$5.25... that is the Federal Minimum Wage

[nadinbrzezinski]

Ok it will go up since the Dems did something about it

But gas is now running around 4.25\gallon for regular.

And no, not everybody has access to public transportation (which has been hit by increased fees as well)

I know that many think that Americans will remain docile forever

But the prices of gas (and consequently other basic necessities such as oh FOOD) will drive people to at the very least vote for change, and that my friends is my hope... that it stays at voting and demanding change in a peaceful manner

We've seen food riots in other places. Europe is now seeing gas protests... you think Americans will remain docile and nice and quiet forever?

The French Kings learned, to their chagrin, that there is a limit on how far you can push people. So did the Romanovs... and of course King George... thought I'd mention that one too.

Civiil Wars and Revolutions are not sudden events though, so you need to start paying attention to the signs of discontent

For example, on May First we had an honest to goodness truckers protest... I know... the media did its duty (for the corporations) and did not report it. But we had one. I guess, just like the many marches we have seen, it didn't happen since CNN didn't cover it. That is their modus operandi btw.

That is only the beginning. People are talking to each other and since our guv'ment has not bothered to 'splain the facts of life to Joe and Jane Six Pack 'bout peak oil, well Joe and Jane only know their money is getting squeezed and it does not go as far as it used to. Hell, they may even have noticed that by the end of the moth they are short on food and gas. Oh and little money for the movies if you get my drift

Of course, sooner, or later we will have to have this national conversation on peak oil, and the later it happens the more angry they will be. Of course, we may get that talk well after joe and jane are so pissed that they reach for their torches and pitchforks, and if that happens, I don't want to make any bets on how that will end. But keep your ears close to the ground... because we may have something happen here, that will take most Americans, in particular those in charge, by surprise.

Now alert DU'ers who have joined the Cassandra's club, well we have been predicting at the very least a double digit Recession (which is here not that your lovely press will cover it, you need to read that cursed furein press, such as the Telegraph), but we have also been warning of a Depression... Again, them darn foreigners are now talking around the edges about that... and the Telegraph was one of them yesterday. So when that happens, again Joe and Jane will be slightly pissed and will demand some 'splaining from their guv'ment, at the very least.

Ah yes, fun days are ahead of us... and this will be what the next president inherits... and that does not even include a possible attack on Iran or other likely scenarios with this wrecking crew.


***********

Intended it for here originally and it went in GD:P and yes this needs to be discusssed

[Selatius]

1. We have local conversations about Peak Oil, not national ones though.

The national avenues are polluted by corporate propaganda and propaganda by omission (i.e. not reporting the news). As a result, a typical Joe Sixpack out in Jerkwater, America, wouldn't know there was a truckers' protest if it happened just a few states over. That doesn't mean though that Joe Sixpack isn't bringing home as big a paycheck anymore after inflation and high gas prices, while his boss recorded record dividend checks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. The conversation on Peak Oil will happen, you can count on it

it is just a matter of when!

Mostly this is unsustainable.

But that thing about his check... as it goes down and down and down.... you will see more and more willingness to start asking questions

And even unrest.

That is why I said revolutions don't happen in a day.

You read the post of how things are going in Cleveland? That area of the country is starting to look more and more like the US in oh 1929, 1930

We don't have a commie party organized since they were very effective with the destruction and propaganda, but people are starting to be receptive to messages... and that alone scares me.

That we blame brown people (on both sides) for our ills, is a bad sign

[Selatius]

11. Parts of this country are already starting to resemble a John Steinbeck novel.

I live in the footprint of Katrina.

In certain areas, new high-rise condos are being built, and some new casinos are opening up. In the working class neighborhoods, though, well, very few homes have been rebuilt. Most of the lots that once belonged to people have long since been bulldozed and lay empty. Depending on who you talk to, reconstruction is either going very well or very wrong.

There is a great disconnect between the upper class business interests and everybody else. Gov. Barbour wants to divert home reconstruction funds to expand the Gulfport port facilities. He says it will help revive the economy, but local ministers and landless tenants have said there is no point in taking a job if they have no place to go home at night. Yet, nobody listens to them.

There are steps that lead to nowhere and concrete slabs with ceramic tile still on the floor on some former properties, but the homes are gone and so are the former owners. For them, they never really saw the benefits of reconstruction, what could pass for reconstruction anyway.

They have to eek out an existence somewhere else, perhaps dozens or hundreds of miles away. The lucky ones are living in FEMA trailers on the lot of their former homes, waiting for a check that might not come before the next economic downturn finally plows them under.

I've been trying to look for work now for over a month. The job opportunities are scarce, and it's getting frustrating watching the accounts wither away with food and gas expenses, but how do you do a job search without driving to the casinos and businesses? Some of them have started to lay-off workers because of the bad times. It just means that many more people scratching for jobs, for anything.

That sound like passages from a Steinbeck novel to you? I feel the Grapes of Wrath on the horizon if things don't change. I feel working class rage brewing in some quarters, the old kind that you read about in the bad days, the all-or-nothing days when survival was the order of the day, and the rich shoved it in your face.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Why I expect the very rich to be ahem surprised, and shocked

when that working class rage finally comes up and gels up.

And the Grapes of Wrath comes to mind fully... for many regions of the country

Hell, here where I live (on the other side of the country), we are starting to see how to avoid foreclosure signs, and sell short on the freeway, coming from the burbs... and I am noticing less traffic at night. Yes I drove yesterday, as I had a meting with my brother in law... instead of ride a bike and I noticed it... less cars on the road.

And this is southern california for god sakes, were car is kind!

[lonestarnot]

16. The richies won't feel a thing. They will have moved on with their loot before it comes to a head.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Depends and I will remind you the Guillotine comes to mind

The level of denial is equivalent to that of the French Elites.

[lonestarnot]

19. Delightful reminder! Thanks!

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. You welcome, I am far more partial to tar and feathers

but the price of tar might be a tad too high right now

[lonestarnot]

21. LOL, rubber cement!

[cliffordu]

3. A couple of months ago two major ports on the west

coast (One in Seattle, and one in Long Beach Ca) closed down for a three hour protest of the war in Iraq. It was not covered nationally, and was mentioned ONCE on local television news.

The odd thing was there were truckers, port workers and the kinds of kids you saw at the WTO riots involved in these protests.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Actually NPR covered it, thanks for the reminder though

though they did that for only one or two top of the news breaks.

And what you mentioned is the beginning of an alliance

[cliffordu]

8. If this alliance ever really gels, the power structure in this country

could change overnight.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. The alliance will gel, faster than you can say

gel... it is... to quote bill clinton... the economy stupid...

[XemaSab]

5. Here's the math:

If your car gets 20 miles per gallon, and you live 30 miles from your job, you will be using a gallon and a half to get to work, and a gallon and a half to get home.

If gas is 4.25, you're going to be using 12.75 per day to get to work and get home. If you're making 42 dollars a day, you're spending 30% of your income just to get to work,

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Exactly....

and why people will not remain docile for evah!

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Alert DU'ers THIS is a sign... the last time we saw this was ... circa 1929

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3377826

[Mojambo]

9. You're going to start seeing private security contractors "protecting" assets here at home.

I really think that an "Iraqi style bloodbath" could be one of the triggers for a... change in how the American people handle the social and economic strife that we're going to be facing for a decade+.

It's a scary time.

[cliffordu]

10. Blackwater.

[MountainLaurel]

15. Maybe that's what the figher plane is for

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-06-01-blackwater-brazlian-fighter-plane_N.htm

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. I should say that the Toucano is not really a fighter plane

in a furball that thing has the survival of half a second best case.

But it is perfect for low level CAS... CLOSE AIR SUPPORT.

Since it flies slow and low... like the A-10, but far cheaper.

The Brazilians use it to train air crews

:-)

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. I'm counting on it,

and I know the model is actually NOT Iraq, but Mexico City.

You have cops, but many formerly open streets are closed by checkpoints manned by security guards that are mostly unarmed.

That is what I expect to see, as well as high walls lined with broken glass