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Good god. Smells like they are trying to use the law to place themselves above accountability.

What happens next, do you think?

Other than Israel getting all self-righteous and even more protectionist?

Jason Ouabache is illegal in 52 states and in international waters.

Oh wait, this thread is for silly laws only; my bad.

I heard he is worshiped in Somalia though.

Well, I was thinking more practically -- Carpooling, families pooling their money to buy in bulk at Costco, neighborhood crimewatch, block parties, looking after Mrs Jones' kids while she's at her day job, etc.

Though, that said, if this is done via Facebook, you can bet someone will be watching it.  The lengths at which private intelligence agecies to go in order to discover sedition and terrorism never cease to amaze me.

Yeah, those people need to know their place and stay in it. 

Might be a damn good facebook troll, just to waste their time.

Well, I was thinking more practically -- Carpooling, families pooling their money to buy in bulk at Costco, neighborhood crimewatch, block parties, looking after Mrs Jones' kids while she's at her day job, etc.

We have a lady here, she lives right behind me. She watches kids, dogs, etc all the time to help out. She was turned in for running an illegal daycare and had to jump through hoops just to watch kids irregularly to help others. The bunch at the office are always on her for having so many dogs in her yard.

Sadly, I fear this will always be the case.

Uh, these historical collapses I'm talking about include all of China being overrun by Genghis Khan's hordes, and the Black Death.

A currency collapse simply cannot compare.  Create a new currency, adjust economic incentives and expectations accordingly and carry on.

Sure, it'll probably result in assassinations, coups, strikes, riots and maybe a few instances of intra-state war.  But it won't be Mad Max.  Life will go on.

I agree it will be nothing resembling Mad Max. I could see states citing a failed Fed and declaring independence and seceding from the Union. I don't see that as a bad thing either.

I'd like to point out that no social collapse since the fall of the Roman Empire has led to a long-term decline in key indictators of health, education, energy consumption and other similar factors on a global or even continental level.

Sometimes they dip down for a few decades, but the overall progression is in an upwards direction.

Agreed, but don't you think we are in a different era now, the entire globe is so united in things, especially economics. If the dollar were to collapse before being replaced with other currency as the world currency there would be horrific ripple effects worldwide. Sure, the worst by far would be within the US though.

Hell, life saving drugs are suffering shortages here even now, because the bottom line doesn't show enough profit. Our education system has been so diluted and politically manipulated as to render it nearly useless, not to mention that recently it has become so short funded that it is a wonder it even functions at all.

Hawk, I think DP may be saying (and I happen to agree) that while this decline is indeed probable, I don't think it will lead to anarchy, apocalypse, et al -- There will probably be increased crime, the standard looting or riot during rolling blackouts, but not a Road Warrior scenario.

Basically, I see the entire country as being NYC circa 1977.

Sure, I can see that. It's a good thing to remember that when people get hungry they tend to also get agitated. When Americans can no longer afford cable tv, internet or trips to McDonalds they will likely get pretty pissed.

Who said anything about taking every penny from the top 1%?

Crossover from the link Cram posted that talks about what the top %1 think of everyone else, but the sauce is gone on the doc.  No one said it, I asked as a "what if" sort of thing.

I see, let's leave the goalposts in one place for a while though.

What happens next?

we all get poorer and learn to deal with it


Is there a plan?

No, there's no plan. The only plan is to maintain the status quo and de-legitimatize things that might challenge the status quo.

if you want a peek at the plan behind the curtain, check out this leaked citibank memo from 2005.

This.

Also, check out the history of Peru, or Prussia, or pre-Franco Spain.  A largely decadent, unproductive overclass using the state to advance monopoly interests, while everyone else slowly loses out, not being in on the inside deals.

That's basically the future, only we'll have tasers and the internet.

If it was basically the past, then it stands to reason it will happen again, sure.  We're nothing if not consistent in repeating our mistakes, and our collective memory is basically non-existent.

But other than scale, how does this differ from any time it's happened before?

Because we are now truly a global economy. The dollar is in very real danger of being replaced as the world currency. One more little snit fit from Congress like the last debt ceiling nonsense could easily be the final catalyst that forces such a move.

U.S. bonds are rapidly losing their attractiveness as an investment due to the suffocating debt we have piled up.

 

Who said anything about taking every penny from the top 1%?

You don't get out much, do you?

"they" "them" "us"

what the hell's going on in this thread?



I swear if someone mentions flouride and chem trails I'll start bleeding from my ears.

Hawk is right, in that what he said has to apply to a certain percentage of people on the planet, but that type of personality isn't exclusive to people with lots of money. 

So who's this "they"?  Bond type ultra-rich super villans bent on erradicating poor people so they can have the planet to themselves?

Lex Luthor types who look at people without 7 figure salaries as a plague that should be exterminated?

What, as I asked before, the hell is going ON ITT?

Um, he spelled it out fairly clearly. And he is accurate.

I think the bitter truth is that they haven't looked past making their next dollar.

Fuck you all for living in that shithole East Coast and close enough together to spread your vile diseases in person.

Couch is still free if you can make it, Hawk.  (I can fold Twid up in the papasan chair, and I don't THINK it was him snoring like a chainsaw at the meatup...)

Appreciate it, but too many things standing in the way. 

Understood, but you'd be welcome anytime.  Mind, I'm not sure how many of us it'd take to get you up here, it's a third floor apartment... but I betcha we could SCIENCE! something up.   

Grease, rope, slick board. What could go wrong?