Good question. Mao said that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Here political power comes out of the ballot box. Enraged citizens will muster the clout to access some of the albeit printed money to at least tide them over. The banks have/had the inside track thanks to lobbyists with the ability to woo/buy politicians. Politicians who worry about losing elections may begin to think differently about where to direct government bailouts.
There is a crunch among the unemployed and never to be employed again. Currently they are largely voiceless and are only paid 'lip service' by politicos who pile on the promises. If/when they are organized around a few shared principles the politicians might realize that the time has come to give voice to the voiceless. arthur -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Spencer Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 1:41 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] Re: while cleaning up emails Arthur wrote: > I ran across this one from 1999. It was posted to FW. > > If consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.....well I am > consistent. Just to be picky, Emerson's words were: vvvvvvv A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. Consistency is not always "foolish." Admittedly, he went on to say: With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -- 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. which has the ring in my ear of incipient megalomania, especially as so many inconsistent people think to themselves, "To be misunderstood is to be great." :-) > 2. That we have not solved the distribution problem. > > [snip] > > 6. That governments will argue about debt this and deficit that > but when the crunch comes, new money will be found. What do you imagine as a "crunch", Arthur? The US and other governments recently found an enormous pile of money (or of something that passed, on casual inspection, for money) because a crunch had come for very large financial institutions. No similar pile of money, not even a couple of boxcars full, has been found for medical bankrupts, foreclosed homeowners, long-term unemployed, communities whose main employer has moved to Mexico or recent graduates burdened with unrepayable debt. So what crunch might fulfill #6 and also solve #2? - Mike -- Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. /V\ [email protected] /( )\ http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
