Iraq, Afghanistan, the Bailouts, Healthcare, and now Iran? So what's the strategy here? Bankrupt America and begin again after reorganization? Someone tell me how to play this: What happens when the world's largest debtor goes belly up? Barter and keep what you can hold by force? Neo-Feudalism? Quick! Join a gang? What Happens with the collapse comes?

Chris,

I always enjoy your emails and your perspective, even if I find it sometimes divergent. (What else are friends for if not that?)

I would be curious to see a full list of lobbyists in Washington. I suspect there are just as many non-corporate, not-for-profit/special-interest groups lobbying our corrupt politicians as there are industrial/corporate lobbies at work.

My personal point of view on wealth and influence is much simpler and rooted in experience from years ago: My sister called for help and I had none to offer because I was broke (being at the time mildly anti-materialist... ha!). It made me finally realize the true purpose of wealth: It is the power to effect or protect our dearest interests. That is the moment I got serious about making, saving, and investing, to that wicked end of accumulating wealth.

To do that, you have to mix with the less savory elements of our society (I mean corporate executives in particular). But without them, I'd be living in the bad part of Grover City and still pounding stakes in the ground as an old man with a bad back. Capitalism, with all it's ills, is still the lesser of evils in this world of ours.

I have had the privledge of wandering the ruins of socialism in the Former Soviet Union, the oppression of Islam in Saudi, and the crippling culture of corruption in Africa. I have seen the choices, up close and personal as they say, and I choose the evils of American Capitalism to any of the other "Systems" I've seen along the way. Every step away from the principles of our founding fathers, is a step towards a fool's false dream.

If you would have The Successful redirect the effect, the power, of their wealth, then make your introductions, get involved with them. Argue your case, and overtime your influence will effect your dream. How else do you explain things like the Gates Foundation? Eventually, the fortunate grow conscience in the same way old men grow sentimental as time runs out. Witness the universities, libraries, public structures of Carnegie, et al. Wealth must concentrate to effect the excellent.

Individually, most of us sound like you and me: powerless to effect social change and so we hope some politician will do it for us. Ha!. The Exceptions, aka The Successful, you must lobby with logic and persuasion. It is all we have.

Class warfare will never succeed, but thoughtful and passionate eloquence can. It's the pen and the sword argument again. But the notion that the poor will just 'take it away' from the wealthy is laughable... and suddenly do the right thing, or do it so much better than all the experts that came before. Do they think the rich stupid and helpless? After either the French or the Russian revolutions, what happened? Just another form of tryanny to fill the void... and the lot of the poor changed not at all. Except of course for the new color of smoke the fresh governments blew up their collective asses...

The Poor are pawns being played in an old game amongst The Powerful.

wwfin

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government... "
Thomas Jefferson

Response to Provocation of the finest kind:

I find irony in the fact the populist poor (or so they percieve themselves to be) have taken up the banner of class warfare.
Who do they think will win? The poor? Since when has that ever happened?
Not only have they failed arithmetic, they have apparently failed history as well.
As ever, they are pawns played by wishful masters-to-be against the masters-now-in-power. Though the faces change, 'The Masters' will remain, and the poor will be unchanged.
In the end, you will only trade the shards of your republic for the oppression of a new master, and his rules, facist or socialist, it matters not. A new title to an old tryanny you can do nothing about.
Jesus meant it when he said it: the poor will always be with you. And there's a reason for that...

Consequences of a visit to San Carlos:

Verbosity is on pause for now. I went to San Carlos. Saw another way to live. Periodically while there, I would raise one of the issues in my personal litany, Only to meet a smooth wall of cultivated apathy.

They would patiently explain, to the obviously unknowing,
"I don't care. Furthermore, I don't want to care. Nothing I have ever said or done has ever made a difference. So I moved here and stopped worrying about it. It doesn't matter what I think. Now I don't care. And I don't want to care. Life is better this way. I am healthier this way. I am happier this way." I heard wisdom in this.

So I am in chrysalis; evolution; considering the change; considering the possibility of not worrying about whatever it is the media wants me to worry about today; considering what a simple life might be like... once again... like when I was young, where my biggest concerns are what's for dinner and where are the fish biting...

Does it matter if I care? Evidence is no. Is it in my best interest to fret? Again, the evidence is no. Then just why do I do it?

Wwfin

Verbosity is on pause. I went to San Carlos. Periodically while there, I would raise one of my personal litany of issues, Only to meet a smooth wall of cultivated apathy in the population of expats there.



They would patiently explain, to the obviously unknowing, "I don't care. Further, I don't want to care. Nothing I have ever said or done has ever made a difference. So I moved here and stopped worrying about it. It doesn't matter what I think. Now I don't care. And I don't want to care. Life is better this way."



I am in chrysalis; evolution; considering the change; considering

A friendly scolding from Chris:

... Furthermore, reveal your own agile mind by posting your own thoughts. I am a longtime friend of yours, and I know you have many rants worth reading if you would only take the time to write them. It would be much more fun to visit this blog if you unloaded personal ideas. As always, you will take my suggestions with a grain of salt and tell me they do not apply to you.

I am going to dance with danger here and give you your "Fishing While Naked" poem, written by me after a long talk with you about heroism and swine. I dare you to post it.

Fishing While Naked

You cast your pearls before swine when you tell me I am heroic
but I wear them with pride for even pigs love pearls
I am at my best when casting my line
hither and yon, the naked self in search of the big fighting fish
more loving than any hooker
is my hook, line, and sinker
I am sick of pretending all is fine for it isn’t
I am sick of swimming in the undercurrent
of the world when all I wanted was someone
to love me as the swine I am
do not tell me I am heroic unless you are willing
to see the fierce brute self who shivers in the cold
bleak but honest
casting a line in hope

Comments from Oz on Universal English

Yeah English

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as 'Euro-English'..

In the first year, 's' will replace the soft 'c'. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard 'c' will be dropped in favour of 'k'. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced with 'f'. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e' in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away..

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' with 'z' and 'w' with 'v'. During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining 'ou' and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl .

Peter Williams
Australia

The International Perspective: A Rave out of Saudi...
ALL,
HAVE BEEN OBSERVING THE TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ALIGNMENT,OIL & GAS TO BE SPECIFIC.
CHINA HAS JUST SIGNED A $30 BILLION DEVELOPMENT/PURCHASE PACKAGE WITH CHAVEZ,THE RUSSIANS A $20 BILLION PACKAGE.CHINA ALSO PENNED A $12 BILLION DEAL WITH BRAZIL.
CHINA & RUSSIA ARE BOTH MAKING SIGNIFICANT IN ROADS INTO EXPLOITING AFRICA'S MINERAL WEALTH.I TRUST THE AFRICANS WILL FIND THEM AS BENEVOLENT AS THEIR EUROPEAN PREDESSESORS.
AS YOU KNOW THE WEALTH & PROSPERITY OF THE WEST WAS & IS BASED ON FOSSIL FUELS.THERE IS A ARGUMENT THAT ALLOWING OUR DOMINANCE TO SLIP WILL CONDEMN US TO A THIRD WORLD EXISTANCE.
SEEMS LOGICAL BUT GIVEN THE ECONOMIC REALITIES OUR DEPARTURE FROM FOSSIL FUEL DOMINANCE IS INEVITABLE.
THE PRESS HAS SUPPORTED THE GLOBAL WARMING ARGUMENT.
WHETHER THIS IS A NATURAL OCCURRENCE OR A MANMADE, READ FOSSIL FUELS, IS STILL OPEN FOR DEBATE.TO ME IT IS OBVIOUS THAT GLOBAL WARMING IS OCCURING.
THERE IS PLENTY OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE TO INDICATE THAT IT IS PREDOMINATELY A NATURAL CYCLE WHICH HAS OCCURRED BEFORE.
ICE CORE RESEARCH IN GREENLAND & ANTARCTICA SUPPORTS THIS.
HAVING BEEN IN THIS BUSINESS FOR OVER 30 YEARS, I CAN ONLY SAY THAT FOSSIL FUELS ARE EXTREMELY UNHEALTHY FOR HUMAN BEINGS.
WE NEED TO GET OFF IT IF FOR NO OTHER REASON.
NATIONAL SECURITY ALSO MAKES A STRONG ARGUMENT FOR RENEWABLES.
THE GREENIES ARE ALSO DELUDING THEMSELVES IF THEY THINK THAT WIND,SOLAR & TIDAL SOURCES ARE ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE.
PROBLEMS WILL ARISE WITH THESE SOURCES ALSO.
TO INSURE A PROSPEROUS FUTURE FOR OUR NATION & MORE TO THE POINT YOUR OFFSPRING, THE SWITCH TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY RESOURCES NEEDS TO OCCUR AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE.
YOU MAY FIND IT OF INTEREST THAT THE MILITARY HAS BEEN MOVING IN THAT DIRECTION FOR OVER 2 DECADES.
THE TRANSITION PHASE WILL BE DIFFICULT & A STRONG MILITARY WILL BE NEEDED TO INSURE ITS SUCESS.
ITS A DANGEROUS WORLD OUT THERE. ETHICS & FAIR PLAY ARE MAN MADE CONCEPTS & PRETTY WELL LIMITED TO THE ACADEMIC WORLD. ALTHOUGH I DO NOT AGREE WITH MUCH OF WHAT OBAMA IS DOING, I BELIEVE HIS EMPHASIS ON ALTERNATE ENERGY IS GOOD, ALTHOUGH MISGUIDED.
IF HE CAN BREAK THE CORPORATE LOCK ON OUR ENERGY POLICY IT WILL BE A GOOD THING.
THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THE PREVIOUS REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATIONS HAVE REFUSED TO DO.
ONCE WE START DOWN THIS PATH THE AMERICAN CAN DO ATTITUDE WILL INSURE SUCCESS IF NOT CHOKED OFF BY EXCESS GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION.
SCOTT MCCART
CHIEF FIELD ENGINEER
SAUDI KAYAN PETROCHEMICAL COMPLEX

Old Men Speaking

Old Men say a lot of things. Some are stupid. Some are brilliant. Most are wasted because the audience left long ago.

This is my followthru on a threat to create a place for Old Men to speak their minds, share their experience, and speak out against the apparent idiocy consuming our world.

Here's your chance boys: Sound Off.

Need a topic? Here's a few:
1) This healthcare issue is a good place to start.
2) Or the concept of Jihad, does it lead to a new age of Crusades...
3) Why is there a Crisis of Leadership in this country?
(Will America ever see a centrist government again? wwfin.)
4) With guarantees of free speech, who holds the media responsible?
5) Is the U. S. Constitution obsolete?