{"id":7388,"date":"2011-09-29T02:13:07","date_gmt":"2011-09-29T09:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=7388"},"modified":"2011-09-29T02:13:07","modified_gmt":"2011-09-29T09:13:07","slug":"it-and-other-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/29\/it-and-other-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"“It” and other matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while back we talked about “it”<\/a> — The Day, The Moment, the trigger event, the one unmistakable signal that the house of cards is really, truly commencing to fall. Will there ever be such a moment? If so, will we recognize it when it happens or only spot it in retrospect? Or will there be no “it” — just be a dreary slide?<\/p>\n

Jim B. points out that Rome didn’t collapse in a day<\/a>. Ellendra asks, apropos of nothing and everything whether politicians joking (?) about suspending elections<\/a> might qualify as a sign.<\/p>\n

I don’t know whether we’ll ever see an “it.” But one thing you can be sure of; the country you live in in wildly overgoverned to the edge of collapse when everything hangs on political whim. When markets soar and collapse<\/a> more on the word of politicians and policy-makers than on anything to do with underlying reality. When states vie for attention<\/a> by exaggerating their political importance. When employers don’t hire workers because they can’t calculate what the latest regulatory nightmare is going to cost.<\/p>\n

I’m pretty sure it was like that in the old Soviet Union. Every decision political.<\/p>\n

Keep your powder dry and your dried lentil recipes handy. And be patient.<\/p>\n

Now on to other, miscellaneous matters:<\/p>\n