Just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.

From The Big Lebowski:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dooSFIvLn-Y 

Quite early this morning I was reading an essay over at The Saker’s blog entitled “Placing the USA on a collapse continuum with Dmitry Orlov.”

https://thesaker.is/placing-the-usa-on-a-collapse-continuum-with-dmitry-orlov/

This dynamic duo does “big-picture” stuff very well. This time they bite deeply into the progression we’re all living– the collapse of (the latest version) Empire. It was, of course, like all others before it, built to be looted and destroyed by the same mobsters that have been at this for 6,000 years, give or take.

They have a pretty sizable head-start, but every now and then I get the feeling they can hear the footsteps getting closer and closer, closing the gap.

I hope some of you will take a moment to read what they have written. Cheers.

 

54 thoughts on “Just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.”

  1. I skimmed what they have written. Recycled comes to mind. Consumers that don’t work are called bums? I haven’t worked in four years. Bummer. The last time I heard word bum used was by Walter Matthau 1976 The Bad News Bears. Some people think collapsed society looks like Mad Max World? Like who? Toxic masculinity? Do you really believe women think men are toxic? Women know women are toxic. Out of shame they project their toxicity onto men. That must be the definition Dmitry Orlav is referring to because by any other definition it’s laughable. I am 53 years old. I worked for Kaiser Permanente for 23 years ‘retiring’ as Sr. Health Plan Representative for the Napa/Solano Area. I am here to tell you that Mr. Orlav doesn’t have the first clue when summarizing the populace with Frank Zappa’s froot looped remark. My job was to be a patient advocate. My experience with members day in and day out is we are all the same. We like to laugh we like to give and receive we like to be appreciated we like to love and be loved we like to be assholes we like to be bitches we like to be positive role models we like to teach we like to feel as if we belong. Dimtry Orlav strikes me as some kind of utopian heaven on earth dreamer disappointed he couldn’t control someone close to him and he’s grinding his axe with his doomsday gloom which he owns for himself. The world be just fine action kits or not Dmitry Orlov. We just have to remember to take care of our own backyards first before going door to door with how to tips for each upcoming season.

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  2. Rico,
    Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I seldom fully agree with Dmitry or Saker, for that matter, on finer points. You raise most rightfully several areas of disagreement, which enlivens and enlightens our own thinking. Thank you.

    I do appreciate that they are looking, analyzing our situation as a whole, as they travel on their journey, on their path. None of us have “answers,” in my opinion. I sure don’t. But, to me at least, it seems important to understand WHAT is happening and what happened in our past before heading out on the path to engage the enemy who enslave and kill us. Wake me, shake me. Do we not still live in a “country” under hostile military occupation?

    “Still another of the frauds of these men is, that they are now establishing, and that the war was designed to establish, “a government of consent.” The only idea they have ever manifested as to what is a government of consent, is this – that it is one to which everybody must consent, or be shot. This idea was the dominant one on which the war was carried on; and it is the dominant one, now that we have got what is called “peace.”” Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) http://praxeology.net/LS-NT-6.htm#no.6

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    1. He seems like a reasonable guy. Maybe nobody has presented him with that possibility or sufficient credible evidence to convince him. A lot of people beLIEve things that are not real. That’s why we’re here, to explore possibilities beyond the usual bi-polar dialectic, is it not?

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  4. Saker was presented with links to this website and others – he rejected them. He is either disinformation or still stuck in the matrix like all of the other normies.

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  5. Thanks Steve…I have never watched The Big Lebowski but the youtube makes it look really interesting…I know that isn’t the point, but I was impressed with Jeff Bridges during the Golden Globe awards last week and there are several of his movies that I want to see.

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  6. Hey Steve, my time is not my own so I rely on others to give me the synopses of other material like your links and quite often their evaluations are helpful. Therefore the only thing I can comment on at this point is what you wrote about. There has been a pattern throughout recorded history that prophecies of impending doom were always ‘out there’ and ‘coming’. Regarding economic collapse: I would accept that it is a Continuum in that it has ALWAYS been in place. I would LIKE to get UP to poverty level income! Therefore, what happens to the rest of the whirled is inconsequential to me. The economy is not ‘headed’ for a collapse, it has always been in collapse. My life has always been about biology so if we look at the history of the whirled economics and future it can be likened to that of a tapeworm infection. A tapeworm lives off the food of the host. The more the host consumes the more the tapeworms consumes and the bigger it grows. Unique in the category of parasites: you can starve single cells parasites and some roundworms by fasting. If you try to starve a tapeworm out it will kill you before it dies. What I consider to be the height of tutorials on the subject of economics and the future can be found in this series:

    The system operates in a state of decay because that is the nature of the beast. The phrase Disaster Capitalism defines how they actually worship profiting from destruction. Back to biology, though, we have the entire history of medicine to instruct us that the only solution to a parasite infection is to use enough poison to kill the parasite but not the host.

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    1. Just found this YT that might be relevant to the conversation about the collapse of rural America…from Dr Stephanie Seneff

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  7. I live in the rural north of England, the “desolate north” as the southern political elite sometime call us (dumb assed fools). And I do not recognise many of the collapse symptoms as outlined by Dimitri, some but by no means all. I have offspring who live in London and I am sure that they would recognise more. I guess that there will be a big difference between the cities and rural towns in the US too.

    I have no doubts that the trend here in the UK is adverse though. We could well be very close to E2 here for all I know, there are plenty of volativity indicators here that’s for sure. Ditto the EU, witness the Gilets Jaunes. Vive Gilets Jaunes!

    I regularly read both The Saker and Dimitri Orlov. They are both often informative and, in the case of Dimitri, very funny. They are not perfect, as Wallace correctly points out, but who is? The Saker particularly has a touching faith in the US political system which I find puzzling. Dimitri also believes in peak oil and AGW .

    But I often enjoy Dimitri’s humour:
    “And now it is time to ask: what remains of this proud conquering Anglo ethnos today? We hear shrill feminist cries about “toxic masculinity” and minorities of every stripe railing against “whitesplaining” and in response we hear a few whimpers but mostly silence. Those proud, conquering, virile Yanks who met and fraternized with the Red Army at the River Elbe on April 25, 1945—where are they? Haven’t they devolved into a sad little subethnos of effeminate, porn-addicted overgrown boys who shave their pubic hair and need written permission to have sex without fear of being charged with rape?”

    I certainly recognise this feminization of men here in the UK too. The urbanites, including my London based son and daughter, have largely bought into the identity politics b*llocks that the elites use to divide and rule. The fact that they live in a city which is now so multi cultural that you can walk down lots of high streets and hear literally dozens of languages, and not much English, must surely be a factor. [London is basically a large collection of villages all living side by side. Many of those villages have become gentrified due to high wealth]

    By the way, you can walk down that street in north London and not feel threatened, or intimidated, in the slightest. Most people are inherently good I think. Its the “bad apples” that are our common problem. And the real problem is many of those bad apples rise to the top of our modern “society”.

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    1. Here in Rural America the only businesses that survive are the ones run by Freemasons. For the most part, small town rural america is a ghost town. I came from an age where merit would have been considered over credentials, but now you need a degree to be qualified to ask: Would you like Fries with that? and they need to hire three or more snowflakes to compensate for what should have taken one competent person. Feminization is more than just a social phenomenon. If you feed the Kept Animals soy and hemp, etc. the estrogen analogues will do their job, not to mention the plastic wrap on foods that have been turning males sterile since Sweden did their studies in the 1970s. Long train running.

      So are you saying that there are more languages than just King’s English and Cockney on the streets, guvnah?

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  8. Well maybe Dimitri is more accurate about the progress of collapse in rural America then Patrick. No doubt there’s a similar fate in store for rural UK eventually too. The bad guys want to herd us all into cities I think. But they’ve got a long way to go yet here. Rural society is so ancient and deep rooted here. Small scale farmers are still legion and many are landowners too. They don’t bow down to anyone, particularly not to “nancy boy city types”, their typical description not mine. I know where I’d rather be if collapse does come….

    Small farmers are notoriously reluctant to sell their land too. Although the average age of the farmers is getting higher and higher. So the writing is clearly on the wall. Their sons leave the land and move into the urban areas, so its just a matter of time really.

    I am sure that you are correct about the feminisation. It is far more than just social. Boys physiology is clearly changing here too. They look more feminine, even the post-pubescents. Wiki states, Mark renamed it well recently but I can’t remember the new name, anyhow it states:
    ” In the 21st century, the average age at which children, especially girls, reach puberty is lower compared to the 19th century, when it was 15 for girls and 16 for boys.[11] This can be due to any number of factors, including improved nutrition resulting in rapid body growth, increased weight and fat deposition,[12] or exposure to endocrine disruptors such as xenoestrogens, which can at times be due to food consumption or other environmental factors.”

    As for cockney, well I rarely get down to “the smoke” nowadays [the old name for London, it was notorious for its coal fires and the consequent smog]. My adult kids come up here far more frequently. To get away from the mania, relax and breath the clean, pollution free, air. But cockney is a dying accent that’s for sure. You’ve far, far, more chance of hearing a foreign tongue now. The poor Londoners are being pushed out of the centre of the city by the gentrification as well. Property prices are ludicrous. Money talks as ever

    Apologies if a bit off topic but hey, in for a penny, in for a pound ……

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  9. how can America be collapsing if a 53 years old does not work for a couple of years and is not starving to death in some dark corner but thriving and has the time and opportunity to comment on this blog? ( a small reference to the first comment). Saker’s complaints are based on suggestions not facts. Our lifestyle not only in America but in the entire civilized world is changing dramatically now that there are no wars, no enemies, no shortage of anything and less and less people are necessary for labor. Yet still we have this old memory of the times where to find a job and make a living was vital for everybody. Today to have a job and being able to earn a considerable salary is a privilege. The less your job is involved with production the more you will earn. More and more people are not working at all or are losing their jobs before their regular retirement time. Some of them get angry and disappointed of course. Others do accept and adapt. No one has to starve anymore, yet some still will though but not because they have no other choice. We, the still working people, can accept all the Lebovskis around us or we can have them doing something nobody really needs. The first option may be cheaper, the second one more satisfying for both sides. I don’t see any collapse or catastrophe of any kind. What I see is that even countries, which a decade ago were considered to be very poor and underdeveloped, now participate in the global market, people’s standard of living not much different to my own now. The poverty is vanishing. That’s the new world order.

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  10. “…now that there are no wars…” I’d love to see some primary source data/analysis that supports that statement.

    “…poverty is vanishing.” Any source for that belief? And where did you get those rose-colored glasses?

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    1. I’d like to see some convincing evidence for the existence of real wars. I don’t even believe in the Gaza strip anymore. It’s merely a movie set available to tourists. A colleague went there last year for a trip during his Israel holidays. You can book a trip to the Gaza strip on vacation as you book a trip for snorkeling. As for vanishing poverty, we are regularly visiting Romania and Bulgaria and those countries got transformed from poorest Eastern Block periphery to something not much different to Germany and it happened within the last decade and is still changing very fast. The infrastructure is still not completely up to date, highways are rare, yet still people have all the modern comfort, have internet access, use smartphones and groceries are fully stocked. It did not happen so fast because Bulgarians or Romanians are such hard working people. It was given to them from TPTB. Don’t get me wrong on this dear Steve, there still are very poor people everywhere, there still are homeless and bums and such even in Germany but they are what they are not because they did not have other choices. Especially all the younger ones will soon forget there ever was a different time. Half of my colleagues know the cold war only from movies.

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  11. I shall then presume you have no data or analysis from a primary source for your above-mentioned statements to share with me or our readers. Have a nice day.

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    1. if by “primary source” you mean the main stream, you should know this is not to be trusted. I’m the very primary source myself and wrote what I’ve seen during the last decades. You may not believe me of course, but then go and see for yourself. For instance go to Mexico. I’m sure you will find similar development there too. What I consider as poverty may not be the same you do. IMO you’re NOT poor if you don’t have a big house or a nice car, are not wearing designer clothes and are not drinking champagne for breakfast. You’re poor if you don’t know what and when you will eat next time and if you cannot do anything to change it. I remember such times myself.

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  12. Is your account of (“no war”) Gaza first-hand — when were you there?

    Just so we’re clear about the definition of poverty: POV’ERTY, noun [Latin paupertas. See Poor.]
    1. Destitution of property; indigence; want of convenient means of subsistence. The consequence of poverty is dependence. (Websters, 1828)

    2019 Definition of poverty
    1a : the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions
    b : renunciation as a member of a religious order of the right as an individual to own property
    2 : SCARCITY, DEARTH
    3a : debility due to malnutrition
    b : lack of fertility /www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poverty

    Have you been to Mexico to witness “…poverty is vanishing…” first-hand?

    It’s been a few years since I was in the Oaxaca, Mexico area, where I did witness plenty of poverty, mixed with smaller cohort, a minority, who were living what I would describe as a modest, semi-healthy existence.

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  13. Barbara,
    I am over here — where you should be if you were paying proper attention.

    Here’s what you said: “What I consider as poverty may not be the same you do.” That is why I provided definitions in English. I thought it would be useful to at least be talking about the same definition. Your “hasty generalizations” lack sufficient evidence to support them — leading to unwarranted conclusions. This tactic is commonly recognized as a logical fallacy. I do enjoy your stories. I just find them a little hard to believe.

    Now, back to your source: you, yourself, and you. This is anecdotal evidence. Nothing wrong with anecdotal evidence, but is it enough? It is not sufficient IMO to dismiss the real presence/existence of 1) war, or 2) poverty. You really can do better. And the “red herring” thing (another logical fallacy) is really amateurish when slipping away from a non-threatening question about the credibility of your personal experience — especially when you/yourself is the sole source for the story’s premise.

    So, I will ask as simply and politely as I can: 1 ) have you ever set foot in Mexico; and 2) have you ever set foot in Gaza? I await your answer(s) with bated breath.

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    1. dear Steve, I wrote you where I’ve have been. If I didn’t write that I have been somewhere, don’t assume I was there or that I wasn’t. Stop twisting my words and start to answer my questions and arguments. So, do you believe presidents give orders to bomb villages and pilots follow this orders and kill many innocent people they never even met? I also explained to you what poverty means to me. It is not a precise scientific term and does not need a definition, it only needs an explanation. It is very relative. For instance in a society of billionaires a millionaire can be considered poor and in a tribal society the chief who owns the only cow can be considered very rich. My subjective explanation was that poverty is when somebody does not know what and when he or she will eat next and cannot do anything to change it. This may not be a sufficient explanation in a different context. It focuses only on one aspect I chose to use as explanation. For instance a bum in NY is never in this situation because there are many ways to get some food in NY. He could steal it for instance. And there is no reason for a bum to stay a bum in the long term. Please explain what is so anecdotal to you in what I write and what is less anecdotal in what thesaker writes?

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  14. Barbara,

    So, is that a yes to both Mexico and Gaza? Same–no cryptic inference or accusation here–question. I think we may be making progress. But, alas, with scarcely a pause, the imaginary screen on my imaginary “fish-finder” indicates not one red herring, but a sizable school cruising by at an approximate depth of 13 feet.

    There is no need, or grounds, to argue.

    If you are sticking to your claims of “…now that there are no wars…” , and “…poverty is vanishing,” I think we can simply agree to disagree based on insufficient evidence — for starters. Circular argument is yet another logical fallacy you employ above. With no new evidence, and no second source, you have drawn a perfect start-where-you-finish argument. Not nearly enough to change my position.

    Therefore, I cannot accept your two preposterous, poorly-supported statements, as real.

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    1. Steve, for the sake of the argument, I wrote ” A colleague went there last year for a trip during his Israel holidays.” Why do you assume, that I was there too? And by the way I wasn’t on the moon either. I suggested to you visiting Mexico. You live near. I’m in Europe, some 15 hours flight away and don’t intend to go to Mexico in the next years. Now to my questions please: do you believe that presidents give orders to bomb some deserted villages back to the stone age to kill a suspect (innocent until proven guilty, right?) and pilots follow eagerly such orders throwing bombs where they are told, killing all the innocents people down there? Do you believe in the reality of such “news”?

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  15. I “assume(d)” nothing of the sort. I asked questions to find out what you have finally told me, which is what my gut feeling was all along. So why did I ask, instead of assuming, or accusing you of some chicanery? Because you said: “I’m the very primary source myself and wrote what I’ve seen during the last decades. You may not believe me of course, but then go and see for yourself.” That could be interpreted to mean that you witnessed these events first-hand (“eye-witness” account). I was not sure that was true, and sure enough, it was not.

    So, thank you for finally confirming that you are recounting what someone else told you they experienced “first-hand.” That is what I understand to be “hearsay.” Synonyms (hearsay): rumor, gossip, tittle-tattle, tattle, idle chatter, idle talk, mere talk. I hope you can understand, based on the exceptionally poor quality of your (source) information, why I’m not climbing onto your bandwagon.

    No argument necessary. It really does not matter what I believe to anyone but myself. I do not know what orders presidents give, or don’t give. I don’t believe presidents are any more real than Superman or Bugs Bunny. Pilots serving in the military are slaves with a fancy title. They do what they’re told or are punished — grounded, released from service or worse. I do not “believe” the “news” and have no idea what portion of the daily flow of propaganda is real or not.

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  16. well Steve I experienced first hand huge improvements in the standard of living in countries like Bulgaria or Romania in the last decade. I’ve been to Bulgaria many times, also in the cold war. We used to drive through Austria, Hungary and Romania for years and only recently we are flying there. It’s a 2.5 hour flight from Frankfurt, very convenient. So I witnessed great changes in this countries first hand. Of course I don’t expect you to go to Bulgaria to see for yourself, therefore I suggested Mexico where I expect similar developments. Is it really so hard to understand?
    A colleague of mine went to Israel on vacation and shared his first hand experiences which is good enough for me. He described the Gaza strip as a war scenery yet still was allowed to go there and visit. For money of course. I’m not allowed to walk my dog to the near quarry because it is to dangerous to me but can buy a trip to a place of war? Come on. If not Presidents give orders to pilots to bomb villages, who does? So, according to you, pilots, who are people with very special and unique skills, are reckless killers not questioning orders but happy to kill unknown women and children just to keep their job? IMO punishment or fear in general is not the force making people into slaves. It is ignorance. Slave don’t consider themselves as slaves or they will rebel. They are happy to be slaves or slavery won’t work. But this is another topic.

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  18. I’ve seen better special effects in c-class horror movies. Do you really believe they will allow to film them on camera like this? And they will behave like this? It’s ridiculous. It’s crisis actors in a movie set. The usual. While we are at it, do you believe in the special status of war reporters? So there are soldiers life-or-death fighting with each other but trying not to kill a man with a camera taking pictures of them because he is a reporter? Even knowing he will make them look bad, when his pictures get published? Or maybe that reporter is so brave that he risks his life to take pictures of fighting soldiers to what purpose? Fame or money? The same as with the pilots bombing women and children. Makes no sense IMO. Or hissing the white flag? Do you believe that would work in a war situation? That party which hisses the white flag is obviously losing. Why should the other party care then. They are wining. No need for talking. That’s why I don’t believe in the reality of wars. There may have been some battles in the past, groups of people stealing from others and such. Maybe clan fights. Things like that seem reasonable to me. But not abstract wars. No way.

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  20. One parting thought: We have met the meme, and the meme is us. We are simply host to the (meme) parasite. There is no literary or rational defense without authenticity, which seems to be seriously lacking, or dead.

    Definition of meme:
    1 : an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture
    Memes (discrete units of knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are to life. Just as biological evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes in the gene pool, cultural evolution may be driven by the most successful memes.
    — Richard Dawkins

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    2. Richard Dawkins? Seriously? That is what I call “junk science”. Even his silly “God Delusion” is not worth reading. It’s polemic and full of bad conclusions. He is of the same quality as Sagan, Hawkins or Sheldrake. We don’t know what genes are and how they work. DNA is not the carrier of genes. I explained my point of view on it several times here. Meme is an invention of the Zeitgeist, good maybe for social media but then completely useless.

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  21. Dawkins? I was pretty sure you’d like that. “Sooey!” 100% argumentum ad hominem, another classic fallacious argumentative strategy. B., It’s all fun and games from here on out. Don’t take it personally, it’s strictly for entertainment. New World Order, right?

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  22. Frauline here has to be related to the other German frau from that web site. Triggering a meltdown would seal the deal. But then the ego wouls seek revenge to the point of BSC + estrogen. Now with having a cousin & a classmates older brother both been up front an center at the ‘Nam event. Green Beret & a weapons expert from sniper to grenade launcher they both could tell you fake from real blood shed. Eyes are window of the soul (if you have one) & there were certain times of the year where you just knew the past was haunting them by one look from them.

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      1. so you was married to a murderer then, right? Or at least he helped to murder. What is it called? Accessory to murder? Never got sued? Don’t get me wrong, dear Ann, I’m being sarcastic. What kind of action did he see? Some shooting into trees? they do similar things on drills where involved soldiers often don’t even know, that it is a drill. Or are not sure if it is. Also former soldiers like to exaggerate their role in such events. Was your ex involved with media somehow? Are you?

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        1. Ever the Inquisitor! Your personalized ‘reward’ for any and all who do not follow the Muller doctrine?

          Sarcasm, BTW, is a subtle form of bullying. Most bullies are angry, hostile, insecure, cowards. B., “dig yourself.” IMO, that kind of unwarranted nastiness deserves nothing less than a sincere apology.

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          2. well Ann, I then will ask again: what kind of action was your ex involved with? Did he kill any “charlies” and if not what makes you think, he did anything of importance in Vietnam except of being on free holidays. But if he killed any Vietnamese, don’t you think, this makes him a murderer? Do you justify the actions American soldiers supposedly did in the Vietnam war? Do you justify killing innocent people on order? Do you think all Vietnamese were somehow guilty of what? Being commies? Please answer my questions, dear Ann. It was you who brought this subject into discussion, not me, don’t chicken out now.

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        2. it seems you’re trying to make everyone your enemy,Muller. But it appears you are your own worse enemy. I seem to rub people the wrong way myself by pulling the trigger on things I should not have fired upon…But then again, I’m the “TRIGGER MAN”.

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  23. I have read these comments that wars are fake and see Barbara basing her conclusions on limited travels ro nearby countries. We all do the same thing. None of us see enough to understand the big picture so that any conclusions we draw are merely speculative. We have traveled a lot, to Asia and South America, Mexico, and plenty of time in Europe. What we see is what I call the “tourist interface” which is what leads people to conclude that people in poorer countries like Nepal, Mexico and Belize, were I sit now, are happy and friendly. That is the face they show us, because we are tourists and they want our money. From that I might also conclude that Europeans are cold and indifferent and unhappy, but they are generally well-to-do and don’t care about our money and so treat us with indifference. Our personal interfaces with the world around us are not a good basis for broad sweeping conclusions. It is hard just to admit we don’ know enough to have a good opinion, but that is what is.

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    1. Mark, there are still poor countries and people living very simple life. But today it is mostly because they choose so. People can move to other places even if it is not always easy. No comparison to the time of the cold war though. Believe me. Your way of traveling maybe different to mine. I have friends in many countries or from many countries. One of my colleagues comes from Bulgaria for instance and we talk about changes. When we are there, we talk to people and I’m good at reading between the lines. There was this shop owner last summer, a woman in her 50-s, complaining a lot but still owning a shop, having a car and using a better smartphone than me. As I explained, poverty is not when you don’t have a convenient life. Poverty is when you don’t have enough to survive and cannot change it. Homeless people and bums often complain that they cannot change their situation but this is not true. On the other side TPTB like to put them on display for us as warning. I see junkies every day at the main train station in Frankfurt. They take drugs openly there. Police and security people walk by and ignore them even though drugs are illegal. There is no desire to find a solution for the junkies and homeless problem. Not because there is no solution. If you commit a crime, you go to jail and after that they won’t let you down but help you with a socialization program. They give you a second chance and then it is up to you. You’ll start very low of course but it is a start. You will not automatically become homeless, not even jobless. They don’t do similar things for that already homeless and junkies. They tolerate them and even encourage them to stay near public places on display. They are supposed to warn all the others to make us go to work every day.

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      1. Funny, we were just riding about today on Caye Caulker in Belize this morning, and I suggested to my wife that the people here were “low functioning”, suggesting nothing about their innate abilities, only that they need to master a small trade of some kind to survive here. That would be cooking, simple plumbing or carpentey, taxi driving, fishing and scuba and diving guides, and shopkeeping. But what upward mobility is there? I don’t know because I don’t see the ones who have left here. Can they just get up and move when they want to? I do not think so, not once settled in and realizing that their options are limited.

        It is like being a black kid in the US and realizing that there are barriers all around, some self-imposed, and that these barriers pretty much limit real life choices.

        I just attended my 50th class reunion. Most of the people in that class stayed in the hometown, perhaps did some college, and settled into occupation, maybe a step or two above shopkeeper, but not something that granted them the freedom to just up and go somewhere else. Once settled in, once having kids and a mortgage and a dead-end job, there is no mobility.

        So I suggest you’re wrong about people having the ability get up and leave places. In practicality, most are stuck. Do you really think most of my classmates in Billings, Montana, the right armpit of that state (Anaconda the left), would not get up and leave if they could? You make it sound far easier than it really is.

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        1. You hit the nail right on the head,Mark. it’s as simple as that…or,as tough as that for some to get out from under what they’re trying to get out from under. Not all have the comfort or means to just get up and go….And it has nothing to do with motivation…if it were about motivation, the whole world would be over- traveled.

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        2. …and where a proper education could make the difference. When stuck in trades, factory work, construction or local services, etc. another option seems less possible. Corporate “transfers” and government work move people around whether they like it or not. Two kids seems like the magic number for the “stuck,” then it’s nose to the grindstone. Get injured, get sick, the whole family is on a banana peel 24/7 there on out.

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          2. I will answer you too dear Steve. What you refer to is envy created by the “billionaires hoax”. It is the image of a very rich person enjoying the luxury others can only dream of. It is the image of some Donald Trump, or Bill Gates, or whoever, you name it. Bill Gates is not known to have any extravagant life, he supposedly lives a quiet life, occasionally appearing on TV, always wearing decent clothes. Maybe he has a big house, like many actors have. Big house also means lots of maintenance work. It’s not fun. He’s obviously not eating much, so thin he is, right? So what does he have you cannot have? Except maybe for his fake fame. You can only eat until you’re full. this we all have in common. What kind of better education can change this? We are living in castes. A factory worker can hardly become a restaurant owner. He can try this of course but will probably fail due lack of experience, due lack of trading connections. And if he insists he will have to work harder than those from family businesses and what fun will that be? If you’re not happy with your life, it is not because you live in poverty. It is because you have this image that something else would be better for you. Then you should try to achieve it and stop complaining. That’s why I’m so contented with my life. I had an engineering job once in a small company. My salary was not bad and everything seamed quite ok. But then I decided to try working in computing, which I always liked a lot. I took an IT- job in a middle class service firm. I learned quickly and now I’m working for finance firms in Frankfurt longer than I ever had in engineering. That time long forgotten. If you want something different in your life you have to go for it or forget it. If people get stuck in their dull life, that’s their own fault. Yet still it is not poverty. Even that what you describe as being “on banana peel 24/7” is not poverty.

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        3. But hasn’t that been the goal for most people… attain a full time job, get married, have kids, lock in a mortgage and settle down? I would luv to live in a place like Belize, and there’s no wall keeping me out. However we can’t move outside the states, just show up and start living there for good, i’m sure there is a time limit we can stay or afford to at many of these places. Yet the grass is always greener, people are moving to Billings.

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        4. what you describe here Mark is a very convenient life those in real poverty cannot even dream of. Even the black people in the US, even those living in Ghettos have a convenient life. They have houses, kitchens, refrigerators full of groceries, they eat more than they should, no? That’s not poverty. You could move to Europe or any place you want, if you just wished so. Even now in your age. Many people do that. All it takes is some courage and the strong will to do so. That does not mean of course, your life will be better somewhere else, because you’re already having a good life. Because there is no poverty anymore. And where there was real poverty and no way to change it, TPTB moved the people somewhere else to give them better opportunities. That’s what media sold us recently as “refugees movement”. And they did it just now because all this movement is long done. If you talk to refugees in your area, you’ll find out, they live there for years already. Your classmates in Billings also have a good life there and that’s what makes them stay. They do not wish to take any risks. At the same time they keep complaining because as the German saying goes: “it is better in every place where we’re not now”.

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  24. Every few years I get into some poison ivy & need a real shot to be rid of it. And each time I hear the same thing: We never see you any other time. Or have you had a physical in the past 10 years? Or “Now that you are over 50, you really should have a prostate exam’. Pass. No flu shot’s either.

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      1. Oh yeah. Let them have their way w/your nether regions & you wind up w/someone else changing your diaper. The late Dick Clark had a saying for the industry (Shoe-biz) & heck life in general: “Cover your ass, at all times”.

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