Michael Ventura on the Coming Collapse
Austin Chronicle: Letters at 3AM - We Are on Our Own
I suggest reading it and filing it away for future reference: A Liberal Describing a (damn near) Market Anarchy Without Serious Derision or Contempt.
On the other hand, there are a few gaps in his analysis and there are still sections that cannot be reconciled, such as:
Right now, and for at least the next three years of this administration, the United States of America is not being governed. Not really... No attention is being paid to what is necessary. Neither the White House nor Congress gives more than lip service to issues upon which our future depends. Energy, transport, global warming, education, health care, subsidies, scientific research, sustainable agriculture, infrastructure upkeep and modernization, state-of-the-art communication, manufacturing capacity – at the federal level you will find almost nothing concrete, nothing useful, nothing that addresses root problems.[...]
A most important fact of our situation was shoved back to page 5 of The New York Times' business section on Oct. 1: "Since the end of 2000 ... federal debt is up by $1.l trillion. American investors, as a group, have lent not one penny of that." Almost all that money has been lent by foreign entities. This means that the USA no longer owns itself. Not only are we on our own, but as a nation, we are owned.
Both excerpts were written with a negative connotation. The first implies that the United States of America ought to be governed at the federal level. The second implies that being owned by another person is a bad thing. Mr. Venture references "facts" several times in this article, so perhaps he can pull himself out of his mental mess.
Until then, I continue planning for the times when Society's Support (whether I wanted it or not) ends and there are no pretenses about whom I am responsible for.
Myself.
Comments
The light is dawning on a select few. I'm looking around these days for a quality history text on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
I actually took a course on Roman History in university, but the content was (expectedly) quite superficial.
Posted by: Jay Jardine | November 17, 2005 12:08 PM
Aside from his seeming desire to have the feds tackle all those issues, those are interesting words indeed coming from a liberal.
Jay - If and when you do find such a text, would be kind enough to mention it on your blog? I have plenty of unread books at my crib to keep me busy for awhile, but a quality text on the Roman Empire would be something I'd like to read myself at some point.
Posted by: freeman | November 17, 2005 02:16 PM
I plan on passing this link along to one of the anarcho-socialist groups I'm active in and see how they react.
There is lots of room in my current degree plan for some much-needed history classes and if that period is available, I'd love to take it and wash away the disconnected shit in my mind from my time in high school.
Posted by: Drizz | November 17, 2005 03:18 PM
Try Gibbon's Decline and Fall.... Penguin Edition. It has been judiciously edited and is not as tedious as original Gibbons.
Posted by: oldman | March 6, 2006 10:02 AM