Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

Albert von Szent-Gyorgy

Mnemnos

Once extinguished

The light of the candle is

Forgotten by the walls of my room.

My cup overturned; empty on my desk

Journal open to the last page.

A moon rises through the trees;

I am gone.

Power to prevent people from having grievances

See larger image Power: A Radical View (Paperback) By (author) Steven Lukes List Price: $33.00 USD New From: $25.81 In Stock Used from: $18.97 In Stock Release date December 23, 2004.

Steven Lukes:

Is it not the supreme exercise of power to get another or others to have the desires you want them to . . . → Read More: Power to prevent people from having grievances

Somnabulism

We are faced by an oligarchy that is tending to steer the ship toward the rocks; we should expect it to hit the rocks. When that happens the people will rise up, and will be confronted by the power system violently. I believe that when confronting the real power in the system, the aroused people will face violence both privately from the oligarchs and publicly from the state. . . . → Read More: Somnabulism

Wake up to the sound of elite music

A commenter over at nakedcapitalism got me worked up today. Cinderella said:

They say that it is for our own benefit, that we keep shoveling money to periphery countries, but how can it be so? They have to cut their social spending as a reciprocation, but how does this help our economy or people who live in . . . → Read More: Wake up to the sound of elite music

If we understood monkeys….

When talking about the amazing restless of the mind Buddhists often call it the monkey mind. I found this gem from Ajahn Chah on using the mind to understand the mind:

Let me give you an example. Suppose you have a pet monkey at home. It doesn’t sit still. It likes to jump around and grab . . . → Read More: If we understood monkeys….

Reading the tea leaves: signs of coming crisis

There have been many occasions over the past few years where I thought (and many others thought) that this could break the bank again, and put us firmly back into a financial crisis like 2008. To clear my head I thought about what I look for in the news to keep me on my toes . . . → Read More: Reading the tea leaves: signs of coming crisis

Cyprus: reasons to disbelieve what elites say about what they are doing

I responded to a comment on nakedcapitalism by Maju on a very good article on the EU’s outrageous bail-in of Cypriot bank account holders by confiscation of a part of all deposits. The commenter Maju wrote

I agree with some of the commenters above in the sense that Germany/Eurogroup seem to have wanted to cause a bank run. . . . → Read More: Cyprus: reasons to disbelieve what elites say about what they are doing

Fiat Money and debt

In answer to a post on Nakedcapitalism by Philip Pilkington on Kill the King – Why are we so afraid of fiat money, I replied:

I get a kick out of listening to Gold Bugs. They rail on and on about fiat money and fail to see the fact that ALL gold and/or silver based . . . → Read More: Fiat Money and debt

Gentle realizations: Meditation on the body

The mind is not separate from the body, the body is not lesser and the mind or spirit greater. They cohabit this nexus which we identify as ourselves. What Buddha would also point out is that identification of a self is in itself a mistake. There is no self there. There are only the co-dependent arising, abiding and disspating of bodies, minds people and things. . . . → Read More: Gentle realizations: Meditation on the body

US Bank Concentration in the wake of GFC

The continuing development of finance capital has indeed led to monopolistic effects. The blog Global Economic Intersection published an interesting graphic in a syndicated blog article on the recent spate of banks payments for fraud without indictments entitled Bank Fraud: Underlings Arrested, Banks to big to indict.

The image shows that banks have bought up . . . → Read More: US Bank Concentration in the wake of GFC