Are we watching an empire collapse in real time?

[T1 Terry]

Designing with the builder sound good, at least you should get what you want.
Get an architect involved, and anything can happen, then the builder has to struggle figuring out how it can be built.

The builder has their own house designer and architect and council approval wizard etc. They have already completed a topographical survey, so they can design the house to fit into the block.
The block is on the high side of the road, overlooking the Murray River, well, a flooded paddock that was once part of a farm that the '56 flood filled with water and after the Murray/Darling Authority artificially raised the river level, it has been a duck, pelican and swan habitat.
Roughly 750 mtrs wide, then the actual bank of the Murray River ..... too shallow for house boats thank goodness, and too many dead trees remains for jet skis and wake boarders with their monstrous wake boats .... where they get the money for them beats me, $300,000 for a play toy you use a few mths a yr ....
But they are far enough away on the river to not be a noise disturbance

T1 Terry

 

[decrep]

Sounds interesting, maybe we come and visit sometime.

 

[T1 Terry]

Sounds interesting, maybe we come and visit sometime.

Might have to wait until they build it could be another 18 mths with nothing going wrong in the process .....
Apparently it takes up to 12 mths to get from the ideas settle to the council approval, before they even start moving dirt .....
So, the world isn't allowed to go to crap before our house is built ..... maybe I should send a cartoon picture book letter to Trump and tell him to settle until we have our house built and furnished and we are living in it

T1 Terry

 

[decrep]

No worries, don't think we'll be coming your way until there's enough infrastructure on the Nullabor. Unless I decide to take the surfwagon to Lake George

 

[T1 Terry]

No worries, don't think we'll be coming your way until there's enough infrastructure on the Nullabor. Unless I decide to take the surfwagon to Lake George

You can drive from WA to SA in an EV now, been that way for a while. They have added fish shop frier oil fuelled generators where there isn't grid supply available.
I believe, in conjunction with the AEVA, the govt is upgrading these areas with solar battery storage to help those communities get off diesel generator power as well as provide a fully renewable electric highway across from state to state.

T1 Terry

 

[mGizmo]

Especially because the US aren't going to do anything to improve the situation in Venezuela.

They are hoping that if they take out the leader and make some threats then the country will work out well for them.

It won't, though, as it is dysfunctional.

Some would argue the US is now at least as dysfunctional as Venezuala...

 

[EVsince2016]

I read an article on this more than a decade ago on the BBC, when they did good in-depth articles. It said pretty much the same, with better deeper references to the empires of Rome, Egypt and earlier.

It was more focused on the European Empire and drive for Brexit before it happened. It noted that the UK for going for currency & the US, with £trillions in cash stashed away in British Dependency tax havens. Europe was about to ban tax havens and was going for assets (high speed rail, infrastructure, resources, manufacturing), just the things the UK had off shored to China. The target was actually tax avoidance in the PIG countries, but the UK tax avoidance dwarfed that, so the 0.001% with the £trillions wanted out. Trusts and tax havens are banned in the EU now, everyone has to pay their taxes, so cash rich millionaires are leaving.

The Uk has many parallels to this video. Yes, WW1 and WW2 were a big hit, but the joint covid / Brexit hit was our final full entry into stage 4. Unlike the US though, we can no longer take things by force, so instead, rats are abandoning a sinking ship. We are at the advanced blaming others stage across society, complaining but not doing across all age groups and we live in a country where everything is crumbling. 1980's state asset fire sales and our reliance on cheap foreign labour have run out and the pot is now empty.

We now have excessive ill health, people retiring before their time and younger people unable to work as hard as we did in the past, not having kids or socialising. Far too many have "mental health" issues, real or perceived.

Yes, I know that these issues are starting across other Western countries too but outside the UK, in the EU, things mostly work, I get easy access to healthcare, I do not see potholes, cities are vibrant and people work. Families & well-behaved kids are everywhere bar the dead villages in Spain & Italy for example.

Just don't see this as just a US problem, we are there too, just by different means.

 

[Shrink Proof]

Some would argue the US is now at least as dysfunctional as Venezuela...

Nonsense. No country can outclass the USA when it comes to gun care and health control.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

Whilst they have many problems in allowing an integration into society of many of its peoples , they are way ahead of us into the inclusion of people with mental issues into high ranking governmental positions and unlimited access to automatic weapons . ( as long as they are pale skinned ). Woke ???? Edit. ( oh ! I forgot about Liz Truss )

 

[T1 Terry]

Whilst they have many problems in allowing an integration into society of many of its peoples , they are way ahead of us into the inclusion of people with mental issues into high ranking governmental positions and unlimited access to automatic weapons . ( as long as they are pale skinned ). Woke ???? Edit. ( oh ! I forgot about Liz Truss )

I was watching a you Tube today discussing this sort of thing.
The way Trump surrounded himself with people he though were inferior intellects to him, attacked all the higher learning establishments for fear they would mock him and immediately turns on anyone who questions his genius because he feels threatened.

T1 Terry

 

[Peterboat]

As for the initial question, yes I think we are seeing the gradual loss of US hegemony because China and Asia generally are rapidly catching up with the West and have much bigger populations so will end up more powerful.

The West could stay ahead by 1. increasing immigration and 2. investing heavily in its future (infrastructure, new technology).

However, people choose (as is their right in a free society) to 1. limit immigration to maintain some kind of racial/cultural purity and 2. consume more and go on holiday a lot.

Trump and his entourage don't even believe in "the West." They are more like fascists who believe that white men are the only people that matter and they should have power over everyone else. They have seen the way the world is going and they don't like it, so they have lost their tiny prejudiced minds.

We have another problem with immigration, resources like water and food, climate change is causing real problems with basic requirements. We cannot grow anymore than we have because one real hot summer would probably destroy us all either by real shortages or the riots with the strong taking what it needed to survive. Its no good saying well Europe will help as they are facing the same problems as us.

 

[tsedge]

The way I see it, to borrow a Lord of The Rights analogy, Europe (including the UK) is a lot like the Ents. Old and slow and apparently weak, but - if we got our act together - powerful and stronger than anyone imagines we are. After all our combined population, GDP, debt levels and resources can match anyone. The issue is that they are not combined at all.

Perhaps all this change is a blessing because it will lead to Europe finally taking responsibility for its own defence, future prosperity and place in the world.

I always felt this idea of a single-superpower policeman whose benevolence we all depend on wasn't a good thing.

I'll leave it to others to decide which character the great Orange one is in this analogy!

 

[T1 Terry]

We have another problem with immigration, resources like water and food, climate change is causing real problems with basic requirements. We cannot grow anymore than we have because one real hot summer would probably destroy us all either by real shortages or the riots with the strong taking what it needed to survive. Its no good saying well Europe will help as they are facing the same problems as us.

But hasn't that been the case in the UK since records began ..... It must get harder every day to figure out who is an immigrant and who is a native .... is there such a thing as an indigenous race in the UK?
The strong or the rich have always taken, the down trodden always left battling for what is left.

But that is basic survival when things get tough. If the USA does face a financial collapse, the only difference will be inside the US will be paper money won't buy what it did yesterday, but probably twice as much as it will tomorrow.

Finding something of value to use as a trading commodity that the average fruit and vegie seller or meat and seafood seller will accept in exchange for the goods they have to sell will be the critical thing that gets them across the line between surviving or becoming the victim of something they really had no control over ....

Then, the fighting starts I'm guessing ......

T1 Terry

 

[Peterboat]

That is more dooms day prepping, I doubt it will come to that, but stocking the shelves with long life products when the price is good, has always been a good investment.
If it did all go to crap, hard copies of practical, easy build projects from scrap parts would be a great investment ...... water wheels, Pelton wheels that can be printed with a 3D printer, or beaten out from metal and welded together, even by "plastic welding" where the metal is heated and beaten together to force the metals to integrate with each other, the way the old blacksmith joined metal.
Small dam construction and turbine design to use the energy in the water to generate electricity .....

Water filtration and methods of heat storage for cooking, comfort and distilling water ..... how to build a mud brick house, rammed earth walls and floors .... basic survival techniques really

T1 Terry

I am ex force's and have always thought that being prepared is necessary, I have a 57 x 12 Dutch barge, it is powered by 5kw of solar a 6 kW generator and is electric drive. It has 2 tons of water on-board a water purification plant, I do carry a lot of tinned food for just in case. The old Rayburn Royal is happy on wood, the front stove is a blue flame waste oil burner that is also connected into the central heating as is the Rayburn and generator via a heat store. I have always thought moored in deep water is a natural barrier against people climbing on-board. I was a good archer for many years and eaten what I killed in the force's. The trouble is we get old and whether defend ourselves is the problem

 

[OriginalBigAl]

According to " experts " the world population and birth-rates are set to diminish in number , which in the short term ( 10 -70 years ) creates tax revenue shortfalls doubled with the increasing age of the present populations means health and pension benefits will be squeezed . Most countries will be affected which is why an immigration of young people willing to work , legally and pay taxes is necessary, if not immediately then in the near future. Of course the problem is : picking the right people which is where any future government is going to have to argue its case against a ill informed population. There is probably a strong case to be argued about breeding the " wrong type " of person , in any colour, creed or religion or nationality...... although I think I turned out alright .??against all my teachers predictions.

 

[T1 Terry]

I am ex force's and have always thought that being prepared is necessary, I have a 57 x 12 Dutch barge, it is powered by 5kw of solar a 6 kW generator and is electric drive. It has 2 tons of water on-board a water purification plant, I do carry a lot of tinned food for just in case. The old Rayburn Royal is happy on wood, the front stove is a blue flame waste oil burner that is also connected into the central heating as is the Rayburn and generator via a heat store. I have always thought moored in deep water is a natural barrier against people climbing on-board. I was a good archer for many years and eaten what I killed in the force's. The trouble is we get old and whether defend ourselves is the problem

I hope it never comes to that over here, we are a friendly lot generally, but who knows what would happen if push really came to shove on a survival level ....

In the USA, just too many guns, and big guns at that, I certainly wouldn't want to be over there when it all falls apart .... the gullible easy lead can be very passionate, until they realise they have been cheated and lied to .... that is not someone that should have access to firearms in my opinion .... time will tell ....

T1 Terry

 

[OriginalBigAl]

I am ex force's and have always thought that being prepared is necessary, I have a 57 x 12 Dutch barge, it is powered by 5kw of solar a 6 kW generator and is electric drive. It has 2 tons of water on-board a water purification plant, I do carry a lot of tinned food for just in case. The old Rayburn Royal is happy on wood, the front stove is a blue flame waste oil burner that is also connected into the central heating as is the Rayburn and generator via a heat store. I have always thought moored in deep water is a natural barrier against people climbing on-board. I was a good archer for many years and eaten what I killed in the force's. The trouble is we get old and whether defend ourselves is the problem

I would be wary of accepting an invite from Peterboat if he says " come round , we are having an Indian tonight" ?

 

[T1 Terry]

According to " experts " the world population and birth-rates are set to diminish in number , which in the short term ( 10 -70 years ) creates tax revenue shortfalls doubled with the increasing age of the present populations means health and pension benefits will be squeezed . Most countries will be affected which is why an immigration of young people willing to work , legally and pay taxes is necessary, if not immediately then in the near future. Of course the problem is : picking the right people which is where any future government is going to have to argue its case against a ill informed population. There is probably a strong case to be argued about breeding the " wrong type " of person , in any colour, creed or religion or nationality...... although I think I turned out alright .??against all my teachers predictions.

The growth industry in stable first world countries will be senior health care. The ones that had the money will pay the most, those who put nothing away and expected to rely on govt welfare, will probably end up the workers in the field, the gardeners, house keepers ..... those with absolutely no skills that they can exchange for money or food and keep .... Beggers and those barely surviving in shanty towns ..... a sad view of the future, but I feel a probably realistic one ....

T1 Terry

 

[T1 Terry]

I would be wary of accepting an invite from Peterboat if he says " come round , we are having an Indian tonight" ?

Silence of the lambs, " I'm having a few friends for dinner, and you are invited"

T1 Terry

 

[siteguru]

I hope it never comes to that over here, we are a friendly lot generally, but who knows what would happen if push really came to shove on a survival level ....

T1 Terry

Just beware of invasion by non-nation-specific Asian people.

Linky