My father played the drums, I never heard him; but, I know he did. If I were to play any instrument, it would be the drums. I woke up early today, 3:30 is early to me. When I awoke, I decided to check the new (first thought for a blogger). The news said that Ed Shaughnessey died. You probably don't know his name. He was a drummer, one of the best ever. He played for the Johnny Carson orchestra, he was a jazz drummer.
One of the best compliments I have ever had in my life was from a black jazz player. He told me that I reminded him of the old time jazz guys. He told me I had attitude that reminded him of Louis Armstrong. Jazz people are the most stuck up people in the world, we are arrogant and self assured, we are at peace with ourselves. I really appreciated the compliment. I knew exactly what he meant.
The greatest jazz drummer of all time is generally considered to be Buddy Rich. The man was amazing. At a time when blacks and whites didn't even eat in the same restaurants, he played as the only white guy in a black band. This guy was so about music. Mr. Rich was so respected that other drummers had nothing to say to him, he was "Tiger Woods" good, he was that much better than the others. He had a heart attack and a broken arm and played, old school, no stopping him. Yet, he loved the music so much that he promoted others, people like Sinatra.
Mr. Rich played with Mr Shaughnessy, he respected this drummer, he respected this man. Mr. Shaughnessy earned the respect. He was a great jazz drummer and earned 30 years on the Johnny Carson show as their drummer. Mr. Rich asked if Mr. Shaughnessey and he could play together and they did, imagine Babe Ruth or Tiger Woods saying that they wanted to play with you, that is how good Mr. Shaughnessy was and he just died. I want you to hear him.
Buddy Rich and Ed Shaughnessy Play Drums
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Something Pimpernel This Way Comes
It is Friday night and Saturday morning. I am listening to music and thinking. I will post tomorrow, it is my day off and there is much to discuss. It is too late for me to write much tonight. I have two prior posts that I did not post and may or may not include in Saturdays posts. I also have to start a new series on a separate blog, spiritual posts. I shall be translated and am expected to give at least one a month. Sounds like work to me; but, I am up for it.
My dear readers of "The truth is inside you", they will get one day a month and you get what I have the rest of the time. They will get well thought out posts and you get the nonsense that I think of on any given day. For tonight you shall get music. Enjoy. I hope you like this one Robbie, I bought the album as soon as it came out and still have it.
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Love too good.
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Count on Me
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Take Your Time
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Crazy Feelin
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Skateboard
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Fire
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Show Yourself
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Runaway
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - All Night Long
An extra, a hope and a wish for all of us.
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Miracles
The album that I linked to is called Earth by Jefferson Starship. It came out around the same time as Fleetwood Mac's Rumors album and the Eagles' Hotel California.
My dear readers of "The truth is inside you", they will get one day a month and you get what I have the rest of the time. They will get well thought out posts and you get the nonsense that I think of on any given day. For tonight you shall get music. Enjoy. I hope you like this one Robbie, I bought the album as soon as it came out and still have it.
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Love too good.
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Count on Me
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Take Your Time
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Crazy Feelin
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Skateboard
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Fire
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Show Yourself
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Runaway
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - All Night Long
An extra, a hope and a wish for all of us.
YouTube - Jefferson Starship - Miracles
The album that I linked to is called Earth by Jefferson Starship. It came out around the same time as Fleetwood Mac's Rumors album and the Eagles' Hotel California.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Because somone asked me
I was talking to someone today about things in the news and they were irritated by "climate deniers". Now here is the funny thing, the person knows that 90% of the mainstream media is owned by about six companies and readily admit this. I told him that I did not believe we were experiencing global warming and climate change is not the consequence of industrial activities. The volcano Krakatoa put up enough in the air by itself to change the planets weather and that was more than all of the industrial age has put in the air, we are not just that powerful. I am against polluting; but, I don't need a feel to make up stories.
He didn't want to believe that "scientists" could lie to such a degree as he believes that most scientists believe in climate change. Well, climates do change and have since the beginning of the earth and we have only been industrial for the last couple hundred years. The fact that the planets all warmed and cooled at the same time is not evidence that building cars effects the climate. We are regularly fed lies by mainstream science. These is the same group of people who promoted racially based science. Investigate the science of eugenics and social Darwinism. Did you know that much of the "science" on second hand smoke was based upon studies of babies whose mothers smoked while pregnant? Yet how many "scientists" will bring that up? Do it and see what happens to your career. The science may have value; but, the spin is for a social and political reason. Scientists are just people and respond to the same pressures and pleasures, they follow the money too.
Now why did I post this. I won't remember it and he asked me to write down my response, which I have.
He didn't want to believe that "scientists" could lie to such a degree as he believes that most scientists believe in climate change. Well, climates do change and have since the beginning of the earth and we have only been industrial for the last couple hundred years. The fact that the planets all warmed and cooled at the same time is not evidence that building cars effects the climate. We are regularly fed lies by mainstream science. These is the same group of people who promoted racially based science. Investigate the science of eugenics and social Darwinism. Did you know that much of the "science" on second hand smoke was based upon studies of babies whose mothers smoked while pregnant? Yet how many "scientists" will bring that up? Do it and see what happens to your career. The science may have value; but, the spin is for a social and political reason. Scientists are just people and respond to the same pressures and pleasures, they follow the money too.
Now why did I post this. I won't remember it and he asked me to write down my response, which I have.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Mostly about money; but, biometrics and tech too
First up a story from the Salt Lake Tribune. Hatch wants immigrant fingerprints taken at airports. The article talks about the upcoming immigration bill. It says that they are going to require the biometrics of all foreigners when they enter and leave the country. How will other countries respond, perhaps in the same way. No international travel if we don't have your biometrics? In the future you will not be allowed to travel if we cannot keep tabs on you.
The Street - Jim Cramer - Cramer: Running Head-On Into 1929. I don't actually care for Cramer, I think he is a shill; but, sometimes he gets things right. He points out a trend that we have just broken and that the last time it was done was just before the stock market crash of 1929.
The Mail Online - The Footsie's had a stellar year, but will the great share boom turn to bust? Simply put, the English equivalent to the Dow Jones is doing really well, just like the Dow Jones is doing; but, there is nothing to back it up.
Yahoo - The Exchange - How Baby Boomers Take Jobs From Younger Workers. So which is it, are people supposed to work longer or retire sooner. They seem to be saying that if you can retire then you should so that there are jobs for younger people; but, if you are younger you should expect to work longer. What about people like me, I am not 55; but, I could retire in a couple of years. Am I supposed to retire or work longer?
CBS New York - A Mileage Tax Monitored By Big Brother For All N.J. Drivers? It Could Happen. I have written about this for the past few years, it is coming. Why does the Federal government claim that all local roads are part of the Highway system? Why does the Federal government through the FCC claim they have the right to control local right of ways? There is another article coming up and I will put some of this together for my dear readers, at least the ones who haven't fallen asleep.
Yahoo - Breakout - Gold ETFs Are Liquidating By the Ton. People are selling off gold. That will not be the end of the story, when the markets crash, gold will escalate and then it will take a really big drop when it is not what future currencies are based on. Volatility is how you steal other peoples money.
Yahoo - Reuters - The Irish loophole behind Apple's low tax bill. I need to say something here. I am very careful, as a rule, with the sources that I quote. I prefer to link to someone's own website when I say what they are doing; but, I will link to reputable and established news sources often. On occasion, I will link to alternative news sources; but, either they provide a link to their source material or I have independently provided a link to the source material. My readers may have noticed that I provide the name of any sources that I link to in my blog, that is to not infringe on anyone's copyright. There are some alternative sources that I read that may cause me to investigate and I will then link to the original document rather than the referring source. Having said all that, here is my thinking. The Mainstream Media manipulates the news and spins stories; but, they can back up their stories with some evidence. I am more concerned with their evidence than their spin. The Mainstream Media also takes responsibility for what they publish. I am a commentator, not a news reporter. I want to point to a source that takes responsibility for what they print.
Now to the article. Pretty simple, the reason we need to have international control over tax collection. Apple is just an example to get you riled up to accept it.
Banoosh - You Won’t Need a Driver’s License by 2040. The article talks about how self driving cars will free you from having to drive or get speeding tickets and how that will mean that we will not need traffic signs or traffic lights. When we have a world of self driving cars, the infrastructure does not need to be there for humans to drive. Now go back to the other articles about personal travel, driving and you might begin to see a pattern. You will pay more, the more you drive and your car will drive for you. Hmmm, what is that other part. Oh, yeah and the federal government is taking over control of all the major streets. Maybe that will allow them to require you to have a self driving car to be on the national highway system.
Let me ask you a question. When the cars can all be self driving, why paint traffic lines? Why even paint crosswalks when the cars can already see you? A lot of money is spent nationwide painting streets. The article states that wouldn't need street lights, that saves a lot of money and electricity. Solar energy does not work well at night and reducing demand in a world of green energy has value. Maybe if you have a dumb car you will only be allowed to drive during the day.
The greatest freedom we have is the ability to move freely about. When your ability to move about is limited, you are in a prison. It means that you can no longer vote with your feet. I want you to honestly ask yourself a question. How would China use these technologies, do you think they would use them to limit where people go to acceptable places to see acceptable people? The FCC controls the airwaves and what can be broadcast on them, soon they will what can be broadcast over the streets, that is why they took control over local right of ways as I have written about prior and you can read for yourself by searching for the Texas Municipal League and the FCC. I just don't feel like looking for the link again.
The Street - Jim Cramer - Cramer: Running Head-On Into 1929. I don't actually care for Cramer, I think he is a shill; but, sometimes he gets things right. He points out a trend that we have just broken and that the last time it was done was just before the stock market crash of 1929.
The Mail Online - The Footsie's had a stellar year, but will the great share boom turn to bust? Simply put, the English equivalent to the Dow Jones is doing really well, just like the Dow Jones is doing; but, there is nothing to back it up.
Yahoo - The Exchange - How Baby Boomers Take Jobs From Younger Workers. So which is it, are people supposed to work longer or retire sooner. They seem to be saying that if you can retire then you should so that there are jobs for younger people; but, if you are younger you should expect to work longer. What about people like me, I am not 55; but, I could retire in a couple of years. Am I supposed to retire or work longer?
CBS New York - A Mileage Tax Monitored By Big Brother For All N.J. Drivers? It Could Happen. I have written about this for the past few years, it is coming. Why does the Federal government claim that all local roads are part of the Highway system? Why does the Federal government through the FCC claim they have the right to control local right of ways? There is another article coming up and I will put some of this together for my dear readers, at least the ones who haven't fallen asleep.
Yahoo - Breakout - Gold ETFs Are Liquidating By the Ton. People are selling off gold. That will not be the end of the story, when the markets crash, gold will escalate and then it will take a really big drop when it is not what future currencies are based on. Volatility is how you steal other peoples money.
Yahoo - Reuters - The Irish loophole behind Apple's low tax bill. I need to say something here. I am very careful, as a rule, with the sources that I quote. I prefer to link to someone's own website when I say what they are doing; but, I will link to reputable and established news sources often. On occasion, I will link to alternative news sources; but, either they provide a link to their source material or I have independently provided a link to the source material. My readers may have noticed that I provide the name of any sources that I link to in my blog, that is to not infringe on anyone's copyright. There are some alternative sources that I read that may cause me to investigate and I will then link to the original document rather than the referring source. Having said all that, here is my thinking. The Mainstream Media manipulates the news and spins stories; but, they can back up their stories with some evidence. I am more concerned with their evidence than their spin. The Mainstream Media also takes responsibility for what they publish. I am a commentator, not a news reporter. I want to point to a source that takes responsibility for what they print.
Now to the article. Pretty simple, the reason we need to have international control over tax collection. Apple is just an example to get you riled up to accept it.
Banoosh - You Won’t Need a Driver’s License by 2040. The article talks about how self driving cars will free you from having to drive or get speeding tickets and how that will mean that we will not need traffic signs or traffic lights. When we have a world of self driving cars, the infrastructure does not need to be there for humans to drive. Now go back to the other articles about personal travel, driving and you might begin to see a pattern. You will pay more, the more you drive and your car will drive for you. Hmmm, what is that other part. Oh, yeah and the federal government is taking over control of all the major streets. Maybe that will allow them to require you to have a self driving car to be on the national highway system.
Let me ask you a question. When the cars can all be self driving, why paint traffic lines? Why even paint crosswalks when the cars can already see you? A lot of money is spent nationwide painting streets. The article states that wouldn't need street lights, that saves a lot of money and electricity. Solar energy does not work well at night and reducing demand in a world of green energy has value. Maybe if you have a dumb car you will only be allowed to drive during the day.
The greatest freedom we have is the ability to move freely about. When your ability to move about is limited, you are in a prison. It means that you can no longer vote with your feet. I want you to honestly ask yourself a question. How would China use these technologies, do you think they would use them to limit where people go to acceptable places to see acceptable people? The FCC controls the airwaves and what can be broadcast on them, soon they will what can be broadcast over the streets, that is why they took control over local right of ways as I have written about prior and you can read for yourself by searching for the Texas Municipal League and the FCC. I just don't feel like looking for the link again.
Monday, May 20, 2013
News articles; but, quietly
I have not played any music today, I have not watched any television, I have kept the amount of noise to a minimum around me. I felt I needed a little quiet time to think. I love the city; but, I have spent years living in the desert and living in the woods prior to that. When I used to go backpacking, it was great. There is something about the peacefulness and quiet that goes along with it.
It is amazing how much we are bombarded by information. Our senses are constantly being overloaded with noise, light, motion. I personally cannot stand to be in a dance club. I fear for the kids of today, this place is beginning to look more and more like Tokyo. Their lives are wrapped in social networking to the point where everything is public. I saw an article today that said that 94% of Brit's would give up sex rather than their cell phone. Mail Online - 94% of UK adults would rather live without sex than their mobile phone. Now to the news.
Yahoo News - AP - US Treasury takes step to avoid hitting debt limit
US Treasury to halt sales of securities to state, local gov'ts to avoid breaching debt limit. I am not quite sure what this one means; but, it is worth watching to see the effect it has on state and local governments. It may mean that they have to keep the money in the banks. If those banks were to fail and a "bail in" occurred, would they be the largest stock owners of their local banks?
Inforwars - What Are These Weird Street Signs Being Installed in Las Vegas? I don't generally link to Infowars and believe they have a very strong tendency to look for the boogeyman under every bed. My opinion. This particular story is interesting for other reasons. One commenter stated that the signs looked like highway signs for redirecting traffic on streets if the highway were down. As I pointed out previously, the new federal funding legislation for municipal roads claims that all major (arterial) roads are now part of the National Highway System. Perhaps this is a "sign" of things to come as the fed takes over local right of ways.
Wired - New Cash Registers Are Sexy, But What’s Beneath the Counter Matters More. An article showing the cash register of the future; but, it doesn't take cash from what I can see. It only takes electronic purchases. Still, it is pretty.
Mail Online - New spectre of cloned babies: Scientists create embryos in lab that 'could grow to full term'.
Yahoo News - AP - Nasdaq stocks posting largest volume decreases. If people are not trading, something is coming.
LifeNews.com - Unethical Scientists are Making Human-Animal Hybrids, Again
. The problem is that science teaches that people are not unique and not special, we are flukes of the universe and we believe we can do a better job than nature or God. This will not go well.
Mail Online - Google unveils superfast quantum computer that could cure diseases, stop global warming and even learn to drive a car
.
The Guardian - Fury at corporate tax avoidance leads to call for a global response. Get ready for it, global tax regulation by an international body. First they will come for the big companies that are truly avoiding taxes and then, then they will come for every transaction made on the internet and maybe that is not a bad thing. My issue is not with internationally regulated currencies or internationally enforced taxes. If we sell in another country, we need to abide by their rules and vice versa. My bigger concern is the globalization of what is and is not acceptable because we don't get to vote on those things.
Huffington Post - Kirsten Gillibrand Aims To Jumpstart Student Loan Refinancings With New Bill. Nothing is free in this world and there will be a price to pay. It may not be apparent yet; but, it will show itself later. The same thing holds true for people who bought risky loans, refinanced and think they have outsmarted the system. Nope, you didn't, you did exactly what they wanted you to do.
Wired - Welcome to the Programmable World
. A decent article about how everything is going to be connected to the internet. The term they use is "the internet of things". I recommend you read the whole article and ask yourself what will not be known about you in the future.
Yahoo - CNBC - New Bill to Colleges: Prove Your Worth
. Colleges are going to be asked to prove to students that they will be able to get good paying jobs. What would you do if you could only get into a college that you believed graduation from meant you would get a good job; but, you were not admitted to the ones that had a higher return? What is the real driving force behind all of these attacks on the value of a college education? They are telling the poor and middle class that if you cannot afford to go to the best colleges, you shouldn't bother going at all. They are lowering expectations because there is less for Americans to expect in the future. Don't expect to own a home, don't expect to go to college, don't expect to live alone and don't expect to have much private space (270 square feet is enough). They are telling us something really simple, EXPECT LESS.
INRIX. They watch you move, they watch you travel, they monitor transportation for your benefit. How do they get all that information if not from the cities, states and fed?
Huffington Post - Transforming Capitalism Won't Happen Without Leadership. We do not live in a capitalistic society and maybe never have. Certainly, with all the misdeeds of the banks and insurance companies and industries and the regulators, the system is rigged and far from honest. The system will change because it will fail even more. The question is what will replace it.
Huffington Post - Launching the Internet of Everything One Startup at a Time. Again we see the internet of everything, it is time when everything is connected and monitored and analyzed. The movie the Matrix was interesting, it envisioned a future where we lived in virtual realities and that is the world we are building.
A Farewell and a song. Washington Post - AP - Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, dies at 74 from cancer. Ray Manzarek was the keyboardist for The Doors. A friend of mine's father played on one of their albums. Mr. Manzarek was as important to that band as the others. He started the band with Morrison and it had a very distinctive sound. It will be the first music I listen to today. My favorite song by The Doors - YouTube - L.A. Woman. Thanks for the music and goodbye Mr. Manzarek.
It is amazing how much we are bombarded by information. Our senses are constantly being overloaded with noise, light, motion. I personally cannot stand to be in a dance club. I fear for the kids of today, this place is beginning to look more and more like Tokyo. Their lives are wrapped in social networking to the point where everything is public. I saw an article today that said that 94% of Brit's would give up sex rather than their cell phone. Mail Online - 94% of UK adults would rather live without sex than their mobile phone. Now to the news.
Yahoo News - AP - US Treasury takes step to avoid hitting debt limit
US Treasury to halt sales of securities to state, local gov'ts to avoid breaching debt limit. I am not quite sure what this one means; but, it is worth watching to see the effect it has on state and local governments. It may mean that they have to keep the money in the banks. If those banks were to fail and a "bail in" occurred, would they be the largest stock owners of their local banks?
Inforwars - What Are These Weird Street Signs Being Installed in Las Vegas? I don't generally link to Infowars and believe they have a very strong tendency to look for the boogeyman under every bed. My opinion. This particular story is interesting for other reasons. One commenter stated that the signs looked like highway signs for redirecting traffic on streets if the highway were down. As I pointed out previously, the new federal funding legislation for municipal roads claims that all major (arterial) roads are now part of the National Highway System. Perhaps this is a "sign" of things to come as the fed takes over local right of ways.
Wired - New Cash Registers Are Sexy, But What’s Beneath the Counter Matters More. An article showing the cash register of the future; but, it doesn't take cash from what I can see. It only takes electronic purchases. Still, it is pretty.
Mail Online - New spectre of cloned babies: Scientists create embryos in lab that 'could grow to full term'.
Yahoo News - AP - Nasdaq stocks posting largest volume decreases. If people are not trading, something is coming.
LifeNews.com - Unethical Scientists are Making Human-Animal Hybrids, Again
. The problem is that science teaches that people are not unique and not special, we are flukes of the universe and we believe we can do a better job than nature or God. This will not go well.
Mail Online - Google unveils superfast quantum computer that could cure diseases, stop global warming and even learn to drive a car
.
The Guardian - Fury at corporate tax avoidance leads to call for a global response. Get ready for it, global tax regulation by an international body. First they will come for the big companies that are truly avoiding taxes and then, then they will come for every transaction made on the internet and maybe that is not a bad thing. My issue is not with internationally regulated currencies or internationally enforced taxes. If we sell in another country, we need to abide by their rules and vice versa. My bigger concern is the globalization of what is and is not acceptable because we don't get to vote on those things.
Huffington Post - Kirsten Gillibrand Aims To Jumpstart Student Loan Refinancings With New Bill. Nothing is free in this world and there will be a price to pay. It may not be apparent yet; but, it will show itself later. The same thing holds true for people who bought risky loans, refinanced and think they have outsmarted the system. Nope, you didn't, you did exactly what they wanted you to do.
Wired - Welcome to the Programmable World
. A decent article about how everything is going to be connected to the internet. The term they use is "the internet of things". I recommend you read the whole article and ask yourself what will not be known about you in the future.
Yahoo - CNBC - New Bill to Colleges: Prove Your Worth
. Colleges are going to be asked to prove to students that they will be able to get good paying jobs. What would you do if you could only get into a college that you believed graduation from meant you would get a good job; but, you were not admitted to the ones that had a higher return? What is the real driving force behind all of these attacks on the value of a college education? They are telling the poor and middle class that if you cannot afford to go to the best colleges, you shouldn't bother going at all. They are lowering expectations because there is less for Americans to expect in the future. Don't expect to own a home, don't expect to go to college, don't expect to live alone and don't expect to have much private space (270 square feet is enough). They are telling us something really simple, EXPECT LESS.
INRIX. They watch you move, they watch you travel, they monitor transportation for your benefit. How do they get all that information if not from the cities, states and fed?
Huffington Post - Transforming Capitalism Won't Happen Without Leadership. We do not live in a capitalistic society and maybe never have. Certainly, with all the misdeeds of the banks and insurance companies and industries and the regulators, the system is rigged and far from honest. The system will change because it will fail even more. The question is what will replace it.
Huffington Post - Launching the Internet of Everything One Startup at a Time. Again we see the internet of everything, it is time when everything is connected and monitored and analyzed. The movie the Matrix was interesting, it envisioned a future where we lived in virtual realities and that is the world we are building.
A Farewell and a song. Washington Post - AP - Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, dies at 74 from cancer. Ray Manzarek was the keyboardist for The Doors. A friend of mine's father played on one of their albums. Mr. Manzarek was as important to that band as the others. He started the band with Morrison and it had a very distinctive sound. It will be the first music I listen to today. My favorite song by The Doors - YouTube - L.A. Woman. Thanks for the music and goodbye Mr. Manzarek.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
how do you find truth inside
I regularly check the stats on this blog, everytime I post, I check the stats. I don't fixate on it, I just look to see what people are searching and which posts are being read. I am always fascinated to find that people from other countries read it, it amazes me that Russians are the second most common group. Often I check to see which searches led people to my site. Today, I found the following search "how do you find truth inside" and it stopped me.
This blog is called "The Truth is Inside You" and someone wanted to know how to find the truth inside themselves and were led here. I think I want to answer their question, at least to the best of my ability. Who knows, maybe someone else will come here with the same question someday.
I called this blog, "The Truth is Inside You" because I believe it. The one thing that we can know is that we are, that we exist. It is an absolute truth and the only one that can be known absolutely. The nature of our existence is open to discussion, the fact of our existence is not. I began this blog (first iteration, since destroyed) by talking about the philosophical meaning of existence. Yes, the first iteration of this blog was very deep into philosophy and God. The second iteration was more about how the world system works. I destroyed that one too. Yet, for all this time the issue was about the truths that we can know and can assume and the deceit regarding what is true.
So, to the question. How do you find truth inside you? How does one find oneself? Whoever you are is your truth, not who I think you are and whoever you are is as important as any other person because we all have to live our own lives. We seek pleasure because this physical world is tough and has lots of unpleasurable things in it. Who we are is the collection of choices we make. The ones where we are selfless define us, the ones where we are selfish also define us and once we pass on, we are whoever we chose to be in making our choices.
To find the truth inside, you merely have to admit who you are. The challenge of life is to choose who you want to be and it doesn't have to be the same as who you are today. Babies are born completely selfish; but, they learn. The Peter Pan syndrome is all about not wanting to grow up, it is about wanting to remain forever selfish, a child.
The truth is not the mistakes you made (though it is part of it), the truth is not who want to be (though that is also part of it), the truth is who you choose to be and which battles you choose to fight and why. I've been called a lot of things in my life and many of them were and are true; but, it is only part of the story. I am everything I have thought, everything I have done and everything I have chose not to do.
I went to the store today, there was someone collecting money for the homeless shelter. I didn't know what was in my wallet, I thought I had a 5. Turned out I had two ones and an 20. I wanted to give five; but, had to make a choice. Should I give the two ones or the 20. I gave the 20, I made a choice and also decided to make sure I had 10s and 5s on me in the future. I give money to charity every day, just about literally everyday.
I had a friend, I loved him very much. He was one of the most sincere, dedicated and loving people I have ever known. I still miss him, he was older and passed away. The Pimpernel has been and is blessed with some of the best friends a man could ever wish for. I used to tell my friend that I was always where I was supposed to be when I supposed to be there. He understood it about me, he liked that about me. He was also a spiritual person. He understood what I meant. I don't choose who I am around very much, I let them choose me or not. I do not wish to fake who I am and don't want others to fake who they are. I don't want to control who others are; but, I don't want to be too long around people that are only negative. That is who I am partly, who knows who I will become; but, the choices I make will define who I am more than they could possibly define who others are. I cannot define others for themselves, I cannot define their choices or their reasons, they do that.
You don't find the truth inside you, you admit it. You are you and you make choices based on what you have faith in. Belief is a non-sense word, it just really is used to mean something you want to think is true. Faith means that you act on your belief. If you have faith that the moon is made of gold then you will spend all the money you can to go there and mine gold. If your beliefs do not effect your actions then you are lying to yourself about what you really believe.
We want to believe that we are good people. Most people lie to themselves about who they are. They tell themselves that they think others are just as important as they are and then vote to end food stamps or whatever might help someone else in need because it will hurt their pocketbook and someone else should be helping. At some point in time, who should help becomes irrelevant and who does help is all that the person in need knows.
How do you find the truth inside you, it is simple, stop lying to yourself about who you are and focus on who you want to be rather than focusing on who you want others to be. Create the you that you want to be and know that you will be imperfect, I haven't met a perfect person yet. I read that there is none good but God. The rest of us are all works in progress at least we hope we progress.
This blog is called "The Truth is Inside You" and someone wanted to know how to find the truth inside themselves and were led here. I think I want to answer their question, at least to the best of my ability. Who knows, maybe someone else will come here with the same question someday.
I called this blog, "The Truth is Inside You" because I believe it. The one thing that we can know is that we are, that we exist. It is an absolute truth and the only one that can be known absolutely. The nature of our existence is open to discussion, the fact of our existence is not. I began this blog (first iteration, since destroyed) by talking about the philosophical meaning of existence. Yes, the first iteration of this blog was very deep into philosophy and God. The second iteration was more about how the world system works. I destroyed that one too. Yet, for all this time the issue was about the truths that we can know and can assume and the deceit regarding what is true.
So, to the question. How do you find truth inside you? How does one find oneself? Whoever you are is your truth, not who I think you are and whoever you are is as important as any other person because we all have to live our own lives. We seek pleasure because this physical world is tough and has lots of unpleasurable things in it. Who we are is the collection of choices we make. The ones where we are selfless define us, the ones where we are selfish also define us and once we pass on, we are whoever we chose to be in making our choices.
To find the truth inside, you merely have to admit who you are. The challenge of life is to choose who you want to be and it doesn't have to be the same as who you are today. Babies are born completely selfish; but, they learn. The Peter Pan syndrome is all about not wanting to grow up, it is about wanting to remain forever selfish, a child.
The truth is not the mistakes you made (though it is part of it), the truth is not who want to be (though that is also part of it), the truth is who you choose to be and which battles you choose to fight and why. I've been called a lot of things in my life and many of them were and are true; but, it is only part of the story. I am everything I have thought, everything I have done and everything I have chose not to do.
I went to the store today, there was someone collecting money for the homeless shelter. I didn't know what was in my wallet, I thought I had a 5. Turned out I had two ones and an 20. I wanted to give five; but, had to make a choice. Should I give the two ones or the 20. I gave the 20, I made a choice and also decided to make sure I had 10s and 5s on me in the future. I give money to charity every day, just about literally everyday.
I had a friend, I loved him very much. He was one of the most sincere, dedicated and loving people I have ever known. I still miss him, he was older and passed away. The Pimpernel has been and is blessed with some of the best friends a man could ever wish for. I used to tell my friend that I was always where I was supposed to be when I supposed to be there. He understood it about me, he liked that about me. He was also a spiritual person. He understood what I meant. I don't choose who I am around very much, I let them choose me or not. I do not wish to fake who I am and don't want others to fake who they are. I don't want to control who others are; but, I don't want to be too long around people that are only negative. That is who I am partly, who knows who I will become; but, the choices I make will define who I am more than they could possibly define who others are. I cannot define others for themselves, I cannot define their choices or their reasons, they do that.
You don't find the truth inside you, you admit it. You are you and you make choices based on what you have faith in. Belief is a non-sense word, it just really is used to mean something you want to think is true. Faith means that you act on your belief. If you have faith that the moon is made of gold then you will spend all the money you can to go there and mine gold. If your beliefs do not effect your actions then you are lying to yourself about what you really believe.
We want to believe that we are good people. Most people lie to themselves about who they are. They tell themselves that they think others are just as important as they are and then vote to end food stamps or whatever might help someone else in need because it will hurt their pocketbook and someone else should be helping. At some point in time, who should help becomes irrelevant and who does help is all that the person in need knows.
How do you find the truth inside you, it is simple, stop lying to yourself about who you are and focus on who you want to be rather than focusing on who you want others to be. Create the you that you want to be and know that you will be imperfect, I haven't met a perfect person yet. I read that there is none good but God. The rest of us are all works in progress at least we hope we progress.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
A Response to an anonymous comment regarding currencies.
Dear Anonymous,
What great questions. I will attempt to answer while giving additional detail and background for those who may not be following these issues.
Fiat Currencies - Physical cash is of course merely paper in today's society. At best it is metal coins; but, who likes to carry around coins anymore. We created paper currency because it is easier than carrying around $100 in pennies or carrying around physical items to barter. Could you imagine bartering cows for a car or a house? The currencies merely represent a promise to redeem with labor and goods. So far, so good. Unfortunately, governments and banks determined that they could charge interest and game the system. Financial people discovered that they could make a profit by manipulating the value of the currencies without actually contributing labor or materials to anything of value.
The creation of physical paper currencies without them being pegged to anything meant that governments and banks could just print more money. The best example of this was probably Germany's hyperinflation prior to the Nazi's coming to power. Stories were told of people bringing wheel barrels of cash into stores just to buy a loaf of bread. The hyperinflation was done in order to pay off foreign debts cheaply. Today we call these things currency wars. The effect within a country of inflation is that it works as a form of taxation, reducing the value of what you have saved and increasing the cash a country can spend.
Prior to there being lots of international trade, it was not as important. With the rise in globalism, currency manipulation becomes more of a problem. For a while there were seven "hard currencies", these were currencies that were accepted worldwide because of faith in their underlying stability and because the countries with the hard currencies were selling products that others wanted. The English pound was backed by sterling silver and the American dollar was backed by gold and silver for a time.
Gold and silver were in limited supply and it was difficult to match the amount of gold to the true value of currencies which is in the underlying promise of labor and materials. A good example is food. The United States was able to produce lots of food and the food was exported; but, a currency backed by gold could not match the amount of food that was being produced. I recently watched a video where it was claimed that to produce a bushel of wheat requires a gallon of oil (transportation of the food required the use of the oil). There is however no direct connection between gold reserves and how much food can be produced. Since the 1900s, the real value of money became based on oil and oil was and is still traded in dollars; but, that is coming to an end.
Now here is the question I was asked. "The BRICS are looking to exit the USD as a reserve currency, how do you think it will play out with regard to the fed/imf/ecb etcdebt backed paper VS BRICS asset backed alternative reserve currency?" I don't see the BRICs as having an asset backed currency. The IMF and the BRICs have moved towards using "Special Drawing Rights", which is nothing more than a collection of currencies used as a reserve.
There are others who have accurately predicted our current situation; however, most of them are selling gold or silver. They call for a return to gold backed currencies; but, the BRICs real value is in their cheap labor and abundant minerals and goods for sale. Brazil does not need a gold backed currency and neither does Russia or India or even China. We want their products, not their gold.
By inflating their currency, Japan is making it's products more expensive to foreign nations except to nations which purchase using the dollar. Japan needs foreign oil. It has been claimed that the reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because we had restricted it's ability to buy oil prior to World War II in response to their military actions in Asia. People will go to war over real assets, things that they need to survive such as food, water, oil and now technology. There is much evidence and it had been predicted that the Soviet Union would collapse because of their inability to keep up with the wests technology. The USSR had a closed society and was unwilling to share information within it's own borders. This made taking advantage of computers and high tech difficult for them. Nobody goes to war over gold because you can live quite well without it.
The current value of gold did not go up because it is harder to find, it is actually being mined more now then two decades ago. As the value of gold went up, it made sense to mine it in areas where it was more costly. The true underlying value of gold has nothing to do with it's trading value. It does not cost $1,800 to mine one ounce of gold and the trading value of gold rises and drops totally unrelated to the cost to produce, refine and transport it. People have sold themselves into slavery in the past; but, not for gold. They sold themselves into slavery for food and shelter.
Lets say that America sold all of it's gold to China and paid off all our foreign debt, would it matter? The dollar is not backed by gold now and hasn't been for a long time. Yet, the dollar was the most important currency in the world and has truly been the only world currency in the history of the world. The dollar's real value has been that it was backed up by oil. That is why other countries saw the dollar itself as a commodity.
I promise I will answer the question. In a world of global trading, the total value of a nations assets is what should and will back up the underlying currencies. The IMF has called for all currencies to be pegged to the nations GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The GDP is the value of all final goods and services produced by a country in a single year. Now, it is true that the G20 and others have called for a single world currency; but, the value of it would still be the worlds GDP. It does not matter what the coin looks like, the question is what is it's trading value based on.
There are two scenarios where the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China)might create an asset backed currency; but, neither is necessarily good for them. Lets say the BRICs backed their currency with gold. There is not enough gold in the world to back their currencies. A gram of gold would be equivalent to a years wages for some people in China. Now if the trading value of gold dropped to $30 it might work; but, then why back your currency by gold in the first place.
Germany is asking for roughly 500 tons of their gold to be put back in their nation (Germany like many other countries keeps much of it's gold in the United States of England, this was done in case the Soviet Union invaded them and for ease in international trade transactions). It is estimated that it will take 7 years to physically return the gold to Germany. The cost and hassle of nations trading in gold is unrealistic and not very effective in a world where international trade is done in seconds.
In my opinion, a gold backed currency makes no sense in the world anymore. Gold deposits can be part of what a nations currency is pegged to; but, there is really little need or any direct connection between gold and the value of what a nation produces. Trading gold therefore is just a much a fiat currency as is paper currencies. My biggest problem with gold is that it doesn't make sense on an individual level. During the depression gold could and was confiscated in the United States by the government and it still retains the right to do it again. All transactions over $500 to purchase gold must be reported to the government; but, the people selling gold don't really explain this. To get around this people began trading in gold options, stock in gold without the actual physical gold. That is a totally fiat currency.
Lets say that gold went to $100,000 an ounce, so what. It just means that the currency is valueless. What do you do after you sell the gold because you cannot trade in it directly. You cannot buy a new car with a chunk of gold. Gold dust will not pay rent or buy food or anything else. The current bubble in gold will burst; but, if it just keeps going up, it makes it less and less likely that it could be used in a barter system.
Here is what I think is behind all of this. Putin would not have promoted a single world currency if he thought that the BRICs were going to have their own asset backed currency and become the reserve currency of the world. The threat of a BRIC currency replacing the dollar is merely an attempt to convince the rest of the world to accept a single world currency and that is what the IMF is promoting.
We sold a lot of our debt to China, if the dollar is to completely collapse they get little in return. By pegging all currencies to a nations GDP, the Chinese are guaranteed to get real assets from us. It would prevent us from hyper-inflating our currency which is what Japan and the United States are doing in different ways.
While Wall Street is the leading place for stock transactions, the City of London is the financial capital for currency and debt valuations. That is why the LIBOR scandal is so important. LIBOR is a rate set by London banks for overnight trades, it is an interest rate. Turns out the system was rigged because it was not based on anything tangible, it was set by the banks themselves. Since then it has been hypothesized that most of the markets have rigged the setting of rates and this includes the rates for gold. The most successful investor in history is Warren Buffet and he has never been a big proponent of gold.
So, there is my long winded answer. I don't see the BRICs going to a true asset backed currency and if they did, it would quickly prove unsuccessful. One last thing, England sold off quite a lot of their gold not long ago and did so fairly cheaply. We have to wonder why. The City of London is the financial capital, they set many of the rates; but, the English got out of the gold standard.
In the end there is no single commodity that directly has it's value associated to a nations value. Why not back our currencies with diamonds? It makes just as much sense. What if we backed up our currency with the amount of food we produced and exported, that would make more sense. I trade food to Saudi Arabia in exchange for oil, that is a truly asset backed currency.
I want to thank the commenter for their question. I hope I provided enough background so all of the readers could understand my answer.
UPDATE: The following article is about why the EURO is going to be destroyed. The Atlantic - The Euro Is Still Doomed, in 2 Charts. What it says that is very interesting is that the EURO is fixed in value regardless of the country using it. If one country starts producing less it does not bring down the value of the underlying currency. This is why Germany had to bail out Greece, to protect it's Euro. It is a short article; but, a good one and I think it adds to the conversation.
What great questions. I will attempt to answer while giving additional detail and background for those who may not be following these issues.
Fiat Currencies - Physical cash is of course merely paper in today's society. At best it is metal coins; but, who likes to carry around coins anymore. We created paper currency because it is easier than carrying around $100 in pennies or carrying around physical items to barter. Could you imagine bartering cows for a car or a house? The currencies merely represent a promise to redeem with labor and goods. So far, so good. Unfortunately, governments and banks determined that they could charge interest and game the system. Financial people discovered that they could make a profit by manipulating the value of the currencies without actually contributing labor or materials to anything of value.
The creation of physical paper currencies without them being pegged to anything meant that governments and banks could just print more money. The best example of this was probably Germany's hyperinflation prior to the Nazi's coming to power. Stories were told of people bringing wheel barrels of cash into stores just to buy a loaf of bread. The hyperinflation was done in order to pay off foreign debts cheaply. Today we call these things currency wars. The effect within a country of inflation is that it works as a form of taxation, reducing the value of what you have saved and increasing the cash a country can spend.
Prior to there being lots of international trade, it was not as important. With the rise in globalism, currency manipulation becomes more of a problem. For a while there were seven "hard currencies", these were currencies that were accepted worldwide because of faith in their underlying stability and because the countries with the hard currencies were selling products that others wanted. The English pound was backed by sterling silver and the American dollar was backed by gold and silver for a time.
Gold and silver were in limited supply and it was difficult to match the amount of gold to the true value of currencies which is in the underlying promise of labor and materials. A good example is food. The United States was able to produce lots of food and the food was exported; but, a currency backed by gold could not match the amount of food that was being produced. I recently watched a video where it was claimed that to produce a bushel of wheat requires a gallon of oil (transportation of the food required the use of the oil). There is however no direct connection between gold reserves and how much food can be produced. Since the 1900s, the real value of money became based on oil and oil was and is still traded in dollars; but, that is coming to an end.
Now here is the question I was asked. "The BRICS are looking to exit the USD as a reserve currency, how do you think it will play out with regard to the fed/imf/ecb etcdebt backed paper VS BRICS asset backed alternative reserve currency?" I don't see the BRICs as having an asset backed currency. The IMF and the BRICs have moved towards using "Special Drawing Rights", which is nothing more than a collection of currencies used as a reserve.
There are others who have accurately predicted our current situation; however, most of them are selling gold or silver. They call for a return to gold backed currencies; but, the BRICs real value is in their cheap labor and abundant minerals and goods for sale. Brazil does not need a gold backed currency and neither does Russia or India or even China. We want their products, not their gold.
By inflating their currency, Japan is making it's products more expensive to foreign nations except to nations which purchase using the dollar. Japan needs foreign oil. It has been claimed that the reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because we had restricted it's ability to buy oil prior to World War II in response to their military actions in Asia. People will go to war over real assets, things that they need to survive such as food, water, oil and now technology. There is much evidence and it had been predicted that the Soviet Union would collapse because of their inability to keep up with the wests technology. The USSR had a closed society and was unwilling to share information within it's own borders. This made taking advantage of computers and high tech difficult for them. Nobody goes to war over gold because you can live quite well without it.
The current value of gold did not go up because it is harder to find, it is actually being mined more now then two decades ago. As the value of gold went up, it made sense to mine it in areas where it was more costly. The true underlying value of gold has nothing to do with it's trading value. It does not cost $1,800 to mine one ounce of gold and the trading value of gold rises and drops totally unrelated to the cost to produce, refine and transport it. People have sold themselves into slavery in the past; but, not for gold. They sold themselves into slavery for food and shelter.
Lets say that America sold all of it's gold to China and paid off all our foreign debt, would it matter? The dollar is not backed by gold now and hasn't been for a long time. Yet, the dollar was the most important currency in the world and has truly been the only world currency in the history of the world. The dollar's real value has been that it was backed up by oil. That is why other countries saw the dollar itself as a commodity.
I promise I will answer the question. In a world of global trading, the total value of a nations assets is what should and will back up the underlying currencies. The IMF has called for all currencies to be pegged to the nations GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The GDP is the value of all final goods and services produced by a country in a single year. Now, it is true that the G20 and others have called for a single world currency; but, the value of it would still be the worlds GDP. It does not matter what the coin looks like, the question is what is it's trading value based on.
There are two scenarios where the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China)might create an asset backed currency; but, neither is necessarily good for them. Lets say the BRICs backed their currency with gold. There is not enough gold in the world to back their currencies. A gram of gold would be equivalent to a years wages for some people in China. Now if the trading value of gold dropped to $30 it might work; but, then why back your currency by gold in the first place.
Germany is asking for roughly 500 tons of their gold to be put back in their nation (Germany like many other countries keeps much of it's gold in the United States of England, this was done in case the Soviet Union invaded them and for ease in international trade transactions). It is estimated that it will take 7 years to physically return the gold to Germany. The cost and hassle of nations trading in gold is unrealistic and not very effective in a world where international trade is done in seconds.
In my opinion, a gold backed currency makes no sense in the world anymore. Gold deposits can be part of what a nations currency is pegged to; but, there is really little need or any direct connection between gold and the value of what a nation produces. Trading gold therefore is just a much a fiat currency as is paper currencies. My biggest problem with gold is that it doesn't make sense on an individual level. During the depression gold could and was confiscated in the United States by the government and it still retains the right to do it again. All transactions over $500 to purchase gold must be reported to the government; but, the people selling gold don't really explain this. To get around this people began trading in gold options, stock in gold without the actual physical gold. That is a totally fiat currency.
Lets say that gold went to $100,000 an ounce, so what. It just means that the currency is valueless. What do you do after you sell the gold because you cannot trade in it directly. You cannot buy a new car with a chunk of gold. Gold dust will not pay rent or buy food or anything else. The current bubble in gold will burst; but, if it just keeps going up, it makes it less and less likely that it could be used in a barter system.
Here is what I think is behind all of this. Putin would not have promoted a single world currency if he thought that the BRICs were going to have their own asset backed currency and become the reserve currency of the world. The threat of a BRIC currency replacing the dollar is merely an attempt to convince the rest of the world to accept a single world currency and that is what the IMF is promoting.
We sold a lot of our debt to China, if the dollar is to completely collapse they get little in return. By pegging all currencies to a nations GDP, the Chinese are guaranteed to get real assets from us. It would prevent us from hyper-inflating our currency which is what Japan and the United States are doing in different ways.
While Wall Street is the leading place for stock transactions, the City of London is the financial capital for currency and debt valuations. That is why the LIBOR scandal is so important. LIBOR is a rate set by London banks for overnight trades, it is an interest rate. Turns out the system was rigged because it was not based on anything tangible, it was set by the banks themselves. Since then it has been hypothesized that most of the markets have rigged the setting of rates and this includes the rates for gold. The most successful investor in history is Warren Buffet and he has never been a big proponent of gold.
So, there is my long winded answer. I don't see the BRICs going to a true asset backed currency and if they did, it would quickly prove unsuccessful. One last thing, England sold off quite a lot of their gold not long ago and did so fairly cheaply. We have to wonder why. The City of London is the financial capital, they set many of the rates; but, the English got out of the gold standard.
In the end there is no single commodity that directly has it's value associated to a nations value. Why not back our currencies with diamonds? It makes just as much sense. What if we backed up our currency with the amount of food we produced and exported, that would make more sense. I trade food to Saudi Arabia in exchange for oil, that is a truly asset backed currency.
I want to thank the commenter for their question. I hope I provided enough background so all of the readers could understand my answer.
UPDATE: The following article is about why the EURO is going to be destroyed. The Atlantic - The Euro Is Still Doomed, in 2 Charts. What it says that is very interesting is that the EURO is fixed in value regardless of the country using it. If one country starts producing less it does not bring down the value of the underlying currency. This is why Germany had to bail out Greece, to protect it's Euro. It is a short article; but, a good one and I think it adds to the conversation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)