SAIL ON O' SHIP OF FATE: IGNORNING WARNINGS CAN BE FATAL.
By Danny Schechter
2012 has been the l00th anniversary of the famous Titanic disaster. The Captain of that "unsinkable" ship was warned that there were icebergs ahead but he was too busy, out to set a speed record on the way to New York.
The warnings were ignored and we know what happened. What we don't know is why other urgent warnings go unheeded.
Take the repeated warnings
that the easy availability of hand guns and assault rifles would lead to more
massacres of innocents. The National Rifle Association operates with impunity
(even as it bans weapons in its offices.)
When action is not taken, you
increase the likelihood of more deadly incidents like the ones in malls and
even elementary schools.
Take the predictions of a storm surge tied to climate change threatening the New York/New Jersey coastline. They were acknowledged but downplayed because right-wingers and their think tanks spent a decade in bogus quibbling about "junk" science.
NowM New York City is facing a billion dollar plus clean-up bill, and even the small army of the biggest names in rock and roll who did an inspiring benefit for storm victims did not question the denial factor in government and the media.
And now, as the fourth
quarter of economic activity tapers down for the holidays, and companies close
for the New Year, forecasters avoid making dire predictions for fear of being
seen as alarmists or "doom and gloomers."
Many seem to fear that if they say things will get worse, the very act of saying it may make it happen. Talk about the arrogance of power!
But that hasn't stopped Paul Craig Roberts an Assistant Treasury Secretary in the Reagan Administration from warning on USA Watchdog.com:
"America is going to crash big time" The real problem is not the fiscal cliff. The dollar is on very thin ice. "
"They can't
stop hemorrhaging the debt, and the way they cover that is to hemorrhage the
dollar." In this real time scenario, Dr. Roberts goes on to say, "When
you have debt pouring out and dollars pouring out, the dollar can't keep its
value forever. At some point, people will run away from it, and it will
start abroad."
Dr. Roberts thinks there is "an impending collapse of the exchange value," and the U.S. dollar could unexpectedly plunge in buying power. Dr. Roberts contends, "All of a sudden, people walk into Walmart, as usual, and they think they've walked into Neiman Marcus." Dr. Roberts says there are no quick fixes to the bulging debt because "there's no way to close this deficit when corporations are moving the tax base off-shore."
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