The Pope is the problem

This morning the daily newspapers are carrying a world peace and cooperation message from the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, urging all nations to unite to solve the global financial crisis. As usual, this purportedly "infallible" man misses the critical issues, and the problem is that the Pope himself is the problem. He is a world leader in belief that there actually was a "Jesus Christ" (Yeshua mashia) who was on earth to save humanity from "original sin," that "God" (Yahweh) created everything and created "man" in "his" (God's) "own image" out of dust, that curbing cancerous population growth is a sin against "God," that certain aspects of scientific research are "evil" and even murder, that capitalist enterprises based on billions of dollars in credit and interest are appropriate and a legitimate part of the Catholic Church's functioning, and that resolving the global financial crisis by more money manipulation is perfectly appropriate.

Here is what is wrong with all of that. If you want world peace, if you want to solve the global financial crisis, you have to initiate drastic measures to curb overpopulation, change the worldwide inequality in wealth, and make money represent the human, natural, and technological resources available. As is, overpopulation is demolishing all other efforts to end humanity's destruction of the world environment - for, in keeping with the onetime slogan of Planned Parenthood, "without population control all other causes are lost." As is, the rich keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer, and that is one of the major causes of crime, violence, and warfare - for, as Plato wisely said, poverty is the mother of crime. And, as is, money no longer truly represents anything. It is a thing in itself that is used to make money off the money itself. There lies the fundamental reason for the global financial crisis. The crisis will not be resolved, but only will become worse, until money is made to represent the human, natural, and technological resources available. Aristotle told us centuries ago that the most unnatural, unproductive, destructive invention of humanity is credit, or interest. The world is learning now that humanity cannot exist on paper or plastic. Money has become humanity's albatross. Instead of asking what can be accomplished through human, natural, and technological resources available, the question is always: How much money is available to do the job? Thus, money becomes the controlling element. IT controls what is to be done. That is the insanity which prevails. And yet anybody who dares talk about it at its roots is viewed as some sort of crackpot. But it is making money the arbiter for what can be done, it is making money off money, which is the real craziness, the cancer that is eroding us collectively. Until the problem is addressed at its roots, no amount of paper and plastic tossed into the mix - now in the many trillions, figures nobody can even understand - will resolve the problems. Edward Bellamy told us, in Looking Backward and other writings, that money has to be scrapped and an entirely new means of conducting human activity has to be invented, in order to bring an end once and for all to the cycles of prosperity and recession or depression. The tenets of the bible that the Pope pretends to follow include the oft-misquoted dictum "the love of money is the root of all evils" (1 Timothy 6:10). It remains for the media and political leaders to begin addressing humanity's problems in such terms instead of via the surface, so-called "solutions" being offered: "solutions" that are destined to resolve nothing.

Headlines from the year 2029

Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions.

Mexifornia, formally known as California, becomes state's official name.

White minorities strive to have English recognized as Mexifornia's official second language.

Baby conceived naturally, stumping scientists.

Iran has six thermonuclear bombs - UN and U.S. continue to impose sanctions.

Castro finally dies at age 112 - Cuban cigars can now be imported legally.

George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.

Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89, reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Japanese create camera with shutter speed so fast it catches politicians, lawyers with mouth shut.

Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches.

Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.

Time for a new Works Project Administration

During a tv interview, noting that "Obama" had expressed admiration for Franklin D. Roosevelt, the interviewer asked "Obama" whether or not the incoming president would make use of some of the methods FDR initiated to lift the nation out of the Great Depression of the early 1930's. "Obama" replied that these are new times with different problems than those which existed before, and therefore a new methodology is in order. That was the wrong answer.

As in the Great Depression, one of the major problems is that the private sector is laying off workers instead of creating jobs. FDR decided that since the private sector was not creating jobs, the public sector should do so. Therefore, the Works Project Administration (WPA) was created to put people to work. That enabled them to earn enough money not only for housing and food, but also for a variety of goods, services, and entertainment. It was a significant factor in the economic revival. There is no reason why what worked before should not be reinstituted. These are new times, but the fundamental part of the present recession that could be called a kind of depression remains the same as in the early 1930's: the private sector has failed, resulting in massive loss of jobs. The WPA was used successfully to make up for jobs lost in the private sector by employing people through the public sector. There is no reason why a new WPA will not work now. "Obama" should go for it and stop equivocating. [For an explanation of why I place the name "Obama" in quotation marks, see the article in "Older Posts" titled "Obama - not black, not African-American."]

'Buy more cars' is the wrong answer

Politicians and business moguls [one and the same in my view] are telling us to go out and buy more cars, and they are advocating more debt for people to get into for that purpose, all so as to "get the economy moving." Well, it might move the economy, but it will prevent the motorists who go into debt to buy the cars from moving on roads that are already jammed to capacity. A better idea is to use the money for new mass transit systems that are flexible, but not for more trains or subways that can only operate on a fixed route. The technology exists for revolutionary mass transit systems that provide a variety of routes, and advocates for use of that technology arose way back in the 1960's. But politicians and business moguls, stuck in outmoded thinking and motivated by money ueber alles, cannot be moved - like the millions of more cars they want to put on the roads. If humanity survives, which I doubt, future human beings may wonder how human beings so advanced in technology could be so backward in their thinking.

The unemployment figures are bogus

When you read Mass Miscommunications Media stories containing unemployment statistics, you should immediately triple the figures at the least. If they tell you that the unemployment rate is six percent, make it at least 18 percent. An un-American periodical exposed the fraud entailed in U.S. Government statistics around 50 years ago. The author of the article in the un-American periodical explained that the reasons for the statistics being much lower than the reality of the situation include the omission of millions of Americans who have stopped looking for work because the search is futile. They are not included in the statistics. The name of the un-American periodical? The Reader's Digest.

Nationalize the banks

As part of the so-called "bailout," the first step has been taken toward nationalizing the banks, a proposal I introduced 48 years ago in The Californian. More than $200 billion of the taxpayers' money has been invested as shares in big banks. The heads of those banks have stated for publication and in tv interviews that the U.S. Government's investment is temporary and will be returned once the financial situation is stabilized, so that the banking industry once again will be privatized. If only the Mass Miscommunications Media (MMM) would educate the public in a simple principle, that the money deposited in banks belongs to the people who put it there and not to the banks, maybe an understanding would take hold leading to the notion that the citizens of the U.S. should collectively own the banks. That would free the banks from the present triple tiering of profits on shares that play a huge part in the present financial mess. Nationalized, the banks could offer loans of all kinds at very low interest rates, maybe as low as one or two percent, since the banks would be non-profit institutions. Also, Americans collectively would be free from control of their banks by foreign interests. The anti-socialism bugaboo that plagues the nation would be vaporized as awareness kicked in that there could hardly be any greater boon to American free enterprise than availability of loans at low interest rates.

Wealthy investors will gain from the 'crisis'

Here we go again. Every time a financial "crisis" is created and small investors panic, wealthy investors reap a fortune by buying the shares that are dumped onto the market by everyone who is not rich and is fearful of losing too much money by holding on.The wealthy can afford to take the chance that the market will be rebound and the shares they bought at bargain basement prices eventually will be worth much more.

If you are thinking to yourself that it is not a chance that the wealthy take, but rather a situation which they generated for the purpose of being able to buy cheap stock, know that your thinking is shared by many individuals on the basis of past history. I reached the same conclusion as to past financial downturns, but not as to this one. In any event, it makes no difference whether or not the present "crisis" was deliberately generated. The end result will be the same: the rich will get richer, and the less than rich will become still less rich. That is the dance.