For god’s sake

  By Mystic | August 8, 2012 - 04:47 |

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Written by: Mystic on August 8, 2012.
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  • windslice

    Airbags and seat belts should be replaced by spikes coming out of the dashboard.

    It would make people extremely aware of their environment and they would drive very carefully.

    And, in the same way, all those “decision makers”, should be facing the same spikes.

    And get impaled when they fuck it up. Maybe they might consider their decisions a wee bit longer?

    Religion is not the answer, it is merely another way of exerting power over the people. Un-opposable and 
    not open for discussion, it is a belief, with a set of rules dictated down some 2,000 years.

    IMO putting the onus of responsibility back onto all individuals. Everybody should be responsible for their own life, and not delegate it to the State.

    From the bankers, politicians, CEO’s,  ”career social cases” pumping out babies in the expectation the State will finance the brats and so on.

    • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

       Babies are a modern `tragedy of the commons`.
      Right minded people are not having enough to replace populations ……. So, here in France, the government pays people to have babies.
      Without this government intervention, the pension system would collapse. 

      • windslice

        That is assuming that the brats will pay for the pensions of their parents.

        However, I am a little pessimistic about the long term viability of this policy. I don’t think that the brats will take very kindly to the notion that the only reason they exist is through a government policy aimed at enslaving them to pay for the old gits.

        I also believe that the only way the long term pension commitments will be met is through a perpetual monetisation of the obligations. I think it is a fallacy to think that the brats will be able to earn enough to support the old gits and their desire for a long term retirement in relative luxury. That will, indeed, create further demands on the world’s resources, raising prices and making the commitments even less affordable.

        There are already too many human beings polluting the earth and consuming resources. Growth, growth and even more growth is not a solution. It is a kick the can down the road idea.

        Stop producing brats and shrink the the human footprint on the globe is the only sustainable solution.

        But anyway, yet another government intervention, I believe Finland is another example paying for brats

        Another rule, regulation, benefit introduced by another politician.

        Mervyn King has turned very pessimistic recently too.

        “Mervyn King urges patience as Bank of England cuts growth forecasts
        Sir Mervyn King has urged “patience” on economic recovery as the Bank of England cut its growth forecasts and warned the crisis has a long way to go yet.”

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9461982/Mervyn-King-urges-patience-as-Bank-of-England-cuts-growth-forecasts.html 

        If you’re going to try and increase the population, then you have also to ensure that the brats also have a job.

        • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

           The sad thing is there is plenty of work that the brats could be doing. There is something very wrong with a system that runs with many unemployed and virtually excluded. That cannot be a good use of resources nor an enlightened structure.

          Raising and educating brats, caring for the elderly and frail, enjoying the arts and the magnificence  of achievement and understanding in so many fields is what makes us human.

          With all our modern production we should have been able to spend less time producing the necessities, but it hasn’t worked out like that. I wonder why?

        • Paul

          Excellent analysis, as always, Windslice!  You should start your own blog, Boyo.

  • CSArichardo

    The financial system is a mix of SDRs (world government fiat/developing country handouts?), gold (money of the rich, of government central bankers including the BIS?), fractional reserve banking (bottom up money keeping th economy going ?), and individual government fiat money (near zero interest government bonds are basicallyMMT fiat !). 

    These are all money in today’s society and what is wrong with that ?  I think the critical system problem remains allowing borrowers to over extend themselves.

  • CSArichardo

    It makes no difference who lives or dies.    We are a random society where shit happens both good and bad.  We do not want to become a less random society (that hand thing).  There are many dictators/leaders who know that to take over society you have to destroy/kill the random thinkers.  Those doctors, lawyers, engineers, middle class college graduates, etc.  who think too much and maybe want to be too independent.  By living they pollute the purity of the focused leadership.  But who is to say whether  the focused leadership is good or bad?  – that was almost poetry ~!?

    • http://www.belfast-architects.co.uk/ Alan

       Focussed leadership is good if it gets it right and an utter disaster if it does not. There is strength in diversity but that in turn needs to be tempered by realism and or the need to accommodate others and a need to perceiving common cause and benefit.

      With regards how people are influenced this is a sad read.
      http://journalistsresource.org/studies/environment/climate-change/shifting-public-opinion-empirical-assessment-influencing-concern-u-s/

      • axionication1

        A little unrelated.

        I was looking through the director qualifications of a major African & Middle Eastern Cell phone network provider ( multiple billion $ operation). 12 directors. 9 with commerce degrees (4 of these 9 majoring in accounting), 1 with heavy hitting legal qualifications & the final 2 were engineers.

        I think this lean to the accounting & legal side is prevalent in many of the Big Firms. Priority is placed on gaming the system. Systemic corruption.

        • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

           I would agree with that conclusion.

  • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

    A post seems to have disappeared into the ether so will repost. Apologies if it mysteriously turns up again.

    Dying is not the problem, continuing to live can be. It is the path to death and its costs on society  financial and emotional that matter. At what point does life have no value to that individual is the place to start. The wishes of immediate friends and family are then the secondary consideration and are often tied with emotions that are not entirely rational (and a good thing too).

    For an illustration of how authority acts, its priorities and how it exerts its will I thought this a good example of strange behaviour.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMas0tWc0sg&feature=player_embedded

    And the last line of this disturbing.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7429534/Kim-Dotcom-takes-the-stand-over-raids

    So who rules this earth, who matters, who can transgress the laws and who cannot?

    • axionication1

      Unable to open any of the vids (including Nick’s). Will try another time.

      I was amused to see this silliness on the television last nite. I can quite assure you that if you were familiar with the good natured goofiness of the NZ police you would be equally as amused!

      I am not sure if there is anything more to be read into this than complete fuck’n silliness (I do realize that it was heavily FBI influenced but the uptake to the influence would have been gung ho silliness).

      Idjits!

      • http://www.alda-architects.co.uk/ Alan

         It is more than silliness.  That was a deliberate show of force. Question is why.

        1   To intimidate?
        2    To send out a message?
        3    Small nation trying to impress big brother who has requested the action.
        4    If 3 then why, what pressure was being exerted.
        5    If  3 then why is the USA so determined to pursue this type of crime and use influence in this manner and act outside the law? What makes this crime more important than financial fraud?

        • axionication1

          I think 3 is correct, however I am not sure if it was an ‘impress’. More likely something along the lines of a call made to a higher upper with the message ‘you are either with us or against us’ (NZ has had a recent history of hickish facilitation of start up international rakateering companies).

          The silliness: the underlings went along with it with so much enthusiasm (& incompetence). My observation as an immigrant is that NZ’ers, generally speaking, are not ‘good’ at this shit and tend to back the underdog. They have poor regard for Americans.

          The average NZ’er reaction to this seems to be one of ‘wtf’.

        • axionication1

          On the :”what makes this crime more important than financial fraud?”

          Read the other day that the Japanese authorities have an ‘understanding’ with the Yakuza. They authorities turn a blind eye to some organized crime but they (& the yakuza) come down like a ton of bricks on ‘disorganized’ crime.

          Maybe a similar concept at play in the states (the lobbyist would have insisted that something be done too).

  • Paul

    Hello, Liberals!
    Your worst enemy is back in the game!  Now, prove your arguments with fact, or get off the pitch!
    -Paul

  • Paul

    How can you say that “The People” are fucking stupid~?!  Why~?!  Because they realize that they are in debt up to their eyeballs?  Because they realize that their house is not longer a store of future wealth?  Because they have been snookered by TPTB that the only way out of lower middle class income status is to spend oodles of cash on a worthless university degree that no longer guarantees a path to success and wealth achievement.
    “The People” are not fucking stupid.  If anything, they have woken up to the realization that the game is fucking rigged in favor of TPTB,  They are now more aware than ever that they don’t have a fucking chance in hell of surviving by going into debt.  They are exercising their survival instinct in preserving what bits of their money that they have left now and into the future.  That is the “Invisible Hand” of the “Fucking Stupid” people, Nick.  They know that a major shit-storm is coming, and they are preparing accordingly.  Stupid behavior?  I think not.  If you don’t hunker down in the root cellar when the tornado hits, then you will end up in the Land of Oz~!
    But, of course, The Government, will save us all in the end, right~?!  Just look how well The Govt. did in Katrina or in the London Riots, eh~?
    As for me, I will rely on my family, friends, and neighbors.  I would advise all you do the same, no matter what their politics are.  They are your best resource, even if they might not hold a “provocative” agenda~!  As long as you’re not a toal asshole, you might find some shelter from the storm.

    -Paul  ;)  ;0  ;)  :(  :)  ;( :P- 

  • windslice

    http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/08/07/1109781/gold-qe/
    QE3 what will that do?

    I personally find it ludicrous that interest rates are now down at the current level, and STILL they are calling for LOWER interest rates. How on earth is a reduction from say 0.75% to 0.5% going to help anyone in the general economy? It can only go to more bank profits.

    But to the comment

    “Real Economy ONLY can create money.
    - Money moves the real economy. It’s NOT chicken and egg.
    - Money is created with the only purpose of moving the goods or services from Supply to Demand, in a civilized society.
    - If goods are not created, no need to create money. Cave men needed no money.
    - If Demand is higher than Supply (of real economy), creation of money leads to inflation. Hyper creation of money leads to hyper inflation.
    - Hence, hyperinflation is possible ONLY when there is a shortage of BASIC GOODS and the gov creates money. Example: Zimbabve (quite recently); former Yugoslavia in the early 90s. It is theoretically possible in Greece, but it will never happen. Greece is a NATO member.
    - When Supply is higher than Demand (of real economy), DEFLATION IS INEVITABLE. Right now basically 5 countries provide goods for all over the world: China, India, South Korea, Japan, Germany.
    - Since China, Germany, Japan etc create the goods, they have the right to create the money, lend the money to the Demand so the Demand can buy the goods from the Supply.
    - Hence MONEY IS CREATED ONLY BY THE SUPPLY. The Demand CANNOT create money.
    - USA money is in great demand since they offer a service which is in excessive demand: World Peace (relatively speaking).
    - Hence USA offers the service that basically all west has enrolled into via NATO etc. USA creates USD, countries get USD and give real goods in exchange. Countries get protection and some kind of world peace.

    It is this simple.”

    Is it?

    • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

       I am not comfortable with all this …. it is only making stuff that is `real` something.
      You say only `real` economy makes money. …… when we know banks make money~?
      So, what you mean is, on `real` economy should make money.  (is that it~?).

      It all seems like having an axe and wanting to cut things up with it.

      Why do you want to slash between a heart surgeon and someone who makes Twinkies~?

      It sounds like slashing around looking for something ……. Not an expression of actually having found anything~!?

      • windslice

        Not my words, I was only copying a post to the article. Thought he made a few interesting points, although I haven’t worked through all of them and don’t agree with them all.

        Banks may expand the debt, but after all the massive bailouts and damage to the economy, how much real wealth has been created by the banks? I would think that they rather extract a rent on the money they have the privilege of issuing.

        To bring in a bit of MMT, wealth falls into the economy from the government via the “long drop” and banks provide the liquidity for industry to produce stuff using the government infrastructure,.

        I have been pondering this for the last few days, once I have got some clear picture I’ll try to bung a post somewhere.

  • windslice

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-08/recession-generation-opts-to-rent-not-buy-houses-to-cars.html
    Rent and not buy, the new “paradigm”.

    “For those who choose to rent not buy, there’s a price to pay, said Lubell of the Center for Housing Policy. By foregoing purchases of assets like homes, young people are giving up on a chance to build wealth, he said.
    “What you are seeing is a delay in all the kinds of decisions that require a long-term financially stable future,” Lubell said. “That’s home purchases, that’s marriage and that’s having kids.””
    Home purchase, marriage and having brats as wealth building? Oh dear, IME, they all inevitably end in wealth loss, as all the lifelong commitments and liabilities kick in.

    Over to the A-Rabs. The unbelievable creation of “Cities for Women”.

    http://www.arabnews.com/modon-plans-establish-women-only-industrial-cities

    • Anne Panne

      You can’t have a life without commitments. The question is to what and to whom you are committed. Some turn out to be more worth than others. Our life’s challenge is to find out what’s what.

      • windslice

        I am pretty sure I have a life.

        And I don’t have any voluntary major commitments in terms of house, wife or brats. This has worked out pretty well down the years, and left me in the position to live a life that a lot of people are envious of.

        No debts, no possessions I couldn’t simply walk away from.

        It appears to me that it is society that tries to get everyone indebted and slaving away on the the treadmill.

        “You must buy a house”

        “When are you going to get married and have brats”

        “Why don’t you take out a loan and buy that sports car you lie”

        My only commitment is to myself, not to get committed or obliged to anybody else. I find it quite sad that so many people are prepared to give up on the commitment to themselves and take on external obligations. Or, indeed, force obligations onto other people.

        Life’s challenge is merely to get through it with the minimum of pain. There is no “Big Plan”, there is no “God” and there is no “Life hereafter”. Just live your life as best you can.

        Once that little issue has been sorted out, then lots of smaller issues can be fixed.

        This is developing into a bit of a topic, so I am going to stop here.

        • Axel1million

          Yes, people ought to be true to themselves. Sometimes commitment can be a good thing… for instance, when I bought my house I was absolutely committed in paying off the mortgage.
          It worked for me because following through on the commitment led me to a better place.

          I think you are writing about ‘societal commitments’, which often people undertake without referring to the ‘be true to yourself’ advice.Something like, “I’ll buy the 6 bedroom house because society expects me to do so… but really I don’t want to because I cant afford it and would much prefer to stay in the 3 bedroom one I have now”.

        • Anne Panne

          Oh, I am so sorry for you. Well, it’s your loss, not mine ;)

          • Axel1million

             Well, I think from your point of view he is losing out by not committing to something you would consider worthwhile…. but, I would guess from his perspective he would not consider it a worthwhile commitment.
            For instance, if memory serves me correctly I think you mentioned that you were a Dairy Farmer, and I would guess your are a committed one. However you may have little or zero commitment towards being a Politician. 

            • Anne Panne

              No , it’s his sole commitment to himself I pity. 
              And that he think it wise to “go through” life with as little pain as possible. What a waste.

              • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

                If I may stick in here ………………… that neither `way`, is necessarily `better`, than the other (any other).

              • Axel1million

                 I see, yes and I think I understand where you are coming from. My point was that we are all looking out on life from a different perspective.We may wonder why someone would be singularly committed to themselves and we may find it impossible to understand or visa versa.
                For example I like classical music but I detest brass bands, I really do not understand why anyone would like a brass band, but I accept that they must find it pleasing to the ear while to me its just a horrendous din.

              • windslice

                No need to pity.

                I am very content with my choices and decisions and the lifestyle I can now afford to lead as a result.

                But I don’t quite understand what has “gone wasted”? That seems a very strange assertion.

                I reckon there are a vast number of people unwillingly stuck in a commitment they cannot get out of, the main ones being debt, marriage and kids. I have consciously and carefully avoided making such commitments.

                The result is………freedom.

                and you can’t put a price or value on that.

  • http://www.richnewbold.co.uk/ Richard

    Related to the “top up decisions” and “what’s wrong with dying” part of the video: I think about this type of thing from time to time. Often when the news media is pushing an agenda of “something should be done about…” usually when something has gone wrong or somebody has done something bad. Whilst some of these events are clearly tragic for the people involved, as an outsider with no connection to them I ask myself what difference does it make to the world at large and why should everybody be inconvenienced because of the actions of one stupid or deranged person? A child is kidnapped and murdered – does that really make a difference in the world and how likely is that to happen to you or I? Terrorists bomb a place – again, what’s the likelihood of being caught up in something like that? In a world of 7 billion people does it make a big difference when you analyse it rationally? It’s not that I don’t feel sympathetic to the victims, please don’t get me wrong, it’s more the way society reacts and the subsequent restrictions on our freedoms that bugs me and how if you disagree with the reaction and the calls for tighter regulations / controls / checks etc. you’re somehow seen as supporting the people who’ve done the bad thing. And it’s escalating too – you can’t say boo to a goose today without somebody calling the political correctness nazis on to you. It’s frightening to think about the overwhelming stupidity of society and what direction this invisible hand is taking us. 

    • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

       ”Why don’t they do something about it~!”
      It is such an easy ego trip to get on your high horse.
      On the other side are our friends who would be only too happy to increase the size of their department to do the doing about it.

      It is maybe a bit boring, but it started when `the authorities` started telling people not to deal with things in their own community, but they would do it …………… So, with communities splitting anyway, the community dropped all responsibility for the local goings on.

      On a bigger scale (terrorism for example), what would an old community have done~?
      Maybe gone for a local watch units run from the local pub (or church-hall) …… until such times as they realized that they could do nothing about it really (and all went back home).

      Bottom line – We live in a `doing nothing is not acceptable` world.
      (this is why, in the economic world, they are going to always going to do lots and lots ….. no matter the cost …… because they must be seen to be `doing something`). 

      • http://www.richnewbold.co.uk/ Richard

        Today we took a stray cat to the vets to see if he had a microchip that would identify his owners and to get him checked out. The cat turned up here last week and has made himself at home, but we don’t mind because he’s a friendly little critter who’ll happily fall asleep in your lap – he seems to be house trained too. Long story cut short: there was no chip and after we had some tests done we found out he has FIV. The vet said that he always recommends the cat be put to sleep (but not being the owners we don’t have the authority to give him permission to do this). I understand the reasoning: the cat could infect other cats etc., but ending the life of a happy, playful cat that is not showing any signs of sickness seems unnecessary to me and a little too much like playing god. I’m not sure how this fits in with what were talking about, but somehow it feels like it does.

        • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

           The answer, is in the question.

          If you `do something` (hit it on the head with a shovel), then the problem is done……Something has been done.
          If you do nothing, the problem hangs around, nagging, getting in the way of other thought.  It is a problem.

          `Can’t you do something~?` ……… means `can’t you get this problem out of my mind, (so I can get on with my own personal thoughts again…..uninterrupted).

          ((or something like that))

          Nice weather for getting up early and going for a nice long bike-ride ………. hmmm~!?

  • TheModernMystic

    Please People more comments

  • axionication1

    Just watched the vid.

    Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.

    • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

       I imagine that I would hate heaven (and dying don’t seem such a bad option).