2-Feb-15 World View -- Washington joins the world in explosive spending splurge

[John]

2-Feb-15 World View -- Washington joins the world in explosive spending splurge


The Iraq war had nothing to do with the federal deficit

** 2-Feb-15 World View -- Washington joins the world in explosive spending splurge
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... tm#e150202



Contents:
End of sequestration signals explosive new spending splurge in Washington
The Iraq war had nothing to do with the federal deficit
Government receipts plunged when the bubbles burst
The high federal deficit is caused by bubbles bursting, not the Iraq war


Keys:
Generational Dynamics, Japan, Europe, Greece,
sequestration, IRS, Obamacare, CNBC, stock valuations,
Richard Nixon, Peter Schweizer

[NoOneImportant]

Interesting analysis, John.

John, I just feel an admiration and a compulsion to take a moment and commend you. You do this seven days a week, every week, and you give cogent, interesting events, and analysis. You cover items that the media may not pick up, sometimes ever, and sometimes only picks up later.

Lots of really hot, hot buttons today: actionable criminal fraud; actionable criminal abuse of power; moral degeneracy; the reckless profligate spending of that which we just don't have, and the enabling commensurate monetary theft via rolling the presses (QE); the disturbing "I can get out quickly if anything goes wrong" equities mentality (the only justification for current valuations); and finally, the ultimate idiocy: it must be okay, 'cause no one is complaining about what's happening - so it must be normal - and besides, the electricity, and the water are still on, and I can still buy gas and food - so everything must be okay... right?

We do live in strange times. In prior decades perhaps thousands of these people would have been indicted, prosecuted, and convicted; after which they would have spent many years in public service facilities engaged in the redeeming physical effort of "... making little ones out of big ones..." (better known previously as hard labor), e.g. Michael Milken, the Junk Bond King of the '80s S & L fraud, who plea bargained a 10 year prison sentence for his fraud (served 2), and was fined $600 million.

The Republicans now own both houses. Appoint special prosecutor(s) outside of the Dept of Justice, and pursue these criminals. Certainly go after those outside of government, but more especially, those pursue those engaged in governmental "service," for their's is an egregious abuse of a sacred public trust - burn them all.

As you point out: the inmates are currently running the asylum. Welcome to Chicago politics writ large.

[Guest]

I don't collect Social Security myself, but I have relatives who do. My question is this: Could SS be one of those programs cancelled by the government? I mean, it's an annuity. The government likes to talk about it as if it were welfare, but I don't consider it to be anything like that.

What do you think?

[John]

Thanks for your comments.

I've been doing this now for 12-13 years. It's gone through stages.
At first it was a theoretical exercise, almost as if I were solving a
math problem. Then it began to become more real, as things began to
happen. I was always able to rationalize this in my mind as being
able to pretend that I was a Martian watching what was happening
without any emotional attachment. Sometimes I would joke was that it
was like we were all in a moving theater watching a horrible movie,
and the doors are locked so we can't get out.

In recent years there's been a new stage. I write about horrible
things every day -- hundreds of girls in Nigeria being abducted and
raped, people in shopping markets being blown apart by car bombs,
people going through industrial strength torture in Syria, thousands
of people being killed with barrel bombs filled with bullets and
chlorine, China's military arming for a massive missile attack on the
United States, the massive criminality. I like to tell myself that I
can write about these things and not be personally affected, but
that's more and more difficult every day. Instead of being a Martian
watching these events from afar, I'm actually in the center of a
swirling tornado, being sucked in along with everyone else.

One thing I think about all the time is -- how come I'm the only one
doing something like this? Or, perhaps more to the point, why do I,
John Xenakis, seem to be only person in the world capable of doing it?
I know that with over 7 billion people in the world, that statement is
preposterous. And yet, after 12 years, my web site is unique in the
world. How is that possible? A lot of the things that I write about
don't even require anything like generational theory. There are
plenty of people in the world who have the same or superior analytical
abilities as me, and yet that doesn't seem to make a difference.

Also puzzling is other people's reactions to my web site. Some want
to read it every day, others absolutely can't stand it, and can't
stand me as a result. Ten years ago, friends I've known for years
treated my a harmless kook, but now, as the world worsens as predicted
by my web site, those friends now shun me. This is similar to the
mythical Cassandra, whom I've written about many time.

Over the weekend, I heard something that really struck a chord. There
was a BBC World Service show called "Why Factor," with the subject
"Sad/Gloomy Music." It turns out that some people can listen to sad
music and really enjoy it, while other people listen to sad music and
absolutely can't stand it.

The only "happy" music sample they played was The Beatles - I Want to
Hold your Hand. They played samples of a number of "sad" music songs:

Billie Holiday - Gloomy Sunday
James Taylor - Riding on a Railroad
Joni Mitchell - River
Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head
Johann Sebastian Bach - Prelude in B minor, number 24
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka - La Separation
Felix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld - Etude Sur Mer
Arvo Pärt - Spiegel Im Spiegel
Djivan Gasparyan - I Am Outcast By You
The Rankin Family - Chi Mi Na Morbheanna
Oliver Mtukudzi - Neria
Víctor Jara - Te Recuerdo Amanda
Rain - M.R Shajarian
Chris Isaak - Wicked Games
Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

According to the show, the last in this list is the most popular
sad song among the show's listeners.

The show described the differences in chord structure between happy
and sad music, but unfortunately I know nothing about music and didn't
understand, which is too bad.

However, the difference is also generational: In the 1960s, most
popular music had the "happy" chord structure, while in the 2000s,
most popular music had the "sad" chord structure.

This also struck a chord with me. For my whole life, I've always
loved Great Band Era music, 1935-45, and I still have a large record
collection of Great Band Era songs. I'm going to guess that most
Great Band Era music had the "sad" chord structure, and I'm going to
guess that that's the reason I like it a lot more than most popular
music, and I'm going to guess that my enjoyment of Great Band Era
music is related to my being able to do this web site every day.

There's a theory having to do with the hormone prolactin. It has to
do with milk production in pregnant women, and has no known normal
function in men. However, there's some research that people who like
sad music have an excess of prolactin, and those who hate sad music
don't have enough prolactin. So maybe what makes me unique is that my
blood is overflowing with prolactin. And also, maybe the people who
read my web site have more prolactin than average, and those who can't
stand it have less.

According to Prof David Huron of Ohio State University: The research
shows that for ordinary sadness, when we're in that state, we are our
most deadly realistic in our self-appraisal. It has beneficial
effects on judgment, on memory, all sorts of cognitive benefits that
happen from being in a saddened state.

So if we apply all this to me, then this is the theory: I have an
above average analytical ability, I have just the right education,
and, most important, I have too much prolactin in my blood. And
that's why, Dear Reader, I'm able to write for this web site every
day. And for similar reasons, that's why you read it every day.

Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01gmhx6
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whyfactor
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/wor ... -1445a.mp3

[John]

I don't collect Social Security myself, but I have relatives who do. My question is this: Could SS be one of those programs cancelled by the government? I mean, it's an annuity. The government likes to talk about it as if it were welfare, but I don't consider it to be anything like that.

What do you think?

Absolutely yes. Old people will be the first to go.

[guest]

John,
I agree with the other poster...many thanks for all your work on this blog....definitely a unique perspective. I listen to Glenn Beck...love him or hate him, he shares your view on the present day money bubble. At the end of listening to his morning radio show, I often feel like there's no hope of turning America and the world around. I keep hoping and praying we can. Please keep shedding light on current events and history. As the saying goes "sunlight is the best disinfectant".

[Trevor]

At least from my perspective, the world today looks more like the prelude to World War I than it does World War II, at least for the time being. I keep hearing claims that in spite of the violence, we're on our way to a golden age of peace, that interdependent economies make war impossible, that technology has made war too unthinkable to comprehend. Well, if you compare the two time periods, that was almost word for word what was being said over a century ago.

At this point, we're not spending like drunken sailors. Sailors stop spending when they run out of money; we're like drunken Kennedys. I've always known the Iraq War had little or nothing to do with the current economic situation; it's just used as a way to attack Bush, and by extension, the Republicans.

For all the talk about small government, no party is going to cut back; all the spending keeps them in power, and we like government programs. We just don't like the ones we're not using.

[gerald]

I agree with the above posts. It appears that you are driven or cursed. I think I know how you feel.

It is a though you think that in some small way you can influence events, --- and maybe you can. There are others like you.

cheers

[John]

Both driven and cursed.

[psCargile]

When I go to other places on the web for news and current events, and both authors and commenters are opining about war and economies and reasons for this and that I want to scream at them that Generational Dynamics explains all of that in a clear and concise way. I think people find the idea that we may never rid ourselves of poverty and war to be abhorrent and they don’t want to acknowledge it.