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Murder on the road to Mandalay

The Toll Keeper

“The Killer awoke before dawn…
He put his boots on…
He took a face from the Ancient Gallery…
and He walked on down the Hall…”
Jim Morrison

Someone must be punished
On October 3rd, 2017…Stephen Paddock rented two rooms at the Mandalay Bay Casino overlooking a concert venue. After hoarding an arsenal of weapons, two days later he opened fire on the concert goers below. The Mandalay Bay shootings were the most horrific in the history of gun violence. Some 59 people lost their lives and some 500 hundred others were injured by a lone gun man.

The only person close to him was an Australian woman, of Philippine decent by the name of Marylou Danley. A few days later Danley entered the United States and promised to tell all, vowing that she had no prior knowledge of such a plan, which was meticulous, and that she deeply mourns the loss of all those lives. She claims that she is innocent, and by all accounts seems to be a carefree person having no malice towards anyone.

Yet, While watching CNN yesterday a commentator swore that he was ninety nine percent certain that this woman is in some way guilty of something or other. And that he is nearly certain that her “guilt” will prove to be the key insight into this man’s motivation for shooting all those people. Someone must have helped Paddock…it was just too complex for one person to amass so many guns over thirty years..and to do this by himself? Someone else must have cooperated…someone else must be guilty.

But in reality it seems unlikely that any other person helped him. The woman seems to me, at least from this vantage point to be innocent. Perhaps she was the only one innocent enough to love a man this troubled.

As for the gun collection, and the planning and she being responsible for it in some way it would seem to me that the ordinary person cannot be expected to pry into other people’s affairs. Guns are legal, gun collection is legal, and unless this guy told the woman that he definitely intended to commit a high crime, there is no cause for hanging this woman.

Moreover it is quite possible for anyone to plan and execute an attack of this nature. Its easy actually. We are so used to conspiracy theories today that we cant possibly accept that some people are real good at killing. Real good at executing mass murder on a grand scale. But Someone must be guilty besides the shooter?

There was a certain vehemence with which CNN pursued this woman right after what seemed to be an innocuous statement by her lawyer, that in effect said she had nothing to do with all this and intended to cooperate in any way she could. CNN’s staff seemed to go ballistic, as if there was no chance that she could be telling the truth no matter what. There was no way she could be an innocent. As if someone had to pay, someone must be guilty, even if they were innocent. Someone’s blood must flow besides the killer’s own.

But this is not what a civilized people should want. They should not want blood for blood, innocent or not. If she is guilty of anything then she should be held accountable, but if not, then she should not in any way suffer for it. If she is innocent, she will suffer a lifetime as it is.

Guilt by Association
The reason I mention this at the beginning is because the manner of assigning guilt to dark events as this has some serious implications on our freedoms, and our moral obligations to the society we live in.

We should not be held automatically responsible for what people we know might do. No matter how heinous the crime. If you know a person, even intimately, and it turns out that you had no direct knowledge, or direct responsibility in the action then you are innocent. And must be presumed innocent. Doing otherwise will in effect make us all guilty by association.

Moreover, and more importantly, we should not be liable for not spying on our friends or countrymen. It seemed to me that CNN insisted that she had some kind of obligation to tell the authorities what Paddock was doing. But the truth is there are many people who collect guns in large numbers- wives, girl friends, daughters, brothers or sisters, or just friends and neighbors should not be in the business of ratting on their relations, even on suspicion. If I know someone who collects guns, it should not be up to me to “inform” the police. This is what would be expected in NAZI Germany, not in the United States. This is not serving the interests of freedom or democracy. We are not obligated to “Spy” on our fellow Americans, and we should all resist being goaded into doing so.

If in effect we are all to become liable for whatever crime someone we know commits, our freedom will be impinged upon, and sooner or later we will be living in a police state dictatorship where any failure to rat on our fellow American may become grounds for our own incarceration. If the woman Marylou Danley did not know directly what Paddock was doing then she would not be expected to inform the authorities of his actions. She cannot be expected to be a rat…even if not being a rat should have terrible consequences as in this case. She cannot be held guilty simply because she didn’t inform the authorities in the way the authorities, or the media demand retroactively. It would be an extremely dangerous precedent that sets our nation on the very slippery slope of constant surveillance and all privacy, and freedom would soon disappear.

The Archetypal Killer
Stephen Paddock was from what we can see now at least-only a few days after the event- an archetypal “Killer”. For whatever reason he was angry. Perhaps he had the gambling blues, perhaps he felt he was losing everything he ever owned and perhaps he blamed the Casinos, or society in general. In this lottery economy we are all either winners or losers, and if the latter, all of us will in some way be angry with the world.

Of course we are not supposed to murder innocent people, and lets make it clear- this is not the mindless point I am in any way adhering to. What I am saying is that our lottery economy is conducive to creating great, fantastic expectations that are more likely to be met with ultimate disappointment, than success(in large part due to general mismanagement of this society.) And I think this archetypal reason is the true reason that Stephen Paddock murdered all those people. He was simply angry at his luck.

The archetypal murder suicide “killer” as a literary theme in Europe goes back three thousand years at least. In Greek mythology, the stalwart hero Aias(Latinized Ajax) who defended the Achaean army in their most dire time of need, was so enraged in being denied the arms of the fallen Achilles that he awoke in a rage, went to the pen where the sheep were sleeping, and began to slaughter them indiscriminately. When at last the rest of the Greeks heard the commotion and found him, he realized that he was not killing his fellow Greeks, as he intended, but only sheep,and so he rammed his sword into his own heart ending his heroic life in shame and tragedy. The cause for the “hero’s” tragic anger was that he had great expectations followed instead by great disillusionment; and perhaps an underlying conviction of a perennial injustice in our society where cunning, and carelessness are prized over true devotion and loyalty. The arms of Achilles were ultimately awarded to the glib and cunning Polymechan Odysseus master of machination, the ultimate schemer who concocted the Trojan horse rouse by which the Greeks defeated the Trojans through utter treachery and deception.

The causes of such violence are often quite simple.
Murder, on the street is often spontaneous. A flash of violent anger. Although the Mandalay Bay shooter planned his violence meticulously, the ultimate psychological cause was relatively “simple”. Which is why no one can find a rational motive, as if its possible to find anything rational in this kind of violence.

Stephen Paddock likely wanted to “get even” with the casinos, and all those who support them. He may have resented the fan fare that surrounds the glitzy outgoing concert goers…feeling perhaps that he could never again be part of that carefree world, plagued as he was by isolation, disease and rage. This was probably the “real” cause of his actions- “simple” and perhaps needing little more in the way of psychological insight. This “simple” rage and isolation seem to be a common thread for all such high casualty murder suicides.

Nightmarish violence, the result of anger, isolation, and resentment long fomenting into a toxic disease of never ending rage which only “the end of all” can cure. Simple.

The Second Amendment
Fifty eight people died in this assault, and some five hundred others injured. There is again debate over the availability of guns.

Yet, we should know this…had the founding fathers been told that some two hundred people a year will die in this kind of violence, -or even a few thousand if we take into account urban violence- in order to guarantee the autonomy of the American people, it is unlikely they would be much moved. Freedom has a terrible price, and only in our day do we dare presume to be rightfully free of that cost, or feign pretend we are immortal and beyond account.

Today many think in curves that slither around corners and disappear behind large buildings. The founding fathers thought in straight lines.

The second amendment is meant to guarantee the sovereignty and freedom of the American people. Having an armed public makes it harder for any government to usurp the power of the people, and this is exactly why the second amendment follows the first: the right to free speech, followed by the right to fight for that freedom if the need arises. It is a kind of insurance. That in the event the government becomes too corrupt to allow for the choice of leaders the American people will have the arms necessary to overthrow that government. We should no longer tolerate the illusions as to why the second amendment came into existence, or why it has survived for so long. Why, even today, there are so many supporters for it. The second amendment guarantees that the American people will remain free under any circumstances, even if violence against the government becomes, in the last resort, necessary.

This is a key difference between the American people and their European cousins. The revolutions in Europe never quite did away with the sovereignty and absolute authority of government. The American people chose instead to guarantee the absolute sovereignty of the people. And this carries with it an awful price…for nothing comes without cost.

Militias may serve to anchor gun owners                                              Before advocating for a general ban on gun ownership we should consider that cars kill tens of thousands of people a year, yet no one would think to ban the use and ownership of automobiles.

Yet it is true that too many people die in these horrific acts of violence. Too many innocent people die in gun violence, too many suffer the life long aftermath.

The key may lie in the wording of the second amendment, “a well regulated militia”. Perhaps we should accept the legality of ordinary people having a weapon or two to protect their property, and the lives of their loved ones at home, but should require that having access to an arsenal of high powered weapons requires a more general authority. Perhaps only those who are members of a private, legally sanctioned militia should have such access. If Mr. Paddock had been a member of a militia it is likely that someone would have noticed what he was doing, someone would have intervened, someone would have questioned him because someone would have had some co-responsibility. Access to an arsenal, even gun collection should require the co-responsibility of a well regulated militia and membership within such a militia.

Moreover the rise and sanctioning of such militias can have great benefits for the nation. It would provide a means for the American people to organize, and to pursue their political objectives and rights. It would involve more people in a common cause. We should note that the majority of “shooters” are loners, even when they are a couple as the pair in San Bernardino. These two, although claiming they were shooting for the cause of ISIS seemed rather to be two very isolated people acting out in anger. Perhaps this archetypal “aloneness” can be alleviated by requiring affiliation in a private militia.

In this way the second amendment would be served, and the risks of indiscriminate violence minimized. Such militias could also help to police the state in some auxiliary fashion. Had for example a private militia had been present at Mandalay Bay, it would have been far more difficult for a lone shooter to kill so many people without receiving return fire from the patrolling militia. Such militias can in some way ease the burden on the local police forces, and make them far more efficient.

Of course we may one day have a “Militia” problem, but it would still be better than to have illegal gangs in their place, as is now happening.

Belonging to a group in many ways addresses the problems of isolation and lawlessness. Militias could act more like organizations once evolved, concerned not with just guns and arms, but also with the well being of the nation. They would in effect take a private responsibility for the health and protection of the national order while minimizing the potential destructive effects of lone gunmen or gun collectors..

Be it said here that if the founding fathers intended by the statement “well regulated militias” they would mean an army, or navy, then they would have clearly said that. They knew what an army was, and knew what a navy was. What they wanted was a people’s army, a state army  that would be hard for any external power to usurp. This is one reason it took so long for the American nation to develop an official army and navy. The founders knew that these will almost always lead to some corruption on some level. They intended a people’s militia as a balance to the government’s authority, and as a fail-safe in case corruption rendered any government oppressive and inflexible.

The price paid
Today we attribute such violent murder suicide events to some shallow cause or other. But in reality most of these killers, whether they kill for no apparent reason in a mall, or in a school, or even as “inspired” terrorists have causes that are most likely primordial in nature. People deeply disappointed with the outcome of their lives, and with society, and perhaps too proud to accept the fate they have been given.

These killers are archetypal incarnations of grievance. Of incurable anger and dissatisfaction.

They are in some ways, the “Tax man” and the “Toll Keeper” of our society. They are a price we pay for our freedom, folly, and our lives.

You can gloss over these phenomena as being only random aberrations of psychology  but these killers are what goes “wrong” with our society on a regular basis, and perhaps one of the “tolls” collected by our social order. Its been this way since the beginning of civilization and is unlikely to end by any elementary changes.

There is a price for freedom, and occasional violence of this nature may be part of it.  A natural occurrence that is in some ways never to be completely  avoided no matter what we do.

Post Script:
P.S. I am not here making heroes of these people, do not misunderstand. But if ever we are to mitigate their effects, we must have some real sense of what they are. White washing these events as being merely aberrations attributable to some shallow political or religious cause or psychological circumstance does not in the end do justice to the phenomenon. To say these killers are “mentally ill” may be true for example,  but it gives no usable information as to why they are “mentally ill”. Why are they so “Mad”? Knowing this cause is important. Perhaps seeking solutions on an “individual basis” is simply not enough. In effect they may actually be a naturally occurring phenomenon inherent in the overall primal nature of human social order.  They may not be an “individual” occurrence that can be addressed on a case by case basis  but a general malady that must be addressed on the societal level which will be far more complex and difficult to contain.

Politics, Publish

Donald Trump Expectations

mxn1

President Donald Trump

Ok…so he’s here…he’s our president. Now what?

What can we expect? What can we really expect from Donald John Trump( a.k.a the “Donald”)
who is now the forty sixth president of the United States!

Well we have to give him a whirl and see what he can do. So much is true. We’ll see what he’s
about soon enough. His early moves do not really define him as yet. So far these moves are only
cosmetic. They are not deep rooted policy changes, which only congress can effectuate in reality.
So we are still at the point where we have to consider what is likely to come out of a Trump presidency.

But what do we really expect of him now that
he’s become “really big”, bigger than life almost?

To answer that we have to look at much of what he’s been saying, and why he’s been saying it.
Throughout his campaign Donald Trump made it clear that he was not at all happy about the way
things have turned out in the United States. It was also quite clear that a very large number of
Americans agreed with his assesment. He and his strongest supporters are obviously not very happy
campers. Something went wrong in the past thirty, forty, fifty years in the land of Milk and Honey.

Now Donald Trump is a billionaire, and it does not seem to most of us that much went wrong in his life.
But there is an edge to this man that betrays a deep dissatisfaction with the way things really are.
As if-though he achieved much in his life- something was still amiss. As if something he expected simply
didnt happen. He seems to have lost faith. Indeed, if anything can tie Donald Trump to the vast majority of
Americans, it is just that. They too have lost faith. Despite much success overall, the nation, or very large
parts of it, have in fact lost faith.

There will be some who will insist that only the disaffected voted for Trump. But this is clearly not the case.
Most small bussiness people, who are the most succesful, voted for Trump. The common thread is a loss of faith.
As if all too many people were not happy with what they were seeing America become.

……………….

The America Donald Trump expected, the America many Americans expected, just didnt happen the way they envisioned
it would happen. And frankly that will hurt, no matter what station in American life you may find yourself at. To tell the
most meaningful truth, it always hurts when you lose faith in that which you love the most. And the vast number of Americans loved their nation. They wanted desperately to believe in it. Desperately to think it orderly, just,
pre-destined for greatness, and endowed with an order, and true beauty.

So waxing poetic, I think we can pretty much see that Trump seems to be feeling what his supporters are feeling.
What even his detractors are feeling. Expectations have been dashed for quite a while. The sense of national beauty
which quite often gives us all a sense of having some role to play with destiny was slowly eroded. As powerful, rich
and influential as the United States has become, a sense of disorder and lack of integrity has seeded enormous doubt.
It is this doubt that vaulted Trump to the presidency…against all odds.

So its clear that president Donald Trump’s main objective, and mission is to get expecations back to where the American people can once again believe in their manifest destiny again. Where the destiny of a people is once again visible
to the people.

We are still poetic, I know, but this seems very much the real task that Donald Trump is going to have to manage
or fail catastropically, tragically.

…………………
There are questions about how succesful was the campaign of Donald Trump.

Donald Trump won the electorate but not the popular vote, this is true. Yet in reality Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party failed to haul in their own larger Democratic majority, otherwise they would probably have won easily. A very large number of Democratic voters were not very faithful either. They too could not believe that everything would be fine with four more years of the same as we have had-despite Obama’s seeming popularity. That’s as close to a single reason for Trump’s win as I can come up with. There was not enough faith in the way things were going for the naton on either side. Too few believed in staying the course. And they didnt! They wanted Change…that same sort of change they were promised with Barack Obama, but in the end, obviously felt they didnt really get.

In the end, it all comes down to faith. Perhaps even down to just simple esthetic attraction. Do you believe in the present state of affairs, do you believe your nation, your people, your community, your family are going in the right direction? Are they beautiful to look at, or is there an ugly side that you just cant stand to see anymore?

And even if things are not right and good now, will they be better later, and soon? Can faith be found? Can beauty emerge eventually? If the answer is no then the clamour for change will start to ring until ultimately it becomes a cacophonous roar for open revolution!

Of course, faith and beauty come mostly to those who have some money you will argue. Yet, again when we look carefully we cannot say that the poor elected Trump. By and large they actually voted for Clinton, if they voted at all. Those who didnt vote for Clinton did not as some are now suggesting, vote for Trump because they expected more. This man is a billionaire, it is unlikely he’s going to convince a large number of poor that he is generous enough to improve their
general state. No. Most Democrats who did not vote for Trump did not vote for him because they lost faith in the Democratic party. Most Republicans who did not vote for Republican presidential candidates opposing Trump did not vote
because they lost faith. They did not vote for Trump because they believed he would create jobs, but because they believed he would restore the United States to its lofty place as the primary innovator and consumer of the world. They voted more for the game plan, than the promise of a particular outcome. This was not about particular issues so much, as about where the nation as a whole was heading.

Those who did vote for particular issues..lost big on Trump. Clinton promised everyone everything. But no one bought it.

This then is how Donald Trump got to be president. And this too is why those who are still intent on undermining his presidency should think very carefuly. The game has really changed with Trump. There is a fundamental clamor for something that people can have faith in. Something they can once again believe in, and love again. And judging by Trump’s initial actions as president, he is dedicated to forcing that change in the nation’s state of mind. He wants the nation to go back to a common, national understanding about what is right, and what is not. He wants to begin to restore a rational order to the nation, no matter the personal issues that might oppose that order.

….
We can see clearly that there were warning signs all over the place before the election. The British exit from Europe was an evil omen for those who thought things would go on the same forever. It was clear that the British people were not happy campers either.

They did not want to see their England overrun with globalism. They were obviously angry, if even a little sneaky. Few polls predicted the Brexit victory over the establishment either. It was clear the movement was a relatively quiet movement, but as your grandma might say, its the quiet rivers you have to watch for. The quiet rivers flooded the voting booth, and Brexit happened.

By the end of the Brexit vote it was quite clear that the European Union was facing an existential threat. It was in danger of dissolving. And to this point little has changed. More than this the Globalist empire was itself under threat and to this point nothing is changed.

With the full realization pending, Donald Trump snuck into the white house though poll after poll had predicted an easy win for Hillary Clinton. In the end the electoral count was not even close. He is said to have lost the popular vote, but most of this vote was generated in a few states on the two coasts. The vast majority of states chose Trump, and it is likely that if he had campaigned for the popular vote, he would have won that too. When we consider that the Trump campaign had few big money contributions, and very little media support over all, Trump’s win was nothing less than gigantically decisive. The American people had had enough of the establishment, enough of the pernicious disorder and degeration of cultural integrity produced by an overly “liberal” establishment.

There was now a genuine wave of discontent in both the United States and Europe. There is little faith in liberal globalism left in the West.
……

So what can we expect Donald Trump to do?

We should understand that the first 100 days of a presidency are usually the honeymoon period. The president is usually given some leeway and a grace period to get his act together. Unfortunately for Trump, this is not going to happen this time.

Its clear that we are all ready to do battle and that there will be no honeymoon in the first hundred days. Indeed the Media has taken to actually counting Trump’s days in office, as if to emphasize the pain that people are supposed to be feeling, but which I suspect is a gimmick used to measure the Media’s own pain at the outcome of the election.

In general there is apparently a mandate for Trump which he will not be able to refuse, which he does not want to refuse. It is clearly his task to restore faith in both the American Union, and in its spiritual essence, the Constitution. Though some would argue against the latter, the truth is that anyone seeing Trump for what he is really doing will understand that Trump’s main goal is to reestablish the will of the people at the expense of the elite. This is quite clear, and there should be little doubt about it. Indeed the only ones who seem to doubt this are the elite themselves. They have all but absolutely convinced themselves that Trump was only “playing”, only pretending. Yet this does not seem likely at all.

It is clear that Donald Trump’s presidency will be judged, both by the nation, and in his own mind on how well he manages to restore the doctrine of self determination, not only in the United States, but globally. Let it be said clearly, from his early actions Trump’s intention is to restore self determination as both a national, and international principle.

Each nation must learn to run its own business, each nation must excercize the will of its own people, and each nation is to be held responsible for its acts. This is clearly Trump’s philosophy, even from his first several weeks in office we can see that he means business.

…….
And herein lies the challenge.

We have recently heard of his tussle with China, and specifically the insistance of China that Taiwan belongs to the mainland chinese and that one day they will reclaim Taiwan the way they reclaimed Hong Kong. But even before Donald Trump assumed the presidency he made it clear that this was not American policy, nor was it part of the American credo. He accepted comment from Taiwan to China’s consternation. But this is natural and right. This is something Ronald Reagan would have wanted to see and for good reason. To Americans there is no reason why Taiwan cannot be a free nation. No Taiwan cannot dictate policy for China, it cannot claim to be China, it is not, but there is no justification for Communist China to insist that the island of Taiwan is their belonging. The Taiwanese are a free people and cannot be expected to bow to the communist party of China simply because of events that took place some ninety years ago. We will see how serious Trump is overall simply by what he does with China.

It is an important, early gesture with global implications. The American ideal of Self Determination is back on the table, and it will require some new understanding by many of our former friends, including the Chinese. It is no doubt a gesture that is quite Reaganesque and we are likely to see much more of this from Trump. There is little doubt that Reagan must have influenced Trump to a significant extent.

Reagan, like Trump believed ultimately in the constitution. He believed that all people have a right to self determination, a right to select their leaders and call their home, their own. If you look carefully you will see that Reagan started no major wars, even when at times he might have had a good excuse to do so. Reagan was more inclined to let nations settle their differences, much like Eisenhower before him, and was a lot less inclined to interfere except in as far as to prevent a cascade of chaos.

The action of Trump with Taiwan is a good introduction I think of what Trump’s policy and philosophy is likely going to be going forward. Though it would be clearly in the best interest of both China and the United States to remain on good terms both politically and economically, there will have to be some “philosophical”, and “emotional” adjustments, perhaps by both sides.

Although Trump has recently acquiesced to the “One China” policy, it is very unlikely that his stance on Taiwan is going to effectively change. Indeed when you look carefully no such change is even possible.

The United States has really no other choice than to pursue a policy of self determination around the world. It has become too expensive and too complex to police the world. In the end, the task that Trump will have before him is to convince the world that a new outlook is possible, both internationally and domestically.

We chose this example of Taiwan firstly because I think what happens with China and Taiwan is going to in large part determine what happens elsewhere. What principles are enacted in the Asian theatre are likely going to be indicative of what happens interanationally and domestically. We’re going to see what the general philosophy of Trump is in Asia being that it is immediately important to establish a policy there considering the nature of the extensive-yet relatively cordial- China US relations.

We will probably see how the more difficult issues of the Mid East, Europe, and Russia relations will develop with what attitudes and strategies are adopted early on in Asia.

………………………………..
Trump has repeatedly made it clear that he believes nations are responsible for themselves. The “Empire” is no longer in the business of providing sanctuary to those who do not provide for themselves. This has been made clear with NATO repeatedly. Trump has not seen any general promise or profit in paying for NATO, or for the UN since these seem not to serve the interest of Self Determination. They do not seem to serve the idea of either self determination or self support, which it is clear that Donald Trump feels are all important in a world of moral equals.

Some may think that this is all some prequel to some fantastic deal that is to be suddenly unvieled against the Russians, but the truth is that anyone looking at the reality of our world will soon see that there is no other option. Nations must support themselves-they cannot expect their neighbors to do that for them. With twenty trillion dollars of nominal debt the United States is really not in the position to support its neighbors. Only some particularly deceptive ideologist could ever hope to justify the present state of affairs.

The fundamental lesson that seems early on to guide Trump is that in trying to support the global empire we have in some way lost our own soveriegnty. This would explain the irritation that Trump seems to be feeling for some of our allies around the world. This including Europe.

……

That there are difficulties in Europe, it is clear. Europe has long ago run out of natural resources. Yet they continue to live the high life as best they can. Unfortunately this is going to require an increasingly efficient productivity and trade in order to be able to support themselves. Gone are the protectorates that for a long time provided luxurious living for Europeans. Success is going to require strict self reliance and self restraint. The United States is in no position to provide that for the Europeans. We have now clearly our own very serious limitations to consider.

For many years a fear of Russia, and Russia’s possible influence on Europe has for the most part been the primary motive for US policy.

Yes, it is clear that Russia is a powerful nation, with great resources, and there is only so much trust that can be handed to the Russians. But in the end it would seem natural to assume that the Europeans can take care of themselves. Indeed for the most part they have been taking care of themselves for the past seventy years after the end of World War II. There is no reason to think that Europe, the United States, and Russia cannot come to an equitable understanding when it comes to trade and much needed resources. Unless of course one side tries to destablize the other. Or take unjustifiable advantage.

Under Trump I think we can all expect a new philosophy to begin making its presence felt, and this new philosophy will stress self-reliance. There is little reason to think that Russia is in an offensive posture, or for that matter that Europe is in a defensive posture. But it is clear that Europe is in need of resources, and in the case of Natural gas Russia is able to provide for this need. But there is little concern beyond this. Nowhere is there any evidence of coercion, nor for that matter does there seem to be any need for it. There is little indication of Russia expansionism, nor any obvious need for it.

It is very clear that Donald Trump understands this, at least he has strongly implied that he does understand even if the establishment he defeated does not quite want to accept these realities.

…….
Russian detente is not going to be an option for the United States. Why exactly the Obama administration and its managers chose this present confrontational stance with Russia is not clear to me. When we look at the hard realities on the ground in both Europe, and the Middle East, and in Asia, it is very easy to see that Russia is a necessary relationship for all involved. Neither the Russians, nor the Europeans, nor the United States can afford to not have a working relationship with each other. Its simply not possible. Again why it is that so much rancor has been made manifest is not clear(except if it is because Putin was not keen on playing to the Globalists.) But it is clear that Trump seems to want no part of it.

Russia’s aid is needed in all directions. Whether we desire a stable middle east, or stable Europe, or stable Asia, Russia’s cooperation is absolutely necessary. Even if our aim is to run a pipeline through Syria to provide alternative gas supply to Europe, still we would need the Russians to stabilize Syria and parts of the Mid East. There will be a price no doubt, but without paying some price the task is not likely to be accomplished at all. So much seems simple. I do not believe that Donald Trump will see it any other way. I dont think he can afford to see it any other way actually. Even if Hillary Clinton had won, there is little doubt that the direction would be pretty much the same in this regard. I am of the mind that even Obama and Kerry were merely setting things up for a deal to be reached.

The alternative is likely to be war. I simply dont see any profit from this to think it would be seriously pursued. Nor do I think that the Russians are likely to chicken out, though I sometimes feel that this is the general sentiment of those who choose to pursue an aggressive stance on Russia. In all cases it is likely more beneficial to have a mature, non-globalist affected relation with the Russians.

….
So for this reason we have to believe that Trump is going to seek a deal with the Russians. There seems little choice in the matter.

However, there are specifics.

The nature of the Ukrainian fiasco is difficult. Crimea is probably an intractable issue. I do not believe the Russians will deal in any way with Crimea. The reasons are both historic and economic. As for those who stupidly believe the Russians have an interest in expansion into Eastern Europe, I cannot in any way agree. The Russias chucked the Soviet Union because it was too expensive for them to maintain. There are few resources that the Russians need from Eastern Europe that they could not simply trade for. If anything, it is Eastern Europe that desperately needs the Russian resources. But of course we once again come back to self determination. This is something the Eastern Europeans would have to manage on their own. We can help them with this I suppose, in trying to get as good a deal as possible, but there is really only so much that can be viewed as our burden, or our own justified risk. This too is rather simple to understand I think, and is likely well understood by the new administration as well.

It is likely that the Russians would not be averse to some kind of solution to the Ukraine, excepting Crimea, but this would require cooperation from the Ukrainians. This native co-operation may not be all that easy to come by. The Ukrainians sadly have some very deep divisions. Still I do not see this as insurmountable. In the end it would seem to me that both the Russians and the US, as well as western Europe would all rather see the gas flowing than not. I think self interest would ultimately rule the day here..again assuming the Ukrainians can themselves come to an acceptable understanding.

……
But now we come to Syria, and the Mid East. A more difficult issue.

It is clear that a pipeline could run through Syria, but not under the proposals of the Obama administration. What the Obama administration was asking simply couldnt be done I think. The Russians have a potentially disastrous condition on their southern flank. Having Syria, and then Iran fall would probably inflame all the muslim states to the South of Russia all the way to China. This was never a possibility and it is likely that Russia would have fought to prevent this. Having Syria and Iran fall is more probably an existential threat to the Russians so there is little hope in pursuing that objective.

However a better behaved Syria and Iran are a possibility. And this is likely what the objective is going to be. With some Russian, and perhaps Chinese assurances there should be little in the way of danger for our allies in the Middle East. So much can be negotiated I think. Indeed, I dont think there are any other rational expectations. So I really dont see much else for Trump to do here.

Remember, his concern is to restore faith in the United States. This is going to be his primary task. He will not have much leeway elsewhere. Starting a hot war with Russia is not likely to do that. Besides the risks would quickly lead to a highly unstable domestic situation which Trump could not afford to see happen. Any major wars in the Mid East with a formidable power will almost certainly have severely destabilizing domestic effects.

If assurances are sufficient, a pipeline can be run into Syria, into Turkey and provide an alternative gas feed into Europe. This would probably be seen as a good deal to shoot for ultimately, and perhaps there is no one better than Secretary of State Tillerson to pursue this kind of objective, considering his background.

……
The Sunnis

The Sunni problem is yet another highly complex problem. The formation of ISIS is due in large part to the destabilization of Sunni nations that were percieved by Sunnis as being authentic, or self governed quasi representative of Sunni muslim self determination. Those with strong dictatorships were at least under the control of the Sunni leaders themselves, whereas Saudi Arabia and the gulf states are not seen as such. The rallying cry around religion is probably only superficial in the end. Most of this rancor is more probably due inherently to ethnic animosity going all the way back to the Palestinian issue. This will continue until some better more generally sustainable solution is found.

Trump, along with Russia will probably center on controlling or eradicating ISIS but this will do little to quell the ethnic Sunni animosity towards foreign interference(even if that animosity is garbed in religious extremism.) It is not likely that either Saudi Arabia, certainly not Egypt, and certainly not Turkey, or Pakistan are likely to serve the Sunni faithful as authentic representatives of their nationalistic, or religious aspirations at this point. Therefore whatever Trump does, he is very unlikely to quell the unrest. For this reason he will more than likely be forced to deal with those elements that can be ameliorated for the present. These are likely to be Iran, Turkey, Egypt and even Syria. With Russia making deep inroads to these, it will probably require Trump to play the game, much to the chagrin of his allies, both in the Mid East, and in Europe.

Still, the ultimate objective that Trump will have in the Mid East is to keep the oil flowing and for as long as he can do that with minimum expenditures, it is likely he’ll be happy with the results. ISIS will be a problem, but if he manages Syria and Iran ISIS should be a minimal problem though one that is not likely to go away any time soon. It is however a problem that can only flare up to exteme condidtions if some foreign power is involved. For this reason Trump will have to seek some kind of understanding with both allies, and adversaries.

……………………………………

However, all this is ideal and very much dependent on a few other actors. China being major.
The Chinese problem is going to be a serious one for Trump and will have an effect in both the Mid East and in Europe. It may also affect South America and Africa. There are many reasons for saying this.

But perhaps the most significant reason is that the Chinese Communist party has essentially promised the Chinese people that it can single handedly bring China into the twenty first century of endless consumption. Unfortunately this might not have been such a wise idea. We are even now facing the limits of consumption. Resources are getting more and more expensive and harder and harder to find. Though it would appear through manipulation of exploration and production that this is not the case, we can see clearly that sooner or later there will be a rise in prices for commodities. It will become more expensive to consume. And this expense will at some point in time become a significant determinant in all theaters.

China having nearly four times the population of the United States is going to be a difficult climb into general economic prosperity. There is no question of this. She will of necessity be more inclined to support globalism than nations now more developed. Europe and the United States themselves are now facing huge trade deficits, already needing massive imports on energy and materials in order to maintain their lofty standards of living. But the requirements of these two populations would pale in comparison to what China would need if it were fully modernized-Western style. The last thing China wants to see is a tightening of markets, or rigid borders. Yet this is exactly what she is going to face for both political reasons, but perhaps more importantly for natural reasons. It is highly unlikely that the Globalist philosophy had much life left to it.

She will not be, at this point, a great fan of self determination and local insulation of the world’s economies. The promises made by the party will not make it easy for her to absorb dissapointment. Though it would not be easy for any nation to absorb some form of contraction, it is more likely that nations in Europe and the United States will find it easier to reach a higher state of efficiency than would China for the simple reason that the expectation in China is that of endless growth, and steep at that. Expectations in Europe have become more moderate after the end of World War II.

If it should become clear that present Chinese expectations are not very likely, even if economic stability is not lost(which is rather more likely) domestic political stability will come under duress. For this reason she is likely to resist any withdrawal from present globalist expectations, or operative principles.

For this reason any change in philosophy by Trump is going to have to be implemented with some grace and care. This is quite possibly the most important reason for engaging the Russians. The question for Trump is going to be how to establish a new agenda while keeping things stable and sustainable. There will be great resistance, not only from our allies, but also from emerging markets. Trump will have to find a way to establish a stable global environment even as the old unsustainable system is dissipated.
….
China will not be likely to cooperate on local issues either. She is not likely to see Tawain or any of her neighbors as potentially independent of her own economy or its needs. This reality will be very difficult to overcome.

In general it is safe to assume that China is going to seek its own Hegemony in Asia and this is going to be a real problem. Although we can allow nations to be themselves, it will not be possible to allow China to become a new “Empire”.
Any steps taken in that direction can become the basis for confrontation.

For as long as the emphasis was on securing the resources of nations which produced them, China could simply play the game as well as anyone else, but once that game turns to self determination, China will have the biggest problem of all. She, like Japan, and Europe are not really very well suited to self containment under the present idealogical self image. This will make things quite difficult.

Trump will have to manage this, with a little help from his newly found friends. But this is exactly why it is crucial that a good relationship exist in the West. Any instability or rancor in the West, and things will begin getting globally unstable and could spiral into chaos in a real hurry.
…
It should be noted that Hillary Clinton wanted to global trade the brics out of their resources.with the reasoning that this is how to contain nations like China..but that just didnt work and probably would not have down the road. The present multi national ideology was inclined to encourage the consumption of the emerging nations at the expense of the resource producers. Unfortunately the gigantic amounts of credit required make it quite clear that this system is not sustainable. It was fine for a few people to make offensive amounts of money, but we could not justify burdening billions of people with that debt when in fact these people are supposed to be a free people allowed to choose their own the course to their own destiny.

The simplest rendering of the Clinton Obama view of the world is this: An established intelligentia, established Academia, media and established economic order, globally empowered, and privately held must be supported at all costs. Even if those costs should risk all out world war. Or even if this economic order risked the freedom of the masses in democratic nations. Saddling the American people with 30 trillion dollars of nominal debt(this number including national, state and local debt) could not point to anything but economic enslavement for the vast majority of people in the western world. It is clear that the voting public understood this in both the United States and in most nations in Europe.

For this reason the old system has to go, kicking and screaming if it must.

But this will have tremendous consequences. Changes of this nature are not likely to be without great costs both domestic and global. There will be Titanic forces at work here.
…………………………………………..
We then come to the ultimate problem facing Trump: The economy, and the domestic political climate.

Its obvious from the first few weeks that President Trump is not going to be any less exciting as president than he was as candidate.

The mass protests, media temper tantrums, and division are evident everywhere. There are people mad at Trump for no particular reason it seems, as if its simply become fashionable to be mad at him. There are people overseas who likely have no clue of what Donald Trump’s real agenda might be actually taking the time to protest against him, vehemently at that. Even those who have no particular political leaning seem at times to be angry that Trump is taking so much action so quickly. As if Trump is disturbing a sleeping baby that suddenly awakens with a scream.

We are probably going to see four years of this.

All presidents since Jimmy Carter have pretty much moved with the aid of the established power base, and have enabled and enriched that power base. Under Barack Obama that power base reached its pinnacle. It has never before been as powerful as it is now. Donald Trump has ostensibly challenged that power base. Whatever he wants to do he will have to do it without the aid of that power base. He will have to stand against the establishment, where he will, and expect massive counter attacks. This is going to be hard and have cosmic repercussions. It will all depend on how much power his own base of supporters can attain. And how Donald Trump will use that power. Ultimately he will have to direct that power towards congress, and demand legislation that changes the fundamental order of the nation. This will be the ultimate test for Trump’s administration.

The establishment is not going to relent any time soon. The GOP seems inclined to want to believe that Donald Trump is after all their own creation, even if he did beat them relentlessly during the primaries. They seem to want to believe that Trump is just another billionare who will ultimately come to his sensess and see things their way. But he has repeatedly made it clear that he is not going to see things their way any time soon.

His actions on the border, and his actions with immigration are quite clear. He knows that he will not be tolerated by his own supporters if he fails to in some way shut down the borders and do something about jobs leaving the nation. Though his actions thus far are frankly superficial, they strongly point to a very different philosophy than the one that’s prevailed thus far.

As far as the Mexican border wall goes. Be certain neither the Democratic party, nor the mainstream GOP want to see such a thing built. For one it will change the voter dynamics that both have been counting on. For another it may lead to significant taxation at the border, and neither party’s sponsors will be happy about that. So its quite clear that both party hierarchies have orders to dissuade Trump from enacting anything like the Mexican border wall as it is being proposed.

However, Trump knows that this will score some big points with his own voters and he is almost certain to go through with it. For its part the wall may actually do some real good. The problem with the Mexican border is that it has facillitated a great deal of crime for centuries. This criminal activity has led to destabilization for both Mexico and the United States. While Heroin and illegal drugs and sex slaves flow north, guns and racketeering flow south. The border may actually do some real good for both nations in the end.

A tax to pay for it would also do good. The United States has lost too many jobs and too much industry south of the border. But little of this has actually benefited the majority of Mexicans. Most of this arrangement has benefited the elite few who own these businesses and who profit immensely from these arrangements(indeed most of these are actually Americans.) Little of this wealth has really found its way to either the Mexican public or the American general public. A tax on that border to pay for this wall would here tend to stop what has thus far been a destructive trend for both nations.

Still, this is going to require much more from Trump. And here we will see how honest he intends to be(or how honest he can be-as he himself has said, some promises are not deliverable due to inordinate opposition.) Still a Guest Worker Program will at some point in time be needed here. There is nothing wrong with having guest workers, as long as they remain just that, guests and do not evolve to become economic and social liabilities. All of this will heavily depend on the principles of enforcement, especially executive enforcement, and this is Trump’s responsibility for which he will want to set a standard.

Too many people think those against a lax immigration policy are simply racists. They do not understand it seems to me that most people are not necessarily going to condemn people of a different culture but are more likely to react if they feel that the general societal order is being undermined. The anger felt by most who are against illegal immigration is that it is disordering their society, making it unpredictable, and at times unmanageable(as when a person gets on the freeway and seems to have entered a giant parking lot.) The general dissent is not against particular immigrant ethnic groups(though it often targets these out of frustration) but against the disorder that illegal immigration generates. The truth of this is pretty much self evident.

A guest worker program, ripe with strict laws can be managed by Trump, indeed will have to be managed likely. But how much success he will have with this is questionable. At this point the voters have reacted and have little faith in the government being able to enforce any laws at all. Yet if some general doctrine on immigration is not enacted or at least initiated, Trump will in reality have failed to solve this problem, and it will continue to fester. He may promise more actions during his second term, this is going to be a matter of political strategy.

Besides this, the United States must make some effort to balance its trade deficit at some point in time. Starting with the Mexican border is a good idea. But this must be applied to others as well. We must do something to trade more effectively, and a border tax is a tool that has long been effective. There will be vociferous opposition to be sure. Trump will be accused of racism, isolationism, and protectionism, but in general those who supported him will more than likely accept a border tax as being in the interest of the American people if a direct benefit can be seen.

In the end Trump will have to convince people that the nation is stable, and can remain stable. Our present condition is clearly not sustainable. This will be seen quickly I think. We are expending vast amounts of energy trying to keep the dam from leaking, but it is. Fixing the dam is going to be difficult for Trump. I honestly dont know if he will, or can have success with this under the present circumstances. The tasks are daunting.

…………………

As for Trump’s Supreme court justice picks, he is going to go conservative with the first of these choices in order to replace Judge Antonin Scalia, but I would not be surprised to see him ease up somewhat on any succeeding appointment. Roe vs Wade cannot be overturned. I think Trump knows this and will not look to be making anymore enemies than he already has. I think rather that his main objective with the court is to make it less liberal than it would otherwise be and attempt to insulate it somewhat against future liberal appointees. I do not think however that Trump will be inclined to appointing extremist justices. If justice Gorsuch is approved by congress the court will go back to its original state, and that was a fairly balanced, somewhat conservative court(with extreme judges on either end.)

………………

Trump’s greatest challenge is going to be the economy.

The economy is heavily dependent on debt right now. Jobs have been created, albeit not great jobs, but mostly on gigantic amounts of credit. It will be difficult for Trump to maintain these jobs without resorting to credit himself. For this reason I dont see Trump allowing the dollar to gain anymore strength. If indeed he wants to balance trade, and is serious about a border tax then he must have a weaker dollar. Moreover if he intends to borrow more money in order to create a fiscal stimulus then he will almost certainly have to avoid an interest rate rise. To effectuate change on the level that Trump proposes will require some economic degrees of freedom that can only come from a weaker dollar and lower interest rates.

With lower interest rates commodities are likely to rise. This would help the domestic oil, gas, and mining operations that Trump wants to support. It would also help the food industry and housing industry. So there is good reason to believe that Trump’s administration is going to be looking for a much weaker dollar and lower interest rates.

The problem with all that is inflation. I dont know why the “market” and the Fed are so fond of inflation. Inflation is almost always a killer of economic activity. Commodities have so far been kept in check, but this will not last. It has never been the case that commodity prices can be kept in check during inflationary periods. Sooner or later, there will be a tremendous explosion in commodity prices, and the primal fears will almost certainly become realities. This much control cannot be sustained by anyone.

All in all Trump is going to have to thread the needle. Should inflation rise too quickly, the economy will likely crash, too slowly and the resistance to change will become too great. The economy will be Trump’s economic achilles heal and how he manages it will determine how well he does. Even success in adding jobs could backfire if this results in too much inflation. The level of debt, private, corporate, and government will severely limit a spiral continuity. More than likely the economy will fail at the first sign of real inflation. There will be limited options.

………

It must be understood that each president comes in with an economic agenda and stratagem. Mostly this stratagem revolves around increasing his own power base. That is to say Bush tried to increase the fortunes of his own voter power base, centered around the production and distribution of oil, and fundamentalist Christians. Obama around his, the Black American miniority and liberal America. Clinton around his, the proffesional and tech industry, and multi-ethnic base. But in the end these three presidents managed to dramatically increase the power and wealth of the “Elite” to a far greater degree than what they promised to their voter base. As a result the nation became weaker in the process.

In the end it comes to distributing and redistributing America’s wealth to particular groups which support a particular president or politician, and his “Ideals”. There is really no way around this. If Trump wants to remain a viable candidate for 2020 he will have to manage to redistribute wealth to those who supported him, or at least give the appearence of having done so; and these having this wealth it is assumed will attract others and so Trump’s base will grow in power and numbers.

However, in the event that the fortunes of the American economy begin to decline under Trump, even for reasons which he cannot control-through no fault of his own so to speak-he will still have to distribute wealth to those who would support him, at the expense of those who dont! And this then is the real game, the money game. This is why the “establishment” so opposes him. It will likely mean that they will have to take a pay cut, as well as a consequential power cut.

And this will mean war.

The Media is going to continue attacking Trump under the direction of the present power structure-which by the way is largely private and not a “deep state” public sector to whom some attribute the strong resistance to Trump(for in the end it is a private money game that is the ultimate determinant , on the battlefield, and both Trump and his “adversaries” are well aware of this.) For this reason Trump must continue to attack the Media. This is not going to get better for Trump-unless of course Trump surrenders. There is going to be a tug of war for the mind, and wallet of Americans. Trump will have to convince the American people that something new must happen if we are to sustain our nation, even if there is some pain involved. The establishment will try to convince the American people that Trump is an inteloper, an intruder who means no good, and can do no good. An “insurgent” bent on destroying all the liberal “progress” made by Obama and Clinton. All in all its going to be a war of ideologies, but the weapons used will be monetary.

It should be understood that if Trump is really intent on shifting the power base and integral order of the nation there will be severe consequences. You cannot go from one power base to another without consequences. For this reason any changes will have to have to be precise, and efficient. The more efficient the changes, the less the pain will be.

Yet, if Trump has even minor success in the economic front, he is likely to come out the winner. This will be especially true if the Trump administration manages to divert enough wealth out to rural America, where most of Trump’s supporters are to be found. Even if the cities suffer, he is still likely to have the votes for another four years.

As far as the “People” are concerned however, it will all come down to whether or not this president can restore the integrity of the nation, or at least prove that we’re on the way to a more noble, more sustainable , more beautiful national identity. For as far as the “People” can ever be concerned it will always have to do with faith, and the sustainability of a noble ideal; for this is now, and has always been the essence of nations. Individual citizens may revel in making a quick buck, but soon the nation will wither and die if it lacks integrity, and a belief in itself and a knowledge of its own manifest destiny. In the end it still all comes down to faith in the national identity. This will never change. Trump’s ultimate success, or failure will rest solely on how much stronger is the “People’s” faith in the ideals of the United States of America.

Media, Publish

What Me Worry?

Uncle Sam
You’ve got nothing to worry about. You’re in good hands.

There is Much Fear in our Country..but why?

Recently it has become apparent that a growing number of people seem to be unduly worried about events around the world and in the United States particularly. There has been a constant badger in mostly minor, seat of their pants media outlets about the possibility of the entire world order spiraling out of control. There is ceaseless talk of total catastrophic economic collapse , and of the possibility of complete social disorder, chaos, and infinite violence. There has even been talk of the very real possibility of world war, words not heard since Ronald Reagan single handedly subdued the late great Soviet Union with the threat of space weapons, and advanced smart bots. Although the main stream media is not so inclined as to alarm the American people-for what would be the point of scaring their customers when all the media really wants to do is sell them stuff? Still the once soft spoken fear mongering murmurs in the shadows have now become more like the shouts of hoards of mad people raging in the middle of the night during a really bad storm.

For this reason we think its time to look at the matter of world stability with a more sober eye for reality than is presently being promulgated by the “edge of psychological stability” community.

Lets first admit the facts so that we are clear on what needs to be considered:

Yes, we do owe monstrous amounts of money. As others have mentioned before the debt is really closer to 28 Trillion dollars than it is 18 Trillion. If we count state, local, and the Federal Reserve Debt, then the 28 Trillion dollar figure is way closer to reality than is the 18 T . Ok, so far so good.

But how was that debt created? If not for a push of a button it really didn’t need to exist at all. Someone at the Fed merely pushed a magic button and trillions of dollars appeared out of nowhere. Now to some that’s alarming, and indicative of the end of the economy, but its not. These people saying its something to worry a wart over are just scaredy cats. Afraid of things that go bump in the night.

We have Infinite Credit

Here’s why we shouldn’t really worry about the debt:

Think about it, if the Fed can press a button and make Trillions of dollars appear out of thin air, what’s to keep them from doing it again? Ok we owe 28 trillion dollars, but the Fed can just press another button and we can owe fifty, sixty seventy a hundred trillion dollars. Its just a button that needs to be pressed is all. No biggie.

Yes yes yes…its true numbers like these are scary to some of our political minded clucks out there and yes they will screech about how this is “dangerous” and “psychotic” and “impossible to sustain” and all that, but in reality it isn’t. Its just a button, press it, and we have way more credit and we can pay off any debt we need to pay in the interim. Just borrow more and pay your debts.

But some disconcerted few ingrates would say that the global economy might not be in the mood to see more credit coming out of the United States. They may be afraid of infinite quantitative easing and the like causing an eventual currency collapse. But this is not something to worry about.

As long as we can pummel any nay sayers with our infinitely more powerful military, everyone will be assured in our “system” and we can make ever more money, we can have the Federal Reserve buying used sofas if we need to. Besides, as any Harvard graduate economist will attest to, its the only way we really have to increase the money supply, after all our whole economic system is based on credit, and debt…and no this should not be interpreted as a “flaw”. No its genius, actually. We can forever increase the money supply, credit, and debt as long as we have the military presence of mind to back it up. Which is why its important to have a strong and violent military, and imaginative reasons for using it against unruly terrorists, and backwards thinking populations.

As they say, spare the rod, spoil the children.

Debt- now you see it, now you don’t

But ok, there are still some fools who think that one day the bottom will drop out and we’ll actually have to pay for all this debt. Then they go on to caw, cluck and bray that we might not be able to pay back all this debt.

But here’s the truth, and this is very important to note: just as we can press a button to create the debt, we can just as easily make it go away.

What’s to keep our media, and financial sector from gently nudging our democratically elected leaders into declaring all debts are now forgiven? I mean its easy to do. Whose going to argue about not having to pay their bills?

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is already leaning in that direction even now, and who knows, he might actually become our next president with a great idea like that! So many voters already understand the value of such innovative thinking.

All it would take is one button, and the ability to enforce the push. In an instant all US debt can be nullified. No more debt. No one owes anything to anyone! No more headaches. Problem solved!

As long as the hammer exists, who in their right mind is going to argue with such a practical solution? As we all know, sometimes brute force persuades even angels to sit down and have a drink.

But then the worrying sort will belch a retort like “what then, what happens when all debt is forgiven?” and no one knows what they can do to keep the economy going? This too is easily solved: Just lend more money from scratch! And while we’re at it, massively redistribute credit and debt! Everyone has brand new fresh money from scratch. The economy roars back to life! Problem solved again!

For example lets say you owe five hundred thousand for a brand new house you just bought. You didn’t have the money to pay for it, and were wondering how you and your entire family was going to live on the street. Then suddenly a new president with “flexible ideas” declares all debts null and void. Suddenly you don’t owe anything at all! You’re free, the house is yours for nothing. End of story. Happy days are here again!

Oh you might say but what about the poor bank? No problem. They will have no worries either, because they wont owe anything to anyone either! “But what if they don’t have money to pay their employees, or maintain their big buildings, or live the life of rich and famous bankers?” the poultry nay sayers will ask. What then?

No problem, the Federal Reserve pushes a button again, and the bankers suddenly  have more credit than they can imagine! The Federal government issues itself gigantic amounts of new credit-from the newly renovated banks- and provides for a national stipend to everyone in the nation. Suddenly that poor family that was about to lose their home now has a small sum to keep them going while they work. Just that easy! Cant be done? Actually in some ways it has been done already. It just needs to be done with even more conviction next time. Problem solved-again.

Now the really clever chicken clucks out there will point out that foreign nations may not be willing to accept the “Magic Money” coming out of the Federal Reserve this time. Wrong again. The Global economy will just do the same exact thing! They too will simply press a button-except for shmucks like the Greeks who were stupid enough to give up their right to print- all the rest could simply press a button, with our approval, of course, and voila, trillions of yen, trillions of Euros, trillions of British Pounds, trillions of Chinese Yuan, trillions of brand new Rubles appear out of nowhere to save the day! Problem solved, again and again! And the Chicken Clucks go back to their hens!

Yes, all this can be solved with a push of a button. Button creates problem, button solves problem. No worries.

Negative Money is Positively Ingenious

Now The concept of “Negative Money” associated with Negative Interest scares too many people, mostly because they are not progressive minded enough. Negative interest rates recently proposed by the Federal Reserve can mean a good thing. It would mean that if you lend someone ten dollars for example, they could give you back nine and you’d be squared! It would mean that your bank would now pay you to borrow money from them! Europe is already doing this! You get paid just to borrow money. How great is that? All you’d have to do is borrow money and make a good living!

It could also come to mean that after working twelve hours and getting paid you can then take that negatively charged money to someone and ask for a product, like a bras for your new girl friend. But instead of getting a bras, your money only gives you the right to work for the boutique. Therefore you work a little more, maybe a few hours, and then you get your bras. But without your negatively charged money, you wouldn’t have the right to work at all! Brilliant! Can you imagine all the increased full employment we could experience?

Or, if as you’re walking down the street you find a twenty, or hundred dollar bill on the floor-and there will be plenty of those floating all over the place-and you pick that bill up and go to the store to buy something. But instead you are told that your hundred dollar bill gives you the right to work at the store, maybe as a sweeper, or  shelf-stocker. Suddenly your good luck in finding a hundred dollar bill would mean that you are now employed! No agencies, no headaches. Automatic employment.

It would mean that instead of having to pay someone to clean your house, they would have to have to pay you for cleaning your house! Think of all the people you could eventually hire and become rich no matter how you invest your Negative Money!

Negative Money is one of the great concepts of our time! Why should money always be positive anyway? The world is made of both positives and negatives. All this while we were cheating ourselves and didn’t know it. Now we can use money in the other direction. Instead of it being merely credit, it can now be debt as well.

Yes it is difficult for some to grasp the concept of negative money, I can understand why, so lets try one more example that will make it clearer to you.

Lets say you are paying your mortgage off( assuming all debt is not dismissed by Bernie Sanders) well that would mean that each time you pay your bill instead of seeing your mortgage get smaller, it would get bigger! Think about that! What a novel concept. You would then receive a notice from the bank asking you to come in and do some form of labor in order to cover your increase in mortgage. Possibly clean desks, mop floors and the like. But you would have a job. Instead of sitting around drinking beer on Sundays, annoying your family with some useless football game, you could go out and do some real work for your bank, and thus slowly, very slowly, pay off your mortgage!

But better yet, and here’s the true genius of negative money:  you could simply skip the payments and it would pay off itself! The longer it stays unpaid, the more money the bank will owe you! You wouldn’t even have to work since you wouldn’t actually have to make payments for your Negative Money Debt. You could stay at home and collect on your mortgage debt-so long as you used Negative Money, instead of the old Positive Money as a down payment on your new house!  Instead of working, you could do other things more important to yourself and your family.

Imagine the added productivity that Negative Money might create! No worries here either.

World War Three could also be a Blessing

Now, the clucks will not so easily give up. No, they’ll continue to look for downfalls and doomsdays, and all that jazz. They’ll say the world is being destabilized, violence is everywhere, weapons, guns, missiles and death and all that. They’ll mention Russia, Ukraine, China, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, India, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Venezuela, Columbia, Israel and Africa and go on and on until they run out of breath and turn blue in the face with warnings of imminent military conflict.

They’ll madly whisper cryptic anecdotes about how all these wars are being orchestrated by the “merchants of Petra” and that its all about some mountain of effusive Myrrh that was found at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea. And how this is all about reestablishing the ancient “Spice” route from Petra to Constantinople and then into “Europa” all the while putting the evil Scythians out of business…..and forever expand on insane anachronistic paranoiac conspiracy theories like these.  Meanwhile most people don’t even know what Myrrh is, or what even the word effusive means. And as for Petra and Constantinople? What are these people even talking about? These cities don’t exist anymore. Too much History channel I say. And as for Europa? I thought that was a moon around Jupiter! And on and on they’ll go about how “dangerous” the world has become because of Scythians, and Mongols, and Carpathians etc etc etc.. and most people don’t even know what they’re talking about. Useless nonsense.

They just don’t get it.

These fears, even if there is anything behind them are easily solved with more military might, and the imminent threat of extreme violence. Remember, we do have Nukes, and they’re just sitting there gathering dust, as leading presidential candidate Donald Trump has already probably realized! I mean a business man would ask “why did we build those things if we didn’t intend to use them?” and we know he would be right. We have too much invested in those weapons to just let them sit there and rot, so, if we have to, we would just be making good on our investments. Something a consummate business mogul like Mr. Trump must have long ago realized. And as we can see he’ll probably be our next president. So we do have solutions if we need them. Again, no worries, be happy we have those killer weapons and we will probably enjoy using them, possibly even spawn new industries after we’re done. Decontamination may one day become a big business, something investors should be eyeing even now.

Now as for Vladimir Putin, leader of the present Russian Federation, affectionately known as “the Vlad”-or “meine Vlad” as German leader Angela Merkel is often heard to whisper- being a danger to world stability, a war monger, and possible world destroyer? No way because he’s a “Reformed” former KGB agent. He’s no longer to be compared to former Soviet leaders who once wanted to rectologically eviscerate the planet Earth, but is now a far more mundane sort of world leader much more prone to compromise and good humor than to unlimited unadulterated violence, and Nuclear Holocaust. He is not as some worry warts keep saying, some kind of “Ivan the Terrible” incarnate. No, he’s actually a very warm soft spoken, gentle human being who is down to Earth and really cares about his friends and partners. I once read that he prays for world peace every night, and attends church every Sunday. He’s a kind hearted, simple man who only wishes to make friends of enemies and family of old “friends”. If he’s angry now, its only because Barack Obama has refused to be the kind of friend the Vlad expects him to be. Obama has at times been a little distant and cold hearted although otherwise a great world leader.

Now it is quite true that there is some concern in Russia about the possibility of another deluded psychopath from the west attacking the Russian people for no apparent reason other than to kill off their population and take their land, as sadly was attempted four times in recent European Russian relations. Yes the Russians did lose forty million people in the last two world wars, and yes they were the hopeful target of nuclear annihilation in the now over “Cold War” but times have changed and they know that!

Today the Russian generals and politicians understand that there are plenty of medications available for those in the west afflicted by mass homicidal delusions of grandeur. Most of the West is covered by all kinds of social health programs, and anyone needing stabilizing medicine can usually receive it for nothing more than a small co payment. So there’s less concern of psychopathically deluded leaders emerging from Europe.

However there is some concern about Obamacare, and the possibility that those who need strong psychiatric medications may not be able to afford them, and that these somewhat unstable people may possibly attain high office or great influence in the Western world.
The Russians and Chinese have their own particular breed of clucks and  hairsplitters. They sometimes say “its easy to become a ‘leader’ in the West, as long as you can appear on a comedy show and be funny you can lead the world to war.” But there’s no proof that funny people who appear on American comedy shows are necessarily dangerous or unstable. And most Chinese and Russians know this.

Yeah, if a nut did attain power in the west, this could lead to an increase in Russian or Chinese mortality rates.

But, we all know that those in high places can easily afford whatever medications they need, and there is little possibility of wildly deranged people reaching a point of vast influence and power in the United States or Europe. The Russians are well aware that our medications are far more advanced-albeit more expensive than whatever they have there. So there’s really nothing to worry about. The Russians know we mean well these days. They are not going to strike out in fear or anything, and no, just because they have a lot of nukes and make them in all sizes does not mean they’ll use them in the event of an accidental skirmish. Ok they don’t have as many options as we do, and would be tempted to go Nuclear quickly and all, but our friendship and good intentions is bound to win the day with the Russians and Chinese. No worries there.

Yeah yeah yeah…cluck cluck cluck…oil and debt, middle east, supplies, gigantic debts, oil price spikes, currency collapse, energy embargoes, world war and all the other cluck, but there are  no real worries here.

The Russians and Chinese love our music and our culture too much to be our true enemies even though they sometimes pretend to be for domestic appearances.

North Korea is in the house

Even the North Koreans are into the “hood” culture so popular in the United States and Europe.  Kim Jong il recently invited former basketball player Dennis Rodman for a visit. And Kim Jong and Dennis actually “chilled” as they say. They became the best of friends and soul mates over a basketball game.

In fact the South Koreans were so impressed with Dennis Rodman’s visit to North Korea, and the welcoming warmth he felt from young Kim Jong , that they actually set up some gigantic Boom Boxes on the North Korean border. They thought the North Korean people would enjoy some music from the “hood”, playing twenty four hours of “Lil Kim” at five hundred watts(so that everyone in the North could enjoy.) Well as anyone whose passed  by the outer boroughs of New York City will know, too much of a good thing all at once can be a little disconcerting and cause us to get carried away with our weapons; and so the North Koreans did fire a few salvos into the South and well,there was a small misunderstanding and so called political crisis, but now its all resolved and everyone is looking forward to the day when brotherly love will prevail. The North Koreans know their place, and are slowly warming up to our way of life.

We are conquering our would-be mortal enemies with our great personalities.

Yes so there is no worry here, only progress towards a more “peaceful” coexistence.

..And what If we did have to Nuke it out with Russia and China?

Now if we really had to use nukes merely for persuasion, well, we could still manage. As we all know there are secret agreements between Russia , China and the United States that limited Nuclear war is not only manageable, but possibly even advantageous.

Should for example a nuclear war be needed for the sake of global peace, all the rest of the world can be bombed while avoiding direct conflict or engagement between the main actors. Yes this would not bode well for Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America or even Australia and New Zealand. But after it was all over, the United States Russia and China could rebuild the entire world anew and to their liking. As any real estate tycoon will tell you, its easier to demolish and then build, than to refurbish an old infested building.

In the event of an unfortunate and purely accidental nuclear conflict between the major powers, the entire world would become available for re-population. Yes there would be cleanup, and it might get a little cold for awhile, but that  would only inspire new industries.  And  global warming would warm things up again in a few short decades. And after that the populations of the United States(now much larger than before thanks to open border policies) and the populations of Russia, and especially China would be more than enough to repopulate the Earth, or what’s left of it.

Some have even begun to think that the real reason the United States is taking in all these immigrants from all over the place is so as to create a kind of “Noah’s Ark” and gain a population advantage, just in case a lasting peace must be attained through the use of global  -decisive but limited-annihilation. The good thing in a well controlled finely tuned nuclear war is that there would be far more Americans left proportionally to the remaining world’s population than there are now! Imagine the influence we could attain then!

Do Not Fear our Presidential Candidates!

Ok, there are some distorted disconcerted views around the world, and inside our own good country concerning the caliber and competence of our presidential candidates. But this insecurity is misplaced, and the reason is quite clear. These are probably the best presidential candidates we have ever had!

But there is so much negativity out there that the average voter might just miss the true talent that our present presidential candidates really have!

So many cruel and unusual statements have been made about Donald Trump the front runner in the Republican lineup that there ought to be an amendment against such verbal abuse.

Well what can we not say of Donald Trump? He is a very successful businessman, an accomplished man, a real talent, a media personality, ubiquitous. Donald Trump is a very rich , vociferous and forceful man who  gets his way all of the time.

Falsely accused of having some bad business deals and going bankrupt,  he actually managed to sell off his losses before the Atlantic City casino business collapsed!

The “Donald” as he is fondly referred to by his friends, managed to evade all those losses at Atlantic City by sheer cunning and his “deal making” talents. Yes there are those who say that those who were stupid enough to actually buy his failing businesses were screwed out of billions of dollars etc etc etc….but as Mr. Trump is fond of saying they “deserved it”! And those who were foolish enough to actually buy his failing businesses were certainly “not nice people” as he has often pointed out and they certainly deserved what they got for their folly! After all they were very greedy and they believed Mr Trump when they bought his failed businesses! Serves them right I say! When dealing with a powerhouse like Mr. Trump, you need to keep your wits about you at all times. And if you don’t and wind up getting taken, well that’s too bad, you should have been “wiser”. Business is no place for the meek, mild and innocent. There’s a “sucker born every minute” saith the great W.C. Fields!

There is so much viciousness against Mr. Trump that its really quite unsettling and so unfair, as he will often say to himself. Often his critics will say things like “his hair weave must have grown roots inside his head” or “his hair weave is made of Teflon that grows both ways and affects his mind” and other such cruel comments. I think Mr. Trump looks quite handsome with his new gold platinum hair . He certainly looks better than if he had been bald! I don’t know how far down the hair weave roots might have gone or if they’re made of two ways growing Teflon, but I don’t think its affected his mind as some vicious people continue to claim without scientific foundations of any sort. Besides Teflon is some sort of metal, how could they make it grow anyways? All probably lies and mean innuendo. I think his detractors are so vane! And obviously jealous of his success and prowess.

As for his so called “attacks” on “poor” Rosy O’Donnell? Well what can we say. She accused him of being a beady eyed condo salesman. He accused her of being old , bad tempered, and physically violent and lacking any kind of talent, and of not being very attractive to him. Certainly there was a reason for those attacks by Mr. Trump. Too often she would bring up the idea that Mr. Trump wore cheap wigs in order to look attractive. But Mr. Trump is attractive! Comedian Mindy Kaling recently confessed that she would kiss the Donald for two hours straight, and even have his baby, if only she could have that chance! And there are many other young women who feel the same exact way, I’m sure.

That sexually alluring sneer that so many women find attractive is certainly nothing to sneeze at! And his new hair coupled with his bold new political media orgasmic presidential campaign is quite sexy. Even while they argued you could easily see the attraction between Fox interviewer Megyn Kelly and Mr Trump. Sexual attraction cant be hidden by a made up news script! In between the accusations and thinly veiled attacks on each others privacies, you could easily see that Megyn Kelly was leering at him, overwhelmed by his attractiveness.

Even CNN moderator Jake Tapper could not fail but show his true admiration for the Donald. You could easily see that Tapper longed to have the talents of a man of Mr. Trump’s stature all of his life.

As for what he can actually do as president, if elected? Mr. Trump is a man who knows the economy. He knows how to create jobs, he knows what this nation needs to have done to it. He has all the right connections and real knowledge of the way this nation is really run-or should be run-by him! Knowing a few mindless concepts learned in school means nothing, but knowing dirt , grime, machinations, and slick maneuvers that keep the economy going is how you really create jobs, and get people to work for you, productively.

Mr. Trump knows those who  have real talent in this nation and how to apply that talent. For example he’s the only one of those candidates who can have dinner with Loyd Blankfein on any given night. As we know Floyd “da Banksta” Blankfien -as he is affectionately and admirably referred to in the boxing community- is an extraordinarily talented man who understands the usage of the economy better than anyone. Mr Trump who often mentions Mr Blackfien as a benefactor, friend, and mentor will be in a far better position to apply Mr. Blackfien’s talents and genuine insights than any other candidate.

The Iron truth is that Mr. Trump would make a great president and a great world leader! He would take our nation into a brand new dimension that even Barack Obama couldn’t match.

As for all the rest of the candidates? Well there’s Hillary of course. She has talent she doesn’t know what to do with really. She is just as capable of being president of Sweden, or England, or Nigeria as she is of being president of the United States. Her talents are frankly “limitless”, crazy almost,  and she would make a very difficult opponent for Mr. Trump. Its not likely she would defeat the “Donald” in a head to head election-after all he’s an established media personality, and she is not at all liked by the media- but perhaps Mr. Trump could give her a job too, possibly make her secretary of state again, only this time without all the controversies, or the little blow up in Libya. Or perhaps she might run for the senate again in Alaska, or become governor of California. Or she might choose to run for president in Russia, or China. She could actually win there and reduce the need for us taking military risks. She has great talent, that’s for sure.

The Email scandal? Look she was married to Bill Clinton, its quite understandable why she wouldn’t want people looking at her emails. Would you? A small scandal like that is nothing to stand in her way, she’s overcome much worse in the past. She might even become president if Mr. Trump were to drop out for some pressing business reason. Once president she would prompt a Revolution to be sure.

As for the others? They are all quite talented. Bernie Sanders would, if he were elected rightfully distribute all the debt to not just the rich, but the poor as well. Why should only rich people pay for our debt? That way after the poor paid for the debt in part, they too could be given enormous credit and live happy productive lives as well. In fact they could be given credit first, and then asked to pay for the debt. If by that time they’re unable to repay, someone else could pay for it, or just have the debt cancelled. Its all good.

“Humble” Mike Huckabee  would bring God back into our lives.  And this is probably going to be a good thing as we will all need to hold on to some kind of hope in the near future, by the looks of things. Liberalism has progressed far too much, and personal liberties must always be tempered by religious doctrine in order to be of value. Some say he might cause a pandemic of rampant alcoholism if elected, but I just don’t see the rationale behind these fears.

Dr Ben Carson being a trained Neurosurgeon knows how to cut into people’s brains and remove malignancies. He might have the ability to rehabilitate our congress and add more substance to our media- and improve the rest of our lives as well. He has been accused of being a little too subdued, “creepy” and somewhat “strange”, even by Donald Trump. But in reality there’s an extraordinarily violent dynamism just below the surface of his personality, and we can all sense that.  A man so skillful with a knife would know how to cut taxes better than any other candidate. Not having any political experience he would not be so easily removed from the task, like others might. No history of political or organizational experience of any kind could be a true blessing here.

And Carly Fiorino too is a tremendous candidate. Why are so many people attacking this wonderfully talented woman? She managed to survive the destruction of Hewlet Packard, and is now actually running for president! How many other people could do that? If she could survive what happened to Hewlet Packard, whose to say what she could do with our nation? She is a talented forceful woman who would make a great president, and world business leader- and could survive, no matter how badly things went.

So we’re in good hands. Our presidential candidates are probably the best candidates ever. There should be no worries here.

Our Immigration “problem” can become someone else’s

There is also this constant nagging about illegal immigration and the danger that it poses if not “solved”. But the truth is that all of our candidates have wonderful ideas about how to solve this stubborn little problem alarming the American public.

Take for example the proposals of Mr. Trump. Yes Mr Trump has spoken ill of Mexican illegal aliens and the like. Yes he has called them “rapists, murderers, and free loaders and generally undesirable” but he really didn’t mean it that way. He has proposed deporting up to twenty million illegal aliens and the like and yes that would be very difficult. Its true they might take up arms and attempt to kill us all before they go, but the truth is that once the process of deportation is perfected we can deport just about anyone.

Why stop at twenty million illegal aliens when we can continue to deport all “undesirables”? If the process is perfected, and rightful force is used properly in the process we might be able to deport millions more that we don’t need here! Twenty, thirty, fifty, one hundred or one hundred fifty million undesirables could then easily be deported all over the world.

Even if we keep our borders open, we can keep deporting!  All we’d need to do is learn to target deport to the right places. Using our military we could potentially colonize most of the known world with our own people! Americans , who even though they were deported would still have allegiance to our own nation-once an American, always an American. Anyway what choice would they have? Having been kicked out of our nation, they would naturally aspire to be one of us so as to prove their worth eventually. We would have attained hundreds of millions of ex-patriots all over the world in just a few decades! We could in this way conquer vast continents that have so far been difficult to manage using just brute force and unmitigated violence! Trillions of dollars in new wealth could be obtained! This is the kind of true genius that Mr Trump represents. Admittedly no one else has come close to matching his proposals.

Now other candidates are far less creative than is Mr. Trump, but still,  Marco Rubio has bright ideas too. Why not just let everyone into the United States and then hire all of them to work for peanuts? That would certainly reduce prices for those who still have money to spend!  Marco Rubio has also proposed that we become a nation of multiple dialects, and many tongues like the tower of babble for example. In this way no one would feel left out. Those who say the tower of babble was a curse of God don’t understand that we are the United States, and can do, and will do whatever we want to do. If we choose to speak a different language on every block, every town, city, or state, we can do it if we want to! We have great portable translators, and this would be great for the retail business -this alone would stimulate the economy.

Bernie Sanders has proposed giving every new arrival a vast education, free housing, free medical care, and a car. It would only cost ten or twenty trillion dollars that we really would never have to pay back-since he would dismiss the debt, but think of all the productivity this would generate in the interim! Genius if ever there was one! Even Pope Francis would approve.

The immigration problem does not have to be a problem. Used the right way, the open door policy  could be the best thing that ever happened to our nation.

Ahhh…my dollar is shrinking!

Now there is also this constant jibber jabber of an imminent currency collapse among the neanderthal- backwards looking-intelligentsia.

Look, a currency can be anything at all. It can be gold, silver, “favors”, performances, plain stones, rocks, or even just a number on a computer screen. If our currency fails, we can just as quickly create another one.

For example Comedy is booming in our nation. Some of the richest and most powerful personalities in the media are actually comedians. There is some serious talk of turning comedy into a national currency. Tell a great joke, get a service for your joke. The better the joke the better the service.

Jokes can now be rated as well. A good joke or comedy routine can now be stored as a sound byte, and even rated for real value. The better the comedy routine the more one’s currency is worth! Instead of paying people with hum drum old dollar bills we can instead use wild sensational comedy routines for payment. We can therefore sell the rights to these comedy routines as well. We can exchange comedy routines with our friendly economies around the globe. If the Japanese can create funnier personalities than we do, they would have a more valuable currency. Their jokes would buy more than ours etc etc etc.

As for those who aren’t funny, and only know how to perform hum drum everyday tasks, like pilot airplanes for example(most pilots are not much known for their radiant personalities, except for John Travolta of course), still they would have to attain the currency rights to good comedy routines! Therefore after flying a jet airliner across the pacific for sixteen hours, pilots would then be paid in stored comedy routines. Using those comedy routines they could easily pay for their rent,  car,  boat, or whatever it is that pilots use in their spare time. Very hard working pilots could even take private Jet trips to far away places and let someone else do the driving, maybe even John Travolta, if they have saved enough comedy currency to pay him with. He would be expensive.

We could create comedy banks at the Federal Reserve. Just hire people to do “funny” things and then exchange goods with those routines. We could lend out comedy routines to banks, who would then lend out those routines for much more than they borrowed them for, just like “real” money. We could even “print” comedy routines. Just credit a bank with large amounts of comedy currency, and then have some poor funny shmuck make it worth something with an actual comedy routine.

So you see even if our currency were to collapse, there would be nothing to worry about really. We could always just make another one! All it would take is a good joke.

So as you can see , in short, the world is safe no matter what happens,  and no one should believe its all coming to an abrupt end no matter how dark it looks outside. Good humor, a confident attitude, and a refusal to associate one’s self with negative, backwards leaning, morose, dire looking people who refuse to evolve will ultimately make the Sun shine again! No matter what happens, the Sun will shine!

Post Script:

Please stay tuned for my next post which will be entitled “Je suis Yoplay”…the personal tragedy of a soulless, sour little milk curd once insidiously yet insistently disabused by its mother but who was destined to triumphantly become one of the great social critics of our times.
Jonathan Bartholomew Boots