Maggie's Farm

California politics is amazing. They have given away the state to the unions for votes, they are broke and deep in debt. They are committed to driving away the most productive people while simultaneously encouraging the indigent to immigrate and live off the state. Now the crooked politicians have outdone themselves and are going to build a high speed rail line to no where. The rail line will be built by 100% union members and it will be run by 100% union members. Once completed it will be impossible to get riders who could afford to pay the actual cost of the ticket so like all public transportation it will be heavily subsidized, perhaps as much as 95% of ticket costs. But even then only the well to do will be able to afford it. Does any of this matter? Of course not because it will guarantee unions keep the pork-chucking Democrats in power for a couple more decades. But can California keep solvent that long? Yes, if it can get the pork-chucking Democrats in congress to bail them out they can last as long as the rich uncle can. Can the U.S. stay solvent that long? Technically the federal government is bankrupt now but since they can print money and borrow money until the balloon bursts who cares. So the answer is we will all find out together. One day, probably over a long weekend high government officials will burn the midnight oil in secret meetings and on Monday morning they will announce a bank holiday until they can resolve some vague problems. Your ATM and credit cards won't work and government offices will be closed and and/or guarded with armed guards. Soon, a week or two, they will declare a de/reevaluation of the "dollar" to the new Obama dollar worth 10% of the good old dollar you have in your pocket. But even at that they will restrict how much you can convert or withdraw from your bank. It will just be the beginning and will get much worse as the economy spirals down. Obama and the Democrats will blame Bush. Zach will deny it's really happening and show charts and cite college professors who can prove that as a percentage of GDP we are better off then we were in 2008. May you live in interesting times.

Do I sense skepticism? Have you noticed what is going on in the EU? Are you paying attention to what is happening in South America? Are you aware that Japan is in it's second "lost decade"? You don't have to be a PhD in economics to understand the world is in an economic crisis and dominos are falling. We have had it pretty good for 70 years or so and this creates a situation where normalcy bias makes it difficult to accept what our eyes are seeing. So, yes store essentials and buy PMs if that is your choice, but don't ignore the signs there for all to see. I intend to plan on taking care of my children and my grandchildren as best I can. I cannot change what our government and other governments are doing and they seem pretty much committed to this fateful path they are on. I am expecting a long great depression. I think we are in one today but thanks to borrowing and printing we are enjoying the illusion of a fair to good economy. I am doing simple things like expanding my garden and canning foods I buy on sale. This looming collapse worries me but it doesn't disable me. There are things I can do now that may be difficult to impossible to do later so I'm doing them. Everyone has to make their own choices in life and live with them. You can ignore reality but you cannot ignore the consequences of ingoring reality.