I have the same wonderings.  Everybody picked up with an ounce of pot that can't make bail is sitting in a cell...and this man sits at his home after destroying the lives of many.  Initially, after his arrest, he only had a "curfew".  It was only after several days and some protest that he was confined to his luxury condominium.

I work in foreclosures and I found a dead man who hung himself in the closet several weeks ago.  I'll spare you the details, but I definetly have scene more transients in houses in the last 30 days then I have scene in the past 12 months.  I have a few more concerns now about my safety then I did in the past.   A few more signs to me of what going on in the street.

Being totally pragmatic here......  the world is overpulated.  Grossly overpopulated in fact.  I believe that before this century is out, world population will be at or below three billion.

Suicide is one way to achieve this.  I believe that once people realise they have been conned big time, and that they have neither skills nor resources to survive the coming food and energy crisis, a large proportion of society will resort to suicide as a way out.  And of course in your country which is armed to the teeth, people will be shooting each other in the street....

On a totally different note (and it might even get removed?) I recently found this which brought a smile to the dial...  taken at a protest when this entire bullshit started.

Is it just me, or am I the only one finding difficulty in understanding RubberRims' posts?

He paid for doing that video .. LINK

Sad to say, your crystal ball is correct when it comes to food shortages. More disgusting to say, a lot of it is caused by human stupidity. Case in point - Zimbabwe. Formerly a food exporter - now they can't even feed their own people. Too many other countries around the world are in the same leaky boat. From my perspective, the amount of farmable land worldwide using American farming techniques and modern technology would provide sufficient food for all if the distribution system could be worked out. Again, it is due to man that much of the free world's largess does not reach the average person due to higher-level scumbags.(Those last two sentences are poorly strung together, but I hope you get the gist.)

I took a look at that article you posted (blog-population-jonathon-porritt) although to be honest, I didn't read the whole thing as it was quite long. However, along with the still lone reply, I got the gist of the population problem. I'm in full agreement that the earth has only a finite capacity for humans. Sad to say, some day this will begin to be rectified when we start killing each other off in large quantities - either through nuclear or biological warfare. I hope I've already "checked-out" before that occurs.

China's ability to reduce its population by "1 America" is all well and good, but since they already have over a billion people, they will need to reduce their population much further to have a serious impact. Same situation with India.

Part of the sustainability problem is due to the massive amounts of people that congregate in one area. When you have millions of people in one city - think New York, Beijing, Mexico City, Tokyo, et al, you are bound to have problems. This earth might be better able to sustain its current billions if they could somehow be dispersed across all the open land in the world. I know, I know - what am I smoking, right? ;-)

I will be following the news with interest as the new year dawns to see if your predictions come true sooner than later. In which case, I might hop a plane to Australia and see if you have a spare room you might want to rent out!

Sam....

Getting back to the first post about suicide, it's worth remembering
that suicide rates were lower in the 1930s Depression I than they are
now. In fact, many in the pre-Boomer generation described the 1930s as
the happiest time of their lives. Despite the material deprivations,
families and communities hung together with a sense of common purpose.

To
me, a recession is like New Year -- a time to take stock, and make some
new resolutions. Unlike other phases of the economic cycle, in which
it's hard to know exactly where you are, recession is a time of great
clarity. Those who can start a new business, career or life path during
a recession usually find that the subsequent economic recovery provides
a nice tailwind to reinforce their new venture.

As the saying goes, a recession is a terrible thing to waste.

The poor of India live at starvation level. There is a lot of debt slavery, a lot which has to do with financing necessary religious rites, the most costly of which are for maturing daughters. So a lop-sided method of birth control has developed: the abortion of female fetuses. This really took off when tests determining the sex of the baby during pregnancy became accessible and one figure I remember from a doco I saw in class was only 1 male was aborted out of 500. (Doco was probably 10 years or more old.) It does sound hideously sexist on the part of the parents but it's not necessarily the case. The fate of a female born into poverty in India is considered far too cruel for the above cultural reasons as well as material ones. Few parents are willing to condemn their own daughters to a life of such misery. 

If poverty gets worse in India I think it's fair to say that there will be even fewer baby girls born there as well as well as in some other Asian countries where there is already an acknowledged shortage of females. My thinking is that if females come to be in such short supply that they can use this fact to increase their personal power to the point of equal respect with males, then voluntary preventative birth control will also follow at rates more like to those seen in western countries. This is because equality of power for women translates into power over their own bodies and futures which in turn leads to chosing sex for pleasure and intimacy and less so for fullfilling the mother role. The role of the mother in Indian society, as stiffling as it may be to western eyes however, is a formidable cultural force with thousands of years of religious belief behind it.

On a happier note for India, she was slow jumping on the globalisation bandwagon so the decent is unlikely to be as rough on them as it will be for the citizens of countries at the core. 

This is what I'm hoping for. The early 1990s were the most fun I've ever had but they ruined my career prospects. It's when we're all desparate and down on our luck that we realise we need each other and stop being so self absorbed and status conscious and frankly, a pack of little bitches.

OTOH I'm mentally preparing for the Apolcalypse because so many other people believe in it I reckon it has the power to become a self-fulfilling prophesy.

On
average, perhaps not. But, as in any other time, there are people
enmeshed in tragedy, others having the time of their lives, and most
just plodding along in quiet desperation.

Mass media is a mirror
which tells people what they want to hear. A year ago, the mass media
told us we could aspire to a glorious life of materialism in a glowing
McMansion. Now they're singing the weepy tune that we'd just as well
slit our wrists in the basement before the sheriff shows up for the
foreclosure sale. Both of these scenarios are unrealistic extremes.

The
coming inflationary recovery will generate a 'live for the moment'
ethos, and there definitely will be some spectacular parties and sweet
sirens. However, those who keep their wits about them may be able to
emerge on the other side of the cycle with more than just hazy memories
of a good time. Stick to what's important, and ignore all the extraneous noise.