Most of you are familiar with the fairy tale about the goose that laid a golden egg.

It did so on a regular basis and brought a steady flow of wealth to its owner until it was disemboweled to get to the source. It died and produced no more golden eggs.

When the new Soviet government came into power in Russia and was struggling for its existence in the early 1920’s it turned to its arch philosophical enemy, Capitalism, for survival.

The new government, against all the principles of Communism, understood that without trade from the Western countries, the so called Capitalist Imperialists, and without investment from within, its own capitalists, it was doomed to collapse.

In short, Capitalism saved Soviet Communism from failure.

Fifty years ago George F. Kennan, who had been an ambassador to the Soviet Union, wrote a book, “Russia and the West Under Lenin and Stalin” in which he said:

“The Western governments came to hate the Soviet leaders for what they did. The Communists, on the other hand, hated the Western governments for what they were regardless of what they did.”

The Chinese Communists under Mao Tse-tung professed the same goals, that is the complete destruction of Capitalism within their country.

With the publication of Mao’s “Little Red Book” in 1966, “The Quotations”, we saw the reduction of a powerful and huge country to that of a life-style that existed in Medieval Europe.

China eventually learned that it required Capitalism to support its productive output. Today the US is deeply in debt because of the lesson that China had learned, that is, Communism does not work and without Capitalists to invest the profit that they have accumulated, China would become a country of peasants living only off the land.

Most people in the US and the rest of the world don’t seem to understand that without Capitalism, that is the reward for the effort of production and reward for the risk of investment of the surplus of production, an economic system will eventually wind down and collapse.

Nothing can long survive without nourishment—whether it is a plant, an animal or an economic system. We are presently seeing the effects at this time in the US of banks being overly cautious in their policies of loaning money to potential home and real estate investors or business ventures. Our economy is dying.

The absolute goal as stated by the true Communists is the total destruction of the Capitalist system.

Although the words “Capitalism” and “Imperialism” are used interchangeably by many people they are not the same thing. US Imperialism has not existed for a long time but the word is still used to attack the only economic system that can expect to be viable.

There are many in the US and most of the other countries of the world who want to see the Capitalist system replaced by Socialism and Communism.

That, in my opinion, is disemboweling the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs.

Copyright: John W. Malenda June 2010

In a democratic society, in which actions are taken based on decisions made not by individuals but by consensus, compromises are made until acceptable conclusions leading to action are accepted.

This seems obvious and should require no elaborate explanation of how democracy works.

However, the conclusions that are reached never satisfy all the parties involved; there is always some discontent. Each of the individuals involved wants his stamp of creativity on the final document but this can never be.

As a result, government by coalition can never achieve the goals of all of those involved.

Decision by consensus on an international scale becomes even more complex and creates discontent on even a larger scale; not personal recognition but protection or advancement of sovereign interests.

Every country involved in the decision making and goals in international agreement wants something as a result of the decision for a course of action.

That “something” had been in the past territorial gain, trade advantages with respect to manufactured goods or raw materials or direct financial gain through loans, either at low interest rates or hopefully, for the recipient, ”debt forgiveness”.

Unfortunately for the United States it had always been the most productive and hence the wealthiest country on the planet and all other countries looked to it as a source to provide those things that they did not possess.

This is no longer the case. The American debt has become unmanageable but the rest of the world either does not understand that or does not accept that as the truth.

This is because of the perception of public opinion both within the United States and abroad. The people of the world do not understand that the United States is no longer the “owner of the means of production”; the broad definition of which is Capitalism.

As long as propagandists within our country keep advancing this myth it will become more and more difficult to deal realistically with problems within our country and our relationships with the rest of the world.

We are no longer the “source of plenty” for the world or our own citizens.

Copyright: John W. Malenda June 2010

HURRICANES AND SUCH

I started this BLOG in November 2007 and it has been my intention to terminate it after two years. It’s not because I am bored with it or that I do not have sufficient material to continue it.

Life is full of choices and there are many priorities that clamor for attention:

E-mails have to be read and answered, jokes need to be forwarded, the garbage must go out, wood for the fireplace must be brought in, snow must be shoveled and toilet paper rolls must be replaced when empty.

People say, “I wonder where the time went.”

That’s the answer. It was chewed up by trivia.

Anyway, the reason for this post is the goading by a very interesting and well-researched book that my granddaughter gave me recently, “Hot, Flat and Crowded” by Thomas L. Friedman. It is loaded with good information and a “must read” by Liberals and Conservatives alike.

I do take exception, however, that the author implies that all the ills of the modern world are the result of the policies of the United States in many areas.

First, a digression. I wrote and published  a novel in 1994, DESTINATIONS, which has been out of print for years.

I am seriously planning to have it reprinted soon. I have had to make no changes to the original after all these years because I feel it is more current today than when I wrote it.

In the story, I have a character ask the following:

“Who’s telling you what and why?”

This is something that everyone should ask themselves when they are presented with an argument that they are somewhat wary of.

Back to Friedman’s book. On page 147 I read something that made me take notice and I quote now:

“Many climatologists believe that Katrina’s unusual ferocity was fed by the warmer waters in the Gulf on Mexico, which, they believe, are partly attributable to global warming.”

Friedman stated that after World War II the United States increased its industrial output and as a result generated much more CO2, the major cause of Global Warming. This production increase, he claims, accelerated after the fall of The Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.

Being the scientific skeptic that I am, I said to myself, “Wait a minute, what about other hurricanes before WWII?”

During the 1930’s the United States was in a deep depression and industrial production along with CO2 emissions would have been way down.

This led me to look at hurricanes of epic proportion.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, was a Category 5 hurricane. The Hurricane of 1938 was also a Category 5 hurricane. These occurred before there had been significant  CO2 generation. Hurricane Camille in 1969 was a Category 5 hurricane. Hurricane Gilbert of 1988 was a Category 5 hurricane. Hurricane Andrew of 1992 was a Category 5 hurricane.

Katrina, however, came ashore as a Category 3 hurricane.

It was not a “ferocious hurricane”. The damage that it caused was not by high winds but by a poorly maintained levee system and people living below water level.

Significant rain along the Mississippi River basin could have created the same result without its being a hurricane.

What I am getting at is that the Hurricane of 1938 devastated New England without having traveled across warm Gulf water caused by the United States industrial CO2 pollution.

Now, my point is this. There is no question that the climate is changing. It does so on a daily basis. I have been keeping daily weather records for over 40 years because that is my nature; to observe and hopefully predict. As I stated in my first BLOG article, I am a scientist.

 The geological records of the planet shows the extremes of ocean levels that have occurred over time. These levels are a function of global warming and cooling. There is no argument there but the Earth’s temperature ranges are neither predictable as a function of time nor consistent in amplitude.

I live along the Connecticut coast. The railroad line from New York to Boston runs along this coast and a series of bridges had been built across the estuaries in Stonington, Connecticut that flow into Fisher’s Island Sound then into the Atlantic Ocean.

The clearance under these bridges leave barely enough room for small boats to pass under yet this clearance has been approximately the same during the past 100 years.

What does this mean? The oceans have neither risen nor fallen enough to cause a change in the clearance between the water level and the bottom of the bridge.

This is a “yardstick” cast in stone.

If this is true, then the ocean heights have not changed at Stonington, Connecticut, Samoa, Sri Lanka or Sicily.

People can say, “The beach used to be way down there but now the waves are lapping at my foundation. That proves that the ocean levels have risen.”

Wrong, that shows the effects of erosion at work.

In 1952, on the northwest shore of Oahu, Hawaii I have photos that show about 50 yards of beautiful sandy beach. When I returned in 1953, the beach was only about 20 yards wide with about a six foot drop to the water of hard black lava.

At the time, I asked one of the “locals” about it.

He said, “The sand comes and goes. It will come back.”

In 1954, the wide sandy beach was back.

He understood.

Fishermen who leave Chatham, Massachusetts on Cape Cod in the morning often must return in a different channel because the sand bars shift daily.

Let’s not confuse beach erosion with ocean heights. 

Before we become “Chicken Little” and scream that the sky is falling down, let’s get some solid data that does not favor some scientist’s job, does not support a political party’s agenda and does not allow someone to make a fortune at taxpayer’s expense.

Keep an open mind and a clear head and ask:

“Who’s measuring temperature and where?”

“Who’s measuring ocean heights and how?”

And finally, “Who’s telling you what and why?”

DICTATORSHIP

There are two steps necessary for an impending dictatorship

The first is to silence opposing views. Today it can be achieved by controlling the media: television, radio and the Internet.

Any system through which those with opposing views can gauge the extent of dissention in society must be eliminated.

Revolutions are not undertaken by a single person and unless the strength of the opposition can be evaluated with respect to the strength of the government no action is taken.

The second is to disarm the people to prevent forceful opposition.

The method employed throughout the world has been the registration of weapons

. This provides the government with not only the number and types of weapons but a list of where they are located.

Enforcement of this is through very severe penalties if unregistered weapons are used or otherwise found.

After registration, there are several means of control.

The most dramatic and the least likely to be tolerated in a free society is confiscation.

A more subtle and gradual process is ownership permit fees and taxes.

These can be raised to such levels that people voluntarily give up their weapons.

            Finally there is the elimination of manufacture and the distribution of ammunition.

            I may be wrong but it appears that we are presently on that course.

             I have sent this out as an E-mail to many of my friends and quite a few disagree with me.

Thankfully we live in a free country where I can express my opinions

   I receive many e-mails asking why I don’t post articles to this log more often.

The reason is that like most people I find that the trivia that one encounters in everyday living consumes time that could be better spent in creative pursuits

   I write when I encounter either ignorance or stupidity so overwhelming that I have no choice.

   Ignorance can be excused but stupidity is something else entirely.

   People who have not been exposed to fact, for whatever reason, can be excused but when facts are available and well-circulated then those who, again for whatever reason, chose not to accept those facts are truly stupid.

   Stupidity has no place in civilized countries. The people therein have had access to schools, libraries and recently to TV and the Internet.

    There are countless documentaries on TV with well-developed time-lines of the evolution of the surface, forests and landscape of our planet. The rise and fall of ocean levels and the formation and melting of glaciers has been a continuous process.

   Core samples taken from ponds indicate, from very durable pollen samples, the plants that grew in the areas and the temperatures and moisture necessary for those plants to exist.

  The planet Earth has warmed and cooled for eons before there were people, power plants and automobiles.

  Even a fifth grade level geology book would enlighten people to this fact so why are so many people resistant to truth?

   What is it going to take to convince those people who make decisions that can wreck the economies of the entire planet to change conditions that are unchangeable?

   Is it politics alone that so blinds people or is it a more sinister hidden agenda that is determined to revert us back to living in caves and eating roots and berries.

  There are no more new caves and many many more people today so expect violent competition for survival.

In this very long article I hope to discuss the dangerous cliff on which we presently stand.

I have lightly discussed revolution in a couple of former articles but this is an in-depth look at what can precipitate one.

The French Revolution of 1789 overthrew an absolute monarchy and ended a system of feudalism for the aristocracy and the Catholic Church.

The precipitating cause was a famine. This was most likely caused by crop failures caused by the eruption of the volcano Laki in Iceland in 1783-1784 whose sulfur fumes and dust clouded the northern hemisphere. It is estimated that 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride and 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide filled the atmosphere.

Temperatures plummeted to such an extent that the Mississippi froze at New Orleans and there was ice in the Gulf of Mexico. This caused enough famine and hardship in France to make the people desperate.

When the system that is looked to for stability and the well-being of the masses falters, for whatever reason, conditions are ripe for revolution.

It can be an actual cataclysm or the perception of one that triggers a revolution.

After the overthrow of the French Monarchy a period of relative stability existed during which time the Industrial Revolution began to occur.

Machines were invented which could produce much more than men could individually.

. 

Between 1834 and 1846 France’s economy mushroomed as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

However, the means of production was in the hands of a few who could afford to buy the machines by accumulating enough money to buy them.

The machines displaced hand labor and caused a migration of people from farms to the cities which possessed the power to operate the machines—steam and water-power.

This led to a rise of capitalism and the middle class which ultimately created a class struggle. It became a struggle between the owners and managers of the means of production and the laborers.

About that time two people developed a philosophy that attempted to deal with this problem.

 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles produced The Communist Manifesto in which they used the term ‘Proletariat’ to define the working class. These are the people in a Capitalist society who do not own the means of production but sell their labor for a wage.

The ‘Bourgeoisie’ were defined as the managers of the means of production.

Where there is a reasonable amount of freedom in a system of government, there will always be a conflict between these two groups. The laborer wants to receive the most financial advantage for each hour of his work while the manager wants to maximize his profit.

This is not the case in either a Monarchy or a Dictatorship. What you get is what you get. A person is essentially a slave in either of these systems.

How much material wealth is spread among the masses is a function of the generosity of the leader.

Unfortunately both the Monarch and the Dictator generally have other aspirations—grandeur or conquest—which permits no surplus for the masses to enjoy.

Socialism’s goal is to spread the surplus capital, the difference between what the actual generators of that production, the ‘proletariat’, have generated minus the cost of that production.

Of course, what history has shown is that this system kills incentive for investment because the would-be venture capitalist is not willing to expend the effort if there is no possibility to accumulate some of the surplus capital.

There is no point being the owner of the means of production if it is a ‘break-even’ venture. If a person’s expenses exactly balance his potential income there is no point in working harder.

The common laborer is also not likely to attempt to better himself and advance into the ranks of the owners of production when he realizes that he would be no better off to assume more responsibility and work harder.

This is the flaw in the concepts of Socialism and Communism.

The dream of Utopia is just that, a dream. The fathers of modern day Socialism/Communism , Marx and Engles, never addressed how this perfect state would come about. They produced The Communist Manifesto at about the same time as the French Revolution of 1847.They, like most idealists, would have enjoyed living in a system in which one could enjoy prosperity and leisure without trading the hours of their lives to achieve it.

Marx’s definition of Capitalism is a system based on the exploitation of the Proletariat by the Bourgeoisie.

The French Revolution of 1847 was precipitated by conditions not unlike those presently existing in the United States.

The Industrial Revolution showed people that if they could acquire the ‘means of production’ they could become wealthy. Machines could out-produce people but it required money to buy these new machines.

Those with aspirations could achieve that by borrowing money. This caused competition for money which raised interest rates and increased speculation.

The Russian people, through the actions of Lenin and Trotsky, became, for the most part, almost unwilling participants in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

The Crash of 1929 and the following Depression created a pattern of similar thinking in the United States. The election of a Liberal President who fathered The New Deal, Social Security and permitted a fertile climate for the labor unions probably averted a revolution in the US as its citizens looked toward the apparent success of the Soviet’s first Five Year Plan.

We Americans are facing a series of hardships with the loss of enormous wealth in auto manufacturing, investments, home and business values that we may be on the verge of acceptance of either a total socialistic system or a revolution.

Socialism stifles investment and creativity; revolution creates chaos.

Utopia is an impossibility and Marx and Engles realized it.

It is unfortunate that the followers of their philosophy do not understand this and are willing to create a revolution to lose everything in the hope of achieving that which is impossible. Revolution has only led to a long period of misery.

Today we are seeing the possibility of a revolution in Iran.

Could a revolution there create a ‘fall-out’, as the volcano Laki did to France,

that would affect the United States?

   For as long as I can remember I have heard people say “Don’t discuss politics or religion”.That makes sense because both are subjective issues and people usually adhere to religion as a ‘faith-based system of salvation’. Faith is the sticking point.

People do not change unless given a reason and since the principles of a religion do not change significantly people continue to believe in their deities. Theists, of just about any religion, use the argument “it could not have been otherwise”.

People usually stay with the religion of their parents until an event in their lives causes them to question why they are of a particular faith. People do not simply change from one religion to another. They must first drop their original beliefs because of disagreement with their church leaders, a change in church policy or they dislike someone in the congregation so much that they are uncomfortable being there.

Politics, on the other hand is also subjective but the results of politicians are generally visible. The process may not be transparent but the results of the politicians actions are.

I have tried to avoid these two topics in my articles when I started writing them a year and a half ago but I wish to remind people of what happens when you ‘owe’ something to someone.

If someone loans you money they expect it to be repaid.

I believe people borrow money for two primary reasons.

The usual reason is that they need to borrow because they have mismanaged their affairs and are in debt.

The second is that they want the money to invest in a new home, car or business.

In the former case it is expected that the borrower will modify his or her habits so that they can avoid actions which caused their original financial problem.

The individual who loaned the money expects that assurance and so monitors  the debtor’s behavior, and if necessary, attempts to control it.

In politics no one is elected who is an unknown therefore to advertise a candidate’s attributes requires money. We have seen recently that even elected positions that are of minor significance require ever increasing amounts of money.

This money comes from campaign contributions so the politician who receives it owes something to the contributor. The larger the contribution, the greater the debt.

Whoever loans you money essentially controls you. If it’s an individual or bank they need to know that the course that you are pursuing will guarantee that they will get their money back.

If you expect a handout from the government then you owe the government and they receive their payment through taxes. If you owe the government, it can tell you how you must live your life and how much of your money that they will take to make that happen.

We are caught up in a huge game.
The people at the top make–and keep– the most money in a Socialistic system.
That seems to be the game plan, a Socialistic ‘One World’ system of currency and governmental control by a few people. Perhaps it will be those few who have the greatest influence on the United Nations organization.

Every time the Democrats get elected, they push us a little closer toward Socialism.
When the Conservatives get back in, it’s like a ‘ratchet’–it never goes back. They never undo what the Liberals have done.

This is not to excuse all Republicans either. They want to get as many votes as possible so they must satisfy the desires of the masses with hand-outs which also is a step toward Socialism.

In short, no matter who gets elected in this country, Democrat or Republican, you can expect Socialism in the end. It is only a matter of who gets us there the fastest.

The government will decide what the individual is entitled to and control that through taxes and the redistribution of wealth.

That is, except for the privileged few at the top.

CORD                  1929-1937

CROSLEY           1939-1952

DUESENBERG   1913-1926

ESSEX                  1919-1932

HUDSON             1910-1957

KAISER               1945-1956

NASH                   1916-1957

PACKARD           1899-1958

STUDEBAKER   1902-1966

When these fine American cars could no longer compete in the market, they simply went out of business.

Where was their  Uncle Sam when they needed him? No one bailed them out

When the horse and buggy could no longer compete with the automobile, the buggy manufacturers closed their doors also.

The United States did not collapse.

If a company is unable to produce any product competitively then it should fail.

Subsidizing failure seems to be a trend in the US today but it creates the expectation of continuity in enterprises that make incompetent decisions.

During this period of religious significance to both Christians and Jews, a mental  ‘almost overload’ has “….come upon me”–while I was raking last fall’s leaves.

Not being a theologian the following is the best that I could do.

Christians celebrate Easter as the rebirth of the Savior—someone who would cleanse them of sin and perpetuate their survival in Heaven.

Pagans celebrated this period as the resurrection of crops and fruit trees–those things necessary for their survival.

The Jews celebrate it for another reason—that they were ‘passed over’ and so survived to today.

It appears to me that ‘survival’ is a major component of this holiday season.

People want to hope for better times. They need a belief that things will get better as the pagans knew would happen in the spring. Or is it simply that people have faith that things will get better?

Faith is blind acceptance of a possible outcome. There is no available data to back up faith.

This seems very appropriate for what is happening today.

The Jews had faith that a Messiah would come and make things better. When Jesus came into the picture He didn’t help them in their struggle with the Romans so he was rejected as not being the Messiah that they expected.

Today we are experiencing a similar situation. Times are tough; fear is rampant.

Obama has been compared by many to be a ‘Messianic figure’.

The fact that he was elected President might have been as a result of this perception by a large number of people. In his campaign he said that he had a plan that would solve all the problems facing our country and perhaps the world, by extension.

I wonder if Obama and Congress will “deliver us from evil” or must we wait another four years for some, as of yet, unknown Messiah?

   I then felt a slight chill and noticed that the temperature had dropped to 72 degrees. In a minute or two the air felt comfortable again.

   A few minutes later I felt the chill again and noticed that the temperature had dropped to 70 degrees. Shortly after the air felt comfortable again and it stayed that way for the remainder of the trip.

   The point of this is that we become accustomed to change. It is about “feeling” a difference initially.

   A couple of months back I felt very angry when I filled the gas tank and the charge was over $60. Now when I fill up I feel nothing different because I have gotten used to the change. The price is expected and accepted.

  The loss of freedom must have been an absolutely devastating change to the slaves who were brought from Africa to work in plantations in the ‘Colonies’ around the world.

   To the first generation born into slavery they saw no change and suffered no shock. That is the life that they had always known so they accepted it even though they were aware of better circumstances, that is, the freedom to choose their own work or travel where and when they wished.

   So it is with societies and political structures. If you are born into a Communist or Fascist society you experience no change in feeling because there was no change to affect you.

   No matter what society my great grandchildren will be raised in, they will accept it as the normal society.

   My point in writing this is that change is coming, for better or worse. It will have the maximum impact on those who have lived in the present system the longest and those who come after us will not know any differently.

   If the US is to remain a relatively free Capitalistic society, I will be happy because that is what I am used to but it appears to be sliding toward Socialism and once there, Communism or a Dictatorship becomes a possibility.

   That will be for my great grandchildren to deal with.

   It appears that even with the freedom that I have to vote I cannot change the course of events.