Fear, It’s Frightening
Most of us have seen the old newsreel of Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting there during the depth of the depression in 1932 and with jutting jaw and his trademark clinched teeth smile say to the Congress and American people, “The only thing we have to fear, (patented FDR pause for dramatic effect) is fear itself.” Of course the reason that this quote comes to mind nowadays is that unbounded fear is spreading throughout the land once again because our economy is collapsing just like in 1929 and the leadership that is responding to this crisis are the very same ones that permitted and encouraged greed to replace honest enterprise, and without a doubt, greed is the primary cause for the cascading collapse that our economy is experiencing. We all should be very much frightened because greed is not being addressed in any manner whatsoever in the headlong rush to mitigate the continuing economic crisis. In fact, rather than stamping down greed, it (greed) is being encouraged to take advantage of the bankrupting of America as dollars are flowing from the Fed printing press to the very same Financial Services Robber Barons that enabled greed to replace honest enterprise in the first place. To bring this more into focus I am going to quote what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standingarmies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issueof their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks andcorporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people ofall property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent that theirfathers conquered”.
What I am talking about here is the fact that Financial Services (a synonym for practical greed) enabled our manufacturing sector to go from 25% of the nation’s GNP in the 1970s to less than 12% of GNP today and they accomplished this feat by replacing honest enterprise with greed. How this occurred is that financial entities, such as Hedge Funds, have bought into Public Corporations using worthless leveraged money and gained overwhelming control. Once in control, they (financial entities) demanded more and more profits until the only way to satisfy the insatiable demands was to ship jobs and factories overseas in the search of cheap labor and intellect in order to boost profits until today the displacement of our manufacturing sector is nearly complete. The result being that we are becoming a country that can no longer “make it here.” This is important because when countries (like the old British Empire) can no longer make its goods and things domestically, they lose control of their destiny and become relegated to third world status. Greed is causing this to happen (see my pieces “OBL and the 3rd Deadly Sin and One World Eggheads and Credit Default Swaps”) because greed only craves money, not the necessary honest enterprise that is required to make money that represents something of value (like an automobile, corn, house, pig, intellectual property, etc). Sometimes we forget in order for money to be viable, it has to represent something of value that people have faith and trust in and greed just makes money off of money and does not really represent anything of value. Oh, by the way, Financial Services now represent over 21% of our national GNP today. Think about it. A segment of our economy that makes nothing of value is 21% of our GNP. Now that’s something to become frightened about Mr. FDR.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Change and Chance
CHANGE and CHANCE
All of the knowledge
That can ever be earned,
And all of the wisdom
That can ever be gained,
Will never give the hand of Man
The power to stop the flow of Change
Or prevent the Happenstance of Chance.
Change and Chance is like
Wind and Wave,
They both will blow and roll
To wherever they will go.
Folly will reward all who try
To change the Wind and Wave,
Because they will always blow and roll
To wherever they will go.
So set your sail to Wind and Wave
To mount the unstoppable forces,
And ride your splendid advantage
To wherever your fancy advances.
Knowledge and wisdom can be your sail
To set to the forces of Change and Chance,
And you can cruise to your good fortune
With bended might for your circumstance.
All of the knowledge
That can ever be earned,
And all of the wisdom
That can ever be gained,
Will never give the hand of Man
The power to stop the flow of Change
Or prevent the Happenstance of Chance.
Change and Chance is like
Wind and Wave,
They both will blow and roll
To wherever they will go.
Folly will reward all who try
To change the Wind and Wave,
Because they will always blow and roll
To wherever they will go.
So set your sail to Wind and Wave
To mount the unstoppable forces,
And ride your splendid advantage
To wherever your fancy advances.
Knowledge and wisdom can be your sail
To set to the forces of Change and Chance,
And you can cruise to your good fortune
With bended might for your circumstance.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Honk if you love Peace and Quiet
Honk If You Love Peace & Quiet
I am as guilty as anyone else when it comes to taking note of what we consider negative things or trends while ignoring the many positive things that constantly surrounds us. Indeed, if one reads all that I have written lately, the conclusion would certainly be that I only feel compelled to give voice to things that I consider wrong or at least, not correct. Sadly, I can say that upon rereading my stuff, few words can be found that point out what is going well with the world, only wording that promotes concern and worry. Perhaps the reason for this imbalance is that I am only running the master DNA program that God, or Mother nature if you prefer, programmed into all of us standard Mark 1, Mod 0 human type people, i.e., we have a survival instinct that is inherent to us all and this programmed instinct causes us to focus on negative things more than positive things so that we can consolidate our actions to prevent circumstances from disturbing our well-being, or worse still, cause our ruin. Well, that my ten-cent theory, if you have a better one, I would like to hear about it. One thing I know for certain is that how we look at things to determine if they are positive or negative depends in large measure upon our perspective and our perspective is a result of our respective life experiences to date. For example, my Grandfather had a sign over his desk that he would always point to when I complained about a perceived injustice or that everyone always seemed to have more desirable stuff than I had. The sign read:
“I complained I had no shoes to wear until I saw a man with no feet.”
I think that old sign sums up the perspective thing rather nicely. I can also remember how my Grandmother once told me how wonderful things had gotten during her lifetime (circa 1887-1954). She said the most important improvement was that people are so much better looking now than in her day because modern faces are no longer being scared by the Pox and everyone was more graceful because contemporary people were no longer being broken by hard physical labor. I know about the hard physical labor thing because labor killed my Stepmother’s Father before he could reach 50 years. His premature death was a result of the hard physical labor required of him by being a laborer in the Stone Quarries of Bedford Indiana and he was done in before disease and other age related infirmities could take their due. My own personal perspective about things like this is that I can remember winters in Indianapolis when the primary heating for residents was coal fired stoves and the like. The coal burning produced black soot that fell from the smoke stacks and covered everything and everyone so that just staying clean and breathing was a full time job. With this coal soot perspective in mind, it’s understandable why someone like me would find it difficult to get all excited when the Penthouse Environmentalists* tell us that we must continuously do more and more to help Mother Earth get back to a pristine state of cleanliness or we all are gonna die while gasping for breath in polluted air that will not sustain life worth living. So when a contemporary person’s perspective about air quality is that today’s air is dirty, it is because they have been repeatedly told that the air is indeed dirty and needs to be made completely void of man’s byproducts in order to arrive at the final desired state of cleanliness. Of course my perspective about today’s air is that the air is wonderful compared to what I lived in during my younger days when we had soot, sulfur, and God only knows what, to breathe. My perspective about clean air causes me to be concerned about the necessity of wrecking our economy and jobs to arrive at an unreachable and mostly academic notion of clean air when today’s air, while not perfect and can always be prudently improved, is a remarkable improvement over what was before. As a matter of fact, I am thankful that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) was created and is responsible for the wonderful air we have today. Here is the problem. Once an Agency is created and the bureaucrats are entrenched, they must continuously expand their reach and authority in order to remain viable. This means that the air will never be clean enough, the water will never be clear enough and the environment will never be pristine enough. So how do we determine when enough is enough of a good thing? Therein lies the dilemma of being positive or negative. In any event, young people have no idea what a blessing modern life is today and the idealistic notion that we need to get to a more natural state of living is naivety at its grandest folly. I just wonder when today’s youth grow up to become old geezers like me, will their perspective be that their modern lives are much better than when they were young? I hope so. However, I’m afraid they too will be mostly negative about things because they also want things to continuously improve just like those who proceeded them and that requires that we be mostly negative. So keep on honking those horns for peace and quiet, it’s really not as illogical as it sounds.
* Penthouse Environmentalists.
Those well meaning, but out of touch souls, who bang on Teflon covered pots and stainless steel pans about the necessity of saving Mother Earth from the evil humans. They have actually persuaded the ideologues in the Environmental Protection Agency to rule that the exhaled breath of animals, which includes humans, is a pollutant. I kid you not. All plant life will also be surprised at the news that CO2 is a pollutant, because CO2 is the building block for all things green. After a hard day’s work saving Mother Earth from all things human, the Penthouse Environmentalists climb into their Beamers to go home to their electrically wired, air-conditioned and WiFied Condos, and feel really good.
I am as guilty as anyone else when it comes to taking note of what we consider negative things or trends while ignoring the many positive things that constantly surrounds us. Indeed, if one reads all that I have written lately, the conclusion would certainly be that I only feel compelled to give voice to things that I consider wrong or at least, not correct. Sadly, I can say that upon rereading my stuff, few words can be found that point out what is going well with the world, only wording that promotes concern and worry. Perhaps the reason for this imbalance is that I am only running the master DNA program that God, or Mother nature if you prefer, programmed into all of us standard Mark 1, Mod 0 human type people, i.e., we have a survival instinct that is inherent to us all and this programmed instinct causes us to focus on negative things more than positive things so that we can consolidate our actions to prevent circumstances from disturbing our well-being, or worse still, cause our ruin. Well, that my ten-cent theory, if you have a better one, I would like to hear about it. One thing I know for certain is that how we look at things to determine if they are positive or negative depends in large measure upon our perspective and our perspective is a result of our respective life experiences to date. For example, my Grandfather had a sign over his desk that he would always point to when I complained about a perceived injustice or that everyone always seemed to have more desirable stuff than I had. The sign read:
“I complained I had no shoes to wear until I saw a man with no feet.”
I think that old sign sums up the perspective thing rather nicely. I can also remember how my Grandmother once told me how wonderful things had gotten during her lifetime (circa 1887-1954). She said the most important improvement was that people are so much better looking now than in her day because modern faces are no longer being scared by the Pox and everyone was more graceful because contemporary people were no longer being broken by hard physical labor. I know about the hard physical labor thing because labor killed my Stepmother’s Father before he could reach 50 years. His premature death was a result of the hard physical labor required of him by being a laborer in the Stone Quarries of Bedford Indiana and he was done in before disease and other age related infirmities could take their due. My own personal perspective about things like this is that I can remember winters in Indianapolis when the primary heating for residents was coal fired stoves and the like. The coal burning produced black soot that fell from the smoke stacks and covered everything and everyone so that just staying clean and breathing was a full time job. With this coal soot perspective in mind, it’s understandable why someone like me would find it difficult to get all excited when the Penthouse Environmentalists* tell us that we must continuously do more and more to help Mother Earth get back to a pristine state of cleanliness or we all are gonna die while gasping for breath in polluted air that will not sustain life worth living. So when a contemporary person’s perspective about air quality is that today’s air is dirty, it is because they have been repeatedly told that the air is indeed dirty and needs to be made completely void of man’s byproducts in order to arrive at the final desired state of cleanliness. Of course my perspective about today’s air is that the air is wonderful compared to what I lived in during my younger days when we had soot, sulfur, and God only knows what, to breathe. My perspective about clean air causes me to be concerned about the necessity of wrecking our economy and jobs to arrive at an unreachable and mostly academic notion of clean air when today’s air, while not perfect and can always be prudently improved, is a remarkable improvement over what was before. As a matter of fact, I am thankful that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) was created and is responsible for the wonderful air we have today. Here is the problem. Once an Agency is created and the bureaucrats are entrenched, they must continuously expand their reach and authority in order to remain viable. This means that the air will never be clean enough, the water will never be clear enough and the environment will never be pristine enough. So how do we determine when enough is enough of a good thing? Therein lies the dilemma of being positive or negative. In any event, young people have no idea what a blessing modern life is today and the idealistic notion that we need to get to a more natural state of living is naivety at its grandest folly. I just wonder when today’s youth grow up to become old geezers like me, will their perspective be that their modern lives are much better than when they were young? I hope so. However, I’m afraid they too will be mostly negative about things because they also want things to continuously improve just like those who proceeded them and that requires that we be mostly negative. So keep on honking those horns for peace and quiet, it’s really not as illogical as it sounds.
* Penthouse Environmentalists.
Those well meaning, but out of touch souls, who bang on Teflon covered pots and stainless steel pans about the necessity of saving Mother Earth from the evil humans. They have actually persuaded the ideologues in the Environmental Protection Agency to rule that the exhaled breath of animals, which includes humans, is a pollutant. I kid you not. All plant life will also be surprised at the news that CO2 is a pollutant, because CO2 is the building block for all things green. After a hard day’s work saving Mother Earth from all things human, the Penthouse Environmentalists climb into their Beamers to go home to their electrically wired, air-conditioned and WiFied Condos, and feel really good.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Why, Why, Why
Why, Why, Why
Why do they put rear pockets on women’s jeans? Why does my brother do a comb-over? Why does our Government think it can pay off a credit card with a credit card? Why did God put all of that easy to get oil in the middle of Islam lands? Why does gray hair look awful on a woman but great on a man? Why is it that only bellies and ears get larger with a man’s age? Why does Osama bin Laden smile when he says that all Infidels must die? Why be a dirty old man when you can’t do anything about it? Why do women’s breasts succumb to gravity while their butts seem to defy gravity? Why doesn’t hair on your arm grow longer? Why are black people called African Americans but white people aren’t called English, French, German, Irish, Indian, Italian, et all Americans? Why does my Sunday Newspaper contain 90% ads and 10% news mostly gathered by outside sources? Why is my Newspaper called a Newspaper? Why are the chairs called Lazy Boys when nothing but Lazy Men buy them? Why are they allowed to advertise “Free” with purchase? Why can only white people be racists? Why do Brides smile so broadly when they say, “I do” while Grooms have a vacant, almost innocent look on their faces? Why are prisons called “Correctional Facilities?” Why do I fall asleep watching television? Why is the Democratic Party called the Democratic Party? Why do small children and old men keep asking why? Why do Politicians swear an oath? Why does Dolly Parton seem so different? Why does Hip Hop produce a mind-numbing throb? Why is it called Social Security? Why are women generally referred to as “Ladies?” Why aren’t men generally referred to as “Gentlemen?” Why does Senator Barney Frank look like a fag? Why do all of the really smart people live in Hollywood? Why is it called investing? Why do little old people buy really big automobiles? Why is it called the “Armed Services?” Why are most Lawyers rich? Why did they put the pointy ends on a football? Why do they build Churches so big? Why did the great scientist Albert Einstein believe in God? Why do they build Schools so big? Why does beer make you fart but wine doesn’t? Why do new cars go 120 mph? Why do Thongs cost more than Mumus? Why do they pass the plate before the sermon? Why does my childhood house seem so small now? Why do I have an urge to say, “Have a Nice Day”, to strangers? Why does “thinking outside the box” only works for others? Why is it when I have a 50/50 chance of being right, I’m always wrong? Why do long lines (queue) move faster than short lines? Why does it require force to produce good change but bad change is spontaneous? Why do I become frightened when a woman says “Fine.” Why do men try to understand women? Why don’t women want to understand men? Why are black people color blind to the red color of stop signs? Why do white people think Perry Como is the greatest singer of all time? Why won’t grocery carts go in a straight line? Why does too much sleep make you tired? Why do women wear bras? Why do men wear really big belt buckles? Why are gay people really not? Why does the phrase “Oh, By The Way” cause a cardiac arrest?
Why do they put rear pockets on women’s jeans? Why does my brother do a comb-over? Why does our Government think it can pay off a credit card with a credit card? Why did God put all of that easy to get oil in the middle of Islam lands? Why does gray hair look awful on a woman but great on a man? Why is it that only bellies and ears get larger with a man’s age? Why does Osama bin Laden smile when he says that all Infidels must die? Why be a dirty old man when you can’t do anything about it? Why do women’s breasts succumb to gravity while their butts seem to defy gravity? Why doesn’t hair on your arm grow longer? Why are black people called African Americans but white people aren’t called English, French, German, Irish, Indian, Italian, et all Americans? Why does my Sunday Newspaper contain 90% ads and 10% news mostly gathered by outside sources? Why is my Newspaper called a Newspaper? Why are the chairs called Lazy Boys when nothing but Lazy Men buy them? Why are they allowed to advertise “Free” with purchase? Why can only white people be racists? Why do Brides smile so broadly when they say, “I do” while Grooms have a vacant, almost innocent look on their faces? Why are prisons called “Correctional Facilities?” Why do I fall asleep watching television? Why is the Democratic Party called the Democratic Party? Why do small children and old men keep asking why? Why do Politicians swear an oath? Why does Dolly Parton seem so different? Why does Hip Hop produce a mind-numbing throb? Why is it called Social Security? Why are women generally referred to as “Ladies?” Why aren’t men generally referred to as “Gentlemen?” Why does Senator Barney Frank look like a fag? Why do all of the really smart people live in Hollywood? Why is it called investing? Why do little old people buy really big automobiles? Why is it called the “Armed Services?” Why are most Lawyers rich? Why did they put the pointy ends on a football? Why do they build Churches so big? Why did the great scientist Albert Einstein believe in God? Why do they build Schools so big? Why does beer make you fart but wine doesn’t? Why do new cars go 120 mph? Why do Thongs cost more than Mumus? Why do they pass the plate before the sermon? Why does my childhood house seem so small now? Why do I have an urge to say, “Have a Nice Day”, to strangers? Why does “thinking outside the box” only works for others? Why is it when I have a 50/50 chance of being right, I’m always wrong? Why do long lines (queue) move faster than short lines? Why does it require force to produce good change but bad change is spontaneous? Why do I become frightened when a woman says “Fine.” Why do men try to understand women? Why don’t women want to understand men? Why are black people color blind to the red color of stop signs? Why do white people think Perry Como is the greatest singer of all time? Why won’t grocery carts go in a straight line? Why does too much sleep make you tired? Why do women wear bras? Why do men wear really big belt buckles? Why are gay people really not? Why does the phrase “Oh, By The Way” cause a cardiac arrest?
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