As the cost of energy keeps rising, and more and more “money” goes to obtaining energy, which leaves less for everything else.  And since capitalism depends on growth, but we’re on the cusp of shrinking back to the stone age, this will manifest economically at first as cities going bankrupt, among many other economic shocks.

Right now (July 2013), all eyes are on Detroit, because at some point many of us suspect the financial industry will find ways to grab the pension money for the bondholders, which should make anyone who expects to get a pension a bit worried, not just city workers.  When the various pundits like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich told you that the banks and wall street had stolen your future when the Federal Reserve bailed them out with public money, this is exactly what they meant.  The future is here right now for Detroit.

What’s going on now is like the Twilight Zone.  Half of Americans are living in grim third world poverty, barely getting by, with 1 in 6 depending on food stamps, over half are in debt with zero savings, and that has allowed the rest of us in the 10% or with good jobs to continue to shop, go the latest hot restaurant, buy expensive clothing, and unless you have lots of poor relatives, be pretty distanced from this since much of this poverty is out of sight, far away.

But some day, when your city goes bankrupt, here is what that will mean — I’ve pulled out 10 quality of life statistics from  Michael Snyder’s 25 Facts About The Fall Of Detroit That Will Leave You Shaking Your Head:

• There are 70 “Superfund” hazardous waste sites in Detroit.
• 40 percent of the street lights do not work.
• Two-thirds of the parks in the city of Detroit have been permanently closed down since 2008.
• Only about a third of the ambulances are running.
• When you call the police in Detroit, it takes them an average of 58 minutes to respond.
• Due to budget cutbacks, most police stations in Detroit are now closed to the public for 16 hours a day.
• The violent crime rate in Detroit is five times higher than the national average.
• The murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than it is in New York City.
• Police solve less than 10 percent of the crimes that are committed in Detroit.
• Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that even the police are telling people to “enter Detroit at your own risk“.

Alexander Ac. 21 July 2013. The Decline of an Empire. cassandralegacy.blogspot.com

Millions of people in American cities, and countryside, are living in third world poverty.  There are 14 million disabled, 11 million unemployed, 22 million underemployed, 4.5 million institutionalized, 1 in 6 Americans getting food stamps, 15% living in poverty officially but in reality the percent is much higher, 56 Trillion dollars of debt, and another 50% of the population that would have a hard time getting their hands on $2,000 — they are all barely getting by, consuming a lot less, allowing many of us not affected yet to still buy stuff as if nothing had changed.