The Wrath of a Patient Man

One of the advantages of maintaining the news feed is that I get to process a rapid-fire sequence of news stories. Every morning I wake up to fifty or sixty news tips that await me in our inbox — not to mention the ones in skype. As I flip quickly through the tips, copying and pasting them into the database form, I sometimes notice patterns in the news that I might otherwise miss.

These days the most dystopian reports come from the UK. Britain has recently moved to the head of the queue of nations most likely to descend into anarchy, revolution, civil war, or some combination of all three.

The three news stories highlighted below approach the British catastrophe from different angles, but they all converge at the same point. And not all of this is bad news — there is plenty of reason for optimism, if my interpretations are correct

First, from to the Telegraph, comes an ominous fiscal forecast for the UK. According to the haruspices of the Bank of England, the outlook is grim:

Britain is showing signs of sliding towards a 1930s-style depression, the Bank of England says today for the first time.

The country is displaying early symptoms of being trapped in a so-called “debt deflation trap” where families find themselves pushed further and further into the red every month, according to a Bank report published today.

The stark warning will cause serious concerns, since it was this combination of falling prices and soaring debt burdens that plagued the US in the 1930s.

- - - - - - - - -

[…]

Although inflation is currently in positive territory, it is expected to become negative in the coming months.

[…]

The Bank’s paper suggests that Britain is particularly at risk because there is a high proportion of families with significant levels of debt, and many of them are on fixed mortgage rate, which means they will not benefit from rate cuts.

Britons’ total personal debt — the amount owed on mortgages, loans and credit cards — is, at £1.46 trillion, more than the value of what the country produces in a year.

Total personal debt has risen by 165 per cent since 1997 and each household now owes an average of about £60,000.

The Conservatives claim this is the highest personal debt level in the world.

Yes, a deflation is on its way. But it is only a precursor to a bout of serious inflation, possibly even hyperinflation, as governments respond to the crisis in the only manner that is politically feasible.

Deflation — which is wonderful for those of us who still have jobs and own our homes outright with no plans to sell — causes a reduction of wealth, including the devaluation of real estate and other assets. This triggers a capitalization crisis in the banking system and increases the rate of bankruptcies. It’s a vicious circle: the money supply contracts as banks tighten their credit rules even farther, and as foreclosures and defaults mount, banks are left with assets they can’t sell that are appraised at much less than the nominal value they possessed when they were used as collateral for all the bad loans.

Since most Western countries have bailed out and/or nationalized the largest banks, the new bad debt is thus transferred to the State. The government becomes the creditor of last resort, and, unlike the banks or the general public, the government has a solution to its debt problems: it can print money.

Expect a massive inflation in the wake of the deflation, after a lag time of two to five years.

In the face of this looming economic crisis, what does Her Majesty’s Government preoccupy itself with? The important things: how much and what kind of rubbish the Crown’s subjects deposit in their wheelie-bins.

According to The Daily Mail:

Householders With ‘Wrong Sort of Rubbish’ to be ‘Re-Educated’ by the Bin Police

Householders who put ‘the wrong sort of rubbish’ in their bins are to face re-education visits from council officers at their homes.

They will be told how they are failing to recycle properly and will be encouraged to ‘do better’.

Bureaucrats are using microchips placed in bins to measure the volume of rubbish thrown away — and the contents may also be analysed in a search for plastic, glass or other items that should have been recycled instead.

Those who break strict rules will first be contacted in writing, but may be confronted by a council officer on their doorstep if they offend again.

This is not an inexpensive operation. The manufacture and distribution of the new wheelie-bins costs a pretty penny, and the subsequent monitoring and bureaucratic follow-up only adds to the cost.

The irony of all this is intensified by the fact that local councils have had to cut back on recycling operations because of budget problems. So ordinary citizens are being harassed and re-educated for not recycling rubbish that may not be recyclable in the first place.

Only in Britain.

Fiscal disaster. Petty harassment for trivial offenses. Polygamous Muslim immigrants sucking up dole money for multiple wives and uncountable children. Universal surveillance by Nanny.

Where do we go from here?

Well, my money’s on revolution. El Inglés and I have been reading the entrails ourselves, and all the signs indicate that the tipping point is near, if it has not indeed already been passed.

Remember the British soldiers who returned home to Luton only to learn from Muslim demonstrators that they were cowards and war criminals? This incident may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. At long last, John Bull has roused himself to bellow, “That tears it!”

Here’s the story from The Daily Mail:

Fury as Islamic Extremist Who Abused British Troops is Given 24-Hour Police Protection

An Islamic extremist who abused British soldiers during a homecoming parade has sparked further outrage after he was given 24-hour police protection.

Yousaf Bashir was part of a gang that hurled abuse at 200 members of the Royal Anglian Regiment as they marched through Luton last Tuesday after a second tour of duty in Iraq.

The moves comes after the semi-detached home Bashir shares with his parents was attacked on Friday.

Two downstairs windows and the glass in the front door were smashed, and the rear windows of two cars parked in the driveway were shattered.

Two police officers have been stationed in a marked car outside the property since the attacks and a CCTV camera has also been installed.

[…]

Bashir and his friends shouted abuse and waved placards calling the soldiers ‘The Butchers of Basra’, ‘criminals, murderers, terrorists’ and ‘baby killers’.

Two lines of police had to be deployed after the crowd turned on the protesters.

In a show of solidarity for the soldiers, seven of Mr Bashir’s neighbours decorated their homes with Union Jack flags.

The outrage of Bedfordshire residents was inflamed by the lavish solicitousness that the police expended on those who insult and abuse British soldiers.

This from the same constabulary who advise citizens whose homes have been burgled to install better locks!

This from the overworked police force that can scarcely manage to send a patrol car round to houses where home invasions have taken place!

This from the people who charge pedestrians an exorbitant fine if they accidentally drop a scrap of paper on the pavement!

No wonder British blood is boiling.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
There’s an old saying: Beware the wrath of a patient man.

Well, we’re about to witness that aphorism in action.

When the patient man is at last roused to his full level of righteous wrath — when the British public decides that it has finally had enough — the resulting spectacle will be a wonder to behold.

Then it will be time to pity Gordon Brown. I hope for his sake that the e-borders program processes his exit in a timely fashion.


Hat tip: Gaia.