Archive for January, 2015

Over Over-Population: 10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015)

Posted in Bush, Energy, Environment, Global Climate Change, Population on January 26, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “If one assumes a reasonable and sustainable quality of life for each person, the carrying capacity of the Earth is about 500 million human beings.  At almost 7.3 billion little miracles and counting, we as a people are more than 14 times over gross.  Even if the carrying capacity is a quantum level higher at 5 billion souls, the population exceeds capacity.  With deficit spending, we are effectively spending and consuming today for 10 billion consumers or twice the most expansive gross carrying capacity of the Earth.  All of Mother Nature’s resources are pledged and committed which leaves us with nothing more to sacrifice and consume.”

0          “That is gross.  They say we are spending the kids’ and the grandkids’ money.  We are actually consuming their resources without permission or reflection.  Too many of us are devouring resources for two.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

7.3+ billion persons + deficit consumption = 10 billion ‘consumption person’ units

7.3+ billion persons x 1.33 deficit consumption multiplier = circa 10 billion ‘consumption person’ units

“I don’t believe in global climate change, but personally I do believe that the climate is changing quickly and I now believe that man may be partly responsible.”

“The American way of life is not up for negotiations.  Period.”  George H. W. Bush.  “Correct.  I do not negotiate, son.  I impose.  Exclamation point!”  Mother Nature

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Quantitative Easing = Money Printing (January 19, 2015)

Posted in Deflation, Economics, Federal Reserve, Inflation, INFORM Act, Money, Quantitative Easing on January 19, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A          “‘Quantitative Easing’ sounds so academic and antiseptic and . . . surely sound.”

B          “And nebulous enough to fool a frightened public that does sense that something is wrong.”

A          “When you cannot do anything positive and you feel a compulsion to do something, should you do something negative?”

B          “It is doing something.”

. . .

A          “The Federal Reserve has been ‘printing’ more money and passing it to the wealthy for a half-dozen years.  The money is not making a demand on resources right now, so there is no systemic inflation yet other than rises in the prices of basic necessities.  The general public does not have enough money to make substantial demands on resources, so some prices are even heading down.  The Federal Reserve ‘electrons’ are driving up the stock market and leading some to conclude that all is good in the land.  When the money meanders into the economy and begins to make demands on resources that also may be in short supply, prices will go up.”

B          “Limited deflation then inflation if not hyperinflation.  Coming to a nation near you.”

. . .

A          “When someone discovers that printing money is the problem, how will the Federal Reserve react?”

B          “‘Print’ more money.”

. . .

[See the “Intergenerational Financial Obligations Reform Act” (INFORM Act) discussed at http://www.theinpformact.org/.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Quantitative Easing:  Coming (Back) To A Nation Near You

Quantitative Easing 4 = Money Printing (4th Edition) ?

Print, baby, print

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Monitoring The Masses:  The Card And The Chip (January 12, 2015)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Boycott Series, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Crime/Punishment, Cyberactivities, First Amendment, Freedom / Liberty, Gold, Guns, Our Future?, Plastic, Pogo Plight, Police, Privacy, Silver, Society, Technology, Terrorism on January 12, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

X          “Failure to present The Card, even when there is no cause or provocation, will result in immediate incarceration and summary disposition.  If The Card is not physically maintained within a fathom of The Chip, The Chip will transmit a warning signal to Headquarters and trigger an unwelcome visit.”

Z          “I hear you.  Coming to a country near you.  Everyone is now familiar with a credit, a debit or an EBT card, so the transition will be unnoticed and unchallenged.  All movement, travel, purchases and sales will be monitored at all times by The Chip implanted at birth without permission.  Cash will be non-existent and free movement only a memory.  A few rebels may barter surreptitiously, yet bartering will be more than a mere failure to report income and will also result in immediate summary disposition.  Possession of any precious metals such as Fe, Pb, Au or Ag will be strictly prohibited and swiftly prosecuted.”  

X          “Plastic cards have encouraged excessive over-consumption to date, yet they could also be used to ration scarce resources in the future.  Market the idea to the public with unrelenting fear.  ‘We’ need to adopt the system to protect us from The Terrorists.” 

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.

Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s political and economic fact.

Are your papers in order?  Is your plastic in order?

When the big boys make a run on the bank and demand a repatriation of their gold, should the little guys make a run on the bank and demand a return of their fiat dollars?

Nous sommes Charlie?  Is the concern freedom of expression for all or only for some?

Boycott TurboTax:  See Internet

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A Decade Of Fun (January 5, 2015)

Posted in Blue States / Red States, Writing on January 5, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

S          “Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity. Guidance from the handbook for ham operators.”

J          “Abstruse, Bloviated and Cryptic.  . . .  On occasion?”

S          “Hamming it up.  On more than one occasion.”

. . .

S          “One week a law review, the next an economic journal, followed by a foreign policy tract and then a social discourse.  And every week, ‘e-commentary’ aspired to be a weekly literary adventure.”

. . .

S          “Tom Clancy observed that most military and defense secrets are publicly available in ‘Aviation Week & Space Technology’ magazine and other sources.  He stirred plot and characterization into the mix to cook a potboiler with insight.”

J          “An international thriller every few weeks this year?  That should be thrilling.”

S          “Every week is a thriller.  First understand the ‘Box.’  Assemble all the available and inscrutable and obscure and arcane information in a pile.  Connect two dots cautiously and carefully pencil in to craft the first line.  Proceed with caution and care to connect a third dot and proffer a plane.  Pen the right lines, erase connections between the wrong dots, and then distill, titrate and edit to craft a convincing and compelling production.”

. . .

S          “If I could see the bar, I raised it.  And then raised it again for good measure until it was out of sight.  And measured twelve times, wrote once.  The final product may be . . . measured and out of sight?”

. . .

S          “After ten years of careful observation, ‘blue’ and ‘red’ not only cannot see eye-to-eye, they cannot see each other and cannot stand each other and cannot sit down together.”

J          “They just do not play well with others.”

. . .

J          “Forget it.  ‘Conservatism-cum-a-four-digit-I-Q’ as a political, economic and social movement will never catch on.  You only get one word.”

S          “That gets one back to the fundamental challenge.  Why even try?  They say there is nothing that one can do.  They are right.  Yet I write.  Is that absurd or insane?”

. . .

S          “And a lot of fun.”

. . .

[See the discussion at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/arts/writers-say-they-feel-censored-by-surveillance.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news.%5D

[See the e-commentary at Writin’ (February 17, 2014) and So Many Words, So Few Ideas (Sept. 21, 2009).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

investigate, interpolate, extrapolate; titrate, distill, edit

Measure twelve times, write once

Peg it, and peg the fun meter.

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