A friend sent me this piece he wrote today in response to current events. I find it very appropriate and thought you might also enjoy it.

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IMPENDING DOOM : 2009 - 2012
or “The Ultimate Demise of Capitalism”

When wars, conflict, or any natural disaster force an economy to collapse, those people who live most entrenched in the “system” will find themselves most at odds with how to survive after it. Survival is certainly the most basic of instincts. It doesn’t require any particular natural or developed intelligence. In fact, often those who survive best and prosper the most are those without a great deal of sensitivity. Being sensitive, it has been said, is like being born with two noses, “it just stinks up your life.”

Having seen the Congressional Committee question The Big 3, you surely came away with an idea of just how dire this situation really is. They think they can keep the patient alive, but it really is a terminal disease. This is what is so interesting about it. Last night, after we finished watching the news, I switch over to a movie channel and watched The Edge, with Anthony Hopkins. I’ve seen the move at least 3 times, but there was something in it I identified with from beginning to end, again. This time, it had a special significance, and I’ll go into why.

Nature is the great equalizer. It doesn’t care if we think we’ve sinned, or notice our righteousness. In Nature, there is no right or wrong, just consequences. In a way, the circumstance we find ourselves in is a kind of economical “Perfect Storm” in which war, natural disasters, and a failing economy have all come together at once. And, like Nature, no one entity could have orchestrated everything. I believe the negligence of the Bush Administration to the plight of the working class, and the systematic stripping away of our economic cornerstones by that neglect, and the previous administrations, has undermined and weakened the system’s inherit strengths and our independence.

Continued greed, and a consistent exploiting of the resulting weakness by opportunists so that a few could profit, at the expense of the many, has further reduced our strength. And, continues to do so. In the movie The Edge, a millionaire (Charles played by Anthony Hopkins) and his entourage of followers take a mini vacation and find themselves crashed in the mountains at the beginning of winter.

I see Charles as the spirit of innovation, and of capitalism. The plane crash, as the loss of their economic independence and security; the cold, hunger, and the desperation of being “lost” finally taking the ultimate toll on them, until it seems nothing more could go wrong. Then, a Bear begins to track them. The Bear doesn’t know about their plight, only that they are lost, and hungry. The Bear is hungry too. One of the weakest of the group wounds his self trying to craft a spear from a knife, and the blood attracts the Bear. Isn’t it always the blood?

It isn’t brute strength, or even cunning that deals the death blow, but the will of a man to bring everything he has to bear on a single point against a force that is always the same at its source. At this point, there are no options, but to eat the Bear, or be eaten by the Bear. The talking heads will bring us a steady dose of what the politicians say is happening, and for our day to day dealings, these descriptions will be adequate for discussion purposes. But for the struggle that determines our existence, we are the only ones who can determine what is required.

After the movie, I switched back to C-Span, and found another Congressional Committee at work. They now have the Mortgage Lending authorities in the hot seat. Mr. David Kittle who is the Director of the Mortgage Banking Association, along with the Director of Mortgage Finance and their legal components, who wrote all of the mortgage contracts, was each answering questions. The most important of which came down to this:

With all of the assistance granted by Mr. Paulson and Kashkari to Lenders (the list which we have seen with Citi Bank at the top), without any particular guidelines for them to follow, why hadn’t this latitude been passed on to those people being foreclosed on and forced out of their homes?

Mr. Kittle dodged this question repeatedly, returning to the legal aspects, the law, to processing and to every kind of detail imaginable. In short, they finally forced the question answered. And the secret was a sad one; less than 3.5% of the 2 million plus foreclosed loans had any attempt been made to re-work terms or to re-finance. The Bear is on the backs of the working people, and it is the credit we took, by ever increased dosages which weakened and paralyzed us, until, enslaved by debt, with our manufacturing shipped overseas and $650 billion a year transferred to Saudi banks for oil, the proud spirit of the great capitalist machine was finally dismantled.

Of course the $12 billion per month to Iraq, along with the $4 billion per month for Homeland Security have not helped much. As you pointed out, Bush has only checked the pulse every so often of the working poor ultimately footing the bills. They were producing, and there was little evidence of anarchy, or any uprising. So they just kept pouring on the debt; until it choked the system to a stop. The remedy diagnosed by Mr. Paulson?

More credit.

Now, the implosion has begun, and the money changers will fall hard, driven by their own tremendous weight upon the puny stick planted soundly against “the Rock” of the ultimate resistance.

There will be blood

This is a mind opening book that opens the door to new perspectives
and may lead one to happier pursuits.

You’ve given the world a map to lead through the chaos. You’ve provided meaning, and the answers to many timeless questions. I hope that all those who wonder will find this site!

Keep up the good work!

From a fellow God Pod.