Guccifer casts out Hillary

[kandrathe]

I always liked "The Emperor's New Clothes". It'd be interesting if that's the show the judges of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Idol Games will choose for the final, or even semi final performance for the candidates. And to see what kind of interpretation and performance the finalists will bring to the audience.

The illusion is that they (Congress, President, etc.) have any semblance of control guiding our futures. Their real job is to run political cover, and react to events on behalf of the actual reins of power.

Why do I believe this?

Look at how quickly the language of the emerging Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was changed once Warren Buffet flew to DC. Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sacs, and other powerful financial coalitions also use derivatives frequently to hedge their bets. Some (I would say lunatic) bad actors use them to bundle debt into credit default swaps, which is also another form of hedge. Hence, in response to the financial melt down, we have Dodd-Frank. When you look at the core of what led to the financial collapse, Dodd-Frank does not in any way restrict any of that bad behavior. What it did do was require banks to hold more capital in order to survive any future market shocks. The result being that 1) banks were more loath to lend at all, 2) not just *easy* credit dried up, but all credit dried up contributing to a decade long recovery from the great recession. On the other hand, business as usual would probably have seen us recover more quickly, inflate another bubble, pop it, and be in another recession by now. At least we can credit Dodd-Frank for slowing down the boon-bust cycles.

I'm a systems guy. This led me into computing, but I've always been the type of person who looks at the really big picture of causes and effects. Now, the worlds economic, and political systems are vastly complicated. Sometimes well beyond my ability to have more than a sense of what is happening, and often beyond my capability to describe, let alone prove it. But, I have some "axioms" that kind of guide me in predicting "the future"

1. Energy and the price of energy is wrapped into every consumable, and the supply chain. If you can slightly change the price of energy, you will perturb the world economy.
2. The powerful elite in the world no longer are beholden to nations, but nations are useful allies. Nations can have military force, which can be used in taking things from others.
3. Almost all conflict in the world is related to the use, control, or hording of resources.
4. The powerful elite either don't care, or don't believe they can do much to help the people on this planet. I'm not sure if it's the "give" vs "teach fishing" thing, but they didn't get into the powerful circle by "caring" about others. Some, who are more well known, will do some things to improve their image. Others just control the media. Most prefer anonymity.
5. The wealthy in this world rely on a system of dependent consumers who are "addicted" to their products. We've gotten to the point of mortgaging our futures with bad credit deals to pay for things we cannot afford. This is normal now.

Anyway, here is a thoughtful paper by some smart guys at Princeton and Northwestern. Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens

They conclude,

our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.

If the actual study is a little too droll, and TLDR, here is a New Yorker digestion of it; http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassi...-oligarchy

There conclusion, as is mine is that the US, and much of the "western world" is now ruled by Oligarchy.

In all seriousness, I wonder if it's just me that find it increasingly strange that politics in the N.American continent seems to be stuck in constant campaigning mode, and campaign lengths seem to grow longer. It doesn't even seem like a half joke anymore to say the campaign for the next election starts 5 seconds after you win the office.

Easy to explain. The Super-PAC. They are really just the organization of "bundlers" into a full time money raising organization on behalf of a politcal movement. They can advertise, and shift public opinions 24/7 x 365 as full time campaign entities, just in search of "the right" popular candidate (who will do their bidding).

Anyhow, Ted Cruz has officially announced his bid to run it seems. Only reason I mention that is because of the Canadian connection. Mr. Cruz is legally a U.S. citizen, and he was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Not as impressive as Obama's trifecta feat of simultaneously being born in Kenya, Indonesia, and hailing from the lizard galaxy. But still pretty impressive considering.

I wish he were more fully Canadian. :-) The collective "Aw Crap" resounding from the lower 48 was from the Republican side, and all the cheering was from the Democrats. Now if only he'd choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. It would be the Democratic dream team...

...to run against.