mid-week ruminations
the market and economy in general are taking a bit of a shellacking this week. I for one, am worried. I am a guy on a fixed income, who is being particularly hard hit right now with health care costs and a few other things, not to mention the various trends in the pricing of necessities these days. I am, as the saying from the old movie goes, mad as hell, and, to paraphrase, am on the verge of not taking it anymore. Lou Dobbs makes a pretty good point here.
there. now that I got that out of my system....
what we are seeing happening to our economy is a correction. it may be more of a felony conviction, but stay with me for a moment, it is a correction. when it is over, our economy, and all the others, will be back into something of a balance, (they may be in small pieces, on the floor), but they will be in a state of equilibrium.
the same type of thing is going to happen to our culture as well. we are a people who are dependent rather than independent, and in becoming this way, we have created a situation where other peoples depend on our dependencies to survive---an ecosystem of negativity in a manner of speaking. we may not be the first to collapse, but when one culture goes down, others will at least stumble if not fall, and there will be a chain reaction. just how bad it will be is anyones guess, we will just have to wait things out.
I was reading an article from Computerworld magazine, (see it here), about yet another threat posed by the modern conveniences of our lives. Yes friends, yet another danger posed by the use of our computers in the wireless world.
The ingenuity of some people amazes me. We spend as much time keeping ourselves safe as we do being productive. Any more, in an age where some of the companies that I do business with force me to get my bill electronically, I still mail a check, (although they would much rather I sent my bank account information so they could simply withdraw the funds at their own pleasure. -- truth is, I don't trust them as far as I can speak to a real person). when I need to do some banking, I do it in person, (although it is via TV screen in the lobby of the building).
computers are great fun and somewhat handy, but in the world we live in today, I wonder if they are really worth the trouble?
there. now that I got that out of my system....
what we are seeing happening to our economy is a correction. it may be more of a felony conviction, but stay with me for a moment, it is a correction. when it is over, our economy, and all the others, will be back into something of a balance, (they may be in small pieces, on the floor), but they will be in a state of equilibrium.
the same type of thing is going to happen to our culture as well. we are a people who are dependent rather than independent, and in becoming this way, we have created a situation where other peoples depend on our dependencies to survive---an ecosystem of negativity in a manner of speaking. we may not be the first to collapse, but when one culture goes down, others will at least stumble if not fall, and there will be a chain reaction. just how bad it will be is anyones guess, we will just have to wait things out.
I was reading an article from Computerworld magazine, (see it here), about yet another threat posed by the modern conveniences of our lives. Yes friends, yet another danger posed by the use of our computers in the wireless world.
The ingenuity of some people amazes me. We spend as much time keeping ourselves safe as we do being productive. Any more, in an age where some of the companies that I do business with force me to get my bill electronically, I still mail a check, (although they would much rather I sent my bank account information so they could simply withdraw the funds at their own pleasure. -- truth is, I don't trust them as far as I can speak to a real person). when I need to do some banking, I do it in person, (although it is via TV screen in the lobby of the building).
computers are great fun and somewhat handy, but in the world we live in today, I wonder if they are really worth the trouble?
posted by eccentric recluse at 9:24 AM
8 Comments:
I clicked on the link in that article that led to the article about "how to protect your network," and the steps he outlined are precisely what I have done. As for the network name I used, suffice it to say that it comes from the experts in cryptic, convoluted network names....
I remember when we were taken off the gold standard.. and remember the dire predictions..
I remember when the national debt hit numbers that spelled inevitable, unrecoverable doom..
I remember a looming, man-caused ice-age..
I remember when the world's oil supply was gonna expire by 1990..
I remember that the Social Security system was supposed be finished by 2000..
Oddly.. I DO believe that this country's economy (because of the state of the dollar), is on the edge of collapse.... B U T the first sign (because of the trade deficit) would be unaffordable consumer goods (especially imports).. and the prices of TVs keep falling..
Ever get the feeling that we're told to be scared by those who want fear ? And that an utter collapse of this economy is about as likely as NYC being under water by.. umm.. HEY.. that was supposed to have happened by now.. *eyes rolling*
hey, you are back! damned glad to see you. and glad that you are still wrong about things too!
(just so you don't feel all alone, nobody, not even me, is completely right about anything...).
all those things that you mention are pretty cool memories, and curiously, have little to do with the post. weren't you able to rebut any points in there, 9not that points were real abundant...).
all the things that you mention were true, and false, as far as they went, based on what we knew at the time. on the issue of the gold standard and the national debt, well, that debate is still being played out, but it took the value of money away from a universally recognized constant and made it what an elite few says that it is. is your dollar or franc or peso worth what it was in 1970? I doubt it, although the difference may be disguised by factors such as your age and changes in your economic strata since then.
climate change? that too, has yet to be played out. we are seeing a warming trend right now, but we don't know what the next century or millenium will bring. is it important whether the influence of a single species brings on a radical change in one direction or the other? the fact of the change is the threat, the rate and means in which it is dealt with is the significant factor.
Social Security. I have news for you. it is gone, it is simply a matter of when it becomes no longer expedient to keep the government tap open.
Sure, the cost of some goods keeps falling. Some always will, but the cost of using them keeps going up. Expect the cost of many things to drop as the cost of using them becomes more of a revenue generator.
And yes, there will always be an economy. It is just that there may never be what we see as a free economy again, (in our lifetimes). the economy belongs to those with the resources, and it seems that it takes more and more of an individuals income, just to get by, let alone save or prosper, the mass of wealth will be locked with the few, and most of the rest will just be here...
I won't trade point validation (I doubt either of us would grant it to the other).. and just say that my point was; the Lou Dobbs types prognosticate with fear, for their agendas... like to hear themselves blather.
This economy is much like the climate/atmosphere.. in that there aint much we could do to it (good or bad (without being ridiculous)), inside of one man's lifetime; let alone an administration or two.
We may be be-moaning a tough time.. but is it really ? Consider that we've endured; 9-11, hurricane season of the century, $100/barr oil, $3/gall gas, a multi-trillion dollar war, and we're still on our feet. If, 10 years ago, you'd have asked Dobbs where we'd be if all those things ended up happening; he's have said, "we be cooked".
There might be a temporary distancing twixt rich/poor, but the opportunity to go from poor to rich is still there for those who want it bably enough... else end up crying the class warfare song.
This ecomony is ripe, healthy and powerful.. and admission isn't much more than desire and effort.
OK, you have made a good point there. We have survived those things, and, without a doubt will survive other things too, but we are arguing apples and oranges.
I think that Mr Dobbs is highlighting that we are passing on opportunities to fix a few things, and change direction, albeit slightly, while they have been broken for us. I believe that in many, not all, cases, the actions taken in response to many of the incidents you have used as examples have been to reinforce the position of the already powerful in the country, and to further political agenda's already in place. If the stakes were not so high, this would be crass partisanship, as it is, it is something on a completely different plane.
Business as usual, be it Democratic or Republican is not going to make it in the 21st century. In the absence of a bona fide leader that can convince me that he or she is capable of leading and effecting real change, I am forced to cast my vote and use my limited economic power to hinder the juggernaut in place when and where I can. you may not believe it, but if the administration in place were of the party on the left and were pulling crap of this magnitude, I would be yelling, typing and preaching points that would stick equally under their saddle...
that is just how I see things.
For sure.. and if we all saw things the same way; there either wouldn't be any problems.. or we'd both have our heads in the sand.. or both.
I'm barely 50, but even in my, short life, this crisis mongering is getting old. Every 1/2-generation or so, there are people who say/said exactly what you just said. It's either, "If the leadership doesn't change", or, "This change in leadership", or, "If we don't do something about [fill in the villan.. anything from unions to politicians, to greedy rich], we're all in truoble".
Meanwhile.. look around. This country is still the place where the only real limitation to a person's potential, is up to them.
The biggest difference today, is that nothing goes by without getting exposed and over analyzed. The media (as a whole) is omnipresent. In the 1970s there were three TV networks, and the major newspapers..and that was it. Now we got that cubed, plus talk-radio.. PLUS the Internet.
Good news is treated like an expectation.. bad news is blown out of proportion.
I can tell you the two main problems in this country.. and will probably end up doing so.. in a post or two *grin*
OK, I will be waiting on the two main problems. I agree with your assertion, we get a lot of the same things every 20 years or so, recycled with a thin coat of paint to fit the situation, and not a very good one at that. But that is not really significant, what is important is that while we are seeing the usual dog & pony show up front, we are being looted through the back door, or, sometimes through a new back door. Yes, I agree that it is possible to acquire wealth even in these times, but I would also assert that it is quite a bit harder to do it in a manner that would have been considered ethical a generation ago. Just because the trains seem to be running in that particular direction does not make it the way to go.
Ahh.. this is where we disagree. A generation (or more) ago; the less than ethical roads to wealth were more common. It's much harder today, for sleazy salesmen, and investment scoundrels, and fraud-riddled bankers to stay in business (abundance of lawyers (and that's another problem.. how many small businesses never get past the thinking stage for the liabilities?))... And.... the hard-work method is now more easily traveled (which segues nicely into one of the problems).
The bulk of the new, middle-class, that is the just now entering adulthood, is the MTV generation. They're products of a now abysmal public education, with a lessened work-ethic, no attention span, and they're trying to prosper under a total tax burden that has quadrupled since their parents were born (problem two).
The good side of that, for the motivated few, is that there's no competition. The middle-class' prosperity and size isn't shrinking, so much as that the number of aspiring middle-classers who are educated and motivated is shrinking. And it's getting worse. Someone my age can go into a fast-food place to see twice the number of youngsters having trouble dealing with 1/2 the workload than "our" generation handled just fine. We had cash registers that were little more than printing calculators with cash-drawers.. THEY have change calculating computers and pretty pictures buttons to push. As trivial as that might sound... it's a good barometer of what the upcoming generation has to offer the work-force..
This all translates into a much smaller percentage of citizens capable and willing, to earn and keep, fortunes. I know that's an over-simplification... but it's how I see it.
In short... Fix public education (break school systems back down to intimate, responsive small, local entities); gut governments (on all levels)(one of the few places where the stupid and lazy can still thrive) so that we aren't working until July every year to fund them).. Everything else will fall into place... slowly.
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