I'm very distressed about Hurricane Katrina slamming into New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfsport, Mississippi, Alabama and let's not forget Florida, too. It's hard seeing those places all turned into rubble, but harder for the people who lived there. Yes, I do know people who lived in those areas. There are very few Southerners who probably don't know people who live in those areas. But the real kick to the teeth—on top of that idiot who fired at the rescue helicopter, shutting down evacuation efforts in New Orleans— are the gas prices. I have never seen so much opportunistic gouging going on before. Okay, in the vicinity, I can see that. But all over the U.S. and Canada??!!! WTF!!
Overnight, the prices went up 40¢ a liter and in Atlanta prices have shot up to $6.00 a gallon. This may hurt the economy in North America. I haven't believed in the "supply and demand" theory in economics in a long time. There are too many oligarchies for that. Too many monopolies. What I believe is happening is much more cynical. The prices are jacked up until people can't pay them any more. Why is it that C.E.O.'s of oil companies are reporting record salary and bonuses? Because they can.
What's going to happen eventually? Total collapse and civil war. The U.S. is going the way of France, Britain, the Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain, Cuba, Haiti. When the richest people make 300 times the poorest people and when 90% of the assets are owned by 1% of the population, it becomes intolerable and civil war results. That's what happened in Cuba and France with their revolutions. France in the 1780's reached that 300% index and the aristocrats and the king and queen (Louis and Marie Antionette) lost their heads.
About one million more people slid into poverty in the U.S. in 2003. When the critical index of people (also called the 100th monkey syndrome) become disillusioned—when they no longer believe in any of the institutions that are in place, and when celebrities and billionaires stop being the objects of worship—the country will slide into apathy until someone kills a leader or a C.E.O, just like what happened that caused WWI—the Serbian who killed Archduke Ferdinand in 1914—then chaos happens, then a civil war. I predict the U.S. has about, maybe, another 40 years before this happens. At the most.