A lot of us see the same thing that Rusell does — people are "tuning out," turning to escapism, and denying reality in massive numbers. They are diving into the television, or sex, or retreating into little communities of various kinds. Is this because people are concerned that the Federal Reserve has misbehaved? I have trouble with that hypothesis. I just stopped the last 100 people who went by me at the mall here, and only two of them had ever heard of the Federal Reserve. One wanted to know if it was some kind new wine they should try. Russell spends his time writing Dow Theory letters, so of course he thinks that this is all financial. But it's not; that's just one more symptom of the generalized rot that has set in. Were every 'dollar' out there backed in full by gold, we would still see massive numbers of people retreating into fantasy. It is how humans react to powerlessness in the face of overwhelming complexity. The recent Supreme Court decision concerning the Texas sodomy law is an example. There are tens of millions of people who would never join a pogrom to eradicate homosexual humans, but who really wish such people would be a little discreet about it. A parent rails in vain against homosexual scoutmasters, men kissing each other on television, and so on. It just keeps coming, and no amount of effort seems to make any difference. It is this way with everything. It is almost impossible anymore to find a clerk in a store who speaks English well enough to tell you where the pasta sauces are. They look at you like you just said, "Pas Taso?" Is everything going down the tube financially? Well, no surprise there. Everything is going down the tube everywhere we look. The bubbly blonde behind the checkout counter has to ask the manager what number month 'April' is. Our young men are basically checking out of higher education; the only place you'll find men on a college campus today are in the science and engineering schools, and half of them are foreigners with names like Wong and Prindartha. Just as well, too, because the engineering jobs are moving to India. Nobody knows what the law is. There's so much law that one or another law says anything you want said. Look at the California recall nonsense; the law is 'clear' that there shall be an election. Bustamante says 'no,' and cites the Constitution. The Constitution says there shall be an election, if appropriate. Like everything else, it all ends up being decided by some non-elected clown in a black robe. People feel totally powerless in this environment. So they give up. They crawl into a hole and they hide from the complexity that they can no longer comprehend or effect. They can see where it's going. They may not understand the Federal Reserve, but they know what it means that half the kids aren't living with their fathers anymore. We've seen that one; it's called Watts, or the South Bronx. They look at 13-year-old girls dressed up and made up like French whores, and they can only shake their heads. So they wander into McDonald's and ask for a Big Mac and fries, and the kid behind the counter gives them that look. "What is big macanflies?" Arrggh. Has the population voted for politicians that have run up $44 trillion in promised benefits that no one knows how to pay for? Why not? 50% of the people don't know what "50%" means. Antonio Gramsci, white courtesy telephone please. Paging Mr. Antonio Gramsci. Your country is ready. |
The financial scenario presented here is certainly scary, but it's barely the tip of an iceberg.