Month: July 2015

I don’t recall if I have invoked this metaphor, or seen it evoked by anyone else, but it is obvious once it occurs.

In the same sense that ecosystems as a rule do better with a relatively high degree of diversity, so too do both businesses and the economy as a whole.  What we want are a wide array of small, medium, large, and giant corporations existing in very complex arrays subject to constant change.  Just like in the wild.

Unchecked giant corporations are like weeds that reduce complexity, and weaken the overall health of the ecosystem/economy.

A nascent sense of this is in my view what underlies the Buy Local movement.  But most of the hipsters with the Keep “…” Weird lack sufficient nuance to grasp that they do in fact like Capitalism, and business: they just don’t like big business, which is not at all the same as business.  Every hip bar and bookstore is a Capitalist institution, which exists for profit–which is to say nothing less or more than that they want to recompensed for the work they do and the products they make available, which is the only real alternative to slavery.

The health of our political order depends in no small measure on the health of our economy, which is ENTIRELY dependent on business activity.  There is no other source of income that is sustainable.  All government employees are paid with money taken from corporations and people who work for corporations.  This is true even if the money is borrowed or printed, although there is an added time delay that makes this less obvious.

There must always be a transfer of wealth from business people to the government for it to function, and this wealth is in motion.  It can change countries, cease its profit making activities and it is always exhausted after a time if it stays put.  A misunderstanding of this basic fact is what has doomed Greece and Venezuela, and many other nations.

There will never be a shortage of people promising free stuff.  And if enough people listen, that democracy dies.  It is really that simple.  It dies for the same reason that overfarmed or overforaged ecosystems die: there is not enough food left to sustain life, and a collapse happens as a series of related microdisasters.  Some plant dies which some animal depends on, so that animal dies out, and the animals that lived on it die out too.  It is exactly the same in economies.  Exactly.

Excessive taxation–which I would define as over 25% on anything–and overregulation are the forces which cause the mass extinctions we call depressions.  Well, that and of course the business cycles that fractional reserve banking enables.  That we might compare to a periodic flood or drought.  But that takes me beyond the point I wanted to make.

I predicted both consolidation among health insurance providers, and increased rates for everyone who was actually paying for their own insurance already.  We are seeing both.  The purchase of Humana may not be the end.

The goal, for companies like Aetna and United, was to increase their relative monopolies.  That is why they supported Obamacare.  That, and the fact that everyone was automatically upgraded to Cadillac plans whether they wanted them or could afford them or not.

People who automatically assume that because corporate profits and power are rhetorically opposed, that they are opposed in fact.  Wall Street wrote the Wall Street Reform Act.  And insurers–at least the giants–almost certainly had a role in shaping Obamacare.

The principle difference between Fascism and full blown Socialism is that the illusion is maintained that there is a gap between the private sector and the public.  The reality is the same: de facto government control of everything, and rule by oligarchy.  But the outward appearance can be different.

Keynes pointed this out very clearly and very openly in his General Theory, which remains a Fascist masterpiece.

We do not need to migrate to Single Payer for the government to control health insurance.  It is sufficient that they control the insurers, and that they are few, and not subject to competition.

No one who desires the public or other good in this life can be spared the work of thinking, if they are to do their actual, honest best.  We are surrounded by lies, but that does not mean that the truth cannot be found.  That is why I write my treatises.  I would not revise anything in my Obamacare piece, even though I wrote it 3 years ago.

All of this is simple, readily explained, and readily comprehensible.  We are simply surrounded by fools, greedy opportunists, and aspiring tyrants.

Video about a charismatic and passionate preacher who decides there is no Hell: https://youtu.be/iTPVfJEATcE

I thought it worth my time.

http://www.infowars.com/obama-removes-tpps-anti-slavery-clause-then-attacks-confederate-flag-as-symbol-of-slavery/

I found this interesting. Obama directly supports modern-day slavery in reality, but gins up a controversy where none existed to distract the world from it.

This whole issue revolves around what the Confederate Flag REALLY symbolizes, which is secession.  In my view Jade Helm is precisely an effort to build the military capability and tactics to prevent Texas, which is the most obvious candidate, having talked about it often, and having the unique history of having been the Lone Star State, from seceding.

The legality of secession has never been tested in court.  As I mentioned some time ago, Jefferson Davis was never tried for treason because it was feared he might be acquitted, and the entire Civil War rendered an illegal usurpation of power/invasion of a sovereign nation by the Union.

This July 4th, if you read the Declaration of Independence, you will find the following:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

I don’t think one has to ponder too long or too hard to find in there justification for secession.

And it is worth noting again the historical fact that the Civil War did little to better the lot of average black people.  They were not “freed” in any real sense.  They lived poor lives, subject to the rage of white Southerners, were disarmed by law, and suffered continuing miseries that in large measure continue TODAY, although of course the path was created in the 1950’s for them to achieve full equality with whites, had they chosen not to reject white culture and instead throw in their lot with schemers and thieves.

Granted, that is the sort of thing one ought not to say.  It gets you in trouble.  But am I wrong?  The demographic fact is irrefutable that two parent homes, education, and hard work raise everyone to the middle class, a safe neighborhood, and a good school by American standards. And the political and economic fact is clear that the War on Poverty failed miserably. It’s only lasting contribution has been the destruction of the nuclear family and the principle of self reliance.

It is because we can’t say this that the suffering of blacks continues.  I care enough about them to speak the truth.  There are not many like me.  Most prefer convenient and cowardly lies.

Who is the real friend?  The one who silently accepts your self destruction, or the one who provides both compassion and understanding, and challenge and intervention, when it is needed?

We seem to be devolving to a world where words are considered real, and reality is not.  This is quite dangerous.  This is the world Orwell described, and one which existed in pure form in his own time, still exists in Cuba and other places, and which may yet overtake this nation.

I am realizing that I have a sort of internal thermostat that seeks out negativity whenever I start feeling too good.

This is one of the main places I place that negativity.

Ergo, I am going to try and either blog less, or blog more positively.

It’s funny, though: I just took a Personality Strengths inventory–the Martin Seligman thing–and my top two are Bravery and Creativity, followed closely by Spirituality.  Dead last is Self Regulation.  They got that right.

I will add too that I don’t think Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is bullshit either.  Learned Optimism is one of the best books I ever read, and I have often used his tools dealing with Explanatory Style (Permanence, Pervasiveness, and Personalization) with success.

Finally, I will note that my seeming need to save the world seems to stem from a primitive fusion when I was quite young between me and the world, which seemed dangerous to me.  Some unconscious part of me has been unable to fully separate from this fusion until recently, perhaps as recently as today.  It is a terrible burden waking up every day carrying the weight of the world, and feeling like I have to do something to change it, even when that something is confined to writing a blog I don’t even know if anybody reads.  This completes another cycle I have been through before, but every iteration is a bit different, and my sincerity a bit more sincere (to quote an old Sales Manager).

I need to live in my  house, in my skin, and let the world carry on its operation for a time without feeling it is or even could be my job to change its course.  I have plans, and they will get done quicker if I do this.

I always have more to say, so I’m sure I won’t remain silent, but if I do post less, that is the reason.

We are really seeing the perfection of propaganda in the sliming of Donald Trump.  I will say a few obvious things, because our entire nation appears to have gone dark–the media, in any event, and those who follow it.

First and most obviously, there is a huge difference between opposing immigration and opposing illegal immigration.  My ancestors and his ancestors came here legally.  The government received us with open arms, and our ancestors and ourselves are productive citizens who pay taxes and take nothing from the government we didn’t put in first.

Second, there can be ZERO doubt that illegal aliens, and their legal children, are putting a strain on American employment and wages. I do work periodically in Texas and Arizona and have talked particularly with electricians down there, and wages have dropped roughly $5/hour in the past 10 years due solely to competition from people with green cards, and new immigrants.  We have many tens of millions of un-and underemployed who were born here.  We owe our fidelity first to our fellow country men and women, not to people who were born elsewhere.

Third, Mexico itself has very draconian laws criminalizing severely illegal immigrants in its own country.  If you are a Guatamalan, or El Salvadoran, or Honduran and they catch you there, they lock you up in jail for several years, and then deport you.

Four, it is not our fault that Mexico has a shit economy.  Every chance they have gotten for 100 years they have voted for the person promising them free stuff.  Corruption is endemic.  Most crime is not reported because the police either don’t care, or because they participated in it.  That is not our fault.  It is not our role in the world to provide a refuge to every person on the planet suffering abuse.  We can and have provided refuge for many tens or even hundreds of millions over the past two centuries, but we have limits.

There is nothing wrong with loyalty to ones countrymen and women that is stronger than that to people born elsewhere.  It is a common virtue practiced in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, and no doubt around the world.  Speaking common sense has become a thought crime, and that alone should cause all of us considerable angst.  I do wonder sometimes if the kids at our indoctrination factories might one day revolt en masse at the integration propaganda they are being subjected to, and start doing black-face pantomines that their black friends still find funny, but it seems doubtful.

Absent major changes, it seems our future is a continued shrinking of our public domain, of our actual mutual respect, of actual social and emotional skill, and of actual connection.

Again, I have ideas I am working on to do what I can to address this.  I will do what I can to remain positive.

Edit: I often follow the news not very carefully.  He apparently said Mexicans were bringing drugs and rapists.  Well, most drugs that come from out of the country come from Mexico.  I have been arguing now for some time that we should legalize everything, and put the drugs lords out of business, and end the drug wars.

As far as rapists, the thing with completely unregulated immigration is that there will be criminals among them, and it is clear that Obama has caught and released a lot of these people.  Our laws are not being enforced when they are politically inconvenient.  There is no display of principle or caring for protecting the innocent from the guilty.

Trump is obviously brash and crass, but he is saying things many people are thinking–with considerable justification in my view–but few have the balls to actually say.  Yes, our press is effective at personal attack and vilification, and most large corporations can be counted on to fold immediately under any pressure, now, but of what use is freedom if we live in fear?  Fear is the product of Political Correctness, and it is the intended product.

And I will note that it is applied equally to minorities.  Blacks who vote Republican, or gays who say that gay couples shouldn’t raise children face the same fate as whites saying things that people have been conditioned to view as unacceptable.  They are attacked and ostracized.  That is not civil society, and that is categorically illiberal.

You know, I am a very deeply emotional  person.  Dark and grotesque images come to me easily, and light and happy images not so much.  There are reasons for this, which I have documented, perhaps, ad nauseum.

But I feel good now.  I got my say out, and am now contemplating all the current improvements in the psychology of happiness, and all the decency of most of the developed world.  There are a nearly infinite number of things that are working quite well.

Self evidently, I don’t know what’s going to happen.  I know what I fear might happen, and I know why these fears exist.  At the same time, there is something to be said for following my own advice and limiting my recourse to abstraction, and doing more now, with what I have.

I haven’t done my Kum Nye in a few days.  It’s time.

Have a pleasant day!!!  We’re not dead yet (my jeremiads notwithstanding)!!!!

One of the things I have realized in the past week is that even sub-personalities have both good and bad attributes.  I have touched my much younger self–the part which was traumatized–and given it love and succor.  On the one hand, it presents itself as innocent and joyful.  As I get to know it, though, I realize that it also has a very primitive anger in it, a very primitive rage.  Even small children are capable of acts of violence, given the right circumstances.

It is good to discover such things.  The only way we can learn to trust ourselves is to know ourselves.  And only in trusting ourselves can we be sufficiently spontaneous to let good things flow through us into the world, and in so doing be regularly transformed and evolved.

Quite often, to touch some deep inner reality is to denude that self of its power.  It can only operate effectively in darkness.  Light is always an antiseptic and healer, even if the healing causes some discomfort.  I am used to discomfort.  This is a good thing.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.  Mother Teresa

The rhetoric of “oppression” is a method of propaganda used to make absurd ideas seem reasonable.  Every propaganda must fit the circumstances and beliefs and prejudices of the target culture. In America, we pride ourselves on our passionate commitment to justice and equality.  All that is needed to render these very real virtues the means of destruction is to pervert the meanings of these words.

Everyone gets an equal shot becomes everyone deserves an equal outcome.

Equality before the law becomes group guilt necessitating group punishment (raising no one).

Live and let live becomes conform or face social death.

Love becomes a symbol for using the pain of one group to gain power over another.  Van Jones uses the word love, but there is no love in collectivism.

We live in the most prosperous, free, and tolerant society the world has ever seen.  And large groups of people want to see “oppression” everywhere.

Here is what I would submit is the TRUE oppression: social isolation, metaphysical pessimism, superficiality, useless meaning systems, moral confusion, and fear for the future.

As an ideal, Socialism evokes the images of tribal solidarity.  But it delivers, as I have said over and over, the reality of the very alienation–Entfremdung–which Marx preached was solely a vice of the Capitalist order.

Everywhere everyone is talking.  But most of them are not saying anything useful, and most of them are making everything more confused.  The educational elites attending our best schools are moral and emotional children, who recite reflexively the most idiotic and damaging ideas imaginable.

Yes, I pulled out the White Dog, but the Garuda has not disappeared.  All this is stuff I’ve been sitting on for a while, and am letting out as a personal catharsis.

When our economy collapses in the Greek fashion because of our prodigious debt–or when we are exposed to an EMP we have done nothing to mitigate the effects of–what will we tell our children?

That we all fought to support Caitlyn Jenner?

That we all opposed the public display of a flag that has been on continuous display for 150 years?

That we fought to oppose Global Warming because we were told to do so?

That we religiously fought micro-aggressions, and punished severely all transgressions?

That we exulted when gays were delivered the right to marry in all 50 States?

That we opposed all “racist” acts and language, while complacently doing NOTHING to ease the actual plight of urban blacks? That we were quite content to substitute symbol for concrete and effective action?

We live in a world of carefully calculated delusion, of sophistry, of deliberate distraction and falsehood.

Who among you is ready to say this?  Certainly, the conservative backlash against Obama’s ridiculousness is large and will endure, but what can we the people do when led by cowards?

We have had ample warning.  But not enough people read history.  We have been conditioned to believe that what is important is on the evening news, and that no large and important issues remain unexplored; that we are being told the whole and important truths.

Nothing could be farther from the case.

Wake up.  I choose to believe it is not too late.