Normally true, except that I was responding to his definition of “America” in the context of this discussion:
America, as it currently exists, is a dying empire. And it is an empire which threatens to drag the entire world into destruction through its efforts to cling to its fading power.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
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Good! I’d rather discuss ways to improve than wallow in the “You’re fucked; we’re fucked” sentiment.
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Good one! (interesting aside - I once hung out with Bruce Dickenson for a week in the studio where Skunkworks was mixed - he was a thoroughly nice chap)
Sure, I might be wrong. And maybe I’ve been listening to too much Chris Hedges lately, but the evidence seems to suggest there’s a certain f*cked-ness in the air.
As for eating worms, who’s talking about that?
When the sh*t hits the fan, you’ll find me hanging with my brethren and family, somewhere idyllic, off the grid, self-sustaining, and eating nothing but organic, drinking the finest wine and having heated, but edifying discussions about a revolution.
American playground song reference, I expect, and not (for example) something to do with the trial of Martin Luther.
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I respect your analysis.
Mine’s a bit different. Yes, Boris (aka the British Trump) today announced he will exit on Oct 31st, deal or no deal, and for sure, that would create nine circles of hellish chaos.
But the truth is no-one has a clue what’s going to happen. Rationing, however is not going to be a thing - do you know how much wealth is created in London alone each year? ( about $0.8 trillion at last count)
If you think we’ll be fighting over turnips, look at Venezuela for comparison. They’ve been in economic hell for nearly a decade now, but people are still drinking lattes in the luxury malls - they’re not eating powdered egg, that’s for sure.
Truth is, Conservative austerity policies have already ripped the heart out of the UK’s education, health and welfare systems. I see more homeless people on the streets of London today than when I first came to the capital over 20 years ago. We’ve been f*cked for a long time before the word Brexit was even created.
America’s problems, on the other hand, are IMO of degrees much more serious than the UK, and certainly not fixable in an election cycle or two.
Many speculators expect with another economic crash, bigger than 2008 to be imminent, perhaps as early as this or next year. And when 50% of Americans can’t afford a $1000 emergency, who’s going to foot the bill? The taxpayer?
When America starts to plunge, it will plunge far. Some speculate this will ultimately result in the dollar losing its stake as the world’s de-facto reserve currency. If this occurs, that will be the final death toll for the empire.
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Sure we can argue figures, but I always hated statistics at school.
One fact that’s unavoidable however is that whilst China has spent the last few decades lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty into the middle classes…
…in that same time period, if you adjust for inflation, American wages have stagnated, whilst debt is at an all time historic high.
Whichever way you look at it, it’s clear that one country is in ascendance, and one isn’t
So you’re saying that all the goods will be consumed by people in the City, and there won’t be rationing outside of that because there won’t be anything to ration?
We’ve been f*cked for a long time before the word Brexit was even created.
This isn’t news to me; I lived in Hull during the Thatcher administration.
Honestly, though, I suspect some of what you say here,
America’s problems, on the other hand, are IMO of degrees much more serious than the UK
…is based on your media, which paints a slightly hysterical view of life in the US. As bad as things are here, they aren’t as bad as the stories I see in the graun and the beeb, both of which I look at daily (since US news media are as bad on world affairs coverage as non-US media are on US affairs).
What the democratic party needs to do, to ensure Trump doesn’t get reelected, is have all the candidates be polite to each other, no attack ads against each other, and all those who don’t make it to the general election enthusiastically throw their support behind the one who does make it.
It’s going to take decades to undo the damage Trump has already done, even if the democrats can get a majority in both houses along with presidency, the judicial branch has been pushed off center too far.
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joe biden looks tired, and he’s not likeable. and he has grandchildren. being a grandpa is a full time job!
well, that’s biden’s point - and i think he’s wrong.
america has serious structural issues that have been papered over time and time again
45 has taken advantage of those issues for sure. he’s put a hard edge to them. but he’s not the problem
we’d survive him no problem if things were well.
what’s wrong? severe inequality. rampant homelessness. an unmatched prison population. crumbling infrastructure. unparalleled dependence on fossil fuels. no manufacturing base. unhinged corporate privatization: farms, housing, healthcare, military contracting. huge personal debt. healthcare ( i mean really. wtf. ) legal impunity ( or nearly so ) for connected individuals.
and, the seed for much of it: white supremacy. that list is too long and depressing to reaccount.
biden’s whole thing is: hey white people, let’s go stick our heads in the sand again; some of us will get by, isn’t that enough?
we’re not necessarily going to make it even if we can acknowledge our issues. but if we don’t? it’s a choice between a crash bang and the slow collapse.
slower is better. there’s more hope for down the road. but it’s still not… good?
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Well, but he’s what I mean by the “big self-inflicted folly”. Recovery from other, long-term issues that go back to Reagan or before, is an enduring problem no matter who is president. Warren and Sanders are laying out lots of great plans, but without a cooperative legislature their administrations won’t be much different from a Biden administration on most of them.
At the very least, Biden seems to believe in global warming. That would be a huge and important difference from 45.
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“Improvement on 45” may be the lowest of all possible bars. Any of these guys, up to and including Williamson, would be an improvement. The primary will be a hard choice for me, because none of these guys are perfect. The general will not be hard at all. There some on here who make fun of the “vote blue no matter who” mindset, but to me this is an existential election for our democracy. If the democratic candidate is a stinking pile of rotting dingo kidneys, then dingo kidneys it is.
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Aye, the thing is, you’ve been fucking yourselves over. At least that’s what the expats here in Munich say about the Brexiteer Loony Party voters. Boris Johnson is now the leading candidate for PM? Wow. Just wow.
Maybe we should go off on a Corbyn tangent, since his “unelectability” does bear some resemblence to Sanders’, though who the Labour equivalent of Joe Biden is, well, I haven’t a clue and no longer care, since I like the EU and am in the “look, just get the fuck out already” camp who think the Brits are just dead weight now. (EDIT: Dead weight with nukes. Can’t forget that the UK has nukes.)
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I wasn’t setting any bars, just pointing out that the Trump ‘folly’ can mainly be undone by electing not-Trump in 2020 (plus some hard work). This was in contrast to the Brexit folly, which will create an immediate change in the fabric of British government that will take a seriously long time to undo.
The primary will be a hard choice for me, because none of these guys are perfect.
No candidate is ever perfect, but honestly the crowd we’ve seen in the last couple of debates is generally pretty good. I’ll bet that by the time your primary rolls around your choice will be much easier than it seems now.
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I agree and take a parallel position. I think it’s legitimate to use a vote to punish cynical positioning. I suspect i am in a minority on that. I was very happy that Harris “punished” Biden for his early floating the idea she would make a good VP. He totally deserved what he got.
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Yeah, but that was in Mississippi. I mean, Seattle is a whole different thing. I’m sure Joe knows what he is talking about. 
Seriously, he just cannot seem to get out of his own way right now. The number of unforced errors bodes pretty badly for how he would do under a full Trumpian assault.
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