U.S. Residents Experience Life In A Third-World Country

As a young man I wondered what it would be like to live in what then was known as a third-world country and now is called an underdeveloped nation.

Well, I’ve gotten my wish without even needing to cross the border.

The United States circa 2021 is quickly devolving into third-world status.

Stay tuned for the effect that the cyber attack on the nation’s largest gasoline pipeline will have in coming days, possibly with higher prices, limited availability, or both. Yes, I made a special trip and filled the wife’s car today, at 3.09.9 a gallon.

Who knows how long gasoline will continue to be readily available?

By now we should be getting used to shortages in this former land of plenty.

Recall the run on toilet paper, paper towels, baby wipes, disposable diapers, disinfectant and some foods when the COVID-19 scare first reached critical mass.

Even now canned vegetables or soups are hard to find, or limited in quantity at area stores.

Hunters, or people who shoot targets for fun, have been experiencing across-the-board shortages of ammunition or weapons for about a year. A few years before, we got a preview when formerly ubiquitous .22 long rifle ammunition disappeared for a time.

The .22 LR boxes came back for a short while, but now ammo of all types is virtual unobtainium. Go to a gun store, or a sporting goods outlet and you will know the ammo section by its denuded shelves, sort of like the toilet paper aisle a few months back.

Automobiles, appliances, all manner of goods with even the slightest reliance on electronic brains, also are in limited supply due to a shortage of microchips.

Building supplies are hard to come by and cost multiples of their prices from a year back if you can find them.

We are being turned into modern day examples of the shoppers in the former Soviet-bloc countries, who rushed to stores and stood in massive lines when word got out that there might be meat in the freezers, or other staples available that we in this country used to take for granted.

These days, if I decide I need something, I rush to buy it when it is available lest it disappear with ammo and other items ranging from deodorant, to espresso makers and sofas. Sometimes I buy a spare, just in case.

This is the psychology that feeds frenzies and leads to shortages. But in classic game theory, you want to be the first to defect (panic) from an agreement, in this case the social agreement to buy only what you reasonably need for use in the near future.

While evidence of our country’s decline to backward levels is coming fast and furious these days, the signs have been there for years. My brother used to joke, sardonically, when his electricity would go out very often that he now knew what it was like to live in Baghdad.

Our electrical grid could be the next catastrophic failure, with the blame likely to be placed on a cyber attack. Our roads and bridges and various other infrastructure are in generally terrible shape, but hackers can’t be blamed for that sad state.

Inflation is rising well beyond what the government will admit, another third-world sign.

Unemployment is high, but we’re told all is well.

Our government, using COVID-19 for a rationale, is looking to restrict movements of people and track individuals.

The governmental intelligence agencies are spying without justification, or legal authority, on the domestic population.

Our election integrity is virtually non-existent.

Our supply chains are fragile and suffering disruptions.

It’s not all Joe Biden’s fault, but he’s accelerating the collapse with his feeble-minded agenda.

The stereotypical request of the Great Depression was “Brother, can you spare a dime?” Our update for these times might be: “Brother, can you spare a roll (toilet paper), a gallon (gasoline) or a bullet (any caliber)?”