tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post5544000214355508400..comments2024-03-28T06:46:43.541-07:00Comments on The Forty-Five: An Unhappy PlaceToirdhealbheach Beucailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-68679232119908824972021-07-23T16:46:34.617-07:002021-07-23T16:46:34.617-07:00Ed - That is awesome! Sounds like maybe just the ...Ed - That is awesome! Sounds like maybe just the right amount: some recognition, but not too much. <br /><br />The fate of Greece could indeed be ours, with some sort of austerity plan to get us back on our feet. That said, I think our debt far outstrips anything Greece had (it is just a guess; I cannot find the data). It turns out that Greece went through 14 austerity packages from 2010 to 2017. I have no idea how they are doing, but am willing to bet any progress that was made was doused with The Plague and the complete collapse of the tourist industry.<br /><br />The only data point I have is a purchase I made of some incense and charcoal disks on Etsy. I had a short e-mail conversation with the seller. "It is still bad here" he said. An N of one to be sure, but a data point none the less.<br /><br />Honestly, I do not think an austerity measure could get passed. I think we would just repudiate the debt and collapse instead.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-10065483306362376012021-07-23T16:35:24.569-07:002021-07-23T16:35:24.569-07:00Glen - It does feel like the carpet was pulled out...Glen - It does feel like the carpet was pulled out from under us, no? I heard the same thing as you - it is what my parents did, and their parents before them, and even their parents before them. And yes, with any sort of digital currency, resources which are in The Matrix (can we start using that term finally) are at risk (tangibles, of course, are much more difficult for electronic systems to digest). And Your Political Betters sound about as drunk with financial power as Our Political Betters.<br /><br />I would perhaps agree that "the kids" are not dumb - but they are not smart either. I am as familiar as you with the snide Boomer remarks (although I am not technically a Boomer) and the perception of having voted all the wealth to themselves. At the same time - as evidenced by our governments - they continue to vote for this stuff as well. I would be challenged, at least here in Baja Canada, to think of a politician who is not against more spending not because it is the "Other Folks" in power, but because it is the wrong thing to do. Maybe Rand Paul. But that is a minority of one. If indeed they were so concerned, I would think that both of our countries would have had a huge majority of fiscal conservatives (no matter their other policies). The fact that we did not speaks volumes.<br /><br />The problem of course, is that we have now created the situation where effectively every generation sees the next generation as depriving it of its deserved rights - which, as you suggest, means they are an obstacle to be moved aside. What is not realized is it the younger generation also becomes a threat. <br /><br />In the end, we will all be horrified what we do to each other.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-52030168115322474882021-07-23T16:23:13.351-07:002021-07-23T16:23:13.351-07:00ERJ - I had never heard it described in that fashi...ERJ - I had never heard it described in that fashion, but I really think you are right about that (although when I first read it, I say "When Napoleon had his top scientists collectively decide to study radioactive materials", I had to stop and refocus. Although Marshall Ney with a battery of anti-matter disruptors sounds delightful...).<br /><br />You are indeed correct that currently we are the beneficiary of the brains of other states, who are attracted here by opportunity, freedom, and financial reward. Remove any one of those - and Our Political Betters seem to be intent on removing all three - and we effectively become somewhere that we do not want to be. Less opportunity, less glory and a lot more taxes, and a lot more repression will do wonders for reverse migration.<br /><br />We have effectively lost our manufacturing base. When we lose our technical, scientific, and creative base, we will be nothing more than a consuming shell, Rome's masses dependent on the daily dole of bread and oil.<br />Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-64452757025657614782021-07-23T16:14:55.293-07:002021-07-23T16:14:55.293-07:00STxAR, that is a wonderfully concise staying. All...STxAR, that is a wonderfully concise staying. All the more wonderful because it is true.<br /><br />All objects in motion eventually come to rest. It is just the way of it. And woe betide those who are caught on the item when that happens.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-9006260138671031622021-07-23T16:13:44.140-07:002021-07-23T16:13:44.140-07:00Linda, if only we could all figure out how to come...Linda, if only we could all figure out how to come into that kind of money while being "The Presently Unremarkable"...Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-80217390471283652142021-07-23T14:54:05.553-07:002021-07-23T14:54:05.553-07:00I would not want to be famous; but I wouldn't ...I would not want to be famous; but I wouldn't mind a hundred thousand dollars, haha.<br /><br />You all have a blessed weekend, TB.LindaGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12203719919661519350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-91488761492187837972021-07-23T13:40:27.229-07:002021-07-23T13:40:27.229-07:00I once touched the very lowest echelons of fame ma...I once touched the very lowest echelons of fame many years back when a show made our states PBS that featured me in an indirect way. For several years I was recognized and it was kind of nice to the ego. But it quickly faded away and it never really impacted me since the vast majority of the people I walked through during those brief years never watched PBS or didn't watch that one particular show.<br /> <br />I have long believed that our future will be something similar to what befell Greece and having to go through "austerity" for awhile to climb back out of it. I have pondered if the Greeks who went through that time period are more frugal with legislative spending now or if they just returned to their former habits. I don't know the answer but if I had to guess, it was the latter and not the former. Human nature always trumps.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-53547410982672570712021-07-23T06:21:46.869-07:002021-07-23T06:21:46.869-07:00Very good points to ponder. What can't contin...Very good points to ponder. What can't continue, won't. STxARhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04588850178293194825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-1003761763352561962021-07-23T04:35:46.625-07:002021-07-23T04:35:46.625-07:00The two worst things that happened to France were ...The two worst things that happened to France were Napoleon and when their top scientists collectively decided to study radioactive materials.<br /><br />Napoleon imbued the French military with hubris for the next 160 years.<br /><br />Not understanding the risks of radioactive materials, the cream of French science died very early deaths and other European nations surpassed them in advancing technology.<br /><br />It is going to hurt as South Korean, Chinese, East Indian technical and medical people decide there is more opportunity, more glory and less repression in their home countries than moving to the fading, 'ho that was the United States.<br /><br />That brain-drain was a huge subsidy to our economics and our prestige.Eaton Rapids Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102166969915526172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-25503727301772590952021-07-23T03:34:21.051-07:002021-07-23T03:34:21.051-07:00Correct. I suspect a lot of us are in for a double...Correct. I suspect a lot of us are in for a double whammy. I was told all my life to save and make sacrifices and invest rather than spend. Now the rules are off, my money is being used by politicians I hate to buy the votes of people I hate. Hiding my assets will become very difficult if this talk of a cashless society and centrally managed digital currency comes about. In the past year, my prime minister spent more money than all the previous prime ministers put together. Not a peep of it in the mass media. They think he walks on water and saved the nation. He’s a crooked moron with a no limit credit card.<br /><br />Also, the kids aren’t dumb. They know they are on the hook for all the free stuff that boomers voted for themselves, and they are livid. They are talking openly about boomer hate, and make rude jokes about smothering them with a pillow. I get that, many is the time my parents bragged that they deserved all their good fortune because they worked hard for it and paid for all the bennies they have. I would have everything they do too if I weren’t so stupid and lazy. I don’t condone the idea of murdering our parents… but I understand it! 😂👍<br /><br />I suppose we’ll smother our parents with a pillow and high five each other when they’re dead… and be shocked and horrified when our kids do the same to us.Glen Filthiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03256741311142364722noreply@blogger.com