We’re all junkies! Let’s Face It: GWB has managed to get all of us running around like crazed crack-heads. I guess it’s actually what we should expect when there’s a not-so-ex-junkie in charge of the stash. And talk about enablers: now he’s got an entire Congress and most of the corporations agreeing to help and all of us are sitting around like nodding bobble-heads helping him satisfy his/our habit. But that’s his MO: GWB has always found someone to bail him out of his messes, and now he’s got an entire country that seems to be willing to do it. The truth is we’re not addressing the addiction and the result of all of this will be every bit as successful as Brittany’s repeated forays into rehab.
The ugly reality is that there is a sort of harmonic convergence or symmetry between our national obsession with pharmaceuticals and the state of the economy. Yeah, it may be a stretch but bear with me. We are a junkie nation. We are fascinated and mesmerized by addictions. For instance, just look at the national media wigging out about whether or not Roger Clemens took steroids or ‘performance enhancing drugs’. How about you? Does it matter to you if this overweight, poorly shaved 40-year-old-child blow-hard ingested ‘illegal substances’ to ‘enhance’ his ‘performance’? Hey, I mean it. Do you really give a shit? What if he took Viagra? You know, Bob Dole’s medication of choice. It’s a legal substance that is supposed to enhance your performance, or, for many men apparently, to actually render them capable of performing at all. In other words, it’s a kind of chemical blowjob; it elevates your mood as well as your tool. But seriously, what difference does it make if ‘the Rocket’ used a form of medicinal ‘rock’ to make his rocket rock it? Is it important in any way to your life? Probably not, BUT do you not see the synergistic, unholy similarity of Clemens situation to what is going on the national economy? We have an artificial economy, one that is pumped up, over-weight, unkempt, belligerent and boorish. All of us have been lured into watching it play out and George Bush, like RC, an old Texan, as well as a baseball freak, has fooled all of us. He has not only tricked the entire nation into a narcotic haze, at the same time he has put all of us in hock. And now what does he do? He offers to bail us out. And what does he offer: a free ‘sample’ of cut-rate monetary Viagra.
The rest of the world knows the stench of a junkie when they smell one, but they have been enablers too. But now they’re worried that their rich coked out buddy may not be quite as flush as he seemed. In a rather poorly designed three-step dance, Dubba, the Congress and the media have tried to pretend we don’t actually smell as bad as we do. After all, we still swagger well. And they will pull it off to some extent since they’re all part of the same ‘reality show’: American Idle. Even now as this entire fiasco is becoming front and center they are trying to make sure that we get lost in circuses and sideshows.
Instead of actually addressing the systemic dysfunctions, they’re offering a cheapo ‘economic stimulus’. None of the embedded and potentially ruinous aspects of how our economic and financial structures currently work are being addressed at all in this climate of panic. Everyone seems to accept the old bromide that ‘the fundamentals of the economy are sound and strong’. BUT why is no one actually questioning that assumption? What are ‘the fundamentals’ anyway? Instead of trying to deal with that question, The Fed, the Bush ‘Administration’ and the Congress are going to stroke us all into a low-grade, temporary monetary hard-on to boost the ‘economy’. Why? Because they don’t know what else to do and it makes them look like they actually care. And sure, it may provide the ‘stimulus’ for a quickie, a sort of early afternoon roll in the hay, but it doesn’t address the lingering problem of inability to perform.
The entire approach of the Feds, from the Prez to the Congress is based on accepting the current economic and financial structures. They are merely making up the idea that ‘the fundamentals are sound’. Instead of a real diagnosis and real medicine, they are hawking a magic elixir that they claim will cure all of our ills. And what is that patent medicine: Tickle the fancy of consumer spending into a frenzy. The proposed $600 per taxpayer (down from $800) handout is supposed to propel all of us out of our soon-to-gobbled-up-by-foreclosure homes and into the shopping malls so we can swoop up the ‘tax rebate specials’ at the nearest Wal-Mart or Best Buy. Do they actually believe this is going to stimulate the ‘economy’? Do they think it will have an unending orgasm or something?
Trying to prop up the old ‘economy’, i.e., the system that exists right now, is a waste of money and energy. It’s like trying to convince us that Elizabeth Taylor is a sultry and svelte 20-something.....sorry it’s the best I could do. Not even the best make-up artist and lighting specialist can change reality forever. And in their heart of hearts they know it really won’t work; at least I hope they’re smart enough to realize that. When the ‘economy’ really fails, not necessarily right now but in a couple of decades, maybe then the USofA will do the right thing. Of course it will probably be too late by then; by then the Indians and Chinese will own us. That decade-away or so collapse is going to provoke an angry, perhaps violent response from the ordinary citizens in the USofA. When they realize that not only have their hopes been dashed, but that they have been deliberately and callously lied to and exploited, they are going to be thoroughly pissed. At least I hope so.
To repeat: All of the major remedies that have been proposed by the federal government so far are based on accepting the proposition that things as they are currently constituted should remain in place. There is no understanding that the world has shifted; things are not as they were 20 or 30 or 50 years ago. We are no longer numero uno in everything, everywhere. In fact, except for the size of our turgid and bloated military, we’re not number one in anything any where any more. Our failure as a society and as a nation to grasp this reality is a HUGE blunder. It is clear that if we continue to follow the path we have chosen it will bring a catastrophic, if slow and exquisitely painful financial and cultural collapse of the United States. A great many people believe that collapse is already well underway. And when it happens, The Collapse will engulf not only the US, but essentially all of the other nations of the world as well. Googa gajube.
A bold global vision of fair and equitable capitalism within a sustainable 'economic system' coupled with focused actions, which involved tangible projects, could not only reverse this trend toward world-wide entropy and the unraveling of what we consider to be civilization, it could also lift the spirits and energies of peoples and governments everywhere. If the USofA was to launch an environmental reparations and renewal program that invested in real, on-the-ground projects, it would engage and enlist the hearts, minds and energies of the global community. As a nation we would not only regain our moral standing in the world, we could begin to lead on a practical level as well. If the US were to call clearly, unselfishly and unequivocally not only for an international effort to reverse global climate change, while actually launching one here at home we would regain much of our moral and financial standing in the world. If we were to push for collaborative and realistic efforts to promote a sustainable way of living on this planet, other nations in the world would probably follow us, BUT ONLY if we demonstrated clear and unselfish commitment by taking and maintaining progress toward that goal. This would involve not only a leap of faith on our part, but a resilient investment of trust in others on our part. And though many ‘conservatives’ would disagree, it is up to us, the USofA to show good faith first and to continue to show it despite the ‘failings’ of other ‘nation states’ every now and then.
As long as predatory, self-righteous, uncontrolled capitalism remains our SOP, even our religion, we cannot hope to regain our moral footing or our economic footing. Without a new vision we cannot hope to be anything but an addicted and addled nation lurching from ‘quick fix’ to ‘quick fix’.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
SUnday AM in NE- After the South Carolina Primary
I drove, bad boy that I am, to the local equivalent of a seven-eleven to check out the Sunday papers this morning. Since I am something of a political junkie I thought I might want to read the print media take on the latest events. It had just started to snow, our NE Patriots were about to get a send off to the Super Bowl, and, more importantly, Barack Obama had just thrashed Hillary in the South Carolina primary by more than 25 points. THE Clinton spin machine has been in high gear since last night, barely acknowledging the Obama victory and busily comparing Barack to Jesse Jackson. It is sad to watch the former Prez soil himself as he turns his ire and his pique on at members of his own party after being thwarted in his attempt to get what he wants. But I had forgotten what a truly nasty and masterful belittler Bill is.
W. J. Clinton has always assumed that since he is beloved among the faithful that the Dems would just roll over and coronate Hillary, thereby putting him back in the White House as well. Of course the Clintons may still retake the White House, but it won't be a simple or a painless exercise. If they do manage to pull it off we will be stuck with at least four more years of divisive and bitterly partisan politics. We will also have to suffer through yet another Administration that will do virtually nothing to set this nation on the course to renewal and sustainability.
While he was in office Bill Clinton proved that he was as adept at sleeping with the corporations as anyone. He did manage to make us either ignore his peccadilloes or at least forgive them since he seemed not only like such a nice guy, but he also managed to feed the illusion that some of the money that was changing hands for all these favors got spread around a little more widely than it does under Republican administrations. But other than that he made no fundamental efforts to change the way things work in the USofA. In fact, he not only oversaw the single most important program of corporate giveaways and exportation of real jobs, i.e., NAFTA, he was its staunchest supporter. Though he is clearly less of a venal character than GWB, there is absolutely no reason to think that his wife will be any less of a fox in the hen house than he was. The only change she really supports is moving the corporate payoffs from Republican pockets to Democrat pockets. Plus ca change. Hillary should be running on the 'spare change' ticket. No matter how hard I try I can’t avoid seeing her as a prudish, hectoring, self-righteous elderly aunt who disses everyone when their backs are turned. She also has the phoniest smile on the planet; well, no that’s not true. Dubba’s is still the winner in that category.
After checking out the headlines and scanning the promised contents inside, I avoided giving money to the NY Times corporation. I ignored not only their namesake flagship paper and but their local rag, the Boston Globe as well. I also avoided the urge to buy a bag of crispy cheese doodles..... though I'm a little sorry about that. So it’s a day of homemade bread and smoked salmon from a trip to the coast of Washington. Things could be worse; and no doubt they will be soon enough.
W. J. Clinton has always assumed that since he is beloved among the faithful that the Dems would just roll over and coronate Hillary, thereby putting him back in the White House as well. Of course the Clintons may still retake the White House, but it won't be a simple or a painless exercise. If they do manage to pull it off we will be stuck with at least four more years of divisive and bitterly partisan politics. We will also have to suffer through yet another Administration that will do virtually nothing to set this nation on the course to renewal and sustainability.
While he was in office Bill Clinton proved that he was as adept at sleeping with the corporations as anyone. He did manage to make us either ignore his peccadilloes or at least forgive them since he seemed not only like such a nice guy, but he also managed to feed the illusion that some of the money that was changing hands for all these favors got spread around a little more widely than it does under Republican administrations. But other than that he made no fundamental efforts to change the way things work in the USofA. In fact, he not only oversaw the single most important program of corporate giveaways and exportation of real jobs, i.e., NAFTA, he was its staunchest supporter. Though he is clearly less of a venal character than GWB, there is absolutely no reason to think that his wife will be any less of a fox in the hen house than he was. The only change she really supports is moving the corporate payoffs from Republican pockets to Democrat pockets. Plus ca change. Hillary should be running on the 'spare change' ticket. No matter how hard I try I can’t avoid seeing her as a prudish, hectoring, self-righteous elderly aunt who disses everyone when their backs are turned. She also has the phoniest smile on the planet; well, no that’s not true. Dubba’s is still the winner in that category.
After checking out the headlines and scanning the promised contents inside, I avoided giving money to the NY Times corporation. I ignored not only their namesake flagship paper and but their local rag, the Boston Globe as well. I also avoided the urge to buy a bag of crispy cheese doodles..... though I'm a little sorry about that. So it’s a day of homemade bread and smoked salmon from a trip to the coast of Washington. Things could be worse; and no doubt they will be soon enough.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
WHEE-conomy
Why is it that except for a few hardy souls in this country no one really has any idea how precariously perched the US economy really is? OR if they do, they're afraid to tell the truth. In the meantime, and 'mean' will be the operative part of that word, we will pretend indefinitely, well, at least until the oil runs out. Then I guess we’ll all recognize that we’re well and truly fucked.
In order to party on with our 24/7 entertainment culture let’s continue to deny that we are utterly reliant on imports from other countries around the world for virtually everything we need to survive at this point, except for two basic commodities, quite a bit of food and a whole lot of coal. Even some of our food addictions, particularly many of the things we identify as 'staples', such as all of the coffee and much of the sugar we use, to name just two, are brought in from abroad. As for durable goods; we make practically nothing of significance or genuine value here any more. Virtually all of our clothing and most of our oil is imported. All of the gadgets, like computers, cell phones and TVs, those devices which have come to symbolize lifestyle and which keep our version of it humming along in the way that it does are made ‘over there’ somewhere. Usually it’s some poor as cat shit 4th world nation like Bangladesh, but we also get stuff from Malaysia, and absolute boatloads from China. Sure we still manufacture a lot of cars and airplanes here, but if we don’t have enough gasoline to run them at a reasonable price they become more of a disposal problem, rather than a transportation luxury. For the most part as a nation we continue to ignore the scary fundamentals of the reality of our situation. Much of what we have come to consider ‘valuable’ has no value whatsoever when it comes to meeting the requirements of actual sustenance and survival.
Meanwhile the government is trying to reassure us that everything is OK. Just the fact that the President of the United States has to go on national television to try to convince the world that the sky that is already dropping chunks on our shoulders really isn’t falling is a momentous event. To listen to his empty rhetoric is unnerving; certainly it isn't reassuring. His record as a prognosticator is about as good as his record as a uniter. And if you watch his face and see the expression in his eyes you realize that not only is he frightened, he also knows he is lying. Even his tiny gnat brain has finally begun to understand that the foundation of our economic house outhouse has not only cracked, it has commenced crumbling and cold air is blowing up our asses. When we let corporations dictate the rules, in the name of all-holy-capitalism, we gave away the farm, literally. And as more and more of our nations actual productive capacity was shut down and left to molder and rust, a smiling cadre of contemporary carpetbaggers moved in. We consigned the economic fate of our nation to con artists, speculators and financial patent medicine salesmen. Their seductions have sold well, very well indeed. And not only here, but around the world --- ‘Everyone loves a winner!’ Now, even as the glitzy gala of faux prosperity they have sold us is seen for what it is, little more than a shoddy Disney ride, they are still trying to spoon feed us more of the same. Already the guys and gals in Armani suits are appearing everywhere on TV to reassure us that ‘the fundamentals of the US Economy are sound.’ Their only hope is to convince us, and the rest of the world, that the paper on which we have built our futures as well as our present, is actually worth something.
And the rest of the world has no choice. The rest of the world will probably quietly agree to go along with the gag. They’ll agree to not notice the sleight of hand for a while, since we’re their best and most gullible customer and their biggest debtor. But it will only be for a while; it won’t last forever. Then the buying spree will begin again as everything is hyped up in ‘value’. The USofA is already seamy bazaar and soon it will be bought lock stock and barrel by people who don’t live here. Like every cagey business-folk everywhere, they love cash cows and they know they have a slavering pre-sold mob over here who'll buy anything. They will own all of it, and all of us, and it will be run with a different set of rules. We built the golden calf and convinced everyone to worship it; what did we expect would happen? Meanwhile the oil is draining out of the crankcase barrel by barrel. I wonder what it will sound like when our ‘mighty economic engine’ seizes up?
In order to party on with our 24/7 entertainment culture let’s continue to deny that we are utterly reliant on imports from other countries around the world for virtually everything we need to survive at this point, except for two basic commodities, quite a bit of food and a whole lot of coal. Even some of our food addictions, particularly many of the things we identify as 'staples', such as all of the coffee and much of the sugar we use, to name just two, are brought in from abroad. As for durable goods; we make practically nothing of significance or genuine value here any more. Virtually all of our clothing and most of our oil is imported. All of the gadgets, like computers, cell phones and TVs, those devices which have come to symbolize lifestyle and which keep our version of it humming along in the way that it does are made ‘over there’ somewhere. Usually it’s some poor as cat shit 4th world nation like Bangladesh, but we also get stuff from Malaysia, and absolute boatloads from China. Sure we still manufacture a lot of cars and airplanes here, but if we don’t have enough gasoline to run them at a reasonable price they become more of a disposal problem, rather than a transportation luxury. For the most part as a nation we continue to ignore the scary fundamentals of the reality of our situation. Much of what we have come to consider ‘valuable’ has no value whatsoever when it comes to meeting the requirements of actual sustenance and survival.
Meanwhile the government is trying to reassure us that everything is OK. Just the fact that the President of the United States has to go on national television to try to convince the world that the sky that is already dropping chunks on our shoulders really isn’t falling is a momentous event. To listen to his empty rhetoric is unnerving; certainly it isn't reassuring. His record as a prognosticator is about as good as his record as a uniter. And if you watch his face and see the expression in his eyes you realize that not only is he frightened, he also knows he is lying. Even his tiny gnat brain has finally begun to understand that the foundation of our economic house outhouse has not only cracked, it has commenced crumbling and cold air is blowing up our asses. When we let corporations dictate the rules, in the name of all-holy-capitalism, we gave away the farm, literally. And as more and more of our nations actual productive capacity was shut down and left to molder and rust, a smiling cadre of contemporary carpetbaggers moved in. We consigned the economic fate of our nation to con artists, speculators and financial patent medicine salesmen. Their seductions have sold well, very well indeed. And not only here, but around the world --- ‘Everyone loves a winner!’ Now, even as the glitzy gala of faux prosperity they have sold us is seen for what it is, little more than a shoddy Disney ride, they are still trying to spoon feed us more of the same. Already the guys and gals in Armani suits are appearing everywhere on TV to reassure us that ‘the fundamentals of the US Economy are sound.’ Their only hope is to convince us, and the rest of the world, that the paper on which we have built our futures as well as our present, is actually worth something.
And the rest of the world has no choice. The rest of the world will probably quietly agree to go along with the gag. They’ll agree to not notice the sleight of hand for a while, since we’re their best and most gullible customer and their biggest debtor. But it will only be for a while; it won’t last forever. Then the buying spree will begin again as everything is hyped up in ‘value’. The USofA is already seamy bazaar and soon it will be bought lock stock and barrel by people who don’t live here. Like every cagey business-folk everywhere, they love cash cows and they know they have a slavering pre-sold mob over here who'll buy anything. They will own all of it, and all of us, and it will be run with a different set of rules. We built the golden calf and convinced everyone to worship it; what did we expect would happen? Meanwhile the oil is draining out of the crankcase barrel by barrel. I wonder what it will sound like when our ‘mighty economic engine’ seizes up?
Monday, January 21, 2008
Resolutions: another list
Everyone seems to be resolving to be a little greener this year. Great impulse, but too often we are doing it primarily in the way that we have been conditioned to by our consumer economy: we BUY something new. Conserving or reducing or reusing or recycling is generally not our first impulse; Usually we rush out to lasso the latest gadget or device that has some green kudos attached to it and bring it home. This is not to say that we shouldn’t replace those things that are no longer performing the job we bought them to do, but don’t just throw something out and replace it with some new ‘green’ thing without giving it some careful and informed consideration. Try forming and embracing new habits. Besides with the economy in the crapper it makes even more sense. So, enough with the energy efficient florescent light bulbs already!! You can make that number 1 on your list if want you to, but it really won’t change much of anything. Better to unscrew your current world view, chuck your outlook on what and where your place is in the global community, and try out a new one.
Consider some of these options:
1- TURN OFF THE TV! (except for the Red Sox and the Patriots' games!) Almost everything on the tube is basically crap (the so-called program) wrapped in more crap (the advertising) . It's a totally non-nutritional, non-compostable shit sandwich, so stop eating it.
2- Become more informed about the physical world you live in. One place to begin is with learning about ecological foot printing and watersheds.
3- Try making a chart that lists what you CONSUME as well as how much and from what source(s), and what you BORROW or ‘use’ e.g., water. While this sounds like a real chore, maybe even a PITA (pain-in-the-ass), you can make it fun if you have kids. Try it out for a little while. If nothing else, the experiment may make you more aware of what you take out of and put back into the world around you. If you pull out an atlas and check out where some of the stuff that makes up the ‘stuff’ of your life comes from, you’ll also familiarize yourself with how the world is connected, and learn some geography at the same time. (I’ll post a sample chart here in the next couple of days.)
4- Take deliberate and conscious steps to reduce your personal (and your family’s) consumption of practically everything…. From energy to water to gadgets to clothing.
5- If you live in a neighborhood where you actually know your neighbors maybe there are some activities you can do together or equipment that you can share that will not only save you money, but conserve energy and build relationships as well.
6- Are they any appliances or gadgets or equipment you can recycle or donate? In Great Britain over the last few years there has developed a new kind of party called a ‘cadge’ party. Folks get together around exchanging, trading or re-circulating un-wanted gadgets or equipment. Usually there is a theme, like ‘personal electronics’, e.g., PDSa, cell phones, etc. An evening is set aside, usually with a pot-luck dinner involved, folks gather with their stuff and the exchanging and bartering begins. It’s communal, comical and a hell of lot of fun. It's also a lot less competitive than serial bridge games.
7- Garden, if you can and if you want to make the commitment; but if you can’t or don’t, try to find a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) location or a farm stand near you. Note: go organic as much as possible, but you already know that.
8- Shop locally as much as you can. Support the merchants in your own community. Going to BBS (Big Box Stores) may save you money, but BBS don’t tend to keep much, if any, of their profit money in the local community. Worst of all, they are relentless predators and muscle smaller retailers out of business. Not only that, if you have to drive more than 10 miles one way to a BBS, you may not be saving any significant amount of money any way, at least not on small to medium purchases. Moreover, you will be adding CO2 and other pollutants to the environment as well as putting wear and tear on your car.
9- Form a shopping pool. When you must go shopping, try as often as possible to buddy up with someone you know who is likely to be wanting or needing to go on a similar errand. It may add a little extra time but it will pay you back major social dividends and save some money too.
10- ENOY life more!
Consider some of these options:
1- TURN OFF THE TV! (except for the Red Sox and the Patriots' games!) Almost everything on the tube is basically crap (the so-called program) wrapped in more crap (the advertising) . It's a totally non-nutritional, non-compostable shit sandwich, so stop eating it.
2- Become more informed about the physical world you live in. One place to begin is with learning about ecological foot printing and watersheds.
3- Try making a chart that lists what you CONSUME as well as how much and from what source(s), and what you BORROW or ‘use’ e.g., water. While this sounds like a real chore, maybe even a PITA (pain-in-the-ass), you can make it fun if you have kids. Try it out for a little while. If nothing else, the experiment may make you more aware of what you take out of and put back into the world around you. If you pull out an atlas and check out where some of the stuff that makes up the ‘stuff’ of your life comes from, you’ll also familiarize yourself with how the world is connected, and learn some geography at the same time. (I’ll post a sample chart here in the next couple of days.)
4- Take deliberate and conscious steps to reduce your personal (and your family’s) consumption of practically everything…. From energy to water to gadgets to clothing.
5- If you live in a neighborhood where you actually know your neighbors maybe there are some activities you can do together or equipment that you can share that will not only save you money, but conserve energy and build relationships as well.
6- Are they any appliances or gadgets or equipment you can recycle or donate? In Great Britain over the last few years there has developed a new kind of party called a ‘cadge’ party. Folks get together around exchanging, trading or re-circulating un-wanted gadgets or equipment. Usually there is a theme, like ‘personal electronics’, e.g., PDSa, cell phones, etc. An evening is set aside, usually with a pot-luck dinner involved, folks gather with their stuff and the exchanging and bartering begins. It’s communal, comical and a hell of lot of fun. It's also a lot less competitive than serial bridge games.
7- Garden, if you can and if you want to make the commitment; but if you can’t or don’t, try to find a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) location or a farm stand near you. Note: go organic as much as possible, but you already know that.
8- Shop locally as much as you can. Support the merchants in your own community. Going to BBS (Big Box Stores) may save you money, but BBS don’t tend to keep much, if any, of their profit money in the local community. Worst of all, they are relentless predators and muscle smaller retailers out of business. Not only that, if you have to drive more than 10 miles one way to a BBS, you may not be saving any significant amount of money any way, at least not on small to medium purchases. Moreover, you will be adding CO2 and other pollutants to the environment as well as putting wear and tear on your car.
9- Form a shopping pool. When you must go shopping, try as often as possible to buddy up with someone you know who is likely to be wanting or needing to go on a similar errand. It may add a little extra time but it will pay you back major social dividends and save some money too.
10- ENOY life more!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Re-Re-rebates Anyone?
January 17, 2008: following the evening ‘news’
A few minutes ago I sat and watched a discussion about possible actions the federal government might take to address the worsening economic situation in the country. The context is, of course, the 24% decline in new home construction over the same period last year, the paltry creation of ‘new jobs’ over the past few months, the essential collapse of new home sales, the steadily increasing cost of absolutely everything from gasoline to lettuce, and today’s drop of over 300 points in the stock market, a drop which brings the total plunge over the last couple of weeks to more than a thousand points.
The discussion I watched was staged on The Evening News with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Besides the facilitator/commentator, whose name I don’t recall, there was the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, a Democrat from South Carolina, and the Minority Chairman or whatever they call him, a Republican from Minnesota. Added to the backdrop of the context above were comments made to Congress today by Fed Chairman Bernanke. The performance by these two congressmen was absolutely stunning, mind-numbing and, if the situation weren’t so serious, hilarious; for a while I thought I was watching an American version of a Monty Python sketch. The odor of dripping, unctuous seriousness with which they took themselves almost reached through the glass of the TV screen. Fortunately it didn’t, so the air in my kitchen was spared the stench of putrefaction.What they said was so unintelligible, unintelligent, and incoherent it could have been a script from one of the late lamented Professor Irwin Corey’s stand-up routines.
What is truly scary is that these are the Congressional ‘folks’ who are going to try and ‘fix’ things. I don’t think they have any real ideas what is actually broken, how it is broken, or why. They were offering up the notion that a ‘temporary tax rebate’ for ‘middle class’ tax payers, an amount that they suggested would total a whopping $800/per taxpayer would ‘stimulate’ the economy back into health, particularly if it was coupled with a very large and more permanent tax cut or rebate for businesses, which would encourage them to buy more equipment, etc. Guess who's going to come out ahead in the back-room bargaining?
After the two 'lawmakers' nattered on about this for at least 15 minutes, I came away feeling as though someone had just drilled a hole in my head and drained out my brains. Where have these A-holes been for the last six years? What planet have they suddenly beamed down from? DO they seriously think that $800 in tax rebates is going to do anything significant for the average American? It might pay a back heating bill or two, or put gas in the car for a couple of months but around here that amount of money wouldn’t even pay for the cost of a monthly health premium. I guess they haven’t noticed that the entire system, as John Edwards has pointed out, is ‘rigged’. Without major corrections to the system itself, things will continue to erode, not just gradually, and not gently. Too bad we’re all probably going to sit by passively and watch all of it happen. But then what else can we do? Press our 'elected representatives' for reform? The analogy that Al Gore used about frogs in water applies just as well to us in the soup of our economy as it does to global warming.
But of course our ‘elected representatives’ are in a very different position; these Congrecats are sitting there with free health care for themselves and their family, a rather generous retirement plan, which for those who serve for more than 20 years is equal to 80% of their highest salary. And in case you were wondering, the salary for a congressman or a senator these days is $169,300. They also get personnel and staff allowances, expense allowances, travel benefits and free mailing privileges. Meanwhile, the average household income in the US as of 2006, was estimated to be less than $48,300. I know it is hard to take that number seriously, at least for this particular part of the country. But even if it's well up into the $60K or $70K figure around here, it’s still quite a gap. And BTW, do you know many folks who get a free ride on health care?
To add some additional context: I recall reading somewhere that the average cost per family of the ‘war’ in Iraq is actually going to end up close to $30,000. The war itself will cost well over 1 TRILLION dollars. Let me write that out: $1,000,000,000,000. That’s a thousand billion. We’re currently shelling out $200 million per day to prop up these folks. Some other facts: Not only have we expended more than 250,000 bullets for every individual insurgent killed (according to a recent NY Times article), so far US war expenditures are equal to nearly $3800 per Iraqi. By the way more than 3800 US troops have been killed. Interesting symmetry huh? Sort of puts that proposed $800 tax rebate into perspective doesn’t it?
A few minutes ago I sat and watched a discussion about possible actions the federal government might take to address the worsening economic situation in the country. The context is, of course, the 24% decline in new home construction over the same period last year, the paltry creation of ‘new jobs’ over the past few months, the essential collapse of new home sales, the steadily increasing cost of absolutely everything from gasoline to lettuce, and today’s drop of over 300 points in the stock market, a drop which brings the total plunge over the last couple of weeks to more than a thousand points.
The discussion I watched was staged on The Evening News with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Besides the facilitator/commentator, whose name I don’t recall, there was the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, a Democrat from South Carolina, and the Minority Chairman or whatever they call him, a Republican from Minnesota. Added to the backdrop of the context above were comments made to Congress today by Fed Chairman Bernanke. The performance by these two congressmen was absolutely stunning, mind-numbing and, if the situation weren’t so serious, hilarious; for a while I thought I was watching an American version of a Monty Python sketch. The odor of dripping, unctuous seriousness with which they took themselves almost reached through the glass of the TV screen. Fortunately it didn’t, so the air in my kitchen was spared the stench of putrefaction.What they said was so unintelligible, unintelligent, and incoherent it could have been a script from one of the late lamented Professor Irwin Corey’s stand-up routines.
What is truly scary is that these are the Congressional ‘folks’ who are going to try and ‘fix’ things. I don’t think they have any real ideas what is actually broken, how it is broken, or why. They were offering up the notion that a ‘temporary tax rebate’ for ‘middle class’ tax payers, an amount that they suggested would total a whopping $800/per taxpayer would ‘stimulate’ the economy back into health, particularly if it was coupled with a very large and more permanent tax cut or rebate for businesses, which would encourage them to buy more equipment, etc. Guess who's going to come out ahead in the back-room bargaining?
After the two 'lawmakers' nattered on about this for at least 15 minutes, I came away feeling as though someone had just drilled a hole in my head and drained out my brains. Where have these A-holes been for the last six years? What planet have they suddenly beamed down from? DO they seriously think that $800 in tax rebates is going to do anything significant for the average American? It might pay a back heating bill or two, or put gas in the car for a couple of months but around here that amount of money wouldn’t even pay for the cost of a monthly health premium. I guess they haven’t noticed that the entire system, as John Edwards has pointed out, is ‘rigged’. Without major corrections to the system itself, things will continue to erode, not just gradually, and not gently. Too bad we’re all probably going to sit by passively and watch all of it happen. But then what else can we do? Press our 'elected representatives' for reform? The analogy that Al Gore used about frogs in water applies just as well to us in the soup of our economy as it does to global warming.
But of course our ‘elected representatives’ are in a very different position; these Congrecats are sitting there with free health care for themselves and their family, a rather generous retirement plan, which for those who serve for more than 20 years is equal to 80% of their highest salary. And in case you were wondering, the salary for a congressman or a senator these days is $169,300. They also get personnel and staff allowances, expense allowances, travel benefits and free mailing privileges. Meanwhile, the average household income in the US as of 2006, was estimated to be less than $48,300. I know it is hard to take that number seriously, at least for this particular part of the country. But even if it's well up into the $60K or $70K figure around here, it’s still quite a gap. And BTW, do you know many folks who get a free ride on health care?
To add some additional context: I recall reading somewhere that the average cost per family of the ‘war’ in Iraq is actually going to end up close to $30,000. The war itself will cost well over 1 TRILLION dollars. Let me write that out: $1,000,000,000,000. That’s a thousand billion. We’re currently shelling out $200 million per day to prop up these folks. Some other facts: Not only have we expended more than 250,000 bullets for every individual insurgent killed (according to a recent NY Times article), so far US war expenditures are equal to nearly $3800 per Iraqi. By the way more than 3800 US troops have been killed. Interesting symmetry huh? Sort of puts that proposed $800 tax rebate into perspective doesn’t it?
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Sledding down the slope of Peak Oil
January 2, 2008 (Gregorian Calendar)
Today the price of crude oil hit $100 a barrel. IT probably won’t stay at that level for long, but don’t expect it to drop below $90 again ever. That means the perceived and accepted value of a barrel of the all-too-essential sticky black stuff has doubled within a year. We have a hit a benchmark that we weren’t expected to hit this soon; Doesn’t it remind you of those experts who said it would take the polar icecap a hundred years to melt? ‘Tipping point,’ anyone?
And, now that the $100 line has been crossed, despite our best efforts to prevent it, the next first down flags are already being staked out along the sidelines: $110? $125? $150? $200? Watch those chains get moved. Of course by the time we reach the equivalent of $150/barrel the price won’t be measured in dollars any more. It will be calculated in Euros or the yuan, or the renminbi, aka RMB, aka Chinese currency. By the way (btw): you might want to make yourself familiar with those words because they will be cropping up more frequently during the next couple of years. They may not appear on the front pages or be mouthed by the talking-heads on the evening ‘news’ of course. After all, we really don’t want to scare the folks in Oklahoma, or the suburbs of NYC for that matter, too much, too soon. But, in a few months, they, yuan or renminbi or RMB will turn up on the business pages, those pages ‘inside the fold’ and usually read only by the moneyed cognisanti. Also FYI, here’s some other info that didn’t make the front page of the NY Times (at least I didn’t see it there): the RMB has climbed 6.9 percent against the dollar in the past year AND China's trade surplus with the USofA soared to 238.13 BILLION U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2007. Those figures come from the US General Administration of Customs. That’s 52.2 percent more than the same period a year earlier. I could be wrong but I don’t think GWB mentioned that bit of economic good news in any of his recent ‘the US economy is doing just great’ chats. Oddly enough, that $200 plus billion is less than what we have spent so far on the ‘war’ in Iraq. Also FYI; in case you thought even a symbolic gesture on your part might help to balance this inequity, I hate to be the one to tell you, but it’s probably too late to send back all of those toxic PRC-produced, but designed in the USofA, toys since your kids have probably already gummed them into a pulp. The PRC has a very strict no return policy, as do we. Since we enforce it why shouldn’t they? Right now you might want to take a moment to check on your kids just to make sure they aren’t throbbing into some sort of fit in the far corner of the family room…of course the fit may also have been caused by the ‘food’ in the snack pack they have just eaten, thanks to the Nestle corporation or some other beneficent entity. See, it really is “a small world after all.”
What does it all mean? In both the short and long run it probably means the beginning of the end of USofA domination in the financial markets as well as most commodity markets. It also means that we may no longer have the role of leading actor on the political stage in the real world. Of course, over the next decade or two, there will be occasional spasms while we, now cast in the role of former dominator, thrash about in our death throes. As the drama plays out there will no doubt be an act or two of bathetic whining and posturing by whatever US ‘administration’ is in office. Remember: It’s always important to look good in front of the hometown audience. There may even be a brief few years, no more than a decade, when it looks as though our USofA character, let’s call him ‘Rocky’, that plucky heavyweight fighter, garbed in red-white-and-blue and bristling with arrogant self-serving bluster and military muscle, might stage a comeback. We may even occupy a country or two for a while. But this will be only a brief, and probably very bloody, reminder, to the rest of the world (i.e., everyone not USofA) of just how self-aggrandizing, nasty, greedy, racist, ruthless and murderous we really were/are (despite our perfect white-toothed smiles and sexy music videos). They will also be reminded by our behavior of just how very much they really hate and despise us. After all, no one loves a bullying over-lord. And after the shit has truly been scattered by the fan, what then? After that, we will be lucky if we get even table scraps. Hell, more likely than not we’ll have to scramble just to pick a few crumbs before Ecuador snatches them. For a while we may be able to push Canada or France around; but in the long run, no self-respecting nation will want to sell us anything, let alone make anything for us, even if we bribe or beg them. Then we’ll begin to discover what the rest of the world has been going through while we partied on. Hoo-Ha!
The initial stages of all of this are beginning to unfold right now. And while there are probably strategies and plans galore in the backrooms, NO ONE IN THE UPPER ECHELONS OF THE FEDERAL CORPORATE GOVERNMENT of the USofA IS EVEN TALKING PUBLICALLY ABOUT IT!! Why? Because they are busy trying to convince us that none of it can possibly happen; not to US, they assure us. Some of them truly believe their own BS; they truly believe we are immune from the laws of natural relationships and the physical universe. Yes, yes I know that all of this ranting sounds truly unhinged. And even I hope it is. But I think all of us know, in our heart of hearts and brain of brains that it isn’t. All of this comfort and convenience we enjoy and take for granted isn’t going to unravel right away so certainly a few of us will get to enjoy some of the fruits of our social security checks and our 401-Ks for a few years. But you might want to suggest to your grandkids that they should consider beginning some courses in Mandarin and Hindi. If not this week, maybe next. Just don’t wait too long. It's already too late for me and besides I'm still trying to learn Spanish.
Today the price of crude oil hit $100 a barrel. IT probably won’t stay at that level for long, but don’t expect it to drop below $90 again ever. That means the perceived and accepted value of a barrel of the all-too-essential sticky black stuff has doubled within a year. We have a hit a benchmark that we weren’t expected to hit this soon; Doesn’t it remind you of those experts who said it would take the polar icecap a hundred years to melt? ‘Tipping point,’ anyone?
And, now that the $100 line has been crossed, despite our best efforts to prevent it, the next first down flags are already being staked out along the sidelines: $110? $125? $150? $200? Watch those chains get moved. Of course by the time we reach the equivalent of $150/barrel the price won’t be measured in dollars any more. It will be calculated in Euros or the yuan, or the renminbi, aka RMB, aka Chinese currency. By the way (btw): you might want to make yourself familiar with those words because they will be cropping up more frequently during the next couple of years. They may not appear on the front pages or be mouthed by the talking-heads on the evening ‘news’ of course. After all, we really don’t want to scare the folks in Oklahoma, or the suburbs of NYC for that matter, too much, too soon. But, in a few months, they, yuan or renminbi or RMB will turn up on the business pages, those pages ‘inside the fold’ and usually read only by the moneyed cognisanti. Also FYI, here’s some other info that didn’t make the front page of the NY Times (at least I didn’t see it there): the RMB has climbed 6.9 percent against the dollar in the past year AND China's trade surplus with the USofA soared to 238.13 BILLION U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2007. Those figures come from the US General Administration of Customs. That’s 52.2 percent more than the same period a year earlier. I could be wrong but I don’t think GWB mentioned that bit of economic good news in any of his recent ‘the US economy is doing just great’ chats. Oddly enough, that $200 plus billion is less than what we have spent so far on the ‘war’ in Iraq. Also FYI; in case you thought even a symbolic gesture on your part might help to balance this inequity, I hate to be the one to tell you, but it’s probably too late to send back all of those toxic PRC-produced, but designed in the USofA, toys since your kids have probably already gummed them into a pulp. The PRC has a very strict no return policy, as do we. Since we enforce it why shouldn’t they? Right now you might want to take a moment to check on your kids just to make sure they aren’t throbbing into some sort of fit in the far corner of the family room…of course the fit may also have been caused by the ‘food’ in the snack pack they have just eaten, thanks to the Nestle corporation or some other beneficent entity. See, it really is “a small world after all.”
What does it all mean? In both the short and long run it probably means the beginning of the end of USofA domination in the financial markets as well as most commodity markets. It also means that we may no longer have the role of leading actor on the political stage in the real world. Of course, over the next decade or two, there will be occasional spasms while we, now cast in the role of former dominator, thrash about in our death throes. As the drama plays out there will no doubt be an act or two of bathetic whining and posturing by whatever US ‘administration’ is in office. Remember: It’s always important to look good in front of the hometown audience. There may even be a brief few years, no more than a decade, when it looks as though our USofA character, let’s call him ‘Rocky’, that plucky heavyweight fighter, garbed in red-white-and-blue and bristling with arrogant self-serving bluster and military muscle, might stage a comeback. We may even occupy a country or two for a while. But this will be only a brief, and probably very bloody, reminder, to the rest of the world (i.e., everyone not USofA) of just how self-aggrandizing, nasty, greedy, racist, ruthless and murderous we really were/are (despite our perfect white-toothed smiles and sexy music videos). They will also be reminded by our behavior of just how very much they really hate and despise us. After all, no one loves a bullying over-lord. And after the shit has truly been scattered by the fan, what then? After that, we will be lucky if we get even table scraps. Hell, more likely than not we’ll have to scramble just to pick a few crumbs before Ecuador snatches them. For a while we may be able to push Canada or France around; but in the long run, no self-respecting nation will want to sell us anything, let alone make anything for us, even if we bribe or beg them. Then we’ll begin to discover what the rest of the world has been going through while we partied on. Hoo-Ha!
The initial stages of all of this are beginning to unfold right now. And while there are probably strategies and plans galore in the backrooms, NO ONE IN THE UPPER ECHELONS OF THE FEDERAL CORPORATE GOVERNMENT of the USofA IS EVEN TALKING PUBLICALLY ABOUT IT!! Why? Because they are busy trying to convince us that none of it can possibly happen; not to US, they assure us. Some of them truly believe their own BS; they truly believe we are immune from the laws of natural relationships and the physical universe. Yes, yes I know that all of this ranting sounds truly unhinged. And even I hope it is. But I think all of us know, in our heart of hearts and brain of brains that it isn’t. All of this comfort and convenience we enjoy and take for granted isn’t going to unravel right away so certainly a few of us will get to enjoy some of the fruits of our social security checks and our 401-Ks for a few years. But you might want to suggest to your grandkids that they should consider beginning some courses in Mandarin and Hindi. If not this week, maybe next. Just don’t wait too long. It's already too late for me and besides I'm still trying to learn Spanish.
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