[p2p-research] 2010 will be a hot year in the US

[Samuel Rose]

On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 8:49 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
> VIA http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/12/forecast-2010.html#more
>
> A LOT more interesting stuff in that article,
>
> Michel
>
>
> One wild card is how angry the American people might get.  Unlike the 1930s,
> we are no longer a nation who call each other "Mister" and "Ma'am," where
> even the down-and-out wear neckties and speak a discernible variant of
> regular English, where hoboes say "thank you," and where, in short, there is
> something like a common culture of shared values.  We're a nation of thugs
> and louts with flames tattooed on our necks, who call each other
> "motherfucker" and are skilled only in playing video games based on mass
> murder. The masses of Roosevelt's time were coming off decades of
> programmed, regimented work, where people showed up in well-run factories
> and schools and pretty much behaved themselves. In my view, that's one of
> the reasons that the US didn't explode in political violence during the
> Great Depression of the 1930s - the discipline and fortitude of the
> citizenry.  The sheer weight of demoralization now is so titanic that it is
> very hard to imagine the people of the USA pulling together for anything
> beyond the most superficial ceremonies - placing teddy bears on a crash
> site.  And forget about discipline and fortitude in a nation of ADD victims
> and self-esteem seekers.
>

This was also when big companies and government heavily re-invested
back into American communities. You'll *rarely* see that happening
these days.


>      I believe we will see the outbreak of civil disturbance at many levels
> in 2010.  One will be plain old crime against property and persons,
> especially where the sense of community is flimsy-to-nonexistent, and that
> includes most of suburban America. The automobile is a fabulous aid to
> crime. People can commit crimes in Skokie and be back home in Racine before
> supper (if supper is anything besides a pepperoni stick and some Hostess
> Ho-Hos in the car). Fewer police will be on guard due to budget shortfalls.
>

Heh, I have to say, that this is already how it is now, not how it's
"going to be"...




>       I think we'll see a variety-pack of political disturbance led first by
> people who are just plain pissed off at government and corporations and seek
> to damage property belonging to these entities. The ideologically-driven
> will offer up "revolutionary" action to redefine some lost national sense of
> purpose. Some of the most dangerous players such as the political
> racialists, the posse comitatus types, the totalitarian populists, have been
> out-of-sight for years. They'll come out of the woodwork and join the
> contest over dwindling resources. Both the Left and the Right are capable of
> violence. But since the Left is ostensibly already in power, the Right is in
> a better position to mount a real challenge to office-holders. Their ideas
> may be savage and ridiculous, but they could easily sweep the 2010 elections
> - unless we see the rise of a third party (or perhaps several parties). No
> sign of that yet. Personally, I'd like to see figures like Christopher Dodd
> and Barney Frank sent packing, though I'm a registered Democrat. In the year
> ahead, the sense of contraction will be palpable and huge. Losses will be
> obvious.  No amount of jive-talking will convince the public that they are
> experiencing "recovery."  Everything familiar and comforting will begin
> receding toward the horizon.
>

He's leaving out those of us that are working on creating real
alternatives, right now. Too bad. I guess if you are trying to write a
dystopian muckrack article, it wouldn't help you case to talk about
positive realities. Thanks for telling about what is negative and
collapsing, now lets talk about positive and emerging in the same
places. That's the full picture.





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