High octane speculation or no high octane speculation, this one definitely has the foul odor of "disaster crapitalism", a.k.a. "disaster capitalism." In this case, the disaster crapitalism may have backfired however, but we'll get back to that. First, just in case there are any new readers here unfamiliar with our "memes," a definition of "disaster capitalism" and an explanation of how "capitalism" became "crapitalism" is in order. And just so we're clear right up front, I am not a socialist of any order or degree. I believe in private property, entrepreneurship, competition... you know, the usual mantra of things a "capitalist" should believe in. But I don't believe in is what Catherine Fitts has called "disaster capitalism." Disaster capitalism presupposes (1) that certain people have developed very exotic technologies, that can manipulate weather, or via a variety of exotic means to start fires, steer (or even start) hurricanes and tornadoes, and so on, (2) that these people use this technology covertly to create widespread disasters, such as hurricane Katrina or the California fires in order to drive people out of their homes and land, so that they can buy their land on the cheap. Disaster capitalists practice these activities by hiding their deliberate acts behind events that most people would consider to be "acts of God," since most people are unaware of the large amount of evidence pointing to the existence of such technologies and capabilities.

It's worth remembering that these are the same people that brought you "weather derivatives," because after all, if one has a secret technology to manipulate the weather, "weather derivatives" are a handy thing to have around; it's the ultimate insiders' trading mechanism. And that's a dead giveaway to the whole scheme, and why I have amended Catherine Fitts' "disaster capitalism" to "disaster crapitalism." It's of a piece with the shift from equity to "finance crapitalism" that we saw beginning in the 1990s (and which we saw clues emerging even earlier). Finance crapitalism, the making of money by moving paper, by speculations in paper securities, currencies, puts, calls, options, bonds, stocks, is thus the exact opposite of what I and many others were taught to believe was capitalism: the investment of money to make things or provide services. Investment is very different from speculation, and it's that speculative component that links finance crapitalism with disaster capitalism in the ultimate fraud and racket: want someone's land? Just burn 'em out, and make it look like an act of God. And it's that speculation component that, perhaps, explains why the finance crapitalist can always be seen hovering in or near the corridors of socialist tyranny. Just imagine what a boon to Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin that weather manipulation technology would have been: troublesome kulaks resisting (re-)collectivization and re-fuedalization? Just burn 'em out. And some Billarmand Hammerbrowd would have been there to "make a deal" to "develop the assets" and sell off the stolen goods on the world market to enrich himself and the nomenklatura that inevitably results from such speculations. It is metaphysical speculation on "inevitable materialist progress" that unites the finance crapitalist, and the Marxist disaster crapitalist. Expropriation is always the name of the game.

Except when things go wrong, that is. That brings us to this story shared by C.V.:

Rare ‘toxic cocktail’ from Camp Fire is poisoning Paradise water. It could cost $300 million to fix. Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article228969259.html#storylink=cpy

Now, just for the sake of argument I want the reader to assume that the Paradise California fires were such deliberate acts of "disaster crapitalism." Indeed, one could argue that the earlier fires were also examples, and there is an abundance of evidence from both instances to argue that they were. While most people that adhere to the idea that these fires were deliberately set also believe that the mechanism of doing so was some sort of directed energy weapon, there are a few other methods that might have been used, as I've tried to outline elsewhere. But for our high octane speculation purposes in this instance, the method isn't important; the premise of deliberate action is.

With that in mind, now read these statements from the article:

Weeks after the Camp Fire roared through Butte County last November, devouring entire towns, officials made an alarming find: The Paradise drinking water is now laced with benzene, a volatile compound linked to cancer. Water officials say they believe the extreme heat of the firestorm created a “toxic cocktail” of gases in burning homes that got sucked into the water pipes when the system depressurized from use by residents and firefighters. Despite a long history of destructive wildfires sweeping through California, water experts said what happened in Paradise has been detected only once before — during the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa last year. The contamination in Paradise, however, is more widespread than anyone could have predicted, they said. “It is jaw dropping,” said Dan Newton of the state Water Resources Control Board. “This is such a huge scale. None of us were prepared for this.” The water contamination represents yet another unexpected and costly headache for California, a drought-prone state where water is a precious commodity and where seemingly endless natural and human-made disasters are draining resources. So far, the expected cleanup and insurance costs of the Paradise fire exceed $2 billion. Through FEMA, federal taxpayers are expected to pick up the cost of municipal repairs. Experts who have rushed in to assess the problem say the water district may be able to clean pipes to some homes later this year, but it will take two years and up to $300 million before all hillside residents can safely drink, cook or bathe in the water from their taps. (Bold and italics emphases added)

Note that bit about the federal government, i.e., the taxpayer, paying for the cleanup; it's that which makes disaster crapitalism so effective, because the potential buyer isn't cleaning up the mess that he made, it's the taxpayer. But what I found intriguing, from our high octane speculation point of view, is that the presence of benzene in the drinking supply, and the fact that one cannot drink, wash clothes or dishes, or bathe in the water adds a new level of inconvenience to any residents trying to tough it out. And notably, the same thing occurred in the equally suspicious Santa Rosa fires.

But in order to confirm this disaster crapitalism model, and to see if, in fact, it really is being used, we need to start watching the land sales in the regions of the two fires very carefully in the next few years. That, I strongly suspect, will tell us a great deal.

See you on the flip side...