The Socialists Among Us!

I ran across a comment recently that made me want to make a point, but I didn’t feel that it would make any impact in this “drive-by” comment culture, and my thoughts were lengthy and not suited to a comment. So I decided to gather my thoughts and write a little article, not so much to enlighten you, my dear reader, but to have my thoughts gathered for future reference for myself, and my endeavors.

So now, on to the comment:

"Socialism is a collective controlling goods and resources. I doubt any person could be elected by saying they planned socialism as a governing strategy. To state a plan to impose socialism would certainly ensure a change in the next election.

Who am I talking to? I am not sure. I think most people on this thread are violently opposed to the way I think and what I believe in, so I am just putting it out there as another POV"

This is a fairly normal “drive-by” comment that can be read (and ignored) everyday on any social news site on the Internet; but the word that stuck in my mind is the word “impose”.

In college I happened to take a class on Darwin the semester before I took a class on Marx. I immediately understood that one was connected to the other, that while Darwin was writing about past human evolution, Marx was talking about further evolution. Marx was quite aghast at the “communist” revolution, and my favorite quote of Marx is when he said, “I am not a Marxist,” meaning he didn’t support violence and that he was writing of slow evolutionary changes.

And that’s how I always thought of socialism, a slow evolutionary change, definitely not somehow imposed on people, which doesn’t really make any sense whatsoever…

Now, let’s move on to some things I have been researching lately.

First, North Dakota Mill “The mission of the North Dakota Mill is to promote and provide support to North Dakota agriculture, commerce and industry. Provide superior quality, consistency and service to our customers. Grow the business and provide a profit to our owners - the citizens of North Dakota. Conduct our business with the highest integrity so that our employees, customers, suppliers and owners are proud to be associated with the North Dakota Mill.”

From https://www.ndmill.com/history.cfm “The North Dakota Mill receives no funds or financial assistance from the State of North Dakota to subsidize the milling operations. Selling value- added milled wheat products to bakery and pasta customers, as well as retail and food service suppliers, generates all operating funds. Over 90% of sales revenues are derived from customers outside the State to create value-added income for the State of North Dakota. The North Dakota Mill supports the local economy with a payroll of $7 million annually.

The North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association has contributed in excess of 50% of its profits to the North Dakota State General Fund for more than 35 years and continues to be a valuable asset to the State of North Dakota.

The North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association is the only state-owned milling facility in the United States. The North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association has, over the years, worked cooperatively with state agencies in promoting North Dakota and its high quality products by participating with and hosting international trade teams and serving as a resource center for training, research and testing.”

I emailed them and asked about other state-owned corporations and the reply said they only knew about the Bank of North Dakota,

“BND’s longstanding mission nor its roots in Bismarck, North Dakota, as the only state-owned bank in the nation, has changed. Our mission, established by legislative action in 1919, is to promote agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota. In this role, the Bank acts as a funding resource in partnership with other financial institutions, economic development groups and guaranty agencies.”

Hmm, and I poked around some more, and found this:

More States May Create Public Banks “By 2011, only one state will have escaped the credit crunch that is pushing other states toward insolvency: North Dakota. North Dakota is also the only state that owns its own bank. The state has its own credit machine, making it independent of the Wall Street banking crisis that has infected the rest of the country.

Now, several states are either studying the prospects of a state-owned bank or are considering legislation to make one possible.

Five states have bills pending—Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois, Michigan, and Virginia. ... Candidates in eight states are running on a state-owned bank platform: three Democrats, two Greens, two Republicans, and one Independent.” (Contrary to the “drive-by” commenter’s POV.)

Furthermore, when a rural friend had complained that he had to drive quite a distance now for supplies, I encouraged him, with the help of the community, to re-open the local convenience store, and then I found this:

Build Alternatives to Big Boxes and How to open a community-owned store (PDF) “Citizens in a number of towns have formed community corporations, raised capital through local stock issues, and opened their own department stores”

Yes, apparently, quite a few communities have created their own stores.

They get people to buy shares at and then they have equity in the stores and control of their own future. If you poke around that site and find the map you will find that there are 19 community-owned stores listed there, but other websites cite many more.

Other articles:

• What is a Community Store? "Community stores are locally owned by community members in contrast to the distant, corporate shareholders of national retailers. Community-owned stores are designed by residents to meet specific local shopping needs at fair prices. Everyone in the community is given the opportunity to invest in the store by buying shares. Buying shares is voluntary and the store is open to everyone, whether they are share holders or not.”
• Community-Owned Stores Provide Alternative to Chains
• Radio soap spreads word about community-owned stores

Yep, it seems the socialists are on the move, possibly infiltrating your very own state, or your community, or your country! And it doesn’t seem that these are imposed on anybody, seems like these are communities or states voluntarily building sustainable futures.

Seems to me these people are evolving into socialists.

Too many thoughts!!

There is just too much that I have to say, too much that I want to say, that I am twiddling my thumbs and avoiding saying anything at all. Part of this problem is that I am very self aware, and somewhat lazy, and am really tired of humanity.

But I know I want to explain a few things to humanity and so I am going to do so, albeit in a very piecemeal manner, in my very disorganized manner -- which is why I'm creating these "pages" so that I can polish and consolidate my thoughts. Over and over I am confronted by the fact that I don't know where to start, that I don't want to deal with the ingrained hostility of humans, that I don't want to deal with the demands for instant gratification and the requirement that I must entertain the public to be heard.

But I am going to trudge onward, and within that toiling trudge onward I must acknowledge and deal with the reasons that I am going to trudge onward.

Perhaps something like the acerbic paragraphs above should be a permanent page, or an introductory text near the top of this blog. I will think about it.

Today I'd just like to point out a few things that I've already written, and will eventually expand and incorporate here.

Today I "seeded" a link to an article at www.1115.org at www.newsvine.com and made a lengthy comment.

And that sentence right there with five links in it is a great representation of our fractured realities.

And that sentence right there represents many further thoughts I have about our fractured realities. Each sentence

I type creates many further thoughts that I have, and if I stop to type those thoughts I get caught in a constant loop of typing many more sentences to elucidate and explain each previous sentence -- heck, I'm getting caught in such a spiral now.

I'd like to try to stick to one topic right now, but that is nearly impossible for me. But, let me start with fame and futility. It doesn't matter if I have any answers if nobody will listen; so to get anybody to listen I would have to pursue popularity, but I personally abhor popularity (and the pursuit thereof) and therefor it is a given that humanity won't listen to my ideas.

So there is my conundrum: I want to help humanity; but humanity only listens to popular ideas, humanity only listens to celebrities and big [media] corporations and doesn't want to hear new and innovative ideas; therefor humanity doesn't want to hear innovative ideas, even if they contain answers humanity really needs.

I'm blowing my own mind and am caught in a spiral and need more coffee...

(Notes to self: escapism; narcissism; intelligence; effort v. accomplishment)

Still out; just looking ...

I'm taking care of personal bureaucratic BS, but keeping an eye on the market... Heard the "news" about the yuan, see that the market is finally rolling over, and just wanted to post a big weekly chart of the SPX and the XLE just to highlight that we are an energy economy, and the turmoil in the energy markets (mainly because of BP) is having a major impact on the overall market.

XLE 6-mo/weekly

Notice the Fast Stochastic is starting to roll over a little "soon" so to say, looking kinda' bearish. Anyway, check out the next chart, the XLE, the "energy" Index and you can't but notice the similarity. I guess I could look up the weighting in the S&P and all, but you get the idea.

SPX 6-mo/weekly

OK, enough with the charts ... I'm gonna' start babbling about law and law school shortly ... you've been warned. Actually, in the near future I'd like to keep an eye on a few blogs and websites and post a few snippets and commentary, some market related, some just financial, or legal, or whatever.

oh well part II

well, I guess if I hadn't bailed my calls would have worked out,

now AKAM is breaking out, closing at the high of the day and all...

AKAM 2-mo/daily

Competition

I see economists of every stripe talking about what must be done and I always think how one-sided their view is.

We must have growth, we must cut taxes, we must raise investments, we must increase savings, we must cut the deficit, ... (If you have read a bit of other things I have written on this you can probably see where I'm going.)

We must do all of those things, but we must not obsess on any one of those things. More importantly, we must do new things. Almost every one of those economists and commentators will mention "innovation" and the need to invent more crap to sell to the consumers. 'Creating jobs in the clean energy industry' is a favorite and is often mentioned.

But this all reminds me of the "blogosphere" and how it seems to me that life is like a play where the entire audience is on stage and everybody is shouting their lines but nobody is listening to the words, nobody is commenting on the content or meaning or the meaninglessness -- the fact that when people use the word "innovation" all they really mean is doing basically the exact same thing that has been done before except now they've attached a decoration ...

True innovation isn't just thinking of a new product to sell -- true innovation starts with examining fundamentals and contemplating alternative approaches.

Capitalism is too competitive and usually benefits the individual corporation and to an extent the individuals within that corporation but harms society. We already have all of the answers, they are all laid out before us like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but we don't put the pieces together into a picture because they are in competition.

All of the pieces are fighting for themselves but nobody is fighting for completing the puzzle.

We, the corporate slaves, ...

FROM: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/oil_reaches_louisiana_shores.html

I stated in an email that "America planned to have an uncontrolled oil blowout," but I'm not sure that anybody puts one-and-one together anymore, so I wanted to elucidate.

Canadian regulators require drillers in the Arctic to drill a relief well at the same time as the main well. The BP disaster could have been avoided if the US had the same regulations for deepwater drilling. But, through our crude democracy we had come to an agreement, a 'social contract,' to deregulate everything and enhance profits. Therefor, the risk of investment to BP was lessened and we, in our collective consciousness, decided that when a deepwater blowout occurred we, as a nation, would suffer most of the environmental and economic losses.

The risk to BP was lessened by deregulation, the cost of gas was lower, the profit incentives to pursue alternatives were reduced, and "we the people" were content that we were reaping short-term material gains and knew that in the future society as a whole would bear the brunt of any harm. America believes in privatized profits and socialized risks!

BP may pay for the clean-up and may pay fines, but the nation has lost things that BP can't buy. If a man is wrongfully imprisoned for 50 years, and then he is released, do you think any amount of money would make up for those lost years? The money that BP will pay for this disaster is insignificant to BP, barely a few months normal profit, but the costs to the Gulf economy and environment are huge, and the affect on the human lives are incalculable. There needs to be a coin of the realm that represents both material and moral goods. Money doesn't replace what has been lost, you can't buy time, you can't eradicate horrible experiences, you can't speed-up the healing.

America's lack of regulation is de facto planning. America planned on minimal investment by oil companies and no expensive relief wells drilled at the appropriate time. Therefor America planned to have an uncontrolled oil blowout -- despite that many now act as though this is an "accident." If a person is driving down I-95 at 180 mph with no functioning brakes one would perceive that individual as planning on crashing .... and wouldn't think of it as an accident when it does happen.

A corporation taking huge risks with our property is not what I call a "free market," but apparently the majority of Americans do feel that way.

I believe a highway with NO SPEED LIMITS is dangerous. I believe unregulated corporations (pursuing shareholder profits to the exclusion of all other concerns, including disregard for national security, the environment, human rights, etc.) are dangerous to the USA, capable of more damage to the nation than any terrorist.

Gathering my thoughts so far...

I started this blog discussing that I am here to write, for various reasons, and that lately I have been feeling a great frustration with humanity and society about what I've called fragmented realities.

I've noted that we are all very self-involved and arrogant, believing what we are each doing or saying is important and that others should take notice and perhaps contemplate the meaning that is being conveyed and incorporate the new ideas into their own thought processes.

I've also vaguely tackled the concept that we all know is true, that the vast, vast majority is basically worthless information and is a distraction if you are trying to form clear and coherent thoughts, either for yourself or to communicate to others.

I just want to state that I comprehend that I appear arrogant and self-involved, and probably hypocritical. I believe that my value is in my own unique perspective, in that some things appear obvious to me while few others even mention the proverbial "elephant-in-the-room." So I am going to state the view from here even as I contemplate that both what I write and my perspective may be meaningless.

I believe this lack of perspective, the inability to even see other perspectives, causes great confusion and misunderstanding among society, and that even this 'inability to even see other perspectives' is one of the 'elephants-in-the-room' that are, intentionally or not, ignored or not allowed to be part of the debate.

So, to just get started down this line of reasoning I'm going to reference a current online article:

BP Gulf Oil Spill: 'This Is Literally a War We're In' - ABC News

That headline grabbed my attention, it highlights a 'fragmented reality'. We have a 'war on terror' which is as silly as a 'war on sadness' -- but actually using planning, and strategy and leadership are apparently not going to be tools to battle this disaster, we are going to let a foreign, for-profit corporation with their own private motivations and goals decide what should be done at each step. Americans will allow foreigners to destroy their lands as long as there motivations are greed and they use guile, but Americans will not stand for actions motivated by anger against this nation for its past actions.

Hmm, I guess I've devolved into sarcasm and should move along... Maybe what I'm driving at is America's and American's words and actions are disproportionate to what they say their actions are, and, as with individuals, actions speak louder than words. America spends great time, money and resources to wage this 'war on terror' but spend comparatively little to protect or enhance their own country or environment. I don't know, kinda' like a filthy guy sitting in a filthy pig-pen exerting all his efforts at shooting a bazooka at somebody a mile away who is dropping a candy wrapper on the ground... Put down the bazooka for a minute and take a shower, dude!

See Also: NASA satellite video traces the Gulf of Mexico oil spill

UPDATE, 2:40--just ran across this excellent article that expresses my views of the US governent's responsibility to the citizens.

Robert Reich: Why Obama Should Put BP Under Temporary Receivership
"The president should temporarily take over BP's Gulf operations. We have a national emergency on our hands. No president would sit by and watch a privately owned nuclear reactor melt down and the gulf spill is the environmental equivalent."

perhaps i should go read a novel...

Since I've started this blog I have repeatedly contemplated what in the heck I'm doing here, why are all these blogs here?

First off, everybody believes that what is happening in their own mind, their own thoughts, is very important. Since everybody is arrogant and believes they must tell their thoughts to everybody else, everybody is now a publisher. There are blogs, and podcasts, and Twitter, and web pages, and...

You get the idea. But in the past an individual would have to write thousands of pages and then convince a publisher to actually publish whatever had been written. In the old system there were obviously fewer things published because more people were required to approve, or encourage, the content.

It seems to me that there was less crap to wade through before everyone became a publisher... I believe the thoughts of some individuals are more "important" than the thoughts of many others. Now, I didn't say anything about those individual's lives, or their wealth, or anything. I'm just saying that most of what is written is not useful to people other than the author.

So there are millions of irrelevant and basically useless blogs out there that primarily serve the purpose of bolstering the author's ego and alleviating that person's boredom. Hmm...

does this matter?

I fall asleep with the television on and wake up to late night drivel. Ann Curry is on a late night show with Jimmy Fallon. She got stuck in an elevator for an hour and the entire little group in the elevator were twittering that the were stuck in an elevator. And she mentioned that she spoke at Wheaton College, only she had looked up the wrong Wheaton College and cited numerous non-graduates as graduates.

So I Google Ann Curry and find she is a reporter for some cotton-candy daytime show. Let me get tis straight--she is a reporter who makes millions to do a luxurious job and lives the life of wealth and extravagance and that is important, so she is paid more money to go on a night time show to tell stories about how she googles drunk, looks up the wrong college, and can't even address a college graduation coherently the next day...

Does any of this matter? In one way, no. In another way, it just highlights that individuals are no different than BP. Ann Curry is one lucky bitch--she gets awards and millions of dollars to DO A JOB and so that makes her famous, so she gets more money and can stay drunk as much as she wants and can piss all over an entire graduating college class. Aren't we so honored to have her earn more money on late night TV displaying her greed and avarice and callousness toward humanity in front of our eyes on late night television.

This only matters in the fact that all we have to do is turn on our televisions, look around ourselves, to see self-obsession and greed being displayed by giant oil companies and self-involved reporters, both with no other goal than gain a few of your hard-earned dollars, to detract from your wealth, only to fill their own material needs.

Is there any other goal in life than to somehow, anyway possible, to take other people's dollars? I truly wonder. Do humans have any other goal than exploiting other humans? Oh, right, exploiting the planet...

I climb out of bed and turn the TV off.

Grey Wolf

Obama criticism...

I just watched Pres. Obama's press conference and, while I have been an Obama supporter before, I am gonna' have to give him an "F" on the Federal response to the Gulf oil disaster.

FEMA or the Army Corp or whoever from the Federal Government should have been in charge from day one! Not 'supervising'. Obama said BP wants to stop this leak.

Yeah, now they do. On day one they were trying to capture a little more oil and they have wasted time and should not have been trusted to choose the response path to take.

With FEMA or the Coast Guard or the Army Corp of Engineers in charge, as well as advice from industry experts outside of BP, this "top kill" effort may have been used first.

Grey Wolf

the news, the news

The information we are inundated with everyday, the news, the news, the oil spill, Greece, fin reg, politicians and celebrities, it is too much. It complicates my 'simplify, simplify' strategy.

what I am whittling...

This is an odd format where one post is on top of the other; I understand it is so the newest post is on top for the reader, the visitor -- but for me as a writer it makes me 'feel' that I wrote the 'ending' first, which I guess is the novelty of the blog, it is a 'never-ending story', until it isn't.

So anyway, to continue with my thoughts from yesterday, which can be found just below this post ;-), I regret mentioning others in a possibly negative light, it shines a negative light back on me, however, I was actually talking about myself, framing my point of reference...

As I'm sending out emails and making phone calls for school and medical treatment and finances it occurs to me that I am fairly disorganized, my documents are scattered and I fail to construct realistic frameworks for dealing with the inevitable future information I will have to file or deal with.

And as I pondered on this, and my similarities with my cousin, and my dissimilarity to many much more control-type people, I didn't jump up and start managing documents, I contemplated if my relaxed attitude, whether my ability and inclination to ponder my own actions, whether these attributes are actually among my strengths ... one of the important things in life is deciding what we are going to do, without the deciding the do is out of your control, which amazes me about obsessive-compulsive control freaks---they actually have very little conscious control of their words or actions, it is almost pre-programed.

That is what I am whittling away at in my life at this moment. "Simplify, simplify," as Thureau would say. What is important, what is valuable, what is pleasant to do with my time and energy and money? Those are important questions, and it is important to take the time to do the asking of those questions.

I guess I am more concerned about organizing my thoughts and actions at the moment than I am in organizing documents and contact information.

Grey Wolf

You're crazy, I'm crazy

The world is fragmented and everybody concentrates on their own areas of interest and disregards or dismisses tangental factors.

We live in fragmented realities. It is easier to see in others than ourselves. I can look at my ex with her current 2010 complaints of a possible rare and incurable ailment and see little difference with her complaints of a different 1990's possible rare and incurable ailment, and I'm sure ten or twenty years from now she will complain of another possible rare and incurable ailment.

(My ex has many other fine qualities and is an overall great person, and I have many flaws and faults of my own which I will discuss in depth in the near future. In real life we can't talk about reality, I couldn't say these things to her as she would grow defensive and react by attacking me--arguing with me, belittling me, etc, etc, resulting in negative progress on all fronts. I have asked others to point out the same type of flaws and logical inconsistencies about me, but they usually won't, obviously fearing that I will grow defensive and react aggressively. -- Think about that little phrase I just threw in there, it means a lot -- "In real life we can't talk about reality..." I am writing anonymously and honestly here, take heed!)

She needs people to express compassion, she is very needy, and she is my ex. But I grasp her as an example only to illustrate a larger point and only because of my familiarity with the subject.)

Cognitive dissonance. Where a belief trumps a fact. You know something, but a belief over-rides what is known as a fact. Two or three examples...

The classic example is of some primitive peoples believing that killing a certain species of animal would cause rainfall. "The Indians thought that killing a buffalo would bring rain" and that type of thing.

A more moden example is a cult believing that an alien goddess would visit on a certain date. After the date passed some members left the group but others created rationales and stayed. "The goddess is pleased with our devotion and she has postponed her appearance."

Basic logic and appreciation of reality make these situations unacceptable to most people. To an extent, not realizing our own absurd tendencies is a type of cognitive dissonance. My ex, if she did serious self-analysis, would clearly see that an individual with her tendencies is rather pathetic and, by spending so much time and energy generating pity, is not utilizing her abilities to their fullest.

Let's leave my ex out of this for a minute and cite a few of my relatives. My mother is extremely arrogant and passive-agressive and she also often plays the pity card. She will say, "Oh, I can't do anything right." But as soon as she is out of sight she will secretly try to "fix" a minor problem that you mentioned ... usually with disastrous consequences. She can cite the fact of her numerous blunders, but she firmly believes that she is more skillful and intelligent than any other person she has ever meet--and she acts on that belief despite the vast amount of data contradicting those beliefs.

A cousin, who is fairly intelligent and works in a mid-level labor job and makes a comfortable living, but he always mentions going back to school, or starting a business, or investing in something, or fixing something up ... But none of these things ever come to pass, there are cars to be worked on in the garage and the house needs serious work, and in his mind one day all of these things will be taken care of ... now some of this is laziness, true, but some is slightly delusional. But they are delusions he truly believes. He believes he is industrious, but he doesn't need to accomplish anything, he just needs to believe he will accomplish all of these things one day. Of course, when he finally has to admit to himself that 'one day' has come and gone, he will find a new rationale.

So my thoughts on the human mind and the causes of our actions have prompted me to start this blog. I should have called it "You're crazy, I'm crazy" after that old book 'You're OK, I'm OK' because it means the same thing to me. Obviously, I am applying these same thoughts to a little examination of myself and my tendencies, and I see the most similarity with my cousin, to a lesser degree. I always see myself as a writer. I am not working for a publication or taking a class or working on a project, so ... so I'm not currently actively writing, and I need to change that.

So I am here to be doing something. I am here to write something significant about myself or society. I am not only here to write though, I am here to learn something significant about myself or society, and I am here to change something significant about myself or society. The pen is mightier than the sword.

Take care, I'll be back,

Grey Wolf