Saturday, May 28, 2016

Horrific

Dear Mr. 0bama:

Yes, on a cloudless morning in August of 1945 “death” as you said “fell from the sky”. We know this because we dropped it from the sky, on purpose. Hundreds of thousands of people died almost instantaneously, some “vaporized” as people are wont to say in mock empathy. However, I’m not sure these deaths were any more or less horrific than those caused by the fire bombings of Tokyo and the other major cities of Japan that took place that summer. Actually I think I might have preferred sudden death to being sucked into a raging inferno. Tough call. And weighing the deaths caused by the U.S. bombing of the Japanese mainland against those perpetrated in Asia by the Empire of Japan pre 1945 may, or may not be arithmetically possible, but the moral comparison is unnecessary, and it is frivolous and juvenile for you to suggest that it is.

Japanese soldiers bayoneted, beheaded, shot and raped over 300,000 men women and children in Nanjing, China in about four weeks at the end of 1937. This action was not an anomaly. Well documented atrocities committed by the Empire of Japan were the norm all over South East Asia. It wasn’t just the unprovoked, sneak attack on the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor that the United States and its allies were fighting against.

But the guilt or innocence of Japan or the Japanese people for their murderous and cruel aggressions against their neighbors is not at issue here. We’ve long since let bygones be bygones. Because of our actions, Japan is now a trusted and valued ally. What’s at issue here is the guilt or innocence of the United States for having done what was necessary to stop that aggression. Now we all know that you were taught, when you were young, by your family and mentors that the United States is the cause of everything bad on earth that has happened in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, but you should be aware that there is another school of thought.

You seem to imply that the United States should bear some guilt for having developed nuclear weapons, but I have a news flash for you: We only did it first, and it’s a damned good thing we did. Physics isn’t only a Western science and there is no way to put a lid on knowledge, or to stop its advance If it hadn’t been the United States that first developed nuclear weapons technology, then it would have been the Soviet Union. And so nuclear weapons gave the United States the means with which to quickly end the war with Japan and to convince the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that they had best ignore their appetite for real estate both in Asia and in Europe.

And so now it appears that, by your calculus, the United States is to be faulted for developing a better weapon for the attainment and maintenance of peace. Of course you’re not against using weapons. In fact, wasn't it you, the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize, who admonished your acolytes to be sure to take their guns to the knife fight? Your way doesn’t seem very sportsman like.
Socialism, Maoism, and fascism were responsible for the deaths of over one hundred million people in the 20th century alone and there was always one nation that stood athwart the path to even further carnage. That nation was always the United States of America. The same United States that you want to “fundamentally transform” into the Marxist utopia that your parents and grandparents spoke of in such glowing terms, the nation you want to stand idly by as the brutal dictators of the world butcher the innocents and laugh at your concept of history having sides and an arc.

Dear Mr. 0bama. Enjoy your last months in office.

But that's just what an average guy thinks

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

SPENDING

There are, it is said, four ways of spending money:

1) Spending one’s own money on one’s self.
2) Spending one’s own money on others.
3) Spending the money of other’s on one’s self.
4) Spending the money of other’s on still yet others.

We will here consider them separately.

When spending one’s own money on one’s self a prudent person is always very careful. The money was not easily earned and will not replace itself once it has exited the wallet. The value of the goods or services purchased is carefully considered for this very reason. A goal, is to maximize the quality or quantity of the goods received while minimizing the cost. A person is careful not to squander their scarce resources.

When spending one’s own money on others, as one might while involved in charitable giving, frugality is again a major consideration. One wants to be sure that value is being had for the money expended, that the hard earned money is being well spent.

But while spending the money of other’s on oneself the logic of a transaction breaks down. Frugality is no longer a concern. What does one care if the good or service costs twice, three, or four times what they would personally pay? The expense belongs to unknown “others”.

Spending the money of unknown other’s on others still is the most perverse way to spend as there is no concern for the cost or quality either of the goods and services involved, or the eventual consequences of those expenditures. Those that provide the money receive no benefit for that provision, and those that receive are often saddled with goods and services which are inadequate, inappropriate, or unneeded at all. But there is no mechanism by which the services can be improved because the people who provide the funding, and who receive them have no say in the transaction, and the only people to benefit are those who have taken money from one group and given it to another.

But that’s just what an average guy thinks.