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Government as Business

Government is not a business and attempts to run government as a business, I think are misguided. The goal of business is to make money PERIOD. Sure, there may be a few rules that work for both but they are in no way the same thing. Ideally, in a free society, the number one role of government is to protect our freedoms. Government should provide a good national defense (not a damn empire thank you). It should also protect our weakest and most at risk citizens, those who cannot take care of themselves. This is a true measure of a great society. Instead of saying, "Government is the problem, not the solution" (Ronnie Raygun), we should realize that ALL of us ARE the government. Thus we take responsibility for our problems. This entails a few things that are completely lacking today. Informed citizens (not mindless consumers) who know they can bring about real change and reform. A functional education system that creates informed citizens is now all but non-existent. A true free press that is unafraid to point out shortcomings, corruption and conflicts of interest. We now only have a handful of powerful conglomerations that parrot the party line without asking uncomfortable questions.

In fact, we now have the business model applied to government. The recent Debit Ceiling deal is proof. Who gives a shit if some needy people are tossed under the bus? We got a deficit problem! It has to be fixed NOW! Rich corporations buy with pennies the circus in Washington and make millions in tax cuts and deregulation. They use the infotainment (used to be news) industry to remind us this is the only way (and oh by the way you are free). The most important thing in business is making money and not protecting rights, taking care of the weak or making informed citizens. Look at what we got now.

We have essentially a one party state, the conservative party. There are two wings the center right, known as the Democrats and the far right, the Republicans. This makes up our so-called choice. The system does not allow for any other party to get a foothold in Washington. There is a slight exception in the Tea Party. These guys and gals are to the right of Genghis Khan. So the choice is center right, far right and extreme right. The left is all but dead in this country leaving control of the political dialogue firmly in control of conservatives who think the free market / business model is the answer to every problem.

Here we are with massive deficits (have we already forgot the bank bailouts and ongoing wars?). The economy is still in the tank and if there is any change, it is for the worse. All the jobs we shipped over seas (thank you both parties) are not ever coming back. Those over 50 cannot find work now. The safety nets are being dismantled along with our middle class. Meanwhile... those at the top are doing far better than just ten years ago, profits are up and no new taxes!

Musical Chairs on the Titanic II

The tighter one tries to hold on to something, the more it slips away. The wealthiest among us will try to hold on to power and status as our oil dependent economy slows and morphs into a post oil economy. How bat things will get, I think it is a question of how fast we move into an economy without oil as the life-blood. The slower, the more painful it will be. There will be more and more wars fought over scarcity and it is not totally impossible we will again see the use of nuclear weapons by some set of fools who thing they can “win.” Safe clean water will also become an ever-scarcer resource. So will food. Hang on! Looks like the road ahead may be a bit bumpy. Thinking about masses of desperate hungry poor people and an ever shrinking group of elites trying to cling to their lifestyle at any cost is not all of that pleasant. I believe we are seeing the beginnings of this now and it looks like it will only grow worse. Worldwide, there is already the so-called bottom billion. It may need to be changed in time to the bottom two billion. It looks like the fun is also starting here in the USA as well.

With the recession / depression (what ever you want to call it) showing no signs of ending desperation will soon start to set in here in the USA as well. The unemployment money has so far been just enough to hold things together but it is ending for more and more people each week. All the Federal unemployment extensions end at the end of the year (give or take a week or two). Given the current batch of lunatics in Washington DC, I'm not looking for any renewals this time. They have no interest in addressing the real problem of no demand equals no jobs. Mind you the people that fund the circus also known as campaign season are doing quite well. But I think this is temporary. More and more people will stop playing the game either by choice or by becoming destitute.

As more and more people stop playing the game, the current system will grind to a halt. With no jobs, there will be less and less to pay the big finance companies on mortgages, credit cards and other schemes. People may soon start to realize that this is indeed a one party state and the meaninglessness of Democrat or Republican. When this happens, they will opt out of the political game as well. What would happen if only 10% or 11% of us voted? Who could claim a mandate? But the winning tool would try. It looks like we are going to have to pass through a pretty dark time. Blogs, like this one, that ask important and uncomfortable questions may disappear. The freedom rhetoric we are so fond of on race day will still be there but people like me who ask why are there terrorists in the first place, will be silenced. Somehow, asking why there are terrorists will become support for terrorists. But this too will pass with time. Lying leaders don’t last long. Adolph and Pol Pot now know this. What comes next may be pretty cool if you can live without some of the toys (made into necessities). Okay so the entry is still pretty dark.

If we deplete all of the oil much faster than current estimates much of the bad stuff mentioned will still happen but people will figure out how to live on their own much quicker. Instead of depending on lunatics in places like Washington DC, distant finance companies and long distance truckers, they will learn how to be truly independent. Local relations will become the only relations that matter. Imagine getting to know your neighbors! We will have to get to know our close neighbors and trade skills like building, security and food production. Today, this seems like living on another planet but civilizations rise and fall. The Incas, Aztecs, Romans and Egyptians all found out. But but our civilization is so much more advanced you may be thinking but plain old human shortcomings are still with us. Our arrogance in thinking our American way of doing things is the best and only way. Our pride in our powerful military that we think of as undefeatable that drains the treasury and indeed loses wars from time to time. We may want to re-think “military solution.” Our greed that drives us to take resources from others and says to hell with you, we have a lifestyle to up-keep. Our ignorance is bliss attitude that ignores the views (and basic rights) of other peoples as well as science. Global warming could give two shits if you think it is real or not. There is no way around this simple fact our civilization cannot last. What else happens to the arrogant, the proud, the greedy and the ignorant? They collapse! The greatest technology in the world is no match for basic human failings.

I do not buy into end times or similar non-sense. The changes from an oil based economy to what ever is next is not world ending. People will do what they do best and that is adapt and adjust. We don’t need 200 cable TV channels, imported food and the latest gizmos from slave labor factories in China to live well. We really do not have to have cars. I think we will be getting back to basics. All we need for a good life are the basics, food, shelter, clothes, love and to be useful.

Or I’m full of shit… Let me know.

Further reading...