Sunday, June 15, 2008

Here's a Guy with Bad News

One thing the pundits of the mainstream media seem to miss is how much more room for economic carnage there is in the months remaining. They seem to be laying their current odds on the idea that McCain and Obama are starting on a "level playing field." In fact, McCain is already up to his hips in trouble from his sheer association with the Republican establishment, which will be so badly discredited by the shattered economy that it may actually go the same route as the 19th century whig party and dissolve in a putrid vapor of fecklessness. By November, the Republicans will be viewed as the party that wrecked the nation, and McCain will be in a hole so deep (still on the 20-yard-line by the way) that nobody will be able to see his lips move.
So writes Jim Kuntsler in the latest installment of his acerbic, pessimistic, and (for me at least) almost irresistible blog "Clusterfuck Nation,"--truth be told, I've always enjoyed the kind of writing that Hunter Thompson produced back in the good old days when he wrote regularly for Rolling Stone. Kuntsler has a similar style. He argues that the US is going to hit the wall very soon because oil has peaked and the entire US way of life built on cheap oil--suburbs and shopping--will come crashing down with horrid consequences for everybody. That's what's behind what he says above. I am not at all sure he's wrong.

I like the "putrid vapor of fecklessness" idea, and dearly hope it comes to pass. But as I've mentioned here before I fear greatly the shallow, dim-witted, and often-vicious American electorate. I will believe Obama is president when I see him take the oath.

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