Mortality Reality

                                                                                         written 10 February 2023

                                                                                     published 19 February 2023

  

            On Saturday, February 4th, we were in Fort Bragg, where I gave a morning talk at the Fine Woodworking School.  As I packed up, I felt weak, but recovered in a few minutes, and finished loading the car.   With Lynn driving, we headed for home, stopping at the Mendocino headlands for the view.  I began feeling worse.  As we headed out, we had traveled only a few hundred feet before I got serious double vision and massive car sickness, and mentioned wondering if I was having a stroke.  

            We headed to the hospital in Fort Bragg, where they gave me an IV of the clot busting drug, and stabilized me.  By Sunday, my double vision was gone, my appetite was back, and I could walk around the room.  However, an MRI Monday morning showed I had diminished arterial flow to the right side of my brain, and had had several previous small strokes, which had produced some symptoms I had noticed over the last few months, as well as a larger one on Saturday.  These were in the rear portion of my brain, which controls vision and balance.  This had not been debilitating due to the swift medication.  

            I mentioned that I had lower right leg cramping when I walked a few yards, and a sonogram later that day showed a completely blocked artery in my right leg, limiting the blood flow, causing the cramping.  The good news was that I had sufficient flow through secondary arteries to avoid leg or foot deterioration, but the condition still needing attention.  We were released Tuesday afternoon and were home by 7pm.  

            This is a new chapter in my life, a profound hit on my previously "taken for granted" body, affecting me both physically and mentally, which will take time, energy, and attention to fully digest.  I feel quality of life is more important that quantity of life, and for the moment, I still have good quality, but end of life has shifted from concept to felt experience.  

            I have decided to take a break from writing this column.  It has been an enjoyable part of my life for over five year now, and I want to thank all the people who have been readers.  I also want to thank the Ukiah Daily Journal, and the other county newspapers, for giving me the opportunity to express myself in this public manner.  My intention is the resume writing when my energy is greater.

            I also want to thank all the people working at the Fort Bragg Hospital.  Their swift action, and dedicated service has given me a chance to continue with this wonderful experience of life.  Several conversations mentioned how the lack of affordable housing in the Fort Bragg area constrains retaining skill workers at the hospital.  I urge any area landlords to consider dedicating housing to hospital staff.

            Finally, I want to close by reiterating the core of my perspective on life.  I believe we are awakening from the illusion of separation that has dominated the brief time we call "recorded history".  The separation perspective experiences the "other" as either predator or prey, something to fear, or dominate and consume, including the Earth, other species, and other people.  This is the foundation of every disfunction in the news today.  However, the world is connected, as verified by everything from quantum mechanics to all the spiritual traditions on the planet.  Consider the waves on the open ocean.  Each one has a unique location in space and time, yet any "separation" between them is only relative, because each is always part of the same ocean.  The climate crisis exemplifies this.  It arises from ignoring our connection with the Earth, and can only be solved by all humanity working together, for the benefit of all life. 

            We have been slow to embrace this connected truth, but I feel the tide has turned.  More of us strive to live this deeper truth, and that makes it easier for others to join in.  Tipping points and critical mass are real, and change the world.  This is the reason we are all here, to live this deeper truth.    

            Gratitude, Love, and Global Awakening
            May All Beings Awaken From The Illusion Of Separation
            May You Awaken With This Breath

  

National Debt

                                                                                         written 5 February 2023

                                                                                   published 12 February 2023

 

            In economics, one must balance income and expenses.  That balance has hard edges, and expenses are limited to income and actual savings on hand, without the ability to accumulate debt.  Debt accrues when someone is willing lend money to be paid off over time, allowing expenses to increase beyond current income.  Interest is charged for this service.  National debt is manifested by selling bonds, allowing the county to deal with unexpected expenses without impoverishing the country or defaulting the government.

            National debt began to accumulate with the Revolutionary War, the Louisiana Purchase, and the War of 1812, rising to $120M ($2.31B in today's dollars) by 1815.  For the rest of this article, I will use current dollar values for clarity.  This was paid down to zero in 1835, under President Jackson.  By the end of the Civil War, another unexpected expense, debt had climbed to $47B.  To fund World War One, the national debt jumped from $73B to $318B under President Wilson.  

            The strong economy following the war allowed the debt to reduce to $254B by 1929, when the economic crash hit the country hard.  Even though austerity and the "free market" were axions of the Republican party, debt increased to $466B under President Hoover in 1933.  The dire economy swept President F. Roosevelt into office, with a socialist vice president, and the New Deal was put into place to help save the country.  The expense of this social program, combined with the cost of winning World War 2, drove the debt to $3.7T by 1945.

            After the war, the American economy boomed, as the only major economy still intact.  In addition, our domestic oil reserves allowed us to control the global post war economy.  Under President Truman the debt was reduced to $2.6T in 1953, and held steady for the next 20 years.

            In 1972, the US domestic oil production peaked, and we lost control of the price of oil as OPEC gained strength.  In addition, the value of the dollar had been stressed by the unfunded cost of the Vietnam War, and President Nixon cut the dollar loose from the price of gold, ending decades of global financial stability, and creating massive domestic inflation, with rates hitting 12 percent.  Under Presidents Nixon and Ford, Republican austerity held sway despite the social turmoil and the debt only increased to $2.7T in 1977.  President Carter was confronted with an intractable problem, with inflation hitting almost 15 percent, and debt increased to $3.1T in 1981.  Even Regan's austerity took two terms, and a debt increase to $5.9T, before inflation dropped to 4 percent, and the economy recovered.

            Decades of colonialism, amplified by the massive oil reserves and revenues, created instability in the Middle East, and the US felt obliged to interfere, in the name of "national security".  Our "man on the ground", Saddam Hussein in Iraq, became too independent, and President G. H. Bush invaded to "stabilize" the region, pushing the debt to $7.2T in 1993, to fund the war.  Under President Clinton, dealing with the dot com crash, the debt rose to $8.5T in 2001.  The blowback from our Middle East adventures caused the World Trade towers to fall, and President G. W. Bush responded by invading Afghanistan and Iraq again, increasing the debt to $10.4T in 2009.

            Greedy financial systems finally crashed in 2008, threatening the global economy.  President Obama prevented a total collapse, but pushed the debt to $21.3T by 2017.  President Trump raised the debt to $27.8T to give a massive tax break to the wealthiest citizens.  President Biden took office during a global pandemic, which shut down the country, and raised the debt to $31.5T today, keeping it afloat.

            Since President Reagan, national debt has increased $12.6T under Republican administrations, and $15.8T under Democratic administrations.  The Democrats spent the money saving the economy during the dot com crash, the housing melt down, and the Covid pandemic.  The Republicans funded three invasive foreign wars, which left chaos in their wake and bad feelings about America, and tax cuts for the very wealthiest.

            With a Democrat in the White house, Republicans now complain about raising the debt limit, risking default on paying bills we have already accrued, holding popular social programs hostage to protect the Trump tax breaks for the exclusive few.  This is why I have little respect for the Republican party as it currently manifests.

Unhinged

                                                                                         written 29 January 2023

                                                                                     published 5 February 2023

   

            Despite high mountains and deep oceans, the Earth is smoother than a cue ball.  If a cue ball is dipped in water, the resulting layer of moisture represents our atmosphere.  Like a neighbor pounding of your door, saying your house is on fire, while you are having a party, Al Gore gave an impassioned climate speech a few weeks ago, at the 2023 World Economic Forum, excerpted here.

            "We’re not winning.  The crisis is still getting worse faster than we are deploying solutions, and we need to make changes quickly.  Emissions are still going up.  When are we going to bring these emissions down?  People are familiar with that thin blue line in the pictures from space that the astronauts bring back.  That’s the part of the atmosphere that has oxygen, the troposphere, and it’s only 5 to 7 miles thick.  That’s what we’re using as an open sewer.  If you could drive a car straight up in the air at interstate highway speeds, you’d get to the top of that blue line in 5 minutes, and all the greenhouse gas pollution would be below you." 

            "We’re still putting 162 million tons (of carbon dioxide) into it every single day, and the accumulated amount is now trapping as much extra heat as would be released by 600,000 Hiroshima class atomic bombs exploding every single day on the Earth (7 per second!).  That’s what’s creating these atmospheric rivers, and sucking the moisture out of the land, and creating the droughts, and melting the ice, and raising the sea level, and causing these waves of climate refugees predicted to reach one billion in this century.  Look at the xenophobia and the political authoritarian trends that have come from just a few million refugees.  What about a billion?  We would lose our capacity for self-governance on this world.  We have to act." 

            "We have to have a sense of urgency.  We have a divide between those who are old enough to be in positions of power, and the young people of this world who are looking at what we’re doing.  They say, "You’ve got a climate denier in charge of the World Bank, so why are you surprised that the World Bank is completely failing to do its job?  Are you okay with putting the CEO of one of the largest oil companies in the world in as the President of the COP (climate conference)?"  The appearance of a conflict of interest undermines confidence at a time when climate activists around the world have come to the conclusion that the people in authority are not doing their job!"

            This year, the Colorado River flow has diminished to the point that Lake Mead and Lake Powell will soon hit "dead pool", unable to release water downstream, affecting tens of millions.  A community outside Phoenix now has no water, destroying the value of their million-dollar homes.  California wildfires are increasing insurance rates, as are hurricanes in Florida, threatening the viability of those housing markets.  The drought in California is shrinking the farming economy, adding to food prices and decreasing availability.  As our environment heats, our entire wine industry faces replanting their vines to more heat tolerant varieties.  The latest research on the collapsing Antarctica glaciers suggests a sea level rise of 20' by the end of the century, assuming emissions stabilize now.  Temperatures in Europe were in the 70's this winter.  In parts of Alaska the shoreline is retreating 70' each year as lack of sea ice exposes the land to wave action.  Offshore of Mendocino, the warming ocean has disrupted the ecology and destroyed the essential kelp forest and dependent fisheries.  Torrential rainfall inundates communities with increasing regularity.  Exxon-Mobile lied about the climate impact of their products for half a century, grossing trillions.

            People who are paying attention are alarmed, and dismayed at the general lack of concern.  It is no wonder that Gore was so passionate in his comments to world economic leaders.  When I searched online for a transcript of Gore's speech, all I found were numerous "news" reports about Gore's "unhinged" comments.  Unhinged!  Talk about killing the messenger. 

            Like a bunch of mindless frogs, sitting in slowly heating water, we are more concerned with celebrity gossip and the sexuality of M&M's than the fact that, without concerted action, our entire economy could collapse before kids today can retire.