Friends, the large drop on Wall Street today and the continuing turmoil in the world’s financial markets suggests to me that we are about to pay a heavy price for decades of largely unregulated, rapacious greed. And the people responsible are…wait for it…we, the people!

Yes, folks, the businessmen and bankers, the hedge funds, the speculators and the share market princes, etc, wanting to reap mega-profits and earn multi-million dollar salaries and share options, have, for decades,  been guilty of engaging in highly risky practices like investing in sub-prime mortgages, talking-up infinite profit expectations and borrowing money they can’t afford to pay back. They stand condemned but they are not alone.

No, Governments have also been riding the boom and, instead of warning that nothing lasts forever and urging restraint and by allowing the market to do whatever it wanted instead of undertaking their regulatory responsibilities, have been reaping extraordinary tax windfalls with which they can afford to buy their way back into office. All too many governments have borrowed excessively and allowed their debt to rise exponentially even to trillions of dollars. Sad though that may be, there is another group that must share some responsibility. And they are?

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"Go to hell, shit Yankees, we are a dignified people, go to hell a hundred

times," Chavez shouted at a political rally to thousands

of roaring supporters dressed in red.

Chavez does little to hide his hatred of the U.S. He is not alone. Perhaps bolstered by his increasingly friendly links with Russia, he has dismissed the U.S. Ambassador and threatened that , if provoked, he will cut off all oil supplies to America, his biggest customer (and biggest threat).

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1. The possibility of a nuclear war.

2. That you will lose a loved one (death, kidnapping, divorce, etc).

3. That you will be the victim of rape, violence or murder.

4. That you will contract a terminal disease (cancer, heart, etc).

5. That you will be judged unworthy by a vengeful God.

6. That you will end up destitute.

7. That you will end up alone.

8. That your Government will become totalitarian and brutal.

9. That global warming will make the world uninhabitable.

10. That earth will be destroyed by an asteroid.

Please pick the top three from this list and, via the comment box, share with us your main reasons. Also, would you indicate how often your fears intrude into your life (rarely, sometimes, frequently, mostly, always).

I knew that the fawning of John Howard towards America would have a negative outcome. Remember him?

He fully aided and abetted the demonic, militaristic, hegemonic aspirations of George Bush and now look what has happened: our newest Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has also become contaminated. He said recently (according to the Australian newspaper) that:

"Australia must therefore look to its own military resources and maintain a flexible land force able to contribute to "high-end military engagements".

"We need an advanced naval capability that can protect our sea lanes of communication and support our land forces as they deploy," he said. "And we need an air force that can fill support and combat roles and can deter, defeat and provide assistance to land and maritime forces."

Mr Rudd said the power of the US would decline relative to that of other nations in coming decades but that it would remain the world’s only superpower until the middle of the century and maintain its "global leadership role". 

America displaced? Shock! Horror! Sob!

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I just heard one of the warm-up speakers before Palin spoke (Romney I think it was) describe America as the Greatest Nation In The History Of The Earth.  The photograph demonstrates my reaction!

I’m sure the Egyptians, the Ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, the Indians (from India), the American Indians, Negros from certain Africa Nations, even the British would probably argue with this amazing proposition.

However, it cannot be argued that Americans (with few exceptions), with 5% of the world’s population, definitely have the biggest egos in the history of the world and, without doubt, have, as a nation with runs on the board like slavery, a civil war, Hiroshima, Vietnam and Abu Graib, etc, made the smallest contribution to human nobility.