Blogging In Plain Site

Should I Trade or Should I Wait?

Every day I look at my Jeep Commander and I think "Dude, you're only going to get less for it every quarter you wait to trade it in." Gas is skyrocketing and as the price of crude oil rises, my trade in value for my road Panzer noses down. I'm at $74 a week. It's not that I can't afford it, it just feels crummy. Naturally, I would much rather spend that money on something else.

I'm starting to negotiate for Prius privileges each week and Jen won't give it up. We might just trade the Road Panzer in and get another Prius. However, I would prefer to wait for the SUV Hybrid that gets +40mpg. I find it hard to detach myself from the need for cubic space in a family car and its silly, it seems, to plunk thousands into a conventional minivan or SUV these days. I know that magic car is 12-18 months away - it has to be. Problem is, how much will the Road Panzer be worth at that point. Not much, I bet. And, that car, if it's done right, will be top dollar: $45-65k.

Should I gear down to a Prius now to wait it out or keep feeding the beast for another year?

The Face of Hunger

Is this a zombie movie? Maybe a clip from the Thriller video? Nope. This is how people Pakistan get food every day. Not because there is no food, it's because they can't afford the food that's there. So the government helps with subsidies. Look at the crush of people who rely on the government for food. Now, imagine these are homeless people in L.A. or Denver. How ugly would that be?

This is all driven from economics and rising energy. We're seeing a 4% rise in food here at  home. It won't be long until the poor get massively squeezed like we're seeing in the third world now. I think this is an early look at the emergence of a massive energy crisis going on right now.

Life On The Right Wing...In Gimmelwald

I saw this article on the NYT at Starbucks this morning. Somehow the words "Right Wing Swiss Party" caught my attention. Apparently there is a nationalist movement taking place within Switzerland to kick foreigners out of the country. They cited a poster that had 3 white sheep standing on top of the Swiss flag kicking a black one to the curb. The caption reads "Create Security."

The notion of an agitated, pissed off xenophobic Swiss state really is a strange one. I remember backpacking through Switzerland in this sleepy little mountain town called Gimmelwald. As I stumbled outside the American owned youth hostel bar I saw a sign that said "Please be quiet, the Swiss are sleeping." This sign always made me chuckle as the notion of "The Swiss" seemed so funny as if they were a gentle race of rare gerbils that should not be disturbed. It may has well have said "Do not tap on glass."

'Swiss Nationalism,' to the outside world, must read like the ultimate oxymoron. Hell, I would love to live in Switzerland too, in fact, Jen and I have discussed it a few times. But they would probably see us as "black sheep" as well. Goes to show that the third world is indeed moving in and there are not easy answers to be had anywhere. Not even for the Swiss in Gimmelwald.

Why We Fight in Iraq (Or, Amercia's Second Undeclared War with France)

I've been telling folks for years that the real reason we're in Iraq, the real reason we invaded them un-provoked was simple: preserve the US currency as the official reserve currency of the world oil market. This article spells it out in some detail. Read it.

In 1812 we fought a brief, undeclared naval war with France over shipping rights. In 2001 we fought an undeclared proxy economic war against the EU led by France. Why were France and Russia so opposed to the war? It wasn't out of egalitarian interest for free world governments. They were in the midst of moving Iraq and other OPEC nations to the Euro as a shared currency to the US Dollar. Saddam had nothing to lose and was going to flip. The middle east would have followed suit. The effect on the US economy would have been monstrous.

So we invaded.

Was it wrong? Yes in every way. But it was something else. Something worse. It was desperate.

If we had done nothing, (Dare I say if Clinton or Gore would have been in the White House?) and watched our over highly leveraged currency plummet in value, I wonder what would have happened? I wonder if the American public would have not been, in hindsight, more outraged that we didnt do something to aoid a near depression like economic effect would have befallen them in an era where they as individual Americans have never been more economically over extended?

Now, I'm not justifying war for economic preservation. I don't have to. It's been the cause of most every major war in history. We were just on the side getting squeezed this time so we're the 'bad guy' or the aggressor. One could argue the Roosevelt's economic policies toward Japan and China and England and France's policies toward the Weimar Republic created conditions for both Japan and Germany to make war. (Now, you have to admit that Hitler had a slightly different agenda than economic recovery but he used economic recovery as a way to amass power.)

Do you think it crossed Roosevelt's mind that if we waited to get the US involved in WWII and decided to debt finance Russia and Britain to the point where their war engines helped shatter every modern economy in the world before we stepped in and funded the world's recovery - including oil reserve currency? Of course it did.

This is not the first time we've done this. But I believe it's the first time we've looked so bad and been so desperate. Did we do it for oil? Sort of.

I know what you guys are thinking reading this. But what would you say if we didn't do it and we were cruising toward mega recession/depression and most of you bloggers lost your jobs - and you found out that it could have been avoided? Most educated readers would think that nothing is worth making war except ensuring our own safety. Is there really such a difference between safety and way of life? Again, to the elite in our society, yes. To most Americans...I don't know...but it is an interesting thought.

Sign of The Times

 

First, we are consuming more gas because we have all become fat.

Second, if you're going to diddle your paralegal in the bathroom at a Seahawks game, be ready for some PUB, baby.