Higgenbotham's Dark Age Hovel

[Higgenbotham]

Finally, this week I took note of the following from the Archdruid:

balowulf says:
May 22, 2024 at 10:29 am
Hi JMG,

I’d like to follow-up on a post of yours from 2020 (The Arc of our Future):

“So what does the future look like? In some ways, it’s a far less dismal prospect over the short term than I expected not so long ago. Watching the consequences of neoliberal economic policies in the US, I was seriously worried about the rise of a domestic insurgency or outright civil war—that’s why my novels Star’s Reach (2014) and Retrotopia (2016) both presupposed a Second Civil War sometime in the first half of the 21st century. I think we may have dodged that bullet, since Trump’s election showed a great many desperate people that the ballot box was still a viable alternative to war. Even if he loses this November, so long as the election isn’t obviously fraudulent, there’s reason to hope that the lesson has been learned.”

Unfortunately, I’m guessing you would now probably revise that assessment of “less dismal prospect”? I would point out that, in the minds of the losing side of the 2020 election, the results were absolutely fraudulent. Does that side still believe that the ballot box is a viable means of changing course? Perhaps they are still holding out hope for a different result this November?

Balowulf, if the 2024 election is obviously fraudulent all bets are off. I’ll consider leaving the country if that happens, because four more years of business as usual will have so many people so desperate that a domestic insurgency or a civil war are likely outcomes, and the only safe place to be if that happens is somewhere else. If we get a relatively straightforward election with no more than the usual amount of fraud, on the other hand, I think things could settle down, but only if the current crop of failed economic policies get reversed.

https://www.ecosophia.net/may-2024-open ... ent-114756
https://www.ecosophia.net/may-2024-open ... ent-114763

[FullMoon]

I think John has been quite emphatic about anything related to civil war. I understand more clearly from first hand experience about the literal impossibly of it. But dipsticks forming gangs is as old as time...

[Guest]

I think John has been quite emphatic about anything related to civil war. I understand more clearly from first hand experience about the literal impossibly of it. But dipsticks forming gangs is as old as time...

I used to live in the ex-Yugoslavia. This is exactly what people were saying in 1990.

Will Americans do nothing as there streets become too dangerous to walk down, even in the afternoon? Will they do nothing as their wages collapse? Will Americans allow their medical system (such as it) vanish?

Incoming migrants have definite plans of their own.

If Americans do nothing, they deserve everything bad that happens to them

---A survivor

[Guest]

Steve Bannon: Lying Tories betrayed Britain, World War 3 & how to destroy the Left

Excellent interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoUO4Lx1JeU

[Higgenbotham]

It’s Been 30 Years Since Food Ate Up This Much of Your Income

By Jesse Newman and Heather Haddon
Updated Feb. 21, 2024 4:47 pm ET

The last time Americans spent this much of their money on food, George H.W. Bush was in office, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was in theaters and C+C Music Factory was rocking the Billboard charts.

Eating continues to cost more, even as overall inflation has eased from the blistering pace consumers endured throughout much of 2022 and 2023. Prices at restaurants and other eateries were up 5.1% last month compared with January 2023, while grocery costs increased 1.2% during the same period, Labor Department data show.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/i ... e-2e3dd3ed



https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/business/ ... -30-years/

I suspect the chart is a little misleading. Better would be a chart of food spending as a percentage of median income. If that were presented somewhere, my guess is the trough would be seen somewhere around 2005, maybe even earlier.

[Guest]

I was a senior in college in 1991. I don't remember inflation being an issue. Now, in 2024, it is.

[Guest]

I was a senior in college in 1991. I don't remember inflation being an issue. Now, in 2024, it is.

Me, neither. I don't remember inflation being an issue at all in 1991. I remember being happy to be American.

[Higgenbotham]

A graph of food cost as a percentage of income filters out most of the noise. Probably more or less inflation wouldn't change it much, as incomes won't keep up with food costs regardless, or go down faster than food costs go down, if that were to be the case. Some might question whether food quality has changed over the decades, making the situation even more extreme than the chart depicts. Well, we at least know this. The wealthy can now have their free range certified organic meat (high carbon footprint or environmentally friendly, or both?) whereas the masses will be eating meat from CAFOs if they can afford it. Meantime, billionaires will repeat the slogan that people have never had it so good and the media will mindlessly quote it.

You’ve Never Had It So Good. That’s Why You’re Stuck.

The low interest rates and high salaries of recent years have people staying put; part of the American dream slips away

By Joe Pinsker

Across the country, people want to find better jobs, bigger homes and even nicer gyms. But making any of those leaps right now could leave them worse off financially in the long run.

Low interest rates, high salaries and membership discounts scored before and during the pandemic often can’t be matched today, binding people in golden handcuffs. Many feel comfortable, but stuck.

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/f ... y-f29e7434

Didn't take any time at all to find this, but probably could have done much better.

[Guest]

Meantime, billionaires will repeat the slogan that people have never had it so good and the media will mindlessly quote it.

No one will believe it.

[Higgenbotham]

Meantime, billionaires will repeat the slogan that people have never had it so good and the media will mindlessly quote it.

No one will believe it.

Enter Trump.

Or, more accurately, the movement that Trump represents.