PN:
Joe’s Comment – Ha! I got seduced by a “false Spring” early this week. I started thinking about shaving off my beard, getting a hair cut, even taking a shower!
Spring was in the air…..
Poof!
Back to Winter, with accompanying winter madness®, and an advanced case of cabin fever©.
What’s new……
As Charles Barsotti (RIP) so sublimely states above, don’t tell me.
There are a number of things to look forward to, but no snow or ice on the ground will be a celebration around here.
In the meantime, for inspiration, another of the fabulous Mr. Barsotti’s observations –
Ideas
Corporate Fascism
An inherent challenge with capitalism is based on a hierarchical reality – a successful business, in order to grow, must attract an ever increasing demand for its product. However, infinite growth is not possible (despite close approximations by very successful organizations in the past), because the market is finite. Yet the stockholders / principals demand their pound of flesh…..
Any return on investment depends on profit margin and volume, which in turn requires increased demand for existing or new / novel products or services released to a bullish market.
This problem was known many years ago.
Various “solutions” were tried (spoiler: there is no solution).
In Western history, an early solution manifested itself as monopoly, bequeathed by the crown or the government. An interesting article about monopolies in Elizabethan parliaments here.
Elizabeth I granted monopolies and created a patent system for the “commen wealth” (not a spelling mistake), to promote and foster economic growth, encourage investment and enterprise, and create employment.
There were negative results from such non-free trade / non-open market crown dictated legislation. In the 1571 parliament, Robert Bell claimed “‘by lycenses a fewe were enriched and the multitude impoverished’.”
And so it goes.
Some effort over the years has been spent to keep things in balance.
Indeed, some outcomes, nefarious as they are, were not intended, but are solely a “devil’s dividend”, a product of unintended consequences.
A more modern example is incorporated in the political ideology of fascism.
Clearly in opposition to “free trade” and “open market” ideology, fascism subjugated the individual citizen to the service of the state.
The following video is a Ub2b presentation of Hillsdale College.
The speaker, Michael Rectenwald, gave this speech on November 13, 2022, during a Hillsdale College CCA seminar on “Parallel Economies.”
The question Joe and I ask is this – are the negative punitive and dangerous restrictive effects of “corporate fascism” coincidental?
We think not, and quoting Steve Bannon, who said “there are no conspiracies, but there are also no coincidences”.
Joe asks what the value of “commen wealth” might be, when it is obviously not common good:
The above is a segment of the full presentation, which you can watch here.
From our perspective, a humble mud pecker, dirt person, salt of the earth type, there are Titans and there are minions.
When the Titans battle, what is the fate of minions?
What then, in the name of the Enlightenment, is a person to make of the needless loss of lives, trampled from existence, their humble and modest pursuits extinguished?
Is there a “greater cause” worthy of the loss of innocent lives?
That seems oxymoronic.
At the top of the corporate fascist hierarchy would be the brokers of war.
The munitions industries are running full tilt boogie building the instruments of death, destruction, horror, and misery.
Joe and I ask just what the fuck is going on in the Ukraine……
And what corporate fascist hell is being acted out in the name of “commen wealth”…..
Americana
Jeffry Epstein – lest we forget
Joe and I have no possible way to prove the following list is accurate or not –
This violates our sense of fair play: trust but verify.
We weren’t there, we don’t travel in this crowd, we know nothing and we’re happy. We have zero to testify. All we’ve got is our outrage and anger.
Why post this list?
So much data floods the many mediums of media carrying “news” every moment of every day –
Mr. Epstein is old news.
No one capable of investigating this atrocity is investigating this atrocity.
No one will be attending a federal penitentiary for an extended stay for crimes committed. Justice for the innocent and abused will not be seen to happen.
Yet lives were ruined.
Who will remember these travesties?
Who will carry the standard, expose the guilty, prosecute them, and punish them to the extent of the law?
Time for a Robert Zimmerman philosophical query sung as rhetorical lament:
Super Bowl
Joe and I used to like the game.
As time progressed, we still liked the game, but grew interested in the advertisements.
More time went by.
The “Black “National” Anthem”???
Half time “entertainment” that sucks ass?
Crappy seats selling for thousands of dollars?
Blow a goat.
Joe is right when he says Big Business ruins everything.
We didn’t know when the big game was played.
We don’t know who the teams were, or who won.
What we know is this –
COVID – Lest We Forget
JBP and Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya
This is an interesting and informative look back at the rise (and fall) of the COVID hysteria.
More indignation, less what to do, but a commitment to a common goal.
The identities of the guilty are named.
The reasons for their betrayal of We The People are surmised.
All in all, a good conversation that may or may not lead to less talk and more action.
What a system we live in.
You can know the bad guys but you can’t do a damn thing about it.
Correction. You can know the bad guys but you can’t do a damn thing about it except talk talk talk.
A phrase from Tom Wait’s song “Heartattack and Vine” comes to mind – “Don’t you know there ain’t no devil, there’s just God when he’s drunk“. Amen:
COVID Memes
Joe’s Garage
Destroyer to Yacht
The uber rich are a wonderful resource.
The very short video below shows the before and after of a navy frigate that does an ugly duckling metamorphic switcheroo and becomes a beautiful yacht.
The rich person or people or organization that paid for the transformation gave a large number of people employment.
Designers. Fabricators. Suppliers. Skilled tradesmen. And don’t forget the crew that keeps the yacht pristine and plying the waters of wherever.
Something you don’t see in Kalamalka Lake:
Small House
This couple decided to build a small house for their aging elders.
Joe reckons this is somewhere in Europe, perhaps eastern Europe.
Great technology.
Great skill sets.
Joe says this couldn’t be done here unless you did it on your own property off grid out of sight and mind of the bureaucrats, standards organizations, and busy bodies.
We can only dream of such freedom: