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
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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 periphery countries? Dunno. I responded: Think . . . → Read More: Wake up to the sound of elite music 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 hold of things. That’s how monkeys are. . . . → Read More: If we understood monkeys…. 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 about the potential for severe negative short term . . . → Read More: Reading the tea leaves: signs of coming crisis 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. Otherwise they are total idiots . . . → Read More: Cyprus: reasons to disbelieve what elites say about what they are doing 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 sovereign governments in history have also fallen. Non-fiat . . . → Read More: Fiat Money and debt 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 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 each other in the wake of the Global . . . → Read More: US Bank Concentration in the wake of GFC I just read a line in a blog post by Michael Hoexter, Obama and Boehner’s Grand Bargain: Gullible Democrats are Falling for the Ol’ “Good Cop, Bad Cop” Routine at Naked Capitalism which crystallized a concern of mine that stretches back a few years: Why/How is it that Americans can persist in refusing to see their own clear interests and vote for people . . . → Read More: Why do Americans support politicians who do not support their constituents’ real interests A good friend of mine recently became Swiss. He is looking to let go of his American passport to escape the madness of the American Empire as much as possible on this planet. He asked me in a recent email: The USA has become a very weird place in many ways – or maybe I have over the now 25 years I have . . . → Read More: The USA morality play |
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