The Deacon wrote:JD, there's a saying in the medical profession - "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." It's just another way of saying that the simplest, most common explainations for events are usually correct. I think you have so firmly convinced yourself that American stands on the brink of social collapse that you see signs of this in events for which there are much simpler, and far less dire explainations.
Well Deacon you have your take on the situation at hand, and that is good to have a difference of opinions. But I don't just base this one isolated incident in basing my opinion that there is something terribly around the corner concerning a potential social/economic crash here in the USA. There are just too many factors contributing to this social breakdown that can't be ignored. With pension funds going broke left and right, with the dollar trading at all time lows, with stalwarts like General Motors, Ford, Delphi and almost too many other companies to list that on the brink of financial ruin I hardly think my observation is BASELESS

. With the average credit card holder being $9200** in debt and with a wave of mortages on the brink of foreclosure I have many other rock solid factors to weigh on besides a football player being needlessly murdered.
I have an old friend who has sold real estate for over 22 years. She has made a pile of money over the years and she is now about ready to call it quits. She hasn't even shown a house in over 6 months. Blue Springs, Missouri which is a town close to me that as recently as 2004 was one of the biggest real estate hot spots in the entire nation. They now have so many listings ( 461 in a town of 50,000) that most of the home owners have changed their FOR Sale signs into FOR RENT signs because there is just nothing at all selling. She told me that didn't even happen in Blue Springs even in the recession of the early 80s. She also told me that half of the agents in her office have already quit and gone on to other jobs. She also told me that the only money she has made since MAY of 2006 is that she has been making her living doing paperwork on foreclosures. My boss is a retired Medical Doctor whose daughter is also a Doctor and she is now looking for another career to get into because they see the handwriting on the wall as far as a potential medical system crash. And Deacon I double dare you to refer to him as being a paronoid idiot because he is a multi-millionaire several times over and he has an incredible track record of being right with his predictions. And he heartily agrees with me that there is something terribly wrong with the entire nation at this point. He has a ranch in North Missouri for the sole reason of leaving the city when all goes awry.
There's been a saying on Wall STreet for decades that goes like this: "AS goes General Motors so goes the USA" Which is a short way of saying that most Wall STreet analysts have always used General Motors as a barometer as to how the rest of the country will go. Truly I Hope I am WRONG. But there is something very terrible going on in this country. We are faced with a multi-faceted onslaught that is disentegrating our way of life here in the USA. With our manufacturing base being deliberately destroyed and the corrupt politicians even giving tax breaks for those who take factories and jobs overseas you just can't help but think that there is something not right with the big picture. There are so many extreme problems going on in the country at this time that it would take me about 6 pages to list even half of them. But my boss said the other day that it's not a matter of IF the health care system is going to crash, it's a matter of WHEN it's going to happen. With phamaceutical drugs going up exponentially and more and more people losing their health insurance ( me included

) just that sector alone is a potent ingredient for mayhem. That's enough for now. But do prepare people because there are dark days ahead.
I don't mean any of this in a spirit of bitterness or contention but I respectfully think that you all need to take a closer look at the big picture. Because there are a lot more negative factors converging on us than most people realize. GOD help us all
