Self-deception is a game we often play. It can be tricky as we have to be both the deceiver and the deceived. But many today seem very capable of this feat. But in order to achieve this deception we must both know something and not know it all at the same time.
Nevertheless, deceiving oneself is more of a way of being hopeful, or raising ones expectations, of wishfully thinking of what could be.
On the other hand, self-deception can be compared to a totalitarian regime in that a person is willing to rewrite their own history and change facts to portray themselves as everything wonderful, good, capable, faultless, blameless and beyond guile.
There are 3 main illusions or traits that people participate in to achieve this perfect illusion:
1. People overestimate their successes and downplay their failures and bad traits.
2. People overestimate the amount of control they have in their decision making...taking credit where non is due.
3. People are too optimistic in the fact that only good things will happen to them.
It is remarkable that we can manage to deceive ourselves into believing our own self-deception. It seems to be an American ideal today. Possibly we are not only deceiving ourselves on how great and good we are, but maybe as a Nation we are deceiving ourselves that we are as strong and as infallible as we would like to think we are.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Could Totalitarianism Come to America?
Does totalitarianism look different in different regimes? What would a totalitarian regime look like in America? What would the object of perfection be? As we think back to the occurrences of 9/11/2001, we can see the many changes that have occurred in our country in the last ten years. It appears that the loss of our rights are given up in order to have the illusion of safety. We have given up our rights, for safety sake. Is freedom being taken away in the name of security? Has the meaning of America changed from the land of the brave, to the land of the safe? These were the questions asked in the introduction to Totalitarianism. It is gonna be a very interesting journey. We will study the aspects of totalitarianism from history in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union. Then we will apply the ideologies and take a good, hard look at America.
Monday, September 5, 2011
A Return To The Gold Standard?
More Wikileaks are being released and I will once again quote Gold Anti-Trust Committee. Gold is at new record highs $1909.70 up $35. The Dow Futures are down for tomorrows opening at 283 pts south.
"More news media-monitoring cables from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to the State Department in Washington show that both China's government and the nation's financial press, tightly controlled by the government, consider gold to be the main weapon in a world currency war that is under way.
The additional cables, published a few days ago by Wikileaks and located by GATA's Irish friend R.M., disclose that China thinks that the United States is trying to prevent China's foreign exchange surplus from being converted into gold because the U.S. and its European allies plan a return to a gold standard that will favor them because they hold most of the world's gold reserves.
China itself has acknowledged that it is rapidly building its own gold reserves to facilitate international use of its currency, the renminbi. (China's currency)
The citation of the gold-related commentaries by the U.S. embassy cables suggests that China's acquisition of gold is of great concern to the U.S. government as well."
"This time the quick change of the U.S. policy (toward China) has surprised quite a few people. The U.S. has almost used all deterring means, besides military means, against China. China must be clear on discovering what the U.S. goals are behind its tough stances against China. In fact, a fierce competition between the currencies of big countries has just started. A crucial move for the U.S. is to shift its crisis to other countries -- by coercing China to buy U.S. treasury bonds with foreign exchange reserves and doing everything possible to prevent China's foreign reserve from buying gold. The nature of such behavior is a rogue lawyer's behavior of 'ripping off both sides': taking advantage of cross-strait divergences, blackmailing the Taiwan people's wealth by selling arms to Taiwan, and meanwhile coercing China to buy U.S. treasury bonds with foreign exchange reserves and extorting wealth from the mainland's people. If we [China] use all of our foreign exchange reserves to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, then when someday the U.S. Federal Reserve suddenly announces that the original 10 old U.S. dollars are now worth only one new U.S. dollar and the new U.S. dollar is pegged to the gold, we will be dumbfounded. Today when the United States is determined to beggar thy neighbor, shifting its crisis to China, the Chinese must be very clear what the key to victory is. It is by no means to use new foreign exchange reserves to buy U.S. Treasury bonds. The issues of Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, trade, and so on are all false tricks, while forcing China to buy U.S. bonds is the U.S.'s real intention." (gata.org, 9-5-2011)
In my studies regarding the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty which was the rule of a foreign power, the Manchu, there were 5 key things that contributed to the decline:
1. The cost of defending Korea against Japan.
2. China paid large amounts of money to the Mongols to keep them from attacking (again).
3. The expense of Grand Construction Projects to repel Japan. (The Great Wall is really many Great Walls not just one)
4. The Ming Dynasty was dependent on International commercial trade. It traded porcelain and silk for silver. When the silver dried up so did China's money.
5. China had no monetary reserves to fall back on causing a severe financial crisis that undermined their defense.
Can similarities be drawn from the decline and fall of a great empire and our own empire of today? Are we making the same mistakes today that have caused failures in the past? Is China wiser today because of its history? Read the article above from GATA and make your own conclusions. Go to GATA and read more. http://www.gata.org
"More news media-monitoring cables from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to the State Department in Washington show that both China's government and the nation's financial press, tightly controlled by the government, consider gold to be the main weapon in a world currency war that is under way.
The additional cables, published a few days ago by Wikileaks and located by GATA's Irish friend R.M., disclose that China thinks that the United States is trying to prevent China's foreign exchange surplus from being converted into gold because the U.S. and its European allies plan a return to a gold standard that will favor them because they hold most of the world's gold reserves.
China itself has acknowledged that it is rapidly building its own gold reserves to facilitate international use of its currency, the renminbi. (China's currency)
The citation of the gold-related commentaries by the U.S. embassy cables suggests that China's acquisition of gold is of great concern to the U.S. government as well."
"This time the quick change of the U.S. policy (toward China) has surprised quite a few people. The U.S. has almost used all deterring means, besides military means, against China. China must be clear on discovering what the U.S. goals are behind its tough stances against China. In fact, a fierce competition between the currencies of big countries has just started. A crucial move for the U.S. is to shift its crisis to other countries -- by coercing China to buy U.S. treasury bonds with foreign exchange reserves and doing everything possible to prevent China's foreign reserve from buying gold. The nature of such behavior is a rogue lawyer's behavior of 'ripping off both sides': taking advantage of cross-strait divergences, blackmailing the Taiwan people's wealth by selling arms to Taiwan, and meanwhile coercing China to buy U.S. treasury bonds with foreign exchange reserves and extorting wealth from the mainland's people. If we [China] use all of our foreign exchange reserves to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, then when someday the U.S. Federal Reserve suddenly announces that the original 10 old U.S. dollars are now worth only one new U.S. dollar and the new U.S. dollar is pegged to the gold, we will be dumbfounded. Today when the United States is determined to beggar thy neighbor, shifting its crisis to China, the Chinese must be very clear what the key to victory is. It is by no means to use new foreign exchange reserves to buy U.S. Treasury bonds. The issues of Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, trade, and so on are all false tricks, while forcing China to buy U.S. bonds is the U.S.'s real intention." (gata.org, 9-5-2011)
In my studies regarding the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty which was the rule of a foreign power, the Manchu, there were 5 key things that contributed to the decline:
1. The cost of defending Korea against Japan.
2. China paid large amounts of money to the Mongols to keep them from attacking (again).
3. The expense of Grand Construction Projects to repel Japan. (The Great Wall is really many Great Walls not just one)
4. The Ming Dynasty was dependent on International commercial trade. It traded porcelain and silk for silver. When the silver dried up so did China's money.
5. China had no monetary reserves to fall back on causing a severe financial crisis that undermined their defense.
Can similarities be drawn from the decline and fall of a great empire and our own empire of today? Are we making the same mistakes today that have caused failures in the past? Is China wiser today because of its history? Read the article above from GATA and make your own conclusions. Go to GATA and read more. http://www.gata.org
Sunday, September 4, 2011
The latest Wikileaks is About GOLD
This is information that you really should know and try hard to understand. This is quoted exactly from the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee which got their information from none other than a Wiki-leak. The recession is coming (if not already here). This is the one thing you can count on to hedge your bet against the hard times ahead.
China knows that the U.S. government and its allies in Western Europe strive to suppress the price of gold, and the U.S. government knows that China knows, according to a 2009 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to the State Department in Washington.
The cable, published in the latest batch of U.S. State Department cables obtained by Wikileaks, summarizes several commentaries in Chinese news media on April 28, 2009. One of those commentaries is attributed to the Chinese newspaper Shijie Xinwenbao (World News Journal), published by the Chinese government's foreign radio service, China Radio International. The cable's summary reads:
"According to China's National Foreign Exchanges Administration, China's gold reserves have recently increased. Currently, the majority of its gold reserves have been located in the United States and European countries. The U.S. and Europe have always suppressed the rising price of gold. They intend to weaken gold's function as an international reserve currency. They don't want to see other countries turning to gold reserves instead of the U.S. dollar or euro. Therefore, suppressing the price of gold is very beneficial for the U.S. in maintaining the U.S. dollar's role as the international reserve currency. China's increased gold reserves will thus act as a model and lead other countries toward reserving more gold. Large gold reserves are also beneficial in promoting the internationalization of the renminbi." (The renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China)
"Wondering why gold at $1,850 is cheap, or why gold at double that price will also be cheap, or, frankly, at any price? Because, as the following leaked cable explains, gold is, to China at least, nothing but the opportunity cost of destroying the dollar's reserve status. Putting that into dollar terms is, therefore, impractical at best and illogical at worst. We have a suspicion that the following cable from the U.S. embassy in China is about to go not viral but very much global, and prompt all those mutual fund managers who are on the golden sidelines to dip a toe in the 24-karat pool."
Gold is money! If you would like to visit GATA or receive emails from them their address is:
http://www.gata.org
THE BEST RECESSION HEDGE IS GOLD. BUY GOLD! BUY GOLD! BUY GOLD!
China knows that the U.S. government and its allies in Western Europe strive to suppress the price of gold, and the U.S. government knows that China knows, according to a 2009 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to the State Department in Washington.
The cable, published in the latest batch of U.S. State Department cables obtained by Wikileaks, summarizes several commentaries in Chinese news media on April 28, 2009. One of those commentaries is attributed to the Chinese newspaper Shijie Xinwenbao (World News Journal), published by the Chinese government's foreign radio service, China Radio International. The cable's summary reads:
"According to China's National Foreign Exchanges Administration, China's gold reserves have recently increased. Currently, the majority of its gold reserves have been located in the United States and European countries. The U.S. and Europe have always suppressed the rising price of gold. They intend to weaken gold's function as an international reserve currency. They don't want to see other countries turning to gold reserves instead of the U.S. dollar or euro. Therefore, suppressing the price of gold is very beneficial for the U.S. in maintaining the U.S. dollar's role as the international reserve currency. China's increased gold reserves will thus act as a model and lead other countries toward reserving more gold. Large gold reserves are also beneficial in promoting the internationalization of the renminbi." (The renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China)
"Wondering why gold at $1,850 is cheap, or why gold at double that price will also be cheap, or, frankly, at any price? Because, as the following leaked cable explains, gold is, to China at least, nothing but the opportunity cost of destroying the dollar's reserve status. Putting that into dollar terms is, therefore, impractical at best and illogical at worst. We have a suspicion that the following cable from the U.S. embassy in China is about to go not viral but very much global, and prompt all those mutual fund managers who are on the golden sidelines to dip a toe in the 24-karat pool."
Gold is money! If you would like to visit GATA or receive emails from them their address is:
http://www.gata.org
THE BEST RECESSION HEDGE IS GOLD. BUY GOLD! BUY GOLD! BUY GOLD!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Midnight at Noon
Krakatoa was an island the size of Manhattan in the Pacific. On a Monday morning that must have seemed like any other, a series of powerful volcano eruptions occurred in 1883. It blew so much tephra (magna, rock and ash) into the air that it looked like a nuclear bomb had exploded. It had the force of 150 megatons of TNT. The airwave traveling at the speed of sound, traveled all around the world, bouncing back and forth seven times. The audible sounds traveled further than any sound in recorded history.
The magna, ash, and rock reached up 4 miles and then plummeted down into the ocean causing a tsunami 130 feet high. The wave hit Java and Sumatra, taking whole villages and killing over 40,000 people.
The residue of sulfuric-acid stayed in the stratosphere for several years causing what was called "Bishop's Rings" around the sun with brilliant red color.
An officer on an American ship recorded in his logbook that "a heavy black cloud was rising up from Krakatau Island...with the wind increasing to a hurricane, gradually it grew dark until it was midnight at noon, with a heavy shower of ash that grew so thick it was difficult to breathe and it had a strong smell of sulfur...all expecting that the last days of the earth had come!"
Storms come upon us all. Some come suddenly without warning as it did in Japan and sometimes it comes with warning like our friends on the East Coast. Hopefully, one has time to prepare but often there is no time. When such tragedy is felt it is as if it is midnight at noon for a very long time.
The magna, ash, and rock reached up 4 miles and then plummeted down into the ocean causing a tsunami 130 feet high. The wave hit Java and Sumatra, taking whole villages and killing over 40,000 people.
The residue of sulfuric-acid stayed in the stratosphere for several years causing what was called "Bishop's Rings" around the sun with brilliant red color.
An officer on an American ship recorded in his logbook that "a heavy black cloud was rising up from Krakatau Island...with the wind increasing to a hurricane, gradually it grew dark until it was midnight at noon, with a heavy shower of ash that grew so thick it was difficult to breathe and it had a strong smell of sulfur...all expecting that the last days of the earth had come!"
Storms come upon us all. Some come suddenly without warning as it did in Japan and sometimes it comes with warning like our friends on the East Coast. Hopefully, one has time to prepare but often there is no time. When such tragedy is felt it is as if it is midnight at noon for a very long time.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Social Control is Circular
Raymond Bauer was a psychologist in the 50's and 60's that wrote on the "attitude of the Soviet Union towards science" and the general characteristics of totalitarianism (1957). Accordingly, he asserted that the totalitarian society is system which the basic social order of men and institutions must be aligned to the State's goals. Scientists had the dual problem of their allegiance to the independent community of science and the needs of the totalitarian state. Therefore, it was not easy nor even possible to challenge the existing ideology.
The science of the State was two fold: act control and thought control. For the Communists, action and thought were the same and the coordinator of act and thought was the Party. This was developed as the suppression and advancement of linking these together by the scientific justification of Lenin's Tailism. Tailism is the term for just hanging onto history by the tail instead of taking the bull by the horns and shaping it.
Bauer argued that every "scientific theory is affect by the social order in which the scientists work." Therefore, it becomes circular, as the theory is direct by the social and the social is directed by the theory and in fact they are one and the same. They are directly related and informed by each other. And both are determined by the guidance (which was sudden and full of terror) by the Party.
The science of the State was two fold: act control and thought control. For the Communists, action and thought were the same and the coordinator of act and thought was the Party. This was developed as the suppression and advancement of linking these together by the scientific justification of Lenin's Tailism. Tailism is the term for just hanging onto history by the tail instead of taking the bull by the horns and shaping it.
Bauer argued that every "scientific theory is affect by the social order in which the scientists work." Therefore, it becomes circular, as the theory is direct by the social and the social is directed by the theory and in fact they are one and the same. They are directly related and informed by each other. And both are determined by the guidance (which was sudden and full of terror) by the Party.
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