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Of Avalanches and Tipping Points
Of Avalanches and Tipping Points
What a difference a few days can make. Less than a week ago, it appeared on the surface that the powers that be were firmly in control of the reactor control room, the core was safely contained and electricity was being produced to power the promised economic recovery. But underneath the facade, it was becoming increasingly obvious that maintenance had been deferred for years, the staff was woefully inadequate for the task ahead, someone was sabotaging the system and we were headed for a meltdown of biblical proportions. But all that has changed now that Goldman Sachs (GS) has been hauled before the bar, right?
Well………could someone please tell me exactly what has changed over the past week, other than the emotional perspective of the Zero Hedge community? While it’s been immensely gratifying to discover that the SEC may have actually grown a set of big ones, how long has it been since it became obvious that GS and company were manipulating the markets with their thumbs on the scale? And yet only now is there a lawsuit and only civil in nature? Instead of focusing on the facts of the lawsuit itself, shouldn’t we instead be asking the not so obvious questions of why now, why this, why so little, why not before and what is to come?
Was the near parabolic stock market pump of the past 6 weeks the normal blow off phase of a bear market rally or did the powers that be (TPTB) encourage the market rise in anticipation of an intended change of direction? Are they about to plunge the market into a tailspin in order to produce the expected fear and divert attention from the distorted legal machinations or are they just reloading the shorts? If we are to accept that there’s a Plunge Protection Team (PPT) and the Ponzi is being pushed forward in the interest of the powerful, or even for national security reasons, then why confuse things now? Why introduce legal jeopardy when it’s so vulnerable to reversal, why push the market’s progression for an entire year without a reasonable pause somewhere along the way and then introduce an unknown? One should be spurred to ask basic questions, though the Ponzi would prefer we lay back and enjoy the nonstop ride to nirvana and seventh heaven. They’ve conditioned us not to question the surprise offer of water after we’ve wandered for years in a parched and barren desert. But I will ask questions.
The danger lay in accepting superficial answers to satisfy hard questions, of accepting the self deception that’s offered to satisfy our ego, bias or prejudice. If one accepts the Ponzi’s presumption that “We the People” are essentially powerless, that our efforts to restore our liberty and freedom are useless, then why bring this lawsuit to begin with? If we’re only now beginning to understand that most of what we see and perceive as reality is all a carefully constructed illusion, doesn’t logic dictate that we view this lawsuit and every associated player with a great deal of skepticism? Isn’t it time to abandon the familiar hamster wheel and seek new ways of perceiving that which stares us in the face? For all that we don’t know about the masters of the universe, we do know one thing; they will continue to weave their web of deception and subterfuge until it’s no longer effective.
In no way am I saying that it’s a waste of time to cheer on this lawsuit or any that follow. Nor am I saying that the results of the lawsuit are preordained and we cannot change the path or the result. What I am saying is that if we accept that the SEC has finally grown a pair and thus back off in the hope they’ll actually use them, we’ll soon be handed our own on a silver (plated) platter. This entire affair is being orchestrated (how little or how much can be endlessly debated) and as long as we play our expected part, it will progress more or less as planned. From the Ponzi’s point of view, it really doesn’t matter how the actual details unfold because if they have anything to say about it (and they do) they won’t allow it to result in power being returned to the people, assuming we ever had any power to begin with. But this by no means implies that it’s hopeless and thus futile. On the contrary, I firmly believe just the opposite.
Of concern to me are the increasingly loud proclamations that a rising tide is building against the Goldman Sachs machine and its various cohorts in crime. I see comments suggesting this is only the beginning, that other Ponzi machines such as Bank of America, Citigroup or J.P. Morgan are next in line for the chopping block. I hear talk we’ve reached a tipping point now that the SEC has revealed its new found manhood, that an avalanche is about to be released upon the mighty powers that be and their Ponzi machine. But I hear nothing about the need for continued individual effort or the necessity for us to remain at the oars. And why should we, you might ask, now that the SEC is on point and fully loaded for bear? Wait, what’s that I hear? Ah yes, don’t we just love the seductive call of the beautiful temptress Siren?
While I cautiously encourage such bold discussion for it helps rebuild much needed morale among the depleted and exhausted Zero Hedge community, let’s not be foolishly blind as we drink the communal victory wine. Let me offer up some questions for all of us to ponder. What will trigger this avalanche and from what energy source will it derive its destructive power? Who would be so foolish as to think they can control this rampaging white death once it’s been released from captivity or does it even matter? Are we so hopelessly witless that we’ll once again lay down arms and quickly back off when we hear their whispered words of contrition and remorse? Will we prove once again that there are no bigger fools in the house than us or will we finally learn that when we find one cockroach there are hundreds left to be discovered? There’re a few more questions I could ask but I suspect you’re getting the message.
I’ve been wracking my brain trying to remember the title of an article I read some months ago about avalanche and landslide formation to offer as a reference. But the source escapes me so I’ll simply explain what it has to do with where we are today. In an effort to understand how natural avalanches and landslides form (as well as those caused by human activity) and what is the trigger or tipping point that turns what appears to be a stable formation into a raging rush of destruction, researchers modeled avalanche and landslide creation inside a high speed computer. For simplicity, a mathematical representation of a particle of snow/sand was created and then pile after pile of these particles were fashioned one particle at a time, each falling in random locations in order to watch the process unfold. After running the high speed program thousands of times, some interesting observations were made.
The prior assumption was that whole areas of instability slowly built until one last particle overwhelmed the bonds between each particle and their natural resistance to movement, setting the avalanche in motion. What the scientists found instead was something quite different than expected, with fingers and threads of instability weaving their way in and out, around and through the pile, fingers that were slowly but inevitably changing from one dropped particle to the next. At times and as expected, a large mass of instability would develop and suddenly let go. But more often than not, what happened was that small and sometimes insignificant fingers of instability would suddenly extend or broaden over a very short period of time to create an avalanche in unexpected areas or ways. They found that there was a significant amount of randomness in the formation and creation of avalanches and that the tipping point was rarely obvious or quantifiable. Thus the illusion of easily triggered avalanches using explosives hid a much more complex dynamic playing out, which helped to explain sudden and unexpected avalanches in mountainous terrain.
The one thing that remained assumed and thus essentially unspoken was the power source behind the avalanche, something immediately obvious when you think back to your high school physics class and ponder the difference between potential and kinetic energy. Each particle of snow contains a tiny amount of potential energy as it rests on the mountain side. It is the tiny kinetic energy release of a few final falling particles that suddenly unlocks the vast available potential energy of sections of the pile. But it wasn’t so much the cumulative weight added by the final particles (or other energy inputs from wind, sun or other falling items) that breaks the bonds that bind but rather a complex sequence of shifting forces between particles and the fingers of instability that actually triggers and releases the avalanche to plunge down the hill on its path of massive destruction. Let’s not forget that it’s the unseen and often unnoticed force of gravity that is the ultimate source of the potential energy inside each particle and thus of the avalanche. While our gaze is fixed upon the illusion that the snow is the culprit and the explosive a trigger, it’s gravity that’s actually doing most of the work. Let’s keep that in mind as we return to the SEC.
From my point of view, there’s no way in hell the powers that be would have allowed the SEC to file this lawsuit unless they felt they could control the avalanches triggered by the lawsuit, including those not of their own making. And the reason for this supreme confidence can be summed up by their experience in avalanche control, accumulated over thousands of years and from countless complex political and social situations. They play upon our desire to self deceive rather than face the monster within our own borders and our own minds. When measuring a man’s fight one must always examine his psychological will, not just his physical being. The powers that be are experts at feeding our propensity to self deceive while building up and then destroying the individual and collective will to resist. But of equal importance, they skillfully dissipate potential energy by way of strategic releases, such as the public bloodletting of the Roman Coliseum, the righteous religious wars of the Crusades, the politically orchestrated charade of the ballot box or the perp walk and SEC lawsuit.
But still we must not forget that ultimately they’re playing with an all consuming fire which acknowledges no difference between fire starter and fireman and which can always reverse course and consume the agent that ignited it. The elite fear this hidden weakness and hope we remain ignorant of their Achilles Heel, which explains their constant propaganda barrage and skilful use of fear and reward to mold us to their will. Their egos are fanned by the supreme confidence born of countless victories over the plebs and their dizzying array of wealth and power. So they confidently run the same suite of confidence games time after time with only minor variations to suit current conditions and they appear to succeed in their quest for overall control. After all, the oldest tricks are the best tricks, particularly when the con is welcomed by the majority as an excuse to remain victimized and powerless and thus safe from the boogeyman created within the propagandized and conditioned mind.
However, while the powers that be may appear to control the avalanche, they’re seduced and blinded by their own illusion. They can never control the fingers and ribbons of instability woven throughout the pile. They can only trigger the avalanche using relatively crude tools while also distracting and confusing those who remain in its path below. And while up to now this has been sufficient to realize their goals, I believe their methods will ultimately lead to severe problems for them if we can introduce additional and unexpected instability into the mix. For it is within these fingers of instability that I find the greatest hope that the tide can be turned. And they recognize this as well. As proof, all I need do is point to the growing defensive positions the elite are erecting to illustrate that my outlook is realistic and not simply a self delusion or fantasy. They recognize their own weakness and are mounting the classic defense, one of overpowering force against an equally powerful foe. You do not defend yourself from that which you do not fear. So if they do not fear us, who or what are they preparing to defend themselves from? If you think it is Al Qaeda, it’s time you backed off the Kool-Aid.
Let’s look at the SEC lawsuit from a different point of view. In the ultimate game of freeway chicken between the Ponzi and “We the People” the Ponzi just blinked big time. Since early 2007 it’s been obvious that corruption, self dealing and influence peddling were rampant within the securities and banking industry and yet collectively the SEC, FINRA, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC did ZIP, as in Zero Interest in Prosecuting. Even leading up to the 2008 election, when you would have thought considerable political pressure to prosecute would have been exerted on the SEC, nothing was done; there wasn’t a peep from any of these agencies. Now out of nowhere comes a fraud lawsuit against Goldman Sachs and plenty of huffing and puffing to boot. After three years of silence and stonewalling, a time during which the powers that be supposedly exercised their ability to do as they please, suddenly they allow a move against Goldman Sachs? Really? I call that a big time flinch and I don’t care why they acted. In fact, the why doesn’t matter at all because they have two paths they can take and both can be covered.
If the SEC is really sincere (please don’t laugh) then we should applaud their efforts and ask for more. “Thank you SEC for your diligent efforts against Goldman Sachs. Give me more. In fact, what can I do to help?” If they really want to jail the bad guys we should not only loudly encourage them every step of the way but demand more of the same. Since they now have claimed the moral and legal high ground after years of silence, let’s give them all the rope they need to hang themselves. It doesn’t matter what the reasons are for the political stagecraft. I agree, the lawsuit could very well have been initiated to smooth passage of a new regulatory bill or to revive sagging poll numbers before the off year elections. It doesn’t matter one bit. Give them more rope than they can handle and then help them tie the hangman’s knot.
If on the other hand they’re going through the motions in order to continue the illusion that we live in a representative republic, we simply call their bluff and shout as loud and as often as we can the same thing. “Thank you SEC for your diligent efforts against Goldman Sachs. Give me more. In fact, what can I do to help?” It matters not their real motives because no matter which way they turn, we will vigorously support them by demanding even more. They either bring many more prosecutions or they shut up and remove all doubt that we now live in a fascist state. A salesman is taught that after the product pitch has been made and the prospect is primed, you ask them to buy and then you shut your mouth, regardless how long the uncomfortable pause drags out. The first one to speak loses and in my book the SEC lawsuit was a very loud and public admission that the powers that be lost this round. They blinked, so now no matter what we press. They claim they wish to corral the bad guys so let’s offer them plenty of help. We must demand more snow and make the pile even more unstable.
A friend among the Zero Hedge community asked me some months ago to write an article describing how the professional class, that group of people who in effect support the elite while supporting themselves, could mount a coup and take down their own masters. I protested that I couldn’t see how this could be accomplished and thus I couldn’t write it. But still I left the door open and placed this kernel of an idea in the back of my mind with the hope that it might one day germinate and find its way onto paper. My objections were many but they boiled down to a few. I could not see where the spark needed to light the flame would come from nor could I imagine how the energy source for the revolt could be generated or sustained. Unfortunately, I based my thinking on the belief that the items needed didn’t already exist, which meant I was thinking with the placated mind of the well adjusted and conditioned slave.
After reflecting for some time on the subject and after several e-mail conversations with my friend, both before and after Goldman Sachs had been hauled into court, I realized I’d been thinking about this problem from the wrong perspective. Sometimes the questions asked are more important than the answers could ever be and by altering my thought process and asking things in reverse, I began to see more clearly that most of the answers were already provided. We don’t need to generate the spark nor most of the energy because the powers that be are providing them for us as they attempt to dissipate the energy already deposited upon the slopes. The energy source is already there for if it were not, what then were they trying to dissipate when the SEC lawsuit triggered a release of regulatory pressure along with a national sigh of relief? What was the purpose of the SEC lawsuit other than to dissipate growing anger over regulatory and judicial entities missing in action just five months before the off year elections? Sure there were secondary and even tertiary reasons, but let’s not get bogged down in the weeds and play mind games with our self.
The SEC avalanche ski patrol has begun to fire mortar rounds over our heads into the avalanche danger zone in an effort to create controlled avalanches to dissipate the stored energy lying in plain sight. There’s no need for us to generate the energy needed to fight back for not only is it already produced but it’s being stored on the slopes around us. We are the energy source they’re trying to defuse, only we don’t recognize it for what it is because to us we’re ineffective and the proof is years of silence by the SEC. But the very fact that the SEC has filed a serious fraud charge against GS indicates that the powers that be are aware of growing public grumbling and resentment and that they need to appease and defuse it. The centuries long government propaganda effort is designed to convince us we’re powerless when in fact we’re surrounded by all the energy we’ll ever need. Once we open our eyes to see, it is they who can be forced to flee.
There’s no need to rally the troops, to find willing volunteers to be assembled and trained. We’re already mustered by our very own hands and while we can’t see this, the Ponzi certainly can. All we need do to become an effective fighting force is to decline to be dismissed and discharged, to refuse to succumb to the illusion that we don’t already exist. There’s no need to generate the spark that ignites the fight for the Ponzi’s already done that with the first match struck the other night. The key is not only to see that their Achilles Heel is already exposed but to continue to rain down blows upon this vulnerability rather than cease and desist as we will no doubt be told. Now that they’ve offered up one junior sacrificial squid, we must continue to press for those that are more senior and not be satisfied with the illusion that they’re on the run so we may rest. It doesn’t matter if they offer us GS, JPM or BAC calamari for the Ponzi is interconnected and it matters not where we bite, just that we never be sated and always demand more. Rather than complain that our protestations have no effect, recognize that the whistling sound from those mortar rounds passing over head is stark evidence that we’ve not only been heard loud and clear but our presence has been acknowledged.
Their method of operation has always been to offer false hope (most recently as “change you can believe in”) along with instructions to back down and wait now that something is being done. But this only works if we consent to stand down and muster out. If we simply remain where we are, at our current state of readiness demanding more and more, they will fail to dissipate the potential energy and will be forced to work even harder. Their own increasing efforts to appease our unrelenting demands for more will introduce additional instability into an already unstable pile.
Best of all, regardless of whether you believe the SEC’s motives for the Goldman Sachs lawsuit to be honest or not, there are hundreds if not thousands of judicial, legislative and non-profit troops already forward deployed in foxholes waiting for covering fire in order to act on orders in hand. Many state Attorneys General and prosecutors are waiting to bring additional law suits against all aspects of the Ponzi and the elite, but they will not do so if it means they embark on a suicide mission. Would you? We’ve complained that the state AGs aren’t doing their jobs, yet would we under similar circumstances? Would you stand front and center and lead a crowd know to dissolve into narcissistic naval gazing once falsely dismissed?
The Attorneys General, prosecutors and other troops on the front lines have learned through shared experience that once the angry mob disperses, those who previously acted against the Ponzi will be cut off at the knees when the public pressure has been released. By simply maintaining the pressure at current levels, additional lawsuits will quickly germinate and blossom as if fertilized by squid compost. There’s no need to organize and deploy a legal strike force because the brigade has already self organized and is deployed. We simply need to continue to apply the same pressure already exerted for the rebel force to move to the next level. By redirecting out current efforts towards a more focused soft spot, we will germinate additional dormant seeds. This is not a call for a final push forward or even an escalation, just a request to hold our ground, fine tune our current efforts and maintain the resolve we already possess.
Most importantly, we must signal the various state Attorneys General and prosecutors that it’s safe to leave their fox holes and begin their assault in this battle. Because they’re understandably gun shy and have been burned many times by us, we must repeatedly and continuously reassure them that we will not stand down. This must be done by e-mail, phone and fax, in person and at strategic ballot boxes. I’m not saying we wait for the November elections because “throw the bums out” is just another ploy to convince you and me to stand down and disperse. But there are many AGs and state prosecutors that do need our political support and this is just one of many ways to move that particular ball forward. We must spread our assurances across state lines, for while the AGs will be acting on the state level, they’ll be vigorously opposed nationally and thus must receive reassurance from a national audience. Everyone who works within the Ponzi machine is not corrupt, but many of them are frightened and demoralized and will not show their true colors unless we give them realistic hope they will not be picked off by sniper fire because we deserted our posts.
Finally the most reluctant of troops, the remaining professional citizens who have been thoroughly demoralized and have mostly given up, will begin to see results and will eventually join the force. As I’ve explained in a previous article, the herd mentality works both ways. Once the doctors, lawyers, financial brokers, community bankers, mid level administrators and small business owners see that the hard work has begun, they’ll become more willing to join simply because they want to be part of the solution and on the winning team. They are demoralized and disgusted, not neutered, and will respond to realistic and effective activity.
This will add additional pressure to the fingers of instability not because you and I are stepping up our game, but because more and more of them are stepping into the game. It will be noticed and it will be effective primarily because it will be totally unexpected, with the elite caught off guard and unprepared for the change in sentiment. Even the Congressional whores who have been completely captured will think twice if they see a ground swell of the professional class, something unprecedented in America. Look at the polls, the professionals don’t trust either party, but they do trust themselves and they trust each other. By simply standing our ground we will give them reason to do so as well.
We don’t need to know exactly how this will work in order to know that it will work. Anyone who insists they know every detail before they stand fast is showing their cowardice and should just be ignored. We have no need to listen as the trolls and operatives tell us it’s impossible because we are already positioned, angry and energized, a fact that’s obvious and self evident. It can work because it is working. The doomsayers and frightened will try to convince us to leave our posts so that they won’t be identified as already deserted. Ignore them all and don’t back down. No one is being asked to step out in front and suffer a barrage of slings and arrows, only that we remain where we are and not release the pressure we’ve already applied.
All we need do is apply some leverage and the biggest object can be moved. Archimedes once said “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world”. Since the lever and fulcrum have already been supplied by the powers that be and are already in place, our sheer size and numbers assures us that not only do we have all the force that’s needed but in fact it’s already applied. If this were not so, why are they trying to release the pressure and send us all home? You and I must simply remain on duty and continue to apply stress to the multiple fingers of instability.
Despite my suggestion that we can move a large object, I stand firmly in reality when I say that in practice we should expect to move just one particle at a time, that particle which is directly in front of where we currently stand. Once we recognize that the process has already started, gravity will take over and the heavy work will be more easily accomplished. I’m not saying it will be easy, just that we alone decide if we fail. Each of us must look within and decide if we wish to succeed by standing firm or do we break ranks and return to familiar patterns.
I ask that we remain on duty and continue to apply pressure, that we ignore the call to stand down and to be blood sated. Remain ravenously hungry, demand to be continuously fed. Never be satisfied with the gruel we are handed, take anything offered and everything demanded. Rather than complain that the gruel doesn’t fill, think like Oliver Twist and declare you want more swill. Be the voracious mindless consumer that the Ponzi claims they don’t forbid. Become a blood sucking vampire and plunge into the blood funnel of your favorite giant squid.
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Thanks CD. This effort more than fulfills my fondest expectations when I decided to trust myself to trust another. The stored energy builds.
Just because my post on this thread kinda sorta requires it, here is a link for you. After all, life is often stranger than fiction. peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd4VSkj0Wks
Pulp fiction teaches me more and more every time I watch it. I pull out the DVD at least twice a year and spin it up for some deep thinking. There is layer upon layer in this movie and I don't even think Tarantino was aware of everything he was creating at the time.
"Normally I would just waste your two asses but you caught me in a period of transition."
When he admits that he is the destroyer rather than be seduced with the idea that he is the shepard, he is coming face to face with himself as he really is, with the ego stripped away, and accepts what he was in order to become what he will be.
Indeed. Just as this gem set it up.
What's in the case?
My bosses dirty laundry.
Your boss makes you do his laundry?
When he wants it cleaned.
Sounds like a shit job.
Funny, I was just thinking the same thing.
As the professions and those who populate them awaken to the concept of what fight club really means. :-]
CD,
Very nice - I consider this article required reading....I have forwarded to several friends.
Thank you. I'm honored that you found value in my writing.
I've been accused by some of being (too) emotional when I write, of even being self centered. I don't see that as the problem. Rather the problem today is the opposite of being (too) emotional, meaning apathy. I find it interesting that there aren't really degrees of apathy, that the word pretty much covers all the bases.
I suppose when the annal probe is being inserted that I have two choices. Feeling apathy or feeling emotion. While being emotional tenses up the muscles and makes the probing more difficult for me (and the prober I suppose) it does a much better job of displaying my displeasure with the whole probing thingy. But I guess it's all a matter of perspective. The prober doesn't seem too worked up so what's my problem?
Most people act out of self-interest. So just figure out the self-interest possibilities that the SEC has in motivating them to appear like they are doing their job.
Dear CD,
Your piece really cheered me up. I can't see at all a way for our country's government to escape the capture of the agents of the privately held federal reserve, but your article has given me a tiny bit of hope, and for that i thank you so kindly!!!
Here is one idea i hope you will tell your friend...in my view, the one way that this cartel could be stopped, is for non-corruptible "young guns" to step in all at once with a nation wide coordinated effort, all on one new party ticket, or all independent, to take over all senatorial seats, and as many other political positions as possible. The young guns, 25-30 years, have the stamina, and the idealism to realize how important their contributions may be....and all of the rest of us, could support their unified honest effort for taking our country back.
Thank you again for the inspiring visualizations!!!
agrotera, remember when I reminded you to just be yourself and trust those around you to so the same? You're an educator in the finest sense and can appreciate both the historical context and the unique situation society is in at present. I look at our position in all of this as place setting for this next generation. As you remind us, so much rides on them as well as the professionals.
ago, this might be one in which you seek/speak:
http://www.kokeshforcongress.com/
then again, the question might be rather what the reality of the game politics does to one's idealism of their purpose. one wonders if 25-30 year olds have that sort of maturity.
tip - I have found that one of the ingredients found most lacking in the young is cynicism. Each segment of society possesses its own rare combination of skill sets and it would be wasteful in the extreme to disregard a whole segment of the population. Human capital must be one of of our most wasted resources.
While I was taught that national political offices have minimum age requirements to ensure the person elected has some life experience and wisdom, I've often wondered if the higher the position and the higher the age required, the more need for that person to be corrupted by the system, which usually takes time.
"In the United States a person must be at least 35 to be President or Vice President, 30 to be a Senator, or 25 to be a Representative, as specified in the U.S. Constitution" as per wikipedia. I've thought long and hard along the line you take in your comment for I too have been waiting for the young to awake. But their minds were the first to be captured by the programming by way of video games and iPods.
And if you think this through, it had to be that way. For all cultural changes, good or bad, begin with the young. And that thought led me down another path, that this was deliberate rather than just raw greed and self interest in action. Though those emotions are the driving force, they are not the spark. There are hidden hands at work here, of that I'm now certain. Sadly, many people would rather believe otherwise in order to not believe there could possibly be a central power that strong and committed. This human hand could very well just be driven by human cycles but it is there non-the-less.
I often think along the lines of a virus or infection which has infiltrated the homo sapiens. When I gaze back through history and filter out technology, there is the same appearance again and again of this hand and cycle. You will hear again from me on this subject.
I have often wondered at the job places like Chuck e Cheeze do with training future casino patrons...
Next week's Newsweek cover: The SEC's Back!
CD,
Read up everything you can on Gandhi, the master usurper of authority from within.
Then find your own "salt".
Onward and upward.
If you notice, while I used the term troops and fight, I'm not actually asking people to fight but simply to stand. While thinking about this subject, my mind often traveled to Gandhi and his non-violent methods.
As some of our opposition chooses to begin to move beyond pure ridicule.
"Sometimes the questions asked are more important than the answers could ever be "
Within a large swathe of wiseacreing lies that hidden gem.
It's always about the deeper question. Not the better answer.
A call to arms? Sure! Key clickers can barely rise to a call to fingers CD. Fingertips even.
SEC: So Ethically Challenged.... about sums it up for me.
Goldman Sucks, Public blows, hot and cold, hard and soft.
Everyone would do well to stare at a mirror every morning, unwashed, un made up for five minutes a day, for a week. Seriously. Every careworn crease. Keep doing it till the mask crumbles.
That might start a process where no one's actions can bring you down, make you depressed and neither can someone else's words perk you up, make you smile.
Shake hands with your original "I". It could take a week or years. Or never happen at all. But if it does....
Then you might look around and be an engine of cause instead of an instrument at effect.
Good luck.
"Man, help Thyself!" Like you said (i think), change what's in the mirror and you can change the world!
Close enough Chevron.
More like "Know Thy SELF".
The change you speak of is embedded in that very process of de-construction.
Mirror gazing is but a tool in the process.
CD,
Thank you again for your thoughtful work. On a more metaphysical plane, what role does "art" play in the determination of a new organizational paradigm? I am a composer; but also a very thoughtful citizen. I have purchased many acres of land in the midwest. I think that my local community will thrive through a cooperative model. But I would welcome your thoughts regarding how art (and in my case music) could contribute to and reflect the ZH mindset. Beethoven said, "Man, help thyself!" Then he wrote his Ninth Symphony, an antitheses is of Hitler's final solution (see Maynard Solomon's 'Beethoven' for references).
""Please grant me the ability and desire to pursue that which is honest and just; AND
Help me to recognize that which is not.""
Best,
Josh
Understanding one another via communication is always worth while. All of its forms are important in their unique way. However, none compare to the unique set of capabilities music provides. I am sure that this is one of the reasons we get treated to Radio Zero when the occasion presents itself. peace
- Layne
CD,
Thank you again for your thoughtful work. On a more metaphysical plane, what role does "art" play in the determination of a new organizational paradigm? I am a composer; but also a very thoughtful citizen. I have purchased many acres of land in the midwest. I think that my local community will thrive through a cooperative model. But I would welcome your thoughts regarding how art (and in my case music) could contribute to and reflect the ZH mindset. Beethoven said, "Man, help thyself!" Then he wrote his Ninth Symphony, an antitheses is of Hitler's final solution (see Maynard Solomon's 'Beethoven' for references).
""Please grant me the ability and desire to pursue that which is honest and just; AND
Help me to recognize that which is not.""
Best,
Josh
ChevronSky/Josh
I'm responding to you at 4:30 AM because I woke with a word, a thought really, in my head that I couldn't shake. And I realized it was going to be the theme of a written piece real soon. That word is empathy and it is the highest expression of understanding and wisdom there is. And then I read your comment and smiled within.
Music in my view is a unique expression of empathy through sound which is ultimately vibration. If intense enough, it engages all 5 senses (I heard a wonderful song on the radio the other day and I swear I smelled roses) through a physical vibration and if it is a truely great work of art, it vibrates in sympathy with the body and soul and thus evokes empathy and compassion within. Sound and thus music are unique in their capacity to stir anyone, regardless of their capacity for evil or good, which ultimately demonstrates to all we are cut from the same bolt of cloth. Music is the ultimate form of communication and the proof is that everyone is moved by it.
Thanks CD. Really awesome.
+ 1,000,000
CD - Dare I say it - possibly the best piece I've ever read on ZH. No slight to the Tylers - their worth is beyond golden for creating the medium. But you put your heart on your sleave with this one and it resonates completely. I saw the comments above about certain points starting elsewhere - but if we are to have any chance, its going to be by surfing on the ideas of others. I've had this conversation with others recently - its merely passing the torch that was lit to be passed. Some are good at germinating, others at propigating. As for liberty vs freedom, just because some have only tasted liberty, it does not mean they wouldn't prefer freedom. We are right there at the precipice - we go to the next level or we take a hundred year step back. We all need to man up and stand our ground and spread our peace - nothing to be lost if we are wrong. Absolute worst case is to go with a bang as opposed to a whimper.
SEC has a full staff working on.......Mark Cuban for insider trading
"Cant see the forrest...the damn tree is in the way"
It is all down to crowd control, over the centuries different governments have tried different things to control the masses until they get fed up with it and revolt. What the governments now have is a situation of potential revolt and they know it.. a powder keg about to explode... but they think they can control a population that are on the extreme of no jobs, no prospects, getting chucked out of their houses, negative equity... oh but the stock market is soaring so Hopium means it will be all okay soon....
!!!!! No chance
I would highly recommend these as reading for an insight into what the 'elite' do the keep the masses under control
A fantastic work on crowd behaviour: .. "Crowds and Power" by Elias Canetti.
Also: "The Crowd, Study of Popular Mind",by Gustav le Bon..available as a free book
Reading those books was an eye opener... just like ZH.. those books are highly rated alongside this website
BTW don't be fooled by the date of the works.... it shows that situations repeat themselves but ZH can be the REAL change this time... because of the power of the internet and rapid and more efficient communications between those that can bring about the changes.Power can change and bring about a new age just like various huge power shifts in the past.. it has happened many times before and it will happen again..
Fingers of instability on a global scale..Nick Clegg, and he just might win in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXtiCrmeQ8A&feature=player_embedded
Q: Was the near parabolic stock market pump of the past 6 weeks the normal blow off phase of a bear market rally or did the powers that be (TPTB) encourage the market rise in anticipation of an intended change of direction?
A: "What you're now seeing is profit-and-earning ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it," Obama said. (March 4 2009)
That should be enough for those that think that Mr. Obama has a clue.
+1 for mentioning P/E ratio.
Ubiquity and the sandpile game
Most systems exhibit "emergent properties" that are not built in from the beginning but are created as conditions persist. Your model of a mound of particles is one such system and the triggers/forces that will move it are generated internally from nothing.
Another way to think of the "will to move" of which you speak is an earthquake building along an active fault. A fault that is not showing any quake activity is far from harmless. And a fault generating many small quakes in no significant way reduces its stored energy. The trigger for each is being created within it; something will break, but in fact countless things are already set to break and it was random which part blew first. But when it goes, it all goes and quickly. All the energy comes out at once.
You are wondering how the plutocrats will manage this.
They won't manage it at all, of course. That they are not smart enough to know this in advance comes as no surprise, as a wise plutocrat would have never come down this road at all. I think what caught them this time was the emergent phenomena of computational power combined with global markets that has completely unwound their ability to control the extent of the crisis as well as any ability to quell the destruction. If they had stuck to double-entry accounting in leather-bound books and did math in their heads they would have ruled the world for another 1000 years. They were not smart enough to keep the technology genie in the bottle, and they cannot put it back, and shortly it is going to eat them.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. Though I am going to miss money once it is gone.
if you stir the pot turds will rise
"[H]ow long has it been since it became obvious that GS and company were manipulating the markets with their thumbs on the scale?" How long since the curtain fell? 5 years.
Goldman pullback to dig into the Bond Market and the Hollywood Futures Index? To breathe air into the desperately leaky doelarr? The Shanghai Split shows of the determination to shake Asia out of the gold market?
They do have a plan....I think it is dumb. I think they will lose.
"What will trigger this avalanche and from what energy source will it derive its destructive power?" It may be something never seen before. What if all currentseas devalue at the same rate, the stocks move higher nominally, and then at the same moment that it all falls down, gold publicly decouples, sending hordes to glean the cube, but coming up short handed?
Be ready when 'avalanche' is called. Called by the force of gravity. Let us not get started on electro-magnetism.
"But still we must not forget that ultimately they’re playing with an all consuming fire which acknowledges no difference between fire starter and fireman and which can always reverse course and consume the agent that ignited it." Gold don't burn up. Gold bitches.
Personally I think that the SEC is playing into the Hegelian dialectic and that more turmoil offers more cover.
Weight plus gravity equals tipping the scale. We can use a variety of things; I prefer silver.
No complacency! The Hagecure says that it is at the moment of achievement that one is most vulnerable.
Hold the line. Reinforce. Copy.
Viva la Rev!
Yes, great article!
Starve the Beast! What are you doing to help??? Whom are you telling/convincing??? Starve them of capital. Stop using all credit cards. Stop going into debt. Stop buying useless things. Close down accounts (even gasoline cards) with any NY Bank and only do business with local community banks. Get involved in your local commerce dept. Convince your girlfriend/wife/SO to buy physical gold - or buy it for her/him! Only buy locally made groceries and essentials. Start reading labels and fine print. Ask stupid questions continually and don't settle for lame answers. Convince mindless telemarketers that call you for useless things to get involved. Become more self-reliant and take up fishing or woodworking or gardening. Do whatever you can with whomever you meet to get involved. It is a CULTURAL change.......
Was at a party last week. I told two young women just out of college what the Squids are doing with our money regarding High Frequency Trading. The unemployed one said, without me prompting her, "That's corrupt!". BINGO! THEY GET IT IF YOU EXPLAIN IT TO THEM!!!
CD - a very good piece.
But I think this Goldman fracas is about the "inside" politics of DC, not about some potential populist avalanche. When Goldman was content to steal from US customers, the government was content to let them get away with it.
But ever since they've taken their criminal enterprise abroad, they've become embarrassing to the US. Duping governments and state-sponsored banks (like IKB) is simply beyond the pale.
The US Government has a foreign policy to run and allies to consider. Enraging the UK and Germany, never mind Greece and Japan, was just too much for Goldman to get away with.
I wish the average Joe was ready to take up pitchfork and torch and march on the Eccles Building. Sadly, it isn't going to happen.
You are right about about this action being about inside DC politics. And I have no doubt the 3 aye-voting members received "guidance" from above. The trigger for this gun was in the oval office and nowhere else. As to why, and why now ... Goldman has gotten away with a lot for a long time, and finally succumbed to their own hubris. Arrogance alone wasn't the problem; it was their blatant display of arrogance which caused embarrasment to the administration. So, it was time to remind everyone that the President of the US outranks the president of any corporation, no matter how big or how generous their campaign contributions. Time for a calculated public slapdown. That message having been delivered, I don't really look for much else to happen. From here on the case will drag on til it dies an obscure and natural death.
But something else has happened. Let me paraphrase a curious fellow called the Epicurean Dealmaker* who reminded us today of an old saying in the computer business: "No one ever got fired for choosing IBM." I remember this well, and it goes back to the time of big corporate mainframes, when purchasing one of these systems was a major decision. There were 7 vendors to choose from, of which IBM was by far the biggest and best known, if not always the best choice. Because of their singular reputation, if a manager picked IBM and there were problems, well, these things happen. But if he chose different bidder with bad results - goodbye manager.
GS has enjoyed a similar advantage. Nobody had to defend investing their employer's money with Goldman, and if it went bad, well, that's the market. But after the recent intense publicity, everybody and their boss has to know that their are at least 2 parties to every GS deal (let's call them "the insider" and "the sucker") and much due diligence is now called for. (As a starting point, ask yourself, "was I in the room when this thing was put together?" If not, be very afraid.)
This is a bell that cannot be un-rung. Goldman Sachs will not disappear or even be badly hurt. But in future they may have to pursue some of their profits the old-fashioned way: by earning them.
* http://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.com/
I couldn't agree more Captain. I don't think it's nearly as complicated as CD suggests. The administration absolutely has to look tough on the banks going into midterms. I remain skeptical that this is nothing but theatre. As for the average Joe, history suggests that the pitchfork and torch won't come until the belly is empty, but that once the belly is empty the pitchfork and the torch are inevitable. Short of that, business as usual.
Wow. Nice job, CD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh%E2%80%93Taylor_instability
Signed Kapture's petition. Gotta call Congress Critters. AGs, too.
Timing is everything.
nice long coverage and insight .. thanks
now where are a couple tacos ... munch
Great piece, C-D-: thought-provoking, logical, well laid out.
Makes great sense to me.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Hey Mr CG
Find ur submissions very interesting
But seems like you're on the gluttony of the mind path at the moment..... hope not
All the best
C
Excellent.
If you allow me to draw a parallel then I proffer a long distance training analogy. You can over train prior to running a marathon. One must carefully apply energy to build the needed endurance to complete the task without drawing down the capacity of the "battery" that keeps one going.
They did flinch CD. November is still a long way away. The goal is for all of us to cross the finish line together. It is imperative that our energy now is applied towards weaving other "fingers and ribbons of instability throughout the pile."
Godspeed.
Thank You CD.
As of late, I have been emotionally scared and becoming depressed by all the MSM, elite and even ZH for constantly reminding me that the corruption is far reaching and deeply embedded in our society. Feeling personally helpless. Without an understanding of how we could ever overcome.
This is the first article I have read, that gives me motivation, desire and possibly even some "hope"; that I can make a difference.
That we can pull together and not "stand down" until this is all said and done.
That they can be defeated.
However painful, and as much personal sacrifice as necessary.
Thank You CD, for giving a small piece of my sanity back.
Longtime Lurker, First Time poster.
RM
You pay me the highest compliment. Thank you.
Boy does your pain feel familiar. I also walked the path you tread and I would fight the feelings of fear, depression and desperation because society had taught me that it's socially unacceptable to feel this way. Unfortunately, because I was fighting them, I wasn’t trying to understand them, only avoid them or defeat them. Which means my mind was closed and unavailable for new instruction or reprogramming.
But then I realized that my fear, anger and depression were simply the symptoms of my desire not to let go of my old ideas and beliefs, my worldview if you will. That I was clinging to the old and thus I was unwilling to welcome the new, even though deep inside I understood that the new was inevitable and unstoppable. In fact, that inevitability was the true source of my fear, anger and depression. I did not wish to accept the unavoidable, thus I was stuck in a positive feedback loop that fed upon itself in an endless circle of madness.
I was extremely upset that my worldview had been changed without my consent and that I did not have the power to either stop the change nor prevent others from changing it. I was angry that the world was not really how I had constructed it in my mind. Worse, it was now painfully clear that I had practiced self deception and that my government and other authority figures had encouraged and enabled my self deception and that deep down I had known this all along. That I wasn’t the victim I had made myself out to be so that I wouldn’t be responsible for the pain and suffering I had felt in the past and that I was feeling now. My world was crashing down around me and I was not a happy camper.
In effect, I was standing in the room of my mind with what I perceived as only one door out. And that door was rapidly closing or had already closed. I was pounding on the door, pulling on the door knob and screaming at the top of my lungs for someone to help me, to let me out. And no one was coming. It wasn’t fair, it was right, I didn’t sign up for this, the rules were changing and I was getting the short end of the stick. I was stuck and I was scared because this door was the only way out. I didn’t want to die, for without my carefully constructed worldview, how was I going to function, to keep all those bad guys and bogeymen at arm’s length?
And then one day when I was nearly insane from the fear and desperation I found the courage to stop forcing my will upon the door and look around. I finally gave up and admitted defeat and decided that I wanted to live more than I wanted the old worldview. And at that very moment, as I looked around my cell, I was astonished to see that there were dozens of doors and windows where before there were only white walls. I was now on my way to life as it really was; I had crossed over the artificial barrier so carefully constructed by myself and all my enablers.
Sure I have a tendency to slip back into that madness every now and then. In a way that I suspect it’s very similar to the “Phantom Limb” pain experienced by amputees, I feel a loss for something that isn’t there anymore. If you think about it, I’m a psychic amputee. But in this case, I had to wield the knife myself in order to survive. But those trips back to memory lane are getting shorter and shorter these days because I no longer need those emotional handrails.
As I wobble forward, I’m gaining more confidence and courage that I will survive and maybe even flourish. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired and I’ve learned that every step forward brings me further away from the old pain and closer to the genuine pleasure that comes from being true to myself, to a deeper awareness and understanding of myself and my world.
I didn't have the angst as a thirteen year old working a lot of hours for Barry Goldwater in 1964, but the experience taught me that most all of everything that I had been taught to that point was crap. It did harden me fairly well for the next decades of BS, but even I was not cynical enough for the takeover of the banksters.
I'll try your more upbeat attitude and demand more gruel.
The best to you.
CD, I both enjoyed and appreciated your EXCELLENT submission. You're an engaging writer who delivers fresh thoughts passionately. Thank you for making the effort. I hear what you're saying, and will act accordingly.
Being new to the ZH community, I first applied after reading an earlier post by CD. This piece, as the aforementioned, has provided me a different perspective to consider. Thanks!
Nice post CD.
But I think the corruption of US ruling structures and institutions is far more pervasive and wide spread than your last few paragraphs indicate. The corruption cancer has metastasized to all levels of this society.
You are like Diogenes CD, searching for that honest man as your candle is burning down to the nub... I do respect your call and position. However, cynicism and realism prevail under the yoke of systemic corruption...
"From my point of view, there’s no way in hell the powers that be would have allowed the SEC to file this lawsuit unless they felt they could control the avalanches triggered by the lawsuit..."
Why Did the SEC vote 3-2 on Party Lines to Sue Goldman?
3 Democrats for- 2 Republicans against says it all CD. The Democrats are facing a political blood bath in November... of their own corrupt making I might add.
The majority of Amerikans now know Obummer is a Wall Street puppet, corporate shill and con job. Obummer has screwed the Amerikcan public at every turn since elected to benefit the TBTF banks on Wall Street.
Congressional Democrats like Max-i-pad Baucus and Chris "Friend of Angelo Mozilo" Dodd displayed themselves as such contemptuous bribed corporate bought and sold bitches that public voting anger against corporate owned political douches is on the rise.
Vote Would Have Been 5-0 Not to Sue If the Democrats Were Not Scared of Nov. 2010
If the Democrats were not smelling an ass kicking by the voters... the vote would have been 5 to 0 not to sue Goldman...
That is all this SEC suit is. An attempt by Democrats not to lose elections... which would mean losing access to the Wall Street bribe gravy train...
Why Goldman? Hey JPM and Jamie Dimon still love you Obummer... besides, Magne-tard leads right to the corrupt ass of Rahm Baby...
That was simple enough... looks like one of your flunkies gets tagged, Lloyd B. God...
But like an avalanche self serving ventures can get out of hand in a hurry...