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| Economy |
| The Temporary Collapse Of Texas Is Foreshadowing The Total Collapse Of The United States |
| 2021-02-20 |
| [Economic Collapse) We are getting a very short preview of what will eventually happen to the United States as a whole. America’s infrastructure is aging and crumbling. Our power grids were never intended to support so many people, our water systems are a complete joke, and it has become utterly apparent that we would be completely lost if a major long-term national emergency ever struck. Texas has immense wealth and vast energy resources, but now it is being called a "failed state". If it can’t even handle a few days of cold weather, what is the rest of America going to look like when things really start to get chaotic in this country? At this point, it has become clear that the power grid in Texas is in far worse shape than anyone ever imagined. When extremely cold weather hit the state, demand for energy surged dramatically. At the same time, about half of the wind turbines that Texas relies upon froze, and the rest of the system simply could not handle the massive increase in demand. Millions of Texans were without power for days, and hundreds of thousands are still without power as I write this article. And now we are learning that Texas was literally just moments away from "a catastrophic failure" that could have resulted in blackouts "for months"... |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #17 American infrastructure has lots of stupid built into it. We just learn about it during times like last week in Texas. The failure by the feds to maintain an adequate strategic stockpile of PPE for airborne infectious agents (despite years of warning by epidemiologists) is a closely related phenomenon. |
| Posted by: Thineger Sproing6704 2021-02-20 20:24 |
| #16 "You allocate your time and money towards things that are likely to happen." One thing I have noted from reading news of house fires: how so many $1+ million houses do not have their own excellent systems built in to suppress house fires. An old classmate of mine from grade school lives near Estes Park CO. She has a huge tank of fire suppressant solution and fire hose / sprinkle hose that can be deployed in a few minutes to sprinkle down the entire property in event of a summer wildfire. It has saved her house at least once (so far). |
| Posted by: Thineger Sproing6704 2021-02-20 20:21 |
| #15 Total collapse of the USA is likely to resemble Ernest Hemingway's description of personal bankruptcy: "Gradually and then suddenly" |
| Posted by: Thineger Sproing6704 2021-02-20 20:18 |
| #14 Or those transplanted nut cases from Caliph-ornia. |
| Posted by: Clem 2021-02-20 15:29 |
| #13 Every Texan I’ve spoken with says it’s quite nice. Some minor inconveniences that come with any weather event. Must be yankee shit steppers doing all the complaining. |
| Posted by: Lowspark 2021-02-20 14:45 |
| #12 #8 Air this cold is rare in Texas, which is why they were unprepared. It's like hurricane preparations in Nebraska--not necessary. Since no one has come up with a plan to stop the Milankovitch cycles ie Climate change, get used to it for the next few thousand years. |
| Posted by: Slappy 2021-02-20 14:36 |
| #11 Every election in my lifetime the politicians took an oath the uphold & defend the Constitution. |
| Posted by: Clem 2021-02-20 14:30 |
| #10 Every election during my lifetime mentioned the collapsing American Infrastructure and yet I've not gone a week in all that time when I didn't come across construction on the freeways. Maybe California is unique but I doubt it. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2021-02-20 13:04 |
| #9 Texas is big. Driving I-40 through the northern panhandle with Amarillo, you see miles and miles of windmills. They do get this weather, snow, ice, wind and cold. It's not an isolated incident in that region. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2021-02-20 13:04 |
| #8 Air this cold is rare in Texas, which is why they were unprepared. It's like hurricane preparations in Nebraska--not necessary. Much of the Midwest has weather this cold every year, and so they prepare for it. You allocate your time and money towards things that are likely to happen. |
| Posted by: Tom 2021-02-20 12:43 |
| #7 ^ We've been getting Colorado River water since forever, which is downstream from several major and many minor cities. It's been "Toilet to Tap" with treatment since before we were born, not pristine alpine snowmelt |
| Posted by: Frank G 2021-02-20 11:51 |
| #6 San Diego will have "toilet to tap"....but they will not make water....just move it from one pipe to another. |
| Posted by: crazyhorse 2021-02-20 11:21 |
| #5 Appears we're still learning "the hard way" in Georgia :-( |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2021-02-20 10:34 |
| #4 TeXas didn't learn some of the lessons Ga did the hard way a few years back. |
| Posted by: Chris 2021-02-20 10:07 |
| #3 How many didn't know to drain their pipes? |
| Posted by: Clem 2021-02-20 09:46 |
| #2 Public Utility Commissions (the government) is loath to jack up prices of gas and electricity to pay for resiliency and redundancy. You pay for a fire department to be on standby for emergencies but you whine about paying for similar protection for your infrastructure. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2021-02-20 08:43 |
| #1 Several factors that don't apply to the entire US: Texas' electric grid is essentially isolated from the rest of the national grid. They always bragged about this. It isn't looking like anything to brag about today. The plumbing in most Texas homes was never intended to survive the recent event. Houses up north just aren't built that way, or they'd have the same problems every winter. Equipment to clear snow-covered and icy roads? Comon, man... The poorly maintained and overstressed infrastructure? Yes, everybody in America has that problem. They have been voting for politicians who ignored the problem for a long time now, and are going to get what they voted for "good and hard now." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2021-02-20 08:11 |