A New World Emerging

WE THE PEOPLE, (or "sheeple") of the United States, and for that matter, the world, have been duped. We the ninety nine percent have been duped by the one percent into believing that whatever is in the best interests of the one tenth of one percent wealthy elite is in the best interests of us all. "Trickle down economics" is what the message of dupery has been called in America. In other countries, it has probably been called many things, from patriotism, to religious purity. If you just lower taxes on the extremely wealthy, so the line goes, the ultra wealthy will reinvest their tax savings in the economy, in jobs for many and prosperity for all. "Supply side economic" the theory is called, and it inexplicable became quite popular in the early nineteen eighties, promulgated most famously by Ronald Wilson Reagan. Over the past few decades, its falsehood has been clearly revealed by history, experience, and theory. Supply side trickle down economics is a complete sham; what is needed is demand side, trickle up economics. Start at the bottom, where wealthy is truly made, and let it work its way up. Jobs and pay raises for the poor, and a good does of truly progressive taxation, coupled with government spending on infrastructure and education would be a good place to start. America's socialism is the best, most effective,most successful part of its economy. Social Security, Medicare, the interstate highway system, our city sewer and water systems - all work amazingly well. When the ninety nine percent start acting in their own interests, instead of sheepishly following the instructions of their wealthy corporate masters, a new and better world will begin to emerge.

People Moving and Growing

WE THE PEOPLE of the United States of America have evidently decided that we most assuredly do not want the thousands of children coming from Central America. We might be making a big mistake. Human capital, and all that. What if the next Einstein is among them? We could be turning away a great bonanza of talent. As long as the population rises, economic growth will be necessary, and one somehow has the feeling that under the present system, no matter how much economic growth we achieve, the lion's share of the prosperity will accrue to the elite one percent. The new economic growth must go to the new people. The system must be changed. The one percent has succeeded in making the rules of the economic game favorable to themselves, at the expense of the rest of us, particularly the lowest twenty percent. May immigration to America continue; organized, regulated, bringing new voters for the democratic party, and laborers for the ever expanding American corporate capitalistic machine. The American demand for recreational drugs should be met by American enterprise, and the prosperity from the drug business should be distributed widely, among the people at large, rather than to a select few Latin american drug lords. The legalization of marijuana has already created a boom economy in Colorado, and the same thing could be happening everywhere in these United States, with millions of Americans enjoying recreational drugs like marijuana cocaine, and meth, free from fear of persecution, just as they currently enjoy alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and sugar, not to mention sex and sports. No matter how many children come to America, American families can absorb them. Similarly, the more Americans who move to foreign countries, and scatter throughout the world, the better for the world.

Accepting the Obvious

HAMAS, which has a legitimate point of view, does not believe that Israel has a right to exist, nor should exist. But all that, for all practical purposes, is beside the point. The point is: Israel DOES exist, and, for all appearances, will for quite some time. Indeed it may have been a questionable decision in 1948 to establish a theocracy on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea; just as the entire realignment of Europe and the middle east after world war one by the victorious allied powers might have been handled horribly stupidly. But its too late to change all that now, and Hamas, bless their little angry hearts, must accept it. Equally obvious is that there must be a substantial redistribution of wealth among the world's nations and peoples, to avoid violence and darkness on a doomsday scale. Elevating the standard of living of billions of people will require a considerable quantity of financial and industrial enterprise; one would think, however, that the process would create numerous opportunities for savvy investors. And please, oh citizens of Russia, impress upon your government the dire necessity for allowing the Ukraine to function as an independent, self governing nation-state. Those Ukrainian citizens wishing to become Russian citizens, and feeling trapped in the Ukraine, should be free to emigrate to Russia.

Economic Enemy Number One; Inequality

Recommended Reading: The Price of Inequality, by Joseph Stiglitz, published within the past couple of years, deals with economic issues, taking into account the recent "great recession", and current trends in American economic life. The strongest, and most alarming trend is the rapid concentration of wealth at the top, among the "one percent", as the ultra wealthy have come to be called. The basic idea is that b y transferring more wealth from the upper to the lower class, purchasing power, and thus demand, can be greatly increased throughout the largest sector of society, the poor and impoverished. That would seem to make sense. Rather then relying on supply side trickle down Reagonomics, demand side, trickle up policies would stimulate and repair the economy. Government policy, one way or another, is going to have a profound impact one the shape and direction of any modern economic system. Without government, there is Darwinistic chaos, with too much government there is the risk of economic stagnation. There is really no such thing as a "national interest", because the interests of rich and poor, in any country, are divergent. IN America government economic is heavily tilted toward the benefit of the wealthy, and by redesigning legislation to favor the poor, the entire economy will be better off, by serving a larger number of people. All these arguments are supported convincingly by the author, using the latest economic research.

Trying To Out PAC the PACs; May Day at Harvard

SOMETHING COOL is always happening at Harvard University. A new Political action Committee has been formed by members of the political science faculty. Its called the "May Day" PAC, presumably because one must have a name for one's political action committee, and because the purpose of this one is to save America from itself, which is really often what Harvard, and other quality institutions, are attempting to accomplish. Because of the Supreme Court decision in 2010 which declared that corporations have the right to donate unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns, unlimited amounts of corporate money have since been buying political offices for candidates who accept corporate money, and pledge their loyalty to corporate interests in return. More than ever, the American political system is one in which power is purchased, rather than earned through fair elections. Power in America has always belonged t the wealthy elite; now, this is more true than ever. The purpose of the Harvard PAC will be to purchase media access to lobby for political campaign finance reform, something that will take the money, or at least the big money, out of politics, and replace it with the input of the average American citizen. Good luck with that; they'll need it.

Some Things Never Change

RUPERT MURDOCH, THE WEALTHIEST @ Most Powerful man in the history of corporate capitalism, maybe, wants to buy Time-Warner for about eighty billion. If he succeeds, the media monopoly headed by King Murdoch shall grow even larger and more powerful, and concentrated, in the hands of one. What we need are more media entertainment corporations, not fewer. And we don't need them to be ownedr by foreign, non American carpet baggers! Didn't we used to have something called the "Sherman Antitrust Act"? Whatever happened to it? Surely it wasn't repealed unbeknownst to me! The concentration of corporate capital and power in America, and across the world, is frightening. Before long the ruling global oligarchy will consist of only a few very wealthy powerful people. The United States government, more obviously than ever, is in the hands of the corporate oligarchy,and essentially always has been, as we know. Our "founding fathers" were the wealthiest, and hence the most powerful, the framers of our political and economic systems in America. And those systems were for by the wealthy, and for the wealthy. It turns out that things haven't changed much in two hundred years. Now America is the land of corporate dominance, rather than wealth of land ownership dominance. Some Things never change.

Native Son?

OVER THE PAST couple of weeks there's been a murder spree in Chicago, not unsurprisingly. In America, its never surprising. Without knowing anything about it, you can make a few fairly safe guesses. The victims probably tended not to be upper middle class white people. Gangs may've been involved, and maybe minorities and poor run down neighborhoods. "Native Son", by Richard Wright, published in 1940, is one of those books every American should read, especially when attempting to better understand violence in, say, Chicago. Is the South Side of Chicago still inhabited by a disproportionate number of African Americans, and do they for the most part live in poverty, crowded into small apartments in crumbling buildings, while across town stand the stately mansions of the exceedingly wealthy? If so, "Native Son" becomes even more relevant.

Training People

WE HUMANS ARE teachable, and thus there is yet hope for us. Suppose you are driving down some road in America, going thirty five in a thirty five, say. Or make it forty. You are doing forty in a thirty five, five over the limit. You are being tailgaited. Some typical American idiot behind you is within five feet of your bumper, instead of a safe distance behind you. In America,no matter where you drive,or how fast, this is what happens to you, as all Americans know. Hell, most Americans are guilty of it. The thing to do is to speed up to forty five, rather suddenly, and put an extra fifteen or twenty feet between you and the tailgaitor. If he or she keeps this distance, fine, keep going about five over the limit, or forty. If he Continues tailgating, slow down to thirty. Before long, he'll learn, and back off. During the hot summer time, millions of Americans go swimming at big public swimming pools. Problem is, if you really pay attention, you'll notice that there are never enough people getting out of the pool and going in the restroom. Its obvious, and you can tell, unless you are in denial; Americans of all ages piss in public swimming pools. Chlorine helps, but, unlike most Americans seem to think, it doesn't take care of it all. America's public swimming pools are tainted with American piss. The solution? Anytime anyone gets out of the pool, and goes into the restroom, give him or her a free M @ M, flavor of their choice. Everyone, especially little kids, but, indeed, everyone. Reward decency and community responsibility. People are trainable.

Ajar In Tennessee

A NEW STATE Law in the volunteer state of Tennessee makes it illegal to be addicted to drugs while pregnant. Presumably, by extension, it is now illegal to become pregnant while addicted to drugs. Beware, all coffee drinkers of the female gender of child bearing age. When becoming pregnant, give up the drugs. When addicted to drugs, use contraception. Whether it is acceptable to simultaneously become pregnant, subscribe to cable television, and drink sugary caffeinated beverages is as yet unclear. It might depend on the number of hours spent looking at a screen. For most Americans, seemingly addicted to smart phones, IPods, and flat screens, it averages about seven per day. Will Rogers once said that the greatest tragedy in American History was the invention of air conditioning, because it allowed legislative bodies to meet year round. We'd be better off legalizing all drugs, including and especially electronic devices, and outlawing pregnancy altogether.

Boehner's Boner

GANGSTERS AND THUGS are as likely to frequent the halls of congress, courtrooms, boardrooms, and law offices, as street corners. You just never know when you might encounter a roughneck, ready for a rumble. Gangster Chieftan John Boehner and his fellow gangstahs are now filing a lawsuit against President Obama, alleging that Obama has superceded his authority in using executive orders to circumvent the congress, and its unwillingness to enact legislation on issues such as minimum wage, illegal immigration, and other issues. As H.L. Mencken said, the fools would be humorous, were they not in such deadly earnest. It is at least remotely conceivable that Obama has consulted a team of attorneys before using executive orders, and that said team is well prepared to defend his actions in a court of law. But simple common sense never seems to deter Boehner and his gang form attacking the President. His personal vendetta rivals the greatest such in American history, such as Hamilton-Burr, Jackson-Crockett, Kennedy-Hoover. Invariably, those who perpetuate personal hostilities to the greatest extent become their own victims.

The Supremely Political Supreme Court

THERE ARE CURRENTLY five conservative justices on the United States Supreme Court, all appointed by conservative republican presidents, and approved by conservative republican congressional majorities. There are four "liberal" justices, (or less conservative ones) all appointed by democratic presidents and confirmed by democrat congressional majorities. Identifying justices according to their political ideology is easier than predicting whether any given politician seeking elective office will tell the truth and fulfill campaign promises when elected. Damned easy. And really, it shouldn't be easy at all. All justices should resided in a murky realm beyond easy categorization, because they should all be neither liberal nor conservative, but both, and, at other times, neither. Just get me the best lawyer available, said President Ford, before nominating John Paul Stevens. That was forty years ago, and was the last time an American president made a choice based on anything other than judicial-political ideology. Sometimes there are surprises, as when bush the first chose Justice Souter, thinking him a conservative, but ended up being wrong, oh, so very wrong. Only once within the past generation has any justice defied his own ideology; when Chief Justice Roberts voted for, and saved, the mandatory purchase of Obamacare. Chances are, the likes of that won't be seen again. The Chief Justice, in so doing, blew all his political capital, and that, for a justice of the united States Supreme Court, is, tragically, the ultimate sin.

Growing Up

NEAR Mt. Seward, in Alaska, stands Mt. Marathon, a site of supreme folly, oft repeated. The slope is steep and slippery, and with regularity hundreds of adrenaline seeking fitness hubrists compete to ascend and descend three thousand feet faster than anyone else, risking life, limb, and pride. Many sustain severe injuries, at least one has not been seen since.Most usually these gratuitous displays of courage and arrogance in the lower forty eight, but no part of the empire of illusion must be omitted. A young person is more likely to see this in terms of because its there, those older and wiser might tend a bit towards eye rolling. Goethe said: "we learn only in old age what happened to us in our youth." He further said: "young people would indeed be insufferable, had I not once been young myself." Coincidentally, or possibly not, we begin to see the folly in such high risk low yield enterprises about the same time we are no longer capable of carrying them out.

The Right To Assemble, Or To refrain From Assembling

FAIRNESS AND COMMON SENSE dictate that union membership not be required as a condition for employment. Similarly, fairness and common sense stipulate that no obstacles impede the formation of labor unions, when worker demand dictates their formation.To the degree and extent that ownership opposes unionization, let opposition to union formation be equaled by worker opposition to corporate monopolies and chambers of commerce. To the extent that unions oppose open shops, begrudging fellow workers their "free ride", let the union take a vote on whether they actually advocate for the right of all workers to better their circumstances as they deem fit. Humans are notoriously unable to walk in the moccasins of others. What we perceive to be prosaic gibberish among others becomes pure poetry when engendered within ourselves. The buck private warns of an approaching enemy and is dismissed. The high ranking officer gives the same warning, and defenses are readied. Workers and employers only fail to understand each other's viewpoint by refusing to do so. In the realm of employer employee relationships, a decent respect for the power of reason compels us to accept the natural tendency of the employed to organize their affairs so as to better their condition, even while the owners seek to maximize profit by maximizing exploitation of labor. Senseless it is to ignore human nature, according to which everyone acts in his or her own best interest. Labor unions are nothing other than manifestations of the sacred right to peaceably assemble. The right of a worker to be employed without mandatory union membership is nothing other than the sacred right to refrain from assembling, or speaking.

Fostering Misconceptions Through Separation

TWENTY FIVE PERCENT of the American people live in neighborhoods classified by the federal government as "poverty neighborhoods". At first glance, this percentage seems a bit high, upon second glance it seems shamefully unacceptable. Since "only" about twenty percent of the American people actually live in poverty, it would seem that some of us are slumming a bit, living beneath their means, the millionaire next door. Economic segregation is more subtle, less noticeable, and more pervasive than the racial discrimination for which the United States has long been acclaimed. with the abolition of apartheid in South Africa, American apartheid, racial and economic, rules the roost among allegedly civilized countries. In no civilization in human history has racism played such a central role as in the United States of Apartheid, but the rich become ever richer, the poor ever poorer, the two classes are segregated by an ever widening socio-economic gulf, and again America leads the pack. The issue is not class envy, and never has been.The issue is cultural segregation, a society divided against itself, barely standing, which, thus divided, can never achieve its highest cultural potential. The rich do not pity the poor, they scorn them for their alleged lack of ambition, intelligence, and judgment. The poor do not envy the rich, they resent them for their dismissive arrogance. Ironically, the rich are often not at all arrogant, and the poor, for the most part, are fully employed and hard working. Separation fosters misconceptions.

Playing With Toys

MY GRANDFATHER is reputed to have said: "put a gun in a man's hand, the first thing he wants to do is use it. He was a tort lawyer, which explains much. We enjoy our toys; guns, cars, chainsaws, and we relish their employment. We play hard, until our toys bore us, or kill us. Show me an American who owns a car and I'll show you a driver who follows too closely. An American who follows too closely in a car is probably too aggressive to safely own a firearm. Most victims of gun violence in America knew their attacker. Most attackers become criminals the moment they attack, having been known therefore as a pretty good old boy. Keeping guns out of the hands of criminals requires identifying criminals before they become criminals, since they reveal themselves as such only when they commit a crime with a gun. Whether a person is a good person or a bad person, a person is a potential criminal, who enjoy playing with toys, including toys that are too dangerous for the owner to own.