I listen to you.

Until I have to run because of the *other* thing.

And I'm not a university educated economist/historian/prophet.  I went back to high school when I was 33 to further my education, but my observations regarding the world economy are based on current trends and the one common denominator that links the modern world to the excesses of the ancient one...  and that is greed.  Besides, it doesn't take an economic genius to work out that the world is once again in economic decay... well more the Western World in this case.

It's a bit like a nephew of mine. He was the subject of a great deal of extended family generosity when his dad died, yet as an adult he has become self.centred and greedy, charging family for menial tasks and [figuratively speaking] always taking the biggest slice of pie for himself... sculling down 3 or 4 beers in express time to ensure he gets the last one... and you or somebody else bought the carton.  Yeah, well his greed has seen him on the outer with family while his younger sibling and cousins find themselves being appropriately rewarded for their freely offered help. 

As it is with my nephew, so it was with Europe and Great Britain, and now with the US... greed saw that more was taken out than was ever replenished/put back, and now the younger siblings/cousins are finding themselves in greater favour throughout the world.  The emerging Asian nations now have a stronger work ethic and business sense, as they place greater value in tangible goods, not false economies dependent on stock markets, electronic cash and banking subterfuge. Sure China and India have stock markets and banks, but they do not solely depend on those to prop up their economies.  No, they are manufacturing the consumables Western economies got too lazy and/or greedy to make themselves, outsourcing jobs offshore to Asia in order to exploit virtual slave labour and maximise profits.

It may have seemed like a good idea at the time, and for a time the Western economies held the balance of power, but now the Asian manufacturers are licking their lips and laughing all the way to the bank.  What's more, the Western economies are unlikely to ever claw their was back into manufacturing.  First off, they no longer control the market, and secondly, they have let the infrastructure go to ruin and would near have to start from scratch... an expense most Western economies could not absorb in this day and age.  Neither scenario is conducive to successfully re-entering the manufacturing markets, and thus Asian economies will continue to flourish as the US economy continues to go into decline.  Gone are the days of exponential growth and booming US industries.

We've been heralding this change for the last 20 - 30 years, and Western economists and businessmen either didn't care or were too stupid to see the writing on the wall. I tend to believe the former, that greed and turning over a fast buck is the chief cause of Western economies going guts up.  Just as Rome's greed saw it spreading its resources too thinly on the ground to maintain order at home, so too will the US fall as the world's dominant political and economic power.  Maybe Washington should be renamed 'New Rome'... for all its efforts in foreign control, empire building by stealth and sticking its nose in elsewhere when it would have been better to have stayed at home.

And finally, while war and the US war machine has generated huge profits for the US, maintaining a huge and expensive war machine is contributing to its downfall and probable bankruptcy.  Rome, too, amassed a huge and expensive war machine to assert and maintain its dominance over the empire, and while that may have served its needs to begin with, it became a liability... an expensive toy for the emperor that eventually bankrupted the nation.  With most of his troops overseas, the emperor could not contain the civil unrest at home... and the rest is history.   The next great empire to fall was that of Great Britain's.  Again, greed caused GB to spread its resources too thinly on the ground to maintain order throughout and thus it fell... now it's the US' turn.

Sad... but true.

Just as well you have exceptional hearing, then.

Can't say as I've ever seen a pair of human legs carry somebody so far so fast in such a short [blink of an eye] space of time.

Nope, Speedy Gonzales doesn't have a patch on you, me old mate.

Starkers is right on the money, comment #32. Lets see the naysayers dispute that. Most of which is common knowledge anyway.

[    ] <- *in brackets the hole in the air left after doc engaged warp drive.

I've been waiting all my life to see/hear that!

And now I have, I wish in part I were wrong.... because the innocent are always hurt the most when the economy of greed collapses.

Um, you sure 'bout that?  Looks more to me like yer left yer bum hole behind in your haste to escape.

I agree, starkers has good aim. I also would again like to thank Elana for pointing all the sheep to the Wolff. Why does the spell check here state the banksters is not spelled correct? I love that term.

Richard Wolff: Why the Economic Crisis Deepens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n30zO0ABFqc

Back to topic.
I gave that image search thing a try and holy cow, my grandfather came up as Jim Morrison . Have to try a few more, that gave me the chuckles but it did also find the original I posted and lost the link to long ago.

Yeah, just so long as when I get my eye in I don't need my trigger finger to scratch.

Another reason NOT to trust Google

Yes, the "open and transparent" company is refusing to send its top 2 executives to give evidence at a Senate Committee hearing.

It seems various concerns want Google to fess up and/or face the music for sending out fleets of cars in several countries to collect unsecured Wi-Fi data.

Personally, I'd like to see some gonads rolling on the floor over that one... and the upper echelon at Google all singing soprano if not high alto.

Starkers,  you are right!    (even about that 'other ' thing)... whatever it is....    (whistles...while looking nonchalantly in the other direction)

myfist0  I am truly happy you liked doc wolff ... 

I'm always right... 'cept when the missus tells me [95% of the time] that I'm wrong.

About the gonads rolling about on the floor?  Yeah, it would make for a kinky game of marbles, wouldn't it?

Seriously, though, the world is a much sadder place because of greed... the fact that over 90% of personal wealth lies with less than 1% of the total population.  While there are some high end businessmen, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, for example, who contribute back to the community through various charitable works and donations, too many wealthy entrepreneurs are hording trillions in personal wealth yet are doing nothing constructive with it, other than let it collect obscene amounts of interest.  Nah, I'd hate to be wealthy like that.  I mean, what would be the point... can't take it with you, right?