Posted on 01/01/2013 4:46:39 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Edited on 01/01/2013 4:56:50 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
Anybody on those long food lines use coupons?
Believe they are either flares or chaff launchers - most likely flares as the chaff launchers I’m familiar with are typically longer...but I didn’t do tanks and our coverage was supposed to be wider...
I just don’t understand how “diplomats” from North Korea don’t defect after ten minutes in NYC. Must be because the NORK government is holding their families hostage. There were a lot of NORKS in Havana. It sort of like Pyongyang with palm trees. But even in Cuba, the people live a more opulent life style than anyone in NK except for the nomenklatura.
coming to the USA
A FReeper much wiser than myself once pointed out to me that it "Took 70 years for the Soviet System to collapse, and they started out with a whole lot less to burn through than we have now."
So, to your point, I think that we'll eventually get to rock-bottom, but it will take a long, long time. The only question, and one that we won't know the answer to for a good while, is "When did the decline start?". I'd say, "With the Kennedy Assassination.", but that's just a guess.
For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth here on FR, Obama is not the instigator. At most, he's putting his foot on the accelerator, that's all.
Now that’s real poverty. Unlike the squandered opportunities and resources in so much of American “poverty”, the people depicted there are clearly doing what they can with what they’ve got. All is tidy and cared for...there is just nigh unto nothing.
And nobody shown is fat.
They look at our total wealth, and assume that if it were distributed evenly then everyone would be very comfortable and well fed. To them, work is merely a way to redistribute wealth, and capitalism does it unfairly (”unfair” to them meaning “does not give same amount to everyone just because they’re a human”).
What they do not realize that wealth is _created_ and _consumed_. When today’s hamburgers are eaten, their value literally turns to $#!^. Take away any incentive to earn more than a legislated blind sum, and there won’t be enough hamburgers tomorrow. Starvation soon ensues. Money is not wealth; the money used to purchase a hamburger may remain, but unless someone finds reason to make another hamburger, the prior buyer and seller find currency is not a satisfying meal.
I would say 1935 with the passage of the Social Security Act. We might last a tad longer than 70 years just because our decline has been gradual.
I would be curious to know whether the Supreme Court, as it might exist after the crash, will rule SS and any successors unConstitutional. Certainly the proven impracticality and destructiveness ought to cause them to look with greater attention at Constitutional limitations.
The proper test ought to be, "Is there a COMPELLING reason to enact Social Security?" Presuming that there is nothing stopping a state from implementing it, then the obvious answer is "no".
If you tell me how one would shoplift given such a system, then I will guess why such a system exists.
There may also be a rationing element involved. Perhaps you only get to buy a certain amount for each wait in line. This might be similar to the rationing for items like newly released Iphones.
When I see things happening in a communist country that don't happen in ours, the first explanation I look to is that difference.
If I had to guess, I would think that the supply of any given item is distributed to the "retailer" who offered the biggest bribe. This will vary depending upon how hungry the retailer gets. If he gets hungry enough, then the next item available is the one he is going to sell.
If you see retailers with the same products over a lengthy period of time, then you may just be seeing that a "long term contract" exists between that briber and the bribee.
The average Soviet bureaucrat may not want too many people to know that he will divert goods for cash. Minimizing the number of retailers with which he deals may be a security matter.
A similar situation existed when I was in the service. There were certain individuals with what was called "property book authority". They were authorized to sign for transfers of property over which they had control.
If you knew who had property book authority over galvanized pipe, then you knew someone who could supply you with galvanized pipe for the right price, whether the higher commanders agreed that you should get such property or not.
After the crash, I doubt the Union will still remain intact as it is right now.
Smoke grenade launchers. Pretty much standard on all armor vehicles now-a-days.
That's a fair assessment, as well. Switched the government from a provider of common services (roads and bridges, defense, negotiations with other governments, etc) to a provider of common means (hurry up with my welfare check!).
My parents, and especially grandparents, remember a time where turning to the government for help was regarded as humiliating, and a very last resort. I *don't* really ever remember a time such as this, except within my immediate circle of friends and family.
Defining what caused that sea change within societal norms might be the answer. But frankly, it's just a lot of navel gazing. We should let the historians handle that for us, we have work to do! :-)
I agree, and yet our "leadership" has the pedal to the floor and can't get us there fast enough. Go figure.
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