The American Spectator

The world rocks along somewhere in the middle, but thank you, Mr. Newman, it was a terrifying prospect, indeed.
— Judy Beumler
Louisville, Kentucky

Reading this dire warning has set me to thinking. I realize that Mr. Newman was talking about the economy and the possibility (likelihood?) of a meltdown, however, his warnings have me examining the situation in this country at a much deeper level. It is only recently that I have begun to think of America in the past tense. Like the great societies of the past, this country stands on the verge of implosion.

I was born in the late 40’s into a country that was, at once, one of the most poweful and most envied that the world had ever known. It was a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world; it was a land where hard work and honesty were almost sure bets to lead to success. Perhaps not Bill Gates or Warren Buffet success, but a modest success that to those in other countries seemed as desirable as good health and good weather. Today I live in a crumbling wreck of a land with a government so rife with corruption that it seems nothing can fix it. The federal government has morphed into a monster that devours the average citizen much like the Cyclops devoured the sailors of Odysseus. Taxes are confiscatory and are getting worse. Spending, mostly on the purchase of votes, builds a debt that will never be paid off, and we are less than a month away from electing a marxist to the highest office in the land.

I’ve finally figured out that it has taken only my lifetime to go from prosperous nation to banana republic. We have become Venezuela times ten. Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and their minions are nothing more than latter day Guevara’s, Chavez’s and Putins. Like the Venozolanos and the Cubans before them, and all the rest who thought that they were electing “Change” that would correct the problems, we are about to hand the country over to those who abhor it and have no problem with those who have actually bombed its centers of learning and committed every other type of treason imaginable. There seems no way to pull the nation back from its fate. When T. S. Eliot wrote that the world would end “not with a bang but with a whimper,” he was looking directly into our future.
— Joseph Baum
Garrettsville, Ohio

I have believed for several years now that what we are seeing is the beginning of the dissolution of the United States. I am firmly convinced, as are many of my friends and family here in the Midwest, that the country is going to break up along ethnic and linguistic lines. We have an increasingly large and vocal minority of Spanish speakers in the country, whose loyalty is to their homeland and not to the U.S. We are also letting increasing numbers of unskilled legal immigrants into the country from places like Africa and South America who end up on the welfare rolls with no hope of ever participating in or contributing to a modern society. We have a political system that is broken and no longer has responds to the will of the people. Our congress and executive branch are wholly owned subsidiaries of the international banks and corporations. Who owns the Federal Reserve? It certainly isn’t the government or the taxpayers, oh! That’s right! It’s the international banks.

The future is as inevitable as death and taxes, yet our politicians are to corrupt and short sighted to see what’s coming. I am 64 years old and may not live to see what I’m predicting, but I am sure my daughter, nephews and nieces will. Let me assure you that my sentiments are not those of some inhabitant of the fever swamps of the right wing. I was raised as a Democrat in a working class union household, but left the Democratic Party after the Carter debacle. I voted for Ralph Nader the first time George Bush ran and will probably vote for a third part candidate this time around. Neither of the two mainstream candidates will address the increasingly dire choices facing the country, they will only make things worse. In fact the only difference between them is how fast they will precipitate the country’s break-up.
— Paul Martell

It’s not hard to imagine what will occur now.

Obama will get elected by the majority of people that now sucks the government teat; that is, the politically-well-connected wealthy at the top, the protected class of unionized workers (at every level), and the forever dysfunctional poor at the bottom. The middle-class employees and small businessmen, who labor daily and are the economic engine of this country, will become (in fact, have already become) the cash cows that will be fleeced to support an ever-expanding government Leviathan. Therefore, the productive economic sectors, from which the extorted money is extracted, will contract dramatically. We will see intractable unemployment approaching double digits, where it will remain, as it has in Eurabia. Urban America will become like France, with uncontrollable banlieues of pathetic, disaffected minorities and illegal immigrants. Any large city in America will be like a third world hellhole. The general standard of living of every American will plummet.

Those who can will flee the states that harbor large population centers, made virtually uninhabitable by the thieving and reprobate Democrats, and seek out the mostly unsettled western regions to escape the social, political, and economic pathologies that have now overwhelmed this country. This will be necessary, due to the fact that any Republican living in a blue state will be targeted and stripped of their financial resources to feed the beast of the ever larger number of welfare state recipients. If there is any likelihood of the continuation of what was once considered the American ideal, it will be in the aftermath of such a migration.

It remains to be seen if the result of all this will be liberty’s last stand on earth. In the best of circumstances, we will become a fragmented, Balkanized nation of isolated and disparate communities, fighting to protect (or destroy) whatever freedom remains. National unity will be a pipe-dream. It may be that hope for a positive American future will now become a distant memory.
— Harry Hill

While I agree that our immediate future holds some serious challenges, I’m not quite ready to panic, yet. Yes, Iran, Russia, or China could like Nazi Germany take advantage of the internal instability of its neighbors for short-term political or geopolitical benefit. But, as Mr. Newman pointed out, everyone seems interconnected these days. Both Iran and Russia need consumers for its only source of foreign revenue: oil. China is totally at the behest of U.S. consumers. Yes, China holds hundreds of billions in U.S. Treasury Notes, but what will they be worth if the U.S. government collapses? China cannot even come close to feeding its own citizens let alone providing them with basic necessities such as electricity.

Domestically, Iran and Russia are in no better shape. Iran has barely enough capital to buy refined gasoline (ironically, Iran has no refineries and must import its petrol). Iran has spent billions subsidizing its nuclear weapons capability, financing Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations — all at the expense of its own subjects. Shortages in basic necessities we take for granted (such as gasoline and food) are common. Only through oppression can the mullahs survive. However, Iran now finds itself bordered by a freer Iraq and Afghanistan. It now must spend additional time and resources censoring and stamping out ideas that inevitably will flow across its large porous borders.

In many ways Russia is in worse shape than Iran. Outside of energy, Russia has little to offer the world. Its fertility rate is one of the lowest in the world (1.1 children/couple), its rate of AIDS infection is second only to Africa, and the life expectancy of its males is only 48. Only a fascist-style leadership can keep any semblance of order; however, Putin’s mafia style politics have chased foreign investment out, and with it any chance that Russia could turn things around.

I can relate to Mr. Newman’s fears. The Great Depression is now ancient history — heck the 1982-83 recession may as well occurred in the 19th century, our memories are so short. One would have to find the elderly that are now in their mid-70s to relate to how bad it was in 1937. There are many 30-somethings, now residing in McMansion, but are living paycheck to paycheck. Many Baby-Boomers opened up their 401k statements this week to find that they lost 30% of their retirement value. Most Boomers have visions of retirement spent on the golf course or in a gated community in Pensacola, not working Wal-Mart as a greeter. The financial shock will be severe, but I wouldn’t just yet sell America short. What we are seeing is the end of the giant public-private partnerships that began with FDR. Giant corporations and financial institutions, volumes upon volumes of federal regulations, and elephantine government bureaucracy will become a thing of the past. Wall St will never be the same, but neither will our federal government. Our politicians just don’t understand that — but they will as the gravy train has left the station.

If anything, I believe the U.S. is the one nation that is best suited to weather this crisis. When short-term liquidity is finally restored and we survey the damage, we will find ourselves poorer, but we still have our freedom. Unlike Asia or Europe, the U.S. has a strong libertarian impulse not to mention the ability to get up again after taking it in the chin. We are the one nation that still maintains a conservative tradition that is not afraid to take on City Hall.
— JP
Indiana