The Coming Economic Crash

[mallorys_camera]

Dreamed that Ben had died, or abandoned me, or something, and I was wandering around a campus—U.C.?—trying to figure out where I would go next.

“We”—unclear who that “we” was—were supposed to be traveling somewhere, like when “we” were with the circus—so I found Robin and asked him where we were supposed to meet up next.

He ducked his head away from me and said something unintelligible.

“What?”

He repeated it.

“What?”

“Carl,” he said.

“Carl? Where’s Carl?”

But he wouldn’t tell me, and I got pissed off. “Never mind!” I snarled and tromped off, knowing that I would never see him again.

I was supposed to be at that place, but then I thought, “Why bother?” Life would be a very different process now because I was single now, more than that, I was excess, the uninvited third party. No one was tracking me, and no one really cared what I did.

I walked around the campus a bit trying to figure out what I would do next. “This is freedom,” I told myself. “Well. You’ve always said you wanted to be free.”

I got into a vehicle driven by someone I know who’s an irascible old codger. We were driving to the meeting place, but we were going the back way, and the back way dipped down this incredibly steep, steep hill—

And then I awoke.

###

So, the stock market is poised to tumble another 600 points at opening.

The scale of the dip, like I’ve said, is all managed by computerized trading strategies, but the slope of the dip reflects massive disruption of global supply chains.

23,000 is the safe point in my mind. 23,000 ensures that Trump will not be reelected.

If the market falls much below that, then I’m afraid we’re looking at a real economic crisis.

The American government is carrying $23 trillion in debt.

Very little of this was invested in infrastructure or anything tangible. A good chunk of it has gone toward fighting Orwellian-style Forever Wars, which have not made any of us one iota safer.

The more frightening statistic, though, is that American households are carrying $52 trillion in debt.

These households live paycheck to paycheck because an increasingly large proportion of each paycheck goes toward servicing their debt. I don’t know what happens to these households if the whole thing goes bust. When supply chains falter, the demand for products and services goes down.

Of course, it’s not necessarily these households’ fault that they’re carrying all this debt. They simply shopped at the Kool-Aid stand. The cost of purchase debt seems low before you have to start paying it back. Can you say unsustainable? Mister Rogers thought you could!

The Trumpian surge of "prosperity" disincentivized any last remnants of prudent behavior that survived the Obama “recovery.” Just listen to all the chatter about negative Treasury rates: Negative treasury rates essentially mean you pay banks to keep your money there.

You’d be better off keeping your money in your mattress.

And in case you didn’t already realize this, Trump and his minions don’t have a clue how to deal with any of this.

###

In other news—

Finished Season 3 of Babylon Berlin.

Not quite up to Seasons 1 and 2. Not as tightly plotted for one thing, plus egregious Jo Jo Rabbit plot device borrowing.

Still. Worth seeing if only for the art direction, which is beyond fabulous and the acting, which is very, very good.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I dreamed someone was banging on our door. I answered--it was the fire department. "Sorry, we have to spray hot water on your house--it's caught on fire," they said. The roof was indeed on fire, as were the roofs of a number of nearby houses. "We think the fires spread from [nearby city]," the firefighter said.

My brain comes up with Such Lame Metaphors.

[mallorys_camera]

Pretty solid metaphor, I am thinking. 😃

But there's a reason we all chose to be incarnated in this particular time and space.

[asakiyume]

I LOVE MY MORTAL EXISTENCE WITH A PASSION! There's a reason I chose the screen name Asakiyume, back in the day. "Asaki yume" means "shallow dreams" in classical Japanese. It comes from an old Buddhist poem (used as an abc poem in past centuries in Japan, because it contains each of the syllables in the kana syllabary, used just once--but that's beside the point here) about how you shouldn't be distracted by the shallow dreams of this fleeting existence.

DISTRACT ME WITH THE SHALLOW DREAMS, BABY; I'M ALL ABOUT THE SHALLOW DREAMS

... which is to say, I'm very happy to have incarnated here and now.

[mallorys_camera]

Me too! 😃

I'm currently entertaining shallow dreams about eyelash extensions, which will come in very handy in the coming Economic Apocalypse! 😃

[asakiyume]

Enter the apocalypse with style!

[bleodswean]

I have extensions. Ask me anything, if you're serious.

[mallorys_camera]

I am serious.

How often do you have to have them redone?

[bleodswean]

So, extensions have got to be one of the most shallow things I've ever done, but P!!!! They are a gift to the older face! Not actually a gift, cuz they are the bucks, but a gift from your wallet to your face. Not sure how much they are out there but they are pricey here and the trick is to stay on a fill schedule. It varies from month to month because of your own growth, etc. Sometimes three weeks, sometimes four. KEEP THEM CLEAN!!! That means washing daily. I don't wear makeup, so that helps a lot! But they still need to be washed daily. You better have a tech you like because you'll be spending hours with her. Don't drink coffee beforehand! And prepare yourself for a procedure in which you cannot open your eyes for an hour plus.

[mallorys_camera]

Yeah, I'm thinking extensions might be my birthday present to myself this year. My cousin has extensions, and she looks great.

[thisnewday]

"But there's a reason we all chose to be incarnated in this particular time and space." Very interesting...

[mallorys_camera]

I'm sure I've written about the fact that I had a complete set of memories from another lifetime when I was a little kid.

I've forgotten those memories now, of course. Though I can remember remembering them.

But I absolutely believe in reincarnation.

[thisnewday]

Again, interesting. While I can't offer anything like that, I recently told my grandson about a recurring dream which has the feeling of being rooted in a collective consciousness.

However, I didn't describe it to him in precisely that way which is maybe why I failed to convey the ambiance it seems to impart to life in the day or so afterwards.

Just wondering if you've tagged any of those "memories of memories" anywhere among your Dreamwidth entries...

[mallorys_camera]

I have not. 😃

[zyzyly]

I keep thinking that it should be obvious to anyone paying attention that this thing is being bungled big time, but they will follow him off the cliff, I am convinced.

[mallorys_camera]

Yep. It's very sad.