Here's an interesting take on the traditional economic tradeoff of "guns or butter". Brian Kennedy, President of the Claremont Institute spoke last month at Hillsdale College's Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. In the speech, Mr. Kennedy takes on radical Islam, China and Russia as current threats to our American way of life.
http://www.hillsdale.edu/images/userImages/mvanderwei/Page_6907/Imprimis_Jan11.pdf
He Sounds just like Geert Wilders. My opinion on the war on terror is that its impossible to have an informed opinion unless your a military commander and have access to classified documents. It would be like having an opinion on a chess match you have never seen but you have only heard of. I hate having to trust the government but in this case I feel its the only sensibly option.
ReplyDeleteI love Mr Kennedy's report not because I agree with it but because I feel strongly that no ideology, religion, or ideal deserves special protection from criticism. You label an ideology as a religion then it can't be publicly criticized with out being called hate speech. I also believe strongly that any ideal that must be sheltered from criticism for people to believe it most likely isn't an ideal worse believing in. That goes with all religions not just Islam. My experience with religion is that its relies heavily on controlling what information there members have access to. Statements like “Use only church approved materials” or “ books that are critical of the church are from Satan and shouldn’t be read” are forms of mind control.
I figured the "food for thought" post was as good a place as any to post an URL to an article by the BBC:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12533405
The article is about Moody's cutting the rating of Japanese bonds due to debt concerns. Currently, Japanese government debt is twice the size of its economy, the greatest of any industrialized nation. The impact of that debt on the Japanese economy is worth studying.
The BBC article was interesting. Iceland went bankrupt and according to the Cia world fact book there dedt is only 123% GDP. The Cia also lists 5 countries that have more than that.The US used to have a dedt level of 120% percent of GDP after WW2 but we were ok.
ReplyDeleteSadly far too great of a percentage of our citizenry are both ignorant and blind to the realities in the world past what they have been told to believe in by our mass media, civic, and religious leaders. This is not to say that I myself have a superior knowledge of the greater economic, religious, or military agendas of the US or any other country around the world. But I think it is time that the general public wake up and stop being mere sheep swallowing whatever we are fed by these same organizations.
ReplyDeleteHis points about China and Russia are far more accurate than even I would like to admit, however the reality of our current situation is that if China were to call in the chips on the debt they have purchased it would bankrupt our country and devastate our economy over night. The same effect would occur if China decided to curtail exports to the US beyond what has already happened with heavy and precious metals we rely on for manufacturing.
We may have a global economy and our economies may be more intertwined then ever thought possible even 20 years ago, and this may give promise to a very lucrative and prosperous future for all of us around the planet, however this also leaves the entire global economy vulnerable to the decisions of other countries that may not see this economic expansion or equalization as a positive form of ideology.
The two phrases I will likely remember from this article are "peaceful rise" as China's policy and "nuclear blackmail" referring to Russia and China. Economic interests supercede human interests in every country in so many ways, it is not wise to think otherwise.
ReplyDelete