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That Old Martial Spirit

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Published : August 06th, 2012
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A great orgasm shuddered through the money world last week when Mario Draghi paused between scamorza con arugula tidbits to remark that the European Central Bank (ECB) would stop at nothing to keep the financial blood of Europe circulating. Of course you wonder how many pony glasses of Campari he knocked back before that whopper came out. The markets squirmed with glee. I suppose it feels good to have quantities of smoke blown up your ass.


This is the last month of the Great Pretending over on that lovely continent of exquisitely preserved towns and the corniche winding down to the crashing green sea, and the lunch table under the grape arbor... I mean, compared to, say, the universal slum vista of tilt-up, strip-mall America along the deafening highways, with the wig shops, tattoo dens, pawn shacks, dollar stores, parking lot swap-meets, and supersized citizens waddling through the greasy 100-degree heat of a new climate regime. When things blow, as you may be sure they will, at least the Europeans will sink amid all that loveliness while the American experience will be more like getting flushed down a toilet.


The more you reflect on the Draghi remark, the more you wonder whether absolutely anyone out there is paying attention to the fact that there is no money backing up these pledges of continued bailouts. All the major banks of Europe are functionally insolvent and all of the nations that charter the banks are structurally insolvent, and the economies that depend on the circulation of funds around this Euro organism really cannot escape some sort of cascading collapse. The big unknown element of the story is how angry and batshit crazy the citizens of all these countries will get when summer ends. I don't believe they will fight each other just now, but it is very likely that the lampposts of all these lovely towns and cities will be decorated with swinging corpses of bankers, ministers, and a choice selection of politicians while a fight over the table scraps of a 30-year-long debt banquet occupies the folks in the streets.


Over on this side of the Atlantic, the question arises: where are the good guys? Why is there not one national political figure in the USA who has a comfortable relationship with truth? Perhaps the elimination of truth in our banking and governing affairs is so complete now that there is no truth left to have a relationship with. Or perhaps no American person of integrity believes in the system enough to defend it. Which raises the corollary question: where are the brave persons who would oppose this baleful culture of lies, swindles, and rackets?


I never tire of reminding readers that life is tragic. Individuals and groups in societies make bad choices or fail to meet a challenge that history presents. When persons fail, events take over and lead all persons where events will. Hence, events will take over the election clown show between an errand boy and a horse's ass. The distracted, degenerate public of tattooed soccer moms and men wearing baby clothes have no idea how quickly the supermarket shelves can go empty. The banking system is headed over Niagara Falls and it will take all our comforts and conveniences with it as it goes over.


Generally people prefer order over chaos, so don't be too surprised if some general in the Pentagon reluctantly decides that there is no choice but to step in and become the government. This would be an awful and momentous thing in our history, but it is exactly what we've asked for with our pornographic politics of lying, grifting, swindling, and racketeering. What I describe, of course, is the flip-side of martial law. Once civilians declare it, things have a tendency to get martial real fast - meaning that the feckless and hesitant civilians who allowed the situation to develop get swept out of the way in favor of anyone who can get something done. And what will have to get done in short order is the reorganization of a banking system to get money flowing again and the reopening of supply lines for food and medicine in particular.


This is not an outcome I promote, you understand, but it is the scenario that a foolish people in a depraved nation are sleepwalking into. Take away the pizza pockets and the Pepsi and anything can happen. We may even live to see Mitch McConnell roasted on a spit in some Kentucky parking lot.


____________________________________


 

 

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James Howard Kunstler has worked as a reporter and feature writer for a number of newspapers, and finally as a staff writer for Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1975, he dropped out to write books on a full-time basis. His nonfiction book, "The Long Emergency," describes the changes that American society faces in the 21st century. Discerning an imminent future of protracted socioeconomic crisis, Kunstler foresees the progressive dilapidation of subdivisions and strip malls, the depopulation of the American Southwest, and, amid a world at war over oil, military invasions of the West Coast; when the convulsion subsides, Americans will live in smaller places and eat locally grown food.
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That's right... Dishwasher I have been.
Wish I were one back again.
Good memories.
A standing job. Not sitting on a lazy ass behind a computer all day. Accumulating all the
B.S. of the world.
No TA of guessing where the gold price eventually might be the next millisecond. (That's a nice one !).
No more: it's finished with Europe , it's finished with the US , it's finished with Japan , China , India...
Argentina is on the slope again. Merkel is desperate. I can continue for hours.
France has a "socialist" president ! Next week it's war with Iran !
I was happy behind my sink.
And I did a good job.
I had a more respectable job then than the current one on Wall Street.
Looking forward to Mr Kunstler's next article , coming Monday.
Don't know where he keeps on getting the inspiration from though.
What's in a name ?

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"He appears to have an obscession with orgasm and asses. He predicts, again, some enormous collaspe, and then an idyllic return to nature. If one were to have blown up one's ass if would surely be over some woodsy campfire."
How many spelling mistakes above ?
I am preparing an idyllic go , not return , never was there before.... alt1 ☺
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Hey DISHWASHER, there's not that much wrong with tipo's.
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...to have an obscession with orgasm and asses. He predicts, again, some enormous collaspe, and then...

obscession can never be a tipo. Understandable because at the same time you had recession in mind. What an obscenity.

collaspe yes... of course 100% tipo
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Kunstler, this time The GOOD Guys are not any of the National Political Figures. The good guys have stood up and told the average Joe-six-pack to Unionize for Strength and Keep YOUR Job in America; but the Joe's voted Corporate and the good guys got shot down ~ then fired. The good guys stood up and told the Joe-six-packs that Trickle-Down Economics was for the rich: but the Joe's kept right on voting Reagan and Bush. The good guys stood up and told the Joe-six-packs the Iraqis are not THEIR enemies ~ but the Joe's listened to Rush Limbaugh and wanted innocent blood on their hands. This time The Good Guys are sitting this one out ~ as those Joe's are soon to get What They So RIGHTEOUSLY Deserve. They chose their cup: let them drink from it. As the Guardian of the Holy Grail once said to Indiana Jones: "He chose poorly."
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Jobs ? To achieve what ?
Staying alive , staying alive !!!! Oh,Oh, Oh
Long live Globalization ! And Monsanto to start with.
Sanctus Spiritus ,
Amen
Got land ? No ! Shares in Coca Cola !
Imagine I were a professor in economics! What would I be able to tell my students ?
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Absolutely respectfully yours , I have read it 10 times and can't make anything of it.
As long as the US$ is reserve currency in the world I claim the right what Americans are talking about.
Good guys , bad guys. Good currency , bad currency.
And the Iranians are not your enemies either.
You are your own enemy !
May God bless you.
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Kunstler = german for artist. I don't know alot about this man only that he has an artful way with words, and makes me laugh MAO each and every time I read one of his posts. It's succint, witty and articulate .
Keep it up "Kunstler" laughter is the best medicine even in the face of tragedy.
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Howard, me thinks they are just going to paper it all over. What makes you think they can't just print and buy the bonds like they have been doing. If no one else buys them then the Fed will - they can do this until the preverbial cows come home. No? Yes, inflation has arrived (not withstanding the housing bubble). I am paying $34 / gal for paint. $2.30 per ft. for 3/4 x 8" clear pine for trim.
Debt is extinguished by inflating it away (or paying it back - sooo old fashioned) or forgiving.
Inflation, inflation it will be inflation. It's a bad sentence for the old, the poor and the middle class who will just get squeezed to death. I lived through the late '60's to early '80s. - saw my income rise and debt principal fade away. We are just missing the income but am paying $65 per hour for plumber!
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One has to be overwhelmed by the class and quality of Kunstler's writing. I hope the Pulitzer committee makes note of this. For instance we have in the very first paragraph alone:

"A great orgasm shuddered through the money world..."

"...it feels good to have quantities of smoke blown up your ass..."

"..the American experience will be more like getting flushed down a toilet."

"... this Euro organism really cannot escape some sort of cascading collapse."

He appears to have an obscession with orgasm and asses. He predicts, again, some enormous collaspe, and then an idyllic return to nature. If one were to have blown up one's ass if would surely be over some woodsy campfire.

He condemns strip malls and worst of all the Dollar Store! I shop there all the time for items costing double somewhere else. What's he thinking?

And then he ends his tourettes rant with this jewel: "We may even live to see Mitch McConnell roasted on a spit in some Kentucky parking lot." Really, roasted on a spit? Is there some latet desire of Kunstler to have smoke blown up his ass? Where does this hate come from? Was Kunstler denied some special toy as a child?

Finally, it's ironic that Kunstler's latest diatribe against the 'American experience' comes the day after NASA successfuly lands a magnificent scientific instrument on the surface of Mars. Nice experience that.





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I dont know why NASA bothered with all that expense when they could have just portalled it across to Mars in a fraction of the time and cost as per normal.
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I can land something on Mars if you give me enough credit. Yes, it's a great feat indeed made payable by the blessed "petro dollar" scam - soon to be ending I hear.
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I'd like to get you know better. Could we meet ? You don't seem to come over so well here
on this board. Me neither , but I don't care either.
Who were the investors, scientific contributors on this latest NASA experiment ?
Good old great AMERICA !!!??? Taxpayers ! And nobody asked them...
Where did my money go ? Joe Corzine of course.
I read JHKunstler's article above. You don't have to repeat it in your rant.
We all read it.
I hate people that use the word "success".
God bless you ! Order given ! Let's wait.
What A says about B says more about A than about B !
Ironic ? Wish you were on Mars.
I love to be hated too. At least I know where I stand.
☺x10
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Latest comment posted for this article
Hey DISHWASHER, there's not that much wrong with tipo's. Read more
S W. - 8/11/2012 at 3:03 AM GMT
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