The Land We Live In

I watch and read a lot about science and technology. It is obvious that to accomplish either requires sophisticated and very, very, very expensive equipment. Rather you are talking about satellites, rockets, submersibles, ships, planes, super computers, sequencers, telescopes, and many other things. I value this American Eco-system at about ½ a trillion dollars. America spends more on “defense” than all its allies combined. I estimate we are talking in the neighborhood of a trillion dollars. If you throw in the off book expenses under the heading of “black operations”, the number gains another 1/3.  

Recoup some of the meager "real" tax revenue from American multi-nationals, the tax and incentive give a-way for business at the Federal and local levels, the very wealthy escaping paying appropriate tax percentages, plus the religious donation tax deduction and you are looking at another trillion.

What do these vast sums of money mean? It means America is the wealthiest nation the world has ever known. Even in the current downturn it is fabulously wealthy. The issue is how the money is spent. 

How much money would we have if we cut the defense and military expenditure by ½, cut the business give a-ways by 1/3, allow only a 75% religious tax deduction [religious cannon does not say it has to be tax deductible],  and institute a true ATM [Alternative Minimum Tax] for American multi-nationals and the very wealthy? We would have enough money to provide good free healthcare to all Americans, we would have enough to go from social security to providing defined pensions for all Americans, we would have enough to provide a free skills training or college education and graduate school for those that desire it. We would also have change left over.

The schism in American society is one of private versus public wealth. It has widened as the wealthy have captured more of government and the mechanisms of society.  The issue we should ask is what quality of life do we want for ourselves and descendents? We need to approach it from the economic perspective of the median in America. It is apparent American laissez-faire capitalism exacerbates the negative quality of life issues.

One Way Glass

Americans see the world through one way glass and they are on the reflective side. The image they see of the world is a reflection of themselves. The real world on the other side of the glass is a ghostly shadow.

Americans are upset over the uprisings in the Middle East caused by the depiction of the prophet in an American movie. Their angst is that our culture permit it and we therefore believe it is acceptable to the world. But is America, specifically American culture, “the world”?

We think it barbaric that people are stoned for offensives in some parts of the world. But this practice precedes Western culture by over a thousand years. It is even mentioned prominently in Judo-Christianity. There is reportedly the saying of Jesus, “…let him without sin cast the first stone”. There is also the stoning of the disciple Stephen. The question is if Western culture takes precedence. How is electrocution and lethal injection viewed in  other non-Western cultures?

Religion is the foundation of culture. It is true even in cultures that disavow “god”. They have merely substituted “the State” or a leader in its place. The result is the same. You must ask some difficult questions if you subscribe to religion being central. In Islam human depictions are prohibited. The Qur'an, does not explicitly prohibit the depiction of human figures. It relegates it to idolatry and condemns it.  Then if you want to declare war on a religious people, violate the prohibition.  

Let us imagine how the American Christian evangelist in particular would react to a scenario. Suppose there was published prominently in the world that Jesus was a homosexual and engaged in illicit acts. Their upset would know no bounds. This would be especially true if the world took it seriously and they had no capability to really completely dispell the depiction.  Now imagine the depiction is sanctioned by the justice system of a State.  Evangelist would strike out at this State sanctioned attack.

What we are really witnessing in the world, on a variety of geo-political fronts, is what the intelligence community terms “blow back”. It means a reaction to an action on our part that we thought we could get away with. Teddy Roosevelt said it best, “speak softly and carry a big stick”. America has the biggest stick in the world embodied in its military and economy. But that stick is most effective if it is not used and can accomplish desires just with the threat. America used the stick with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have circumscribed the limits of American power, its Achilles heel in confrontations.  The world has a better idea of how and when to achieve “blow back” to American actions. 

Unfortunately Americans are domestically disengaged. Here is just one example. They have no clue of the significance of a blow back action by Pakistan. Pakistan refused to allow war material to be transported through the country to Afghanistan. I will try to draw you a picture. Americans are familiar with Interstate 95 [autobahn]. It traverses the eastern United States in a north and south direction. Interstate 95 runs through the state of Delaware. Suppose Delaware said you can not go through the state on Interstate 95. Now suppose it is the only reasonably route. Suddenly you find yourself going from North Carolina through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania to get to New York. Pakistan’s actions were “blow back” on a grand scale over the drone fights.

The politicians and media are carefully avoiding attention to American “blow backs”. They are occurring with far greater frequency. Greater public awareness of the “blow backs” would bring a more open debate of American polities. Vast amount of money are tied to the continuation of those polities.

Despite our best myopic efforts, the one way glass is becoming more translucent.  Each day and our world view is shaken and not stirred.

Economic Colonialism

The Economist Magazine characterized America’s actions in the world as “Economic Colonialism”. I agree in the scope of colonialism taking on new proportions. But colonialism has traditionally been about economics. The Colonial powers extracted valuable materials from their colonies and forced them to be markets for their goods. All the European powers at the time were involved. In American colonial times Britain extracted tobacco and other products. It forced the colonist to purchase its manufactured goods and not set up their own capability. There is also the most egregious case of Britain forcing Opium on China.

America practices economic colonialism in thrusting upon the world the products and services of its corporations. It marginalizes competition through its courts and diplomatic policies. However America is facing challenges. Most of the top 10 oil companies in the world are not American. The top technology component makers for communication are not American. Many of the high tech manufacturers of nuclear power plants are not American or of high speed rail transportation. The majority of consumer technology firms are not American. Even internet penetration and broadband speeds are not anywhere the greatest in America, so our domestic offering approach is a tough sell in the world.

Why a focus on economics as the driving factor in Americanism? Capitalism is not an economic system that can survive in stasis. It is like a virus and must constantly expand to new hosts to exists. We use the term, “growth”. The increased competition in the world is restricting American growth. The answer from an American point of view is to create new markets in the developing world where there is less competition. Unfortunately there is a problem. The downside of the Pareto's Principle or the 80-20 Rule. The best potential new markets are the most difficult to create.

The Middle East is an example. America expected to extract oil at captive rates and sell goods and services there. However there is no real consumer market or dire need for infra structure. America had to create it. It is why America did so much wanton destruction in the invasion of Iraq destroying schools, hospitals, water works, roads, bridges and commerce facilities.

Creating a market also means infusing American culture. American goods and services are married to American culture. That is the crux of the problem. In the Middle East America finds itself in a cultural war that has a religious foundation and is basically tribal. America must curtail the religiosity in order to create the market and change social structures. It has had no success in merely an American capitalist overlay over the existing system.

Therefore the underlying reason for all the high tech weapons and CIA activities in the Middle East is to advance American markets. Cultural change is a means to an end in creating the desired market. Economic colonialism of America means the crusades being fought all over again. It becomes a case of attrition. How long can America hold the course for very limited short term gains? Will the opportunities turn into another Iraq, where after the fighting; they open the door wide to America's competition?

Triage

The Republican insiders and top Conservatives know what the general populous refuses to know. The America that facilitated personal aspirational success and social mobility died in 1970. It has passed and "Gone with the Wind". The continued belief was fueled by brilliant marketing and ubiquitous credit. It worked to mask reality for the last 70 years. The Republican insiders and top Conservatives know there will be a mass psychological change in the nation when the reality finally sinks in. They also know there is no way back. Their answer is triage.

The Richest 1% and some of the top 10% have manned the life boats. They know the ship is going down and they are grabbing everything of value they can carry before that happens. That is what their dramatic increase in wealth over the last several years represents.

The Republicans are playing to the belief that if they jettison the dead weight of democrats, minorities, and yes feminist, you will be saved. There is a fly in this ointment. They can only save in real wealth and comfort about 8%. Some of the other people that make it to the upper deck will find life boats already full with no room. They will jump in the water and try to stay afloat. But they will end up watching from their soon watery grave the disappearance of the life boats sailing away in the night.

We all like to think we will make the cut. Perhaps as a purely analytical approach the Republican insiders and top Conservatives are right. I just wish they were not taking everything of value, including the kitchen sink with their looting and sacking.

Our perspective of things and methods of doing things are rooted in culture. Yet most people today really do not understand what culture is beyond a political buzz word.

In simple terms culture is the shared perspective of a group. It shades understanding and how things are approached. A simple example is fried chicken. In the culture I grew up in you never picked it up with your fingers. I do not even do it today. In the corporate culture of management I participated, peer and subordinate females were not treated “in general” as female. They were not automatically allowed to proceed first through a door or be seated. They were not deferred to nor expected it. By mutual consent they were sexless peers.

Culture can be a positive thing that contributes to the social well being or it can be a handicap. In certain strata of society, particularly among males, striving in school is disparaged. We see this trend playing out in the larger nation. Females finish school and make up a larger percentage involved in higher education. Another case is “capitalism”. In America there is a belief in “the divine right of capitalism”. Business should do anything to make and increase profits, nor be constrained. Wall Street cheers layoffs, outsourcing, curtailing labor benefits and wages. In Europe and some other parts of the world, the culture focuses more on social purpose. Therefore they are more inclined to regulate business in the public interests. Just look at all the trouble GM has had trying to use the American approach with Opel in Germany. The German government has restrained GM to guard the public interests.

Culture changes. In my generation the nation believed in a separation of Church and State. Today the government gives preferential treatment to Christianity and its religious variances [look as all the pious proclaiming politicians]. I definitely do not see this as a good thing. Part of the Middle East initiative is fighting the Crusades all over again. I do not want public facilities that by law are supposed to be governed by non-religious specific guidelines to have the rules circumvented. This is to allow religious use where they violate the guidelines and execute their beliefs. When challenged they claim religious discrimination. In reality it is discrimination of everyone else.

Finally, American culture is predicated on “manifest destiny”. This means that “the American Way" is the best and “must” be adopted by the rest of the world. In reality “the American Way” has had at least as many failures as successes. The rest of the world is more able to see this. We are blinded by cultural myopia.

It is hypocrisy celebrating Labor Day when culturally we eviscerate labor.