Am I not really a Capitalist?

I have a reoccurring thought...and I debate it with myself. I haven't gotten very far, but that might be because of the fundamental nature of it...or maybe I am just barking down the wrong tree. :-)

We Human Beings do live in a finite world. A finite world in which limitations are inherent. Our philosophies thus have limitations in them as well, maybe not expressed, but in the application of them absolutely. For instance, Capitalism is a fundamentally flawed theory that is impossible to apply to our world. One of the basic tenets of Capitalism is the free flow of perfect information. Since we humans don't have the ability to communicate knowledge instantly and perfectly to our peers we hit a wall. That limitation of knowledge becomes one of the basic tenets of our economy now a days - that is that knowledge is power. A limitation of knowledge allows certain things to occur - monopolies for one and don't allow certain other things to occur as well and widely as they could - for instance the ability for small start up to fill in the weaknesses leftover by large slow moving corporations. Instead the accumulation of knowledge and power and politics within the large groups allows for them to become self fulfilling prophecies of policy.

Now I also think that as we approach pure Capitalism we will shed a lot of things in society...the corporation for one. Why would you need a large bureaucratic body running your company if all know most everything that they need in their home? As our technology advances and we turn into little factories all our own we will become more and more independent. At some point we will no longer need the societal support to produce...course in this happy go lucky world we have learned how to break down socks into their base atoms and reconstruct them into microprocessors.

John Galt is my hero. I believe in the long term...I guess I am a Capitalist. I just don't believe I have ever seen Capitalism, sort of like I have never seen a ghost.

One wonders...

You look at the way the administration carries themselves. You look at their actions. You watch the world and consider the ever present truth of change being the only true constant.

The United States is a very young country. We have had a very strong run of success and taken advantage of that by becoming the most powerful country on our planet. We should take pride in that. Some of us do. One of the reason for our success was that a group of people came together and invested a significant amount of time and energy into a set of documents to lay the legal groundwork of a country. The Legislative Branch created laws, the Supreme Court ruled whether or not those laws were Constitutional and the Executive Branch enforced the law. Sound simple enough? What went wrong.

It seems like everybody except for the Legislative Branch is creating laws today. The Executive Order made popular by Mr. William Clinton and then abused by President GW Bush is changing the face of our Bill of Rights as we live right now. Badly worded documents allow for various parts of the government to "get things done" while the actors worry about later legal retribution. A recently signed Executive Order allows for the detention of individuals and all of their property to be detained by the United States if they "interfere" with any Iraqi development both abroad and within our country. Sadly, interfere is not defined in the document. This allows for an administration to act and then let the case work its way up to the Supreme Court over multiple years while that individual's life has been destroyed. At the point where the Supreme Court does rule there is no true accountability because the person who made the law, The President, will not be held liable because of the many ways the position has learned to dodge the law. The Administration will not suffer other than public opinion polls, but in this case the ends could justify the means.

The Lobbyist groups write just as much legislation for the US Senate as the Senate does for itself. Why would a government official accept the writing of an individual/corporation on a subject that so much can affect that individual/corporation? I do understand that time is limited and budgeting is always tight on Capital Hill, as it should be, but, to hand the keys to our kingdom directly to the private parties whose morals we have not VOTED for is in violation of the contract signed with us, the Public. It is your job to work on the Hill.

I guess, if we were to be truly accountable, we would have to point the finger at the only truly responsible party in this entire arrangement, the Public. Me. You. All of us. We have allowed for this to continue. We have put those who aim for these types of power positions in the country to act in a morally reprehensible and sort sighted manner because of our own laziness. There is so much to be taken from the masses when you pick just a little at a time, that it has become part of the game. And we let it.

Vote. Act. Respond. Write. Speak. Act upon your Bill of Rights. Know your Constitution. Pay attention to the news. Did you know that someone hd recently shown that making money from your personal labors offered to a business wasn't profit and as such wasn't taxable under the Income Tax laws of the United States? This occurred in a court. Whats next?

Time Does Not Exist

Time does not exist.

Too all of my friends who think I am a cook...here is the confirmation.

Time is a description of change. Change is the universal movement of energy. Just like the measurement of "three feet" doesn't really exist, neither does "twelve seconds". It is a description. My clunky descriptions may not fully grasp the situation, but I don't feel time.

It doesn't make the type of sense that...well...not much really makes sense, but time definitely doesn't. And I publicly proclaim!

The Economy Will Continue On

"Second-lien Loans" are the new group of buyers who are going belly up. These people were getting another one of the magic variants that drove the markets in the past few years. A couple of points about these loans that gives me a bit of solace - 1. There were far fewer given out than the prior ARM sub-prime loans that went crazy (and still are to this day). 2. The rate of default is relatively low. I am hoping this is the first half of the big curve and not some very early beginning to the slope upward on the rate increase chart. Our economy has weathered a lot. The rate of increase on the defaults is still increasing but an end is already seen. The market needs to react. It has overstepped itself a bit. Let it cool.

Then buy. As always.

Ukranian Railway Accident - The Universe Inside

A Russian newspaper is reporting that a train carrying liquid phosphorous crashed and started a fire that took approximately six hours to put out because of the poisonous nature of the chemical. Even with the precautions taken by the rescue workers 14 local villages had to be evacuated.

Most of the universe seems to be, from the standpoint of chemistry, resource availability and many other very important factors, fairly unlivable for human beings. The manner that our systems evolved requires a large amount of external inputs to operate. We need a constant supply of oxygen. We need various minerals and basic fuels to sustain the infrastructure, growth, management of wear and tear and the oh so important processes of thinking. It is a very subtle mix we are. As a result of this interaction, it is very easy to understand why so many people view themselves a piece of the Earth. We are. We replace our entire body on a continual basis through our lifetime.

From a molecular standpoint, we are no different from the flooring, dressers and computers that inhabit out lives. These items simply hold themselves tighter to that particular set of molecules. However, we are those items as they are continually dropping atoms and intermixing with the environment around them. A car that rusts is simply mixing various metals with oxygen in the atmosphere. Our bodies work by sucking this same oxygen in so we can live.

The delicate balance that our planet has built over 4.5 Billion years is unique in our region of space. Certain chemicals, in general, were sucked from the atmosphere (things like phosphorous, methane and carbon dioxide) whereas others propagated (nitrogen and oxygen). This mix became us. This is how we live.

Now, we humans, have the ability through our technical expertise to completely change our planets atmosphere. And we are doing it.

I am not here to tell us to cease our activities on this planet. That would be foolish as everything we have achieved would have to be significantly scaled back and whether or not we would be able to reach those same levels of development within a reasonable time would become part of the argument. As well, I am one who believes in risk. And I believe that our time as human beings is nothing special to this universe. Which means we have to take the risk. We have to attempt to develop the infrastructure and science and knowledge to let us get beyond these types of needs. I recently read an article that says the optimal human population to allow for this planet to smoothly reproduce all of its resources would be about 500,000,000 people. Its easy for a statistician to say drop the words population by 90%.

I do not believe that we could support the scientific infrastructure with our current set of knowledge and a population of that size. I think we have no choice, at this point, to turn back. We have to push forward as a species. We must confront the universal issue of energy acquisition and environmental upkeep. I would guess that many other races have faced a similar quandary in their development in this universe.

Drive forward. Be cognizant. Know that there is risk. Long live Human!

Choosing where business spend their money for them...

Wouldn't it be neat if a business allowed its customers to choose how to apply their part of the expenses? For instance, you receive a bill of $37.45. You see that the cost of the product is $32.45 and have three dollars to apply toward operating expenses. Now, you as a customer, with your needs and wants (the thing the company is searching after) are going to react to your experience. And that experience will lead to you choose how your money should be applied. Of course the parts that people don't recognize or that move so smoothly they aren't thought about might be underfunded, but I wonder if the rules of economics could be tweaked out here. Do you break out who salary should be funded? Would executive suddenly be underfunded? Very interesting I think...

China - Good Lord

I don't believe we individual citizens of the USA give China the appropriate attention. Recently it executed its former "chief drug regulator" for taking bribes and allowing them to fall into the current international furor related to fake products. The government stated the individual had taken bribes in and allowed "six types of fake medicines" to be approved. The interesting part of the whole issue, to me at least, was the response by China to this issue.

1. They did EXECUTE the person who the blame was placed upon. Now, take this with a grain of salt, in that complicity of an issue like this is far greater than a single individual. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in government who probably knew of the issues and that doesn't even count the people who were actually making the fake products. This person was executed as an example.

2. One particular set of words stated was that by 2010 China would have markedly increased its ability to monitor fake products, but that it would take at least five years (2012) for them to make a serious dent and be able to control their manufacturers. The acknowledgment of the issue. The realization of the significance of the issue. And the measured reaction that shows a considerable understanding of the situation. With the MONTHLY surplus of goods traded to the US topping $26 Billion, and the legislative branch of the US fighting for the yuan to be let free to trade in the international monetary markets, China must take action in order to feed it machine.

As a good friend of mine tells me continually, the Chinese history is full of ups and downs and the US is still Number 1. As I tell my friend, do not let that history satiate you adn make you lazy. The Chinese are serious about this world. They are going to be the largest economy in the world. I recently read an article where a comment was made about the inroads that Chinese politicians have made in Asia and the reactions by the peoples there. A particular quote stood out that went something like -

China's Asian partners see the United States as a passing fancy. The US has only been around for about 200 years. China has been here for 3,000 years and they expect China to be here for another 3,000 years.

This is a grand world we live in. Down with the Humans! Long live the Humans!

What now dear President?

Now that we know a person, who says he was a member of a very dangerous group of Iranian men, has been captured and was partly responsible for actions that led to the death of an American soldier do we blame the country for this action? Was the timing of this action in order to allow for our extra ships to arrive? Do we now go to war with another country? What action can we levy upon a nation in order to make it move in our direction of liking? Would we march straight into Syria? Maybe stop by Lebanon to clean a little and then scrub the West Bank and Gaza for Israel? Are we so brash? Do we look so far down on people?

Maybe we need to attack Iran. And then destabilize Syria. We could hit Pakistani lands from other positions located in Iran. Maybe find some intelligence to root out Osama. What is the greatest number of countries that a single nation-state has ever occupied at once in a war like manner? We could cause such an uproar that the Arab League could bind together in such veracity that they will the Middle World Union to come about binding all of the region together in both economics and war. Maybe a balance of power in the world would be in everyone's best interest.

The Chinese are pushing to making the world bipolar and so are the Europeans. A fourth super power might be nice. Where would Turkey go? Wonder if we could help Africa a bit to create that fifth group? Where would Egypt and the rest of the Northern States go? Who gets to keep Antarctica? Do the Russians stay independent or do they warily bind with the Europeans and pull some of the former USSR along? Japan & Australia a staunch ally of both the EU & United States of North America? Who would the South Americans choose to buddy up with? The rogue island at the ball. So valuable. So beautiful. How does Asia react with India and China breathing so heavily?

Its a large world. Change is constant. Preposterous. Things will never change. There will always be stupid people in positions of power.