The modern economy?

Have I said this before?

What is our current economy based on? It's the snake eating it's own tail - Ouroboros.

There's no real economy here anymore, ladies and gentlemen. We don't really produce anything. We just recycle, spinning off new ways to package the old.

God bless you all.

Hybrid cars.

Oh, I don't want to hear it either! Believe me! I'd rather not say...but the power of the Spirit compels me.

We have the technology to make vehicles that run free of gasoline. We know how to do it. Why aren't we?

Is a hybrid car really a solution to anything?

The tires are still petroleum products.

As are most of the innards.

It still requires quarts of oil to operate.

I would hazard a guess (not having the actual statistics handy) that most of the people buying hybrids were already driving very fuel-efficient vehicles (Hondas, Toyotas, etc.), that probably got somewhere in the neighborhood of 30MPG. So they really didn't improve their fuel-efficiency THAT much.

None of the integral parts have been engineered any differently, in order to be more ecologically friendly...i.e., recyclable. It's still the same metal, with the same paint (petroleum), with the same plastic (petroleum) around the edges. The same fabrics (petroleum) hug the cushions (petroleum)...

I'm confused dear friends.

But if you read the news, they can't keep them in the stores! Sales are definitely up, in an otherwise very sluggish auto market...

Funny how that works.

Cell Phones...hello?

In what other service or industry can a company supply a totally unreliable and faulty product, and still charge a premium for the service they provide (except perhaps IT)?

Cell phones exploded onto the scene in the early 90's, and are now the de facto communiation method of choice across the developed world.

Wah happened?!

You'd like to think that something was adopted because it made more sense than what came before it. Because it was better, smarter, more functional. Or maybe you wouldn't like to think that. If you're the latter person, you're in luck.

Cell phones haven't changed anything for the better. Oh, but they've increased communication! Is that so? Or did they just change the form of the communication to short, meaningless conversations resulting from boredom? Or did they change one of the most beautiful methods of communication the world has seen - Letter Writing - into a series of equally short, equally meaningless, text messages? They've disrupted every business meeting, lunch, and several movies, that I've been in since their release.

Oh, but my cell phone saved my a$$ when I had a flat tire! A very few of these exigencies might actually have a point. The person whose attacker was caught immediately because of a handy cell phone. These things have merit. However, the flat tire argument is out.

Cell phones have further cut people off from one another in that sense. We continue to travel down this xenophobic road where everyone is a potential enemy. Now, when you see someone on the side of the road, what do you think? I'm going to pull over and help them out? Or, they probably have a cell phone, so I don't need to?

I'm not against cell phones. I am against two-year lock-in contracts, high prices for shoddy service, malfunctioning or unrealiable hardware, and stupid and inconsiderate use of cell phones.

The Tax Cut

This is the second largest scam in the history of the world (second only to the US economy itself).

Tax cuts? Tax rebates? Are you kidding?

Let me ask you this. Where does the money come from that runs our federal government? From what I can remember of my grade-school education, it comes from something called "taxes." You see, the government levies taxes on the citizens of the United States, in exchange for services performed to keep that union functioning. Paying tax to the federal government is one of the duties that every American citizen implicity agrees to, in exchange for the right to that citizenship.

The current administration (and several others before it have done this as well) likes to suggest that it is possible to maintain a functioning governmental body (and the advantages such a body provides to the people) in the absence of money! The great thing for them, is that they can happily rely on the fact that they've educated the American public to simply act as cogs, and that they will never catch on.

Oh America! When will you grow weary of being fooled!

Hello Friends,

Thanks for reading this blog. I want to discuss some of the scams I've noticed, and their bitter details here. Perhaps you'll join me.

Let me give you a quick list. I'll cover these and more in later entries, but I need to list them out here, so I don't forget anyone:

1) Cell Phones
2) Hybrid Cars
3) The Economy
4) Corporations

A good list to start with...more soon!