My grandfather would be rolling over in his grave right about now. Fifty years ago real men were catapulting a 6 million pound rocket 250,000 miles to the moon and back at fifteen times the speed of a bullet. Now what do we have? A Roman Circus. And a court of jesters whose only role in life now is defending corruption.
"The speed needed for Apollo 11 to break free of the Earth's gravitational field was about 7 miles per second."
In the latest season of The Crown, mid-life stricken Prince Philip becomes obsessed with the 1969 lunar landing. However when he meets the astronauts in person, he becomes disillusioned with their apparent lack of spiritual awakening. Their Stanley Kubrick 2001 moment, facing God for the first time.
Instead, Buzz Aldrin recalls the "magnificent desolation". Not exactly spiritual close encounters.
But then Philip has his own spiritual awakening and realizes you don't have to travel to Mars to achieve a Zen second life. But you do have to leave Disney World.
I think more holy men need to realize why more and more people are fleeing traditional religion. Because they don't want to trade one type of (secular) bullshit for another. They want a connection to something real.
My grandfather had a ninth grade education, forced to leave school to support his family in 1930. Worked with his hands his entire life. Still one of the most insightful people I've ever met. Never once voted against his own family's interest. Scots descent mind you. Stage 1, 2, and 3 all outrage. I consider myself the custodian of his 1930s working man's outrage. What today's Lost Boys consider an anachronism of a bygone past. Concern for the people who do the real work.
What is taking place now is an historical obscenity. We've reached a point at which society is run by and for marketing Mad Men. Fake leaders who have come to believe that it's their right in life to lie for a living. The inevitable endgame for a marketing based society in which concealing the truth is the primary method of profit maximization. We saw it in 2008 during the housing crisis and we are witnessing it today on a 10x scale. A decade of monetary bailouts has emboldened deception. This society is wholly desensitized to lying, because Trump does it all day every day.
Consumer sentiment among Republicans just reached a new all time high. Eclipsing the high from October 2018 which marked the market top last year.
The power of free money:
Some people still haven't figured out that this trade war is never going to end. Never.
"Trump's aid payments are a lifeline, but they're not saving everyone. Farm bankruptcies are up 24% compared to the year before, according to the American Farm Bureau."
"I think he's backstabbing the main people who got him into office in all those Midwest states who help to vote him in," Boyd said, but added that it's likely he will vote for Trump again."
Few industries are so full of liars as the oil industry. Ground zero for corruption.
"We've opened up the Federal lands to global oil implosion. Because at the end, that's who we are"
But the Financial Services industry has by far the most liars. Why? Because at the end of the cycle when risks are the greatest, they have to somehow convince people to remain in the casino. Even when they themselves got out a long time ago. After all, for every seller, there must be a buyer.
It took almost two years and record combined monetary and fiscal stimulus to complete the right shoulder:
"He does believe there is “some froth” as everyone on Wall Street chases performance going into the end of the year."
The only thing worse than being a man ahead of your time, is being a man after your time. The certain fate awaiting today's posers and frauds when their bubble in bullshit bursts.
"What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?"