Another Country

September 19, 2005
     Take a good look at America around you now, because when we emerge from the winter of 2005 - 6, we're going to be another country. The reality-oblivious nation of mall hounds, bargain shoppers, happy motorists, Nascar fans, Red State war hawks, and born-again Krispy Kremers is headed into a werewolf-like transformation that will reveal to all the tragic monster we have become.

     What we will leave behind is the certainty that we have made the right choices. Was it a good thing to buy a 3,600 square foot house 32 miles outside Minneapolis with an interest-only adjustable rate mortgage -- with natural gas for home heating running at $12 a unit and gasoline over $3 a gallon? Was it the right choice to run three credit cards up to their $5000 limit? Was I chump to think my pension from Acme Airlines would really be there for me? Do I really owe the Middletown Hospital $17,678 for a gall bladder operation that took forty-five minutes? And why did they charge me $238 for a plastic catheter?

     All kinds of assumptions about the okay-ness of our recent collective behavior are headed out the window. This naturally beats a straight path to politics, since that is the theater in which our collective choices are dramatized.  It really won't take another jolting event like a major hurricane or a terror incident or an H4N5 flu outbreak to take things over the edge -- though it is very likely that something else will happen. George W. Bush, and the party he represents, are headed into full Hooverization mode. After Katrina, nobody will take claims of governmental competence seriously.

      The new assumption will be that when shit happens you are on your own.  In this remarkable three weeks since New Orleans was shredded, no Democrat has stepped into the vacuum of leadership, either, with a different vision of what we might do now, and who we might become. This is the kind of medium that political maniacs spawn in. Something is out there right now, feeding on the astonishment and grievance of a whipsawed middle class, and it will have a lot more nourishment in the months ahead.

     There are two things that the newspapers and TV Cable News outfits are not covering very well. One is that the Port of New Orleans is not functioning, with poor prospects for a quick recovery, and with it will go much of the Midwestern grain harvest. Another thing that has fallen off the radar screen is the damage done to the oil and gas infrastructure around the Gulf Coast, especially the onshore facilities for storing and transporting stuff, and for marshaling the crews and equipment to fix stuff. The US is going to run short of its customary supplies for a long time. The idea that these things will not affect an economy of ceaseless mobility is not realistic.

     These serious problems on-the-ground are going to affect the more ephemeral elements floating around in the financial ether: the value of the dollar, the hazard in hedge funds, the credibility of institutions. By October, the hurricane season will be ending and the stock market crash season will be underway. It is hard to imagine that companies like WalMart really believe they will keep their profits up when their customers are paying twice as much as they did a year ago to heat their houses and fill their gas tanks.

     Meanwhile, does anybody remember a place called Iraq? A bomb that killed thirty people was reported on page 12 of the Sunday New York Times. That's how important Iraq has become. But, I guess, a nation can hardly pay attention to a bullet in the foot when it has a sucking chest wound.
         

Comments

[Son of Samnite]

Moon Valley condos - if you lived here, you'd be home by now.

Nothing down, interest-only mortgage, no payments til 2025. Hurry! Won't Last!

[Paul]

America is already a different country (and not better) than the one we once were even a few years ago; it's just that deterioration to date beyond the occasional 'event' has been relatively slow so that things still seem relatively 'normal' to most and people generally are able to still convince themselves that 'we will overcome'. We can blame our leaders, but after all, are they not just a reflection of ourselves, and our selfish desires, sense of entitlement, and denial?

[Weaseldog]

Steve you might be right. The House of Saud may not be willing to risk losing the White House. Who might they put forward in 2008? Perhaps Jeb Bush?

Then again, it may be time to leverage public sentiment and bring a lackey democrat back into the White House. Hannity and Limbaugh can then get tons of mileage playing the victim card.

Of course they are constantly crying that they are bening victimized by the liberal press, but with the Republicans owning the House, Senate and White House, their crybaby act sounds very petulant. Their whining and crying would come across better with Dems back in office, carrying out their master's orders.

We'll just have to wait until 2008 to see who the electronic ballot boxes pick, to pretend to govern us.

[PJ]

. . .no Democrat has stepped into the vacuum of leadership, either, with a different vision of what we might do now, and who we might become.

How many times has one said this the past 6 years?

[ross]

Yes, I am acquainted with Jevon's Paradox, which is why I said this invention (IF it's legit) will likely enhance the car culture. You raise a good question about the technology when you ask why if the technology is as simple as it is has the invention (or something like it) not emerge earlier.

I have a simple answer, cost.
The auto industry does not want to pay one penny more than they have to, ever.

[ross]

The only area of the culture where Liberals still hold sway is in the academy. That's it. BTW, steve duncan, who is this Reagan fellow you are lumping in with the other crapulous pit bull republican talk show blowhards?
Ron Reagan jr.'s not one of them is he?

[steve duncan]

ross, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. If you want to know what you're up against it requires reading and listening to the opposition. Michael Reagan, Ronnie's son, has a radio show that spews forth fascist bullshit just shy of the crap you hear from Hannity and Savage. 200 stations, XM and Sirius satellite also, estimated 5 million loyal listeners. Get with the program ross.

[ross]

Okay, clearly I'm behind the curve on the seemingly ever expanding number of right wing radio floggers of republican
puke doctrine.

Don Corleone

[ross]

AH, but wait, I am no totally behind the curve, steve. Have you heard of Jay Severin? If not, you will.

[waitingforthealiens]

A couple of questions relative to Weaseldog’s comments on the scarcity of alternative among political alternatives:
1. How did a nation—the vast majority of whose citizens are people of good will—get transformed into two vicious, maximalist camps who view any sort of compromise as defeat and surrender? You can’t imagine how much I would like to hear a joke that began, “Mansfield, Dirksen and LBJ were playing a round of golf or were coming out of a whorehouse or walked into a bar….. When I listen to the things our public figures say, I find it incredible that I can still go next door to borrow a cup of vodka or that my neighbor can expect me to help jump-start his car.
2. When did the uninformed opinion become as valid (maybe even more valid and certainly more desirable politically) than the informed opinion? This is my generation—best opportunity for higher education in history, 24/7 radio, television, the internet and (though dwindling in number) quality daily newspapers. I see polling responses and I cannot believe this is the same country I was born in. I turned fifty last week and wonder if I am some sort of anachronism in that I have never not subscribed to the local newspaper.
3. When did we decide that there was no possibility of government doing good? It was our government that wrote the constitution, won WWII and the peace that followed; thought in ways big enough to bring electricity to rural America. And now it’s not a question of making it better, but the necessity to “drown it in the bathtub.”
4. And finally, are we really happy with our congressional districts so thoroughly gerrymandered by class and color that no candidate has anything to gain by playing to the middle? And since I am a traitor to my class (or economic circumstance) it’s hard to remember the last time I got to vote for the winner.

And the Port of New Orleans, though battered and bruised, is still operating.

[steve duncan]

"How did a nation—the vast majority of whose citizens are people of good will—get transformed into two vicious, maximalist camps who view any sort of compromise as defeat and surrender?" Oh really? Everywhere I go I encounter xenophobes, homophobes, racists, religious intolerance (chiefly intolerance of the non-religious or "seperation" proponents), gun nuts, misogynists and those that haven't read a book cover to cover in years. The country is wholly ignorant of Arts, Sciences, Philosophy and just about anything else requiring more than 3 minutes of sustained, attentive study. No, as a whole the citizenry of this nation is not good, kind or caring. They're willfully ignorant, bigoted, violent, fearful and selfish. Where we are as a nation is therefore no surprise.

[Tristan]

About the "better car efficiency" article, you may want to read about the Jevons paradox : http://www-dse.ec.unipi.it/luzzati/italiano/didattica/jevonsparadox.htm

[Riot81]

Another great article.

BTW, oil is back up at $67.10

[Andy R]

waitingforthealiens wrote:
"It was our government that wrote the constitution,"

WRONG (insert foghorn sound here)

The Constitution was written to set out the ground rules in order to form a government.
Government stopped "doing good" when it presumed to reinterpret the constitution to allow it certain powers other than those expressly delegated to it in the original document.

Today, the paradigm is such that instead of wondering whether the government is expressly allowed a particular power by the constitution, we only consider if it's power to act is expressly prohibited by the constitution..

Which is a total perversion of the original premise of our founding document!

[mtraven]

I hate to spoil a doom party, but the Port of New Orleans reopened a week ago. While it will be a while before it's fully functional again, it's not like all that infrastructure has vanished for good.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5275517,00.html

[Weaseldog]

Exactly Andy. I challenge anyone to find the article in the US Constitution that grants Congress the authority, to grant the power to declare war, unto third parties.

Where is it written that Congress can bestow this power on George Bush, Charles Manson or The Dixie Chicks?

[dangerbird]

LoveandLight
I hope you weren't serious about your last post. Don't let this stuff drag you down to the gutter in despair. Remember. Nothing new under the sun. These threats and dangers have always beset mankind in one form or another and always will. The main differnce now is that we have the magic of modern communications with which we can watch people from all over the country, and even the whole world wallow blissfully in despair about the coming despair.
I'm sorry you have been sad over the past eight or so years, but we each have a basket of griefs to carry. But carry we must, and carry on we do. Your life is too important to give away to the vagaries of emotions being played on by these hucksters. There has always been a dark side and a bright side. The trick is not to over-emphasize one side to the exclusion of the other, but to keep each in balance. Of course thats easier said than done. But it keeps you from going over-board one way or the other.

[Weaseldog]

Yeah, I saw a newscast on the web somewhere last week talking about the port damage and how it's crippled but still exists.

anyone know how much volume it can handle now? Early reports hinted that it could handle maybe 20% of it's normal, pre-hurricane volume.

[bud4wiser]

Jimmy-K, youd better quit wuth the sky is falling bit or pretty soon, no one will pay attention.

The storm, and the New O. problems may go a long way in "waking up" a few brain-dead officials in a manner that actually invites introspection regarding the energy costs associated with modern urban design, safety, etc.. etc..

Naw, on 2nd thought, no way. Long live what's her face.....

[Stranger]

The montreal article was brought up on Fark the other day:

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1672439

Long story short: the article writer didn't know what he was talking about and/or the inventor is talking out of his ass.

AS the FTC has brought up:

Claims usually tout savings ranging from 12 to 25 percent. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has evaluated or tested more than 100 alleged gas-saving devices and has not found any product that significantly improves gas mileage. In fact, some "gas-saving" products may damage a car's engine or cause substantial increases in exhaust emissions.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/autos/gasave.htm

As a general rule, anyone who thinks they're going to get any substantial improvements to the effeciency of the internal combustion engine is trying to scam you. It wouldn't suprise me that his device makes minor improvements but don't expect any cheap revolutions to gas mileage. The real innovations lie outside the internal combustion engine - like the hybrids.

[James]

"Do I really owe the Middletown Hospital $17,678 for a gall bladder operation that took forty-five minutes? And why did they charge me $238 for a plastic catheter?"

Have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of people will just tell their big corporate creditors to go "fuck off" once the shit hits the fan. Hell, if it's a choice between feeding my family or making a credit card payment, which do you think I'll pick?

Screw the big corporations. They bear a large measure of the blame for this mess. They have been running our government for decades.

[Richard Bennett]

This is an extremely crazy post, even for Kunstler. Fortunately, the vacuousness of its predictions will be readily apparent in a few short months, and it will be interesting to see the back-tracking.

But in the meantime, there's nothing here of any substance, it's just a lot of hysteria.

Thank you, drive through.

[Son of Samnite]

Richard! You're back!

[AnotherLoser]

The world is going to keep changing around us and we are all going to keep finding something to bitch about.

[Weaseldog]

5 years ago, the events we've seen would've been simply unbelievable.

Richard, do a Patrick Duffy for us and rewind us 5 years so we can start again.