tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post8765808908350846529..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: When the People Rebel Against the ElitesStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-15702374588792363372017-02-06T15:44:54.191-08:002017-02-06T15:44:54.191-08:00While we're on the topic of O'Rourke's...While we're on the topic of O'Rourke's "We're tired of the experts..."<br /><br />Let's include wunderkind Nate Silver, who at some point in last night's 2nd half took to his keyboard and proclaimed that the Patriots had a less than 0.5% chance of winning. <br /><br />Yeah, just like Trump in November. <br /><br />Stuff it, Nate.Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-42870001307188219192017-02-06T15:42:59.436-08:002017-02-06T15:42:59.436-08:00"We're sick of the elites. We're tire..."We're sick of the elites. We're tired of the experts. To hell with the deep thinkers who think they know what we should have better than we do and who—while they're at it—are grabbing everything we've got."<br /><br />Yea, including football and the Super Bowl. The NFL made it clear last night that they have no clue who their target audience is. Roger Goodell was loudly booed. Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-20544486327511241342017-02-06T15:40:11.139-08:002017-02-06T15:40:11.139-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-13282765689529640362017-02-06T07:39:43.306-08:002017-02-06T07:39:43.306-08:00Trigger Warning said... My grandparents enjoyed a ...Trigger Warning said... My grandparents enjoyed a fruitful, debt-free retirement based entirely on financial prudence and risk-free US Savings Bonds earning roughly 4%. Bernanke and his successor have made sure that such financial freedom will never again be realizable to the formerly middle class retiree in America.<br /><br />My grandparents did well also, farming through the 1930s without debt, but also did well selling their farm for a good profit on land appreciation. I don't know what investments they had.<br /><br />Myself, I can also disapprove of Greenspan and Bernanke's bubble economics, but its hard for me to judge what the alternatives were. It looks to me that financialization of the economy has been a slow and steady thing, where we replace real growth with growth of debt, and globalization allowed this game to continue much longer than anyone would have guessed. So since it has worked 40 years, we have to believe it'll keep working for another 40, while I'm seeing 10 years as extremely unlikely.<br /><br />If you get used to 7% illusionary growth under fiat money debt bubbles, then you should accept that a more "normal" 2% real growth means everything may be overvalued by over 100% now, and we have to pass through a period where most investments lose money. So getting 0% returns (cash) under 2% inflation might be best ordinary people should hope for these days, and if you shoot for anything higher, you're basically rewarding the speculators and you can lose everything.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-51862759122339372902017-02-06T05:44:09.535-08:002017-02-06T05:44:09.535-08:00Having lived and traveled extensively in the Phili...Having lived and traveled extensively in the Philippines crime has always been a large problem. I've spent time on Luzon, Mactan, Cebu, Mindanao, Panay, and places like Asinggan Pangasinan(Sp) and others so far out in the jungle that they had not seen Americans since WW II. Even though I paid a Pilippino guard service we were robbed close enough to our return back to the US that there was not to much I could do about it. Actually I felt safer in many places in SEA than I did being assigned to a military base north of San Francisco.<br />One the whole the Philippinos are great people and some of the best musicians in Asia, but I would suggest that they still suffer from the 400. The 400 riches families who controlled almost everything and probably still do. I don't think that it has changed since Marcos took the same similar actions. In that Jim Sweeney is correct. The Philippine Constabulary was always tough on those who got in their way.<br />A aside here, We flew into Panay on a C130 because it was one of the few who could land or takeoff there. The pilot said as we landed "Wait until you see your reception!" As the back made its way down we were expose to a crowd of 10 to 20 thousand Moro warrior with shields, spears and battle cries. They put on an hour show for us. We were working with the Peace Corps at the time. It was a good time talking and dealing with them. Good people.Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-48395162991550116462017-02-05T08:03:36.793-08:002017-02-05T08:03:36.793-08:00Davao is not plagued with crime. It is an extremel...Davao is not plagued with crime. It is an extremely safe city on the most dangerous of the three main islands of the Philippines. It was crime-plagued before Duterte took over but he cleaned it up in his own style.Jim Sweeneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-55289168121209449022017-02-05T07:30:37.780-08:002017-02-05T07:30:37.780-08:00My grandparents enjoyed a fruitful, debt-free reti...My grandparents enjoyed a fruitful, debt-free retirement based entirely on financial prudence and risk-free US Savings Bonds earning roughly 4%. Bernanke and his successor have made sure that such financial freedom will never again be realizable to the formerly middle class retiree in America.Trigger Warningnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-62569555536230897202017-02-05T07:22:24.736-08:002017-02-05T07:22:24.736-08:00The intellectual "guardians", the folks ...The intellectual "guardians", the folks with sinecures at the elite universities and aeries of government that Sowell recognized as The Anointed, are the same people that: fund research fostering negative population growth, and fund research to extend life and even discover the Grail of Immortality.<br /><br />Naturally, to achieve both goals simultaneously, many will need to go (e.g., Al Gore's Davos comments on African "fertility management") and a select few will anointed with life extension.<br /><br />And, BTW, it's not a matter of "save[ing] you from your worst instincts". Since we are all Noble Savages corrupted by flawed institutions, it's simply a matter of tweaking the "nudges" and humankind will be redeemed in a materialist Paradise. X-ray carrots are only the beginning...<br /><br />https://www.google.com/amp/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_57add63ce4b069e7e504c384/ampTrigger Warningnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-72632130639661326322017-02-05T06:59:50.103-08:002017-02-05T06:59:50.103-08:00"The Federal Reserve in particular has alread..."The Federal Reserve in particular has already launched the final phase by beginning a series of rate hikes which will remove the safety net of free and cheap overnight loans to companies, thereby sabotaging equities markets."<br /><br />This is just silly. Maintaining rates at a low level which drives stock prices unrealistically high does not create wealth, it merely pulls returns forward in time at the expense of lowering future returns. Extremely low rates also create problems for retired individuals who are not sophisticated investors and for pension funds and insurance companies who *are* sophisticated investors but have near-term obligations that need to be funded.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-3538339000455717262017-02-05T06:48:37.650-08:002017-02-05T06:48:37.650-08:00All narratives are obviously incomplete, and "...All narratives are obviously incomplete, and "The People" and "The Elite" are both abstractions, not united positions, rather both divided coalitions.<br /><br />The Left, like under Bernie Sanders, in their protests love the chant "The people United will never be defeated" and they also imagine a controlling Elite, while not bothering to talk to "The People" on the Right who see completely different things to complain about.<br /><br />And Ross Douthat addresses this problem in his article yesterday.<br />https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/04/opinion/who-are-we.html<br />---<br />“That’s not who we are.” So said President Obama, again and again throughout his administration, ... urging their fellow Americans to reject the exclusionary policies and America-first posturing of President Donald Trump.<br /><br />The problem with this rhetorical line is that it implicitly undercuts itself. If close to half of America voted for Republicans in the Obama years and support Trump today...<br /><br />In seeking to reject Trump’s chauvinist vision, they end up excluding too much of what a unifying counternarrative would require.<br />---<br /><br />Right now the urban-rural gap is standing large, with the Republicans holding the rural and affluent suburban vote, and the Democrats holding the urban centers. And strangely the middle class Democrats have been forced into the position of defending the bankers and billionaires because they to need the income taxes flowing to keep all their social programs running.<br /><br />I like to go back to Wendell Berry at times. He looked at the decline of rural communities as family farms were replaced by agribusiness and ever larger fields, all competing in a global economy where mechanization is America's advantage.<br /><br />So Berry's advice has long been how to restore local economies and stop the race to the bottom that will leave us without jobs or community. Cheap stuff, and community might be contradictory, and Trump's protectionism seems to recognize that.<br /><br />---<br />If we think this task of rebuilding local economics as one large task that must be done in a hurry, then we will again be overwhelmed and will want government to do it. If, on the other hand, we define the task as beginning the reformation of our private or household economies, then the way is plain. <br /><br />What we must do is use well the considerable power we have as consumers: the power of choice. We can choose to buy or not to buy, and we can choose what to buy. The standard by which we choose must be the health of the community - and by that we must mean the whole community: ourselves, the place where we live, and all the humans and other creatures who live there with us. <br /><br />In a healthy community, people will be richer in their neighbors, in neighborhood, in the health and pleasure of neighborhood, than in their bank accounts. It is better, therefore, even if the cost is greater, to buy from a small, privately owned local store than from a chain store. It is better to buy a good product than a bad one. Do not buy anything you don't need. Do as much as you can for yourself. If you cannot do something for yourself, see if you have a neighbor who can do it for you. <br /><br />Do everything you can to see that your money stays as long as possible in the local community. If you have money to invest, try to invest it locally, both to help the local economy and to keep from helping the larger economy that is destroying local communities. Begin to ask yourself how your money could be put at minimal interest into the hands of a young person who wants to start a farm, a store, a shop, or a small business that the community needs. <br /><br />The agenda can be followed by individuals and single families. If it is followed by people in groups - churches, conservation organizations, neighborhood associations, groups of small farmers, and the like - the possibilities multiply and the effects will be larger. <br />----Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.com