Super Doomer Porn II: Predictions

The great and growing disparity between those who consider the torrent of economic bad news merely another manifestation of business as usual, and a "temporary downturn," and those who have been sounding an alarm for quite some time, is the subject of today's post. On the one hand, we have the financial columnist Scott Burns, who has in the past been quite prescient in predicting deficit spending and totaling up the coming entitlements of Social Security and Medicare for the Greediest Generation. Alas, the current situation seems to have induced the gentleman to sink into a comatose state. Today's advice column has Scott recommending that buying stocks right now is a good idea, because, well, Warren Buffet's doing it (or, he says he is). Hmmm....

On the other hand, we have esteemed future forecaster Gerald Celente, of Trends Research Institute, whose track record of predictions is...impressive (google it, if you care). This gentleman, at least, predicted the current global economic meltdown. Here's what he's saying about the next couple of years:

...by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

"We're going to see the end of the retail Christmas....we're going to see a fundamental shift take place....putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree," said Celente, adding that the situation would be "worse than the great depression".

Well, there you have it: buy stocks now, or get ready for food riots and tent cities (wait, we already have some of those...). Happy holidays, readers, and have fun trying to figure out who's right (longtime readers will not have any trouble divining where Chaos stands...).

Current State of The American Dream

Try this most amazingly comprehensive (and long too...) article on the demise of the American Dream. (It isn't a coincidence that it originates from one of the Brit newspapers...the tiny percentage of readers in the Empire can't hold their attention for such an extensive treatment). For those who haven't been paying attention, things have been coming apart for quite some time for quite a few people who happen to, as they say, be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and their particular slice of the (delusional) American Dream has been sold off, bartered or given away, or some such. At any rate, an excellent treatment, from the despair of declining Detroit to the "tent cities" of the West Coast. The last line is evocative, and true: there is nobody home. Don't miss this one...