Floppy B String on 5 and 6 String Bass
I noticed that a great many Bass Guitar Forums discuss what must be a chronic problem in the 5-String and 6-String bass world, that is, floppy B strings. (for the newly Initiated, Bass Guitars traditionally come with just 4 strings – and E, A, D, and G. On a 5 String, the extra string is a big fat B String on the low side of the neck. On a six string bass the extra extra string is not an even fatter low string, but a higher string on the other side of the traditional fours strings – a little skinny High B String.)
On a great many postings, people are blaming the particular basses involved. This can be a valid complaint, as long as people are comparing their respective basses only in regards to their Neck Scale. You see, given a string of a particular thickness and weight, or ‘mass’ as we should call it, it will be most ‘floppy’ on the shortest neck. All other things being equal, ‘long’ equals lower, and so to bring up the pitch on a string stretched over a longer distance between nut and bridge, well, it must be made more tight, that is, less ‘floppy’. So we should expect the most complaints of floppiness to come from those whose basses have the shortest neck scales
The different Neck Scales are as follows: – Short is 30 inches, mediums are 32, 34 inches is ‘long (with the proviso that one source has it that while 34 inches is considered ‘long’ for 4 string basses, a five and six string bass are not ‘long’ until 35 inches, but this represents less than a 3% difference in length and so is probably not overly consequential), and extra longs are 36 inches. Oh, scale is measured from the nut at the top of the neck to the saddle of the bridge, so, really, the only part of the string involved in the scale measurement is the part the wiggles back and forth while making the sound.
While Neck Scale helps us to understand the problem of B String Floppiness, it is not really something we can do anything about, unless we want to solve our floppiness problem simply by buying a new bass. Most people would hold off on that particular variable until driven to it as a last resort.
I’ve seen some online forum posts which posit the idea of fixing B String floppiness by shimming or placing spacers between the string retainer and the ball. They no doubt suppose that it is taking some of the slack out of the string. However, we need to remember the basic physics of our equation here – we are only concerned with the strings width and weight (Mass) between the Nut and the Bridge Saddle. You can put a mile of shims and spacers AFTER the Bridge Saddle and it won’t make the slightest bit of difference. Where people say that such things help, well, that is the Placebo Effect at work. After going through all that trouble, they don’t wish to admit to themselves that they wasted so much time and effort, or that they had been taken in by such blunt stupidity. So, it is my guess that if the guitar works after the installation of shims and spacers, then it probably was not in such bad shape before all that useless stuff was added into the mix.
The real important variable in all these matters of B String Floppiness is the actual string. Since we are stuck with our Neck Scale dimension, the only thing we can easily change is the Mass of the string we use. All things being equal, fatter strings are lower and will tune with greater tension then a skinny string. And if the width is held equal, then a denser heavier steel and chrome steel string will tune tighter than those made of lighter materials such as nickel and aluminum (Aluminum plagues the world of violin strings – it gives a nice enough tone but it is so brittle and fragile as to fall apart after only hours of any really exerted practicing).
So look for the specifications of your ‘floppy’ B String. B strings average around .125 inches in diameter, but you can get round wound steel strings all the way up to .145 ( for example, D’addario and DR String), or flatwounds up to about .136 (Thomastik-Infeld, though they are costly… about $45 for just one B string, but you can buy them singly). Now, while the round wounds seem to come in fatter sizes than the flatwounds, remember that the density of the flats are inherently greater, because they are filled in level to the very limits of their width dimension, while round wounds have all those empty spaces within all those little round grooves – they don’t completely fill in their given diameters and so they are actually less dense than their given diameters would imply.
I myself have a Fender 5 String Bass… I think all these Fender 5 Strings come in 34 Inch ‘Long’ Scale. These guitars, given their popularity, are the one’s most often complained about. I strung my particular Fender 5 String in D’addario long scale Flats, and the B String is a .132 diameter and it is wrapped in chrome steel, making it fatter and denser than the industry average. And, yes, while the B String certainly creates for itself a great deal side to side wiggle room when it sounds, the tone is fine.
Perhaps a great many people are concerned that the B Strings seem to take up so much room ‘wiggling’ back and forth. Well, this is all to be expected. I used to work with ‘Accelerometers’, that is, little devices designed to measure acceleration G Forces, and one of the immutable laws of Acceleration is that given similar G Force intensities, lower frequency movement will have the furthest displacement. Simply speaking, for the same sound volume as another string of higher note, a lower note will create more side to side wiggle movement in order to do the same job. Your B String, by its very nature, is simply going to ‘look’ more ‘floppy’ than the other strings.
So do you really have a problem? If you get the right tone and note from your B String, and if it doesn’t buzz on the lower frets and whack against the wood, then you probably don’t really have a problem with B String floppiness… or your problem is merely psychological. But if it really bothers you and you need to do something about it, then look for a thicker string wrapped in steel. The tighter tension of the greater mass will cut down on some of that floppy looking wiggle room that so annoys you.
Oh, there are instances where strings just seem to go crazy – seeming to violate all the rules of physics. One hears of ‘dead’ strings that no longer sound. Well, this probably involves the strings separating within their windings, creating light spots and heavy spots which cause vector interactions – the string wiggles all wrong and sounds funny. But such a string will not even tune, or will rise and fall or ‘warble’ in tone. This is not ‘floppiness’… it is an entirely different problem.
But there is way in which an aged string can become ‘floppy’ over time. It happens more often with violin strings. A string stretches out, slowly over time decreasing in diameter, and as more and more string ends up getting wound up onto the tuner, then less mass is left between the Nut and the Bridge Saddle. The old stretched out string gets thinner and becomes ‘floppy’. So in cases where you have a very old string that starts to buzz on the lower frets or begins to smack the wood, when it never used to before, then it is probably just getting old, and its time to replace the old baby. Now, if you buy somebody’s used bass and you have what you believe is significant B String floppiness, and you don’t know whether to attribute the problem to String Type or to String Age… well, its probably good to get a new set of strings in any case… make the Bass your own with a shiny new set of strings. And make sure you get a set with a relatively high diameter B string. More than .130 for Flat Wounds, and more than .135 for Rounds. And then, as long as everything sounds fine, you will soon enough get used to larger oscillation swings of your B String… that just means its working right.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Open Letter to the UFO People
This World is in crisis. Control of everything is in the hands of the slightest percentage of people whose only guide and compass for their behavior is their own greedy self-interest, driving them to increase their own relative wealth by continuously increasing their levels of exploitation of both the Environment and their Fellow Man. Humanity has thus been vanquished and enslaved, and the World consigned to plunder. It will only end when every Being has been ground down to nothing, and every resource entirely exhausted. Then the last man standing will be able to declare himself the Winner of what had been a Grand Competition. You see, our System, if it can be so briefly described, is all about Competition. Of Billions of People, only one Winner will emerge, and everyone else will have to take the hind-most. The only consolation for the Losers will be that the Winner will be left with nothing much more than a cinder – a spent Planet in ruins and chaos.
Yes, of course, the People of this World should be able to perceive their own problems and arrive at their own solutions. We shouldn’t have to ask UFO People for help. The problem arises that the very people who are thinking clearly – thinking only of the Public Good without the burdens and blind-spots of self-interest and personal agenda – such people are effectively marginalized and silenced. What we have in this World is a situation where upwards of 90% of the Propaganda Media is owned and directed by just two extremely wealthy individuals. Obviously the Policy they seek to advance is the maintenance of the exactly the kind of Anarchy which allows two private individuals to buy up for themselves 90% of the World’s Propaganda Media. And then, most of the remaining 10% of the Propaganda Media is caught up in binding business partnerships which require adherence to the same anarchistic policies of the Majority Holders. Given the situation, we cannot expect that the Public would be so very well informed, either in regards to the Truth of purported Events, the ‘News’, or in regards to the span and possibilities of the choices they could be making.
Of course, in reference to our own History, and in what we can still discern from the News that they do concede to give us, we should still be able to piece together for ourselves a viable direction to take. But most people are tricked by being presented with just a few false choices. The Slave Drivers and the Plunders labor to present alternatives that seem worse than even Slave Drivers and Plunders – mostly they succeed by calling everybody else exactly what they are themselves. It’s the Burglar who allays suspicion by yelling “Stop Thief!” himself.
People who are able to arrive at the Truth themselves, well, as I’ve said before, they’re marginalized. No publishing company will publish them. No University, now controlled by Wealthy Alumni Groups, will take them on in Academia. Civilized Public Rationalism has been driven into Exile. ‘Freedom of Speech’ is now confined to some fairly narrow Corporate-Friendly limits.
This is where you UFO People could make a huge difference. You UFO People could bust wide open through the presentation of limited False Choices, and provide a Real, True, Proven, and Time-tested Alternative. You UFO People could provide a compelling glimpse of your own History, and an outline of your own Socio-Economic Institutions, that is, how you became Civilized, and how you managed to stay that way.
Yes, yes… it is obvious that you UFO People at one time or another signed some sort of a “Non-Interference” agreement. Well, while that may be true, is there any reason why you should honor such an agreement more stringently than the Earthlings you signed with. Why not do as the Earthlings themselves would – violate the agreement and leave it to some Court settle it. Screw the Contract, get a good Lawyer, and buy the Judge. Yes, it’s absolutely charming that you hold yourself to a higher ethical and moral Standard than your Partners in this Conspiracy of Silence. But they are probably just laughing at you for it. They’d never be so guilty of such naiveté.
Yes, I heard a rumor that you UFO People had once tried something close to ‘Interference’ before, and were burned for it. The World Governments were annoyed that there was so much UFO probing going on – people ‘abducted’ for study, and animals dissected and analyzed, and then just left to mysteriously rot away in the fields – it was all arousing so much suspicion that it was decided that you UFO People had violated the Non-Interference Clause of your Agreement, and sanctions were implemented. I heard a couple squadrons of Jet Bombers obliterated the Base that had been allocated for your use. Apparently they were also testing your defenses. Despite your advanced Technologies the guess was good that you UFO People did not prioritize bringing very many Weapon’s Systems with you in your odyssey across the Galaxy. We were able to figure out that you UFO People travel light. So, you are defenseless and everybody knows it. My guess is that you retreated to Deep Sea Bases that are a bit more difficult to detect and attack.
It also makes me wonder whether the losses you sustained in that Attack have permanently embittered you toward Humanity… something that the Governing Earthlings may have been counting on… an effective guarantee that you UFO People would continue to mind your own business, without any bothersome sympathies for the People of this damned World. A few people made you Enemies and attacked you so that you would hate us All. Please, I would hope you would reconsider. We are not all that bad. Many of us do not even Vote.
Anyway, we can stipulate to your reluctance to interfere in the Affairs of the World. But you need to remember that in all of this, you UFO People have now been here long enough to have some Standing… some Say… in what goes on. As it is, this World is now entirely regulated by the Push-Pull of various Special Interests, so why should your own Special Interest in all of these affairs count for nothing? How can it be to your own benefit that this Planet be plundered and destroyed by a relatively small band of ruthless Barbarian?
So, honestly speaking, as we say, the ball is in your court… it’s your move. Believe me, if your intention is to Help, than certainly nobody could possibly have grounds to blame you for speaking up.
And the Window of Opportunity is only open for a Moment. Now, this minute, the World Wide Web is still almost entirely unrestricted for most Computer Users. The Media Propaganda Companies have not yet figured out how to restrict it for just their own select Content. But it is only a matter of time until the Big Search Engines are fined tuned enough to isolate and reject, or ‘last page’ what it sees as contrary to the Accepted Media Propaganda. The time to act was Yesterday. Today is only second best but we must hurry.
What can you do? Well, three things. First, prove to everybody that you exist. Second, provide a viable example for our budding Civilization. And Third,… well, I’ll get to that.
Proving that you really exist is important. As it stands, the Powers that Be have been able to marginalize, ruin, discredit or otherwise silence anybody coming forward with information regarding your Existence. People are honestly afraid to speak seriously about the UFO People out of fear for their careers and professional standing. In one case I heard of the Government simply withdrawing all the identification, career and education credentials, and credit history of a certain individual. One day he was a Respected Scientist speaking out about UFO People, and the next he was reduced to being a penniless and homeless man, living on the street, begging his meals. It didn’t matter what he said… everybody figured he was crazy. The same trick works every time.
But if you UFO People were to make a sudden, concerted and deliberately large Show of yourselves, before the largest Urban Centers, and before the largest possible crowds, then the Method of Discreditation would no longer work… they can’t throw everybody on the street… at least not all at once. Yes, the Media would definitely go into a Frenzy of trying to prove to everybody that they did not really see what they saw, claiming mass hysteria or video projections tricks behind it all, and many people who are conditioned to believe the TV before they believe their own two eyes would be swayed into discrediting themselves. But if your UFO “Unveiling” is accomplished on a large enough scale, and everybody gets to See, then it would end in the decision that the People who still refuse to believe, that they are the new Crazy Ones.
Once your Existence is no longer questioned, then you could add your Voice to the Grand Debate – what is it to be a Civilized and Moral Being, and how does a collection of People come together to create a durable, sustainable, and yet still enjoyable Civilization. As I suggested at the top of this essay, you UFO People could publish On Line, while you still have a chance, a History of your Civilization and Blue Print of your Social, Economic and Governmental Institutions. Of course, if your Civilization is upwards to 50 Million Year Old then any detailed History would seem to go on endlessly. But in any case, selection and editing would have to cut down the bulk of it all to some reasonable length. How much? I would suggest 10 Volumes of about a 1000 Pages each. That would be 10,000 Pages. Most people can read 200 pages a week in their spare time without being excessively burdened, and at 200 pages a week one could read 10,000 pages in a year. It would help if the content, as much as possible, could be kept pithy and interesting – a lot of heroic characters doing and saying clever things – after all, we would want people to be able to feel some connection and sympathy with the Ten Volumes. This would without a doubt break through the Limited Choices problem now stifling our Intellectual Debates. Given the Solidity and Certainty of your Civilization, the Ways and Means of your Civilization could no longer be ignored out of some sense of Political Correctness – that anything not entirely good for Rich People is bad for Everybody.
The Third Thing… well, that is a special favor. So that the Ten Volumes will have some relatively rapid influence, it would probably be wise to publish it first in the most common vernacular Languages – English, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean… to name a few. But the greatest coup would be to have the Ten Volumes published in a Universal Language. It could be Your Language, providing Human tongues could wrap around it, or it could be an Intelligent Language created out of the wealth of the World’s already most prevalent languages… but with consistent rules, no ‘irregular’ verbs, and easy spelling.
Ever since the Tower of Babel Humanity has been divided by competing languages, jealous of their position and relative influence. One Language, presented as a Gift from outside, showing no favoritism to any particular group or nation, would be a veritable God-Send. The Foundation of a One World Civilization would be a One World Language.
Also, there would be a great many Interests out to discredit the Ten Volumes as some kind of contrived fiction – a huge fraud. But given a New Universal Language, with Reference Materials of course to aid in translation and study, then any opposing Interest Group would have a difficult time of it trying to equate the Scale of such an Accomplishment to being a merely just an On Line Trick. Yes, while some diligent crackpot somewhere could write a pile of books, and even get them translated somehow, it would be virtually impossible to do the same with a unique and comprehensive Language… not without some very extensive Institutionalized Resources. With all of our Spies, Police, and Intelligence Agents – Public and Private – it would soon become clear to everybody who had the means to check that no Human Office generated such content. .
Anyway, perhaps it will all help us to turn the corner and become a better World and a better People. We too can arrive at being Civilized – Moral and Caring People living in a Sustainable Way in a Healthy World. We just might need a little outside help in getting there.
Yes, of course, the People of this World should be able to perceive their own problems and arrive at their own solutions. We shouldn’t have to ask UFO People for help. The problem arises that the very people who are thinking clearly – thinking only of the Public Good without the burdens and blind-spots of self-interest and personal agenda – such people are effectively marginalized and silenced. What we have in this World is a situation where upwards of 90% of the Propaganda Media is owned and directed by just two extremely wealthy individuals. Obviously the Policy they seek to advance is the maintenance of the exactly the kind of Anarchy which allows two private individuals to buy up for themselves 90% of the World’s Propaganda Media. And then, most of the remaining 10% of the Propaganda Media is caught up in binding business partnerships which require adherence to the same anarchistic policies of the Majority Holders. Given the situation, we cannot expect that the Public would be so very well informed, either in regards to the Truth of purported Events, the ‘News’, or in regards to the span and possibilities of the choices they could be making.
Of course, in reference to our own History, and in what we can still discern from the News that they do concede to give us, we should still be able to piece together for ourselves a viable direction to take. But most people are tricked by being presented with just a few false choices. The Slave Drivers and the Plunders labor to present alternatives that seem worse than even Slave Drivers and Plunders – mostly they succeed by calling everybody else exactly what they are themselves. It’s the Burglar who allays suspicion by yelling “Stop Thief!” himself.
People who are able to arrive at the Truth themselves, well, as I’ve said before, they’re marginalized. No publishing company will publish them. No University, now controlled by Wealthy Alumni Groups, will take them on in Academia. Civilized Public Rationalism has been driven into Exile. ‘Freedom of Speech’ is now confined to some fairly narrow Corporate-Friendly limits.
This is where you UFO People could make a huge difference. You UFO People could bust wide open through the presentation of limited False Choices, and provide a Real, True, Proven, and Time-tested Alternative. You UFO People could provide a compelling glimpse of your own History, and an outline of your own Socio-Economic Institutions, that is, how you became Civilized, and how you managed to stay that way.
Yes, yes… it is obvious that you UFO People at one time or another signed some sort of a “Non-Interference” agreement. Well, while that may be true, is there any reason why you should honor such an agreement more stringently than the Earthlings you signed with. Why not do as the Earthlings themselves would – violate the agreement and leave it to some Court settle it. Screw the Contract, get a good Lawyer, and buy the Judge. Yes, it’s absolutely charming that you hold yourself to a higher ethical and moral Standard than your Partners in this Conspiracy of Silence. But they are probably just laughing at you for it. They’d never be so guilty of such naiveté.
Yes, I heard a rumor that you UFO People had once tried something close to ‘Interference’ before, and were burned for it. The World Governments were annoyed that there was so much UFO probing going on – people ‘abducted’ for study, and animals dissected and analyzed, and then just left to mysteriously rot away in the fields – it was all arousing so much suspicion that it was decided that you UFO People had violated the Non-Interference Clause of your Agreement, and sanctions were implemented. I heard a couple squadrons of Jet Bombers obliterated the Base that had been allocated for your use. Apparently they were also testing your defenses. Despite your advanced Technologies the guess was good that you UFO People did not prioritize bringing very many Weapon’s Systems with you in your odyssey across the Galaxy. We were able to figure out that you UFO People travel light. So, you are defenseless and everybody knows it. My guess is that you retreated to Deep Sea Bases that are a bit more difficult to detect and attack.
It also makes me wonder whether the losses you sustained in that Attack have permanently embittered you toward Humanity… something that the Governing Earthlings may have been counting on… an effective guarantee that you UFO People would continue to mind your own business, without any bothersome sympathies for the People of this damned World. A few people made you Enemies and attacked you so that you would hate us All. Please, I would hope you would reconsider. We are not all that bad. Many of us do not even Vote.
Anyway, we can stipulate to your reluctance to interfere in the Affairs of the World. But you need to remember that in all of this, you UFO People have now been here long enough to have some Standing… some Say… in what goes on. As it is, this World is now entirely regulated by the Push-Pull of various Special Interests, so why should your own Special Interest in all of these affairs count for nothing? How can it be to your own benefit that this Planet be plundered and destroyed by a relatively small band of ruthless Barbarian?
So, honestly speaking, as we say, the ball is in your court… it’s your move. Believe me, if your intention is to Help, than certainly nobody could possibly have grounds to blame you for speaking up.
And the Window of Opportunity is only open for a Moment. Now, this minute, the World Wide Web is still almost entirely unrestricted for most Computer Users. The Media Propaganda Companies have not yet figured out how to restrict it for just their own select Content. But it is only a matter of time until the Big Search Engines are fined tuned enough to isolate and reject, or ‘last page’ what it sees as contrary to the Accepted Media Propaganda. The time to act was Yesterday. Today is only second best but we must hurry.
What can you do? Well, three things. First, prove to everybody that you exist. Second, provide a viable example for our budding Civilization. And Third,… well, I’ll get to that.
Proving that you really exist is important. As it stands, the Powers that Be have been able to marginalize, ruin, discredit or otherwise silence anybody coming forward with information regarding your Existence. People are honestly afraid to speak seriously about the UFO People out of fear for their careers and professional standing. In one case I heard of the Government simply withdrawing all the identification, career and education credentials, and credit history of a certain individual. One day he was a Respected Scientist speaking out about UFO People, and the next he was reduced to being a penniless and homeless man, living on the street, begging his meals. It didn’t matter what he said… everybody figured he was crazy. The same trick works every time.
But if you UFO People were to make a sudden, concerted and deliberately large Show of yourselves, before the largest Urban Centers, and before the largest possible crowds, then the Method of Discreditation would no longer work… they can’t throw everybody on the street… at least not all at once. Yes, the Media would definitely go into a Frenzy of trying to prove to everybody that they did not really see what they saw, claiming mass hysteria or video projections tricks behind it all, and many people who are conditioned to believe the TV before they believe their own two eyes would be swayed into discrediting themselves. But if your UFO “Unveiling” is accomplished on a large enough scale, and everybody gets to See, then it would end in the decision that the People who still refuse to believe, that they are the new Crazy Ones.
Once your Existence is no longer questioned, then you could add your Voice to the Grand Debate – what is it to be a Civilized and Moral Being, and how does a collection of People come together to create a durable, sustainable, and yet still enjoyable Civilization. As I suggested at the top of this essay, you UFO People could publish On Line, while you still have a chance, a History of your Civilization and Blue Print of your Social, Economic and Governmental Institutions. Of course, if your Civilization is upwards to 50 Million Year Old then any detailed History would seem to go on endlessly. But in any case, selection and editing would have to cut down the bulk of it all to some reasonable length. How much? I would suggest 10 Volumes of about a 1000 Pages each. That would be 10,000 Pages. Most people can read 200 pages a week in their spare time without being excessively burdened, and at 200 pages a week one could read 10,000 pages in a year. It would help if the content, as much as possible, could be kept pithy and interesting – a lot of heroic characters doing and saying clever things – after all, we would want people to be able to feel some connection and sympathy with the Ten Volumes. This would without a doubt break through the Limited Choices problem now stifling our Intellectual Debates. Given the Solidity and Certainty of your Civilization, the Ways and Means of your Civilization could no longer be ignored out of some sense of Political Correctness – that anything not entirely good for Rich People is bad for Everybody.
The Third Thing… well, that is a special favor. So that the Ten Volumes will have some relatively rapid influence, it would probably be wise to publish it first in the most common vernacular Languages – English, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean… to name a few. But the greatest coup would be to have the Ten Volumes published in a Universal Language. It could be Your Language, providing Human tongues could wrap around it, or it could be an Intelligent Language created out of the wealth of the World’s already most prevalent languages… but with consistent rules, no ‘irregular’ verbs, and easy spelling.
Ever since the Tower of Babel Humanity has been divided by competing languages, jealous of their position and relative influence. One Language, presented as a Gift from outside, showing no favoritism to any particular group or nation, would be a veritable God-Send. The Foundation of a One World Civilization would be a One World Language.
Also, there would be a great many Interests out to discredit the Ten Volumes as some kind of contrived fiction – a huge fraud. But given a New Universal Language, with Reference Materials of course to aid in translation and study, then any opposing Interest Group would have a difficult time of it trying to equate the Scale of such an Accomplishment to being a merely just an On Line Trick. Yes, while some diligent crackpot somewhere could write a pile of books, and even get them translated somehow, it would be virtually impossible to do the same with a unique and comprehensive Language… not without some very extensive Institutionalized Resources. With all of our Spies, Police, and Intelligence Agents – Public and Private – it would soon become clear to everybody who had the means to check that no Human Office generated such content. .
Anyway, perhaps it will all help us to turn the corner and become a better World and a better People. We too can arrive at being Civilized – Moral and Caring People living in a Sustainable Way in a Healthy World. We just might need a little outside help in getting there.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Government Sponsors Crime
Several weeks ago in the News we learned that they had apprehended a prospective Terrorist. When it was suggested that he be tried in the Criminal Justice System, the shock and outrage was practically unbounded. This was Terrorism! It had to be treated seriously!
I was dumbfounded. This all suggested that Crime – everything that falls within the jurisdiction of the Criminal Justice System – IS NOT ‘serious’.
You know, they have a point. Crime really isn’t treated very seriously. It is rather like any Career Choice. Criminals can go years, and I suspect many go through their entire lifetime without being apprehended. And if they are caught, then they are sent off practically on ‘vacation’. Remember, Prison is paid for by the Public – the Criminal Prisoners receive free room and board, and in America they have a better Health Care Plan than anybody but the Congressmen and Senators. And then most career criminals are back on the Streets before 5 years. It is exactly as though Government is sponsoring these criminals.
Of course there would be outrage if the Government moved to ‘sponsor’ Terrorists in exactly the same way as they now sponsor Crime.
Why does the Government sponsor Crime? Well, it’s a huge Industry. First there are all the Police and their clerical staff. Next there is the lawyers. Each Criminal gets 3 lawyers – one prosecuting him, one defending him, and the Judge – a Big Lawyer -- who listens to the other two lawyers. You have the County Jail and all its personnel. There is the Jury Commission and its staff. Then you have the actual Prison and all of its staff. Between all the Police, Lawyers, Guards and Clerical Staff, the Criminal Justice System sucks up more Money than Health Care would, if they would ever provide Health Care to the General Public. I believe the Criminal Justice System runs a close par to the Education System. I heard somewhere that there is almost as many Prison Guards as School Teachers. One can only guess about who gets paid more.
Too many people’s livelihoods depend upon Crime for anybody to seriously propose bringing a complete end to it.
But what about the harm that Crime does to Society? Well, all of the People in Power have decided that it is the Cost of Doing Business.
When it was proposed that Terrorism be added to that Cost of Doing Business, certainly the outrage was justified. But we should reconsider whether it is really wise to give Crime a free pass simply because it represents so much easy money for so many people.
Oh, and it is ‘easy money’. Cops and Guards go straight to work with almost no schooling. And Lawyers! Well law school is a breeze compared to programs such as Science, Engineering and Medicine. The only reason they have Law School is so that Law can stay the domain of that privileged class that can afford law school. The real hurdle for lawyers is passing the Bar Exam. My guess is that the Study of Law makes its students too lazy for any actual hard studying, and that is why so many have such a difficult time when they are actually asked to pass a serious test. .
You know, they have a point. Society is full of Idiots and Incompetents… but they all have to eat. They all have to live in homes. If one seriously went about eliminating every Job that was not entirely necessary, I would guess that 80% of the World’s Population would end up unemployed. Honestly, it would probably be better is Society simply applied itself to providing for people’s Needs, without all this Jobs Jobs Jobs business.
But if we must insist that people get Jobs, we could probably put everyone to far better use than by Sponsoring a Crime Industry, don’t you think?
You know, we could put an end to Crime quickly enough if there was the will for it. Yes, the Police are almost completely useless, but they could largely be replaced by Surveillance and Monitoring Technologies. Track People, Track Property, and Track Money. Then just round up all the For Profit Criminals. As for Crimes of Passion – violent crimes as an expression of temper or sexuality – well, such as that are really the province of the Mental Health Establishment… if there were one.
And there is no need for Prisons. We do not need these ‘Vacation Resorts’ for criminals. If there is any evidence that deliberate crime has been engaged in for the sake of making an income, then there is no reason why there should not be summary executions. Any person who gets up in the morning with the plan to victimize others for his own benefit, well, such as that deserves to die.
Our Military kills Terrorists with far far less due process. Maybe our Military should be required to provide some documented evidence of terrorist involvement before we wipe out entire Wedding Parties because some of the guests wear turbans. But domestically, if we have proof that property had been taken without purchase or any pretence of prior ownership and then sold without valid title, then everybody involved in that illegal chain of events needs to be eliminated from the roles of Society.
Of course, if somebody could demonstrate that Criminal Activity for Profit is some kind of curable Mental Disorder, then I would be totally in favor of Hospitalizing such people. But there can be no question of ever letting such people back out into Society unless they have been cured.
The Red Chinese used to work a lot with Re-Education Camps and Mental Institutions. It would be interesting to know if they have had much luck in ‘re-educating’ or rehabilitating Career Criminals.
But I have a feeling that most career criminals pursue crime for a combination of mostly just two compelling reasons. First, Society does not even pretend to provide Jobs for everybody. The Interest Rates are manipulated so that there is ALWAYS about 10% real Unemployment. Either it is supposed that these deliberately unemployed people will starve and perish, or it is tacitly acknowledged that they will make a living from Crime. And then, secondly, as I discussed above, Criminals are well provided for… actually being better cared for than the Homeless and Unemployed.
Anyway, if there was a sudden crack down on crime… lining Main Street with gallows and putting heads up on pikes, then Career Crime would disappear over night. If the Risk is too great for the Return, then it would no longer be such a viable Career Option.
Oh, there is a last category of Crime which is sponsored by the State… in America anyway. America provides Courts set aside exclusively for people who quarrel over contracts and money. Now, that is simply silly. Why should the ordinary Tax Payer be made to pay for these “Country Club” establishments. This could be fixed in several ways. First, insist that any action that goes to Court must have criminal consequences. Simple Misunderstandings in regards to Contracts should be mediated before Trial becomes necessary, but if both parties are stubborn enough to insist upon standing before a Judge, then the Wrong Party… the Predator… the Victimizer – the Guilty Party needs to Die! We can’t just let Money settle these things. If a Wrong as been committed, it needs to be about more than just Money. Anyway, the “If you are found Wrong, you Die” policy would clear up the Civil Court dockets in no time.
I was dumbfounded. This all suggested that Crime – everything that falls within the jurisdiction of the Criminal Justice System – IS NOT ‘serious’.
You know, they have a point. Crime really isn’t treated very seriously. It is rather like any Career Choice. Criminals can go years, and I suspect many go through their entire lifetime without being apprehended. And if they are caught, then they are sent off practically on ‘vacation’. Remember, Prison is paid for by the Public – the Criminal Prisoners receive free room and board, and in America they have a better Health Care Plan than anybody but the Congressmen and Senators. And then most career criminals are back on the Streets before 5 years. It is exactly as though Government is sponsoring these criminals.
Of course there would be outrage if the Government moved to ‘sponsor’ Terrorists in exactly the same way as they now sponsor Crime.
Why does the Government sponsor Crime? Well, it’s a huge Industry. First there are all the Police and their clerical staff. Next there is the lawyers. Each Criminal gets 3 lawyers – one prosecuting him, one defending him, and the Judge – a Big Lawyer -- who listens to the other two lawyers. You have the County Jail and all its personnel. There is the Jury Commission and its staff. Then you have the actual Prison and all of its staff. Between all the Police, Lawyers, Guards and Clerical Staff, the Criminal Justice System sucks up more Money than Health Care would, if they would ever provide Health Care to the General Public. I believe the Criminal Justice System runs a close par to the Education System. I heard somewhere that there is almost as many Prison Guards as School Teachers. One can only guess about who gets paid more.
Too many people’s livelihoods depend upon Crime for anybody to seriously propose bringing a complete end to it.
But what about the harm that Crime does to Society? Well, all of the People in Power have decided that it is the Cost of Doing Business.
When it was proposed that Terrorism be added to that Cost of Doing Business, certainly the outrage was justified. But we should reconsider whether it is really wise to give Crime a free pass simply because it represents so much easy money for so many people.
Oh, and it is ‘easy money’. Cops and Guards go straight to work with almost no schooling. And Lawyers! Well law school is a breeze compared to programs such as Science, Engineering and Medicine. The only reason they have Law School is so that Law can stay the domain of that privileged class that can afford law school. The real hurdle for lawyers is passing the Bar Exam. My guess is that the Study of Law makes its students too lazy for any actual hard studying, and that is why so many have such a difficult time when they are actually asked to pass a serious test. .
You know, they have a point. Society is full of Idiots and Incompetents… but they all have to eat. They all have to live in homes. If one seriously went about eliminating every Job that was not entirely necessary, I would guess that 80% of the World’s Population would end up unemployed. Honestly, it would probably be better is Society simply applied itself to providing for people’s Needs, without all this Jobs Jobs Jobs business.
But if we must insist that people get Jobs, we could probably put everyone to far better use than by Sponsoring a Crime Industry, don’t you think?
You know, we could put an end to Crime quickly enough if there was the will for it. Yes, the Police are almost completely useless, but they could largely be replaced by Surveillance and Monitoring Technologies. Track People, Track Property, and Track Money. Then just round up all the For Profit Criminals. As for Crimes of Passion – violent crimes as an expression of temper or sexuality – well, such as that are really the province of the Mental Health Establishment… if there were one.
And there is no need for Prisons. We do not need these ‘Vacation Resorts’ for criminals. If there is any evidence that deliberate crime has been engaged in for the sake of making an income, then there is no reason why there should not be summary executions. Any person who gets up in the morning with the plan to victimize others for his own benefit, well, such as that deserves to die.
Our Military kills Terrorists with far far less due process. Maybe our Military should be required to provide some documented evidence of terrorist involvement before we wipe out entire Wedding Parties because some of the guests wear turbans. But domestically, if we have proof that property had been taken without purchase or any pretence of prior ownership and then sold without valid title, then everybody involved in that illegal chain of events needs to be eliminated from the roles of Society.
Of course, if somebody could demonstrate that Criminal Activity for Profit is some kind of curable Mental Disorder, then I would be totally in favor of Hospitalizing such people. But there can be no question of ever letting such people back out into Society unless they have been cured.
The Red Chinese used to work a lot with Re-Education Camps and Mental Institutions. It would be interesting to know if they have had much luck in ‘re-educating’ or rehabilitating Career Criminals.
But I have a feeling that most career criminals pursue crime for a combination of mostly just two compelling reasons. First, Society does not even pretend to provide Jobs for everybody. The Interest Rates are manipulated so that there is ALWAYS about 10% real Unemployment. Either it is supposed that these deliberately unemployed people will starve and perish, or it is tacitly acknowledged that they will make a living from Crime. And then, secondly, as I discussed above, Criminals are well provided for… actually being better cared for than the Homeless and Unemployed.
Anyway, if there was a sudden crack down on crime… lining Main Street with gallows and putting heads up on pikes, then Career Crime would disappear over night. If the Risk is too great for the Return, then it would no longer be such a viable Career Option.
Oh, there is a last category of Crime which is sponsored by the State… in America anyway. America provides Courts set aside exclusively for people who quarrel over contracts and money. Now, that is simply silly. Why should the ordinary Tax Payer be made to pay for these “Country Club” establishments. This could be fixed in several ways. First, insist that any action that goes to Court must have criminal consequences. Simple Misunderstandings in regards to Contracts should be mediated before Trial becomes necessary, but if both parties are stubborn enough to insist upon standing before a Judge, then the Wrong Party… the Predator… the Victimizer – the Guilty Party needs to Die! We can’t just let Money settle these things. If a Wrong as been committed, it needs to be about more than just Money. Anyway, the “If you are found Wrong, you Die” policy would clear up the Civil Court dockets in no time.
Democracy is Inherently Corrupt
Nowadays politicos endeavor to persuade the Public Mind that corruption is defined by illegality, and that unless a Law on the Books is violated, there is no corruption. Whatever action a person commits, if he cannot be arrested for it, then it does not constitute ‘corruption’.
We can see this most clearly at various Press Conferences where upon being asked if they are ‘corrupt’, the politicos will reply that they broke no laws.
But let’s look deeper at corruption, beyond defining it in terms of legality. Indeed, there is the complication that the very same people who are most suspect of corruption are the very same people who make the Laws. Making corruption technically legal may be their first act of corruption. In order for such Corruption not to evaporate at the stroke of the Governor’s or President’s pen, as they sign new laws that allow themselves anything, or abrogate old laws that once held them to some honest standard, we must look at corruption in and of itself, outside of purely technical considerations of the Law. We need to look at Corruption in practical and moral terms.
Giving it some thought, I suppose Corruption is best and most briefly defined as putting one’s self interest above the Public Interest.
It reminds me a lot of Adam Smith’s basic economic argument, that if Supply and Demand are left absolutely unrestricted, and each individual in Society is allowed to buy and sell in accordance to his own Self Interest, then we will have the Best of All Possible World’s. Adam Smith, a Scotsman I believe, wrote the pivotal economic treatise for this Age – “The Wealth of Nations”. It had the practical effect of destroying law, morality, ethics – indeed, all goodness and decency. It would Monetary Interests in charge of Everything.
At first Politics resisted the March of Money. Laws were set up barring blatant Corruption, that is, it was made illegal to outright buy votes and explicitly pay for Political Influence. But, then as now, Laws are easy enough to get around. Or Judges can be found who simply interpret words in their own peculiar way, as laws only mean what the Judges say they mean. There really isn’t any “Rule of Law”. We have the Rule of Judges, who can be just as politically motivated and corrupt as anybody else.
Anyway, it was relatively easy enough to throw large amounts of money into creating bulwarks for Self Interest within the Public Political Establishment. One could easily enough buy one’s own Newspaper, for instance.
There is also Jobs. Give Jobs to ardent supporters. Promise cooperating Candidates the security of a Job after the completion of their Term in Office.
It all comes down to the basic fact that Money can buy Influence without breaking any Laws.
Indeed, too many Laws makes it all rather worse. We can have what we have Today. Now there are so many “Campaign Reform Laws” on the books, that nobody without extensive legal training can understand anymore what is legal or what is illegal. So what do they do? They bring in Lobbyists – Lawyers specializing in Campaign Finance Law. The Lobbyists know all the loopholes – indeed, it is probably the Lobbyists who drafted the laws to begin with, leaving many a trap door and secret passage amidst the thousands of pages of fine-print that, really, nobody ever bothers to read before they vote on it. So by having an over-complexity of laws, we managed to empower the Very People the Laws were ostensively created to block and regulate. We can no longer deal with the ‘Chickens’ directly, but must submit all our dealing first through the Foxes.
Oh, Money can also buy Organizations. One thinks that there is such a thing as “Community Groups” – “Grass Roots Organizations” and such. But when one looks just under the surface, there is typically one or two ‘volunteers’ who effectively run their Organization. They treat it like a full time job. Nobody asks them how they make their living, but they are ‘fronting’ for various Special Interests.
It can sometimes be rather sinister. For instance, the Oil Lobby hired one guy to pretend to be a “Crazy Left-Wing Environmentalist”. He was given the go-ahead to bad mouth the Oil Companies as much as he liked, as long as his primary message was the demonization of Nuclear Energy. He even went so far as claiming time and time again that the Evil Nuclear Energy Industry was in cahoots with Big Oil. And it worked – a bunch of silly middle class women would be riled up against Nuclear Energy.
Similarly, Anti-Abortion Groups were salted into Catholic Districts, not because the Protestant Right Wing actually cares about Abortion, but because they saw an opportunity for breaking the Catholic tradition of voting Democratic and Liberally.
Oh, perhaps the most cynical ploy by the Lobbyists is the push for Term Limits. The Proponents claim that it would put an end to ‘Professional’ Politicians. That is true. What Candidate would bother putting all the necessary effort into getting what amounts to a temporary job? I’ll tell you who – an Employee of some Lobbyist Firm. In States where Term Limit laws now apply, the Lobbyists themselves are the ones who are running for Office, and once out of Office, they simply return to their Lobbyist positions, and sometimes move to another State where they effectively re-cycle themselves. Of course it never occurs to them to do the Will of the People. They do the Will of their Employer – their Lobbying Firm. Now, we can ask ourselves, did the people who voted for Term Limits really understand that they were being asked to replace Politicians directly with Lobbyists. They thought they were voting AGAINST Special Interests, but had been manipulated in exactly the opposite direction.
The influence of Money can be very cynical and jaded.
The Defense Industry and the Zionist Israeli Lobby has turned Monetary Influence into something of an advanced Art – making institutionalized corruption self-perpetuating. You see, they way it is now engineered, the Lobbyists exert their monetary influence in order to get Politicians to vote for Grants, Contracts, Loans, and Defense Expenditures. Then, roughly 5% of the proceeds from these Grants, Contracts, Loans and Defense Expenditures is plowed directly back into the Political Machine, in order to guarantee the next allocation of Grants, Contracts, Loans and Defense Expenditures.
Really, the Palestinians will never be able to match the influence of Israel until they learn to “kick back” whatever Money is occasionally granted to them by Washington. And with all the Oil Money that is controlled by the Arab World, you would suppose there would be more Influence exercised for the benefit of the Palestinians. But apparently the Arab World is still greedy at the Infantile Level, where they have not yet grasped the only slightly complex notion that it takes money to make money. They want Goodness, Right and Justice to make their own way, and stubbornly refuse to write a Check – to ‘grease’ the tracks of Righteousness. But all the Goodness, Right and Justice in the World is not what elects Politicians or keeps them in Office. As long as the bulk of Campaign Expenditures in American Politics, for both Political Parties, are underwritten by Zionist and Israeli Organizations, that is how long America will be irrationally fixated on never ever saying No to anything Israel does or anything Israel wants.
Well, I have been describing up until now all the corruption that has to do with monetary influence. But there is a more basic corruption. There is the corruption of the Voter’s own self interest.
Remember how we defined Corruption? – pleasing Self Interest above the Public Interest. Well, isn’t that exactly how people vote? People vote to protect their Jobs. People vote for bigger Social Security Checks. People vote to be exempted from Taxes. The People themselves are the Corrupt Basis of an inherently Corrupt System.
Remember Adam Smith and his doctrine that Economic Self Interest, if allowed a free hand, would automatically make for a Perfect World. Well, the same idea was applied to Politics, giving us Democracy. We were supposed to believe that in the Rough and Tumble of millions of people exercising each their own Political Self Interest, through their Votes, that the final Sum would work out to be what was Best for Everybody.
It was a Huge Guess. Democracy was an Experiment. They thought it would work… they hoped it would work. But did it?
What we ended up with is that the wealthiest and most embedded and ruthless factions end up with the Lions’ share of Political Power.
I said ‘ruthless’. Yes, sometimes Money isn’t enough. Look around the Globe and see how often Violence and Assassination shape the Political Landscape. Look at America. The Right Wing didn’t reach its Ascendancy until there had been a slew of Political Assassinations wiping out and intimidating their opposition on the Left. In Israel, didn’t they also shoot their Peacemaker?
Oh, and there is the fledgling Democracy in Iraq, where nobody lives long enough to Run for Office and get Elected unless they control a Militia of at least a thousand well armed street thugs – to guard the safety of their own persons, and to take advantage of any weakness displayed by rival contenders. Then there is also the matter of being able to win elections by killing or chasing away any group likely to vote against you.
But a lot of the Corruption inherent in Democracy is small and annoying in each individual instance, but as it salt and peppers throughout everything and everywhere, it must be holding back and diminishing our Entire World. I’ll give you an example. People can’t jog in this one community because there are vicious dogs running loose. And nothing can be done about the vicious dogs because they are owned by a Voter who had worked on the Campaigns of both the Mayor and the Sheriff.
So the Principle here is “laws do not apply to past or potential Supporters”.
We can just guess what would happen if there was a close election, and all of the Car Thieves, Burglars, Rapers, Prostitutes, and Drug Dealers got together and promised a certain Candidate their full support. In a Democracy, the Law and everything Good and Decent can be effectively done away with by the power of the Vote.
Then there are the Losers. Where the Winning Supporters have an effective Amnesty for Everything, the Losers can be hounded endlessly.
They say that in Democracies that the People choose their own Government – that it is Representative Government. But really, the Losers didn’t pick anybody in the Government. The Losers aren’t represented by anybody. And even among the Winners… we can suppose that many Voters go to the polls because they suppose it some kind of a Duty. They acknowledge that they had no real choice in the Nominations or Selection of Candidates – the Rich and Powerful decide who Runs. So people flip a coin or throw a dart and vote for the Candidate who they suspect will do the least harm.
Its often quite sad. All the Promises, all the Rhetoric, all the Hope. And nothing ever changes.
The Corruption Inherent in the System prevents any real change. Its in the nature of Special Interests to be Self Perpetuating. Influence creates power which generates more Influence.
What surprises me is all the Books out there advocating Change – some Green This or Green that, all the while supposing that it can be accomplished within the framework of our Institutionalized Democracies. I mean, if these Authors are smart enough to write a Book, then they should be smart enough to see that everything is stacked against them. I can only conclude that such Books are the results of some jaded Business Plans that the authors were able to foist on the Publishing Companies. Nobody believes any of it, but they think they can sell books… prostrating themselves before Lord Money.
Maybe I owe Adam Smith an apology. Maybe he didn’t say Money SHOULD decide everything. Maybe he just said Money WOULD decide everything. You can’t blame him simply because he was right. It is just disappointing to find out that, after this Huge Experiment in Democracy and Unfettered Economics, that People are basically bad – petty, small, nasty and selfish.
Maybe when everything collapses, the Space Aliens will finally step forward and put our World under some sensible Administration. Clearly Humanity is incapable of conducting its own affairs… At least under the present circumstances where all of the Power is controlled by the very people who are causing all of the Problems, that is Democracy.
We can see this most clearly at various Press Conferences where upon being asked if they are ‘corrupt’, the politicos will reply that they broke no laws.
But let’s look deeper at corruption, beyond defining it in terms of legality. Indeed, there is the complication that the very same people who are most suspect of corruption are the very same people who make the Laws. Making corruption technically legal may be their first act of corruption. In order for such Corruption not to evaporate at the stroke of the Governor’s or President’s pen, as they sign new laws that allow themselves anything, or abrogate old laws that once held them to some honest standard, we must look at corruption in and of itself, outside of purely technical considerations of the Law. We need to look at Corruption in practical and moral terms.
Giving it some thought, I suppose Corruption is best and most briefly defined as putting one’s self interest above the Public Interest.
It reminds me a lot of Adam Smith’s basic economic argument, that if Supply and Demand are left absolutely unrestricted, and each individual in Society is allowed to buy and sell in accordance to his own Self Interest, then we will have the Best of All Possible World’s. Adam Smith, a Scotsman I believe, wrote the pivotal economic treatise for this Age – “The Wealth of Nations”. It had the practical effect of destroying law, morality, ethics – indeed, all goodness and decency. It would Monetary Interests in charge of Everything.
At first Politics resisted the March of Money. Laws were set up barring blatant Corruption, that is, it was made illegal to outright buy votes and explicitly pay for Political Influence. But, then as now, Laws are easy enough to get around. Or Judges can be found who simply interpret words in their own peculiar way, as laws only mean what the Judges say they mean. There really isn’t any “Rule of Law”. We have the Rule of Judges, who can be just as politically motivated and corrupt as anybody else.
Anyway, it was relatively easy enough to throw large amounts of money into creating bulwarks for Self Interest within the Public Political Establishment. One could easily enough buy one’s own Newspaper, for instance.
There is also Jobs. Give Jobs to ardent supporters. Promise cooperating Candidates the security of a Job after the completion of their Term in Office.
It all comes down to the basic fact that Money can buy Influence without breaking any Laws.
Indeed, too many Laws makes it all rather worse. We can have what we have Today. Now there are so many “Campaign Reform Laws” on the books, that nobody without extensive legal training can understand anymore what is legal or what is illegal. So what do they do? They bring in Lobbyists – Lawyers specializing in Campaign Finance Law. The Lobbyists know all the loopholes – indeed, it is probably the Lobbyists who drafted the laws to begin with, leaving many a trap door and secret passage amidst the thousands of pages of fine-print that, really, nobody ever bothers to read before they vote on it. So by having an over-complexity of laws, we managed to empower the Very People the Laws were ostensively created to block and regulate. We can no longer deal with the ‘Chickens’ directly, but must submit all our dealing first through the Foxes.
Oh, Money can also buy Organizations. One thinks that there is such a thing as “Community Groups” – “Grass Roots Organizations” and such. But when one looks just under the surface, there is typically one or two ‘volunteers’ who effectively run their Organization. They treat it like a full time job. Nobody asks them how they make their living, but they are ‘fronting’ for various Special Interests.
It can sometimes be rather sinister. For instance, the Oil Lobby hired one guy to pretend to be a “Crazy Left-Wing Environmentalist”. He was given the go-ahead to bad mouth the Oil Companies as much as he liked, as long as his primary message was the demonization of Nuclear Energy. He even went so far as claiming time and time again that the Evil Nuclear Energy Industry was in cahoots with Big Oil. And it worked – a bunch of silly middle class women would be riled up against Nuclear Energy.
Similarly, Anti-Abortion Groups were salted into Catholic Districts, not because the Protestant Right Wing actually cares about Abortion, but because they saw an opportunity for breaking the Catholic tradition of voting Democratic and Liberally.
Oh, perhaps the most cynical ploy by the Lobbyists is the push for Term Limits. The Proponents claim that it would put an end to ‘Professional’ Politicians. That is true. What Candidate would bother putting all the necessary effort into getting what amounts to a temporary job? I’ll tell you who – an Employee of some Lobbyist Firm. In States where Term Limit laws now apply, the Lobbyists themselves are the ones who are running for Office, and once out of Office, they simply return to their Lobbyist positions, and sometimes move to another State where they effectively re-cycle themselves. Of course it never occurs to them to do the Will of the People. They do the Will of their Employer – their Lobbying Firm. Now, we can ask ourselves, did the people who voted for Term Limits really understand that they were being asked to replace Politicians directly with Lobbyists. They thought they were voting AGAINST Special Interests, but had been manipulated in exactly the opposite direction.
The influence of Money can be very cynical and jaded.
The Defense Industry and the Zionist Israeli Lobby has turned Monetary Influence into something of an advanced Art – making institutionalized corruption self-perpetuating. You see, they way it is now engineered, the Lobbyists exert their monetary influence in order to get Politicians to vote for Grants, Contracts, Loans, and Defense Expenditures. Then, roughly 5% of the proceeds from these Grants, Contracts, Loans and Defense Expenditures is plowed directly back into the Political Machine, in order to guarantee the next allocation of Grants, Contracts, Loans and Defense Expenditures.
Really, the Palestinians will never be able to match the influence of Israel until they learn to “kick back” whatever Money is occasionally granted to them by Washington. And with all the Oil Money that is controlled by the Arab World, you would suppose there would be more Influence exercised for the benefit of the Palestinians. But apparently the Arab World is still greedy at the Infantile Level, where they have not yet grasped the only slightly complex notion that it takes money to make money. They want Goodness, Right and Justice to make their own way, and stubbornly refuse to write a Check – to ‘grease’ the tracks of Righteousness. But all the Goodness, Right and Justice in the World is not what elects Politicians or keeps them in Office. As long as the bulk of Campaign Expenditures in American Politics, for both Political Parties, are underwritten by Zionist and Israeli Organizations, that is how long America will be irrationally fixated on never ever saying No to anything Israel does or anything Israel wants.
Well, I have been describing up until now all the corruption that has to do with monetary influence. But there is a more basic corruption. There is the corruption of the Voter’s own self interest.
Remember how we defined Corruption? – pleasing Self Interest above the Public Interest. Well, isn’t that exactly how people vote? People vote to protect their Jobs. People vote for bigger Social Security Checks. People vote to be exempted from Taxes. The People themselves are the Corrupt Basis of an inherently Corrupt System.
Remember Adam Smith and his doctrine that Economic Self Interest, if allowed a free hand, would automatically make for a Perfect World. Well, the same idea was applied to Politics, giving us Democracy. We were supposed to believe that in the Rough and Tumble of millions of people exercising each their own Political Self Interest, through their Votes, that the final Sum would work out to be what was Best for Everybody.
It was a Huge Guess. Democracy was an Experiment. They thought it would work… they hoped it would work. But did it?
What we ended up with is that the wealthiest and most embedded and ruthless factions end up with the Lions’ share of Political Power.
I said ‘ruthless’. Yes, sometimes Money isn’t enough. Look around the Globe and see how often Violence and Assassination shape the Political Landscape. Look at America. The Right Wing didn’t reach its Ascendancy until there had been a slew of Political Assassinations wiping out and intimidating their opposition on the Left. In Israel, didn’t they also shoot their Peacemaker?
Oh, and there is the fledgling Democracy in Iraq, where nobody lives long enough to Run for Office and get Elected unless they control a Militia of at least a thousand well armed street thugs – to guard the safety of their own persons, and to take advantage of any weakness displayed by rival contenders. Then there is also the matter of being able to win elections by killing or chasing away any group likely to vote against you.
But a lot of the Corruption inherent in Democracy is small and annoying in each individual instance, but as it salt and peppers throughout everything and everywhere, it must be holding back and diminishing our Entire World. I’ll give you an example. People can’t jog in this one community because there are vicious dogs running loose. And nothing can be done about the vicious dogs because they are owned by a Voter who had worked on the Campaigns of both the Mayor and the Sheriff.
So the Principle here is “laws do not apply to past or potential Supporters”.
We can just guess what would happen if there was a close election, and all of the Car Thieves, Burglars, Rapers, Prostitutes, and Drug Dealers got together and promised a certain Candidate their full support. In a Democracy, the Law and everything Good and Decent can be effectively done away with by the power of the Vote.
Then there are the Losers. Where the Winning Supporters have an effective Amnesty for Everything, the Losers can be hounded endlessly.
They say that in Democracies that the People choose their own Government – that it is Representative Government. But really, the Losers didn’t pick anybody in the Government. The Losers aren’t represented by anybody. And even among the Winners… we can suppose that many Voters go to the polls because they suppose it some kind of a Duty. They acknowledge that they had no real choice in the Nominations or Selection of Candidates – the Rich and Powerful decide who Runs. So people flip a coin or throw a dart and vote for the Candidate who they suspect will do the least harm.
Its often quite sad. All the Promises, all the Rhetoric, all the Hope. And nothing ever changes.
The Corruption Inherent in the System prevents any real change. Its in the nature of Special Interests to be Self Perpetuating. Influence creates power which generates more Influence.
What surprises me is all the Books out there advocating Change – some Green This or Green that, all the while supposing that it can be accomplished within the framework of our Institutionalized Democracies. I mean, if these Authors are smart enough to write a Book, then they should be smart enough to see that everything is stacked against them. I can only conclude that such Books are the results of some jaded Business Plans that the authors were able to foist on the Publishing Companies. Nobody believes any of it, but they think they can sell books… prostrating themselves before Lord Money.
Maybe I owe Adam Smith an apology. Maybe he didn’t say Money SHOULD decide everything. Maybe he just said Money WOULD decide everything. You can’t blame him simply because he was right. It is just disappointing to find out that, after this Huge Experiment in Democracy and Unfettered Economics, that People are basically bad – petty, small, nasty and selfish.
Maybe when everything collapses, the Space Aliens will finally step forward and put our World under some sensible Administration. Clearly Humanity is incapable of conducting its own affairs… At least under the present circumstances where all of the Power is controlled by the very people who are causing all of the Problems, that is Democracy.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Could Space Aliens Be Bad
Could Space Aliens Be Bad
I heard that recently some big famous Media Scientist… famous for being famous…said that we should be very cautious regarding contact with the Space Aliens. His argument was that since we are civilized and evil, that it is likely that they also would be evil despite their level of civilization.
You know, I really suspect that these scientific sorts don’t do much reading outside of their field. After all, to be acquainted with History takes an awful lot of careful and thoughtful reading. I just don’t see how they would have the time. But they hold themselves as geniuses and therefore think themselves experts about everything.
Years ago I read that scientists had the highest mortality rate as Private Pilots. You see, they wouldn’t take the time to actually learn how to fly… they wouldn’t listen to their instructors who they must of considered quite stupid … and they wouldn’t even read the “stupid” books. They just figured they were smart enough and knew everything already. Then they would take off, crash and die. And when they weren’t doing that, they would comment upon Social Issues and History. Super Nerds pretending to know about People.
Anyway, the difference between the Civilization of Space Aliens and our “civilization” is that they might actually have a Civilization. Here on Earth we have no experience with Civilization dating before the last 10,000 years. Here on Earth we have never had a successful Civilization. We have had unsustainable bursts of population. The Earlier Civilization may have been the most successful, if we measure them by their duration. But resent Civilization rise and fall all in the space of just a few hundred years. So, really, can we even say we have ever been “civilized”.
If an engine cranks, sputters and dies, well, we know it is getting gas because we have some cylinders firing, and we know it has spark for the same reason, but something must be wrong because it won’t keep going. Its not really a car if it can’t run. And what we have been doing on Planet Earth is not running.
But the Space Civilizations are not just 10,000 years old. These Space Societies could be hundreds of millions of years old. We are like babies – pooping ourselves, crying, throwing tantrums. So the Scientific Community supposes that Space Aliens are likewise ‘pooping themselves, crying, and throwing tantrums’. They don’t factor in maturity and experience.
Also, there is the matter that Our Governments are so keen to deny the existence of the Space Aliens. If the Scientists are so smart, why is it that they cannot figure out why our Governments are lying to us. If the Aliens were simply dangerous in the ordinary way, then the Governments would warn us, even to the extent of creating hysteria, and use it all as an excuse for some very profitable Military Buildup. But they resort to complete Denial.
I know why.
The Americans had captured some Space Aliens… I heard this from an Ex-Black Ops Agent… a “Spook”… who had been drinking a bit. Anyway the interrogators asked the Aliens about their Social System. They were hoping that the Aliens believed in Democracy and Capitalism. Well, the Aliens asked for a notebook and great deal of paper and spent a couple of weeks describing their Civilization and History. The notebook was yellow in color and so the book they wrote came to be called the “Yellow Book”. It turns out that the Space Alien Civilization was NOT Democratic, and was NOT Capitalist. But it was undeniably SUCCESSFUL.
So the Democrats and Capitalists buried the information.
I heard that recently some big famous Media Scientist… famous for being famous…said that we should be very cautious regarding contact with the Space Aliens. His argument was that since we are civilized and evil, that it is likely that they also would be evil despite their level of civilization.
You know, I really suspect that these scientific sorts don’t do much reading outside of their field. After all, to be acquainted with History takes an awful lot of careful and thoughtful reading. I just don’t see how they would have the time. But they hold themselves as geniuses and therefore think themselves experts about everything.
Years ago I read that scientists had the highest mortality rate as Private Pilots. You see, they wouldn’t take the time to actually learn how to fly… they wouldn’t listen to their instructors who they must of considered quite stupid … and they wouldn’t even read the “stupid” books. They just figured they were smart enough and knew everything already. Then they would take off, crash and die. And when they weren’t doing that, they would comment upon Social Issues and History. Super Nerds pretending to know about People.
Anyway, the difference between the Civilization of Space Aliens and our “civilization” is that they might actually have a Civilization. Here on Earth we have no experience with Civilization dating before the last 10,000 years. Here on Earth we have never had a successful Civilization. We have had unsustainable bursts of population. The Earlier Civilization may have been the most successful, if we measure them by their duration. But resent Civilization rise and fall all in the space of just a few hundred years. So, really, can we even say we have ever been “civilized”.
If an engine cranks, sputters and dies, well, we know it is getting gas because we have some cylinders firing, and we know it has spark for the same reason, but something must be wrong because it won’t keep going. Its not really a car if it can’t run. And what we have been doing on Planet Earth is not running.
But the Space Civilizations are not just 10,000 years old. These Space Societies could be hundreds of millions of years old. We are like babies – pooping ourselves, crying, throwing tantrums. So the Scientific Community supposes that Space Aliens are likewise ‘pooping themselves, crying, and throwing tantrums’. They don’t factor in maturity and experience.
Also, there is the matter that Our Governments are so keen to deny the existence of the Space Aliens. If the Scientists are so smart, why is it that they cannot figure out why our Governments are lying to us. If the Aliens were simply dangerous in the ordinary way, then the Governments would warn us, even to the extent of creating hysteria, and use it all as an excuse for some very profitable Military Buildup. But they resort to complete Denial.
I know why.
The Americans had captured some Space Aliens… I heard this from an Ex-Black Ops Agent… a “Spook”… who had been drinking a bit. Anyway the interrogators asked the Aliens about their Social System. They were hoping that the Aliens believed in Democracy and Capitalism. Well, the Aliens asked for a notebook and great deal of paper and spent a couple of weeks describing their Civilization and History. The notebook was yellow in color and so the book they wrote came to be called the “Yellow Book”. It turns out that the Space Alien Civilization was NOT Democratic, and was NOT Capitalist. But it was undeniably SUCCESSFUL.
So the Democrats and Capitalists buried the information.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Approaching End of the World
The Approaching End of the World
Arnold Toynbee, one of the greatest and most well respected Historians who had ever lived, recounted in his works how in the entire history of the World there has been only 21 Civilizations, and they all collapsed. They all failed. And each Collapse was a kind of an End of the World. Huge proportions of the Civilized Population simply died off. Life would slowly come back, but largely sourcing from Barbarians who had wandered in to help with all of the burning and pillaging.
Remember Rome. Well, nobody speaks Latin today… not even in Italy. Not only Languages, but Cultures, Traditions, Morals and Religions can be largely forgotten. Often enough, the Only Thing remembered after a Collapse is exactly the kind of Institutions that lead to the Collapse. Look at Chinese History. It rises and collapses in a cycle that can be counted in just a handful of generations. Swift Rise is always inevitably followed by an even swifter collapse. No New Dynasty had ever learned a single lesson from the Past. This is because each New Civilization is put together largely by the Barbarians who take over afterwards. And ultimately the inclusion of Barbarian Institutions in the formation of a Civilization are what prove eventually and inevitably Fatal.
The Problem today is with Growth Capitalism. You see, after the Collapse of Catholic Civilization, the Barbarians taking over decided to rebuild the World with Usury. Usury had been a Sin, but now it is the Pillar of our System – Capitalism which through Globalization has become almost universal.
The Praise of Capitalism is almost endless. Look how every Economy has ‘grown’. Even Today when it is acknowledged that Capitalism has some very serious Problems, most of the books coming out offer as a solution the not very novel idea that the Cure for Capitalism is simply More and Better Capitalism. “We fail because we are not Competing hard enough”. I suppose their underlying assumption is that the Capitalists were not really trying up until now.
But the basic problem with Growth Capitalism and Usury in general is that a continuously ‘growing system’ cannot reach any stability or equilibrium -- that would imply a cessation of ‘Growth’, which to any Capitalist Economist is the very exact signal of Failure. Leveling off is what they call a Recession. But Growth Capitalism depends entirely upon getting more and more and more…
Now, yes, if Capitalism is imposed upon impoverished barbarians, it does offer a means of producing and providing Wealth, but that is only when the conditions provide a glut of unused resources. Given a newly discoved Mountain of Gold, a Capitalist just starting out can haul away a ton this year and increase his take by 6% every year. It all works fine until the Mountain is worn down to nothing.
The reason I suppose that Civilizations had declared Usury to be a Sin is that any Advanced Civilization would have experience with a closed system with a fixed supply of resources, where just the physics of the situation point out that the Economy cannot do better than Break Even. Given fixed or limited resources, where is the extra Wealth that should pay for Profits and Interest to come from?
A simple example can demonstrate the problem with interest. Suppose we have a closed economy where all money comes from one Bank. Capitalists borrow money from the Bank and pay their Workers to produce Products. For the Products to make money they have to sell for more than was paid to the Workers to make them. Then the Capitalists have to pay the Bank interest on the money. Well, there is still only that fixed amount of money. The only money in the economy that can be spent is that which is given to the Workers. So in a Closed Economy there can be no money left over for Profit or Interest.
Now, in more elaborate examples, there is extra money. But what happens is that the Banks take in more money then they give out until they eventually arrive at the conditions of our simple model… and then it can no longer work.
Now, for the last several hundred years the Growth that Capitalists depended upon came by Exporting their Products. An Economies own Workers could go screw themselves. Capitalism became dependent upon Trade. One’s own Economy could grow only by taking away the Wealth of others.
It worked out fine for Europe and America, while vast regions of the World stood outside of their Monolithic Banking System. Growth was effectively pillaged away from other Societies.
But now with Globalization, we have reached the conditions of the Simple Model. Now, with Globalization, the Same Bank is lending to everybody. The Same Capitalists are employing every Worker. There is no longer any Extra Money outside of the System left over to feed the Growth.
Yes, so some powerful Economies simply start printing money to satisfy the Capitalists and Bankers who depend upon writing in larger numbers every year for what amounts to one fixed amount of Value. Of course it is Inflationary, to continuously multiply Currency that is intended to pay for a certain Fixed Value. It is like when the price of bread goes up simply because the Bakery knows that all the Factory Workers got raises.
Well, inflation can actually be useful. But Bankers hate it. They want more “Bread” and not just more Bills fresh off the State Printing Press.
So we get in Commodities Trading and Equities. They tried to keep the Banks out of it, but they bought Politicians and had the Laws changed. Bankers, given our now Universal System of Politics, where Bankers decide who should run for Office and pay for their Campaigns, well, Bankers are actually the ones in charge and can really do what they like. So it is that Bankers use Equities and Trading in order to convert Money into actual Wealth – Oil, Food Commodities, and Corporate Capital.
Now in the Past, all of this Real Wealth was a Growing Thing. More Food could be grown by opening up new Land, or by applying Science to existing Land. They could Explore for New Oil. Corporations could expand into New Markets or New Product Lines. This is from the Golden Age of Capitalism that everybody sings about. But now Resources have been pushed to the limit. There is No New Anything anymore.
The Banks are relatively happy since given all the fixed quantities of Wealth, their Value goes up. But the Value goes up only because of Printed Inflationary Money.
So we arrive at exactly why Growth Capitalism is going to collapse. Out Planet has hit is Resource Saturation.
But why is this Bad? What will happen to us? Well, as Prices spiral upward for an ever decreasing Supply of Resources – Food, Fuel, Clothing. More and more people will be left out and left to die.
Its already happening, or WAS happening. Remember before the most recent Global Economic Disaster, back in 2007 and 2008 when Petroleum Prices were approaching $200 a barrel and Agricultural Economies all around the globe were plowing under Wheat and Rice so that they could plant for Alcohol Fuel Production. It linked the Rising Price of Oil to the World’s Food Commodities Prices. All around the World there was some very grave concern about millions of people starving, and populations going into rebellion. But, ironically, were all saved by the Downturn. The Deep Recession lowered demand and Prices fell again with reach for most of us. Not all of us. The Crisis in Northeast Africa is no accident. That is exactly what happens when a Society can no longer keep up with Internationally Set Prices. Notice that the response of the International Community (America, really. America takes credit for everything Good but distances itself from everything bad) has been to simply throw a cordon around that Killing Field in Africa.
Twenty or thirty years ago there would have been massive amounts of supplies sent in from the World’s Surplus. Capitalists don’t mind giving up on Surplus – it raises the prices on their remaining Product. But now, obviously, there are no Surpluses, or the Surpluses are so precarious that, and the Situation now seen as so dire, that Surpluses are being retained for domestic Contingencies.
This means that not only are Things Bad, but the people in charge know things are bad.
But as I said before, no solutions are on the table. All of the recent books simply recommend More and Better Capitalism – compete harder, compete smarter.
But in One Globalized System, what good will Increased Competition do? Competition is about Winners and Losers. What are the Losers supposed to do?
They talk about it like it is a Game. Or they pretend it doesn’t really matter in human terms. I’ve read in a dozen books various Pompous Capitalists dismissing the pain that comes during Recessions because they were “Necessary Market Corrections” and that Capitalism is eventually healthier afterward – meaning that what is Bad for the People is Great for the Banks. It is like China saying that Dynastic Collapses and the death of hundreds of millions of Chinese is “a necessary correction” and China is ultimately better off for it. Yeah, nothing like killing off a million people to make Real Estate affordable again.
But the Losers in Capitalism’s big competitive Game simply won’t be able to go home without the Trophy. There would be currency devaluations and massive unemployment – most people without jobs and the people still with jobs not being able to buy anything with their cheapened money.
In real terms, there can be two basic Responses. Some Societies will move swiftly in order to cut off their Economies from International Pricing… so that Traders can’t just come in and buy up all the food stocks and ship them out. (It happens. I live on a small island where recently many of the shelves stood bare because a wealthy trader from another island diverted a fleet of cargo ships, offering a penny more than prices and contractual penalties. It was Great Capitalism, but the people of the island were made to be the Losers of it all). Societies convert over to Planned Economies.
The other Response is for Wealthy People to “ride it out”. We’ve seen a rise in systematic food hoarding. I hear that every Mormon is supposed to keep 18 months food supply. Who knows what the Masons are doing. But, yes, most Economies have no Contingency Plan for what would be a major Economic Disaster. Its left to Individuals to make their own way.
You know, History has had 21 Collapsed Civilizations, and it never has worked out like they think. The Rich have never been able to “ride out” a true and final collapse. The Mormon’s 18 month food supply will only last 18 months. The Rich depend upon Private Security Firms, but when the value of the Dollar drops to nothing, then the Security Guy with the Gun will simply take what he wants when he can no longer cash his tiny little checks. People think that hoarding Gold might help, but the value of Gold depends upon honest trade and law and order. But after the Collapse, a single good bullet might have more practical value than a ton of Gold.
So, really, the Planned Economies will stand the best chance in the end of surviving the Collapse. Ironically, those Societies most vilified by the West and condemned for falling so short against the Model of Growth Capitalism to which everybody and everything is compared, will remain intact. The very Isolation of such a North Korea or Cuba will be their insulation and protection. And their already Established Traditions of Planning might stand them in good stead of building a truly Sustainable Civilization afterward.
Of course, in most sectors, the Barbarians (the Americans, the Europeans and the Japanese) will survive, though at highly reduced numbers. Maybe 30% of the Barbarian Populations will survive. Given a few Generations, Law and Order will be re-established, and Banking and Usury will start up again. The whole thing will start over again. Land and Resources will be plentiful. Labor will be valuable. Yes, there will be Competition, but with so few people and so much stuff, for the most part people will not seriously get in each other’s way. Killers looking for trouble will find it, but there will be plenty of room for people who want to mind their own business.
The Living will forget the Dead and songs will be sung glorifying the Rise of a New Capitalism. It’s great to Win. They’ll have a New Golden Age which they think will go on Forever. And then it will all collapse again…
Civilization will never be permanent until it is built on the Model of Sustainability and Equilibrium. That is why the Wisdom of Civilization past had made Usury and Capitalism a Sin.
Arnold Toynbee, one of the greatest and most well respected Historians who had ever lived, recounted in his works how in the entire history of the World there has been only 21 Civilizations, and they all collapsed. They all failed. And each Collapse was a kind of an End of the World. Huge proportions of the Civilized Population simply died off. Life would slowly come back, but largely sourcing from Barbarians who had wandered in to help with all of the burning and pillaging.
Remember Rome. Well, nobody speaks Latin today… not even in Italy. Not only Languages, but Cultures, Traditions, Morals and Religions can be largely forgotten. Often enough, the Only Thing remembered after a Collapse is exactly the kind of Institutions that lead to the Collapse. Look at Chinese History. It rises and collapses in a cycle that can be counted in just a handful of generations. Swift Rise is always inevitably followed by an even swifter collapse. No New Dynasty had ever learned a single lesson from the Past. This is because each New Civilization is put together largely by the Barbarians who take over afterwards. And ultimately the inclusion of Barbarian Institutions in the formation of a Civilization are what prove eventually and inevitably Fatal.
The Problem today is with Growth Capitalism. You see, after the Collapse of Catholic Civilization, the Barbarians taking over decided to rebuild the World with Usury. Usury had been a Sin, but now it is the Pillar of our System – Capitalism which through Globalization has become almost universal.
The Praise of Capitalism is almost endless. Look how every Economy has ‘grown’. Even Today when it is acknowledged that Capitalism has some very serious Problems, most of the books coming out offer as a solution the not very novel idea that the Cure for Capitalism is simply More and Better Capitalism. “We fail because we are not Competing hard enough”. I suppose their underlying assumption is that the Capitalists were not really trying up until now.
But the basic problem with Growth Capitalism and Usury in general is that a continuously ‘growing system’ cannot reach any stability or equilibrium -- that would imply a cessation of ‘Growth’, which to any Capitalist Economist is the very exact signal of Failure. Leveling off is what they call a Recession. But Growth Capitalism depends entirely upon getting more and more and more…
Now, yes, if Capitalism is imposed upon impoverished barbarians, it does offer a means of producing and providing Wealth, but that is only when the conditions provide a glut of unused resources. Given a newly discoved Mountain of Gold, a Capitalist just starting out can haul away a ton this year and increase his take by 6% every year. It all works fine until the Mountain is worn down to nothing.
The reason I suppose that Civilizations had declared Usury to be a Sin is that any Advanced Civilization would have experience with a closed system with a fixed supply of resources, where just the physics of the situation point out that the Economy cannot do better than Break Even. Given fixed or limited resources, where is the extra Wealth that should pay for Profits and Interest to come from?
A simple example can demonstrate the problem with interest. Suppose we have a closed economy where all money comes from one Bank. Capitalists borrow money from the Bank and pay their Workers to produce Products. For the Products to make money they have to sell for more than was paid to the Workers to make them. Then the Capitalists have to pay the Bank interest on the money. Well, there is still only that fixed amount of money. The only money in the economy that can be spent is that which is given to the Workers. So in a Closed Economy there can be no money left over for Profit or Interest.
Now, in more elaborate examples, there is extra money. But what happens is that the Banks take in more money then they give out until they eventually arrive at the conditions of our simple model… and then it can no longer work.
Now, for the last several hundred years the Growth that Capitalists depended upon came by Exporting their Products. An Economies own Workers could go screw themselves. Capitalism became dependent upon Trade. One’s own Economy could grow only by taking away the Wealth of others.
It worked out fine for Europe and America, while vast regions of the World stood outside of their Monolithic Banking System. Growth was effectively pillaged away from other Societies.
But now with Globalization, we have reached the conditions of the Simple Model. Now, with Globalization, the Same Bank is lending to everybody. The Same Capitalists are employing every Worker. There is no longer any Extra Money outside of the System left over to feed the Growth.
Yes, so some powerful Economies simply start printing money to satisfy the Capitalists and Bankers who depend upon writing in larger numbers every year for what amounts to one fixed amount of Value. Of course it is Inflationary, to continuously multiply Currency that is intended to pay for a certain Fixed Value. It is like when the price of bread goes up simply because the Bakery knows that all the Factory Workers got raises.
Well, inflation can actually be useful. But Bankers hate it. They want more “Bread” and not just more Bills fresh off the State Printing Press.
So we get in Commodities Trading and Equities. They tried to keep the Banks out of it, but they bought Politicians and had the Laws changed. Bankers, given our now Universal System of Politics, where Bankers decide who should run for Office and pay for their Campaigns, well, Bankers are actually the ones in charge and can really do what they like. So it is that Bankers use Equities and Trading in order to convert Money into actual Wealth – Oil, Food Commodities, and Corporate Capital.
Now in the Past, all of this Real Wealth was a Growing Thing. More Food could be grown by opening up new Land, or by applying Science to existing Land. They could Explore for New Oil. Corporations could expand into New Markets or New Product Lines. This is from the Golden Age of Capitalism that everybody sings about. But now Resources have been pushed to the limit. There is No New Anything anymore.
The Banks are relatively happy since given all the fixed quantities of Wealth, their Value goes up. But the Value goes up only because of Printed Inflationary Money.
So we arrive at exactly why Growth Capitalism is going to collapse. Out Planet has hit is Resource Saturation.
But why is this Bad? What will happen to us? Well, as Prices spiral upward for an ever decreasing Supply of Resources – Food, Fuel, Clothing. More and more people will be left out and left to die.
Its already happening, or WAS happening. Remember before the most recent Global Economic Disaster, back in 2007 and 2008 when Petroleum Prices were approaching $200 a barrel and Agricultural Economies all around the globe were plowing under Wheat and Rice so that they could plant for Alcohol Fuel Production. It linked the Rising Price of Oil to the World’s Food Commodities Prices. All around the World there was some very grave concern about millions of people starving, and populations going into rebellion. But, ironically, were all saved by the Downturn. The Deep Recession lowered demand and Prices fell again with reach for most of us. Not all of us. The Crisis in Northeast Africa is no accident. That is exactly what happens when a Society can no longer keep up with Internationally Set Prices. Notice that the response of the International Community (America, really. America takes credit for everything Good but distances itself from everything bad) has been to simply throw a cordon around that Killing Field in Africa.
Twenty or thirty years ago there would have been massive amounts of supplies sent in from the World’s Surplus. Capitalists don’t mind giving up on Surplus – it raises the prices on their remaining Product. But now, obviously, there are no Surpluses, or the Surpluses are so precarious that, and the Situation now seen as so dire, that Surpluses are being retained for domestic Contingencies.
This means that not only are Things Bad, but the people in charge know things are bad.
But as I said before, no solutions are on the table. All of the recent books simply recommend More and Better Capitalism – compete harder, compete smarter.
But in One Globalized System, what good will Increased Competition do? Competition is about Winners and Losers. What are the Losers supposed to do?
They talk about it like it is a Game. Or they pretend it doesn’t really matter in human terms. I’ve read in a dozen books various Pompous Capitalists dismissing the pain that comes during Recessions because they were “Necessary Market Corrections” and that Capitalism is eventually healthier afterward – meaning that what is Bad for the People is Great for the Banks. It is like China saying that Dynastic Collapses and the death of hundreds of millions of Chinese is “a necessary correction” and China is ultimately better off for it. Yeah, nothing like killing off a million people to make Real Estate affordable again.
But the Losers in Capitalism’s big competitive Game simply won’t be able to go home without the Trophy. There would be currency devaluations and massive unemployment – most people without jobs and the people still with jobs not being able to buy anything with their cheapened money.
In real terms, there can be two basic Responses. Some Societies will move swiftly in order to cut off their Economies from International Pricing… so that Traders can’t just come in and buy up all the food stocks and ship them out. (It happens. I live on a small island where recently many of the shelves stood bare because a wealthy trader from another island diverted a fleet of cargo ships, offering a penny more than prices and contractual penalties. It was Great Capitalism, but the people of the island were made to be the Losers of it all). Societies convert over to Planned Economies.
The other Response is for Wealthy People to “ride it out”. We’ve seen a rise in systematic food hoarding. I hear that every Mormon is supposed to keep 18 months food supply. Who knows what the Masons are doing. But, yes, most Economies have no Contingency Plan for what would be a major Economic Disaster. Its left to Individuals to make their own way.
You know, History has had 21 Collapsed Civilizations, and it never has worked out like they think. The Rich have never been able to “ride out” a true and final collapse. The Mormon’s 18 month food supply will only last 18 months. The Rich depend upon Private Security Firms, but when the value of the Dollar drops to nothing, then the Security Guy with the Gun will simply take what he wants when he can no longer cash his tiny little checks. People think that hoarding Gold might help, but the value of Gold depends upon honest trade and law and order. But after the Collapse, a single good bullet might have more practical value than a ton of Gold.
So, really, the Planned Economies will stand the best chance in the end of surviving the Collapse. Ironically, those Societies most vilified by the West and condemned for falling so short against the Model of Growth Capitalism to which everybody and everything is compared, will remain intact. The very Isolation of such a North Korea or Cuba will be their insulation and protection. And their already Established Traditions of Planning might stand them in good stead of building a truly Sustainable Civilization afterward.
Of course, in most sectors, the Barbarians (the Americans, the Europeans and the Japanese) will survive, though at highly reduced numbers. Maybe 30% of the Barbarian Populations will survive. Given a few Generations, Law and Order will be re-established, and Banking and Usury will start up again. The whole thing will start over again. Land and Resources will be plentiful. Labor will be valuable. Yes, there will be Competition, but with so few people and so much stuff, for the most part people will not seriously get in each other’s way. Killers looking for trouble will find it, but there will be plenty of room for people who want to mind their own business.
The Living will forget the Dead and songs will be sung glorifying the Rise of a New Capitalism. It’s great to Win. They’ll have a New Golden Age which they think will go on Forever. And then it will all collapse again…
Civilization will never be permanent until it is built on the Model of Sustainability and Equilibrium. That is why the Wisdom of Civilization past had made Usury and Capitalism a Sin.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Mindless Tenacity of Barbarism
The Mindless Tenacity of Barbarism
As I have pointed out in numerous essays before, one can easily differentiate between Civilized and Barbarian Institutions simply by applying one objective criteria -- Population, that is, Civilized Institutions allow and provide for high levels of population and population density, while Barbaric Institutions favor depopulation and only thrive when the population densities are relatively low.
What we see in History is a series of Cycles… Cycles composed of Spirals to be more exact… in which Civilizations rise up and Populations grow until they increase beyond a certain point where its Civilized Institutions can no longer manage all of the complexities and requirements involved in housing and feeding so many People. Then the disintegrative and destructive Institutions of Barbarism come into play, reducing the overall population factors to a level where Barbarians can stretch out and again be thoroughly comfortable.
It may appear that I am being over-simplistic, but from the Civilized standpoint anyway, Civilized Institutions can be equated to Goodness and Light, while Barbarism, of course, is Evil – the veritable Reign of Darkness.
It is a terrible moment in any society’s history – the point where Individual Survival is advanced more through Evil than through Good. At that point in time when suddenly a Civilization exceeds its grasp and the advantage goes to Barbarism, then Goodness becomes a liability. Evil rises up wearing two races – first, those best suited to murder and mayhem will be the Big Winners as Civilization collapses. They are cold-blooded demonic thugs, but they call themselves “Warriors”. The other Face of Barbarism makes the best use of its Feet – these are the swiftest and fleetest Refugees – those who can turn their back on their Old Society the quickest and most rapidly abandon their Fellow and Family – these are the Survivors who live to repopulate the Post-Civilized World.
So it is that everybody’s Family Tree takes root in a manure heap.
History shows us that there is not really much of a moral difference between Barbarism’s Murderous Thugs and the Refugees. We have often seen that large Demographic Movements of ‘refugees’ pushed out of one region by overwhelming force, well, that they in turn become the ‘Murderous Thugs’ that push another Group out down the line. You see, once it becomes embedded in a Society’s “Moral View” that “Other People Do Not Matter” and that there is some kind of equivalent ‘Moral Imperative” that Personal Advantage should supersede all else, then it is just as likely that the person, the Refugee, who runs away from his responsibilities, will also not hesitate to kill someone else for their wallet… giving himself a promotion to “Warrior”.
One would expect that the Refugee’s great suffering would purge him of evil and leave him in a state of Purity. But no… Suffering gives way to Vengeance and the character of a Refugee People becomes vindictive. Such victims only swear to never be made such victims again, and then they do their best to become exactly like the Marauders who had victimized them in the first place. Attila the Hun had been a Refugee.
Of course a certain practical ‘leaven’ for Civilization is embedded within Barbarian Societies, and that is simply that the largest band of Thugs generally wins when it comes to violent contests for Territory or Resources. Big Gangs defeat small gangs. It moves up the scale until we are talking about entire Armies. To put that many people together without causing more self-destruction than practical benefit, we would have to have the resurrection of some basic rules, agreements, contracts, and particularly the psychological seed-sprout that a Cooperating Society is more powerful than any group of individuals standing alone. The first ‘virtue’ in any wholly Barbarian Society is Loyalty.
Indeed, the more ‘Civilized’ a Barbarian Society manages to become, the more successful it will actually be… which of course gives us the Rise of our ‘Civilizations’. So we would expect that Civilizations would rise up quickly, no?
Well, yes and no. Civilizations do arise, but there are problems.
Remember how we agreed that Barbarism favors and enjoys low levels of Population. Well, in the worst and most absolute collapses of a Civilization – not just the bottom of one of the ‘Spirals’ as things get worse, but the bottoming of the entire Cycle – the De-population is so extreme that the individual surviving Barbarians have really no effective competition for Land or Resources after the ‘dust settles’, so to speak. After a Deep and Final Collapse of a Civilization, with Population Levels dropping by 80 or 90% in just one or two generations, then Life becomes a veritable ‘Free For All’. Survivors can pick between any two or three Estates or Plantations to move into and take over as uncontested personal property. Food becomes plentiful and cheap. But, most importantly to our point, nobody needs to owe anybody anything – not a single virtue is required to get by well in any Golden Age of Barbarism. But even this total absence of Virtue can be made out to seem like a virtue. Thus it is that Barbarians at their absolute lowest will create a quasi-virtue – really the absence of all real virtue, and they will call it Freedom. Or they will be brazen about it and defy every true model of Morality with such slogans as “Greed is Good”. At such periods in History it is the Antichrist who reigns on Earth.
So it is that Barbarians will enshrine Freedom as the source of all their Wealth and Happiness. But actually looking at the facts, as we have, we see that they only enjoyed such Prosperity and Plenty because everyone else had died. So it is that the Doctrines of Freedom followed closely on the heals of any Black Plague or Major Famine, and of course enjoy a re-invigorating echo after any particularly grisly War. A Few Survivors get to keep what is left behind by the Dead Many. And then The Scheming Beggar who moves into a Palace pretends to his children that he was the one who built it in the first place. Freedom is the Right every pillager claims to keep what he has stolen.
So it is that Barbaric Societies, as they enjoy the Lowest Population Levels immediately after any Major Depopulating Collapse, will hone their doctrines and political theories to justify selfishness and division. As population levels naturally increase, and competition again begins to rise, then we will have practical benefits again accruing to the Communities that can best manage to suppress the Demonic Call to Freedom so that they can multiply their powers through Cooperation. But with Selfishness and Freedom so intrinsically a part of each Society’s kind of “Core Folk Religion”, any institutions built around Cooperation will be qualified and compromised. Civilization will grow up with the original stain of Barbarism, and the more pronounced that stain, then the sooner it will undergo the Next Collapse, where its half-hearted Institutions of Civilization cannot provide for even a moderately high level of Population.
As I have pointed out in numerous essays before, one can easily differentiate between Civilized and Barbarian Institutions simply by applying one objective criteria -- Population, that is, Civilized Institutions allow and provide for high levels of population and population density, while Barbaric Institutions favor depopulation and only thrive when the population densities are relatively low.
What we see in History is a series of Cycles… Cycles composed of Spirals to be more exact… in which Civilizations rise up and Populations grow until they increase beyond a certain point where its Civilized Institutions can no longer manage all of the complexities and requirements involved in housing and feeding so many People. Then the disintegrative and destructive Institutions of Barbarism come into play, reducing the overall population factors to a level where Barbarians can stretch out and again be thoroughly comfortable.
It may appear that I am being over-simplistic, but from the Civilized standpoint anyway, Civilized Institutions can be equated to Goodness and Light, while Barbarism, of course, is Evil – the veritable Reign of Darkness.
It is a terrible moment in any society’s history – the point where Individual Survival is advanced more through Evil than through Good. At that point in time when suddenly a Civilization exceeds its grasp and the advantage goes to Barbarism, then Goodness becomes a liability. Evil rises up wearing two races – first, those best suited to murder and mayhem will be the Big Winners as Civilization collapses. They are cold-blooded demonic thugs, but they call themselves “Warriors”. The other Face of Barbarism makes the best use of its Feet – these are the swiftest and fleetest Refugees – those who can turn their back on their Old Society the quickest and most rapidly abandon their Fellow and Family – these are the Survivors who live to repopulate the Post-Civilized World.
So it is that everybody’s Family Tree takes root in a manure heap.
History shows us that there is not really much of a moral difference between Barbarism’s Murderous Thugs and the Refugees. We have often seen that large Demographic Movements of ‘refugees’ pushed out of one region by overwhelming force, well, that they in turn become the ‘Murderous Thugs’ that push another Group out down the line. You see, once it becomes embedded in a Society’s “Moral View” that “Other People Do Not Matter” and that there is some kind of equivalent ‘Moral Imperative” that Personal Advantage should supersede all else, then it is just as likely that the person, the Refugee, who runs away from his responsibilities, will also not hesitate to kill someone else for their wallet… giving himself a promotion to “Warrior”.
One would expect that the Refugee’s great suffering would purge him of evil and leave him in a state of Purity. But no… Suffering gives way to Vengeance and the character of a Refugee People becomes vindictive. Such victims only swear to never be made such victims again, and then they do their best to become exactly like the Marauders who had victimized them in the first place. Attila the Hun had been a Refugee.
Of course a certain practical ‘leaven’ for Civilization is embedded within Barbarian Societies, and that is simply that the largest band of Thugs generally wins when it comes to violent contests for Territory or Resources. Big Gangs defeat small gangs. It moves up the scale until we are talking about entire Armies. To put that many people together without causing more self-destruction than practical benefit, we would have to have the resurrection of some basic rules, agreements, contracts, and particularly the psychological seed-sprout that a Cooperating Society is more powerful than any group of individuals standing alone. The first ‘virtue’ in any wholly Barbarian Society is Loyalty.
Indeed, the more ‘Civilized’ a Barbarian Society manages to become, the more successful it will actually be… which of course gives us the Rise of our ‘Civilizations’. So we would expect that Civilizations would rise up quickly, no?
Well, yes and no. Civilizations do arise, but there are problems.
Remember how we agreed that Barbarism favors and enjoys low levels of Population. Well, in the worst and most absolute collapses of a Civilization – not just the bottom of one of the ‘Spirals’ as things get worse, but the bottoming of the entire Cycle – the De-population is so extreme that the individual surviving Barbarians have really no effective competition for Land or Resources after the ‘dust settles’, so to speak. After a Deep and Final Collapse of a Civilization, with Population Levels dropping by 80 or 90% in just one or two generations, then Life becomes a veritable ‘Free For All’. Survivors can pick between any two or three Estates or Plantations to move into and take over as uncontested personal property. Food becomes plentiful and cheap. But, most importantly to our point, nobody needs to owe anybody anything – not a single virtue is required to get by well in any Golden Age of Barbarism. But even this total absence of Virtue can be made out to seem like a virtue. Thus it is that Barbarians at their absolute lowest will create a quasi-virtue – really the absence of all real virtue, and they will call it Freedom. Or they will be brazen about it and defy every true model of Morality with such slogans as “Greed is Good”. At such periods in History it is the Antichrist who reigns on Earth.
So it is that Barbarians will enshrine Freedom as the source of all their Wealth and Happiness. But actually looking at the facts, as we have, we see that they only enjoyed such Prosperity and Plenty because everyone else had died. So it is that the Doctrines of Freedom followed closely on the heals of any Black Plague or Major Famine, and of course enjoy a re-invigorating echo after any particularly grisly War. A Few Survivors get to keep what is left behind by the Dead Many. And then The Scheming Beggar who moves into a Palace pretends to his children that he was the one who built it in the first place. Freedom is the Right every pillager claims to keep what he has stolen.
So it is that Barbaric Societies, as they enjoy the Lowest Population Levels immediately after any Major Depopulating Collapse, will hone their doctrines and political theories to justify selfishness and division. As population levels naturally increase, and competition again begins to rise, then we will have practical benefits again accruing to the Communities that can best manage to suppress the Demonic Call to Freedom so that they can multiply their powers through Cooperation. But with Selfishness and Freedom so intrinsically a part of each Society’s kind of “Core Folk Religion”, any institutions built around Cooperation will be qualified and compromised. Civilization will grow up with the original stain of Barbarism, and the more pronounced that stain, then the sooner it will undergo the Next Collapse, where its half-hearted Institutions of Civilization cannot provide for even a moderately high level of Population.
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