Many people question just how bad social conditions can get if the economy deteriorates further. After all, they say, we live in a civilized society with a safety net that can help those who find themselves in dire straits.
Unfortunately, such views don't necessarily square with reality. Even now, in the midst of a so-called recovery, some urban down-and-outers have decided that a more primitive approach to survival is called for, as the New York Post reports in "'Game' Time in B'klyn":
It's a little slice of Alabama in the middle of Brooklyn.
A pack of vagrants was found living in a makeshift camp alongside the Prospect Park lake, where they poached the local wildlife using cruel hunting methods, officials said yesterday.
The dirty-dozen men and women have spent the last two months on the lake's southern shore near a construction site for a $70 million ice-skating complex.
They have littered the area with beer cans, poaching nets and other trash, with much of the refuse winding up in the lake.
"It's disgusting," said wildlife advocate Johanna Clearfield. "The city doesn't care, because it's the poor side of the park. This wouldn't happen on the Park Slope side or by Grand Army Plaza.
"The most they've done is issue fines to homeless people who can't pay."
The drifters have been illegally trapping and cooking up the critters that call the park home, including squirrels, ducks and swan-like cygnets.
They used crude tactics to hunt their prey, including barbed fishing hooks that ripped off the top half of one poor gosling's beak. They then cooked the meat over illegal fires. Some of the animals were eaten raw.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean the streets of New York (and other cities) will be overrun with aggressive hunter-gathers as the economy cycles down. In fact, many of those who see or are worried about hard times ahead have decided to act now. They are stockpiling necessities before the stuff really hits the fan. Unfortunately, as the latest Dilbert cartoon suggests (in Scott Adams' humorous but characteristically spot-on way), that may not be the perfect solution either.
Our society has a very thin veil of civilization on top, which breaks down easily . During the 1967 riots in Detroit, the Army had to position tanks around the Detroit Institute of Arts, to protect the Rembrandts,etc. Military tanks surrounding a building, in the middle of the 5th largest city in the U.S.!!
If you read survival blog, and similar items, a lot of time is devoted to stockpiling food, and getting enough weapons to kill the people who will be raiding houses. Don't think it can happen here? Read the stories about South America, after the crash of the early 2000's. It became kill, or be killed.
Posted by: Dave | July 31, 2011 at 04:11 PM
(I have no financial interest, or any connection to the author in this book).
A good primer on what can happen in a modern city when society crashes is :The Modern Survival Manual- Surviving the Economic Collapse by Fernando Aquirre.
Details the collapse in Argentina- roving gangs of thugs, well dressed people robbing other people on the street ,etc.
Posted by: Dave | July 31, 2011 at 04:41 PM
The New Reality: recovery? this is an asenine
joke . It is an ongoing-non stop deteriorating
condition of the human condition never before seen
in history, every possible aspect we can think of
is in decay.For every ounce of intelligence we have there
is a triple measure of stupidity.
In America the beautiful: Cracked sewers are bleeding fecal germs in water ways and drinking water (Science news)
Posted by: roger | July 31, 2011 at 05:06 PM
@Dave....well dressed people have been robbing everyone for a long time...that's why we're at this point.
Because strong enforcement of laws against fraud is a basic prerequisite for trust, I believe Smith would be disgusted by the lack of prosecution of Wall Street fraudsters today.
And Smith warned against the pitfalls of fiat currencies unpegged to anything real:
The problem with fiat money is that it rewards the minority that can handle money, but fools the generation that has worked and saved money.
It is certain that Smith would rail against our current financial, monetary, economic and legal systems as violating the most important foundations of sound economics.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/adam-smith-would-neither-recognize-nor-approve-our-financial-monetary-economic-or-legal-?
Posted by: Other peoples money adds up | July 31, 2011 at 05:08 PM
How exactly does this man know animals were eaten raw? Who cares if they were...it's just raw Paleo homeless. It just seems so typical that modern factory farming is fine but good God if homeless people hunt in the wild it's abusive to animals. If that gosling was factory farmed her beak would have been cut off long ago and she'd spend her miserable short existence in vile inhumane close quarters wallowing in her own filth till she was all used up and then "humanely" killed. I'm not condemning anyone who is down and out and has the sense to hunt wildlife and feed themselves instead relying on the all benevolent government to dole them out some special slop in a pre approved location at just the right time of day. Go hunter gather raw Paleo homeless people!!! LOL
Posted by: MM | July 31, 2011 at 05:43 PM
Looks like the vp is preparing
Biden charging Secret Service for cottage rental
The U.S. Secret Service does more than protect Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — the agency also pays him rent.
Since April, Mr. Biden has collected more than $13,000 from the agency charged with protecting him and his family, for use of a rental cottage adjacent to the waterfront home he owns in a Wilmington, Del., neighborhood.
Officials say the arrangement came about when a previous tenant moved out of the cottage and the Secret Service moved in.
Edwin M. Donovan, special agent in charge at the Secret Service's Office of Government and Public Affairs in Washington, said the agency pays $2,200 in rent per-month, the same amount a previous tenant had paid before moving out.
“He should be afforded every single protection available to him and his family, as should every vice president and president,” said Leslie Paige, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste.
“But this arrangement seems bizarre to me,” she added. “You’d think the vice president, who shepherded the deficit committee, would think twice about charging the Secret Service rent. Why would he need the money? I don’t get it.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/31/biden-charging-secret-service-cottage-rental/
Posted by: More gaming of the system | July 31, 2011 at 06:08 PM
"Why would he need the money? I don’t get it.”
Of course not, he gets it.
Posted by: dearieme | July 31, 2011 at 07:20 PM
Those people in the park are fighting to survive...I wonder how many of us if stripped of all possessions could survive from scratch?
Elizabeth Warren's Farewell Note: 'I Leave This Agency, But Not This Fight'
Warren sent a farewell note to the nearly 500 staffers she hired and inherited from other federal agencies.
"I leave this agency, but not this fight," Warren wrote. "The issues we deal with -- a middle class that has been squeezed and business models built on tricks and traps -- are deeply personal to me, and they always will be."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/elizabeth-warren-farewell-note_n_913425.html
Posted by: Squeezed out of existence | July 31, 2011 at 08:14 PM
The new reality is the old reality..fubar
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Dodd-Frank Update
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act sings about having its ass f**ked raw for a year.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-july-28-2011/dodd-frank-update
Posted by: Reality sucks | July 31, 2011 at 08:29 PM
About Banks and Money
As the cartoon says at the end...End The Fed!
http://www.goldmansachs666.com/2011/07/about-banks-and-money.html
Posted by: We're living in a cartoon | August 01, 2011 at 08:42 AM
Who stole the money? Why aren't they getting it back? Where's that discussion?
A Senator Acknowledges Total Leadership Failure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6jvj3zdsRI&feature=youtube_gdata
Posted by: They all lined their pockets with everyone's money | August 01, 2011 at 09:13 AM
Americans’ Economic Pessimism Grows, With Gloom ‘Pervasive,’ Polling Expert Says | Daily Ticker - Yahoo! Finance. And to think that some people worry about
Biden collecting rent....LOL.
Posted by: roger | August 01, 2011 at 12:08 PM
On Biden collecting rent from the Secret Service: We have a family house in Kennebunkport and ever since Bush the Father, the Secret Service has been renting houses on yearly leases in the area. They are known to be excellent tenants - rent always paid on time, no wild parties, hardly ever there, so little wear and tear on the house and furnishings. Owners consider getting the Secret Service to rent as a real plum. So, I guess Biden could have charged them below market - but then he might get in trouble with the IRS since they would then consider the house to be a hobby, not a business.
Posted by: Eclair | August 01, 2011 at 12:45 PM
This "Super Congress" idea seems super bad.......
Why is the debt deal so bad?
As I've previously noted, the deal would create a "super congress" which is an end-run around accountability to the voters and the constitution.
As Chris Floyd writes today:
[The] extraordinary "special committee" or "Super Congress" ... is an unaccountable politburo which will be able to circumvent all normal democratic (and republican) principles and issue budget-slashing, tax-cutting legislation that cannot be debated or amended, but simply approved or rejected by the rest of the now-powerless representatives and senators.
That's not all. If the politburo -- handpicked members split evenly between the two gangs of thieves and poltroons that now hold sway on Capitol Hill -- can't agree on just how much they want to gut the budget and cut taxes for the rich, why then, this will trip a series of "triggers" which will automatically start gutting, slashing and cutting, without any vote by the democratically elected representatives whatsoever. And surely it would be superfluous in me to point out that these unaccountable "superpowers" will soon stretch to cover other areas of legislation beyond budgeting and taxes.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/long-time-congressman-john-conyers-calls-protest-against-debt-deal-%E2%80%9Cthousands-people-sho?
Posted by: Unaccountable politburo is a super bad idea | August 01, 2011 at 01:45 PM
Robert Samuelson Redefines "Wealthy"
In a piece titled "Why Are We In This Debt Fix? It's the elderly stupid," Samuelson tells readers:
"some elderly live hand-to-mouth; many more are comfortable, and some are wealthy. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports the following for Medicare beneficiaries in 2010: 25 percent had savings and retirement accounts averaging $207,000 or more."
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/robert-sanuelson-redefines-qwealthyq
Posted by: The New Wealthy...soon to be piss poor! | August 01, 2011 at 05:37 PM
Quite entertaining how the author works a derogatory comment on the south into a story of crack heads doing what junkies do in some northern hell hole. Alabama unemployed know how to hunt and fish properly thank you.
The big urban areas will get ugly when all that stimulus money being spent on EBT cards dries up, look at the situation in Atlanta, Chicago, Philly now.
Posted by: Bailey | August 01, 2011 at 09:02 PM
I agree with Bailey...that comment referencing Alabama in the article was just plain stupid.
Posted by: Stan | August 01, 2011 at 09:41 PM
@bailey
Well as a TN boy, I don't think it was meant to be derogatory as put, it looks more like a compliment, that they (Alabama) are able to live this way off the land.
And there are a lot of northern NY farm people that are just as capable.
Anyway that's how i read it.
Posted by: NO stocks 4 me | August 02, 2011 at 11:20 AM
You Want to Create Jobs? Here's How (August 2, 2011)
If you don't like these solutions, then come up with your own, but they have to cut U.S. healthcare spending per capita in half. Nothing less will create a competitive economy.
Lest you think this alarmist, the Establishment journal Foreign Affairs reached the same conclusion: How Health Care Can Save or Sink America.
It's easy to predict what will happen is we do nothing; in a few years, Medicare will exist in name, but there won't be anyone left to provide care for IOUs. That's the ultimate irony: when the whole system implodes, the only thing left will be the VA and cash care: the two systems I am recommending as solutions.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug11/how-to-create-jobs-8-11.html
Posted by: Get back to reality | August 02, 2011 at 01:51 PM
The reality, we live in a society that doesn't
know it's ass from it's nose.
reproducing the necessity's of life and the
replacement of used merchandise and machinery
does not equal growth. Growth means added-above
and beyond what already exist.
Using money as a measure of growth is deceiving
and misleading. Increased profits for corporation
only, does not make for a healthy economy.
Posted by: roger | August 02, 2011 at 01:54 PM
I have seen people catching Pigeons with throw nets in Grant Park in Chicago.
Posted by: Scott Bremner | August 02, 2011 at 07:26 PM
Food Stamp Use Surges By Most In Years As Alabama Foodstamp Recipients Double In May
Yes, that's 45.8 million people (obviously an all time record) living on foodstamps which amount to the whopping $133.80 per person (an increase of $0.54 M/M) and $283.65 (an increase of $1.29) per household. Obviously, annualizing the latest monthly rate of 1.1 million people, it means that over 13 million Americans will live on about one third what the cheapest iPad costs in about a year.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/food-stamp-use-surges-most-years-alabama-foodstamp-recipients-double-may?
Posted by: kibble and bits..the bits make'm better! | August 02, 2011 at 08:02 PM