I’ve been scanning the media for stories about the social reaction to current economic events. It seems like the traditional reactions to extreme economic downturns have been either pulling together in shared sacrifice or Fascism, at least that’s how the last one turned out. To get to Fascism would probably require a fair amount of violence and an increasingly forceful response by government to suppress it.
Today’s USAToday (useful for learning what the proles know) has two front-page stories about the better outcome; outpourings of public philanthropy and families coming together in hard times. While it’s heartening to think that Americans might just pull together in hard times, there are a few countries out there, in similar distress, about whom it’s much more difficult to be sanguine.
Let’s see who might take a less happy direction.
Russia? Check.
China? Check.
Albania? Check.
Turkey? Check.
Pakistan? Holy shit.
India? Holy shit tambien.
Anyway, the bad news is that more than a couple of the scarier candidates have nukes. Great. So how does this play out? The bizarre strengthening of the USD against other currencies is horrible news for many of the most challenged countries out there.
Anyway, the good news is that we Americans might not just kill each other off.
The bad news is how many other folks just might be up to the task.
