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Maybe you did. Maybe it seems like things have quieted down. Let me remind you that there is a real fear of the stock market shedding another 40% in March. I still hold that between summer and fall of this year, we are going to see An Event. I could be wrong—it could come sooner.
FDIC shutters four banks in one day (Is the non-capitalization of words following the first in an article title an AP style thing? It's weird. Majuscule, all the way down the line, bitches!)
Failure to save East Europe will lead to worldwide meltdown (Okay, I'm over it now.)
Cash crisis forces California to free 55,000 prisoners
Mississippi Passes Legislation Protecting Gun Owners During Martial Law (Look at those gorgeous caps. Oh, also—the legislative process is usually reactive, not proactive. Just saying—it's in the zeitgeist.)
Trump casino group in bankruptcy (Let's all watch The Apprentice now because it will be ironic.)
Firewood Ratings and Information (Yeah, and you thought you'd done your homework.)
And this . . .
Growing stocks of unsold cars around the world:
FDIC shutters four banks in one day (Is the non-capitalization of words following the first in an article title an AP style thing? It's weird. Majuscule, all the way down the line, bitches!)
Get ready for a wave of bank failures (Still weird. Just look at it!)
Where the banks are failing (All right, this is starting to piss me off.)
Failure to save East Europe will lead to worldwide meltdown (Okay, I'm over it now.)
Eastern European currencies crumble as fears of debt crisis grow
Cash crisis forces California to free 55,000 prisoners
Mississippi Passes Legislation Protecting Gun Owners During Martial Law (Look at those gorgeous caps. Oh, also—the legislative process is usually reactive, not proactive. Just saying—it's in the zeitgeist.)
Trump casino group in bankruptcy (Let's all watch The Apprentice now because it will be ironic.)
Firewood Ratings and Information (Yeah, and you thought you'd done your homework.)
And this . . .
Growing stocks of unsold cars around the world:
"Nissan has announced plans to cut its Sunderland workforce by 1,200. Thousands of unsold cars are stored around the factory's test track."
| Originally published at Darin Bradley. |
Just curious. You mentioned that clinging to the accoutrement of the old order is part of the problem, which I can understand. Are you hoping (in an ideal situation, of course) to move toward something more self-sustaining?
Failure of the Left
However, it does strike me that the American left has terrible problems, and that it would be very worthwhile to consider what these problems are so we of the left can act differently. Of course I would like to seek a more sustainable self-governed system, a different set of social relations that are not governed by the conspiracy of commodity exchange.
While it is certainly the case that American left-- for instance the anti-war movement has been neutered--by the Obama administration, I do not think that investing in the democratic party is the primary issue. I can certainly imagine a left that does not invest in the democrat party that would be just as beset by contradictions and disorder as the current crop of left organizations and people are best by the same. Christopher Lasch wrote a book called "The Agony of the American Left" and points to the fact that socialism and marxism never had a day in the sun in America as a part of the problem for the American left. That book is certainly revisiting.
In any case, I think the American left under Bush was just as miserable as the left under Obama.
Re: Failure of the Left
What you're pointing to is what I've seen mirrored by other thinkers, writers, and analysts—namely that our entire financial and political system has finally dry-rotted through and through, and that what (if anything) awaits us on the other side of this is a fundamental re-ordering of life, politics, and trade.
And frankly, while I feel for those who are the first-wave to reap the painful harvest of the generations of error that have led us here, I can't say that I don't wonder if something like this is precisely what needs to happen . . .
. . . I say from my heated home, typing on my laptop, while preparing to go pull a cold beer out of the fridge. I need to be re-ordered, too.
Re: Failure of the Left
However, while it's true that the social order desperately needs to be reordered, what is not at all clear is whether we are looking at a realization of '68 or '84. Without a wise and swift seizing of the opportunity of this crisis we'll be stuck with whatever the bankers, generals, and police opt for.
Re: Failure of the Left
Glad I got plenty of ammo, too, until everyone *else* starts the deer and turkey hunting 'pocalypse style . . .
Speaking of ammo, since most folks 'round henh tend to buy factory ammo at Wal-Mart, well, guess what? Local Wal-Marts are having trouble keeping inventory. Folks are buying it out like crazy. Even guys I know who handload say they're pinched because of brass prices having gone up.
Similarly, though, communications equipment, flashlights, and other sundries are also running out. People are preparing for something . . .