Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

spottybrowncow wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:20 pm

Higgie,

That's a beautiful plan, but what do you plan to do when others come by (worst case scenario, I think Greer calls them 'warbands") and help themselves to the fruits of your labor?

Guest wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 22, 2024 2:01 am

Higgenbotham wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 21, 2024 9:07 pm

Higgenbotham wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 07, 2024 3:59 am

Probably there are many people who would look at the photos of the apartment units around my former Dark Age Hovel and conclude my neighbors are simply pigs who need to clean up their act and there are no excuses. Maybe so.

The stench of pot permeates the air nearly every time I walk to and from the parking lot.

None of it bothers me all that much and I don't have much of an opinion about it except: It's a new dark age. When the transfer payments come to a halt, as I think is likely soon, that won't be the place to be. It was good for 19 years as the world rumbled along on the plateau before what I perceive to be the imminent coming fall off the plateau that has already started and is picking up speed.

When a friend mentioned over 20 years ago that he was going to start growing his own food, I said I planned to keep buying food for the foreseeable future. That plan has now changed.

I can imagine a couple distinct phases in the transition to the new dark age. The first phase will be economic trouble, which we are well into and I think getting close to the major global financial panic and crisis after which I think a second phase will follow. Sometime during the second phase money will disappear and people will need to either provide their own necessities or barter for them.

In my new Dark Age Hovel, I will be digging a few dozen compost pits starting today and through the Summer and into the Fall to prepare the ground for an intensive garden. This pit took 2.5 hours to dig and measures 32 inches by 40 inches by 2 feet deep. That implies I will be preparing 500 to 1000 square feet of ground by Fall for intensive production plus more ground beyond that.

Anyway, the main point being that I think it's time to earnestly prepare for the second phase, which will be the much more difficult phase.

Diggenbotham

Several of my friends have told me recently (this year) that every American city in a Blue State smells like weed, urine, and garbage. They have also told me that illegal immigrant crime/violence is obvious. It's really bad.

I hope you are way out in the countryside.

Guest wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 22, 2024 2:01 am

Several of my friends have told me recently (this year) that every American city in a Blue State smells like weed, urine, and garbage. They have also told me that illegal immigrant crime/violence is obvious. It's really bad.

I hope you are way out in the countryside.

Higgenbotham wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 21, 2024 9:07 pm

Higgenbotham wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 07, 2024 3:59 am

Probably there are many people who would look at the photos of the apartment units around my former Dark Age Hovel and conclude my neighbors are simply pigs who need to clean up their act and there are no excuses. Maybe so.

The stench of pot permeates the air nearly every time I walk to and from the parking lot.

None of it bothers me all that much and I don't have much of an opinion about it except: It's a new dark age. When the transfer payments come to a halt, as I think is likely soon, that won't be the place to be. It was good for 19 years as the world rumbled along on the plateau before what I perceive to be the imminent coming fall off the plateau that has already started and is picking up speed.

When a friend mentioned over 20 years ago that he was going to start growing his own food, I said I planned to keep buying food for the foreseeable future. That plan has now changed.

I can imagine a couple distinct phases in the transition to the new dark age. The first phase will be economic trouble, which we are well into and I think getting close to the major global financial panic and crisis after which I think a second phase will follow. Sometime during the second phase money will disappear and people will need to either provide their own necessities or barter for them.

In my new Dark Age Hovel, I will be digging a few dozen compost pits starting today and through the Summer and into the Fall to prepare the ground for an intensive garden. This pit took 2.5 hours to dig and measures 32 inches by 40 inches by 2 feet deep. That implies I will be preparing 500 to 1000 square feet of ground by Fall for intensive production plus more ground beyond that.

Anyway, the main point being that I think it's time to earnestly prepare for the second phase, which will be the much more difficult phase.

Diggenbotham

Two weeks ago we talked about the way that life throughout the modern industrial world has fallen into the grip of lenocracy—that is, a system in which pimping of one kind or another is the most common feature of economic life, or in less idiosyncratic language, a system in which every economic exchange is exploited by interests that contribute nothing to the transaction but must be paid off before the transaction can take place. Lenocracy is a feature of all complex human societies, for much the same reason that every animal species has parasites: whenever freeloading on someone else’s labor and resources instead of doing the work yourself is an option, someone or something will be found to fill that niche.

Yet societies vary in the amount of lenocracy they tolerate. In particular, when markets are relatively free from the double-headed monster of huge business monopolies and metastatic government bureaucracy, people who don’t want to put up with the exactions of lenocrats can quite often do an end run around them, and this puts an upper limit on how far lenocracy can run amok. On the other hand, once they reach a certain degree of bloat, it rarely takes long for big business and big government to figure out that they can both prosper by supporting each other’s lenocratic habits at the expense of everyone else.

Once this takes place, the balancing factor just described goes out the window. Lenocrats in the private sector can demand more and more out of every transaction, knowing that lenocrats in the government sector will throw up barriers in the way of any attempt to get by without them. Business profits increase and so does the number of bureaucrats, while the costs are shoved off on the rest of society. The only limit to the process is the one that the United States is running up against right now—the point at which the sheer burden of lenocracy becomes so vast that it’s impossible for either the public or the private sector to cope with its problems, much less solve them. Under such conditions, nations collapse and civilizations fall; it really is as simple as that.

Higgenbotham wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 07, 2024 3:59 am

Probably there are many people who would look at the photos of the apartment units around my former Dark Age Hovel and conclude my neighbors are simply pigs who need to clean up their act and there are no excuses. Maybe so.

The stench of pot permeates the air nearly every time I walk to and from the parking lot.

None of it bothers me all that much and I don't have much of an opinion about it except: It's a new dark age. When the transfer payments come to a halt, as I think is likely soon, that won't be the place to be. It was good for 19 years as the world rumbled along on the plateau before what I perceive to be the imminent coming fall off the plateau that has already started and is picking up speed.

Higgenbotham wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 20, 2024 1:43 pm

Guest wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 20, 2024 11:15 am

Boeing and the Dark Age of American Manufacturing

Someone has been reading your posts, Higgie.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compani ... r-AA1nlGzH

He mentioned Toyota. And it seems relevant to recognize that Toyota has still been able to put out a quality reasonably priced product, despite Japan having a high cost structure. Also, he didn't mention this, but Japan recently doubled its yearly quota for guest workers to 820,000. The key difference from the US, etc., being that these workers are guests and they are in Japan to work. So maybe it would be possible to turn things around at Boeing and return to the glory days as he implies, but I don't think that will happen.

https://www.google.com/search?q=japan+820,000

Japan plans to invite 820,000 skilled professionals. Check your eligibility now!

Overseas Careers & Immigration Experts
Published Apr 1, 2024

Highlights: 820,000 skilled professionals invited under its visa program

The Japanese government will welcome 820,000 skilled professionals in the next five fiscal years.
Japan is expanding its skilled worker visa program starting in April to include new industries like forestry and transportation.
Japan's demand for foreign labor has increased in the transportation and logistics sectors.
Four new industries are added to the Specified Skilled Worker visa program.

Japan is updating its approach toward foreign laborers

On Friday, the Japanese government announced a significant expansion of its foreign skilled worker visa program. This step allowed more individuals to stay up to five years to strengthen the nation’s economy.

Expansion of its Industries

The Japanese government has added four new industries to the Specified Skilled Worker visa program, totaling 16. The newly added sectors are:

Road
Railway Transportation
Forestry
Timber Industries

Factors affecting the skilled worker visa program

The list of a few factors affecting the visa program is given below:

Increased Visa Targets
The Japanese government plans to welcome 820,000 skilled foreign workers under its visa program.

Streamlining Admission Process
The government plans to revise a few regulations, aiming to enable the immediate acceptance of skilled foreign workers to the newly added sectors.

Industry-specific Requirements
Skilled foreigners are now eligible for roles such as drivers of buses, trucks, and taxis.

Benefits of the Visa Program
Foreigners under this visa program must illustrate professional competence and Japanese language proficiency to allow for immediate employment.

Guest wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 20, 2024 11:15 am

Boeing and the Dark Age of American Manufacturing

Someone has been reading your posts, Higgie.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compani ... r-AA1nlGzH

And when FAA investigators finally toured the premises of Spirit AeroSystems—maker of the blown-out door as well as the fuselage it was supposed to fit in—they did not find a tight operation. They found one door seal being lubricated with Dawn liquid dish soap and cleaned with a wet cheesecloth, and another checked with a hotel-room key card.

A dark age doesn’t descend all at once. The process of emerging from one also takes time. It must begin with a recognition that something has been lost. Boeing’s fall just might have provided that rush of clarity. You could be from the 12th century and still know that soap and cheesecloth aren’t for making flying machines.

Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Councils Framework to drive Accountability at Spirit AeroSystems