Futurist, Strategic Analyst, podcaster, and rock and roll musician Eric Garland, talking with JHK from the troubled heartland city of St. Louis, Mo. Among other things, Eric and I talk about the Big Box shopping model, the contagion of business idiocy in the USA, the causes behind the Ferguson riots of 2014, and the current financial system as a raft of fraud going down a river of no return. His “Competitive Futures” podcast is available free on iTunes. His website is www.competitivefutures.com
Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/kunstlercast/KunstlerCast_265.mp3
Please send questions and comments to jhkunstler@mac.com.
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41:39 Not even worth propping up for target practice.
Such a rational conversation only to end
with the optimistic conclusion that America
will find it’s way ?! Have I missed or misinterpreted something?
No, you really have not missed anything. Life will go on for many. Just not for everyone and not in the same way. Not even sure the concept of USA will be around in 200 years. But people will be. chipshot I would invest in a farm or a nice greenhouse not a new set of clubs. See you at the end. Doomer ? Me ? No-even worked for TPC 🙂 Times have changed and they are going back not forward.
Definitely farm or greenhouse over clubs.
TPC?
How can you (or anyone) be so certain people
will be around another 200 years? At some point
ecologies are going to collapse, not sure humans
will survive that.
Humanity has inflicted an awful lot of damage on
the planet the past 150 yrs. How much more can
the system take?
The Players Club (Sawgrass.) TPC MAJOR golf course. A few people will be left. I like JHK’S novels as a good view of the downward slide. Not a doomer but I feel more like 1910 BCE will be the stopping point. What type of seeds you pick will really be important. Would love to hear any ideas you have. Total eco melt down is only a small chance. DNA/RNA is plastic. Who knows ? All I know is we really messed it up for a bit of silver and gold. Best wishes.
Seeds will be valuable, maybe even become a form of currency.
But if the climate deteriorates too fast, we could lose much
of our ability to grow food.
Still not sure total eco melt down is a long shot.
Yes the planet is big, but look at all the different
ways we have harmed it and our population continues
to increase by 200,000+ every day!
The oceans appear to be headed for the brink.
Many warning signs such as coral bleaching world-wide
and massive die-offs of plankton. Don’t think there
are many bigger red flags than that.
Enough tipping points get reached and collapse
is likely to occur exponentially, not linearly.
There are numerous tipping points that might already
be unavoidable, making eco collapse a matter of when
not if. Don’t know how anyone can rule out it happening
within a decade or two.
You can be one step away from going over a cliff, but
there are no consequences until you take that last step.
And even then, the worst consequences don’t occur
till you land. How far from the edge are we? Or have
we gone over, with a crash landing in the future?
Not many people you can have such a discussion with…
“A raft of fraud going down a river of no return.”
Amazing. Does that stuff just spontaneously occur to you, or is it the old story of nobody knows how hard the genius works when nobody is looking: George Carlin-esque–as he himself admitted.
Segregation is an old story in America and has morphed into economic segregation fed by the big box store corporate culture. You have people working in stores they can not afford to shop. Then Walmart comes along and provides a “solution” for the poverty market giving a false impression of prosperity where 1% of the american work force can not afford health insurance. So Obama was ordained with the responsibility to communicate this to the insurance companies when he should have been used to communicate the “change” to corporations and businesses. All he says to cfos is raise the wage to pay the insurance agencies. So, you still have a bifercated america and people, x-ers, are feeling it more harshly than anyone because they are not going to work for next to nothing if they can physically and mentally work at all. Being an x-er, there is no way i could ever compete with my forebears in this economy because I was not mentally and physically conditioned by the military to do whatever it takes without question. Therefore, I have no guaranteed military pension and health benefits that I may invest in a business enterprise or realestate. Even if I was enlisted recently, I would be dead in iraq or somalia, taking psychotropics for my ptsd or not getting the same deal my parents got when serving my time.
Karah, I feel for you. All I can say is do not copy or use the past as a guide. Look to make yourself an income and place in the world. Looking for a job is a dead end. Find a group ( not cult ) of sharp people your age working to break the mold. We did that back in the 60’s but that was just for sport because we could. It may become the way for many.
” Not as big as Radio Shack.” This was the point the coffee jetted out of my nose. Eric is a great find ! Thanks, Jim. I was hoping to play bass for you in the post BS world but looks like Eric has that gig. One of the best shows ever. I started in music in 1959 as a young child working with my grandmother, a church organist. Gave me two years of music ear & theory training before I discovered I was learning & not just playing a game 🙂 Decades of playing,teaching,retail and about everything you can do in music backs up everything Eric says. Which is the same DAMN THING YOU HAVE BEEN SAYING !!!!! Yes, we will plod on- just not in the same way. Sorry if that annoys anyone. I just hope we stop about 1870’s on The Big Slide. I fear the return of a “Christian” based, Bible based, form of slavery. Work on a farm-cool. Owned by a farmer? No. This show was not about Music or GC. It is about the huge crack in retail. 70% + of our economy.
Some interesting ideas, but presented in a coked-out way that reminded me of some friends that became stock brokers in the ’80’s. Your comments and questions sounded so much more persuasive and reasonable. He should learn from your style, if he wants to influence folks. I’m troubled by how he could sound so right and so wrong at the same time.
I missed the wrong part. Throw me a line and help me understand your view point of Eric. Thanks in advance I really value many of the ideas expressed here.
The remark regarding Amazon not making a profit reminds me of the situation of the cable companies that spent much of the 80’s not making a profit, but continuing to attract investment … and then in the 90’s through to today reaping the rewards of building a network of local monopolies in distribution by making quite substantial profits.
Individual parts of Amazon that have been in place for a while are profitable, but Amazon is willing to take those profits and additional investments alongside those in pursuit of monopoly or oligopoly positions in a range of new media markets.
I was looking forward to this installment given the title but the guest spent way too much time talking about himself. Also, why the echo effect? Annoying with headphones.
Guitar Centers. A Chain that literally only sells guitars, guitar strings, and amps. Nothing Else. They dont sell win instruments, pianos, keyboards, music stands, microphones, and almost never have lessons, connections to local music programs, connections to schools, and almost never sell sheet music of any kind. I dont need my worthless associates in business to tell you this company is garbage for several reasons. Even if their suburban wasteland of a business model is coming to an end they could have at least lasted longer by running an ACTUAL music store worth driving to.