civilization collapse

1. shrinking energy for peasants http://www.bnd.com/sports/columnists/story/654250.html Average worker paychecks are worth less now than in 1973, but CEOs and other rich Americans not only make much more, they pay less in taxes. Click here to find out more! Average full-time workers made $41,198 in 1973 and $37,606 in 2008, adjusted for inflation. CEOs made 45 times as much as workers in 1973 and more than 300 times as much as workers now. The top tax rate was 70 percent in 1973 and just 35 percent now; taxpayers pay the top rate on the portion of taxable income that falls within the highest bracket and pay lower rates on income below that. The top rate for capital gains on the sale of stock and other assets was 36.5 percent in 1973 and 15 percent now. Irrational pay and tax cuts have generated a massive redistribution of income and wealth from workers to CEOs, hedge fund managers and others in the richest 1 percent. By 2006, the richest 1 percent had increased their share of the natio...

Q: How is a house like a farm? How does it produce an income? A: When I flip it or when I rent it to tenants. 1. abandoned houses (farms) http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/modern-day-ghost-towns-of-abandoned-real-estate/ The cities here aren’t entirely deserted, of course, but they are examples of the cities that have been hit hard enough to lead residents to abandon their homes. Riverside County, California ...these houses were purchased by many people who wanted to buy bigger homes for the buck than they could get in LA and the OC, which of course led to an increase in speculative building and investing. It is estimated that in 2005, only 15% of area homeowners could actually afford their houses, with the remaining 85% living beyond their means or in adjustable rate mortgages that had not yet adjusted. The latter, once adjusted, would then prove to be unaffordable. North Los Angeles County, California ...Today, in Antelope Valley, for example, it is not unusual for long-term rent...

1. U.S. Military Will Offer Path to Citizenship “The Army will gain in its strength in human capital,” General Freakley said, “and the immigrants will gain their citizenship and get on a ramp to the American dream.” ... Recruiters’ work became easier in the last few months as unemployment soared and more Americans sought to join the military. But the Pentagon, facing a new deployment of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, still has difficulties in attracting doctors, specialized nurses and language experts. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/us/15immig.html 2. consider the Roman's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_citizenship Socii Further information: Foederati, Social War, and Lex Julia Socii or Foederati were citizens of states which had treaty obligations with Rome, typically agreements under which certain legal rights of the state's citizens under Roman law were exchanged for agreed upon levels of military service, i.e. the Roman magistrates had the right to levy soldiers for th...

joseph tainter in his 1988 classic "the collapse of complex societies" discusses, who mayan society, in the absence of large standing armies, may have used monumental architecture as a deterrent. monumental architecture meaning the pyramids. in modern day terms, the nuclear weapon stockpiles save similar purposes. demonstrations of awesome power, which consumed vast amounts of elite resources with no economic benefit, with the sole purpose to frighten and intimidate the enemy from attacking and causing an economically ruinous war.

i am obsessed with showing how current events are mirroring past civilisation collapses specifically how the american empire is following the joseph tainter's law - collapse follows when continued investment in complexity yields ever declining returns to the point that investment in complexity yields negative returns and collapse inevitably follows. declining returns - where increased investment is required to maintain the status quo, or increased investment is required to get LESS - where investments by elites impoverish the peasantry here's a list of investments the american empire has made / is making with declining returns - in no order at the moment: - sarbanes oxley - prevent stock holder accounting fraud aka enron -- are investors provably safer? NOT - tsa - air port security - prevent another 911 -- are passengers provably safer? NOT - the american embassy in baghdad - monumental architecture at it's finest -- are consumers paying less at the pump? NOT - the bank ba...

The name says is it all. Stimulate the economy by generating revenue from the regulation of sexual services and previously prohibited agricultural and pharmaceutical products. At the moment, the prohibition of these products is great EXPENSE, draining vast sums of public money into an entreprise with NO RETURN ON INVESTMENT. By generating income from regulating these industries, these industries no longer become EXPENSE industries, they become INCOME industries, enabling the government to INCREASE spending on justice, health and education.

from Joseph A. Tainter's "The Collpase of Complex Societies" the 11 major themes in the explanation of collapse: 1. depletion or cessation of a vital resources or resources on which the society depends 2. the establishment of a new resource base 3. the occurrence of some insurmountable catastrophe 4. insufficient response to circumstances (deadly lack of experience?) 5. other complex societies 6. intruders 7. class conflict, societal contradictions, elite mismanagement or misbehaviour 8. social dysfunction 9. mystical factors 10. chance concatenation of events 11. economic factors is it possible that our civilisation meets these criteria? 1. depletion or cessation of a vital resources or resources on which the society depends YES Water, oil, soil, and fish are all severely depleted to the point of collapse. 2. the establishment of a new resource base MAYBE Coal, nuclear, solar, and geothermal represent new resources bases. 3. the occurrence of some insurmountable catastro...