"Off Main Street: The SpeakEasy/BackRoom"

And to add my Groat's worth, it WAS INDEED depressing & it was that period during the 70's that led to me going overseas to Africa for many years .... and I agree that NOW is indeed getting very much like THEN.

You mentioned "Doomwatch", but don't forget the original UK "Survivors" 1970's series (which was quite good/realistic at showing how society/survivors might end up eking out a living in the event of societal collapse from ANY cause).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors

John Michael Greer, http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/, has  started a multi-part history of the US Empire, it's rise from the beginning-colonization-to the demise that we're witnessing the beginnings of today. Ties in the industrial revolution, economics, politics, military power and personalities.

I highly recommend this series for anyone who wants an in depth overview of what the hell is going on today; not that there's any investment advice or ideas about which miners (more's the pity) are going to take off, but just a kind of peace of mind factor about the inevitability of what's coming down and the mind set that might make the future more bearable; tomorrow won't be the same as yesterday.

This is just a bit from last weeks installment: edit; this is from part 10

"Like every imperial system, this one has had its ups and downs. It avoided Britain’s successful but costly policy of bringing large regions under direct political control, preferring instead to install compliant local rulers who would keep the wealth pump running in exchange for a small share of the take. It faltered in the 1970s as America’s other empire, the empire of time that paid tribute by way of oil wells, reached its peak production and tipped into permanent decline, and then gambled everything in the next decade on a daring strategy of economic warfare. That gamble paid off spectacularly, wrecking the Soviet Union and fueling the 1990s boom by feeding the nations of eastern Europe into the business end of America’s wealth pump, stripping half a dozen nations to the bare walls under the euphemisms of economic reform and a market economy."

If anyone cares to read and comment on what he has to say I'd appreciate it; I find him able to say a lot with few words and have become very impressed with his style of writing from a literary perspective. He seems to be able to call a spade a spade without it being name calling if that makes sense.

@Eric O, good luck to Bucker today! our neighbors' dog went for that kind of treatment a while back and came through fine; the dog really seemed to enjoy the pain meds afterward too

...I managed to find something to show to my wife on YouTube that made her laugh out loud. This is an oldie but a goodie, teaching us the relativity of unstoppable forces and immovable objects:

Here's what I'm doing while I look at my miners in the green for a change, wait on a call from the vet, and wait on the Bernank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=2L3dDE1J-eA

you sir are a shining silver coin among a pile of cupronickel.

what comes to mind is the commentary of a norwegian chap when beating england at football:

your 'modern art' skills are so good that -  michelangelo, can you hear me?

raphael, piero, rembrandt, durer, cezanne, turner, constable...your boys took a hell of a beating!!

Thought you might like these "Blasts from the Past" that are still relevant today

&

... I am always amazed how TRB managed to get Tony Blair's & David Cameron's voices so "spot on" decades before either of them made it to the big-time.

The most important thing a person must grab if they wish to defend their hard-earned wealth in this day and age is that the value of real goods is not going up; the BUYING POWER OF THE PAPER MONEY IS GOING DOWN.We have entered a new era of economic warfare. Make no mistake, this is warfare being conducted on a global scale, and it is no less deadly than a kinetic war. After using the tool of being severed from the international payments system as leverage, the US and European nations are all but guaranteeing that the current system will be called into question. By removing a country’s ability to conduct international bank transfers over the SWIFT system, the USA is essentially forcing nations to take a good hard look at if they want to be next. This is not an idle concern, as the US has already made threats intimating this to several other countries.²

This policy is nothing more than the equivalent of the USA shooting itself in its own foot. Instead of compliance, the USA is incurring a massive move away from the USD. What happens when countries all unofficially start settling oil purchases with gold? By using these new weapons of Economic Warfare, Western Central banks run the risk of encouraging other nations to resort to alternate payment methods and systems. The move towards alternative methods is already underway.

There has been a tremendous amount of “scurrying activity” lately as countries position themselves to completely avoid SWIFT if necessary. This entire episode is like a bully (the USA) who has long dominated a playground by ordering around all the others on the playground and using various threats of military and financial use of force as the stick. Unfortunately for the bully, the others have decided to build their own playground and simply leaving the bully behind, not inviting him to play.http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/04.12/dreams.html