There seems to be an effort to systematically deconstruct our economy, the greatest in history and the kingpin throughout the free world! Hold on to your hats; We're in for a rough ride, but there could be a Robbing Hood (click the hyperlink to see my parody) robbing from the rich and giving (wink, wink, nod, nod) to the poor. Oh, and by the way, I keep flashing back to the various futures presented in "Back To The Future".
Monday, July 6, 2009
My Tongue In Cheek Parody: Robbing Hood
There seems to be an effort to systematically deconstruct our economy, the greatest in history and the kingpin throughout the free world! Hold on to your hats; We're in for a rough ride, but there could be a Robbing Hood (click the hyperlink to see my parody) robbing from the rich and giving (wink, wink, nod, nod) to the poor. Oh, and by the way, I keep flashing back to the various futures presented in "Back To The Future".
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The American Dream in 2009
For a limited time, for new buyers, GM has offered to take over payments for nine months in the event that they lose their job. It feels like another slap in the face of the American taxpayer, dangling candy in front of greedy consumers who snap at the bait, oblivious to ulterior motives as GM once again insinuates itself into a nine month free ride at worst but solvency at best. The intent is to make the consumer feel important, as though there’s nothing more valuable than you, the consumer and they’re investing in you. The problem is the guarantee would be taxpayer money about which they’re being so cavalier in their marketing strategy. It’s a way they can be broad based in hooking as many as possible to gain leverage at crunch time if it doesn’t work as planned, “taking” from the taxpayer, hooking a buyer for the company’s viability, nine months minimum. It’s offensive to a rational sense of accountability. But GM may not have time to use a more measured approach to stay afloat. It’s sometimes described as a retirement plan that sells cars. Where’s my compassion?
The unauthorized book, “On a Clear Day You Can See GM”, regularly comes to mind with the current GM crisis. The book was initially authorized by DeLorean, but when DeLorean realized the position in which it would put him, speaking as he did about problems within the company, he revoked his support of the project. His collaborator released the book on his own, against the wishes of DeLorean and we readers captured a glimpse into a closely guarded organization.
In a way, I suppose we could look at GM as part of our aging infrastructure, much like the railroads of the late 19th century. GM, Ford and Chrysler survived as they claimed the 20th century, one of the most prosperous in the history of mankind. Several good cars faded away tugging at heartstrings as they went. The British had their powerful Navy in previous centuries. Several American car manufacturers didn’t survive because they lacked a combination of elements that defined our identity as a nation and made us swell with pride at our combined American ingenuity as we were the envy of the rest of the world. Even the most suave in exotic lands wanted a piece of that, “Je ne sais quoi? How you say?” Chasing the dream as we all wish for better times.
Perhaps that is what we are lamenting as we have given the main car manufacturers a comfort zone with our loyalties and our love of the creative and often humorous advertising entertainment that would also suffer from such a void.
The USA made people all over the world glad to be alive. Disneyland was so popular it grew roots in France and Japan. The pursuit of happiness became a final destination rather than an end to those with means as the middle class grew and became international in scope. Goodwill and sharing rippled on many shores throughout the world in the form of marketing of ingenious products, from skateboards to jet skis. Certainly Ipods are sexy and have done their share to once again remind us how lucky we are to live in a country where people come to make dreams reality.
But GM has been an economic engine more broad-based and entrenched in our psyches. We’ve grown up attuned to having a certain car at certain points of our lives. We are living the American dream!
The unauthorized book, “On a Clear Day You Can See GM”, regularly comes to mind with the current GM crisis. The book was initially authorized by DeLorean, but when DeLorean realized the position in which it would put him, speaking as he did about problems within the company, he revoked his support of the project. His collaborator released the book on his own, against the wishes of DeLorean and we readers captured a glimpse into a closely guarded organization.
In a way, I suppose we could look at GM as part of our aging infrastructure, much like the railroads of the late 19th century. GM, Ford and Chrysler survived as they claimed the 20th century, one of the most prosperous in the history of mankind. Several good cars faded away tugging at heartstrings as they went. The British had their powerful Navy in previous centuries. Several American car manufacturers didn’t survive because they lacked a combination of elements that defined our identity as a nation and made us swell with pride at our combined American ingenuity as we were the envy of the rest of the world. Even the most suave in exotic lands wanted a piece of that, “Je ne sais quoi? How you say?” Chasing the dream as we all wish for better times.
Perhaps that is what we are lamenting as we have given the main car manufacturers a comfort zone with our loyalties and our love of the creative and often humorous advertising entertainment that would also suffer from such a void.
The USA made people all over the world glad to be alive. Disneyland was so popular it grew roots in France and Japan. The pursuit of happiness became a final destination rather than an end to those with means as the middle class grew and became international in scope. Goodwill and sharing rippled on many shores throughout the world in the form of marketing of ingenious products, from skateboards to jet skis. Certainly Ipods are sexy and have done their share to once again remind us how lucky we are to live in a country where people come to make dreams reality.
But GM has been an economic engine more broad-based and entrenched in our psyches. We’ve grown up attuned to having a certain car at certain points of our lives. We are living the American dream!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Some Thoughts On Tea Parties On April 15th
Victor, a Russian immigrant with a PhD in philosophy, recognized in Obama the playbook used during his youth in Russia during the rise of Stalin. He was a random caller on the Rush Limbaugh show on April 14th. He thanked Rush for being a shining light for his listeners while we’re ‘pulling out our hair’ as the supposed disaster of the President’s deception unfolds, since we don’t have the advantage of retrospect yet. I don’t have a stake in my words here beyond the unpleasant possibility that we may lose our way of life, as we’re all either benefiting from free enterprise, or hired by others that figured it out better than we did. The decision makers usually have the advantage of a financial cushion in the event things don’t work out as they thought. I don’t wish to be the object of a tyranny that supplants a possibility of a comfortable retirement, which won’t exist if the middle class disappears, as it may with incentives removed from what some see as “the rich”. The middle class grew out of WWII, which was the impetus that dragged the USA out of the depression, finally. It was not, as is thought, the product of Teddy Rosevelt’s New Deal.
Victor told Rush he was ‘spot on’ in his understanding and presentation to his listening audience. A most telling element mentioned by Victor on the air and the reason I felt the need to write, was the relaying of a specific memory from his youth in Russia. When atrocities were discovered by Victor’s parents, his parents used to say, “Stalin can’t know this is happening. We need to make sure Stalin knows what is going on,” when now he knows, from history and the advantage of retrospect, that Stalin was the source of the atrocities. Victor is sickened to see the current events unfolding after successfully making a new life for himself in America. Just as his parents did, liberals are in the dark about their boy, Obama; their mesmerizing speaker and hope for humanity that they found so lacking in the former President. I hope I’m off-base with this article.
I always found it mysterious that Bush’s Secretary of State, Condaleza Rice, an extremely accomplished woman, was considered by the left as irrelevant because of her party allegiance. The hate of the former Presidency has been replaced with a similar strong emotion of the opposite variety for the current President. Be careful what you wish for.
Retrospect is a handy tool that is unavailable now, because there is no track record for the speed that liberals are trying to catch up with where they could have been had Bush not interfered with the direction of policy implementation Clinton had initiated. There’s always a period of inertia that must be overcome as critical mass is reached for change to occur. The economic crisis, according to Rahm Immanuel, a terrible thing to waste, has added a layer of obfuscation** on top of regular platitudes that hide what to some (Constitutionalists) is subterfuge (KFI)*, while to others (Liberals) is progress (KPFK)*. That one little thing that has layers of obfuscation** thrown on it is…. The removal of incentives, barriers to free enterprise and the subsequent destabilization of the dollar are at risk. Our currency is not referenced to a definite amount of gold, thus is by fiat only as is the rest of the world, except, maybe Dubai. Since the government is in control of printing money, because of the massive bailouts, this puts the government in the center of relief from debt for generations to come. The money being spread around is sold as relief when actually it is immeasurable debt leading to subservience to government, by those unwilling or incapable of growth in a free market, a concept too complex for a bumper sticker, thereby sold in obfuscation rather than debated openly with full disclosure. This obfuscation is part of the reason behind the Tea Parties of April 15th. Some things can be affected by the swing of the pendulum from left to right and back every eight years, some things can’t. Are we willing to let someone unskilled experiment with our future? I think not.
*Radio stations are L.A. based
** A big word meant to act as a deterrent of further investigation. One look at that word, “obfuscation”, and even those who don’t see jumping letters from dyslexia will easily ignore or just get fuzzy about the details following. It’s intentional to get readers to dig out their dictionary and familiarize themselves with the concept, because it is a common political strategy.
Victor told Rush he was ‘spot on’ in his understanding and presentation to his listening audience. A most telling element mentioned by Victor on the air and the reason I felt the need to write, was the relaying of a specific memory from his youth in Russia. When atrocities were discovered by Victor’s parents, his parents used to say, “Stalin can’t know this is happening. We need to make sure Stalin knows what is going on,” when now he knows, from history and the advantage of retrospect, that Stalin was the source of the atrocities. Victor is sickened to see the current events unfolding after successfully making a new life for himself in America. Just as his parents did, liberals are in the dark about their boy, Obama; their mesmerizing speaker and hope for humanity that they found so lacking in the former President. I hope I’m off-base with this article.
I always found it mysterious that Bush’s Secretary of State, Condaleza Rice, an extremely accomplished woman, was considered by the left as irrelevant because of her party allegiance. The hate of the former Presidency has been replaced with a similar strong emotion of the opposite variety for the current President. Be careful what you wish for.
Retrospect is a handy tool that is unavailable now, because there is no track record for the speed that liberals are trying to catch up with where they could have been had Bush not interfered with the direction of policy implementation Clinton had initiated. There’s always a period of inertia that must be overcome as critical mass is reached for change to occur. The economic crisis, according to Rahm Immanuel, a terrible thing to waste, has added a layer of obfuscation** on top of regular platitudes that hide what to some (Constitutionalists) is subterfuge (KFI)*, while to others (Liberals) is progress (KPFK)*. That one little thing that has layers of obfuscation** thrown on it is…. The removal of incentives, barriers to free enterprise and the subsequent destabilization of the dollar are at risk. Our currency is not referenced to a definite amount of gold, thus is by fiat only as is the rest of the world, except, maybe Dubai. Since the government is in control of printing money, because of the massive bailouts, this puts the government in the center of relief from debt for generations to come. The money being spread around is sold as relief when actually it is immeasurable debt leading to subservience to government, by those unwilling or incapable of growth in a free market, a concept too complex for a bumper sticker, thereby sold in obfuscation rather than debated openly with full disclosure. This obfuscation is part of the reason behind the Tea Parties of April 15th. Some things can be affected by the swing of the pendulum from left to right and back every eight years, some things can’t. Are we willing to let someone unskilled experiment with our future? I think not.
*Radio stations are L.A. based
** A big word meant to act as a deterrent of further investigation. One look at that word, “obfuscation”, and even those who don’t see jumping letters from dyslexia will easily ignore or just get fuzzy about the details following. It’s intentional to get readers to dig out their dictionary and familiarize themselves with the concept, because it is a common political strategy.
Tea Party Genesis
Rick Santelli of CNBC started the idea of a Tea Party, as a derivative of "The Boston Tea Party" of old. Here on April 15th in the steamy year of 2009, we have action from just a bunch of regular citizens tired of being steam rollered!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Leverage and Traction in Political Leadership
It’s a bit disarming to see President Obama chided by Europeans: He’s taking their own game too far. Ah, youth, “one upping” each other, as they do. Meanwhile Hillary attempts diplomacy with Russia, leading to a chiding from Putin on another continent. All we need is one more stooge to keep the comedy act alive.
The President may be bursting a balloon that has been kept afloat to obfuscate for class reasons; what’s really going on in the big picture, as it were. The Europeans have historically chided Americans who they consider “boorish”* when it comes to finesse. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were tenuously respected because they understood diplomacy in Europe, while John Adams suffered from his directness, dispensing with finesse, driven by haste and impatient with the charade of the French courtesans. Consider that the members of the UN will have a good debate and call it a day, while Americans live in the world of action. But, now, Marie Antoinette’s, “Let them eat cake!” has never felt so close to our lives. As events unfold there’s a tendency to believe the possibility that freedom to protest is largely for theatre to keep the populace feeling influential while in reality they are focused on an eddy and dispersed from essential matters underway as our leaders pursue the power of an Oligarchy**? Please, history, prove me wrong!
* boorish - ill-mannered and coarse and contemptible in behavior or appearance; "was boorish and insensitive"; "the loutish manners of a bully"; "her stupid oafish husband"; "aristocratic contempt for the swinish multitude"
** Oligarchy- A form of government in which the supreme power is placed inthe hands of a few persons; also, those who form the ruling few.
The President may be bursting a balloon that has been kept afloat to obfuscate for class reasons; what’s really going on in the big picture, as it were. The Europeans have historically chided Americans who they consider “boorish”* when it comes to finesse. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were tenuously respected because they understood diplomacy in Europe, while John Adams suffered from his directness, dispensing with finesse, driven by haste and impatient with the charade of the French courtesans. Consider that the members of the UN will have a good debate and call it a day, while Americans live in the world of action. But, now, Marie Antoinette’s, “Let them eat cake!” has never felt so close to our lives. As events unfold there’s a tendency to believe the possibility that freedom to protest is largely for theatre to keep the populace feeling influential while in reality they are focused on an eddy and dispersed from essential matters underway as our leaders pursue the power of an Oligarchy**? Please, history, prove me wrong!
* boorish - ill-mannered and coarse and contemptible in behavior or appearance; "was boorish and insensitive"; "the loutish manners of a bully"; "her stupid oafish husband"; "aristocratic contempt for the swinish multitude"
** Oligarchy- A form of government in which the supreme power is placed inthe hands of a few persons; also, those who form the ruling few.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Does The Emperor Have Any Clothes?
Any writer wants to be a lightening rod for his readers and avoid alienating them lest they pigeonhole too quickly and marginalize the message. No one can be everything for everybody. If a writer wants to capture a large readership, casting a wide net will certainly alienate a certain few. Any viewpoint risks distrust especially now when we are all trying to make sense and recover from the financial meltdown.
These are challenging times and we find our lives, even the world in a state of flux rarely seen. We have little confidence that rationality will rule as America rides the rough economy out. We hope that our leadership will continue to be just and respected by free thinkers throughout the world. Billions have been lost by investors as former University professors with no particular interest in finance are at the helm of our futures. Dare I say, in this world of political correctness, that liberals, proud in their tradition of compassion have shown themselves to be like the emperor with no clothes as they delve into the rational world of finance. Were this a screenplay, I'd insert a reference that some feathers would have been ruffled, "Ah, he's one of those," would smirk a scholarly type, deferential that those he considers his equals would surely be in agreement that the "less informed" live in the world of commerce. All the arrogance and posturing are now merely window dressing to ACT II. There is a real need to resolve issues that have real consequences. No one welcomes such a challenge, but victory will be sweet. I fear mere debate of Collegiate U.N. politics that resembles Chicago politics is functioning in our great nation as our president drops back to punt. Will President Obama adapt to changing circumstances? Will the fears of left wing pundits be realized that he has no intention of saving the financial world from ruin?
Unfortunately, this is not a Saturday morning TV show on SciFi. This is your life! Even under a severe conservative belt tightening measured recovery, we're looking at 5-7 years before we reaccess. Certainly a healthy financial world exists in a delicate balance as we saw whan the house of cards fell. We will probably make lifestyle choices that will affect our outlooks well into the future abandoning our consumptive habits. We must recognize indications of rapid recovery as bubbles, always under construction to serve a few. We are still lucky to have the best conditions known to man under which to weather the storm. We will see if President Obama does truly want a healthy future for his daughters rather than the effects of a grand experiment that history has shown to be a waste, potentially bringing suffering to the spirit of a free world. Does the emperor have clothes?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Great Jimi Hendrix Live
While researching a previous post, I found such interesting formerly unavailable footage on uTube that I was inspired to write another.
I came across this live Hendrix. This was filmed around the same time I saw Jimi up in Bern, Switzerland at a fantastic concert just prior to Monterey Pop of 1967. Cream was supposed to be at the concert in Bern, but Ginger Baker was under the weather, so Eric Clapton played with John Mayall instead, since he'd been with Mayall's band previously. Johnny Almond was also featured in the band, since Mayall was a conduit for many of the greats. I was a bit disappointed that Clapton didn't mention his appearance in Bern in his book, but he did mention being blown away with Hendrix while in London. Clapton's book is excellent and a great window into a life of a truly gifted musician. Traffic during their suitar period, Move and Anselmo Trend ( a local Swiss band) rounded out the evening. Blind Faith emerged a few years afterwards.
My friends and I saw John Mayall, a good sport, playing in a pub in the old part of town as we made our way to the concert hall. The air was electric with the anticipation of what we were to see. We'd taken the train up from Geneva as we were students at Ecolint (International School of Geneva). My own music evolved through the years through the paths of rock, blues, jazz, fusion, flamenco and folk.
My friends and I saw John Mayall, a good sport, playing in a pub in the old part of town as we made our way to the concert hall. The air was electric with the anticipation of what we were to see. We'd taken the train up from Geneva as we were students at Ecolint (International School of Geneva). My own music evolved through the years through the paths of rock, blues, jazz, fusion, flamenco and folk.
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