12-21-2012, The End of the World is Sneaking Up On Us

[MediumTex]

I haven't thought about the 2012 end of the world thing in many months, but I saw a story about it today and was surprised that I had let such an important date leave my mind for so long.

I guess I've just been busy with other things.

It's surprising that the media has let this story cool down the way it has.  I just don't recall there being much coverage of bunkers, Nostradamus, or related topics lately.

I'm sure there will be a final push in the media after we get Thanksgiving out of the way.

[RickV42]

Yeah...I think the media is too focused on the fleeting stories of the day (drought, famine, war, Europe and/or world-wide financial system collapsing, Middle East turmoil, fiscal cliff, global warming, depression, occasional asteroid close encounter thrown in for good measure, etc., etc.) and should spend some more time on that Mayan thing.   

I guess that wouldn't leave much time for Kardashian news though.  Never mind.

[MediumTex]

Yeah...I think the media is too focused on the fleeting stories of the day (drought, famine, war, Europe and/or world-wide financial system collapsing, Middle East turmoil, fiscal cliff, global warming, depression, occasional asteroid close encounter thrown in for good measure, etc., etc.) and should spend some more time on that Mayan thing.   

I guess that wouldn't leave much time for Kardashian news though.  Never mind.

Maybe the Kardashians should do a special two hour "end-of-the-world" episode.

They could go to a remote island in the Pacific and throw Bruce Jenner in a volcano as an offering to the Mayan gods.  If it worked and prevented the world from ending they would all return home heroes and Bruce Jenner would be considered a martyr for all of humanity.  (I'll bet that would be good for a posthumous Wheaties box appearance.)

I would probably watch that.

[moda0306]

Gold $3,000?

[Reub]

Will my gold coins be able to survive this?

[Bean]

Gold $3,000?

I would actually make a guess at $15,000 gold.  Based on my current office pool's odds favoring a monetary collapse.

[MediumTex]

Gold $3,000?

I would actually make a guess at $15,000 gold.  Based on my current office pool's odds favoring a monetary collapse.

Why would anyone want to buy gold if the world was ending?

I would think that beer and liquor would be what was in demand.

[moda0306]

MT,

I wonder why people would pay $1,600 for a relatively useless (at that price) yellow metal to begin with.

I've simply accepted its role as a tough-to-price item that will move with real interest rates for fundamental macroeconomic reasons.

[MachineGhost]

It's surprising that the media has let this story cool down the way it has.  I just don't recall there being much coverage of bunkers, Nostradamus, or related topics lately.

There sure seems to be a heck of a lot "lost real asset treasure" shows on the air or premiering.  This tells me that creeping stealth inflation has been occuring even if not formally recognized yet by the mainstream media.  During the real estate bubble, there were an excessive amount of home improvement and real estate shows, even a channel dedicated to it.

If you watch The 70's Show, never do you really get an impression that it was a decade of a stagnant economy, high interest rates, a real asset bubble, etc..  So maybe only in hindsight will we look back and see the obvious for this decade.  It sure doesn't "feel" like the 70's either.

I think we ought to rechristen the PP as the Apocalypto Portfolio as it has survived the four horsemen of the apocalypse for 5 decades now:

Over the past half century, none of our threatened eco-pocalypses have played out as predicted. Some came partly true; some were averted by action; some were wholly chimerical. This raises a question that many find discomforting: With a track record like this, why should people accept the cataclysmic claims now being made about climate change? After all, 2012 marks the apocalyptic deadline of not just the Mayans but also a prominent figure in our own time: Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who said in 2007 that “if there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late … This is the defining moment.”?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/ ... senot/all/

[escafandro]

http://www.livescience.com/20218-apocal ... endar.html

relax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo4OnQpwjkc

[Storm]

Just because 2012 might be the year when it is too late to reverse long term climate change, doesn't mean the world will end this year.  The earth was a huge greenhouse for much of the prehistoric era.

[Pointedstick]

Also, the last episode of global warming took place before industrial capitalism and was very beneficial for Europe, melting much of the ice that covered the north and revealing fertile farmland. My problem with the global warming alarmists is that they don't seem to have any sense that regardless of our present contributions, this is also something that just happens sometimes, and they also seem to have no faith in the ability of humanity to adapt to the changes like we've adapted to every dramatic change throughout our brief history. Heck, we already adapted to one episode of global warming in the last 1000 years, I think we can probably do it again!

[Lone Wolf]

Over the past half century, none of our threatened eco-pocalypses have played out as predicted. Some came partly true; some were averted by action; some were wholly chimerical. This raises a question that many find discomforting: With a track record like this, why should people accept the cataclysmic claims now being made about climate change? After all, 2012 marks the apocalyptic deadline of not just the Mayans but also a prominent figure in our own time: Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who said in 2007 that “if there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late … This is the defining moment.”?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/ ... senot/all/

Great article!  That was a fun trip down the Malthusian memory lane.

It's funny how all these overblown fears really permeate the times.  I still remember coming home from school as a little kid after eating a candy cane that had briefly fallen on the floor.  I felt tired and ill later in the afternoon.  This was the late 80s, so I fretted that I was suffering from AIDS.    I was too young to understand how HIV actually works (and also too young to be familiar with "the 5 second rule".)