Intentionally tanking the economy

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SquidInk
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Post by SquidInk » 04-04-2014 03:46 PM

Riddick wrote: Thanks for the reply Squid. Your scenario certainly is plausible as well as scary.

Still, I'm wondering just how well the new normal will go over with the great unwashed unemployed masses? Will most just accept their plight? If for nothing but to break up the unbearable boredom brought on by the unending idleness might not at least some act in a fashion to return some meaning to their lives, even if they know 'fighting against the machine' is all too obviously futile?
The vast majority will accept it. A few will reject it. But if you are hoping for a glorious "revolution" with fifes, and Yankee Doodling... I don't think it'll happen.

Quite frankly, there is nothing to restore, or turn back to, other than a mythical "past" which never existed in the first place. The very best you can hope for is a separatist movement, which attempts to organize something new.
For if it profit, none dare call it Treason.

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Post by Riddick » 04-04-2014 04:53 PM

Hey Now Squid, I find what-all you've said similar to Howard Chaykin's "American Flagg" dystopic comic series from the '80s. Working from memory here...

Picture a not too distant future where a put-down public is placated by causal sex, recreational drugs and non-stop entertainment. Traditional government has been in-large supplanted by direct corporate control. A paramilitary force of "Plexus Rangers" maintains order on Earth, taking orders from their central command on Mars where the ruling class has relocated.

Fast forward and along with a ragtag assortment of allies our 'hero', the Plexus Ranger renegade Reuben Flagg manages against all odds to take over central command. Oddly enough not only does the commander on Mars give up without a fight, he essentially 'hands over the keys' to Flagg and says "Good luck, you'll need it."

What the commander meant becomes all too apparent. Reuben finds out enacting reforms to be virtually impossible. With the placation planted too deep, passive indifference and resistance from the public to the changes he makes is too great, and before long he hands the keys back.

Moral of the Story? Such as there's a point of no return, odds are humanity's already passed it.

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Post by Riddick » 04-05-2014 03:52 AM

American Flagg! - Back to the Future Past
Just an Interesting Period Piece Or Just Ahead of Its Time?


Excerpted from Toonpedia.com -
  • The history of American comic books is replete with flag-draped characters like Captain America, The Shield and similar star-spangled do-gooders — one of whom was actually named "The Star-Spangled Kid". But they mostly flourished in the 1940s. When it came to the '80s, Flagg was, as the saying goes, "not your father's patriotic-style hero."

    According to the series back-story, in 1996 (13 years after the comic originally appeared), everything collapsed. Nukes were flying not just in the Middle East, but also in Western Europe. Black plague in Asia and food riots in Europe. Banking system melts down, just like many nuclear power plants. Islamic uprisings in places where you wouldn't even think there was Islam. So the U.S. government, along with the executive boards of most major corporations, moves to Mars.

    Now, it's 2031. On Earth, things are worse than ever — gang wars every Saturday night, political rivalries settled by shooting matches, everybody doped up on media overload and exotic drugs, economic depression to make its century-past counterpart look like a bad hair day, and the government, still up on Mars, couldn't care less.

    Into this steps Reuben Flagg, an out-of-work actor raised on Mars, transforming his screen personality into real life as he takes over the job of representing the government and enforcing its law in 21st-century Chicago. He is assisted by a talking cat named Raul and the fact that he's one of the few characters in sight with anything resembling a conscience.
    ...
    Chaykin's Flagg is still highly regarded by many comics readers — but like much near-future science fiction, events have passed it by, rendering it just an interesting period piece.
As alluded in the heading to my post, IMHO AF! cannot so easily be dismissed simply as a period piece. Yes, events have not played out precisely as described and in the same time-frame, yet even so there's been plenty of close parallels in the recent past as well as presently and likely more to come.

Around the same time the Flagg saga started, legendary underground cartoonist Gilbert Shelton's epic Wonder Wart-Hog adventure, "The Nurds of November" covered some like ground set in the then present day early '80s recession, with the Hog of Steel's alter-ego, sh!t-outta-luck and newly out-of-work journalist Philbert Desanex emerging from the course of (some admittedly very unlikely) events a modern-day folk hero and write-in candidate for president.

Fast becoming a serious contender, not taking this threat to their carefully crafted scam lying down America's owner "Gloptron Inc." attempts to assassinate the unsuspecting Desanex with their most advanced killing machine (a 10-foot tall cybernetic lemur). Failing miserably at that (not knowing his dual identity as World's Mightiest Pig), after he wins the popular vote they implement 'Plan B' - the electoral college comes out in favor of his next closest opponent.

In a last-ditch effort to counter Gloptron's move, Philbert and his motley crew arrange for a constitutional convention in the midst of America's desert region. Unfortunately the conventioneers collectively indulge in an awesomely ill-timed boozing binge the day and night before convening, and wake up with the worst hangover ever. Consequently feeling like crap and not thinking too clearly, they overwhelmingly decide to form a Fascist dictatorship.

As if on cue a very much alive Adolf Hitler obligingly appears to the astonished assembly, explaining with a poke to his head for those wondering insomuch it's said his skull was found, he'd had it removed to confuse his enemies. The crowd rapidly and raucously responds to his arrival with arms raised, roars of 'Sieg Heil' and crudely sketched swastikas.

Although clearly aghast at this turn of events, Philbert ultimately responds with a shake of his head and a shrug of his shoulders - he and his sweetheart then walk off into the sunset, fully aware what will become of the country and yet at the same time knowing their love for one another will see them through and keep them together forever. THE END.

...But not REALLY. Shelton's greatest creation next to "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" couldn't and didn't end there. Much as the Coyote caught crap in every Road Runner cartoon, subsequent WWH installments would again showcase the persistent lucklessness and misery of long suffering Philbert. No truly happy endings for HIM! Yet that was the whole point of his existence, for comical effect of course...

Not so funny if and when America-at-large finds itself in the same sorry boat.
Last edited by Riddick on 04-05-2014 04:29 AM, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Cherry Kelly » 04-05-2014 10:17 AM

What we need is more entrepreneur thinking. More creative people to yes create jobs. Groups of like people - say working in similar type work to form their own companies together.

NEED food - grow some. Need new clothes, make them. Stop spending and go only for need not want.

No jobs where you are - find out where the jobs ARE and move. So okay you have a family to take care of, doesn't mean the entire family has to move right away.

ALAS people won't do for themselves, they have all the gov't handouts and are still complaining. AHH but what do we see on the net - hmm more companies hiring people again - not at full time, but better than no job at all.

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Post by voguy » 04-06-2014 06:14 PM

Cherry Kelly wrote: What we need is more entrepreneur thinking. More creative people to yes create jobs. Groups of like people - say working in similar type work to form their own companies together.

NEED food - grow some. Need new clothes, make them. Stop spending and go only for need not want.

No jobs where you are - find out where the jobs ARE and move. So okay you have a family to take care of, doesn't mean the entire family has to move right away.

ALAS people won't do for themselves, they have all the gov't handouts and are still complaining. AHH but what do we see on the net - hmm more companies hiring people again - not at full time, but better than no job at all.


Great thought, but my Congressman says we need to export more jobs, and import more overseas goods to build our economy. Then you have the other party saying we can't grow our own food or have our own wells because they need to protect us from food poisoning and water contamination.

Lastly, I'm still trying to find a company to make parts for a project I've been working on for several years, and I would prefer the company be in Ohio or the United States. I might even bend and go Canadian if the import fees don't nail me. Problem is, everyone tells me to take the work to China. :(

At this point, when it comes to assembly, I'm thinking that I might just box up the parts and take them to someone's home and let them assemble them. I would rather pay someone local than in Asia.
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson

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Post by kbot » 04-06-2014 07:22 PM

Many great companies came from garages......
There you go man, keep as cool as you can. Face piles and piles of trials with smiles. It riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave. And keep on thinking free. (Moody Blues)

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Post by Cherry Kelly » 04-07-2014 10:43 AM

Home grown foods are better and safer than foods you don't know if they are GMO or ... where they come from. (Veggies at least.)

As for home water wells - ehh some places people just don't have water close enough to the surface to dig a well. (talking more of the farm areas where people could actually dig wells)

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Indeed many companies came from garages.

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