War is Bad for the Economy

 The blog headline says “US Military leaders support Iran deal”.  Don’t let Shawn Hannity hear you say that.  A group of progressive Jewish rabbis support the Iran deal, as does the Israeli CIA.  Yesterday I was reading how “War is bad for the economy”.   As you know one of the Forengi “rules of acquisition” goes “War is good for the economy”.  It didn’t used to be but the way we are doing it now with all these secret contract deals, perhaps the general population isn’t sharing in the military wealth like they used to be.  Someone said it’s like breaking windows in a store front or restaurant.  Sure the people involved with fixing the window share in the business profits and GNP increase.  But it’s money to spend on a negative- - or money that could be spent for other things if you didn’t have the added expense.  As Thom Hartman points out- - it’s not a dam or aquaduct or bridge or road that lasts a long time that people can continue to use.  Everything is meant to get blown up, like fireworks.  Hence it’s not really “infrastructure” as we know it.

Quantitive Easing is welfare for the rich, pure and simple.  This is where the Federal Reserve prints up billions of dollars and gives them to the banks, but then turns around and PAYS these same banks NOT to loan out the money to ordinary businessmen, but instead- - pays interest on what is in essence their OWN money to begin with, and the rich people love it.  This arrangement also spurs higher stock prices in addition to what Ronald Reagan did with CEO compensation.  But it also means if someone pulls the plug, market prices will collapse.

Thom Hartman spoke of how often people are most given to outbursts of anger when they not only feel out of control but when they feel powerless in dealing, for instance with an agency of government, or an insurance claim, or some financial loan turn-down.  Hartman then expanded the argument to Iraq and Thom says that before the Iraq war in 2003 there were no suicide bombings caused by Iraqis.  But we came in and poisoned the water and would not allow the local officials even chlorinate the water because chlorine was a “weapon”. 

Many people that inflation is really lower than it is because they talk about the prices of various power tools and electronic items being lower.  Power tools are perhaps 15% cheaper than they were several decades ago.  But the quality of the product is drastically reduced.  Items made forty or fifty years ago may still work today, but items made ten years ago or even less have conked out.  Things that used to be made out of metal are now made out of plastic.  Even a 25 year old Mackentosh of a quarter century ago may still work fine now if reactivated, but people like Leo Le Port act as if the normal expected life of a computer bought today is four or five years.  It makes no sense.  Such price animallies, where people buy cheap stuff from China based on price rather than quality- - are distorting the inflation numbers.

  I got my medication from Christian at about five to seven and got my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I watched the ABC network news and then the kids Jeopardy tournament, and then Wheel of Fortune where a lady won a trip to Maui, and a Ford Fiesta getting the two cards, and a BMW on the bonus round.   I left it on ABC and dozed a little but then about eight thirty watched some of Law and Order but I was tired and was in bed before nine.  This is Tuesday morning and as of now I’ve “saved” eighteen dollars by not going to the store.  This is day six of my not smoking and you’d think by now I’d be over my addiction.  We had a good breakfast this morning.  We had oatmeal and we had a thick banana pancake, and a fried egg and I got two pieces of bacon because Fernando gave me his bacon.  Someone gave me an extra cup of black coffee that I mixed with the creamer stuff.

Lunch was interesting.  We had good soup with curry in it or something of rice and spinach, a little salty.  We had two pie shaped beef quesedas and more beef outside and the usual tomato and peppers and sour cream.  I mixed that together outside the queseda.  It was our lucky day because they came around with a third queseda and more soup, which I had.  We had grapes for dessert.  I listened to Shawn Hannity on the radio and once again sleep got the better of me.  Then they announced they were going to have a fire drill.  Then they had a fire drill at about ten to one.  Marcia was walking slow.  It went a little more quickly than some recent ones, which almost have seemed like marathon affairs.  Dr Levy was here.  In the early morning James and Glen and I were musing about Dr Levy buying James a new computer.  I had almost talked myself into Dr Levy having cash with him to pass out.  We had a lengthly check-in today and Joe had a lot to say and so did Connie and so did Julie, or whatever her name is.  Cathy stood at the door.  Teresa was there.  Vince came and Marcia was there and so was Wally.  We spent much less time talking about creative aging.  Dr Levy fused psychological age with functional age, and in my mind the two should be separate.  One could be advanced and not the other.  When we were almost finished up they announced there was a flood or something where water was dripping through the floor and they had to get a bucket.   Actually Dr Levy did offer to take James’ computer in and James went to his room and got it.  Dr Levy made a not funny joke about selling my records for seven hundred dollars.  We broke up about ten to two.