Category Archives: world

Stock Market Plunge: Greek action at a distance?

world,

Pardon me, but these explanations are horseshit. When you look at the dip, the rebound, and the speed with which it happened, there are only two plausible explanations. One is automated trading; the other is that it was a planned event. If the Greek crisis were the cause, then what explains the rebound? The Greek explanation doesn’t hold water, because analysts and traders have seen it coming for ages (in market terms). It is not a surprise. Just look at the currency moves we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks. Stocks move a whole order of magnitude quicker than currency. The Greek wave hit the stock market long ago. I just don’t buy it.

There was a HUGE transfer of value yesterday. A lot of people sold stocks at a huge discount, and a lot of other people picked them up at a bargain. I’m having a hard time believing that the cause was natural human action.

Delicate war

world,

I think it’s important to remember that for the marines and soldiers in the video posted at “collateralmurder.com”:http://collateralmurder.com, the acts shown in the video are part of a job they’re asked to do daily. They identify combatants and take the shot. For better or worse, you don’t wage a good war if you’re not good at killing people. I know that sounds reprehensible, but it’s a fact. At the office, a mistake costs you money. At war, it costs lives.

Make no mistake, we are better at waging war than we ever have been. This only makes matters worse. Our image of war is not streets filled with bodies. Today, war is a form of infotainment. Entire television mini-series are dedicated to the marvel of modern war machines. Video from the tip of a falling bomb is broadcast on cable television to a fat man sitting on the couch enjoying his potato chips.

The number of civilian deaths in one day of carpet bombing during WWII would dwarf the entire number of casualties incurred by military combatants, insurgents, and civilians in Gull War I and II. “By the numbers”:http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004615.html, we’ve become exponentially more efficient.

We’re convinced that with enough technology, we can wage war on a sub-set of a nation, but even today, war is not a scalpel; it’s a hatchet. When you go to war, you do it absolutely, and for as short a time as possible.

I don’t hold these marines and soldiers responsible. We’re asking the impossible. “Wage a war, but make no mistakes.” No one can be held to this standard.