Ticking Time Bombs
Predicting the Apocalypse is pretty easy. Chanting remain calm citizen... equally so. Actually working on a solution...that part is often punted down field into the unsuspecting hands of future generations.
When a serious problem is addressed it is pretty tough for most to suggest viable solutions. Recently, Paul Farrell brought up some issues which refuse to go away.
Every few weeks the heads cool of a bit...
We find a new Charlie Sheen, a new Arizona assassin a new bum with a voice of gold...
But the baseline issues don't leave us. They fester. This why they are frightfully poignant, nobody seems to know how to address or deal with them...
So we just punt...even though we're fast approaching four down territory.
The Bombs That Will Blow Up Wall Street
Tick, tock...
Tick, tock...
We have all watched the movie where our hero is confronted with diffusing a ticking time bomb as the clock races towards zero. A few factors are ever present:
There are the requisite tension building music and sound effects.
A panicked supporting player is usually in the background squirming or screaming.
Finally, the entire town, city, state, country or world is on edge...
Our hero always cuts the right chord and saves the day.
If only reality were so exciting, so simple and so predictable.
In reality it takes a long time to make a big mess and even longer to clean it up.
There are rarely arch villains and super heroes, but plenty of disinterested unwitting goats and shepherds acting out the scenes of life's great big play.
Our generation faces issues which have gone ignored for too long.
With each passing tick of the clock we get closer to not having the punt as an option.
Will we cut the right chord or will we get to see a mushroom cloud above our own sky?
Here are the four villains we love to ignore:
The Usual Suspects
1) The Growing Wealth Gap
A WSO favorite if comments are evidentiary. Yet in 350+ comments, I couldn't find much in way of a plausible solution suggested. Is redistribution the only way? Does the government have to be involved? Are sloth and decadence the true cause? Are the fittest really surviving? What is actually going on here?
2) Doomsday Capitalism
The 800 lb. gorilla in the bullpen. The steady tilting pendulum of Morality vs. Madness,/em> daring to possibly tip over and spill. Farrell in fact has the stones to say something you'd never expect in the mainstream media...vulture capitalism always leads to anarchy. At what point does the logic of I gotta get mine become the law of the land...
Perhaps we are there already? Or worse yet... have we already passed it?
3) War Machine vs. Budget
Who are the real beneficiaries and victims of U.S. Foreign Policy? Can global security and domestic prosperity really coexist?
What would actually happen...if our boys really did come home?
4) Population explosion vs. Finite resources (natural and manmade)
In the next generation, the global population will skyrocket towards 10,000,000,000.
Jobs are already in short supply and so are resources...tick...tock.
Let's try and ignore the populist aspects of Farrell's prose when he writes:
Bottom line: Forget jailing Wall Street’s dictators. It’s naïve and too late. We missed that opportunity. But a revolution will do the trick, give us a second chance to jail the crooks.
Let's try and focus (for today, at least) on how we can solve or at least engage one of the previous four issues.
The Final Four will be in Houston in less than a month...
I know none of our four horsemen will be corralled by then.
But will they ever?
How?
2) Doomsday Capitalism
The 800 lb. gorilla in the bullpen. The steady tilting pendulum of Morality vs. Madness,/em> daring to possibly tip over and spill. Farrell in fact has the stones to say something you'd never expect in the mainstream media...vulture capitalism always leads to anarchy. At what point does the logic of I gotta get mine become the law of the land...
Perhaps we are there already? Or worse yet... have we already passed it?
I personally think we are there and picking up speed. At the moment I can't think of a solution to this, people do what ever it takes to put themself in position to get what they need at the expense of others.
Damnit, I thought this post was going to be about sexually oppressed suburban wives....such a let down.
The population explosion I don't know enough to speak about, but on the other issues:
The wealth gap will not be so much of an issue provided the economy picks up and the quality of life for the average person is good: the huge wealth gap is more about POWER than spending, and most people don't care about that if their day to day lifestyle is decent. The trouble could start if the concentration of wealth....of power....gives those at the top the notion that they can now abuse their power. Seeing Buffet come out and speak the truth shows that he has a concience, which legitimizes his position: he can be trusted. If the super rich take the Paris Hilton / Charlie Sheen approach and are irresponsible, then yes, our worst fears will come true. On a side note, I would love to see Bill Gates on a bender just once....c'mon man, show me you're human.
I see the backlash against unions at the state level as the best thing for our country. With respect to entitlements and military spending, I am optimistic, and here's why: The debate has shifted and is putting military and entitlement spending in the same category: SPENDING. This is a very healthy developement, as it decouples party politics from actual decisions and good ideas. For decades, one party would take one issue, and another party the other issue. This led to people promoting one at the expense of the other, but with the result of both going higher. NOW, the overall budget and the integrity of the system itself are in question, so cuts in every area are part of serious political discourse.
Interesting note: taxes were lowered at the start of the GWOT. Lowering taxes in a time of war of this scale is unprecedented. Wars are expensive, and this was very irresponsible.
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