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Guest Post: American Purgatory
Submitted by Greg Simmons and Brett Buchanan of Scope Labs
Are financial markets a direct reflection of the overall health of a nation? I wish they were not, but I fear they are.
I wonder at times if our nation has entered a state of purgatory –
all of us mulling around in the waiting room to Hell, anxiously
counting the minutes until the grim reaper saunters through the door
sickle in hand his mission to send us off to eternal damnation.
Unfortunately, there is little time to close this door so that we may
stave off this potential fate that looms so near. What we need to alter
this course is a procession of men who possess moral fortitude and
common sense, men of rationality and reason. Men of action who will set
in motion the dismantling of institutions that bleed this nation dry.
Hope is not a strategy. This present state of manufactured optimism
emanating from the White House and our news outlets is contemptible. We
are in dire need of new reformist leadership and of new voices that
will speak the truth. A national purification is long overdue. Time is
not on our side. Look at the track record this nation has racked up
over the last few decades and this economic and moral purgatory in
which we find ourselves might very well mark the beginning of our walk
of death down the long road to Hell.
I make this analogy of a national state of purgatory not in jest,
but rather in practical terms. This nation has gone the way of an
absolute meltdown of morality and ethics. We’ve reverted to a sort of
Wild West where anything goes. From the halls of congress to our
corporate boardrooms our collective morality bar has sunk so low we
cannot go any lower without disconnecting from the great past this
nation is starved to regain. We stand dangerously close to the point
where immorality begets our undoing.
Personally, I am father to a daughter of fourteen years. Brett, my
co-author, is father to a twenty-month old daughter and an
eighteen-year old son. We desperately want to create for our children a
better world. But we are fallible men, and certainly not saints. The
paragraphs you are about to read are not written from some moral high
ground, or a Holier-than-thou pulpit, but rather from saddened hearts
when we see that by walking our own moral tightrope, if we were to
allow ourselves to slip below the bar, however slightly, we would be
just as guilty as the worst perpetrators of our nation’s moral
destruction. Also, when witness to greater moral transgressions, by our
own inaction, we become part of the problem. And we are just two men.
Amplify this by fifty million, one hundred million, or three hundred
million fold and it is no wonder immorality permeates our society.
This article is our personal effort to call people’s attention to
the truth. The brevity of our circumstance is immeasurable by past
reference. Economically, we have never been so challenged. Over the
past few decades a gullible US population cheered the halls of congress
and the Oval Office alike as the incestuous bedfellows of money and
politics ushered in a financial Coup d’état – co-opting our public
trusts with the greed and excess of Wall Street. Profits are now had at
any cost – damn the long-term consequences. Instead of being exposed as
the obvious fraud he was, Bernie Maddoff was coddled by the SEC – an
institution whose role as regulator is a complete failure. As Wall
Street and Washington raped an entire nation, employees of the SEC were
too busy surfing porn on the Internet and running private businesses
instead of doing the jobs taxpayers pay them to do. All the while,
young girls were selling their virginity to the highest bidder in
public cyber-forums where grown men (not hormonally charged teenage
boys) seek out their sexual fantasies in the netherworld of Internet
pornography. What of the wives, children, and even parents of these
men? Do they approve of such questionable actions?
Think of our children turning on the television to see people eating
bile, cow blood, and live bugs for money on game shows like Fear
Factor, or Flavor Flav and his hit reality show where he maintains a
stable of women all of whom physically fight each other to have sex
with him because he’s a celebrity – and a damn ugly one at that. And
finally, there’s always Survivor, the ultimate demonstration of all
things wrong with modern human interaction. A reality show that pits
person against person in a deceitful game of moral destruction where
lack of ethics are rewarded, instead of punished. Survivor, this is
what our nation’s leadership has become. Win at any cost. Damn the
future of anyone but myself.
Morality is in great part the measure of a nation. Have we unlearned
morality? Is this why we find ourselves staring down the abyss?
We are allowing ourselves to become more corrupt by the minute. We
stare into the face of our future being raped, but we do nothing. We
are as corrupt as the corrupters. We accept the unacceptable. We fail
to understand that absolute power, corrupts absolutely. In what will go
down as the greatest financial heist in history our leaders have chosen
to reward corrupt individuals and their hollow corporations for what
are arguably criminal levels of risk behavior by the moneyed elite of
this country. What message does that send to our children, or to anyone
for that matter? Be as corrupt as possible in the US and you will be
rewarded? Be the biggest failure jeopardizing the fate of others then
stand in the corporate welfare line with all the other wealthiest
institutions of the world, your greedy hand extended for a government
bailout check while you simultaneously foreclose on an entire nation?
Talk about the rich corralling the masses. It’s no wonder someone
coined the term “The Sheeple.”
The path we traveled to this purgatorial limbo is both easily
understood and misunderstood. The answers to understanding are
sometimes right in front of us. What are seemingly benign things or
actions, those everyday judgments or decisions we make to do one thing
or another, are not always benign. Tell a little white lie to make that
one sale that will put us into our bonus. Rig the game in our favor so
that we might enjoy a little more opulence for the few decades we have
remaining on this planet. Look the other way while the Federal Reserve
and Wall Street blow economic bubble after economic bubble and in the
process create a six-hundred trillion dollar shadow banking system that
plays by no one’s rules but its own. In the case of Goldman Sachs, and
Wall Street in general, lie, cheat, and steal their way to
profitability at the expense of three hundred million taxpayers. The
fact is that we have become an uncooperative nation willing to take
advantage of anyone for the sake of profit. The idea of building a
cooperative future where everyone wins has been sacrificed at the altar
of short-mindedness.
It might be this purgatorial limbo I speak of is simpler than it
appears. It could be that we are collectively suffering the
consequences of the “Peter Principle”, or getting to the job of
failure. This principle supposes that an individual rises in a
corporate hierarchy to their first level of incompetence. An assembly
worker gets promoted to supervisor then to assistant manager, then
manager, until he next gets promoted to an upper management job for
which he is ill equipped and subsequently gets promoted no further as
he can no longer demonstrate the competence required for the task at
hand. He rather relies on subordinates who are then stuck with an upper
manager who cannot carry out his own duties. Could this be the state of
our nation? Have we been promoted as far as our competence allows? Are
we in fact incompetent to handle our future? Have we now elected a man
just incompetent enough for the Presidency who is being manipulated by
Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, and a circle of (previous) Wall
Street insiders now on the government payroll as cabinet members and
high-ranking advisors? The saddest thing is that we sit idly by whilst
our virtue is being stolen. We do nothing.
A view of the world through rose-colored glasses does no one, any
good. We are not as resilient as we think we are. Instead, we exist in
a world of synthetic productivity where multi-tasking renders us
incapable of doing anything effectively or with any level of
competence. Multi-tasking, that art of simultaneous ineffectiveness is
a counter productive weapon that to a large degree has contributed to
the potential failure of this nation. If you were to listen to Alan
Greenspan however, you would believe that multi-tasking through
technological gains by way of the “new paradigm” was the gold at the
end of the Information Superhighway and that exotic mortgages and the
burgeoning spending class paved the road to riches. We now know these
premises to be empirically wrong.
It can now be argued that what would seemingly be advancements in
productivity are proving to be setbacks. The Information Superhighway
has led us to an era of technological arrogance. In reality all we have
accomplished is to dilute our ability to carry out simple tasks as we
click from a quarterly sales report due in an hour, to Facebook, to
on-line solitaire, to writing an email explaining to our boss why the
quarterly report will be delayed this day. We are a nation of excuse
makers. We look for someone else to keep us one step ahead of our
accumulating debt that smothers the potential of what could have been
an equitable future. Ironically, it is our technological arrogance that
impedes our ability to produce and manufacture our way to prosperity.
Craftsmen who used to flock to this country to fulfill the needs of
a manufacturing base flock here no more. “Made in the USA” used to mean
something. It meant quality. It was the definition of industrial
capitalism. But now through the wonders of globalization we have
exported our craftsmanship through an outflow of jobs to China and
India as we turned everyone in the USA into real estate agents,
mortgage brokers, and web designers – a perfect playground for bankers
to ply their craft, lending money in every creative manner both
thinkable, and unthinkable. “Made in the USA” has been reduced to the
status of punch-line – synonymous only with “Mortgage Backed
Securities” and other “Toxic Derivatives.”
Is it any wonder we have evolved into the ‘entitled society’? If we
weren’t on the government payroll, or subsidized by the US taxpayer
through social welfare then we were borrowing our way to prosperity.
Enter the God-fearing middle class. Just dumb enough to buy into the
scam a couple hundred million people began signing over their
paychecks, selling their future for the enjoyment of having things now.
We were transformed into non-productive Sheeple, selling our souls for
an easier life in lieu of a better future for our children. At our
current rate of productive attrition we will soon be a nation of
declawed housecats, possessing no skill-set whatsoever to survive in a
world where the ability to produce real goods still reins supreme. Yet
we remain the ‘entitled society’, when we are entitled to nothing.
We forget (through economic amnesia) that throughout history all
societies fail. Nicolaus Copernicus maintained that civilizations
failed when bad money, controlled and understood by an elite few, drove
out good money. The same can be said for morality. Bad, drives out
good. This is a reality of which we should all be acutely aware but
rather are immune to its possibility. We dangerously believe we cannot
fail. That, in fact, is the greatest gamble of all. A roll of the dice
against history, a bet against all natural laws of the universe, all
things are in a state of entropy. All things eventually wither away to
nothing. To possess longevity is to be ahead of the universe. Sadly, we
have constructed a fragile world that produces material things that do
not last. The fiat money we use as the currency of our production is by
design, destructive itself. The Federal Reserve prints greed, nothing
more. But still we covet it. We pursue it as if it had value. And in
this pursuit we destroy earth’s resources as if the laws of nature have
no relevance. We believe there is only now.
We, the entitled society, morally and fiscally bankrupt have borrowed,
spent, and bailed our way into a historical corner. Nero should be so
proud. Our public trusts are nothing more than government sanctioned
check-kiting operations shifting liabilities from one credit card to
another faster than our creditors can say “Federal Reserve.” The
Ponzi-scheme that is our fiat currency system is about to go the way of
what was for a time the symbol of American superiority, General Motors.
It used to be said that what was good for General Motors was good for
our nation. As I claimed in 2005 that GM would go bankrupt I will now
guarantee that the US government is soon to follow. How our ultimate
entropy will take form I cannot say, but form it will. We will default.
We will restructure. It will be at this point our arrogance will end.
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Seriously though, wouldn't it have been easier to just send a short tweet like "We're Japan"? As TD says, nothing will ever fail, ever. The whole country is one giant version of Long Term Capital.
Truer words have never been spoken.
Thank you Greg and Brett... and you too Tyler.
Yes, thank you G & B - excellent. All those mind-boggling financial structures were meant to befuddle 'democracy' - only plain, simple will satisfy the ruled now.
+1
ScopeLabs, great videos on YT. Fire your broker!
No chance of going quietly ... kicking and screaming assured.
allegory of our predicament in consumable packaging
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=7084060
allegory of our predicament in consumable packaging
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=7084060
So looks like dollar carry trade is unwinding...yet ZH has nothing on it, and instead became a romping ground for goldbug-cum-apocalyptics of the Internet. Why dont you guys head out to the Automatic Earth and learn how to stock up on grains and beans and how to get into self-sustainable farming.
Yeah.
What kind of a nut would worry about securing food.
I mean, every supermarket is just chock full of the stuff. And when the shelves go empty, refrigerated trucks show up from the other end of the country with more stuff to fill them back up again.
What could possibly go wrong?
I guarantee I will outlast you and all of the rest auto earth nutcases in any postapocalyptic scenatio.
I guarantee that if food becomes truly scarce, food *won't* be what you spend your days worrying about.
I don't know, or care what "auto earth" is, but I'll take that bet. Just 'cuz your the Polish Hammer.
He's talking about Automatic Earth, a site which he apparently reads anyway. Polish seems conflicted.
That's the funniest fucking thing I've read all week.
no shit, the site is now 50% useful information posts and 50% tirades about the government. There are enough investment blogs out there which have ruined themselves by increasing the tirade level and turning the comments into a reinforcing cycle of discussing gold/obamasux/colapse of the universe no matter the post topic. soon it will be time to find another blog, until that one is also watered down into nothing.
well said well said....remember when it used to rock back at the blogspot? That ZH is no more.
yeah, that is why I started reading ZH, the signal to noise was far superior to most other blogs. it sadly seems that any credit bubble/investment related blog eventually turns cliqueish in the comments with zero on-topic posts mostly about the end of times, which seems to drive the writers towards catering for those regulars only.
TRADE, BITCHES!
The site is fine. So, are you suggesting to end all the comments? I see nothing wrong with what is published on the site but the sideline arguments become tedious. I just scroll to the comments that seem to have some meat. And by pass the falderal.
the tenor of your posts define you as scum
the value of your contributions here is far below anything else on the site
My guess is the posters above are devoid of morals and therefore found the blog entry offensive. Maybe for a min it forced them to look into the mirror
That's funny, I came on here to post almost the exact same comment. WTF? Internet porn, really? He writes about morality and then alludes to Americans being too religious. Which is it?
Look, I *know* we have serious problems, and nobody in a position of leadership is interested in doing anything that might actually put us on a path towards solving those problems because they are bought. But the author has no idea how big the manufacturing base is in the US, and a certain percentage of it has gone overseas with globalization, we aren't as bad off as he thinks. Hey, I'm tired of it all, too, but I'm done with the tirades and I'm done with the metaphors. If you want to be competitive in a global world, you have to get damn creative. And you know what? It's HARD. There's ten thousands hungry Chinese and Indians for every struggling American.
As a "regular person" (okay, not really, I have PhD, which puts me in the "elite" compared to a majority of people, but honestly, I'm no insider, so I'm in the same boat)--as a regular person, the only action I can take is to vote with my feet. I'm not going to call anyone out, I'm just not going to listen to them at all.
Where do I refer to Americans being too religious in my article? And the reference to Internet porn is merely an example - and a pretty good one at that.
I had to reply to your comment to point out that in fact I do have an idea regarding the size of the manufacturing base in the US. I also have an idea relative to this fact. In a matter of five decades, since World War II, the makeup of our GDP inverted from near 70% manufacturing to over 70% service sector. Our manufacturing base now comprises a mere 19% of GDP. This IS the single largest contributing factor to our trade imbalance, our national debt, etc. etc... Couple this reversal of fortune in our recent history with population growth, the now retiring baby-boomer demographic, and the strains on our economy are overwhelming.
And while I have sympathy for all suffering people in the world I have to say this. Foreign countries have their own governments to watch out for them. In the US, our elected officials are expected to responsibly facilitate the highest standard of living possible for our society. This standard is about to come under heavy fire.
Finally, in an essay style article of 2,242 words I can only say so much. The article was about morality being the tipping point of the health of our nation. This subject has been the focus of much philosophical discussion throughout history. I was not focused on rolling out GDP numbers of which I figured most readers would already be well versed.
Thanks for your comment.
Brett Buchanan - Author of American Purgatory
"no shit, the site is now 50% useful information posts and 50% tirades about the government"
You forgot to include the conspiracy wingnuts whose tirades about the government aren't complete without some allegation of what the forces of E-vil are supposedly up to, which run the gamut of the absurd. They include everything from 9/11 being an inside job to afghanistan being a sinister plot to bring heroin into the country and keep the masses quiet, to a deliberate release of "killer flu" bugs - always convienently in places like ukraine etc - coupled with their supposed "proof" of same. That 'proof' being no more accurate or factual than their own theories, usually linking to other conspiracy wingnuts and their blogs or websites.
This place used to have very high credibility, but alas, has been slipping badly of late.
Just wait until gold starts going up again. Every three cents there'll be a post.
Gold at 1135.60!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT, I'M RICH!!!
Gold at 1136.00!!!!!!!! GOLD BITCHES!!!!
Sigh...
911 was clearly an inside job. My god are you really that dim?
Do you think fiat currency is an accident too?
Yet another wingnut heard from, and anonymously too, i note. LMFAO!!
When you think about it, the government's official story is really nothing more than a conspiracy theory.
Thank you Greg and Brett for closing out my night on ZH-this would have made a great speech for Dr King.
Well Said. Well Said.
We all have a name, our name is Robert Paulsen.
Well, that about wraps it up. Nice job.
...
Someone once said "We become a nation of bull shitters".....
Everybody is a "manager" nowdays.....paper shuffling reign supreme.
In the 1960s Boeing had 3 airplane programs going at the same time (727, 737 and 747)...nowdays we are lucky if we get one with delays after delays.
Edna.
You said "We're Japan"? ...in one ways I wish that....Japan still produce superb high quality products, little external debt and trade surplus.
One of our big problems on top of what has been said already is lack of useful innovation in the last 10 years.
I would say more like 30 years. The dot-com shit were all thrash, the real telecom stuff were invented 3 decades ago, and perfected by the Europeans, then by the Japs and now Koreans. All we ever did invent was Worldcom, Gary Winnick (aka Bernie Madoff's predecessor) and the shit hole global crossing, and Enron (aka JPM's predessesor in the expert use of derivatives smoke and mirror). Come to think, all america even invented in last 30 years were crooks and hyprcritical cheats like Tiger and Obama
Huh??? Is your golf game going as bad as your economic game???????
Tiger is a miniscule blip on world history radar compared to what has gone on for the last 100 years in the USA.
If the media paid as much attention to the financial rapists and destroyers of wealth as the do every celebrity male who can't control his cock, the world would be in a different place now.
But you knew that?
inciting the masses with righteous indignation
this don't sound like a good idea
only a castrophe will focus the mind now so the disease is the cure anyway
Take Note:
Titus Livy the Roman Historian (59 B.C. to c. A.D. 17) warned about our present state of affairs while watching the Roman Empire Crumble around him. His words (see below) are telling and very pertinent to our current state of affairs. I’m afraid we are repeating the same problems every other “great society” in demise has felt. I just hope to have a nice seat to watch it all burn!
“Here are the questions to which I should like every reader to give his close attention: what life and morals were like; through what men and what policies, in peace and in war, empire was established and enlarged. Then let him note how, with the gradual relaxation of discipline, morals first subsided, as it were, then sank lower and lower, and finally began the downward plunge which has brought us to our present time, when we can endure neither our vices nor their cure.” -Livy Ab Urbe Condita (59 B.C. to c. A.D. 17)
When Titus Livius lived the Roman Empire was anything but crumbling....it was in its ascent phase.
The decline of the Roman Empire started around A.D. 400
I guess you must be speaking from personal experience?
I believe that in this timeframe, Livy would have been writing about the fall of the Roman Republic, which was followed by several hundred years of emperors and empire expansion, with peak expansion sometime in the 3rd or 4th century. Noteworthy that conversion of the empire to Christianity occurred several hundred years before its (Western) collapse. No matter, the “we are decadent Rome and about to collapse just like it” exclamation has been with us for several hundred years also. An argument timelessly available, though perhaps closer to timeliness now than in previous centuries.
Yes, the fall of the Roman Republic is what is important not the rise of Imperial Rome!
The only way to perpetuate a morally decadent and corrupt system is by transitioning to a totalitarian or fascist regime. This is our greatest danger moving forward.
Verus lacuna erant nunquam orator
And the other sign that we have hit FAIL is that few people have any fluency in Latin.
We outsourced that to Babelsfish and the like.
The basic problem is that Americans tend to lack spirituality. We substitute laws for ethics. We substitute enforcement for compassion. Our moral bankruptcy has led us to financial bankruptcies.
As people band together they can overcome this lack of spirituality in others. We either learn this now, or the world will come together to control us.
this lack of spirituality IN OTHERS.
spiritual man, go and fuck you self. god is dead. spirituality is a word without a referent. once again, go fuck you self you arrogant shit
Spirituality is not about god. It is about freedom from masturbation.
Easy Killer...
Someone can be spiritual in mind and be connected to humanity with out it having any reference to a god.
It suprises me that someone like you with a complete lack of perspective or personal awareness has even found, let alone reads ZH.
a commitment to personal integrity, does not require religeous beliefs, although it lends itself towards spiritual enlightenment. by spiritual, I mean the energetic structure of the universe, which we find ourselves a part of, as well as our own structure. why so defensive FIASCO ? hit a nerve?
gee you are some advertisement for wisdom talking with such foulness. I suppose to be expected from a man whose avatar is a five year old boys hero.
Spirituality is the practice of self removal such that the spirit may enter our being. Countless traditions are based on this principle and find peace and detachment through it.
Maybe one day you will yet.
The way we act and behave should have a root in something greater than ourselves.The biggest spiritual poverty in America today is the absolutely unwavering insistence on "me first".That this impulse is lovingly cared for by those who propose and then fill the need for needs we never knew we had is the entire basis for insane consumerism.Paolo Passolini criticized the Church for not speaking out against what he discerned as "the Power".He noted that the power wanted not a good man, not a just man...the power wanted a consumer.Comically, he was an atheist...and yet he clearly saw the operation of evil causing people to discard and destroy the social fabric.
So now that America is the consumer nation deluxe, it is hardly any surprise we have become utterly depraved.If you have a desire...fill it.NOW.Gone is the virtue of patience...meet my needs now!The anger that seethes in those who feel they are not getting what they DESERVE....devolves into depression and violence.Very sad.
I think the piece is very good.And I strongly agree that moral depravity leads to very, very dark places.
the root of disappointment, is unreasonable expectations
totally agree. We all have a plethora of false "needs" now thanks to capitalism, and the greater part of us goes unfulfilled.
read the late great Theodore Adorno.
I read somewhere that in the front line, there are no atheists in a fox hole. When it's raining down on you, trust me, you'll convert! Everyone's a believer! It's only when the enemy breaks through, that the reserves suddenly become "born agains". The war must rage before the masses become converts. Converts need a reason to follow. At this stage they haven't been bloodied enough to find religion.
This is not the time of the statesman or bell ringer, such as Ron Paul or Peter Schiff. Their time comes after the event. Though your message is written in Morse to most, keep beating the drum Tyler, they will decipher it, ..... eventually.
When it's raining down on you, trust me, you'll convert!
I'ts called Pascal's Wager
Bzzzzt! Wrong.
Came within a heartbeat of the end and didn't once think of converting.
Generalizations about afterlife say more about the generalizer, than they do the possible dier.
Americans are this way because our culture has been watered down with so many foreigners who REFUSE to adapt to ours that everybody just keeps to themselves these days. It's hard to have ANY commonality amongst a group of people when they all have separate ideas of morality, dress, food, religion, etc, etc, etc. Libs will say that cultural diversity is a good thing. I say that it has probably been the biggest factor of the breakdown in unity of this country. The rule always was if you come here then you adapt and become an American. Nowadays the rule is you come here and setup little Mexico, little Somalia, little Iraq, Little Jordan or whatever else and then milk the system dry for every penny you can while flipping the bird to your hosts and their rules and culture.
Sort of like little Italy, Greektown, little Poland, that were. Not much has changed since Wm Penns' Pennsylvania and Calverts' Maryland. Now we need a big honking war to focus us on who the enemy is. And it doesn't matter what the enemy philosophy is. What matters is the resultant focus on my best buddy helping me stay alive. Even if he is a damn <****> whose great grandfather tried to kill mine.
Like you said Hope is not a strategy:
Jon Stewart's take on the bank CEOs missing the meeting with President Obama ...
http://tinyurl.com/yaozfzs
Very well said. Thank you, it's brave of you to risk talking about old-fashioned concepts like morality. The fact that it does seem a little jarring is a major symptom of our problem. I would say only that I doubt the Peter Principle is much involved. I think it's a case of classic decadence, where seeming wealth made it appear that we could in fact get something for nothing. And this led to a societal ethos where others were expendable. Until finally something like the destruction of New Orleans became little more than a TV show.
+++
Good points here.
I do not think that morality is necessarily lacking in the gerneral public. But it is clearly lacking in our leadership.
As opposed to the Peter Principle, it's not competence that's the screening principle for advancement in modern time, moreso than immorality.
To get ahead these days in just about any organization, individuals are placed into situations where they become morally compromised. If you are willing to win at all costs, and you can sell your soul to do it-- you increase your chances of breaking through that glass ceiling. Society is simply rewarding immoral behavior over morality (think CEO pay); and sometimes above competence (think Tim Geithner).
And the original post is right on the mark-- immoral "Survivor-like" behavior is embraced and revered-- not only in TV programming-- but within the mainstream media.
What our society needs the most are leaders to step up who have a basic (and consistent) sense of morality. This does not mean a right wing Christian Republican who is in his 5th term and chairs a committee in Congress. Chances are that individual has been comprimised a long time ago, no matter how many consecutive Sundays he goes to church.
It's means ordinary people willing to do the extraordinary things for those they represent-- and doing so the right way. It means finding people that are willing to step up and challenge a corrupt system and fight tooth and nail-- simply because it's the right thing to do.
Ominously, there are very few of those willing to step up and work their way into leadership positions. Why? Becuase most are faced with "playing the part" and being morally compromised even before they can even dream of getting into important leadership roles. I'm sure there are a few who have entered the halls of Congress with strong moral intent, only to have it eroded away by immoral persuasion.
I hesitate to say we are screwed, but we have strayed way off the moral path we had only 40-50 years ago... and this time, we may never find our way back.
+++ Well said.
While I agree with some of this post, I feel compelled to ask the "so what?" question. So we don't live in the 50's anymore. Got it. So we've experienced a moral decline. Agreed. So a few crooks have given a bad name to some good organizations. Check.
While admittedly eloquent and unnecessarily verbose, you just spend 2242 words doing nothing but complaining. You even said about half-way down that it's sad that we "sit idly by whilst our virtue is being stolen. We do nothing." OK... so why spend hours refining your soliloquy instead of doing something? If this nation spend half the time "doing" that it spends complaining, we'd have solved all the problems you seem to think are driving the nation into the grave.
I'll tell you the same thing I tell my employees and my kids: You don't have the right to complain about something unless you have a plan to fix it.
Feel free to reply. I'd like to know what you think.
Amen, brother! All I could think, reading that, was: speak for yourselves! I, my family, my friends, my co-workers don't all live in a moral cesspool. There is a significant minority in this country that still walk tall.
Out of interest, I then went to the writers' website, and the homepage features a punk gangsta brandishing two automatics at the viewer, and an essay on their trading algos! Nice--way to walk your talk...
How is that immoral? It's just the author's style - he is for fighting the bankstas.
Hope is not a strategy because you want other people to take care of your problems.
Agreed. Also, as in immigrant from a corrupt and bankrupt communist country, I can tell you how society functions and why we still don't have 'change': People do what they need to do to get buy. In the end, people look out for themselves. You can talk about 'greater good' and 'fixing society' but that will only happen when each individual changes on an individual basis. What I mean by that is that a revolution will occur if people's personal situation can only improve. In USA, a revolution may harm many people b/c they are dependent on government, so they have a disincentive to revolt. Once their FDIC insured accounts are worthless and they have no paycheck and/or welfare check coming in, but they have bills to pay and mouths to feed, only THEN will you see people wake up and take meaningful action.
In USA, government continues to dole out welfare like crazy, provide great benefits to government workers, etc. In other words, there does not yet exist an impetus for people to change. Pointing out that this is unsustainable is like pointing out to a person 3 years ago that housing prices are unsustainable; it is a futile act.
"People do what they need to do to get buy."
Great pun; so true.
I'm running for a political position locally.
What are YOU doing?
"You don't have the right to complain about something unless you have a plan to fix it"
Um. I pay taxes to put people in Congress and experts in regulatory agencies so they can fix things. I complain to them some times about some things and if enough people think the same thing and complain about the same problems, things get fixed.
It's called "representative government" and it works passably well on large problems.
Failing that, since when can the Average Joe come up with a viable plan for every problem? Everyone is broke, so print more money and give everyone a million dollars. Sounds fine, just not going to solve the problem is the problem.
And since when does the Average Joe get a chance to make a difference even if he is technically correct? I think the air quality sucks, every one's kids have asthma and my neighbor who never smoked just died of lung cancer. Hey I know... we should ban all personal gas-powered vehicles. Would absolutely fix the air quality over night, but not happening in the real world.
I mean, it's a nice sound bite; you can't complain unless you have the solution. But not everyone is a know-it-all.
Oh, and look up "Dunning-Kruger Effect" sometime. The idea that everyone can be an expert and the experts are tools is unbelievably corrosive.
cougar
No problem. On jury duty vote your convictions.
It costs <$8 in expenditures to swing one vote in an election. Vote often.
Hey there,
I wrote American Purgatory and I appreciate your comments. I guess I would reply by saying this - my intent was not to compare our 'moral bar' to the 50's but rather to point out that we've reached that point where morality, especially at our leadership level, has reached a tipping point.
With respect to being verbose - you got me. Guilty. But I got you to read it, didn't I? I'm going to be posting another version of the article on my personal site; http://thefinalpost.com. This other version is only about 1,500 words - I still have to edit it within the next couple of days.
And with regard to doing nothing but complaining, rather than taking action, you're wrong. Writing the article, gathering a following, writing congressmen (which I do), among other grass roots efforts are what I am able to pull-off presently. Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam, in his song Green Disease wrote, "I'm just asking you to sway." This was in reference to influencing people, to sway them to a different line of thought. If I can accomplish that in any way, writing, speaking, or whatever then I am at least making an effort. So I got that going for me.
Thanks for commenting. Even if you think I'm a tool...
Brett Buchanan
Livy was writing at the height of empire, indeed well before it, if we regard the Roman Empire as having reached its height with Trajan (about 100AD) and begu its real decline after Marcus Aurelius (161 AD).
"We must be the change we want to see in the world."
Gandhi
Your beautiful article makes me want to try.
"We must be the change we want to see in the world."
Gandhi
Thanks.
Agree, that's pretty much the problem- societal breakdown of basic morality at almost every level. However I'm a person of action. IF millions of people use their money wisely as described below, we can move this purgatory along a little faster.
Pull you're "cheap" money out of the big money center/TARP recipient banks / institutions and redeposit it into other sound, FDIC insured, state chartered banks.
By "cheap money" I'm referring to the checking and other MZM low interest savings/money market accounts. These accounts supply the money these institutions need to thrive. Without these funds, they'll have to massively downsize which is exactly what is needed IMO.
By all means let them compete for you're "expensive" money, term deposits and the like that yield higher rates but remove the cheap money. There are many other sound, local state chartered, FDIC insured banks for you're "cheap" money.
Use your financial muscle as well as your remaining political rights!
Resources:
http://www.financialstability.gov/latest/reportsanddocs.html - TARP recipients
http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/main.asp - Get FDIC bank condition reports
sound banking + FDIC insured = oxymoron
Well, we sure could use a Dr. King right now.
And a Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela, and anAbraham Lincoln as well, all rolled up in the same guy.
Barry O, you ain't it.
Amen to that! As a lifelong Democrat, I'll never understand why they cast their lot with a well spoken, highly intelligent yet untested politician like Obama. Maybe after witnessing the folly of electing a draft dodging sub-moron recovering alcoholic puppet like GW Bush, we were indeed ready for a change. Unfortunately, we didnt get that.
Or a draft-dodging, do-nothing, skirt-chasing criminal like Bill Clinton?
The office of the President is an easy target, but hardly the right one to focus on. If only fixing our problems were as simple as replacing the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
You should be more worried about the 535 King George IIIs sitting in the Capitol, and the interests that keep them sufficiently bribed and entrenched there.
At least Bill Clinton brought peace and no war, and the greatest economic prosperity in our nation over the last 30 years or so. All with government surpluses.
Compare that to what Bush did, and he's the shit or something.
If by "peace and no war" do you mean dead American soldiers in Bosnia and Somalia? Or victims of the WTC bombing? The men that died on the USS Cole? Al-Qaida operatives well into the planning stages of 9-11? Or failing to let the Sudanese turn Bin Laden over because "we had nothing to hold him on"? Then sure, why not?
Economic prosperity? Based on tech companies that produced nothing and quickly collapsed, leading to the 2000 recession? How quickly people forget that the tech bust happened on Clinton's watch. I guess if you're one of the folks that participated in the massive pump & dump, and got out early enough, you ended up quite prosperous.
Or maybe you mean Clinton's support of CRA acceleration, encouraging banks to wrap up toxic loans to deadbeat borrowers in neat little mortgage-backed securities. "Hey, I just bought a half-million dollar house at 3% down and I only make $40K a year! This can't possibly end badly..."
Government surpluses? You mean "taking even more Social Security surplus and dumping it into the general fund, calling Treasury sales 'income', and projecting balanced budgets that never happened"? I guess if enough people repeat "Clinton balanced the budget!" it makes it true.
The Clinton years were smoke and mirrors. Bush wasn't any better but don't pretend like Billy Boy was instrumental in some kind of 1990s Renaissance.
And I'm not even bashing Clinton...it takes a lot of players to make or break the world. When people are luxuriating in false booms they tend not to hear the sound of the can being kicked.
I think a growing segment of our population desperately hopes such a leader emerges.
We are still waiting...
hey, 60% of americans disagree with you; you have changes we can believe in, non? and one million turned up for the inauguration party non?
And a little bit of Ol' Hickory Stick, Andrew Jackson.
They tried to assassinate him too... but failed!
You're looking outside of yourself to solve the problem, don't do that. None of these people were gods, they were all just mortals with flaws that history has polished.
Mandela??? That means we need a terrorist who rose to power by butchering his own people?
Or we need another Lincoln to consolidate the Federal power? Confused here...
Funny... I used to say to my mother things like I did this or that and I deserve something for it... ie, I built you that piece of furniture you couldn't find any where, so you should let me take my car to college.
Her response was always the same, "You don't get rewarded for doing the right thing" In the example, for helping my mother.
Obviously, extrapolating from my mother's own inability to reward effort is a bit ridiculous, but broadly, that's precisely what's wrong with our society.
I think you learned the wrong lesson here, son.
We are moving away from nations. It's about corporations and it's a flat world. Every product or service these authors consume was made by the collaborative efforts of people all over the world. I agree that the overall culture of greed and ignorance has gone too far and is imploding.
The products and services of the wealthy Wall St banker/trader are demanded and paid for by someone in the market. Should we blame Coke and P&G for making products that can make you obese? No. Where is the damn personal responsibility anymore? Someone bought the toxic CDOs, MBS etc
It was collective greed, short-sightedness, and ignorance that allowed the financial lions to thin the heard.
I have been in mortgage banking for nearly ten years and I can tell you, not many people signed loan documents at gun point.
We never did the 1m stated income no down payment home loans. We knew in 05 the Ponzi was over.
I never did a NEGAM loan because I knew they were just wrong. It took us the better part of the afternoon to understand the product and disclosures. I knew exactly what the product was for and how it was going to screw people out of their house. But, they signed the loan docs and lived it up. Half the loans in LA/OC, CA in 06 were interest only or NEGAM. Now the restaurants, lux car dealers and Saks 5th are hurting. Hmm... connection. No more MEW.
Don't delude yourself into thinking that it's one for all and all for one. It's I'll play the game on these rules as long as it works for me and my family.
We compete against and with each other daily. It's not zero sum but clearly to the victor goes the spoils.
We have come a long way as species. Hell 200 hundred years ago literacy rates were in the low double digits and you had a good chance of dying from germs and rotten food.
It isn't us vs them. US vs China etc. We are 7 billion humans spinning on a tiny planet. Travel the world you will see that with our worts we are the best country(EMPIRE) on the planet. Most American's don't, they would rather have a 60" flat panel. Only 20% of US citizens have a passport.
I am a middle class true blooded patriot. I have a Jasper Johns American Flag poster in my office along side my copy of the constitution.
Read: Niall Ferguson's books sometime.
Also, don't get yourself so worked up over the federal debt, the middle class aren't paying much of the tab. article here. http://thegreatloanblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/whos-paying-tab.html
May God Bless Us All.
Jeff Bowman
Mr. Mortgage
Superb article. In addition to the authors teaching their children fundamental ethics, I would advise their children learn a 2nd (or 3rd) language and the openmindedness to emigrate.
The reason I suggest this is America is no longer guided on principles articulated by her founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Rather than strive for excellence and the ideals these documents articulate, we are a nation rife with grifters trying to game the system and slouch to mediocrity. The Congress is composed of men and women that embody Orwell's doublethink; sociopaths that can posture for the camera and swear they will uphold the Constitution, while working feverishly on a daily basis to destroy it. They care not that they sacrifice future generations through the policies they implement.
The only hope and change I have is that it is possible this ship can be righted before she goes down. It is possible that an awaking could occur that would return America to its principles. However, hope and change is not an effective way live as a rational being (albeit it is apparently an effective way to be elected president). As a responsible parent, one should ensure their children have the best chance for a better life. And in my eyes, that entails learning at least one language besides English fluently and being willing to emigrate.
Amos the Elephant
"It is possible that an awaking could occur that would return America to its principles."
I don't agree. There are not enough "Americans" left. I used quotes because by "Americans," I mean, the descendants of the founders and original colonists. How is some schmuck who just got off the plane from India or who hopped the border from Old Mejico going to have any clue about principles or morals? They are literally here to game the system, they don't give a shit about anything else. There can be no awakening under those circumstances. The only way to awaken is to have known or been taught a different way.
Look at eBay for crissakes--damn near every auction on there is some type of scam being perpetrated by some opportunist. It's just that bad, and no, it is not recoverable, not without bloody revolution.
since when were they ever sticking to those bogus "principles". They massacred the native americans even when they would show the peace flag, and like the natives americans said, had no idea whatever how to live in harmony with the external envirnoment from day 1 "moving river and mountain where it did not suit them". Basically tearing things up in an orgy of degeneracy thats playing out to the endgame now.
We can change though. We have all the wisdom we need if we only wish to be open to it.
http://www.sapphyr.net/natam/quotes-nativeamerican.htm
And if things do not fall completely apart a foreign language is useful for retirement. Not forever but a nice 5 or so years of saving money in a low cost environment. Then when the kids are 40 or 50 offer to help finance a new big house with a mother-in-law apartment. The kid who takes you up on it inherits the house as per the will. IF they don't dump you in a nursing home against your will.
It might help to think more in terms of humanity than (American) society. You can say that 'throughout history all societies fail', but do they really? Civilizations (Roman, Greek, etc.) can peak to great heights, and in doing so they contribute immensely to the advancement of knowledge, culture, arts, etc. Even when the peak is 'negative' (e.g., Hitler's Germany), positive changes can emerge as a result.
At the peak, people are comfortable and complacent - bored even. They experiment with increasingly 'immoral' endeavors, and eventually rot and collapse set in. A seemingly natural cycle that I have seen many people go through in their lives.
It may be that America has peaked, and is ready to hand off the baton to the next country / society. The slide can appear apocalyptic at the time, but with a little luck... well, the Romans (now 'Italians') and Greeks are still there last I checked.
The Romans and the Greeks are long gone. So are the Spartans, the Trojans, the Celts, the Goths - not to mention the Babylonians, the Hittites, etc.
Ecellent
Sadly or rather symptomatically, one rarely sees any attempt at a moral and ethical expose of how one sees the Realm unfolding
Whether any, a little or most of what these gents write about arrives or is accurate, matters not.
I applaud the effort and the attempt to focus on the spirtual reality of a major part of this Nation.
BRAVO
Greg
We are moving away from nations. It's about corporations and it's a flat world. Every product or service these authors consume was made by the collaborative efforts of people all over the world. I agree that the overall culture of greed and ignorance has gone too far and is imploding.
The products and services of the wealthy Wall St banker/trader are demanded and paid for by someone in the market. Should we blame Coke and P&G for making products that can make you obese? No. Where is the damn personal responsibility anymore? Someone bought the toxic CDOs, MBS etc
It was collective greed, short-sightedness, and ignorance that allowed the financial lions to thin the heard.
I have been in mortgage banking for nearly ten years and I can tell you, not many people signed loan documents at gun point.
We never did the 1m stated income no down payment home loans. We knew in 05 the Ponzi was over.
I never did a NEGAM loan because I knew they were just wrong. It took us the better part of the afternoon to understand the product and disclosures. I knew exactly what the product was for and how it was going to screw people out of their house. But, they signed the loan docs and lived it up. Half the loans in LA/OC, CA in 06 were interest only or NEGAM. Now the restaurants, lux car dealers and Saks 5th are hurting. Hmm... connection. No more MEW.
Don't delude yourself into thinking that it's one for all and all for one. It's I'll play the game on these rules as long as it works for me and my family.
We compete against and with each other daily. It's not zero sum but clearly to the victor goes the spoils.
We have come a long way as species. Hell 200 hundred years ago literacy rates were in the low double digits and you had a good chance of dying from germs and rotten food.
It isn't us vs them. US vs China etc. We are 7 billion humans spinning on a tiny planet. Travel the world you will see that with our worts we are the best country(EMPIRE) on the planet. Most American's don't, they would rather have a 60" flat panel. Only 20% of US citizens have a passport.
I am a middle class true blooded patriot. I have a Jasper Johns American Flag poster in my office along side my copy of the constitution.
Read: Niall Ferguson's books sometime.
Also, don't get yourself so worked up over the federal debt, the middle class aren't paying much of the tab. article here. http://thegreatloanblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/whos-paying-tab.html
May God Bless Us All.
Jeff Bowman
Mr. Mortgage
Sorry for the extra spacing in my comment. Have a good evening everyone.
Well done! I truly feel for your children, having witnessed the decline of our country. Scripture says "Nothing new under the Sun...all is vanity, and striving after wind". As you sow, so shall you reap. The spirit of America is broken beyond repair--and a Nation of greedy, amoral, ignorant peons has only just begun to suffer. You ain't seen nothing yet. Americans chose conspicuous consumption, the worship/love of money, false pride, oppression, and violence. Much worse than this, we have infected most of the world with our corrupt culture, unsustainable lifestyles, and comtemptable human nature. Americans tend to lack spirituality---and that is the core reason why we will--and must fail. If you think you can hide behind precious metals, foreign currencies, firearms and ammo, and non-perishable food items...well, good luck with that. If you have any faith at all, I recommend picking up that Holy Bible you've been ignoring, and begin recieving wisdom from the only power that truly matters. His name is'nt Robert Paulson, nor Tyler Durden, nor Barrack Obama, nor Sarah Palin. His name is Jehovah God. Ignore him at your peril. Selah!
As long as any country have soberly-thinking people like you that county will be re-born in a purified state;although this process will be painful. I am judging this by own experience after the Soviet Union fell and what followed thereafter.
Amen brothers!
did you know that the jehova's witnesses, and the seventh day adventists emerged from an event, called the great disappointment. millerites, following a false profit.. but I do agree, the bible contains much wisdom perhaps, part of the root of our current perceptual distortion, is VICARIOUS ATONEMENT, you know, where someone else pays the price.
Meanwhile a simple cup of Joe costs an arm and leg (sugar, cocoa bubbbbbbbbble)!! Thanks BB!!
Today I am going to go through some basic steps that I found helpful for making money in the stock market. First of all, watching the market and developing a sense of 'feel' for what is going on is extremely important. It is necessary to take in as much information as you can, by reading articles, listening to podcasts, and reading books on investing and trading constantly. This helps one become 'aware' of the market, and allows you to gain a sense of familiarity with what is going on in the wider world- this takes you outside your own bubble of simple gains/losses and personal struggles. You have to see the big picture to have larger gains than the average Joe. I would, however, offer some caution on watching pundits on the T.V.; as they tend to focus on the short-term and often repeat the pack mentality ideals as investment themes, a painful strategy for one looking to make large sums of cash. I am not saying that watching 'Fast Money' or 'Mad Money' will make you less effective as an investor, but to be careful about taking their trading advice and instead focus on using their knowledge to give yourself a better understanding of the markets and macroeconomic movements that may be taking place. One of the first things to do as a serious investor, or trader, is to create a Google account so you can start creating portfolios of stocks & sectors to watch through the Google Finance section. This is a great way to keep an eye on many various sectors and stocks of interest, and you can create different portfolios and group the stocks how you see fit. I currently have about 25 different portfolios with different sectors, geographic regions, and even investment ideas (Solar, China, High Yield Bonds, etc..) This not only allows you to scan through a vast number of equities quickly evaluating the price changes, but also has a news feed at the bottom of each portfolio updating you with real time news on any stocks in that portfolio. This tool allows you to keep tabs on as many stocks as you would like in a simple, easy to use platform that saves you valuable time over manually entering symbols. You then can go through all of your portfolios daily and examine the price fluctuations, news events, and get a better sense of the overall market without spending hours of your time. Another avenue of information that I strongly recommend is through Google Reader. Through Google Reader you can subscribe to many various stock market and investment news sites, placing all the latest articles in one easy place to be sifted through and read when desired. This saves you the time of surfing around multiple sites searching for stories and advice, while constantly updating whenever a new article is shown on your cache of multiple finance websites. These are just two ways to become better informed of the stock market machinations, and are to be viewed as a way to become a more efficient analyzer of market data. There is no set way to enjoy success in the market as people are very different regarding risk and personal understanding. I think everyone has to find their own unique niche of trading style that jives with their personality, and I am going to share my personal techniques that work for me as a starting point to finding your own path. Keep checking back, I will post more trading information and strategy later. LABELS: EFFICENT USE OF MARKET DATA http://www.pitbulltrading.blogspot.com
"All the while, young girls were selling their virginity to the highest bidder in public cyber-forums..."
Wow, I feel like I missed out on the real party and now it's over. Just kidding, sort of, but if someone could post a link (so I could talk about how dispicable it is in sunday school) I would be thankful.
Morality is a very subjective concept and to paint the past as Edenesque doesn't really cut it. To cite just a few examples was America moral slaughtering its aborigines or Fillippinos, dropping atomic bombs on Japanese, starving German prisoners of war, overthrowing foreign governments like Iran, Guatemala, etc, torturing whole countries with its scorch and burn economic policies, scorching and burning a virgin continent to enrich a few families while deluding the masses with consumeristic "prosperity" ? I humbly suggest not.
Now your essay is fine and dandy but your belated righteous outcry comes only because now America's cabal lack of morality is catching up with white people, or if you prefer, with the bourgeoisie to include the tokens. Maybe America can use stem cell technology to grow a soul it never had. Stranger things have happened though it's hard to think if an example.
"...young girls were selling their virginity to the highest bidder in public cyber-forums where grown men..."
Correction: Hookers were overcharging chumps for their long since abandoned virginity. The Scope Labs guys have gone nuts.
These moralist buffoons were entirely happy when renters were being forced to subsidize their home mortgages; thrilled when single people were forced to pay for their kids education; and ecstatic when the mass corralling rich they cry about were paying over half their tax burden.
Is it only when the parasite class finally intruded upon them substantially that they started to get upset. Screw these ball babies. "Men of action"? More like Internet Tough Guys. Until I see one of them try to beat Cho's high score, I'm calling bullshit.
If we go down, everyone goes down.
And things being relative, if we all go down in parallel: Is that as measurably bad as the writer thinks?
Mankind has free will, if the ultimate sources of good or evil were presented in their physical form, faith would not be necessary due to the realization, and faced with the reality mankind would not be free to choose. We are presented with evidence for both every day and with our conscience we make decisions to take the high road or the low road. It would be nice to eliminate darkness once and for all on earth, but unfortunately that line of demarkation cuts through the heart of mankind. For example, should I invest in Philip Morris?
From the point of view of an executive insider, I can tell you three dangerous concepts at the heart of the corporate problem are the business school lesson that the sole purpose of business is to "maximize shareholder wealth", the legal principle of a group of people hiding behind "the corporate veil", and moral hazard from one corporation taking unethical/illegal actions without any penalties or regulatory enforcement as it becomes a competitive advantage and forces competitors to follow suit or fall behind and be replaced.
So maximizing profit can favor the short term at the expense of the long term health and well being of society. If the SEC does not enforce the rules, it institutionalizes bad behavior and can lead to the destruction of the entire system as participants lose faith in the system that appears to reward malfeasance and punish good fiduciaries. And notice veil is just "evil" transformed (spelling).
I personally believe profit is the applause of your customer and that you shouldn't take actions that you would be embarassed about having on the front page of the Wall Street Journal the next day. However, as in politics many of the most aggressive risk takers that cut corners are rewarded and promoted regardless of ethical persuasion.
Edmund Burke said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Abraham Lincoln said nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Thomas Jefferson said one man with courage makes a majority, JC Watts says that character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. James Madison said the truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted - presumably because absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do not confuse law with morality or ethics, some legal laws are the opposite of moral law.
Following are a few gems that give me comfort, not for everybody as we all choose:
Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. Proverbs 3:25-26
My son, do not lose sight of these—keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely,
and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs 3:21-24
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Matthew 6:20
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24
Excellent selection of verses, A N !!
America's rapid decline began when God was taken out of the schools.
great post. Thank you.
My 2 cents about why we, the American people (sheeple) do nothing:
We have become a public that lives in fear because of the pervasiveness of litigation that goes on in this country. If you stop and think about it for a minute, you know this to be true.
We need to significantly change the laws that support this.
Whilst we are all pontificating -remember no-one is blameless.
For all of us that play games in the markets, are we investing in good companies with good products, talented staff and a bright future? Nope, most seem to be speculating on tiny changes on a graph, and just be a little smarter (or more awake) than the next guy in the quest for easy money. We appear to have no interest whatsoever in the actual entity.
Those of us buying gold, that isn't for a safe haven, it is to try and double our money.
If the squid offered each of us a guaranteed return of x%, how many of us would refuse the corruption.
We are all party to this mess, all the way up from the credit cards and the mortgages to the laissez-faire non-regulation of the markets. We were bribed, but we tolerated and welcomed it because our slice seemed reasonable.
We get a chance to pass judgement on our elected officials, and we get a chance to repudiate our debts and withold taxes. There will come a time when no-one has respect for the law, so we will be excused for ignoring it. Just hope that -when such a time comes- you have enough ethics and morals to do right by your neighbour.
Enough already, I want to know how Citi is going to sink. These are interesting times we live in.
Meh. This post was stupid.
No god, no morality and Americans stopped beleiving in God about the time the TV was invented.
Crying about lack of morality only when the Karma comes due is pretty damn idiotic but best of luck to Best-Intentioned Brett and Greg who, in their own words, are no saints.
Bah
-MobBarley
Wow. I wrote American Purgatory. You're the first person whose called me idiotic for anything I've written. Normally it takes people a lot longer to figurer out the enormity of my idiocy. I just wonder what that does for your Karma though.
I thought we did a pretty good job bringing a complex philosophical topic to the forefront - in our own small way. And with regard to our admission that we are no saints, well, I am what I am. I do appreciate your comments. You at least referred to us as 'best intentioned'. So thanks for that.
Brett Buchanan
Wow, did ZH just jump the shark? I couldn't even make it through some of the comments they were so ridicolous. When people start talking about "morality" and "spirituality" as the cure for what ails the world, I can't help but laugh a sad and depressing laugh.
The problem is not going to be solved by a campaign of moral rejuvenation. The problem is incredibly, incredibly simple: there is criminality at the highest levels, and it is done with complete impunity. The world doesn't need a moral compass, it needs a badass Sheriff to enforce the rules that are already in place.
Please ZH, I implore you to return to the days of high-quality investigative reporting and commentary and to distance yourselves from this type of absurd populist rabble-rousing. The irony is that I say this while still agreeing in large part with the thesis put forth by the author's re: the systematic problems of the "new" american economy. I only wish it was delivered in a more intelligent and academic fashion.
So, the fact that we do not have a badass Sheriff to enforce the existing rules/laws is not symptomatic of the moral/spiritual depravity we witness all around us in our society on a daily basis? Ask yourself why we have not appointed that badass Sheriff. What motivation is there to not clean our economic house/system? To deny that our lack of the Sheriff is driven by anything other than the moral/spiritual depravity at the heart of corruption is folly or denial, IMO.
"symptomatic of the moral/spiritual depravity we witness all around us in our society on a daily basis?" Again, this is where you lose me. As a devout atheist missionary, I have to say that I think the world is great. In fact, it's better than it's ever been. Life is fucking great, but we are so quick to forget that. We're richer in every single way, to a degree that people 200 years ago could never even fathom. We live longer, we're healthier and being a poor person in Western society today is comparable to being fabulously wealthy 200 years ago. We have a freedom of the press (this thingy called the Internets) that is truly revolutionizing society in ways that have not yet been fathomed. People have not changed, ever - they've been greedy, corrupt and self-interested since day one. Politicians have always been corrupt. It's part of our evolved human nature, and it just IS. To think that what is needed to solve this problem is some type of widespread return to morality simply not a workable solution. The only real solutions to humanities problems will not come from politicians - it will come from scientific and technological advances. And part of that might just be to give an MRI to every high-ranking public servant upon entering office - take an MRI to see whether you're really, truly a sociopath. Such a test already exists, and it works for one simple reason: sociopaths/psychopaths brains are wired differently, and it shows up in how they react to certain stimuli. How about this: I'll route for science and social advances, you root for fundamental human change towards morality ("if only they believed in Christ, it would all be great"), and we'll see which one works out better.
While I acknowledge that man can never completely escape his animal/beast origins and I am far from a Luddite with regard to the value I assign to science and technology (cellular and molecular biology major), I believe that, with the exception of sociopaths, the human potential is not limited to "people are greedy, corrupt and self-interested."
Think about it for a second. If human evolutionary theory is accurate, then our ancestors were successful in coming out of the trees and onto the savanna only because they were altruistic and looked out for each other. Isn't morality basically the human manifestation of altruism?
With regard to being spiritual, I am referring to the primary definition from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. Since that is how I am using the term, it circles right back to altruism/morality, IMO. But, please reread my initial response to your post. I don't see where I advocated belief in Christ to elevate mankind. I don't see where I referenced religion at all. (As an aside, I do see in your reply an elevation of science and technology to religion/worship status, which I do feel is another problem contributing to our lack of connectedness as a species.)
So, I am rooting for scientific advances (like you) but I am also rooting for a return (not a change, a return) in humanity to one of the defining characteristics of our evolution as a species.
What is criminality if not a reflection of society's morality? The very fact that criminality goes unpunished proves the author's point. Were we a moral society, we would enforce our laws. It's sort of funny and yet at the same time sad that you don't see that.
I'm with the authors on this one. I see what nearly 50 years of doing whatever feels good has bought us.
EM,
Well put and more succinct than my similar sentiments expressed directly above yours.
I agree that this is the heart of the problem, but can't you see the connection? The reasons why the world doesn't have a badass sheriff are presented in the article. If we were not at a point of moral bankruptcy then there would be opportunity for enforcement of the law and the good, therapeutic implications of this enforcement. In our world if a person with respect toward the law ever got elected there would is an incredibly high chance of him or her getting the bullet in the head treatment, mostly because of the accepted perspectives we have taken to hold. The selfish, short term perspective is taken as the default and normal position instead of the selfish long term perspective, which might be less selfish in the short term.
Some things need to be said; ZH has plenty of volume to allow for such musings to appear alongside the facts. Like all sources of media, especially a forum such as ZH, there is need for an editorial section to allow for debate and discussion. We might just learn from each other.
I do agree thought that we need something more practical than spirituality. Maybe a logic class in high school would do if a self improvement solution HAD to be implemented.
Uros,
I wrote American Purgatory. Thank you for your comment. My aim in writing the article was to point out that we are in fact at a moral tipping point. Morality, and its influence on the overall health of a society, is a philosophical argument that has been raging for centuries. There is no doubt morality also leans heavily on the health of our markets. Theoretically, markets are based in morality. So while I would agree with your 'bad-ass Sheriff' concept, we still need to reset our moral compass, because without it we're flying blind.
Lastly, with respect to 'this type of populist rabble-rousing' and your wish that I communicate in a 'more intelligent and academic fashion', what can I say? I wrote it. I stand by it. Tomorrow afternoon I will be at the beach, weather permitting, to enjoy a day in the sun with my family. I'll probably drink a beer or two. See some friends. And over the weekend will cook up my next rabble-rousing unintelligent and unacademic article. Stay tuned.
I did appreciate your comment by the way. You should always call bullshit on the bullshitter...
Brett Buchanan
brett,
FWIW, the themes of your piece resonated pretty strongly with my own thoughts/feelings regarding our society. Thank you for writing it. Have fun at the beach.
Unfortunately, none of us can change the past and to paraphrase several posters just about all of us has been complicit in the arrival at our current destination of IGMism (I Got Mine-ism). Despite trying to live my life by the Golden Rule, I was complicit (and remain somewhat so based on the paralysis/powerlessness I feel with regard to being an agent of change). I can only change my present behavior.
Along those lines, my employment situation has allowed me pretty much unlimited time to get to know and help my neighbors, with no ulterior motive or payoff except feeling good about having helped somebody. Nope, I'm not doing it because I believe in God or that good deeds will gain me entry to heaven. I'm doing it because treating people decently, with dignity and helping them is how I would like to be treated.
I refuse to reenter financial services. I spent 18 years there so I'm not even sure what I will do to "earn a living" but I cannot be a participant in an industry whose principal product is fraud (and this system is so corrupt it cannot be changed from within). So, I am doing what I can to no longer be complicit but am all ears with regard to other steps to be taken in this regard.
Therefore, if any posters here are in NH and have legitimate employment opportunities that do not involve complicity in the corruption or otherwise ripping people off, I will work my tail off for you and have recently realized that my needs are few (i.e., I seek a fair wage but am not interested in "something for nothing").
Bravo. I'm doing the same thing in Texas. My expenses are ridiculously low and I am debt free. I am not owned. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to spend most of my time doing things that add value, rather than simply attempting to steal from the beast.
Nice one Boeing
I was a commercial lawyer and Counsellor for many years until recently in Aus.
I took a long hard look and stepped out and away, initially with no idea about what would be next, but realizing that first I needed to step out and away before I could begin to clearly think about what I would next do.
Best decision of my life.
Currently in Paris and finding all sorts of new feet I never fully appreciated I had before - being 'in the system' does I believe tend to take many away from themselves - sought of designed that way I think.
Anyway - good luck
Best wishes to you. I worked for a company that the executives exploited for personal gain, while laying off tens of thousands of people. Understanding this, I persisted in a good savings plan and came to grips psychologically that I knew what I wanted to do after the inevitable layoff. You got to pursue your passion. So after 21 years I got my pink slip. And damn, I got laid off at the right time. Right after the market bottomed in March. And I made more damn money in stocks than I would working for my former employer. I created my own "job". I didn't send out a resume. I didn't contact another employer. I didn't collect unemployment. You focus on what you're good at. You do all the little actions consistent with that idea. One day it can pop up into your reality.
"Seven Blunders of the World"
1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principle
—Mahatma Gandhi
+1. More succinct and pointed than the authors attempt. A noble cause as it may have been.
Well hey, that post really put the balls on the table.
Great piece distilling Thr American Condition.
Otherwise someone had to say it - and indeed it was said well.
Now - let's get back to understanding how things will continue to fall apart in the US of A
good luck
Phew. I'm thinking ZH wants to change the format to theology and philosophy? A sure sign of defeat.
Au contraire. This article attempts to find the first causes of the crisis. Very relevant, and well worth some deep thought. A sign of hope.
I need more asshats -
I wrote American Purgatory. My partner Greg Simmons has been a trader for nearly 25 years. He is immensely successful trading his own account and only works with a select few clients in an advisory and systems design capacity. With respect to your comment regarding the theology and philosophy format I will say this - I think the most successful traders are grounded in such disciplines to a much greater extent than less successful traders. Greg is a perfect example. Granted I am biased, but I know this much to be true.
I'd like to send a shout out to Tyler Durden for posting our article. He's a man who obviously thinks outside of the box and definitely ahead of the curve.
Thanks for your comment.
Brett Buchanan
From fear of losing his next Ponzi bucket, Obama threatens, "the federal government will go bankrupt" if the health care bill fails.
Why doesn't he just say the words "martial law" and "riot"?
With leadership like this, America will go bankrupt indeed.
There is no we, in the sense of something that is a common good that comes from government. For that is what the dominant ideology of the age says. It says nothing done for the common good is even possible. So government is often designed to fail when it is not designed to profit the so called private sector of public corporations. Thus down a rabbit hole we have gone. Thus we are soon to be required by law to buy health insurance from private corporations. Because only the 'private' sector can efficiently run any system the ideology says.
There is one place where the common good is embraced. Our entire common good is invested in the military and security and national defense. Unique in history our courts, indirectly but certainly, codify torture and so do our politicians and religious leaders. No courts of law in Nazi Germany nor the Soviet Union, as debased as they may have been, actually embraced torture. Appearances were kept up, formalities adhered to.
There was and is no possible political alternative to heaping trillions onto corporations so that is the path that was taken. You will recall talk of 'nationalizing' the banking giants was met with total horror, even though that is what is done on a weekly basis for small banks. For the giants inexplicably define private as their alumni control the wheels of power in the executive the legislative and even the courts. After all the lions of the Supreme Court and their ideological brethren revel in enumerating the rights citizens do not have as they extravagantly grant them to corporations.
Many good people are trapped in a corrupt system. Once in a while the veil is lifted to reveal the behind the scenes injustice. Most people willfully ignore it and hope for the best as long as their needs are taken care of. It's an apathetic helplessness of sorts but in the end it is about self preservation. Herd mentality exists because it is the proven beneficial strategy over time. Predators normally prey on the weak who stray behind the herd, but in the human animal, courageous leaders, if not followed, run the risk of being left alone to be eviscerated. The power does reside with the herd in the end. When conditions threaten it's overall well being, it will stampede and for those who are at the brunt end of it's movements, it will be very unnerving.
Man you guys are brave trying to invoke a conscientious judgement here. You won't find flowers in Hades.
I just wanted to pile-on with the compliments to the authors for a well articulated, thoughtful piece. I share the sentiments completely.
We devoted an entire generation to the pursuit of building wealth by extracting it from our economic system. It will take a whole new generation (or more) to re-learn how to produce wealth by adding value to our economic system.
<applause>
economessed -
I wrote American Purgatory. Thank you for your comment. I mean that sincerely. We poured our hearts into that article. I probably wrote 10,000 words to get to the 2,242 words we published. A lot of late nights discussing philosophy, morality, ethics, all of it directly related to the moral compass that guides this nation at all levels - including the markets.
Thank you again.
Brett Buchanan
Don't forget the "educators" and opinion "leaders" who have promoted every decline in moral standards and increase in ignorance over the past 4 decades.
Well done. I could not have said it better myself - or I at least would not have been as nice or professional. Thanks for posting.
So you want a way out? Ghandi? Guns? Superior intellect? No revolution, whether peaceful or militant, has accomplished its stated goals. Ever. There is a good reason for it. The squid is well organized and disciplined and patient. The People are not. They are gullible. My 2 cents here is this: When you find your garden lock the gates behind you, and teach everybody about it. The squid, lacking any gardens of its own, will starve. Cheers!
You said: "Hope is not a strategy. This present state of manufactured optimism emanating from the White House and our news outlets is contemptible."
I call it Hopium: hope filled delirium preached by the White House and Swallowed whole by the American Sheeple.
curbyourrisk -
Nice. Hopium. Don't be surprised if I wiggle that one into an article very soon. My moral compass would dictate that I give you credit of course - but I'm too lazy. Hopium. LOL.
Brett Buchanan - Author: American Purgatory
For we arrive at the time when it shall be written again...MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN. Pray that YOU shall not be found wanting.
A brief examination of demagoguery and American populism
http://anonymousmonetarist.blogspot.com/2009/12/destroy-this-invisible-government.html
Hey Hammer et.al - Forget the Bible rants to get us out of this mess. It was common knowledge in the ancient world that the Jews, Babylonians and all the other Near Eastern people of the book were planet worshippers (see Tacitus for example). Jehovah is probably a cognate of Jove and El was Saturn (see Dwardu Cardona's 'God Star' for details). Time to jettison the dark age programming and man up !
handwriting of God incident is provided in the verses Daniel 5:25-28.
Dan 5:25 And this is the inscription that was written:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
:26 This is the interpretation of each word.
MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished
it;
:27 TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and
found wanting;
:28 PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to
the Medes and Persians.
Most prophetic scriptures clearly portray a time dimension. This prophecy
cleverly hides its prophetic nature behind the narrative.
To fully understand this prophecy it is necessary to look at the meanings of
the words.
MENE - 'numbered' or 'mina'
Mina is a measure of money
TEKEL - 'weighed' or 'shekel'
Shekel is a unit of money
UPHARSIN - ie 'Parsin' (singular Peres (verse 28)),
Parsin - 'to divide (into many pieces)'
Peres - 'to divide (once)'
As can be seen the words 'mene' and 'tekel' carry meanings which indicate
a monetary value. (As a result of this observation many have felt the word
'upharsin' should likewise be understood as 'half mene' or 'half shekel'.
However, in this prophecy it is not necessary to render a monetary unit
to the word 'upharsin'.)
To determine the time periods being suggested it is only necessary to
follow the instructions of the prophecy.
NUMBER
NUMBER
WEIGH
DIVIDE
Number twice by weight and divide!
In other words: Number the 'mene' twice by shekel weight
and then divide into many pieces.
Conveniently a single text found in a prophetic book provides the critical
information.
Ezek 45:10 You shall have just balances, ...
:12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs;
twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels,
and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
This verse is commonly thought to be suggesting the mina of the sanctuary
was composed of 60 shekels. However, this view fails to explain why the
verse breaks the apparent 60 shekels into twenty, twenty-five and fifteen
shekels.
There have been a number of theories which have attempted to explain the
text and different renderings have been suggested.
A more literal rendering of the later portion of this verse yields the
following.
Ezek 45:12 ... twenty shekels five and twenty shekels
ten and five shekel shall be your mina.
This can provide the rendering.
Ezek 45:12 ... twenty shekels by five and
twenty shekels by ten and five,
shekel shall be your mina.
In other words: '100'(20x5) and '300'(20x15) shekel
shall be your mina!
Now, notice the New Testament presentation of the mina by weight.
1) John 19:39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night,
also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh an aloes,
about a hundred pound(mina - Strong's 3046).
2) John 12:3 Then Mary took a pound(mina - Strong's 3046) of
very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet
of Jesus, ...
:5 "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for
three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"
[In both cases we encounter a mina weight, the first reference is
associated with the number 100 and the second with the number 300.]
GOLD - 100 SHEKELS PER MINA
The following verses although not conclusive on their own (the word 'shekels' not being found in the original Hebrew) do suggest this conclusion. 1 Kin 10:17 He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three mina of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 2 Chr 9:16 He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.SILVER - 200 & 300 SHEKELS PER MINA
Scripture suggests there are two types of silver shekel! The shekel of the sanctuary being the lighter of the two, 300 of these shekels composing a mina. Only 200 of the heavier shekel of the merchants/king being required to weigh a mina. The relative value and weight of the two silver shekels is reflected in these verses.
Neh 10:32 Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of God.HEAVY SILVER SHEKEL
Exod 30:13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary ... :16 And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, ... The presence of these two different silver shekels possibly being reflected in Ezek 45:12 by the narrative 'twenty shekels ten and five'. 20 shekels by ten = 200 shekels 20 shekels by (ten + five) = 300 shekels The ongoing use of the number '20' in Ezek 45:12 draws attention to the fact that a shekel of the sanctuary, whether it be of gold or silver, has a weight equivalent to twenty gerahs. Ezek 45:12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; ... Lev 27:25 And all your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel. With this understanding it is now possible to derive the periods of time being prophesied by the handwriting on the wall. NUMBER ONCE (GOLD) - 100 shekels divided into gerahs(20 per shekel) = 2,000 gerahs ie 2,000 years! NUMBER TWICE (SILVER) - 300 shekels divided into gerahs(20 per shekel) = 6,000 gerahs ie 6,000 years! These periods are counted backwards from the close of the age of man. ** 100 Shekels ** ** 300 Shekels ** GOLD SILVER - 6,000 yrs (20x(10+5)) | (Adam & Eve) | | - 4,000 yrs (20x10) | (Abraham called) | - 2,010 yrs | | (Pentecost) | | | | | - 10 yrs | (Tribulation) - 0 (Kingdom of God) These periods of time are a predetermined warning!LIGHT SILVER SHEKEL