How come the F*****G wheels have not fallen off yet? Seriously...

[Arabi]

I'm equally perplexed by it all too. Everyday gives me that much more time to prep. Stay focused cause it's gonna suck big time when they finally realize that life as they know it ceases to exist. 

Oh, and I'm not referring to the patriot part of the post.

[Chesyre]

Define patriot

if by patriot you mean  people willing to human wave attack entrenched defenders,  for the middle class top 5 % of income earners . to keep driving the SUV , lounging in the hot tub , drinking imported beer and talking shit about everyone lower on the fiat currency pole.  a lot of us got smart and think you can go fuck yourselves.

[croesus]

The manifestation of what the 'patriot' holds dear is the nation-state, with its ever present history of war, torture and oppression.  I am not a patriot, nor do I value the collectivist philosophy of patriotism.  I am an individual.

[mtlouie]

I'm pretty sure he means the Jeep Patriot, Ches.

Or maybe the Jeep Rubicon.   

I would love to meet the absolute brain-dead morons that decided to use that as a name for an SUV!!  LOL!

'Course, maybe they meant it in irony....

[Alan NJ]

You're really jumping on this guy for the "patriot" comment?  The rest of what he is saying is Latoc boilerplate.

I'm not sure I want someone motivated by patriotism right now either.  Don't want to put words in his mouth, but maybe he just wants a public figure who speaks the truth about this predicament.

I read the breaking news every day, and today it set off a few more alarm bells than usual.  I have still have my caps lock under tight control though.

[pamela]

    
How come the F*****G wheels have not fallen off yet? Seriously...

Red White and Blue duct tape! 

[Midatlantic]

The wheels have not fallen off yet because most people at their core are decent people.  Most, but not all.  I used to think the reverse of this, especially when being cut off on the highway.  However, I've come to realize that it is a small proportion of the total drivers around me who drive like shit and thus I take this to mean that the proportion of assholes in society is relatively small. 

So again, people are keeping things together as best they can.  As others have posted on here, men and women and children are pretty tough and can get by in adverse circumstances.  Don't forget that you're the culmination--to be simplistic--of 3.6 billion years of evolution or whatever the abstract number of years actually is: in other words, you and most everyone else are tough birds.

[wordnerd]

Yes. most people are "holding together as best they can"
Most are afraid
Most believe that "something" will happen to turn things around... but they are still afraid that it wont
I think they are just trying to keep living from day to day the best way they can
Trying to make things look normal... especially for their children

[picasso moon]

This is like Wile Coyote after he's gone over the cliff's edge, too busy running forward to notice there's nothing but air below, that's why the wheels haven't fallen off.

Marx said religion was the opiate of the masses, but he was speaking before the invention of the picture tube.

And the boob tube made it possible to disseminate religion even further.

[Matrix1976]

...I just reviewed todays Breaking News Section and I am completely over whelmed. I have been reading this section since 2004, I don't post much but today I can not understand why some displaced individual is not breaking down my door trying to kill me and steal my resources because HIS FAMILY IS STARVING, HE HAS NO JOB, NO SAVINGS, NO FUTURE, NO FOOD and HIS KIDS ARE CRYING BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING WITHOUT.  I am completely confused.

That time will come....when? I dont know, it can be next week, it can be in 5 years...but one thing for sure is it will come soon. Just make sure you are ready when it does. I feel your pain, it is very psychologically demanding to go on day after day, week after week, month after month never knowing when the world as you knew it will fall apart before your eyes. Hang in there, love your family, prepare and do the best you can...you are not alone, even if it feels that way sometimes.

[Bruce]

The wheels have not fallen off yet because the situation simply has not adversely affected enough people yet. There is no reason to think that the unemployment numbers are going to get any better (except maybe a brief bump during the holidays). AOL announced a major layoff just yesterday. Don't pay any attention to CNBC they HAVE to make things look rosier than they are because they have to sell advertising spots or they die themselves. Things ARE bad and ARE getting worse. The wheels will come off it is just not time yet. When the wheels do come off that is when you will see what I think you mean as patriots. When people have nothing else to loose (freedom already gone) they will bring out the torches and pitchforks. Where these weapons will be aimed is the problem. Will the hearts full of anger and anguish attack their own like has happened in so many riots? Or will they aim strait at wall street and/or Government? Sadly, I think the chaos will be aimed at any and everyone who walks on their path. This itself will run it's course but that may take a while. Eventually, the anger and disgust will be levied against those who truly have made this problem worse for the masses while making it better for themselves. Hang in there, the fruit is not ripe yet but the tree is full just the same................................Bruce

[Capella]

Why have the wheels not fallen off yet? Okay, let's stay in the picture here.



Imagine there is a cart. A large one, like the ones you can rent to have a party on them. And there is a bunch of people on it, having the celebration of their life on it. Way to many people, actually, the cart is kind of overloaded and it makes some warning creaks already. Maybe one of the passengers even hears it and says something like "Hey, did you hear that? That noise? Is there something wrong with the cart?" But the others don't want to hear it. They are having a party. They are getting drunk. They want their fun. So the cart goes on. The noise worsens, though and after a while even the hardcore fun-lovers cannot deny it any longer. Something is going wrong. They keep on partying, but ever so often the creaking of the cart becomes a topic of conversation:
"Shouldn't we stop and fix it?", someone asks. The others ridicule him.
"Stop? The party would be over. We cannot stop. The cart can never stop."
"Then let's at least slow down?", someone else suggests. The others grab him and push him off the wagon which now seems to be creaking slightly less. So that's what they start to do. Whenever the creaking becomes too loud, they push someone off to lighten the load and keep the cart moving. Leaves more beer for them as well.
The ones who have been pushed off are pissed, of course. They struggle to get back on, but since the cart keeps moving and hasn't even slowed down, it costs all their strength to just keep up with it, not leaving enough power to climb back on. Sometimes one of the remaining passengers will look down on them and with a pityful expression pour some beer over the sweaty faces of those running behind.
"Here, you poor folks, have a drink. I am really sorry, but you have to understand, we had to sacrifice you, the cart must not stop."
"We have to stop the cart", one of those on the ground decides. He looks around. Most of his companions in misfortune are too busy just keeping up or trying to climb back on the cart to even listen to him. But one or two gang up with him. In an immense effort they try to loosen one of the wheels to make the cart break down.
As soon as the people on the wagon notice that, they start throwing empty beer bottles at them.
"They try to spoil our party! Envious mean creatures! Party-crashers! Terrorists!"
One of the attackers is already on the ground, bleeding, but another one hangs on, determined to stop the cart which is still going at unreduced speed. Now the people on the ground grab him and pull him off.
"What did you do that for?" he asks. "I was trying to stop the cart."
"The cart must not stop", they say.
"But they threw you off. They keep on partying without you!" he cries.
"We will get back on later. The cart must not stop", they say, breathless from the effort of keeping up and fighting him off at the same time.
The people remaining on the cart, there are not too many of them left, have positioned themselves defensively at the railing, prepared to fend off any new attackers. Their singing has stopped. Defending the party has become more important than celebrating. The creaking of the cart is now even louder and more profound.
"Couldn't we throw off some of the beer? We don't need that much, now that there is only so few off us left?" someone suggests sensibly. But before he even finishes the sentence, he is pushed over the railing.
So the cart goes on, all wheels creaking but still attached, carrying a few who consider themselves fortunate to still remain partying, even though there is not much fun in it anymore, due to the fear to be attacked and the beer taken away.
"The cart must not stop. The cart must never stop", they keep mumbling.

[wordnerd]

That is a perfect analogy capella
+1

[zenobia]

(as an aside to Louie, I think the Jeep Rubicon is named after the Rubicon Trail, which is a famous 4wd trail through the CA wilderness that is a big draw for rockcrawling enthusiasts.  Not that a Jeep Rubicon could actually DRIVE the Rubicon Trail...you need a Land Cruiser for that - LOL!)


The fucking wheels HAVE come off.  It's the Hologram that is making it seem like the wheels are still on.  It's like the Emperor's New Clothes - everyone (except for us Cassandras) is unwilling to be the one to stick their neck out and state the obvious.

Two things: 

One of my Bible verses today was from Luke, "Woe to you who laugh now!  For you shall mourn and weep!"

Matt Simmons gave a lecture locally in the past week (he lives here and has invested a lot in the local area).  Although he was shilling for his new ocean energy company and his belief in the unlimited potential for turning seawater into liquid ammonia that can be used in combustion engines (!!!  WTF!), he also stated that we were now beyond Peak Carbon ANYTHING. 

[Trish]

Do we deserve to be angry, though? Americans have lived better than most of the rest of the world for decades. We've come to view it as a natural state of affairs, our birthright. If our incomes were all halved tomorrow, and our standards of living, we'd STILL be better off than most of the rest of the world. (as long as we had fresh running water, that is) And we'd be ENRAGED.

But is it justified? Realistically, shouldn't all of our lifestyles be more modest given the size of our population, the size of the rest of the world's, and the relative scarcity of resources?

I think we're upset because the Truth Hurts! And it's all coming to bear in a hurry, not gradually like many people hoped it would.