Think for a moment that you are in debt and your costs are higher than your income and that your costs are getting higher all the time, with your income standing still or at least not getting higher at the same rate as your costs. You are about to go bankrupt and this will also highly effect your children and grandchildren whom will inherited the debt you are responsible for. What would you do?
Well if you are a politician, you would borrow more money, letting todays and future taxpayers pick up the tab. And then you would go out and spend it all and increase the debt even further, and then you need to borrow even more money so you can keep spending. Isn’t politics fun?
This is what’s going on in the world. The new American president is going on a spending spree; the British and German governments are doing the same. And this they do during a time when the economies are built on a very shaky foundation that could collapse at any moment. But it gets even funnier. Alistair Darling, the British Chancellor, have gone to the printing presses to: ”make more money”. This is the same thing as to say to the market: “We give up” and it means that they no longer intent to pay the bills, which will lead to even less investments and consequently even higher debt with more people losing jobs and even higher loans. Are you getting this?
But it does not stop there either. Unions, socialists and even companies are crying and asking for governments to help and bail them out. People are gathering at demonstrations to force governments to spend even more. And just around the corner there it is; the biggest crisis in recorded history. The last time we got real exciting guys like Mussolini and Hitler, I wonder who we get this time?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thank you massa’
The current Swedish government wants to”allow” their citizen to buy some none prescription drugs at normal stores. Isn’t this nice of them? This outburst of kindness might be followed by them letting us: be alive or breathe as we wish.
I always love it when governments “allow their inhabitants…” something. Don’t you? It makes me feel all fuzzy inside to think of politicians who let their humble servants do things. We should all go down on our knees and thank ye all mighty for this token of appreciation. Maybe next time they will allow us to eat cookies after dinner?
Our ancestors started global warming!
A mammoth was found in sunny Los Angeles. Maybe those cave living ancestors of ours caused some global warming in their time to?
Fine day in Scotland today
A nice sunny day in Scotland today. Warmth and no snow might get you off, but for me it’s the ability to buy alcohol in the nearest store that does it. When I lived in Estonia I relished in the fact that I could buy tons of beer for the fraction of the price as in Sweden and this pretty much anywhere. In Scotland it’s not that cheap but still cheaper than in my native country, but not in: “I have found religion” kind of a way. But you can at least buy it at pretty much at every corner and this every day of the week. In Sweden there are countless home breweries and to smuggle alcohol over the border is pretty much a way of life. Because the government thinks we can’t handle ourselves and consequently have put all sales of alcohol in government stores so the government can make money of our drinking and that makes it alright…
You are going to die! Part XV
I have mentioned these guys before and it should be obvious for most people with some brain activity, but the ones who you really need to look out for and the ones who are the biggest threat to your very existence is your own government.
A government might be the king and his knights, a Pharos court, some Tsar or those elected politicians, but they all share the same faith and reality; they can’t make money! Every government that ever existed has lived on, partied on and build on their people’s money. They have only done so in different ways and in different amounts. To some extent, even though very subtle, people know this and to keep the citizen from figuring out what really goes on, the government needs to come up with some kind of defense for their existence. This has often been through religion. A ruler is proclaimed: “The son of God” or get some other nice holy title. In exchange for the particular religions and its priests support, the government gives them the power of people’s souls or they outlaw writing for non religious types or some other solution. So if you oppose your leader, you are not only committing a rebellion, you also violate the “laws of nature (=God)”. This has not always worked perfectly. The priests might not be completely reliable, they might find another ruler that gives them more power, but also some people have seen through this charade and rebelled against their governments anyway. So governments need other and more viable solutions and these have varied throughout the ages. One common solution has been to outlaw weapons, except for the ruler’s armies; people without weapons are easier to control. Another solution has been to increase the gifts to the people to keep them happy. Give them free healthcare, free slaves or less working hours and they might not be so inclined to overthrow you. Entertainment is another way to go. If people are busy with watching gladiators fight or are happy with theaters or other forms of entertainment they are not really too eager to destroy the ones giving them this, especially if it’s “free”.
But all the way governments need to show the public that they care, they need to act upon injustice and help the poor (whoever they are). And they need to impose laws to protect, help and serve the people. If many get killed by riding horses, the government needs to show they are worried and preferably make laws to outlaw riding until a certain age or that people need helmets or something of that nature. All the time doing all of it with the people’s money.
And here comes the first catch: All those laws that cost money could have been used to pay for new inventions or be used in many other different ways that actually would have benefited the people more than what the government comes up with. What the government does might sound good, it might even (very seldom) work to some extent, but still the alternative would have been better to all involved. Sometimes (most of the time) the government’s solution might even increase the suffering. And this leads to the next catch: governments need to justify these laws or public solutions with banning the alternative; otherwise, what’s the point with the government? So if the government sees and hears about a new drug that might cause people to act in a certain way and there is a public outcry to ban this drug and do something about it, the government goes to work. They outlaw that substance and presto: they have created a bunch of outlaws! These will be taken care of by going to jail, handled by the police and maybe even getting some “free” medical help. The law causes a high cost of the substance which in turn makes people to turn to the mafia, which will kill, meme and bribe their way through society and the government has another reason to exist, to fight crime! People can’t fight crime, they don’t have weapons (courtesy of laws) and a mob defending themselves against aggressive muggers or whatnot cannot go about their business, the government is needed to impose the respectability and non partisan point of view.
And this just goes on and on. Often very subtle and very non harmful to the naked eye. People drown? Let’s have public swimming lessons so they all learn how to not drown. People are not educated? Lets impose laws so all kids need to go to certain schools, on certain times, with certain teachers and with certain curriculums. People can’t afford healthcare? Let’s make it “free” for all. All of these and many many more solutions make it seem like the government cares, it might even sound good or great. Who doesn’t want to be able to swim? And get their kids to learn things? And that doctor is expensive, excellent that the government cares and makes it “free of charge”. But you are the one paying for it. Did you think about that you stupid idiot? And the government does not do this carity work for free, no, they cost money. Politician’s costs money, the administrators, the teachers and even those who collect your money and then put it “were it belongs” cost money. Some economists have counted that using the government solution instead of paying for it yourself might be 3 times more expensive. I think its way more than that. So in supporting this idiocy you lose money and this might cause you and your children to starve. But even if it doesn’t, you have given up your right to choice for yourself.
All this is just a couple of the many ways a government might do you harm. I choice to write about the non obvious ones because the others you might know about, probably not, but you might. Most governments have other, more understandable ways to kill and harm you. They have been more open about it, killing at random. Every war that ever been started have been started by governments, not the people, not companies or something else, only governments. Witches have been burned, non believers have been massacred, and those not paying taxes will be executed. It might have someone saying/writing the wrong thing or it might have been someone having the wrong color of the skin, but the government has killed it. Pretty much anything you can think of from wearing classes to being an atheist has made governments kill. And they are still doing it today!
Without a doubt government have been and are still today the main reason why you might get killed. But they are soooo nice, giving you “free” roads to drive on with your government approved car imposed with different taxes, all of which you pay for, so they must be good… Idiot.
A government might be the king and his knights, a Pharos court, some Tsar or those elected politicians, but they all share the same faith and reality; they can’t make money! Every government that ever existed has lived on, partied on and build on their people’s money. They have only done so in different ways and in different amounts. To some extent, even though very subtle, people know this and to keep the citizen from figuring out what really goes on, the government needs to come up with some kind of defense for their existence. This has often been through religion. A ruler is proclaimed: “The son of God” or get some other nice holy title. In exchange for the particular religions and its priests support, the government gives them the power of people’s souls or they outlaw writing for non religious types or some other solution. So if you oppose your leader, you are not only committing a rebellion, you also violate the “laws of nature (=God)”. This has not always worked perfectly. The priests might not be completely reliable, they might find another ruler that gives them more power, but also some people have seen through this charade and rebelled against their governments anyway. So governments need other and more viable solutions and these have varied throughout the ages. One common solution has been to outlaw weapons, except for the ruler’s armies; people without weapons are easier to control. Another solution has been to increase the gifts to the people to keep them happy. Give them free healthcare, free slaves or less working hours and they might not be so inclined to overthrow you. Entertainment is another way to go. If people are busy with watching gladiators fight or are happy with theaters or other forms of entertainment they are not really too eager to destroy the ones giving them this, especially if it’s “free”.
But all the way governments need to show the public that they care, they need to act upon injustice and help the poor (whoever they are). And they need to impose laws to protect, help and serve the people. If many get killed by riding horses, the government needs to show they are worried and preferably make laws to outlaw riding until a certain age or that people need helmets or something of that nature. All the time doing all of it with the people’s money.
And here comes the first catch: All those laws that cost money could have been used to pay for new inventions or be used in many other different ways that actually would have benefited the people more than what the government comes up with. What the government does might sound good, it might even (very seldom) work to some extent, but still the alternative would have been better to all involved. Sometimes (most of the time) the government’s solution might even increase the suffering. And this leads to the next catch: governments need to justify these laws or public solutions with banning the alternative; otherwise, what’s the point with the government? So if the government sees and hears about a new drug that might cause people to act in a certain way and there is a public outcry to ban this drug and do something about it, the government goes to work. They outlaw that substance and presto: they have created a bunch of outlaws! These will be taken care of by going to jail, handled by the police and maybe even getting some “free” medical help. The law causes a high cost of the substance which in turn makes people to turn to the mafia, which will kill, meme and bribe their way through society and the government has another reason to exist, to fight crime! People can’t fight crime, they don’t have weapons (courtesy of laws) and a mob defending themselves against aggressive muggers or whatnot cannot go about their business, the government is needed to impose the respectability and non partisan point of view.
And this just goes on and on. Often very subtle and very non harmful to the naked eye. People drown? Let’s have public swimming lessons so they all learn how to not drown. People are not educated? Lets impose laws so all kids need to go to certain schools, on certain times, with certain teachers and with certain curriculums. People can’t afford healthcare? Let’s make it “free” for all. All of these and many many more solutions make it seem like the government cares, it might even sound good or great. Who doesn’t want to be able to swim? And get their kids to learn things? And that doctor is expensive, excellent that the government cares and makes it “free of charge”. But you are the one paying for it. Did you think about that you stupid idiot? And the government does not do this carity work for free, no, they cost money. Politician’s costs money, the administrators, the teachers and even those who collect your money and then put it “were it belongs” cost money. Some economists have counted that using the government solution instead of paying for it yourself might be 3 times more expensive. I think its way more than that. So in supporting this idiocy you lose money and this might cause you and your children to starve. But even if it doesn’t, you have given up your right to choice for yourself.
All this is just a couple of the many ways a government might do you harm. I choice to write about the non obvious ones because the others you might know about, probably not, but you might. Most governments have other, more understandable ways to kill and harm you. They have been more open about it, killing at random. Every war that ever been started have been started by governments, not the people, not companies or something else, only governments. Witches have been burned, non believers have been massacred, and those not paying taxes will be executed. It might have someone saying/writing the wrong thing or it might have been someone having the wrong color of the skin, but the government has killed it. Pretty much anything you can think of from wearing classes to being an atheist has made governments kill. And they are still doing it today!
Without a doubt government have been and are still today the main reason why you might get killed. But they are soooo nice, giving you “free” roads to drive on with your government approved car imposed with different taxes, all of which you pay for, so they must be good… Idiot.
The economic crisis will soon hit us very hard – drink vodka
You should all be aware that the current financial crisis isn’t over by a long shot. It’s just getting started. And if you read this and hopefully listen, you should start piling up those candles, popcorns or whatever you need, because soon we will be hit by something worse than the great depression. Big troubles in Eastern Europe, mainly for those countries that have gone over to the Euro and problem for banks all over were the first signs. Car manufactories going bankrupt and real estate agencies loosing clients was the second sign. Then we had the hording of Gold on the market and then the different government support packages that will increase and worsen the situation. Now we also learn that investments are going way down and that calls are being made to increase protectionism and/or increase international cooperation, all the time economists and governments encourage spending with borrow and fictive money. This can’t end well.
These are all signs of the economies going downhill. There is no real panic yet, but it should be. And with socialist all around the world screaming about government solutions, increasing taxes and strengthening unions will not really help either. The thing to wait for now is that last little spark to get the fun going. It might be anything from a company declaring themselves out of business to a government imposing martial law. It will happen and I have will enjoy all of the mayhem and idiocy with vodka, the true mistress of entertainment.
These are all signs of the economies going downhill. There is no real panic yet, but it should be. And with socialist all around the world screaming about government solutions, increasing taxes and strengthening unions will not really help either. The thing to wait for now is that last little spark to get the fun going. It might be anything from a company declaring themselves out of business to a government imposing martial law. It will happen and I have will enjoy all of the mayhem and idiocy with vodka, the true mistress of entertainment.
Piratebay again
It should be clear that I’m on the side of Piratebay and I think that most of the problems caused by sharing files and information over the internet is due to governments and big corporations, not by a couple of boys using technology to build a platform were people can meet. The Piratebay people are innocent in several ways, but I still find it necessary to point out a couple of things that might not work in their favor. First of all, they are all completely aware of the shadowy path they are walking. They know that some of their “users” are sharing stolen files and music and they know that this might be considered suspect by governments and by some in the general public. They also are fully aware of what their name “Piratebay” implies and I’m fairly certain that they feel like rebels, cool outsiders or something in that regard. I would. And from what I have seen and heard from the trial so far, their knowledge about how to act, market and sell themselves, their ideas and the concept is really horrible. They should get some good marketers working for them; they need those more then lawyers. But instead we have hundreds of blogs all over the world doing the sales pitch for them and for the most part people are on their side, so they are still winning this. If they don’t completely fuck things up they will come out of this as heroes no matter what the outcome of this or future trials.
The ones that really should be on trial here is those governments who insists on putting taxes on pretty much everything. If there were not for those, most people would afford buying records or whatnot and this would be a none issue for the most part. And those companies and executives that suck the entertainment industry dry to keep their own lavish lifestyle should be ashamed to even consider going to trial. And the idiots on the prosecuting side and their supporters don’t seem to care or know about what magnificent opportunities this technology gives us all. For the most part it is not copyright protected things that are shared, no matter what any of those technology fascists says, its information and free software and culture aspects that are floating around to all people in this world. This overcomes boundaries, crosses state- and country lines and there are no fascists or communists that can stop it. And this is the real problem. This is the reason why governments seek to manage and monitor Internet; their inability to read and control what is going on. In milliseconds a military takeover, a politician cheating or the stupidity of a courthouse can travel all over the world and be read, copied and commented on by millions of people. And we can’t have that. Normal people with more power then politicians? No way.
The problem with this free and, all over the world, accessible information, is that people are stupid, not any copyright laws or any other thing Piratebay are accused of. The morons of this world might share information and stupidities with each other, making themselves even more stupid and that’s the only problem. But with free information at least they have the choice to be smart or stupid. With the technology haters and governments doing the driving, there is only stupidity.
The ones that really should be on trial here is those governments who insists on putting taxes on pretty much everything. If there were not for those, most people would afford buying records or whatnot and this would be a none issue for the most part. And those companies and executives that suck the entertainment industry dry to keep their own lavish lifestyle should be ashamed to even consider going to trial. And the idiots on the prosecuting side and their supporters don’t seem to care or know about what magnificent opportunities this technology gives us all. For the most part it is not copyright protected things that are shared, no matter what any of those technology fascists says, its information and free software and culture aspects that are floating around to all people in this world. This overcomes boundaries, crosses state- and country lines and there are no fascists or communists that can stop it. And this is the real problem. This is the reason why governments seek to manage and monitor Internet; their inability to read and control what is going on. In milliseconds a military takeover, a politician cheating or the stupidity of a courthouse can travel all over the world and be read, copied and commented on by millions of people. And we can’t have that. Normal people with more power then politicians? No way.
The problem with this free and, all over the world, accessible information, is that people are stupid, not any copyright laws or any other thing Piratebay are accused of. The morons of this world might share information and stupidities with each other, making themselves even more stupid and that’s the only problem. But with free information at least they have the choice to be smart or stupid. With the technology haters and governments doing the driving, there is only stupidity.
Facebook causes cancer! - if you are an idiot
Yeah, from the makers of; “Chips/crisps give you cancer”; “Tomatoes causes cancer”; “Cell phones give you cancer” and the ever popular: “the sun gives you cancer” there is a new risk we all need to relate to. Apparently one psychologist, Arec Sigman, has figured out that social meeting points on the web increases the risk of getting cancer. But by no means does it stop there; this complete humbug also claims it MIGHT increase dementia, strokes and heart diseases. This can be read in today’s Daily Mail. Oh, I’m so terrified. Maybe if I don’t use facebook I might not die?
Is this idiocy really even news?
Vodka saves the day - Some travel tips
I’m not a globetrekker or have been travel that much to be a guru in the travel industry, but some pointers is never the less important to tell you about.
First of all, if you go to UK, don’t exchange too much money, use your credit card. Even if it costs money to use. This because the coins keep piling up. In three days I manage to collect a smaller fortune in all those little pounds and pennies. So much so that it started to affect my walk, too much weight on one side. Okay, after a while this might not be a problem for you, you learn how to handle all those coins, but if you are going for the first time or just staying a day or so, don’t use money, use your cards. And my second tip is to look for that cheap vodka. You get a lot of value for your money. For about 6£ you get 50ml of 40% vodka which is a good start if you want to go to the pub later on.
If you are a British citizen and going to Sweden, there is some other tips you might think about. First, if you go in the wintertime, bring with you really good sunglasses. During those days when the sun actually can be seen (not that often though), it is low set in the horizon and if you go driving, cycling or even go for a walk, you might not be able to see that much. The suns low setting and the snow might make you close to blind. Second, be prepared to buy your alcohol in those government shops that is not open all the time. No local store or supermarket sells alcohol other then with very low %. And then the drinking culture is quite different. Were I come from people usually get drunk about 6 or 7 pm, possible even earlier. This is not the norm, I’m from the more northern parts, but generally speaking we start to drink earlier, drink more and stop our drinking later then most British people do. This goes for both genders and is generally a way to make babies, well… mostly.
But generally speaking, the differences between countries are highly exaggerated by my book. No matter if you are in Turkey, Estonia, Spain, Sweden or some other place. People are about the same. They might eat slightly different things, but they all eat. People might have different drinking habits, but they all drink. And mostly all the people I have meat have been polite and very nice about most things. Even those times I have walked in to a Mafia Bar, or that time I ended up in a gay bar, got stuck in customs, missed a deadline or made some cultural mistake, people have been nice about it no matter where I have been. As long as you yourself are willing to learn and do apologize for your mistake, there is no real worries.
First of all, if you go to UK, don’t exchange too much money, use your credit card. Even if it costs money to use. This because the coins keep piling up. In three days I manage to collect a smaller fortune in all those little pounds and pennies. So much so that it started to affect my walk, too much weight on one side. Okay, after a while this might not be a problem for you, you learn how to handle all those coins, but if you are going for the first time or just staying a day or so, don’t use money, use your cards. And my second tip is to look for that cheap vodka. You get a lot of value for your money. For about 6£ you get 50ml of 40% vodka which is a good start if you want to go to the pub later on.
If you are a British citizen and going to Sweden, there is some other tips you might think about. First, if you go in the wintertime, bring with you really good sunglasses. During those days when the sun actually can be seen (not that often though), it is low set in the horizon and if you go driving, cycling or even go for a walk, you might not be able to see that much. The suns low setting and the snow might make you close to blind. Second, be prepared to buy your alcohol in those government shops that is not open all the time. No local store or supermarket sells alcohol other then with very low %. And then the drinking culture is quite different. Were I come from people usually get drunk about 6 or 7 pm, possible even earlier. This is not the norm, I’m from the more northern parts, but generally speaking we start to drink earlier, drink more and stop our drinking later then most British people do. This goes for both genders and is generally a way to make babies, well… mostly.
But generally speaking, the differences between countries are highly exaggerated by my book. No matter if you are in Turkey, Estonia, Spain, Sweden or some other place. People are about the same. They might eat slightly different things, but they all eat. People might have different drinking habits, but they all drink. And mostly all the people I have meat have been polite and very nice about most things. Even those times I have walked in to a Mafia Bar, or that time I ended up in a gay bar, got stuck in customs, missed a deadline or made some cultural mistake, people have been nice about it no matter where I have been. As long as you yourself are willing to learn and do apologize for your mistake, there is no real worries.
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