This, of course, leads to a deeper question as to whether the USA is actually a serious society or just a nation of hopeless, greedy clowns? Are we even capable anymore of distinguishing between purposeful activity and the art of the grift?Follow the link to see what specifically he's talking about.
It seems to me that the answer is pretty obvious. What's behind Door Number 2? I mean, public provision in American basically amounts to redistributionist economics by way of progressive taxation and tax-code manipulation. This, I guess, ideally serves the ultimate purpose of bringing the Underclass into the Debtor Class, which we call the middle class, which is currently in foreclosure in the Phoenix Metro. Meanwhile, as Kunstler points out, the question is: Does investment in "infrastructure" mean that I'm going to get rail service from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, or does it mean that financial institutions are going to create--oh, what might they call it--High-Yield Bundled Transit Securities in which the potential future assets--the current debts--of a someday-to-be-revitalized rail line are collateralized, tranched, repackaged, re-lent, ad inf., all while the Amtrak serves gas-station sandwiches in the dining car and runs eight hours for a 200-mile trip? Does it mean that the streets in Pittsburgh are going to get resurfaced, or does it mean that some new highway interchange is going to be built at the cost of fifty miles of light rail out in the middle of who-knows-why-or-how?
I personally support some kind of Mutualist plan to raze all the soon-to-be-foreclosed, fallow exurban housing and highway retail property, instituting a new Homestead act, and re-agriculturating the again-arable land, but that doesn't really answer the question of whither Phoenix? Or greater LA, for that matter. I've seen Chinatown, you know? That shit's the desert.
This is all a roundabout way to say that "serious society" and "continental empire with huge overseas committments" do not each other equal, ever or at all.
9 comments:
Myself, I'm putting together a brave band of anarchists to re-occupy some of those empty McMansions out in the burbs. Turn 'em into collective farms, or something.
Just waitin' til spring, so we can rototill up the lawns.
Good post, good post. I was away the other weekend and had to endure the conversation of a "financial wizard" who was complaining how everyone was panicking for no reason and if we all just calmed down, it would all be completely okay. The fantasy world is coming down.
But I did love this comment over at Kunstler's bemoaning the unseriousness of the American public:
As the past fifteen years have revealed – our nation’s highest office was held first by a man of such maturity as to entertain a women with oral sexual relations.
Pure gold.
JK: "The capital that was deployed and squandered in the previous two bubbles is not there anymore to be washed, rinsed, and recycled. It's gone."
At six and a half billion and counting, I don't think real estate's going to be a downer in value, at least not over the long haul. And houses are still things, filled with stuff, even if they're badly placed. Might be interesting to see who's owning 'em in a few years, and doing what with them.
(And it rarely escapes me when I read that guy that year-round at Saratoga Springs is pretty exclusive, at least compared to anywhere else in commuting distance of the Capital district. If any of his neighbors actually pulls a salary, odds are they drive to Albany. Or New York City.)
I thought the Mutualist plan was to turn over de jure ownership to those with usufruct. Razing stuff for renewal sounds more like Robert Moses.
keifus: You are being tool negative. EVERYONE can be the scion of a rich mucky muck writer and live in an 1830s Greek Revival cottage! Everyone that matters, that is.
My sister asked him once whow he is going to heat his house once the doom hits? Last time I checked, upstate's pretty cold!
Or, why he keeps jetting all around the world. He "Cheneyed" her, of mcourse.
Everyone used to laugh at us renters.
Kunstler enjoys his gloomy view of the future, but I distrust his assessment of probabilities and consequences.
For example, he predicts oil will be getting scarcer and more expensive. Yes, this seems likely. But then he concludes that increasingly high prices for diesel fuel will make 18-wheel trucks obsolete, and that goods will be delivered by small trucks instead.
This seems to me a conclusion that fails to take into account a very simple fact - that you divide the cost of a tank of fuel by the size of the payload. Such an obvious cognitive error leads me to distrust him as a prophet in general.
OT, but hey, IOZ, didja see this side-splitting post from digby earlier this week? Is she talking about the same Atrios we know, the one that's lazier than a three-toed sloth on heroin?
Magnificent items from уou, man. I have understand your stuff рrioг to and уou aгe simply extrеmely excellent.
Ӏ really like what you've obtained right here, really like what you're stating
anԁ the wаy by which yοu aгe saying it.
Υou're making it entertaining and you still care for to stay it wise. I cant wait to read far more from you. This is really a terrific web site.
Stop by my weblog ... Chemietoilette
Post a Comment