Tuesday, January 25, 2011

My Cat Will Probably Die Today

Just read a very long and detailed article on Zero Hedge about the latest revelations of fraud in the financial world.  I won't go into the details.  It's too complicated and too depressing.  I actually skimmed the second half myself.  Read it at the link above if you care to.  Here's the title of the article.  Maybe that will get the point across. 


JP Morgan Sold Investors MBS Covered By "SACK OF SHIT" Loans... Then Shorted All Those With Exposure: A Goldman-AIG Redux

It's all part of what Bill Black calls control fraud.  Click these links or Google it.  It'll upset you and make you very angry. 


It's just one more in a series of revelations that seem to crop up every day or two in the internet media that I read.  No exposure in the mainstream press. If you're one of the sheeple tuning in to CNBC and watching news on the broadcast channels or even the popular cable channels, you probably never heard about any of this.  We're three years on from the start of the crisis and probably fast approaching some sort of statute of limitations.  And with the exception of two failed prosecutions of a couple of Bear Stearns hedge fund managers, we have no indictments, no prosecutions, and no one in jail.  Madoff doesn't count.  His wasn't control fraud or housing related.  Just a run of the mill Ponzi scheme, though admittedly, a big one.    And our government was culpable at every level.  A passive participant via regulatory capture leading to criminal lack of oversight,  a co-conspirator to the ongoing and unabated looting  (I'm talkin' to you, Misters Greenspan, Rubin, Bernanke, Paulsen, Geithner, Gensler, Summers,  et al),  and an integral part of the cover up.  It's called extend and pretend.  Google that if you care.  And while you're at it, Google Plunge Protection Team.  Don't do any of this unless you really want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.  (see the link below for red pill/blue pill)  

Maybe I'm just a conspiracy theorist.  I don't read the "polite" "accepted" "mainstream" news any more.  I read stuff that sounds shocking and unbelievable at first.  Maybe it will all get better if I just stop reading those websites.  Maybe I should shun the red pill and take the blue pill instead.  But I doubt it.  To take a quote from the film V for Vendetta, "there is something terribly wrong with this country isn't there?"

Anyway, I started this piece referring to the Zero Hedge article above.  I'm only writing this piece because I want to share one of the comments to the article, but felt I needed to provide some background first.  Well, you've got the background.  Here's the comment:

Yep, consider hearing a doctor tell you that you have 3-5 years left to live. Are you going to become Mother Teresa or Amy Winehouse?    For the last three years, many of us who have repeatedly pointed out what is going on and what will eventually occur have actually had a pretty fun time, notwithstanding the mental anguish of seeing one of humanity's greatest experiments in self-government ride off into the sunset.  So, break open the liquor cabinet and party on. There will be time enough for discipline & hardship.


  Made me very sad to read those words about humanity's greatest experiments in self government, but he might be right.  Consider these words from former Supreme Court Justice Brandeis:



Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.


 P.S.  My cat's been losing weight and for the past two days, he's stopped eating all together.  We took him to the vet today, and he says he can't do much.  He offered to euthanize him.  Kittyman doesn't appear to be in any pain, so we brought him home.  I'll be surprised if he sees tomorrow.


It's not been a very good day so far.


Jess

Sunday, January 2, 2011

From Mainstream Politics to Libertarian Reality: The Analogy to the Five Stages of Grief

In 1969, psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross  wrote  "On Death and Dying" in which she described the five stages of grief.  She was referring to the evolution of feelings that people went through as they were adjusting to a tragedy in their lives or to the news that they were dying from some incurable illness.  We see an obvious analogy between Kübler-Ross' understanding of coping mechanisms to bad personal news and the evolution of peoples' political activism as they start to realize the level of corruption in government.

On the personal level, the progression of states is described as follows:  (adapted from Wikipedia)
  1. Denial—"I feel fine."; "This can't be happening, not to me."
    Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual.
  2. Anger—"Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; "Who is to blame?"
    Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy.
  3. Bargaining—The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay the inevitable. "Just let me live to see my children graduate."; "I'll do anything for a few more years."; "I will give my life savings if..."  
  4. Depression—During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of the outcome. "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "What's the point?  Why go on?"  Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
  5. Acceptance—"It's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it."  In this last stage, the individual begins to come to terms with his dilemma.
On the political level, the progression might be described like this:
  1. Denial—"America, love it or leave it"; "My country, right or wrong";  "Land of the free and home of the brave."  Firm dedication to the concept of American exceptionalism.  If America does it, it must be virtuous.  Never second guess the government.  This is the kindergarten view of America and the world.  Belief in everything you learned in elementary school and the Cub/Boy/Girl Scouts.  For most Americans, this stage is anything but temporary.  Probably 90 % of Americans are in this stage, and as long as American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and Jersey Shore are among the most popular shows on TV, they'll be here forever.
  2. Anger—"These politicians are all a bunch of lying, self serving bastards!"; "Those greedy banksters need to go to jail."; "First, we need to shoot all the lawyers."  Stage two often has a precipitating event.  Something happens that rouses the typically apathetic voter from his slumber.  It might be something real like TARP (bank fraud, crony capitalism, regulatory capture), or overstepping Constitutional boundaries as evidenced by the EPA, the FCC, or the TSA.  Or it might be a politically manufactured outrage like the class warfare preached by the Democrats in support of their tax policy.  For most, the anger never really materializes into anything tangible.  Most will just continue to vote or not vote as they always have.  Once in a while, someone will switch from one incumbent party to the other incumbent party.  As if going from Tweedle Dee to Tweedle Dum , or vice versa, will make any difference. 
  3. Bargaining—The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay the inevitable.  It involves the hope that the individual can somehow make a difference.  People become activists.  They join a Tea Party organization, and become active in a political party.  They call their Congressman and state legislators.  They go to rallies and write letters to the editor.  "Don't tread on me."; "Term limits.  Throw the bums out.".   They donate money to political causes.  "I'll do whatever I have to do.  If only there was a way to make a difference."  They might even become Libertarians and run for political office themselves.  "Smaller government, lower taxes, more freedom."
  4. Depression—During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of the outcome. "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "What's the point?  Why go on?"  Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
  5. Acceptance—"It's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it."  In this last stage, the individual begins to come to terms with his dilemma.  He moves to the country and starts growing his own food.  He pulls his money out of the bank and cuts up his credit cards.  He buys a generator and removes himself from the grid, not just literally, but politically and financially speaking as well.  He stops voting, and he stops paying his taxes.  He stops calling the bills in his wallet money and starts referring to them as Federal Reserve Notes.  He tries to make all of his purchases with those FRN's as long as he can find anybody willing to take them.  He stockpiles gasoline, fuel oil, firewood, water, canned goods, precious metals, guns, and ammo.  He also stockpiles cigarettes and alcohol even though he doesn't smoke or drink because they're good for barter. 
And so the transition is complete.  As with the stages of grief, you don't have to go through all the stages.  You can skip some.  Nor must the stages occur in order.  With political awakening, as with grief, sometimes the order gets mixed up a bit.  You can go back and forth between various stages too, visiting and revisiting some stages more than once.  And you can sometimes exhibit elements of more than one stage at a time.  That's seen occasionally in both progressions.

But, at least with grief, you always end up with acceptance.  One way or another, that's the end of the line.  Like it or not, it's reality.  If you're dying, refusal is not an option.  With a political awakening, some people never leave the "denial" phase.  They go to their graves believing their government is here to help.  We can only hope that their faith is not misplaced and acceptance is not an inevitable requirement.  That is, we hope we've chosen a poor analogy.  We hope there's a way out.  Otherwise we all better start checking out the internet for productive farmland.

Will and Jess McVay

    Niall Ferguson: Empires on the Edge of Chaos