Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sponsored Truths & Manufactured Consent


Is it that simple?  Is the world a stage for elite family & other concerns?  Does the concept of the divine right of royalty linger on as extended colonialism?

Many anthropologists will tell you there is class/clan competition WITHIN any culture.  If family groups and small tribes assemble into larger tribes, the existing groupings typically compete for process "space" in the growing aggregate (the corporate history of corporate GM is actually a classic example, as is royal court subterfuge).  The sub-groups compete essentially by jockeying to underfund & over-tax competing sub-groups.

Now we have another "sponsored" truth.

The Rise of China
"The Chinese economy is still growing far faster than the United States. These American companies are hoping to seize that opportunity to boost their bottom lines."

"Their" bottom lines?  What about the net, compound growth of the USA?   Does this imply that elite families & corporations here as well as worldwide would rather see the bulk of their own citizenry underfunded & over-taxed, in order to maintain their ill-gotten financial leverage?  For merchants, does nirvana still look like personally pilfering low-hanging fruit from distant sources while simultaneously constraining options for their own neighbors?    It was elucidated over a Billion years ago that that strategy - of cheating the aggregate - does not scale! Tom Jefferson & JM Keynes & amoebas all agree that the "merchant" knows no country except the ground he stands upon - and cannot scale up more perfect unions.

Is it possible that the way we calculate 'cost' in the lab or personal finance is not the way it's calculated in nature?   COUNT ON IT!!  This is so tiresome.  There are always even more options emerging, and failure to explore them at pace ... is death in any race between aggregates.

Does personal human wealth breed treason like no other social cause?   Shall we simply have done with it, and nominate Benedict Arnold for president?  And Quisling for VP?  Or, shall we ramp up the manufacturing of dissent?

To successfully adapt, or not to adapt.  Aye, that is still the question.  The answer, as always, seems to involve trusting but verifying that return-on-coordination is always insanely greater than solitary, uncoordinated hoarding.

4 comments:

Dr. Tom LaMar said...

They still live with middle ages expectation levels of deceipt, obfuscation and general abuse, with America just another means of maintaining their horrid status quo. BUT, with the rise of the east, esp. china, their "model" is coming apart at the seams (I hope), as the chinese lead them on, having succeeded in getting them to invest heavily there and in SA, oil futures/derivatives, etc. now fully insured by FDIC "somehow", without much notice to the tune of over $ 1 Quadrillion ??? We will be sacrificed and third world-ed, aided by "O" at the bottom socialistic end and they at the usual top end means afforded by the fed, eg. "QE", and the expanding 16th presence in our dwindling livlihoods. I fear for us all.

Tom Hickey said...

Again, "What is good for America" is not necessarily good for Americans.

And remember that the military budget, dedicated to maintaining global hegemony, is a protection service for US companies.

Anonymous said...

Ben Bernake in 2002, things the FED can do to avoid deflation or reflate the economy:

- Buy government debt
- Commit to holding rates at zero for a specified period
- Buy agency debt and mortgage backed securities
- Lower yields on private securities indirectly by making low or zero interest loans to banks with private assets as eligible collateral
- Lower long term rates by announcing an explicit ceiling on rates
- Buy domestic government debt (i.e., municipal securities)
- Buy foreign sovereign debt
- Overt efforts to devalue U.S. dollar
- Coordinate with fiscal authorities such as by buying government securities to explicitly finance additional spending or a tax cut (Bernanke’s description, not mine)
- Treasury issues debt to purchase private assets and the Fed buys an equivalent amount of government debt


So the problem is truly political or of vested interests (or they fear of people losing faith in the dollar?).

Tom Hickey said...

See Krugman today on Bernanke as borg.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/bernanke-responds/