Mike, I agree with Keith on this almost 100%. I've seen the same foundations for ethnic cleansing and fascism arising here as he alludes to. As you said, because of the availability of the internet we have been turned from a huge nation, the size of forty or so Germanys, into a much closer proximity. Last year when I went to Europe, for the first time ever, I was stunned at how close everyone was to each other. It took less time for me to move from Italy to Holland than it did for me to drive to Washington from New York. The US is not only a country but it is half a continent with you guys having the other colder half.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2013 5:23 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION; michael gurstein Subject: Re: [Futurework] Debt limit 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] <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: [email protected] [ mailto:[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 REH _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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