Dear Fred,
Thanks for your email.
There's part of me that agrees.
Have you been to Occupy camps?
Although there is truth in what you say -- and although Oakland is The Wild West in perpetuity -- there are lots of thoughtful people in the movement.
True, all of them should clean up after themselves.
In the encampments I know personally -- Chapel Hill and Asheville -- they do.
But beyond sensationalistic and unrepresentative press coverage, the kids are in this movement to stay.
You probably heard that American graduates are now saddled with more student loan debt than the cumulative credit card debt of the entire nation.
And...
They have no job prospects.
I have been reluctant to circulate the following prospect since I don't think it should be promoted.
But I see a time coming when people will fling bags of shit at ostentatiously expensive cars.
A kind of pedestrian "drive-by."
There's even an argument The Ungodly Rich deserve it.
These people -- and their supporters -- publicly applaud the death of people without health insurance. http://www.youtube.
The same well-groomed folk who pom-pommed the death of 3 million Vietnamese, a hundred thousand Nicaraguans and Savadorans and a million Afghan-Iraqis.
Here's the balance:
Lack of sanitation equals categorical condemnation.
Perpetration of mini-holocausts? Why that's just the Military-Industrial Complex at work.
With the emphasis on work. Work as the justification of anything and everything.
If people are gonna choose false gods Fred, how about a little pizazz?
Moloch maybe? Or, Beelzebub? Even Baal.
But work?!?
Addlepated perseverance at mostly meaningless tasks?
With more than half the nation's investment in the service of neo-necrophilia?
| Current Military $965 billion: • Military Personnel $129 billion • Operation & Maint. $241 billion • Procurement $143 billion • Research & Dev. $79 billion • Construction $15 billion • Family Housing $3 billion • DoD misc. $4 billion • Retired Pay $70 billion • DoE nuclear weapons $17 billion • NASA (50%) $9 billion • International Security $9 billion • Homeland Secur. (military) $35 billion • State Dept. (partial) $6 billion • other military (non-DoD) $5 billion • “Global War on Terror” $200 billion [We added $162 billion to the last item to supplement the Budget’s grossly underestimated $38 billion in “allowances” to be spent in 2009 for the “War on Terror,” which includes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan] Past Military, $484 billion: • Veterans’ Benefits $94 billion • Interest on national debt (80%) created by military spending, $390 billion Human Resources $789 billion: • Health/Human Services • Soc. Sec. Administration • Education Dept. • Food/Nutrition programs • Housing & Urban Dev. • Labor Dept. • other human resources. General Government $304 billion: • Interest on debt (20%) • Treasury • Government personnel • Justice Dept. • State Dept. • Homeland Security (15%) • International Affairs • NASA (50%) • Judicial • Legislative • other general govt. Physical Resources $117 billion: • Agriculture • Interior • Transportation • Homeland Security (15%) • HUD • Commerce • Energy (non-military) • Environmental Protection • Nat. Science Fdtn. • Army Corps Engineers • Fed. Comm. Commission • other physical resources | 
Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,650 billion
MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion 
HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED
 urrent military” includes Dept. of Defense ($653 billion), the military portion from other departments ($150 billion), and an additional $162 billion to supplement the Budget’s misleading and vast underestimate of only $38 billion for the “war on terror.” “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.*
These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the “Analytical Perspectives” book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009. The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2008, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller.
*Analysts differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; other groups estimate 50% to 60%. We use 80% because we believe if there had been no military spending most (if not all) of the national debt would have been eliminated. For further explanation, please see box at bottom of page.
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Hey, what's a little shit?
***
The Wall looms.
We are going to hit it.
Then, everything will be different.
Quien sabe de que manera....
Pax on both houses
Alan
PS By the way... The hospital that Ron Paul refers to is a Catholic hospital.
On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 8:47 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
this is mundane -- but the occupants could not solve their sanitation problem. It is very important that they demonstrate an ability to govern themselves -- but if they can't clean up their own shit, they will not earn my attention. ..... I have been to a hundred hippie camps and seen the ruin caused by forgetting about cleaning up after yourself.
Once they clean up, then they can have ideas -- real ideas that can become plans. otherwise, it's bullshit, kids crying with crap in their pants.
On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 8:37 AM, Alan Archibald <alanarchibaldo@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Fred,Thanks for your email. I like your "brunch" vignette.But like it or not, we all have a dog in this fight.The fox has stolen the hen-house.
According to Reagan budget director, David Stockman, the top 5% of Americans have sequestered more wealth since 1985 than all Humankind produced until 1985.I realize this sounds impossible.I have, however, crunched some numbers and find Stockman's claim quite likely true.Also notable is my inability to find any webpage that attempts to deconstruct Stockman's analysis even though he made his "claim" on "60 Minutes" with tens of millions of people watching.Unless we experience categorical change -- probably prompted by "hitting the wall" -- we will, perforce, become a pseudo-theocratic, mostly-plutocratic, has-been country.Rather like Mexico, but with the accoutrements of ancient Rome.
I've already reserved a place in the vomitorium, which, by the way, is an interesting misnomer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomitorium However, with bulimia and all other psychological disorders on the rise, I see the next real estate bubble in homes that actually have one.Be the first on your block!Did you read the article I sent this morning?In it, Paul Farrell reviews Thatcherite historian/economist Niall Ferguson's new book, “Civilization: The West and the Rest.” (I'm pasting that email as a postscript to this one.)I agree with you.
There are no "hot ideas" in Occupy Wall Street.However, "re-distribution of wealth" is an idea whose time has come.Yes, "wealth redistribution" sounds horrible - replete with sickening images of communist "central command and control."Still, an inconvenient truth remains: Without more money in the pockets of der volk, America's ongoing re-definition as a neo-Banana-Republic may not even stop at the Mexico's "model," but hurtle right on through to Sudan.In any event, the cats are out of the bag - caterwalling to "beat the band" (of Wall Street sociopaths).And they will not be herded back in.I will take this opportunity to re-send my "essential" reading list:1.) Ronald Reagan’s Budget Director David Stockman on America's inconceivable wealth inequality -http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7009217n 2.) Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, "Of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%" -http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top- one-percent-201105 3.) "Our Banana Republic" by Nicholas Kristof - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/opinion/07kristof.html 4.) "A Hedge Fund Republic" by Nicholas Kristof - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/opinion/18kristof.html 5.) "How to End The Great Recession" by Robert Reich -http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/opinion/03reich.html
Pax on both houses,AlanDear Arthur,I enjoy Paul Farrell's column.Although I have criticisms of Niall Ferguson's new book -- “Civilization: The West and the Rest” -- he is a very smart fellow with a number of good points.Ferguson is also increasingly clear that American "conservatism" is radically misguided and fully capable of "wrecking" it all.See Ferguson's "A Dogma To Wreck The Country" at http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/ 2011/07/24/gop-antitax-dogma- endangers-the-country.html Pax
Alan
Nov. 15, 2011
China vs. USA bout: 6 rounds to oblivion
Commentary: China’s not winning, America is throwing the fight
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — “Let’s rrrummmmble!” China vs America. Imagine Caesars Palace. Fight night. New announcer. Harvard financial historian Niall Ferguson subs for Michael Buffer, iconic Vegas fight announcer, famous for his signature “Let’s get ready to rumble.” Trump signed him exclusively. Sugar Ray Leonard said, “When Buffer introduces a fighter, it makes him want to fight.”OK, fight fans, Ferguson’s the new Buffer in this “Fight of the Century.” His must-read book, “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” hit the stands earlier this month. The promos are already rrummmbling: China vs. USA for the heavyweight crown America’s “owned” for centuries.Who's winning supercomputer race?
The latest edition of the semiannual Top 500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers is out - and you might be surprised by the results.Let’s rrummmble! Vegas odds: China wins. Why? You decide: Ferguson’s Newsweek excerpt: “The lesson of history is clear. Voters and politicians alike dare not postpone the big reboot.” Yes, he sees a war of killer apps. Says America needs rebooting.But also hints at a knockout: “Decline is not so gradual that our biggest problems can simply be left to the next administration, or the one after that. If what we are risking is not decline but downright collapse, then the time frame may be even tighter than one election cycle.”Get it? Start planning. Now. Later’s too late. Warning: this fight is no video war game with apps that need rebooting. This is the World Heavyweight Championship: China vs America. Huge stakes: Super-Power status. Bragging rights in a global economy that’s $65 trillion racing to $140 trillion by 2050.No video game. More like an “Ultimate Extreme Fighting” grudge match. Winner take all. East beats West. China conquers America. Let’s rrummble!No, China is not winning, America’s taking a dive in 6 rounds
Yes, the plot thickens: As an academic, Ferguson plays softball with words as well as metaphors. Imagine his message in colorful jargon by ESPN announcers at a mixed-martial arts fighting brawl. They’d make it painfully obvious: China’s already winning this fight.Why? Because America’s not “in it to win it.” We’re already throwing this fight, folks.Yes, I’m mad as hell: Marine vet, don’t like what’s happening in my America today. Yet, Ferguson has a calming perspective. He sees our great nation on an inevitable historical trajectory, a path of destiny that will play out no matter who gets elected in 2012, 2016, or even 2040.In his grand sweep of historical cycles, even the corruption of ideals and values by self-destructive politicians and greedy capitalists is predictable. And we are setting ourselves up to lose. China’s not winning, folks, we’re taking a dive.Warning: History proves nations collapse suddenly, rapidly, terminal
Ferguson’s brutal: “Civilizations don’t rise, fall, and then gently decline, as inevitably and predictably as the four seasons … History isn’t one smooth, parabolic curve after another. Its shape is more like an exponentially steepening slope that quite suddenly drops off like a cliff,” an argument he made last year in Foreign Affairs.History’s loaded with examples: “Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. In 1530 the Incas were the masters of all ... Within less than a decade … their empire” was smashed “to smithereens.” Ming dynasty in a decade. Rome within decades. Recently the Soviet Union:“And if you still doubt that collapse comes suddenly, just think of how the postcolonial dictatorships of North Africa and the Middle East imploded this year. Twelve months ago, Messrs. Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Gaddafi seemed secure in their gaudy palaces. Here yesterday, gone today.”And the plot’s so predictable: “What all these collapsed powers have in common is that the complex social systems that underpinned them suddenly ceased to function. One minute rulers had legitimacy in the eyes of their people; the next they didn’t.”Next? The European Union is at the edge. “In the realm of power … you’re fine until you’re not fine—and when you’re not fine, you’re suddenly in a terrifying death spiral.” Suddenly. Rapidly. Terminal.Seriously, China is not winning, we’re taking a dive in 6 rounds
Ferguson uses the popularity of killer apps as a literary device to explain the West’s six-part lock on global power for the past five centuries. No, killer apps is softball lingo. Heavyweight championship boxing is a more accurate metaphor.Why too soft? “In 1500 the average Chinese was richer than the average North American.” More historical facts: “By the late 1970s the average American was more than 20 times richer than the Chinese.” Back in “the early 20th century, just a dozen Western empires — including the United States — controlled 58% of the world’s land surface and population, and a staggering 74% of the global economy.”No more. In a few short years China’s economy will be bigger than America’s.Ferguson warns: There’s one main “insidious cause” of the decline of the West: “The tendency of Western societies to delete their own killer apps.” That’s another way of saying that we’re now sabotaging what made America great, committing suicide in six ways. America is really not “in it to win it.”In fact, we have been throwing this fight for a generation. Here’s Ferguson announcing this historical rumble:Round #1. The Scientific Revolution … hard right jab to the jaw
Ferguson says “all the major 17th-century breakthroughs in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology happened in Western Europe.” But today, we’re falling behind. “Mathematical literacy” surveys reveal huge gap: China’s youth are way ahead.Round #2: Revolution in Medicine … solid left hit to the ribs
“Nearly all the major 19th- and 20th-century breakthroughs in health care were made” in “germ theory, antibiotics and anesthesia.” Today America “spends twice what Japan spends on health care and more than three times what China spends.” And yet both beat us with huge increases in life expectancy the last generation.Round #3: Democracy and Rule of Law … one-two punches to head
Ferguson says “an optimal system of social and political order emerged in the English-speaking world.” But today in World Economic Forum (WEF) measures of “issues relating to property rights and governance,” America’s performance is “shockingly bad.” We’re “50th for public trust in the ethics of politicians, 42nd for various forms of bribery and 40th for standards of auditing and financial reporting.”Round #4: Domestic, Global Competition … bleeding, cut over eye
“Europe was politically fragmented into multiple monarchies and republics,” says Ferguson, “internally divided into competing corporate entities.” Today our advantage is gone: The WEF shows us in “one of the steepest declines among developed economies,” while China “has leapt up” big-time. At home “extraordinary social polarization,” inequality and a new “super-rich elite” that’s “dangerously divorced from the rest of society” is killing our edge.Round #5: America’s Consumer Society … pounding, on the ropes
The Industrial Revolution “took place where there was both a supply of productivity-enhancing technologies and a demand for more, better and cheaper goods,” says Ferguson.” Today, “26 of the 30 biggest shopping malls in the world are now in emerging markets” Just three here, as Americans struggle to pay down consumer debts.Round #6: Our Work Ethic … down, short count, up, staggering
The West was first “to combine more extensive and intensive labor with higher savings rates, permitting sustained capital accumulation.” But “who’s got the work ethic now?” asks Ferguson. “The average South Korean works about 39% more hours per week than the average American.” Their school year is 40 days longer.” And in U.S. universities, we “know which students really drive themselves: the Asians and Asian-Americans.” (Alan here... Most of employed Americans I know work "24/7." The problem is that the United States has become a nation divided between "the overworked" and "the underemployed." Robotization, automation and software-based productivity enhancement propel the structural unemployment that is growing in the United States and Europe which are the two places where "automatic production" has taken deepest root. This is a particularly knotty problem - one which both sides of the political aisle are loathe to acknowledge: "The Left" is in denial because increased enhancement of "automated production" makes it impossible to "demand" industrial jobs in an information economy that has displaced "brawn" with "brain." Meanwhile, "The Right" is in denial because automatic production concentrates wealth at the top with consequent catastrophe for a consumer-driven economy. To the extent that conservatives argue that "the wealthy have every right to hold onto their increasingly disproportionate wealth," they insure the collapse of the United States in any recognizable form. My blog post, "Lost Jobs Are Not Coming Back" probes these issues in greater depth - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_ archive.html) Round #7: Can’t come out of corner … referee calls the fight
OK, let’s combine the two metaphors: A championship boxing match-up between two robotic heavyweights guided by killer apps, like in Hugh Jackman’s recent movie, “Real Steel.” But now the rrummmmbling’s over: After many centuries, China has won the World Heavyweight Championship title, taken it back from America, “The West and The Rest.”Finally, Ferguson wraps up the dueling metaphors: “Most Americans remain instinctively loyal to the killer applications of Western ascendancy, from competition all the way through to the work ethic. They know the country has the right software. They just can’t understand why it’s running so damn slowly.” His solution resonates in America’s Apple generation:“Delete the viruses that have crept into our system.” Yes, Ferguson says delete “viruses.” America’s suicidal viruses: “The anticompetitive quasi monopolies that blight everything from banking to public education; the politically correct pseudosciences and soft subjects that deflect good students away from hard science; the lobbyists who subvert the rule of law for the sake of the special interests they represent — to say nothing of our crazily dysfunctional system of health care, our overleveraged personal finances and our newfound unemployment ethic.”Delete viruses? Never happen: Koch brothers? Norquist? McConnell? They’re all rigid, dogmatic ideologues. Fuggetaboutit. Ferguson knows it. But he’s too polite to admit it like a real fight announcer.You know it too. We’re in denial, kidding ourselves. Secretly we know that few ever learn the lessons of history in time to change, to prevent a collapse. So nothing changes. Nothing. Only a deadly historic catastrophe will jar America’s obsessed, myopic Super Rich and their clueless, ineffectual political puppets and lobbyists.Get it? A crash is dead ahead. But when it hits, it’ll be too late, the revolution will be raging, and we’ll all suffer, big-time. Wait, listen, a cannon’s roaring. No, it’s the “99%ers” rrummmbling!
On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 7:46 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
posted on Facebook ---
I went to Oakland to visit my daughter. We went to brunch on Sunday morning, the brunch spot was on Fox Square. A pure coincidence, it was the site of the occupation -- only the occupants were all gone, nothing but cops there on a quiet Sunday morning, police tape and barricades everywhere.
Fred Owens
Eva and I and my girlfriend Laurie walked up to one of the cops and I said, "We're brunch people." He smiled back at us -- "the cafe is just around the corner," he said.
Brunch people? Yes, I don't have a dog in this fight.
During our breakfast, we discussed the occupation and could not discover a hot opinion among the three of us. We did have a warm sympathy for humankind, and I left the waitress a very good tip.
Coming out of the cafe, a reporter with a microphone wanted to ask us a question. I said, "we brunch people," and he said nothing.
cell: 360-739-0214
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