Debt, Consumer, Democracy:Work for Money

The debt ceiling, spending cuts and raising taxes are in the news. That's putting it mildly. It's a simple problem in essence. People should work. People should get paid for work. When one person doesn't work then at least one other has to shoulder that undone work. Our economy is made up of app. 70% of consumers. In other words , effectively 70% of us consume more than they produce. That's not sustainable yet it has been going on for decades. How is it possible? Technology provides slave-like work . We ship the jobs we refuse to do to other countries and thereby enrich others. And debt covers the rest of the shortfall. We borrow as a nation so we don't have to work. America's currency is a reserve currency of the world. I.E. it underpins the worlds economy. Yet we borrow more than we produce. That's also unsustainable . So the reserve currency status is in jeopardy. Which means that if we lose that postion prices will rise. Which will further exacerbate the debt and lack of work issues.

In the future we will have to work more. At the least our economy will have to be 50% manufacturer and 50% consumer.

U.S. In Iraq & Iran : Finally Getting It Right

For the past 5 years the U.S. has suffered defeat after defeat in the preemptive Iraq War debacle. Unphased the U.S. now is considering expanding the mess into neighboring Iran. Even if Iran didn't respond to American targeted bombing, worldwide commodities funds would drive the oil futures market up minimally to $175.00 /bbl. That would further cripple our economy and may cause a collapse in tangental economies. It would also exacerbate the world food crisis. But of course Iran would respond and the fallout from a preemptive war in Iran would severely greater to world economies.

It's a truism that " People who can't remember can never learn". And so if people refuse to learn from yesterday in Iraq, today in Iraq and all those tomorrows in Iraq then it will get worse. So how will it all end for the U.S. in Iraq and the Middle East? We will lose big. And then and only then will America finally come up with a sustainable Middle East policy.

The implied corollary to this predictable outcome is that preemptive war is not a wise policy and by extension all preemptive wars SHOULD BE LOST lest they become a bad habit.