The First to Fall?

There’s a fascinating read today in the Arizona Republic about the Hohokam civilization that goes back some 3,000 years and created a huge culture that spanned the area currently occupied by Phoenix, Arizona. Unfortunately, the Hohokam overreached what the area could support and collapsed, leaving only a few standing walls and the bare remnants of a great civilization by the time Europeans made it to the Salt River Valley after the Civil War.

Look across Phoenix at night and it seems resplendent, unassailable, along seamless corridors of light where the once lonely towns of Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Goodyear converge, absorbed into a greater municipality. Curiously, these lights define the same settlement patterns archaeologists have found among Hohokam communities. The two cities overlap as if made for each other.

My take from the story is that as smart as we 21st century humans think we are, there are few problems we have that haven’t been dealt with by those who went before, and who as much as we’d like to believe were savages not intelligent enough to survive, may have easily been our match in most ways that make up the difference between life and death. Who can doubt that humans repeat historical failure constantly and that we never seem to learn enough from our travails? Who is to say those who live in the space formerly occupied by the Hohokam are any more suited to succeed when that vanished people failed?

Modern, historic canals follow those of a vanished people (Part 1) – azcentral.com.

Demise of Ancient People a Harbinger for Valley (Part 2)

For Phoenix, as for Hohokams, the rise is just like the fall (Part 3)

An Economy Built on Credit

That’s a statement that’s never been truer in the world than today, and it’s the American economy we’re talking about. New car shopping today, and we saw nice, but not extravagant luxury vehicles in the $60,000 range. Monthly leases of $785 with "aggressive" incentive packages. Ridiculous, the price increases year to year, but it demonstrates what’s truly going on in our economy – a terribly weak American dollar that the U.S. government is trying desperately to hide.

From the Des Moines Register – Debt-Laden Middle Class Words Harder, Slips Further.

It’s pretty clear that borrowing has replaced earning as the mechanism for supporting a middle-class life. Families may still live in big houses, drive hulking SUVs and dress in snazzy clothes, but they’re living on borrowed time and money. Consumer debt as a percentage of household income has risen greatly. Average credit-card debt rose from $4,000 to $9,000 from 1990 to 2004. Real average earnings declined almost non-stop from 1970 to 1990, and when adjusted for inflation, have recovered only slightly since.

The administration is doing a fantastic job of keeping a credit-loving people ignorant of the true nature of what’s happening. They’re clearly printing money as fast as possible, hoping it won’t be noticed. But is IS being noticed. The prices of precious metals are rising, foreign governments like China are getting out of holding U.S. dollars, and prices of everything (like cars – especially foreign cars) are skyrocketing. This summer looks to be an expensive one with regard to gas prices. How long before people simply can’t afford to drive to work any more, or worse, can’t afford to keep buying consumer luxury items like flat screen TVs, cable service and DVD players?

I think we’ll soon find out.

The Worst Kind of Lie

Is when one completely misleads about what another says.

Here is a great example of that.

Paul Watson is NOT saying "exterminate 5.5 billion people." He’s saying that if our particular species is to survive, we must radically alter the way we live. Unfortunately, the change will not be made willingly, but only in response to the earth’s reaction to us (global warming) and our species’ own war-like habits. Calling Watson a "wacko" or would-be genocide is pointless, and quite frankly, a lie that distracts others from the truth – that we’re on a bad path in this world.

Will we heed the warning? No. We’re too way into our plasma TVs, SUVs, jet-set lifestyle to ever change enough to avoid eventual catastrophe.

The Beginning of the End for Life As We Know It On Planet Earth? | Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Website

Financial Armageddon

Without being too dramatic, Michael Panzer’s Financial Armageddon is a chilling, yet well researched explanation of the dangers of the financial markets driving our economy today. Leading to financial meltdown, hyperinflation and possibly martial law, Panzer sets out a possible course I hope we’re able to avoid.

It’s a must read. Panzer also publishes and excellent companion blog, Financial Armageddon.

Future of the West?

Who Is Dave Gaubatz and Why is That So Important? That’s the question Whitley Streiber asks and himself answers in an intriguing blog post.

The scenario spelled out here is frightening, but plausible. It’s completely within the realm of possibility that Islamic terrorist regimes would use the kind of blackmail outlined in the post.

Whitley Strieber’s Unknown Country – Who is Dave Gaubatz and Why is That So Important?

Different Today than Yesterday

One of the great defenses put up against the Cassandras of the financial world is the idea that nothing bad has happened for a really long time, and that means we’ve learned how to keep bad things from happening.

That, of course, is ridiculous. The financial markets and government have learned how to smooth things out and create the illusion of constant upward movement, but they haven’t in any way eliminated the potential for disaster. In creating unsound ways to make fast money, they may well be setting up a "popping" that will eclipse all past crashes.

Financial Armageddon: Easy to Put On, Not as Easy to Take Off

Our memories as a people are pretty short. We repeat the mistakes of a single generation ago in war, and we forget that markets built on BS like the dotcom bust go…bust. This time it’s all about housing, derivatives and inflation. There are all kinds of smoke and mirrors our leaders are using to change, if not reality, then at least the picture we see.

But we can’t avoid the future we’re creating with it all.