Collapse could happen, literally, overnight

[Snail]

The influence, power, and wealth of the Rothschilds shouldn't be under-estimated. They've been top dogs for 200 years and have always weilded considerable political and economic clout. This family is not 'normal', and its members' actions are tightly controlled by a family trust. Their influence is not a conspiracy. It was real then and still is. If they've been a major player in the past, why couldn't they be now? Why do past dispicable actions by Governments and Groups somehow disqualify them in the present?

There's loads of good books on the Rothschild Family, and the internet of course.

Look at Italy and Greece. Someone saying 10 years that 2 major european countries would be taken over by bankers and technocrats would've been labelled a conspiracy nutcase.

Of course, I like conspiracies. :laughing face:

[biffvernon]

My point is that they are unlikely to be more intelligent than the rest of us and, more importantly, they are probably no more immune to peak oil and global warming denial than the rest. They will probably be quite surprised when the cards fall down, though they may be sitting of a comfier cushion than many.

[Ludwig]

My point is that they are unlikely to be more intelligent than the rest of us and, more importantly, they are probably no more immune to peak oil and global warming denial than the rest. They will probably be quite surprised when the cards fall down, though they may be sitting of a comfier cushion than many.

Well this is all a matter of opinion; I don't personally think you can use simple statistical probabilities for judgments about something as complex as human behaviour.

If someone told me, "The world is going to hell and you are in the fortunate position to be able to save your own arse if you join us", then I would damn well sit up and take notice. And I believe this is probably what the security services and the corporate bosses and representatives of the Bilderberg Group are telling senior politicians. In addition to giving them a few threats, I don't doubt.

The reason that most of us are prone to PO and CC denial is that we can't do anything about it, and that is a very difficult thing to swallow. Having power over one's own destiny is a great corrective to self-deception.

[Catweazle]

My point is that they are unlikely to be more intelligent than the rest of us and, more importantly, they are probably no more immune to peak oil and global warming denial than the rest. They will probably be quite surprised when the cards fall down, though they may be sitting of a comfier cushion than many.

I'll bet they're better informed than the rest of us, they control the media and decide what we're allowed to know.

[RenewableCandy]

There's a very interesting point made by The Archdruid (the chap often referenced in EnergyBulletin) that, the people who produce the denials/etc in the media are not immune to their own stories. The stories are designed to push buttons. They go on to push the buttons of their authors and of those who commission them.

[Ludwig]

There's a very interesting point made by The Archdruid (the chap often referenced in EnergyBulletin) that, the people who produce the denials/etc in the media are not immune to their own stories. The stories are designed to push buttons. They go on to push the buttons of their authors and of those who commission them.

That doesn't make sense to me RC. I just don't find it psychologically convincing.

[RenewableCandy]

I can't tell if he's right or not, for the simple reason that the incentives that move me are so different from those that move the type of people who want a lot of power.

The beeb news page ran a series about the unhappy childhoods of the most famous entrepreneurs: my childhood was happy, so I'm never going to be ruthlessly ambitious. I just can't be arsed.

[nexus]

The psychologist Oliver James writes about this in 'Affluenza' it's a great book explaining how modern society is often detrimental to our collective mental health.

He also points out that a statistically significant number of 'high fliers' suffered a significant bereavement (parent/sibling) in their early life.

[RenewableCandy]

Yer not wrong: it's a cracking book and well worth a read.

[DominicJ]

Look at Italy and Greece. Someone saying 10 years that 2 major european countries would be taken over by bankers and technocrats would've been labelled a conspiracy nutcase.
Of course, I like conspiracies. :laughing face:

WTF?
I've been telling you for years!!!!
This crisis wasnt engineered by Rothschilds, Jews, Bankers or anyone else, but it was widely predicted and the EU accepted as a beneficial crisis because it knew it could use it to further its own ends.


****
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/fina ... ssion.html

More than any other country, Spain exposes the lie behind this German narrative. It did not cheat, like Greece. It did not breach the Maastricht Treaty’s 60pc debt ceiling like Italy (or Germany itself). Its public debt was 36pc of GDP before the Great Recession. It ran a budget surplus of almost 2pc of GDP in 2007 and 2008.
.....
Lest it be forgotten, the ECB allowed the eurozone’s M3 money supply to rise at double-digit rates in the middle of the last decade (against a target of 4.5pc) in order to lift Germany out of slump. It tilted policy to German needs, blighting the South.
ECB monetary policy led to real interest rates of minus 2pc for Spain, fuelling a destructive credit bubble despite the heroic efforts of the Bank of Spain to contain the damage.

[Ludwig]

WTF?
I've been telling you for years!!!!
This crisis wasnt engineered by Rothschilds, Jews, Bankers or anyone else, but it was widely predicted and the EU accepted as a beneficial crisis because it knew it could use it to further its own ends.

True enough, although similar things are heading our way even if it's not (just) the EU that's manipulating events.

Like Snail, I'm partial to a good conspiracy theory, but it's a mistake not to look for cockup in the mix. The banking crisis hasn't been "engineered", but it has been managed by the elite. Realising the system was doomed, they worked out how they could milk and prolong it as long as possible, then pull the plug at least cost to themelves.

[Snail]

Ludwig:

The banking crisis hasn't been "engineered", but it has been managed by the elite. Realising the system was doomed, they worked out how they could milk and prolong it as long as possible, then pull the plug at least cost to themelves.

Exactly. It's like Lazard hiring Peter Mandelson who was befriended by Nat Rothschild in the 1990s who also worked for Lazard. Which is profiting massively from restructuring Greek debts. The Financial Elite , thanks to their history and wealth, have positioned themselves to take maximum advantage from the Financial crisis. They mightn't have engineered it, but they forsaw the possibility before everybody else, and have already increased their own survival chances by retaking a more central role.

[kenneal - lagger]

The banking crisis hasn't been "engineered", but it has been managed by the elite.

FFS will you stop calling them the elite. They're not elite, they've just got a lot of money and power. That doesn't make them elite.

Many of the people you are talking about have the same personality defects as criminals so how can they be elite? Criminal elite, yes, but just plain elite, no! It's an insult to our elite sports people or our elite regiments or elite students. Don't be lazy, find a more apt word.

Poor psychopaths end up in prison, rich psychopaths end up running big business. Just look at Enron and Madof, to name but two instances.

[nexus]

Poor psychopaths end up in prison, rich psychopaths end up running big business. Just look at Enron and Madof, to name but two instances.

+1

and others end up in the Houses of Parliament or running the media.

[MrG]

Poor psychopaths end up in prison

Or they end up as rich psychopaths!