Squeers,

Here's an insightful round-up examining "Uncle Miltie's" blueprint for a globalised privatised world.

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/excerpt

Dear Squeers, thanks for your little poem. It seemed to pass comment upon the people of our world admirably.

Also, it seems to elevate Shadow Minister into a position of being Australia's No 1 Economist. Forget Keynes and notorious others. Shadow is our man. His 'retain the status quo and question nothing' approach will take Australia to the very top in the 'very top' stakes.

Of course, I'm not sure which area Australia will be 'very top' in. Certainly, when it comes to suck-holing to the U.S., we are the best. No one does it like our Julia.

When it comes to sending our troops overseas to die for some other imperial country, we do well as well if you know what I mean.

And when it comes to philosophical discussions Australia is, well, most economists don't know what philosophical means. They think it has to do with stamps! They are too busy studying intricate graphs and applying elaborate formulas which, if the truth is known, they don't understand.

Anyway, the Philistines will always be victorious and people like us, well, we add curious postscripts to things and bury the dead whether it be people or ideas.

David G - you'll appreciate the latest post in this blog: http://collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/.

The author sees no happy ending. I admit, it's difficult - extremely difficult - to see one. Eisenstein was remarkably confident, though, as indeed are the authors of this book - http://www.brucelipton.com/flipbook/spontaneous-evolution%23/page/7. All of them share a strong sense of teleology, that the Universe has a purpose, that we're all on a big evolutionary journey, that quantum physics shows that (collectively) we can be truly masters of our destiny, that current events are all tending in a positive direction, and so on.

Call them naive, call them utopian - many do, many will. It's hard to see some 'higher purpose' or direction to the human journey - and yet, what is the point of despair? Amidst all the crassness, the cynicism, the cruelty, the barbarity - good and beautiful and true acts still take place all around us, every day. They are worth embracing.

Nic, it would be great if you were to raise this subject again, perhaps not as a review of a book (one which tends to bite off more than it can chew) but as a segment (which can be built upon) which allow the true philosophers and thinkers to discuss and debate but is so specific that it keeps the idiots and the flat-earthers locked into their tiny mental boxes.

To raise the level of philosophy in society is, I think, the only way humans are going to survive the ugly, divided, warring world they have created. We have to get people thinking again (rather than mindlessly regurgitating what they have rote learned) and joining the dots.

I await your contributions with eagerness!

Nick, our comments have crossed each other.

I agree, we are on an evolutionary journey except that humans have already reached the peak point (perhaps it was during Ancient Greece) and are now rapidly regressing back to the stage where our knuckles dragged on the ground and we spoke in grunts!

I am in a 'Stop The World I Want To Get off' state of mind but I keep hanging around hoping against hope that something, someone, will appear and show us the way. I see no evidence of such a person or even a redeeming movement.

Our current crop of leaders were hatched in a cesspool!

Out of 7.5 billion people, surely there is one who is exceptional!

no power so no puter, but have more to asap.
teleoogy is an interesting topic, but "evolutionary journey" is non sequitur.
i'm wary.