Symbols of the Collapse

More signs that societal collapse has already come to America. July 11, 2024 [Turn Your Images On] Symbols of The Collapse “A society is in decay, final or transitional, when common sense really becomes uncommon.” – G.K. Chesterton --------------------------------------------------------------- [Special Reminder: In case you missed [our recent announcement]( The Essential Investor has merged with legacy contributors to Agora Financial. The new, larger, more inclusive project is called The Grey Swan Investment Fraternity. If you’re interested in the scope and benefits of our new endeavor, please see what prompted us to merge [here](. If you’ve been a member of The Essential Investor, please keep an eye out for your new benefits.] Reader, July 11, 2024 — Early in the morning Wednesday, a random passerby in Fells Point witnessed a row home collapse under its own weight. Fells Point is a gentrified neighborhood in Baltimore. It's on the Patasco River between the Inner Harbor and the Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed several weeks ago. We have a special interest in the neighborhood because we’ve lived there on four different occasions in our 30 year history with the city. At night, it’s kind of sketchy, but it’s also a fun place with bars, restaurants and live music. [Turn Your Images On] The row-home that collapsed on Wednesday was originally built as one of hundred of thousands of tenement building for shipyard workers, maritime, factory, rail and infrastructure workers, many of them Polish, Italian, Greek, Irish and African American minority communities. Baltimore City currently owns over 13,000 vacant buildings and another 20,000+ desolate urban lots. In a recent mayoral race, as is perennially true, what to do with these city properties and the neighborhoods around them plays a central role in policy debates. The city is effectively bankrupt. The politicians, notoriously corrupt. Fells Point is one of the more fortunate neighborhoods, because it has retained an historically economic important nightlife community. Yet, the city is somehow responsible for miles of squalor without the resources to deal with them or any interest from the private development community. “White flight” has contributed to a declining population since the post-World War II era, seen across the nation in many large cities since the 1950s. There are 311 post-industrial cities in the United States with a population greater than 100,000 people according to the U.S. Census, 38 with a population greater than 500,000 and 9 greater than a million. Each one has a problem with aging infrastructure that includes post-industrial housing. Many of these cities are left with the crime and infrastructure issues similar to Baltimore City. If you don’t think America is already in a state of collapse, you’re either not paying attention, or living in one of the places fortunate enough not to decline first. Just one data point we stumbled on this week helps to explain why: [Turn Your Images On] Proposed: Decline is here. And it’s getting uglier. Politicians either are unwilling to do anything about it. They can’t. Or are exploiting “social justice” issues for their own self-interest. Today, Michal Snyder shows the details on how the breakdown of authority is already underway in an increasingly larger part of the country. One of the places he mentions hits close to home to me – physically. That’s because it’s only 15 or so miles from a farm that’s been in the Wiggin family for 5 generations. To see that level of collapse so close to where we’ve lived in “quaint” New Hampshire is eye opening.  Enjoy ~~ Addison CONTINUED BELOW... --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- >>SPONSORED<< [Joe Biden Facing Political “Knockout” In Weeks?]( [Turn On Your Images.]( Weeks from now, we are expecting Joe Biden to make a historical announcement…  It will change everything about the coming 2024 election.  In short: Joe Biden is facing a new political scandal like no other …  And the shocking thing is, his own party is behind it.  It doesn't matter if you’re not a political junkie. It doesn’t matter who you are voting for. 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Authorities Are Literally Losing Control of the Streets As America’s Societal Collapse Accelerates Michael Snyder, [Michael Snyder’s Substack]( In a civilized society, authorities are able to maintain at least a basic level of law and order in the streets most of the time. Unfortunately, at this point it is up for debate whether the United States is still a “civilized society” or not. The chaos in our streets never seems to end, and those that are in charge of running things don’t seem to be able to regain control. The theft, violence and mayhem that we are witnessing in our major cities is being fueled by the worst homelessness crisis in our entire history, the worst drug crisis in our entire history, and the worst migration crisis in our entire history. If authorities cannot control our streets now, what is going to happen once our societal collapse reaches a much more advanced stage? Robin Bach and her husband were absolutely thrilled when they were able to purchase their dream home in Concord, New Hampshire several years ago. But now her children won’t even play in the backyard because it has been taken over by a homeless encampment… A New Hampshire family is being terrorized by a homeless encampment that sprouted up behind their historic home, leading to violent encounters with the vagrants, according to a report. Robin Bach and her husband spent years restoring their 19th-century dream home in Concord to raise their two children, ages 8 and 11 — but have been plagued by the campers living in the woods behind the palatial abode. They’ve received death threats and have heard gunshots and screams from beyond the tree line. A swingset in their backyard, bought in 2020 during the pandemic, sits untouched by her terrified children, who will only play in the front yard. Thousands upon thousands of homeless encampments are popping up in communities all across this country. Bach and her family have been endlessly terrorized by those that are camping out just behind her property, and it is being reported that she has called the police 37 times… Since purchasing the house in 2018 with grand plans to renovate and raise a family, Bach has called police 37 times, according to police records reviewed by the newspaper. Six calls were for an area check, another six for disturbances as well as domestic violence and criminal trespassing incidents. I suppose that they could sell the house at a loss and move some place where the homeless have not taken over yet. But the problem is that the homeless encampments keep on spreading to new areas. Meanwhile, the violence in our major cities just continues to escalate. Over the 4th of July holiday weekend, a total of 109 people were shot in the city of Chicago… One hundred and nine people have been shot, 19 fatally, in gun violence across Chicago since Wednesday during the extended Fourth of July holiday weekend, police said. Superintendent Larry Snelling and Mayor Brandon Johnson both called for accountability for those responsible for the shootings. Johnson was pressed to address what adjustments need to be made to keep the community safe, his response was simply getting more support. In a civilized society, when you are attacked you call the police and they come and help you. But in Chicago, about half the time there isn’t even a police officer available when someone calls in to report a violent crime… In Chicago in 2023, more than 1,800 calls were made to 911 of a person being shot. Only about 800 – fewer than half – were responded to immediately by police officers. The other 1,000 callers were victims of 911 backlogs, where no police were available at the time of the call. Those victims had to wait half an hour, an hour, or even several hours for the 911 call backlog to end and for police to finally arrive. It was the same for the 32,000 911 calls of an assault in progress, where police were only immediately available for 50% of those calls. And it was the same for 54% of the city’s 911 calls of 35,000 batteries in progress. All over this country, the police are completely and utterly overwhelmed by the tsunami of lawlessness that we are witnessing all around us. They are massively outnumbered by the lawbreakers, and the lawbreakers are becoming increasingly bold. In some of our major cities, things have gotten so bad that lawbreakers brazenly take over entire streets on a regular basis. In Los Angeles, one of these “street takeovers” recently ended with a blazing inferno… More than 50 cars were involved in a street takeover in downtown Los Angeles early Saturday as some went up in flames, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Video shows a car completely engulfed by a fire, sitting in the middle of an intersection as a thick black cloud of smoke rises from the vehicle. Other cars can be seen as they try to drive around the inferno. LAPD said several vehicles were impounded after authorities responded to the area near East 18th Street and Main Street, where participants intentionally set two of the cars on fire. Unfortunately, this is the most law and order that we are going to get. From this point forward, our society will only become even more chaotic. Those that have been following my work for a long time know that I have warned that someday we would see armed guards on food trucks. Well, now it is starting to happen… Things have gotten so utopian in the state of California, delivery drivers are being accompanied by armed guards due to “crime concerns” while out making deliveries. One company, Core Mart, has started hiring the guards to escort its drivers. Which means that somewhere, in a board room, it likely made more financial sense to pay for all new security staff than it did to continue to allow drivers to get robbed (and inventory lost) as was happening prior. These trucks are not transporting objects of immense value. They are simply making deliveries to convenience stores… This is our country now. Authorities are not able to maintain a sufficient level of control in the streets, and so companies are starting to take matters into their own hands. Needless to say, this is just the beginning. We will see things happen during the months and years to come that most people never would have imagined in their wildest dreams.  ~~ Michael Snyder, [Michael Snyder’s Substack]( --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- >>SPONSORED<< [2024 – The Real Election Year Surprise]( [Turn On Your Images.]( We’re forecasting an October Election Surprise that almost no one sees coming — and this time it’ll be way more devastating than anything you’ve seen before. [Click here to learn about 2024’s real October Election Surprise »]( It’s not at all what you think. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- So it goes, Addison Wiggin Founder, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. How did we get here? An alternative view of the financial, economic, and political history of the United States from [Demise of the Dollar]( through [Financial Reckoning Day]( and on to [Empire of Debt]( all three books are available in their third post-pandemic editions. [Turn Your Images On]( (Or… simply pre-order [Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed]( now available at [Amazon]( and [Barnes & Noble]( or if you prefer one of these sites:[Bookshop.org]( [Books-A-Million]( or [Target]( Please send your comments, reactions, opprobrium, vitriol and praise to: addison@greyswanfraternity.com [Turn Your Images On] The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to The Wiggin Sessions delivering daily email issues and advertisements. 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