Mutual Feelings

Greetings good citizen,

In case you were wondering, it’s NOT ‘just you’ (that suspects the world is operating against its own best interests.)

People in other parts of the world are experiencing the exact same thing, which results in a variety of ‘disillusionment’ we see displayed here:

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"I used to think the army was to defend the country and resist and fight the Western projects in the Middle East. My conclusion, after that, was that we were serving in an army that does not protect its own people."

JAMAL ABU HOURAN, a former Syrian soldier who joined the rebels fighting the government in April.

Makes you wonder just how many US service people would echo that exact same sentiment…

And when the time comes, how many of them will join the rebels for precisely the same reason?

Life With Syria's Rebels in a Cold and Cunning War
By C. J. CHIVERS

A rebel group presents a cross-section of a nation in upheaval – an accountant, real estate agent, farmers and laborers who have taken up arms believing their time has come.

Which returns us to a more complex question, good citizen. How do you know when it’s ‘time’?

We all have the sneaking suspicion that when you’re running for cover you’ll have missed that “I should have been ready for this” moment.

Meaning most of us won’t know it’s ‘time’ until after the fact. This also means the decision to act will be made ‘for us’.

The question, naturally is ‘who will make this choice for us?’

And the answer to that question is simple, if you’ve been paying attention.

Who the hell has been trying to exterminate us?

Short answer, the > One Percent.

What is this tiny group’s most potent tool?

The Corporate owned media.

Who represents this group’s ‘boots on the ground’?

The GOP (and to a lesser extent the DNC.)

So ironically it will ‘probably’ start as a clash between the Tea Party and the OWS movement.

And you have to wonder…what happened to the leaderless, causeless ‘movement’?

Was the ‘we don’t like what’s going on’ (but we offer no alternatives) movement die of ‘lack of interest’?

How fucked up is it good citizen that they go as far as drawing attention to the 99% then they sit on it?

We’re going to ‘occupy’ (space) until you arrogant assholes straighten up and fly right!

And we all saw how THAT worked out, didn’t we.

We’re especially thankful for the raises we all got because the 99% ‘flexed its muscles’…or not.

But I digress…

What about this ‘rebel spirit’ that is sweeping the Arab nations of the world?

The Corporate owned media is calling it the ‘cry for democracy’…but those of us living under so-called ‘democratic societies’ know it must be something else because those people won’t be any better off if the current government steps down.

Like the tune says: ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!’

Isn’t that the lesson currently being taught to the Egyptians?

You can stick whatever face you like at the top, so long as that face goes along with the ‘Status quo.’

How fucking sad is it good citizen that the (currently running unopposed) incumbent US president is the exact same deal?

Which brings to mind the question of, ‘how wise is it put a ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ remark like the one above most of the way through a 3 page essay?

As for the other ‘rhetorical questions’ asked here, it truly doesn’t matter who shoots who first. There WILL be blood and the best estimates at the moment dictate there will be lots of it.

Some of it innocent; but the bulk will be those who richly deserve it.

A little ‘read between the lines’ here…disregard what you see on the corporate owned media, it’s mostly bullshit anyway.

The real question is how long do these morons think they can keep a lid on things?

Are we really going to see a test of the principle, ‘you can only control that which you can destroy’?

Probably…and more the pity because these blackguards hallmark has been ubiquitous waste!

But freedom never comes cheap…a lesson that needs to be relearned repeatedly.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Winning by default

Greetings good citizen,

While I don’t often focus specifically on politics, almost everything I write is ‘politicized’.

This may strike you as strange considering I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. Worse, I’d opine that people who accept/self-identify as either ‘label’ have very different opinions of what being either means.

You hear some pretty bizarre stuff, the most common being ‘socially liberal and fiscally conservative’, which is, astonishingly, most often equated with having ‘libertarian’ leanings.

Perhaps it is that root word ‘liberty’ that makes the socially predatory ‘Libertarian’ philosophy attractive to the, er, ‘ignorant’.

Libertarians are indeed all about the ‘free’, which makes it all the more ironic that freedom is in no way related to 'liberty'.

Strictly defined, ‘liberty’ is ‘freedom from tyranny’, which is defined as being ‘bent to the will of another’.

In this respect what modern ‘Libertarians’ really seek is ‘freedom’ from their social obligations.

But I digress, (with the caveat that Libertarianism can be easily summed up as a philosophy that places no value on the ‘benefits of civil society’.)

They foolishly believe that the ‘individual’ is complete unto his/her self.

Grind mental gears with me as we return to politics as they are currently practiced.

While I have opined that there will not be elections in 2012 due to a government shutdown that is followed by a conservative coup, led by the Religious Right.

However, as with many times in the past, I could be wrong!

Not that this changes anything…we are still scroomed.

Be that as it may, press on we must!

Here we have the world famous Digby to tell us what we already know.

And what is it that we already know?

Considering the field he's facing, Obama will very likely win regardless of any of this so it will be impossible to disprove the theory. But color me skeptical that anyone, Independents included, judge a president running for re-election on something like this when the country is still so stressed by fundamental financial challenges and long term angst about rapid social and cultural change.

Um, the above is a bit confusing, taken somewhat out of context as it is.

What Digby is pointing out is how Mr. Obama, faced with no ‘real’ competition, is likely to win re-election ‘by default’.

Considering the piss poor job he’s done to date; how fucking sad will that be?

Sort of redefines that sign hanging over the gates of hell, ‘abandon all hope, ye who enters here.’

Naturally, nobody was more amazed than me when Reagan and W were re-elected.

Although I have a sneaking suspicion I’m not the only one to find such an outcome ‘incredible’.

Anyway, after ‘dangling’ that (at the moment) strong probability in front of your nearly blind, glazed over eyes for a moment we return to the equally as probable outcome of our civilization being altered beyond all recognition by November 2012.

Where is it, how much of there is it, and what are they going to do when and if the supply of silver bullion drops below 30 million ounces deliverable, which is really a pittance given the size of the market? A silver futures contract on Comex is 5,000 ounces, and so that represents a mere 6,000 contracts. There are a total of 123,000 contracts open today. Last Friday the volume was an eye popping 126,000 contracts! This at times seems less a market, and more a game of musical chairs, or a shell game. And if the allegations are true about the LBMA, and their leverage, then what we have here may be a recipe for a severe market dislocation.

And this is why I expect the silver market to remain highly volatile, with some amazing moves ahead, both up and down. And stretchers perhaps, to carry out some players from the pits, as they get caught offside in high frequency moves, and an increasingly disorderly trade. And this due to the failure to reform the financial system.

Which is to ask, seriously, whether or not you have given any thought to what would happen if the financial system ‘seized solid’?

I have written countless essays on precisely this theme but none of them captures the helplessness YOU would feel at being suddenly bereft of ALL of your so-called ‘assets’.

Fortunately, with nobody being able to pay anybody, the ability to collect would be seriously diminished. Therefore we would revert to a state of ‘possession’ being considered lawful ownership.

Not that there wouldn’t be some battle-royal’s over ‘posession’ of certain choice bits, after having been forcibly taken from their previous claimants.

That ‘free for all’ is perhaps more frightening than the possibility of being evicted from a premises by someone with no greater claim to it than you have!

If the ‘Fuck you, pay me crowd’ returns to power, you WILL find yourself dispossessed of what you formerly ‘owned’. (Not that you ever ‘needed’ to own it in the first place, you only need the ‘use’ of a place while you’re there.)

The fact that you will be charged a ‘token’ amount to cement your claim is of little comfort as it is your children who will be forced to cough up ‘in full’.

But once again we stray from the point being made.

Jesse, besides being a wise individual is also a ‘goldbug’ who follows the markets in precious metals.

I can overlook this shortcoming in exchange for the insight he provides into the insane world of money and ‘money-like’ substances.

First and foremost money is ever and always a ‘concept’. It is an idea, nothing more and nothing less!

As the article illustrates, ‘money’ is being manipulated without regard for the balance it needs to retain ‘value’.

Which is to say money will soon become ‘valueless’ (which is just what it looks like, ‘worthless’ would also fit.)

You will be faced with a ‘double conundrum’, you can’t earn enough to make ends meet along with the price of everyday items soaring out of reach.

While the two phenomenon look like two sides of the same coin it will have two separate causes. On one hand you will have soaring prices and on the other you will not find an employer willing/able to pay you enough to keep up.

While these appear to be the same problem, they will have two separate sources.

Which, naturally, is a moot point.

Together, the two phenomenon will combine to make money ‘worthless’. You will only be able to trade ‘in kind’ (barter) if you can trade at all.

Understand good citizen that in a world without money you will be obliged to do as much for yourself as possible. If fate should have it that you have nothing worth trading for, heaven help you.

My take on Jesse’s article is that a pending ‘crash’ of global financial markets is closer than anyone imagines, making the Mayans look mighty prescient.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Liberty

Greetings good citizen,

There are a few topics that piqued my interest this weekend, such as the kerfuffle over the Iranian election results…where US pundits pointed out if they had only cut the margin down to a slim few percent, it would have been enough to keep the ‘losers’ quiet.

Interesting observation to make, no?

Which brings us to a couple of other ‘observations’, such as how the Conservatives have only 20% of registered voters while Liberals regularly poll in the 50% range…yet our elections, of late, have all been ‘squeakers’.

Here’s a rhetorical question for you: Do you suppose Mr. Obama would have won if he had competed for the job using the Republican agenda he has so firmly embraced on the economy?

How would either candidate have faired if they had been compelled to present a blueprint for solving the economic crisis before ‘earning’ the Presidency?

Obviously, after eight years of tax cuts, Mr. McCain ‘failed’ to prove he had a viable, workable economic recovery plan…but he didn’t lose by a particularly large margin either.

Sadly, Mr. Obama ‘talked a better game’ but the actual results of his administration’s actions have yet to produce a positive outcome.

Back to the subject at hand, The president of Iran is a figurehead position with no real power (all real decision-making power rests in the hands of the Ayatollah and the ‘Islamic Council’.) So allowing the public to vote for this puppet serves what purpose again?

Oh yeah…it’s the same ‘exercise in futility’ that we partake of over here. It’s known as the ‘illusion of participation’.

We elect the guy (or someday, gal) that presents themself as the one to do the job…but then they don’t do it…and there isn’t a thing we can do about it.

Our ‘say’ is done so we have to wait another four years before we get another chance…which has so far produced unsurprisingly identical results.

The Guy/Gal knows what to say but they never do any of it once they are elected.

More disturbing is how every time we fall for this ‘sucker’s bet’, we end up worse off than we were.

This is not the type of game any rational, free society should be subjecting itself to.

The economy has lost millions of jobs, many of them well compensated positions and we all know the truth, NONE of them are coming back.

If you shrink the amount of money circulating within a society, there will be less for everyone.

Which brings us to the severely ‘twisted’ Stock Markets that no longer tell us anything about the economy or economic performance.

Since hitting their ‘March lows’ the stock market has gained some 35% and is finally ‘positive for the year’…but what does that really mean?

The losses suffered by your 401k ‘started’ at the 14,000 level. The fact that the markets are back up in the 8,700 range means you retirement account has revived a little over the past three months.

Like I said, jobs will not return nor will the prices that boosted stocks up to the 14,000 level EVER return in your lifetime.

Businesses will not ‘expand’ because their customer base is broke, there’s no one to sell to, so there’s no reason to hire more employees.

Worse, the, um, ‘inventory’ of highly qualified people will remain at a very high level for a real long time, reducing the ‘incentive’ to pay the qualified any more than absolutely necessary.

And in case you haven’t noticed, ‘prevailing wages’ are dropping like a rock as current employees are trading today’s income for tomorrow’s job security.

So where are those ‘green shoots’ they keep blabbing about? It’s a Chimera good citizen, so far all of the ‘green shoots are numbers that have been ‘less bad’ than ‘expected’.

Which leads us right back to the ‘tight-rope’, good citizen. If we wait long enough, eventually the ‘year over year’ numbers will ‘improve’, if only due to population growth.

Can you see the future? We need only look at Japan to see what our economy is doomed to become.

Most of us that are ‘lucky’ enough to find work will find it as ‘contractors’, where the employer pays us a salary and nothing else. Job security will be considered a luxury of the past and employers will ‘replace’ you periodically with people willing to work cheaper/longer than you…and there will be nothing illegal about this.

As Joe is fond of pointing out, this will be a return to the McKinley era, a time when the boss was king and did whatever seemed good to him. (including beating the hired help.)

If that’s not bad enough for you, we will also see the return of child labor as beleaguered and besieged communities either seriously curtail or do away with public education programs entirely.

If they can repeal Glass-Stegal then they can repeal the education act.

Which will be a bit bizarre as one in every three jobs will be ‘police/security related’ and they will ‘somehow’ find the funds to pay for that.

For all of their squawking about the Constitution, protecting your ‘liberty’ is the last thing these vultures are concerned with. Liberty is for them, not the ‘unwashed riff-raff’.

Do you think I’m being overly pessimistic?

All of these conditions existed right here in the US a little more than a hundred years ago.

The fact that it was ‘worse’ elsewhere is somehow not particularly comforting.

‘Liberty’ the ‘freedom from oppression’ is a precious thing, a thing to be guarded zealously.

History shows that only those found ‘worthy’ of liberty enjoy the freedom it provides. Both the Greeks and the Romans could not ‘conceive’ of a civilization without slavery…an idea that has ‘persisted’ to this very day among our ‘elite’.

If you weren’t born into the tyrannical system of ‘income streams’ that make the elite who they are, you are on the outside looking in.

Simply put, if you weren’t born with a trust fund, you can forget about even becoming one of them unless you were gifted with an intellect so enormous that you can create something only you understand…so it can’t be stolen from you.

Consider tonight’s post as a ‘warning’, the ‘experiment’ of social equality is drawing to a close. Battle lines are being drawn and this time there will be no offers of ‘appeasement’, this time it will be a battle to the death.

Understand that the ‘new deal’ was indeed ‘appeasement’. Starting with the Reagan Revolution, the New Deal has been systematically dismantled.

And now it’s time to see who’s going to return to bondage peacefully and who, if any, will fight for their freedom.

Let me assure you of one thing good citizen, there is no way in hell we can ‘vote’ our way out of this…we stand no more chance of that than the Iranians do.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner