Collapse from the Inside

Collapse of our society is almost a certainty.

There was a time, early in the the writing of this website (the digital pen for which I am now picking up again), that I wasn’t certain about the future of our society, our economy or our republic. Those days are gone. Whether the collapse is a slow motion, crumbling, sliding into decay collapse, or a fast, over almost before you know it collapse, it will happen.

My thoughts these past couple weeks have turned to the most recent in our history collapse of Western Civilization, the fall of the Roman Empire. I know that we think of the Romans and the other human inhabitants of the globe at the time, as barely more than barbarians, dressed in tunics swinging short swords with no access to the internet, no iPhones, iPads or iDevices of any kind. People who burned oil for both light and heat, and never knew the greatness of Lady Gaga couldn’t possibly be intelligent stewards of humanity’s gifts, could they?

That’s all nonsense, of course. Our arrogance about the weaknesses, whether mental or moral, of our forbearers says more about us than it does about them. We’re the stupid ones, who believe things like:

Real Estate values always go up

Another Depression can’t possibly happen, because we learned our lesson from the last one

We’re so much more civilized than men and women who lived 50, 100 or 1,000 years ago

There was a local real estate “expert” who in 2006 insisted on telling my wife that I just didn’t understand the real estate market, and that it was heading much higher. My wife and her family shook their heads in condescension at my arguments that real estate values must correct, because if they don’t, all property would eventually be too expensive to own, and the credit market was a mess, that at some point, the bill would have to be paid for all the “lier’s loans,” credit default swaps and other malarky going on.

In 2008, we employed that same real estate mogul to put up our Christmas tree. That’s one of the things he was doing to make ends meet at that time, and recently, he did some minor handyman work for us. I guess the market wasn’t all he thought it was.

But who could have foreseen all that happened?

A lot of people, actually. Reviled at the time, mocked, abused and dismissed as lunatics. Strangely enough, the same “experts” who said virtually all of what has happened couldn’t possibly happen are still trotted out on the television networks and on the internet as experts to help us all weather this storm.

God save us from numbnut “experts.”

As I reflect on this, and begin a new chapter with “WhatComesNext.net,” I wonder what was being written, considered, cautioned and projected during the collapse of the Roman Empire? Were there George Ures, Michael Panzners, James Howard Kunstlers, and Dmitry Orlovs?

Sure, you can read Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but that was written long after the fall. I’d be interested in what was being written during the fall, and will search for that.

I’ll bring to you what I find.

Thank you for reading, and welcome (back?) to WhatComesNext.net.

Posted in Collapse, Society
Tags: Collapse, TEOTWAWKI, WTSHTF

The “Last Plane” Account

Just a quick post about an excellent article on DollarCollapse.com, entitled The Last Plane Account, which references the excellent work of Barton Biggs.

Last Plane Accounts are essential if you plan on hanging on to whatever wealth you have when things turn ugly. Biggs’ essential farm or ranch stocked to feed your family isn’t nearly as “wacko survivalist” as it once may have been. Very important.

Posted in Economy
Tags: Collapse, Depression, Economy, Gold, Investing, Recession, Survival