Before you read the quote, you might want to go here for some perspective on what a trillion dollars looks like.
Now think of 15 of those big boys!
James Lileks (sub. req.) on why we need to reduce federal spending:
Because that old world is over. . . .
A half-century experiment in draping steamship anchors around the necks of the productive class and expecting them to run a four-minute mile has ended in failure. The confiscation of rights and property, the moral impoverishment of generations caused by the state’s usurpation of parental obligations, the elevation of a credentialed elite that believes academia’s fashions are a worthy substitute for knowledge of history and human nature, and above all the faith in a weightless cipher whose oratorical panache now consists of looking from one teleprompter screen to the other with the enthusiasm of a man watching someone else’s kids play tennis–it’s over, whether you believe in it or not. It cannot be sustained without reducing everyone to penurious equality, crippling the power of the United States, and subsuming the economy to a no-growth future that rations energy.
To which some progressives respond: You say that like it’s a bad thing.
Three short sentences: The party’s over. There’s no going back (underlined). Its time for a new paradigm.
Progressives, Conservatives…both living in the past; both fighting to occupy the bridge of the Titanic. Only a (very) few people are beginning to think about lifeboats. But almost none are thinking about how to survive independently of what the others do…or don’t. In short, the concept of taking FULL responsibility for one’s self seems to have died with the pioneers. Which is not a good portent for the future. Because unless (or until) that ‘independence of thought’ is somehow revived, the future will be inevitably defined by angry bees and the ‘swarming’ hive. At best (if you can call it that), the ultimate outcome will probably be some variation of what you’ll see here. Only at the end of which is disclosed…what would have been the better choice, from the beginning.
Define your life, or have it defined. Most people don’t know they have a choice. And for that reason, they don’t.
Pessimism, fatalism, futilism…or realism? Take your pick.
Division of labor, specialization, etc., has enabled everyone to live better, yet some of the basic survival skills have been replaced with all the products and services that we obtain will our dollars. Very little thought goes into what countermeasures to take if our utilities and food stores cease to provide. That type of end-of-civilization scenario is improbable but possible. The outdoorsman, the farmer, and survivalist have the edge.
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