Financialization is a term used to describe the development of financial capitalism during the period from 1980 to present, in which debt-to-equity ratios increased and financial services accounted for an increasing share of national income relative to other sectors.

In other words, we quit making things except currency (and weapons to enforce global USD use). We sent our industrial economy to China and the third world, hollowing out labor and the middle class in the process. Profits became god, people pawns...and the rich became obscenely rich and completed the purchase of the government lock, stock, and barrel.

We went to the beach this past work week...to Grayton Beach State Park in Florida. We hadn't been there since our college days when we would pile a bunch of us in a cabin, cut up and carry on as young folks do. Every coast holds its own beauty and attributes, but the gulf coast along the panhandle, the red neck riviera, is one of the prettiest we've experienced. A few years ago we visited the Alabama and Mississippi coast, which I wrote about back at issue 65 of the WW... it has some pretty good photos which were fun to review. I noticed this week's edition is the 250th, so it was time for another beach vacation. We scored on weather, and it was a great trip. Come along on a photo journey this Sunday.

Fit for Survival?

As individuals and as a species we don't seem fit. Perhaps we've arrived at our evolutionary dead end, but who knows, our species is very adaptable. Now as individuals, we all know we'll reach an end point. To my mind, the question is with what quality of life. My partner often asks, "Why are we so lucky?". There has been some luck and tricks of fate, but some of our quality of life is due to planning...doing without so that now we have enough to be comfortable. We also had the foresight to buy property when it was fairly inexpensive. Taking care of our health has paid dividends... we have no big medical issues. Others in the US are not so fortunate. The health of so many is poor and is one reason US COVID outcomes have been the world's worse. Now, we can go forward making better choices as individuals. I wish we could do the same for the society, but so many road blocks impede real progress. So are we fit to survive? Will we evolve?

Falling into Autumn

How's your fall color? Our trees have started early. The last few years the first blushes have been in October, but full color is common in early November. There's on and off years for color in the South. Some years it is straight to brown and falling leaves. Other years strong yellows. Some years it's reds. This year we've started with yellows. Mornings stay dark later every day till the time shift changes the sense of things again. Gardening is one way to stay in pace with the seasons. Just experiencing nature...the migrations of the birds and butterflies on their various journeys...many wintering with us...the burst of Asters from goldenrod to Liatris... in the quilt of seasonal colors. There's good and bad in every season. Leaves are a burden in the roadside drainage ditches and a resource in the garden. Looking through rose colored lenses seems appropriate under the harvest moon at the Autumnal Equinox.

We Have Met the Terrorists
and They are U.S.

Throughout the twenty year war on terror, we have failed again and again to look in the mirror. Self reflection is not an American strong point. Clearly the US provokes more global violence, destruction, and death than any other nation...by far (and has done so since at least WWII). However, 9/11 provided the impetuous to do far more...added gas to the fire, creating selective wars, coups, and conflicts without congressional approval (and in many cases public awareness).

It is appropriate and necessary that we also reflect on the illegal invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the unspeakable deaths and destruction caused by the Global War on Terror that followed the attacks: more than one million Iraqis; 164,000 people in Afghanistan; 80,000 Pakistanis; and countless more in Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria and Niger, and more we don’t even know about.

https://electronicintifada.net/content/global-war-terror-comes-home/33901

Workers of the World Unite!

Throughout our lives, the nature of work has evolved. Comparing the US in 1920 to 2020 provides some interesting contrasts as people leave the farm and move to more urban areas. (How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm once they've seen gay Paree?)

The 1920s is the decade when America's economy grew 42%. Mass production spread new consumer goods into every household. The modern auto and airline industries were born. The U.S. victory in World War I gave the country its first experience of being a global power. Soldiers returning home from Europe brought with them a new perspective, energy, and skills. Everyone became an investor thanks to easy access to credit. That hidden weakness helped cause the Great Depression.
...
Farming declined from 18% to 12.4% of the economy. Taxes per acre rose 40%, while farm income fell 21%. At the same time, new inventions sent the manufacturing of consumer goods soaring. https://www.thebalance.com/roaring-twenties-4060511

As people moved, so did their employment options and it hasn't stopped, nor has inequality...in fact it is as high as ever. Stagnant wages for most, alongside soaring profits and wages for those at the top, will continue to mean that the 0.1 to 1 percent accumulate more and more income and wealth.

Homesteads, Farms, and Hanging on to Harmony

Have you noticed how the grocery store shelves seem rather thin? Not as bad as right after the start of the pandemic, but a slow steady drip of missing items and a rather rapid rise in prices is happening in my area. The last couple of weeks I've been suggesting getting to know your area farmers and producers. We've recently met a few around our neighborhood. We're now buying milk (sold "for pets") from a farm a couple of miles down the road. I've made contact with a pastured chicken producer who often runs workshops. As grocery store shelves thin out, knowing your local producers might be a good idea. So I thought it would be fun to visit some farms and producers this week and celebrate working with nature and enjoying the bounty. Our summer harvests have been plentiful (Not pictured: peppers, peas, figs, and okra)

Just get vaccinated...that's been the message for months. But now the vaccinated are getting COVID thanks to the Delta variant. So are preventative measures encouraged? Hell no, there's no profit in them...TPTB want us to get another ($30) jab. (And notice the $3 non profit Oxford AZ jab still hasn't been approved?) It is another ride on the misinformation merry-go-round, and more people will die and suffer long term effects. We are expendable.

Fifty Years of Fiat

Since its founding in 1776, the United States has had a variety of monetary systems including bimetallic systems where the dollar was backed by both gold and silver (1792-1862), a fiat monetary system (1862-1879), a full gold standard (1879-1933), and a partial gold standard (1933-1971). From 1971 to present the United States has been on a fiat monetary standard. https://gold-standard.procon.org/history-of-the-gold-standard/ https://www.uscurrency.gov/history

Fed Up With the Fed

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” — FDR letter to Colonel Edward House, Nov. 21, 1933

The federal reserve system was created by bankers for bankers. The Federal Reserve Act, then known as the Currency Bill, was signed into law after passing the House and Senate in late December 1913. The name, the Fed, is a carefully constructed lie, designed to make the bank appear to be a government entity, but it is not. It is a private bank owned by private shareholders for their private profit with a charter that allows them to print the public’s money out of thin air. The Fed is a privately controlled central bank lending money to the government at interest, money that it prints out of nothing.