From Open Palm To Closed Fist! ... J. D. Longstreet

From Open Palm To Closed Fist!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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It is almost impossible to entertain any optimistic thoughts concerning the future of America these days.  Looking around, all one sees is darkness, dread, and looming catastrophe. 

OK.  So maybe I overstated it a bit.  But I don't think so. 

Americans who feel secure these days are almost entirely members of the "Takers" in America.  The "Makers" or "Producers" are depressed, disgusted, and disillusioned.

Everyone but the dumbest among us understands that we are in the last days of America.  Just peeking over the future horizon is a total collapse of the American economic system.  The Great Depression is about to slip into second place as the worse economic calamity to strike America. 

But, hey!  It's what we of the conservative commentariat warned would happen. 

Look.  When a boat is sinking, bailing will help only for a short while.  At some point you have to patch the leak, plug the hole, else the boat will inevitably sink. 

That great ship of state, America, is sinking -- because nobody is interested in plugging the leak. 

America has been feeding upon itself for decades now and it has almost depleted its source of food. 

Ever wonder what would happen if an Anaconda discovered its tail and began to consume it.  That's is precisely what has happened to America. We are nearing the end of a vicious cycle of self consumption. 

I received the following information from a Newsmax newsletter recently:  "Entitlement spending is already so high that the cost of all entitlement programs plus interest on the debt is nearly equal to total federal revenue. That means virtually everything else the government does is being paid for with borrowed money, the report from the Institute for Policy Innovation discloses.

Entitlements include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and means-tested welfare programs, plus veteran benefits, unemployment pay, disability pay, and more.

A number of these programs have grown substantially since President Obama took office. Medicaid has grown from 46.9 recipients to 56 million, disability beneficiaries have increased from 7.5 million to 8.8 million, and the food stamp program has grown from 32 million beneficiaries to 47 million.

All told, more than 120 million Americans receive entitlements of some kind, according to the Institute, a Texas-based think tank. Add to that an estimated 16 million new Medicaid beneficiaries resulting from Obamacare, and some 18 million people who enter the health insurance exchanges beginning in 2014.

The bottom line: For fiscal 2012, the federal government spent about $2.2 trillion of its $3.7 trillion budget on entitlement programs, while gross annual revenues stood at $2.6 trillion. Add interest on the federal debt of $220 billion to the entitlement payout, and that leaves less than $200 billion to pay for everything else, including defense, transportation, education, and homeland security. So the government makes up the shortfall by borrowing, or printing, money."

Then there is this:  "While there had been speculation that the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) may delay the release of its October nonfarm payroll number until after the election, it turned out there was no reason to worry. Perhaps this is because the number, while at stall speed, was not quite as horrible as some had expected (even if the change in average hourly earnings did tumble to new all time lows) and so boosted Obama's reelection chances. There was, however, another closely tracked number which perhaps is far more indicative of the economic "growth" in the past 4 years, which certainly had a delayed release. The number of course is that showing how many Americans are on foodstamps, and usually is released at the end of the month, or the first day or two of the next month. This time the USDA delayed its release nine days past the semi-official deadline, far past the election, and until Friday night to report August foodstamp data. One glance at the number reveals why: at 47.1 million, this was not only a new all time record, but the monthly increase of 420,947 from July was the biggest monthly increase in one year."
 SOURCE:  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-10/foodstamps-surge-most-one-year-new-all-time-record-delayed-release 

The article goes on to say:  " ... going back to the start of the official start of the depression in December 2007. In the 57 months from then until August 2012, there have been 4.6 million jobs lost even as Americans on food stamps and disability have risen by 21.2 million."  SOURCE: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-10/foodstamps-surge-most-one-year-new-all-time-record-delayed-release  

I'm not kidding myself.  I DO realize that only the folks who actually CARE the country is falling down around them will read this piece and those of the multitude of conservative commentators who have been sounding the warning for years.

Watching the decline of America today is akin to watching a terminal patient in stage four of the killing disease. 
I've begun to wonder, recently, if the so-called "Preppers" and "Survivalists" may have had it right all along.  Of all the 300 plus millions of Americans squeezed between the two oceans, (plus Hawaii and Alaska) only they will be anywhere near prepared for what lies in our future.

An Interesting note: "Smith & Wesson stock shot up roughly 10% on the day after the election."  This from an article by Michael Porfido entitled  "Here Comes the Revenge."  Mr. Porfido continues:  "Many analysts think that this is because investors believe that gun sales will increase due to the concern about possible legislation to limit gun ownership.  Gun sales will increase, but it won’t be for worry that there will be gun control legislation.  It will occur due to the president’s rhetoric.  When you are at the bottom of the economic ladder, and your President tells you that people above you broke the rules, you may feel justified in “evening” things out.  It would not be a big leap for some of those at the bottom to decide not to wait for Mr. Obama’s redistribution.  They may choose to “redistribute” for themselves.  The President’s rhetoric has given tacit approval that successful people should be targets for retribution.  Those targets at the top of the economic ladder, would be foolish not to arm themselves."  SOURCE:  http://www.bernardgoldberg.com/here-comes-the-revenge/?utm_source=BernardGoldberg.com+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f79661cde6-NEWSLETTER&utm_medium=email

Author, Naomi Wolf said in her book "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot" the following:  "The great dictators learn from one another what was essentially a blueprint for closing down an open society; and then it became clear to me that this blueprint is simple. It consists of ten steps. Ten clear steps. Then what became chillingly clear to me is that these ten steps are in place in America today."  SOURCE:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1294790/quotes

What are those ten steps as defined by Ms. Wolf?  Here they are:  1. Invoke an internal and external threat 2. Secret prisons where torture takes place 3. Develop a paramilitary force 4. Surveil ordinary citizens 5. Infiltrate citizens' groups 6. Detain and release ordinary citizens 7. Target key individuals 8. Restrict the press 9. Recast criticism as espionage and dissent as treason 10. Subvert the rule of law.
SOURCE:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1294790/quotes 

Alexis de Tocqueville summed it all up this way:  "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."  SOURCE:  http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alexis_de_tocqueville.html#E3yMYsq2OddvFclX.99

The last four years have been nothing more than one long bribe of the American electorate. Now -- the bill has come due and the coffers are empty. At some point -- in the very near future -- those outstretched hands, waiting to receive government sustenance, will ball up into fists to take that which they have been told, over and over again, is theirs.

J. D. Longstreet