There I was, happily thinking that my life was safe and secure. I had a roof over my head, a car that (sort of) worked and lived within walking distance of a great public library. But then I got an e-mail in my inbox predicting the end of the (financial) world. Oh rats.
“Americans are over two hundred fifty TRILLION dollars in debt right now,” said the e-mail. “Our five largest banks own over 200 trillion dollars in derivatives but only have 20 trillion dollars in assets. That kind of financial shell game is dangerous. It can’t last. The greatest depression in history is heading our way. Hunker down and buy gold.” https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-16/financial-weapons-mass-destruction-top-25-us-banks-have-222-trillion-dollars-derivat
Derivatives? Huh? I had always thought that foolish spending on barbaric “wars” would be the cause of America’s ruin. Who knew it would just be our very own greedy banks that would do us in, happily allowing our country to rot from the inside. https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/07/30/be-suspicious-of-everyone-who-habitually-defends-the-powerful-from-the-weak/
“So what else can I do to protect myself — seeing as how buying gold isn’t exactly an option for me right now?” I immediately e-mailed back.
“One good thing you can do immediately is to make friends with an immigrant.”
But why?
“Because immigrants and refugees know basic survival skills. You don’t. When the greatest financial catastrophe in history arrives, you are going to need immigrants and refugees far more than they are going to need you.”
Immigrants and refugees, fleeing from America’s cruel colonial realities in faraway places like Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen and in places closer to home like Mexico and Honduras, know how to survive when the going gets tough. Do we couch-potato Americans know how to survive and “make something out of nothing” too? Not so much. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/casualties-saudi-led-coalition-air-raids-hit-yemen-hodeidah-180802163441327.html
Hey, wait. That’s not entirely true. I know how to plant tomatoes. “Yeah but can you milk a cow, make candles and soap, entertain yourself without your SmartPhone or TV, cook without a microwave oven and build a house?” Er, no.
PS: I just got back from Aurora, Colorado, home of one of the largest and most totally scary I.C.E. “processing centers” in America. Three whole city blocks long and another whole city block wide — with no windows and only one door. On a cold, wet, rainy afternoon last week I kept my eye on this GEO-run prison-for-profit where dozens of the parents of ICE-kidnapped children are being held. Disgusting. https://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/06/21/detained-aurora-ice-immigration-parents/
“First we have a government that feels free to kidnap immigrant children and, when that works out so well for them — will they also feel free to kidnap our own children too?” That is the question that every decent American mom should be asking herself right now.
700 immigrant children are still separated from their families right now. Remember back when your own parents, grandparents or ancestors were immigrants too? Even my Cherokee ancestors were once immigrants here. Even Black slaves were (brutally involuntary) immigrants. For better or for worse, there would be no freaking America at all without immigrants. http://time.com/5350788/kids-separated-from-families-july-26-deadline/
PPS: Breaking news: An immigrant toddler just died — shortly after being released from an ICE kiddie jail — due to a serious respiratory infection that she had contacted there (and probably from a broken heart too). My first question is, “How many babies have died inside ICE kiddie jails — dead babies that we aren’t being told about?” https://www.ibtimes.com/child-dead-after-ice-detention-center-stay-due-negligent-care-immigration-lawyer-2704521
For more information on how you can help save our kidnapped children, here are some great websites with good ideas on where to start:
https://immigrantfamiliestogether.com/
https://solidaridadconlosninos.com/camps/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/solidaridadconlosninos/
