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| Boston on Friday, April 19, 2013 |
Deep in the Heart of Middle America...
Q: I’ve been hearing things about a... “recent development.”
A: Yeah, bit of a jolt, this one. Heard on the grapevine, it’s these Chechens, heard of ’em? Well, they’ve taken over, massacred the entire 113th Congress and took over Homeland Security to boot. Saw the footage of Capital Hill. Gawd, what a mess. But ah... personally I don’t see anything to be concerned about. I mean, really, they can’t be any worse than the last bunch. Give the lads a chance, that’s what I say. That’s what America’s all about, right? A place where you can get ahead. Show a bit of initiative, innovation; give it a go. And I’ll tell you something else. From what I hear these guys are pretty solid on family values, ya know? And guns? They’re not against guns. Now I can prove that... So well, that’s what I say... I can’t really see a problem here....
Q: what about Obama, the President. Did he say anything?
A: Well ah, yeah he made an announcement. Something like “weapons of war have no place on our streets.” He said something... honestly I can’t really recall much of this. I know he said something but... ah...
Q: Yeah, right.
An interesting thing happened in Boston. Not the explosions that killed several people and maimed many more—such gruesome events happen with some regularity in more and more parts of the world—but what happened afterwards. Under the thinnest of pretenses, Boston was placed under martial law, with heavily armed troops patrolling the streets, pointing machine guns at civilians who dared so much as to look out their windows.
A large part of the city was placed under lockdown, supposedly because a single 19-year-old, on foot, was on the loose. (There may be dozens of armed teenagers on the loose in Boston on any given Friday.) [Correction: Dzokhar Tsarnaev was unarmed at the time of his “shootout with police.”] The official story makes little sense. Do you think the Tsarnaev brothers did it? I doubt it. They seem like patsies at most. They seem to have been picked because they are Chechen, and tying in Chechnya, and Russia, and radical Islam, makes it a better story. As with 9/11, the official version has many holes in it, there is contradictory evidence, but the officials and the official media steadfastly ignore it, ready to label anyone who calls the official story into question a “conspiracy theorist.”
I am not an investigator or an intelligence analyst; I am merely expressing an opinion based on my intuition. While all of this was unfolding, I was making use of the good weather to paint a boat (the fancy two-part polyurethane paint doesn't cure well if it's humid or under 50°F, and it was finally warm and dry enough to apply it) and I had the boat's stereo blasting NPR as I worked. I wasn't even listening all that carefully because I had to concentrate on avoiding drips and smudges. But after a while I had a sudden realization about the voices on the radio: They Are All Lying! There is a certain intonation that is hard to suppress, and it indicates that someone is trying very hard to sound like they believe what they are saying. I heard that intonation over and over again. Now, granted, some of them didn't even know for sure that they were lying, but to me it appeared that somebody was hastily concocting a story for public consumption. Not being an intelligence analyst or an investigator, I asked Mike Ruppert, who is both of these things, and he wrote back “Of course the bombing was a lie and a set-up. I don't chase the details anymore though. Waste of energy.” And I have to agree with him; I have neither the time nor the interest. But somebody else has chased down a few of the details, and they don't look good for the official story. See for yourself: here, here, here and here.
If this is another false flag operation by the special forces, what, you might reasonably ask, is the motive? From whose perspective, you might wonder, was it a good idea to stage a horrific mock terrorist incident right in the cradle of the American Revolution, and specifically on Patriot's Day, which is a state holiday commemorating the first battle of the Revolutionary War? And from whose perspective was it a good idea to then stage a military occupation of Boston? The symbolism is unmistakeable: were these the first shots fired in the Counterrevolutionary War? Obviously, the people behind it are the ultimate scum of the earth. But let me try to propose a few ideas for their rationale.
The US can no longer afford to fight foreign wars. It just doesn't have the money. The twin fiascos in Iraq (where only something like 50 people got killed in terrorist attacks on that same day) and Afghanistan (similar story) have cost the country a prodigious amount of money, most of it borrowed, with precious little peace and stability to show for it, and now there are simply no resources for further overseas military adventures. But the US military is a beast that cannot be tamed by anyone—not the President or the Congress—because it is simply too profitable. And so, of necessity, the new venue for military operations will have to be the US itself. There are some inconvenient laws currently on the books that make this difficult but, as the experiment in Boston has shown, they can now be safely ignored.
Also, we should expect there to be plenty of good excuses for deploying troops on the streets of American cities. There are some nasty financial and commercial disruptions on the horizon, which will result in serious domestic mayhem. For many years now, more and more as time went on, the US has been critically dependent on its ability to print and export US dollars. The dollar is the country's #1 export. But recently more and more countries have started turning away from the once popular US dollar and entering into bilateral trade agreements based on their own currencies or gold, and this shift is now unmistakeable and quickly running its course. As this happens, the US dollar loses its reserve currency status, and countries shift their reserves out of the dollar and into gold.
A recent desperate attempt to drive down the price of gold and silver by manipulating the futures markets, and by doing so to prop up the value of the US dollar along with other paper currencies, backfired in a grand fashion, resulting in people across the world snapping up physical gold and silver at what they consider bargain prices, to a point where now many metal sellers are simply out of metal, and buyers face long waits for delivery. Interestingly, there is as yet no mechanism for bidding up the price of physical metal separately from the futures market, which trades something like 100 phantom ounces for each real ounce of metal. A daily auction for all the physical gold and silver available for immediate delivery would be far more honest than this corrupt "mark to paper" scheme.
Given that more and more people are no longer content with holding mere paper and want to take delivery of their metal, the phantom, paper ounces are not long for this world. When enough people demand to take delivery of them, the futures market will implode, the physical gold price will explode, and the dollar will sink. Normally governments maintain a gold reserve to back the value of their currency, but the US seems to have quietly spent most of its gold already. Nobody knows how little of it is left. And so once the ability to suppress the price of gold by manipulating the futures market is lost, the dollar will go into free-fall. Two immediate effects of the loss of purchasing power of the dollar will be:
1. Loss of control over interest rates, causing payments on US government debt to swallow the entire budget, in turn causing much of the government to shut down (financial collapse triggering political collapse)
2. Loss of access to imports, such as well over half of the oil the country burns, shutting down much of the consumer economy (financial collapse triggering commercial collapse)
The net result will be mayhem, troops on the streets, curfews, checkpoints and travel restrictions. Americans have no recent experience of living under military occupation (the experience of the South in the 1860s is not recent enough to qualify). But now they are going to get a taste of it—at their own hands.
If you are finding this difficult to absorb, rest assured that your reaction is perfectly normal. Few people find it easy to accept the fact that what was once “their” country is now an empty husk run by thugs and manipulated for personal gain by shadowy puppet-masters who are the ultimate scum of the earth. These are the people who will now govern you, inasmuch as you allow yourself to be governed at all. Saying good-bye to financial security and a comfortable lifestyle is hard enough; saying good-bye to your national identity is even harder. The grieving process is much longer than grieving for a few dead and wounded, regrettable though these casualties are. At the end of this grieving process you come out with your public persona diminished: not a citizen or a patriot but at best a compatriot and at worst someone from a place you don't wish to return to, hear about or discuss.
And now it's time for this week's highly relevant excerpt from The Five Stages of Collapse which, last I heard, is coming off the press tomorrow.
Financial and commercial collapses are already potentially lethal. People lose their bearings and their sense of purpose, or decide to take advantage of those in distress, or fail simply through an inability to adapt to radically altered circumstances, and when that happens people get hurt. Financial and commercial collapses tend to be hard on those who failed to prepare, by putting aside objects that hold their value when the national currency hyperinflates and banks close and by stockpiling the necessary supplies to tide them over during the uncertain transition period, when the old ways of doing things no longer work but the new ones have not yet evolved. Both of these causes of potentially lethal circumstances can be avoided: first, by choosing the right kind of community; second, by laying in supplies or securing independent access to food, water and energy; and third, by generally finding a way to bide your time and ignore the world at large until times get better.
Political collapse is a different animal altogether, because it makes the world at large difficult to ignore. The potential for chaos is still there, but so is the potential for organized action of a very damaging sort, because the ruling class and the classes that serve them (the police, the military, the bureaucrats) generally refuse to go softly into the night and allow the people to self-organize, experiment and come together as autonomous new groups adapted to the new environment in their composition and patterns of self-governance. Instead, they are likely to spontaneously hatch a harebrained new plan: an initiative to restore national unity, in the sense of restoring the status quo ante, at least with regard to preserving their own power and privilege, at others’ expense. In a situation where every person and every neighborhood should be experimenting on their own to find out what works and what doesn’t, the politicians and the officials are apt to introduce new draconian crime-fighting measures, curfews and detentions, allowing only certain activities—ones that benefit them—while mercilessly putting down any sign of insubordination. To deflect the blame for their failure, the ruling elite usually also does its best to find an internal or external enemy. Those who are the weakest and the least politically connected—the poor, the minorities and the immigrants—are accused of dragging everyone down and singled out for the harshest treatment. This is conducive to creating a climate of fear and suppressing free speech. But nothing causes people to band together like an external threat, and, for the sake of preserving national unity, a failing nation-state often looks for an external enemy to attack, preferably a weak, defenseless one, so that it poses no risk of reprisal. Putting the nation on a war footing makes it possible for the government to commandeer resources and reallocate them to the benefit of the ruling class, further restrict movements and activities, round up troublesome youths and ship them off to battle and lock up undesirables.
Financial and commercial collapse creates an opening for those inclined toward the most miserable despotism. Once a despotic regime is established, the weak, demoralized, disoriented population almost inevitably finds itself incapable of rising in opposition to it, and the new despotism may become entrenched and quite durable, lasting for an extended period of time, during which the country is hollowed out and traumatized before collapsing through internecine strife or a battle of succession, or through increasing weakness that causes it to succumb to foreign occupation. The spectrum of possible responses to financial and commercial collapse stretches from despotism to chaos. There is a sweet spot of autonomous, anarchic social cooperation, with many small skirmishes and stand-offs but well short of all-out armed conflict.
Please order your copy of The Five Stages of Collapse: Survivors' Toolkit for shipment in May.
(Although the order is placed through PayPal, you don't need to have a PayPal account; just click "Don't have a PayPal Account?" during check-out and enter a credit or debit card number. If you do have a PayPal account, please make extra-double-sure that the shipping address associated with it is up-to-date and correct, and will remain that way through May.)
60 comments:
Thanks for telling the truth, Dmitry. What you say here is what no one seems to want to say anywhere else. The coming collapse of the United States and the third world style dysfunctional but brutal tyranny that will follow in its wake is going to be disgusting, and a lot of people are going to be destroyed - cruelly persecuted and killed - by enraged, animalistic mobs whipped up by scumbag elites.
This situation could persist for decades and we could resemble the worst third world holes in the ground, or outdo their corruption and internal hatred due to our vast size and the depth and rapidity of our fall.
A body is lies motionless in the street. It’s the body of a decapitated man whose head can be seen nearby. A newspaper reporter arrives and has the following conversation with a police officer:
Reporter: Is the man dead?
Policeman: We need to wait for a doctor to arrive to confirm this.
Reporter: I can see a Passport and other ID documents sticking out of his pocket, can you confirm the victim’s identity?
Policeman: Investigations are continuing and a formal identification has still not taken place.
Reporter: The victim has been decapitated, has a dagger in his back and is raked with bullets. Is this a murder investigation?
Policeman: We have only just begun our investigation and it is too early to determine what happened.
This is how police investigations are usually run, but apparently not in Boston.
Within a day of the bombing we were told who did it; we knew their faces, names and family backgrounds. Their guilt is assumed and the only question remaining is whether the surviving bomber should lose his rights before he is executed. No one else was involved in the Boston bombing, end of story.
The same thing happened following the 9-11 attacks. Everything I learned about those attacks was fed to me by the corporate press in the first 48-hours. 12 years after 9-11 the story given to us immediately after it happened has not changed one bit.
The Boston bombing and 9-11 remind me of Hollywood films. They start with a shocking event followed by some clever detective work and finally the villains get what they deserve - end of film.
Perhaps the International Criminal Court in the Hague should investigate the Boston bombing since the Americans appear incapable of doing so.
Reichstag fire, etc. The only question is why it hasn't been blamed on "extremist survivalist preppers." (Although certain media organs did start up a song about right-wing terrorists before the shrapnel was even cold.)
The thing I find most interesting is the mechanism whereby discussions like the one we are now having are rendered completely irrelevant to the public. It isn't even clear that we should be unhappy about this, because the alternative is that miscreants like us would have to choose between silence and death. The mechanism itself is fascinating. One key ingredient is that "crank bait" of various kinds is deliberately sowed. Examples include the simultaneous - and apparently spontaneous - breakdown of every security camera near the Pentagon on 9/11 (and in the Newtown school, as well) - and the comic-book villainy of the uniformed (!) Craft International mercenaries involved in the Boston incident. These tiny holes in the official stories are deliberately crafted. They help "respectable citizens" (like this one) to learn who the "conspiracy cranks" are; whom to ignore, to mock, and, should the hour come, to rat out.
My recent submission on the topic to a ListServ I frequent agrees with much of what's been said here about the brothers, including the "Patsy" potential, but NOT agreeing with the premise they were SOLELY patsies, and not the perps as well:
"What *I* see is a younger brother who did EXACTLY what people in more tribal cultures do. They back their older brother no matter what, and the older brother defends the younger... No matter what.
Unlike a fragmented American or other industrial 'every person for themselves' society.
His tweet to the effect of "I'm going to kill you all for what you did to my brother" (assuming he sent it and I have NO REASON technically, or sociologically to doubt it) is EXACTLY what one would expect. No matter how bizarre the situation, his older brother could do nothing wrong... Even when it was glaringly obvious to everyone else.
I'm much more concerned with the Islamophobic semantics of the reporting in the MSM which will undoubtedly cause at least expectations of a continued trend of "Nice" Muslims gone bad.
From the start it's been noted what a nice guy he was.
THAT meme was quashed YEARS ago in random mayhem reporting...
"He was such a nice guy... we would have NEVER expected him to do anything like that.." was a no-go because the MSM and the authorities, backed by the citizen's rationalizations could NOT accept the fact that the perp with the refrigerator full of body parts was just like them or their neighbor so we began seeing the "anti-social outcast loner" meme as de rigeur in mayhem reportage.
But IF the perp is a Muslim... They *want* you to question whether that nice Pakistani (or Chechen or Bosnian or..) Koran reading neighbor next door may in reality be a terrorist, or worse, someone ready to crack without notice. (in THIS case due to apparent stalking by the FBI... I recounted earlier an up-close-and-personal assassination of two local police officers as having the same underlying causation).
For someone from embattled lands, the "Crack" does NOT happen the same as for someone whose from the US, and if one examines what these two did, they did similar to what a Chechen separatist might do, without ANY training camp or anything else, because that's what their people, as a whole, have done as defense and resistance for quite some time.
IF there IS a 'conspiracy', it the continued institutional dunning of these two, again at least one of whom was pursuing the 'All American Dream'.
All in all the profile is that of a "Movie Theater Shooter", NOT an "Islamist terrorist".
What DOES happen when one finds out that the "Dream" IS just that, is very different for someone whose been inculcated with that belief system since birth, and someone who has been taught as a child with memories of other ways-of-life to savor that "Dream".
If anything, the FBI and by extension the State Department are responsible (knowingly or not, and I DO believe they're 'up' on their social psych and knew it) for causing the older brother to crack leading to his younger brother following his elder's path to 'redemption'."
[Source @ A-List]
One thing that struck me immediately (having paid as little attention to the incident as possible) was the "lack of motive" issue. A "terrorist" organization performs a spectacular incident in the most conspicuous setting conceivable, surrounded by cameras... and nobody claims discredit for the event in support of any cause or any demands whatsoever...
It could be another example of the USian Amok Ritual, in which the object is to achieve notoriety for some person suffering from extreme disrespect and public inconsequence -- but the gun is the classic weapon-of choice in such matters.
Also, we find the alleged perps escaping from the scene... then having to go spectacularly into hiding with a petty cash robbery to cope with an evidently complete lack of resources or of anyone they can rely on at the time... having expected they could escape unidentified...? or being in fact innocent, finding themselves unexpectedly set-up by whomever-it-was they might have been thinking of as colleagues or employers?
As a former street newspaper publisher, I got lots of experience doctoring photos -- simply to make what had happened visible on cheap newsprint. But I certainly noticed how easily cropping could distort the impression: 'a large group gathered for ___' or 'a few people standing around in a big empty space,' for example. But anything that could be done to bring out detail could as easily have been done to hide or manufacture it instead.
In the state-of-the-art at that time, a photo was no longer conclusive evidence of anything whatsover, unless one knew who took the photo, when -- and who had had it since then. [When a freaked border patrol agent attacked the activist who was filming him, a few years back, the first thing he did was to destroy the camera. Digital recording media, however, doesn't degrade much from exposure to light. An FBI guy responding to the call picked up the camera and kept it... evidently outraged by some sort of professional ethic, he released it to the press with official confirmation that this looming, angry face was truly what the activist had been filming. In this case, the local tv people were happy to broadcast it... ] So the FBI guy quoted on one of your "crankbait" links, saying that ~"these photos were the only officially-kosher photo-evidence" wasn't necessarily being as wacky as it sounded...
I have certainly noticed the "crank-bait" phenomena that a previous commenter mentions -- at work in a wide range of very real conspiracies over the years. I don't think anyone needs to 'manufacture' such red herrings; people develop them spontaneously. But every otherwise-credible person or site seems to have a few really glaring 'bugs' in their world-view; and I have wondered if this was being purposefully cultivated to protect them from being considered "too dangerous."
Speaking as a great admirer of your writings, Mr Orlov, I nevertheless cannot help being puzzled why you would say:
"I have neither the time nor the interest"
Surely, if you think the actions of the police warrant consideration as being part of an 'internal US war' (and possibly intertwined with a US collapse), then this whole business is worthy of your attention.
Certainly more important than painting a boat.
"...more important than painting a boat"?! Back to work, you!
In the book 1984 the 'Department of Love' knew everything Julia and Winston did before they even did it. Their private love room had a hidden telescreen behind a picture on the wall. Everything they did was watched. In Orwell's novel the inner party did not just surveil they enabled.
Orwell's telescreens hung on walls. Ours go in pockets and purses and never turn off. Curious that the two Boston lone wolves didn’t become targeted individuals and experience gang stalking.
Travel out of the country isn’t even a prerequisite for that sort of thing these days. War on terror budgets being what they are it can happen to anybody, and for little cause. One would think international travel would have got the love machine wheels spinning.
I'm not sure of much of the story as it's being reported. I am sure, however, of the response it is sure to generate. More surveillance, more police and less Constitutional rights. That probably is the point.
Your observation about noticing the lies while only half listening is interesting. You can have the same phenomenon while half paying attention to magicians or mentalists. It's interesting stuff. If we could only teach people to do it.
One question I have is that if there is an economic collapse how do the troops and security contractors get paid? Macchiavelli warns against using mercenaries at all let alone to maintain public order, and whether they are direct contractors or indirect one from a corporatized military/industrial structure, the end result is that when the money runs out they take over, and not necessarily in best interests of all.
Lukiftian,
The thugs will be paid the same way they've always been paid: with loot. At first, collected gently by bureaucrats, through taxation. Then, up close and personal, at your doorstep.
At least, in the near term. In the long term they will be paid in slaves and personal fiefdoms.
Dmitry:
I am having a hard time accepting the death of the innocent 8 year old boy (and two others), and the others who are suffering.
Let me rephrase it: I accept that some group of evil people, possibly in the pay of my government, had something to do with this. But that makes me partly responsible, since my tax money supports these murderous parasites.
How does one deal with this sense of guilt and remorse? I don't want it to make me non-functional, as I have a family to care for and plan for.
Bigger question: how to deal psychologically with the pain of being part of a literally evil system?
Dmitri, I got your books, and I got your T-shirts, and I got your back, usually. But I think your reputation for reasoned analysis is going to take a hit for this particular post.
I didn't follow the events in Boston but I really think you are jumping the shark on this one. It looks just like the standard crazies attack with no need for paranoid government involvement.
What the government will do after the attack is also standard - use it to concentrate the power and ignore the constitution under the guise of safety.
Publius -
You ask an excellent question. I will be sure to take it up with Carolyn Baker at The Age of Limits conference.
LL Pete -
It cuts both ways. Those who will label me a "conspiracy theorist" just because I raise some questions are going the same place as abiotic oil people and climate denialists: Buh-bye!
I'll take Boston's Patriot Day bloodbath at face value. A couple of morons with just enough knowledge to blow up a pressure cooker. An over-armed and over-stoked security apparatus that jumped at the opportunity for a dress rehearsal for martial law. A population being trained to like it.
I had a philosphy professor in college who, after being met with complete silence when he asked a question about the material, would ask us, "what do you people DO when you read?"
Some people reading this essay may jump off the deep end because Dmitry is questioning the official narrative. A careful reading indicates that he only states that his intuition is that the official story is a sham. This is honest and is not equivalent to a claim that the official narrative is in fact false. He makes it clear that it is not worth his time or energy to determine if it is or not. He has better things to do and the analysis that follows in his essay is FAR more significant for all of us.
I sent Dmitry's post to several friends and some of them couldn't get past their personal reaction to this seeming heresy. To them, reading someone who questioned the official narrative was tantamount to listening to a loony-tune, and so nothing Dmitry said could have any value.
Good conditioning at work, both thanks to our media and school systems.
Anyway, the main point that I took from Dmitry's latest missive is that, false flag or not, we now have martial law imposed at will by the Authorities, including closing down all public transportation and common carriers, in cases where the threat is one, possibly armed 19 year old. If that is sufficient pretext, pretty much anything is. The other point is that this is what we can expect will be rolled out in our large cities when the financial collapse comes and that curfews and martial law will be the new and improved mission for our armed forces now that adventures abroad are becoming too costly to maintain. These points are far more signficant for all of us than, and do not depend in the least upon, whether the attack was a false flag event.
For additional disturbing radical thoughts on the latest from Boston, check out Arthur Silber's latest, America the Ugly, at http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2013/04/america-ugly.html , where he examines the significance of the fact that Bostonians cheered and supported this militarized police state.
Good article, Dmitry, and thanks for saying it.
Maybe it was a false flag, but linking to Alex Jones does not bode well for that argument.
Thanks for this post Dmitry. It never added up.
What I don't understand is how it is so obviously a set up? If this was the work of professionals, you sure as hell wouldn't hire them again. Why was all the CCTV footage available? Surely that could have been taken care of? And if it couldn't then why would these professionals let themselves get seen on it in 'uniform'? Wouldn't a false beard and pair of jeans have made all this speculation less likely? Unless the actual perpetrators set these guys up to divert suspicion?
Nothing adds up and I doubt it ever will. But it makes you question the motives behind everything. There really seemed no motive for the bombing and it is a lot of effort and risk on the perpetrators part. Who gained? There didn't seem to be a target, just lots of innocent bystanders, whose lives have been devastated. Why so random? Why the marathon? Why Boston? And why now?
I haven't followed the detail, but was the Waco factory explosion an attempted cover up for the cover up? The timing does seem quite a coincidence.
I think it is very important to ensure your boat is painted and in good working order. It is one solid thing that you can trust.
Dmitry:
Could I add a small addendum to my comment?
OK, so I am already overcome with guilt and remorse. I then checked out a Truthout article by William Rivers Pitt (someone I've read before -not exactly a profound writer, but I've read him before) in which he calls people who doubt the official narrative "scum."
So now people who feel as I do are not just feeling bad, but we are scum?
There is something weird going on here. His article was almost... hysterical? The tone was off... odd.
Why the strident insults against people who doubt the official narrative in any way from a "liberal." What does the word liberal mean, again? I'm losing my ability to understand language, it seems, because terms I thought I understood the definitions of... are no longer moored to reality. Liberal. Conservative. Democracy. Capitalism. Tolerance. Progress.
Yikes. I need to chill out over a beer with a friend.
I usually agree with your points of view, but geez... Alex Jones as a source? He seems to be a good source for hyperbole, not rational news. Why use him?
Judy,
Don't be astonished at the lack of masks and false beards. It is entirely possible that the fellows wearing the Craft International outfits were paid solely to show up on camera and provide "crank bait." The best possible cover for a 21st century "special operation" is precisely this: the public asks, "what alternatives are there to the Government's explanation?" And the answer must invariably be: "the ravings of cranks."
Setting crank bait is easier, cheaper, and ultimately more effective than rounding up and gassing the lot of us for having this discussion. It is quite enough to ensure that ordinary people ignore the heretics. Without thinking, through sheer animal reflex.
Why Alex Jones? I'll tell you. He is crank bait. I too can play this game. If you can't separate the message from the messenger, we are going to have a problem. It's as simple as that.
Publius -
Carolyn wants to talk to you. Please email me directly, and I'll put you two in touch.
Publius,
The sole purpose of the sham we call "democracy" is to make us feel complicit in the psychopaths' crimes. Witness the massive display of Stockholm Syndrome going on in Boston as we speak. The test run of martial law, if you will, was a shining success. Not only was there no sign even of token resistance (try resisting a column of tanks) but not even a hint of public resentment.
Imagine that a violent psychopath robbed your house. He made off with your valuables, pawned them, and used the money to buy a pistol. With which he proceeded to terrorize and perhaps murder a number of innocent people. His crimes are in no way your fault, since you hadn't the slightest choice in the matter.
Perhaps it would help ease your conscience to think of your government in the same way: a violent thug, who takes what he needs from you and does whatever he pleases.
2 part poly is the only way to go on the outside of a boat.I did my hull sides 12 years ago and they still are glossy.Doesn't take any more labour than 1 part and the results are superior.Gotta keep the dew off of it though for sure!
As for Boston yeah false flag.
Stanislav, it was a rhetorical question I asked, but we are in agreement.
When I first saw the posts by the "new world order" types, I just kind of shook my head. Not every hurricane or earthquake is being perpetrated by some one world government elites firing off their HAARP weapons.
I couldn't help but notice that one picture shows the 19 year suspect climbing out of the boat, then a claim that he was "clinging to life" with gunshot wounds to his throat, so conveniently he cannot talk. It will be interesting to see whether we get to see actual live footage of the guy talking. Will they keep his trial a secret,like the 9/11 hearings, will he decide to hang himself in a jail cell before he can try to prove his claim of
being framed or set up?
Whether a result of "blow back" from US foreign policy or part of a series of timely tragedies to disarm the masses, take away what was left of their rights (which were a joke for quite some time before all this...you had the right to shut up, consume, and obey), and condition them for the inevitable imposition of martial law, either rationale is proof that social order is decaying, the collapse is advancing, and more people's minds are beginning to snap.
6.2 billion rounds of hollow points, tanks in the streets, storm troopers kicking in doors. Toss in the internet kill switch and shutting/jamming cell phones and you will realize what the future of America will resemble. Only it costs money to imprison people, so these "forces of law and order" will behave more like they do in "third world" countries, swamps of horrow like El Salvador, with the torture state and death squads, you can rest assured that life will become cheap in the US and curbside justice will be the norm for anyone who tries to resist, find food/survive, doesn't allow creditors to kick in their doors and rip the copper out of the walls, or otherwise becomes troublesome.
Boston is just the beginning, despite the motives behind the bombers.
michigan native,
I've heard it said that only a rookie mugger keeps his knife or gun pointed at his victim for the entire duration of a robbery. An experienced brigand knows that he only needs to show it once, and the victim will remain acutely aware of its presence.
We are dealing with a thoroughly-experienced thug, and an uncommonly submissive victim. The Boston demo was exactly that: a demo. The death squads will remain mostly behind the scenes, in their training camps, until such time as the Americans grow some kind of spine and can no longer be separated from their valuables merely through harshly-worded paperwork.
The demo accomplished its intended purpose; the robber flashed his pistol and nodded silently. He and the victim both know what happens next; there is no need for them to exchange words.
I found this quote, from Hitler of all people, and it seems apt:
Hitler On The Big Lie
All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes.
Interestingly, Chris Kyle, who founded and owned The Craft, and a friend of his were killed a couple of months ago by a supposedly deranged veteran with PTSD - who Chris trusted enough to take to a shooting range and allow himself to be gunned down.
We can follow this back, at least to that point, by making the realistic assumption that Chris was offered the 'crank bait' contract and refused it.
I am not a conspiracy theorist. but I am a retired police forensic scientist. I used to help set up scenes like that on the Universal Studios back lot in the 70s for police training. Boston was a staged event, at least partially.
Alex Jones notwithstanding, the first link in Dmitry's blog shows clear evidence of that fact. No police investigator or explosives expert in the world would believe it. The fact that anyone at all believes it simply proves that martial law can and HAS happened here. And we let it. In fact, people CHEERED it. The next city lockdown and house-to house search will be to confiscate firearms and precious metal.
I believe I am at least temporarily exempt because I live in a remote area and am completely self-sufficient, well protected, and have nothing of value. It was my choice to convert to this type of lifestyle and, while it recalls a small 1870s farm, the reversion is not that unpleasant.
I am glad that I lived my life during the prime of America when we all believed that we were the good guys and most of us were. The Big Island of Hawaii is culturally diverse, generally non-violent, and we barter what we grow for what other people grow.
We can revert to a pre-industrial society within weeks because we have minimal or no infrastructure in most areas. Where I live there are no paved roads, streetlights, water, or sewers. I am connected to the grid, but when it goes, it does. And it sometimes does.
The few police officers we have drive their own cars and are typically busy with traffic accidents. When a feral pig gets into a garden, someone shoots it and puts it in a smoker. That's farm work, not police work. We like our police officers and we know them. We know our military reservists, and we know them as well. Everyone is related to someone. Everyone knows the good guys from the bad guys for the most part. When the police want someone, they send an email and they get him (or her). It's an island. There is nowhere to run.
When Grandma passes, you bury her in the family plot on the farm. I'll bet that tradition is all but forbidden back on the mainland - along with everything else.
The point is that Dmitry is correct that he financial system will fail. It doesn't matter if gold goes to a million dollars an ounce. It's only going to be worth what someone will give you for it. I'd probably give you a couple dozen fresh eggs and some vegetables. But who is going to be able to make change for an ounce of physical gold, and what will they make it out of? Silver will simply be worth face value. How does that preserve wealth?
While you are it Dmitri please ask Carolyn about how to turn off the television reality program that the news has become. I gave up my tv a couple years back (after a short relapse) because it was soaking up way too much of my time and consciousness. Now watching the events unfold online is sucking me back in, and I might as well be watching the Jersey Shore reruns. I don't want to care about the details once I'm fairly certain where the overall picture is leading and how it will affect me, but still find myself trolling through the crank bait when I should be painting boats.
Dmitri:
For the most part I am a fan of your writings and insight, but I find the hypothesis that the Boston bombers were "set up" as part of a larger state conspiracy just plain bizarre.
At the same time, I think your intuition that the authorities' (and by extension the media's) "narrative" was/is not credible (that the guys were the Most Dangerous Men Imaginable; that they were part of a Chechen terrorist group; that there was some other threatening political motive etc. etc.) may be keying on the profound psychic distortions of the acts themselves and and the state's response to it. I'd therefore recommend to you and your readers the following article (and its surrounding work) which suggests a radical encapsulation of both:
http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/eln03_terrorism.html
Of course, many people are dismissive of psychological hypotheses, not least because they evoke review of (every)one's own emotional history and resultant worldview, but if you're not one of those people you may find it informative. Just looking at the amount of denial and fracture within the guys' family suggests the warpage that seems to have occurred under the regime of shitty Islamic fundamentalism and masculine insecurity. And of course the state's response is indicative of some other Americanized form of collective, oblivious rage.
Thank you for a very timely post.
It is interesting to note, that there really is some network that many hear - giving note about when the media is serving an unusually poisonous version of baloney. I don't have tv and in normal media coverage (here in Finland) what happend in Boston was just another incident in a world full of incidents. But somehow, one knows the whole thing stinks to high heaven. What should that knowing be called? Intuition? Gnosis?
So what to do - how to deal with the reality of all this without getting sick? To get a little perspective I highly recommend Alan Moore's V for Vendetta - it's a graphic novel. Or maybe you'all have already read it? It is turning out to be more prescient than I ever thought would be possible. And weaves in anarchism, too. The movie is not that bad if reading a graphic novel is too much.
Two texts that I've bumped into recently, that I've found useful: A letter to Adam Lanza, by a buddhist monk who lived his childhood in Newtown. He looks into what is going on without blaming or demonizing. A very insightful letter, helping the reader to face what must be faced, our own darkness. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/asthewheelturns/2012/12/a-zen-monks-letter-to-adam-lanza/ And then, an article by Paul Levy, who has been looking into what evil is. The article is somewhat philosophical, so some knowledge about gnosticism, jungian psychology or just curiosity about philosophy might be usefoul to benefit from it. But an incredibly deep insight into the character of evil - as something that is necessary to put the free in the freedom.
Not that long ago, mr Orlov recommended praying. I notice that is something one can always do, regardless of the belief/faith/knowledge/ignorance one has. For example this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHMxKgNbATo will do well. Or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B52Cx4geas0 And having meaningful work at hand.
It is as if we are living in a time that constantly produces events that test: what will defeat me? What are the things that can crush me, without actually physically touching me? Is it an evil scheme or a journey to resourcefulness? Odysseus started his journey as just someone returning home from war. The adventures made him a hero capable of saving his kingdom from vultures that had already gathered at his house. As if all these events are geared to peel off the layers of delusion for those who have the guts to face what is.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/shootout-witness-gathers-social-media-crowd-with-photos.html
As Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev fought police with guns and homemade bombs in the early hours of April 19, Andrew Kitzenberg peeked from his third-floor bedroom window and snapped pictures of the battle with his iPhone.
As the firefight subsided, one of the brothers lay dead on his suburban street and Kitzenberg did what witnesses to dramatic events now do with increasing frequency.
Outstanding post, not unusual but this one entails the best discussion I’ve yet read. Gratifying especially is the minimal manoeuvring frenzy to stay scrupulously on the inside of the red line called ‘conspiracy theory’. I appreciate the extended reflections behind Stanislav Datskovskiy’s musings on how such possibly dangerous discussions are tolerated at all leading to a crank theory of normalisation. I remember Zizek taking up the problem (200 books ago). He said that back in the bad old days intellectuals could get locked up if they weren’t thinking the right thoughts. But nowadays you can think, say, and write anything you want, anything. It simply doesn’t matter; it’s irrelevant. Good old capitalism. Indeed, there really is such a thing as a system. But if the system that has long made free speech possible fails then we’re back to Zizek’s bad old days – at best. I really don’t envy people who live in the US. Anybody who can get out should give the matter serious consideration.
Media wise it’s become completely predictable that when an incident happens three responses are certain. From the right: ‘they hate our freedoms’. From the left: ‘blowback!’. And then the libertarian nationalists: ‘inside job’. The first two are essentially in agreement: ‘they did it’. They did it because they were evil or pursuing justifiable vengeance, but emphatically affirmed is the ‘they’. Beyond that it’s ‘conspiracy theory’. I’ve really come to believe that those right neocon ex trots completely outmanoeuvred Chomsky and Co.
Now I don’t want to say any of this is more important than, say, boat maintenance. Maybe I just have a soft spot for old fashioned ‘truth’. When lies are rampant truth becomes something like the secret handshake that tells you you’re among friends.
Tom Burnett’s reflections on gold bars are a breath of fresh air. Yeah, how’s the person you’re dealing with supposed to give you change? Thought. Who uses gold? Answer: drug merchants. People you’d want to keep your distance from. Say you’ve got some gold and word gets out. It’s like an invitation to bad company. One more thing to worry about.
Also Publius citing the chapter on propaganda in Hitler’s book. It was really a brilliant insight in an otherwise unreadable book. I never understood advertising till I read that. But it’s worth bearing in mind the original context. When Hitler praised big lies as the way to go he was castigating the German while saluting the British propaganda efforts during the first war. He was actually talking about our Anglo press.
To all: ‘conspiracy theory’. I understand the cowardly logic of positioning ourselves in a safe place so we don’t attract bad things, but if truth is any criteria, if you don’t believe in conspiracy theories I don’t see how you could possibly believe in politics, or history for that matter. People do things; happens all the time. So what’s the problem? What really is the problem here? I thank all of you for your patience, Kevin Frost
Publius. Your point is well taken. Balzac is credited as saying, ‘Behind every great fortune is a great crime.’ One of those great crimes is rewriting history (and current events) to turn other great crimes into great virtues. That’s what group mythology does: It cements one group of people together with a mortar of self-aggrandizing and patriotic memes. George Washington cut down the cherry tree with his wooden teeth while spouting truths. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence for freedom for all, except blacks, women, those too poor to own land and Sally Hemmings. Terrorists hate our freedoms, which is why it is perfectly honorable of us to slaughter them by the thousands. Manifest Destiny made herding, robbing and killing savage Indians an act of bravery. And, of course, our god conveniently orders us to do whatever it is we desperately want to do at that moment. Just like he does to everybody else in the world. This is why challenging the established narrative is so reviled. The emperor is naked and pissed and we are, after all, descended from the winners of yesterday’s strivings. No clean hands anywhere.
What you are feeling is the Siddhartha moment where you realize exactly what your own culture is about. I don’t suggest meditating under the Bodhi tree. Climate change is probably killing them off, anyway. But you can be aware of the fact that everyone everywhere else in the world has their distorted view of things and find your peace with that. Nobody is perfectly detached and objective. We are all clinging onto this globe for survival. To borrow a New Testament quote: ‘Be in the world, not of the world.’
Jon.
I am a bit ashamed that I had to be directed to this blog. However, Dmitry strikes exactly the right chord to draw comments from all sides and therein lies his genius.
The only purpose of a medical degree is to teach the ability to think through a logical progression based on observation and experience guided by intelligence - because most of the 'facts' you are taught will eventually be proven to be incomplete at minimum and more often completely incorrect.
There are photographs - many of them - which purport to show a person who had just had his prosthetic feet amputated by an explosive blast. In none of the pictures does the person exhibit any discomfort, nor is his facial and lip coloration indicatave of a gross loss of blood. He is neither in shock nor unconscious.
In fact, a lot of people are sitting around with torn clothing, but there are no injuries visible through the tears. None of them seem to be in any distress whatever. Most interestingly, none of them are doing self-triage. They are not looking at their own supposed injuries. Even people in shock will put their hand on their injury and grimace. You can't 'not' do that. It is completely involuntary.
What 'blood' there is, is the wrong color and texture.
I served an extended combat tour in Viet-Nam and I have seen a LOT of traumatic injury as it happened. If shrapnel rips your clothes to shreds, YOU are going to be ripped as well. I don't see any of that. Those pictures were of the 'exercise'.
The possibility that a couple of college kids happened to pick the exact time and place of an unannounced drill to conduct an actual bombing using the same materiels that the drill was designed around, carried in exactly the same types of packs with the same bulge shapes as uniformed operators had brought to the scene is completely beyond the realm of coincidence. Given that nothing has a probability of zero, this is statistically so nearly zero that nothing above zero can be calculated.
I have a track record for calling improbable events. You may decide whether it is worthy of consideration here: http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/officials-boston-bombing-suspects-one-gun_n_3148609.html
They had only ONE firearm beteween them? And they caused an entire major city ro be placed under martial law? I do not think so.
This is cute, too.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/04/breaking-saudi-student-alharbi-visited-the-white-house-several-times-since-2009/
Hello, I am very interested to hear Carolyn's response to Publius if he is willing to share. I too am suffering from Anglo poisoning and complicity and I'm tired of it. Outside of gardening and pets, how does one deal with it?
Hellgrrl
Nice to see that someone else isn't being sucked in by the hype...it's quite apparent that what is going on with all these 'terror incidents is a plot to stampede Americans into signing away even MORE of their rights and freedoms, and to have THEY THEMSELVES put the noose around their own necks...Terror events like this are clearly being staged in order to create hysteria ,fear, and outrage among the populace and make them ever more willing for"security measures" to be put in place that will eventually result in a "police state" and all rights and freedoms having been signed away; all that really remains, I am sure, is to covertly persuade Americans of the need for 'radical gun control'since it would be very difficult for a totalitarian regime to take control of an "armed populace"; thus the people must THEMSELVES be persuaded by "events"such as this one that this is what they need to do. I mean, what's a few hundred dead and injured people here and there against the "prize' of control over the entire populace of the USA, hmmm? The END justifies the MEANS. Once the populace's "teeth have been drawn" there will no longer be any need for the puppetmasters behind this plot to hide anymore.
In para. 4 of your post: ‘The symbolism is unmistakable’. Yeah, but then how come I hear about this first and only on Club Orlov? All the libertarian patriots out there but ... does it really take a Russian?
I envy you, really. You’re patriotic when it concerns your people. Spiky at times, sure, but that’s part of the package. I’ve been reading your stuff since the start and it’s hard to overlook. I’ve never felt that way. I’ve always been ashamed of ‘my fellow Americans’. I left over 40 years ago, got a low lottery #, and never looked back. And yet, you never really leave.
Now this is a bit off topic, so it’s up to you if you want to post this. There’s something I’ve been carrying around for .. how long? Long. When I first came to Australia in 95 I was taken with how the Aussies love their swastikas; they can’t get enough old war doco footage. (You want to sell books? Forget the placid estate and classical elegance; swastikas and a pair of high heels speak the language of quick sales).
Anyway I’m watching old war footage on TV. The scene: Red Square, May Day, 1945. Grainy old footage of captains walking up to the mausoleum and brusquely tossing battle standards on the ground, quite a pile. There was nothing ceremonious about the way they approached the tomb. These people are quite capable of precision drill and exacting form. But there was none of that. One hundred and ninety (I think) divisional standards, with gold eagles, real gold, tossed at the foot of Lenin’s tomb. Blew me away. I cried. I know enough history to have at least a vague idea of what that production cost. Oh, Frost is an Anglo name. Crying, we don’t do that. But see, speaking of my people, like, nobody ever said ‘thanks for that’. Nothing. No gratitude. So back to the earlier point to do with this shame. Your arrow hit my mark when you concluded: ‘at best a compatriot and at worst someone from a place you don’t wish to return to, hear about, or discuss’. Touché.
Well, like I said, for years I’ve been seeking someone I could say that to, this burden, weight. It was the feeling you have for your people that sort of tipped the balance here. Don’t reply. I just needed a place to put this. I thank you, and all, for your patience, Kevin Frost.
Once again great post and good comments.
I personally liked that reference to Zizek. Every single day those who are questioning the official narrative for example about economic growth is immediately marginalized and ridiculed. You can't have rational debate on fractional reserve banking, debt based monetary system, economic growth, actions on EU or US/UK/NATO/EU foreign policy with out been stepped into commie, hippie, enemy of the state, terrorist category.
Helsingin Sanomat (biggest news paper in Finland) have been reporting about Boston "thing" on daily and never forgot to point out how dangerous those islamic radicals are and what they are capable of. Always several mentions of that one radical group and that one "happening" in NY. Never ever question, always remember.
I forgot to ask you Dmitry... since CISPA is now in action (conveniently passed cause every one was concentrated on Boston event), you are Russian immigrant and you live in Boston... aren't you at least little bit frightened that you could be "on the list"?
By the way, if you ever happen to stop in Helsinki harpor I will buy you drink or eight! ;o)
Petri Uimonen,
If The List (TM) exists, everybody who commented on this thread is on it. Probably long before they even heard of Mr. Orlov. The only thing that might save us from the gasenwagen is bureaucratic ineptitude - and perhaps a bit of luck.
Right now, "crank bait" and our public irrelevance is the only thing keeping us alive. Be thankful for crank bait.
@hellgrrl:
If you are interested, please get my email address by asking Dmitry to send you my email address.
I suggest you give him your real email address in a comment that he does NOT publish, and he can email you my email.
I know that's complicated, but I don't want my email address on blog comment sections.
Additionally: much of my anger and issues come from the ridicule and contempt I receive, even if disguised, when I try to discuss this stuff with most family. Not all. One feels such a need to connect and plan and adapt, but those who are your everyday contacts simply ignore it or say, "well, there's nothing I can do about it. And you are doing a bad thing by dwelling on it, because you are Mr. Negative.
The fact is, I love nature, my close friends, family, child... it is that love which makes the pain of seeing the destruction wreaked by the powerful and mighty and unethical (dare I say evil) so hard to stomach.
I am working on a better way to personally adapt. I may have to simply do a complete news blackout, and focus on gardening, skill learning, campfires, reading the classics, etc. No contact with the encroaching evil and stupidity.
Thanks,
Publius
Publius,
This philosophy has a name: "inner emigration." It has a delightfully-rich history, one definitely worth studying.
@Stanislav:
thanks, will check it out.
You a tech guy too?
Thank you for this excellent blog entry, Dmitry. I am definitely buying the book now!
I have been suspecting the same myself, based on my own intuition and the similar M.O. we've seen a million times over already. The MSM storyline being fed us simply doesn't add up or make sense. It's reminiscent of Soviet tactics and, I might add, the Sandy Hook story as well.
It was stunning to watch a whole city under martial law for one criminal. Of course it makes no sense yet the public outcry has been muted. And why was everyone celebrating in the streets??
I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm a voracious reader of history. Again thanks for this blog and really looking forward to the book... get here already!
Hi again skipper! This is an outstanding post, even by your standards. Many thanks!
I too aim to buy your 'The Five Stages' ASAP, but I'm managing money tightly right now. Soon.
Respect Dmitry, Hwyl fawr, RhG
Deep in the Heart of Middle America
Q: I’ve been hearing things about a ... ‘recent development’.
A: Yeah, bit of a jolt, this one. Heard on the grapevine, it’s these Chechens, heard of em? Well, they’ve taken over, massacred the entire 113th Congress and took over Homeland Security to boot. Saw the footage of Capital Hill. Gawd, what a mess. But ah ... personally I don’t see anything to be concerned about. I mean, really, they can’t be any worse than the last bunch. Give the lads a chance, that’s what I say. That’s what America’s all about – right? A place where you can get ahead. Show a bit of initiative, innovation; give it a go. And I’ll tell you something else. From what I hear these guys are pretty solid on family values, ya know? And guns? They’re not against guns. Now I can prove that .. . So well, that’s what I say, ... I can’t really see a problem here ... .
Q: what about Obama, the President. Did he say anything?
A: Well ah, yeah he made an announcement. Something like ‘weapons of war have no place on our streets’. He said something ... honestly I can’t really recall much of this. I know he said something but .. ah ...
Q: Yeah, right.
On the strength of what I have seen and read, America has been 9/11ed, again!
This time to test lockdown and martial law. The suspension of Miranda right in any circumstance and the compliance with mandatory house searches should be met with shocked outrage.
The silence is damning. You are now truly living in a fascist police state.
Take care my friends.
Guevara
April 27th Huffpost headline: "Boston Police Ed Davis Want Drones For Next Marathon"
Regardless of how much the official story may diverge from the truth, or whether or not we ever determine that truth, we may be sure that Homeland Security is delighted with this.
Bring on your drones, protect our homes with your machine guns, and you needn’t worry about our constitutional rights -we just want to feel safe.
Here's another link that may get your attention about the objectives of the Boston bombings:
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/04/25/boston-terror-update-2-april-25-the-syria-objective-is-nearly-accomplished/
Haven't our craven elected representatives done their best in slicing and dicing the population for the purpose of scapegoating?
This is the foundation of shifting the blame away from the halls of power and onto those less able to defend themselves.
An interesting comparison to Boston is the Beltway sniper attacks in Oct. 2002 which killed at least 8 people. Two perpetrators; the city was fearful but not panicked, the police response was strong but measured. John Muhammed was the leader (big brother) and his young "protegee" was Lee Malvo.
Despite the last name "Muhammad" and the temporal proximity to 9/11 there was never any reference to Islamism or terrorists.
A tip led police to a rest stop and the suspects were arrested by a squad of Maryland State Troopers without a shot being fired.
I was working freelance for Dateline NBC at the time and we did a story after they were captured. I worked on the segment on Muhammad's background and to the best of my knowledge and instincts that story was straight up. I.e. there was no agenda at work. The story unfolded as it did over days and weeks in contrast to Boston where all the memes were in play within 12 hours.
I would add to what Dmitri said about knowing we're being lied to: we know when the story is scripted and when it is real.
Today, Monday May 13, NPR's Tom Ashbrook in Boston interviewed a man who is an economist from the Midwest introducing the subject of rationing. The idea is that with global warming, we will be experiencing shortages. He put out that the world price of novel grains (for US customers) like Quinoa was being driven up by US consumption. I suppose this would be a signal to grow more of it and less of the well-subsidized corn, for instance. But no. He says you cannot trust market forces in these times. No, the only thing is to start working in both rationing and keeping tabs on consumption.
While I can imagine he might possibly have some good intentions (although a caller from Kentucky doubted it and asked about "liberty" and using your own property as you see fit (growing lots of quinoa for the market perhaps and letting the Peruvians keep theirs?)), my own vision of this thing was all about elites exploiting it and making a killing on trading in contraband, having a high old time like the gangsters did in Prohibition.
The attempt to supply a solution to this kind of problem which does not draw on the creativity of the people, but leaves it in the hands of the same war-mongers and cheats, will only make things worse.
Dianne, I haven't heard the interview yet and will do so, but I think there is a lot more to rationing that you may be missing. I am going to lay out the two different scenarios to explain.
Take a product like... butter. If there is a limited amount of butter available or even just a rumour, as soon as people realise this they will feel the need to hoard it, so that they personally won't run out. At the same time shopkeepers will see an opportunity and raise prices. The higher prices mean that the poor can no longer afford butter, and those who can afford it buy what butter still remains.
The shops run out of butter. Some people have loads of butter, others have none. It is unfair and unequal, causing bad feelings and even leading to civil unrest and violence. Even the promise to increase supplies of butter won't help, because prices will remain high, and hoarding will continue.
Of course the poor may know that they can make butter from milk, so they start hoarding the milk. Just because they are poor it doesn't mean they are stupid. People can be very inventive when they need to be.
The shopkeepers catch on that milk is now flying off the shelves and raise prices, by which time everyone is buying any available milk. And bread too, just in case that is next. I would be, wouldn't you? Even if you already had a stash, you would be wondering if you had enough or should try to get some more.
And so the desperate hoarding goes on until there is no food left or riots destroy what remains. Some people have nothing and the choice is pretty bleak, steal from someone else or starve. Except it is unlikely to be the strong members of society who have nothing. It is the disabled and elderly, who make up a very large percentage of our communities, that couldn't elbow their way into the stores. Unless government or charities step in with handouts. I don't live in the US, so I can't really judge how likely that would be. What do you reckon?
Rationing prevents this situation. Every person gets allocated a coupon that allows them to buy an equal share of the limited resource, in this case butter. That really means EVERY person, rich or poor, working or unemployed, child or pensioner. Even the Royals in England had their own rationbook of coupons during the war, just the same as everyone else.
You take this coupon to the shop and it allows you to buy exactly that amount of butter. You still pay the normal price for the butter. You cannot buy extra butter to hoard. Because there are no visible shortages, and no extra butter can be sold, the prices are not inflated, there is no panic, violence or civil unrest. No one is happy that they can't buy as much butter as they like, but everyone accepts it because they are being treated fairly, and everyone is in it together. Nobody will attack anyone else for their butter, because they only have a small amount too. Hardly worth going to jail for a few ounces of butter, dont you think? And life continues as normal, except for spreading the butter very thinly on your crumpets to make it last.
Neither is there any point in going to the effort of making butter from milk, because the price of butter is still low, and everyone has some butter. It may not be quite as much butter as they would like, but will they be prepared to buy on the black market to supplement it? Surprisingly few people did during the war.
Rationing isn't about taking away liberties it is about removing profit and greed from the situation. The supermarkets want to make a profit at any cost, and they can't think ahead far enough to see the risks to their stores if rioting or looting breaks out.
Continued...
Continued.....
Rationing ensures everyone, from the newborn baby to your grandma, gets a fair share and nobody is left starving. It drastically reduces the risk of civil unrest, and prevents price escalation and inflation.
There are always going to be some cheats, no matter what, but rationing takes away some of the incentive to cheat, because it limits profits. In addition, because everyone is rationed, people are more likely to grass up anyone who appears to have more than their fair share.
In the UK there was quite a big push to get carbon emissions rationed, but it appears to have died a death when the recession hit. Food was rationed in the UK from the start of WWII to the fifties, so there are still a lot of people around who remember it. I like to think that it is still in the contingency plans, for when everything goes tits up. Just hope that it gets enacted soon enough.
Imagine if rationing was introduced right now, for petrol and essential foods. It could seriously change the prospects for surviving the next collapse, don't you think?
Sorry it is so long, but it is a subject I enjoy.
Judy
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