Roger's Matters Arising...
Connie Clark
connie_3c@yahoo.com
Thu, 24 Oct 2002 10:41:35 -0700 (PDT)
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Hi Mike,
Last week, I made a mistake trying to forward mail from evillages. There was a cute summary of the caver's weekend of reunion by Mary Jane, but it didn't work because I have a different email account for evillages so that I can keep them separate from a-g-l, but now wonder if that is such a good idea. So my unsubscribed account was rejected by a-g-l. I really don't like th evil ages mail account. Anyway, here is something Roger sent out this morning, of interest, I think. I am interested in your response, as you and I once compared impressions of the volatility of our nation's economy, and I am still pessimistic.-Connie
How politics works nowadays:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7405-2002Oct23.html
"...A recent e-mail to the 6,100 full-time headquarters employees of the
Environmental Protection Agency reminded them of the provisions of the
Hatch Act, which was designed to protect federal employees from
political pressure. But some employees said they were surprised by its
emphasis on participating in, not abstaining from, campaign activities.
The memo said they "are permitted to take an active part in partisan
political management and campaigns," subject to limitations, and
reminded them they are free to "express support for the president and
his program" when they are off-duty.
Bobby L. Harnage Sr., president of the American Federation of Government
Employees, the largest union of federal workers, said he has been
hearing increasing complaints about what his members consider
politicization of their work, and said the effect is dampened morale. He
asserted that Republicans' use of the federal government is the most
aggressive he has seen in 34 years as a union official. "Bush and his
administration are making no attempt to cover up what they're doing,"
Harnage said..."
**********************************************
Something doesn't look quite right here:
The following speculation by Tom Robertson on the energyresources list
maintains
that there is a sort of musical chairs situation involving money -- such
that when and if everyone
calls in their chits, a huge tangle of complex international financial
transactions will be found to
depend on a comparatively tiny base of real assets. -- Roger
"...It is my belief, now reinforced by the likes of Enron et al and
what I call the "8/288 syndrome," that instability and collapse of
financial
systems will precede the real problems associated with declining physical
availability of concentrated energies.
(The 8/288 syndrome came to my attention via the U.S. Public Broadcasting
System documentary called "The Commanding Heights" based on Daniel Yergin's
book of the same name. In the start of the third part of the program, a
PowerPoint slide has a line that says "World trade in goods and services
amounts to $8 Trillion dollars per year. Then another line below that one
said, "World trade in currencies amounts to $288 Trillion dollars per
year."
Thus, the money chasing money amounts to some 36 times the money associated
with real (energy-related) goods and services.)
With the advent of high speed communication and computation, the financial
system has created massive quantities of "money" that has no connection to
physical (energetic or any other) reality.
Further, as long as that system remains even remotely intact, as it is now,
there is no reward for people playing the financial games to change their
behavior.
The "bottom line"?
The financial system has created a massive quantity of "money" that has no
immediate association with real goods and services.
When that financially manipulated money does get around to making calls on
stuff made out of energy-embodied real goods and services, there is
going to
be hell to pay--particularly as it also becomes recognized that the energy
base for our so-called "modern economy" has peaked (at least in net energy
terms) and is in a probably irreversible decline.
Our good economists, who tell me the "8/288 syndrome" is simply the
workings
of an "efficient market" are going to find it impossible to deal with a
devaluation of currency at the 36X factor level implied by the "8/288
syndrome"
---------------------------------
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Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site
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<P>Hi Mike,</P>
<P>Last week, I made a mistake trying to forward mail from evillages. There was a cute summary of the caver's weekend of reunion by Mary Jane, but it didn't work because I have a different email account for evillages so that I can keep them separate from a-g-l, but now wonder if that is such a good idea. So my unsubscribed account was rejected by a-g-l. I really don't like th evil ages mail account. Anyway, here is something Roger sent out this morning, of interest, I think. I am interested in your response, as you and I once compared impressions of the volatility of our nation's economy, and I am still pessimistic.-Connie</P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>How politics works nowadays:<BR><BR></FONT><A href="http://mail.evillages.org/modules/refer.pl?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Farticles%2FA7405-2002Oct23.html" target=_blank><FONT color=red><TT>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7405-2002Oct23.html</TT></FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT face=Verdana>"...A recent e-mail to the 6,100 full-time headquarters employees of the<BR>Environmental Protection Agency reminded them of the provisions of the<BR>Hatch Act, which was designed to protect federal employees from<BR>political pressure. But some employees said they were surprised by its<BR>emphasis on participating in, not abstaining from, campaign activities.<BR>The memo said they "are permitted to take an active part in partisan<BR>political management and campaigns," subject to limitations, and<BR>reminded them they are free to "express support for the president and<BR>his program" when they are off-duty.<BR><BR>Bobby L. Harnage Sr., president of the American Federation of Government<BR>Employees, the largest union of federal workers, said he has been<BR>hearing increasing complaints about what his members consider<BR>politicization of their work, and said the effect is dampened morale. He<BR>asserted that Republicans' use of the federal government is the most<BR>aggressive he has seen in 34 years as a union official. "Bush and his<BR>administration are making no attempt to cover up what they're doing,"<BR>Harnage said..."<BR><BR>**********************************************<BR><BR>Something doesn't look quite right here:<BR><BR>The following speculation by Tom Robertson on the energyresources list<BR>maintains<BR>that there is a sort of musical chairs situation involving money -- such<BR>that when and if everyone<BR>calls in their chits, a huge tangle of complex international financial<BR>transactions will be found to<BR>depend on a comparatively tiny base of real assets. -- Roger<BR><BR><BR><BR>"...It is my belief, now reinforced by the likes of Enron et al and<BR>what I call the "8/288 syndrome," that instability and collapse of<BR>financial<BR>systems will precede the real problems associated with declining physical<BR>availability of concentrated energies.<BR><BR>(The 8/288 syndrome came to my attention via the U.S. Public Broadcasting<BR>System documentary called "The Commanding Heights" based on Daniel Yergin's<BR>book of the same name. In the start of the third part of the program, a<BR>PowerPoint slide has a line that says "World trade in goods and services<BR>amounts to $8 Trillion dollars per year. Then another line below that one<BR>said, "World trade in currencies amounts to $288 Trillion dollars per<BR>year."<BR>Thus, the money chasing money amounts to some 36 times the money associated<BR>with real (energy-related) goods and services.)<BR><BR>With the advent of high speed communication and computation, the financial<BR>system has created massive quantities of "money" that has no connection to<BR>physical (energetic or any other) reality.<BR><BR>Further, as long as that system remains even remotely intact, as it is now,<BR>there is no reward for people playing the financial games to change their<BR>behavior.<BR><BR>The "bottom line"?<BR><BR>The financial system has created a massive quantity of "money" that has no<BR>immediate association with real goods and services.<BR><BR>When that financially manipulated money does get around to making calls on<BR>stuff made out of energy-embodied real goods and services, there is<BR>going to<BR>be hell to pay--particularly as it also becomes recognized that the energy<BR>base for our so-called "modern economy" has peaked (at least in net energy<BR>terms) and is in a probably irreversible decline.<BR><BR>Our good economists, who tell me the "8/288 syndrome" is simply the<BR>workings<BR>of an "efficient market" are going to find it impossible to deal with a<BR>devaluation of currency at the 36X factor level implied by the "8/288<BR>syndrome"</FONT><BR><BR></P><p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
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