Thursday, June 2, 2011

A World That's Coming Unglued


By Alan Caruba

After you’ve read history for a number of years, you begin to realize that the world goes crazy every so often. People and nations just lose their wits. It’s usually in times of great change when old truths or old ways of doing things are thrust aside by new discoveries, new technologies, or just the renewal of old pathologies.

Instances of this include the Crusades, the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of fascism in the last century.

I think we are in a comparable period, for how long or short I cannot say, but to quote from Star Wars, “There’s a disturbance in the universe” or, to be more specific, among the nations of planet Earth.

Part of the problem is the sheer size of the human population. We now number in excess of six billion and there are serious issues of how to feed all of us, ensure clean water, employment, and, of course, the provision of the energy that fuels societies dependent on electricity.

Photos from space of the Earth at night tell one everything about which parts of the Earth are enjoying the benefits of electricity and which are not.

In the past, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, war, famine, disease, and death could be counted on to keep populations in check, but advances in technology, medicine, and agriculture have tipped the balance in favor of humanity.

Beyond sheer numbers, there is the problem of profligate spending that has several European nations, as well as the United States of America, in deep financial trouble. The merry-go-round of borrowing to keep bloated budgets afloat cannot continue indefinitely despite the efforts of central bankers to do so. Merely printing money has always led to bad events from riots to wars.

The financial problems are tied to the worst economic systems ever created, first as Communism, then its modified version, Socialism. Neither work. While politicians of every stripe like Socialism as a way to “redistribute” wealth, the entire system is confiscatory and based on coercion. It usually impoverishes the middle class of workers while creating an ever-growing class of those who will not or cannot work.

As harsh as Capitalism can be, it does work. It involves high levels of risk, often large amounts of investment, and it allows for failure. It is also the greatest engine of growth and the development of new industries, new technologies, and improved lives. Like fish in water, we are oblivious to the miracle a single supermarket represents.

All economic systems must strive to cope with corruption and, so long as there are three humans on Earth, there will be corruption. Having recently descended from the trees to walk upright, humans are subject to their aggressive nature.

Communism and Socialism promise equal misery. Capitalism offers the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of making the right investment guesses or developing new and better things people want to own. Competition improves life for everyone.

In sum, the clash between economic systems is still being worked out with nations that grant as much liberty as possible to their populations doing best. Where power is concentrated in a few, their populations and their nations do not prosper. As regards the world’s population, a huge cohort is young, unemployed and combustible.

It is the quest, the demand for more personal and political liberty that is causing much of the upheavals extant and no where is this more obvious than in those nations where Islam has been the prevailing religion. Islam translates as “submission.” It is based in seventh century strictures on how life should be lived. It is at war with modernity. It cannot prevail, but until it reforms or fails, there will be terrorism and war.

The greatest threat to humanity is the presence and continued quest for nuclear weapons. They are genocidal, capable of killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Allowing Iran, a nation led by a handful of crazed theocrats, to acquire nuclear parity poses a threat to humanity that has never existed before. Permitting North Korea or Pakistan to retain their nukes can only result in a bad outcome.

Like a rumbling volcano, the tremors felt as the result of the United States being led by a dedicated Communist and likely Muslim is a destabilizing factor not only for its citizens, but for others around the world.

It is up to the present leaders of the world to thread their way through the upheavals and divisions causing growing instability. Some will do it better than others. Some will cling to failed systems and philosophies of the past. Some will simply pursue power for power’s sake.

Alliances will change. Allies will become enemies. Enemies will become allies. Nations will pursue their shifting interests.

For the world in general, a good start would be the abandonment of the United Nations, an institution that failed initially as the League of Nations, and which is now so putrid with corruption and schemes to impose a one-world government that it poses a threat to the sovereignty of all nations.

Just as neighborhoods thrive when the common interests of neighbors for security and peace are observed, international organizations designed to concentrate power inevitably fall short of their heralded benefits.

In the same way shifts in the Earth’s tectonic plates, volcanic eruptions, and the latest cooling cycle are posing massive challenges for humanity, the nations of the world are trying to cope with changes in the financial universe they have created as well as outmoded concepts of security.

How the present upheavals, financial, religious, and demographic work themselves out remains unknown. In a neighborhood people find it best to “get along.” In a world beset with rival systems of belief and governance, the outcome is far more murky and, ultimately, more threatening.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

6 comments:

David M Chaney said...

Great article. Agree that the U.N. has got go go. Small nit, and point of clarification re "...worst economic systems ever created, first as Communism, then its modified version, Socialism":

Communism, is an extreme form of Socialism. Additionally, pure socialist or communist societies are not economically possible.

All systems of economics, at some point and somewhere, require an effective way to set price for both higher or lower order goods (what is the consumer or production goods value?), and to determine where best to allocate the resources of production.

Current communist and socialist countries leverage price and allocation data of capitalist societies (they do it poorly in most cases) to determine both.

Without the ability to price / allocate goods effectively, these economic non-systems would collapse.

Unfortunately for utopic communists or socialists, Marx always focused on what was wrong with what he coined, "capitalism", and promised utopic state with communism. However, he failed to define an economic system that could enable the communist state's existence. See Hans-Hermann Hoppe's A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism, for reference.

Additionally, we have - not for a very long time, if ever - had a completely free-market capitalist model. And, today, with myriad regulations, interference, mandates, de-facto taxes and legislation from agencies (such as the EPA), we are hanging on to threads of capitalism.

Government intervention (form of central planning) has tried to manipulate markets, intellectual property (form of monopoly), and industries, overall, for a very long time. However, the main point, is there really is no sustainable alternative to capitalism.

Ludvig von Mises, Frederick Hayek, Hoppe and others, have proven this with relative ease. All are becoming quite popular in the continued wake of failed Keynesian "so called" bailout/stimulus economics.

Agree with your overall premise and article. Well said. I call it, "Tower of Babel 2.0".

Alan Caruba said...

@David: Thank you. I welcome your well thought out response and agree with it.

Rich Kozlovich said...

Alan,

The U.N. will not only fail to disappear, but at some point they will take over as the World Government. Large numbers of powerful economic and political leaders are working behind the scenes to bring this about, and when it happens I expect to see social upheaval at levels unimagined.

Little is talked about the various U.N. treaties out there that they would love to foist on an uninformed and unsuspecting American public. And international treaties trump the U.S. Constitution.

They are attempting to pass a U.N. treaty regarding gun laws, the Law of the Sea Treaty has been waiting in the wings since before the Reagan presidency. And Bush was for it! They have treaties that would allow the UN to dictate how everyone should raise their children. And the list goes on. It is a matter of incrementalism.... a little bit here, a little bit there and before you know it they are in charge.

Why is it that almost no one, per ratio, is aware of this? Yet it is real and with many powerful prominent people working to that end it will happen. To everyone’s detriment.

I also believe that three things will be the driving forces bringing this about. First, the need for “social justice” to balance the needs of the poor with the “excesses” of the rich….other than themselves of course. This will coincide with the need for “environmental justice” with claims about needing to save the environment from capitalism...which give individuals way too much freedom to do what they want. Global warming was one such attempt And finally with all of this Islamic violence they will clamp down on radical religious movements. When that happens the socialists running the UN will decide to clamp down on all religion, which will give them what they really want….making the UN the ultimate moral authority on the planet.

The result will be dystopia.

Unknown said...

Well said, Mr. Chaney.

Mr. Kozlovich, I'm not so sure that anybody in the UN has the bravery to attempt to control a billion Islamics. The other religions are far easier targets, however.

The last thirty or so years have continually reminded me of the comments from Heinlein in his "Crazy Years" notes. His usual prescience, of course.

David M Chaney said...

Thank you, Alan and Desertrat. Also, Rich, your comments are well taken. Clearly, we face a well organized, well funded, and thoughtfully strategized globalization plan. Those who love their national sovereignty, ought to be diligent and forceful in defense of same. Sadly, too many are asleep while the global political, economic and academic elite continue their incremental strategic and tactical plan execution. While the world sleeps.

I thought you all may be interested, while on the topic of the "world coming unglued", to share a couple of important related documents. Also, we know this "ungluing" is planned as a way to "glue together" the NWO. We've known about this for over fifty years. Yet, it is more rapidly coming to fruition than any of us wanted to believe.

The first document is a recent Wikileaked cable that confirms the work underway to create the regional government of the NAU, via the North American Initiative, and called the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" under Bush regime. Several colleagues and I wrote extensively several years ago to warn others. The MSM and many others, saw this as conspiracy theory. Yet, having followed this for most of my adult life, I knew better. Here is this link - I won't go into this in more detail here, rather I will write on it in my usual spot... my Facebook notes, just to catalog my thinking more than anything else. Hopefully, Alan, you can pick this up somewhere in your work. If you need more docs, let me know.

Link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31083870/Wikileaks%20Cable%20Viewer%20NAI%201%2028%202005%20Ottawa.pdf

The second document is very important, and it relates to the use of the Climate Change / Anthropogenic Global Warming platform as a conduit to usher in Global Governance. A subject you've written about extensively, Alan, as have I and several colleagues for the last few years - as we fought against Cap and Trade legislation. This document is a very well researched paper on the extensive connections between Socialists International and the AGW/Climate Change agenda. This document so well outlines this connectivity, it must be read, in my opinion, by anyone who makes decisions with regards to private or public investment in green technologies, etc. Moreso, it clearly demonstrates the extent to which global governance proponents have gone and are going to ensure the success of their mission. This document is, again, a must read: http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/un_progress_governance_via_climate_change.html.

Thanks again for your continued work, Alan. Keep the faith. Fight the fight. Walk the walk.

(CEOs for Liberty - CEOsforLiberty.org)

Unknown said...

Re-reading, this popped out: "It (capitalism) involves high levels of risk..."

As I get into give-and-take with liberals at various websites, I find that whether openly stated or not, it is this issue of risk which is feared.

There is also fear of liberty and freedom: "It's okay for me, but how can I trust others to not abuse L&F?"

This mindset is an easy sale for the practitioners of Dr. Goebbels' way.