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Anticipating the Devolution of Big Government
Authored by Charles Hugh-Smith via Peak Prosperity,
With the US elections approaching next week, as well as the threat of another fiscal cliff showdown looming, we asked contributing editor Charles Hugh Smith to revisit his earlier work on how the expansive Central State has come to dominate both private society (i.e., the community) and the marketplace, to the detriment of the nation’s social and economic stability. In this updated installment, we will examine six critical dynamics that will lead to the devolution of Peak Government.
Massive Borrowing
In a misguided attempt to maintain an unsustainable Status Quo, the Federal government is borrowing unprecedented amounts of money that then must be serviced. And the Federal Reserve is expanding its balance sheet by trillions of dollars (“printing money”) and intervening in stock, bond, and other markets for the purposes of managing perception (“the recovery is here!”)
These government funds are not just paying the government’s bills – they are being used to guarantee loans and mortgages that subsequently enter default, transferring what was private debt to the public and subsidizing politically powerful special interests.
Guarantees and subsidies both incentivize what is known as moral hazard: the separation of risk from consequence. This can be summarized very simply. People who are not exposed to risk act completely differently than those who are exposed to risk. When risk has been transferred to the taxpayers by guarantees, give-aways, and subsidies, then speculation and mal-investment are incentivized. If the bet pays off, I get to keep the gain, but if it loses, then I personally lose nothing, as the loss is transferred to the taxpayers.
Institutionalized Mal-Investment
The net result of these policies – borrowing immense sums to prop up an unsustainable Status Quo and institutionalizing moral hazard – leads to misallocation of scarce capital on a grand scale. In effect, the money borrowed by the federal government and electronically printed by the Federal Reserve is mal-invested, because those receiving the funding are personally not at risk and face no consequence if the money is squandered on speculation or unproductive programs. Once moral hazard has been institutionalized, it becomes a positive feedback loop. Since everyone in the system faces little personal consequence from mal-investment, the institution loses the ability to police itself.
Even worse, concentrations of private wealth readily influence public institutions via lobbying and political contributions, exacerbating moral hazard and mal-investment of the publicly borrowed money.
Erosion of Trust in Government
Mal-investment inevitably yields poor results, and just as inevitably, the government seeks to mask the dismal results of moral-hazard riddled policies and agencies. This “perception management” is driven by political expediency, as public outrage at failed policies and unproductive spending would eventually lead to a political price being paid by the leadership. So failed policies are declared great successes, negative data is massaged into positive data, and unflattering frauds involving public funds are buried or transformed into pseudo-realities.
This institutionalization of mal-investing borrowed funds and the politically expedient falsification of fact to manage perceptions have a destabilizing consequence: The public loses faith in public institutions.
Diminishing Returns on Public Debt
Massive borrowing also has a consequence. Interest on the immense sums being borrowed squeezes out other government spending.
This triggers two self-reinforcing feedbacks. Public spending that is not rewarding moral hazard is cut, as those in charge protect their perquisites, and taxes on what’s left of the productive economy increase, reducing the private investment that is the bedrock of capitalist growth and innovation.
This institutionalized mal-investment leads to diminishing return. Where each dollar of additional public debt generated nearly a dollar of additional GDP in the early 1960s, now borrowing a dollar generates negative growth, as the cost of servicing the debt exceeds the meager yield. Thus the Federal government borrowed and spent a staggering $6 trillion in a mere four years (2008-2011), while the GDP has yet to return to 2007 levels when measured in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars.
All these forces reinforce each other in a death spiral. As trillions more are borrowed, interest payments crowd out spending, causing the Central State to borrow even more, which generates even more interest costs, and so on. As moral hazard infects the entire government and its numerous private contractors and beneficiaries, there are few constraints on rising public debt and mal-investment of public funds. As trust in institutions that increasingly depend on perception management rather than real solutions declines, public faith in government deteriorates further.
The Hidden Tax of Inflation and the Institutionalization of Falsification
The government has one trick to create the illusion that it is “keeping its promises.” It prints money to meet its obligations, depreciating the nation’s currency by expanding the money supply. Creating money out of thin air does not create wealth, productive assets, or prosperity. What it does is lower the purchasing power of money, which we call inflation.
Inflation robs every holder of the currency and is effectively a form of government-sanctioned theft, or if you prefer, a hidden tax on productivity, as productive people and enterprises are taxed to support crony-capitalist, unproductive mal-investments and the rising interest on public debt. In effect, inflation is a way of transferring wealth from the productive to the unproductive, which then leaves the productive with less capital to invest in innovation. This starves the economy of capital while robbing purchasing power of every citizen, establishing a positive feedback loop of lower income, lower capital formation, and lower productivity.
Since the government has obligated itself to adjust Social Security payments to inflation, the culture of understating inflation (i.e., falsifying data) has been institutionalized, for the Central State has the impossible dual mandate of increasing inflation so that it can meet its obligations with cheaper money while keeping the inflation-indexed cost-of-living adjustments low, lest program costs balloon out of control.
A “modest” rate of 3% inflation will, in a decade’s time, reduce the purchasing power of stagnating paychecks by a third, while setting the “official” rate of inflation at 2% or less will inexorably reduce the purchasing power of Social Security payments.
If the rate of inflation was to rise at a rate similar to that of the late 1970s, i.e., 10% to 12% per year, while the “official” rate was held to half the real rate, all those whose incomes did not rise by 10% a year would be impoverished as the purchasing power of their incomes evaporated. Meanwhile, even as its policies impoverish most of its citizens, the Central State would assure everyone that it was meeting all of its obligations as promised. This is how trust in government is not just eroded but ultimately destroyed.
Self-Reinforcing Feedback Loops of Self-Interest
Government at all levels responds to shrinking tax revenues from a declining economy and budgets squeezed by higher interest payments by seeking additional revenues by whatever means are at hand. Tax rates are raised, junk fees are imposed, fees for minor infractions are jacked up, and deductions and exclusions are eliminated.
The public that does not work for the government (that would be five-sixths of the workforce) increasingly resents what it perceives as predatory extortion in an economy where everyone’s disposable income is falling.
Unfortunately, there is a great divide between those who work (or worked) for the government and those who work in the private sector. Those in government service understandably view the promises made to them in good times, eras that we now understand were brief speculative bubbles, as sacrosanct.
The promises were based on the abnormally high returns earned by pension funds in the brief windows of speculative frenzy, and even supposedly conservative pension funds based their projections on annual yields of 6% to 8%. As the Federal Reserve has attempted to reignite borrowing by lowering interest rates to near-zero, low-risk yields have fallen to 3%, less than half the expected returns.
As a result, there is a massive and sustained shortfall of public-employee pension funding, a shortfall that must be paid out of general tax revenues at a time when those revenues are declining as employment and business activity stagnate.
The net result in many communities is that schools and other local services are falling apart as budgets are slashed to meet skyrocketing pension obligations. From the point of view of parents, the pension promises that government employees hold as sacrosanct were unrealistic, and what should be sacrosanct (but is not) is the education of their children.
Those of us in the private workforce with spouses, relatives, and friends in government service understand the frustration of those who work for government, but should the self-interest of the few dominate the public budget and chart the course for the many?
The key difference is that the government holds the power of coercion and the citizens do not. Thus those in government who seek to serve the interests of their unions, colleagues, departments, and agencies can impose fees and taxes on all citizens to fund their own perquisites and power.
From the point of view of those inside government, sharply rising parking tickets, higher property taxes, and so on are small prices to pay for essential services. But as citizens observe government services degrading even as fees and taxes increase, they see little value being added, even as self-service and moral hazard remain in institutionalized abundance.
Two destructive feedback loops are generated by this divide: Governments, desperate for more revenues, ignore public resentment and loss of trust, which only deepens the disconnect between those in government and the public. And the private citizenry sees a lack of accountability, soaring public debt, accounting trickery, political dysfunction, and mal-investment of public funds as the hallmarks of their government.
In Part II: Understanding the Economic Impact of Peak Government, we explore how these self-reinforcing feedbacks lead to the devolution and eventual collapse of government institutions. In particular, we analyze what the likely economic fallout will be, as there is simply not enough purchasing power to distribute between those in power and the needs of the general populace.
Click here to read Part II of this report (free executive summary; paid enrollment required for full access).
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We the citizenry have no-one to blame but ourselves.
Speak for yourself.
As for the unwinding of big government, it'll be painful, especially for the dissidents, which will surely be targeted in the fits of political populism in the final years, as politics enters into full-blown scapegoating mode.
Thats you, guys. Better prepare.
That may be so in the old world - Russia, China and the Middle East in particular. Their slave nations are pitiful.
Perhaps you were asleep during the Enlightenment and miss the point of this article which is truer than despots, crypto-communists, and crony capitalists would like.
Tuesday, Oct. 30 2012, 7:30 PM EDT
Chinese Warren Buffett' found guilty of fraudhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/chinese-warren-buffett-fou...
You left out irrelevance.
Localized energy production will make big government 90% irrelevant.
And it won't be too big to fail.
Arriving 2050 at the latest.
Precious,
I hope you are correct. Our land, our resources, our people. The federal government, big government, is just plain wrong most of the time, although they do a little good sometimes.
SIDENOTE:
Can someone please go look at Jupiter right now?
Why does it have a bright red tail that looks like a 2nd star.
That is crazy.
Chinese warren buffet guilty of not contributing to the next political elites in China and going on TV to say he is betting on China's future.
Charles Hugh-Smith sure writes perty
In this updated installment, we will examine six critical dynamics that will lead to the devolution of Peak Government.
When in human history has "peak government" ever devolved on its own?
Never that I can think of.
The only thing "devolving" big government is attack and conquering by a superior (big) government.
Well, actually there is one other way: currency collapse, where the government just sorta falls apart ...along with the rest of the nation.
That's the point. The rest of the nation goes down with it.
CHS's writing might be "perty", but it's factually wrong in many cases.
Correct, and he still can't make simple calculations, as in,
"A “modest” rate of 3% inflation will, in a decade’s time, reduce the purchasing power of stagnating paychecks by a third..."
which is false. That's the second time he's made that mistake. There were other more important errors in the article also.
(edit: fyi, 3% inflation over 10 years reduces purchasing power by 25.6% or about 1/4, not 1/3.)
26% or 33%, what's the difference? You're fucked either way. Don't be such a quibbly douchebag.
Because it's an example of sloppy thinking, and like I said, that wasn't the only mistake in the article. Government interest expense has been going down due to interest rate supression, and is under $200 billion if you subtract Fed interest rebates from federal gov't interest expense (FYOINT in FRED).
That is incorrect. Devaluation through inflation is calculated geometrically, not linearly.
At least if you are going to critique someone, learn something about the topic you are discussing.
You have no idea what you're talking about.
Correct calculaion for loss of purchasing power with 3% inflation over 10 years is,
0.256 (1 - 1/1.03^10) or 25.6%.
If you or anyone else wants I can explain why that's the right formula.
That is the reverse calculation for APY reduced from Interest bearing accounts, and it's missing the time exponent. Heck even the Quantity Calcuation is better than that.
Inflation is a direct Exponential Geometric growth. It's an Exponential Function
That is the problem with you people these days, you simply do not think or read into what it is that you are trying to tell the rest of us. Inflation is directly related to each and every specie, not some linearly applied mumbo-jumbo.
To add, look up the Rule of 70, it's far more accurate than the mess you posted there.
My calc is accurate and it sounds like you don't even possess high school math skills. Let's try this approach:
If you think CHS's calc is correct where he gives a 1/3 loss of purchasing power over 10 years with 3% inflation, how do you think he arrives at that figure? Probably,
0.344 (1.03^10 - 1) or 34.4%.
That's obviously not right since it would give an over 100% loss in purchasing power in 24 years.
I already told you how he came up with his figures. He used some application of "The Rule of 70". I told you to look it up as well. you still are not listening, and they wonder why we resort to vulgarity when speaking with most of you. Either you are too old to listen, or you just don't understand what the information that is being presented in front of you means.
You went right back into to telling me what I don't know again, right after I told you that Inflation isn't a Linear calculation, and that you were using Linear functions to try and represent an expenential function that is calculated geometrically.
I took my shower, and now I have a class to attend to.
Nope I do not posess basic High School math skills, not in the least. I just have my Master's in Anylytical Economics and am working on my Ph.D.. Nope no math skills at all. You're barking up the wrong tree, and if I had more time, I would educate you for free.
What are you talking about ?????
(1 - 1/1.03^10)
contains an exponential function: 1.03^10 or 1.03 to the tenth power aka 1.0310.
In addition, you wrote,
'He used some application of "The Rule of 70"'
which is not a formula. Show me the formula whereby you get a 1/3 loss in purchasing power from 3% inflation over 10 years in terms of I (inflation rate) and T (time) or stfu. tia.
That's not a GEOMETRICALLY CALCULATED EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION. How hard was that for you to understand?
Easy calculate the for the 70 and then back track via regression.
Either way I'm done with this conversation.
Agree that his prognosis is badly stated ("...will lead to the devolution of Peak Government"). However, he's diagnosed the problem correctly, can we give the poor bastard credit for that? It's more than 99.999% of people in this country are capable of.
The validity of his prognosis all depends on how you define "devolution". Large bureaucratic organizations tend to centralize during periods of crisis. Power flows away from the edges, and towards the center. Washington DC is isolating itself more and more from the rest of the country, and the decision-making process is beginning to seize up as information gathered at the edges loses coherence as it is transmitted to the inside of the beltway. This results in first (a) Paralysis by Analysis, and then (b) increasingly violent behavior from Washington DC, as violence is increasingly regarded as expedient solution given an information gathering and analysis apparatus that is stressed beyond the breaking point. If you call this process "devolution", then I'd agree. But if you define "devolution" as the beltway crowd giving up power willingly, then, no, that's absurd.
good post, thanks.
America and Canada are nations built on a foundation of Genocide of the worst sort. Unlike the Hollow-cost, the great american genocide is ongoing. Anyone just needs to pay a visit to a "Reservation" and take a look at the shameless BIA and their broken promises. Or how about the slaughter of the bison? And the ongoing slaughter of cows for a fat, sick, nation. Or Hog containment facilities, cruelly killing millions upon millions of pigs.
Or the ritual slaughter of millions upon millions of turkeys on Thanks-giving (in itself a mockery of what really hapened).
Of course this does not take into account Chinese slave labour that built the west/railroads, the Blacks who built the south, the PURPOUSLY STARVED irish who were shipped over to make the east coast.... on and on. On and on and on.
Let's not even speak of the desecration of Indian monuments (Mount Rushmore being a glaring, egrigious example, look at the douchebags whose faces are on it now).
You can thank your fore-fathers for the mess the US is in right now.
And thank yourselves for the shit-storm that is surely coming as you are help-less in stopping the marauding, senseless, cruel war-machine that the US (nation) has essentially become.
The people have been had with lies of manifest destiny and impled greatness.
When folks hear things like pipe up and give poor examples of how "retributions" are a never ending story and how far back can you go.
The US is a young experiment, 2-300 years young.Same goes for Australia (where, in my 6 months in Melbourne, I saw a total of three Aboriginal people, all homeless drunks).
It's ending badly and all even thinking people seem able or willing to do is nurse their guns/beans and bullets.
I feel equally help-less as I watch India slide down the same rabbit hole. Cow-slaughter is now accepted in a nation where the phrase holy-cow originated. Enough said.
...
ori
I appreciate your perspective, ori. But when you say the US, what you mean is government and central planners, not Americans. Most of us in the US and Canada just want to go to work and put food on the table, have warm clothes and a decent place for our kids to go to school.
We are not the criminals, per se, but it may be that we are criminals of negligence by allowing our "leaders" to get away with countless atrocities in our name. But we're tired. We want to relax, watch football, barbecue a rack of ribs. It's hard to fault a people for that, really.
It seems that the true criminals will always find their way to power, while the loving become over-worked and over-tired parents who just want to veg every once in a while watching Dancing With The Stars. It only makes sense, then, that the worst criminals will rise to the top of their respective fields, while we go about taking care of our autistic boys (another sinister act that is frankly beyond the pale of decency...).
We have so much to deal with already. What are we to do?
:/
Indeed Orly. The great fraud of representative demoncracy has taken power away from the people world-wide and put it in the hands of hand-picked psycopaths, world over. It's fascism with a thin veneer of fake equality for all.
But we are all (self included, of course) guilty of great sins of omission. I've practised non-participation, actively and as strongly as able in the past 3 years and am in a far better place as a person and far, far worse financialy etc.:-)
I suppose the key is to realize that there is a price to be paid for everything (nothing in life is free, it's all a continuous give and take of evergy, in some form or the other).
It's understanding that complex flow and seeing one's role place in it that is the key.
THose ribs you speak of, if they come from a factory farm, you've contributed to the problem. If you buy health insurance, you've participated in the problem. If you watch the National Felon's League, likewise.
A wise old lady once said on radio, a nation's state can be judgd by whom it pays the most money and how it treats it's elders.
The slide is now truly global. I barely recognize the India I once knew and loved to love/hate. :-)
No malice intended, just a call to introspect is all.
Good to see you around again.
ori
It's good to be here again. :D
No offense taken, as your words are truer than they've ever been and getting more true every day. The problem is that we have built ourselves into this society and, whether we like it or not, we are stuck participating in it in some way. I have kids, a family and special problems myself. I can't just up and quit the matrix because I am bound to it and it is bound to me.
I can try to shrug it off as much as possible, through non-participation as you say but there will still be some lingering tendrils of the society that I am always bound to. Now, if I didn't have these obligations, there is no telling where or "what" I would be but it certainly isn't this. I am going about my daily life and trying to change it for the better and not just for myself but for everyone around me. It is difficult, to say the least. It would be nice to get some help in this regard but everyone has bought lock, stock and barrel into this paradigm that I seem like a fool when I say these things.
But I am trying.
I have been where you are, and I suspect Ori has too. Believe me, the transition, when it happens, can be embraced if you put those "things" in your life in perspective. I do not need to argue or defend my point. It becomes self-evident when it occurs. I'm not saying it WILL happen for you, but if it does, you will likely be surprised at how easy the transition is to make. And don't we all sound like fools, in retrospect?
I don't mean "things." I mean people that I have to take care of.
Oh regional Indian ah fuck dude with that attitude I guess in the new century we need to kill a different kind of Indian.
So in an old experiment like India, how's that caste thing working out for the Dalits? And how about heroes like As(s)ho(le)ka...are all those Kalinga still dead, or did they get another life somewhere? Hey, maybe they're Dalits now! Worried about Americans eating cows? I didn't know all 1.2 billion Indians are pure veg.
'cuse me, I've got to go do me some Eve Teasing so I'll feel all wise and ancient, like your flawless country, where according to one of your own government's statistic departments, an average of 50 Indians die per day in police custody, or upwards of 200,000 since the start of the century.
Yea. Damn them Indians and their third-worldness. Back in the ol' good ol' USA our cops kill ya BEFORE they take ya in to custody.
I'm not arguing that the US or EU or anywhere is without fault, but our Harrapan-Aryan-Afghan-Moghul friend is a bit too far-sighted. In honor of the upcoming Diwali, I'm getting him one of those decorative Zerohedge bathroom mirrors.
Spare me the enlightened indian nonsense. Bad things happen to the weak and dimwitted. That's history, chief.
You also forgot the worst part…that sad indian in the TV commercial who had to look at all the litter.
America and Canada are nations built on a foundation of Genocide of the worst sort.
There was no genocide as more genetically pure Amerindians are alive today than when Columbus came. The reservations are for those who dont want to assimilate into the modern world.
So go fuck yourself, you godamned lying peice of shit.
Has it been 3600 years already?
Nibiru coming by again?
Psyops?
ZerOhead,
And I'm looking forward to the time when Chinese Americans insist on justice delivered to the criminals in high places :-)
The Enlightenment did not change the human propensity to lash out at those different during dire times.
Ive spent the last 5 years and a small fortune preparing for the inevitable collapse. If it doesnt happen soon, Im going to be pissed!
I'm assuming most of that is in ammo, gold and non-perishable food? If so, just start using your stash of the former, and replenish as needed. The ammo and gold will be useful for another decade or so- TPTB might be able to keep the system grinding along for that long. You will be comfortable in the knowledge that when it happens- and it will happen, quickly, without warning, and spectacularly- you are prepared.
The slow grind will go on for a while- they will keep "juicing" the system, keeping the sheeple happy- for as long as they can. It might take 10-15 years, so prepare for it.
IT. IS. INEVITABLE. It is built into the system.
What is a "Crack-Up Boom"...? To quote Von Mises:
This first stage of the inflationary process may last for many years. While it lasts, the prices of many goods and services are not yet adjusted to the altered money relation. There are still people in the country who have not yet become aware of the fact that they are confronted with a price revolution which will finally result in a considerable rise of all prices, although the extent of this rise will not be the same in the various commodities and services. These people still believe that prices one day will drop. Waiting for this day, they restrict their purchases and concomitantly increase their cash holdings. As long as such ideas are still held by public opinion, it is not yet too late for the government to abandon its inflationary policy.
But then, finally, the masses wake up. They become suddenly aware of the fact that inflation is a deliberate policy and will go on endlessly. A breakdown occurs. The crack-up boom appears. Everybody is anxious to swap his money against 'real' goods, no matter whether he needs them or not, no matter how much money he has to pay for them. Within a very short time, within a few weeks or even days, the things which were used as money are no longer used as media of exchange. They become scrap paper. Nobody wants to give away anything against them.
It was this that happened with the Continental currency in America in 1781, with the French mandats territoriaux in 1796, and with the German mark in 1923. It will happen again whenever the same conditions appear. If a thing has to be used as a medium of exchange, public opinion must not believe that the quantity of this thing will increase beyond all bounds. Inflation is a policy that cannot last.
Buy food that you can rotate into your daily diet, just be sure to have a couple years worth on hand.
Practice with the guns and ammo you have (restocking your ammo as you use it up). "Just because you own a gun, doesn't make you a shooter. Anymore than owning a guitar, makes you a musician." Col. Jeff Cooper
Owning some physical gold and silver. Well that just always makes sense. "Become your own central bank. Buy some gold and silver every month." Dr. Marc Faber
Better to be prepared and not need it, than unprepared and need it.
Yeah, but there's just one small problem with spending boocoo time & treasure "preparing for the inevitable collpase". That being, we've been down this road before. 1980, Carter's last year, (Thank God) found a whole shitload of bright, farseeing, plan-ahead types ("survivalists") doing much the same thing. Unemployment was horrible; and since all Detroit et al made was absolute shit (Pinto? Gremlin? Vega?) everyone knew it could only get worse. Gold & silver were $800 and $50, respectively, and everyone with a brain could see they were going to the *moon*. It was obvious Civilization as we knew it would collapse, and we'd have us race riots, food riots, pillaging, rapine, human sacrifices..... all that. What other conclusions could an intelligent person, just exactly as smart as any BSD alive today, DRAW?? And then.....and then.....
It didn't happen. The folks who came crawling sheepishly out of their hardened backwoods shelters a couple of years later found a whole new 'Murrica. The ones who held onto their gold saw its value collpase 75%. The ones who held oil options/futures saw its value collapse *80%*. And the ones who stupidly kept buying into Howard Ruff's expensive subscription newsletter bullshit for the next 20 years - "$3000 gold any day now! Not lying this time!!" - lost their **asses** and missed out on the greatest bull market in history.
I personally think the shit's gonna hit the fan. Am preparing for it. But am also aware, as opposed to those here continuously ragging on the 'sheeple', that *I could be wrong*. Whatever else TPTB are, they've shown themselves to be _extremely_ adept at kicking the can much further down the road than anyone ever thought possible. And when they run out of road, they just...change the rules, right? Who's to say they can't keep this shit up for another decade or 2 or 3?
Your last paragraph saved you from a -1 bro. You got a +1 instead. I hope you're wrong though. I'm ready to go now. I admit I could be wrong, too, but I'm thinking it is different right now. You obviously do too. And we've got two choices: Wait and see; or do something to make it so.
Without the timely action of Paul Volcker and the election of Ronald Reagan, the dollar would have become worthless, a humiliating defeat for America. Just because the cavalry arrived in time does not mean the Indians were no threat.
I think we are running as fast as we can toward totalitarianism and anarchy (collapse) at the same time. It is difficult to forecast which will prevail. Instead of collapse, we may end up like the Soviet Union?
Sheep always get fleeced. Reality can be a bitter pill. Oh but I'm sure that the general population will never allow the next control structure to become so bloated and corrupt.
Tomorrow is always better, but it never is.
Look, dude... there is a general threshold of intelligence before conciousness can be achieved. Athens came close, when they said, only white, land owning, men can vote. The important part- land owning. Sparta nailed it, when they actively instituted evolution and survivalism amongst their young.
There can be, a general population, that doesn't fuck shit up. One where following the herd, is actually a good fucking thing! One where people, actually can't be brainwashed or controlled! Thus, CONCIOUS LIFE! Of course, once one achieves conciousness, there is little rhyme or reason for control structures... At that point, I assume, there is only general will, and the maintainance of said will is accomplished through forced evolution... still sir, fuck you.
The sad thing is, this comment above, is about as close to something tyler durden would say, as anything written above or below. & most certainly, there would be no dramatic pause for, oh no, cursing!
The reality is, the rabble have found their way onto Zerohedge.
Now begins the search for something new. But ZH will always be my favorite.
Personally, I have developed quite a talent for skimming over worthless comments. I don't think I could package it up as a huerisitic. But, it flows pretty easy these days. I still find very interesting ideas, opinions, and facts/links on these pages.
I never bother to comment about the percieved trolls. There isn't a point. The trolls don't bother me much. I suspect, in 1000 years, if we still have electric lights, will have idiots in space. It is just an aspect of the species.
What I find is that there are a small percent of posters who really provide valuable thoughts. I have learned to look for their comments, based on their history of contribution. In fact, sometimes I stop and back up because I see them post. Usually it is worth the rubber necking.
There is no rabble on ZH. Just a competition for ideas, opinions, and facts. Rabble that bring none of that and it is easy to bypass. Rabble that rouse, well, welcome to your half way home.
Regards,
Cooter
The rest of us see no value in that BS idealism. Humans are a mess and no structure will save them. No Spartan Fascism, or Athenian Feudalism will fix the situation.
I don't complain about cursing. I can curse, no problem.
The problem I have is with angry idiots who come on here with vulgar personal attacks that add absolutely zero to the conversation and, in fact, detract from it because no one wants their ideas to be strewn through the mud without even an aside as to the content of their post.
Either that, or some smug NYU grad who's pissed off because he didn't get into Columbia but still, somehow, knows every damn thing and is going to make sure you know he knows everything by shouting you down with words he would never say in front of his grandmother. Meanwhile, back in his mother's basement...
You're right in that Zerohedge posts timely and informative articles but it just gets tedious to wade through post after post of nothingness inside of closed-mindedness wrapped in vulgarity. It's not time for me yet to look for something else but it's getting kinda close.
:D
"Either that, or some smug NYU grad who's pissed off because he didn't get into Columbia but still, somehow, knows every damn thing and is going to make sure you know he knows everything by shouting you down with words he would never say in front of his grandmother. Meanwhile, back in his mother's basement..."
Gave me a good chuckle. Can't we just laugh at them? It's always worked for me. But then again I like counter-trolling.
You just finished reading Atlas Shrugged again, didn't you?
Seriously go fuck yourself. The common man has fucked humanity. I don't see any 130 IQ muppets, let alone any brilliant people bumbling about voting for puppet A or puppet B... The muppets fucked us- the ignorant fucked us. This is the world where the intelligent reign; the world "God" wanted to protect us from. We cannot go back to God's world, as if we ever could. Given time, evolution literally ensures the birth of concious life (being that which grows beyond its programming). These long millenia are the transition period, and it has been, and will be, a goddamned fucking mess.
Now, were we to wipe out all the idiots... transition period? Easy!
Instead we get a bunch of retarded old white men trying to rule the muppets.
Fucking awesome!
Seriously ... done. Ahh felt good.
I understand the frustration that everyone is feeling as I am feeling them myself. However, I see little need and no benefit from vulgarity.
Must everyone be so vulgar? Seriously, it's not necessary and is probably turning off a lot of good ideas because people don't want to post just to be called gutter names like a nine-year old on the playground. And don't give me that Fight Club crap, either.
Hasn't anyone but me noticed that the number of comments on excellent articles has gone down considerably and what is there is a profanity-laced diatribe of vulgarity and inane language?
Can we please talk about these things without getting ugly? I think we would learn much more from each other if that were to pass.
Just change the order of two words in that sentence and you've answered your own question.
I was going to say "fucking question," but I restrained myself.
I'm sorry ... Is this the thread where we are discussing the size of government , or was that another fucking thread ?
Don't make me wash out your fucking dirty cunt mouth!
Complaining about language? What are you fucking 5? if I misspelled m ysentances withwrd sjumbled, but you still knew what I was saying, would it make any difference? Then why is meaning lost for you when there is a naughty word in it? Grow, the fuck, up.
clearly there is a preponderance of idiots. Goddamnit. Its just like what happened to canvas.
When the idiots show up, the show goes down.
What you wrote would be more effective had you said, "And don't give me that Fight Club shit, either."
STFU
I think we've all learned enough about each other.
The time for talkings over.
Is it pitchfork time?
this is the calm before the storm. bank on it.
IC
A typically interesting point Orly:
Must everyone be so vulgar? Seriously, it's not necessary and is probably turning off a lot of good ideas because people don't want to post just to be called gutter names like a nine-year old on the playground.
Brings to mind this passage from Robert Boyle's introduction in his historic 1661 treasise, The Sceptical Chymist:
And indeed, I am not sorry to have this Opportunity of giving an example how to manage even Disputes with Civility; whence perhaps some Readers will be assisted to discern a Difference betwixt Bluntness of speech and Strength of reason, and find that a man may be a Champion for Truth, without being an Enemy to Civility; and may confute an Opinion without railing at Them that hold it; To whom he that desires to convince and not to provoke them, must make some amends by his Civility to their Persons, for his severity to their mistakes; and must say as little else as he can, to displease them, when he says that they are in an error.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22914/22914-h/22914-h.htm
As a long time ZH lurker, but only recent commenter, I must admit that the liberal use of profanity around here was strangely attractive in some respects; Often adding a dimension of passion and humor that would otherwise be missing. I'll have to ponder this some more.
The problem with evolution is that when Man evolved to the point where Society was created, the ones in power realized the easiest way to stay in power ---IMPORTANT - within their lifespan --- was to restrict the effects of evolution. Rome, Europe, the US.
Edit: Small entities like Singapore, which are vulnerable to the smallest fuckups, with no natural resources, always one step away from disaster, don't have a buffer, can't afford for morons to take over, have more of an incentive to "take care of business" when leaders get stupid.
Actually, the Inuits kicked the Norses' asses in Greenland. And the Swiss have been pretty resourceful, too.
Muppet of the Universe: I know a bunch of 130 IQ muppets. I also know several people who are brilliant in their field yet they bumble about voting for puppet A or puppet B. These people aren't evil- they're just clueless, and stubborn because they have pieces of paper saying they are so smart.
IMHO, intelligence has little correlation with awareness, especially when intelligent people are encouraged to spend longer in an education system which is designed to replace thinking with groupthink and replace practical experience with pretty theories based on false assumptions.
Good luck trying to fix anything that "smart" people screwed up.
Yes, the willfully ignorant masses are a problem too.
My brother is an engineering genius, full scholarship to the Colorado School of Mines, PHd in metalurgy, worked at Martin-Marietta in R&D. Worked on development of the ISS. High 6 figure income.
But sometimes he says something, and you think what a dumb-ass.
His genius is focused and he misses alot of what goes on around him.
My dad worked with a lot of petro engies from T A&M. One of them had this story about a class mate. Smoked through the curriculum. Just coasted on genius. Had to stay over the holidays one year (his parents used to do his laundry each week - but they traveled for the holidays). So, this guy decides he wants a ham for xmas (in the dorm).
So, my dad's coworker is in his dorm and hears this explosion. People bail out of their rooms and discover this guy followed the instructions on the can ... literally ... he put it in the oven, after a pre-heat, the whole speal.
The instructions did not say to remove the ham from the can. This would have been ... late 60s or early 70s.
I have worked with PhDs. Some are brilliant people, but some are just really smart idiots.
Regards,
Cooter
What?! You're suppoed to take it out of the can? No wonder I could never do it right....
Probability is high someone with an IQ of 130 would spell conscious properly, especially when using it multiple times in a frankly vain attempt to make a nonexistent point.
This is not mere wordsmithing, but a warning that someone championing the destruction of all idiots might be calling destruction upon themselves.
Oh, and fuckity fuck-all, you taint-tickling twatmonsters.
JustPrintMoreDuh said:
"We the citizenry have no-one to blame but ourselves."
No. We the citizenry, who have gotten up every day to work, pay our bills, and take care of our families - have a lot of avaricious mammon lusting plutocrats and kleptocrats to hang.
And the blame is that it hasn't happend yet and isn't going to happen for a long time, if ever.
"We the citizenry have no-one to blame but ourselves." This is true, but we live in a time when most don't take any blame for what they do, or fail to do. It's a, I'm a victim world. It's not my fault, he did it to me. It's not my fault, its my mother and the way she raised me. Get over it! We the citizenry, let them do it.
What is it, Full Retard night here at ZH? How fucking stupid are some of you people?
You can't figure out who the perps are? Should I list them for you?
What are you going to do about it? Throwing insults is one thing, but offering resolution is another.
Quit pushing your responsibilities onto others.
How about those of us with, "Common Sense", look in the mirror and say, "I'm a part of the problem", and start making changes in our lives? Start a business, teach yourself, your children or grandchildren a new skill or trade? If you believe our government is going down a path that you do not agree with start walking in the opposite direction. For those that only offer criticism this is not a solution and while a great way to vent frustration, you are part of the problem.
You are not within the power or position to push blame onto others. You are just another meat bag walking around just as resposnsible for yourself as others should be for themselves.
What's this "we" shit?
DEVOLUTION BITCHEZ!!! We have talked and written about it for sooooooo long now I can finally smell it. These save the derivitive ponzi scheme motherfuckers are so deep now they are even trying to sell the Bayou Corne sinkhole to Canada while the rest of America implodes. This bitch is coming to an end soon and Tyler Durden will all of a sudden become a household name...
It's a circle. Like ass to mouth, but without any benefits.
Hey! You'll upset someone with that kind of vulgar spew.
A2M carries no benefits.
WE ARE DEVO!
God made man, but he used a monkey to do it.
edit: for those who missed some of the best stuff from the late'70s.
I was pretty stoned back then so it's all a blur. I remember something about bell bottoms and a hotel named Watergate. ... Oh yeah and Star Wars..... Damn that money grubbing Lucas.
— Konrad Lorenz
There is no need for devolution, most of mankind didn't evolve enough to become human.
Excellent summary, Mr Hugh-Smith, worthy of the Fight Club and thank you ZH for some inspiration.
You get my vote Mr. Smith. If only every American could be made to understand this page. As an aside, with no notice, my water bill went up by 80% last month with no additional usage on my part and I live near a huge body of fresh water. Thinking I must have some type of leak, I called the local water dept to check if they were showing a much larger meter reading than the previous month. I was then told that, no, the rates went up. By 80%?? I asked. The woman actually laughed at me and then hung up on me. After making some calls, I have learned that my city has figured out how to raise revenue and defend it with "If you don't like it, get your water somewhere else". I'm working on it.
Uour water company has probably been bought by a German holding company like most around here!
The stupidity of some of these small cities is actually beyound comrehesion!
I am a board member of a small public water district, have had the fucjster try to buy it!
Mr Stud Duck,
I would suggest that you stick to your guns, so to speak. Inform your neighbours of the harm that they will suffer if they gift the ownership of their water to outsiders who will crush them with usury. It is better to make do with less, and own it, rather than have some fancy new system of water which will bankrupt everyone in the community.
Step 1: Rainwater.
Step 2: reverse osmosis filtration or vapor distillation, or combination of both.
Step 3: add minerals to water. Visit local hippy store.
Electrical consmption for both filtration methods is too high for a whole house soltion, you're just swapping one form of public utility consmption for another. The reject rates on reverse osmosis also render it undesireable unless you have over 8000 sq ft of available roof catchment for a family of 4 (or live in an area with an abnormally high rainfall). Traditional backwashing filters are the most effective from an operating and cost efficiency basis, but you need to need to analyze water samples and properly understand what specific water characteristics to change.
redneck, have you gotten into water vitalization/structured water at all, based on Viktor Schauberger's work?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=taQUrkB0nPQ
http://www.pks.or.at/menu_en.html
lots of snake oil salesmen in the field (as usual with these types of technologies), but thought there might be more serious study going on in your neck of the woods.
I wasn't familiar with those terms, but my experience is personal, not professional. I've found that keeping silver coinage potable water storage tanks does keep down growth of "undesirables", but since the water brings the "undesirable" into contact with the silver, it doesn't provide evidence of "memory." However, a number of years ago I was running into shelf life issues with expiration of some antibiotics and medicines that I stock for emergencies, so I started making homeopathic remedies. The shit works, so there is "something" to it (beyond what cold be attributed to any placebo effect) but I couldn't say what.
As to making money (as opposed to saving money) with it, I don't really see how, and wouldn't trust anyone who was trying. Alternative medicine (or self medication) is frowned upon in Switzerland and the EU regulators are controlled by big pharma, so I'm guessing there isn't much research, but I haven't looked.
There are a bunch of snake oil salesmen peddling "water softeners" which are basically electrical conductors wrapped around existing copper piping. While they will work to reduce pipe scale buildup, they certainly don't actually "soften" the water, and in fact make the water less drinkable (as there is actually more pipe scale flowing out the faucet).
Step 1: Rainwater.
Step 2: reverse osmosis filtration or vapor distillation, or combination of both.
Step 3: add minerals to water. Visit local hippy store.
"If you don't like it, get your water somewhere else".
This is on my watch list: atmospheric water generation. Water extraction, even in a desert.
http://www.aquasciences.com/
In some jurisdictions, if city water is available, you cannot get a well permit.
Very good read! A macro economic/political evaluation/description of what is really going on!
That new political commercial with the Chinese instructor lectoring to the class in 2030 is a decription of the future in Chinese schools in the near future. That is if the "Stablization Committees" of China don;t send them over the edge!
Peak government. Seems TPTB are setting up Romney to be the next Reagan: come in and slash government, cut taxes and happy days are here again. Unfortunately, it will be rinse and repeat. I'm old enough now to understand it and will hopefully be able to take advantage of it this next time around.
:D
Romney and Obama were chosen by the Trilateral Commission: meet the new boss, same as the old boss - the corporatists and crypto-communists, New Feudalists.
These aliens and parvenus hate the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. They want cheap labour, and no community to defy them in their greed, their vanity, their cynicism which is part of no community. They love the roll of the limousine wheel...over people in the U.S.A., and endless wars abroad, contrary to the Constitution.
Perhaps so and most of what you say, I would agree with. They do, however, don't want to crush the hands that are feeding them, so every once in a while they need a "saviour" while the other side is demonised. Helps them maintain the Red/Blue paradigm, you see. This time, Romney will "save America," whereas Obama will be the worst president since Jimmy Carter.
Hey, wait! That rhymes!
:D
'Crush the bourgeoisie between the millstones of taxation and inflation,' said Lenin.
The Trilateral Commission moves two steps forward, one step backwards...but ever forward (Obama's new slogan, and Romney's agenda too).
Two steps forward and one step backwards is the slogan of Britain's Fabian Society, the crypto-communists and socialists who guide the thinking of all major parties in the UK: Labour first, then Liberal Democrats, and recently New Conservatives, co-opted by the Socialist Internationale's finest achievement, now imploding under its debts and unfunded promises - the European Union, and euro.
Neither candidate will cust spending. The deficit, annually, is about 1.2 to 1.6 TRILLION each year.
That, is the end game. This original post remains in effect. Disregard all conversation to the contrary.
Regards,
Cooter
CrazyCooter,
Whoever we vote for at the moment, the government wins...and the central government in any political color is not our friend at the moment.
I hope you and yours invoke the sovereignty of states. From New England, best wishes to you and yours.
Our land, our people. Your land, your people.
You sure don't know much about Mitt Romney, that much is clear.
I don't think you get what they are saying. You might want to read both posts again.
"TPTB are setting up Romney to be the next Reagan: come in and slash government, cut taxes and happy days are here again".
Romney will NOT cut gov't spending and reduce taxes. And Reagan increased spending dramatically and created huge deficits.
Zooooooooooooom!
True, Bay.
Romney will ramp up military spending and kill more of our Armed Forces abroad in defense of his foreign friends. Obama started to have doubts about that Trilateral Commission agenda, so he is likely to be replaced.
The popular vote and the college vote are two different things, and Diebold counts the votes. As Stalin said: it's not who votes, it's who counts the votes that matters.
You get to choose between the red pill and the blue pill.
No, Tip O'Neill and the democratic congress refused to cut the budget-demoncrats controlled the house where all budget originate for all 8 years. Reagan wanted to eliminate both the dept of education and dept of energy (just like Ron Paul) as well as freeze the domestic entitlement budget. He did this quite well in California as governor. When the budget is out of control check who controls congress. They set the budget not the president. In Obama's case it was Pelosi and Reid and their so-called stimulus that we know as porkulus.
If the present congress wants to control the deficit it must refuse to raise the debt ceiling forcing the goverment to prioritize and run on cash flow. Its too bad it didn't happen the last time it came up.
Uh, the military budget exploded under Reagan and so did the deficits. It helped to build the US Empire (MIC).
The left/right, Rep/Dem paradigm you speak of is false. You miss that part? True fiscal consevatives died in the 1940-50's.
Dr. Engali,
It is apparent that most people prefer the blue pill or the red pill, a Big Brother or a Nanny State.
Best wishes to you and yours, my compatriot.
Except that Reagan did not slash government, did not cut taxes, and these are the resulting "happy days."
How was the Hurricane able to cause so much damage in NY city with all those police cameras everywhere? Maybe they need more cameras.
They definitely need a new Mayor.
Maybe a new President too.
That's basically it.
I recall talking with a family memeber who started drawing SS back in the early 80s about how much they contributed over their lifetimes since the program started and how they got all of that back and more in only a few short years. I thought it was a rational discussion. But then this blood relative, my sweet little granny, who had known me since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, nearly ripped my face off. I was honestly afraid she was going to come across the table at me. "IT WAS PROMISED TO ME!! I PAID FOR THAT BENEFIT!!" Obviously, I was not going to make any headway in this discussion, and probably be dis-invited from Thanksgiving dinner.
That conversation happened in the late 80s.
Not long thereafter I talked to my father about it. He explained how SS was, basically, a ponzi scheme and not to rely on it when I get older. "It will have declining benefits, higher taxation and probably be means-tested," he said.
Last week I reminded him of that conversation. He didn't remember. He's drawing SS benefits himself now.
Thanks, Dad. Kinda. Not really.
The thing about kindness is the giver forgets and the receiver remembers.
FTA- The public loses faith in public institutions.
Then it is only a matter of time before those institutions crumble.
It could be a long time.
The goal is "one world under control." It'll happen provided there is enough energy to put it together, and provided there aren't a sufficient number of for-real revolutions.
The aim of the New World Order and Trilateral Commission is the same as the old world order.
The aim is feudalism: wealth and power concentrated in the hands of the few. Such is history.
The Constitution and Declaration of Independence defied that, and made the world's first place welcome to all with inalienable rights, regardless of creed, color or religion.
The parvenus and old money power seek to destroy the Constitution, and Declaration of Independence.
Choose your side of the barricade.
The aim is feudalism: wealth and power concentrated in the hands of the few. Such is history.
The Constitution and Declaration of Independence defied that, and made the world's first place welcome to all with inalienable rights, regardless of creed, color or religion.
_______________________________________
Djeee, a serious one here.
The aim is not feudalism: the aim is 'americanism'.
The Constitution is the root of the paradigm enacted on the world today: coercion, lie and injustice paraded as freedom, truth and justice.
The Constitution empowered the ownership of "people providing labour or service"
Many 'americans' heart their PCness when it comes to utter racism or stuff like that. But PCness is nothing new, it started in the constitution when 'americans' who started in their preamble that liberty should be preserved to write multiple times downwards the PC form of slavery, that is "ownership of people providing labour or service"
NO TRUST.
NO ALLEGIANCE.
EVERYONE FOR THEMSELVES.
THIS IS WHAT THE KLEPTOLIGARCHY BREEDS.
KILL THE BEAST, KILL THE BEAST, KILL THE BEAST.
The beast is eating itself, no hero required.
The beast is eating itself, no hero required.
Yes, but not before they eat US.
"Those in government service understandably view the promises made to them in good times, eras that we now understand were brief speculative bubbles, as sacrosanct."
You are so wrong about that, CH-S. Those people earned those "90% for eternity" pensions. The government promised, and this is one little promise they're definitely going to keep, along with covering all the employees' medical expenses, forever. That's the price we have to pay to compete with the private sector for "talent" (sorry, I really have a hard time keeping a straight face on this one).
We haven't even come close to peak government. That was the USSR, or North Korea, and both survived 70ish years. Peak Government in the US will arrive around 2080.
september or may?
You're counting from 2010?! Wow, that's charitable.
Things move faster now. Like how water spins the fastest just before it goes down the drain.
It's EVERYWHERE now. Nobody left to lean on.
Probably also means it won't be a spectacular collapse over a long weekend. More of a "how did we ever get so poor?" transition over years and years.
Um, now that I think about it, you may be right!
Darling atomic, really.
See NYC, NJ, Philly, DC as this week unfolds, and get back to us next week. Your assumption may be proved wrong, although I wish you were correct.
Those places with big expensive government now face a natural disaster, compounded by decades of thieving politicians who failed to invest in infrastructure, and bought votes instead.
Obama and Christy become new best friends because they want the people to believe in Big Brother - like a germ clings closest to its own disease.
Regarding Government devolution.... Without one shot being fired, the Greeks have had a collective revolution. It is a Governments worse nightmare... the citizenry has decided enmasse to simply ignore and consider irrelevant their leaders. Not one shot fired, just an enmasse attitude shift. The populace view of Government is "just a bunch of people who call themselves "in charge".... that have nothing to do with us". A friend said he got his first ever Greek property-tax bill for $500. He added "Why should I pay it? So that I pay someones salary in Athens? Or so that I pay the Germans on debt that a few people in Athens borrowed? The citizens didn't borrow that money... it was a few politicans and their friends."
Government does not appreciate how fragile it is.
What if Americans had a collective revolution in their attitude towards their Government? A simple shift enmasse in attitudes "that those calling themselves in charge have nothing to do with us... they're just self-proclaimed profiteers.... just move along and ignore them". What if.
The only way to win is to not play the game.
Don't play no game that I can't win.
That was fake I could tell because the first jeep had a rope pulling the chasing jeep.
I went to see the Beastie Boys once.. They weren't quite as stiff back then.
Observant +1
It is difficult to ignore the largest crime syndicate in history.
If everybody changed their W-4 to 9 deductions, so that there was zero withholding for the Fed and State. We would see desperation on the governments part in only a few short months.
They can't put us all in the FEMA camps, who would pay the bills.
The fear bots don't want you to know just how fragile the illiegitimate U.S. government is. It's universally despised, being hedged against at every turn, and could be blown down like a house of cards.
What u say is logical and true but is irrelevant because the political class has all power over spending, and is incapable of thinking beyond the next election or saying no to any voting block.
Perhaps you aren't there yet.
The United States of America is a very big place needing the consent of its citizens in every town, city and state.
Think on that before bowing down to the 'political class' as it is suffered in smaller places of the old world.
There is a saying in the U.S.A aimed at central government and other foreigners: 'Do not tread on me.'
I approve of your message. Personal freedoms decline as government size and power increase. The british redcoats were pansies and did not have armored personal carriers with drone survealance and infra red sniper scopes trained by hoemland security.
To Charles and ZH,
More articles on the coming "downsizing of government" please. I was having precisely this conversation with my father tonight, who is a Vietnam veteran, a Masters of Finance, and former auditor for the Railroad Commission in Texas.
We both think it is coming. I proffered the five big line items of the budget (SS, Medicare, Medicaid, DOD, and interest on debt) as I understand them. We discussed how something has to go on the block.
I always peek at OTM about once a week and really enjoy the energy and insight you put into the blog. The more analysis I see about how the government adjusts to a smaller belt size is the topic du jour for the next few years I think. I am very angry at my Republican party for missing this political leadership moment and was very expressive of this opinion to other state delegates recently.
I look forward to seeing the intellectual leadership scroll by on the pages on ZH.
Regards,
Cooter