Dying to Get an Education

There is not much risk of getting mowed down at school with gunfire. It does happen. It is a low probability. It is not at all insignificant that school shootings keep happening. Things like school shootings either increase or decrease in number. When the moral fiber of a society goes into regression consequences follow. At any given time a certain number of people are on the edge of insanity.  It doesn’t take a lot for those already struggling to go over the edge. While the overall level of violence is not increasing statistically the number of incidents where the perpetrators are crazy does seem to be becoming fairly common.

If school shootings were the only hazards prevalent in a school setting it might make sense to write off school violence as one of those sad events that never gets completely explained. School shootings are only one of the many hazards.

Parents of high school students generally believe their children are becoming educated. For most there actually is a better chance that they will get killed at school than there is that they will learn much of anything. It is one thing to put a child at risk for a good cause. With respect to learning, there really is no reason to send a child to high school.

Lots of students see schools for what they are. They rebel out of resentment for being placed in a phony atmosphere. I say that education does not occur in American schools. That does not mean nothing is learned.

This in not a complete list but here is what is learned in schools. It isn’t math, Most students enter high school with less than a 6th grade proficiency in math, After four years of high school they will still be at the 6th grade level. What about history? Children learn a little history but it is changed and embellished so as to support modern values and notions. Nowhere are students required to read chapters. High school history is mush.

Students learn but the learning is not academic. Beginning in the kindergarten and continuing through college, no effort is spared in elevating the self esteem of students. The one lesson students get from all levels of schooling is that they are Gods gift to the universe. Self esteem building is the number one activity. Every finished activity gets a certificate, ribbon or participation trophy.

Students at all levels are pushed and shoved into establishing arbitrary loyalties. This is where school spirit comes in. Go team go and so on.

Students are constantly taught that the best way to handle every activity is through cooperation. Individual thought gives way to working in groups for the common good. Who are life’s biggest winners? They are the ones who get things done through cooperation. Never mind that the world operates on a system of dominance and subservience.

All through the learning years government is assumed to be benevolent. Never mind that it is just the opposite. If actual history was taught, students would have the same mistrust of government as did the founding fathers.

So, what students leave school with are attitudes and notions none of which have any utility in life. In a system of dominance and subservience, schools do produce an over supply of servile people.

Should children go to high school? The answer to that question is always yes. The answer is predetermined. The next question to be asked needs to be why?

Suppose there was a thoughtful parent somewhere. That person might reason that since education is not actually occurring it is not worth exposing a son or daughter to the risk of being at a school, in that schools are the place of choice for random shootings.

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Losing Gun Rights

Americans will lose their gun rights. How and why will gun rights be lost? Conservatives in the United States will lose their gun rights because those are the only rights they show much interest in keeping. There is an active gun lobby. They get results. That is for now. It is unrealistic for Americans to give up other rights with both hands and expect to keep the right to bear arms. Guns have some utility in protecting citizens from harm but not much. Guns are almost never used in self defense. The fact that they are occasionally used in self defense is not enough for non gun people to take their side with any enthusiasm.

The right to bear arms is dependent on maintaining all other rights like free speech and freedom of assembly, the right to sue in civil court, protection from  search and seizure and so on. Where is the rebellion against civil asset forfeiture? Where is the rebellion against civil asset forfeiture? Police are shooting citizens like flies on a close line. Do the second amendment buffs care? They don’t seem to. Government is being used exclusively as a tool for theft. Who cares? What abusive laws are being targeted for repeal? Wars are being fought for profit. Does murdering people in foreign countries bother the Second Amendment folks? Apparently not a bit. In every area except gun rights conservative activity is limited to virtue signaling.

Suppose you are a gun owner. Isn’t it a little silly to surrender every other right you have with a smile on your face and expect to retain the right to shoot back? We need to be a little realistic. Keeping run rights is only possible if more basic rights are kept in tact but that is not happening.

 

 

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The New Cold War

The new cold war is the coldest cold war ever fought. There are no winners. Everyone is a loser. Who is the best American? Why that is the American whose heart is always in the right place. Some say good Americans want less government. Some support the use of kind words only to describe one another. Who is a racist? Who is a bigot?

The cold war is between right wing virtue signalers and left wing virtue signalers. What is virtue signaling? I would like to give credit to the person who first used the term. It wasn’t me. I just put it to good use. Mostly virtue signaling is positioning oneself to appear virtuous to others. It is similar to what Jesus described as practicing righteousness before men.

There are actually two political systems in the United States. There is the formal system. It is within the formal system that the new cold war is taking place. It is completely bloodless and 100% safe to participate in. Virtue signaling is how Americans participate in the political system. The two waring sides believe that if the right ideas take hold in the country, everything will change to their liking. Americans vote and engage in virtue signaling all within the system given by the founding fathers through the Constitution. Now, the founding fathers did not limit a citizens political activities to virtue signaling. That activity evolved naturally.

The second system one is that of working outside of the official one. Nothing of any importance is accomplished in the formal or official system. Lawmakers do vote on for bills so that laws are made. How they vote and what is accomplished is determined elsewhere. The voting just makes it official. The system of government provided by the constitution has become impotent over the years and is now used as a model only. The general public believes it all to be working just as designed.

Who decides which laws get passed and what happens in government? Anyone with a lot of political power has a chance. It is an ongoing contest. Those who have mastered the method of using government to get what they want at the expense of others are who we are talking about. In the mean time all who work outside the formal system are tickled to death to see the population engaged in meaningless political busywork. The elite of the world go about getting what they want. Ordinary citizens are deciding who has the best ideas.

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The Announcement

The Announcement The President of the United States will make a speech outlining the steps which must be taken to “”save the world.”” Just as the stock market enters a genuine bear market and selling accelerates and can’t be controlled, The Federal Reserve of the United States will announce a stock buying program to “”save the world.”” There will be bi partisan agreement that this needs to be done. Continue reading

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School Shootings and Bullying

School shootings and Bullying need to be explained in terms of herd dynamics.

Lets start with bullying. Animals have ways of eliminating the weakest among them. Herds turn against individual animals they don’t want in the herd. The kid who gets bullied today eons ago would have been killed off. In schools children determine each other’s position and status within the herd. Bullying is part of the process.

So, what about school shootings? In early years, being rejected is devastating. It is a life changing experience. Instinctively, being part of the herd is a matter of life or death. Being kicked out or not accepted by the herd is a death sentence in most species.

When a student picks up a weapon and opens fire on other students and teachers, it is backlash for having been rejected. There are many other ways people react to rejection. This is one of them.

 

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How to Predict the Future

It is much easier to successfully predict something is going to happen than it is to come anywhere close in predicting when it will happen.  I have been forecasting the complete collapse of the United States economy for a while. The Great Recession of 2008, as it is called, never really ended. What we have have been calling a recovery is about the same as a man losing his job then borrowing enough money to continue his life style for a few more years. It is really hard to figure out how long it will take lenders to stop loaning him money. But, you can count on that happening.

The only difficulty in predicting the future is the necessity of discarding the belief in comforting lies. Once the comforting lies are gone so is the happiness which came from believing them. A fantasy free life is not for everyone. It is such a high state of sobriety that it can be unpleasant. I explain it but don’t automatically recommend it.

What is it every human on earth is avoiding that is so bad they engage in fantasy so as to escape? There are questions that have no answers. There are things we must do that we would rather not think of ourselves as doing.

We know we are alive but we don’t know what life is. We don’t know what we are or why we are here. Some talk of the gift of life. Is life a gift or is it a forced obligation? What happens to us when we die? Then there is the process of survival.

Notice that the earth operates as a big game of dominance and subservience. Living things live by killing and consuming other living things. The species at the top is the one that best dominates all of the others. Where does leadership come from within a species? Leadership goes to the most dominant animal within the species. The President of the United States, is the most dominant person in the country, possibly in the world.

Our situation is harsh. It is so harsh that fantasy is necessary for survival. A better word for political science would be herd dynamics. A better name for economics would be the study of survival. To predict the future all you need to know is what people are running from and how much fantasy they are indulging in. Then all you have to do is use the gift nature has provided.

Nature provides a way to read the present. Is there danger? Are there opportunities?  A person’s read of the present is extremely accurate provided the mind is free of fantasy and euphemisms. The present moment and how to survive might be as close to reality as we are likely to get. Fantasy is a prism through which the world is viewed. So, to to predict the future just be fantasy free and you accurately assess what behavior leads to what outcome. It works as well on a national level as it does on an individual number. Anybody can do it. The hard part is being fantasy free. Until you get used to it it is like being on a starvation diet or going through withdrawal symptoms.

 

 

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Your Punishment For Believing Lies

 Your Punishment For Believing Lies PDF Version

I have a saying. When a lie is told, there are two guilty parties. There is the liar of course. Then there is the party for whom the truth is not good enough.

Without that arrangement few lies would be told. The punishment for believing lies is suffering. Suffering always follows the believing of lies but the suffering is not distributed evenly among believers. It is possible for a person go a full lifetime
believing a slew of lies and never experience any meaningful suffering. Continue reading

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The Fed and Corporate Buy Backs How it Works

Like any issue the corporate buyback phenomenon which keeps stock prices “eternally” rising is simple. Lofty explanations and complex answers evolve because the real one is unpleasant. Nothing that happens in government is any more complicated than making up plays in a sandlot football game.

The Federal Reserve is under a political directive to elevate asset prices, especially stocks. Corporate insiders figured out right away that with the central bank policy the fastest and most efficient way to make many boatloads of money is to use as much free money as possible to engage in corporate buybacks. The reasoning is this. “to heck with research and development. There is no longer a need to invest in plant and equipment. Lets just hype everything, buy our own stock and drive the price into the stratosphere. Making money is why we are in business. Government wants stock prices up so much they aren’t even enforcing accounting laws. Lets do it while it is easy to do. Get is while it lasts.”

The brain is not a fairness seeking organ. Although it seems to be thought of in that capacity. The brain figures out how to survive and prosper as fast and as efficiently as possible.  Corporate buybacks are more efficient than working hard and coming up with new stuff.

So where does the Federal Reserve enter the picture. The Fed’s goal of just sweeping asset prices higher is completely compatible with the corporate goal of making as much money as possible in the shortest period of time. No conspiracy is necessary. Winks and nods are all it takes. The following is how the Federal Reserve orchestrates corporate buybacks.

“Good morning Mr. corporate financial officer, this is good ole’ _____,clerk for the Federal Reserve. You may remember me. We talked a number of months back. We are constantly monitoring and adjusting so,  as you are aware, we do a lot these surveys. This is completely confidential. Sir, last year corporations found it beneficial to buy back some of the outstanding shares. In your opinion, do you believe this practice will be increased or decreased over the next 12 months. Oh, sure all of this is relevant for discussion at Open Market Committee meetings. Bla……Bla……..Bla…….”

After the conversation, the financial officer has no doubts that the Fed likes the buy backs, will make all the money needed available and has his back. So, the buy backs go on and the Federal Reserve continues with its political agenda.

The formal political system in the United States keeps the minds of of constituents busy while everything that matters is done outside of the public eye. It is always a mistake to look for complex explanation of what goes on in public life. The real explanation is always too simple. It usually puts people in a bad light so complex explanations are used instead.

 

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The Beginnings of Language

Spoken and written language are the two most common forms of communications. Although it is often assumed that with respect to communication that is all there is. Formal language is only one form of communication.

Human beings communicate in many different ways and formal language was the last to develop. Other types are ongoing but usually not within a persons awareness.  Research shows that lower animals broadcast and receive mental images. Human beings do the same thing but have lost so much of that ability, that the impressions are very faint and usually explained away as anxiety or something else. Regardless, as a person walks about he broadcasts his state of mind to the world and to all he encounters, What is charisma? Charismatic people broadcast an image that appeals to a lot of different people. What is karma? Karma may very well cause the reaction by others due to the state of mind being broadcast. Someone who is lonely broadcasts a lonely state of mind and ends up being avoided as a result. Positive thinking gets good results, because that is the state of mind being broadcasts.

If nature has provided such an efficient way to communicate, why would spoken and then written language develop? Don’t forget that our existence is a game of dominance and subservience. There are peaceful corners of the world where people live and interact but on average life is completely brutal. Humanity today is more civilized than at any time in history. There was a time many thousand years ago when there was no peace. Everything was taken by force.

When caveman A planned on attacking and robbing caveman B and transmitted that image, caveman A put himself in danger. Caveman B would carryout a preemptive strike. Over time communicating with mental images waned and verbal language became more sophisticated. In modern times, communicating with mental images is so subtle, all but a few deny that it occurs. But, it does.

As mental transmitting decreased, the lie as a tool for survival was born. Without the need to lie for purposes of survival language would have never developed.

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Saving the Stock Market Again

Anyone can do this. All it takes is a fantasy free look. What happens next is as close to obvious as it ever will be when the genuine motivations of people are observed. Look at the world through the prism of fantasy and you are a resource. Take a fantasy free look and you are in control of your own thoughts and actions.

Here is what to expect with respect to the stock market and certain popular stocks.

Just by looking we know the system of sponsoring corporate buybacks, letting friends of the Fed break the law, not enforcing accounting laws and providing obscenely cheap money is coming to an end. There is trouble in paradise. For the same system to provide ever rising stock prices, all billionaires must be on the same page. They are not anymore.

Short squeezes are still working but not as well and must be accompanied by outright buying by central banks. Look for central banks to continue buying, mostly in important stocks they already own. That won’t be enough. At some point a market decline will not be easily controlled.

A number of trial balloons will be launched to see how the public will respond to central banks simply buying stocks outright to “save the world”. The public won’t object and of course no one who has money at risk will object. The public is still not aware of what central bank policy hurts them. The public won’t care.

There will be a strong push to nationalized large tech companies and other efforts will be made  to protect investors who have positions in these stocks. Probably an effort will be made to have the government buy facebook for an outrageous sum. How else can the results of so many misguided stock purchases be protected. Monumental efforts will be made to transfer as many stock losses to the tax payers as is possible. This is what TARP accomplished in 2008. It will happen again.

The crisis in 2008 began as real estate investors passed losses back to lenders rather than take the losses themselves. Mom and Pop started defaulting much later. In the next crisis, that will happen again. This time losses will need to be transferred on all kinds of assets. The public won’t mind. They don’t know any better.

All of this is knowable just by understanding human nature. Fantasy hides human nature so what to expect next is not something very many people will figure out.

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