Euro Oh Oh

Greece is on the lip of the abyss, and Italy is slipping towards it down the Silvio slime-trail.

Who would of thought the Euro-zone would end up like this?

Somewhat more than half of the British people, actually.

Those 'Euro-skeptics' who said 'No, mate' to their countrymen who wanted to join in the common currency, are looking much wiser today than when they dug in their heels to save the beloved Pound, irritating many and looking like obstructionists to the glowing dream of a United Europe.

Of course, the skeptics' reasoning wasn't exactly economic, it was a fight to retain British sovereignty, but that's a story for another time.

No, it's enough now to say the British pubs are probably buzzing with 'I told you sos ...'

They'd better enjoy themselves while they can, since the bill for Euro bailout will be coming soon, and I doubt they can dodge it, skeptics or not.

Shake and Quake

I am not a sympathizer with the Mayan 2012 end-of-times lunacy that's been raging in popular culture the past few years, at least ... not ... yet ...

Lately I've been forced to admit it is odd that we've had two of the five largest earthquakes in recorded history occur in just the past 7 years, both followed by two of the most devastating tsunamis.

It is also weird in the extreme that we've had an earthquake hit the Eastern US, shaking both Washington DC and New York out of their tectonic complacency.

And now, even stranger, a quake hits Oklahoma, where the wind sweeps gently through the plains (when it's not sand-blasting through as tornadoes, that is).

What next, a typhoon in Des Moines?

Which is all to say I am now a bit confused. You can blame weird weather on man-made global warming, but it's much harder to blame earthquakes on carbon emissions. Unless sucking all that lubricating oil out of the crust might be causing some sticking and cracking?

Or maybe, just maybe, the Mayans had something there. Could all their kooky modern-day adherents have something too? Can we be on the run-up to the end?

I'm still a skeptic, preferring to believe these are just natural events that aren't leading to some catastrophe predicted a thousand years ago; but, hey, I've an open mind and time left to ponder (I hope).

Idiots United

Anyone see the movie Idiocracy? Mike Judge may be this generation's Nostradamus ...

Scanning what passes for news this fine Saturday morning, I was seized by a sudden, unwelcome thought. Which, since misery really does love company, I have to share with you:

What if the technology which has been built for us by very smart people is acting to amplify, popularize, and entrench idiocy? What if we are started on a cultural path that will allow public and institutional stupidity to drown out intelligent thought?

Think about it. Before the computer and internet technical revolutions, smart people had plenty of avenues to share their intelligence with each other, to build on that common ground, and advance. Universities, research institutes, scholarly magazines, and symposia were there to allow the meeting of the minds.

Conversely, there weren't as many ways for idiots to unite and encourage each other's dumbness. Sure, there were the social clubs - the Moose, the Shiners, the Kiwanises (Kiwanii?), but there was always the chance their membership would include a smattering of smarties. Most idiots just sat at home and watched sports, or drank a pint down the pub with their happily stupid mates.

But things are different now. We have Facebook. We have blogging (no IQ test needed). We have Tweeting for Twits. The most idiotic among us can instantly and repeatedly share their thoughts, either solo or in combination with dimwitted compatriots. Idiocy can be amplified until it drowns out everything else.

And then we get presidential candidates who think China is just now seeking nuclear weapons (they got them in the 1960's), who believe past indiscretions won't be brought up during campaigns, and who believe that denial of already discovered truth works as a strategy.

Which is too uncomfortably close to that movie I mentioned in opening this post. Dullards, it seems, are everywhere and in all strata of society. Smart people are still out there trying to say their piece, but are increasingly out-shouted by the technologically-amplified stupidity of the idiots.

Huckabee Zen Moment

The Daily Show may be off on Sundays, but I managed my 'zen moment' from watching the opening of Huckabee on Fox News.

Mike's message today was in favor of taking the high ground in politics. He stated he did not question anything personal about President Obama, only his decisions on the issues.

That would be a welcome attitude, if not for the opening sequence to the show, in which a faux Obama tries out several costume options for Halloween, finally choosing to make himself King Barack.

So much for sticking to the issues, Mike ... but thanks for the moment of zen.

Time for the Un-Silent Majority?

A recent Time Magazine cover heralded the 'Return of the Silent Majority'.

My question: how do you tell when something that is 'silent' has returned? How do you know it left? Or that it ever existed?

If this majority returns, but is silent, what's the difference between that and staying gone?

It seems we identify such a group by adding up the un-silent factions and subtracting those numbers from the presumed general population. What remains is the majority, presumed to be silent.

But if they are silent, then why?

Maybe they have no opinion to voice.

Perhaps they feel that speaking out would not help. (Perhaps it might hurt?)

It could be they have outlets for their anger or frustration - like watching the Daily Show or torturing squirrels.

Maybe they agree with the extreme positions and aren't a majority of difference, just impassivity or placid acceptance.

In the end, why the majority is silent doesn't matter. It's the silence that is important. Or contra-important, because it minimizes an entire segment of the population, presuming that silent segment exists.

So Speak Up, Silent Majority! Time to groan, moan, whimper, or rage. Make any sound you want, but let us know you are out there.

Mister 999

Finally, someone proposes a simple plan. Albeit a crackpot one, it's still a plan. And it is simple.

Just as simple as the plan George McGovern had in 1972. His plan was to give most people a tax credit for $1000 dollars. I could have used a grand in '72, but hey, he lost.

OK, Herman Cain's plan is a bit less simple. It's based on a revision of tax codes to allow for a 9% personal income tax, a 9% business income tax, and a 9% national sales tax, hence '9-9-9'. (I wonder if anyone on the religious right has made the connection that 999 turned upside down is '666'. Oops, did I let the cat out of the bag ?)

So why 999? Why not 10-9-9, or 10-10-10? Why not 888 or 898 or 899 or 998? ( That last would connect well with classic Ducati superbike fans). Is it entirely arbitrary? Were the numbers pulled out of a hat? Whose hat?

I am not saying the plan might not work. I don't have the economic credentials to make that prediction. I'm just pondering the toss-off nature of the numbers. And I'm a bit concerned about that last one - the 9% national sales tax.

Here in California we have a state income tax that is about 10% for the top tier of earners. The sales tax where I sit is 8.75%. Does this mean that Mr. Cain's plan will give the top tier of CA earners a total income tax of 19% (presumably no loopholes) and all sales in CA will get taxed to the tune of 17.75%? I can live with that 19% on income, but nearly 18% for sales? What will that do to sales of big-ticket items like cars? Almost a Value Added Tax (VAT), isn't it?

I have my doubts this will fly if closely examined by those it will affect. Which means those of us already in the mid-tax brackets - the plan won't decrease our taxes much, and it might actually increase them, but it will boost the cost of purchases significantly. The folks this will help are corporations, the big income earners, and those individuals who incorporate themselves - they will have substantially lower income taxes, and sales tax won't be as burdensome to those with plenty of cash to throw about.

Which all goes to the point I firmly believe: Mr Cain's 999 plan is a devious scheme to fool the average guy and gal into thinking it is a reform of the tax code to make life simpler, when it's really just a simpler, more straightforward way for the rich to get richer and the rest of us to get soaked. It will hurt the 99 percenters more than the current system, while the one percenters get another huge break.

The joke of it all is that it's a ruse. The one percenters won't vote for it either. Because at base it is crackpot, and they know it.

Mr. Cain may have sold a ton of pizzas, but his latest 'topping' is a poisonous addition to the political discourse.

Like George McGovern in 1972, Herman Cain won't win, since simple plans only fool a few, or fool the many for only a short time.

Last Chances

I am not an alarmist by nature. A bit of a worrier, sure, but I don't read apocalypse into everything Fox News reports.

But I do believe our country is reaching one of those critical moments. You know, like perched on a 50th floor ledge with slippery shoes and not a firm handhold in sight. And the wind is picking up.

Only in my vision, the ledge-dwellers are us, the 99 percenters, and we've been shut out on that slippery precipice by the ruling few. They're inside, where it is safe and warm. Having a discussion over cocktails about who's policies are best for us. Or perhaps they're not having a discussion - they could be duking it out, mud wrestling for victory. But whatever it is they are doing, they've nearly forgotten about us.

The more desperate out here on the ledge are beginning to organize and plan. If the rulers inside don't open the window, throw us a rope, place a net, or do anything to help soon, who knows what kind of chaos might result. After all, we either need to get off that ledge, or die.

People are beginning to organize and protest, folks. There is a chance the 'occupy' movements, small now, may grow in the face of political stalemate and indifference at the top (mud wrestling to a draw in DC, followed by cocktails at the club).

As one of the folks out on that ledge who are still hopeful those inside will wise up, get a plan, and let us back in (or throw us a stout rope), I'm getting nervous about the wilder crew who are simmering on the windy precipice.

Their big hope (Obama) hasn't paid off. The possible alternatives are all completely unpalatable - at least based on the way those alternatives have described themselves in their campaigns.

We may have one Last Chance for those in power to show leadership, compassion, and a shared American vision. If the one percenters mess this up, what next? The ledge is slippery, and it's getting cold out here.