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Guest Post: In The Land Of Self-Interested Pygmies, No One Advocates For The Nation
Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
In the Land of Self-Interested Pygmies, No One Advocates for the Nation
Does slavishly pursuing narrow self-interest benefit the nation? Clearly, the answer is no; a nation of self-interested pygmies leaves no one to advocate for the national interest.
The great cold lie at the heart of present-day America is that the nation will magically benefit if we each single-mindedly pursue our self-interest to the exclusion of all else. The idea has a sleek quasi-free-market sheen, as it borrows the market's "invisible hand" and applies it to social, fiscal and environmental policies.
That is a magical-thinking fantasy. If I pursued only my own self-interest, I would dump the toxic effluent from my factory right into the river ( a la China's very laissez faire economy) while I lived far away in an exclusive community far from the stench and poisons. Why pay for costly remediation when the "free" river beckons? After all, it all works out wonderfully if we each pursue our own self-interest with methodical, nay maniacal, single-mindedness. (Recall that rivers in America caught fire in the 1960s, before environmental regulations limited corporate self-interest.)
"The good of the nation" is now a code-phrase for "good for me, and to heck with the country at large." Every self-serving fiefdom, every self-serving cartel and every self-serving constituency (a.k.a. special interest) claims that its pathetically obvious self-serving lobbying "serves the national interest." It's all lies, blatant emotional manipulation of the vilest, crassest sort. Yet we as a nation have sunk so low that the entire notion of a national interest which doesn't benefit a powerful lobby or constituency has been lost.
We are now a nation of self-interested pygmies, blind to any national interest that isn't devoted to enriching us personally. If we ask cui bono-- to whose benefit? (the first question in the Survival+ critique), then the answer is always self-evident: some lobby, cartel, corporation, special interest or class of citizens who hope to stripmine the assets of the less-protected citizenry to line their own pockets with swag.
We are a nation slavishly devoted to feeding our herd of fattened sacred cows by any means necessary. The National Security State, a profit machine of Federal contractors stretching all the way back to LBJ contributors Brown & Root, who built bases in Vietnam for hefty profits? Untouchable: "we're fighting the global war on Terror." I guess that's why it's always an average citizen onboard who actually stops the bad guy.
The military industrial complex, which takes ten years to start building anything, by which time it's so costly we can't afford it? Untouchable: "we're keeping our military strong." More like weakening it to the breaking point by stripmining all the resources in bloated weapons programs.
Social Security, a.k.a. generational wealth transfer? Untouchable: "I paid in, there's this lockbox with my money in it...." It was always "pay as you go," not a "lockbox." Demographically, it's broken. It worked when there were 10 workers for every retiree, and even with 5 workers for every retiree; now with millions drawing disability benefits from the SSA (and hiring specialists to help them qualify for it--good ole self-interest at its best) and only 2.5 workers for every retiree--soon to be 2-to-1--the system is unsustainable.
Medicare, the Savior State arm of the sickcare cartel complex? Untouchable: "we have the best healthcare in the world." Yeah, if you're one of the select few who have gold-plated coverage. How is it in the national interest that we devote 17% of our vast GDP to sickcare and yet 40 million people aren't even covered, millions more have simulacra coverage (nothing is covered except 80% of catastrophic care, and the remaining 20% will bankrupt all but the wealthy), and other developed nations provide better care for all their citizens for half the cost per capita?
And of course there's the "too big to fail" banks and Wall Street: Untouchable: "if you mess with us we'll bring the country to its knees!" What a nice bunch of pygmies. They have nothing but self-interest, so they must be serving the national interest.
The core problem with President Obama and the political class in Washington is that they think governance boils down to placating the most powerful self-interested pygmies. To the Demopublicans, politics is not about the national interest-- whatever that is, since the concept has lost all meaning--it's about carving up the swag so all the powerful self-interests don't upset the Status Quo apple cart.
This explains Obama's blindness to the opportunity to break the grip of the "too big to fail" banks and Wall Street, and the current inability to actually cut any sacred-cow budgets. There literally is no national interest left in the land of self-interested pygmies; all those think tanks are just dumping out agitprop to serve one bloated, entrenched self-serving fiefdom or another behind a facile claim of "national interest." Oh, really? Cui Bono?
When politics has been debased to the point that it is all about placating self-serving monopolies and "interest groups," then there is no mind or heart left in the nation; it is a money-burning robot, blindly borrowing however much cash is needed to placate the piranhas and parasites.
I think the most apt metaphor for present-day America is the leaky lifeboat. All the single-mindedly self-interested pygmies are swimming over to the one lifeboat, pursuing their wondrously golden self-interest as the highest good. They all try to save themselves--it's only self-interest, and that will magically serve us all--and as a result of their frantic thrashing to preserve themselves, the lifeboat sinks and they all drown.
A nation of self-interested pygmies leaves no one to advocate for the national interest. The lifeboat is already taking on water, but everyone climbing on board is loudly announcing that they're "serving the national interest." The irony is rather rich: by sinking the entire Status Quo, then they truly will be serving the nation.
There is another shore nearby; it's called self-reliance and a personally disinterested national interest.
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And he'll be willing to cut your throat if you want to ration his free fish supply.
the invisible hand always steps in and ends the party when the party goers get too rowdy. unfortunately their hangover is shared by everyone.
noting the certainty that all good things must come to an end at the hands of those who organized the party economics is better understood as the study of irrational behavior.
Thanks Hughsie -- I guess you're the one great being who will decide exactly what is everyone's interest?
Get lost!
So there's very simple response to this. "National interest", "common good", and "general welfare" were all lies to begin with. We haven't become self-interested. We always were. The disillusion is to believe otherwise.
Good observation. I think the family unit is an extension of the self-interest sufficient to be the most efficient unit of government. In other words, if we all take responsibility for ourselves and our own families, rather than fostering a dependency mindset, we might find that our "nation's" woes are more the exception than the plurality.
What a mess this posting is. In addition to the horribly mixed metaphors, the glaring flaw in your essay is that it is impossible for groups to exercise self interest. Only individuals can exercise self-interest. In the end, you will not find any rational person who does not "slavishly pursue" their own self interest as they themselves define it.
You should read Mises, then revisit your premise.
Show the fucking graphs of Spending vs. Income you asshole.
Yeah, we want chart porn!
It is not in our best interest to help pollute China. Their mutation rate is already the highest in the world.
We are helping bring on the Zombie Apocalypse.
Stop buying Chinese crap...it is for the children.
Since the lifeboat is the host and the pygmies are the parasite there is no doubt in my mind that the parasites will kill the host before they relinquish their place.
If we slaughter all the pygmies, there will be more pork for us.
I fail to see the downside in this self-interested behavior. Unless they are going to make a movie that claims the cure for cancer might be found in the DNA of an isolated pygmie tribe in the depths of the Amazon basin.
"The Rise and Decline of Nations" by Mancur Olson - in the end, special interests choke the nation to death.
Greed is good! Greed is good! Bwahaha
Is that Beluga? Spread some on this toast, please.
Duplicitous drivel. His blog is aptly named.
the problem is not so much our acting in our own self-interest per se but rather, that we
"must'nt be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."
This works under true capitalism but is an absolute failure of our current crony capatilism system. This is precisely the reason the Founders fught so diligently to keep government out of our daily lives.
What is this thing mentioned in the article called "nation"? To embrace a concept such as this would be treason against the large health insurance corporation that provides for me.
when i read this: I think the most apt metaphor for present-day America is the leaky lifeboat.
my next thought was: how about a leaky diaper?
when i read this: The idea has a sleek quasi-free-market sheen, as it borrows the market's "invisible hand" and applies it to social, fiscal and environmental policies.
my next thought was: and it helps us evolve...
so, that was enough!
two many minds.
i like my self interest. and still have interest in helping others for it is best for me (see Nash commentary earlier). The founders of this republic realized it too... I have the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as long as doing so doesn't impinge on anothers right to the same.
Caring for others and not just your own petty interests is considered way too "communist" in America. "Every feat you do just for yourself will always be small", or something like that said Victor Hugo. Pallin' with Marx, huh?
Thanks, Charles,
"A nation of self-interested pygmies leaves no one to advocate for the national interest "
Perhaps, "no one" is a bit of a stretch, but from the comments here, it appears that "no one, with very few exceptions' nails it perfectly. Of course, this is not a place for selfless comment, but a playing field of weak minds and bravado.
I wonder how you ever got this posted. Tyler must have fallen upon his conditioning like the proverbial sword. In any case, your article is simply too true for this flock of parrots, or perhaps, troop of trolls is more fitting here.
This oldman will take his future SS benefits in the form of zero coupon treasury bonds discounted by a linkage to gold rather than a monthly stipend any day over an unfunded obligation in the future in a nation that has absolutely no respect for the elderly. Each year on my birthday there is a 'click' and the untaxable amount is paid to my account in whatever form of nationalized bank we have. Funded in this way, I cannot be accused of funding wars or draining the 'younger generations', if anyone remains working that far into the future. I believe that this would be readily agreed upon by all of us 'old phucks'.
Yes, boys and girls---you do have an obligation to all of the old men and old women in this 'pygmy nation'. This is our offer to cancel your obligation. Or else, you will just have to get down on your knees and beg the corporations and the military to stop bleeding you to death.
It is not old people who are draining the wealth of the nation----pygmies though some of us are.
thanks om and ow-------------
Well said, oldman. Especially, with regard to the emotionally under-developed "children" that post here.
They seem to all think that they're going to be 6 years old for the rest of their lives... well, I suppose their mental development could stop right there, some things can't be helped.
amazing amount of group-think lately, masquerading as "individualists" while constantly checking left 'n' right to make sure they fit in with the others. . .
I look out for your posts oldman, you're reflective yet cranky, which always makes for thoughtful words. . . hoping you keep posting.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/We+fought+to+stop+the+rise+of+Fascism%3B+7...
Most here will decry the cause, and deried the economic naivety of those who took part, but... in their youth, ignorance and belief, they at least attempted to stand against the tsunami that engulfed Europe.
Pwning N00bs in Cod IV or Battlefield III isn't really the same - and what is worse, is that the military youngsters of today fight wars as videogames, not the heroic "Band of Brothers" nobility that Hollywood produces for their parents & grandparents. If you really think that on the modern fields of Iraq "That sucks dude" and "N00b got pwned" or "I iz rollin, they iz hatin" aren't the parlance, and high brow theories of honour are.. you're a fucking deluded old grandparent.
/b/ & co, it means divorcing the emotional impact of reality away - and there's reasons for it. Inheriting a shit storm that the older generations are actively encouraging, and worse still, actively using power & money to enforce is one of them.
Bottom line - Corporations are as much a part of the issue as Banks. Oh, and I expect about 50 'junks' for this - but I'll say it to an oldster in an attempt to show the fire hasn't gone out.
it's difficult to compare the "wars" fought decades ago, the narrative was more pervasive then, there was at least the semblance of more "unity" in amrka - though I will admit to not being alive at the time, and perhaps I'm just believing what seems true. . .
but I concur with your observations on today's "warriors" - I've talked with many before and after deployment, and most are cynics who recognise at least some of the scam, though their training won't let them admit much. . . many shrug, and talk of how life is shit, what does it matter, they get to hang with their uniformed buds, shoot guns, get fed, paid wages - they know the alternatives are thin on the ground - though I also know of many who are creative thinkers and would have nothing to do with enlisting. . . sadly, a lot has to do with the family situation, or lack of one.
some of the folk who post here are parents too, and while I used to wonder just where the /b/ noise came from, I don't any more.
banks, government, corporations - there really is no difference between those who populate all of 'em - it's a self-serving, self-centered, immature way of being human, and sadly, it's celebrated now.
Actually, Cathartes
The most curious thing about all of todays problems is that we choose them.
We are the people born in the US of A as well as those who immigrate here. Oil? We choose to stick with it when we do not NEED it----we choose oil. OK, mark up how many trillion for that in expense versus what ou war cost each year for the last 20 years was and assume we had invested half of the war chest into alternative energy---just for transportation. I have not done the numbers, (I choose to remain a concept guy) but I will bet $100 that had we invested those funds over the last twenty years in the new technologies---we would be the owners of 90% of the patents, best minds and managers, and also, the rest of the world would not 'hate us', to quote bush2. A trade of half our military might for ownership of all of the alternative energy technology and its production facilities! Where is the genius in such an investment? This would have turned out to have been the best trade in US history-----surplus rather than deficit, and no mealy mouthed pols pretending that we need a debt ceiling raise so they can launder it through the banks to be re-elected.
We chose, instead, to play out the John Wayne script that we used to propagandize the Second World War!!!!! We chose to run all over the planet fighting wars for our politicians and corporations---rather than to develop our culture in any way other than masculine power----shit, we should have started Fight Club as the cultural event it turned out to be.
Anyway, imagine, the swing in the trade suggested above; it is unimagineable, of course, but someone can do the numbers and I believe it will turn out that WE not THEY made a bad trade.
I will stop here, but there are so many missed opportunities----all because we are a self-destructive society---all of us can do better than this, but we choose the other
this oldman has bored himself with the above the mayan calendar ushers in a new age of consciousness
i am ready for it i welcome 2012 or 2013 whichever year it decides to be
thanks for your post it was thought provoking om
So has Mr. Smith decided to pay 100% taxes and not take any benefit, you know to help out the nation? The nation is made up of individuals, so we are supposed to give up our own self interest for some magical collective interest? And who pray tell will decide what is best for the collective good? I vote me! I promise a 500ft tall bronze statue of myself ever square mile of this great nation, think of the jobs it would create! Oh and I'm for beatifying America, so boob jobs for all young ladies (of course they will be required to wear low cut tops). Think of the benefit to morale and the medical industry!
Newsflash, people act in their own interest because they are not insects. Perhaps Mr. Smith has us mistaken for wayward ants. If he wishes to sacrifices himself for this "greater good" I welcome him to do so. Anyone telling me to sacrifice for the collective good just wants in my pocket and power over me, pass. I currently get nothing from Uncle Sugar, so what more should I sacrifice, I pay my taxes and I'm a productive slave...er citizen. The state has created dependencies on itself to ensure it's survival. The state is trying to prolong it's life and increase it's size, and it will do so till it consumes all available capital then collapses. Stopping this is about as likely as stopping a sunrise.
"I currently get nothing from Uncle Sugar, so what more should I sacrifice, I pay my taxes and I'm a productive slave...er citizen."
Where did you learn to read and write? Elementary school? Who paid for that? You ever benefit financially from being able to read or write
You asked your local fire department to take you off the list of properties they will attend a call out to? Or is your property stil protected? Isn't that counted as "getting something" not "getting nothing"?
Its rough to think about the nation when to do so means one can be singled out at as a tea bagger, a racist, a zealot, a class-war advocate, a sexist, an anti-semite, etc. Suffice to say, if one stands up for this country, they will be labled anything but a patriot and potentially jeopardize their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. There in lies the problem. I don't think people are all too self-interested. I don't believe they are all apothetic either. What I believe is the patriots are scared. Actions taken in fear are generally not rational and things do not go well. That is true for the fearful patriot and the entity who instills that fear.
OK, Plato
Patriot statement in presentencing:
"This is not going away. At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon, this is what hope looks like. In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like. With countless lives on the line, this is what love looks like, and it will only grow. The choice you are making today is what side are you on."
This boy is a tree-hugger. To read the rest of the story, a true patriot story that he will be imprisoned for, go to:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25804
Your comment: " What I believe is the patriots are scared." and it disturbed me quite a bit because I am not brave enough to be a patriot, myself; so, what could I possibly say to you?
A couple of hours later, I came across this article about the patriotism of Tim DeChristopher and knew I had to clear my mind and heart by sending this to you.
The article will take 15 minutes to read, but it is more in context with today and we the people than that stodgy old declaration of independence myth. This is a young man who will be imprisoned for the state terrorism act of NOT lying, but being imprisoned on that charge anyway. I left this country a short time after those ------were acquitted for the beating of Rodney King, but it wasn't for that reason; it was because no one cared who could of made a difference.
Well, I'm back now and i'm looking for those who can make a difference like you my friend. After reading about this tree-hugging patriot please send him a note thanking him at least for doing your part and my part.
Sorry to sound so preachy---it's in the cracker genes i came equipped with om
A story about how things have changed and how selfishness and narcissim have destroyed America: Back in 1946 my dad used to drive to school in downtown San Jose from a ranch near Mt. Hamilton. He drove a surplus weapons carrier, an open vehicle kind of like a jeep. He always carried a 30-30 rifle in this jeep because he would occaisionally shoot some food, in the evening, on his way home. He parked the open jeep, with the rifle perched on the passenger seat, in downtown San Jose all day while he attended class and that rifle was always there when he returned and drove home and hunted.
Think about the change that has taken place since then. People have no respect for each other now. Why? Because we have been conditioned by the media to be consumers and do anything it takes to get the things we want. This change is taking us down a very dark road to a bad end instead of to a place where we work together and build a country that makes more sense.
What the author Charles Hugh Smith is complaining about is Liberalism, pure and simple. Liberalism works tirelessly to destroy all connections and boundaries, its ultimate goal being Chaos. Liberalism has shredded the social fabric to almost dust, atomizing all relationships and destroying everything humanr, yet keeps working on dissolving even the hollow shells of our old institutions. One thing Liberalism does encourage, besides all-consuming self-interest, is materialism. Hence the elevation of money and the economy as the yardstick for everything, our ultimate reason.
Liberalism is also proven to cause Hemorrhoids. (Heard it on FOX News.)
Depends on your definition of the word cause.
I was a republican leaning man thinking that going to work to fix our nations problems is the best solution out there... but republicans i have known heartlessly treat employees like dirt, looking for a democrat in their midst to blame for every pinched penny gleefuly lending their ear to blow hard money spenders to help the trickle down big ticket RnD toys that often go strait to the shelf
.
valuing customers and vendors net 30 only... 'beggars cant be choosers'... 'the layoffs will continue till moral improves'
.
destroying careers in the name of a black democrat president?
Everyone acting in their own self-insterest is great, as long as no one is allowed to use coercion to further their own self-interest.
The last part is the part these communists seem to forget when they criticize libertarian principles in their pro-communist tirades.
Horrible piece.
They're the first to suggest coercion when it comes to getting what they want. And they're usually trying to force something that isn't viable anyway, so their political buddies can have work. They want more centralization of deadly force and power as well. Reduce each human to a piece of quivering, mangy livestock is their goal.
However, what you appear to have forgotten is that the wealthiest 0.1% of the population, and certainly all the IB's, simply love the idea of socialism, when it applies to just them.
They can share the wealth of the nation between themselves, they can dip their hands into the same collective pools of monies and pocket billions upon billions. And as a collective group they can write up laws and financial regulations to suit themselves.
The US is indeed socialism writ large. Socialism for the wealthiest that is.
One more thing to add: individuals will always struggle to act effectively in their own future self interest. The ability to do so depends on the ability to accurately forecast ahead of time what is going to happen, what future conditions are, and what actions need to be taken now in response to that.
It also requires a clear understanding of what one might be most desirable given those future conditions.
People in general simply do not have that level of foresight or metaknowledge.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else."
Bastiat
"The great cold lie at the heart of present-day America is that the nation will magically benefit if we each single-mindedly pursue our self-interest to the exclusion of all else. That is a magical-thinking fantasy."
Actually it is worse than that. It is a heresy. A variant of Idolatry. I find it interesting that the Heresy in this current incarnation was "invented" and promulgated by a post-Holocaust Jewish person. I personally think the maxim "God did not exist in the camps" influenced his thinking a bit too much so he took the step that if God did not exist in the camps then he must not exist anywhere in human affairs and the rest flows logically from there. Won a Nobel prize too if I am not mistaken. The thing that amazes me is how gullible people are. F.D.R. said “It has long been known that the pursuit of heedless self interest is bad manners. We now know it is also bad economics.” Said that less than 80 years ago. Same problem, same result.
Who is this post-Holocaust Jewish person? Sounds like Milton Friedman, perhaps? I find it interesting that you speak in terms of heresy and Idolatry. Not exactly the coin of the realm in these times. Who would understand what you mean?
Thank you for the James Goldsmith clip!!...wow, that was presience!
Actually, this kind of shit is why the USA is falling into disrepair:
http://12160.info/pages/-supreme-court-dow-chemical?xg_source=activity
The Michigan case involved landowners who complained that the chemical giant spread dioxin, a highly toxic and cancer-causing byproduct of chemical manufacturing process through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron. When rivers downstream flooded, sediment laden with dioxin was deposited on properties in the floodplain. Soil samples of floodplain properties revealed dioxin contamination thousands of times higher than Michigan allows and prompted health officials to warn property owners to wear masks while mowing their lawns, keep children from playing in dirt near their homes, avoid eating fish and livestock raised in the floodplain, and to take other precautions to keep from being poisoned. The land owners say property values are diminished and they are not able to fully use their properties because of the contamination; not to mention the health damages they may have already been subjected to. The judge, Leopold Borello, had granted class status for the group but reversed his decision because, although the case met Michigan guidelines for class status, the Supreme Court’s Wal-Mart decision created new rules for what a group must have in common with one another in order to be considered a class.
The difference between the cases is that one was in federal court and should have no bearing on Michigan certifying a class action but the judge still acquiesced to the corporate giant’s demand. The entire issue does not bode well for future class actions in Michigan because the state Supreme Court is a conservative majority that tends to favor corporations over individuals. The case also shows the long-lasting damage the conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court continues to wreak on America. Republicans constantly decry the dangers of liberal activist judges legislating from the bench, but the current High Court has been making legislation for Republicans since last year’s Citizens United ruling allowing unlimited secret campaign funding.
Let us not forget who paid for at least two of the Supreme Court members. At this point, if you're not forcing them to eat vegetables grown in that very soil, then you should be.
"The personal, as everyone's so fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here -- it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference -- the only difference in their eyes -- between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people, they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it's just business, it's politics, it's the way of the world, it's a tough life, and that it's nothing personal. Well, make it personal. "
-- Quellcrist Falconer, in "Things I Should Have Learned By Now, Volume II"
There are absolutes.
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."
"When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education . . . the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint . . . . It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. . . . they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters."
— Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America, Volume 2
Sigh, what nonsense.
Democracy begins, and ends, at the point at which power is comfortable with those voting. Athens, British Empire and so on (you might have fucking missed the issue of suffragettes and enfranchisement that has been playing out over 2000 years - at many points, it was "male slave owners with value over 10 talents a year", and so on and so forth). Universal suffrage is a NEW FUCKING DEAL. Less than 100 years old, you fucking tool. And note well - every gain was gained via blood, sweat and fighting.
The essential tension is that when a person (no longer purely male, but largely still so) realises that their 'success' and 'financial power' equates to nothing more than the silly 18 year old who has never done a days work in their lives, and is supported by their parents [no matter that said 18 year old might become the next biggest thinker of their generation] then they get... irked. Aggrieved. They feel that democracy cannot work. Then, having much greater access to power, money and ability to fund those who might be sympathetic to their cause, they do so. Or did you miss the Koch brothers funding, creating and enabling the Tea party? Did you miss the recent body of Corporate power writing the laws you live under? Hint: there's a large protest about it as we speak.
This Greek tragedy only plays out if the vox populi is a stupid one - in many "so called socialist" countries, much effort is given to enabling youth with political education [Glen Beck - no, it isn't "Nazi youth" --- you twat, all parties have such youth camps in enlightened thinking societies]; with a sufficiently educated populace, then those in power feel confident that their message will best those of their radical opposition. Of course, the larger issue is that TPTB view all of this as a necessary, but tiresome, play - and fund both sides of the picture [for the non-idiots unlike the above - e.g. Searchlight, a UK institution against "the far right" spends about £300k / election in the UK making leaflets etc against the BNP, EDL and so on, to prevent the Norway experience. Now... do you REALLY REALLY REALLY think that a crappy anti-radical jaunt like Searchlight raises £300k+ / annum to fight fascism? Does it bollocks - it is funded by the establishment, aka, Mr. Irving. 5th - if you doubt me here, I suggest looking up the spending of politically interested parties in the UK general elections, and look at the invoices from Searchlight. Yes, they spent £300k. No, they didn't raise that through cakes & jam. You might also notice that "Searchlight" is heading the UK mission to make the EDL a radical group. It. Is. Not. An. Independent. Body.]
Rule #1 - in any 'democratic' country, the budget differential between major parties is less than 10%. This means that, in reality, there is no major difference between parties - public / private spend is defined by TPTB not policy, The quicker you learn this, the quicker you stop polluting the intarweb with guff.
So - democracy is a farce. But it is a farce where the counter-elite has to remain educated, strong and enabled, otherwise... you get America, 2011. Which is rather quickly descending into hell - Gary is the model, and it isn't pretty [then again, Stoke on Trent in the UK is almost as bad]. The real equation is how to present a stabilised equilibrium that is maximally beneficial to all those participating - aka, you have to fight to make sure your corner is protected, otherwise, it WILL get shit all over. 0.1% taking all the money, remember?
In America, the typical black household had just $5,677 in wealth (assets minus debts) in 2009, the typical Hispanic household had $6,325 in wealth and the typical white household had $113,149. These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago. Data from the US Census: Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).
That's called - your ex-slaves are gonna come and fuck in you in the ass sooner or later, white boys
That is all, what a shill. I urge the old ones viewing not to judge by the dross.
Oh. P.S. I am not one of the TPTB that values the above system. You ate all the fish, so Cthulhu, D'phnegul k'tha dugh, ughl'nigu'ra ulfn'ahk y'ngwu Maghoor-N'kyah? Fuck you all, and embrace extinction.
"This Greek tragedy only plays out if the vox populi is a stupid one
So - democracy is a farce. But it is a farce where the counter-elite has to remain educated, strong and enabled, otherwise... you get America, 2011."
I took the pain to extract what seems to be your main point. Americans like things to be short and to the point. Easy reading is the key, as Charles Hugh Smith knows.
This is certainly not one of his better productions because he is basically ranting, whereas normally he takes the time to develop a thesis.
I think you have it pegged about education. There's a mystery that I can't penetrate that relates to American anti-intellectualism and the fact that we have the best graduate programs in the world. Indoctrination camps for children, such as the one in Norway, would be unthinkable in America. Yet the general population is completely brainwashed by far right ideology. These people will only vote for some pig-eyed politician on the right who is the most likely to cut off their arms and legs. Go figure.
question is claws, why are they gravitating to the far right? what inner urge inspires them to do that? m/b UofW provides a clue at the end?
That question doesn't even make sense. Nations don't "benefit" from things, only the individuals within a nation do. Also, there is no such thing as "narrow" self-interest. That's just a thought-obscuring way of saying "concern with ones own life is evil".
...sounds a bit fishy in the end. Are the last lines not a sinker for the whole article?
Listen to the Word Up, ...children of the Korn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoV6jg2rxIc
Private Piranha ha ha's, is our shit not in the wind? Are we not in a world of shit! ...so! ...if ''persons'' ''think'' our own ''shore as shit'' to swim to, to ''save'' our dusty ass-can ...can save our butts, ..is not the news for Private Sharky, in opposition and drowning in the ill liquidity of that hompium, beyond their own reach at this point? The only ''shore'' image waiting ...is, ...the same ''One'' that inspired persons to rise out of the water and gather in agreement, ...and that's the same ''One'' image providing the revelation of the '' sure'' shore thing ''persons claim'' as their ''own effort.'' News flash for the Fishy Face False Offer, the fish in the water did not provide a thing, zero was always ''nothing'' from the begining to end, the shore is always standing before the water. When in the wide world of sport will waking up to that reality come to people hell bent on ''their own offer''? Is it not true of corruption, corruption offers no shore for those that remain submerged in their own image? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN-oFpTX4II
Private Pile of your own shit shore? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Zi75JKlUY&feature=related
The Word that is risen lifts us up my friend. We are the hosts being defined by the sustaining Word. It is not about our own image, it's about The Revelation of The Perfection which has overcome the false claim of dominion, and it is the ''One providing'' image of mercy and The Sustaining Love for life ...on shore. http://bible.cc/luke/17-33.htm
...as you were! you are dead Private, that's for ''shore'', so ''don't think'' ''your own effort'' is anything but' a pile of bullshit! Now, stand fast and do no harm, fear not, divest from the waters of the deep ...black hole ...and rise in agreement with Christ. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMJNKOOVqc0
http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/15-51.htm
Watch it again for the first time:
The owners of this country
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT0OJEFlq7A
A common misconception, that the author steps in in this article, is that self-interest and collective interest are at such odds with each other. I submit that enlightened self-interest is better fostered by spending some of one's effort in pumping up the well being of the surrounding people/environment. As with most things, a balance between extremes will give us the best result.
I do not suggest that therefore coercion be used to satisfy collective benefit, I am in fact deeply opposed to that. Although a conceptually simple model, we must hold our noses as we live in the putrid results all day long. Instead, we need an enhanced mentality and deeper understanding of wtf constitutes self-interest. This of course requires work and effort so don't hold your breath waiting for it. When I think "what's best for my wife, and she does the same thing for me, we both advance our individual and collective well-being. To the extent that people can push this attitude towards ever larger groups of people, I think we'd all be better off. IMHO
The real problem is that by embracing an absolute 'negative' freedom model, taken from Popper [and, yes - Randians, she stole it from Popper, really] without any ability to realise that 'positive' freedoms should also be part of the equation, you get... what you have.
Aka. No, your negative freedom 'right' to eat what you want does not supercede your positive freedom 'constraint' not to fuck the oceans while doing it. Or rather, you can, but you really won't like the consequences.
You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence "democracy", and the other "tyranny". Karl Popper. [Hint: you have the latter, not the former, as both sides (Democrats or Republicans) are the same, and both enact policies more suited to Corporations, TPTB and NWO than the populace]. Oh, and the colour scheme of Google, the EU and so on, De Bono's finest work - slavery by codification. Do your due diligence.
dBc 6/2 -- that deBono?
p.s. thanks for the ticket to the Land of Ni. sloooooowly digging my way thru it. feel free to scrub note if you feel necessary. don't want u runnin around 1/2 naked, might be kinky but m/b not smart.
Blah.... egoism vs altruism.... i'm sure THAT argument is something we haven't enough of yet.
Here, let me explain to you how this really works:
Yes, purely "selfish" motivation results in disaster, but NOT because altruism is good. Similarily, purely "altruistic" motivation results in disaster, but NOT because egoism is good.
There's something which both - egoism and altruism - have in common: An incredibly small field of view, that has the width of aproximatelly a laser beam. Phrased another way: Egoism & altruism -> shortsightness both in space and time.
To show this, let's take one of your first examples, as an example: You dump toxic stuff into the river, while living somewhere else. Let me rephrase this: You cause damage, and then attempt to escape the consequences, and the assumption is, that other people will let you escape the consequences. Stopping you from doing that, hasn't anything to do with altruism nor egoism.... but has everything to do with.... mutualism.
Catch my drift? If no one could escape the consequences of his own actions, neither egoism nor altruism would pay off... everyone would get a taste of "The efficiency of an interaction depends on the well-being of everything and everyone involved"... that is, they'd get a taste of shooting themselves in the foot.
The whole idea behind egoism as well as altruism - that is, parasitism - is that one of both escapes the consequences of the interaction. I.e. egoists bet on "abuse and don't be affected by the damage", while altruists bet on "help and the other person not being affected by your own damage".
Avoiding this bullshit isn't a matter of egoism, nor a matter of altruism... it simply is a matter of fairness and no one being let out of the feedback-loop. Or as humans call it: Accountability.
This understanding of "mutual relevance" may very well be called "altruism" by humans, but that doesn't change anything about it being misrepresentative - altruists do NOT care about mutual relevance - they only care about "the others", which is a rejection of one's own relevance.
I will admit that this community *overally* has a strongly egoistic bias (not by all, but a constant and vocal camp), and that thus an article that explains the errors of this thoughtstyle is benefical.... but you're not going to "solve" those errors, by argueing for the opposite errors.
well said, accountablility is the missing link on both sides of the equation.
This is an unimaginative rant, but it's all I got, I'm starving and I need a snack . . .
Our huge central government (there to ostensibly "do something" for all Americans) is the cause of the TBTF, and all the other ills Mr. Smith mentions in his article. While anyone in big government "should do something" they can't do anything--the best people, miles away from their home towns with procedures and gimmicks out the wazoo are too tempted with the power, lack of accountability, and the re-election gravy train. The worst people are there to not only light the country on fire, but to make sure the best people get caught in the amoral quicksand of politics without principle. The problem is big, powerful government and ever eroding states rights.
HEY, CHARLES HUGH SMITH, BARRY ISN'T BLINDED TO THE OPPORTUNITY TO BREAK THE GRIP OF "TO BIG TO FAIL", HE'S IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT AND HE'S RUNNING THE OPPORTUNITY DOWN LIKE A PREDICABLE CHARACTER IN A STEPHEN KING NOVEL--HE NEEDS TBTF TO DRIVE THE DOLLAR, THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND YOU INTO THE OBLIVION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HARRISON-BERGERON-LIKE EQUALITY. DON'T WORRY CHARLES, SOME DAY SOMEONE WILL COME OUT WITH A HUGE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT THAT WILL ACTUALLY BE BENEVOLENT.
The military is the biggest welfare state there is. What? You think all those disadvantaged kids signed up for the honor of serving the country? Hah. If I were some dumbass that barely survived high school, I'd sign up to "serve" my country while getting all the benefits of it, too. Point is: the majority of the military is manned by dumbasses who'd either have to turn to criminal activity, or other forms of state welfare if they hadn't signed up. I show no respect for self-seekers who masquerade under the guise of some bunch of selfless upholders of ideals.
However, I'd rather say that I don't give a fuck about this country because when times were good, the arrogance of the people was disgusting. I say it's time to pay for that arrogance, you hedonistic bastards. Nothing I hate more than some arrogant sonuvabitch. Nothing I love more than an arrogant sonuvabitch that's forced to crawl.
Perhaps you need to watch Colonel Jessep from A Few Good Men again.
And maybe, just maybe, if these "disadvantaged kids" in poor schools had decent job options, they wouldn't be signing up on recruiters pads so quick and then having their limbs blown off in faraway lands 12 months later.
Stampedes are dangerous, steer clear! Moooooooooooooooooo
Correct me if I am wrong here: Adam Smith was a Christian European, and he was writing about Christian Europeans. And the Invisible hand works. Now if you take people who would rather kill anyone productive and clear cut their own paradise to make a desolation, then you probably are not talking about Christian Europeans. (but you would be talking about Fidelito and that Jughashvili guy)
Christian Europeans when presented or having won total freedom- America first 90 years. Switzerland. Rhodesia (breadbasket of Southern Africa era)
"Other" when presented or having won total freedom- Haiti, Zimbabwe. Detriot.
The invisible hand does not and can never work in Haiti.
This whole thread everybody is just trying to talk around this painful though obvious fact.
Michael Cuddyer Jersey Harmon Killebrew Jersey Bert Blyleven Jersey Jim Thome Jersey Kirby Puckett Jersey Mickey Mantle Jersey Don Mattingly Jersey Mariano Rivera Jersey Andy Pettitte Jersey Thurman Munson Jersey Ted Williams Jersey Dustin Pedroia Jersey
Oh please-O-please give me the power to terminate spammers with extreme, jaundice. I promise not to use it on mathman dangerman (wait- someone already terminated them non?) anyway I promise never to use it on anyone I disagree with or any other reason than to grind spammers into the earth.....
I disagree with the article completely. It is the altruistic principal of saving others that has led to the destructive socialism, not the rational self interest of everyone acting in their best interests. The logical fallacy here is that you would continue to pour toxic chemicals into the river knowing you kill the ecosystem you depend on, such as crops you eat and workers you need to run your factory. No, the rational self-interested person would find a reasonable solution to pollution if only to preserve their own long term environment and lifestyle.
"It is the altruistic principal of saving others that has led to the destructive socialism"
not the principle per se, but the principle combined with the refusal to take personal responsibility to realizing that altruism. the flip side of this is rational self-interest without recognizing the need to preserve the long-term enviornment. both rational self-interest & altruism are not incompatible with each other, but only if they are accompanied by the above corralaries. when they aren't, each side turns to blaming the other side to avoid searching within to see their own failings.
not necessarily disagreeing with your point, but pointing out a very important distinction to keep in mind.
It is in your own self-interest to vote for a clean-air act for your hometown (unless you are interested in drinking poluted water and breathing poluted air). Because it is also in the self-interest of others to do the same, your "freedom" to pursue your self-interest (e.g. building poluting factories far away from your water and air) is constrained by the self-interest of those living near your poluting factory (whenever these others have a way of achieving their own self-interests with guns or laws or purchasing power or whatever).
Right now chinese peasants don't have much pull kinda like in the US way back when pollution was rampant but the little guy was powerless to do anything about. Eventually they will, and china will become a model of sustainability, that is assuming Godzilla hasn't emerged yet from the Fukushima "incident" in which case you can kiss the invisible hand and your own self-interests goodbye, but till then, the invisible hand "stands" (though not totally upright all the time or not tall if you're a pigmy).
Mr. Smith's example is ludicrous. China is perhaps the best example of the opposite of a laissez faire economy--where greasing the palms of government officials accomplishes anything and everything.
In a truly laissez faire economy, your downstream victims, in pursuit of their own self-interests, would throw you into that river after affixing your concrete shoes.
"That is a magical-thinking fantasy. If I pursued only my own self-interest, I would dump the toxic effluent from my factory right into the river ( a la China's very laissez faire economy) while I lived far away in an exclusive community far from the stench and poisons."
C'mon, that's bullshit, CHS. It's not in your self interest to get caught and to be put out of business for dumping toxic waste, just like it's not in my self interest to rob banks because it's easy money. And the Chinese will periodically execute executives with a bullet in the head in a public manner to make examples of them.
"A butcher, a baker and beer maker don't do what they do so you can eat, they do what they do so they can eat." --- unknown, on the invisible hands of the free market
CHS, your clap trap is nothing but a ripoff of the tedious Hollywood boilerplate self-loathing fantasy that assumes succesful people must always be the villains of the plot because the meme must repeated that they have all acheived their success through some sort of cutting-corner mayhem destroying the middleclass. Add a couple of expisodes of "60 minutes" and this meme becomes established fact. It's bullshit. For every toxin dumper there's 10,000 who are not.
Henry Ford wasn't an evil capitalist that exploited the middleclass, he practically invented the middle class. He opened up new jobs and new industries building cars, roads, motels, rubber, oil, fabrics, transportation, and steel. Bill Gates did the same thing for another generation. These are the millons of invisible hands.
When I think of toxic waste I think of female birth control hormones getting flushed down the toilet and into the water supply from the urine of millions of women. But this well known menace will never see the light of day because mentioning the middleclass source is politically incorrect.
The painful truth is that life is graded on a curve and everybody is simply not capable of the same levels of success, so scapegoats and demons are created to explain the difference.
Mr Smith knows the Cult well.
Is not that of which he speaks about the U.S. Admin ?
Is not that of which he speaks about the U.S. Admin ?
CHS vents his frustration and that's fair enough. The harder part is trying to identify cause and effect, which is all too easy to haphazardly/moralistically/simplistically ascribe. Ah, if it were only just that everyone bought into a pygmy myth. Change the myth and all is resolved. -Hmm
The picture of the world now is not pretty. Almost 7 billion fighting over resources, operating in a globally linked money network that is flawed and corrupted in its conception and now at the end of its life cycle and well into the state of putrefaction. Assigning simplistic causes to our woes at this stage has limited value.
But I will say this - times like these tend to bring out the very best and very worst in people. It's a choice, and that is probably worth pointing out.
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