tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post5912707090342231222..comments2024-01-16T03:42:46.705-05:00Comments on The Downward Spiral: Friday Rant: A Half-Century at the Local Tire Factory in a Globalizing WorldBill Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-24892084586574530832011-08-13T19:34:56.634-04:002011-08-13T19:34:56.634-04:00Thanks, Thomas Paine. I didn't know I had suc...Thanks, Thomas Paine. I didn't know I had such esteemed, historically important readership! :)Bill Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-85092091887776533712011-08-13T09:11:11.966-04:002011-08-13T09:11:11.966-04:00Very nice retrospective, Billhicksisdead. Always e...Very nice retrospective, Billhicksisdead. Always enjoy reading what you write.Thomas Painehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05433303201615302254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-88520292428905767412011-08-12T10:13:27.516-04:002011-08-12T10:13:27.516-04:00@MrNiceGuy - Wow, that was great! I really need t...@MrNiceGuy - Wow, that was great! I really need to put that book on my reading list. Thanks!Bill Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-49352737687466788482011-08-12T10:11:10.886-04:002011-08-12T10:11:10.886-04:00Here's the classic example from H Beam Piper&#...Here's the classic example from H Beam Piper's "Space Viking":<br /><br />"You've seen decivilized planets. How does it happen?"<br /><br />"I know how it's happened on a good many: War. Destruction of cities<br />and industries. Survivors among ruins, too busy keeping their own<br />bodies alive to try to keep civilization alive. Then they lose all<br />knowledge of how to be civilized."<br /><br />"That's catastrophic decivilization. There is also decivilization by<br />erosion, and while it's going on, nobody notices it. Everybody is<br />proud of their civilization, their wealth and culture. But trade is<br />falling off; fewer ships come in each year. So there is boastful<br />talk about planetary self-sufficiency; who needs off-planet trade<br />anyhow? Everybody seems to have money, but the government is always<br />broke. Deficit spending--and always the vital social services for<br />which the government has to spend money. The most vital one, of<br />course, is buying votes to keep the government in power. And it gets<br />harder for the government to get anything done.<br /><br />"The soldiers are sloppier at drill, and their uniforms and weapons<br />aren't taken care of. The noncoms are insolent. And more and more<br />parts of the city are dangerous at night, and then even in the<br />daytime. And it's been years since a new building went up, and the<br />old ones aren't being repaired any more."<br /><br />Trask closed his eyes. Again, he could feel the mellow sun of Gram<br />on his back, and hear the laughing voices on the lower terrace, and<br />he was talking to Lothar Ffayle and Rovard Grauffis and Alex Gorram<br />and Cousin Nikkolay and Otto Harkaman. He said:<br /><br />"And finally, nobody bothers fixing anything up. And the<br />power-reactors stop, and nobody seems to be able to get them started<br />again. It hasn't quite gotten that far on the Sword-Worlds yet."MrNiceGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15956428291969275973noreply@blogger.com