Quote of the day–Dmitry Orlov

So, what is there for them to do? Forget “growth,” forget “jobs,” forget “financial stability.” What should their realistic new objectives be? Well, here they are: food, shelter, transportation, and security. Their task is to find a way to provide all of these necessities on an emergency basis, in absence of a functioning economy, with commerce at a standstill, with little or no access to imports, and to make them available to a population that is largely penniless. If successful, society will remain largely intact, and will be able to begin a slow and painful process of cultural transition, and eventually develop a new economy, a gradually de-industrializing economy, at a much lower level of resource expenditure, characterized by a quite a lot of austerity and even poverty, but in conditions that are safe, decent, and dignified. If unsuccessful, society will be gradually destroyed in a series of convulsions that will leave a defunct nation composed of many wretched little fiefdoms. Given its largely depleted resource base, a dysfunctional, collapsing infrastructure, and its history of unresolved social conflicts, the territory of the Former United States will undergo a process of steady degeneration punctuated by natural and man-made cataclysms.

Dmitry Orlov
February 13, 2009
Social Collapse Best Practices
[I was reminded of this after reading Roberta post The Greater Depression. I snorted in laughter when I read the last line of her post but then it took me several minutes for me to give Barb the context so she could get the joke. She claims it was worth it.–Joe]

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2 thoughts on “Quote of the day–Dmitry Orlov

  1. “If unsuccessful, society will be gradually destroyed in a series of convulsions…”
    Sounds less like a warning than a threat.

  2. Just yesterday, whilst driving back from visiting friend Lyle Ohm, I was commenting to Mike T
    (of EKCFonra fame) how optimistic most economic blogs seem to me lately. Good to see TamaraK
    and Joe bring a taste of what seems real. Now if i can figure out why I’m torn between
    laughing and curling up in a ball when I hear the “suvival seed bank” ads on the radio I’ll
    be doing -great-! OR I could just spend more time in the garden and less listening to radio 😉

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