineer]

To kinda stay on topic did you notice the OP link basicly said let the free markets work and we will self correct?

There is no such thing as a Free Market. Its never existed since Isaac Newton and the Bank Of England instituted a fiat money system 300 years ago. In case you haven't noticed, this crash is precisely what happens to "free market" systems that become top heavy. The system repeatedly crashes. The main difference with this one is its worldwide, and we are fresh out of resources for the "free market" to plunder.

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[simplelife]

There is no such thing as a Free Market. Its never existed since Isaac Newton and the Bank Of England instituted a fiat money system 300 years ago. In case you haven't noticed, this crash is precisely what happens to "free market" systems that become top heavy. The system repeatedly crashes. The main difference with this one is its worldwide, and we are fresh out of resources for the "free market" to plunder.

Agree there are no true free markets (it''s a shame too). But you havent noticed that the markets that get the closest, like US have managed to spread wealth more effectivley (by far) that the most centralized economies like Russia? Even when USSR was flying high, there was no "middle class", pretty much everyone was poor except a few elite.

[Ludi]

But you havent noticed that the markets that get the closest, like US have managed to spread wealth more effectivley (by far)

The past couple of less-regulated "free market" decades in the US have concentrated wealth in the fewest hands since the days of the Robber Barons.

"In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth, the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 39.7%."

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesameri ... ealth.html

[ReverseEngineer]

Agree there are no true free markets (it''s a shame too). But you havent noticed that the markets that get the closest, like US have managed to spread wealth more effectivley (by far) that the most centralized economies like Russia? Even when USSR was flying high, there was no "middle class", pretty much everyone was poor except a few elite.

The only thing I noticed was that we stole more, both from the wealth of other nations and from the resources of the earth. Basically, we went on an uncontrolled spending binge using up the Oil of the world as fast as we could. What couldn't be stolen through the markets was taken by brute force during WWII. Then an economic Ponzi scheme was set up by John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White at Bretton Woods that allowed banksters to sieve even more of the wealth of the world into their greedy little hands. That it allowed a generation of Americans to eat cheap McBurgers and own plasma TVs is a short lived byproduct, but its most certainly not a result of any "equity" or fair distribution by the free market system. That is the biggest crock of shit ever sold, and you buy it hook line and sinker. As I like to say, there are none so stupid as those who will not think

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