The Emergence of the New Aristocratic Era

I think we are headed back to a form of the Aristocratic era that preceded the Industrial Revolution (IR). The IR changed the world in an unprecedented manner. Jobs, Opportunity, wide spread Equality, and Wealth; the creation of a huge Middle Class. But no one saw it coming to an abrupt end; What futurists foresaw did not happen... e.g. a world in which all humanity enjoyed leisure (not enforced unemployment) and wealth (not minimum slave wages nor the humiliating dole). Think for a moment what "slave wages" are are: (eliminating "ownership" of the person) slave wages pay an amount that feeds and clothes and provides minimum housing - nothing more; exactly what slave holders of yore provided. 

The governments of the 1ST World are the new slave owners, but have not provided jobs for their slaves, nor income from those jobs with which to feed the kitty to keep the system going. Instead 1ST World Governments are simply dissipating the wealth that was generated during the IR period And worse they have borrowed against wealth that has for intents disappeared. Even emerging economies are dissipating their natural wealth: Venezuela, the Ivory Coast, etc. 

In the richest country, the USA, every man, woman, and child each face a community debt of over $60,000 - each!

  

What a glorious, albeit short, period the IR was. You and I received the best of it and are living to witness the end of it. The period we are in right now is what I'll call, for lack of a catchy phrase, the period of Equity Dissipation/Debt Acquisition; it will be shorter than the period of equity building that occurred during the latter stage of the IR since spending is quick, thoughtless, and requires neither skill nor effort. We are seeing it all around us: Governments of every stripe in debt up to their noses, most people struggling with debt, home ownership declining, home equities evaporating. Even a minimal college education encourages debt and in many fields requires huge debt levels. All only exacerbating and furthering the dissipation of wealth. 

I see it in my own family and in most of the families I am familiar with: the adult children of many would be poor if it weren't for government subsidy and dependence upon parents. Compare those to the economic health of the previous generation: that role was reversed! That generation aided in the financial support of their parents.

The near Future is not rosy: No jobs for the hoi polloi, no broadly enjoyed equity creation. Further concentration of enormous wealth into the hands of the few: Gates, Zuckerberg, Allen, Buffett, Trump, etc., the new Aristocrats. They wield enormous power both economic and political. They generate jobs, but few high paying jobs compared to the era of the IR. 

The new Aristocrat's vast wealth is a result of the nature of the Technological Revolution in which a handful of people (or even a single individual), using digital tools creates a product (using another digital tool, the simple computer, that needs no direct support of a broad spectrum of industrial might - as did say the IR era automobile industry) that when combined with modern financial resources generates - almost overnight - billions of dollars for the "inventors" of products like Facebook! 

The nature of that particular product needs little infrastructural support: little or physical industrial development, no wholesale or retail distribution apparatus... nothing but another $200 digital tool - the iPhone.... which, by the way, needs no telephone lines, no phone poles, no telephone operators, no switchboards, no phone repair men, no millions of miles of copper wires, etc.  

Cheers, Mel

This Screwy Election Can Get More Bazaar!

 How stupid I've been! Here I am, 75 years old and all those years I've thought that we had free and open elections. Closely following this current Presidential election cycle has opened my eyes: we don't. The election of the President and Vice President of the United States is an indirect vote in which citizens cast ballots for a slate of members of the U.S. Electoral College. Period.

The states hold primaries/caucus, wherein citizens choose a "preferred" candidate. After the state primaries the "Parties" hold a convention - that's where the real voting begins. Democrat's have something called Super Delegates; these actually pick the nominee: Those Supers Ds are the Ins that can use their votes for anybody, someone that might not have even appeared on a single primary/caucus ballot! They can simply "name" their candidate using the power of the Super D's. Similarly the GOP can at their convention choose anyone they wish to appear on the ballot.... Unless that GOP aspirant has won 1236 delegates thru the primary/caucus system prior to the convention; if none has won 1236 Delegates a "brokered" convention is set to make the choice of Nominee.  The number of "votes" citizens have cast for individuals is irrelevant.

Then once "The Parties" have chosen Nominees we the citizens can vote for one. But wait, there's even more: regardless for whom you have cast your vote, all you've done is made a choice. "Electors" then cast their vote, it could be for whomever they choose, for the Candidate.

Bottomline? Unless there is a landslide election - from Day 1 - your vote and mine are simply meaningless.

 

One Caveat: I think this was covered in my 7TH Grade Civics Class, but somehow I still thought our system was superior to the Soviets. All very confusing - on purpose I think - and I may well be wrong on the details....

Voting is simply a way of allowing ill informed citizens TO THINK that it was they who elected their President.

Cheers, Mel

The Conservative Republican Establishment?

 Who and what is the "Conservative Republican Establishment?"  Dinosaurs or Fantasy Creatures? We only know that they are unsatisfiable. They threaten to vote for an Independent, they threaten to vote for Hillary or Bernie. Or they threaten to not vote at all! Unless they get their way... Fine. Be the spoiled kid on the block... take your ball and go home.

  These folks are living in some sort of Fantasyland.

 So, who was the last President of these folks? Will no one will fit their bill this time.. again? It still comes down to two available choices. Choice One: Vote Trump or don't vote, which is a vote in favor of the status quo or worse, continued galloping socialism and reckless spending. Granted, you'll not be voting for the "Conservative," but you will be voting for the America that made us great.

 And then there are those mindless conservatives: Spiteful. They choose Choice Two: They would actually prefer the corrupt Clintons to Trump! The only rational I could guess at is that they are in the mental state of "happy-power-lite." Their elected are happy to enjoy the occasional ride in Air Force 1, and an invite to the occasional State Dinner, and of course get the perks of a comfortable life in D.C. (now the third richest City in America, in spite of the fact that they make nothing!). These are sycophants to power and in reality have no principles. But make the same sounds of the conceited elitist progressives that got us here. Where they ran for office there must have already been a "D" on the ticket... but hey, there was an "R" spot open! These mindless ones are free to continue their bitching without responsibility. There is the Third Choice: Don't vote. Don't vote don't care. Not a choice of the thinking person.

  The reality of the situation has to be confronted. There is no Conservative Republican Establishment  only a Fantasyland of Republican Conservatism... i.e. there is no "there" there. We have to wake-up and face reality.

  We will never get rid of most of the social welfare programs the progressives have been able to initiate but perhaps we could at least return to the concept of "country," security, and opportunity. Our government has become an organization of thugs and muggers. Those in power see citizens as targets and will do what ever is required to push their agenda. Cut-off their money you say? Go ahead, they'll just print it. And that's exactly what has happened... to the tune of twenty one trillion(!) dollars and growing! 

   

  We have to get real! 

 The national debt - - with the help and assistance of the Establishment Republican Party is drowning us. Imagine what will happen when interest rate rise? How will the debt be paid then? With confiscatory taxes or with the printing presses that will, with every dollar printed, eventually destroy the value of all those already printed? 

 I'm looking for a leader that can change the thinking process of government. A government that can help return America to a business oriented national agenda... away from the progressive one that will end in the destruction of the country that I see as America. 

  Profitable American Business - the only viable way to paying down the debt.

 Check out the short film below... Donald Trump is the orator. The Donald is the only candidate qualified to get us back on track.

http://www.ijreview.com/2016/01/511284-this-trump-campaign-video-just-released-is-sending-chills-up-peoples-spines/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=video-social-mobile-bar&utm_campaign=Sharing

Cheers, Mel

I Like Trump!

It's a matter of choices. The political establishment on both sides of the isle have had little regard for the Constitution since the turn of the last century, especially so since the years of the Great Depression. That said.... we aren't going back to an earlier time.... it just doesn't work like that. We move forward until the system breaks. To me Trump promises a partial restoration of our system. I say partial because we Americans, like all peoples are still humans, not perfect, but still better than the current crop. Obama has denied that - - Hillary promised last night to continue the Obama "legacy." Sanders wants to break the system. Neither Rubio, Kasich, Christie, nor Bush have the magic touch to pull us together, and they all represent the Establishment. Carly, Ben, Rand, Rick, or Huckabee have no chance of getting the nomination. Nice, earnest folk all, but they don't have the charisma required to win the Presidency, which Mr. Obama proved is necessary in today's celebrity crazed world.

That leaves Ted. Ted is a true Conservative but is disliked by both parties. Ted has no business experience - which is sorely needed. Can he get along with Congress? Not well if his record is any indication. And they know him... know his weaknesses and without a clear Mandate could ignore him. But my biggest concern is that he is an Ideologue. We, I think, have had our fill of Ideology.

America to survive must have good dose of business. Profitable Business. With the rest of the world joining the industrial/technological age competition is tougher than ever. Trump can deal with business. And business is the only route to prosperity. Prosperity is the only solution to the looming abyss of debt and insolvency: Twenty one trillion dollars(!) of government debt, perhaps Seventy trillion of unfunded total debt. The interest on these debts can only be paid with profits afforded by prosperity; or by inflation, insolvency and bankruptcy. 

Bringing it down to Trump this is the way I see it: 

1. He ain't in it for the money; he's got plenty, more than he knows what to do with
2. He has no commitment to any party nor to any lobby
3. His power will vanish if his base - the public - turns against him. Remember that he has no number 2 as ultimate support; only "the people."
4. His swagger, his self confidence, his "John Wayne" is powerful. I see him as the American I grew-up admiring.
5. He is very smart, very accomplished, very generous, and has a beautiful family... they are all winners! These things mean something to me.He's not perfect. None are.
5. Lastly, He is not an Ideologue; he does not scare me as did (and still does) Mr. Obama and Hillary and Sanders.

This last is important as he won't be shoving his "wouldn't it be wonderful if just..." ideas, as have been fostered upon us by the Establishment, down our throats. Like Ronald Reagan was, he is the throw-back now needed; the throw-back to the American that we loved on the big screen of AMERICA the GREAT. He is our last ratchet-latch. 

Trump: A Happy Warrior.

Cheers, Mel