There's a thundering hailstorm in Phoenix today, sending drops of frozen hate clattering across the skylight and beating the life out of weak trees. On the outskirts of my peripheral vision, I caught a glimpse of something white and jagged -- the future.
Life as a human right now is akin to having woken up inside the chute of a woodchipper. We may not even recall how we got inside the woodchipper in the first place. The one thing that is clear : the inevitability of the blades.
A feeling like saws chewing into my neck. The sounds of weeping just outside my door. And a cold light knife into my pupil reminds me : This is a world divorced from hope.
When facing a suffocated reality of nonexistent future, what do you do? Here are some options :
1) Lie down and wait quietly for the ice weasels to come. 2) Cry until you're too tired to cry any longer, then die. 3) Fight until death. 4) Put on heavy metal records and rock out for as long as possible.
Now, I don't know which of these sounds most attractive, or which you, the reader, may already be doing. I choose option #4. Here's why :
* Metal music is brain floss. * Metal music improves blood flow to the face. * Metal music is not a norm. * Metal music has no sympathy for your suffering. * Metal music remembers when you were only an animal. * Metal music hasn't heard about your regrets, but it can drench them in molten @#$%^& * Metal music will survive long after the Universe is toast. * Metal music recognizes your true form and can restore it if lost. * Metal music connects you with that aspect of youself that you forgot about. * Metal music is truth erupting from a sea of lies.
There's no future. But with metal music, the present can be made to rock. In these bleak and doomed days, everybody looks for help. Some go to shrinks, some watch TV, and some try in futility to numb the pain with drugs. Well, you all are welcome to your 'cheese' heroin, 'lean,' and amphetamines. I'm an Earache man myself. (47,079)
Presidential candidatin' time once again, and for some people, it's time to ignore what actually matters and pick the dumbest issue possible to vote on.
In 2000, it was re-introduction of Pogs as a national trend. In 2004, it was gay marriage.
Now, it seems to be the economy. Except not. No it's about Change... no wait, it's about Hope!
That's it, hope!
Can you tactilely feel hope? Can you unfold some hope from your wallet and buy bread when it costs $40 a loaf?
As we're seeing, people chosen to head government agencies like "The Fed" have a bigger impact on your life than your perception of the president.
Unfortunately, that will have no bearing WHATSOEVER on who is elected in November.
Let's do a summary of economic policy from the 2 (3? No) frontrunners:
Obama's economic policy (at least, from his website) is an unending litany of nonsensical and mostly nonspecific populist cliches and exploitation of common economic misconceptions. It's kind of like a checklist of stereotypical democratic voting blocks.
I'm not going to go through all of it. Just bring it to any econ professor who's a fan of monetarism (PS, Alan Greenspan's a monetarist). Bring tissues, it'll be emotional.
Meanwhile, you have McCain who will probably soil his adult diapers and have a stroke in an inhuman surge of glee and vomit if he ever gets elected. Mainly I see him as retaining the Bush policy for the most part but I don't see the budget expanding by as much. This would mean four more years of stupidity and keyensian tomfoolery.
Hillary's out so I'm not going to bother looking up her stated views on the subject. Not like it'd matter anyway, as it's probably a lot of BS.
Neither candidate will balance the budget. Neither will fix the Fed.
What matters more than the president is going to be the people he puts in his cabinet, especially in the treasury and federal reserve. The current people (Bernanke, Paulson) are like a couple of 10 year olds trying to salvage a pot of spaghetti sauce they just drowned a cat in. Since it's pretty much a crap shoot, and hard for either of these idiots to be worse than it already is, I simply don't care.
If you need me November 4th, I'll be at the bar. (41,414)