Oh, say, can you see, by the DOOM's early light...

Victor Davis Hanson on the paralytic western society.

We seem able to admit that massive federal and state entitlements have created a sense of dependency, a loss of self-respect and initiative, and a breakdown of the family, yet we still seem to fear that trimming the subsidies would lead to some sort of cold-turkey hyper-reaction. We assume that society is to blame for disaffected youth and therefore are hesitant to use commensurate force to quell the violence or even to make it clear that perpetrators are responsible for their own conduct. Yet at some point — when the violence reaches middle-class communities or, in serial fashion, downtown or suburban stores — we likewise assume that sufficient force will be used. Sociological exegesis will go out the window. Reality has a way of dispelling such cognitive luxuries.

The Brits are discovering the truth of Dr. Hanson's words as we speak.

The economics of riots.

Public-sector workers are slowly and painfully coming to realize that the times, they are a-changin'.

I am often accused of being overly pessimistic about our future (both financially and socially), but it's just a matter of looking at the numbers, and the attitudes and behaviors of the voters in this country. The worst-case scenario is the most likely one.

You gotta love James Galbraith -- he’s an idiot in fair weather and in foul. A veritable Mount Everest made of pure stupid. This may be the best comedy bit you'll read all day.

The Japanese demographic collapse has been the talk of bond markets for almost twenty years now. Everyone keeps predicting doom for Japan has it's debt-to-GDP rises above 200%, yet somehow Japan keeps avoiding the headsman's axe. How can this happen? The answer is that the Japanese people themselves buy most Japanese debt...but Japan is greying, and all those savers are going to be drawing down their savings as they get old. When Japan has to go to the international markets to roll their debt, they are in for a world of hurt.

I've been saying it for years: Democrats will die on the entitlement hill. Harry Reid's picks for the so-called "super committee" make this abundantly clear. By picking hard-core leftist ideologues (Murray) and statist harness-bulls (Kerry), Reid is signalling that he intends no movement at all on the entitlement front. If any reforms to entitlements are to come, the GOP is going to have to force the issue. And it's not clear to me that the GOP has the will or the ability to do so.

The Euro project will fail because “Europe” is not a nation. It never has been, and it probably never will be. If political union is forced on the people by fiat, it will fail; and the denouement will be a bloody one.

Medicare vs private insurance. Predictably, medicare loses.

Fed: The economy's gonna suck for at least two more years. Embrace the suck.

The stock market recovered a lot of ground in yesterday's trading as panic-selling reversed and sheepish investors got back in.

Once again, and as usual, California screws themselves. But L.A. refuses to go quietly; the broke municipality recently approved plans for a new $1B NFL stadium. For a team they don't have yet. Budgets are for suckers!

BofA sells a bunch of shit to Fannie to go with Fannie's already-comprehensive shit-collection. And the cool thing? We get to pay for it! Yay!

UPDATE 1: Hey, it's not all DOOM up in here. The unions took a giant shot in the nuts in Wisconsin last night, so that's something to celebrate.

UPDATE 2: Spending yourself rich didn't work, after all. But...but...all the smart people said it would work!

UPDATE 3: Doubling down on zero.

This is what a central bank does when it wants to appear to do something to help the economy but has already fired most of its ammunition.

UPDATE 4: Via slublog -- Fear the Fed!

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posted by Monty at 08:35 AM

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