The Thud Heard Round the World

"Too many shockwaves in the air to sleep tonight. Must be the aftermath of the thud." ~ Me

It's 3:43 a.m. and I can't sleep. For the first time in history, the United States of America's credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor's.

If you were shocked, why?

Have you not been listening? Paying attention?

I don't watch the news, nor listen to it on the radio. But I read enough alternative news to know this would happen.

I expect it will only get worse as the U.S. government continues printing money to service a staggering national debt on which the interest rate will exponentially grow, driving up all other interest rates. Hello rampant inflation. Already soaring prices will rocket. Goods will become harder to get. And eventually, our dollars will be so devalued they'll buy nada. Not-a damn thing.

On a happier note, I'm in love. Yep. Head over heels. With an extraordinary man and his six year-old twins. He is way ahead of me on tonight's grave subject. So I'm gonna let him tell it.

This excerpt is reprinted by permission from an email he wrote me earlier in the night:

"Today the market barely held on with a ginned up and fake government issued jobs report that ignored another 200,000 unemployed as discouraged. That taken with the late announcement conveniently timed after closure of the markets ought to make Monday quite the day. Can you say panic! Europe is also tottering badly. At this point it is a question of who takes who down first.

Many places I go on internet for predictive information picked August as the month it would all unravel back in March and April - I have been doing my quiet best to get ready - bought extra toilet paper and bar soap today for instance - sounds silly but just try doing without!

The signs of this have been apparent for a long time and people just want everything to stay the same, The media promulgates this everyday and as long as people hear the thing they most want to hear they go right back to snooze mode.

It's just an immediate example of the human need to ignore the facts so that your every day existence is not threatened. It's part of the whole when I contemplated and rejected the idea this problem would be fixed. It cannot be changed because the normal American is not ready or prepared to do what's needed. Politicians obviously know this and will not respond in any constructive way that would jeopardize their re-election.

In the "game" you and I have talked of this result is oh so predictable but sad.

I am pissed at politicians in control as all the drama last few weeks we were told something had to be done to prevent a downgrade - well they went off half-assed as usual and are once again screwing JQP [John Q Public]. There are no leaders any more!

They barely came up with 1 Trillion over ten years by funny bookkeeping, the real number needed was an actual real 750 billion now, another 750 billion next year in real honest spending cuts - not smoke and mirrors.

This is Thelma and Louise go to Washington - all we really got was 'do we go over the cliff at 85 mph or do we go 110 mph over the cliff' - that, in its essence, is what happened this week in Congress.

Only problem is we're stuck in the car with these idiots and we cannot completely ignore the consequences of their lack of action." ~ J.P. Metcalfe

Oh, no, say it ain't so? Sorry. I love you guys. And I just can't lie. We're in for a world of hurt coming up. It's time to wake up from the fantasy and dig ourselves in, lay in food and water, swap our green money for something that holds value and can be easily traded, plant a garden, get cosy with our neighbors, do whatever we can to come together in our own communities to help each other.

Because the government's broke. And they don't seem to care much about JQP anymore, anyway.

I'll share this last thought from Jim's email: "...I think its going to take some extraordinary people to hold together the next 10-20 years."

To all you extraordinary people out there, it's time to do what you do best.

Be extraordinary.

~ Olivia J. Herrell