I’d like to be wrong about this. I really do. Just like I wanted to be wrong about Iraq. And Afghanistan. And Obama. But I doubt it.
Not Dead Yet
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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I'm sure plenty are hoping you're wrong. The fact that it took everyone about 7 years to realize about Afghanistan what you called mere weeks into it should bode very poorly, though.
"I'd like to be wrong about this. I really do. Just like I wanted to be wrong about Iraq. And Afghanistan. And Obama. But I doubt it."
Ted, thanks for the response to our comments.
Keep on Drawing!
Y_S
Pakistan
Rome kept appointing new emperors for centuries? Say what?
"Soviet" is Russian for "council" or "meeting group"; the other word for such a group would be "Duma", which is what the Czarist "rubber-stamp" congress was called, and nobody was wild for Czarist trappings in Russian government until 1993 or so (I noticed the old double eagle back on Russian government forms around that period)…the USSR ended in 1991; this was not a planned breakup, the new Lenin-head rubles had already been minted, so they were sent out. For a WWII history guy, Ted, you don't seem to remember that the new West German Deutchmarks did not hit the streets until 1947, so for a year and a half those Germans who had money still used the Nazi Reichsmark. If it were not for the 4 powers "denazification" acts I think that the Nazi-era metal currency would have been in use until 1955. I don't think this is the end of the US, just a poor economic period…and if it is, trade your dollars for Canadian ones and head north.
– Strelnikov
May I add to Ted (and your respected American fans) that the worst scenario for the United States is not Balkanizaition, but Brazilianisation.
love these apocolyptic comics, Ted…starting with the roman-themed one earlier last year.
anyone know what should I buy with my last financial aid check?..besides a plane ticket out of here, that is.
aw, at least he's closing gitmo.
—–
Here's Pete's plan for national recovery. Obama I hope you're reading this. Seriously:
Give the unemployed masses generous welfare checks, but require them to attend physics school (at taxpayer's expense). Most of them probably won't do well but that's not a big deal, this is about raw numbers. In 6-8 years we will have an army of physicists unlike any the world has seen.
Then deploy this army of physicists to develop practical nuclear fusion technology. With a manhattan-project-like (or man-on-the-moon-like) effort I it could be done in 15-20 years.
This would lead to the next great economic boom in the U.S. — think of all the amazing new commercialized technologies that would spawn with the availibility of massive energy!
Serious!
It is certainly true that there are few problems that can't be solved by throwing money and manpower at them. Unfortunately there is one social problem that's one of them – existential crisis.
The soviet union collapsed, ultimately, because of an existential crisis, nobody believed in the system and it fell apart.
Do Americans still belive in America? I suppose that's what you're about to find out…
America is the land of opportunity, and there is one opportunity that is ending. People will no longer be able to live beyond their means. I'm pretty sure we still have all the other opportunities.
That's actually a good thing. It means that becoming an indentured servant to a bank and buying crap you don't need will no longer be fashionable. If anything the United States will be a stronger society as a result.
Ted,
Perhaps you meant they continued to appoint emperors in the East, where they continued to rule for centuries?
Y_S, if by Brazilianisation you mean skyrocketing inflation like we had in the '80s and early '90s, hell yeah, I think that's a very likely nightmarish scenario for our American friends. Unfortunately, I think Team Obama will work with all their might towards that goal, unintentionally, of course.
I've been going into survivalist mode for more than a year now. Stock up on canned goods, ammo. Some nice rural land would be nice, too.
I've said it before and I'll say it again – We're headed into a time that will make the Great Depression and the Civil War look like Sunday School picnics.
Honestly, it's so troubling to read "live beyond their means" comments. It's like you lived on another planet for the last 28 years.
Do you really think there are homeless people because they bought a new DVD player? No, it's because the cost of everything but the cost of labor has gone up, year-in year-out, at least since I have been an adult.
ah,nuclear fusion,always 50 years away.the south west of your country is blistered by sunshine & yet no solar panels ?
"Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed. All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you really think your own country will last? Forever? Keep in mind that the earth itself is destined to be destroyed by the sun in twenty-five million years or so.
Nately squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, forever is a long time, I guess."
"A million years?" persisted the old man with keen, sadistic zest. "A half million? The frog is almost five hundred million years old. Could you really say with much certainty that America, with all its strength and prosperity, with it's fighting man that is second to none, and with its standard of living that is the highest in the world, will last as long as the… frog?"