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~ USA Headed for a 5th Revolution! Why?

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Monthly Archives: September 2022

#462. “Conspiracies Are Us” — Driving a Stake in the Heart of Democracy

22 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by Jordan Abel in Back Asswards Thinking, Causes of the Revolution, Uncategorized

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Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, Entry #1.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. Entry #430 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN ENTRY #462. I continue to be gob smacked by the number of supposed conspiracies promoted by seemingly educated people. It seems the more outlandish the scope of the conspiracy, the more credible some people consider the conspiracy.

Conspiracies have been around for years in the US and other countries.  One major difference now is the use of social media, which: (I) allows the conspiracy to be shared quickly among many people; (ii) has few checks re control of content and/or credibility of the claim.  Social media seems to have encouraged more conspiracies and even more outlandish claims.

Another factor is the dramatic decline in readership of credible, print media.  The decline has taken away the “sanity-check” guardrails for many former readers.  I shake my head at how many people I know who no longer get any news from print media, instead relying on cable or the internet.  These same people express concern about such issues as the dangers of using public Wi-Fi but seem to have few reservations about gathering “news” from questionable sources.

The topic of conspiracies has personal interest to me.  In the early 2000’s, there was a movie made, excuse me, an alleged documentary, titled “Who Killed the Electric Car?” During research for the movie, I was contacted by the producer. In addition to offering insight about the efforts of GM and other companies to develop and introduced a modern-generation electric car, I offered names and contact information of others in the industry who might be considered for interviews.

When I was filmed – in LA on the top floor of a building at intersection of Sunset Blvd and the 405 – it seemed apparent the producer had decided on a conspiracy theme and structured questions accordingly.  Apparently, my answers didn’t fit the conspiracy theory, because only a couple of short clips of my interview made the final edit. 

When I am asked if there was a conspiracy to kill the electric car, or when someone claims there was a conspiracy, my usual response is a bit of laughter and then an explanation. I like to remind people claiming a conspiracy is that those of us involved with the EV programs from different companies were either not smart enough or too naïve to have a conspiracy.   All the people from GM, Ford, Honda, Toyota and some electric utilities were trying to develop and introduced one thing – a competitive electric car to meet the California zero emission vehicle mandate. 

To conspiracy theorists such facts don’t matter. There had to be a conspiracy.  Tell me, just “Who Killed the Electric Car?”  (Interested in learning the real reason GM killed the EV1?)

Conspiracy theorists seem to forget that for a conspiracy to work only a few people can be involved.  And one thing we all know is people love to tell “secrets” to friends.  If more than a handful of people are involved, then the conspiracy soon becomes public information and infinitely more difficult to execute. 

Aside from the electric car, some conspiracies friends/colleagues have been touting of late include:

(I) 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center (always popular in early September) involved far more people than the public has been led to believe.  Depending on who’s promoting the conspiracy, the group involved was  broad-based, including key members from several countries.  In addition, the plan to destroy the Trade Center towers was in the works for at least a decade prior to the attack.  

According to some, the Towers were not only struck by planes but damaged by a nuclear blast underneath the towers and a nearby building. 

As proof the conspiracy theorists show pictures of the Trade Towers with commercial aircraft in the sky behind the towers.  Guys, stop and think just for a second.  One of the major flight paths to/from LaGuardia is not far from the Trade Towers.  Besides, adding planes to the background makes a picture of buildings more interesting.

More “proof” of the long-planned conspiracy is a picture from the late 1990’s of a high-profile individual whose watch has the hour hand at nine (9) and the minute-hand at 11.  Now, how could you not be convinced?  Hard to imagine but just suppose someone doctored the picture using Photoshop.  More proof is a poster for a ferry-ride around Manhattan.  Cost is “$9” and to the right of the $9 is a rendering of the skyline with the Trade Towers.  Now, how can you not believe?

More proof – the floors of the towers could not collapse in pancake fashion.  Because the pancake pattern is not possible, there had to be another “something,” usually not identified. The “proof” disappears after one talks to an architect about how the individual floors in the towers were attached to the exterior walls rather than to central posts.  When the joints holding the upper floors were weakened by the plane crashing and then the fire, the floors could collapse.  The weight of a single floor falling on another would exceed the strength of the joints on the lower floor and the floors would then collapse in pancake fashion.  Never mind logic, I know there was a broad-based conspiracy.    

(2) Covid and other vaccines are being promoted by the pharmaceutical industry, Bill Gates, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and who knows who else as a way to control the populace. You might not know this but there are RFID chips in the vaccines.  (Liquid chips, I guess.)  At some point the liquid RFID chip would be activated and signals sent that would turn those vaccinated into killers of other people, thereby reducing the number of people on earth.  Why take such action I don’t know.  Gates is 66 and Fauci past 80, so how will they benefit?  Conspiracy theorists often fail to cite a logical benefit.  

(3) The number of deaths from Covid was greatly exaggerated because doctors and hospitals made more money from Covid-caused deaths than other deaths.  At least this conspiracy provided some logic.  However, when I state that putting the cause aside, significantly more people died during 2020 and 2021 than would be expected (~3 standard deviations greater than the norm), I have yet to get a response.  Guess a lot of extra people just wanted to die early.

(4) Global warming is a hoax being promoted by governments as part of the broader plan to control the population.  The hoax is really impressive.  For example, those icebergs are melting not from the earth’s warming but because (my sarcastic logig follows) the socialist Democrats have placed blow torches under icebergs and glaciers to make them melt.  Why? The socialists Democrats are just jealous of all the Republicans who own seashore property.  The deniers of global warming have myriad reasons why it’s a hoax but never provide any scientific data.

(5) Evidence at Mar-a-Lago that inventoried Trump’s illegal retention of secret documents, and other classified material was planted by the FBI…and the list goes on and on.

The acceptance of the conspiracy theories and the refusal to accept the results of Biden’s election by a wide swath of Republicans does not bode well for the democracy and reinforces the likelihood of a 5th US revolution.  What can be done to mitigate the negative effects of these conspiracy theories?  Stay tuned for ideas.  END ENTRY #462

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/

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#461 Students Should Be Forced to Repay Loans Because…Well, Just Because!

09 Friday Sep 2022

Posted by Jordan Abel in Back Asswards Thinking, Common Sense Policies, Education Issues, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, Entry #1.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. Entry #430 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN ENTRY #461. President Biden has proposed a program to reduce outstanding student loans by up to $20,000 for many middle- and limited-income families. Surprise, surprise, this proposal has many Republicans up in arms.

Before addressing the merits of such a program, let’s take a look at what’s available to companies and individuals who have too much debt relative to income, other than debt from student loans.

Companies with too much debt compared to income have an option called Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The cause of why the company has too much debt can range from bad luck to bad economic times to bad management, which is usually the cause.

While the cause of too much debt might influence whether existing management remains in place, the cause does not prevent the company from filing for debt relief under Chapter 11.

One company that seems to be quite familiar with Cha11 is the Trump Organization.  Trump has filed for Cha11 SIX (6) times.  For Republicans opposed to forgiving some portion of student debt, Trump’s bankruptcies somehow must be different.  Think about it. How could a business genius like Trump be forced into bankruptcy? Someone else must have been the cause since the Donald never makes mistakes. 

OK, I’ll stop the sarcasm. But the facts are straightforward – companies and individuals can file for bankruptcy, have debts significantly reduced or eliminated and start fresh.  Companies and individuals get debt relief even if an individual or management has made incredibly unsound financial decisions.  There’s only one exception – student loans are not relieved/eliminated under the bankruptcy laws.

That’s right. Student debt cannot be reduced or eliminated by bankruptcy.  Even if all other personal debts are excused, student debt remains.  Further, interest rates charged by the lender – usually a 3rd party and not the government – are often substantially above market rates.  Student borrowers have little or no recourse against unscrupulous lenders.

Who are the major players attracting prospective students to take on debt for “education“?  I’m sure you’re shocked but often the most aggressive are for-profit “universities.” Some examples include ITT, University of Phoenix and, of course, Trump University, which is now defunct after a being forced to close for fraud.  There are other for-profits as well – cosmetology schools, for example. 

The for-profits are not alone.  Some not-for-profit academic institutions have aggressively pursued students needing loans.  However, for-profit universities have a major incentive to attract prospective students with limited knowledge and/or marketable skills, keep students in school as long as possible and provide as little staff support as possible.  And why not? Students can increase ROI and the risk to the for-profit university is minimal. Once a student takes on debt, the for-profit university has created an annuity.

In what has become true Republican fashion, discussions about the merits/drawbacks of student debt reduction program (not complete debt relief for most), have been directed at blaming the student for the entire problem.  After all, the student signed the paperwork.

Is the student to blame? Partially but blaming the student for the entire problem is like blaming someone for a car accident who has never been taught to drive.

If we, societal we, want to retain Chapter 11 bankruptcy for businesses in Chapter 7 for bankruptcy for individuals to relieve debt, then we need to make some provision to relieve a portion of student debt. END ENTRY #461

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/

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