On Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:57:36 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

The main reason I didn't go for it when I turned 18 was that the
Vietnam war draft was still in force and they had a 'draft lottery'
and I looked it up and found I had a really low number meaning I'd be
among the first to hear from Selective Service - and I remember when
my father got the letter from them saying he was now 5-E.

Yup, I suspected so. Still, having a USA citizenship is a valuable thing.

I never said otherwise - just that in that particular year it was in
my interests to avoid applying that year and waited for the next - but
then I've already told the group about how when I was 19 Canada
dropped the federal voting age from 21 -> 18 and I was personally told
by the US consul in Vancouver that having voted in a Canadian election
meant I had made my choice for Canada and not the US. (15 years later
I was told the rules had changed and that I COULD apply - but that I'd
have to file tax returns for the rest of my life and more importantly
that my Canadian born children would NOT inherit US citizenship from
me since I was born in Canada not the US.

(Which is pretty much how the grandchildren of Canada's most famous
celeb Wayne Gretzky are US not Canadian and that neither his grand
kids or him has any claim to US or Canadian status respectively -
which is pretty amazing since Gretzky is on very good terms with
Trump)

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/17/2026 11:32 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

"The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047" by Lionel Shriver

https://www.amazon.com/MANDIBLES-FAMILY-2029-47_PB-171-POCHE/dp/000756077X/

A standalone, no prequel, no sequel, book about a financial apocalypse
in the USA starting in 2029.ÿ I read the well printed and well bound 400 page trade paperback published by Harper Perennial in 2017.ÿ BTW, this
book is labeled as dystopian fiction by Amazon and others.ÿ I doubt that there will be any future prequels or sequels for the book as the author
does not seem to go that way.

The book covers four generations of a family in the near future.ÿ The
family consists of about twenty people of whom I mostly did not like due
to their overall craziness and attitudes about life.ÿ If there was
anyone who came close, it was Florence Mandible who even as a single
mother managed to buy a house in East Flatbush, NYC on a low income
salary.ÿ But even she makes a lot of bad decisions that lead to a tough life.ÿ And I mostly liked Enola Mandible who was a successful author
living in Europe but evacuated back to the USA due to supposed discrimination in Paris.ÿ Plus I liked Jarred Mandible who managed to
get his patriarch grandfather to give him the money to buy a small farm
in upper state New York.

The conditions leading up to the beginning of the financial apocalypse
in the USA in 2029 had their roots in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, basically the Great Society federal and state programs.ÿ And
in the continual wars and police actions started or participating in by
the USA from WWI onward.ÿ One might exempt WWII from that list as WWII
was supposedly actually good for the economics of the country but I have
not researched that accepted fact for truthfulness.

In 2029, the rest of the world changes from using the USA Dollar as the world reserve currency to the new Bancor, a basket of world currencies.
The USA Treasury Bills, of which there are $40 trillion outstanding, immediately double their interest rates in the next sale.ÿ The USA
President and Congress pass legislation that holding Bancors is illegal
for any USA citizen.ÿ Under further financial pressure, the USA
repudiates the entire $40 trillion debt and starts seizing all the gold across the country from both citizens and businesses.ÿ Even gold wedding rings are seized as China has demanded that their tbills be redeemed immediately with non USA Dollars.

The patriarch of the Mandible family is a 97 year man with a fortune inherited from his grandparents who owned a steel mill. The patriarch
has his fortune invested in gold stocks, stocks of gold bullion in
central repositories, tbills, and the stock market.ÿ With the crash of
the stock market, seizure of gold, and repudiation of all tbills, he is wiped out and he and his Alzheimer afflicted second wife move in with
his son and his wife.ÿ And then the entire family ends up moving in with Florence in her tiny three bedroom house.ÿ But that quickly goes away
also as the remaining family members are soon homeless and living in a
park.

The author freely acknowledges that in choosing paths for the family and
the nation, she always chose the bad results path.ÿ She thinks that her
book takes an optimistic view of the coming financial apocalypse which I find amazing.

One thing that just blew me away.ÿ By 2042, the government required all workers to have a chip embedded at the base of their skull that reported
all income and expenditures instantly.ÿ The chip reported all data to
the government computers using satellites which was immediately taxed
using government based checking accounts.ÿ No private banks allowed.

Starlink anyone ?

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars (4,704 ratings)

Lynn

And we hit $40 trillion in USA debt this week. How coincidental.
https://www.usdebtclock.org/

Lynn


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)