I always hated the way that the press adopted the phrase “the perfect storm”.  Thank god they have gotten over that to a degree.  Oh granted, it is still trotted out now and again, but as it is timeworn and not fashionable, I at least don’t have to hear it as often as I used to.

I think that folks who listen to the mass media are anticipating a massive failure.  I am coming to the conclusion that they are kinda hoping for it.  I don’t get this, if there is a massive failure, there are lots of folks out there who won’t make it through to the other side.  From the way that it looks from this side of the monkey house, the folks who are most hoping for an apocalypse seem to be the least likely to survive it.

I suppose that I don’t really see a complete breakdown coming.  Even if it does go to shit, unless someone pushes a red button (I give this a negligible <1% chance), what we are looking at is a long term slide down a slope to having less than we have now.

I am guessing that we will be coming up on a quick drop in the not-too-distant future that will get our attention and force us into beginning some of the out of date ideas that have been slathered onto our psyche by the past thirty years.  This is going to be quite traumatic as most of this useless superstructure of out of date thinking appeals to one’s amour-propre.  In a nutshell, this brazen prediction brings me to someone who I usually disagree with, but Rousseau had a not- completely terrible way of looking at the world:

1.  According to Rousseau, the difference between the two is that amour-propre assumes that self-esteem can only be found by gaining the approval of others, whereas amour de soi involves one's feelings for oneself alone, without any intervening concerns about how one is seen by others. According to Rousseau, amour de soi is more primitive and is compatible with wholeness and happiness, while amour-propre is a form of self-love that arose only with the appearance of society and individuals' consequent ability to compare themselves with one another. 

WIKIPEDIA

I suppose that is my old man grumbling about the way that the media and advertising have managed to insinuate themselves into every aspect of our society.  What we will need to drop is the encrustations of ersatz wealth that we have come to see as our due.

Myself, I don’t see a great deal of problem with this.  But I have never been a “keep up with the Joneses' kinda guy, which may have been one of the sources of contention in my two failed marriages.  But there are a lot of folks here in the land o’ the free whose lives are completely caught up in that particular desire.  But there will be consequences to holding onto that squirrel cage.  I think that we are on the ramp to those consequences.

But there will be ongoing effects of this over time, and a not-quite-conflict between the folks who, out of necessity, are going to have to simplify their lives and the low-grade predators whose sustenance and place in the pecking order need them to buy more than they need.  That is where we are right now, a superstructure of unnecessary things that provide a sense of amour-propre to the masses but also are increasingly being recognized for the fripperies that they are.

What I see ahead of us as the defining thrust of the times of suckage is the painful and slow process of re-evaluating individual needs and integrating those needs into an affordable and sustainable lifestyle.

Now, here is where it gets dicey and I depart from the madness of the crowd.  Actual needs and the accouterments of impressing the neighbors will not be a democratic function.  Some folks will maintain the current excessive lifestyle because they can.  But I see that as a transient thing, not because the wealth distribution will change quickly, but because as a steadily increasing number of folks have to discard their status symbols, they will become progressively more surly toward those who flaunt their wealth.

Add to this the folks who had aspirations toward the wealth and status goal seeing that possibility recede into the “not-gonna-happen”.  That is going to engender a lot of anger to complement the anger of the folks going down the ladder.  

I suppose that we will work out a way to navigate the upcoming decline.  I am even thinking that the decline won’t turn into a fall.  Lives will still be pretty good and the anger will settle down after a while.  We will probably make a couple of wrong decisions and there will be some localized torches and pitchforks, but they too will pass.  

If you have been patient and have read to this point of this ramble, you might be wondering when I will deliver the poignant solution to the woes that we face.  Well buckaroo, nothing could be further from the truth.  I am just telling you that believing that things will change from the downhill grade to the uphill ain’t in the cards.  You will have to create a life built around what is really possible instead of a dream that someone else is selling.

And what is probably going to annoy you is that it won’t be all that hard.

Republic of China (1912–1949) / Wu Guanzhong/ Lotus under the sun

I spent some time reading the linked articles in JMG’s piece and wondering aloud (to myself of course, muttering aloud when in the room by yourself is an established old man prerogative).  

It is kinda funny reading bloggers mea culpas, mine included.

I tend to agree with JMG on the other linked articles on this.  The cool kids who have been running this country and screwing the pooch in the process have worn out their credibility.  Now we are seeing folks out there in blogoland backfilling hard about how they weren’t really “at” the party, they just stopped by to see what was happening and toss back a beer.  They were planning to leave as soon as they finished this beer.  Honest officer!

The PMC (Professional/Managerial Class) that has spent the last forty years organizing their class structure.  The sad part is that the structure doesn’t see anyone but them and the rich kids who use them as a sad example of a posse.  Now the structure is showing itself as an especially odd form of colonialism.  The PMC is trying to whitewash the idea that this wasn’t deliberate and is churning out explanations concerning how this self-aggrandizement really benefits everyone if folks would just see things their way and do what they are told. 

But the other kids are kinda fed up with the nonsense.  Should you wish, I will re-write my analogy of American decline over the past forty years as a high school kegger.  It really speaks to me (obviously, since it is my analogy).