A Harmony of Opposites

Picture the 50 states broken up into several new countries, all with separate governments and divergent political and economic needs. Some predict that climate change, resulting in lost water resources (like the massive Ogallala Aquifer that is drying up under the plains states) and coastal flooding, will put regions at each other’s throats as they vie for federal resources, ultimately fracturing a once stable union into new, smaller countries. Is that possible?

And then there are other, more extreme views, such as the one posited in the November 25 Levine Breaking News (lbnelert@timewire.net) from a Russian political economist: A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts. Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily [Russian] IZVESTIA published on [November 24]: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse." The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events. When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."

Cartophilia.com provides the above map of how the nation might be politically reconfigured in such a break-up. We might laugh at the concept, but it is nervous laughter that really depends on what part of the United States you live in. I seriously doubt that the world or America are coming to an end, but we must, as Americans, never take for granted that living in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” is not a right, it is a privilege – one that can be lost by not rallying behind our leadership, not demanding accountability and not accepting the pain that we must endure to survive and recover. Unregulated special interests have had their way for too many years. Now is the time to rebuild our nation for the benefit of ordinary, hard-working American citizens.

Most of us believe in the future, and there are signs that savvy investors are also beginning to envision potential in the years that lie before us. We are seeing a rise in new and massive fund-raising, even as the world of money seemingly collapses around us. Some very big venture capital funds and some remaining “healthy” private equity structures are raising some very big money out there (as opposed to the trends of the past few years – specialized smaller funds). The November 25 theDeal.com presents some very tangible examples: “Nov. 24: Oaktree Capital Management LP closed on a $2.1 billion European fund for distressed buyouts. Nov. 10: TowerBrook Capital Partners LP closed a $2.75 billion investment fund and Nov. 7: Cerberus Capital Management LP has raised a $2 billion secondaries fund to buy loans cheaply.”

It is very clear that our assumptions about our homes, job security and quality of life are undergoing severe strains and readjustment. For those who press for a particular ideological drift that may not jibe with what our government has in store, who do not stand in support of the rebuilding that must occur, they should be aware of the possible consequences of fighting against a body of solutions that will be implemented. I am most certain that I will not agree with many of the proposed solutions, but I also realize that it is more important to have direction and a basically correct vector of solutions than to battle interminably to create unachievable perfection in every going-forward decision made. I’ll state my piece when the time is right, but likewise, I will support the difficult choices that our newly-elected leadership must make in the near term.

May the opposition be loyal, partisanship take a back seat to pragmatic unity, and Americans understand the need for both flexibility and sacrifice that will render those dire predictions above meaningless. We still have much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I approve this message.