From America to Zimbabwe, the coming anarchy

[Seahorse]

Kansas City, Missouri to close half its schools next year.

http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,63678.0/topicseen.html

[Seahorse]

There's an old "doomer" movie called "The Postman."  Basically, the symbol of doom or the break down in society is personified by the lack of postal delivery.  The lack of postal service meaning no government.  The Postman wiki here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman

I never really thought about that until recently with our own government troubles, debts, looming depression and now the United States Postal Service is overbudget and cutting back on services, like considering going to a five day delivery week.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/03/post-office-wants-to-go-to-fiveday-a-week-delivery-schedule.html

So, maybe the USPS is a good barometer of Federal gov't collapse.  It's at least worth watching.

Here are some other articles on USPS budget problems:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/03/news/companies/usps_postal_service_privatize.fortune/index.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/02/raw-data-fast-facts-postal-service-budget-problems/

[DNVRLIZ]

There's an old "doomer" movie called "The Postman."  Basically, the symbol of doom or the break down in society is personified by the lack of postal delivery.  The lack of postal service meaning no government.  The Postman wiki here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman

I never really thought about that until recently with our own government troubles, debts, looming depression and now the United States Postal Service is overbudget and cutting back on services, like considering going to a five day delivery week.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/03/post-office-wants-to-go-to-fiveday-a-week-delivery-schedule.html

So, maybe the USPS is a good barometer of Federal gov't collapse.  It's at least worth watching.

Here are some other articles on USPS budget problems:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/03/news/companies/usps_postal_service_privatize.fortune/index.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/02/raw-data-fast-facts-postal-service-budget-problems/

They are actually considering a 3 day delivery week now.....

[TheDignityofStruggle]

But of course, the wars won't stop and neither will the banker bailouts. 

Remember during Katrina when O'Reilly wanted the looters to be shot? Does that apply to Goldman or Halliburton execs?

[Seahorse]

Somewhere, I think it was on this thread, I speculated that when America becomes "Zimbabwefied" that foreigners would turn the US into a third world country exploiting us for our natural resources.  Here is some evidence of that, as pointed out by India's richest man investing in US shale gas.

http://www.businessinsider.com/indias-richest-man-dying-for-a-piece-of-the-us-shale-gas-revolution-2010-3

[Seahorse]

Moody's fears social unrest could be caused by debt burdens.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7450468/Moodys-fears-social-unrest-as-AAA-states-implement-austerity-plans.html

LATOC discussion here:

http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,64031.0.html

[Seahorse]

More and more states try to assert their sovereignty against Fed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35906430/ns/politics-the_new_york_times

LATOC discussion here:

http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,64047.0.html

[Katie]

Seahorse, I just wanted to say that I appreciate what you've done with this thread.  I, along with many other LATOCers am someone who likes to discern patterns.  This thread does that.

[Seahorse]

You're welcome.  I read Kaplan's thesis years ago.  When you look at when it was written, back in the 90s during the American hay day, it was really something nutty to write.  No one would have ever predicted the impoverishment of the west and break down of social order.

[Seahorse]

New York suspending tax refunds until budget gets balanced.

http://wcbstv.com/politics/paterson.tax.refund.2.1569690.html

LATOC discussion here:

http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,64128.0/topicseen.html

How realistic is it to think NY can balance its budget?  In what time frame? 

[Seahorse]

Repo man going after the wealthy.

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109141/cries-of-hey-thats-my-jet-dont-deter-high-end-repo-men


<<<<
Ken Cage isn't your typical repo man. Rather than snatch cars from an over-extended middle class, he takes back yachts, planes and other toys from the over-leveraged rich.

Business is thriving, even as the economy begins to improve. His company, Orlando-based International Recovery Group, repossessed more than 700 boats, planes, helicopters and other property last year valued at more than $100 million. Business, he says, is up six-fold from 2007.

He has reclaimed everything from $18 million Gulfstream jets and Bell helicopters to 110-foot Broward yachts, $500,000 recreational vehicles and even a racehorse. Before the financial crisis, most of the luxury items he pulled in were valued between $30,000 and $50,000. Today, they are valued at $200,000 to $300,000—meaning defaults are hitting people at a much higher income level.>>>>

[IndianGirl]

Great Threat seahorse - been reading it for some time now...

[Seahorse]

Los Angeles broke by May.

Los Angeles is in deep trouble. The situation has gotten so grim that the city controller says L.A. to Run Out of Cash in a Month.

Los Angeles will run out of cash on May 5, city Controller Wendy Greuel said today in a release in which she requested a $90 million transfer of reserve funds to pay bills.

“The question I have been asked most often during the budget crisis is, ‘When will the city run out of money?” Greuel said in the e-mailed release. “Unfortunately, we finally have the answer.”

Greuel, 48, said in the release that the city might not be able to make payroll. She asked Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council to release $90 million from reserve funds to meet what she described as “an urgent cash need.” The controller’s financial reporting division estimated that the city would need $90 million to ensure solvency through the fiscal year that ends June 30, according to Golombek.

http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,65258.0.html

Kaplan was right about the future of the West becoming like Africa.  He was right way back in the early 90s when no one would have thought that what was happening in Africa, abject poverty, could ever happen in the West.  It is happening, a breath taking speed (relatively speaking in historical terms, a decade or two is breath taking speed). 

For those who haven't read his follow-up article on capitalism just being a moment, read it here.

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97dec/democ.htm

Keep in mind that the above was written in 1998, when no one would have questioned American dominance or the dominance of the capitalist/democratic model.  America had won the cold war; America had a balanced budget; America was a lone super power; the American dollar was at its height; who would have thought at that time that American democracy and capitalism may just be a moment?  Very prescient.

[Azaziah]

Great Threat seahorse - been reading it for some time now...

Great Freudian Slip, Indian Girl...   ;-)

[IndianGirl]

Great Threat seahorse - been reading it for some time now...

Great Freudian Slip, Indian Girl...   ;-)

  thoughts move faster than fingers...