Subaru Enthusiasts Car Club of the Sierras - View Single Post - New Wal-mart

sperry · 2004-01-23, 01:16 AM

Just what we need... a 5th WalMart in Reno.

Prepare yourself, I'm letting it all out now:

Hear that sucking noise? That's the economy drying up. Not to sound like some alarmist hippie or anything, but seriously: "repent, the end is nigh". *Seriously* I give this nation 10 to 20 years before it goes the way of the Roman Empire.

We've hit peak oil, from now on, it will only get more expensive to obtain and refine oil. And oil doesn't just mean gas prices... our very way of life, right down to the food we grow, is tied to the need for oil. The oil companies, and out gov't know this, hence the current unethical land grab in the Mid East. I don't believe our gov't is actually evil, they're just doing evil stuff because they know more than they let on to the public. Bush, and his crew (that have been around since Bush 1) all know we're, as a nation, in deep shit. Like end of the American way of life type deep shit. And when we go down, so will a whole lot of other places... pretty much the only people who's way of life is secure are the peasant farmers in rural China... that is assuming they survive the retaliatory nuclear strike the US sends over there after China nukes our interests in the Mid East due to the world wide oil crisis.

Okay that's a nuts scenario, but is it really impossible? Not really. Sear the web and read about "peak oil". Then look at the way our world's changed in the last 10 to 20 years. We've gone from the dot com boom and the unlimited horizons of a new century, to a world with color coded terrorism alert levels. Is it too hard to imagine nuclear war? Frankly, the shit's hitting the fan, and it's really too late to change it. Our oil is running out, and with it, our way of life. Even if cold fusion or something were invented and working today, it's still too late to convert our (and by "our", I mean the entire western world) infrastructure in time to stave off the war, starvation, and death we are about to endure. Think Great Depression x100.

Now, is this really WalMart's fault? Of course not... but WalMart is a great example of the symptoms of the pending situation. WalMart is quite literally a sign of the apocalypse. WalMart's never ending quest for the bottom line has eaten the economy out from under them. Almost all of WalMart's goods are imported from other countries to cut costs. Even the US companies that supply WalMart have had to ship jobs and manufacturing overseas in order to continue to supply WalMart at WalMart's ever lower price requirements. Even if they were to say "no" to selling cheaper to WalMart, then their product would be dropped and a competitor's picked up, which would be basically signing the company over to bankruptcy.

So why is WalMart like this? It's the god damned "American Way" that's why. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about the way our greed has destroyed such a great nation.

I was watching a program on the History Channel about the Japanese internment camps during WW2. I was feeling quite ill that as a nation we'd be so scared and reactionary as to literally imprison a nationality of people, just for being from a particular country. (The DMCA and Patriot Act come to mind.) Then they talked about the unit of Japanese-American soldiers that served in Europe as a means to demonstrait their loyality to the US. They became the most decorated unit of all of WW2. I was almost brought to tears; to think of the bravery and sacrifice of these kids that decided they'd die to prove they love this country, even after the government had locked away their families... amazing. Where are the people like that today? Where are the people who've decided their lives are less important than our nation? Gone. Instead we've got citizens watching Survivor, or bitching about their carb intake, or haggling over a $30 DVD player at WalMart. I don't mean to lessen the sacrifice of today's soldiers, but they're out there dying today not to save the world from evil, but to simply stave off the end for a few more years.

For the record, I don't blame the Bushes, or Clinton, or really anyone in particular. I don't feel like the last few governments have done a very good job with the pending crisis, but frankly, this has been coming for a long time... we waited too long to notice the grave we were digging, and no matter who's in charge, we're still gonna have to lie down. You see the last generation of truly honest, hard working Americans were those young boys that died on the beaches of Normandy, or drowned in Pearl Harbor. "The Greatest Generation" they're called. These were the people that selflessly got up from their nice safe lives in whatever small city they found themselves in and shipped off to war to literally save the world from an evil man. These were the people that postponed a family to build tanks at a Ford assembly line. These were the people that were content to live with blackouts, sugar rations, and war bonds in order to help set a wrong right.

Once these humble heros returned home, or returned to their daily lives, they built a new life. And this life was based on the 1st hand knowledge of what a horrendous place the world could be. People went out of their way to be kind to each other, and to take pride in their work. When they say "they don't make 'em like they used to", these are the people that made 'em the right way. Our nation prospered like never before. Due to the hard work and persistance of this WW2 generation, America became a super power. The quality of life increased dramatically. And as every parent wishes, the children of the Greatest Generation (the Baby Boomers) grew up with much less strife and struggle than their parents.

It's a common perception among the middle class that rich people who were born into their money, simply don't respect what they've got, simply because they didn't have to earn it. And that's the world the Baby Boomers inherrited. A world where success and prosperity was inherrited. So instead of being thankful for the sacrafices their parents had made for them, and being content with their quality of life, the Boomers invested their wealth in making more wealth. As they say, "the rich get richer". The problem was that we developed wonderful means for aquiring tremendous wealth, very quickly. And without any perspective on how bad the world could really be, it became expected that Americans should be rich. Whereas the veterans of WW2 had been through hell and back, and knew evil, their children (and grandchildren even moreso, etc) were all convinced that wealth and success were manifest.

So, here we are 50 years later, and it's time to pay the piper. Our greed has multiplied with each generation. Profit is more important than humanity, "I" is more important than "us". Our instant gratification way of life, with our super-sized fries, and our cell phones, and internet porn is doomed because over the last 40 years, no one bothered to stop and take notice about what we were doing to our environment, and our economy. Chirst, look at the Enron energy scandal... really, how could someone think they could get away with it? Greed. Self righteousness. Lack of accountability. These are the flavors of the current generation of Americans.

Thomas Jefferson once said that each generation must find a conflict to fight... a trial by fire, if you will, to harden them so they'd be able to make the proper tough decisions for the future, a tempering that created great leaders who can lead the nation to great success. Jefferson's conflict was the Revolutionary War, and the founding of our nation. And while there have been many "tempering" conflicts over the last 200 years, it was WW2 that tested the mettle of our nation the greatest, and it really was the darkest of times that sow the seeds that allowed our country to become so successful. The problem is that since then, we've had it too good, too easy. We have had several generations that have gone untested. I fear the greatest test is coming. We'll get to deal with all the terrible conclusions that peak oil imply. Read about it, and see if the current world situation doesn't suddenly make more sense.

"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'" -- Winston Churchill, June 18, 1940

2004-01-23, 01:16 AM	#8
sperry The Doink Real Name: Scott Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 20,335 Car: '09 OBXT, '02 WRX, '96 Miata Class: PDX/TT-6 The way out is through	Just what we need... a 5th WalMart in Reno. Prepare yourself, I'm letting it all out now: Hear that sucking noise? That's the economy drying up. Not to sound like some alarmist hippie or anything, but seriously: "repent, the end is nigh". Seriously I give this nation 10 to 20 years before it goes the way of the Roman Empire. We've hit peak oil, from now on, it will only get more expensive to obtain and refine oil. And oil doesn't just mean gas prices... our very way of life, right down to the food we grow, is tied to the need for oil. The oil companies, and out gov't know this, hence the current unethical land grab in the Mid East. I don't believe our gov't is actually evil, they're just doing evil stuff because they know more than they let on to the public. Bush, and his crew (that have been around since Bush 1) all know we're, as a nation, in deep shit. Like end of the American way of life type deep shit. And when we go down, so will a whole lot of other places... pretty much the only people who's way of life is secure are the peasant farmers in rural China... that is assuming they survive the retaliatory nuclear strike the US sends over there after China nukes our interests in the Mid East due to the world wide oil crisis. Okay that's a nuts scenario, but is it really impossible? Not really. Sear the web and read about "peak oil". Then look at the way our world's changed in the last 10 to 20 years. We've gone from the dot com boom and the unlimited horizons of a new century, to a world with color coded terrorism alert levels. Is it too hard to imagine nuclear war? Frankly, the shit's hitting the fan, and it's really too late to change it. Our oil is running out, and with it, our way of life. Even if cold fusion or something were invented and working today, it's still too late to convert our (and by "our", I mean the entire western world) infrastructure in time to stave off the war, starvation, and death we are about to endure. Think Great Depression x100. Now, is this really WalMart's fault? Of course not... but WalMart is a great example of the symptoms of the pending situation. WalMart is quite literally a sign of the apocalypse. WalMart's never ending quest for the bottom line has eaten the economy out from under them. Almost all of WalMart's goods are imported from other countries to cut costs. Even the US companies that supply WalMart have had to ship jobs and manufacturing overseas in order to continue to supply WalMart at WalMart's ever lower price requirements. Even if they were to say "no" to selling cheaper to WalMart, then their product would be dropped and a competitor's picked up, which would be basically signing the company over to bankruptcy. So why is WalMart like this? It's the god damned "American Way" that's why. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about the way our greed has destroyed such a great nation. I was watching a program on the History Channel about the Japanese internment camps during WW2. I was feeling quite ill that as a nation we'd be so scared and reactionary as to literally imprison a nationality of people, just for being from a particular country. (The DMCA and Patriot Act come to mind.) Then they talked about the unit of Japanese-American soldiers that served in Europe as a means to demonstrait their loyality to the US. They became the most decorated unit of all of WW2. I was almost brought to tears; to think of the bravery and sacrifice of these kids that decided they'd die to prove they love this country, even after the government had locked away their families... amazing. Where are the people like that today? Where are the people who've decided their lives are less important than our nation? Gone. Instead we've got citizens watching Survivor, or bitching about their carb intake, or haggling over a $30 DVD player at WalMart. I don't mean to lessen the sacrifice of today's soldiers, but they're out there dying today not to save the world from evil, but to simply stave off the end for a few more years. For the record, I don't blame the Bushes, or Clinton, or really anyone in particular. I don't feel like the last few governments have done a very good job with the pending crisis, but frankly, this has been coming for a long time... we waited too long to notice the grave we were digging, and no matter who's in charge, we're still gonna have to lie down. You see the last generation of truly honest, hard working Americans were those young boys that died on the beaches of Normandy, or drowned in Pearl Harbor. "The Greatest Generation" they're called. These were the people that selflessly got up from their nice safe lives in whatever small city they found themselves in and shipped off to war to literally save the world from an evil man. These were the people that postponed a family to build tanks at a Ford assembly line. These were the people that were content to live with blackouts, sugar rations, and war bonds in order to help set a wrong right. Once these humble heros returned home, or returned to their daily lives, they built a new life. And this life was based on the 1st hand knowledge of what a horrendous place the world could be. People went out of their way to be kind to each other, and to take pride in their work. When they say "they don't make 'em like they used to", these are the people that made 'em the right way. Our nation prospered like never before. Due to the hard work and persistance of this WW2 generation, America became a super power. The quality of life increased dramatically. And as every parent wishes, the children of the Greatest Generation (the Baby Boomers) grew up with much less strife and struggle than their parents. It's a common perception among the middle class that rich people who were born into their money, simply don't respect what they've got, simply because they didn't have to earn it. And that's the world the Baby Boomers inherrited. A world where success and prosperity was inherrited. So instead of being thankful for the sacrafices their parents had made for them, and being content with their quality of life, the Boomers invested their wealth in making more wealth. As they say, "the rich get richer". The problem was that we developed wonderful means for aquiring tremendous wealth, very quickly. And without any perspective on how bad the world could really be, it became expected that Americans should be rich. Whereas the veterans of WW2 had been through hell and back, and knew evil, their children (and grandchildren even moreso, etc) were all convinced that wealth and success were manifest. So, here we are 50 years later, and it's time to pay the piper. Our greed has multiplied with each generation. Profit is more important than humanity, "I" is more important than "us". Our instant gratification way of life, with our super-sized fries, and our cell phones, and internet porn is doomed because over the last 40 years, no one bothered to stop and take notice about what we were doing to our environment, and our economy. Chirst, look at the Enron energy scandal... really, how could someone think they could get away with it? Greed. Self righteousness. Lack of accountability. These are the flavors of the current generation of Americans. Thomas Jefferson once said that each generation must find a conflict to fight... a trial by fire, if you will, to harden them so they'd be able to make the proper tough decisions for the future, a tempering that created great leaders who can lead the nation to great success. Jefferson's conflict was the Revolutionary War, and the founding of our nation. And while there have been many "tempering" conflicts over the last 200 years, it was WW2 that tested the mettle of our nation the greatest, and it really was the darkest of times that sow the seeds that allowed our country to become so successful. The problem is that since then, we've had it too good, too easy. We have had several generations that have gone untested. I fear the greatest test is coming. We'll get to deal with all the terrible conclusions that peak oil imply. Read about it, and see if the current world situation doesn't suddenly make more sense. "What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'" -- Winston Churchill, June 18, 1940 __________________ Is you is, or is you ain't, my con-stit-u-ints?