The fear behind social breakdown

Our society is on the cusp of disorder, chaos, mass suffering. At least according to many doomers (“we’re screwed”) and peak oil websites. Also many people I have talked to who are afraid of changing the status-quo industrialized mass society use similar imagery to describe the likely ensuing social breakdown.

The Bankruptcy of Social Security and Collapse of US Economy

It has been known for some time that the Social Security fund was inadequate to cover the retirement of the baby boomer generation. However, the recent unemployment spike–now at 5.1 million without work–has moved the insolvency of the Social Security fund to next year.

For some time the Social Security fund actually ran a surplus and the US government borrowed this surplus to fund other programs (like military and bailouts). Now that this will be gone, they will have to resort to printing more dollars and selling more US treasuries to not only cover the programs that were funded by the surplus in Social Security, but also to pay for Social Security itself.

So why does this matter? As the recent bailouts–now reaching $13 trillion–show the government can continue just borrowing money and paying it back later, right?

Grassroots opposition halts landfill

There was a plan to build a landfill a few miles from where I live near the Withlacoochee River, which contains the headwaters of four major rivers and is the source of drinking water for most of central Florida. If it wasn’t for intense pressure by not just individuals but grassroots organizations, myself and many others would likely have been drinking contaminated leachate:

The state Department of Environmental Protection Thursday ruled Angelo’s Aggregate Materials failed to prove the project site was geologically stable and that its design would prevent leaks that could contaminate drinking water supplies… thanks to continued community opposition, formal objections by local governments in Pasco and Hillsborough and effective lobbying by some landowners, the state officials wised up. [TBO]

Yey for people power!

Harvard Psychiatrists Are Sick: Admit Secretly Taking Millions of Dollars from Drug Companies

Psychiatrists are simply legalized drug dealers, offering dangerous quick fixes to complex problems. Many major university professors are just in it for the cushy jobs. The combination of these two are not good for our health:

A congressional investigation has revealed that a group of Harvard psychiatrists, instrumental in pushing the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and its off-label treatment with antipsychotics, concealed from university officials the millions of dollars they earned in consulting fees for the companies that make those drugs… Biederman and Wilens had received at least $1.6 million from the pharmaceutical industry between 2000 and 2007, while Spencer had received at least $1 million. [Natural News]

Obama Already Breaking Promises Before Even Taking Office

When does “They won’t work in my White House!” mean they will? With a politician of course. One of Obama’s major campaign promises was to not allow lobbyists on his staff. The elections just happened and he’s already tossing this promise out the window:

A day after being elected president and acknowledging “the worst financial crisis in a century,” Barack Obama asked one of the biggest recipients of Wall Street campaign contributions to be his chief of staff. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman who was an aide in the Clinton White House, was the top House recipient in the 2008 election cycle of contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities/investment industry… Emanuel was an investment banker between the Clinton administration and his election to Congress and reported a net worth in 2007 of between $5 million and $13.2 million (lawmakers report their assets and liabilities in ranges). That would make him the 34th wealthiest member of the House. [Center For Responsive Politics]

The Insanity of Industrialized Agricultural: Chicken Eggs Contaminated with Toxic Melamine

Food is supposed to keep us alive and healthy, yet today it seems to increasingly make us sick. Today there is another case of industrial food production gone mad. Melamine was at the source of the recent major pet food recalls, diary products and:

Now chicken eggs have been contaminated with melamine, and an admission by state-run media that the industrial chemical is regularly added to animal feed in China fueled fears Friday that the problem could be more widespread, affecting fish, meat and who knows what else. [AP]

Melamine is a synthetic chemical added to artificially boost protein in food. It’s not very toxic by itself, but it reacts with another artificial food additive, cyanuric acid, to form melamine cyanurate, which can cause renal failure and cancer.

And don’t think this is something unique to China, as the media and pundits seems to love to blame.

Pesticide Linked to Honeybee Collapse, Toxic Chemicals Found in Girls From Cosmetics, Japanese Youth Flock to Communist Party

Bayer Pesticide Chemicals Linked to Devastating Collapse of Honeybee Populations

German government researchers have concluded that a bestselling Bayer pesticide is responsible for the recent massive die-off of honeybees across the country’s Baden-Württemberg region. In response, the government has banned an entire family of pesticides, fueling accusations that pesticides may be responsible for the current worldwide epidemic of honeybee die-offs.

Around the world, honeybee stocks are in decline, which scientists have warned could have devastating impacts on global food supplies. A total of 80 percent of world food crops are primarily or exclusively pollinated by honeybees, amounting to 130 crops and $15 billion worth of food each year in the United States alone. Yet two million honeybee colonies have been lost in the United States in recent years, with massive dieoffs also reported across Europe and in Taiwan, where 10 million bees recently disappeared over the course of only two weeks.

Bees are used as factory workers in industrialized farming, making a crop like almonds totally dependent on them.

Teen Girls’ Body Burden of Hormone-Altering Cosmetics Chemicals

Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products. Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families – phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks – in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption.

The EWG has a nice database for finding out what’s in your products.

Japan’s young turn to Communist Party as they decide capitalism has let them down

New recruits are signing up at the rate of 1,000 a month, swelling its ranks to more than 415,000. Meanwhile a classic proletarian novel is at the top of the best-seller lists, and communist-themed “manga” comics are enjoying soaring success.

A further sign of disaffection among young Japanese – who in recent years have been more renowned for their political apathy than their revolutionary zeal – is the increasing frequency of rallies by workers on the streets of the capital.

I think another potentially positive aspect of economic instability and less “business as usual” is the increased openness to social change.

Plastic in Cosmetics

Over a fakeplasticfish.com, there is a very informative post about “exfoliating scrubs” being made of out plastic. The author points out this is merely flushed down the drain, and often ends up in the ocean with much of the other un-compostable, useless trash. The EWG has a great cosmetic safety database to find alternatives and investigate the ingredients of bath products, which are typically carcinogenic and harmful to the environment.