I recently read an article where a famous doomer bet a friend over dinner that collapse would happen within the next 10 years.
Betting on Collapse
What's the problem? We already collapsed. Here's the proof - in 2000 the US was patting itself on the back that it would be debt free in a decade, with record surpluses:
Today, President Clinton will announce that The United States is on course to eliminate its public debt within the next decade. The Administration also announced that we are projected to pay down $237 billion in debt in 2001. Due in part to a strong economy and the President’s commitment to fiscal discipline, the federal fiscal condition has improved for an unprecedented nine consecutive years. Based upon today’s new economic and budget projections for the coming 10 years from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB):
The United States can be debt-free this decade. By dedicating the entire budget surplus to debt reduction, The United States can eliminate its publicly held debt by FY 2009. The next Administration and Congress will need to decide what priorities to address: eliminate the public debt by FY 2010 and still use part of the surplus for responsible tax cuts, prescription drug benefits for Medicare recipients, and investments in key priorities like education and health care.
The American Dream
So, look at just how far we have come from that Clinton dream of an oppulent new century. From predicted record surpluses to record deficits, three wars, more people on food stamps than ever, more people on the poverty list than ever, the Greatest Recession and drop in housing prices since the Great Depression, the passing of the Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act (both of which allow the arrest and indefinite detention of citizens without charge or trial, warrantless wiretapping). In 2000, oil was less than $20 a barrel, now its about $100. In 2000, gold, the world financial barometer, was about $200 an ounce, now it's $1,600. Should we throw the lowest sea ice level ever recorded in there? Where is the Clinton promised future? Isn't that collapse?
It just proves that these two human frogs are debating collapse while they boil. These two bone heads betting on collapse are akin to two guys sitting in a burning house betting when they will smell the smoke.
Unfortunately, for them and for us, we have already collapsed. The real tragedy of this debate is it shows people don't even recognize the collapse, and therefore, don't do anything about it. It won't be missed in the history books. They will wonder what we were thinking. We weren't. Ignorance is bliss.
Now, back to the presidential conventions, the hovering helicopters providing security over them, and brown shirted security officers keeping protestors securely confined to designated "free speech zones" so far away the news reporters can't even find them.