Disneyland Closes At 35

How do we know what we know?

The topic of this post is the basic question of epistemology. How do we know what we know and how can we prove that we know it? In my last post I wrote about Socialism. Of course, the first thing to be answered is what is it, and how do we know what it is? There must be some accurate defintion of what the word means.

In short, at least to me, it means a political theory that awards government a much higher status than any libertarian would desire. It means a powerful and centralized government. I suppose that definition meets the definition of the lowest common denominator, the essence of Socialism.The essence of Libertarianism is less government, a government concerned only with the most basic functions of defense and infrastructure.

Ockham's Razor insists that the least complex answer, the one that does not introduce extraneous and superfluous facts or issues, is the best answer; thus, do you want more or less governement? All the rest is rhetoric?

More on Socialism

In looking back on comments that have been made to my posts, I note that socialism has been a topic of interest. I admit to being somewhat surprised. If socialism can be correctly defined as a political system in which there is a great degree of government control, that movement did not begin with the naming of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House or the election of President Obama. That movement began many years ago, perhaps as far back as the 1950's. Did no one notice?

Did no one notice the cultural revolution of the 1960's? I was part of it, but not on the winning side. I was one of the dullards serving in Vietnam. Perhaps I truly was a dullard. I thought I was doing the right thing. The results of our engagement in Vietnam were not good; still, perhaps they might have been had different decisions been made by Johnson or McNamara or Nixon. Perhaps 50,000 American soldiers would not have died for nothing at all.

I did notice that when I arrived back in San Francisco after my second tour in Vietnam, and after having been out of the United States for the better part of six years, that I no longer identified with my country and certainly not with the throng of Hippies and protesters who paraded about outside the airline terminal harassing returning veterans who wanted nothing more than to go home for a few weeks, see their families, and recuperate.  

I was told that the Hippies preached make love not war, that they were liberally inclined, and so on and so on. They did not impress me as liberal thinkers. They did not ask me what my point of view might be having actually served two years in Vietnam. They did not ask me then, and they have never asked me in all these intervening years. Of course the Hippies were not Socialists. They were anarchists, or nihilists, or they were nothing at all but a myriad of young people who wanted change of some kind, preferably a change that allowed them to smoke dope, listen to music, write bad poetry and have sex. I really have no problem with three of those activities; still, I didn't get to take part.

The government that confronted the Hippies was starting its march to Socialism. How? More taxes, greater and larger government, more government intrusion into the lives of American citizens. Want proof? Simply compare the tax burden in 1968 to the tax burden now. The goverment did not support such things then as million dollar research studies into the sex lives of fruit flies. They built some bridges, but most of them went somewhere. Pork always exists in government budgets, but back then it might have been a chop or a loin but not the entire pig.

What does it all mean? I'm not sure. I do know that I believe I fought in a useless war, a war that I was told was important to the country, a war that was worth dying for. It might have been, but we were not allowed to win. I would have liked to have come home from two tours in Vietnam with my head head high, thinking and believing that I had helped my country and the South Vietnamese. Instead, I am ashamed that we left so many to be imprisioned and tortured by the NVA. We, as a country, did not keep our promise. That's bad for us, but worse for the Vietnamese who believed our lies. They died, or lived lives of misery for the next ten years.

What will happen when we leave Iraq and break our promise again. Those who believed our promises will die or lead lives of misery for many years to come. Perhaps we should not have gone to Iraq or Vietnam, but we did. We made promises that we did not and will not keep. How can an American be proud of that record?

And what about our government? It is much bigger than it was in 1968. Our country is much worse off economically. Our schools are in shambles. The crime rate has increased. Taxes have increased but representation has not. The roads, bridges, public buildings, public services, etc., are must less efficient, not more so. What has big government done for Americans?

I suppose I have made up my mind. I want less government. At the same time I want corporate America to somehow be placed in the hands of persons who are not demonstrable crooks. I want those who robbed the country blind punished. I want people to help their neighbors. I do not want the poor, the elderly, or the young to suffer when all of us can come together to help. The government is not supposed to be in charge of good works to our fellow men. We are. I don't know how to do it, other than at the community level. I don't want to pay the government to do good works. Government is not good at doing good works. I want us to do it.

Is that not possible?

Gracias por Nada

I would like to thank Congress for nothing as relates to the new regulations that were intended to harness predatory lending, credit card company policies that allow Mastercard to raise your interest rate to infinite levels if you miss one payment, and so on. In the original bill the highest interest rate to be allowed was 15%. Well, that did not happen. Virtually nothing happened. Much ado about nothing.

But that, of course, is simply the tip of the iceberg. Congress has not done anything to assist the common man, the middle class, those of us who pay the highest percentage of taxes and who float the boat for the rest of society. Nothing.

Congress bailed out the banks, the auto industry, the mortgage industry, and did not hold the Congressmen and Senators responsible for the debacle accountable in any way. I expect Barney Frank and Chris Dodd will receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

All the money provided to the mortgage industry to allow them to refinance loans, and perhaps even lower the principle amount, has not meant real assistance to at least half of the mortgages in the country. Fannie Mae will attempt to assist, but other mortgage banks will not. I know of one personal friend who at this moment is trying to obtain assistance to no avail. He has 10 days to come up with 3 months worth of payments and he cannot do so. Of course he has had a severe heart attack and kidney disease over the past 12 months, but so what. He isn't trying to dodge the payments. He is simply asking to renegotiate the payments. If foreclosure occurs, no one is going to buy his property. Why not assist him in negotiating a new loan that he can afford?

Why is it not possible to limit interest rates to some reasonable level? If not 15% then perhaps 20%, but no more than that surely. How much interest do the credit card companies need to charge to show a profit? It would help if they, the credit card companies, had not filled most of the mailboxes in the United States with preapproved credit offers, just in the same way as the mortgage lenders provided mortgage loans to people who were obviously not able to make the payments 12 months down the road.

In Disneyland I portrayed the culture and the world in which I grew up. In the sequel I will respond to the way in which that culture and the world have changed. I do not think it was for the better.

Where's the Party?

Looking back on my life I have, for the most part, been independent in my thinking. I might have been wrong and might still be, but I have been independent.

I sometimes voted for Democrats, and sometimes Republicans, and sometimes Libertarians. I attempted to acquaint myself with the facts pertaining to various political issues and then cast an appropriate vote. Being independent simply meant voting for the candidate that made the most sense to me. It is getting more and more difficult to find a logical position being proposed by anyone.

It seems that the American people must choose between two radically opposed views with no candidate in the middle. I don't even know what a Democrat believes today. I don't know what they want. I don't think they know what they want. What does Nancy Pelosi want. It seems she wants to deny, deny, deny and blame, blame, blame.

What does the CIA want? I don't know. Perhaps they simply want to defend themselves against spurious charges. I don't really care. I thought the CIA was supposed to gather intelligence and take action based on that intelligence to protect this country. I don't know whether the CIA waterboarded anyone or not, but if they did I might support such an action. You might too. I might not. It depends on the circumstances. If the fake drowning of one terrorist obtains information that saves the lives of 50 people I might support such an action. If it is done in a purely gratuitous fashion I would not.

I don't know what a Republican wants and it seems that the party isn't able to answer the question. At one time most Republicans said they wanted less government and fewer taxes. Not really. Over the past 8 years the size of government grew.

What is a conservative? I don't know. Is a conservative simply fiscally responsible or are they also mean spirited people with not one iota of compassion in their being. I don't know.

I heard that the President is going to reign in the actions of predatory credit card companies; still, his legislation seems to do nothing retroactively. If you have already been shafted then you will remain shafted. Doesn't seem like much a bailout for consumers. The banks got a much better deal. Their deal was retroactive.

What do you think?

Is there no end to the madness?

I heard a snippet today, the last few sentences of one of the radio talk show host's final comments prior to issuing in another host. He reported that it is no longer acceptable to define terrorists as terrorists. The Homeland Security Director has now decided, or so the host said, that the new name for terrorists is "those who cause human destruction", or something on that order.

How nice. We really do have to give up all the name calling. How absurd to define the North Korean Dictator as a Dictator. No doubt he should be defined as an "overly protective head of state". I suppose that Hugo Chavez should be defined as "a perhaps sometimes over zealous patron of the poor."Does it ever seem to you that political correctness has gone too far?

I do not often listen to radio talk show hosts, or to television talk show hosts. When I do, I attempt to listen to both sides of the story. I might be interested in something Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly said, but I will temper that by listening to Geraldo or Anderson on CNN. I read the New York Times, but I also read the Christian Science Monitor and other publications. I do not want to become a zealot of any kind. I simply want to make logical judgments about claims that I hear or read about everyday. That entails getting both sides of the story and attempting to be fair in assessing various points of view; still, it is difficult to swallow the attempt to freshen up the definition of terror or dictatorship.

The Mystery is no big Msystery

Despite claims to the contrary I fail to see any improvement in the economy. Why do I make this claim?

1. Credit card companies around the country have been going through their accounts, checking credit reports, and identifying those who might pose any risk. Most of the accounts seem to pose a risk; thus, cardholders receive a letter in the mail letting them know that their credit limit has been reduced to their current balance. Of course the letter may take a few days to get to the cardholder. If the cardholder makes any purchase during this time they will of course find themselves over their credit limits. This will result in a charge, usually $39.00. So, if you have two cards, the result is that you no longer have any available credit and you owe penalty fees for being overbalance. When you plumbling backs up, and you don't have any disposable cash, and you have no credit, you are shafted. Your house will of course lose more of its value.

2. Real estate appraisers, working for lenders, are now routinely lowballing home values. You may know for certain that your house is in the $300,000 to $325,000 range. How do you know? You have done your homework, or your realtor has, and all the comparisons between your house and houses sold in you neighborhood clearly substantiate that your asking price is reasonable. The appraiser lowballs the price and says your house is worth only $280,000. You have a contract in you hand for $310,000, but the lender will not provide more than $280,000. Do you want to lose the $30,000 difference from fair market value? Of course you don't. The deal falls apart. You cannot get the amount of equity that you expected. This means that you can't sell your house for a fair price. No big mystery. You just got shafted. Tough luck.

3. Lenders of all kinds, although they profited from the largest government bailout in history, are not lending money to the people who need the money. I am not in support of bailing out every irresponsible borrower in the United States. I don't want my tax dollars to be given to Joe Blow who bought a house for $500,000 when he could only afford $250,000. Given my feelings about Joe Blow I certainly don't want to bail out Citi Group, Chase, Bank America, Chrysler et al. Even after they are bailed out, the banks and credit card companies, continue to shaft their cardholders. Who will protect the cardholders from predatory lending practices?

4. Miss one payment to your Mastercard provider, for whatever reason, and watch your 10% rate of interest go to 29.99% You might need a bailout but you wont get one.