Disaster Porn

Haiku

2012-01-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

Fear for the future
As you live in a present
Undone by the past

Occupy America

2011-11-29T11:42:00.001-08:00

What does the Occupy Wall Street movement really amount to? Is it simply a nationwide act of civil protest by mostly youthful, disaffected citizens against a predatory and criminal finance industry (as represented by such commercial melafactors as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and the quasi private, state chartered Federal Reserve) or is there more going on? Who are the organizers of Occupy Wall Street? Is it, in fact, a leaderless, non hierarchical, self organizing entity that is not, in any meaningful way, controlled by some shadowy someone or something with an entirely different, perhaps even, sinister agenda-One World Government, for example- that is different from the one that the OWS movement ostensibly espouses.

I'm afraid I don't get out enough to have a firm first hand opinion of the precise nature of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but it is my sense that, in the main, OWS participants are a peaceful, if somewhat scruffy group, who, contrary to a host of MSM reports, are neither violent nor criminal. In any event, even were the movement peopled entirely by nothing but some aggregation of entitled, snot nosed layabouts and/or execrable street thugs, the group's collective shortcomings and transgressions would pale beside those of the banksters and their wayward political enablers occupying our nation's capital.

In that sense, we would do well to not traduce the messenger let alone slay him. And by way of answering my own question, we would also do well to recognize some of the salient characteristics of this movement and its brief history as we try to figure out what Occupy Wall Street amounts to?

Here are a few key observations that, to date, I believe to be true about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

1.) Whatever hierarchy may exist within OWS it is, in fact, a youth movement. Many of the protesters are approximately of college age, most are under thirty.

2.) Unlike the Vietnam and Civil Rights era protesters the OWS youth are undeniably economically less well situated than both their parents and grandparents. More importantly, they are keenly aware of their condition, if, perhaps, a bit confused about how events and trends have conspired to leave them on the wrong side of the tracks financially and economically.

3.) So far, nothing the protestors have experienced by way of a response from the so called Powers That Be could be thought of as encouraging them to hold onto whatever faith in the system they may still possess. And that's understating the matter.

The following points are conjecture:

1.) Demographically, their numbers are all but certain to grow in the years ahead.

2.) Increasingly, for purposes of self esteem and survival there will be very little to encourage Occupy Wall Street protesters to continue to practice a mode of protest that is peaceful since it has garnered so little for the movement. Put another way, as Gerald Celente would say, those who have nothing to lose, lose it. The authorities have shown their hand in this regard. And even as the government prepare for greater unrest they all but guarantee that there will be more strife.

3.) The other strain of protest, besides outright and open defiance, will emerge in a different form that will constitute a kind of middle ground between peaceful protest and the throwing of molotov cocktails. This form of protest might even become a kind of nation building movement though that may be a bit grandiose and ambitious for what will, at the outset, amount to nothing less than a campaign of dropping out. Communities, hard scrabble ones, will form out of necessity and the values and ways of being that define these communities will be at variance with the values that have defined U.S. society for generations.

4.) The government will attempt to disrupt this movement. They already are engaged in preempting it if one looks at the recent passage of laws pertaining to the growing of one's own food. The government will fail, though they will, as is their wont, create a lot of misery on their way to a well deserved defeat.

In conclusion, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, though it has achieved very little, if anything, towards reigning in or redressing the crimes of the banking and so called financial services industry-which, for all intents and purposes doesn't even exist anymore on Wall Street- has, perhaps, taken the first steps towards setting in motion something far more profound, a society (within our society) that operates along genuinely different principles than those that inform the functioning of institutions that are now under protest.

Seeing is believing.

2011-11-04T19:42:00.001-07:00

Some number of years ago I predicted that The Catholic Church was in a terminal state of decline. I think the trend has been pretty clear. Here's some more evidence of the well deserved fall of The Vatican.

The Secret

2011-10-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, is anybody out there? I wouldn't blame you one bit if you weren't. I know this post won't wow you, but obviously the following tidbit-another one in a very long list of pieces from Yahoo designed to manage the expectations and perceptions of those teeming masses who are seemingly inexorably downwardly mobile- is one I feel worth posting.

What's the secret of living well, well, mind you, on eleven grand a year? Well, let's just say that the secret is A.) no secret at all, and B.) once knowing the secret, not one man or woman in a million could successfully follow the prescription, because C.) no one can live well on eleven grand a year in the U.S.A.

Ask Yourself...

2011-08-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Why do we have all the taxes listed at the link? Are they necessary or even advised? I realize the nation is far more populated then it was one hundred years ago, and substantially more complex, broadly speaking, than a century ago, but how much government-since that is what all these taxes go to support-do we need? I emphasize the word need because if we don't require them they should be eliminated. Perhaps another way to look at the problem is to ask ourselves how much tax payer supported government benefits those it is meant to support, namely the citizenry, (and in many cases non citizens) versus simply supporting the economic and financial maintenance of those who are employed by the government irrespective of the cost, broadly defined, to the rest of the nation's citizenry.

I posit that, at the very least, a national experiment be undertaken wherein the elimination of many of the tax levies on the aforesaid list occurs for some decent interval so we can come to an answer regarding the question of whether such taxes are justified.

This is a Joke, Right?

2011-07-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

Apparently it isn't meant as a joke, but if you think this plan is anything but another hopeless dodge by legislatwhores eying next year's elections, think again. Lets start with the most glaring bit of evidence that what we are dealing with from the, so called, "Gang of Six" is just more crapulous kabuki theater. Hold on to your hat, folks, but this plan involves finding eighty billion dollars to cut from the most electrified third rail in U.S. politics, the military. Just to give you an idea of what eighty billion dollars amounts to in military spending these days, please note that the total cost of the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq had reached the 900 billion dollar mark in 2008, and that expenditure was considered supplemental to the 600 billion dollar plus official yearly budget. So, first they have to find what is a puny amount and then on finding it, they will cut it. Get the picture?

In addition to the far from courageous posture towards the nation's immense military spending, the Gang has decided to go after the tax code and reduce such things as the mortgage interest deduction. How savvy is that in the middle of a RE depression. Corporations will be taxed at a lower rate, and the alternative minimum tax will, it is said, be abolished. Then there's the once vaunted Social Security system, now a hapless, bleating, sacrificial lamb if ever there was one. You thought that Social Security was a third rail of U.S. politics did you? Well, not anymore. The Gang are going to see to it that, by certain accounting legerdemain no doubt, Social Security recipients will receive less.

In short, what this plan amounts to is merely 1.) a decrease in the rate of increase in U.S. government spending, and 2.) an exercise in engaging in the time honored canard of equating putative enhanced revenue projections (as a result of, in this case, diddling with the tax code and eliminating certain key deductions) with the actual act of really, truly putting the financial and fiscal condition of the nation on a new, healthy track. Setting aside the absolute certainty one should have that any projected revenue enhancements are going to be exaggerated, this pending agreement-as yet uncertain to pass, but out of the gate in impressive fashion- is absolutely more of the same smoke and mirrors rubbish from our political class that one has long since come to feel is de rigueur.

The horror, the horror distilled.

2011-07-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Forgive me, but here is a distilled version of today's same post. Things have crystalized even more for me regarding the debt ceiling farce.

There is no chance of a debt default. None, zero, nada. The government has the funds to pay its interest obligations on the principal they owe, and, if necessary, and it will be -by design- they will take what they need to pay debt obligations from government programs as per the dictates of the 14th Amendment. That is what will transpire assuming they don’t reach an agreement. However, an agreement will achieve the exact same thing as no agreement, except less messily, as it will involve decimating those very same government operations that will be plundered if there isn't an agreement. That’s what I call checkmate, mate. Heads I win, tails you lose.

My bet is that they will come to an agreement because Obama is just another neo-liberal shyster sellout. The third rails of U.S. politics were/are thought to be certain entitlements and military spending. In retrospect it will be clear that when the chips were down it was only the latter that was untouchable not the former.

The horror, the horror.

2011-07-15T14:18:00.001-07:00

The title above is not meant to be a reference to Joseph Conrad's brilliant novella Heart of Darkness, but, rather, a reference to the Debt(berg) ceiling talks where the threat of unspeakable, almost indescribable disaster is being asserted anywhere and everywhere as a means to guarantee an outcome that squares with the governing elite's desired ends. Put more succinctly, a certain cohort of The Legislature and The Executive are engaging in what has now become a time honored strategy perhaps best described as a kinder gentler form of extortion. The only difference between government's brand of gangsterism and a true blue gangster style protection racket is that the government isn't posturing as if they will be the ones to use the blunt instrument should they not get their way. No, the pain, we are told, and lots and lots of it, will be administered from other realms.

The truth is that what scares some number of desperate actors in government is not a sovereign default but a sovereign debt credit downgrade. After all, there will be no default if an agreement isn't reached since the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment necessitates that all government debts, and interest on such debts, must be paid prior anyone to else in government getting paid. That means that, in the event the debt ceiling is not raised by August 2nd, a lot of government operations would be frozen as their funds were instead redirected to pay Uncle Sugar's creditors. Such an outcome would be unpleasant for many, but no one should confuse that with a sovereign debt default. However, a partial government shutdown, along with various other developments related to said government shut down, could trigger a credit downgrade which is what worries our legislators the most. Well, it should worry them the most since such a development would make all present and future sovereign debt obligations substantially more expensive for Uncle Sugar.

Just so you know, whatever next week holds legislatively, the death of the dollar is assured. It's demise will not be avoided. Belabored? Almost certainly. Postponed? Perhaps, though that too is looking increasingly unlikely as things are unraveling at an accelerating pace. You see, there is a timeline involved with respect to the life of our currency, our medium of exchange, and while it is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to say precisely when that timeline concludes-picture if you will the sand running out of the top of an hourglass-conclude it will. In in the meantime, as more and more sand runs out of the top of the dollar's hourglass, the ability to say with some precision when that last grain of sand will fall to the bottom of the hourglass becomes easier and easier to predict.

Pacification Thy Name is Internet.

2011-06-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

The following is part of a (slightly edited) correspondence I had with a friend on-line. I should add that, apropos of the thrust of this post, my friend is someone I've never actually met with face to face. This is not entirely down to the limits of the internet-where virtual is the name of the game- as my friend lives in a part of the country that is quite distant and is not an area that I have reason to visit, well, aside from our seemingly (internet bound) friendship.

"No doubt – I do not know when as I am beginning to lose hope in that most people seem too stupid to know what is happening to them – that and the fact that fully half are now takers rather than makers. So it may be that in the end – the takers win out – who knows."

I've long pondered the whys and wherefores of contemporary citizen inaction, and, while I'm sure entire books could be (and have been) written on such things, I have a few pet ideas. One of them squares on the role of the internet, namely it's incredibly capacity to dissipate all kinds of emotions and energy. Consider the following:

In days of yore, if people wanted to be heard by their fellow man, and I mean heard in numbers, what options did they have? They had few options except to take out ads in the local gazette, manage to get themselves heard on radio or T.V., or, perhaps, rent out a hall-a favorite of political activists going back many generations-and say whatever it was they felt they had to say.

Now they can....blog...and boy do they ever blog by the boatload. Quite a few blogs are downright vitriolic, even incendiary in their style and content, and some, not too many, but some, are compelling. And yet, at least in the U.S., it seems, what transpires from all the chatter? Very little. I am not by any means suggesting that the blogosphere has, all by itself, sucked the life out of any potential political activism, let alone revolutionary spirit, but, still, I fear that the presence of the internet, along with myriad other kinds of (peculiar to our age) diverting fare, and some other, not to be named in this missive, crucial factors, have reduced us collectively to not much more than inveterate talking typists-and here I raise my hand up as a member of this guilty cohort- at the expense of aligning ourselves with one another for the purpose of taking genuine action, not in cyberspace, but in the real world.

Hello Again!

2011-06-22T06:49:00.000-07:00

To my loyal reader(s), I'm sorry that I've had no scintillating entries for you over the last six weeks, but, well, I've been busy with other stuff. Now that I have a bit of time I thought I'd just drop a line to say that it appears to me as if the next round of the financial crisis is upon us.

Why now, you may ask? The termination of the so called Quantitative Easing programs conducted by U.S. monetary authorities is not the proximate reason that things are heading south again in my view. Having said that, QE2 has likely contributed to the onset of the next go round of economic contraction since QE2 has been instrumental in causing the price of raw materials to ratchet higher to an extent that has eaten into the profit margins of all manner of business activity. In the meantime, the higher cost of everything from toothpaste, to gasoline, to lawn furniture, to pork cutlets has made just about everyone but the very wealthy feel less wealthy. It's all a recipe for another round of job losses, stock market woes, and general wobbliness in the economy. And as bollixed up as things have become at the hands of the monetary authorities, there is little doubt that they would be worse without the soon to be defunct Quantitative Easing programs.

Don't misunderstand me. I've never been an advocate of the kind of monetary nostrums that have been applied in response to the calamities of '08 and early '09. It's simply that I'm aware that the pain we've experienced to date would have been vastly more intense, albeit relatively short lived-or so I conjecture- had no QE programs been enacted. And because politicians in our governmental system are in it as a career, more precisely for life, they will always, in the main, without fail, opt for the sort of approaches that attenuate pain. To do otherwise would reduce career politician's chances of remaining career politicians. In short, kicking the can down the road is how the political class responds to all crises. It's why, in time, there will be more Quantitative Easing whatever new euphemistic moniker they may apply to actions that will be nothing less than buying debt outright for cash. So, while Quantitative Easing demonstrably creates all manner of painful economic distortions, to not engage in more money printing presents the bigger risk to the political class.

Tall Tales.

2011-05-05T03:32:00.000-07:00

As the story of the once great bogeyman Osama Bin Laden's assassination traveled around the globe via main stream media outlets, and the blogosphere, my initial thoughts were that I would attempt to deconstruct the official version. It is clear now, given the multiplicity of accounts, with details of said accounts shifting about as rapidly as the Saharan sands, that attempting to do so is both impossible-which account to deconstruct, which details?- and, more importantly, unnecessary, since the aroma of grand falsehood surrounding this news reduces any such enterprise to an absurd tail chasing activity. Put another way, the authorities, and I use the word authorities advisedly, have done the job for us. Credibility vanished quicker than a flushed turd in a cruise ship commode as the "official" story seemed to change in key ways from hour to hour. Who to believe? What to believe? Answer: No one and nothing.

Many commentators have spoken on the curious timing of the release of this would be earth shaking assassination story, namely that the breaking news distracted the mainstream media from the fetid air of mendacity that was building in the wake of President Obama's release of his purported long form birth certificate. This isn't an entirely unreasonable hypothesis, but, equally, I am sure there is far more to the story regarding "why now." We won't have much of a clue about what more there might be behind what seems to be a considerable (yet botched) disinformation campaign until some time has passed.

But allow me to back up a tad. The likelihood, based on many accounts from a wide variety of individuals who could be expected to know, is that the great and none too lamented bogeyman, Osama Bin Laden, died years ago. Given my own predilections about what 9/11 was, and, more importantly, was not, I find the numerous testimonies that all coalesce around the idea that Osama Bin Laden died years ago far more compelling than the latest mad flurry of press releases purporting his assassination at the hands of a crack team of U.S. Navy Seals.

And, again, for the seemingly zillionth time, especially where officialdom is concerned, we have to decide if the recent overwhelming confusion, not to say incoherence, in the telling of the story of Osama Bin Laden is just a matter of tremendous incompetence on the part of the anointed story tellers, or if there is something more troubling at play. What comes through for me, above all else, is this: If someone wanted to create a scenario where their own credibility was called into play in a profoundly disturbing way, they could hardly have done a better job than with the release of the fabulous, and ever changing tale of Osama Bin Laden's demise.

A Quick Word on the OBL "News."

2011-05-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

I will report on this at length, later, but, so far, this story stinks. Put more succinctly, reports that Osama Bin Laden was killed recently by U.S. Navy Seals don't pass the sniff test.

Proof

2011-04-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

Has anyone in the MSM bothered to ask, and, more importantly, answer, why it has taken President Obama so long to produce a long form birth certificate? Applying Occam's Razor to this seeming conundrum yields a rather stunning conclusion, which is, that, until very recently, President Barack Obama didn't possess a long form birth certificate. I know, how horribly conspiratorial of me to suggest that one has been invented on his behalf. Do you have a better explanation?

Let's see, perhaps you would like to suggest, in lieu of my straightforward explanation, that Barack Obama and his handlers have, perhaps, the worst political instincts ever, and, instead of, way back when, producing the necessary document to immediately quell the brouhaha surrounding the issue of his place of birth, decided, instead, to let the issue fester to the point that it would gestate, to name just one ghastly progeny, a Donald Trump Presidential bid. No, The Donald isn't going to become our next President, but I hope you catch my drift just the same. Do you really think Obama and his handlers decided the way forward was to stonewall, for well over a year, producing the document in question. It's possible that this explains matters, but, let's face it, the less tortured explanation is that Team Obama needed time (and a lot of money) to fabricate a convincingly authentic long form birth certificate. It must not have been easy. Counterfeiting such things is quite a job, but far from impossible. The technology is there, if you have the resources to bring to bear. Well, call me crazy, as I may well, be, but I propose the Office of The President has just such resources and that in the absence of a better explanation, used them.

Think Again.

2011-04-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

It seems that on the back of a warning of a downgrade of U.S. government debt by, FWIW, the S&P ratings agency, there is renewed discussion of how this latest debt downgrade will spur officialdom to really, truly, you better believe it, tackle our-just outside the black hole event horizon-fiscal situation. For all those talking such piffle, whether you are just clueless or ghastly toadying shills, I have news for you:

The only weapon government has to extinguish the U.S.S. debtberg is talk of the kind designed to deceive the easily duped into thinking that constant can kicking is something other than, well, can kicking. Government can't do anything like the sort of budget/debt reduction needed because that would shatter to pulp the one wooden peg leg our economy remains standing on. After all, government, both federal and local government combined, employ more folks than anyone else by a long shot. If we want to really have unemployment skyrocket, and to see absolute social disintegration/mayhem ensue lickety split, then, by all means, cut all the social programs back big time, bring most of the troops home-troops who, in the full flush of their testosterone saturated youth will not be able to find gainful employment, but are, by the way, quite handy with firearms and explosives-and let the too big to fails, fail. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Historic!

2011-04-09T04:03:00.000-07:00

That's how the imbeciles on Capitol Hill, in their usual self aggrandizing and grandiloquent style, have chosen to characterize puny budget cuts of 39 billion dollars when there is a deficit in the trillions. I know that I am, to an extent, comparing apples and oranges, but only just. What an absolute mockery of a sham of a travesty. Imagine paring your total household expenditures so you bought fewer tubes of toothpaste, cheaper light bulbs, and stopped paying the kid down the street to mow your lawn, and you declared such measly reductions in expenses historic.

I suppose they are from the standpoint that such a hopeless accommodation indicates how appallingly fouled up our legislative body's functioning is. After all, it is worthy of a place in the annals when this sort of paltry agreement can be deemed historic and reported as such by a brain dead media. I loathe both parties, but, typically, The Republicans, pandering to some cretinous segment of their rank and file voters, made this tentative accord-the tiny budget cuts still have to be voted on-a tense, touch and go affair as they desperately tried to do away with funding for things like planned parenthood and regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. No one will touch the various political third rails that are the real culprits-entitlements and military expenditures, in sending the U.S. down the path of financial and economic disintegration, so, plan-see the recent, and not so recent, action in precious metals-accordingly.

What is going on?

2011-03-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Japanese catastrophe-that would be the ongoing nuclear reactor disaster, not the earthquake and tsunami that preceded it- has cast a very unpleasant specter over the planet. There seems to be a lot of confusion- if one is being charitable, and disinformation if one is not- about exactly what has happened, but, clearly, radiation of the sort that is dangerous to humans is now showing up in the U.S.

This all seems eerily reminiscent of The Gulf disaster from last year, except, I am afraid, worse. No one in their right mind should trust officialdom on these matters for the simple, yet ironclad, reason that-in their own eyes- government gains nothing by telling the truth when a lie will do just as well. After all, let's suppose that nuclear reactors in Japan are melting down and tens of millions of lives are at severe risk, but not necessarily in a way that will be readily apparent in the immediate future.

Put more crudely and directly, folks might not start getting demonstrably sick and dying in statistically eye raising numbers for a matter of months and possibly years. This gives government figures time to enact damage control, to engage in cover your ass maneuvers, and to just, plain, old, get out of town. Tell the truth now and you will absolutely have mayhem on your hands. That's how officialdom always justifies not telling it like it is, especially in the midst of disasters. After all, chaos means certain loss of control, and that is the one thing officialdom will do everything in its power to avoid. Cynical though it may sound, TPTB are far more interested in maintaining control than saving lives, but, because this stance is so monstrous, they tell themselves, and us, that their actions were taken on behalf of the greater good; that they concealed the truth and misinformed us for a, much hoped for, better outcome. As an alternative to the aforesaid dark explanation, there is always the incompetence argument, but, let's face it, that's really nothing less than a combination of an apology for power, and, an old fashioned cop out.

So, the plan is to try and attenuate the matter-no pun intended- and play for an outcome such that by the time the truth of the situation becomes impossible to deny, cover up, etc. etc. a lot of the folks who are, to some greater or lesser degree, responsible for allowing this catastrophe to intensify, will have quietly removed themselves from the scene. The other sinister aspect being relied on by the operators of the levers of power is that by the time things are obvious, most folks will be in no position to respond in a very forceful manner to what will, by then, be dire circumstances.

All that I have offered so far rests on the premise that it is simply impossible to make the case that the highest of the higher ups in Japan were not fully aware of the inevitability of a nuclear disaster of the sort that stood an excellent chance of acting as a monumental global game changer. None. Zero. Nada. Now consider the implications of that, and the reaction-again, no pun intended, merely noted-of our own government as the (so called) harmless fallout arrives on our shores.

Melting Down Writ Large.

2011-03-16T13:47:00.001-07:00

It doesn't look good sports fans. In fact, it looks like a five alarm fire cubed is gearing up. I sense that in the next few weeks global civilization runs the risk of having a global Alice Through The Looking Glass experience that no one is ever likely to forget, try though we might. What is happening in Japan is the proximate catalyst that informs my very gloomy outlook, because, my dear readers, it isn't just a few of Japan's nuclear reactors that are melting down, but Japan itself that is in the hideous process of liquefying.

Should Japan, in possession of the planet's third largest economy, cease to meaningfully operate as a civilization for some extended period, well, we are all going to feel it hugely. Know this: Should all the radiation containment issues be solved in the next twenty four hours, we are still going to experience unpleasantness globally, but, whatever we experience will be as nothing compared to the hurt we'll feel should the latest hopeful news about the power going on at the most troubled nuclear plant fail to deliver on the promise of a very near term solution.

The world is entirely too interconnected for a Japanese flock of black swans to flap its wings, deliver a massive, steaming payload of glowing excrement from on high, and have the collective not subsequently feel the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune. And all this epic awfulness, of course, leaves out all the presently overshadowed, but none too insignificant, upheaval occurring in the Middle East.

Now, as a sort of coda to this evening post, I offer the following quote as reported by the BBC.

"They are leaving us to die," says the mayor of Minamasoma inside the exclusion zone.

The very unfortunate Mayor and his fellow citizens in the aforesaid abandoned town put me in mind of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, who were, in effect, left to fend for themselves-where they weren't left to fend off the monstrous goons of Blackwater.

I feature the quote above primarily for the purpose of highlighting the ever growing condition whereby central governments across the world demonstrate their profound unworthiness. And I focus on that phenomenon, because, as the realization grows, as it must, amongst citizens all across the planet, that in their most desperate hours of need they simply can not depend on central governments to help (let alone save) them, these very same citizens will reject the very idea of obeisance to a central authority.

After all the enormous failures that have already occurred here and elsewhere are almost too numerous to mention; they involve the failure to rescue citizens in the aftermath of natural disasters, and the dereliction of government's solemn duty to uphold legal statutes and enforce laws regardless of who may be acting outside the law. However, as the Wicked Witch of the West was wont to say about certain, in her case, nasty endeavors, "These things take time." Indeed, they do, but a bit of time is about all that's standing in the way of governments around the planet, pardon the phrase, melting down.

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

2011-03-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

For all the perfectly sensible opinions expressed about the seemingly pointless and wasted attention paid to the "melt down" of Charlie Sheen, it strikes me that, on some level, the metaphor of melt down, which was applied ubiquitously in conjunction with the personal collapse of someone who, until very recently, was the highest paid actor in Television, amounted to, in some bizarre way, an omen of the more literal meltdown that is now in process in Japan. One wonders, with more than a little trepidation, what aspect of our world will next become a feature player in the ongoing serial global "meltdowns" small and immense, ridiculous and sublime.

The Yoke of Tyranny

2011-03-07T04:03:00.000-08:00

There are some excellent comments following the article here, but this is the one that nails it.

"Boston now has to resort to illegal means to sustain its abusive employee benefits."

Our local government preys on us. Ponder the implications of that fact. I will only add the following: Government will continue to prey on us citizens until we destroy their ability to do so, and that will likely require, when it all shakes out, extra-legal measures by us citizens to rectify the situation to our satisfaction. I make this observation based on the simple fact that if the courts are riding herd with efforts to confiscate, steal, and otherwise abuse the citizenry, which they are, then achieving justice and reform from within the system, will be, by definition, impossible. Anything less than the SJC overturning the institution of fees to challenge tickets in court will be proof of that assertion.

Here is a Thought Experiment...

2011-03-06T04:10:00.001-08:00

that will begin with a resolution, and a whole slew of questions where it is hoped that the simple act of asking not so simple questions reveals useful insights and answers.

Resolved: In part, due to the actions of U.S. monetary authorities, The Dollar is dramatically losing purchasing power against a variety of hard assets, i.e fuel products, agricultural products, and other natural resources such as base and precious metals. Official announcements have come recently, and, not so recently, from abroad, which herald the dollar's planned replacement in trade between foreign nations. Such developments will, by definition, have the effect of eroding The Dollar's already increasingly fragile reserve currency status.

1.) As the single most powerful monetary authority operating in the U.S., is it Chairman of The Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke's actual intention to destroy the dollar's purchasing power?

2.) If so, what is the motivation for such an action, i.e. to A.) reduce the effective debt load of Federal, i.e. public and (some) private entities, or, perhaps, to B.) impoverish, and, therefore, reduce the wherewithal- broadly defined- of a large segment of the U.S. population?

3.) If B, why?

4.) Is it possible that a substantial reduction in the purchasing power of the dollar can be orderly achieved so as not to create widespread social instability, or worse, outright civil tumult as is now occurring all across the Middle East?

5.) Where the actions of The Federal Reserve are concerned (and other major actors in the financial sphere, i.e. The Treasury) can we discern A.) egregious incompetence from B.) systemic rot, from C.) willful criminality?

6.) If B and/or C, can the system be expected to reform from within, or to only, at best, present a simulacrum of reform?

7.) If the answer to question #6 is only a simulacrum, what are our rights and obligations as citizens with regard to achieving necessary justice and reform?

Spare Me.

2011-03-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

My goodness, someone or other must be very concerned that A.) the economy is not only not going to recover but is set to further deteriorate, and that B.) some large number of Americans will start holding those responsible accountable, i.e. cue pictures of bloated banker's bodies swinging Mussolini style from lamp posts. I say this since we now have some seriously silly twaddle from The Pentagon as reported by the less than venerable, Washington Times, that damn commie furriners done it to us where the crash of '08 was concerned.

Okay, so it's actually the case that our very own homegrown monetary bandits were responsible for all the carnage, as the report admits, but folks in Venezuela, China, and elsewhere, took advantage of the situation and made it worse. And to add insult to injury, our enemies did it as part of a (not so) secret plot to destroy the U.S. How could they!!? I'm sure they piled on where possible, just as we have done the same to them when they've chosen to act as wantonly idiotic as we did in the years leading up to the great crash.

Why Wait?

2011-02-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

It seems that Christianity and Christian cults, excuse me, sects, that inhabit the U.S. are never at a loss to produce small but fanatical sub-groups who are desperate to impart to the rest of us that the end is nigh. The latest batch of (m)adherents have apparently deemed May 11 of this year as the "beginning of the end." No doubt, some loud and particularly lunatic voice among them has, by dint of some very arcane fundamentalist numerology, discerned that the aforementioned date is of special import. After all, chiliasts don't have much use for hard science, so whoever came up with May 11 must have resorted to a special brand of bible thumping bullshit to come up with their calendar date of doom.

What, particularly, is it about our society that, time and time again, over the centuries, it seems to breed what is, to me at least, a particularly annoying cadre of Good Book desperadoes desperate for the entire societal shebang to be summarily extinguished by the Sky God? My quick surmise of this phenomenon is that the U.S., peopled as it as by more than its fair share of enfeebled men and women, is simply too hostile and difficult a place to survive for some portion of its weaker and more vulnerable members. Tragically, for them, and the rest of us, slipping into group hysteria and/or psychosis becomes the most comfortable and viable option. Put another way, these disaffected and disturbed citizens are, in essence, mental and emotional drop outs waiting for a not so benevolent creator to rescue them-while punishing the rest of us- from what must certainly be a long travail of abject existential misery.

Most folks here in the U.S., and elsewhere, I imagine, just get on with our own personal misery without resorting to this sort of infantile religious lunacy, but, in The Land of The Free, perhaps as a result of Enlightenment thinking taken to its logically nutty extreme, and our very poor public educational system, one can construe any sort of self serving tripe one wants to towards whatever purpose one chooses. In the meantime, I would wish the rapturists best of luck, but I'm inclined to believe it best not to encourage them. Not that these sort require any added motivation.

Egypt

2011-02-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

Now that Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has been forced out, presumably in a military style coup that was brought on by massive civil unrest, just what are we to make of what has transpired in Egypt?

There seem to be several explanations regarding what just occurred in the land of The Pyramids. Here are the key explanations that I have encountered to date.

1.) What has transpired in Egypt is being portrayed by the U.S. mainstream media-and by a very wide margin- as nothing less than a full scale (political)revolution.

Commentary:

For that reason alone one must be deeply suspect of the idea that any sort of lasting, profound change has occurred in how Egyptian society functions. Yes, political power has been usurped, nominally new parties are seemingly, seemingly, mind you, in control of the political process. However, does this state of affairs equate to Egypt being in the midst of a process where entirely new socio-economic groups are about to redirect the energies of the nation? For the answer to that question, we will have to wait and see. In the meantime, we are left to wonder if the severe problems-high food prices and lower standards of living- that appeared to catalyze some critical number of the populace into forcefully demanding a drastic change in officialdom are going to be successfully addressed.

2.) Hosni Mubarak, a kleptocratic and somewhat decrepit despot has been ousted as the result of civil discontent that has now led to what is most likely a power vacuum that the entire region is on tenterhooks waiting to see filled. In short, there has been no revolution, but there may be a revolution as a result of Mubarak's ouster and a variety of continuing exogenous and endogenous pressures.

This explanation has the advantage of not reading too much into recent events, while not necessarily glossing over the great if unrealized potential that the aforesaid events may possess.

3.) The toppling of Hosni Mubarak was set in motion and pulled off at the behest of western elites for a variety of possible reasons listed here in no order of preference.

A.) The War on Terror is flagging and needs a boost. What better way to justify more military misadventures in the region that by destabilizing Egypt. The idea here is that long suppressed Islamic Fundamentalist elements in that nation will emerge, and, as a matter of course, will need to be "dealt" with.

B.) Mubarak was allowed to be taken down by western elites because they need someone fresh to do their bidding. Mubarak's sell by date, as it were, was long past, and a younger better despotic puppet-one who doesn't appear so obviously villainous- is required to continue the good work that Mubarak did on behalf of the west.

There is absolutely more than a kernel of truth in the notion that Mubarak was a U.S. puppet. It's, in fact, more true than untrue. However, do the western elites and their various operatives/agencies have anything like the ability to set in motion the sort of events-let alone control them-that such an explanation suggests? Highly doubtful in my view. The west's pull and influence, across all spectra, is badly waning. One could even assert that the collective pull and influence the west once enjoyed, especially in that region of the world, is in a state of terminal decline. If anything, the fall of the decrepit despot was more likely a failure of the west's resolve than anything else. On the other hand, the fall of Mubarak may simply have been the result of a kind of benign neglect on the part of Mubarak's western facilitators. In any case, it's important to remember that while both those explanations are plausible, they are, equally, like so many other things, unknowable.

The Bernank

2011-02-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

Recently, Ben Bernanke, with what I imagine was nary a smirk on his face, asserted that his actions at The Fed have had nothing to do with the present instability in Egypt. Oh, no, The Bernank offered, it's all the growth in emerging markets that has caused agricultural commodities to double and triple in price in less than a year's time. In not so many words, The Bernank claimed that the astronomical rise in wheat prices, for example, couldn't be linked in any way to The Fed's (going on two years running) purchase of toxic bad bets, more euphemistically known as assets.

That response highlights perfectly the choice we are faced with regarding what The Bernank, as a quasi public official, must be, namely an epic scale liar or just the world's most powerful imbecile. I opt for the former, as I simply don't think it's possible that, whatever his ideological blinders may be, The Bernank actually believes what he spouts, but, instead, knows he can utter such perfidiousness with impunity as he has a free pass from those in the mainstream media who are allowed to ask questions of him. Egyptian food prices haven't gone up to levels inspiring political revolution due to, as he stated, the state of the Egyptian currency-which in the aftermath of the nation's recent instability is admittedly weaker-they've gone up because food prices everywhere have risen dramatically.

And that shitty reality has met head on with the fact that Macmoud Average, whose yearly income is some fraction of Joe Average's, must, as a result, now use a far greater portion of his meager income, just to put pita on the table.

In the meantime, the great lie, that The Bernank is at some mild pains to elide, is that the money that The Fed has exchanged for the aforementioned assets has not gone into proper bank lending, but rather into bond, equity, and commodity speculation to a degree that has had a material effect on food prices globally. The emerging markets piffle offered up by The Bernank is, just that, patent rubbish, and he must know that, but, being a Central Banker, a U.S. Central Banker in particular, he is, as his predecessor Arthur Burns observed, under no obligation to tell the truth. And so we are under no particular obligation not to see The Bernank and any number of his many fellow travelers, tarred and feathered and run out of town, as it were, on a rail.

Rate Rises Cometh

2011-02-04T17:06:00.000-08:00

With respect to technical analysis of markets, break outs above or below long standing (or even short term) trend lines are not to be trusted until a successful re-test of said trend line occurs, however, at present, the long bond chart has, at least by my runes, signaled a major trend change by breaking out above the upper trend line of a decades long bull market in bonds.

If one is inclined to follow the utterances of certain monetary authorities and their mainstream media minions, the action in long rates of late is the result of an expected incipient rebound in the economy. If, on the other hand, one subscribes to the well buttressed argument of persons like former Reagan budget honcho David Stockman, the implications of the recent action in the long bond are decidedly less than pleasant to put it mildly. Long (bond) story short, the ability of the U.S. government to fund its epic profligacy is going to come under considerable constraint in the not too distant future. I hasten to add that the ominous rise in rates is also a function of the market sussing out that the debt ceiling is going to be raised, yet again. In any event, the action in bonds spells trouble of the not to be deferred for much longer sort.

As the time I have to devote to this humble blog is limited presently, a further discussion of this development will have to wait until next week.

State of The Union

2011-01-26T17:43:00.000-08:00

What a world we live in. No doubt, at other, if not all, times in human history, people have justifiably made similar claims delivered with (or, perhaps without) heavy doses of sarcasm. Perhaps another way of describing our present predicament here in the U.S. would be to observe that, as per the ancient and marvelously veiled Chinese curse, we live in interesting times. And speaking of interesting, China, as fate would have it, is now America's greatest economic rival. I'm not sure who, if anyone, constitutes the United States' greatest military rival. I suspect no one does, though, equally, I'm reasonably sure that in some regions of the world asymetric warfare, or, if you prefer, fourth generation warfare, is practiced with great skill against the U.S. military juggernaut. But that's another subject for another time.

What may be the most interesting thing about living in the U.S. presently, at least from this citizen's perspective, is the overwhelmingly Orwellian disconnect between the behavior of officialdom, their preferred organs of misinformation dissemination, and the state of the rest of the union. With that in mind, I think it's worth noting that during President Obama's State of The Union address last night, one of officialdom's highest ranking members, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, fell fast asleep. I suppose Justice Ginsburg's deep dozing could be attributed to her advanced age, or, even, perhaps, the relative lateness of the hour, but I prefer to entertain the idea, however fanciful, that the Universe, through the unwitting medium of Justice Ginsburg was, instead, offering a meaningful, succinct, proper, and profound judgment on the content and quality of our President's oratory- if not his entire Presidency- as one best slept through. To bowdlerize the pop outfit, Green Day, "Wake me up when Obama ends."

I personally applaud Justice Ginsburg's response, however unintended it may have been, to the President's State of The Union address. After all, his was a communication with only slightly more merit than an awkwardly constructed, sophomoric love ditty scrawled on public restroom toilet paper. Had I watched the speech in real time it would have unquestionably left me in a state of agitation entirely incompatible with sleep, but one well aligned with nightmarish fantasies of the sort that would likely still be bothering me. Sometimes, when the times get too interesting, the best thing to do is to turn off the set. And while Poor Justice Ginsburg couldn't afford that luxury, being duty bound to actually attend the event, the results were, nevertheless, at least where her presence was concerned, entirely fitting.

Sarah Palin: Whore of Babylon Update

2011-01-16T18:38:00.001-08:00

Until now I've neglected to comment on what is perhaps the most momentous Whore of Babylon fiasco since John McCain, in his role as Pandora, and to his everlasting shame and disgrace, caved to the "religious right" lunatic fringe pressure from members of The Republican Party and released the scourge from Wasilla upon the lower forty eight. By now, everyone who is remotely tuned in to current events is familiar with The Whore of Babylon's hideous connection to the horrific shooting spree that took place approximately a week ago in Tuscon, Arizona.

One of the chief victims in the melee was Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who has spent the last week fighting for her life in hospital. Sarah Palin, who employed the language of firearms against her political opponents in the midterm elections, has come under intense criticism as a result. One devoutly hopes that the opprobrium she has so richly earned of late amounts to the beginning of the end for Palin as any kind of political force. In the meantime, TWOB, who is as shameless as she is egocentric, will not go easily.

Uncertainty Continued

2011-01-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

I was prompted to write the prior piece on the inability to achieve certainty as a result of observing (and sometimes) engaging in an ongoing debate, on three other sites, regarding the nature of, and prospects for, gold. Quite frankly, I'm more than a little tired of debating the merits of gold to those who appear programmed against the very idea of gold acting as a store of value. I detect-over and over- a combination of obnoxious recalcitrance and immaturity in those who attempt to make arguments against gold's utility. This is especially the case given the superior performance of physical gold and silver to all other asset classes over a one year, five year, and ten year basis.

In the case of one particular commentator, who asserts-his assertion being, more precisely, a belief, based as it is on projections that have nothing like a guarantee (ah, there's uncertainty again) of coming to pass-that just about anything but gold will act as the future's value storage mechanism, he neglects to admit, except very occasionally, that gold could (continue to) do well for some number of years until his model takes hold. To quote the arch hater of the old gold standard, John Maynard barbarous relic Keynes, "In the long run we're all dead." As such, in the meantime, while waiting for the the longest running tradition in human experience of one item acting as money over time, to end, you will lose your shirt, if you haven't already, should you choose to act on the formulations of those who mistake (and misrepresent) the way the world is, for the way they envision it at some unspecified point in the future.

Uncertainty Principle

2011-01-05T15:15:00.000-08:00

As Tom Stoppard illustrated so well in his play, Arcadia, we humans have a desperate need for certainty in situations where, generally, there is none to be had. Psychologically, most of us feel rather uncomfortable maneuvering through life without rock solid narratives to explain the myriad things, both large and small, that matter to us. I know I have all sorts of explanations for all manner of human phenomena, but, I must say that, though I hew to a variety of views quite strongly, I always try to be aware that, to paraphrase Hamlet, there are more things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in one's philosophy.

All this by way of saying that no matter how well one thinks one has thought something through, there are always things one has simply not accounted for. Now, of course, sometimes the probability that one has left some crucial aspect or two out of their brilliant formulation is low, but, even that, outside of the limited purview of very hard science, is a state of affairs that is, to to a greater or lesser extent, simply unknowable. At this point you may be, just perhaps, wondering what shaky (according to me) positions I have in mind when I prattle on about unknowability? All in good time.

Merry Christmas...

2010-12-24T08:52:00.001-08:00

and a Happy New Year.

This is my end of the year post, and it is simply a series of not so simple questions for you to consider providing answers to. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.

1.) In the last year, what, if anything, have (you) learned about the culture we live in with respect to its functioning, resiliency, and its likely future?

2.) What are your biggest concerns with respect to the health of the nation vis a vis your own fortunes?

3.) If you could live in another (or other) part(s) of the world, where would it/they be, and why-other than weather related reasons- would you choose to live there?

4.) What sort of interesting developments or changes do you imagine will come about in the U.S. in the next twelve months? What have been the most interesting or meaningful ones to come about in the prior twelve months?

What Will it Take?

2010-12-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

To the multitude of readers who regularly take in my column for kernals of insight, pearls of wisdom, and, of course, just for its sheer entertainment value, I would like to extend you an apology for not posting for well nigh almost three weeks. I have no reason to offer as an excuse for the dearth of new content from this quarter other than that a certain exhaustion set in last month. Perhaps it was the onset of the dreaded holiday season, or an impending birthday, or the paucity of sunlight at this time of year, but, whatever the reason(s), they served to short circuit my usually regular, if not always stellar, output.

Still, even as I was taking a self imposed and modestly refreshing break, I did happen to notice, among many global developments, that Ireland has unsurprisingly, but disappointingly, been broken by the monetary hooligans of the EU, and, also, that some here in the U.S. are expressing their deep disapproval, not to say outrage, at the methods and behavior of the Transportation Safety Administration whose conduct of late has been markedly unkind to a number of folks seeking to get from point A to point B by air.

For what it's worth, I was in the less than enviable position of having to fly recently, and when it was my turn to stand inside the backscatter used by the TSA, I opted, as is my wont-call me crazy, but I trust the safety of the TSA's x-ray machines about as much as I trust the assurances of The Federal Government that The Gulf of Mexico is cleaned up and ready for unbridled shrimp harvesting-for the dreaded pat down.

The new pat down procedure, which the TSA employee assigned to check me for bombs and other such potentially dangerous cargo, made sure to let me know was in place and would be practiced, involved, among other things, the use of the back of the hand when slapping, excuse me, when checking passengers in what the TSA agent euphemistically referred to as (a tad nervously or so it seemed to me) "sensitive areas." The entire exercise was silly, which, other than the fact that the procedure likely amounts to a violation of the 4th Amendment and almost certainly won't do much, if anything, to safeguard passengers, is fine.

And all this puts me in mind of my opening apologia for my blogging absenteeism. I've just have had a Eureka moment wherein I suddenly feel I have a firmer grasp on just what it was that might have been keeping me from posting. While I am heartened that some number of my fellow citizens have chosen to stand up for themselves in the face of utter police state piffle as practiced by the TSA, I am, in the main, disheartened at the response of the vast majority of my fellow citizens who appear to have the demeanor of overfed sheep in the face of a constant barrage of myriad outrages.

It doesn't seem to bother most of my fellow Americans in the slightest that such entities as commercial banks and institutions like the The Federal Reserve are as lawless as wild west bandits. The behavior of these institutions is bad enough, but it doesn't seem to so much as provide the hint of a transitory wrinkle on the collective brow of the nation's above twenty one crowd that, in the face of a level of egregious scamming that would make Charles Ponzi blush, their Federally elected officials act, for all the world, as if they had either no clue, no balls, or were on the payroll of the scammers, which, of course, they are.

And so, one is left to ask the question that one is constantly faced with when one witnesses a strong electric shock administered to a subject who does little more than faintly twitch in response: Is the subject dead? And if not, just what is it going to take to make the subject remove the instrument of pain and strangle the son of a bitch who attached it to them in the first place? To be a tad less abstract, what are the American people waiting for, well, besides waiting in very long overnight queues for flat screen T.V.s and cut rate computers on sale at Best Buy on Black Friday? Why, dear reader, I will tell you what they are waiting for. They are waiting, like the sheep they are, to be shorn of their remaining threadbare wool. Pardon the unsavory imagery, but not until they are as naked as a porn star in a shoot on a public beach will they likely wake up and realize that they don't want to be sheep any longer. I am talking real deprivation wherein the sheep are left cold, hungry, and without shelter. Yes, I think that is what it's going to take to inspire the sheep to be something other than (utterly shorn) sheep.

Unfortunately, by then, and there will be a then, because the folks calling the shots in The Land of The Free aren't merciful, it will be too late. Glad I'm back yet?

Sarah Palin: Whore of Babylon Update

2010-11-15T17:17:00.001-08:00

The Whore of Babylon, who now has her own show on the dubiously named Learning Channel, has recently asserted that she could defeat Obama in the next Presidential election. Putting aside the fact that politics at the the Federal Level are utterly corrupt, and that, therefore, at least hypothetically, anything is possible, Sarah Palin's boast should disabuse anyone of two things: one that she isn't more than a tad eager to hold the highest elected office in the land, and, two, that she is not utterly delusional.

TWOB's distorted view of reality resides, in this humble observer's opinion, on Palin's astounding misconception that she is fit- in all the ways one needs, and ought to be fit- for The Presidency. Okay, I imagine she's physically fit, but, then, one of the nation's better Presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was confined to a wheel chair, so I'm not giving her anything but the minimum number of points for her likely ability to hike through some place like Denali National Park for more than half an hour without rest.

In truth- and it is the truth-only the most benighted and/or demented characters believe that Palin should be allowed to hold any office, however modest, since all Mrs. Palin really embodies, at least to those who have some semblance of judgment, is massive ambition married to appalling ignorance, all wrapped up in a toxic, little, Fundamentalist Christian box with a tawdry and fake "you betcha" bow on top. Put another way, in any other context save possibly running her own home in Alaska, she's a grand scale calamity waiting to happen. And that's being kind.

The Oil's Still There

2010-11-12T04:31:00.000-08:00

Some days I wake up and feel as if The United States should be, in a manner of speaking, broken up into pieces, formally dismantled bit by bit like an outdated, malfunctioning mechanical device. In truth, for quite some time, my default view has been that the breakup of The Union is as inevitable as anything in human affairs can be said to be, but, lately, my opinion is that sooner might be better than later as maintaining our collective presence seems, upon consideration, to be doing the vast majority of the local (and not so local) citizenry more harm than good.

I suppose, this morning, I was especially impelled towards this feeling by reading this. As The Gulf of Mexico fiasco was occurring, I devoted quite a bit of blog space to discussion of this year's, if not this decade's, if not this century's, most sickening, literally and figuratively, corporate/government act of skullduggery.

The glaringly indisputable fact that We The People haven't taken bold steps to hold to account the primary malefactors in this ongoing tragedy-as has been the case with so many other outrages- may be the most sickening aspect to date of the entire affair. As a result, I can't help but conclude that We The People absolutely do not deserve The Republic that, on a daily basis, many of us still foolishly imagine exits. However, we almost certainly deserve the one that we have allowed to be constructed, namely a massive, fetid, cauldron of consumer catatonia fully owned and operated by a rapacious and shockingly hollow nexus of political and corporate mountebanks.

Speaking of which, Obama, and his ostentatious traveling caravan designed to pimp internationally for corporate America, seems to be falling flat, and one also gets the distinct feeling that the result of this weekend's G20 meetings in Korea will, likewise, not yield anything helpful or useful towards addressing the growing fissures in the global monetary system. And yet, next to the more parochial on going catastrophe in The Gulf of Mexico, which, except on the slick, unsullied surface appears to be anything but related to the business (not being) efficaciously conducted in Korea, such portentous international events pale.

Blogs and Political Reform

2010-10-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

One might require a Ford Foundation grant to convincingly address the following question: What effect is the blogosphere (and alternate media in general) having on the prospects for genuine, organized political reform? Unfortunately, as I have no such resources at my disposal, I must try to come to some sort of conclusion based on nothing more than my own humble observations.

Empirically, after being immersed in the world of blogs of various kinds for some number of years now, my present view is that, at least where political action is concerned, the blogosphere may be doing, at best, only a small amount in assisting the winds of change. Simply, if not necessarily simplistically, put, despite the wide array of excellent blogs covering numerous areas vital to public life, my sense is that the many impassioned, well wrought, and sometimes even brilliant electronic scribbling that can be found on the blogosphere is not demonstrating the capacity to act as much of propulsive force for genuine, organized, political change.

Perhaps I shouldn't expect the blogosphere to have anything like the potential I would like it to have, and, yet, I am still disappointed in what I sense is, for the most part, a collective waste of energy coming from that part of the blogoshpere that seems to desire having a very different set of values in place informing our politics. Then, of course, perhaps my premise is wrong, and some nascent, ready to turn the established order on its head movement- though not the Teaparty- is, as I write, coalescing as a result of a few inspired blogs. Unfortunately, instead, my sense is that much of the energy that might be dedicated to the sort of action I have in mind is instead being spent dissecting, analyzing, and sometimes just plain fulminating against the established political order.

These are all laudable pursuits, even fulminating can, at least to some modest degree, be defended as useful, but, at the same time, I feel that, for good reasons, the forum that blogs provide overwhelmingly tend to dissipate the energies of their collective readership.

In the meantime, the established order, at least where the economy is concerned, seems to be in a well evolved state of epic upheaval, and if that perception is indeed accurate, history tells us that ineluctably the political sphere will soon experience its own brand of foundational tumult.

And while I'm quite prepared to give some unspecified sum of credit to the blogosphere for helping to assist change in the hearts and minds of some number of the populace, it seems to me that whatever effect the blogosphere is having as an agent of change, amounts to, at best, an engine for ad hoc responses to the dismal political status quo.

Election Day

2010-10-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

The quality of the following correspondence should be self explanatory. See if you can spot the problem.

Hi Mr._____

I wanted to let you know that the Senator did not vote for this legislation, HR 3808, rather it passed by unanimous consent. This means that no one objected to the bill but individual records of each Senator’s position were not kept. Thankyou for writing in.

Sincerely,
Derek Khanna (on behalf of Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts)

Hello Derek,

Thank you for responding. I am aware that The Senate's was a voice vote, and for the purpose of clarification, when you wrote, "no one objected to the bill", were you saying that Mr. Brown voiced no objection to what is, in my view, a very objectionable bill? If so, saying Senator Brown did not "vote" for the legislation would seem to be technically true, but, rather something else in reality. Please advise.

Regards,

Edwardo

From Derek Khanna:

No one objected to the legislation. A large amount of legislation is done on the floor, often without physical quorum, through a unanimous consent vote. This means that unless someone objects it passes. Senator Brown did not object. He did not vote for or against the legislation.

I understand your concern for the legislation, it was vetoed by President Obama.

From me:

It was "pocket vetoed" by the President, which is a qualitatively different act, and I now have, for all intents and purposes, my answer. I am disappointed that Senator Brown did not voice a strenuous objection to a bill whose intent was an end run around proper legal process.

I made the same query concerning HR 3808 to Senator John Kerry's office and have yet to receive a reply. On that basis, and that alone, so far, the office of Senator Brown has the edge on his Democrat colleague. Finally, a vote where no one can be said to have either voted for or against a piece of legislation that ultimately passes is evidence of a deeply, not to say fatally flawed, system. I know what I won't be doing next Tuesday.

Mourning in America

2010-10-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

I believe we have well and truly reached the end of the line fellow citizens. It may not be apparent, as the full effects of our utterly rotten system's imminent failure have yet to fully manifest, however, little patience will be required going forward as things are fast reaching the breaking point. I'm prompted to say as much based on the appallingly insufficient official response- save for a select (and mostly feckless) few- to the cataclysmic mortgage fraud scandal.

That, in itself, doesn't surprise me. I would be far more surprised, shocked, really, were the Legislative and Executive branches of government seen to be swinging into action on all fronts, enacting a full court press to thoroughly and judiciously deal with this epic sized sordid affair. But how could they? They are in so deep with all the financial system's perfidy it would be like turning evidence against themselves, which is why I assert that the U.S. Federal government, well, at least two of the three branches, but, probably, “upon review” the judiciary as well, deserves to be impeached, and some substantial portion of its number, a group that includes many high ranking officials, subsequently ought to be vigorously prosecuted for criminal misconduct.

If anyone can tell me by what contortions the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal government-branches peopled by officials who, in the main, systematically subvert, deny, and/or obstruct justice- possess any legitimacy, please drop me a line.

Mortgagteocalypse.

2010-10-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

An obscure mom and pop forecasting outfit by the name of Half Past Human has marked the period between November 8th and the 12th as coinciding with a tipping point whose effects will exceed, by several orders of magnitude, those associated with 9/11/01. And while I hate to tempt fate, HPH, at least by my runes, is a decidedly more miss than hit outfit from the standpoint that not only do they forecast more events that don't occur then do, but the ill effects from some of their more dire calls have been, as yet, with very few exceptions, far less heinous than prognosticated. Having said that, they have made two spectacularly correct calls which are 9/11 and the recent- well, ongoing- Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Presently, were I of a mind to nominate a prime catalyst for the putative tipping point, I'd vote for, or bet on, the epic mortgage fraud debacle that's presently unfolding, because, a cursory review of relevant blogs-don't waste your time looking to the MSM to get the skinny on this one- makes it readily apparent that we aren't looking at the emergence of the next black swan, but, rather, the arrival of an enormous flock or three of- desperate to copiously and messily crap anywhere and everywhere- black swans.

In the meantime, as we anticipate how this all shakes out, I feel supremely confident in asserting that attempts by the boundlessly vile Obama Administration to cover up and/or forestall the fall out from this festering cancer meets septicemia meets gangrene of a legal, financial, economic, political, and social (have I left anything out?) calamity will only compound our nation's grave predicament.

UFOs

2010-10-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

Are we the only ones in the Universe? If not, are other intelligent life forms checking us out? I have no idea, but I'm biased to think there are other intelligent life forms in the universe that, for whatever reasons, have a keen interest in what goes on here on planet Earth. One is especially persuaded that this is the case when officials offer denials and excuses such as this. After all, what sort of government and/or military would choose not to alert the operators of a commercial airport beforehand that there would be activity in the area? It's simply not credible that A.) they forgot or B.) chose not to. It's simply not done for, what should be, obvious reasons. This is especially the case if one wants to appear credible when issuing after the fact denials about alleged UFO activity. Had the military informed local civilian authorities beforehand about planned maneuvers, one would be much more inclined to accept that the odd looking bright lights in the sky were, indeed, part of a military exercise and not the arrival of ETs.

Rahm Fiddles...

2010-10-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

President Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, has resigned his post to seek the mayoralty of his hometown, Chicago, which is arguably the most corrupt city in the U.S. Somehow this seems only fitting. Apparently it was a touching and fond farewell as Mr. Emanuel shed a tear or two during his send off, quite possibly at the precise moment the President of The United States proclaimed that:

"We could not have accomplished what we've accomplished without Rahm's leadership."

This, of course, begs the question, what exactly do they think they've accomplished? It also makes one ask what they have, in fact, achieved? From where I sit, The Obama Administration have been excellent stewards of entirely too much of the agenda of the last President. You remember him, the one who was supposed to be the worst President in living memory, if not the most dreadful Commander-in-Chief ever. Well, there really isn't any point in ever trying to determine who is worst between dreadful and ghastly. This is especially the case when our two party system, which does little but front for what remains of the FIRE economy, has an octopus like stranglehold on the nation's business, as it were. Still, it is instructive, if not particularly appetizing, to keep a scorecard on just exactly what the combined governmental vampire squid-with apologies to Matt Taibbi- has managed to accomplish. Do write in and tell me what you think they've accomplished, especially if it's different than what I have only vaguely alluded to in this post.

Another Day, Another (Drop In The) Dollar.

2010-09-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

The fate of the currency of the realm is something I'm keenly interested in for personal and intellectual reasons. In truth, everyone who uses, however modestly, the dollar as a medium of exchange, and heaven forfend, as a store of wealth, ought to be riveted by matters related to The Greenback's prospects, which, I am sorry to report, are, like all fiat, dismal.

Why should this be so? Putting aside the history of currencies, even reserve ones, whose viability rests ultimately on nothing but the existence of a solvent and subservient citizenry pliable to government taxing schemes, the dollar- which, since the inception of The Federal Reserve in 1913 has already lost 94 percent of its purchasing power- is destined to be devalued at an increasingly faster rate, perhaps to the point where it becomes shunned as a medium of exchange, because the vast majority of the taxable citizenry, contrary to economic reports that might suggest otherwise, are quickly being reduced to penury.

Add that condition to the existing burden to pay for all that needs to be paid for by way of pubic spending, as well as the need to repay borrowed funds- two requirements that are consuming the host like a late stage cancer- and it is as close to a certainty that, within a few years, if not sooner, there will be crisis on these shores of the sort that, in years gone by, would have only seemed fitting in places like late 20th century Argentina and Chile.

Lately, the authorities have been trying to pressure China into devaluing their own currency, the Yuan, the idea being that inducing a drop in Chinese currency would improve the United States' prospects for export. The diplomatic efforts, if that is, indeed, what they were, seem to have failed, and, so, the U.S. powers that be are engaged in skinning the cat via another time honored method, ergo the dollar's precipitous fall of late.

In truth, all currencies around the globe are in a race to the bottom as governments attempt to prop up their export trade with beggar they neighbor policies. This will, of course, simply exacerbate the already fragile condition of the world economy, but when winning elections are at stake, and the tempers of the citizenry are frayed, governments invariably opt for these sorts of measures. Rarely does anyone express concern that inducing weakness in one's currency carry any sort of real long term risk such that the weakness may start to take on the cast of a fatal illness. Even so, that shouldn't stop us, on this occasion, from being on guard for the already sick patient's transfer to the critical ward.

I Have Seen The Enemy

2010-09-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today I am redirecting your attention here. I hope it is apparent in the post at the link why there will be no revolution in the U.S. Too many of us have a hand in the sordid pie. Too many of us are, in effect, compromised, our acquiescence to all sorts of skullduggery, foreign and domestic, bought and paid for by a system that, by hook or by crook, we helped create. Until this system is sundered, and it will be, probably by an exogenous shock or two-because the U.S. is not a closed system-there will be no alteration in the current trajectory of our political, economic, and social behavior.

The Selfless Psychopath.

2010-09-13T12:36:00.001-07:00

What is China's famed growth and prosperity built on? For that matter, upon what foundation rests Dubai's once vigorous economy? They were both built on the same platform that the United States' storied nineteenth and early twentieth century economic growth rested upon, namely that of an army of mostly powerless, defacto indentured, and, quite often, just plain, old, slave labor. They say there is honor among thieves. I wouldn't know, but it's my view that there may be more honor, and certainly heaps more dignity, and freedom, at least until one is caught, being a petty thief in China than working for some charnel house like Foxconn.

It's interesting to note the similarities for the average Joe and Josephine Chin under capitalism compared to life under another oppositional ism spawned by Karl Marx. Both socioeconomic orders featured, and this may be a peculiarly Chinese trait, or not, big bosses-you know, the ones with immense authority, power, and, of course, big time perks-who seem to instinctively paint themselves as mere humble servants of the social order, working for the greater good, unconcerned with their own prosperity.

As Foxconn boss man, Terry Gou, put it:

"I am not interested in knowing how much I have. I don't care. I am working not for money at this moment, I am working for society, I am working for my employees."

One would very much like to ask Mr. Gou what salary he receives from his employees?

And lest we find ourselves taken in by the posture of selflessness, here is a more telling quote regarding the sensitivity of the aforesaid, Mr. Gou,

"The first one, (suicide) second one, and third one, I did not see this as a serious problem. We had around 800,000 employees, and here [in Longhua] we are about 2.1 square kilometers. At the moment, I'm feeling guilty. But at that moment, I didn't think I should be taking full responsibility." After the fifth suicide, in March, Gou says, "I decided to do something different."

Right. One wonders what amounts to taking full responsibility? Legally speaking that would seem to indicate, at the very least, some jail time.

On another, related, note, China's meteoric rise to economic prominence must be put down to more than just cheap, cheap, cheap virtual slave labor. It's also the result of a top down wild west mentality that decrees that environmental concerns aren't, well, something business needs to be overly concerned with. And so, concomitant with China's prosperity is pollution throughout the country that would've made a resident of 1930s Pittsburgh blanche, if not choke up and keel over.

A Moment of Clarity?

2010-09-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

As things continue to go all pear shaped here in the world's foremost crony capitalist kleptocracy masquerading as a democracy, we should probably expect more of just this sort of lunacy. How embarrassing (it ought to be) for this very breathless, and clearly overwrought, self styled, Republican loyalist to invoke Albert Einstein, only to immediately fail to remember the chosen pearl of wisdom at the moment of truth.

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

I know, it doesn't really seem like an especially brain straining collection of words does it? But when one is as away with oneself as Mr. Davison clearly is, remembering such items can prove to be too much. And while I can readily agree with Mr. Davison's general position that we are, in fact, in the middle of difficulty, I will hazard a guess that were he to reveal precisely what he has in mind, I would share very little, if any, common ground with this berserk would be elected official's view on exactly what our problems consist of and how to best address them.

In the meantime, Ohio, you have my sympathies.

A Bigger War Coming

2010-09-05T05:31:00.000-07:00

One of the great, albeit, lopsided debates that has taken place the last few years amongst those keenly interested in finance and economics has been over whether the forces of deflation or inflation would ultimately dominate. So far, the deflationists have held the upper hand. Employment has been moribund for years, ditto the share markets, and in most areas of the country, housing prices have cratered. And since the vast majority of people's (seemingly) ever diminishing wealth still resides in their homes, it is very hard to make the case, despite evidence of rising costs for consumer goods, food, and fuel, that the effects of inflation have been, to date, as deeply felt as those of deflation.

At this point it might be helpful to point out that hyper-inflation, a dreadful condition that has most recently ravaged Zimbabwe, and that most notably occurred in the last century in such varied locales as Weimar Germany, Argentina, and Chile, is, despite the seeming similarity to inflation, a very different animal. Hyper-inflation occurs when a nation's currency is, in effect, shunned, which tends to be the result of a total and relatively sudden loss of confidence in the issuer of said currency. Inflation, by contrast, is generally a healthy development that comes about as a result of a fully functioning economy simply overheating.

There is nothing healthy about hyper-inflation. In fact, it is so nasty that, after wreaking absolute havoc, economically, politically, and socially, it generally burns itself out in a year or so. There is no evidence in modernity of hyper-inflation occurring in a currency that has held global reserve status, and that is the primary reason commentators invoke against the possibility of hyper-inflation occurring in the U.S.

The other reason that many "experts" offer for why it can't happen here, a reason that is, in essence, inextricable from the idea that the U.S. Dollar's reserve currency status will forestall hyper-inflation, resides in a belief in the indomitability of the U.S. monetary authorities. The basic idea is as follows: The Federal Reserve, The Treasury, and the broker dealers that work closely with these two institutions will not collude to monetize to a degree that will ignite hyper-inflation, because it is not in their interest to bail out borrowers at the expense of lenders. Despite sitting on trillions of dollars of non performing, (i.e. worthless) assets that can not be allowed to sit on balance sheets forever in their vastly depressed state, to head down the road of hyper-inflation would destroy The Federal Reserve's most prized asset, its dollar franchise. The goose that laid the golden eggs would be well and truly killed.

These arguments have several flaws, one of which is that the U.S. dollar is already in the process of losing its reserve currency status. It is happening slowly, and in fits and starts, but the wheel is rolling down the hill nonetheless. The rest of the world has been badly burned by the profound corruption in our capital markets and political sphere, and they are taking steps to insure that they will not be the bag holders of tomorrow.

As for the vaunted power of the U.S. monetary authorities, only in the sort of system we don't live in, namely a closed one, can their formidable power be, in theory, unassailable. The Federal Reserve and The Treasury do indeed have massive, if not unimpeachable, strength, but it is my view they have already squandered a great deal of their wherewithal in the service of a plethora of scams and frauds-see gold and silver suppression, and, of course, the much better known, but hardly transparent, exchange of toxic assets for currency. So, in short, the U.S. dollar is a currency whose days as the globe's reserve monetary unit are numbered, and the U.S. monetary authorities have, despite surface appearances, squandered their advantage and compromised their authority through various execrable endeavors.

Having said that, nobody wants a hyper-inflation, which may, in the end, be the main reason why one won't come about. However, my view is that the aforesaid wayward deeds of the U.S. monetary authorities are all that stands between us and the onset of wheelbarrow money. When, for whatever reason, their machinations are finally sundered-they are already exposed, but to date, no one in our thoroughly corrupt political environment seems remotely interested in addressing them-we will likely be hours away from a full blown hyper-inflation as they have an unerring and alarming tendency to emerge with blinding speed.

At this point you may be wondering what the title to today's blog entry has to do with what I've written about so far. Here's a hint: The authorities, monetary and otherwise, are, in my view, very aware that our financial system and economy are in a terminal state, and that the risk of an uncontrolled currency collapse-as opposed to their far more preferred scenario of a contained, slow moving one- is far from inconsiderable. What do you suppose they might have in mind to forestall, or at the very least, divert attention away from, the inevitable day of reckoning?

Sarah Palin: TWOB Update

2010-08-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Glenn Beck, Fox Network's "conservative" huckster extraordinaire, he of Nazi Tourettes, held a pep rally in D.C. today with his special guest, the former Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin, better known to disasterporn readers as The Whore of Babylon. Together, employing their own brand of nauseatingly perfervid rhetoric, the dimwitted duo addressed the throngs with such pearls of insight as "For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.'' One didn't get a firm date from Mr. Beck as to when, exactly, the lights went out in America, but, somehow, one imagines, given Mr. Beck's well advertised prejudices, darkness descended on the U.S. at approximately the same time that Barack Obama began serving as POTUS.

In the meantime, Glenn Beck would have us believe that the fact that this rally was held on the forty seventh anniversary of, and on the same ground as, Martin Luther King's historic, "I have a dream" speech, was nothing less than "divine providence." Note to Glenn Beck, you, sir, are positively full of shit, and you and your adherents are little more than thinly veiled race baiters who delight in vile provocation. As for bogus left/ right distinctions of the sort that Mr. Beck and his benighted followers traffic in, they are only for forlorn folks who are so hopelessly out of touch with the actual forces that shape our government and our society that no sensible person should give them any creedence whatsoever.

(Cor) Exit Government

2010-08-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

I know it's less than thrilling to have someone -like me- bang on and on about the same, tired, old issue, and, so, I apologize (but only a little) for once again bringing to your attention how unworthy your government is of your respect and support. More precisely, what your government is worthy of is to be tossed out and subsequently prosecuted for high crimes and misdemeanors.

As I'm sure you're aware, the NOAA recently asserted that most of the millions and millions of gallons of oil that gushed-for months on end- from a compromised BP well was gone. That's right, gone. I don't know about you, but when I hear the word gone used, I generally take that to mean that the thing referred to as gone is not there...at all. I do not infer that gone means present in any way, i.e. concealed, hidden, masked, etc. etc. And, as I am the skeptical sort who doubts the veracity of official pronouncements regarding any matter that effects the public at large, it comes as no surprise to me that prior claims about The Gulf of Mexico being mostly, if not completely, oil free were just so much stinking, steaming ca ca.

Really, my friends, isn't it way past time to discard the quaint but absurd notion that traditional voting booth maneuvers have an oil covered pelican's chance at successfully overcoming the wickedness that besets us? Isn't the revelation by Wood's Hole personnel that a twenty two mile long plume of oil exists (and is loitering with intent) several thousand feet below the GOM's surface enough for you take proper stock of the situation?

Our President has gone along with this BP BS from start to finish. Appearances at acting tough on BP aside, The Commander-in-Chief, the same one who recently pretended to bob joyfully with his daughter in The Gulf's bathtub warm, oil infused waters, has been the best President the largest, multi-national major oil company could possibly buy. One wonders how much more oil resides several thousand feet below the surface? Probably only the controversial late whistle blower Matt Simmons would be prepared to conjecture, and that should bother the hell out of you.

Why I would even hazard to say that the fact that the only reliable information about the condition of The Gulf is available from the sort of (non vested) entities who weren't allowed anywhere near the BP gusher as it was going on should cause a similar sort of discomfort to the one I imagine occurs after ingesting oil befouled Gulf Shrimp. But that's just me.

Permanent Vacation from the Imperials

2010-08-05T18:15:00.001-07:00

It's August, the epicenter of the summer vacation season, and generally the slowest news month of the year, and, yet, despite being mired in the so called dog days, there is still a veritable smorgasbord of material one could comment on. From the Gulf of Mexico oil spill- which is now alleged to have been fully plugged- to the U.S. economy, which, despite massive and unprecedented infusions of money to reprobate banking interests, and the application of the best mainstream media spin money could buy, is well on its way to a return trip to the critical ward, to Michelle Obama's recent holiday activities, we are well and truly blessed.

Allow me a departure from my usual fare as I choose to focus on The President and First Lady. I didn't think it would be possible for the Obama coterie to equal the loathsomeness of The Bush junior contingent, and yet, lo and behold, at least for me, they have. From the incessant and preposterous mendacity exhibited by the sitting President, who has achieved little in his less than two years in office except to enact disastrous health care legislation and entrench the most ghastly policies followed by his predecessor, to The Commander in Chief's wife's fatuousness and phony posturing, it's become pretty much an unassailable fact that the nation is afflicted by leadership that would cause even The Sun King to blush.

The electorate, at least the part that enthusiastically voted for President Obama, has been well and truly conned. And while, as per the most recent polls, this clearly is not a surprise to most of the voting public, some of whom, by now, must be aware that every Presidential election is a sham, it is still sickening, because the stakes are, arguably, at least for a span of a few decades, a tad higher than they have been heretofore.

So, forgive me for cutting to the chase by suggesting that there's never been a better time for citizens across this great hulking ruin of a nation to take a permanent vacation from The Feds. For those who reside in such fiscal sinkholes as Illinois, California, New York, and a few other terminally sclerotic states that have been reduced to insolvency by local public serpents, an extended separation from local officialdom might also be advisable. Civil disobedience, after all, begins at home.

God Bless America.

2010-07-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

This should be a real eye opener for some. For those suffering from terminal stupidity and/or profound denial, perhaps not. The only way one can act rationally with respect to U.S. Military operations in the Mid-East is to shut them down. If one wants to support the troops, and not collude with the ongoing obscene scam that is operation control/skim heroin and oil profits from, respectively, Afghanistan and Iraq, then one must throw one's weight behind efforts to bring the troops home now. Nothing less will suffice, and any other mode of engagment with this appalling situation is, at best, a dodge, and, at worst, as already stated, collusion.

Of course such a course of action does nothing to address the immense U.S. war crimes in the area. What do you think compensation ought to be for the inhabitants of Fallujah? Can there ever be anything like sufficient remuneration for the profound injuries described in the report at the link? Probably not, but that is no reason not to try.

Somehow it Seems Fitting.

2010-07-23T00:07:00.000-07:00

The purveyors of the stuff of war porn are also the purchasers of kiddie porn. Both hideous groups, which, according to the report, are apparently inextricable, would seem to be informed by a similar disregard for human life. Don't forget to support the troops.

Just So You Know.

2010-07-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

You are a cartoon. Well, your government thinks you are, or at least they believe you are susceptible to the, ahem, allure of a comic strip. The only thing the following simulacrum of Saturday morning bilge is lacking are paint by numbers Snidely Whiplash characters. A question or two does come to mind as I wipe the bile from my lips, how much money did narrator Kyle Risdall of NPR get paid to do the voice over for this slick bit of mendacity, and how soon, if ever, will some substantial number of my fellow citizens of the U.S. act to opt out of our not so kinder, gentler, corporatist horror show of a Federal Government? Perhaps when TIAWKI (the internet as we know it) goes the way of the dodo bird? Perhaps never.

Plummeting Numbers

2010-07-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

After a year and a half in office, President Obama's approval ratings now resemble that of his predecessor after his first year in office. Transposing the sequence of events from Bush's first term, one ought to expect that more war will be manufactured. In the meantime, the Republican and Democratic Legislature is even less well loved than The Executive, so there is no reason for Congress critters and Senators to feel confident

Frankly, this represents an excellent opportunity for those of us who choose to take stock of the situation. The sum total of the meaning of these abysmal ratings is that our Executive and Legislative branches are corrupt where they are not incompetent. They can not do better as presently composed. They have proven this irrefutably too many times to think otherwise, and, so, they desperately need to be replaced en masse and the legislative body needs to subsequently be reformed. After all, if you don't like the composition of the team, or the way said team plays, boycott the contests, and begin forming your own team. If necessary, form your own league. The solution is relatively simple, even if the implementation is anything but.

What to Expect

2010-07-10T04:28:00.000-07:00

With the new rush to "austerity" in places like the U.K. and Germany, the U.S. monetary authorities can no longer rely on the rest of The West to ride herd with more Quantitative Easing. So, the powers that be are bound to set events in motion that will allow them to do that which they are so desperate to do. As the economy, and its bellwether, the stock market, which under girds every pension in the land, are knocked for even more of a loop than before, the way will not so gradually or gently be paved for the cowardly and corrupt Federal Legislature to enact QEII.

Our legislature wouldn't go for it today, but when the public starts screaming for largesse as they witness their pensions disintegrate, and as war in the Middle East is inevitably intensified, all will be made to feel it is their patriotic duty to get behind a money printing exercise that will make the last one seem tepid by comparison. And just in case appeals to patriotism do not have the desired effect, rest assured that, by hook or by crook, what is left of our devalued assets will be coerced into such flagging instruments as municipal and Treasury bonds, all while the price of basic necessities go though the roof.

In the meantime, as pointed out here, President Obama is doing his best imitation of a bland, if not benign, despot, as he bars access to The Gulf of Mexico disaster, assists BP in covering it up, and helps the wayward oil major and a lapdog press to manufacture and disseminate copious amounts of disinformation and propaganda about the prospects for capping the gusher. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Seize The Future. Part 3A

2010-07-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

What exactly is Civil disobedience? As Wikipedia succinctly puts it, "Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government." Generally, acts of Civil disobedience, as the name implies, disavow violence, but do advocate assertive behavior that amounts to individual, and more often, groups, "holding their ground". Sit down protests, marches, vigils, and boycotts, such as occurred in the sixties in the U.S., and that still more than occasionally occur in other parts of the world, generally don't, at least by design, set out to engage in destructive mayhem, at least not by the dissenting side.

The classic picture of Civil disobedience, the one the majority are most likely to associate with from television, if not through personal experience, is one where "the state" literally holds its ground on one side of an erected physical barrier, while encamped on the other side of the barrier-which may be defended by nothing more (or less) than a battalion of well armed local police, are some number of citizens acting defiantly, hoping, presumably as a result of the righteousness of their cause, and due to their unflagging tenacity, to overcome official recalcitrance.

And this is precisely where it gets very challenging for the would be radical change agent interested in engaging in a bit (or a lot) of Civil disobedience in the present day United States. Many, if not most of our government's most objectionable activities are occurring, as it were, off book, far away from the public's none too keen eye. From the military expeditions in the Middle East, to various government bailout schemes of private financial institutions, to the manipulation of capital and commodity markets, to the handling of the ongoing catastrophe in The Gulf of Mexico, there are no shortage of activities the government is engaged in where there are no concomitant public decrees, laws, or public ceremonies with which the eager and righteous dissenter may disrupt or defy. How does one boycott, disobey, or otherwise resist in such an atmosphere of secrecy and deception? After all, a large part of the utility of Civil disobedience is that everyone, "innocent" onlookers and bystanders especially, can get a sense of the nature of the cause, and hopefully, be persuaded to support it. So, what can one do in such a disadvantageous situation?

Here are, in my view, despite all the cover ups and under cover of darkness maneuvers by the powers that be, a few areas where the righteous dissenter might direct his or her energies.

The Two (Headed Hydra) Political Party.

1.) Denounce and boycott all elections that feature nothing but contests between Democrats and Republicans, as these two corrupt political entities are, most assuredly, (a very big) part of the problem.

Comment:

Obviously voting isn't mandatory, at least not yet, and, so, refusing to vote, doesn't, at least technically, qualify as an act of Civil disobedience. However, I would argue that, where our vitiated political system is concerned, one must turn the entire process on its head such that voting-at least as elections presently function- is cast as an act of benign neglect, if not outright injury, to the state. The heaps of scorn that seem reserved for those who do not enter the voting booth for principled reasons, as opposed to, for example, those who don't vote out of apathy, should now be cast on to that portion of the electorate who mindlessly participate in the nation's hideous election year boondoggles. After all, they are nothing more than elaborate political charades designed to fool the lazy, obtuse, and/or brainwashed into thinking that they actually live in a functioning Democracy.

2.) As such we should support any and all political movements and endeavors that feature, not necessarily in order of importance, (because, frankly, I don't know which ones are the most important) the following:

A.) The removal of all troops from Iran and Afghanistan.

Comment:

The so called War On Terror, where we have been gulled, prodded, and generally hounded into acting as if we must we engage in perpetual war for the purposes of insuring a permanent peace is, by definition, both a sham and a scam. I've already spilled enough ink in prior posts about what purpose the WOT is actually serving so I'll cease and desist for now. Hint: It has nothing to do with containing Islam, radical or otherwise.

B.) Something analogous to a Marshall (national energy and transportation system) Plan.

Comment:

Had we not spent obscene amounts of boodle on our present military expeditions in the Middle East, we could, by some estimates, have already vastly changed the nature of our energy needs. Why, for example, isn't the entire Southwest not already heated and cooled mostly by solar power?

C.) The boycotting and ultimate dismantling of "too big to fail" financial intermediaries, and other rent seeking parasites that add absolutely no value to anyone but themselves. And that's the least of their crimes.

Comment:

This is also not technically an act of Civil disobedience, but, be that as it may, pull your assets, if you are fortunate enough to have assets, out of these financial abattoirs. Stop doing business with them of any kind. This should be very easy to achieve since most of them, like Goldman Sachs, which is just a profoundly corrupt hedge fund, don't function remotely like traditional lending institutions anyway.

D.) The paring down (by no less than one half to two thirds) of the present amount of time taken up by national elections.

Comment:

We mustn't try to remove money from politics. We should instead take politics to a place where money ceases to have much use.

3.) Without risking the alienation of friends, family, and loved ones, do your level best to impart the news that the system is irreparably broken. (Add that this condition is, by no means, all bad. In fact, stress that, in time, with a large dose of good luck, we will likely feel fortunate that it is past tense.) Either way, it's done for, so there isn't much point in doing anything but preparing for a very different kind of world than the one we, of late, knew.

Comment:

The most effective way to "spread the news" (to the not so clued in) that the system is finished is to demonstrate that you have a modicum of insight and foresight. Start by making succinct analysis for family and friends regarding, for example, the meaning and effects of policy actions by officialdom. You may find that if, in the main, you accurately predict what transpires, you will garner some added respect and credibility. Generally all one has to do is make a few modestly successful predictions about all manner of man made phenomenon, and a few folks, a few, mind you, may want to know more about what informs your thinking. There is always the distinct possibility that some number of folks will simply revile you for your views, even more so because they seem to comport with (an unpleasant) reality. That's always a risk, but one that is probably worth taking.

Seize The Future. Part 2

2010-07-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

Independence Day is upon us, and, so, in the spirit of this nation's most patriotic holiday, I'm choosing to take time to discuss what strides We The People might consider taking in order to establish independence from a government which has become profoundly detrimental to the interests of all but an elite few.

In the nineteen sixties, the late Timothy Leary coined a mantra in support of the use of LSD which was, "Turn on, tune in, and drop out." While I don't happen to be an advocate for dropping acid, I am in favor of dropping out of "the system". Equally, I enthusiastically support, for, mostly practical reasons, vigorous efforts to render government, at least as we know the present corrupt power nexus, impotent, since I harbor few doubts that any and all attempts to coexist peacefully outside of the long arm of elected and appointed officialdom will not be permitted.

Like The Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation, one's choices will almost certainly be limited to either assimilation or annihilation. However, unlike the unfortunates who came within the deadly orbit of The Borg, resistance, in our realm, need not be futile. It will, however, likely come with a price, one that will be, if history is any guide, quite high. But then freedom, real freedom, which I do not define as the unbridled ability to do whatever one pleases when one pleases, is rarely, if ever, won without struggle, because, as Frederick Douglass observed, "Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will." Well, where wantonly unjust power is concerned, and presently we are saturated to the point of bursting with that brand of power, we ought to expect that no concessions will be made without measures that might best be described as extralegal.

That's right, I am suggesting that, going forward, we will almost certainly have no other choice but to engage in acts of civil disobedience. Perhaps we will have to commit to even more than that. Perhaps we will have to raze to the ground most or all that we presently have in place in order to build something truly in keeping with the idea of a Democratic Republic. That remains to be seen, but this much I (think I) know, the very idea of reform, let alone the reality of actuating it within the present system, is a fantasy, and a rather ridiculous one at that.

Our elections are a sham. Our Democracy is a fraud, and our very way of life, broadly defined, is an untenable monstrosity. And in order for any of this to change, We The People must begin to believe, to know, that our salvation, or damnation, if it comes to that, lies with our own efforts. We must begin with that premise, and build upon it.

Seize The Future. Part 1

2010-06-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

"I don't see any future for whale species except extinction," Payne said. "This is not on any body's radar, no government's radar anywhere, and I think it should be."

Where the sentence above is concerned, I'm afraid that we humans could just as easily substitute the term mankind for whale species.

Plan of Action

Over a century ago Vladimir Lenin composed a famous tract entitled What is to be done. The pamphlet was, of course, about what needed to happen to enact a communist political program in Russia. Today, the human species faces a far more important-at least to my mind- and daunting task than the one Lenin outlined. What humanity is faced with is nothing less than altering the way we inhabit the planet.

Last week, in a nationally televised speech notable for its lack of gravitas, President Obama asserted that "the time is now" to make a shift in our nation's energy arrangements. Plainly, such an idea is nonsense from the standpoint that the time for such a shift was generations ago, but, we humans, both at the individual and the collective level, rarely make bold changes until (usually for reasons of survival) we are forced to. Bearing in mind that A.) it is quite likely too late to ward off catastrophe, which I choose to define as an accelerated massive die off of human, animal, and plant species, and B.) that the task of radically changing how we power our homes, package our food, travel to work and play, fertilize our soil, build our dwellings, and generally take care of ourselves on an individual and societal level is overwhelming in prospect, I would like to offer that our first steps, because they will be the most difficult, are, almost certainly, the most critical.

One thing we mustn't do is look to government to act as a leader let alone a facilitator of reform. Government has proven time and again that they are retrograde and obstructive to progressive and essential reform. In fact, part of the necessary change will involve living, to the best of one's ability, beyond the reach, literally and figuratively, of elected and appointed officialdom.

For generations, Republicans of yore, and presumably those who still think of themselves in what now seems like a hoary and absurd political affiliation, were committed to a program known as "starving the beast". This concept generally meant, and must still mean, destroying all non corporate friendly government functions by dint of choking off their funding. In large measure- excepting hysteria tinged rhetoric by "right wing" cadres that assert that President Obama is some sort of crypto-Marxist- proponents of "starving the beast" were very successful. In fact, they were so successful that, with very few exceptions, the banking sector and a few other malefactor industries, have now managed to co-opt the entire Federal Government to such an extent that it is the rest of us who are being figuratively and literally starved.

Towards (a sort of Luddite) Resistance

As much as one can, one needs to live one's life in a way that defies anything that smacks of a well established cultural norm, because entrenched cultural norms are, quite frankly, killing us. By eschewing institutionalized cultural norms I do not mean that, starting tomorrow, we should all discard such endeavors as building nuclear families, or creating a network of friends, or holding memberships in civic or charitable organizations. Far from it. What I have in mind are cultural practices that support and bolster the maintenance of materialistic existence of the sort that systematically eats away at basic social networks that are vital to the maintenance of local community. And if it's not clear now, it will, in due course, become clear that the creation and maintenance of robust local communities will be vital to our individual and collective survival. Having said that, I would like to add that the irony of my preaching such a message on a blog read by people who live far away from where I, and my family, dwell is not lost on me.

To say that we are subsumed by devices and products that are utterly devoid of all but the barest utility is hardly an exaggeration. I really don't know where to start by way of cataloging and describing a phenomenon that, for the purposes of this post, I'll refer to as horrific technological waste, but, however one wishes to refer to this monstrous and seemingly all encompassing condition, it is, indeed, a menace that is almost impossible to exaggerate. I submit, for example, that the omnipresent sub culture of the cell phone-yes, dear readers, I, too, own one- may be, to date, the single most infamous progeny to ever emerge from the steaming cauldron of horrific technological waste. We must endeavor to divest ourselves of this sort of gargantuan cultural junk as if our lives depended on it, because, quite frankly, they probably do.

In keeping with that sentiment, we must also strive to become, with respect to daily necessities, as self sufficient as possible. I imagine you've all heard this line before, ad nauseum, so forgive me for, as it were, piling on when I say that, where possible, grow your own food. And if you can't grow your own food, then support local operators that do. We should do this for the simple reason that even though it will almost certainly entail a greater strain on our personal finances, the price for not doing so is simply too high.

Humor me when I advocate avoiding, if possible, the purchase of items packaged in plastic. Likewise, where you can, use public transport instead of a car. Equally, when and where you can, walk rather than availing yourself of public transit. Most importantly, at least where the subject of personal transportation is concerned, avoid, if possible, owning an automobile. I'm sorry to report that better and more fuel efficient cars aren't the answer. Far fewer automobiles of all kinds are much closer to the answer, at least until such time as autos are powered entirely by means that are vastly more fuel efficient than anything available presently.

Making the aforesaid changes amounts to a case of we can take these steps ourselves with some modicum of control over the process or we can cede any potential for autonomy that still exists, and expect to be dealt with in an arbitrary (and most likely) harsh manner as exigent circumstances dictate.

End of Part 1

Stay Tuned

2010-06-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

I have been busy of late, too busy to write any blog entries even though there is no shortage of events to cover. I'm sorry to say that my conviction, of late, that things are going to become even more chaotic and crazed over the next (not so) little while has not lessened. In the meantime, I hope to have something to say worthy of your time by week's end.

Weekly (well, monthly) Haiku

2010-06-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Rent by mankind's lust

The implacable chasm

Blows relentlessly

Cataloging, Commenting, Anticipating

2010-06-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Main Stream Media, in the form of the New York Times, is now unwittingly disseminating a truth that any gimlet eyed observer would have long since unearthed, namely that the U.S. presence in Afghanistan has never been about anything but the great game. I bring this story to your attention, in case it has not already caught it, because we citizens need to be aware of what the Mandarins have planned if we remain passive and uninvolved.

The idea that the mineral wealth in Afghanistan is a new discovery ranks right at the top of the bullshit meter, but we can at least be grateful that the paper of record has now confirmed that it wasn't just the promise of vast quantities of heroin profits that were the primary driver behind deploying the U.S. military to the poppy center of the world.

If you think our government has (or ever had) any intention of leaving that desolate part of the planet on its own accord, without tremendous pressure brought to bear on it to do so, than you are sadly mistaken. Going forward it will be up to "We The People" to ensure that our young men and women are not hung on a cross of lithium for generations to come.

Here's The Problem

2010-06-13T07:13:00.001-07:00

...with respect to the catastrophic oil gusher(s) in The Gulf of Mexico, and with many, if not most of the other man made disasters of our time. We have all, the citizenry, government, and private industry, colluded to create the abominable state-namely, one of financial, economic, ecological, and soon, political collapse-we find ourselves in.

While I tend to attach the lion's share of responsibility to the most powerful actors in our society, government, corporations, and the main stream media, the fact is (or at least I think of it as fact) we citizens have largely ceded our potentially superior power to steer the ship of state. Equally, it can be argued, as I have in this blog, that collective action by a disparate group of citizens, spread over a land mass that is three thousand miles from east to west, has considerably more obstacles to harnessing its potential than do smaller, more cohesive, and integrated collectives, and yet, even as one acknowledges, if only in the abstract, our considerable handicaps, We The People, have failed miserably to act vigilantly against our nation's worst impulses and tendencies.

In the meantime, collapse, or what I like to call, "The Grand Wobble", a complex phenomenon with multiple tributaries, comprising many intersecting components, some of which are more spectacular, and, therefore, more manifest than others, gathers force. The U.S. (and now European financial debacle) has been, perhaps, the most visible breakdown in our decrepit and corrupt system over the last few years, and this has been followed, not surprisingly, given the perversely outsized stature of the financial system, by severe economic contraction. All this is set to be exacerbated to some unknown and unknowable degree by The Gulf of Mexico fiasco which is beginning, despite my comment about unknowability, to, if only dimly, take on the horrifying patina of an extinction level event.

Going forward, I'm undecided on whether to devote more time to simply cataloging and commenting on what I view as a very long term state of disintegration and peril for humanity, and all living things, broadly defined, or, simply, on methods by which we may anticipate and respond to the great challenges we face. I imagine I needn't spend too much time ruminating on the issue, as events, and my own natural tendencies, will likely decide for me.

Thai McGreivey Remembered

2010-06-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

Appearing in debate for the first time on national television, Vice Presidential candidate James Stockdale's first words to a curious and somewhat befuddled electorate were, "Who am I, and why am I here?" I feel obliged to offer the same greeting to those who read or hear my eulogy for Thai McGreivy, since, I only "knew" Thai within the relatively obscure and abstracted confines of the blogosphere. Even then, I know there are others who developed longer and deeper relationships with Thai than I, so it is with some reticence that I offer my thoughts.

Like a number of Thai's cyberspace acquaintances and friends, I first encountered Thai on the Sudden Debt web blog. There, we often exchanged observations about the economy, finance, and other related matters. Later, Thai became a fairly frequent visitor to this blog, and though, at first, his passion for fractals, and unerring tendency to apply that cornerstone of chaos theory to such seemingly disparate phenomenon as Sarah Palin and the European banking crisis vexed me, I soon found conversing with Thai unerringly worthwhile and pleasurable, not just because he was clever, learned, and curious, but because he managed to convey a sincere sense of warmth and playfulness even as he leveled incisive criticism. As I'm sure many know, this is no mean feat, since, among other pitfalls, miscalculations of tone on internet fora are fiendishly easy to achieve, and the fallout from such misunderstandings too often lead to all manner of unpleasant blowups. But Thai's charm was such that no matter how decimated at his hands my argument may have been- and this was rare by the way- nary was a ripple seen or felt on the surface of our friendship. Well, I certainly hope Thai thought of me as a friend, because that is how I will always remember Thai.

Peak Oil is Here

2010-06-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

Funny how the timing of this announcement comes on the heels of what is shaping up to be far and away the biggest oil patch disaster of all time. Got solar panels or geo thermal?

The U.S. Government Lies.

2010-06-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

The headline of this post should come as no surprise to anyone over the age of 7, or perhaps 6. The question before us is can we have a government that does not prevaricate about, among other things, issues of basic safety? I would argue that, yes, but as is the case for most of us when it comes to achieving goals we put great store in, not without, as Winston Churchill was wont to say, blood, toil, and tears.

But take heart, because, as things stand, our government has made the daunting task of enacting great reform easier for us since their functioning already exacts so much discomfort, if not downright pain. Why do governments cover up? They cover up for the same reasons that individuals do, to avoid unpleasant consequences, and/or to achieve ends that the rest of us would find repugnant were we to know the truth. So, what to do? Remove the incentive, the reward for the steady stream of deceit that government engages in, and which is designed to bamboozle us voters into granting otherwise unworthy elected officialdom further, if not permanent, purchase, (Yes, that was a double entendre) on seats in The Legislature.

If one's job tenure expires in relatively short order, if the gravy train of public service is derailed permanently, there's no need to cover up for the purpose of trying to beat the clock to the next election. As Kris Kristofferson observed, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." As such, our government won't need to lie when they lose nothing by telling the truth.

Until then, the oil will keep gushing from places you'd rather it didn't, while, the truth, at least from officialdom, will be in very short supply.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

2010-06-02T09:20:00.001-07:00

Hello, dear readers. Today I offer for your consideration a wonderful analysis regarding what neo-liberalism/corporatism was always about, what it hath wrought, and what its intentions are going forward.

TWOB Watch: Low Profile

2010-06-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that "Drill baby, drill" uber imbecile, and mainstream media Frankenstein, Sarah Palin, aka The Whore of Babylon is nowhere to be found lately? It's one of the few good things happening to our ship of state that the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska is not befouling the airwaves with her bilious presence. Other than the fact that she no doubt has realized that she has heaping quantities of oily red blood on her hands-not that she can be expected to have any shame about it- and that everyone and their mother is apt to look upon her right about now with less than admiration, or, perhaps, while searching for new supplies of petroleum, Palin fell down the massive sinkhole that just opened up and swallowed a three story building in Guatemala City, I can't imagine why TWOB seems to be on a MSM sabbatical.

We've Really Done it This Time

2010-05-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

The idea being propagated in some quarters of the mainstream media to nuke the leak in The Gulf of Mexico, if comments at The Oil Drum can be taken as authoritative, is tinged with the stuff of fantasy if not downright madness. In the meantime, this catastrophe is fast surpassing all other man made disasters in anyone's memory. Early on, I mused that this event might ultimately bring down The Obama Administration. Well, forget them, this event might set the ball rolling to bring down our entire civilization and more. Broadly speaking, man and animal kind, and the ecosystems that are essential to our collective well being, not to mention the planet's, will likely be suffering mightily from the effects of this horror for a very long time.

The Very Definition of a Nightmare

2010-05-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

Matt Simmons is an investment banker and analyst who works in the oil industry and authored Twilight in The Desert, a book about the onset of Peak Oil. If he can be believed, and I have no idea if he can, the oil leak we are all focused on is likely a diversion from a far bigger leak some miles away. Pardon the wordplay, but we need to get to the bottom of this now.

Muddying The Waters

2010-05-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

The latest desperate attempt to cap the underwater petroleum volcano is upon us. The would be remedy has the none too comforting name of Top Kill, (seen above) which, apparently, involves dropping massive amounts of heavy mud onto and into the fissure(s) leaking oil and gas. The success or failure of this latest gambit by BP will begin to reveal itself sometime today. Pray that it works, if you are the praying kind, and, in the meantime, prepare for a figurative muddying of the waters by BP should this attempted solution not yield the desired results.

Thimble Full of Sand.

2010-05-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

As the report makes clear, our oil and gas industry regulators are bought and paid for. In truth, your entire government is bought and paid for. Every major regulatory agency is little more than a revolving door between government and the industry the government agency is meant to police. Your biggest problem, my fellow Americans, are yourselves and your government. Islamic jihadists, malfunctioning foreign governments, bankrupt foreign financial entities and various and sundry other bogeyman trotted out to paralyze us into a state of panic and fear such that we hew unerringly to the latest nostrum put forward by The Powers That Be are the least of our concerns.

Our government, a sort of kinder gentler mechanism that most closely resembles, in its functioning, Mussolini's Fascist business model, is vastly more at issue than anything our government is likely to place in front of us as something we are meant to unquestioningly seek protection from.

The question is what are we going to do about this appalling state of affairs? If, perhaps, you are unsure, let me offer a suggestion. Start by refusing to vote for anyone who runs on either of the two major party tickets, or any sub-party, such as the Tea Baggers, who are presently being played like a fiddle by The Republican Party. Refusing to give succor to the two political franchise operations is the bare minimum required. Think of it as a necessary but not sufficient prerequiste for Real Change.

California, Illinois, New York, etc. Take Note.

2010-05-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

The contours of the disaster in The Gulf of Mexico are expanding almost as fast, if not faster, than the vast British Petroleum generated oil slick itself. I expect that Louisiana's mildly defiant maneuver, which I view as appropriate and justifiable, to become the norm going forward as more and more states begin to recognize that when it comes to emergencies, and matters of life and death, The Feds are either purveyors of benign neglect, looking out for someone else's interests first, i.e. corporate ones, or worse, simply intransigent and adversarial.

Well, well, well.

2010-05-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

With respect to my most recent ruminations on the possible effect on the Obama Administration from the ongoing catastrophe in The Gulf of Mexico, it seems that strenuous legal efforts were made, and are being made, to halt off shore drilling. Prior efforts were turned back by none other than Attorney General Ken Salazar who specifically invoked BP's drilling plans in The Gulf of Mexico.

I Want to Believe Them.

2010-05-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

But I absolutely don't. The latest fairy tale, excuse me, official claim, made by mega oil industry miscreant BP seems like just so much petroleum patch propaganda. Pardon me for allowing this story to monopolize the blog of late, but unfortunately, I am finding it substantially more compelling than any other burning (pun intended) issue.

At this point, I am seriously beginning to wonder if President Obama, despite tough talk, not imposing governmental control over this growing catastrophe will wind up bringing down his administration. After all, how much longer does this have to go on before one can plausibly declare it a threat to national security? I seem to recall that after Hurricane Katrina the infamous Blackwater soldier of fortune agency was brought in to brutally quell any real or potential mayhem in New Orleans. This time around we have literal black water. The Universe works in mysterious and yet implacably poetic ways, doesn't it?

But back to the far fetched notion that this ongoing event might cascade into a political disaster for the Obama Administration. It certainly wouldn't be what anyone could plausibly forecast as a proximate cause for Obama's political collapse, so, by virtue of some off beat contrary logic, I'll immediately place the odds on this potentially burgeoning- let's call it The (underwater) Teapot Domebama- debacle, at 10 to 1 that it topples, by hook or by crook, (pun sort of intended) the sitting President. It it does, it wouldn't, by any means, make this horrific event worthwhile, but it would fulfill the dictum that every black cloud has a silver lining.

Infinite Supply

2010-05-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

The reporting of the catastrophic well blowup in The Gulf of Mexico continues to dumbfound the Fourth Estate, though there are signs that they may be getting a clue. Why just the other day on PBS, I listened to someone presented as an authority on the subject downplay the present disaster as one on a par with the infamously legendary Exxon Valdez episode, but not quite as bad as the more recent Atlantic Empress oil spill that occurred near Trinidad.

I'm afraid to say that comparing The Exxon Valdez and Atlantic Empress incidents to The Gulf of Mexico well blowup is a bit like comparing lamb chops to bananas. Yes, they are, indeed, both food, but after that most comparisons between the aforesaid tanker spills and The Gulf disaster are either not worth making or simply don't exist. After all, The Exxon Valdez and Atlantic Empress spills, were just that, spills of some finite amount of crude. There is nothing finite about what is gushing from the bottom of The Gulf of Mexico.

Even the nature of the error, the circumstances of its occurrence, are considerably more complex than what transpired with The Exxon Valdez spill. We were able to determine fairly quickly exactly who was responsible for that one, but this mess doesn't even have a readily available name with which to attach itself because there are too many parties-the entire culture if one chooses to veer into the quasi-metaphysical- with red stained oil on their hands. As a result, this almost indescribable human &^%$ up is literally one which bears no name, and one whose widespread damage can not yet even begin to be calculated. Scared and/or disturbed yet? I know I am, because at every level our society operates, we are demonstrating that we either refuse (or lack the capacity) to adequately take the measure of this horrific event.

Candles Burn Brightest Just Before Extinguishing.

2010-05-10T04:43:00.000-07:00

The Eurozone, with critical U.S. assistance, has decided to go all in and pull a U.S. banking cabal response to a justifiable attack by market participants on the EU's flagging monetary system. Everyone, at least for the moment, is jumping wildly back into the pool, but all that has changed is that more funds (that no one actually has except by creating more debt) have been thrown at a system that is untenable due to an excess of unserviceable debt.

I am now almost as certain as I am of my own name that attempts to prop up the western financial system will end reasonably soon, and result in an entirely new paradigm. Unfortunately, the pain that will ensue on the way to the new paradigm will be unlike anything modern civilization has ever experienced. That includes the last Great Depression. In the meantime, President Obama, who has somehow managed to at least equal his predecessor in awfulness, has nominated a Goldman Sachs stooge to the Supreme Court.

Don't Be Played For a Fool.

2010-05-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today the beating wings of a gaggle of black swans were heard directly overhead. Their copious, air cooled, liquid excrement was felt very shortly thereafter. Do not be taken in by reports that someone's errant fat finger was what caused the stock market to crater as badly as it did. That is absolute horse *&%! It's far more likely that Goldman Sachs pushed Ms. Market right over the edge so that The Vampire Squid could make a killing, thereby allowing them to more easily pay the SEC a fine for the sort of nefarious scam they committed today. Alternatively, today's roller coaster/ house of horrors ride was, ala the "No banker left behind" bailout, just another sickening example of financial extortion. "Leave us alone to rape and pillage or else!"

I am only half joking. After all, who do you think these bastards are?

Now, I am about to divulge something of a personal nature to you, which is that the little guy, that would be me, was screwed out of some substantial profits today. Suffice it to say that the bid and ask in the option pits were very out of whack in ways they should not have been. But, as The Vampire Squid and their ilk probably stood to lose enormous sums of money if my (and other's) correct bets were honored, they simply chose not to. Word has it that the SEC is looking into today's most "unusual trading." I'm sure their search will last half as long as the proverbial New York minute, and be as fruitful as trying to introduce rice paddies in the Mojave desert. Such is life in the charnel house U.S. capital markets, an arena more depraved than a Bangkok whorehouse, and more in need of being condemned than a cockroach ridden, termite compromised, crack house.

In the meantime, please do your level best to not be taken in by the likes of one Barron Segar, who gushed that today's selloff was the "ultimate buying opportunity" He and his ilk have no clue. Today was the beginning of the end, and therefore, constituted something far closer to the ultimate selling opportunity. Expect more wild gyrations with a decidedly downward tilt as our entire financial system goes supernovae.

One big, fat indication that today was indeed a watershed event was the action in precious metals. Almost without exception, precious metals, and here I mean spot gold and silver, get taken down hard when shares encounter major selling episodes. Silver is especially prone to experiencing nasty body slams as it is viewed, unlike gold, as an industrial metal rather than a monetary store of value. Well, today's behavior in physical was anything but true to form.

A word to the wise: The race to the bottom amongst the world's fiat currencies will see every fiat lose value, and lots of it, against precious metals. Those of you with a Keyneisan "Gold is a barbarous relic" bent, may not like it, but that, in my humble opinion, is what's in store. As Voltaire, or was it Thomas Jefferson, observed, all abstract paper claims to wealth, aka fiat, ultimately revert to their intrinsic value. The speed with which that ineluctable process proceeds is accelerating.

As the Boy Scouts are wont to say, Be Prepared.

Black(ened) Swan

2010-05-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

As per last week's post, when I speculated that something would soon emerge-probably not on my short list- to act as the next black swan, or flock of black swans, overturning the U.S. economy's apple cart, a terrible oil spill may well be the event that, no pun intended, turns the tide. My sources (try not to laugh too hard) inform me that this ecological disaster, which is already enormously damaging to all manner of marine wildlife, will make the Exxon Valdez spill appear like a lazy stroll in the park by comparison. The entire Gulf of Mexico is now in grave danger of becoming a dead zone, ecologically and economically, and if one would be amateur analyst is correct, the path of the Gulf Stream could cause the destruction to spread as far as the northeast coast fishing grounds.

Once again we are faced with a grim reminder that the cost of doing business as usual, specifically as regards how, and on what basis, we provide energy for ourselves, is untenable. Tragically, and not just for our species, we are destined for this sort of catastrophe, because we simply will not meaningfully reform our mode of existence. Instead, we give audience to imbeciles whose signature incantation, at least where our energy problems are concerned, is "Drill, baby, drill." Well, this is what one reaps when one drills like an entitled baby.

In the meantime we'll have to contend with attempts to soft peddle what looks like a kind of ghastly companion piece, albeit an infinitely worse one, to the Hurricane Katrina debacle of 2005. The sandy white beaches of the west coast of Florida, among other beautiful places, will be stained black this summer, and many other things-things that are even more precious, precarious, and beautiful than sandy white beaches- will be hopelessly sundered so much so that Memorial Day cookouts that are notably devoid of Gulf shrimp will be the least of our problems.

The Phony War Revisited

2010-04-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

Back in September, I made a post that referenced The Phony War that occurred from September of 1939 until May the following year. In that time, because no armed clashes occurred between the Allied and Axis forces, World War II didn't seem like much of a war, and certainly not the fearsome stuff of endless History Channel shows that feature unprecedented bloody battles between military titans that leave tens of millions dead, and most of Europe, from the streets of London to the Steppes of Russia, a burned out husk. Likewise, in our time, for the better part of a year, because no fresh disasters have appeared to demonstrably pound the U.S. economy, our ongoing depression, appears to be, well, not so depressing.

I fear this relatively halcyon time is coming to an end sometime this year. The key idea behind my assertion is that our economy is still very fragile, and that the remedies that have been heretofore applied will not hold in the face of growing threats. Such threats as I have in mind are China's bubble economy popping- an inevitability which is vastly under reported around these parts- Europe's still simmering sovereign debt crisis-which is what our sovereign debt crisis will resemble at some point in the future- the air travel imperiling volcanic eruption (which, strangely, may not have been) in Iceland-which had it continued for another few weeks would have surely been an economic boat rocker- the distinct possibility, not to say probability, of yet more bank blowups in the U.S., and, last, but not least, a destabilizing fresh outbreak of military hostilities.

I'm sure I've left out a few other major risk factors. After all, however unlikely it is that The Vampire Squid comes under a major legal assault that sunders the firm, or that J.P. Morgan is indicted for its manipulations of the precious metals market to salvage the dollar, all of these potential developments are out there waiting to press hard against our shaky economic edifice. If I can be allowed a moment of fantasy wish fulfillment, in the cases of the end of Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, after some serious fallout into capital markets, I am inclined to imagine that the ultimate benefit to mankind would be profound.

Suffice it to say that, time, as it were, despite the better than year lull in local financial and economic catastrophes, despite the liquidity fueled moon shot in the stock market- the marquee display at "The U.S. Economy has Recovered" fun house- is, simply, not on our side. In the meantime, we must make the best use we can of our time in the eye of this enormous, once in an epoch, hurricane.

Excuse Me?

2010-04-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Scott Brown, the newly elected interim Senator from The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was invited on the Today Show and asked if he was planning to run for President of the United States. Huh? What? For &^%# sake! This is the level that we have sunk to in the U.S. I realize that politics and governance in this nation is an absolute slime pit of mendacity and corruption, but is the position of POTUS really the province of any imbecile that wants it? I probably shouldn't be asking this question given the enfeebled nature of Bush junior, but at least he'd held office for more than a few months when presented with the opportunity to run for President.

Note: Scott Brown may not be an imbecile, but, so far, he has certainly not distinguished himself as anything other than just another business as usual operator.

In the meantime, based on his response, we have learned something about Scott Brown. He has little sense of decorum, protocol, or honesty. Brown said he was "ruling out" a run for Presidency. Is that because you realize that you are, even by President Obama's meager standards, woefully ill equipped for the job, or is it because no sane and/or monied group has tried to draft you to run? That should have been the follow-up question to the initial question posed by the bubble head who asked what shouldn't have been asked in the first place. Lame is as lame does. Come to think of it, we can and would do much better without Scott Brown or the mainstream media.

It's Official. Obama is Creepy.

2010-04-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Almost every Presidential Administration has one. You know, the designated creep. The one whose manner, and sometimes even appearance, makes one's skin crawl. Bush junior had creepy Dick Cheney working close by in an official capacity, and Karl Rove, less close by, in an unofficial one. Clinton, of course, had Dick Morris and Hillary. Most of us who pay attention to such relative minutiae thought the Obama Administration's designated creep was Rahm Emanuel, and so he is. There's only one problem, President Obama, himself, is beginning, at least to this onlooker, to take on the mien of someone with a sinister purpose.

This is, of course, entirely subjective, but I submit, as partial evidence, Obama's penchant to tell enormous lies with the straightest, if in this instance, pissed off, face imaginable. This too is subjective, and hardly new amongst Presidents. But be aware that, whatever you think of this policy, the odds of Obama repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell are very small. You would never know it though from the response Obama gives to the relatively mild hecklers at a benefit for California Senator, Barbara Boxer

More evidence of Obama as Creep in Chief might be gleaned from a recent NASA press conference that strangely included no NASA personnel. Here, too, it seems one is meant to take away the exact opposite impression of the actual policy being pursued by the Administration, namely to materially scale back on NASA missions. And I also offer this chilling news release that pertains to a development apparently meant to coincide with the upcoming mid-term elections this coming fall.

Finally, at least in this particular missive, and with thanks to The Golden Jackass newsletter, is the revelation that the new health care bill that President Obama strongly advanced, does, in fact, contain provisions for electronically chipping citizens. Specifically see pages 1001-1008 for the National Medical Device Registry for mention of a program to be enacted within 36 months of passage. See also page 503 for the phrase "medical device surveillance." All this is contained in HR Bill 3200 from the House Ways and Means Committee.

There is more of this sort of business to be proffered as part of my Obama is creepy thesis. Suffice it to say that, for now, all we would need to seal the deal on the status of the POTUS is word that formation of a Nixon like Committee to Re-elect the President (aka CREEP) has been, or is being, formed for President Obama.

A Little Goldman Update

2010-04-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

Count me among the skeptics regarding the reams of opinion coming out this weekend that the pending SEC case against the vampire squid stands an excellent chance of opening the floodgates (of hell) on the likes of said squid and other high profile criminal actors slouching and slithering about the banking and financial world.

Whatever the outcome, we onlookers are about to have something either affirmed or called into question. Should the SEC drop the ball in this case, as they customarily do-when they don't simply turn their backs on capital market criminality, as I would assert is their actual remit -then those who are in doubt should have irrefutable proof that, where the Obama Administration is concerned, our President is, indeed, not a change agent but, rather, a calcifying one. However, if this case gains steam, and most importantly, becomes a criminal proceeding, hopefully with local magistrates riding herd on the lawsuits, some of us will have to rethink matters regarding the true nature of Obama and Co. In the meantime, I'm not holding my breath.

Someone is Trying To Tell Us Something.

2010-04-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

Are you listening to the multitude of transmissions? The very high number of earthquakes and related activity in recent months, among other earthly events, says something is afoot. The volcanic ash spewing from Iceland has serious implications, and none of them are good, especially if the noxious and hot plumes of volcanic ash continue for any length of time. Imagine the depressing effect on business activity. I, for one, am supposed to be traveling to the UK on Tuesday, which now looks decidedly iffy. Word has it that already more flights have been grounded than on that infinitely more storied day of massive ash dispersion, 9/11.

One wonders what, if any, the effects may be on the jet stream, weather patterns, and, shudder, crops. How about a little global cooling, scarecrow! We know from our chaos theory studies what can happen when one lone butterfly flaps its wings. Well, there are many butterflies flapping of late, and one would do well to hope that they cancel each other's ever widening ripple effects out.

In the meantime, the SEC, in a civil case, has charged vampire squid extraordinaire, Goldman Sachs, with fraud. On one level, I make very little of this indictment as it is a civil charge not a criminal one. The idea that this capo da capo tutti of corrupt financial firms could not be charged criminally is, well, criminal. It also seems reasonably obvious that this move by the SEC is being timed by The Obama Administration to nudge recalcitrant Republicans into supporting the Democratic party's very tepid financial reform now before Congress. However, despite this bit of Kabuki theatrics, the execrable powers that be may be, despite their best efforts, unwittingly giving an opening to real change.

That, of course, remains to be seen, but in the meantime, the idea behind my own bit of wishful thinking is that, however mild this charge of wrongdoing is likely to be in its full, practical, effect, it has the potential to be, at least symbolically, important. The cat, as it were, is now out of the bag. The powers that be are almost certainly engaged in concocting yet more sham justice, but, in so doing, they have, in essence, admitted that which they have heretofore assiduously avoided admitting, namely that the system is rotten. Think Catholic Church. Great debacles start slowly. For now we can only hope, pray, and, of course, blog.

P.S.

The bearish reaction in the share market today gives the lie to the idea that the state of the stock market is healthy. After all, if just the merest hint that disinfectant is about to be applied to this festering casino can cause a few percentage points to get instantly shaved, what would happen if they changed the accounting rules so they reflected reality and not a sick fantasy? And why is this important?

Beyond the implications of a compromised capital market, the waves of selling that immediately manifested when the news broke that the SEC was charging Goldman Sachs with fraud demonstrated, like nothing else can, just how bogus our economic recovery is, based, as it is, in large part, on the share market moving ever higher. The stock market, for those who don't know, is TPTB's marquee performer in their high production values feature length propaganda film entitled, "Economic Recovery's Here"

Sarah Palin/The Whore of Babylon update

2010-04-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

The single most obnoxious politician defacing the U.S. landscape today, and that is saying something, has infected my hometown with her presence. I am treating this like fallout from a nuclear blast, and staying as far away as possible from The Common where her commonness is holding forth. Apparently TWOB's mantra today (and perhaps every day Palin bloviates to the unwashed, unintelligent, and adoring throngs who traipse in from heaven's knows where to see Tina Fey's most fecund comedy fodder) features such disingenuous pablum as "Take back government."

What government did you have in mind WOB?

Who is/are the government? Hint: They aren't, as you and your whore mongering MSM media employers would have it, our "elected officialdom." Federal legislators are merely shills for the corporate oligarchy that are, in fact, the U.S. Government. Ask any of the thousands of FIRE economy lobbyists who write checks to members of both parties, and also craft the nation's legislation that is subsequently signed off on, but scarcely understood, by our elected officials. And it gets better. Lately, even the SJC is on board with the imperatives of our corporate oligarchy.

"Government has been on a spending spree" offers TWOB. Indeed, but unless you are prepared to discuss everything, and I mean everything, that government spends our money on, and perhaps, more importantly, who benefits on those expenditures-which you aren't, because you never have been- I don't want to hear one word, not a peep, from you or your addle-brained faux Libertarian supporters. Now, please, kindly shut up, piss off, and leave those of us with some critical faculties in peace.

Did Someone Say Recovery?

2010-04-06T15:19:00.001-07:00

I wrote the piece below in response to a post over at financial blogger and trader extraordinaire Rick Ackerman's site. Apparently he is considering featuring it tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a link to a piece that just came out today that buttresses my assertions.

I expect that cognitive dissonance about the land is now both pervasive and immense. The number of unemployed, underemployed, and otherwise financially and economically imperiled has ratcheted up over the last few years, and though the economic deterioration that began in earnest in early 2008 seems to have, at least by some modestly credible measures, abated somewhat in the last few months, the new normal, such as it is, is distinctly less healthy, less favorable to most, than it was.

And yet, despite the immutable facts of a reduction in the standard of living for so many, we keep hearing talk of recovery, which is, by definition, absurd, since a recovery assumes the reclamation of a prior state. The only prior state that has been recovered is the one that Wall Street was operating in before the financial world, as we knew it, ended in a thunderous calamity. In fact, even that picture isn’t entirely accurate since Wall Street has now, de facto, if not de jure, captured at least two, if not all three, branches comprising the Federal Government.
And the Federal Government, whose agenda is unmistakably crafted and shaped by corporations, if we are operating euphemistically, and owned like a mindless piece of chattel (by the remnants of the FIRE economy) if we are not, in concert with the MSM, which is also the province, lock, stock, and barrel of “bottom line” concerns, are all in on maintaining -to the vast majority’s detriment- the grand, if tenuous, illusion of prosperity. That Matrix will continue to function as is until some critical number of those trapped within it lose even more than they have lost already. At that point, one imagines a genuine move towards revolution and freedom- which, as Kris Kristofferson observed, is “just another word for nothing left to lose”- will emerge in a such a way as to make the Tea Party movement look like the tepid, co-opted brew it is. Unfortunately, by then, it may well be too late. Vamos a ver.

Weekly Haiku

2010-04-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Outdoor Cat

Warily staring

From within a dense thicket

She toys with her prey

Now They Tell Us.

2010-04-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

Some of us had a pretty good idea that this sort of thing was coming. One wonders what number of the voters who supported Obamacare would have supported it had they known or even suspected what was in store. Municipalities are going to be damned if they do, and damned if they don't, since cutting all these massively overpriced health care plans down to size will make public employees feel substantially less well off. Given how many of our fellow citizens are employed by government, it is hard to see how this will not have, at least economically speaking, a depressing effect on local economies.

And yet, not massively paring these bloated plans from the system will bankrupt local government, because, who, in our implacably shrinking economy, can afford twenty five and thirty thousand dollar health care premiums? But wait. Not so fast! The whopping tax penalty on Cadillac insurance plans won't take effect until 2018, when Obama, and possibly Bella Pelosi and Scary Reid, will be long gone from the corridors of power.

So, in the mean time, municipalities can continue to hurtle down the path of bankruptcy, paying enormous premiums for overstuffed health care plans on behalf of employees, retirees, and elected officials. As the gory details continue to dribble out, the more one sees of Obamacare the more one gets the sense that, just as with the response by team Obama to the banking system and financial services sector debacle, another can has been well and truly kicked down the road.

Heartwarming B.S.

2010-04-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

Now that the balance of power has tipped even more in favor of the prosperous few, we need more articles like this to help keep the ever growing numbers of the restless many from getting restive. Ah, yes, the world's richest individuals, all men, of course, and humble, live just like you and me, or so we are told. Hey, Carlos Slim, (what a marvelously ironic name for a plutocrat) doesn't even own his own plane or yacht. No word yet on whether Mr. Slim or his cohorts fly commercial coach.

The End of Popery.... but not Potpourri

2010-04-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

In fact, potpourri season is just beginning, even as Popery's prospects seem to grow shorter and darker by the day. In the not too distant future I am going to have a predictions post, because, as silly an enterprise as making prognostications can be, it's still fun. But back to The (most un-fun) Catholic Church, which strikes this pagan as being in the not so early stages of a terminal decline. It's high time really. When one considers what is known about The Church's treachery throughout history, and then factors in that which is not known-but is bubbling to the surface like so much pus on a burst blister- it's a slam dunk that eventually the deeply corrupt, nay, perverse organism that is The Catholic Church should crumble once and for all.

We seem to live in a time where immense and pernicious frauds are being unmasked. From the U.S. banking and financial system, to The Catholic Church, there is more revealed rot about than one can reckon with. For those of an astrological bent, these stresses are the sign of a new age, one whose entrance is marked by the extinction of destructive institutions of one kind or another. What a comforting thought. Having said that, I give two to one odds that Pope Ratzinger represents either the final or the penultimate Pope.

The Church, which started with one leader, said to be Christ's disciple, Peter, has survived a schism that gave rise to The Eastern Orthodox Church, a period where two Popes operated simultaneously, and The Reformation, to name a few stresses, some of which were self generated. But the seemingly never ending revelations of systematic molestation by priests of child parishioners all across the western world, complete with denials and coverups that seem to lead all the way to The Pontiff himself, may represent something of a last straw. In the meantime, the shamelessness of some number of the Catholic clergy seems to know no bounds. And on that note, may those of you who celebrate it, have a Happy Easter.

The Tax Dodger's Truth.

2010-04-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well, as it is April Fool's Day, one should not be taken by surprise by fresh evidence that Tim Geithner never wavers from spewing the enormous and epic untruth that had the big criminal enterprises of Wall Street not been given free money (aka bailed out) with next to no strings, and zero oversight, things would have been much worse. Undoubedtly things would have been far worse for Wall Street's various and sundry criminal enterprises, but beyond that, the case for worse for the rest of us breaks down rather badly.

And now, The Treasury Secretary creature from the Wall Street Black Lagoon's incessant protestations that enabling bankster grand larceny was for the best is being matched by nauseating efforts to persuade you and me that he cares about the millions of folks who've paid dearly for Wall Street's heretofore unrestrained monstrous transgressions. Yes, Turbo Tim, it is "deeply unfair" that the criminals of Wall Street are smelling like roses even as some untold number of American (formerly) working stiffs have the rank odor about them of organic fertililzer. And as you were right there at the scene of the crime, making the crime possible, and as you and your superiors have done %&#*! all to fully address, let alone amend, the original crime, your present posture appears like, well, posturing.

It gets better though, loyal readers, as Tax Dodgin' Treasurer Timmy now admits something that more than a few of us have suspected for quite some time, namely that chronic high unemployement is, for all intents and purposes, here to stay, a fixture of the, by now, well fertilized landscape. Quelle surprise! He regrets this lamentable state of affairs as well, but, as always, rest assured, that Mr. Geithner wants you to know, for those of you who did not get the memo, that while manning the helm as this unfortunate condition unfolded, the Obama Administration's efforts were just short of heroic. In the meantime, best of luck in your efforts to find a new, or better, job, and, in advance of the full implementation of Obamacare, stay well.

Let the "Fun" Begin.

2010-03-25T06:19:00.001-07:00

The, um, ill effects from the passage of Obamacare, which seems to have hit a snag of late, are already being felt.

A (Not So) Hidden Agenda, and a Political Blunder?

2010-03-22T15:57:00.001-07:00

By no means do I always agree with Mr. Denninger, but unless I am missing something, his thesis, which I have heard him discuss before, seems sound. What I don't understand is the following: if his thesis is correct, Hell, even if it isn't, why didn't the Republicans make this the centerpiece of their argument against health care reform legislation? Had they convincingly portrayed the legislation as merely a stepping stone to a totally socialized medical care system, as opposed to what it appears to be now-which is a short to intermediate term bonanza for health insurers- they might have had more success opposing it. A different problem with Mr. Denninger's thesis is, given that the health care lobby was integral to writing this legislation, why would they cobble together something that spells their doom.

Of course, by the time this health care reform is supposed be fully implemented the condition of the U.S. economy will likely be so poor it will preclude it from functioning.

No Insurance Company Left Behind

2010-03-21T15:28:00.001-07:00

By buying off seven God bothering Democratic Party legislators, Obamacare has likely acquired the necessary support to push through passage. It seems only fitting that a few myopic "pro lifers" have given life to this Frankenstein monstrosity since the 2700 page bill in question is an appalling example of focusing on every bit of minute lint so as to avoid confronting the core reasons why health care costs in The United States are far higher- Exhibit no. 1: The insurance industry- than they should be.

The insurance rackets will, it seems, come under stricter federal guidelines, but they will still maintain their monopoly advantage, and then some, since they now will have approximately thirty two million more people paying them premiums either directly or via government subsidy. Of course many of the putative benefits will not take effect for years, though rest assured that will not delay the government levying taxes to pay for the promised changes well in advance of the delivery of service. It should go without saying, and should give no comfort, that many of the legislators responsible for this "reform" will be long gone, including, quite possibly, Obama himself, by the time this program is supposed to be fully implemented.

Finally, I hope it is clear that my objections to this so called reform have nothing to do with the furious assault waged by The Republican Party who, from the beginning, have been bad faith actors in this drama. Had they been in the position to deliver "reform" it would undoubtedly have been even more of a bonanza for the insurance industry and Big Pharma than what just passed.

Where's The Rule of Law in Lawmaking?

2010-03-16T06:57:00.001-07:00

They are going to do what they want even if it kills you. Bela Lugosi, excuse me, Nancy Pelosi and her merry band of Demoncrat bloodsuckers, not to be confused with the Repugnantcan bloodsuckers, are at it again. Remember, my fellow Americans, every vote doesn't count.

The Future of the USA

2010-03-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

Not only have I all but given up on the quaint idea of an old style revolution taking place in the United States, but having just read Jonathan Raban's piece in The New York Review of Books on the recent Tea Party Convention in Nashville, I've had the following notion re-affirmed: The U.S. as an integrated nation of fifty states stands little chance of holding together. Don't ask me for a date on the breakup of the union, just know that it's an inevitability.

That there are so many indignant imbeciles inhabiting the Tea Party movement does not, by any means, guarantee that the U.S. is set for an imminent dissolution, however, it does cause this blogger to feel that a preemptive move towards a breakup has more than a little merit. In fact, I propose that the part of the U.S. populace that is not hopelessly confused about how we arrived at our present condition, and what measures might best ameliorate our most pressing problems, turn over some decent sized portion of the South and/or the Midwest, or perhaps even the Rocky Mountain states, to the multitude of God bothering mental defectives in the Tea Party. For the average Tea Party member has concluded that, whereas Barack Obama is an "idiot"- apparently a favorite descriptor amongst Tea Party members of the Commander in Chief- Sarah Palin is, by turns, a purveyor of insight, forthrightness, rectitude, and, last, but not least, leadership.

Such a stupefying, not to say, stupid, construction, should not come as any great surprise to those of us who demur from such a view, (a gimlet eyed assessment of both Obama and Palin shows that neither are close to being paragons of virtue, though Obama does have the advantage of not being a complete ignoramus) since, as the aforementioned article more or less makes clear - and Raban's piece, by the way, is by no means a hatchet job on the Tea Party- Sarah Palin's appeal, such as it is, rests, to a considerable extent, on the fact that a substantial portion of the voting demographic are, apparently, as per their own words- "She's just like me"- Sarah Palin. About this one could say a great many things, but I'll limit myself to the observation that narcissism amongst some not insubstantial number of the electorate always has more than a little to say in determining a candidate's popularity.

In the meantime, given the aged, doughy, white complected, Glenn Beck loving, Fundamentalist Christian cast of many, if not most, Tea Party members-yes, Virginia, darker hued and younger citizens do not abound in the Tea Party, one should not expect anything terribly dynamic from the this group's relatively privileged cohort of sanctimonious, colonial garb wearing fanatics.

Haiku of The Week

2010-03-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

March

The thaw of springtime

Masks culture's frigid aspect

Nurtures mud and flies

MSM All in On The Dark Side Part 2

2010-02-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

Perhaps some of you are familiar with the recent story regarding the Orca at SeaWorld that drowned one of its handlers. The mainstream media had something of a field day with this, but, true to form, reportage-if that's how one wants to describe the mainstream media's product- of the event lacked the necessary context with which to fully take the measure of the unfortunate situation. Rather, those of us who pay attention to the offerings of the MSM, for whatever reason, were instead treated to this event occurred in a vacuum palaver, where the handler's demise was portrayed as something of a one off, freak accident. That was, regrettably, not the case.

However, not providing essential context, or key information on stories of all shapes and sizes, is de rigeur for the MSM, and is not, in and of itself, noteworthy. The question for this blogger is the following: is the long standing, marked, tendency by MSM to "miss the story" to put it politely, more pronounced than at previous times?

Here one has to rely on conjecture. I have a formulation that goes something like this:

The national scene, politically, economically, and socially, has deteriorated over the last few years such that government now operates, for all intents and purposes, almost entirely as a facilitator of corporate pillage by the remaining remnants of the nation's so called FIRE economy. Presently, despite a de-acceleration in, for example, unemployment, our hemorrhaging national economy is still swelling the ranks of those without jobs. To be reductive, for the sake of brevity, the increasing number of the restless many (as opposed to the ever more prosperous few) are beginning to express their growing dismay and discomfort in myriad ways including random acts of violence (see the recent suicide bombing of a building housing IRS offices in Austin, Texas) and/or nascent political organization such as the tea party movement.

However, in the case of random acts of violence, except in humble blogs such as this one, and local media outlets, where neighborhood mayhem can not be swept under the rug as easily as it can be by the national media, there is scant coverage of the growing discontent and dissent.

That is my premise. In short, if the premise is correct the answer to the question posed is a resounding yes. If, indeed, there is more misery, broadly defined, then the assumed inadequacies of the MSM must be even more resounding. Among other effects of this perverse condition, expect to see cognitive dissonance, which already exists for this citizen, continue to increase as a result of the growing disconnect between what is actually happening across the nation and what is not being reported with respect to our rapidly deteriorating circumstances here in the real world.

I view this development as unavoidable since the MSM's purpose, or more precisely, its imperative, is to distract, confuse, and otherwise obfuscate events that are at odds with the fantastic narrative our nation's handlers seek to enshroud us in. The American poet, author, and musician, Gil Scott-Heron may be most famous for his observation that, "The revolution will not be televised." Increasingly, my view is that there will likely be no revolution, at least of the sort I presume Mr. Scott-Heron envisioned. But rest assured, that with respect to any sort of meaningful change, let alone radical change, here in Freedom's Land, Mr. Scott-Heron was spot on with respect to the role of the mainstream media.

Haiku Of The Week

2010-02-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

Eternal Flame

Having consumed all

The Fire economy

Seeks yet more kindling

MSM All In To The Dark Side

2010-02-20T06:10:00.000-08:00

The lack of coverage by mainstream media outlets of the suicide bombing of an IRS building in Austin is, in the opinion of this blogger, more than a little noteworthy. There are far far too many examples to reckon with, but suffice it to say that, in the main, mainstream media in the U.S. presents an even more whitewashed, sanitized, and unreal version of the world we live in than ever before.

The absence of coverage of what was arguably the first suicide bombing by a U.S. citizen on American soil, as well as the absence of coverage, or, at best, meager coverage of, less fantastic, but equally, if not more important, stories, is a story in itself. I will have more to say on this dismaying matter in future, but I felt the need to at least touch on it now.

The Gigue is Coming to an End.

2010-02-19T04:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, after the closing bell on Wall Street, The Federal Reserve announced they will raise the discount rate by a quarter of a percentage point. By itself, an increase in this lending mechanism, especially in an environment where bailouts and Quantitative Easing have been a fixture of the landscape, is essentially an empty gesture. However, given the government's enormous funding requirements, and assuming that The Federal Reserve believes an economic recovery is in progress, one could reasonably surmise, however counter-intuitive it may seem, that yesterday's tepid discount rate hike by The Federal Reserve is just a harbinger of a series of liquidity draining operations to come.

Unfortunately, the story of a U.S. economic recovery is a fiction, and plummeting tax receipts across the board are the single best piece of evidence that exists arguing that point. But that may not be the playbook the monetary authorities are using. And so, later this year, be on guard for the Federal Reserve to deliver the coup de grace, both to itself, and, more importantly, the U.S. economy, when it concludes making its biggest blunder (of many blunders it has made over the last quarter century) by reacting to an economic recovery that does not exist.

Bye Bayh

2010-02-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

Forgive me for crowing, but I say it here, and, eventually, it comes out there. Pay particular attention to Senator Bayh's comments about the role of campaigning in government "dysfunction." In general, the term dysfunction is one I don't care for as it tends to (as it has done here) obfuscate matters. Everything functions. It's just a question of how. In the case of government, it functions, as we have discussed here time and time again, as the principal enabler and ombudsman for the proprietors of what is left of the U.S. FIRE economy, and for the Rasputin like military industrial complex of Eisenhower's, by now, hoary and famous adumbration.

In the days and weeks to come, (more like hours and days to come) it will be alternately amusing and sickening to see and hear politicians from both sides of the aisle fall all over themselves applauding, when they are not parroting, Senator Bayh's comments. But the counterfeit posturing will almost certainly be the beginning and end of the legislature's response to Senator Bayh's irrefutable observations on the state of The House and The Senate. Here's hoping "We The People" do exactly as the outgoing Senator suggests, and vote out all incumbents, only supporting those who are behind most, if not all, of the following nostrums.

Farces of Law and Order

2010-02-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

The rule of law has broken down in the United States. From the implementation and then ex post facto rationalization of, for example, rendition and torture of those deemed to be hostile foreign non combatants, to the wide array of criminal machinations aided and abetted by officialdom in the financial sphere, (machinations that, upon being discovered as such, have gone with almost no indictments or censure of any kind) the astonishing lack of adherence to legal strictures is hard to overestimate both in its scope and meaning.

This lawlessness, essentially fascistic in nature, is one path to, not just a loss of confidence in government, but ultimately to a critical erosion in the people's (increasingly shaky) belief in government's very legitimacy. I expect that in the United States the latter condition will manifest more strongly in time, even though the vast majority of citizens (and non citizens alike) are generally too ignorant and/or distracted to notice or respond appropriately to the transformation of their nominal Democracy to one that really doesn't even bother to pretend that it is no longer a Constitutional Republic.

In the meantime, we must stand by and watch as governments in the west desperately try to maintain their various social, economic, and political constructs from utterly disintegrating. They will all fail, mostly because the very basis for their creations are unsustainable. It doesn't help matters going forward that more borrowed money is being thrown at sinkholes created by unserviceable debt, but that is the only palatable response for a western political class which, first and foremost, enacts most or all of its counterproductive and desperate measures as a means to save itself.

So, Greece, and presumably, in time, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Portugal (and who else?) will be extended more credit/debt deals, and the process of extend and pretend will persist until such time as it can't. At least in Europe one doesn't get the sense that, however misguided and parlous the condition of the E. U., that the rule of law, however watered down or provisional it may be in practice, has not been completely eviscerated.

After all, no leader in Europe would dare, whatever they might believe privately, to have opined that bonuses paid to CEOs of gangster finance companies such as Goldman Sachs, or J.P. Morgan, were simply the well deserved spoils of savvy businessmen.

Spot the Disconnect.

2010-02-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

Click here to read the entire piece from which the redacted paragraph below comes.

5. President Palin?
At one point on Saturday, some disgruntled Tennessee tea-party activists held a press conference to complain about the cost of attending the event ($549 per person), which they say excluded many supporters. But when asked whether they begrudged Sarah Palin her reported $100,000 speaking fee, they blanched. "Of course not. I love Sarah Palin, we - I think it's safe to say we - all love Sarah Palin," said one of those complaining about ticket prices that presumably helped to pay for her keynote speech. A gushing love of Palin was, in fact, a major point of consensus at the convention. And she loved them right back. "America is ready for another revolution!" she enthused as the audience popped to their feet for the first of many ovations.