NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/misc/invest/17127

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-27 | 2.6 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!destroyer!ncar!noao!arizona!bakken
From: [e-mail] (Dave Bakken)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Act Now to Fight the Deficit
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 26 Jan 93 18:16:28 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Distribution: usa
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 44

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gordon Hamachi) writes:
>I've read "Bankruptcy 1995: The Coming Collapse of America and How to Stop It"
>by Harry Figgie, and it scares the hell out of me.  According to Figgie, the
>most likely results of inaction on the deficit are:
>
>       A catastrophic market panic
>       Hyperinflation
>       20% of American jobs gone
>       Social Security payments cut or eliminated

I have read it, too, and it also scares me (I have been very concerned
about this for 1-2 years, though).

I would urge everyone to follow  Gordon's advice and write your
CongressCritters *now*.  And join one or more groups that are trying
to fight the deficit (I joined  the NTU and CAGW a year ago).

One group that is not listed is called the Concord Coalition,
I think.  Its the one that Paul Tsongas and Warren Rudman have
founded to try to create grassroots pressure to fight deficit
spending.  This may well be the most effective group to join,
but I can't say for sure (and don't even have their address handy).

And I agree that Figgie may be underplaying the situation.  If
our economic system collapses, even briefly, chaos will result.
In the Great Depression many people lived near farms or in smaller
towns.  Now many people live in big cities and know nothing of
preparing and harvesting food.    And we have huge amounts
of politically disenfranchised people, especially in the
under class, and the moral fabric of our country has been on
a sharp decline these last few decades.  If you can imagine
the LA riots covering most of the US over, say, 500,000 people
then you start to get the picture.  And democracy would be
gone.  People have been participating less and less (at more
than a superficial level), want something for nothing, have
grown up in a culture where self comes first, etc.  People would
demand strong action to control the chaos, and IMO democracy
would not return for a *long* time (it has been an abberation
of history, if you take the long view).
--
Dave Bakken                               Internet: [e-mail]
Dept. of Computer Science; U of Arizona   Voice:    [phone]
Tucson, AZ 85721; USA                     FAX:      [phone]
The fact that you're paranoid doesn't prove they're *not* out to get you.