Yet another set of predictions (last one, I promise)

Today, it is January 6, well past the start of the New Year. But I do have another set of predictions I'd been meaning to blog about, albeit briefly. Jim Kunstler comes out with an annual forecast of events he foresees happening this year. Kunstler was the one who introduced me to Peak Oil, via his book "The Long Emergency". I do think Kunstler's forecast would be better suited for the 2010 decade rather than just this coming year, but he could well be right. This is one passage I particularly enjoyed, and laughed at. This is about the reactions of the American people to a continuance of worsening economic conditions in America, as only Kunstler can write:

One wild card is how angry the American people might get. Unlike the 1930s, we are no longer a nation who call each other "Mister" and "Ma'am," where even the down-and-out wear neckties and speak a discernible variant of regular English, where hoboes say "thank you," and where, in short, there is something like a common culture of shared values. We're a nation of thugs and louts with flames tattooed on our necks, who call each other "motherfucker" and are skilled only in playing video games based on mass murder.

I actually don't much agree with Kunstler on this, but I found his wording hillarious. The only attribute I share with his generalization of Americans, is that I do play video games. That's probably the one thing I will enjoy doing until the grid crashes for good, or I die, whichever comes first. I feel that enough people have tattoos, to where I feel it's a small act of rebellion not to get one myself, and while I do curse occasionally, the situation would have to be very dire indeed before I'd even consider using the term "motherfucker".

But his set of predictions, like the last two I blogged about, is well worth reading.

(postscript: I am at a Starbucks where the wi-fi is pretty bad. My wireless notebook mouse is also not working, despite a functional battery, and I am forced to use the crappy built-in notebook mouse. So I did mutter a "motherfucker" this morning, sorry about that.