Considering the 21st century and what that means for America

[norseamd]

The 21st century is very transformative and chaotic and America is very affected by all of these influencese. To say that this is only a time of corruption and catastrophes is to at the very least be nothing more than huge misunderstandings and ignorance.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...cy+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...0+&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

[norseamd]

Here are the regular links since Foreign Policy is free this week because of Chevron sponsoring the 100 Global Thinkers of the Year which is now somewhat of a bullshit list especially since it more or less means significant influences in the year instead of any notable thinkers.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articl...erica_democrats_grand_strategy_foreign_policy

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/18/top_5_foreign_policy_lessons_of_the_past_20_years

 

[Moonbeam]

I hear a fancy version of the golden rule, an attempt to create a system where you treat others as if the other were you because one can never really tell what tomorrow will bring.

This idea is predicated on the notion of embracing uncertainty in a frightening world and acting with long term logic to reduce personal risk.

This is essentially, I think, just an expression of the Liberal Brain Defect, the inability, the inability on the part of liberals to come to terms with the fact that the CBD can't be reached by reason, that the obvious fact that conservative reactions to fear and uncertainty lead to disaster will be obvious to conservatives when explained. At the very moment when the nation is in the grips of panic and doubt and most in need of warm and fuzzy altered reality, an application of logic and vision is going to wake them up. The nation voted republican and calling it a reaction to being patronized, sounds so much like liberal denial of reality to me.

But then, I guess I am a declinist. I see our demise coming and I see no way to stop the CBD from destroying the nation. It's happening. The CBD is nothing but fear and uncertainty masked by hubris and fanaticism while the few who can still reason prattle on about how to deal with it. There is only one thing liberals and conservatives have to face and its that they have nothing to offer. The human race is headed for extinction. There is only the path of magic for the rare individual who steps between the cracks of two worlds and finds the garden of Eden within his own soul.

The fool on the hill stands perfectly still......as his guitar gently weeps....

 

[norseamd]

But then, I guess I am a declinist. I see our demise coming and I see no way to stop the CBD from destroying the nation. It's happening.

 

[Greenman]

I hear a fancy version of the golden rule, an attempt to create a system where you treat others as if the other were you because one can never really tell what tomorrow will bring.

This idea is predicated on the notion of embracing uncertainty in a frightening world and acting with long term logic to reduce personal risk.

This is essentially, I think, just an expression of the Liberal Brain Defect, the inability, the inability on the part of liberals to come to terms with the fact that the CBD can't be reached by reason, that the obvious fact that conservative reactions to fear and uncertainty lead to disaster will be obvious to conservatives when explained. At the very moment when the nation is in the grips of panic and doubt and most in need of warm and fuzzy altered reality, an application of logic and vision is going to wake them up. The nation voted republican and calling it a reaction to being patronized, sounds so much like liberal denial of reality to me.

But then, I guess I am a declinist. I see our demise coming and I see no way to stop the CBD from destroying the nation. It's happening. The CBD is nothing but fear and uncertainty masked by hubris and fanaticism while the few who can still reason prattle on about how to deal with it. There is only one thing liberals and conservatives have to face and its that they have nothing to offer. The human race is headed for extinction. There is only the path of magic for the rare individual who steps between the cracks of two worlds and finds the garden of Eden within his own soul.

The fool on the hill stands perfectly still......as his guitar gently weeps....

Everything is heading towards extinction. The entropic arrow points in one direction only, and at the end of that path is desolation. Embrace the certainty of the nothingness you espouse, know that all your works will vanish into eternity.

 

[Moonbeam]

Everything is heading towards extinction. The entropic arrow points in one direction only, and at the end of that path is desolation. Embrace the certainty of the nothingness you espouse, know that all your works will vanish into eternity.

I don't have to wait for eternity. They vanished in you when you read them as I knew they would.

 

[Moonbeam]

It's happening

What do you suppose you are trying to say? The it's happening that Paul refers to isn't the it's happening that I did. Your links call for the facing of facts. I simply pointed out that liberals, the great facers of fact, can't face the fact that logic is useless. For thousands of years man has been offered immortality if he treats his neighbor as he wishes to be treated himself and you offer the same approach by an appeal to logic. The LBD can't get it that people are driven by unconscious motivations and are totally immune to reason. Liberal fear of irrationality and the chaos and insanity it produces has blinded them to the hopelessness of logical solutions. The only thing that can save humanity is the growth of awareness, self awareness of ones unconscious motivations.

Look at Greenman there. I say the CBD has condemned the human race and he comes back with the fact that the universe is destined for heat death, billions of years from now as if one equals the other. Any absurdity will do in a pinch if your need is to protect your ego.

I am saying to you that it matters not what liberals say. There is only one job for anybody who knows anything and that is to get liberals off their imbecilic horse that their reasoning means anything, and conservatives to understand that they create what they fear. We need a way to grow the awareness of how our minds work because our extinction will mean that all our logic and all our rationalizations will have been for naught. That is what is not happening.

 

[senseamp]

We are going to see a continued divergence between the educated progressive areas and backwards anti-intellectual reactionaries who'll keep losing ground.

 

[Smoblikat]

We are going to see a continued divergence between the educated progressive areas and backwards anti-intellectual reactionaries who'll keep losing ground.

They both suck. Both sides are completely useless idiots who are just circle jerking at the thought of making the other side look like idiots. Noone in office cares about you, or anyone else but themselves. They are trying to make money and retain power, thats all. Dont think the democrats are some sort of blessing on this country, they are a curse, as are the republicans.

 

[dmcowen674]

Considering the 21st century and what that means for America

The 21st century is very transformative and chaotic and America is very affected by all of these influencese. To say that this is only a time of corruption and catastrophes is to at the very least be nothing more than huge misunderstandings and ignorance.

You and the rest of the 1%ers have nothing to worry about so why the fuss?

 

[michal1980]

You and the rest of the 1%ers have nothing to worry about so why the fuss?

why are you worried, your checks will keep coming.

 

[Thebobo]

why are you worried, your checks will keep coming.

 

[norseamd]

How does dmcowen think I am actually a 1%?

 

[norseamd]

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Libr...4=186046&contextid775=175500&tabid=1455253446

 

[norseamd]

http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2015/01/01/americans-stop-saying-don-t-care/

 

[alcoholbob]

The Century is young. The 19th Century was the British Century, the 20th Century was the American Century, its yet to be determined if China can take the mantle in the 21st Century and also hold the world reserve currency as the two previous powers did. They've got a long way to go but a long time to do the right things.

 

[norseamd]

The Century is young. The 19th Century was the British Century, the 20th Century was the American Century, its yet to be determined if China can take the mantle in the 21st Century and also hold the world reserve currency as the two previous powers did. They've got a long way to go but a long time to do the right things.

You know to me America was maybe the most American in the 19th century. The fact that the world century of America was not when America was the most American is irony to me. Then again maybe the 18th century is the most American century of American history. The age of libre and intellectualism that gave prosperity and ultimately freedom to colonial America.

 

[alcoholbob]

You know to me America was maybe the most American in the 19th century. The fact that the world century of America was not when America was the most American is irony to me. Then again maybe the 18th century is the most American century of American history. The age of libre and intellectualism that gave prosperity and ultimately freedom to colonial America.

19th century America is similar to what's going on now in China. Mass industrialization leading to a growing middle class. It used to the annoying tourists with all the money were Americans, now that Americans are broke its the Chinese who have all the money to spend on tourism around the world. With production comes wealth. And like America in the 19th Century, China is interested in expanding it's sphere influence (like America did in South America in the late 19th century), sort of the first steps to a global empire.

You are right the 19th century feels distinctly American. That's when all the industrialists made huge fortunes building factories and selling goods across the world. The US dollar appreciated by over 30 percent from 1870 to 1914, so savers were rewarded with a dollar that was increasing in purchasing power and getting wealthier as a result. Carnegie's new steel production methods turned the Chicago's skyline into one lined with skyscrapers. Eddison and Tesla competed in inventions that would change the world, and NY city became the first to be wired with electricity--all done by private enterprise. All but one of the 100 richest Americans were born in the 19th century (Bill Gates).

But the 20th Century is when America went global. It turned its huge manufacturing base into a war factory, and the major torch passed from Britain to America happened at Bretton Woods when everyone agreed to pool their reserves to back the US dollar, as the pound was no longer sustainable due to massive printing to pay for warfare. Of course when America shipped its production to Asia it stopped being able to pay off its balance of trade with real goods, while up until mid 1980s the US was still the largest creditor nation on Earth, today it is the largest debtor nation, owing more money to other nations than every other nation combined. Now we pay for goods and services with paper money printed at the Fed. When the reserve currency status is lost, so will that privilege. The question is when.

 

[shady28]

You know to me America was maybe the most American in the 19th century. The fact that the world century of America was not when America was the most American is irony to me. Then again maybe the 18th century is the most American century of American history. The age of libre and intellectualism that gave prosperity and ultimately freedom to colonial America.

When a nation hits its peak, it transforms into something other than what brought it to that peak in the first place.

By definition that has to be what happens, because if the nation still had what made it great in the first place it would not be at its peak.

Best explanation I can think of for the fall of empires is this :

"A complex entity should fall in a complex manner, and I think it is correct. In Tainter's view, societies always face crisis and challenges of various kinds. The answer to these crisis and challenges is to build up structures - say, bureaucratic or military - in response. Each time a crisis is faced and solved, society finds itself with an extra layer of complexity.

Now, Tainter says, as complexity increases, the benefit of this extra complexity starts going down - he calls it "the marginal benefit of complexity". That is because complexity has a cost - it costs energy to maintain complex systems. As you keep increasing complexity, this benefit become negative. The cost of complexity overtakes its benefit. At some moment, the burden of these complex structures is so great that the whole society crashes down - it is collapse. "


Hmm....

I tried to find out how many laws total there were in the USA, but all I found was reference to ~40,000 new laws that go into effect each year. Refs were in 2010, 2012, and 2013.

At the federal level, no one knows that either. A few attempts have been made to count them, but all have failed.

http://www.kowal.com/?q=How-Many-Federal-Laws-Are-There?

"When federal laws were first codified in 1927, they fit into a single volume. By the 1980s, there were 50 volumes of more than 23,000 pages.

And today? Online sources say that no one knows. The Internal Revenue Code alone, first codified in 1874, contains more than 3.4 million words and, if printed 60 lines to the page, is more than 7,500 pages long. There are about 20,000 laws just governing the use and ownership of guns."

 

[alcoholbob]

I like to call the reserve currency status a rope that others give you to hang yourself. Remember back in the 1960s, we embarked on that insane project where we built the Saturn V, a launch vehicle so massive it had 5 times the heavy lift capability of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle, and the first stage of rocket boosters used more energy than the United Kingdom's power grid at peak usage. We were doing this at a time we were initiating the War on Drugs, War on Poverty, the Vietnam War, while 8 Bretton Woods nations were dumping over a million ounces of gold on the London Gold Exchange to prop up the US dollar. America's gold reserves in a way does a great way of illustrating the decline of American production.