Contrarian Notions
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.-Charles Dickens
I am approaching the first anniversary of this blog, and like Dickens, this year has felt like the dialectic personified. Chronicling the rise of Barack Obama and the fall of the economy, I have felt a bit bipolar. A little less than a year ago, I wrote a post called Recession Coming. That turned out to be fairly close to the official start of the recession according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. I’m now going to go out on a limb and make some predictions for what the world might look like in December of 2009.
I start with a remarkable chart, courtesy of our correspondent Doug Newhouse.
What this chart says is the price of BBB debt has not been so cheap since 1933, in the depths of the depression (yields move in the opposite direction of price). I would make no predictions about equities in the coming year, but it seems screamingly obvious that buying credit will be the smart move in the next twelve months. Managers like Bill Gross at PIMCO and Daniel Fuss at Loomis Sayles will be the places to park your funds in the debt market.
But the spreads between Treasuries and BBB debt say something more profound about the geopolitical scene in the next twelve months. As I pointed out in America 3.0, the U.S. Government is the only borrower in the world that still has access to cheap money. This is where the “spring of hope” enters the picture. For the last 7 years as George Bush poured our treasury down the drain in Iraq, the Chinese, Russian and Venezuelan governments were out spending their oil and trade surpluses in development projects around the world. Their financial soft power usually came with strings attached, but since the U.S. (and even its proxy, The World Bank) had “left the market”, countries in Africa, Latin America and South Asia were happy to take the money. Now all of that has changed. The Russians, Venezuelans and the Chinese are rapidly devaluing their currencies and the plunging price of oil has put many of Putin and Chavez’s plans on hold. As for the Chinese, the rapid drop of exports has come as a shock to their leaders.
Global demand for Chinese goods has slumped, unrest is on the rise in the industrial heartland, and China is scrambling for a new formula to preserve stability and ensure growth.
The downturn is so swift — exports fell last month for the first time in seven years — that Beijing is being forced to abruptly shift priorities. Until recently, Mr. Hu had been trying to curb excesses like rampant pollution and income inequality that posed environmental and social challenges to long-term development. Now, those priorities seem eclipsed.
I am well aware that we will need to spend a great deal of money rebuilding America and every sign coming from the Obama transition team is that the money will be targeted towards long term investments in infrastructure that will also boost the job market. But beyond that expenditure, we now have a once in a generation potential to rebuild our soft power in the rest of the world. If we cut $200 billion from defense and put half of it to work in cooperative development projects around the world to bring clean water and decent food we could save many of the 25,000 people a day who die from hunger.
In Barack Obama we finally have a President who can present a new face to the world. But it will take more than the world’s goodwill for him to truly transform America’s relationship with the rest of the world. If we are the only power with access to capital, then we must spend some of it helping the rest of the world recover from our egregious economic and military policies.
That would be the best of times.
Here’s hoping. I am looking forward to the next year with a lot of hope.
Here’s hoping. I am looking forward to the next year with a lot of hope.
It’s been too easy to inflame paranoia in America to make it easy for the Military/Industrial Complex to sell their wares. Stealth bombers are a lot sexier than clean drinking water, proper sewage disposal, and teachers to combat illiteracy, though I’ve always thought the real return on investment would be better from spending on health, education, and welfare of all the people of the world. But it’s a hard sell to a nation of NFL loving couch potatoes who prefer vicarious combat to softer pursuits.
It’s been too easy to inflame paranoia in America to make it easy for the Military/Industrial Complex to sell their wares. Stealth bombers are a lot sexier than clean drinking water, proper sewage disposal, and teachers to combat illiteracy, though I’ve always thought the real return on investment would be better from spending on health, education, and welfare of all the people of the world. But it’s a hard sell to a nation of NFL loving couch potatoes who prefer vicarious combat to softer pursuits.
Like the wooly mammoth, the old guard will be sheeted in ice before they even realize what has happened to them.
(A comment by Iscream at The Huffington Post)
I dare say there’s something foul, creepy and disgraceful emerging in the character of corporate and political leadership in “Western civilization”, and I sense it’s substantially the result of an insipid masculinity problem.
The insatiable need for heartless power and ruthless control is the telltale sign of an uninitiated man – the most irresponsible, incompetent and destructive force on earth.
(Michael Leunig)
Go your way now,
All shall be well.
Leave the day now
All shall be well.
Go into the darkness
Where the spark is,
Real and right and true.
…
Love is born
With a dark and troubled face;
When hope is dead
And in the most unlikely place;
Love is born;
Love is always born.
(Michael Leunig)
Good things do not form by themselves
the hated antagonist is the inseminator
Like the wooly mammoth, the old guard will be sheeted in ice before they even realize what has happened to them.
(A comment by Iscream at The Huffington Post)
I dare say there’s something foul, creepy and disgraceful emerging in the character of corporate and political leadership in “Western civilization”, and I sense it’s substantially the result of an insipid masculinity problem.
The insatiable need for heartless power and ruthless control is the telltale sign of an uninitiated man – the most irresponsible, incompetent and destructive force on earth.
(Michael Leunig)
Go your way now,
All shall be well.
Leave the day now
All shall be well.
Go into the darkness
Where the spark is,
Real and right and true.
…
Love is born
With a dark and troubled face;
When hope is dead
And in the most unlikely place;
Love is born;
Love is always born.
(Michael Leunig)
Good things do not form by themselves
the hated antagonist is the inseminator
I’m in fact not a great believer in the future as I’m suspect to accept all the conditions of the present as cause for action. Let us not look to another time to deter us from timeless action of the present.
The big questions will be about the points of stability vs the effects of instability. Once great pillars of stability like the US auto industry have become unstable regions opening enormous areas for transformation/dissolution.
I would even go so far as to call into question the complete array of values held in our monetary system, that is, in the dollar itself. Are there other monetary systems we can develop to more properly value our time and goods? Ones which contain inherent modes of self-regulation as to relive government oversight on the national level (and hence restrict corruption on the national level). I’m still behind the new federalist transition. What are the signs this could happen?
I’m in fact not a great believer in the future as I’m suspect to accept all the conditions of the present as cause for action. Let us not look to another time to deter us from timeless action of the present.
The big questions will be about the points of stability vs the effects of instability. Once great pillars of stability like the US auto industry have become unstable regions opening enormous areas for transformation/dissolution.
I would even go so far as to call into question the complete array of values held in our monetary system, that is, in the dollar itself. Are there other monetary systems we can develop to more properly value our time and goods? Ones which contain inherent modes of self-regulation as to relive government oversight on the national level (and hence restrict corruption on the national level). I’m still behind the new federalist transition. What are the signs this could happen?
Again, it will come down to the people at the center to be ruthlessly effective without regard to class. If they don’t have a real grasp of the overall problems, then each new appointee will humanly try to optimize the structures and the allocations for their own organization and personal benefit. If they do, they will work hard every day to establish communications among themselves to enable them to make small but effective reciprocal adjustments. They’ll begin to trade on the value of their values.
The current economy exhibits horrific asymetries, directional lattices that make it possible to keep pushing the money in one direction without regard to the effects overall. Change which will be real change will be more than shuffling transitions. It has to displace enough members that there is real structural change.
What are the signs?
1. The complete repudiation of the Republican Party. They lost more affective power in the last election (really before that but that was the sign) than I would have thought possible. The ice is becoming water.
2. The sudden collapses of institutions thought too big to fail. The ice is becoming steam.
3. The cracks in the China monolith, in fact, that we will stop buying and as their credit holdings lose weaken, they become less stable. The water is becoming ice.
In fact, pretty much what you are seeing on the evening news. Change is at hand no doubt. What is unknown is the shape of the thing when the shaking stops and what if any new interfaces will emerge.
Two models worth looking at:
1> Percolation
2> Satisfiability.
Again, it will come down to the people at the center to be ruthlessly effective without regard to class. If they don’t have a real grasp of the overall problems, then each new appointee will humanly try to optimize the structures and the allocations for their own organization and personal benefit. If they do, they will work hard every day to establish communications among themselves to enable them to make small but effective reciprocal adjustments. They’ll begin to trade on the value of their values.
The current economy exhibits horrific asymetries, directional lattices that make it possible to keep pushing the money in one direction without regard to the effects overall. Change which will be real change will be more than shuffling transitions. It has to displace enough members that there is real structural change.
What are the signs?
1. The complete repudiation of the Republican Party. They lost more affective power in the last election (really before that but that was the sign) than I would have thought possible. The ice is becoming water.
2. The sudden collapses of institutions thought too big to fail. The ice is becoming steam.
3. The cracks in the China monolith, in fact, that we will stop buying and as their credit holdings lose weaken, they become less stable. The water is becoming ice.
In fact, pretty much what you are seeing on the evening news. Change is at hand no doubt. What is unknown is the shape of the thing when the shaking stops and what if any new interfaces will emerge.
Two models worth looking at:
1> Percolation
2> Satisfiability.
Again, it will come down to the people at the center to be ruthlessly effective without regard to class. If they don’t have a real grasp of the overall problems, then each new appointee will humanly try to optimize the structures and the allocations for their own organization and personal benefit. If they do, they will work hard every day to establish communications among themselves to enable them to make small but effective reciprocal adjustments. They’ll begin to trade on the value of their values.
The current economy exhibits horrific asymetries, directional lattices that make it possible to keep pushing the money in one direction without regard to the effects overall. Change which will be real change will be more than shuffling transitions. It has to displace enough members that there is real structural change.
What are the signs?
1. The complete repudiation of the Republican Party. They lost more affective power in the last election (really before that but that was the sign) than I would have thought possible. The ice is becoming water.
2. The sudden collapses of institutions thought too big to fail. The ice is becoming steam.
3. The cracks in the China monolith, in fact, that we will stop buying and as their credit holdings lose weaken, they become less stable. The water is becoming ice.
In fact, pretty much what you are seeing on the evening news. Change is at hand no doubt. What is unknown is the shape of the thing when the shaking stops and what if any new interfaces will emerge.
Two models worth looking at:
1> Percolation
2> Satisfiability.
By the way, from what I see, this is a first order phase transition. Essentially, we will see bubbles of the new phase appearing in the old phase and as the bubbles unite, the old phase slowly disappears at first, then the change accelerates.
Obama is not the source of the change. As the song says, “the change it had to come”. As Jon says, a different face. Now it is a test of is the new boss truly different from the old boss or just a bossier boss.
Let’s see what is put into place to meet the changes and try to make it behave more like a second order transition (smooth and continuous instead of dramatic and bursty). I’m not sanguine with the bailouts but it may be the way to control the change and direct it. I’m no economist, but if the bubbles start falling together faster, then the acceleration will be uncontrollable and all the controls can do is to keep us upright and aimed down the hill toward the stable flatland.
By the way, from what I see, this is a first order phase transition. Essentially, we will see bubbles of the new phase appearing in the old phase and as the bubbles unite, the old phase slowly disappears at first, then the change accelerates.
Obama is not the source of the change. As the song says, “the change it had to come”. As Jon says, a different face. Now it is a test of is the new boss truly different from the old boss or just a bossier boss.
Let’s see what is put into place to meet the changes and try to make it behave more like a second order transition (smooth and continuous instead of dramatic and bursty). I’m not sanguine with the bailouts but it may be the way to control the change and direct it. I’m no economist, but if the bubbles start falling together faster, then the acceleration will be uncontrollable and all the controls can do is to keep us upright and aimed down the hill toward the stable flatland.
Normally I’m down here singing loud choruses of “You got to accent the Negative, eliminate the Positive…” but
There are moments when I feel we, as a country, just bit a major bullet with this last election. It is possible, just possible that the Obama administration will perform beyond expectations because they don’t really have a choice. It’s just too big a mess to keep repeating the same mistakes and I think this administration can even turn the congress into a flowing herd of cats moving across the Kansas plains as one great animal heading to the metaphorical packing plants that is their just end (opps, sorry, spun off there. Anyway…
If you believe that effective leaders pick effective team members, the leader (not the vice president) sets the tone, and then the leader turns team members loose to do the day to day heavy lifting all the while keeping dialog going on progress.
Saw that with the campaign. Seeing that with the transition. Am developing strong hope to see that with the actual administration. If so, we do stand on the real edge of the real “Morning in America” and it’s going to be so blazingly different…
Congress will be the wild card, and we are all going to have to stay on top of them all the time to keep the parochial, me!me!me!me! mine!mine!mine! voices from diverting to much energy away from the real recovery efforts.
Len captures the need in one sentence, Again, “it will come down to the people at the center to be ruthlessly effective without regard to class.” No insular agendas, no wild hare notions, no sucking the life out of the thing with predatory ambition.
Big order, but, ya know, I think some people at the top have had cages rattled enough that that establishment that has been the real government of America may no longer have the consolidated power base they have relied on to rule. Join that with the intensity of the need, and the hope that this administration will continue to be truly different, and we may get something to be proud of out of this mess.
Note: I AM Ken Ballweg, and I approve of this message no matter how much it sounds like it was written by somebody else using my name.
Normally I’m down here singing loud choruses of “You got to accent the Negative, eliminate the Positive…” but
There are moments when I feel we, as a country, just bit a major bullet with this last election. It is possible, just possible that the Obama administration will perform beyond expectations because they don’t really have a choice. It’s just too big a mess to keep repeating the same mistakes and I think this administration can even turn the congress into a flowing herd of cats moving across the Kansas plains as one great animal heading to the metaphorical packing plants that is their just end (opps, sorry, spun off there. Anyway…
If you believe that effective leaders pick effective team members, the leader (not the vice president) sets the tone, and then the leader turns team members loose to do the day to day heavy lifting all the while keeping dialog going on progress.
Saw that with the campaign. Seeing that with the transition. Am developing strong hope to see that with the actual administration. If so, we do stand on the real edge of the real “Morning in America” and it’s going to be so blazingly different…
Congress will be the wild card, and we are all going to have to stay on top of them all the time to keep the parochial, me!me!me!me! mine!mine!mine! voices from diverting to much energy away from the real recovery efforts.
Len captures the need in one sentence, Again, “it will come down to the people at the center to be ruthlessly effective without regard to class.” No insular agendas, no wild hare notions, no sucking the life out of the thing with predatory ambition.
Big order, but, ya know, I think some people at the top have had cages rattled enough that that establishment that has been the real government of America may no longer have the consolidated power base they have relied on to rule. Join that with the intensity of the need, and the hope that this administration will continue to be truly different, and we may get something to be proud of out of this mess.
Note: I AM Ken Ballweg, and I approve of this message no matter how much it sounds like it was written by somebody else using my name.
Normally I’m down here singing loud choruses of “You got to accent the Negative, eliminate the Positive…” but
There are moments when I feel we, as a country, just bit a major bullet with this last election. It is possible, just possible that the Obama administration will perform beyond expectations because they don’t really have a choice. It’s just too big a mess to keep repeating the same mistakes and I think this administration can even turn the congress into a flowing herd of cats moving across the Kansas plains as one great animal heading to the metaphorical packing plants that is their just end (opps, sorry, spun off there. Anyway…
If you believe that effective leaders pick effective team members, the leader (not the vice president) sets the tone, and then the leader turns team members loose to do the day to day heavy lifting all the while keeping dialog going on progress.
Saw that with the campaign. Seeing that with the transition. Am developing strong hope to see that with the actual administration. If so, we do stand on the real edge of the real “Morning in America” and it’s going to be so blazingly different…
Congress will be the wild card, and we are all going to have to stay on top of them all the time to keep the parochial, me!me!me!me! mine!mine!mine! voices from diverting to much energy away from the real recovery efforts.
Len captures the need in one sentence, Again, “it will come down to the people at the center to be ruthlessly effective without regard to class.” No insular agendas, no wild hare notions, no sucking the life out of the thing with predatory ambition.
Big order, but, ya know, I think some people at the top have had cages rattled enough that that establishment that has been the real government of America may no longer have the consolidated power base they have relied on to rule. Join that with the intensity of the need, and the hope that this administration will continue to be truly different, and we may get something to be proud of out of this mess.
Note: I AM Ken Ballweg, and I approve of this message no matter how much it sounds like it was written by somebody else using my name.
Cut Defense? Only in your wildest dream. The course is set & NOTHING will stop our wild ride into oblivion.
Cut Defense? Only in your wildest dream. The course is set & NOTHING will stop our wild ride into oblivion.
Cut Defense? Only in your wildest dream. The course is set & NOTHING will stop our wild ride into oblivion.
garyb50, your alternative may be a Kevorkian machine…
garyb50, your alternative may be a Kevorkian machine…
garyb50, your alternative may be a Kevorkian machine…
Len, Obama may not be the source of change…but he may be the Silver Surfer riding change successfully and helping to show us the way…if we’re lucky.
Len, Obama may not be the source of change…but he may be the Silver Surfer riding change successfully and helping to show us the way…if we’re lucky.
Len, Obama may not be the source of change…but he may be the Silver Surfer riding change successfully and helping to show us the way…if we’re lucky.
Rick Turner: exactly.
Rick Turner: exactly.
Here’s how I see it (from the 3rd-ish world)… US has been the bully and the best war machine. China has run away from any direct military conflict with the US so far. How ? They bought US bonds and currency with their surplus.
So what will happen if China no longer buys peace time from the US?
Here’s how I see it (from the 3rd-ish world)… US has been the bully and the best war machine. China has run away from any direct military conflict with the US so far. How ? They bought US bonds and currency with their surplus.
So what will happen if China no longer buys peace time from the US?
Here’s how I see it (from the 3rd-ish world)… US has been the bully and the best war machine. China has run away from any direct military conflict with the US so far. How ? They bought US bonds and currency with their surplus.
So what will happen if China no longer buys peace time from the US?
can,
“best war machine” –> best conventional war machine
An open conflict between major players is unlikely at the moment. There are already few proxy wars ongoing, be it cold or hot. Burma, Sudan… An open conflict can not be contained. But if the economies tank further and the corporations binding the economies fall, then the probability increases.
can,
“best war machine” –> best conventional war machine
An open conflict between major players is unlikely at the moment. There are already few proxy wars ongoing, be it cold or hot. Burma, Sudan… An open conflict can not be contained. But if the economies tank further and the corporations binding the economies fall, then the probability increases.
can,
“best war machine” –> best conventional war machine
An open conflict between major players is unlikely at the moment. There are already few proxy wars ongoing, be it cold or hot. Burma, Sudan… An open conflict can not be contained. But if the economies tank further and the corporations binding the economies fall, then the probability increases.
can,
“best war machine” –> best conventional war machine
An open conflict between major players is unlikely at the moment. There are already few proxy wars ongoing, be it cold or hot. Burma, Sudan… An open conflict can not be contained. But if the economies tank further and the corporations binding the economies fall, then the probability increases.
Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…
Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…
Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…
Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…
Wait. You are suggesting it is a good idea to borrow money we don’t have from the Chinese and Japanese, and then help starving people in developing countries, and let Americans starve?
And the good that will be gained will be ‘good will’? Because of course all peoples trust us, and nobody would even suggest that we are doling out charity just to gain in power over the world — even though in suggesting this, you are openly saying that we should do this in order to gain in power over the world???
Wait. You are suggesting it is a good idea to borrow money we don’t have from the Chinese and Japanese, and then help starving people in developing countries, and let Americans starve?
And the good that will be gained will be ‘good will’? Because of course all peoples trust us, and nobody would even suggest that we are doling out charity just to gain in power over the world — even though in suggesting this, you are openly saying that we should do this in order to gain in power over the world???
Wait. You are suggesting it is a good idea to borrow money we don’t have from the Chinese and Japanese, and then help starving people in developing countries, and let Americans starve?
And the good that will be gained will be ‘good will’? Because of course all peoples trust us, and nobody would even suggest that we are doling out charity just to gain in power over the world — even though in suggesting this, you are openly saying that we should do this in order to gain in power over the world???
Wait. You are suggesting it is a good idea to borrow money we don’t have from the Chinese and Japanese, and then help starving people in developing countries, and let Americans starve?
And the good that will be gained will be ‘good will’? Because of course all peoples trust us, and nobody would even suggest that we are doling out charity just to gain in power over the world — even though in suggesting this, you are openly saying that we should do this in order to gain in power over the world???
That’s the bet we made, Rick. Now we have to tilt the table toward the bet. Just remember that the Silver Surfer was a bad guy in the first few issues because of being the minion of a bigger bad guy until he encountered a tight team of good guys.
Ken is right that it is a hiring game after that. Personal observation: every employee I have that HR forced on me is a problem. Every employee I picked myself is less of a problem. In their own way, all of them were contributors, but as management goes, if I choose for fit, function follows and form is the least of my worries.
It doesn’t mean ‘yes persons’. It means, “I’ll give it my best shot.” persons.
Heightened awareness across the board is required. It is still the case that small groups in the flow dominate the best part of the wave.
Moving the thought to Jon’s next blog: networks favor the oldest connections in terms of who benefits from change.
That’s the bet we made, Rick. Now we have to tilt the table toward the bet. Just remember that the Silver Surfer was a bad guy in the first few issues because of being the minion of a bigger bad guy until he encountered a tight team of good guys.
Ken is right that it is a hiring game after that. Personal observation: every employee I have that HR forced on me is a problem. Every employee I picked myself is less of a problem. In their own way, all of them were contributors, but as management goes, if I choose for fit, function follows and form is the least of my worries.
It doesn’t mean ‘yes persons’. It means, “I’ll give it my best shot.” persons.
Heightened awareness across the board is required. It is still the case that small groups in the flow dominate the best part of the wave.
Moving the thought to Jon’s next blog: networks favor the oldest connections in terms of who benefits from change.
That’s the bet we made, Rick. Now we have to tilt the table toward the bet. Just remember that the Silver Surfer was a bad guy in the first few issues because of being the minion of a bigger bad guy until he encountered a tight team of good guys.
Ken is right that it is a hiring game after that. Personal observation: every employee I have that HR forced on me is a problem. Every employee I picked myself is less of a problem. In their own way, all of them were contributors, but as management goes, if I choose for fit, function follows and form is the least of my worries.
It doesn’t mean ‘yes persons’. It means, “I’ll give it my best shot.” persons.
Heightened awareness across the board is required. It is still the case that small groups in the flow dominate the best part of the wave.
Moving the thought to Jon’s next blog: networks favor the oldest connections in terms of who benefits from change.
Pond- We borrow money to finance a $800 billion defense budget. I’m suggesting we take $100 billion of that money and fight disease and hunger in the rest of the world.
Pond- We borrow money to finance a $800 billion defense budget. I’m suggesting we take $100 billion of that money and fight disease and hunger in the rest of the world.
Pond- We borrow money to finance a $800 billion defense budget. I’m suggesting we take $100 billion of that money and fight disease and hunger in the rest of the world.
Pond- We borrow money to finance a $800 billion defense budget. I’m suggesting we take $100 billion of that money and fight disease and hunger in the rest of the world.
Hogfather, what is the payoff for that $100 billion?
Not to be the Grinch, but we’ve been paying out for those kinds of projects for fifty plus years only to have propped up the local networks of ruthless rich families and madmen who took our money and our food and armed and fed their armies. We’ve also helped feed the starving but only where the local networks of ruthless rich families first got rid of the madmen.
Why will this time be different?
Hogfather, what is the payoff for that $100 billion?
Not to be the Grinch, but we’ve been paying out for those kinds of projects for fifty plus years only to have propped up the local networks of ruthless rich families and madmen who took our money and our food and armed and fed their armies. We’ve also helped feed the starving but only where the local networks of ruthless rich families first got rid of the madmen.
Why will this time be different?
Hogfather, what is the payoff for that $100 billion?
Not to be the Grinch, but we’ve been paying out for those kinds of projects for fifty plus years only to have propped up the local networks of ruthless rich families and madmen who took our money and our food and armed and fed their armies. We’ve also helped feed the starving but only where the local networks of ruthless rich families first got rid of the madmen.
Why will this time be different?
I agree we should fight disease and hunger around the world.
We also need to do a few other things:
1. Keep reiterating that it is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that is providing the aid in fighting hunger and disease. Be shameless in our self-promotion. Plaster that flag on every bag of food and supplies. And keep the message extremely simple: “This aid comes to you courtesy of the American people.” Leave all other agendas (like Republican Jesus, see below) out of it.
2. Stop funding murderers in the name of “freedom”.
3. Stop using the cover of “fighting hunger and disease” as a way of funding murderers in the name of “freedom.”
If we could do those things, really, actually do those things, our image would shoot up dramatically. The payoff would be far greater than the cost.
It’s the murderer-funding crap we do that enables extremists to convince young men to blow themselves up in the name of justice or Allah or whatever is being peddled. That in turn allows a very small investment in terrorism to cost us enormous sums, monetary and otherwise, in our hysterical reaction to make sure that we’re all safe behind our SuperFortress of American Paranoia.
One other thing we can do is:
4. Stop trying to spread American-style fundamentalist Republican Jesus in parts of the world where they don’t want it and aren’t going to listen to it. This covers parts of the globe that include everything outside of the American Bible Belt. And not spreading this Republican Jesus includes knocking off the insistence on Republican Jesus sexual mores in countries that are being decimated by AIDS and/or overpopulation.
I agree we should fight disease and hunger around the world.
We also need to do a few other things:
1. Keep reiterating that it is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that is providing the aid in fighting hunger and disease. Be shameless in our self-promotion. Plaster that flag on every bag of food and supplies. And keep the message extremely simple: “This aid comes to you courtesy of the American people.” Leave all other agendas (like Republican Jesus, see below) out of it.
2. Stop funding murderers in the name of “freedom”.
3. Stop using the cover of “fighting hunger and disease” as a way of funding murderers in the name of “freedom.”
If we could do those things, really, actually do those things, our image would shoot up dramatically. The payoff would be far greater than the cost.
It’s the murderer-funding crap we do that enables extremists to convince young men to blow themselves up in the name of justice or Allah or whatever is being peddled. That in turn allows a very small investment in terrorism to cost us enormous sums, monetary and otherwise, in our hysterical reaction to make sure that we’re all safe behind our SuperFortress of American Paranoia.
One other thing we can do is:
4. Stop trying to spread American-style fundamentalist Republican Jesus in parts of the world where they don’t want it and aren’t going to listen to it. This covers parts of the globe that include everything outside of the American Bible Belt. And not spreading this Republican Jesus includes knocking off the insistence on Republican Jesus sexual mores in countries that are being decimated by AIDS and/or overpopulation.
I agree we should fight disease and hunger around the world.
We also need to do a few other things:
1. Keep reiterating that it is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that is providing the aid in fighting hunger and disease. Be shameless in our self-promotion. Plaster that flag on every bag of food and supplies. And keep the message extremely simple: “This aid comes to you courtesy of the American people.” Leave all other agendas (like Republican Jesus, see below) out of it.
2. Stop funding murderers in the name of “freedom”.
3. Stop using the cover of “fighting hunger and disease” as a way of funding murderers in the name of “freedom.”
If we could do those things, really, actually do those things, our image would shoot up dramatically. The payoff would be far greater than the cost.
It’s the murderer-funding crap we do that enables extremists to convince young men to blow themselves up in the name of justice or Allah or whatever is being peddled. That in turn allows a very small investment in terrorism to cost us enormous sums, monetary and otherwise, in our hysterical reaction to make sure that we’re all safe behind our SuperFortress of American Paranoia.
One other thing we can do is:
4. Stop trying to spread American-style fundamentalist Republican Jesus in parts of the world where they don’t want it and aren’t going to listen to it. This covers parts of the globe that include everything outside of the American Bible Belt. And not spreading this Republican Jesus includes knocking off the insistence on Republican Jesus sexual mores in countries that are being decimated by AIDS and/or overpopulation.
Rick,
“Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…”
Not now, but when complex systems collapse they produce redundancies which is preyed upon by the interest groups.
Hitler and the likes of him came to power by using the existing redundancies and enhancing them where necessary. The “red” paranoia lead the European monarchies and capitalists to sponsor them heavily. They could probably not see that Hitler could go rogue. Franco and others stayed darlings until the end.
Hitler enhanced the redundancy by exterminating the progressive elements of the society. He started from the officers and went all the way.
They go out of their way now to picture Hitler as a mad man. Whitewash. Have you noticed how they bombard us with Hitler docos but never spell out his sponsors.
A similar whitewash is going on now with the stone bashing of Bush, Blago and others. We must expose the sponsors.
What we should be careful of in the coming months is the channeling of the redundancies in the directions we see fit. If we don’t do this, nature will take charge and enforce it’s default solution; extermination.
Rick,
“Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…”
Not now, but when complex systems collapse they produce redundancies which is preyed upon by the interest groups.
Hitler and the likes of him came to power by using the existing redundancies and enhancing them where necessary. The “red” paranoia lead the European monarchies and capitalists to sponsor them heavily. They could probably not see that Hitler could go rogue. Franco and others stayed darlings until the end.
Hitler enhanced the redundancy by exterminating the progressive elements of the society. He started from the officers and went all the way.
They go out of their way now to picture Hitler as a mad man. Whitewash. Have you noticed how they bombard us with Hitler docos but never spell out his sponsors.
A similar whitewash is going on now with the stone bashing of Bush, Blago and others. We must expose the sponsors.
What we should be careful of in the coming months is the channeling of the redundancies in the directions we see fit. If we don’t do this, nature will take charge and enforce it’s default solution; extermination.
Rick,
“Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…”
Not now, but when complex systems collapse they produce redundancies which is preyed upon by the interest groups.
Hitler and the likes of him came to power by using the existing redundancies and enhancing them where necessary. The “red” paranoia lead the European monarchies and capitalists to sponsor them heavily. They could probably not see that Hitler could go rogue. Franco and others stayed darlings until the end.
Hitler enhanced the redundancy by exterminating the progressive elements of the society. He started from the officers and went all the way.
They go out of their way now to picture Hitler as a mad man. Whitewash. Have you noticed how they bombard us with Hitler docos but never spell out his sponsors.
A similar whitewash is going on now with the stone bashing of Bush, Blago and others. We must expose the sponsors.
What we should be careful of in the coming months is the channeling of the redundancies in the directions we see fit. If we don’t do this, nature will take charge and enforce it’s default solution; extermination.
Rick,
“Who can afford all out war now? I think nobody can…”
Not now, but when complex systems collapse they produce redundancies which is preyed upon by the interest groups.
Hitler and the likes of him came to power by using the existing redundancies and enhancing them where necessary. The “red” paranoia lead the European monarchies and capitalists to sponsor them heavily. They could probably not see that Hitler could go rogue. Franco and others stayed darlings until the end.
Hitler enhanced the redundancy by exterminating the progressive elements of the society. He started from the officers and went all the way.
They go out of their way now to picture Hitler as a mad man. Whitewash. Have you noticed how they bombard us with Hitler docos but never spell out his sponsors.
A similar whitewash is going on now with the stone bashing of Bush, Blago and others. We must expose the sponsors.
What we should be careful of in the coming months is the channeling of the redundancies in the directions we see fit. If we don’t do this, nature will take charge and enforce it’s default solution; extermination.
Akira, I guess the redundancies might be considered human beings…human beings considered as cannon fodder… As long as there are more of us than the planet can comfortably support, we have plenty of redundant human capital… I realize that’s getting Malthusian, but put too many rats in a cage and don’t give them enough to eat, and they start eating one another. Add in a good dose of greed and/or religious fundamental fervor, and there you have it. Or here we have it…
Akira, I guess the redundancies might be considered human beings…human beings considered as cannon fodder… As long as there are more of us than the planet can comfortably support, we have plenty of redundant human capital… I realize that’s getting Malthusian, but put too many rats in a cage and don’t give them enough to eat, and they start eating one another. Add in a good dose of greed and/or religious fundamental fervor, and there you have it. Or here we have it…
Akira, I guess the redundancies might be considered human beings…human beings considered as cannon fodder… As long as there are more of us than the planet can comfortably support, we have plenty of redundant human capital… I realize that’s getting Malthusian, but put too many rats in a cage and don’t give them enough to eat, and they start eating one another. Add in a good dose of greed and/or religious fundamental fervor, and there you have it. Or here we have it…
Rick,
I use that word to be concise and technical. I mean no offence.
I don’t think we are too many for the earth, but maybe for our economic model. They are also called the “unemployed” but this word has become too loaded. The official figures do not reflect the reality. Another example of the distortion of language by the cynical elite.
The earth can support much more, given the right system of government. But maybe it is better to vacate some of the natural resources we have plundered and give them back to mother earth and her free and innocent children.
Rick,
I use that word to be concise and technical. I mean no offence.
I don’t think we are too many for the earth, but maybe for our economic model. They are also called the “unemployed” but this word has become too loaded. The official figures do not reflect the reality. Another example of the distortion of language by the cynical elite.
The earth can support much more, given the right system of government. But maybe it is better to vacate some of the natural resources we have plundered and give them back to mother earth and her free and innocent children.
Rick,
I use that word to be concise and technical. I mean no offence.
I don’t think we are too many for the earth, but maybe for our economic model. They are also called the “unemployed” but this word has become too loaded. The official figures do not reflect the reality. Another example of the distortion of language by the cynical elite.
The earth can support much more, given the right system of government. But maybe it is better to vacate some of the natural resources we have plundered and give them back to mother earth and her free and innocent children.
Ahh, the Department of Redundancy Department, eh?
Ahh, the Department of Redundancy Department, eh?
Ahh, the Department of Redundancy Department, eh?
Ahh, the Department of Redundancy Department, eh?