Are we blessed or cursed?
Mon, 2012-02-13 12:32
#1
Are we blessed or cursed?
Are we blessed or cursed?
The old Chinese curse says ‘may you live in interesting times‘…
and we certainly do.
However, ‘interesting times’ in China usually involved drastic changes and change usually meant a lot of pain for a lot of people.
It is difficult to say whether the Chinese would see the present as ‘interesting times’ as although it has involved a lot of change and probably a fair amount of pain it does appear that a lot of Chinese are finally benefiting.
The same cannot be said for most of the rest of the planet although you could argue that the other BRIC are doing quite well too - but it’s an argument you would probably lose.
So, why is China doing well while almost everyone else is struggling?
Because it is making it up as it goes along and doesn’t rely on experts -
and so it can think out of the box.
The world has changed... is changing.
Everything is less predictable and tends to extremes.
The problem for most of those countries which are doing badly is that they have deeply entrenched bureaucracies.
Bureaucracies always seem to suffer from chronic inertia because the bureaucrats always seem to manage to carve out nice, safe, niches for themselves and any change would be likely to put them out of their comfort zones… hence they are almost always cautious reactionaries.
Now the best friend of the bureaucrat is the expert who will find some way to twist the facts to back up the bureaucrats and frighten their opponents with statistic which predict dire consequences should their ‘findings’ (opinion) be ignored.
So it is that Greece is being burned as an offering to the EC bureaucracy
Instead of trying to think out of the box it is the old tried and tested austerity cure. It doesn’t help the economy but it does teach the people a lesson for ever trusting their leaders in the first place.
It’s time to get rid of the ex-experts because they are less than useless.
It may well be they were useful when things continuously followed predictable patterns but that was yesterday and yesterday won’t be back soon!
We don’t need a bunch of people whose only talent is in passing exams we need people who can drive by the seat of their pants.
People with courage and imagination who are not afraid to take chances. Now is not a time to hang on to yesterday but a time to envision a new tomorrow!
It should not be the 99% against the 1% but a union of the people to push for a new paradigm… since the 1% have much more to lose then they will be harder to convince but a worldwide banking failure is not in anyone’s interest unless they want to see the planet burn.
Money is only paper when there are no banks.
This is not a time to whip each other or wear sackcloth and ashes because we let greed poison the system - it’s a time to reinvent the system so that it will take the greedy a long time to learn to exploit it again!
Richard L. Prov...
A good topic, Mangone. I believe we are blessed living in these times. When I was 13, our family received/bought our first TV. We had it made. And now, phew. Richard LP
Mangone
I think you are like me, Richard...
we aways feel blessed ;O)
Mangone
Currency reserves don't reveal as much as they used to...
Below are some far more useful statistics :
The US owes somewhere above 15.35 trillion dollars -
“Every man, woman and child in the United States currently owes $50,542
for their share of the U.S. public debt.”
Here is some interesting info that might surprise many readers… especially who owns the most debt.
“The US debt to foreign countries, is a mere $4.3 trillion dollars
The TOP 3 stacks up AS :
1. China, Mainland, $1134.1 billion dollars
2. Japan, $979.0 billion dollars
3. United Kingdom, $408.4 billion dollars”
Note that China and Japan together hold about half the debt
The rest of the debt, about 11 trillion, is owned by Mutual funds, pension funds, foreign governments, foreign investors, American investors, etc.
http://www.davemanuel.com/us-national-debt-clock.php
Mangone
Well, I make it about $1 a day for a year, to repay China, Japan and the UK, Stan... assuming 7 billion people and no interest...
of course very many millions of people live on less than a dollar a day so they couldn't pay.
However, if the top three were paid off then the remainder of the US debt would still require a little less than $1860 each, from all 7 billion of us, to pay off the rest...
oldpesky
Mangone, you are to ABCtales what Robert Peston is to the BBC.
Stan, I heard somewhere that Apple have more currency reserves than the US government.
How long will it be before China owns all the currency in the world?
Richard L. Prov...
The blogs here are very interesting. We keep comparing our lifestyle based on assets, most of which are owed. North Americans live a grand style, but take away our credit cards, social security, welfare, Canada Pension, Family Allowances, Workman's Compensation, Severance Packages, Company Pensions, Lotos, Inheritances, etc. we would be equal to the world's poorest.
We would have no homes, cars, fancy high tech equipment, nice furniture, vacations, country cottages, fancy duds, and over filled tummies. Everything is relative.
We had a visiting pastor from an African country not so long ago and he says he cannot believe how we live. He said it must be very hard to believe in God because we live in Heaven at this moment in North America. He said food is the common denominator and our major health problem is stuffing ourselves with all the goodies he sees in the super markets he visited. Imagine, he said, to simply reach out and have everything you want and in unlimited supply.
We took him out to a restaurant and when the waitress asked him what he wanted to eat, he asked is it true,I can have what I want. He said if we visited him in his village and we asked what was for dinner, he would first have to check his garden to see if roaming animals had not eaten his little garden.
I am so thankful I live where I live. And it is so sad how mean and angry too many of us are regards to our country. Read the blogs in our local newspapers and see how severely our leaders like President Obama and our own Prime Minister Harper are ridiculed and subjected to vile comments. We who have so much too often revile our way of life, and it can easily be changed. It can be done by going to visit and stay with that African Pastor who constantly needs new workers to replace those done away with by the wicked side of his society who do not like foreigners, especially those advocating human rights.
Sorry to have deviated from the main thrust of this fine subject. China with all its largesse has some very serious problems. They send approximately 40,000 students to get educated in Canadian Universities; not so long ago began teaching English as a main language in their schools; investing heavily in international resources; now have severe health problems with smoking which is a new phenomena; now have gridlock on many highways; serious pollution in major cities as they keep churning out products to sustain their growing economy; growing gap between those who have and not with another reported 100 million poor added to their low earning society who make less than one dollar per day; and last but not least have nurtured an ethical problem which in some areas have a noticeable drop of available ladies for family opportunities due to their focus on males being more desirable in their society. I too can go on and on, but must stop. Keep the energy flowing, Richard LP
ps. I have tremendous respect for Chinese people. They are very hard working, entrepreneurial, and kind -hearted. My mother worked in a Chinese restaurant for ten years and her boss, Mr. Woo, made sure we always had some food to eat, when things got tough in the 50's and 60's. But I worry about them losing their focus on peace and tranquility and watering down their identity, when they immerse themselves so much in every other culture, as I alluded to above.
Mangone
I think we all appreciate that China is not a model to base Human Rights on and, certainly, the fact that it can essentially make people 'tow the line',
rather than presuade them, is a double edged sword.
However, their financial model has allowed them to play catch up at an alarming rate and it would probably be less than a decade before China overtakes the US as the world's biggest economy - if it were not for the collapse of Europe.
"Britain has been threatened with the loss of its AAA credit rating amid fears over weaker growth prospects and potential shocks from the eurozone crisis."
"Moody's downgraded the ratings of six countries and also put France and Austria on the same caution as the UK amid violent protests in Greece over stringent measures to secure a fresh bailout."
http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/britain-gets-credit-rating-warning
The point here is that unless we ae willing to 'tow the line' we might end up like Greece...
I saw a member of the Greek Chamber of Commerce on TV arguing that if the 20% cuts to the minimum wage are implemented then people starting work will be getting wages below the official EC poverty line.
Yet what else can Greece do? Will the latest cuts be enough?
It would be tragic for Greece to have gone through the latest ordeal to find that it still hasn’t done enough to get the next payment...
It is still a distinct possibility.
What then for Greece, What then for Europe?
Will we be willing to accept Chinese style working conditions to preserve our life style - I think not.
So, is it going to be a triumph of Communism or Capitalism?
Will China defeat Capitalism from within?
Or will Capitalism win out and leave China as Communist in name only
adopting the greed and excess of Western Materialism under a Red cloak?
I hope China will find a way to adapt Capitalism to a more Communist ethos and that it is more a version of Lennonism than of Marxism or Maoism!
John Lennonism, that is... IMAGINE all the people living life in PEACE!
animan
I am not sure if the US is blessed or cursed exactly, but recent events and figures seem to be on a par with what has happened at previous times in similar situations. After two major wars and a collapse in confidence and liquidity in the financial markets, the US has a public sector debt to gdp ratio of around 100%. Well, in 1912, the US had a public sector debt to gdp ratio of a bit more than 0%; then, after two world wars and the Great Depression, this rose to a ratio of around 117% in 1945. So, as I say, the current situation seems more or less on a par with 1945 and somewhat better than that.
Recently, superficially, the UK seems to have fared better after two major wars and a collapse in the financial markets, in that it has a public sector debt to gdp ratio of around 64%. But, that does not take account of the money the government borrowed to recapitalise the collapsed banks after the credit crunch. If one includes ‘financial intervention’ payouts within total UK public sector debt, then the public sector debt to gdp ratio is more in the region of 150%. But then again, in 1947, after the Great Depression and two world wars, the UK’s public sector debt to gdp ratio stood at around 230%.
Mangone
A continuation of the Hereafter discussion started on 'A Good Omen' thread.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I suppose I should have made it clear that the "Hereafter" is not about God or religion and mostly deals with the deep feelings of "Loss" that the death of loved ones can cause... but it does, nevertheless, offer the belief that
death is a 'passing on' and not an end.
“I take it you mean militant atheists”?
I’m not necessarily talking about atheists because many religions like Buddhism have a wonderful morality but do not have a God.
I’m simply saying that those ‘Puppet Masters’ who see morality as an obstacle to furthering their agenda find it easier to control people who have a materialist outlook and no moral imperative save that of the local law.
I don’t argue that people who believe in the Hereafter are harder to manipulate, Stan.
I just argue that it is harder to manipulate them into doing things which are morally wrong…
Having said I don’t deny that ‘suicide bombers’, for instance, are often an example of people whose faith has been used to convince them to ignore a major tenet of their religion - Thou Shalt Not Kill.
Although, I'm sure that not all suicide bombers have a faith and that many are political motivated.
I feel that most forms of spirituality suggest that what we do in life effects what happens to us after life and taking away that belief, in reincarnation, heaven, the hereafter etc. must, in most people, inevitably weaken their resolve to resist temptation!
In a way I am saying it is easier to convince people who are considering being ‘bad’ that there will be no penalty because no-one will ever accuse them - if that no-one is limited to a corrupt police force who the convincer controls.
So, I still argue that those who have a belief in the Hereafter are inherently more likely to be moral because they have something to lose and that does at least provide a moral imperative in a world which is otherwise fast losing its morality.
If we do want to bring modern religion into the discussion I think Robert Levin posted a very good piece which inspired a lot of interesting comments.
http://www.abctales.com/story/robert-levin/proving-god-consensus
I am no great fan of organised religions but I argue that we should not attack the religions themselves but those parts which appear to by hypocritical or perverse.
If we forced the leaders of these religions to explain why they preach one thing and practice another maybe we could revive faith in religion.
A wonderful recent example of religous peversity, at least in my opinion, was the consensus of the Right-wing Christian leadership agreeing to support a non Christian (a Mormon) for President presumably because they believe Obama is more dangerous that the Devil - well, at least in regard to their politics ;O) Silly me, I thought that religion was the politics of Heaven :O)
Jesus, Himself, said that there was more chance of a camel passing through the eye of a needle than of a rich man entering through the gates of Heaven. Now unless He was pointing out that the rich get their own private elevator to Paradise I suggest that He was reiterating the same fundamental of the Old Testament. The LOVE of MONEY is the ROOT of ALL EVIL!”
So I don’t believe that the fault lies with Christianity, or with religion per se but with the age old trick of using a ideal to fight your battles for you.
Whether it be Communism, Catholicism, patriotism or capitalism the ideal is quickly lost to pragmatism and it is the willingness of people to accept that the ends justify the means which poisons all.”
As I’ve pointed out several times before Abraham, is widely considered to be the Father of what are probably the 3 largest religions in the US, Christianity, Islam and Judaism (alphabetic priority) .
“As of the early twenty-first century, it was estimated that 54% of the world's population (3.8 billion people) considered themselves adherents of the Abrahamic religions, about 30% of other religions, and 16% of no religion.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_faiths
Abraham condemned torture yet Bush emphatically stated his support for it and Condoleezza Rice famously said that she thought that torture was okay so long as it was done outside the US.
Since Bush claimed he spoke to God everyday it’s a pity that no-one thought to ask what God thought of water boarding!
William Black, a white-collar criminologist, former financial regulator, and author of "The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One." who teaches economics and law at the University of Missouri famously said that the frauds perpetrated by the big Wall Street players were not so much down to changes in the financial legislation but rather to the decline of moralty.
Black now pins much of his hope on the Occupy movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq-sO_uNaFw
I really recommend that you listen to the above linked video because it will help almost anyone who listens to it to get a much clearer picture of what is going on behind the scenes in the US and to some extent within the Occupy movement worldwide.
animan
Interesting, but one could perhaps argue that the greatest moral courage is to do something that one believes is morally right even though one might have a strong suspicion that the major religions, if they have moral, judicial and punitive authority after death, will telll you on death that you were morally wrong in their view and must be judged and punished accordingly.
I'm not sure that I agree with William Black in that I feel the decline of morality had occurred prior to financial deregulation - the deregulation simply allowed the immorality to let rrip.
Also, I'm not sure what you mean by spirituality and morality. For example, if I were to be asked to go for a job interview with a company that I knew had been involved in illicit bribery and corruption, and if I knew that if I didn't go for the interview and perhaps get the job then I would very probably end up homeless, and if I felt that getting the job might enable me to, later on, do something truly worthwhile practically and morally, would it be moral and spiritual of me to turn down the interview purely on grounds of immediate principle?
Mangone
Your questions are interesting, Animan, but I feel that they are philosophical questions rather than moral questions and, again, I feel, that you cannot answer such questions as generalities because it is the specifics that are important.
In other words, you choose which is best as you see it at the time, and if you are wrong, then you are wrong but you did your best.
As for William Black and the decline of morality having occurred prior to financial deregulation - Black’s point was that if people had been discovered to have done such morally disreputable dealings, as some of the big Wall Street players were, in an earlier time then they would probably have committed suicide from shame, or at least public opinion would not have allowed them not only to get away with it but also to claim that their expertise was so invaluable that they must continue to be paid top salaries or they would leave their jobs.
As I remember, Black argued that they could have done similar ‘crimes’ at any time but it was morality (theirs and the prevailing morality of the time) that stopped them and not simply legislation.