stuck in place

STUCK IN PLACE
Well, yesterday saw my sarcasm and whit in full force and Ryan came along and deflated my efforts with a polite reply. I feel gypped. Damn you, man! A correction, I gave reference to the book “1612” when it should have been “1632”. You may, this one time only, make fun of me and call me a dumbass without first mentioning what wonderful hair I have. I was in a big hurry yesterday and as I was trying to finish up the article the massed hoards were pounding on my door buzzer. Let us in! Let us in! We can’t be expected to buy our own holiday meal! I actually got complaints that I didn’t include cans of milk along with the pumpkin pie mix. You didn’t get a friggin pie pan, a pie crust, a turkey pan, a thermometer or me at your house washing up the damn dishes for you ya puke! My God, did they change the date of Christmas this year? Did you not have 365 days to plan for it? OK, I’m calm, relaxed. Gnome Day is almost here ( the day people stop donating holiday food and I can get caught up on the huge pile of crap already littering the isles ).
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You know, I know, and Ross Perot knows that at least once a week now I’m going to reference the blog site www.americanenergycrisis.blogspot.com to either support my arguments or have someone to belittle and chant hurtful things about. In this case, I direct your attention to Monday’s article wherein he admits that things are not quite as rosy as he has projected and the Doomers have a point about how we are all going to die soon. Okay, he didn’t say that outright, but you can tell he was trying to hint around that I am his new god and he now worships me and he would come out and say that but the other investment bankers on his block would make fun of him and perhaps even TP his house. He admitted that he hadn’t factored in the transportation and credit end of farming. This is as close as its going to get being fearful and paranoid because basically he is pretty optimistic about the coming collapse. But this is one smart dude, so we just might make a doomer out of him yet. In the meantime I’ll be the shrill unreasonable voice in the wilderness screaming that we are all doomed and the only consolation prize you are going to get for preparing is that you will be the last one in the stewpot. He also mentioned that the economy will continue to take a big steaming squishy dump and basically you are pretty much stuck where you are now at.
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I’m pretty sure we can all agree that things will just keep getting worse economically. If 2009 was a reprieve from 2008 it is only because we created so much credit and cash and sold the last of the countries assets for a short stay of execution. I predict that 2010 will be a replay of 2008, because you can’t paper over real energy problems indefinitely. And that is if we are lucky. Unlucky, next year will be even worse than 2008. So, your options are extremely limited. The basic problems won’t go away. Your house will stay upside down in its equity. The problem of potential layoffs will get worse. Once secure and safe jobs will start failing ( I predicted LEO layoffs before news of Oakland, CA, that some officers were being replaced by security guards ). Credit will be even harder to get. More banks will fail ( gee, that’s a real difficult prediction ). In short, you can’t just pull up roots and move to a more desirable location because that would mean giving up the house and perhaps not being able to find any job at all. For most of us, and especially Yuppie Scum with vindictive trophy wives that have a divorce lawyer on speed dial, this is the same as saying you are stuck in place.
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Even my loyal minions, perhaps numb from my repetitive assaults on their luxurious living standards and at least open to the idea of voluntarily stepping down in lifestyle, view the future as a trap they are unable to escape from. I don’t look down my nose at others for surviving in place. After all, I didn’t move off grid right away but waffled until my kids moved away from the area and my parents started looking for property elsewhere. I am far from perfect. I completely understand not wanting to uproot and take a huge step backwards. But just keep this in mind. Thing are guaranteed to get worse. In an energy decline model, where the entire economic structure is built on increasing energy inputs for growth and stability, you will see inevitable collapse. It is going to happen. Not in your children’s future but in yours. You will be affected. If you don’t volunteer to make the sacrifices now, they will be forced on to you later. And you won’t like the changes you have no control over. As hard as relocating is now, it will be harder if you don’t. Rent nice now and end up with nothing, or buy primitive now and end up with some support structure. Buy better than nothing now, or have nothing later. I would rather be living under a tarp and collecting food stamps now than living in a large metro area apartment. Got wheat/Enfields/RV and junk land?
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With nothing in the article to link, here's some random ones.  Stainless steel knives, Razor Savor, "
Bastard coated bastards with bastard filling", last weeks fiction pick, crossbow.