“I’m sorry, my Love. Please don’t take it personally. It’s just that
I don’t like women anymore. I prefer other men now.
And small boys! And big dogs!”
“Thank heavens, Ralph! Finally I can tell you. I’m madly in love
with my vibrator! And the fruit bowl.
And your black shoes!”
“You’re sick, Katherine!”
“And you’re amusing, Ralph.”
Friends, after reading a report on Al Jazeera this morning I had a quick look at Wiki under Defense Contractors. It revealed some interesting information. The following is a ranked list of the world’s major Defense Contractors (these are private companies which supply armaments, warships, fighter planes, tanks, munitions, logistic support, etc, to Governments).
Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 come from the U.S. and include names like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Gruman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, L-3 Communications and United Technologies. That’s 7 out of 10 and only BAE of Britain (which ranks third) and Eads E.U. (which ranks seventh) provide any competition!
Now these industries do make non-military products as well (Boeing for example produces civilian aircraft) but for many, the bulk of them are mainly engaged in making goods which are designed to be used for war, gazillions of trillions of dollars worth. For example Lockheed spends 92% of its production to this end, Boeing 48%, Norththrop 77%, General Dynamics, 79%, Raytheon 93%, etc. BAE Systems of Britain tops the list with 95% of its production used for producing weapons of war!
Now it is no coincidence that the U.S. and Britain are partners in many wars and it should come as no surprise that both these countries, America in particular, have a vested interest in endless war because such a huge amount of their manufacturing industry is involved in preparing for, or being engaged in, war.
Also, America, with its huge military (which is spread all over the world), has a huge number of uniformed people who also need war because it provides them with salaries and opportunities for promotion.
“…and the U.S. will emerge stronger than before,
bigger, more powerful, far more superior,
undoubtedly more mighty,
infinitely more majestic,
profoundly more…”
“Charles, I could dance all night! Isn’t it great to be alive?”
“Darling, I wouldn’t be dead for a million bucks!”
“I’m so glad I’m human! I’d hate anyone to pull MY strings!
Wouldn’t you?”
“Come on, Sweetie. Off to childcare you go. Mummy has to pay
for her BMW! Daddy has to pay for his Porsche!”
It is an old, old nursery rhyme, one that most kids have sung. Perhaps it should have new lyrics written for it, something that is relevant to the year 2009. How about:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,
You must wonder what we are.
Up above our world so high,
What happens here must make you cry.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,
Could I come to where you are?
THIS CAUSES…
THIS!
Friends, an article on Al Jazeera has prompted me to reflect upon where we might be headed in the future as, uneasily, we sit among the spreading ruins of the world economic system. The article was entitled, A Financial House Of Cards by Mark LeVine, an economics Professor. Please read it (link in Sidebar).
The article details how the world went on a spending spree of unparalleled proportions, all of it funded by easy credit which included remortgaging one’s house, no interest loans, credit with no repayments for several years, and credit given to people who were unemployed or who didn’t earn enough to meet the repayments, etc. The mantra was: you can have anything you want and you can have it now!
The banks and finance companies made it all possible and the Business Barons licked their lips! So people got caught up in the madness and, believing the mantra and seeing all the cheap consumer goods, borrowed themselves silly and, for a time, everyone was happy. World stockmarkets reached into the stratosphere and real estate values soared and it looked as though the party would never end. Well, it has but some folk don’t want to believe it!
And now we wonder about the future while world leaders run in circles trying this, trying that, but the collapse continues and unemployment grows and recessions begin to turn into depressions. There is talk of more strict regulation of financiers and banks, the opening up of tax havens, spending our way out of the mess, etc.
Levine said, “After all, a long-term drop in global consumption is one of the few conceivable ways to stop the slide toward the tipping point of global warming and environmental degradation, not to mention the increasingly violent resource wars and global poverty, that are the inevitable outcome of a world economic system premised on limitless growth and consumption.” The emphasis is mine!
Friends, I continue to be fascinated by the unfolding story of Stanford and Madoff. It is not a matter of the tall-poppy syndrome but more one of being completely mystified by the behaviour of these two obviously intelligent people.
Both of them were billionaires. As billionaires they had the funds to purchase all the ‘best’ things that the material world has to offer (keep in mind that what looks ‘ best’ may prove to be psychologically destructive). They had a certain notoriety, castles in Spain, luxury motor yachts, who would know?
Yet these two men, using a Ponzi scheme, carried out massive frauds, Stanford’s involving 9 billion and Madoff’s involving 50 billion. The scheme was simple: offer impossibly high interest rates then use the money of later investors to pay high interest to the initial investors. The idea is that each new wave of investors provide the money to cover the interest of those behind while the fraudsters use the capital for, well who knows what: more shares, more real estate, more gold bicycles?
But what happened was that we had a world financial crisis and the new investors dried up and the value of the shares and real estate fell dramatically and Madoff and Stanford, egg on face, we stuck with paying interest bills with no new money.
Both men, at this point in time, are not in jail which, in itself, is a curious thing. Meanwhile those who invested because of the high interest rates on offer lick their wounds and wonder whether they’ll get any of their money back.
But the more interesting thing to me is: why did these men engage in a fraud that could only end in discovery, bankruptcy, and jail terms when they already had so much money that they didn’t know what to spend it on?
Friends, this photograph of a baby is very cute. Like all babies, its eyes are open and trusting. Its ears hear the sounds of the parents, of the world without discrimination. It is, except for its genetic instincts, a blank slate upon which many things will be written. By others.
The baby, like all others, has no defense mechanism, no thinking processes. It is entirely dependent. It does have some simple instincts: to suckle, to sleep, to cry if it’s uncomfortable. It just copies and imitates and is rewarded for so doing. It is a living blotter! It absorbs everything.
Slowly it learns. Slowly it begins to coordinate its limbs. Slowly it begins to recognize the difference between a smile and a frown, a soft voice and an angry one, a cuddle and a smack. That is how it begins to form an opinion about good and bad.
Faster and faster it learns. It smiles, it laughs, it begins to articulate. “Mum, mum, mum,” it murmurs much to the delight of its mother and to the disappointment of its father. Gradually it is toilet-trained and is introduced to picture books and letters of the alphabet and other babies.
Gradually, into the unsuspecting baby’s mind, we pour the mistakes of parents and the combined mistakes of generations of humans.