Sunday, January 27, 2013

On The Fallacy of the "Greater Good" and a Great Song

Hey all.

Don't mention the Patriots. An ugly show last week that left me scratching my head. I don't think the Pats could have beaten San Francisco anyway, but still, a no show in the second half last week. That window is getting so small now for them.

I wanted to take a second to say something, something without spelling it all out for you. I think anyone that has read me over the years will understand, others not so. Here goes.

On The Fallacy of the "Greater Good" 
So the financial "crisis" is over.

My friend Josh Brown has a great piece up this week, aptly titled "The Word is Out, Just So You Know" and it's solid and spot on. I don't know for myself if this is another 2003-2007 never ending run up or another fake out. Honestly, I don't care.

No matter what happened, things were going to be ok after a bit. That's the truth.

It's the fallacy of "The Greater Good" that kills me. Doing wrong to get to a right. I mean, do you all teach your kids that? All I hear is how everyone wants to provide a future for their kids, bla bla and all that. You teach them to cut corners, cheat, lie, and steal to get to an endpoint? The glory of the greater good gets hollow.

I don't want to spend a bunch of time on this.

How you get somewhere is just as, and maybe more so, important than getting there. My problem with all this, and it's a big problem, is that it was all a fucking handout. The Fed, the Treasury, two Presidents gave the biggest handout to the worst criminal rip off in America history. It does not sit well. But hey, money is getting made right?

Ever sit by your Dad and know he is a vegetable after a massive heart attack? The most powerful railroad man you have ever seen? The fuck do a few dollars mean then? Know your sister is a full blown Bi-Polar nut case and you can never see her again? See your mother crumble through all this, and only your effort and integrity carries her through?

You stand. You hold up.

But no one that is a cheat can stand, and some that need handouts can never walk.

I don't sell stuff. I don't provide services. Whether the world ended in 2009 or we are now on track for a S&P 500 run to 2500 I don't have a real vested interest.

There is no honor, and no integrity anymore. You may think a few bucks make things 'right' but it only blunts the feeling to do what's right. Any student of history knows what happens when the core of a society gets eroded. If you can turn your head for criminals to rob you, so your 401k comes back, you will turn your head for most anything. That's the truth.

So turn your head.

Great Song
I forgot about this song, but I do love it. The fiddle gets played almost to a high note, yet comes back down and so the song seems sad. Check out The Waterboys with "Fisherman's Blues":


Have a good night.

6 comments:

David Batista said...

Great song! I don't know much about the economy, except that it does seem to be on the right track. But because I don't know the details about how it got there, to a layman like myself I must admit that I don't really much care. I just hope it keeps improving.

GawainsGhost said...

Come on, GYC, what did you expect? You know that senators and representives cannot be prosecuted for violating insider trading laws based on their knowledge of legislation to be passed. It happens all the time.

Harry Reid pushed Obama's green energy through the senate, but when it came time to buy solar panels for "clean" homes, the panels weren't bought from American companies, because almost all of them had gone bankrupt despite a massive infusion of government funds. No, the panels were bought from a company in China, of which Reid's son is a major shareholder.

That's the way it works. You got some company, you pay off a legislator to push an agenda, you get government funds, pay off the executives, and declare bankruptcy. Fuck the investors.

I happens all the time. It happened with GM. The legislators violated bankruptcy laws, screwed the bondholders, gave the money and control of the company to unions, for their votes, so they could keep making electric cars that nobody wants to buy. And which cause electrical fires and burn down garages and houses, by the way.

Know what realy gets me? It's this Affordable Health Care act, what a scam that is. The legislators didn't write it, nobody read it, Obama signed it. And now everyone's taxes are going up, except for the privileged few of course.

No, that legislation was written by the lobbyists for the pharmaceutical and insurance companies, and no doubt the AMA. Suddenly, there are all these commercials for drugs for depression and diseases I've never heard of, most of which I doubt even exist.

What are the side effects of these drugs? Restlessness, difficulty sleeping, unusual dreams, suicidal thoughts, and homicidal ideation.

Oh, yeah, if you thought you were depressed before, take this pill. It will only make you want to kill yourself. That'll cure your depression.

Did you know that almost all of perpetrators of these mass shootings we've seen so much of lately were on psychotropic drugs?

Yeah, the guys at Columbine were on Rittalin. So was the guy at the theater in Colorado for the Batman premier. The list goes on and on. That guy who shot up the elementary school in, what was it, Newtown, was on pyscotropic drugs.

And now there's this big push for gun control. Don't blame the gun; blame the drugs. You give some troubled teen a drug that causes suicidal thoughts and homicidal ideation, and you don't think he will act out? Please.

Why do you think they go on shooting sprees and then kill themselves? The gun didn't make them do that. The drug did.

Oh, the pharmaceutical companies say those side effects only affect 4% of the patients. Yeah, but when you're giving it to millions of patients, the number who will act out is in the thousands.

But hey, who cares? The pharmaceticals got their profits, the legislators got their payoffs, made insider trades, and hundreds of people got shot. That's government for you.

The whole system is corrupt, at the city, county, state, and federal level. This is why my basic political philosophy is to vote against every incumbent.

GawainsGhost said...

*It happens all the time.

Anonymous said...

Good observations that I agree with or can understand. Finance, the economy and especially politics has become such a cesspool of moral hazard and deception that its hard to take any of it seriously. A great wailing and gnashing of teeth is coming but even that won't stop the usual suspects from being held accountable - including the takers of society...

Anyway, good to see you are still blogging away.

Take care,

Gravestonedoji

Anonymous said...

Cheer up good friend...

G

PS: TGIF!

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