At 18:39 01/01/2013, MG wrote:
(MG) What I find surprising is that no one
(publicly) seems to be calling out the US in
their continuing attempt to impose a more or
less completely dysfunctional (and
non-functioning) governmental system on to
various parts of the world and elements of the
world governance system e.g. the recent WCIT/ITU events.
(KH) The US political system may be dysfunctional
but there's a lot else that isn't. Basic honesty
is one. Investors in bonds don't lend to
countries where truth and lies are too
intermingled. Despite the corruption of so many
politicians, financial people and civil servants
(only those at the very top) the US is kept
basically honest by the media and whistleblowers.
The US is also the place where much more than
half of world scientific research is done and
most new products are made first. US Treasury
bonds still have the edge in the eyes of many
jittery big-fund managers (e.g. pensions funds,
Pimco, etc) over other countries' bonds
(particularly the Eurozone!), or equities or gold
(the last is where the money will go if, as
Roubini continurs to say, a far worse crunch is coming.
(MG) I think what we are seeing being played out
is that the US is essentially ungovernable
(KH) Not at all. If both Houses went away for a
long cruise (or even if they were fired to the
moon for a year or two) the country would
continue to operate smoothly without a murmur.
The civil service would just continue doing what
it's always doing. The real problem is that the
election system has lost its validity in choosing
first class people. Elections every few years
give an accurate overall idea of the inclination
of the non-poor but, increasingly over the years,
the politicians have lost touch with ordinary
people, their jobs, their fears, etc. What we
have now, increasingly, are politicians who are
more or less Whitehall addicts -- first as
interns, then as campaign managers, then as
representatives, and so on. They've never been in
the real world. They've no outside espeience they can bring to bear.
(MG) I think the Internet has a lot to do with
it, by allowing for the broad mobilization of
extreme groups particularly on the right who
would otherwise lack the means or sophistication
to organize as a "mass" movement and find methods
of using their specific resources (fanaticism and
singlemindedness) to combine with those with vast
financial resources to create on-going
mischief. Pre-Internet the degrees of separation
between individuals, groupuscles, social strata,
domains of influence were physically/socially too
difficult to bridge especially among
individuals/groups that are in their essence
paranoid. Now these "distances" are trivial and
I think we are seeing the result.
(KH) The Internet hosts a great many
specializations. The Nazi Party had no problem
growing in the 1930s. It had no access to radio
and telephones, even private ones, were as scarce as hens' teeth.
Keith
M
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 10:20 AM
To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Debt limit
I think the US will know its reached the limit
when foreigners stop buying its bonds and
furthermore when foreigners stop accepting
contracts in US denominated payouts. At this
point the US will cease to occupy its pre eminent position.
Arthur
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ray Harrell
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 1:20 AM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
Subject: [Futurework] Debt limit
What do you think?
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/debt-limit-reached_n_2390166.html>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/debt-limit-reached_n_2390166.html
REH
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