Are We Witnessing the Fall of America?
RolandTD20Kdrummer
Posts: 13,066
Despite the anti America sentiment accusations, what I quoted (below) struck home that this is all one very apparent catastrophe indeed.
Smack dab in the middle of the Arab world floating on a bed of lies... only to further escalate the situation and spawn additional wars.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/73720/
reminds me of those people at work that start off like a flash, tick a lot of people off in the process, and get eventually terminated, while those who silently endure it, and calmly keep their heads down wile working away always outlast them.
"I am 77 years old and I have never seen this country in such a bad state. It is madness. What we are seeing is the fall of the Roman Empire, only now it is the fall of America, the glory of our Empire. This war is what Parthia was to Rome.
"The horror of what is taking place in Iraq exceeds my worst fears five or six years ago (after Bush came to power). I am horrified at the disastrous mistake involved. Imagine the complete madness in trying to occupy a large Arab country in the middle of the Arab world, a culture we know precious little about, and who speaks a language only a handful of our specialists can speak, with armed forces which we have limited control of and with a large army of private soldiers .... The whole thing is a scandal ... a series of lies. I don't understand the motivation for the war, but suspect the real reason for the war, which one would suspect of a country which is a third oligarchy, a third plutocracy and a third theocracy, is that it simply is a profitable machine."
Smack dab in the middle of the Arab world floating on a bed of lies... only to further escalate the situation and spawn additional wars.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/73720/
reminds me of those people at work that start off like a flash, tick a lot of people off in the process, and get eventually terminated, while those who silently endure it, and calmly keep their heads down wile working away always outlast them.
"I am 77 years old and I have never seen this country in such a bad state. It is madness. What we are seeing is the fall of the Roman Empire, only now it is the fall of America, the glory of our Empire. This war is what Parthia was to Rome.
"The horror of what is taking place in Iraq exceeds my worst fears five or six years ago (after Bush came to power). I am horrified at the disastrous mistake involved. Imagine the complete madness in trying to occupy a large Arab country in the middle of the Arab world, a culture we know precious little about, and who speaks a language only a handful of our specialists can speak, with armed forces which we have limited control of and with a large army of private soldiers .... The whole thing is a scandal ... a series of lies. I don't understand the motivation for the war, but suspect the real reason for the war, which one would suspect of a country which is a third oligarchy, a third plutocracy and a third theocracy, is that it simply is a profitable machine."
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
lol... I think it all just caught up with him.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
More concerned that we were stupid because we read Harry Potter Books?
I'm being serious. There has to be either a civil war from with in or an invasion.. Maybe it will start with a recession, to a great depression, a falling apart of our government, outside influences jump in.. hmm.
... it already has ...
... the concern has been expressed by more than a few notable folks ...
well, it will definately be internal.
If you want to talk about civil war, it will probably be "us against them" not north vs. south ... i can see the country falling in to marshall law, followed by anarchy ... think like the palestinians, except there are no jewish "opressors", only the remnants of a government ...
... of course we're starting to sound apocalyptic and fearmongery here ...
... but if you want some real causes,
massive unemployment due to walstreet collapse
(tomorrow is shaping up to be another horribly ugly day on the markets, by the way ... markets down sharply overnight as well) ...
.... massive starvation due to either an oil embargo, or more likely simply that the dollar inflated so rapidly to try and bail out wallstreet that it collapses and can not buy oil at a price that makes sense (think $1000 a barrel oil) ...
and the farms can't operate, the processing plants can't work, and the pesticides and fertilizers can not be processed ... which of course doesn't matter, because the trucks couldn't run ...
... and of course, the government failing miserably to offer any of its services ... not even considering what will happen when they can't deliver on medicaid and social security (old people with guns! yikes!) ...
... yeah ...
i can see that starting some sort of "civil" war.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Speaking of the Dow, it was down 277 today, but I haven't read any news stories about that. Thats a pretty significant drop.
I think what happens depends on how you think it will end....economics, environmental disaster, act of god, war, etc. One thing I think you can probably be sure of...no one (else) is stupid or ballsy enough to occupy a country on the opposite side of the world...esp one with nukes. I wouldn't worry about anyone invading anytime soon.
Yah.
I'm trying to make enough, quick enough, to get my own plot out in the heartland. Did i mention i said, QUICK!
Like i said, instead of the once "normal" after market recovery, the markets dropped even further in after hours trading.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be potentialy brutal is well.
We got producer side inflation numbers and retal sales data today. Tomorrow we get consumer side inflation, and manufacturer side sales. JP Morgan and Wells Fargo earnings reports.
Who knows.
But if anything in those inflation or manufactures numbers is a few points below expected, we are in deep shit.
Futures markets go ANY lower, they will be out of there 6 month trend.... and breaking a trend to the downside is not what you want to see happen!
If I opened it now would you not understand?
cue Alex Jones....
This is the kind of scenario that makes some of what he preaches seem plausible.
Is it that impossible to imagine that the people in power in this scenario would become oppressors in the name of maintaining a civilized 'society' and for the 'common good'? Is Jones that far off? Police state, gulags, rfid chips, all that fun...
Conspiracy theory.... or contingency planning?
One thing for sure - it would make a helluva movie
It's hard to believe that even a respected intellectual can completely overlook an obvious reality about the situation in the middle east, which is that the middle east has been getting fucked in both holes for centuries by too many different imperalistic empires to even mention.
What's more is that period of time when the arabs were controlled by the Ottomons is considered to be by many arab historians as a "Golden Age" of arab history.
Arab culture has historically given their allegiance and respect to whoever is the strongest and most ruthless aggressor.
It seems to me that Harold Bloom is merely entertaining some kind of twisted fantasy in which the United States, by way of whimsical karma, pays dearly for its teacherous misdeeds. Clearly his mind is gone and reason has permanently escaped his senses. He'll even stoop as low so as to criticize a children's book series, thus putting him into the same trough as the catholic church. What a lunatic. I guess this is just what happens when people who are used to having an impact on the views of others suddenly run out of useful things to say. They'll resort to anything to be heard.
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
I think what i'm hearing you say it is just and good for the United States to be an empirical warlord over the middle east, because so many nations have done the same to it ...
So we should just do as they do.
Except do it all while speaking about "freedom" and "liberty", right?
Bwahahahahahah.
:rolleyes:
Great argument.
I mean, honestly ... it IS a good argument ... why not ... everyone has been fucking the A'rab since the begining of time ... why shouldn't the US ...
uh ...
well ...
at one time America really did stand for something special ... and we prided our selves on not being the roving cocks of the world.
Oh well.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Nope. I never said anything about the US being morally justified in its foreign policy as of late. I'm saying that these types of things are nothing new and don't warrant the doomsday predictions that some people are so fond of driveling.
That is a misconception. Because of the narrow avenues for the dissemination of information prior to the advent of the internet, people "believed" that the US was not a bunch of roving cocks.
The only difference between recent wars and wars past is that the internet has made much more difficult for the government to keep up the charade.
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
There will always be some country who wants top spot and their fall is never pretty if you live in that land. When you live in a country where you step over a poor person to get to the t.v. to see the latest war you are in, something is very, very wrong.
this could be the most idiotic tinned hat response I have ever read. hav fun on that "plot of land" im speechless.
How about when you step over a person to see what is the latest with Britney Spears...forgetting and not caring that we are even at war?
In general, people in the US are EXTREMELY apathetic. Many buy into the fear machine and allow those in power to do what they have told us is right and needs to be done. All while turning a blind eye to how things are falling apart (i.e corporate take-over of America, the RAPIDLY disintegrating middle class, failing health-care and education systems, loss of basic freedoms etc...etc...)
There could still be a chance for us to hold onto some of what America is supposed to be. But until people start believing we have some control over our own destiny...we will continue in this all-encompassing downslide.
i agree. its sad.
in other news, hell has frozen over.
lol
yes america will be a super power forever. the only difference is that other countries (or group of countries EU) will catch up, giving you the illusion the america is going down.
Wow. I find your optimism rather interesting.
We can hope...
Thanks Chicken Little for the fear mongering. Don't worry you'll be a few hundred years into your dirt nap before America's decline. If there is even a habitable world by then that is.
the other foot in the gutter
sweet smell that they adore
I think I'd rather smother
-The Replacements-
I don't know why you guys get so fired up over a little fun speculation...
If anything sparks violence and unrest during an economic depression, it will be the combination of that sense of entitlement ("I have to have my cell phone/car/internet connect/etc.") and the rampant self-centeredness that seems to have infected many in our culture. If you talk to some of the old-timers who lived through the depression, they'll talk about how most (not all) people pulled together to help one another. I'm not claiming that we are the only self-absorbed culture in history, just the most self-absorbed.
There are of course, deeper issues here than cultural trends like entitlement and self-absorption. What happens when your sick parent/child/spouse can't get their medicine? What happens when the market collapses and the government siezes your property/possessions? What happens when you can't afford bread? What happens when you can't afford gas and you lose your job? These are not conspiracy theories or "tin hat" thinking - this is happening to someone in your town/county/neighborhood right now! And if things get even a little worse economically, it could be any one of us.
Well, life goes on, I guess...one day at a time, or something like that...
just look at the numbers. there is no country even close in terms of GDP.
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/131-us-states-renamed-for-countries-with-similar-gdps/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
yes we might fall into recession. (or we might not) just look at what has happened throughout the history of past recessions. it lead to decades of growth. the US economy is very resilient and this country is full of brilliant people.
nice
$6 Million in one day!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111one1111111!!!!!!!
All empires fall.
The economy has polarized to the point where the wealthiest 10% now own 85% of the nation’s wealth. Never before have the bottom 90% been so highly indebted, so dependent on the wealthy.