We are at war at all times. We are always in an adversarial position with ourselves, our accounts, our emotions and our wants and needs. This does not account for all of the rest, our relationship with others, the state, the country and the world.
Since we cannot deal with all the incoming, we allow ourselves to be governed by people who pretend to have our best interest at heart and while I do not doubt their desire, the world is a big place and some things have to take second or third place in order for the ship of state to stay afloat.
Unfortunately, each individual number, small in a huge swarth of numbers, is constantly being moved around or cut from the whole to be pushed to the side. Should any of us be part of the marginalized, we look to become important by finding others in the same position.
Without the ability to understand the “why” to their problems, the marginalized, mostly lacking the mental acuity to pursue answers, rely on the only thing they know – emotions. This group all have the vote and it is this that allows for others to rush to their defense promising to alleviate their conditions.
For the lower socio-economic group, their overall economic condition does not change as does specific costs. For those who do not own a car, gas prices pale in comparison with those of healthcare, groceries, rent.
If we are to be true to our capitalistic roots, we should not allow the government to put its finger on the economic scales or we will get more of what we now face, another huge boost in the national debt.
With the present budget showing a $2.5 Trillion deficit, the costs will continue to get ahead of any idea of “cutting expenses.” The velocity of money and the momentum at which that velocity continues, makes any thought of eliminating the debt, something few, including the experts, believe will occur.
No one asked the “public” for its consent to be ruled by algorithms, but since we are all a product of our numbers, like it or not, we will need to know how our numbers work, before we can understand where we are and where we are being pushed. We cannot eliminate all government largesse or we would come to a complete halt in all we do.
We allowed the government to bend the economic rules and in so doing, forced private industry to become involved with the government at every level. All our political decisions are now part of “corporate capture,” one where the legislators are induced by campaign cash to cater to the whims of industry.
Our dealing with our adversaries, those with whom we compete, as if in a war, the idea of a total win seems the only method wanted. China assumes that total control allows for all problems to be addressed as if it were a nail and the government the hammer. Mr. Xi is now head of a country that is not growing and has entered its period of malaise, soon to be one of open defiance, with each of China’s citizens, denying the laws a little at a time. The overhead costs to control China continues to rise. The government has become more surreptitious, not less.
Those living on the margins in China, an unknown number, are not happy. With nothing to induce them to be happy, they act like a universal virus, speaking to their denial, rather than their success. China is forced to interfere with our elections as it is the only way they can influence others. They have run out of ways to make China “all things under heaven.”
Other nations, both close in proximity with China and those relatively distant; those doing business with China, get to see up-close the emotional stability that is the essence of a nation’s ability and they do not like what they see.
Americans, always failing to cure their perceived economic ills, look for immediacy and not long term plans. The idea that costs are directly related to the value of the dollar is lost on the “American Psyche.”
“We do not want an educated American public or we might get a group demanding answers,” or worse a group deciding to come up with a new policy, one where we go to Hell in a hurry.
We deny the obvious to adjudicate our emotions and our “needs.”
”Why can’t we just … because.”
By Dr. Richard Pitz