NO INCOME EQUALS A POOR OUTCOME

 

NO INCOME EQUALS A POOR OUTCOME

An ominous K-shaped economy has emerged.

In the mid-60s a seismic shift occurred in the way governments went about setting budgets goals and how programs were developed and administered.  Balanced budgets became a thing of the past and my father’s sage advice was ignored by all, “If you make a nickel you can’t spend a dime.”  Borrowing.  Credit.  Buy now and pay later.  The government’s parlay to justify this largess in spending; we’re aggressively investing in the future and the expected return on investment will pay off the debt.  And one of the pat phrases used to convey to the public that those elected knew what they were doing: Build it and they will come.  Ask for specifics (what are you building and why and how much will it generate in income?) and the answers turn rather vague and thin.  It is biting us in the ass because all that growth and progress has come at a huge cost.

Borrow and borrow some more.

Horrendous deficits and debt accumulation is now an annual reality for nearly all levels of governments.  And the attitude; if you can’t cover the cost of goods and services, just borrow more.  We’ve even invented some nifty lines to justify the total absence of balanced budgets; deficit financing.  Spread it out across the board—meaning every citizen and that includes all men, women and children—and it doesn’t seem all that bad when you put it that way! Not at first glance anyway.  As the years go by that mole hill of debt has steadily grown into a mountain.  The staggering amount we now owe as citizens is indeed mountainous!  You see, the debt accumulated doesn’t belong to some undefined and mysterious entity.  No.  It’s you and me who are on the hook and all our fellow countrymen.  As long as we’re able to pay the interest to the financial entities holding all that spurious debt, they’re okay with that.  Kind of like paying the minimum on a credit card, which basically means that your debts balloon and balloon.  Interest payments in the billions of dollars are flowing steadily into the pockets of financial institutions, investment groups and wealthy individuals, while simultaneously the average person is turning into the working poor, struggling and seeing progress and lifestyle improvements melting away like the proverbial snow under a hot sun.

Why did we go this route?

Most of my life I have lived in Oxford County, Ontario.  When this area was first settled by pioneers more than century ago there was no such things as an income tax.  People were just starting out, clearing the land and setting the stage for future development, trade and industries.  Schools for instance were paid for by the local population.  There was very little government or oversight because basically livelihoods were carved out of the soil.  Mostly farmers.  Livestock and growing their own crops to sustain themselves and the excess, if any, was sold to slowly grow their farms and the communities they belonged to.  It was also rare for anyone to reach the ripe old age of 60 and child mortality rates were high.  But something happens when prosperity comes knocking on doors.  All of a sudden societies expand rapidly as all that sudden wealth comes with additional needs and demands.  Growth and progress are killers if not restrained and that is something humans suck at.  All those extra people meant that we needed to grow economies rapidly because basically all economies are based on incomes.

Income stupid.  Everything is based on income!

No income, no taxation.  And as governments expand their services to accommodate the increase in human numbers and demands, it can only come from more income.  All income hails from the private sector, from private sector jobs and from the profits their industries (everything that earns capital) generate.  Governments are a cost factor.  All jobs supported by government funding are a cost factor.  And everybody who depends on government support to stay alive and housed, is a cost factor.

Our numbers are killing us.  Progress is killing us.

We went from 2.5 billion people in 1905, when a global population census was taken, to a record 8.3 today.  In 125 years we have added a whopping 6 billion more people and despite all the growth and progress that made those numbers possible, it hasn’t been able to keep up with needs and demands.  Demands vary from nation to nation, from the poorest to the richest, from the least populated to the most densely populated.  Nations are jumping through hoops to keep up and it is only getting worse.  Robots, automation, AI, working faster and harder, it only makes those with the most wealth richer and most of us poorer.  All that borrowing, all that debt, hasn’t led to greater prosperity for all and the financial potholes are draining the energy from governments and communities because this endless round of borrowing is not sustainable.  Increasingly we are borrowing to provide income, creating a vicious cycle of dependency.  And we haven’t given up on the growth syndrome and we stubbornly cling to this silly economic mantra that growth will eventually pay off.  We’re even importing people and subsidizing childbirths.     

And to top it all off, we’re sucking the life out of the planet to keep up this charade of growth and progress.  Hence the heading of this article and I would love to hear your take on the subject.

A K-shaped economy.

Within financial circles the latest buzz word to describe the economy and where we are headed is a K-shaped economy.  In the letter K one leg goes sharply up and the other one goes down.  The one going up representing the rich getting richer and the other one, going down, the poor, indicating they are getting poorer and poorer.  They are diverging lines going in opposite directions.  A troubling scenario.  The one envisioned and preferred is a circular economy (O).  Within the circle everything is constantly reconstituted and redistributed (let’s stick with labor, income and contributing).  We’re talking an economic model that is relevant, healthy and enduring.

Give me an earful.

Feel free to comment or share.  I purposely kept it short and to the point.  The big picture if you like.  It is the impetus of the subject that matters and not details.  When we delve into specifics, anecdotal evidence, motivation, etcetera, we only stray from the origin.  The essence of life is providing for the essentials generated through our labor.  Even a hunter-gatherer had to get up in the morning to make an effort to stay alive and it doesn’t matter how income is earned, obtained or achieved.  That idle hands things comes to mind and that wonderful phrase associated with it; idle hands are the devil’s workshop.  All of us do so much better when meaningfully employed!  When we actually earn an income!  When we contribute!

THE BASTION OF MALE INSECURITY

 

THE BASTION OF MALE INSECURITY

We should all be able to feel proud of who and what we are and not feel threatened or treated with disrespect.

For the record, I do identify as male and personally I’m getting tired of this societal nitpicking of ours and our obsession to tackle the most inconsequential things as worthy of in-depth criticism and in need of evaluation.  How insecure are we?  Anyway, I’m positive that’ll be stirring up some dust and controversy with this article.  Why heap well-deserved scorn upon males when I belong to that part of our species?  Well, stay with me and at the end of this tale you can either bury me with scorn or, bend your head in shame and admit that within the male species there is massive room for improvement.

Since the dawn of mankind we have struggled to explain ourselves.  I purposely chose man (kind), and not woman (kind).  Part of male dominance and insecurity is rooted in the simple fact that from the onset males have ensured that women play second fiddle; makes perfect sense when viewed from a male perspective only! (Something we do on such regular basis that we don’t give it a second thought anymore) 

He, who writes the history defines history!

Males have been responsible for writing more than 90 percent of mankind’s history and for the bulk of all the stories, legends and myths concocted.  All the holy books and scriptures have been written by males.  Very few women were allowed or could contribute because as the saying goes, “Education sets you free,” and that is something males have consistently been able to repel and subdue.  And again, for obvious reasons.  Why would males willingly give up a dominant position? (All of a sudden suffering from a pang of consciousness?)  Shiver me timbers if we had to hand over control to women or were mandated to share on an equal basis.

Men have also been the principal slayers of life throughout recorded history (it must be obvious that we picked those nasty habits up somewhere and archeological evidence of unrecorded times shows plenty of crushed skulls and bones in unearthed graves).  In other words, we have been bad for really long time.

Women in all our stories, tracts and myths, always play a secondary role: window dressing if you like.  Objects of beauty or scorn, willing participants or sacrificial lambs, admired or cursed as villains and seductresses.  We have forced women into so many bizarre roles over time that it is no small wonder that so many of them are confused.  A male prerogative (intent) it seems to keep them off balance and insecure.  Part of that male-driven insecurity strategy and it has been working well.

Male hubris has been inspired by male insecurity; the male species strutting with puffed up chests like peacocks, attracting attention with unrestrained egos.  Men have never been able to accept that what they contribute to life is nothing more than a tiny drop that merely puts the reproductive process into motion.  Other than that, men contribute very little (some claim that going to work and providing is a man’s domain and therefore we do our part, but I only know of a few stay at home dad’s) and it pales in comparison to what women have to go through and what they have to sacrifice.  Decades of their lives and bodies dedicated to delivering, rearing and raising our children.  And who takes the credit?  Who claim all the rights?  Legal rights, ownership, birthrights, lineage and worst of all: control!  You know the answer. 

By deliberately relegating women to inferior roles males remain dominant, in power and in charge.  Not allowing women equal status and equal rights and being able to contribute according to their talents and abilities continues to secure the male’s bastion.  The attempts, mostly by males, to this day and age to deliberately undermine woman’s rights are deliberate and intentional.

Attacking women when they’re most vulnerable.

A lot of women have been conditioned to accept their fate, their perceived role, and not to challenge it.  Men are well aware that women are at their most vulnerable from the time they start menstruating until menopause.  And they have always taken advantage of this, as if a dependency while raising and rearing our offspring equates submission.  Men expect so much more from women; to bear children, to raise them for decades, to cook, clean, to be demure or beautiful, to wait hand foot on the master, to be a hostess or vanish into the background, to be sexy or plain, to only speak when spoken to, to dress according to the master’s wishes and the list of demands and expectations goes on and on.  It’s never enough.  All intended to enforce compliance, submission and acceptance.  In some nations men treat their livestock better than their women.

Education for centuries has been withheld from the majority of women for fear that education would set them free and break those chains of male authority and oppression.  And nations to this day are struggling with this and women around the globe are forced to fight for every scrap of freedom and improved rights, even having to double down fighting efforts to take existing hard-won rights away from them.  Men never have had to do this.  Why?  Because men make the laws and enforce them.  It is that erected bastion of male insecurity, petrified of extending full integration and legal equality to women because it would showcase how ludicrous the male expectations are, the forced compliance and submission and the acceptance of a lesser and inferior role.

Equality is only meaningful if fully embraced.

Men have been at it from the dawn of mankind and have expertly honed their roles as warriors and providers; to be firmly in charge of all decisions, to explain the mysteries of life, all knowing and able to solve all problems.  The image of the strong male.  Virile.  Smart.  Protector and slayer.  What we have done as males in this warped evolutionary process is putting an awful lot of pressure on ourselves and ignoring the obvious contributions women could have made in decision making processes.  How many wars could have been avoided if women were fully consulted prior to the hotheads escaping their parental responsibilities in preference of murder and mayhem and carousing with a band of other men?

With power and control come expectations and responsibilities often ignored.  A lot of our wounds are self-inflicted and fall squarely under that male insecurity syndrome.  Rash in our decisions and with very little or no consultation.  Or sober second thought!

Men have been responsible for the majority of myths and fanciful stories created, mostly intended and designed to hide our basic ignorance and to explain our inherent right to dominate and rule over others, mostly women and those dependent on adult males for protection and care.  A façade of supremacy.

Insecurity.

US president Donald Trump is a prime example of a primate whose insecurity and ignorance comes shining through in full color.  From infancy into adolescence he is the product of a dysfunctional upbringing that turned him into a selfish, narcissistic psychopath upon reaching adulthood.  The fact that he is not bright and poorly educated and that he doesn’t even make an attempt to learn or to act and behave better is obvious in the way he laughs away his lies and inaccuracies.

“I’m just joking with you guys, testing to see whether you pay attention.  I knew the answer.  I know everything.”  Power has gone to this head and in his corner he is surrounded by people who are feeding him his lines.  “We are strong, they are weak.”  His disdain for women, for women’s rights, openly disrespecting race and gender, all are signs of a level of insecurity that is off the charts.  He is an extreme example, but not rare!

The complicity of ignorance.

We have become a species that is not only made to believe, but that prefers to believe, and what we can’t see, feel or comprehend doesn’t really matter.  It only serves to strengthen the ludicrous concepts we have construed to validate roles and expectations.  I will illustrate this with a simple, yet somewhat stomach churning example.

If we could visually observe how food gets broken down inside our stomach and guts we would soon lose our appetite and all of us would be skinny without ever going on a diet.  Once it enters our mouths and we taste every mouthwatering morsel we don’t really pay attention to what happens to it once it disappears down the esophagus.  Out of sight, out of mind.  (Ouch, it must remind us of so many other things that fall in that category)  And the following mornings’ ablutions don’t even resemble what was ingested.  Wipe and flush and all the evidence is gone.

How much attention do we pay to what we do, say, omit, discard, destroy and conveniently forget and ignore?  We behave like that with so many things.  As long as we don’t see it, as long as we’re not reminded, as long as it leaves us alone.  That bastion of male insecurity wasn’t built overnight.  It hails from our primal past and how evolution works in the natural world and we’ve never left that world although we pretend that we have.  Introspection is not our strongest suit.  Rationally contemplating our actions or lack of is often missing.  Mindfulness appreciated but not demanded.

Fairness has never been mandated.

All species survive by cruising on automatic.  Life is basically about surviving with the least amount of effort.  We’re not challenging that superior intelligence of ours to its fullest potential.  Catering to the lowest common denominator is the norm and not the exception.  Males will never conscientiously tackle their insecurity and admit that they constantly take advantage of their gender and role.  Why admit that what we contribute to life is rather miniscule compared to what we could offer if only we made an effort?

Let’s face it and be honest.  In most males the toolbox that dangles between our legs is far from impressive and even a well-hung male without imagination will soon equal disappointment.  Most of the time it hangs there unused and it’s not exactly used in overabundance, unless you’re young and fascinated by the novelty and the surprising results.  But the novelty does wear off.  Men are well aware that it takes more than a penis to impress and it explains why they’re so eager to walk around with big assault rifles and guns. 

Nothing highlights male insecurity better than sexist jokes and portraying women like objects, delighting in their treatment and submission.  And then there are the horrendous number of reported assaults and rapes, partner violence and murder.

Men (On average) can physically best women and humiliate them, but this doesn’t mean that women deserve that kind of treatment, that kind of disrespect.  If women were equal in strength and showed a willingness to use violence and weapons in equal measure, the picture that would emerge would be totally different than the current one. 

 As usual, feel free to comment or share.  Will I be deluged by a storm of outraged male testosterone or will this article evoke a pause, a reconsideration of our role and that there is vast room for improvement?

 

STIRRING UP A HORNET’S NEST

 

I don’t recommend that you try out the following experiment, but just take my word for it.  Throw a rock at a hornet’s nest and the hornets will come out fast and furious, hopping mad and ready to sting anything on sight.  With their nest destroyed they may disperse, but they will find a way to regroup and build a new nest and when it comes to destroying a human hornet’s nest it will come replete with long lingering memories and with sharpened stingers that can’t wait to retaliate.

The current batch of aggressors that are attacking Iran and turning the entire Middle East into a charnel house, are so high on testosterone that they have lost sight, not only of their humanity, but what they hope to achieve with their punitive, one-sided actions.  For the uninitiated, Iran has never been in a position to threaten anyone because western powers have consistently interrupted their nuclear program with bombing raids and acts of sabotage.  Punitive sanctions have impoverished and undermined the ability of its people to create a meaningful economy.  Sectarian regimes are also notorious for concentrating on the hearts and minds of the faithful, rather than on all matters economic and political.  Afghanistan is a prime example of how quickly sectarian governments stagnate and isolate themselves.

No real resistance.

Iran is not in a position to wage an effective counter offensive against Israel and the United States.  They lack the military hardware and sophistication to launch a counter attack.  But they are hitting back.  By attacking neighboring states that support American bases and troops they are widening the conflict and provoking others to join in.  This so-called limited military action to invoke regime change has the power to embroil the entire region into a drawn-out conflict.  Keep the Americans bottled up and let the war expenses go through the roof.  It worked for the Taliban!  They know that the Americans have no appetite for putting boots on the ground.  Their track record from Vietnam to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria has been disastrous.  The indiscriminate bombing and the outright murder of innocent civilians will only incite hatred and that is the proverbial hornet’s nest.  The devastation on the ground, the casualties and the horrendous damage inflicted will not be mitigated and replaced by lofty promises once the dust settles on this conflict.  And it will.  Eventually all conflicts grind to a halt.  What regime change will look like is anyone’s guess and it could end up being worse than the one it may replace.

A bankrupt nation reaching out with bankrupt solutions.

The United States is basically broke and soon enough there won’t be enough cash on hand to keep their ships afloat and prevent all that military hardware from rusting in a junkyard.  The United States is leading the global pack when it comes to incurring huge debts.  They’re not alone.  All levels of government and governments in general are keeping themselves afloat on a sea of red ink.  Trump and company are reaching out with pathetic attempts to shore up the American economy and their standing in the world, but there are no prizes out there big enough to compensate for the losses incurred and the amount of debt accumulated.

Shooting sitting ducks.

This is not a war with two equal parties dueling it out.  This is not a battle that will go down in history as a heroic fight, but as a nasty group of belligerents using their weapon’s superiority like shooting fish in a barrel.  No fair contest here.  Nothing to be proud of.  Vainglorious posturing and they have the audacity to congratulate themselves on their destructive capabilities.  What Iran is able to retaliate with can be compared to poking a weak straw at a huge hornet’s nest.  The behavior of the current batch of aggressors, the United States, Israel and Russia, is no better than thugs beating up a helpless homeless person. 

When it comes to foreign affairs and international diplomacy trust is a crucial element.  Respecting the sovereignty of other nations a cornerstone in negotiations.  Basically showing respect.  Between the current batch of bad actors, the United States, Israel and Russia, their lack of consultation and unilateral acts of war and aggression, doesn’t sit well with allies, neighbors and nations that find themselves at the receiving end of punitive threats and tariffs.

There are no winners.

Under the direction of Trump and company America will only further isolate itself and when they declare insolvency nobody will come to their aid.  Under the tutelage and lobbying pressures applied by America’s wealthiest we have witnessed America’s manufacturing base shrinking and leaving for more profitable shores.  The United States, no matter what hoops it tries to jump through, will not reverse this process and restore domestic jobs and prosperity.  Greed is no longer restricted by borders and generous election donations will keep the wealthy insulated and protected.  There are other global players but they are wisely staying on the sidelines.  For now!

China and India are struggling with huge population numbers that are dragging their economies down.  Government programs and services to keep the masses from rebelling are costly and unsustainable.  At the moment they are content to stand back and watch how the United States drains itself financially and politically.  Russia is a sad sideshow and has turned into a tattered old bear with a network of crooked politicians having joined forces with criminal gangs to rob the nation blind and to keep the masses in a state of perpetual poverty and ignorance.  Within the fragile state of overall global decline there is not a single opportunity out there for any nation to emerge as a winner or to claim supremacy.  Creating an existentialist crisis will only hasten the existentialist crises we face as a species as planet Earth cannot sustain the ballooning human numbers in the face of a finite physical reality (the planet doesn’t expand like a balloon), dwindling natural resources and opportunities.

Physical wealth in the form of money, precious metals, gems, gold or properties mean absolutely nothing in the face of existential decline and with billions of people scrambling for leftovers, desperate to stay alive.

Die-off.

Species extinction has taken place for billions of years and is as old as the planet itself.  We would be naïve to assume that it can’t happen to us.  What we have done to ourselves and the planet in a few millennia surpasses anything that has come and happened before us, and we’ve done it in record time!  I don’t think we will be done in by nukes (if all else fails, let it all go to hell, a favorite expression from the recent past’s worst psychopath, Adolf Hitler), but by our numbers, ignorance and a superior intelligence we have used to devise horrible weapons of mass destruction.  To top it off, we are increasingly progressing with what can only be described as the most asinine political decisions, human actions and activities.

We're not all that bright either!

We’re not exempt.

We are no different than any other lifeforms we share the planet with and that should be a sobering wakeup call.  The energy intake needed to sustain our species is no different than what the natural world needs to survive.  But in our case it only takes a heck of a lot more to keep everything going, and more is not what we’re left with.

To justify the recent descent into violence in the Middle East all parties involved are ramping up the rhetoric, rumors and speculative stories about potential threats.  No attempts are made to deescalate and turn down the heat.  And again, we once more follow the predictable path that all conflicts take.  Iran is a sad example of past colonial interference, attempts at regime change and failing to respect Iran as a sovereign nation.  The current regime is sectarian in nature and more concerned with daily prayer, the hearts and minds of its people, than running a nation based on sound economic practices, trade and engaging respectfully with potential partners.  Unfortunately you don’t sustain bellies on prayer alone and it doesn’t stop intelligent people from wanting to take part in a progressive society that wants to be part of the real world, and not one dictated by an oppressive sectarian regime obsessed with saving souls.  However, it is up to the Iranian people to decide, not through interference by third parties, and most definitely not by bombing the hell out of the nation.

And as far as the aggressors is concerned: You can’t stay where you are not wanted and you can’t take what doesn’t belong to you.  These lines are not mentioned anywhere in the bible or the Koran, but it should be enshrined in the constitution of every nation—in bold letters!

And we should all remember:

Justice perverted is justice denied.

Feel free to comment or share.  I would like to thank the increasing number of people who enjoy reading my blog.  Become a follower and make it even easier to receive your weekly segment.

 CREATING AN EXISTENTIALIST CRISIS

All wars are the result of gross incompetence and ignorance.

If an alien species were able to look in and observe what is taking place on our planet today and compare it to what they have witnessed in the past, they must be scratching their heads in disbelief at the antics displayed by the U.S, Israel and Russia.  The unapologetic display of violence and war and the indiscriminate destruction of civilian properties and lives and using military might to demoralize and destabilize a nation.  For some unfathomable reason nations such as mine—Canada—are going along with the phony rationale provided by the aggressors.  Without delving into past history to any great extent—forty six years ago regime change in Iran was welcomed by its people because the then Shah of Iran—known at the time as the peacock throne because of his lavish spending—was not only corrupt, his was a regime of intimidation enforced by a security force known for its brutality (and now they want to replace the current leadership with the son!).  And as far as Iran having nuclear power that could potentially lead to nuclear arms development, well, that monkey left the cage a long time ago and it is not up to us to decide who is a rogue nation and who is not, who can have nuclear weapons and who cannot.

Justice perverted is justice denied.

Disrespect the sovereignty of nations and reap the consequences.

I would like to point out the obvious and that the current batch of aggressors could be labelled as having gone rogue.  Invading other nations, indiscriminate bombing, regime change, kidnapping, crimes against humanity, incarceration of civilians, deportations, renditions, flouting international laws, sanctions and the sorry list of misdeeds is ongoing.  If these nations cannot respect the sovereignty of other nations, then nobody is safe and that includes Canada.  According to these bad actors any excuse will do because nobody is going to stop them.  Not yet.

When Nazi Germany started its expansionist drive it gave Hitler the impression that the world feared his power and were unable and unwilling to stop him.  Hitler ignored the simple reality that none of the ‘sane’ leaders wanted another world war.  Trump, Putin and Netanyahu are not taking a calculated risk by taking advantage based on what they feel is their superior position and strength, they are advancing on the delusional beliefs that they can get away with it.  Ignorant, narcissistic fools, who, rather than paying attention to past history lessons, are actually convinced that wars are winnable.

Creating a crisis

Why did I pick this particular heading?  A nation can experience an existentialist crisis brought on by natural disasters, climate change, epidemics, all of them factors beyond anyone’s control.  Our species is struggling globally because of our numbers, needs and demands.  A massive amount of government debt and annual budget deficits are crippling programs and services.  Combine this with religious strife, refugees and mass illegal migrations, job cuts and loss of income and you create a level of unrest within the masses that will soon turn into a highly combustible powder keg.  Throw into this mix a batch of elected and self-appointed psychopathic leaders with massive egos and any lack of restraint, and hello, we’ve got a world once more on the brink of war.

How quickly things can change!

America after World War I and II became a global leader and powerhouse, a lender of money (not borrowing), and the worlds’ biggest supplier of consumer goods.  Within less than half a century they have turned that superior edge on its heads and are now the dubious holder of over thirty trillion dollars of debt.  Their military presence around the globe with a million people in uniform permanently stationed abroad, combined with massive military investments to provide them with the latest and most impressive lethal weapons, has brought them on the precipice of insolvency.

Basically America is bankrupt and attempting to restore the empire through threats, tariffs and invasions will only hasten the demise.  America’s wounds are self-inflicted and putting profits before people is the main reason why they find themselves in this precarious position.  Pure greed encouraged the wealthiest Americans to abandon their manufacturing base in exchange for the pyrotechnics of financial stock speculation.  The number of questionable financial vehicles in use resemble a Las Vegas gambling den.  It has made a select few people incredibly rich at the expense of the average worker who has seen jobs evaporate and incomes stagnate.

A borrowed affluence.

America has kept up the pretense of wealth by keeping government budgets, services and programs afloat on a sea of red ink.  Ancient Rome suffered a gradual decline because of relatively sparsely populated areas and a slow level of global progress and the lack of an active and organized resistance.  Communist Russia collapsed in record time because of their expansionist drive, government overreach and ideological stupidity.  We are now living in an era of interconnectedness where all the parts have to work in synchronicity to deliver the goods and services people need to survive.  Because of our huge numbers and demands it is absolutely crucial that trade and commerce work seamlessly together.  The days are gone that a single nation can afford to go rogue and pretend that they can rule the world and do as they please.

War has never been a solution.

The reluctance of the rest of the world to stand up against Putin, Trump and Netanyahu has nothing to do with fear, but with the acknowledgement that a global conflict will turn billions of people into losers.  These three crackpots are advancing based on their egos and a total lack of empathy and responsibility.  Putin is trying to regain control of a Russia that is kept afloat on a level of criminal corruption that defies description.  Trump is pushed along by a delusional coterie of rightwing populists desperate to protect and restore what America used to be and creating crisis after crisis to confuse and distract the American public.  None of these incompetents have a clue as to what they’re doing.

Netanyahu is dealing with a totally different conundrum, but it is one Israel has cultivated for decades without letup by ignoring the plight of non-Israeli citizens within their borders and failing to reach out to them with compromise and democratic power sharing.  Instead they have steadily driven a wedge between themselves, the Palestinians and other Arab nations.  Might doesn’t make right.  Under Netanyahu the rhetoric and attacks have only escalated and they have pushed themselves and their adversaries to a point of no return.  They have turned an unwillingness to compromise and negotiate into an existentialist crisis of their own making.

Pathetic excuses!

All aggressors are using their misguided and temporary military supremacy to advance their political and economic strategies at the expense of neighbors, friends, allies and sovereign nations turned into foes because its suits their objectives.  When Hitler started his expansion of Nazi Germany he relied on the same delusional tactics currently deployed by the U.S., Russia and Israel.  And as far as the rest of the world is concerned, we’re not wringing our hands in despair and we’re not impressed by their strength or level of bullying, but none of us are willing to give up on peace and dialogue, because war is the last resort when it boils down to ineptitude and abject human failure.  In a world faced with some staggering economic, environmental and resource issues we simply can’t afford to waste or destroy anything.

The European Union is a prime example of a cooperative relationship that emerged after several disastrous wars and centuries of conflicts.  A growing number of European nations decided it was time to integrate economies and to work together and put an end to trade conflicts, borders and military saber rattling.  Canada, the U.S. and Mexico have successfully integrated their economies for decades, only to see it ripped apart under Trump and his baseless accusations of the world taking advantage of the U.S. and underscoring his displeasure with a barrage of insults and personal attacks.

Create an existentialist crisis if you run out of excuses.

What has emerged in the U.S. is a picture of denial, of decades of overspending and an obsession with being the world’s biggest superpower.  It has been a costly and counterproductive experience.  Trying to divide and control the world through spheres of influence is part of a post-colonial residue that continues to linger through the chambers of former colonizers.  Occupation, regime change and meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations and especially with gun diplomacy, has never worked, nor have tariffs, sanctions, blockades and punitive duties.  People like Trump, Putin and Netanyahu are great a starting a brawl and then they step back and leave it to the masses to get their hands dirty and clean up after them.

 Iran is a typical example of post-colonial interference and has been the recipient of a number of unfortunate attempted regime changes by Western powers.  They could have been an ally and a much valued trading partner.  But Western powers have always wanted it all—the oil and control.  We can no longer afford to elect and select crackpots to lead nations.  The entire notion that you can fix your problems by taking what belongs to others has no place in today’s world.  We need to grow up and act like responsible adults.

Whose next?

The interference in the affairs of sovereign nations has to stop because if we don’t then we can’t complain if that same fate is laid down at our own doorstep.  You know the saying, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”  Canada could well become the next target for a takeover if Trump and company proclaim to the world that we should always have been one nation.  In other words, making it sound as if he is doing us a favor.  Did Hitler care about how pathetic his excuses sounded when he absorbed Austria and Sudetenland into the German Reich?  They even had a wonderful term for it: Anschluss, as in a coming together of nations because of a common ancestry, language and culture.  We have become experts a talking a crooked line straight!

Feel free to comment or share.

If you ignore relevance, the truth no longer matters and facts are whatever you want them to be.  I don’t write to be right, but to inform and to be relevant.

EOG DRIVEN

 

EGO DRIVEN

When big egos abandon reason we need to fear the unreason they’re about to unleash.

There are examples galore in the natural world of a pecking order, as in who gets to lead and who follows, who gets to eat first and the most, and who eats last; keeping claws or feet crossed, hoping that something will be left.  Anyone who follows my blogs or reads my books knows that I’m a lion fan.  They are just such majestic beasts.  The lion is often referred to as the king of the animal world; strong, fearless and a born predator.  Those who are the biggest, strongest and most determined get to lead and they will do anything to stay on top; killing rivals and if a challenger succeeds in taking over another troop and defeats its leader, he may even kill its offspring and insert his own sperm in the females to assert his dominance.  He.  There are few dominant females in the animal world, in the bigger species that is.  Bees are not exactly a threat to male dominance.  It is however on full display in the human species and when it comes to dominance it is pretty well restricted to males as aggressive, dominant females are a rare exception.  Indira, Margaret and Golda, hats off to you girls, but you’re not in the same league as the worst male offenders when it comes to starting wars and sowing the seeds of destruction.

Ego and momentum.

I am once more going out on a limb and state that the egos in our most aggressive males follow the same pattern as energy and momentum as described in my novel, Energy & Origin.  (It is available on KDP Amazon.ca) (Energy & Origin by W.M.A. Bes) (This is a novel that anyone reading my blog should purchase as it explains not only our origin, but where we are headed and why).  The way energy behaves and dissipates depends by and large on circumstance.  In nature it is affected by dozens of factors ranging from wind, sun, temperature, tides, gravity, natural events and many more.  In humans a far more direct and impactful factor impacts on how well or how poorly we act and behave.  Ego plays a huge role, especially in bad actors and it only takes a few of them to bring the house down.  Referring once more to my novel and its main premise: energy created life and life is energy.  A superior intake and use of energy predicates how well a species will do.  And now we come to the crux of this article and where I am headed with this.

I am not aware if in the animal world ego plays a big role, because I suspect evolutionary development is far more instinctive and predicated on necessary evolutionary traits and habits than the ego present in the human species, which is far more suspect for its duplicity and many fraudulent uses.  Why would human egos follow the unpredictable patterns of energy and momentum to a much greater extent than that of species in the natural world?  How does it show?  Where does it show?  And why is the impact of huge human egos much more extreme?

I am of course going to concentrate on the egos of the worst human offenders amongst us.  My ego doesn’t really account for much and if there is an impact (if there ever was), I don’t think anybody has ever noticed or paid attention to it.

Going back to the lion pride.  The big brute leading the troop gets all the attention and his pick of the ladies and the rest are followers left with specific tasks and orders, basically relegated to do the heavy lifting, rearing and providing.  There are distinct correlations between the natural world and how humans act and behave.  Further proof that the apple (ape) doesn’t fall far from the tree and that our descent hails from natural selection and not divine interference.

You only need to follow history and without fail all its pages are filled with the anecdotal tales of the puffed up male egos that have raged across the continents sowing the seeds of death and destruction.  Nearly all of the recorded incidents follow the logical path of energy and momentum, a lot of negative energy bundling with such intensity that is ends in a huge eruption of violence until it gradually dissipates.  Rare are the stories of leaders stepping back from the brink of disaster and deciding to make peace, rather than war.  If it did happen it was usually because they either ran out of money or bad weather cancelled their invasion plans. 

Politicians start wars with words and the masses end up fighting them with bullets.

Canadian author, Margaret Macmillan, wrote a marvelous novel titled—Paris, 1919.  It is about the peace conference that took place in Paris in the aftermath of World War I.  She alluded several times in her novel that all attempts at diplomacy failed to prevent war and how it utterly failed to prevent the next one.  Once human egos are ruffled like the proverbial feathers it only intensifies the rhetoric that flows from their mouths.  In other words, none step back.  Diplomatic efforts fall on deaf ears and the belligerents don’t know how to step back without losing face.  Admitting defeat is not in the ego cards.  Big egos don’t tolerate failure.   A loss of dominance.  Of power and control.  Egos get in the way of prudence and taking responsibility for words and actions.  Once egos lose control of a situation all hell will break lose and gives credence to the saying: Hell is empty because all the devils are here.

Yes, the devils are alive and well and living amongst us.

Israel’s retaliation after Hamas infiltrated and killed hundreds of innocent civilians and held hundreds more hostage is an indication of a nation reacting with an intensity that borders on the insane.  Gaza nearly bombed into oblivion with incessant bombing raids and Hamas unable to respond in kind because they simply lack the ability.  The negative energy unleashed will have consequences for decades to come.  Putin’s relentless attacks on Ukraine is another example of an ego gone rogue and spinning out of control.  Although many more factors come into play, it is Putin’s supersized ego that is running the show.  In all of modern recent history I can’t think of two individuals who have done more damage in the past few years than Putin and Trump.  There is no rhyme or reason as to their actions and levels of aggression.  Both have oversized egos that lack a moral compass and any kind of empathy.  Casualties mean nothing to those two.  Power has become an obsession for them.  What they have set in motion has to run its course.  Negative energy bundling in intensity and when it finally explodes we can only fear the worst.

World War I was basically started by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.  Eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria and cousin to the King of England and the Tsar of Russia.  For a Prussian born child destined to take over the crown from his father and born with a limp left arm due to complications at childbirth it helped create an unstable individual.  From the onset he was basically saddled with an inferiority complex that haunted him his entire life.  He could never be the soldier he wanted to be and live up to the image of his warrior ancestors.  Instead he responded by abusing his absolute, autocratic power and bullied everyone around him.  The army loved him because he loved to strut around in uniforms bedecked with medals.  He was obsessed with military might as it made up for his physical shortcomings.  While he was Kaiser the army build up its arsenal to astounding levels and history once more tells us that you don’t make huge investments in your military unless you’re getting ready to use that power.  Willing to attack.  Willing to declare war. 

Look at the trillions of dollars the US has spent and is spending on the most impressive and destructive military hardware ever designed and deployed.  When it comes to the military and intent certain axioms come into play.

1-    You either use it or lose it!

2-    You don’t escalate investments into the military and military readiness without going to war and using all that impressive hardware.  (Trial runs with isolated actions such as in Iran, Yemen and Venezuela serve to verify lethality and effectiveness).

3-    How do you justify such a huge expense of public tax dollars if it has little or no other purpose than to serve as a deterrent?

4-    You can’t justify a huge expenditure in military spending unless you’re preparing for war.

5-    The momentum put into motion by big egos hell-bent on provoking conflict will eventually affect everything and everybody as getting ready for war includes massaging the egos of the masses in convincing them of imminent threats to their safety and security.  (Unless I get Greenland and Canada we can’t protect ourselves from a northern invasion by Russia and China)  (Hello, if I wanted to invade either nation I would go straight to their harbors and I would invade Canada by going into Halifax or Vancouver and not through the frozen North).

Big egos thrive on confrontation.

We need to pay attention when big egos are actively undermining global rules of engagement, using threats and punitive actions to advance their agendas; declarations of intent to territorial acquisitions and aggressively pursuing energy and resources from nations under their sphere of influence.  And when they use bullying tactics to get what they want it quickly leads to an abandoning of any attempt at normalcy, of common sense, reason and adhering to the rule of law.  All pretense of meaningful negotiations are abandoned.  They are counting on any opposition to crumble.  Crank up the threats, allude to occupation and invasion.  Find convenient scapegoats, within a nation and outside.  Raise the levels of fear and paranoia to such an extent that the masses will fall in line and comply.  They will sign up by the tens of thousands and die by the tens of thousands, by the million.  And in this day and age it will be billions!

Once big egos start to push the war button they are literally backing themselves into a corner of no return.  Can you imagine either Putin or Trump apologizing for their erratic actions and inappropriate behaviors?  They are totally delusional when it comes to their power and how far they’re willing to go to exercise it.

Whether at Davos or G7 meetings, it is obvious that none of the sane world leaders have a clue how to deal with Trump and Putin.  Both of these men defy the norm, of what they’re used to dealing with.  Diplomacy, respectful meetings, recognizing the sovereignty of nations and that you don’t break agreements and memberships in global organizations and treaties whenever you feel like it.  Thumb your nose at international law.  Insult neighbors and allies.  Strut around like an imperial Roman emperor.  In order for global affairs to run smoothly you need solid anchors, leaders that are willing to recognize the challenges and limitations and that one needs to negotiate in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

After World War II, the then US Secretary of State, George C. Marshall, recognized that the mistakes made after World War I could not be repeated.  At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 hefty penalties were levied on Germany.  The reparation payments were huge and crippled Germany’s efforts to rebuild its economy and as French general Ferdinand Foche prophetically announced towards the end of the conference, “This is not peace.  It’s an armistice for 20 years.”  And how correct he was.  Within two decades the world was once more engulfed in war.

Big egos on either side of the fence are capable of making serious errors in judgement.  The urge to retaliate is strong.  Big egos put into motion the same laws of physics that impact on energy and momentum.  Crank up the intensity and the energy release will be profound.  In physics some elements work very well together and others cause explosive results when combined.  Our world can be a place of wonder and prosperity, of peace and harmony.  However, there is not enough room in this article to describe all the sources of negative energy emanating from the thousands of activities our species is involved in on a daily basis.  It is never just one thing.  It is a gradual bundling of a lot of factors spinning out of control.  Big, nasty egos ride to the fore when the masses become restless and it is so easy to take advantage of an ugly mood souring the mood of nations.  Once the wrong people are in charge it becomes increasingly difficult to undo what has been set in motion.

Empires in trouble rarely go away quietly.  Success can go to your head!  Most empires have an awesome an impressive initial start and they usually implode at the apex of their power and even big egos discover to their chagrin that even their massive egos will not sustain the inevitable.

Leading the pack of negatives are debt, deficits and unsustainable budgets, loss of income and prices spiraling out of control, job losses and economic pressures and stagnation.  Those are the biggies.  Throw into this mix cultural and social issues and the fuse that leads to the powder keg is begging to be lit.

Energy, whether positive or negative, is never constant and predictable, neither is it one-dimensional or one-directional.  This is reflected in the erratic behavior of energy and momentum and it also explains the see-saw nature of civilizations and their rise and fall.  It never follows predictable patterns.  There are common denominators, but that’s all.  Both the US and Russia are struggling at this point in time because they have reached their apex and they are impacted by circumstances over which they have little or no control.

It is obvious that both nations are going for the full monte and are headed for a massive global confrontation that will drag the rest of the world down with them.  Big egos will prevent a peaceful dissolution from taking place and when it comes to last minute miracles and happy endings, I’m not a big believer nor a fan.  Why do we go along with these charades?  We’re not only creatures created by energy and dependent on energy, we’re incessantly driven along by energy and momentum and this force is unstoppable and it has no conscious or a soul.  As far as falling for big egos and their big lies; we’re only human and people believe what they want to believe.  Beginning with their own lies.

Isn’t it sad though that it only takes a few, nasty big egos to set the world on fire!

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