There is a meltdown occurring right now in the United States

[Earth_First]

There are several meltdowns which are currently underway: Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee.

There are more on the way.

It's the meltdown of the Working Class. The Unions. The Middle Class. The Retired. The Already Defeated.

However, instead of our government doing something to prevent these meltdowns from occurring, they've accelerated them at an alarming pace.

It's toxic.

It's compounding.

It's going to take YEARS to clean up.

We're on our own on this one.

It's up to US to prevent the further meltdown of the Working Class in this country.

SOLIDARITY!

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. That's right.

[Oceansaway]

2. Solidarity Forever !...nt

[golddigger]

3. WTF is Obama? This has gone national.

[Avant Guardian]

20. When it becomes obvious what the outcome will be, Obama will jump in on "the side of history"

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[no limit]

28. Haven't you heard? March madness is in full swing.

[firehorse]

4. As much as I respect the spirit of the post, I cringe at comparing us to what the people of Japan

are facing.

Maybe Americans are being "shaken up" or "rattled" out of complacency.

But its not we are facing multiple nuclear meltdowns within a week of a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami, and thousands of deaths. For the elderly that survived, this is worse than WWII for them in terms of what they are experiencing.

[BillyJack]

6. +1000 n/t

[StarburstClock]

7. It's not us-versus-them

America has massive problems with poverty, corruption, uninsured, propaganda, our own destroyed and decaying cities and infrastructures, elite thieves, military/industrial empire of death, etc... We've got so many people dying every single day that they are uncountable. The disaster in Japan has nothing to do with it.

[sarcasmo]

5. Obama is heading to Brazil, there can't be anything wrong.

Do I really need a sarcasm tag ^

[russspeakeasy]

29. Not for me, but there are some . I don't forgive. I don't forget.

[jacquelope]

8. Unrec. Not AMBITIOUS ENOUGH!

We need nationwide solidarity. All Government workers need to go on strike. At the very least all of America's teachers and police. Let's see the strike busters replace them!

BTW JUST KIDDING about the unrec!!! K&R! :D

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Oh I'm afraid that's coming Jacklie..........

These fascist thugs won't quit until we go all Greek on their ass with a general strike.

[Rex]

10. We need to go back to the year 2000 and have a complete DO OVER.

This time all legit like.

[dkofos]

11. I'd take it back to 1980.

Before Reaganomics had a chance to fuck up the country.

[Rex]

12. Oh yeah...lets get in the time machine! Back to 1980 so we can

flub Reagans plans and get Carter elected again! To the woods!!!

[abelenkpe]

22. + 1000

As long as we don't find neon fashionable again I'm all for it.

[Chris_Texas]

13. Well said!

[AllyCat]

14. WE are the hope and change we seek. Lets do it folks!

[louslobbs]

18. Agreed.

Lou

[Lifelong Protester]

15. Oh, it's ON

I am seeing people who I NEVER saw give a DAMN about the issues, government, or hell, anything outside of their little purview. A LOT OF PEOPLE. We are tired, we have HAD IT, we are coming for the bastards who left us in this state of affairs.

Time to pick sides. I know where I stand!

[defendandprotect]

16. It's the power of the powerless ... !!

[midnight]

17. K&R for the working people...

[Avant Guardian]

19. They are coming after your 'bloated pension'

Greed has metastasized.

[AKDavy]

21. $$$ = Power

I'm impatiently waiting for someone in a leadership position to call for a national boycott of all nonessential spending. It would be painful for many, but it would be decisive. Power watched the Dow, not the unemployment rate. Watch the Dow tumble if consumer spending dropped.

[bvar22]

25. My Wife & I went "On Strike" in 2006.

Wall Street can Live or Die without our money or concern.

We buy almost nothing NEW.
If we can't make it ourselves, we buy or barter 2nd hand or salvage and make it work,
or do without.

We are Living Well on skills we learned in the 60s. :hippie:
LESS is MORE!
Next year, we will !CONSUME! even less.

We're waiting for you guys to join us....
...or not.

[Plucketeer]

30. We're with you here in CA.

We try our best to re-use and recycle things before we break down and buy new. Growing a good part of our own food as well.

[bvar22]

40. The more the better.

I watched a special on the History Channel the other night...The Prophets of Doom.
It was a roundtable discussion with experts in diverse fields on some of the problems IMMEDIATELY facing our World.
While they all had their pet theories about what was the most important crisis we are facing,
they ALL agreed that Decentralization, Diversification, and Localization of food crops is most important.

Welcome to The Solution.
:hi:


Actually, if none of that other stuff was going on, we would be doing this anyway for the Taste only.

[AKDavy]

35. I guess we're part way there ourselves

We just purchased 7 acres in Alaska that we're developing for self-sufficiency (terracing for garden and greenhouse, wood stove, root cellar/freezer for winter storage).
We never buy anything new that we can find used, and I'm guessing we pay between $0.20 and $0.50 for used-like-new tools, firearms, furniture, and other things.
With the new house at treeline, the great view, and lots of hobbies, our entertainment costs are next to nothing.

But we could cut even further.

[bvar22]

38. Congrats on the land in the last frontier!

We made our decision in 2005, and spent about a year looking for a good location.
We wanted Pacific North West or Missoula, but were priced out.
We talked about Alaska, but felt we were too old for the hardships of Winter in Alaska.
Most lower 49 affordable locations west of the Mississippi have, or will have, clean water problems.
We finally decided on the rural South...Ouachita Mountains of West/Central Arkansas.
So far, so good.

After 4 years, we are producing a good percentage of our food, and expanding our food production again this season.
We have reduced our dependence on BIG ENERGY, but still have many areas we can work on.
We would love to go Solar/Wind, but our rural grid has no provisions for Sell Back, and we are not going to bring a a TON (minimum) of toxic Lead/Acid Batteries on to our property, so currently we are focusing on efficiency and reduction of unnecessary usage.

We love our Wood Stove. It is our primary heat,
but have found it to be a very hungry and unforgiving taskmaster during the cold season.
We have become positively Mormon about keeping as much firewood on hand as possible.
We are always on the lookout for hardwood trees we can cut, haul, and put in the shed.


"We can cut even further too."
That is our motto.
It IS a process that takes time, planning, and effort.
We are always happy when we fit in another piece and get it to work.
Mission Accomplished!...What next?
(next for us: Solar Hot Water, and better preservation of produce for Winter)

Instead of National Politics, we are spending our energy on local Humanitarian issues,
and finding more ways to deprive the WAR Machine/Big Corpo of funding.

Good Luck on your adventure.
I love all the TV series on Alaska that are currently popular.
Sometimes I wish we had made the jump to Alaska.
We were living comfortably in Minnesota at the time we made our decision,
so the cold didn't scare us.
It was the long nights, SAD, and short growing season that made our decision for us.
:hippie:

[AKDavy]

39. We've been in Alaska for 26 years, but...

we still thought we would retire someplace warmer. The cold isn't so bad, you just have to be prepared and a bit stoic. You know that, coming from Minnesota. Actually, I prefer the cold to heat. I come from the Southwest, but after this long in Alaska I find temperatures above about 75 degrees to be uncomfortable.

The biggest problem in Alaska is that it's basically a colony. In spite of the latitude, Alaska could be self-sufficient in dairy and produce, although the variety would be low, if not for the lower-cost corporate-produced meat, dairy and produce from outside. We're certainly completely self-sufficient where energy is concerned, and if Big Oil pulled out tomorrow we have all the local talent we need to run oilfields, pipelines, refineries and marketing infrastructure. The large amount of land in federal hands also limits self-determination.

We finally decided to stay in Alaska because the world is getting to be a scary place, and we want to be far away from large urban centers and the Mad Max Scenario in the event of societal meltdown. We also prefer the freedom here. It's a good place to be an anarchist, provided you aren't stupid about it. Frankly, I've put right/wrong ahead of legal/illegal in guiding my personal behavior for all these years, and I've stayed out of legal trouble where I probably wouldn't have South of Sixty.

I'm fortunate to have a good job, but our retirement plans were wiped out with the recession. We now prepare for retirement without investing in an economic system run by criminals. We keep cash on hand, but know it's fiat currency, so we keep commodities (silver and gold) and staples (.22 ammunition and liquor) that can be used for barter. Our children all consider this property to be "home base" in the event of emergency.

We're in a good location for wind, but I have the same concern about large banks of batteries. Solar has application here, but it's limited. We have basic lighting and communication systems that can run on low-voltage direct current. We can also cook, heat and have light with kerosene, which stores well.

I admire the progress you've made in self-sufficiency. I hope we get there ourselves soon.

[rurallib]

24. BTW don't forget Puerto Rico. There's been confrontation

going on for more than a year. Since the Republican governor was elected and started jacking up the cost of education and killing jobs.
great summary here: http://occupyca.wordpress.com/category/locale/global/puerto-rico/

[truth2power]

26. You are absolutely correct. I just said in another thread that

I, who have never been troubled overly much by depression, seem to be fighting it all the time now.

Like many here at DU I read enough to know what's REALLY going on and where it's headed.

I told my son, yesterday, that things are going to shit. He probably thinks it's just mom, raving and ranting again.

Here, Google this: ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) if you want your hair to stand on end. I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS until yesterday when a DUer posted about it; although I did know, since last summer, that the private prison industry was behind the immigration craziness in AZ (a corporately operated prison needs CUSTOMERS doncha know).

Here's a good link: www.alecwatch.org Have fun! :nuke:


Clue: If this isn't fascism on stilts then somebody give me a better definition.

[livingonearth]

32. Oh my god! Kasich, the new governor of Ohio, has prison privatization in his budget plans.

[Raksha]

34. Why am I not surprised? n/t

[Erose999]

36. No collective bargaining for public employees? Privitized prisons? Welcome

to Georgia my friend. Population: Me :(

[TBF]

27. Solidarity K&R nt

[LynneSin]

31. This is the kind of Meltdown we should be getting vocal about

Great post!

[BeFree]

33. Solution

Tie Walker to the Nukers.
He is a nuker, right?

Make him eat it. Make all of them eat their nuke wastes.

[DangerousRhythm]

37. I barely saw anything about Texas here the other day.

We had a protest here in Houston, Texans Day Of Outrage... did anyone else here attend?