Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A Pharfetched Epitath of 1 Man's Legacy

I spend a lot of time thinking about what effect my decisions will have on my phuture and then I came to a realization that I can't be the only that does this. Other people, also, must be mulling over the if's and but's of life.

Other mere mortals have confided in me that they do the same. People I respect, people I care for, and everyday random people who seem to prevail over the challenges of life.

But then I'll see a clip of someone doing no such thing on every talk show in America. Dr. Phil has built his whole career upon the phrase "What were you thinking?" Often enough I run into people totally immersed in the kool-aide. Oblivious to the consequences of tomorrow.

The problem was that I was finding myself numerically outnumbered.

Then I really threw myself into a tizzy by asking if the "powers that be" were like me or more like the basket cases on the the talk shows??????????

Then I narrowed my focus to Alan Greenspan. Was he really fit for daytime talkshow fodder or did he think things through?????????

So, Alan Greenspan, what were you thinking ?????????
Do you plod on without a hint of forbearance? Or are the sooth sayings your lips blather out a result of deep contemplation of consequences?????

In 2000, I had an adequate number of functioning brain cells to figure out that the tech stock bubble was a load of bull and in the ensuing years I realized that housing in So Cal was another load of horse hockey. I made a well above average living and the bank was telling me the only neighborhood they would let me live in with a traditional fixed rate 30 year mortgage with a max monthly payment limited to lees than 30% of my monthly income was in Compton. But on the other hand if I wanted to go "exotic" on the loan I could live next to my income peers anywhere in SoCal that I wanted. Or, I could even live next door to my boss, if I wanted, all I had to do was avoid using simple math and not ask silly questions like "But what if I can't find a buyer or financing in two years to pay me more than I owe ?" This made no sense to me so I never purchased a home. Still don't own one.

But, Alan, you told me it was a good idea. You said banks should expand credit so that everyone could own a home in Compton. You said this was the greatest thing since sliced bread. You said that freeing banks from the burden of holding loans on their balance sheets would make everyone happy, rich and free to spend money.

So what is it, did you think this through or not??????

I am going to go out on a whim and make a bet that you thought this through, just like I did. That your not the perfect guest for Dr. Phil. That you are smart and purposeful. That you have a reason for your actions.

You sly dog, you did this on purpose didn't you. Props to you man, you pulled off the greatest act of cocksutery in the history of history. I have got to hand it to you, the finesse and style is top notch.

I am kind of surprised no one else has picked up on this before, I mean it just jumped out at me when I was reading it. You are like a super groupie fan of Ayn Rand. I mean she was right there with you when you got sworn in as the Great Jester of the Court aka Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors.

I mean come on what is a guy doing running a Government Sanctioned Controlling Authority of Wealth Creation who is also a bonafide buddy bud fan of Ayn Rand????? That is the definition of oxymoron.

I mean who in there right mind is going to appoint an extremist libertarian to that position? What kind of extremist libertarian disciple is going to be willing to work for the instruments of control over wealth???
It didn't make sense to me... then it hit me. This is like some weird mash up of Manchurian Candidate-Atlas Shrugged-Fountainhead all rolled up in one sneaky little man in a suit and coke-bottle glasses.

You little devil...you! Had us all thinking your just this bookish wonk with big words and fancy sentence structure. Only famous for being able to use more words than a Scrabble tournament to say absolutely nothing. The whole time your this mesh of John Galt/Howard Roark just bidding your time and spinning your web.

Man it is stunning to realize. You planned this all from the start. Sowing the seeds of destruction of the entire top down control of wealth right from within the belly of the beast itself. Epic man, epic......... I just keep getting stunned by the brilliance of it.

Ayn Rand would be spinning in her grave fast enough to light the entire planet if she lived to see the way we are now. I mean the whole point of Objectivism was about everyone living the life of an individual, free to flourish in a natural state. Now the State has declared the freedom of the individual and nature itself to be a threat to its continued supremacy and existence. The only things even remotely recognizable to an Objectivist, like Ayn Rand, would be the virtual and unnatural liberties of cyber space.

But you did it man, you did it...... Now all that is going to come to an end. I mean sure you had to break a few nesteggs for the greater good but I'm okay with that, in a way. Now I get to look forward to only relying on myself for my well being. I am up for the challenge.

I'm not sure the rest of them will be so admiring but this "punishment" really hurts you more than it will hurt them, right? They won't see it that way for a long time, but let me be the first to say so. Thanks for instigating the infliction of so much pain and suffering on the sheeple that they finally realize they could not depend on anyone except themselves for the own well being. Eons of people managed to do so before the 20th century, we might as well go back to what always worked.

I mean who was I kidding when I thought I could retire at 67 years of age in a few decades, while at the same time science promised me I could live to be 120 and the government would grant me the privilege to spend less than half of my years on this planet doing something productive. Thank you for deluding me of this silly notion.

Man... I'm still trying to take this all in....brilliant....Here we have a bonafide card carrying member of the Objectivist movement sitting there at the start of his career asking himself...."How do I live up to my principles?" "The whole system is built and run contrary to the way I want to live. I know, I'll go deep cover "Serpico" style on them."

"I'll sign up, salute, wrap myself in the flag and march up the ladder, straight into the Heart of Darkness itself (The Fed). Tell everyone everything is going to be okay. Carpe Diem, let them eat cake, bring on the bread and circuses...You have nothing to fear my children... everything you wish for, will be yours. The Secret is real!!!!!!!!"

And then when it is too late for them to realize what I have wrought, I will leave them. The legacy I will leave behind for them to follow will be to use the most words to convey the least meaning. They will continue on the easy path of debt creation. When troubles or worries surface I will sooth their hearts and minds with even more pithy and frothy rhetoric.

They will be drunk with comfort, indifferent to the life of perpetual debt service. Americans will marvel at their own prowess to create wealth from words alone. The rest of the world will look with envy and lust for all things American. And soon enough our admirers around the world will grow in number.

They will grow and grow until they themselves will be able to lust for the same things that Americans lust for and posses. Eventually those that toiled to make the items of lust for Americans will have many others knocking on their doors for the very same things. And soon enough, there will be so many that they will ask to take that which an American had asked to take for himself. And the tinkerer who toiled to make the lustful things will ask the American with what will he barter me for the trinket and the American will show him a piece of paper that promised to give him more paper in the future to barter with, but the others, several of whom had trinkets of their own to offer the trinket maker tempted him with the things he fancied. And eventually the trinket makers competed amongst themselves to see who could create the most dazzling lustful trinket that the other trinket makers would barter for. And soon enough the American found that no one, who still made things, would accept his pieces of paper that only promised more pieces of paper and the American went home with his hands empty and his belly growling because he had sold his last morsel to gather more pieces of paper to give to the bank in barter to live under his roof that he borrowed from the bank.

And they bought it, man, hook line and sinker.... Heck the whole planet got into kool-aide you brewed.

Now I know exactly how you must have felt as you read Atlas Shrugged as it was being written by Ayn. It is quite ethereal to watch the phuture unwind from your lips to reality. I mean it is like I am right in the middle of a Greek tragedy as it happens.

So tell me, when are you going to fill us in on the next chapter???????

I mean your plan up until know is so top notch AWESOME, the rest has got to be top-shelf primo stuff right??????

Where do we go from here? Is there some enclave a la Atlas Shrugged you have going? I know I'm not supposed to ask, as an individual, with help to get to the enclave, I just wanted to let you know that I am on board with the whole thing and just need a map or something I can follow on my own to get there, no help with directions or stuff. Just a big X on a map. I can figure out where the "you are here" button on my own. Throw me a Da Vinci Code bone here man!!!!!

If there is no enclave of self styled go-getters, who are going to live a happy life free of the tyranny of group-think nanny states, I can fend for myself. So it's cool if you don't manage to send a PDF of the "map" to my inbox. Its cool, no harm no foul.

Just toss me a little note that says you have more to the plot. Just a little something to let me know that this was all deliberate on your part. That none of this was just happenstance and shooting from the hip. I mean that's the least you could do for the guy that was the first to publicly realize your brilliance. Isn't it.

I sit here waiting for your acknowledgement, otherwise I don't think I can handle the idea that this was all just a bad day at the office for you.

1 comment:

Bron Suchecki said...

More please, far too much time between blogs.