Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

Higgenbotham wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2026 6:59 pm I think more important than this, because corporations are going to go bankrupt anyway, is the individuals who assume political control will tend to become more and more psychopathic over time. So people complain that Trump is a psychopath or more psychopathic than his predecessors (most often using different words) and that is arguable but you ain't seen nothing yet.

Higgenbotham wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2026 10:05 am Gary North used to say we have Negatrends.

What were the 12 deadly Nega-Trends Gary North listed?

AI Overview

In his 1985 book 12 Deadly Nega-Trends (sometimes referred to or subtitled as 12 Deadly Mega-Trends), economist and Christian Reconstructionist Gary North outlined a series of systemic economic, social, and political threats that he predicted could collapse modern Western civilization.

The 12 deadly trends listed by Gary North include:

Inflation – The devaluation of currency and erosion of purchasing power.
Government Debt – Runaway national deficit and state borrowing.
Social Security – The financial unsustainability and eventual collapse of government retirement systems.
Third-World Debt – Heavy defaults from developing nations crippling global financial systems.
Bank Failures – Systemic insolvency within banking networks leading to catastrophic bank runs.
Taxes – Smothering tax burdens placed on citizens by expanding governments.
Unemployment – High long-term unemployment and underemployment.
Displacement – Economic disruption displacing industrial workers and families.
Illegal Immigration – Rapid demographic and financial strains on infrastructure and borders.
Government by Emergency – The expansion of federal and state authority through perpetual executive overreach and declared crises.
Local Economic Dislocations – Regional collapse of industries, leaving local communities completely bankrupt.
Climatic Change and Geopolitical Insecurity – Broad environmental shifts paired with global military instability and political fragility.

North argued that these threats were structural flaws in modern society, and he frequently used them to advocate for financial preparedness, survivalism, and a transition to gold-backed biblical economic models.

The government ran budget deficits in the 1980s, during the Reagan Administration, and Americans worried about them then too. In Gallup Polls conducted in the 1980s, just over eight in 10 Americans said the deficit was a serious problem, including about six in 10 who called it very serious.

Higgenbotham wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 11:43 am Last night, I went through a bag of old hardware from the late 80s and early 90s. Nowadays, most everything is stamped Made in China, so I was curious as to whether I would find such a stamp on any of this old hardware. I did not. Most of the hardware items in the bag were not the type to be stamped (things like bolts) but of the ones that were stamped, all were Made in USA. They are shown below.