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“Of all races in an advanced stage of civilization, the American is the least accessible to long views… Always and everywhere in a hurry to get rich, he does not give a thought to remote consequences; he sees only present advantages… He does not remember, he does not feel, he lives in a materialist dream.”
—Moiseide Ostrogorski (1902, 302-303)
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Exactly. With the Depression will come millions foreclosed on, jobless, etc. Like me, Homeland Suckurity won't let them have a bank account. They'll lose their cars since those with bad credit in the US pay 2X-3X or more for car insurance, although that practice is illegal. They'll start trading on a cash-only basis. I don't even trust paper money and plan to put what savings I can squirrel away into "junk" US silver coins. A profitable sketching or busking session downtown may be followed by a trip to the pawn shop or coin dealer, to buy some junk silver.
Also, there's a growing "get out of debt" and "frugality" movement in the US. One of my favorite TV shows is one called 'Big Spender". The hero of the show goes around in really loud Western shirts and boots, it's hilarious. He goes around to people who've applied to be on the show, who want their debt problems solved. Typically the debtor is making about $6k a month and spending about twice that. The hero tells them to deal on a CASH ONLY basis, start cooking at home, etc. So far about 3/4 of the debtors are able to make the rather drastic changes needed. The hero advocates selling off any spare Bentleys one may have, canceling gym memberships, cutting all fat out of one's life. Credit cards are cut up. Money is to be treated as REAL, not 1's and 0's.
1's and 0's are very very easy to have taken from one anyway. Doesn't anyone remember that horrible movie, "The Net"? Can't anyone learn from that potboiler that all "they" have to do is cancel your account and that's that? Oh and math equations fly around on your screen..... maybe that was another movie?
But imagine going to your ATM and you can't withdraw money, your account is canceled, and you can't get an answer. And neither can millions of others. If you're lucky you may get 50% of your 1's and 0's back like Northern Rock is supposedly giving back, but this being the US, I'd doubt it. All those 1's and 0's were once genuine US coins'n'toilet paper, and now they're gone. Those hours of work you put in earning them, gone.
Gold and silver are money. USbucks should make good compost, finely shredded.
Living where you live now you probably figured out that the old money people walk around in jeans and t shirts and drive old decrepit pickup trucks.
All the new bling crowd are just targets.
LOLZ Musash'!
Yeah the "old money" drive their old trucks and wear Dickies overalls, it's true. There are actually Priuses out here, it's hilarious! And blingin' rims are not unknown, nor are X5's.
But, since most of that "wealth" is a put-on, it won't stay away from the repo man long, my Prius sure didn't.
There's a sort of "look" around here..... jeans, about 1/2" - 1" of beard, ciggie or Skoal in mouth, lined face, sort of "kicked from pillar to post" expression. Look on kids = hungry.
Actually most of the people around here look pretty healthy and are damned NICE its' just amazing. Ate a very good b'fast burrito cooked at a small lunch truck yesterday, how nice it was to speak in English with a fellow American running her little lunch truck, lunch trailer really lol.
There are jobs here, stone mason, carpenter, stuff like that. And working with horses. Good jobs really, but you have to be reality-based. Not much future in pushing buttons.
Wise words from the depths of your cave, Miyamoto.
Sitting here with a small stack of brass $1 coins, and contemplating.