Star Wars came out when I was a young boy. When I was a kid, I used to fall asleep wishing I had a lightsaber and an X-wing fighter. I dreamed of what it would be like to fly it to school. Those are the dreams of a young boy.
There are those who tell me to “chill out on the pessimism” because “Trump is going to trounce any Dem they throw at him.” So let’s take a look at both possible outcomes.
What if Trump loses and HOTUS takes office?
In this scenario, there will likely be a good amount of cheating involved, just like in 2020. How hard we are screwed depends upon how far down the cheating goes. Heading into the election, the Republicans have a 220 seat majority over the Democrats’ 215 seats. (There are three vacant seats.) Democrats need to gain five districts to win a majority in the chamber. That would be bad.
As of this point in time, 45 districts are open because the incumbent is not running for re-election. Of those 45 seats, 21 of them were held by Republicans and 24 by Democrats.
The silver lining there is that the Democrats would need to gain 75 seats to have an Amendment approving 2/3 majority, and that isn’t likely to happen.
Things are almost as bad in the Senate, where the Democrats hold a 2 seat majority. There are 34 seats up in 2024 – including a special election in Nebraska. 23 of those seats are currently held by Democrats or Independents. Republicans can retake control with a net gain of two seats.
If the Democrats win the Presidency and both houses of Congress, Kamala is planning on Federalizing the patents of any company that doesn’t comply with her price controls.
Now on to the other possibility:
What if Trump wins and takes office?
OK, now what? The US has more than $142 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and we are bleeding to the tune of $3 trillion or more per year. That number is so staggeringly large, it’s difficult to imagine. To put it in perspective, this number is equal to more than 93% of everything that every American has. This includes all of their assets in savings, real estate, corporate stocks, private businesses, and consumer durable goods like automobiles and furniture.
More than two thirds of that debt- $104 trillion- is Social Security. The only way to save everything that you own, the US will need to repudiate Social Security. The money that’s been coming out of your check every week? That money is gone. Even amongst my readers, I can hear the cries of “but, but, I had better get paid, that’s my money.”
What do you think will happen to any politician who tells you that the US can’t afford social security? Yeah.
So Trump can’t and won’t do a thing to stop that bleeding. Even were he to try, Congress won’t buy into that, and neither will the American public. There is no stopping this juggernaut. So everything that you own, all that you have saved, everything, is going to be gone. There is no choice but for the economy and the government as we know it to collapse. It’s just a matter of when.
Once the money stops flowing and people are hungry, they will cry out for a strong leader to fix everything. Sure, the government will be out of money, but they will still have guns, ammo, and lots of hungry enforcers. In collapsing governments, the people with the guns and the authority never go hungry. That’s why Kim Jong Un is fat in a country full of starving peasants. We will see a dictatorship in this country that will last for generations, and many in the government will support this if it means becoming rich.
So with the above facts, if you disagree, tell me how Trump winning will fix everything. I just don’t see any other end to this.
Knowing that, all we can do is prepare for the worst. Sure, vote for Trump because that’s all we can do, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t prepare for what is to come.
My prediction remains the same: The bureaucrats and Democrats (I know, same thing) will make sure that Trump doesn’t again become President, and we will be on the road to communism in short order. Even if Trump were to win and take office, we will wind up in a collapsed economy and people will demand that debts are cancelled, the rich will be blamed, and we will still be on the road to communism.
Tell me how I am wrong. Don’t just say silly, childish wishes like “Just because YOU can’t see it, doesn’t mean that there’s no way out.” Tell me how I am wrong, give me a realistic path out of this. If not, you are engaged in childish wishes that your government betters are going to somehow come up with a solution, and you might as well wish for an X-Wing fighter and a lightsaber.
49 Comments
jimmyPx · August 19, 2024 at 7:03 am
You are correct, the future is bleak but the honest truth is that there are solutions to all of these problems which would work. They will never happen because there isn’t the will to fix them AND the oligarchs who really run this place and their lapdog media like things just as they are and things are going according to THEIR plans to impoverish all of us and put us under their authoritarian government boot.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 11:58 am
The ONLY solution that would work would be for Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare to be shut down immediately, but the taxes for them would remain in place. Once that is done, the rest of government at all levels (State, Local, AND Federal) would need to be reduced by at least 20%. All of it- prisons, law enforcement, the courts, the military, all of it.
That isn’t going to happen, so it isn’t a realistic solution.
Rob · August 19, 2024 at 7:08 am
You are not wrong. That is the likely outcome. The only question that remains is which country comes in and takes over?
Michael · August 19, 2024 at 7:15 am
Economic collapse also means that folks don’t get paid for working (not just Social Security stopped).
How many work for free and just dodge angry people leaving their families to go to work?
You mentioned Police staying loyal because of pay and access to the “Official Party Grocery Stores”.
That assumes our defund the police Marxists think that way.
Also, smart Dictators keep the lights on and give the critical systems folks effective access like the “Official Party Store” to them.
But then again are we talking about the TURN OFF Fossil Fuel power plants and live off Green Power folks now?
Given how often the Weather Channel(tm) mentions loss of grid power after many weekly storms and how long it took them to restore WITH Crews from many states arriving.
How many will GO TO WORK on the power grid if money is worthless?
Or we pretend to pay you with these worthless dollars and you…
Grid Down once it occurs is an egg not easily restored as angry people are getting frisky.
Massive loss of life as food storage, hospitals, communications and all that fails.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 9:32 am
That’s one of the reasons why I installed solar
Michael · August 19, 2024 at 11:15 am
I have some solar myself Divemedic.
But it doesn’t power the internet, the cell towers, the telephone system, the fuel stations, the natural gas pumps that feed so much of the heating in the East Coast and so on.
Grid down is a nasty situation. Look at North and South Korea for examples of lifestyle differences.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 11:53 am
I lived for more than 30 years without Internet or a cell phone. I imagine that I can do it again. I will just buy less cheap Chinese garbage.
Of all the things to worry about, loss of a national electric grid isn’t one of them.
Toastrider · August 19, 2024 at 5:24 pm
LOL, DM. -You- lived for thirty years sans Net or phone, and I believe you could do it again. Now, show me all the OTHER people who can live without their modern conveniences.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 6:37 pm
I’m not responsible for those people. The USA is doomed, the only matter is when. My object is to survive it as well as I can, along with my family.
Not Sure · August 19, 2024 at 7:46 am
Trump wins, giving him a honeymoon. At his inauguration speech, he announces that the country has been totally destroyed and that he can’t accept the Presidency. Vance approaches the podium and asks Trump 3 times to accept the job, and Trump agrees on the third request but only under the condition that voting is restricted to taxpayers only. The Republican Congress legalazes payment in crypto for all debts, publuc and private. Then I wake up and its time to fly my lightsabre to school.
dragonslayer · August 19, 2024 at 11:56 am
Not taxpayers. Property owners, as in those owning land. On a side note, property taxes and income taxes should never have been okayed. To paraphrase a line from the original Dune, “Those who can tax a thing, own a thing!” You rent your property from the government and they allow you to keep some of the wages you earned.
Not Sure · August 19, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Don Corleone wants SOMETHING to protect me from Lord Humungous. Gotta have some payment.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 12:04 pm
Quiz question: Why crypto? What gives crypto value? What is it intrinsically worth?
Not Sure · August 19, 2024 at 12:25 pm
Nothing, intrinsically, but I can’t eat gold nuggets… I have to depend on someone who would be willing to exchange food for my gold nuggets. Same goes for crypto, except that I can enter into long distance transactions with crypto (if Starlink stays running).
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 1:30 pm
Crypto is a fiction. It’s not much better than fiat.
Steve · August 19, 2024 at 8:03 am
Social Security will be wound down regardless. What is it, 2030, it’s obligated by law to reduce payouts by 25%? They would have to pass a new law to change that, and, while Silents put up with payroll tax hikes of 30% or so in the 70s, and Boomers put up with 50% hikes in the 80s, no mas. The rate has not changed since 1990, and I can’t see the “OK, Boomer” generation(s) suddenly changing their tune, particularly since they now have the votes to do whatever they want.
I’m not sure the US ever was Norman Rockwell, but if it was, there is absolutely no civil society left. There used to be a kind of civic pride in not having the old lady down the street living on catfood, but I don’t see that sentiment anywhere outside Smalltown, USA.
The real problem is Medicare. When medical costs are increasing at >8%, that cannot be funded with a mere 2.9% tax on the third of the population that is working. And the ones who manage it couldn’t care less — gov’t has it’s own Cadillac plans funded out of general revenues, so from their perspective, the hoi polloi can root hog or die.
TJ · August 19, 2024 at 8:35 am
I think your ideas are accurate. Here’s a factor that should be included: 15 million unaccompanied, military-age males invading the country in the last 3 years, armed and directed by China/Iran/Islam/Globalists. They get the first punch, then we organize and punch back, then we descend into anarchy.
Will · August 19, 2024 at 9:11 am
Regarding Social Security, a small step in the right direction would be for congress to pay back what they have “borrowed” from the fund and make it illegal to “borrow” again.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 11:51 am
There was no “borrowing” from the fund- the fund never existed. The law required that the only place that the monies collected could be stored was in the purchase of government bonds. In essence making the money into just another tax.
OldGuy · August 19, 2024 at 9:49 am
You’re not wrong. Except for one thing, I hope. I pray the next generations don’t live under dictatorships. I pray that once this current abomination finally crashes, something better arises. I’m not convinced that it will and I’m worried that some sort of regional or warlord type scenario may develop, but I hold out hope. And I get ready. And I try to live by Rule #32…. “Rule #32, Enjoy the little things”, my favorite movie quote.
chiefjaybob · August 19, 2024 at 10:03 am
Every republic throughout history has been replaced by a dictatorship. This one will be no different.
Tsgt Joe · August 19, 2024 at 10:18 am
In the 10 years I’ve been retired, I have received about as much Social security as me and my employers have put in for me. Medicare I’ve gotten back at least 3 fold. Yeh, this isn’t a viable scheme. I dont see the republicans having the stones to fix it, the democrats wont even admit its a problem.
TakeAHardLook · August 19, 2024 at 1:12 pm
The closest scenario that I have been able to identify is the experience of a guy named Selco who lived through the Bosnian Wars in 1992-1995, centering on Sarajevo.
I’ve personally studied hundreds of pages of his harrowing–and utterly believable–first person descriptions of his hell-on-Earth experiences.
The first prepper book I’d ever read was “Alas, Babylon.” I’ve read hundreds since, but Selco’s accounts chill me the most:
https://www.shtfschool.com/about/
TakeAHardLook · August 19, 2024 at 1:15 pm
I meant to position this reply to IcyReaper’s comment, below.
Sorry for the confusion.
IcyReaper · August 20, 2024 at 5:06 pm
@TAHL Yep, Bosnia is a good example in general but the invaders we are getting here now make Bosnia’s fighting look like DisneyWorld. I was there for that fiasco, IFOR and then SFOR. Don’t know what was worse , having to deal with and cleanup UN incompetence or the Navy Adm that was put in charge of a multi service TF and didn’t understand anything about that type of fighting and what proper rules of engagement should be in that environment.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 1:33 pm
I read Alas, Babylon in high school, at about the same time as Farnham’s Freehold.
Silverfox · August 19, 2024 at 3:49 pm
I read that. I believe it was around 1974.
Silverfox · August 19, 2024 at 3:50 pm
Ooops. By that, I meant, Farnham’s Freehold.
IcyReaper · August 19, 2024 at 10:31 am
You are not wrong. I liked the contrasting winner selection. But It doesn’t matter who wins this election or any more elections, that just decides the speed of whats coming. After whats been done to Trump these past years, no decent person who wants to actually fix anything will even think about running. So we are at the end.
There is NO ONE coming to save you, Repeat: There is NO Fucking One coming to save you.
Understand that and maybe just maybe you and your family have a chance to survive. But you WILL have to do terrible things during that time, if you cant do it then you die….
Noway2 · August 19, 2024 at 10:49 am
If Trump wins and cleans house, meaning purges the swamp / deep state / Star Chamber whatever you want to call it, we will likely at best, get a minor and temporary reprieve on the path to communism and war.
Elrod · August 19, 2024 at 11:25 am
There are a limited number of ways to fix things and save the country; the problem is, each and every one of those ways requires the dispensing of moderate pain to everyone, and some will experience severe pain.
And each and every occupant of politcal office, from dogcatcher to senator, will run from those limited way at the speed of light because it would doom their re-election.
So, with a populace sufficiently undereducated to understand economics at the most basic level, divided into groups by their access to gifts of largesse from the government, there is no way to do anything in an orderly and reasonable fashion. The only result can be regional division and conflict between regions – and the groups within those regions – for the scraps.
Welcome to 1993 Sarajevo in every major city in the (former) U.S. and damn near every small one, too. Build a tribe, stockpile available food, ammo and medical supplies, crash-learn subsistence farming and pray. It’s going to be one hell of an interesting ride, and the history books published a couple centuries hence will be fascinating.
D · August 19, 2024 at 12:01 pm
> Tell me how I am wrong.
I don’t think you’re wrong.
Our nation is doomed.
There are several paths through all this but none of them are good. There’s no path around it.
We either get socialism or we fight a civil war.
As you said in another comment:
> That’s one of the reasons why I installed solar
I completely failed to see that advantage in solar.
I was looking at the numbers, and I came to the conclusion that it’s not financially worth it to install solar in my part of the country. My test install cost around $10k and it’s saving me around $40/mo in power averaged over a year. That’s a ~21 year RoI. In other words, not worth it.
…but…if shit hits the fan, I there won’t be a bunch of servers running in my office anymore, my kids won’t have computers on and running in the house, my wife won’t be watching TV throughout the day…and the ability to keep some things up and running if the grid collapses will be invaluable. Things like freezers full of meat, a few lights (try patching a GSW with no light), radio/comms gear (my repeater runs for days off an EcoFlow and easily charges up from empty given a few hours of sunlight).
Solar generates power quietly. My generator isn’t quiet.
Although my generator is easily hidden, but the large panels in the yard aren’t.
Jonesy · August 19, 2024 at 12:02 pm
One thing to factor into any analysis on how long the party lasts with the economy is the value and demand globally of the US dollar. The longer they can print money, the longer this drags out. The dollar has been in decline lately, but has not had any catastrophic crashes. A nice world war will prolong it even further, especially if we come out on top and rebuild the losers.
Anonymous · August 19, 2024 at 12:49 pm
> Sure, the government will be out of money, but they will still have guns, ammo, and lots of hungry enforcers.
Government loves to sell this fiction of how rifles can’t compete with F-16s. The military tactics which work to oppress 5% of the population with working supply lines to government from outside the 5%, do not work when there is no outside and it tries to oppress 95%. Did the US win in Vietnam or Afghanistan?
> In collapsing governments, the people with the guns and the authority never go hungry.
In America, everybody has guns. The liberal voting base lives in cities, which are a liability, as they don’t produce any of their energy, food, or water. If the grid goes down the big government political parties are dismembered.
Crypto needs a mint mark, so anyone can tell that a coin is issued by Divemedic, and it’s a warehouse receipt which can be exchanged for one band-aid from his vault.
JT · August 19, 2024 at 1:31 pm
I didn’t read the comments but I agree with you DM.
I’m trying my best to get self sufficient as possible. Solar check, freeze drier on the way, supplies check (not enough, never enough). I am already light yrs ahead of anyone else I know but still feel way behind. I want to be able to ride out as long as I can and not leave my property. As of now I’m fairly sure I can make it a year. Maybe. I just know there is something I have missed that will be needed. Staying is my only option. Im pretty rural area. Closest small town is 14 miles but thats way to close. I’m making the best of it. Staying out of the public is the best plan I’ve got. I’ve got a decent group ( LDS church) that are like minded and can be relied on but they require me or them to travel amoungst the horde. I dont know what else to do. JT
wojtek · August 19, 2024 at 1:37 pm
I think that the assumption that a new president has to do something to solve the problem completely leads to false alternatives. Any president’s perspective is finite: 4 years for Trump or 8 years for Kamala.
So for example, for Trump it suffices to start upping the full retirement age, plus maybe increasing penalties on early retirement or limiting spousal benefits, etc, all in the name of increasing the workforce for his “booming economy”. And he can leave the office with lower debt than the one he saw at his inauguration.
For Kamala it is more difficult, since she is looking at 8 years, but some of the above coupled with increasing the cap indefinitely on social security taxable salaries and legalizing euthanasia, probably would suffice.
Silverfox · August 19, 2024 at 3:44 pm
It should be obvious by now that the SCOTUS has been corrupted in large part, based on the decisions rendered regarding the election shenanigans. The majority is opposed to a second Trump term. That is not to say I believe he will be able to fix the current state of the Union. Only the people returning to their God will be able to do that.
lynn · August 19, 2024 at 4:02 pm
This is why I am viewing the chance of a financial apocalypse in the USA as 100% in the next ten years. Things will be radically different in the USA in twenty years. One such view is “The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047” by Lionel Shriver:
https://www.amazon.com/MANDIBLES-FAMILY-2029-47_PB-171-POCHE/dp/000756077X/
I have no idea how to fix this without massive changes of people’s expectations.
Big Ruckus D · August 19, 2024 at 10:39 pm
The way it gets solved, at least for people who cannot adjust their expectations back down to reality, is that those people will either revolt when they get hosed, or they’ll cease to exist, by one means or another. War, starvation, disease, democide (yes, it can and probably will happen here) are all probable paths to liquidating those who insistently cling to what they believe they are due but simply cannot be delivered. Virtually all of which were merely convenient bullshit promises based upon prior conditions that no longer exist; if they ever did to begin with.
Most aren’t ready to acknowledge that yet, as the normalcy bias is just too strong.
Toastrider · August 19, 2024 at 5:28 pm
Something else to consider: how many economies are hooked together globally. If the U.S. crashes, it will take China with it (and God knows how many others). You could wind up with a global economic collapse, not just a national one.
Rough history ahead.
Divemedic · August 19, 2024 at 6:37 pm
I think that’s why BRICS is gaining steam. Rats leaving the sinking ship.
joe · August 19, 2024 at 6:04 pm
i was hoping i wouldn’t see the end in my lifetime but i believe you are right DM…my last meal may be a tin of cat food if i can still buy cat food…
Anonymous · August 19, 2024 at 6:33 pm
> We will see a dictatorship in this country that will last for generations
You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass. Or rather there would have been eighty years ago, today technological innovation means that a rifle doesn’t require the full attention and physical presence of a human onsite to run it. You saw that youtube years ago of the redneck who mounted a Glock on a drone? Now imagine 20 million “makers”, with lots of free time because they’ve been kicked out of work by DEI, spending a few months building remote-control weapons as fast as they can to save their families’ lives. Does that birdbath cover a CO2 blinding laser mounted in a turret like a pop-up sprinkler? Doesn’t even need targeting, just sweep it at head height. Meanwhile the Democrat cities will be unlivable after they get their power grid tower guy wires cut by battery-powered angle grinders. One of the largest weapons the government has is the fiat currency and banking system which it uses as a tax collection system. Break that and government can no longer collect taxes as cheaply as it did; then there will be a debt jubilee — all mortgages and auto loans and credit cards are satisfied. The government may not be dumb enough to break its own logistical tail, but if it does it won’t recover.
jimmyPx · August 19, 2024 at 9:37 pm
Someone on a talk show a few years ago said “do you ever wonder like it seems “they” WANT a civil war” ?
The thing is assume there is a civil war and the country breaks up. There is no longer a US government to pay social security, medicare, medicaid, vet benefits, etc.
Also if the country cracks up, it probably won’t be Mad Max anarchy or even Bosnian Civil War. The difference is the US has strong state and local governments that will remain and people will cooperate with. I see something similar to the fall of the Soviet Union.
Things sucked and sucked BAD for most former soviet citizens and the country broke up into pieces and new countries were formed. It was a rough time but at the end of the day most people survived. The key is to prep for those rough times AND not to profit on others misfortune but if you have silver and gold, properties and assets can be bought on the cheap during this trying time.
Unknownsailor · August 20, 2024 at 12:56 am
I knew that the United States as a nation was over on election night 2008, when a smooth talking communist was elected. Billy Beck said it best in 2009, on his now defunct two four blog:
“All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war.”
To recover without the fall would require a whole bunch of people to simply not be here any more to screw things up, and some substantial changes to laws, like repealing the 16th, 17th, and 19th Amendments for starters. 1964 CRA has to go, as does the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act.
J J · August 20, 2024 at 9:10 am
Reality is a hard master. Those who continue to believe that there is hope for the existing US is going to find it very difficult to live in the post-US world.
My journey is almost over and my regrets for the inevitable collapse aren’t for myself but for what lies ahead for my sweet grandchildren.
scarecrow · August 20, 2024 at 7:33 pm
Re: the election being stolen. If that happens, patriots need to be at their STATE capitols protesting, not D.C. It is the states that must certify the votes. Going to D.C. again would be an even bigger Buffalo Jump than Black Wednesday. Besides, individually we are not going to wrest power back from the Leviathan, but at the State level; now there’s a different beast.
Adam Smith · August 21, 2024 at 1:45 pm
You are not 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔, per se. America is indeed f’d.
But I do have a couple small quibbles…
𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑚…
That ship sailed long ago. America has been practicing most of the 10 planks in one form or another to some degree for more than a century.
✔ Application of all Rents of Land to Public Purpose
✔ Income Tax
✔ Government School
✔ Centralization of Credit in the Hands of the State by Means of a National Bank
✔ Confiscation of the Property of Rebels
✔ Centralization of the Means of Communication
✔ Zoning and Planning
✔ The Farm Bill and the CRP Program
✔ Abolition of Children’s Labor
✔ Abolition of Private Property (If you 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑 it, to whom would you pay the tax?)
✔ Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc…
Sure, America doesn’t practice all 10 planks in their entirety, yet.
But she has been well on her way to full blown communism for a long time.
𝑉𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒…
Lol… Believing in voting makes you look silly at best. (More like stupid and delusional.)
Elections are not real. They have been rigged for a very long time. (Download the Diebold GEMS software and tinker with it for a few minutes if you don’t believe me.) Even if elections were real democracy without a literacy test is retarded. As long as morons and retards enjoy the franchise democracy will remain a race to the bottom.
The US Government is a Criminal Gang with No Legitimate Authority to Rule the American People
Solutions. Well, your solar panels are a good idea. Also, Water(!), land, seeds, food, guns, Ammo(!), silver, gold, platinum, tools, skills, medicine, and anything else of value that you can stockpile and defend. Sorry I don’t have better advice. Head for the hills folks. Interesting times ahead.
Cheers! ☮
Steady Steve · August 21, 2024 at 7:30 pm
Go to a gold standard. Revalue gold to $30,000 per ounce.Cut fedgov drastically such as no more Dept. of Ed, Energy, etc. and erase ALL their regulations with them. Social Security for retirement only, no more disability or other add ons. CIA, FBI, gone. Military domestic only. Shut down all bases in foreign countries and ship the equipment back. Forced retirement for a large portion of the upper echelon officer corps. Possible, but it will take serious political will power.
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