Lots of great threads in GD about the true state of the economy. Popular themes include the unlimited largess by The Federal Reserve to ensure a flood of liquidity floats the biggest yachts docked on Wall Street and at the Pentagon. Others detail efforts to rip off employee pensions, rip off Social Security, and generally rip off those lucky enough to have had something trickle down to them in the form of a job over the last 30 years.
Anyway: Phil Proctor and Dave Bergman of Firesign Theatre pretty much predicted (or called out) our current predicament way back in 1979. They wrote
Americathon, a film about the days when the middle class will consider themselves fortunate to find a car to squat in.
It's not just a telethon; it's an ‘Americathon'By Franklin Harris
The Decatur Daily
Published: Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.
EXCERPT...
So, in 1979, along came a movie that seemed to sum up how the country felt about itself. It was a screwball comedy called “Americathon,” written by Firesign Theatre's Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman.
Forgotten since the 1980s, “Americathon” is back and available as a manufacture-on-demand DVD from Warner Archive, online at warnerarchive.com. And it seems just as relevant now as when it was in theaters.
Set in the then-future year of 1998, “Americathon” depicts the United States as flat broke, and the mortgage is coming due.
No one can afford a house, so everyone lives in their cars. But that's OK, because no one can afford gasoline, either, and everyone rides bicycles or jogs to work.
SNIP...
And George Carlin narrates the whole thing, which is appropriate considering he spent the last decade of his life telling us all just how doomed we are.
CONTINUED...
http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20101216/articles/312169999?Title=It-s-not-just-a-telethon-it-s-an-8216-Americathon- The movie is hilarious. The reality is, though, most scary: We live in a time when desperate, impoverished people certainly will not even notice the Constitution getting shredded and tossed into the burn bag. They don't have a clue that bag contained what made us the land of the free and the home of the brave.