Leftovers for Mr Obama

Few people realize the magnitude of change that is being heralded with the new presidency – but most of the change has nothing to do with Barack Obama’s ability to lead, it’s outside of even his sphere of control. The world as we know it is changing – will the leadership of our nations choose a path that honours this change, or squanders it…

Jim Kunstler : Presto Change-o

The dilemma is essentially this: the consumer economy we all knew and loved has died. There will be pressure from nearly every quarter to keep it hooked up to the costly life support machines even though it is dead. A different economy is waiting to be born, but it is nothing like the one that has died. The economy-to-come is one of rigor and austerity. It is not the kind of thing that a nation of overfed clowns is used to. Do we even have a prayer of getting to it, or are we going to squander our dwindling resources on life support for something that is already dead?

Planning for a future as uncertain as that which faces us requires strength of conviction and a will to protect the basic rights of a nation people. These rights do not necessarily include any of the following, despite the fact that we have had these in bountiful quantities over the past 50 years:

Health Care
Education
Consumer Products
Automobiles
Air Travel
Foods from outside our local area

The rights that a nation like America or Canada can reasonably stand for, directly reflect those which our forefathers fought to gain or keep:

Safety
Freedom

Are there any others? Even these two are likely to be compromised in the near future as conflicts over food, water, oil, gas and arable lands cause major upheavals across the globe.

What is the future for America under Mr Obama?