punditman says...
For months now, there has been much chatter around here about complete economic collapse, especially since the misnamed Peacenik arrived and started gathering up prognostications from the best of the online doomers and peak oilers. Though he started his Punditman career by posting about a possible US attack on Iran along with the ongoing quagmires in Afghanistan, Iraq etc., Punditman wonders if this was simply a means of infiltrating the content side of this blog, because it is clear where Peacenik's priorities lie: He is a "Peacenik" in a class warfare/survivalist sort of way (whatever does that mean?).
Still, Punditman does not blame Peacenik for closely monitoring the largest economic downturn in 80 years, in fact he is thankful to have such a razor sharp doomer analyst on board. He just wishes he would change his moniker.
That aside, what exactly does Punditman think about all this talk of economic collapse?
Punditman believes that "doomsday" is a relative concept. It depends on the country, the region, the sector, the business and ultimately the individual.
For instance, in the underdeveloped world, doomsday has been the norm for decades. Ditto for war zones. Suddenly a little karmic discomfort in the First World and everyone is screaming that the sky is falling.
Okay, so things are bad enough. But how bad can/will this crisis get? Well, I just got an email from a friend out West who said his wine class sales are booming. "Things are crazy busy," says he. Seems one person's doom is another person's dollar.
On the other hand, if you lose your job, your house, your business, your
wine collection, well then it's certainly doomsday for you. Punditman wishes he had a fine Merlot collection to lose.
Anyway, doomsday estimations are dependent on how stupid the estimator thinks politicians who are beholding to entrenched interests have become. Granted, they appear pretty clueless lately. Peacenik apparently thinks they are really stupid and will let the whole house of cards collapse all around them and do nothing to save their political hides or the actual hides of their rich business friends (especially if they live in France), as hordes of pitchfork wielding peasants and workers storm the corridors of power. Thus Peacenik is forming his own militia, just in case.
On the other hand, Punditman thinks that the powers that be fear the above scenario more than anything and that even their greed and ignorance is not as great as their fear of revolt.
Maybe.
With the past as our guide, we know that elites do not give away power willingly, nor, in a touch of great historic irony, do they change direction even when the train is seemingly headed off the tracks---unless there is concerted pressure from below that addresses the needs and demands of the common folk.
If you want, you can call that hope. Hopefully a guy named "Peacenik" has similar hopes.
For months now, there has been much chatter around here about complete economic collapse, especially since the misnamed Peacenik arrived and started gathering up prognostications from the best of the online doomers and peak oilers. Though he started his Punditman career by posting about a possible US attack on Iran along with the ongoing quagmires in Afghanistan, Iraq etc., Punditman wonders if this was simply a means of infiltrating the content side of this blog, because it is clear where Peacenik's priorities lie: He is a "Peacenik" in a class warfare/survivalist sort of way (whatever does that mean?).
Still, Punditman does not blame Peacenik for closely monitoring the largest economic downturn in 80 years, in fact he is thankful to have such a razor sharp doomer analyst on board. He just wishes he would change his moniker.
That aside, what exactly does Punditman think about all this talk of economic collapse?
Punditman believes that "doomsday" is a relative concept. It depends on the country, the region, the sector, the business and ultimately the individual.
For instance, in the underdeveloped world, doomsday has been the norm for decades. Ditto for war zones. Suddenly a little karmic discomfort in the First World and everyone is screaming that the sky is falling.
Okay, so things are bad enough. But how bad can/will this crisis get? Well, I just got an email from a friend out West who said his wine class sales are booming. "Things are crazy busy," says he. Seems one person's doom is another person's dollar.
On the other hand, if you lose your job, your house, your business, your
wine collection, well then it's certainly doomsday for you. Punditman wishes he had a fine Merlot collection to lose.
Anyway, doomsday estimations are dependent on how stupid the estimator thinks politicians who are beholding to entrenched interests have become. Granted, they appear pretty clueless lately. Peacenik apparently thinks they are really stupid and will let the whole house of cards collapse all around them and do nothing to save their political hides or the actual hides of their rich business friends (especially if they live in France), as hordes of pitchfork wielding peasants and workers storm the corridors of power. Thus Peacenik is forming his own militia, just in case.
On the other hand, Punditman thinks that the powers that be fear the above scenario more than anything and that even their greed and ignorance is not as great as their fear of revolt.
Maybe.
With the past as our guide, we know that elites do not give away power willingly, nor, in a touch of great historic irony, do they change direction even when the train is seemingly headed off the tracks---unless there is concerted pressure from below that addresses the needs and demands of the common folk.
If you want, you can call that hope. Hopefully a guy named "Peacenik" has similar hopes.
