The Golden Opportunity of The Fiscal Cliff

If anyone had said to me then that the whole thing would be lost in my lifetime, I would have said that it is not possible to lose so much so quickly without an atomic catastrophe, at least. But lose it we have.
Gore Vidal, At Home, Essays 1982-1988, The National Security State, p. 124

Well, it is all in and done. The nutters are all back in the box. President Obama has been returned for a second term. A competent, decent man provided to the world and the United States of America by a merciful and divine Providence. The victory was decisive and final. All the swing states and the popular vote. Upon scanning the less than brilliant moments of several Republican candidates on the miracle of You-Tube, the Oracle of Ottawa wonders at the ability of the great Republic to carry on.

Gore Vidal - So early and so correct...

 The Oracle of Ottawas ongoing "Thinking About Thinking" project continues. And recent directions have brought the Oracle to the works of the great Gore Vidal. Described by many of lesser ability as the last American Imperialist. The Oracle of Ottawa is greatly enjoying the discovery of this great American man of belle letters. How can someone have been so consistently right so early is beyond the comprehension of the Oracle of Ottawa.

It was all brought home to the Oracle of Ottawa in the essay "The National Security State" written by Gore Vidal for the Nation, June 4, 1988. Where upon he describes, how at the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the assumption of the presidency by Harry Truman the permanent state of war was enabled in the United States with the introduction of the National Security Act of 1947, enacted in 1950. Known as NSC-68, it is still in force even at this very moment. It requires, as Gore Vidal so clearly describes, up to two thirds of all tax revenues to keep in place. And the described effects upon the social fabric of the Republic have continued in the same direction that Gore Vidal fist observed in the 1980's.

But relief may be at hand. President Obama has this interesting situation that he has inherited  called in the media, the "fiscal cliff", the Oracle of Ottawa has provided a link to fill in the details. The right wing wack ball Republicans are hell bent on raising the defense budgets ever higher at the expense of what is left of the social safety net. It seems that the military industrial complex will be fed even if it means total financial and economic ruin. 

It appears to the Oracle of Ottawa that a great opportunity has been inadvertently handed to President Obama in his second term, that if acted on will leave him a place in history as lofty as Lincoln freeing the slaves in the time of the Civil War. Why upon further dangerous reflection, the Oracle of Ottawa has come to realize that we are all slaves to the existing military industrial complex and its constant war readiness. President Lincoln freed the slaves, and President Obama could free the whole world of the slavery of fear and raw corporate, mindless, destructive unpredictable military power, and its constant search for new foes

All the President has to do is let that date come and pass. The excessive talk of another recession is to the Oracle of Ottawa somewhat premature, methinks. What the economists are predicting will probably not even come close to happening. Of course if there is a recession, it will certainly be the Republicans fault won't it? A perfect gift of God to the whole world. A chance to drive a wooden stake into the heart of the accursed conservatives, once and for all, forever.  

The Oracle of Ottawa is certainly no expert on America, so I have included this clip where upon Gore Vidal himself explains all the details. It is of course most illuminating... 

Worried About China? - Forget About It!

Marriage is encouraged in China, not by the profitableness of children, but by the liberty of destroying them. 
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter VIII, p. 87,


Even the most uninformed student of International Relations  has a pretty firm grasp of the problems that China faces at this moment, in this present day. Lets go over a few of them. The first and most dangerous is the ever increasing gap between the rich and the poor. The second is the soon to come demographic melt-down due to the results of the "one child" policy and the Chinese macho, peasant, penchant for the ego hard-on of having to have a male heir.This moronical thinking has resulted in an estimated group of excess young men not un-adjacent in size to about 42 million souls! Now there are not 42 million free women to be imported to China for love or money! Let alone 42 million Chinese women. The third problem, and this one really is lurking dark and low in the background, the total lack of countervailing power inside the mechanics of the essentially communist state. But as I will prove, this the least of China's problems...

China, just a stone tiger...

If you are an interested China watcher, you would really like the last Charlie Rose interview with Henry Kissinger, on the occasion of the release of his latest book, (and hopefully his last book), on China. Now my usual opinion of old Henry is that he is nothing but a bloody toff! Did you ever read any of his books? The babble is elegant and goes on and on, but soon you are like that old lady in the burger commercial; Wheres the beef! Well the Oracle of Ottawa was quite surprised that after nearly a million written words old Henry has truly hit it out of the park! Which I guess is proof that if you live damn near a hundred years even Henry will have one good idea or realization. Somewhere in that interview, Henry states the great discovery of why we just don't, in the long run, have to really worry about China. In the great western democracies any one can be a citizen. For example a black, white, brown, red or yellow human being can be a citizen of the United States. But at the end of the day only a Chinese can be a citizen of China! The same thing is true about Japan and most of the other Asian states, isn't it? You have to praise Henry Kissinger on that one, a brilliant realization.

Canada - China Friendship Society Meeting?

Now to the meat dear reader! The Oracle of Ottawa loves to do his own thinking. And when teamed up with a self managed brokerage account, and a penchant for picking stocks, the Oracle of Ottawa has done mighty well for himself. To achieve clarity and depth, to see where and what other people can't, you must get right down to the basic philosophical axioms that drive a civilization. Now what is the underlying driving philosophical force in China and the Western World? In China the basic driver is the social philosophy of Confucius. Basically this is built on family loyalty and social stability in government. Let the Oracle of Ottawa translate that into modern English: Nepotism and Corruption! Now Western Civilization is based essentially at the end of the day, on the Classical Dialectic. This is the method of the classical Greeks, such as Socrates as recorded by Plato. The system is based on thesis, antithesis, synthesis. That is, one party presents an argument the other party presents his argument and this is discussed at length, with the hope of reaching a new piece of knowledge. Now the greatest thing about this dandy algorithm is not its age and shine in our history but rather its total flexibility! It also works very well indeed inside the head of one person, and the starting bits can be taken from anywhere in time, or one from different times. Think of an infinite tree graph. of the Cantor variety. China doesn't stand a chance...

Modern China in microcosm, this is all we are essentially up against, do you get it?

Was John Milton Wrong?

[…] Here at least
we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I,  Lines 258-263


It is much to the Oracle of Ottawa's chagrin, that  he has yet to read Paradise Lost straight through. So many books so little time... but when the time comes I will be ready. I have more then one excellent edition. The modern facsimile of the Gustave Dore illustrated edition for the first light read through and then that really posh, annotated academic edition for the background and depth...Maybe I'll pull a Canadian style Northrup Frye and see it all in a brilliant new light! A reinterpretation of John Milton by the Oracle of Ottawa... Governor Generals Award for best non-fiction....Hey shit happens!

John Milton, Right or Wrong?

But even though I have yet to start and finish, I often ponder one line from the work..."Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven." It stays in my head all the time. Especially watching the antics of the many political animals of which we have many in abundance in the fair City of Ottawa, at three levels of government! These people take it as a maxim wrapped in a mantra... The results of course are an unmitigated disaster. Any one who cops this line as a mantra, never ran anything ...

The edition I really, really want...

It is all about the power isn't it? Power is fascinating in youth and grows to revulsion in the seasoning of years. Another good analogy I have often heard is that power is like a candle that is lit at both ends, but that is not really true. Power is like a stick of dynamite that is lit at both ends, with variable speed burning fuses! You don't know which fuse is going to burn you first, all you know for sure is, eventually and sure as Hell, that sooner rather then later the goddamn thing is going to blow up like a bastard...That is when you hand it to the poor devil beside you and head for the peace and calm of Heaven...

A bit of an introduction....                              

John Kenneth Galbraith, No Greater Gift

Conscience is better served by a myth.
John Kenneth Galbraith, The Age of Uncertainty, Chapter 4, p.111

John Kenneth Galbraith never won the Nobel Prize for Economics. Although he invented an idea as powerful as the invisible hand and left a body of work that is still seen on bookshelves to this very day. His greatest idea was that of "countervailing power". It is an idea that will become more and more important as the future unfolds, because you can apply it to political processes and all levels of sociological interactions. As a matter of fact you can trace a lot of organizational problems to the lack of countervailing power. As a matter of another fact, the lack of countervailing power leads to my great idea, the process of skidmarkization. That is a new word. I have found that large organizations without countervailing power soon lose their best people and the process of skidmarkization sets in as the brother in laws and brats replace the competent people.. Look around you! But enough of that!

John Kenneth Galbraith came from a farm in southern Ontario. Not very far from where I live. It always strikes students of Canadian history how a farm kid from Canada ended up serving in four of the greatest political administrations of the most powerful country on Earth! How the Hell did he get a security clearance?
Under the Kennedy administration he served as American Ambassador to India! Where at one point he single handedly prevented World War III! Damn! Where he did he get the jam? I get exhausted just thinking about it all...

John Kenneth Galbraith (left)

 Now John was also a fully tenured Harvard Prof. He wrote about 48 books and over 1000 articles! And do you remember The Age of Uncertainty television series? I grew up watching it on TV Ontario, I never tired of watching it. As a matter of fact it lit an interest in economics that has stayed with me all my life..(so far..) Darn! He must have been stinkin' rich!  The literary estate must still generate handsome cheques. What I always wanted to know is; what did he do with his money? Was it all in government bonds? Was he a shrewd successful stock picker? Or did he just spend it like a sailor? I always wanted to know that....   

But I do know how those residual cheques could be larger. Would someone look into getting the complete BBC series of The Age of Uncertainty into a DVD box set? If it could be digitally remastered pure heaven! My favorite episode was the third segment " The Massive Dissent of Karl Marx." It was utterly brilliant! And I am sure it will always be timely, since all the footage was captured at the exact locations of the subjects. And include a guide book perhaps? An updated version of The Age of Uncertainty? In time for Christmas would be perfect indeed!

 A little teaser, still plays very well, my favorite segment of The Age of Uncertainty...