Can you even imagine the meltdown that will happen if Bush "wins" 2004?

[JanMichael]

We had a conservative caller on "the Guy James Show" yesterday who was appalled by the BFEE policies. "NeoFuedalism" (My guess is that this conservative is starting to freak out so much that he's been reading Progressive sites...) is what he called their plans. We spoke about how the massive spending combined with a choked revenue stream will probably result in some catastrophic events. Interest Rates? They can't go lower. Bond ratings? With the debt spiraling out of control it doesn't look good. Personal debt and foreclosures will pick-up momentum (although we know that's a good thing for the very Rich, they get to buy our homes for pennies on the Dollar...). Oil producing nations threatening to change their oil tranfers from Dollars to Euros will collapse the Dollar combined with all of the other things going on.

So I asked him, "What will be the result of this sort of gross mismanagement? He answered, "Meltdown, maybe Depression"

Paul Krugman alluded to the same scenario on CSpan this last week.

This is a serious situation, actually the most serious situation that I can imagine. People's lives will be unimaginably changed. Inconceivable lifestyle degration will happen to many millions of the newly impoverished. Add to that our military, OUR MILITARY, being used as MERCENARIES for Halliburtan et al. Oh, we may be the baddest boys on the block but there's only so many of "Us"...

Well not totally inconceivable (props to "the Princess Bride") read some of DuctapeFatwa's series on "Some advice for the newly outsourced, downsized, and generally unemployed" here to get a taste of it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=582245&mesg_id=582245

We MUST defeat BushCo in 2004 and I don't give a rat's ass how it gets done!

People's LIVES depend on it.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. it will absolutely destroy what's left of the illussions taught us

and that we continue to teach our children about democracy and liberty ...perhaps it is what it will take to wake the sheeple up...i fear it will be far too late tho

[NicoleM]

2. It will be ugly.

They will be able to steal the next election if the polls are close right before election day. If our candidate has a decent lead over Bush in the polls, they can try to steal it but they won't get away with it. But that only works if the pollsters aren't already in the BFEE's pockets.

I told my husband the other day that if * wins next year, we need to learn out to be totally self-sufficient. We live in a rural area, so we could do it. I'm going to be preparing for a depression if * wins.

We need somebody to get out front on this, on TV, and scare the living crap out of people. They WILL respond if they think their lifestyle is threatened.

[JanMichael]

4. All they need to do is invade Syria or Iran a few weeks before.

Or a little Operation Northwoods-like car bomb in Peoria would scare enough people into avoiding the polls or go braindead and vote for the great Amurikan savior.

Hell, a threat to disrupt our elections by "Terrorists" with polling booth bombs could even lead to a postponement...

Buy rice.

[NicoleM]

6. That's why

we need somebody to start talking about this NOW. Krugman, or somebody, I don't care who, as long as they have a modicum of credibility. I had to quit reading Krugman's column because it was scaring me too much. It's all too plausible.

We need to figure out a way to get this out there ASAP. I don't know how, though. Maybe we need to make that a DU project. Somebody has to do something, that's for sure.

[bearfartinthewoods]

17. it takes a helluva lot more than living in a rural area

to be totally self-sufficent. please, for your own sake, don't harbor that fantasy.

[NicoleM]

18. I'm not stupid.

I know it takes a lot more than living in a rural area. My point was that I can at least grow my own food out here. I couldn't do that if I lived in an urban area. Step one towards survival is being able to eat.

[Brucey]

3. The US is circling the drain.

The meltdown has already begun. It wasn't long ago that we had peace and prosperity. Look how quickly everything has changed. The environment is probably a lost cause. Jobs are gone overseas and not coming back. Education is headed for privatization. Deregulation is everywhere. Military spending is already sky high and going up. The money that's left will all be sucked up by the wealthy who will sit back and watch the rest of the meltdown unfurl. We will struggle and watch as many don't make it.

[JanMichael]

5. For the first time I had the epiphany that it could happen to me.

And my family.

I can't accept that "fate".

[Arianrhod]

9. The environment is already responding.

The Gulf Stream has moved farther out into the Atlantic, leaving cold water along the Eastern seaboard and setting the stage for a harsh winter. It has already snowed three times this month in Germany, the first fall coming on October 7th--the earliest in history, I believe, after one of the longest and hottest and driest summers on record. While Europe was in drought, Virginia was flooded, and Ohio was so wet that autumn was delayed this year. Seasons are swinging around the calendar, starting and ending in unusual months. Records of heat and cold are being set. The Arctic ice pack is melting and collapsing into the sea, reducing salinity and disrupting the mixing of cold and warm waters which regulates temperatures along the Atlantic coastlines.

The global climate is changing. Whether one believes this to be the result of human activity or simply a natural cycle, the fact remains that we are not ready to deal with the changes that are coming.

[kentuck]

7. Yeah! (Rubbing hands together gleefully)

:(

[fla nocount]

8. We'll take to the streets.

It will be a good thing, a healthy thing, a necessary thing, a cleansing thing. And , in the end it will be alright. Our parents/grandparents went through something similar in the 30's. When they wring the sponge dry, it's dry, there's nothing left to squeeze.

The universe hates a dry sponge and will attempt to fill it, it will be alright.

I don't want to preach doom and gloom, I want to believe in a miracle but I do believe that each and everyone of us will do what s/he has to. There really is no choice.

[liberalcapitalist]

10. morbid curiosity

from an observer's standpoint, I would almost like to see it happen. When W was "elected" I knew it would be bad for the country, but NO ONE thought it would possibly be this disastrous-- yet so many people are oblivious to how much damage has been done. It almost makes me want to see another term so that the country can truly get what it deserves for voting for him (those who did) the first time.

[NicoleM]

11. Except that

all the people who didn't vote for * would suffer right along with the rest of 'em. More, probably, since the top 1% won't have anything to worry about.

[JanMichael]

12. Sadly those who voted against him in 2000 will pay the price too.

But I do understand your curiosity...It'll be fascination to watch and be apart of. Talk about shaking things up. Will it prove Nader's point that it has to get worse before it gets better? Probably. That said I never wanted it to go down this way, never.

[Unforgiven]

14. What it Will Take

And maybe that's what it will take to finally rid ourselves of this sickness, this rot, that has invaded our country's political system and society in general. The rest of the world is watching. What will we do as a nation? Will it be Business as usual or is it time for another revolution in the streets. This country is full of guns is that what it will take to regain what was once a free Democracy?

[cosmicdot]

13. I predict gated communities with armed security guards ...

... armed delivery trucks delivering them groceries, bottled water, etc.

some of us have experienced what is germinating for awhile now ... this train's been a'coming

corporate america has done its fair share to set the stage

meanwhile, they're on a binge, sucking as much money into their offshore accounts, etc., like there's no tomorrow ... as Ross Perot would say: one can hear the sucking sound

when one contemplates the dynamics of a crash under current conditions vs stats of 1932 ... i.e., population, federal budget, deficits, etc. ... it won't be pretty at all

Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis are still in the White House

We can only hope that the politics will change toward progressism, and tame this radical right wing corporate feudal fascist thing.

[Ernesto]

15. Can you say

MILITARY DRAFT?....... Hide your sons before it's too late!

[JanMichael]

16. A draft would kill the neoCON movement.

At present we can get quite a good number to go to DC. Throw in a draft and that number gets multiplied by 10.

[seventhson]

19. They are counting on a meltdown

That is the plan

just like Germany.

When the people are impoverished they will follow tyrants