» This entry is Part 2, cont'd from Part 1, which is posted here » Reflections on the Hitchcock Economy | The Missing Trillion-Dollar Lollipops - Part 1. Split into two parts in order to adhere to principles of web site optimization.
And now, without further commercial interruption, we present the conclusion .. of » The Missing Trillion-Dollar Lollipops.
» The Trillion-Dollar Lollipop Baby-Robbing Tag-Team
The final feeling I'm left with .. after reviewing everything I wrote .. is the thing that most OFFENDS my sense of morality.
The one that stands out in a long line of shady characters.
You see ..
It seems our government has teamed with Wall Street (comprising the Unholy Tag-Team) to devise a system that siphons a mind-blowing amount of money from our children's future and funnels it to a relatively small number of greedy adults .. who already have way more than they could ever possibly need.
I know there are an inifinite number of decisions involved in getting from point A to point B, but this siphoning of our children's future is the end result .. after all other variables cancel out. And nobody is stopping it.
People shouldnt have to set up camp all around the country before you get the message. This should've never happened in the first place. In other words, you're way behind schedule. So get busy.
I can assure you that today's youth do not give a rat's ass about your childish excuses. All that matters is the end result. And the RESULT is » ever day that passes plunges their generation deeper in debt and makes their future increasingly precarious. That's right » every day. Every minute of every day.
The Moral Macro Perspective
It's what I call the Moral-Macro perspective .. the moral results of U.S. Economic policy. On a macro level. Shouldnt need a degree in Ethics to realize it's wrong.
Pisses me off. You cant imagine. Good thing I have no lightning bolts flashing forth from my hands. Surely you can sense the depth of authenticity in my disgust.
BAD ENOUGH we screw up things for ourselves. Let's not punish OUR KIDS for our greedy mistakes.
If people feel anything like I do, then I'm not surprised they've taken to the streets. Are you?
News bulletin! This just in. Babies coast-to-coast have had their Trillion-Dollar Suckers stolen. We have recieved more than a dozen reports, nationwide. So be on the look out.
Stay tuned. An artist's composite rendering of the culprit will be posted soon as it becomes available.
Anybody with a lick of sense knows this is exactly what's happening and that it aint right. Downright indefensible. (You guys suk.)
So fix it. (While you still can.)
But how can Washington rein in the corrosive influence of Wall Street money & greed when they themselves go to Wall Street on a regular basis? (.. seeking precious gifts).
Answer » they cant.
If there's one thing you learn in JAIL .. it's that they dont take kindly to people who hurt little kids (.. cuz that's the reason underlying why many of them ended up there).
So .. why are we still moving in the exact OPPOSITE direction?
"Yes, you in the back. Stand up, please. Correct-a-mundo! Because we're having an election in November." [ And kids cant vote. ]
So it appears that our DEBT problem is tied to our politicians or the political process. You decide which is appropriate.
At the heart of this dysfunction, you'll find a dialogue that goes something like this » "You and your friends can have a lick of the kid's lolly, but only if you let me and my friends have a taste, first."
Pretty soon » no more lollies left.
Two final questions.
- If your parents went on a long vacation the entire time while you were in high school, and left you with an unbelievably huge tab to pay on the day you graduated, would it be wrong if you refused to work the rest of your life to pay their bills?
- What kind of parents would do something like that?
••• today's entry continues here below •••
» Military Spending
Speaking of things that need fixing .. I know it sounds hard to believe .. but, did you know that NOT ONLY does the United States government spend more (.. combination of taxpayer money and accumulated debt) on Military Spending than any other nation .. but they ALSO spend more than the next TWENTY-TWO countries combined? (.. country #2 thru #23)?
That's right » combined. Told ya it was hard to believe.
Now, some may argue that we spend only as much as the next SEVENTEEN-countries-combined. But they miss the point.
Hey, I'm all for $juicing the Military-Industrial complex. I'm a military-industrial man myself, a proud product of the Complex. It made me who I am. (Glowing.)
I just dont think we should pay for our shock-n-awe by stealing lollipops from babies who havent even been born yet.
Count the numbers yourself. Go ahead, break out your finest nuclear-powered calculator. Maybe I made a mistake. (Let's hope.)
Do you not get all way down to Poland (.. #23) .. before you equal the annual (every year) U.S. expediture of $687 billion? (That's $2 Trillion every 3 years.)
Somebody tell me I made a math error. (Please.)
To save time, I used only whole-billion figures to add the numbers. But I cant imagine my rough calculations are very far off.
[ And what's a few hundred mil here-n-there when we're talking about a 'budget' north of half-a-Trill. Pocket change. The word budget here somehow seems woefully inadequate to describe a sum of $687 Billion. ]
Yes, we're all for a strong military. (We're Americans, remember?) But this seems excessive .. even by our bomb-happy standards. Way excessive. Unbelievable, actually.
» Putting Our Military Budget in Perspective
If we cut our 'Defense' budget in HALF .. we would still be bigger than the next 5 nations combined (#2 thru #6, which includes the combined annual Military budgets of » China, France, UK, Russia & Japan).
Do we really need to spend so much on 'Defense'? We're not fighting the whole world, right? I mean, we're not fighting nations #2 thru 23, right?
Most of those nations are friendlies, no? So we shouldnt need to spend more than all of them combined. Right? (Not unless we want to take over the whole world.) Or am I missing something?
If we are pissing off so many people that we need a military budget this enormous .. then maybe we're doing something wrong. Maybe it's our foreign policy that needs retooling.
Maybe we shouldnt be so eager to start a new Trillion-dollar war every chance we get (.. on our kid's dime).
I know hindsight is 20-20, but 9-11 was a great opportunity for us to stop & ask
"Why are people on the other side of the planet so pissed that they're willing to sacrifice themselves just in order to hurt us?"
But instead .. well, you know what we did instead. And where has that gotten us?
And if you really think their sacrificial lashing out was because of our "freedom" .. then, I have some prime oceanfront land in Arizona for sale that you might be interested in.
Nobody believes that bullshit about them hating us because of our freedom. Doesnt even make good sense to a 1st grader.
I mean, it's no big secret. If you ASK them, they will be more than happy to TELL YOU why they're so pissed at us (.. at our government).
And it has absolutely nothing do with our freedom .. and everything to do with our bombs (.. dropping in their backyards, and raining down in the backyards of their friends). Made in USA.
You would be pissed, too, if bombs were raining down in your back yard. Heck, we get pissed when the garbage man forgets to pick up our trash for a week.
But be warned. The truth can be unpleasant. A bitter pill to swallow. Ignorance is indeed bliss (.. for a while, anyway.)
"What the fuck, George?"
[ Well, that is, if you believe the official story. Because it appears not everyone does. And for valid reasons. Reference Exhibit A and Exhibit B, for example.
How pissed would you be if you discovered that appearances had been "massaged"? I mean, there ARE many questions left unanswered. Troubling questions remain. Ones that appear difficult to answer. I would like answers. You?
Let me be bold here and get the ball rolling by asking the first question » "What the fuck, George?"
Is this not a valid question? Is there no accountability in Washington? Does power really corrupt that completely?
If there's a good answer, then, by all means, let's hear it. Because we Americans have tried ourselves to make up excuses FOR you .. and we can come to no conclusion that is not very ugly .. that is not downright sinister.
Certainly this is something no American would ever WANT to believe. Because it says very bad things .. about our nation. About our government. Things downright sinister.
And lest there be any confusion, let me clarify .. that FEW Americans (very few) feel that the COST of the war(s) .. in terms of either TREASURE or BLOOD .. was worth it. In other words .. it was a bad decision (.. something that becomes more obvious with each passing day).
Riddle me this, George » "Why are wars always started by people who never have to go fight them? .. and by people who dont have to PAY for them? And by people who avoid them at every opportunity?"
Cuz I cant help but feel that things would be different (much different) if you had to grab a rifle and go dodge bullets yourself .. or write the check from your own account.
Ugh .. I dont even wanna think about it. Too troubling. Makes me wanna go put on some Marvin Gaye and holler at God.
"Ye shall know them by their fruit." ]
It would be better if our government just leveled with us, and said, "Ya know, we want to funnel some serious cash to the military-industrial complex, so we're gonna start a war or two with countries whose asses we know we can kick. And we think this will help the economy, as well."
Bad as it seems, this would be easier to respect .. than the line of bullshit they've been feeding us.
Remember, for example, when they told us that the oil from Iraq would pay for the war, and that it would cost no more than $50 billion? They were not even close. Not even in the ballpark. Off by orders of magnitude. Clowns. Better suited for the circus.
But, if the Vatican engages in corrupt, scandalous intrigue, I guess we shouldnt be surprised when our government does the same.
» The Talking Numbers
These numbers on our annual Military Spending seem to be talking to me .. like they're trying to TELL ME something. Whatever it is, it's not "Welcome to the Community of Man."
Until you boys in Washington can figure out a way to pay for your bombs without robbing our children's future, maybe you should scale back on Military spending.
Or does the Military also have you over a barrel, like Wall Street does? (Hey, we can understand if you dont want to end up like the Kennedy's and King.)
Let's try shooting for a $goal equal in spending to the next DOZEN countries combined (.. #2 thru #13).
I know it represents a huge challenge, but our military is always up for a challenge. In the interest of our children's future, this sounds like a reasonable place to start, doesnt it?
In addition to the 5 nations already mentioned above, this Plan would also include the annual Military budgets of » Germany, Saudi Arabia, Italy, India, Brazil, South Korea & Canada. Surely, this should be sufficient.
Good thing you guys dont have to survive on China's budget, or on Russia's budget. Dont know how you boys would manage that.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower said:
"Every gun made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the HOPES OF ITS CHILDREN. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
Now I know there are people out there who want to cut the budget .. but not because they're concerned about our children's future .. but rather because they want the economy to tank ..
.. so the current administration will be ousted by dissatisfied voters .. so Obama-et-all can be replaced by folks of a more friendly spending persuation.
But to them I say,
"You already HAD your chance .. to cut spending. And you fucked it up. So stop pretending you're any better .. that you're budgetarily holier than thou, or fiscally sanctimonious.
When your daddy was spending like crazy, creating more unfunded liabilities for our kids to pay, long before the financial crisis, and at a time when we should've been paying DOWN the debt (.. instead of adding to it), you didnt say jack shit. Not one peep. So you have no credibility.
So go sit in the political corner and think about what a great opportunity you squandered."
People who make it a point to study our DEBT, and the SPENDING that causes it, claim that the problem of the future is really caused by 3 programs in particular » Medicaid, Medicare (ugh, you know how I feel about long-term medication) and Social Security.
If you add up everything else (they argue) it forms an insignificant component .. compared to those three programs. Tho I have not researched the details myself, cuz Military spending is depressing enough.
» Know Something We Dont?
In reflecting on this reflection [ .. Hey! Recursive reflection. Must mean this is important. ] ..
.. it occurs to me that .. I would like to say something to our leaders. And ask them a question.
Dear leaders. Ahem.
If you continue to spend us into oblivion, to kingdom come, into a financial black hole ..
.. it makes us feel as tho you somehow think the future will never arrive .. like there wont always be another tomorrow. Feel me?
Because if WE felt that the world was really going to end soon (.. say, on December 21st, for example) .. we would start spending like there's no tomorrow, too.
So my question is » "Do you know something we dont?"
Cuz rumor has it that's exactly what you want us to do (» start spending like there's no tomorrow).
Hopefully you can see how your spendthrift-ways with our children's-future can have an unsettling effect on us.
So if the world really IS going to end sometime soon, let us know .. so we can ALL join in the party.
Thanks for listening.
What would YOU do? If you were one of a select few who knew that our way-of-life was about to come to a screeching halt? If the proverbial barbarians were at the gate and it was only a matter of time? What would be the ethical thing to do there? In that situation?
Would you tell everybody? And risk mass social chaos?
I will close today with a quote by Goethe [ pronounced » GUR-tuh ] .. one that I never really liked very much:
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
Reckon Johann Wolfgang knows what he's talking about? What did he see that made him say such a thing?
The Wrap
At the beginning of today's entry, I mentioned how my REFLECTION on the Hitchcock-Economy entry brought to mind my Navy nuclear days. So here's the wrap. (We've come full circle.)
The idea I'm left with is ..
.. if our Political Economy were run more like a Military Nuclear Reactor (MNR), and less like a Free Money Tree (FMT) for a select, crafty, corrupt, politically-connected few to take advantage of .. then I think/feel it would operate more efficiently .. for the rest of us.
One thing has become clear » the system is operating as designed. And THAT's the problem.
You guys up for a design modification? Or do you need some help? (Cuz we got lotsa that.)
I already did a lot of the work for you. You should be able to sketch out a rough outline of a workable blueprint over a few beers. (I like Dos Equis, myself.)
Here's to an honest-to-God, no-shit Meritocracy .. and doing away with your odorously corrupt, Crony Capitalism.
Here's to the Rad plan. It's nuclear grade. =)
This is the end of Part 2. (The end of the end.) ■
Part 1 is posted here » Reflections on the Hitchcock Economy | The Missing Trillion-Dollar Lollipops - Part 1
The original entry, upon which this reflection is based, is posted here » Using Hitchcock's Notorious KEY Shot to Focus on Political Palms - Part 1
UPDATE - May 15, 2012 .. I posted an update to today's entry .. see here » Geeks vs the Government | Game On
