Getting It

Everything a lie. Everything you hear,  
everything you see. So much to spew out.  
They just keep coming, one after another.  
You're in a box. A moving box.   
They want you dead, or in their lie...  
There's only one thing a man can do --  
find something that's his,  
and make an island for himself.  
--The Thin Red Line (1998)   
_________________

It is always nice when people "get it". Two friends to RangerAgainstWar recently did so.

Juan Cole at his site, Informed Comment, posted, How the US Government Betrayed the Constitution and invented an Imaginary Fascist One. An excerpt:

". . .How corrupt our system has become is evident when even the New Yorker emphasizes that a secret Senate report found that torture in the Bush years was 'unnecessary' and 'ineffective.' Not that it was 'unconstitutional.'"

Next, Alan Cring in the Examiner.com nails the Republican's failure in the healthcare debate:

". . . What could have been a small but effective movement to shape and, in some ways, thwart the excesses of the emerging distributed authoritarian state expended its capital in an angry rage against a program that somewhat poorly addressed a real and widespread need of the citizenry for affordable health care available to everyone.

"The Tea Party failed. The Affordable Care Act will be implemented, and it will become entrenched and relatively popular, but that's beside the point: in their blind hatred of the man in the Oval Office, the Tea Party members focused their wrath on an artifact of the emerging, grim governance of the new America rather than on the fact of the governance, itself.

"Handed a battle they could not win, they charged. Their less rash allies saw the carnage and stepped away. Their foes now dance in the streets. The general populace wanders away to see what's next on TV."

Well done to both.

On Sugar Mountain

Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain

With the barkers and the colored balloons,

You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain

Though you're thinking that

You're leaving there too soon 

--Sugar Mountain, Neil Young

____________________

Below is a mathematical model by researchers Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtell which suggests that a trend toward increasing economic inequality in any economic system is likely, and maybe even an emergent property of economic systems (fr. Eric Beinhocker's The Origin of Wealth (Harvard Business Review Press, 2007).

A recent National Geographic special on lions brought the message home (more comments to follow.) Want to share any thoughts on the idea?

"Where do economies come from? ... How do the behaviors, relationships, institutions, and ideas that underpin an economy form, and how do they evolve over time? ... Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtell are researchers at the Brookings Institution, one of the leading public-policy think tanks in Washington, D.C. In 1995, they decided to conduct an experiment to see if they could grow an economy from scratch ... in the simulated world of a computer. ...

"They wanted to go back to the very beginning, to a state of nature, and have a model that included nothing more than people with a few basic abilities, and an environment with some natural resources. They wanted to find out the minimum conditions required to set off a chain reaction of economic activity. What would it take to get the system to start climbing the ladder of increasing economic order?

"To picture Epstein and Axtell's model, imagine a group of people shipwrecked on a desert island, except that both the island and the castaways are simulations inside a computer. The computer island is a perfect square with a fifty-by-fifty grid overlaid on top of it, like a giant chessboard. The virtual island has only one resource -- sugar -- and each square in the grid has different amounts of sugar piled on it. The heights of the sugar piles range from four sugar units high (the maximum) to zero (no sugar). The sugar piles are arranged such that there are two sugar mountains, one mountain at the northeast corner and one at the southwest corner, each with sugar piled three and four units high. Between the two mountains is a 'badlands' area with little or no sugar. Epstein and Axtell called their imaginary sugar island Sugarscape. ...

"Each agent [or 'person'] on Sugarscape can only do three things: look for sugar, move, and eat sugar. That's it. In order to find food, each agent has vision that enables it to look around for sugar, and then has the ability to move toward this source of energy. Each agent also has a metabolism for digesting sugar.

"Epstein and Axtell wanted to see if simple agents in a simple landscape could create something like an economy. Thus, each agent had a basic set of rules that it followed during each turn of the game. The agent looks ahead as far as its vision will allow in each of four directions on the grid: north, south, east, and west. The agent determines which unoccupied square within its field of vision has the most sugar. The agent moves to that square and eats the sugar. The agent is credited by the amount of sugar eaten and debited by the amount of sugar burned by its metabolism. If the agent eats more sugar than it burns, it will accumulate sugar in its sugar savings account (you can think of this savings as body fat) and carry this savings through to the next turn. If it eats less, it will use up its savings (depleting fat). If the amount of sugar stored in an agent's savings account drops below zero, then the agent is said to have starved to death and is removed from the game. Otherwise, the agent lives until it reaches a predetermined maximum age.

"In order to carry out these tasks, each agent has a 'genetic endowment' for its vision and metabolism. In other words, associated with each agent is a bit of computer code, a computer DNA, that describes how many squares ahead that agent can see and how much sugar it burns each round. An agent with very good vision can see sugar six squares ahead, while an agent with very poor vision can only see one square ahead. Likewise, an agent with a slow (good) metabolism needs only one unit of sugar per turn of the game to survive, versus an agent with a fast (bad) metabolism, which requires four. Vision and metabolism endowments are randomly distributed in the population; thus, the population of agents is heterogeneous (meaning that not all agents are alike). ... Each agent also has a randomly assigned maximum lifetime, after which a computer Grim Reaper comes and removes it from the game. Finally, as sugar is eaten, it grows back on the landscape like a crop, at the rate of one unit per time period. So if a sugar pile of height four is eaten, it will take four periods to grow back to its original level.

"The game begins with 250 agents randomly dropped on the Sugarscape. Some agents happen to land on the rich sugar mountains and thus are born into sugar wealth, while others have bad luck and are born in the poor areas of the badlands. ...

"At the beginning of the simulation, Sugarscape is a fairly egalitarian society and the distribution of wealth is a smooth, bell-shaped curve with only a few very rich agents, a few very poor, and a broad middle class. In addition, the distance between the richest and the poorest agents is relatively small. As time passes, however, this distribution changes dramatically. Average wealth rose as the agents convened on the two sugar mountains but the distribution of wealth became very skewed, with a few emerging superrich agents, a long tail of upper-class yuppie agents, a shrinking middle class, and then a big, growing underclass of poor agents. ...

"An agent's place of birth, like its genetic endowment, is perfectly random, so if that were the cause of an agent's ultimate economic class, the distribution would also be evenly distributed. How, then, from these random initial conditions do we get a skewed wealth distribution?

"The answer is, in essence, 'everything.' The skewed distribution is an emergent property of the system. It is a macro behavior that emerges out of the collective micro behavior of the population of agents. The combination of the shape of the physical landscape, the genetic endowments of the agents, where they were born, the rules that they follow, the dynamics of their interactions with each other and with their environment, and, above all, luck all conspire to give the emergent result of a skewed wealth distribution."

Homeboy

 --substitute any Administration here

She's a bad drunk
She's a good time girl
She has an illegitimate child
So she'll be sticking 'round town for a while
She is America 
--American Miracle, Rust Belt Music
____________________

While the people charged with interviewing our President-to-be think the woes of the Middle East, Asia and and abortion rights are the main issues of concern for Americans, this blip appears in the State section of USA Today:

The Cleveland city council reported it could take 22 years and $4.5 billion to clear all 8,500 vacated houses that need to be razed in the city. The price tag includes the cost of keeping the properties free from vandalism (The Plain Dealer).

Ohio, like so many states, suffers from a form of MPD; Dennis Kucinich would never be elected by the conservative Western farm belt, who sees its problems as differing from those of the city-dwellers.  Winning elections should be about representing and governing the entire electorate, and not just those most likely to vote for you or to vote at all.  Instead, we all know the pull of the vested interests.

Being from Cleveland, the 22-year estimate seems rosy; the house in the slums are not getting any newer, and the maintenance is not getting better.  Why does neither party espouse a Federal reclamation project to destroy these homes while salvaging recycled items of value?  Copper, bricks and aged hard wood do not grow on trees.

The United States transfers $300 billion from the public coffers to the various civilian contractors providing security alone in shit holes around the world.  Why not spend our hard-earned, newly-minted tax dollars on our own U.S rust belt shit holes?  Cleveland's plight is that of every Rust Belt city in America, an everyday slog not called "hope".

Ten steps above the existence of most rust belt denizens is the life led by most graduates of Ohio's nearby Bowling Green State University, but even their latest alumnae newsletter (Fall '12) sounded the alarm of another ecosystem in it's death throes:

Walking toward the shores of Lake Erie during the summer, it is easy to imagine visiting a sparkling tropical ocean. The turquoise water glimmers in the sun as gentle waves lap at the white beach. A capricious breeze carries the animated sounds of birds chirping among the reeds and grasses.

Upon closer approach, however, it becomes clear that all may not be as sublime as first envisioned. Lake Erie water should be a deep, dark blue — the turquoise hue is actually the result of toxic blue-green algae blooms. The white beach is the effect of invasive zebra mussel shells that litter Lake Erie shores. The aggressive flowering rush and other invaders are overtaking native reeds and grasses, home to hundreds of bird species.

Lake Erie is the 12th largest lake in the world and the most biologically productive of the five Great Lakes, which contain 20 percent of the planet’s surface freshwater and supply drinking water to more than 35 million people. ...

"Sublime" ... not a word Ranger often associates with much of Ohio, but his state is not alone in its quagmire.

Does Mr. Romney or Mr. Obama have a plan for Ohio, beyond offering its residents fallow, puerile hope or the insulting kick in the teeth that is the conservative's "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" claptrap?

No, we did not think so.

A Static Display of Impotence

--Dollar Operation, Arend van Dam

How can I bear unaided the trouble of you,
and the burden, and the bickering!
--Deuteronomy 1:12

And the Governors agree to say:
"He's a lovely man!"
He makes it easier for
Them to screw
All of you...
Yes, that's true!
--Heavenly Bank Account, Frank Zappa

There can be economy
only where there is efficiency
--Benjamin Disraeli
___________________

The recent debt ceiling debate and budget cut proposals led Ranger to think about the Principles of War and how they were violated in the last several weeks (The Nine Principles can be viewed HERE.) The Principles are the foundation for planning and executing a successful military exercise, and the rules are readily applicable to ensure the success of most undertakings.

Ticking off the list:

MASS: This fight could not place the combat power at the decisive place and time; it was an exercise in futility. The decisive battle should not be about caps and cuts but rather, how do we stem the economic assault on our defensive position? We are re-acting when we should be acting. The entire debt limit discussion was an admission of defeat.

OBJECTIVE: There was not a clearly-defined, decisive or attainable objective. Just as with the present U.S. Counterinsurgency (COIN) policy, the negotiation gave more credence to politics than to attainable objectives. The objective was not reached because it was obscured by smoke.

OFFENSIVE: Neither political party maintained or achieved the initiative.

SURPRISE: Both parties put all their assets forward, leaving them with nothing in reserve (which also affected their maneuver plan.)

ECONOMY OF FORCE: Ditto above regarding surprise. Additionally secondary efforts were ignored and never prioritized. Not discussed were balance of trade, loss of jobs, balance of dollars leaving our shores, loss of industry and weak economic white papers. Nope -- we just focused on borrowing more, slashing and burning more.

MANEUVER: Both sides were totally dug-in defending in zone with no demonstrable mobile warfare. Neither side possessed the combat power essential to overrun the opposing side. It was a static display of impotence.

UNITY OF COMMAND: One would assume the President would be the responsible commander, but this oversimplifies the situation. Obama should have stated his commander's guidance, but allowed the maneuver commanders to formulate their respective Operations orders. By placing himself on the battlefield he ignored the subordinate chain of command. In addition, his presence stiffened the opposition to an unacceptable intransigence.

SECURITY: There can be no unexpected advantages in this altercation because we had already lost our freedom of movement and would win or lose with the forces committed. This hardly describes the concept of security.

SIMPLICITY: Simplicity was violated because the principle of objective was ignored. The leaders preferred to ignore this principle to the detriment of the goals of the operation.

In a recent Time essay, "How Today's Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality," Fareed Zakaria bemoans the intransigence of today's conservatives, saying they have lost their touchstone of "reality" in exchange for reactive policies which ignore the truths on the ground. For instance, they failed to recognize that, "(t)axes — federal and state combined — as a percentage of GDP are at their lowest level since 1950":

"The U.S. is among the lowest taxed of the big industrial economies. So the case that America is grinding to a halt because of high taxation is not based on facts but is simply a theoretical assertion. The rich countries that are in the best shape right now, with strong growth and low unemployment, are ones like Germany and Denmark, neither one characterized by low taxes."

So the can has been kicked down the road; Ranger hasn't any faith that the next group of mutton-heads will apply the simple and infallible Principles to their effort.

Everyone says they love the military, yet they cannot apply some simple procedures to their policy-making processes.

[cross-posted @ milpub]

Irrational Numbers

Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify
oppression of free speech and assembly.
Men feared witches and burnt women.
It is the function of speech to free men
from the bondage of irrational fears
--Louis Brandeis

Here we go
Don't go away mad
I don't want you to stay
--Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away),
Motley Crue

When a man with .45 meets a man with a rifle,
you said, the man with a pistol's a dead man.
Let's see if that's true.
Go ahead, load up and shoot
--A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
___________________

Counterinsurgency (CI) theory is based upon unverifiable numbers implying ratios for success.

The CI crowd says a successful ratio of counter-insurgent (CI) troops to targets is between 1:20 to 1:50, depending upon population density. It's all theory, but let's play the game.

There are 100,000 swinging dicks in the Afghan National Army, 97,000 police (or paramilitaries), 38,000 NATO troops and 99,000+ U.S. mercenaries and contract types bumbling around Afghanistan. This wall of personnel faces around 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan, according to latest CIA estimates (Panetta: 50-100 al-Qaeda Remain in Afghanistan). The quality of these remnants is unknown.

It's Ranger's belief that most of the survivors are low-level types that couldn't properly cross the street at a school crossing with a school guard, let alone conduct a sophisticated attack of any kind on the U.S. Homeland. Remember: their AK-47's have a limited effective range of 460 meters.

Some will protest that we are not including the Taliban and the other suspects we lump under the rubric "insurgent". In fact, we never clearly define what constitutes an "insurgent", allowing a scatter gun approach to look like precision. However, al Qaeda is the threat to the U.S. -- the Taliban is merely their active and passive support, and all the other motley crew have their own bones to pick.

All told, the tally of all protective personnel versus al Qeada in Afghanistan is approximately 344,000:100, or 3,440 to 1, well exceeding the figures for success espoused by the COINISTA crowd. So to squelch these 100 al Qaeda personnel the U.S. is expending anywhere from $2 Billion per week to $12 Billion per month. Using the charitable figure of $8 Billion per month: That is 8 Thousand Million dollars. That is 18,400 pounds of $100 bills every month. ($1 Million = 22.3 lbs. of $100 bills.) Stop just a moment in your busy life and try to digest that fact. Breaking it down, the U.S. is paying a monthly tab of:

• $8,000,000,000 : 100, OR

• $80,000,000 : 1

That is $80 Million dollars expended upon tracking each al Qaeda member each month in Afghanistan. Now think about any other need in this nation -- all the service programs funded with niggardly sums which are constantly being shaved, yet the wars drag on without end.

Compare that to the $2,700/month earned by a 100% service compensible disabled veteran being compensated for injuries sustained while on active duty -- a long shot from $80 Million per month! Think about the 2012 U.S. Department of Veterans Administration budget of $132 Billion that is dedicated to the health and welfare of all surviving U.S. veterans from all wars. $132 Billion to cover the needs of ALL U.S. veterans, compared to ~$100 Billion per year chasing 100 ne'er-do-wells a world away. (The backlog of disability claims waiting to be processed by the Department of Veterans Affairs ballooned from 500,000 to 800,000 this year.)

As of 2009, there were 21.9 million veterans in the U.S. Using the DAV budget figure of $132 Billion, that = $6,000 per vet per year. Compare that to the $80 million spent monthly tracking down (but not necessarily finding) one al Qaeda member.

What do you think is the better use of your money?

A Fine Kessel of Fish

--American Economy, Osama Hajjaj

It's a tragedy
It's a strategy
To prey on contrast
To not indulge fact
Divide, conquer, subcontract
--Sodom, Gomorrah, Washington D.C.,
Anti-Flag

Strange days have found us
Strange days have tracked us down
They're going to destroy
Our casual joys
We shall go on playing
Or find a new town
--Strange Days, The Doors

Everybody's talking
and no one says a word
Everybody's making love
and no one really cares
--Nobody Told Me, John Lennon
________________

In World War II, the German Army fought battles called kessels, or "cauldron battles" -- not the greatest fighting position.

Kessels were characterized by a loss of movement and maneuver after decisive commitment, Stalingrad being a prime example: The troops would fight to the last round, then fix bayonets for the final, glorious, assault. We all know how that worked out -- heckuva job, Heinie!

But lo, it looks like our Executive and Legislative branches in Washington are fighting their own cauldron battle after being bypassed and surrounded by economic forces that are whipping them and us just as badly as the Russians whipped the Nazis in 1943-45.

The Battle of the Cauldron 2011 will not solve any of our problems or add to our ability to maneuver back to a position within a secure battle line. Our leaders are aiming friendly fire at divergent elements within the kessel. The enemy is romping and stomping past them in columns of hordes, yet they prefer to direct their fire inwards, a stance so contrary to soldierly behavior as to defy the imagination.

The kessel that we call the budget cap talks is as irrelevant to the daily lives of Americans as is the memory of Stalingrad. It doesn't matter if we raised the debt cap; that is collateral to the primary issue. It doesn't matter if we tax the rich to the benefit of the lower classes or vice versa. The U.S. debt ceiling does not limit debt.

The budget cap does not address that which affects our daily lives, which is the diminution of our freedoms and our economic well-being. Leaving the debt ceiling in place does not get us out of the cauldron -- it just pushes the day of reckoning down the line. The debt has risen exponentially since the George Bush administration; it will still balloon, simply at a slower pace . . . to a time past the 2012 elections, when another "cast of characters is sent back to Sodom to do the people’s business." (The Debt Deal: Disaster Averted, Decline Straight Ahead).

The issues are so immense that we ignore them while entertaining ourselves with meaningless diversions. The U.S. is like the German Army of 1943 on the Russian Front: We are about to be forced on the strategic defensive, while our leaders prefer to fight battles that cannot be won or stem the tide.

Untruth or Consequences

Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment
to an insane world
--R. D. Laing

We are here to awaken from
our illusion of separateness
--Thich Nhat Hanh

Insanity is the only sane reaction
to an insane society
--Thomas Szasz
__________________

The ability to maintain sanity in a insane world has been frequent question here at RAW. We wonder; Can we maintain sanity only by accepting insanity as our daily ration of reality?

An example of which we speak is the current brinksmanship over a few trillion dollars and the debt ceiling, as though our existence hinged upon this amount. We languish while a recent Brown University study estimates the final bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures at $3.7 to 4,4 trillion (and the fat lady is not gonna sing anytime soon.)

Buried in yesterday's Wall Street Journal was statement that NATO will continue bombing Libya because Muammer Qadaffi has no legitimacy. Did Qadaffi ever have legitimacy in this or any other arena? If then, why not know?

Page Two explains that Afghan President Karzai quickly appointed another half-brother, Shah Wali, to replace the government post vacated by his now dead half-brother Ahmed Wali (Karzai Appoints Brother in Kandahar). It seems the endless supply of Wallys will secure the Karzai's control of the Kandahar region. Now that is democracy in action; thank you, America!

So, we are bombing the hell out of Libya because its leader lacks legitimacy, while concomitantly supporting the illegitimacy of one of the most corrupt governments on the face of the earth. In one scenario we kill to oppose illegitimacy; in another, we kill to support it.

Why do Americans grind their teeth over the debt cap while having no difficulty throwing away $trillions in foreign shit holes?

Where is the sanity? After taking my meds and settling into my Ikea Poang chair, the idea hit Ranger like a ton of bricks: "What's the big deal?" It was not exactly a Thich Nanh Hanh moment, but it was clarity nonetheless. So some drug-dealing, nepotistic person is getting one over on all of us taxpaying U.S. citizens paying for a hypocritical, insane war. What do I care, except that we are back to $trillions spent and a whole lot of people fucked up in the process, which in my book is a good approximation of national insanity.

Didn't we do a similar tango here in Florida in the 2000 Presidential lotto? In our version, Governor Jeb Bush handed the presidency to his brother George W. Bush. Again, what is the big deal? A lot of sound and fury, but the result is a foregone conclusion. How can we criticize the Karzai cabal (Kabul) when the U.S. uses the same playbook?

Insanity may be a coping strategy in America today.

The Other Deficit

{NOTE: This piece was submitted by loyal reader Bob, who drives a taxi in Tallahassee. Bob is originally from Ohio and has an avid interest in economic issues}

But it's gonna take money
A whole lotta spending money
It's gonna take plenty of money
To do it right child
--Got My Mind Set on You,
Traveling Wilbury's
________________________

Who poses a military threat to the United States?

During the Cold War the US worried that the Soviet Union might take over the oil resources of the Middle East to deprive the West of them in a war, but what prospective Arab regime of any ideological stripe desires Middle Eastern oil for any reason other than to sell it?

During the Cold War our military presence in the Middle East was small. Even after the fall of the Shah in Iran, we had no significant presence on the ground until the Gulf War.

Since the removal of the Soviet threat, our Middle East presence has only grown, and it is hard to see how our policy has done anything except de-stabilize a region in which our primary interest should be political stability.

The only thing that threatens Western access to Middle Eastern oil is chaos, yet that is exactly what our policies have promoted. Our invasion of Iraq didn’t simply destroy the Iraqi government, replacing it with an uncertain regime, or foster a new generation of jihadists, it has also spawned a potential Kurdish nationalist movement that could de-stabilize both Turkey and Iran, with other negative implications for the West.

These effects are contrary to our national interests. Why has the U.S. thrown Realpolitik out the window? Why do we conduct our national affairs like an episode of the Bounty Hunter, acting like moral police going after "Bad Men" and Mad Men. It seems like something at the frontier of what Sarah Palin and the Tea Partiers might contrive, yet that is what America has become.

And what about the money financing these adventures? Few discuss the “other deficit.” We hear a great deal about the budget deficit and our serious financial problems, but the other deficit -- the foreign exchange deficit -- is rarely discussed except on the business page and never in the context of our overseas military spending. Every year, this country spends about $800 billion more overseas than it takes in. Currently, the world is awash in dollars – $12 Trillion of them outside the United States. This is almost as much as our GDP and far more than is needed by foreign governments for domestic reserves.

If this trend continues (and it has been going on for at least a decade), the rest of the world may soon say, “We don’t want any more dollars; we have enough," leading to the possibility of a dollar collapse. If foreigners don’t want dollars, how will we pay to maintain American troops overseas? We won’t. We will have to bring them home.

So how do we deal with this “other deficit?” The issue is complex, but a major contributor to this deficit is the cost of maintaining American troops in over 800 bases in 130 countries around the globe. Congressmen Ron Paul and Barney Frank have co-sponsored a proposal to withdraw most of our troops from most of these countries. Some air and naval bases would remain, but the ground troops basically would all be brought home. They estimate that their proposal would save about $100 billion a year.

That is the money saved. That would reduce the budget deficit, but the reduction in the foreign exchange deficit would be far greater. All the money our soldiers spend in Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul would be spent in the US instead. So would most of the money we spend to support them. So the Paul/Frank proposal could reduce the foreign exchange deficit by $200-300 Billion. Such a move wouldn’t completely solve the problem, but it would go a long way toward averting a dollar collapse. It wouldn’t preserve our “empire,” but it would preserve a forward defense for our republic.

The United States cannot micro-manage the political affairs of the entire world, but we can go broke trying. It’s time to bring the troops home.

--by Bob Haley

China Town

Paresh Nath (UAE)

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal
--Matthew 6:19

I don't know if I'm unhappy
because I'm not free,
or if I'm not free because I'm unhappy
--Breathless (1960)

Son of a bitch!
Goddamn Florsheim shoe!
--Chinatown (1974)
________________

As Ranger stares into his bowl of WonTon soup, his mind floats to China's role in the U.S. trade deficit (doesn't everyone's?)

The U.S.-China relationship seems to mimic that of the Dutch settlers to the native inhabitants of Manhattan, from whom they "bought" the island for $24 worth of trinkets and beads. We buy trinkets, toys and non-essential beads which we don't need and can ill-afford, committing the next generations to pre-existing debt based upon the accumulation of those meaningless trinkets.

While we pile up tchotchkes, here is what China is doing: Pursuing a strategy that will gain them trade and new resources from Africa and other emergent markets. They are filling voids that U.S. policy is creating.

While the U.S. bogs itself down in ideological wars posing as counterinsurgency, the Chinese are growing, expanding and beating the U.S. to the ground in formerly colonial areas.

These simple observations lead one to speculate that the Communist system of China has produced greater thinkers and leaders than have the vaunted systems of democratic nations. The Chinese are not wrapped up in a ball over al-Qaeda and terrorism and fighting non-growth-making wars. Our leaders are bush league in comparison, when considering the welfare of the nation.

China's leaders are not distracted by distractions. They are rolling down the 8-lane highway to modernity, high-speed, while we are locked into securing alleyways in sand box nations. China is overflowing with optimism, of a sort it is hard to find in the U.S. today.

So, are second-class minds running our country, or are we all second-class thinkers? We base our national existence on concepts of terrorism that are unverifiable and contrary to logic and reason. Contrast this with the reality-based leadership of China which deals in reality benefiting their society.

China is moving forward, while we march in place. We are witnessing the death of optimism, which is the wellspring of capitalism.

Horse Whisperer

Zombie Donkey

We like it in here. They take care of us
--Creature Comforts, Nick Park

Go do that voodoo that you do so well!
--Blazing Saddles (1974)

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
--The Famous Mister Ed

Movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them dogies movin', rawhide
--Rawhide, Frankie Laine
_________________

Mr. Obama's posture vis-a-vis the economy is redolent of that of a bronco-buster.

You may ask, how? No matter how hard a horse bucks, he can be ridden if the rider secures a solid seat and stay ahead of the horse. This means the rider's center of gravity must remain forward of the horse's withers.

Once a rider is thrown to the rear of the balance point, he is gone.

It seems to me that Obama is trying to ride the horse without a saddle, bit or reins, thinking that he can't be thrown. He lacks the tack to sit this horse.

It is instructive to remember that there ain't a horse that can't be rode, or a rider that can't be throwed. Perhaps Obama is hoping that the horse will calm down if he ground breaks him with the promise of hope.

Most animals are grounded beasts, and don't do well with pie in the sky ambiguous promises. A carrot to come doesn't look as good as one in hand.

Everyday Less Jobs

--What do you care? What do you care about Black Rock?
--Well, I know this much. The rule of law has left here,
and the guerrillas have taken over
--Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever
--This is Spinal Tap (1984)

_______________

Not a good day for Walmart's Sam's Clubs. Online Real estate magazine GlobeSt.com reports the company is "letting go" more than 11,000 workers nationwide (More Bad Times at Sam’s Club).

"Letting them go" ... it sounds so ethereal, as though it were of their own choice, like releasing someone from a bad marriage. It is not the truth, like when elderly ladies say they've "lost their husbands." He didn't get lost in the frozen food aisle; he's dead. Euphemisms make the thing no better.

"The measure follows an announcement that Walmart will close 10 Sam’s Clubs across the country that are loosing [sic] money. . . Will we see more closures ahead?" (Of course, if they're "loosing" money on hapless customers, that may have been half the problem right there.)

The question of further closures was posed by a publication over-eager to remain optimistic in a tanked economy. The job losses are a very bad sign following the major holiday season.

As New York Times columnists Frank Rich and Bob Herbert said this week, the only issue for President Obama is the economy ("Politically, no other issue counts.") Certainly not some bogus health care behemoth which provides care in name only. (No Mr. Obama, you don't get to be affiliated with the Kennedy's in any way. Pity, after Mr. Clinton had such a nice photo op shaking JFK's hand . . .) I'm afraid the dynasty ends on your watch.

And as blogger BadTux said so clearly here yesterday,

"You got government spending money on a bomb, that gets dropped on some Talib mud hut, oh wow you just spent probably a million dollars (amortizing the price of the aircraft carrier, aircraft, etc.) to demolish a mud hut that cost maybe $50 (for roofing tin) to build, and you don't even have a bomb anymore when you're done -- you literally just blew that money into smithereens."

Discretionary wars, health care tampering . . . it seems like fiddling while Rome burns.

In addressing Obama's seeming lack of ardor over economic perils, today's WaPo plays with St. Augustine's plea to God (Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet"), Fiscal discipline, but not yet:

"(Obama said Saturday) 'I strongly support' legislation for a commission to tackle the nation's fiscal problems. If he does, you've got to wonder where that strong support has been for the past year."

Walmart is the new GM, and when this bellwether of our economic fitness is straining at the seams, doesn't that demand notice?

National Suicide

Earth'd up, here lies an imp o’ hell,
Planted by Satan’s dibble;
Poor silly wretch, he’s damned himsel’,
To save the Lord the trouble.
--Epigram on a Suicide, Robert Burns

Don't let the sun blast your shadow
Don't let the milk float ride your mind
You're so natural - religiously unkind
--Rock 'n' Roll Suicide, David Bowie

Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands
And make a stash
--Money, Pink Floyd
______________

A few thoughts on money have been knocking around in my head.

Some reports indicate that the damage resulting from the 9.11.01 New York City attacks is +/- $20 billion. Current reports estimate rebuilding costs in Haiti will run upwards of $10 billion. Consider that disparity: a couple of building in NYC cost more than rebuilding the entire region of and surrounding a nation's capital.

Further, consider only the costs of maintaining the 4,000 Marines sent recently to aid in the Haitian recovery and reconstruction effort. If they remain one year, the cost will be approximately $4,000,000,000. This alone is some serious cash, yet is just a drop in the bucket for U.S. efforts in that country.

To that money, let us add the 35,000 troops surging in Afghanistan. An additional $35 Billion per year (somehow, without all those zeroes, it looks like less.) But still, not chump change. Congress has yet to authorize it, though that is the amount.

Where does all this money come from, and where does it go? Is it hot off the press? How does it affect our economy? Why does this not seem to concern the average citizen?

This is not sound economic or military policy. It is a slow form of national suicide.

Little Pink Houses

And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors
Departed, have left no addresses
--The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot

I'm sitting down by the highway
Down by that highway side
Everybody's going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
--Your Bright Baby Blues, Jackson Browne
______________

The federal deficit sits at $1.42 trillion, a figure greater than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic. Our debt is greater than the entire economy of India.

Meanwhile we pursue our endless wars to shed our grace on the sandbox nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and we can't seem to give houses away in our blighted-but-once-thriving city of Detroit (Detroit House Auction Flops for Urban Wasteland):

Despite a minimum bid of $500, less than a fifth of the Detroit land was sold after four days.

The county had no estimate of how much was raised by the auction, a second attempt to sell property that had failed to find buyers for the full amount of back taxes in September.

The unsold parcels add to an expanding ghost town within the once-vibrant town known worldwide as the Motor City.

The number of houses in default in Detroit has more than tripled since 2007, and is expected rise. The homes being auctioned represented only the 2006 foreclosure rolls, well before the worst of the economic downturn (GM and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy this year.)

The number of U.S. homes in foreclosure rose to 938,000 in the July-September quarter, up 5% from the previous quarter (U.S. Foreclosure Filings Rose in Third Quarter). Combined with unemployment rates at a 26-year high, foreclosures are projected to hit 3.5 million this year. Funny thing to have happen on the way to a rosier economy, news of which greets us each day in the papers.

Even if the homes were given away, the poor and underemployed would not be able to cover the maintenance and taxes; that's how this mess started in the first place. Well, perhaps it is some solace that we are kicking about trying to improve some wasteland, somewhere. So Detroit withers away. Buh-bye.

On an upnote: We hear cycling among the ruins in Detroit has become something of a biker's paradise. You see, the lack of civic activity provides for untrafficked boulevards. Broken glass can be a problem, but if you outfit your mountain bike with Kevlar Panaracers, you should be o.k. Weapon suggested.

Why doesn't real estate in Kabul and Baghdad suffer such indignities of neglect? Perhaps if the denizens of Detroit formed proper militias, the U.S. government would turn their sights there, and do more than sympathize with the abysmal plight of our citizens.

Where will Toledo, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland and Detroit get the funds to update their dilapidated infrastructures? Where is the Coalition of the Willing which will save our citizens?

The financial institutions of America are as brutal to the American dispossessed as the Taliban are to the average Afghan citizen.

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

You're above the System. Over it.
Beyond it. We're "them." We're "they."
We are the Men in Black
--Men in Black (1997)

Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession.
I have come to realize
that it bears a very close resemblance to the first
--President Ronald Reagan

Well, we're off, we're off, we're off!
I'll tell you what it is! (what is it God dang is!?)
It's some kinda Texas psychobilly freakout, that's what it is!
--Psychobilly Freakout, Reverend Horton Heat
_____________

America is a nation that bases its national policies and life upon denial of truth and the acceptance of lies. Our policy is to lie, and our lies are our policies.

Some of our guiding myths are:

• The government exists for the benefit of the people

• Deficit spending will solve all of our problems

• Taxation rates in our nation are lower than those in socialistic states like England, Sweden, Norway, etc.

• The government can spend us out of recession and depression

Let's discuss:

Government of, by and for the people does not exists anywhere except on paper. Elective government doesn't work because we elect people that are likable and who resemble us.

This means they can't even conceptualize what $787 Billion in a stimulus program means, or even what it looks like. Our legislators can't imagine what a trillion dollar war deficit actually means. Our lawmakers are just like us: They haven't got a clue, but unlike Ranger, they will not admit their ignorance.

Local officials are equally uninformed, and the city and county managers do some fancy footwork to keep things running, despite our politicians. Spending money that you do not have is not a policy that can be successful on any level.

In the past, the U.S. could squeak by with this fallacious thinking because we were an expanding and growing nation. No longer the case, we must now shift our thinking and jar our senses into pursuing realistic goals. Contraction rather than expansion is a necessary turn. The nature of our curent status requires it. This is not your dad's post-WWII America.

When one defies nature, famines result; to defy economic realities is to court national disaster. You cannot spend money you don't have and cannot pay back, and expect to prosper. We are a nation in production contraction, not expansion.

The fact is, the actual U.S. tax rate is higher than that of the socialist countries we denigrate. If we consider the costs of servicing our national debt, the monies that we spend are concealed from our oversight, but that does not mean they are not real. It still comes out of our pockets -- it is just deferred.

Let's get back to what Ranger knows best -- walking a trail and tactical movement. When in combat and moving to contact, it is a fact that the easiest trail is always the most dangerous. Our leaders always take us down the easiest trails because we want them to, but it always leads to disaster.

The U.S. would be better served if we raised taxes, while curbing government spending. The leaders of both parties are leading the American citizens down the aisle leading to the slaughterhouse. Judas goats are not leaders.

Don't smoke 'em if you don't got 'em.

For Want of a Nail

--Old Shoes, Van Gogh (1887)

Oh, the old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,

Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be.

The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,

Many long years ago

I knew a man Bojangles and he'd dance for you

In worn out shoes

--Mr. Bojangles, Jerry Jeff Walker

Uh-oh! I'm getting.. Happy Feet!

See, every once in a while that happens,

I have no control over it.

Sorry. Okay. We're moving along now

--Steve Martin, SNL

_________________

Ranger likes his 18 year-old Florsheims, and not being a spendthrift happily gave them over to his local cobbler when his soles became unhinged from the body (of the shoes). This is a sad tale of a sole for which there is no redemption.

Nick Camechis, the second-generation proprietor of Capitol Shoe Fixery, broke the bad news. The shoes were built on the cusp of Florsheim's conversion to a plastic insole -- one which disallows nailing. The shoe company has joined its fellows in the age of planned obsolescence.

Florsheims no longer have leather insoles, the sort with sturdy nail construction, soles which allow for re-soling. A shoe which allows the wearer to establish a comfortable familiarity with the product. A shoe with which one can carry on a long-term relationship. Now, like so much else, shoes are disposable.

Nick said, "There's nothing substantial holding these shoes together." This little slice of life is indicative of society in general: Everything is slap-dash, held together by glue, lacking nails and real staying power. We are happy to have these cheap shoes, and no longer expect quality.

According to Nick, in the 1930's there were over 130,000 cobbler shops in the U.S. Compare that with a paltry 7,000 in 2009. Today, there are 3 cobblers in Tallahassee.

So here is a craft industry that provided jobs to many Americans, which is fast becoming obsolete. Like so many of our household items, shoes are now cheap and roughly-made, so why fix them? U.S. citizens no longer demand craftsmanship -- cheap garbage is the watchword, as long as it will do, for a while.

It is upon this philosophy we have built Walmart lives. More is better, not better is better. Hence our lust for more square footage of particle board houses which will begin their decay soon after the mortgage is signed. Gone are the days of reasonably-sized craftsman houses worthy of the name. Just Super-Size Me, thanks.

Ranger is waxing nostalgic, viewing America as something no longer recognizable to him. Things are made to be tossed. This may be the fate of all creations of man, but the cycle seems to be shortening.

We wonder how long our glue is gonna hold.

Note: I just discovered photographer friend Zoriah did a feature on recycling in Cuba, which is an eloquent counterpoint to our disposable lifestyles. It is worth a look:

Labor in a Restricted Trade Zone.

Good News

Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy
--Luke 2:10-11

Eighty percent of the people who call themselves Democrats
don't have a clue as to political reality.
Put a little fear here and there
and you can get people to vote any way you want
--James Carville

A Working person voting for a Republican is like
a chicken voting for Colonel Saunders
--Bumper Sticker

Gee, the old place hasn't changed much.
I wonder if McKinley's still president?
--Good News (1947)
________________

Remember when James Carville said, "It's the economy, stupid"? Then, as now.

Carville also said, "If you are on Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, a baby-boomer, unemployed, a minority, parent with school-aged children, a college student, without medical insurance, balancing your personal budget, not a CEO, purchasing gasoline, wanting clean air and water, a 401-K owner or earn less than $200,000 per year, then voting for George Bush is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." Replace "a Republican" for Mr. Bush and you get the gist.

FSU's local public radio, Morning Edition, yesterday reported cheerily that the economy was improving in the state: The unemployment rate had dropped a whole 10th of a percentage point, from 10.8 to 10.7%. However, that is still a percentage point higher than the national rate of 9.7%.

Last month, Florida lost only about 21,000 jobs. Now that's progress you can believe in. Woo-hoo. Only, as NYT columnist Bob Herbert reminds us, this isn't the whole story (No Recovery in Sight; A World of Hurt.) The unemployment rate fails to figure in those off the unemployment rolls but not yet employed, those underemployed and those who have given up. If these figures were included, the actual number of unemployed would be at least 16-17%.

A recent economic survey based upon spring data shows "the recession has plunged 2.6 million more Americans into poverty, wiped out the household income gains of an entire decade and pushed the number of people without health insurance up to 46.3 million" (Millions More Thrust Into Poverty.)

Over 13% of your fellows live below the federal poverty line. For children, the statistics are more grim: according to a meta study by the National Urban League, almost one in every five children live in poverty.

One of every 140 homes in Florida is in foreclosure. The Good News leads one to ponder the unrealistic nature of U.S. government policies across the board. Do our leaders believe that unemployed people living in foreclosed upon homes are actually concerned about al Qaeda?

When one is living in a tent city, the fact that the Sonitrol is not working is of little concern. It's the economy, the mismanagement of which may yet bring about our worldwide leveling -- not necessarily a bad thing, though a very painful one.

Nation building is just not the important.