The developed world teeters on the brink of explosion, and the average member of our great societies, doesn’t not have a clue. They lack the knowledge to know how precarious their existence is. Even those of us who DO see the warning signs, see so many of them that we aren’t sure which is the one that will finally cause the explosion.
One good analogy is superheated water. It stays calm, even under more and more heat, only because you have added more and more pressure. Eventually, the pressure becomes too great (or not great enough), and there’s an explosion.
One day, our superheated society will have a superheated explosion.
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A Superheated Society
As I write this, most of you are getting ready to gather around a table with family and friends, for that wholly American tradition of Thanksgiving. Each of you will have a different family tradition, and I remember mine fondly.
Those of you who aren’t American will carry on, like any other Thursday. And, some of you might even have a late night because you are involved in supplying the voracious Christmas appetite that Americans have.
My wife and I were out late, Wednesday night, and I was surprised at how many people were getting on the train, to go home. And, as I exclaimed this to Mrs. Little, she said that they probably had to stay late to make last minute communications with their American counterparts, before the four day weekend started.
I thought about that for a moment and realized that this was also the beginning of the most materialistic month in America. Come Friday, Americans will go out in droves to buy things that they don’t need, with money that they don’t have. And, countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and others, will continue to hope that Americans keep up that insanity.
Unfortunately, like all good insanities, this will end. The only question is in how. We already know why.
The Pressure Cooker
Think of it like a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers exist because you want to be able to cook liquids quickly, without bringing them to a boil. And, a pressure cooker keeps water from boiling by keeping the pressure on that water high enough to stop the water from boiling.
The term for that is superheating.
What happens when the heat gets too great for the pressure cooker to contain the pressure of the steam?
An explosion.
In 2008 and 2009, the federal government of the United States stepped in to ‘rescue’ the biggest banks from their own corruption. They also went on to rescue companies that should not have been rescued – that should have been allowed to die, sweeping out the rotting deadwood to make way for the new.
Instead, they tried to avert disaster by propping up the useless and suppressing the useful. And, they achieved this by applying pressure. And, then they applied more and more pressure.
Eventually, the pot will explode. The only question is when, and what will be the catalyst for this explosion.
Microwaved Water
If it helps, here’s another analogy that deals with another element of the superheating of liquids.
Have you ever heated a glass of water and just touched it, only to have it explosively boil over?
It has happened to me, and it’s a demonstration of superheating – where the water is brought just over the boiling point of water. But, since it was very pure, and since the water had just enough surface tension… it took a nudge to cause it to boil over.
In Physics, we refer to that moment in time, when water starts to boil, a ‘phase transition’. And, you actually need a certain amount of energy to accomplish a phase transition. Whether it’s liquid to steam or to ice, a tiny bit of energy is needed to accomplish a ‘phase transition’.
Like a nudge.
Freezing A Bottle Of Coke
I’ve frozen quite a few bottles of Coke in an attempt to chill down my favorite caffeinated, fizzy drink. Sometimes, when I take a supercooled bottle of Coke out of the freezer, it seems to still be liquid. But, when I unscrew the cap, there’s a pop of CO2, and the coke turns to ice.
That is another example of a phase transition that requires a jolt of some kind to move from one phase (liquid) to another (ice).
Everything Seems Normal
Look around you.
Does everything seem normal?
It does?
Well, I’m glad, but your society has been heated and heated and heated to the point of explosion. At some point, something will happen – a seemingly small thing – that will cause your world to blow up.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is blamed for starting World War I, but that is far from true. It was just the nudge that caused the superheated glass of water to boil over – or the pop of the cap of the mostly frozen bottle of Coke.
The famines of the late 1700s are blamed for the French Revolution. But, that is also far from the case. As Martin Armstrong always says, everything – every detail – is related. And, the more complex a system gets, the more opportunities there are for that one failure to cause a stressed out system to collapse – suddenly.
Hindsight Is 20/20
Looking back, we can see the reason why the world sat on the brink of World War I. Looking back, we could see the reasons why the French Revolution was inevitable. And today, as I write on this Thanksgiving Day of 2017, I see the inevitability of collapse for our own society – whether in America, Europe or Asia. And, anything could set off that collapse.
All that it would take is something like a ‘tap’ to the side of a glass.
Historians will claim that this ‘one thing’, that one ‘tap’, was what set off the conflagration. They might even sort through the records and blame some poor banana farmer in Costa Rica for being five minutes late with his first shipment. Or, they might blame the Dentist that damaged the tooth that caused a sleep-deprived currency trader to press the wrong button.
When People Go Hungry
It could be anything, but there is one thing that I know for sure:
When you hurt someone in their pocketbook, when they find it hard to feed themselves or their kids (especially, their kids), bad things happen.
We’ve known for a very long time that Washington D.C. is unbelievably corrupt. With few exceptions, every politician is a dirtbag. But, Americans have tolerated the corruption. And, they’ve tolerated the corruption, because life was okay.
As long as you have a place to live, food to eat, and a family that is cared for, people will not demand much from their government. But, when the people are hungry, they’ll want someone to blame. And, they’ll demand that the military go after the ones to blame.
The Military Coup
Back during the French Revolution, the military and the king were considered to be synonymous. The ill will that the people felt toward the King, was also felt toward the military.
But today?
Today, the military is looked upon with great respect, while the politicians in Washington are given no respect at all – and deserve none. The politicians are seen as irredeemably corrupt. And, The Generals seem not to be.
That’s why I believe that America will one day be ruled by a military junta. The people will demand that The Generals take over and declare martial law. Our own stupidity and lack of morality will have driven us to this point in time, but we won’t blame ourselves. We’ll blame our civilian leadership, and replace it with a military one.
And, nothing will change, except the death and destruction will just get worse.
(A big thanks to DRG for the inspiration.)
To my American readers:
Happy Thanksgiving!
To the rest of you, get back to work!
I truly hope that you’ll be ready for this
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. – Proverbs 22:3
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If you find a flaw in my reasoning, have a question, or wish to add your own viewpoint, leave a comment on the website. Your input is truly welcome.
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