EMR agrees with Observer’s comment on the “Batten Down the Hatches” (16 March) post:

Disappointed that Mr. Bacon did not come back refreshed and with a clear perspective on the world and what will put humans on the sustainable trajectory. More on that in a copy of a note EMR received from MGM included below.

SOCIAL SECURITY AND AGENCY SAFETY NETS

A note for Groveton and Larry concerning Social Security:

Your two perspectives could be reconciled if you each had a better understanding of Vocabulary and of the Four Estates that citizens have evolved to manage civilization. See THE ESTATES MATRIX.

Social Security is an Agency (New First Estate) program. It is intended to make the lives of all citizens better – health, safety, welfare and all that jazz.

Groveton is justifiably upset because the federal Agencies have not had the backbone to change the mathematics of Social Security to reflect the realities of 2011. The realities of the 30s, 40s and 50s are NOT the same as the realities of the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. Groveton is right that some changes since 1970 have made matters worse.

Larry is justifiably upset because the federal Agencies have not had the backbone to change many programs, policies and controls that may have reflected reality at various times from 1790 through 2011. Instead of changing the governance structure and its policies, programs and controls – and in shameless acts of cowardice – Elephant and Donkey Clan politicians have been raiding the money put aside by older workers in the Social Security System.

The “insurance” Larry and Groveton are talking about is an Enterprise (New Second Estate) product. It is intended to make money for the Enterprise AND spread future risk among those who can afford to pay the premiums.

(NB. There is also ‘mutual insurance’ which is an Institution (New Third Estate) program. Mutual Insurance is a revered American tradition (from Waterford Mutual Insurance to the USAA, etc.) that spreads the risk among a community of ‘members.’)

Enterprise insurance is a Trickle Down safety net system.

Trickle Down Safety Nets do not work for all the citizens.

TRICKLE DOWN IN GENERAL

Tickle Down of Agency responsibilities does not work for all citizens, it now does not even work for most citizens. In fact it only works for those at the very top of the Ziggurat – those who contribute the most to the political Clans – Enterprises, Institutions and very wealthy Institutions.

Trickle Down Housing does not work for all the citizens. (The Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis – after the bubble burst it ‘works’ for less than 20% of the Households. The majority of the Households are not able to afford a dwelling with an acceptable range of the Services, Recreation and Amenity close to where they work.)

Trickle Down Mobility and Access does not work for all the citizens. (The Mobility and Access Crisis – even at the current low energy and material prices 50% of the population cannot afford to buy and maintain a Large Private Vehicle that is fuel efficient and safe to drive on the Interstate Highway system.)

Trickle down human settlement patterns do not work for all citizens. (The Helter Skelter Crisis – the sum of Spacial Dysfunctions affecting human settlements.)

And that is just the parameters of human existence upon which SYNERGY focuses.

It is also clear that:

Trickle Down Health systems do not work for all the citizens. That is painfully evident for mental health now and for all health systems when true costs are fairly allocated so that rich medical Enterprises cannot afford to toss crumbs to those at the bottom of the Ziggurat. Regions and nation-states with universal health care (an Agency safety net) have better outcomes in terms of health, cost and longevity.

In fact Trickle Down does not work for ANY of the functions for which citizens establish Agencies.

Agencies must provide the services or they must establish projects, programs and controls to insure that ‘public utility functions’ work to the benefit of all citizens.

This is not a Elephant / Donkey issue or a ‘liberal’ / ‘conservative’ issue and suggesting it is only clogs the road to functional and effective alternatives. Time is running out to make Fundamental Transformations.

As EMR will document in the Perspective ENOUGH? (Forthcoming):

Across North Africa and the Middle East 600-Million humans are saying they want a more fair share. If one adds in India where there are riots over Agency corruption and China where there are riots over democracy, and Brazil where the new president pledges to improve the lot of 14 million at the bottom of the Ziggurat, over half the world’s population is now in some form of revolt / promised Fundamental Transformation over the allocation of resources.

Those who have been living off of more than their fair share – the US consumes 20 percent of the planet’s resources each year to support 5 percent of the planets population – have to make Fundamental Transformations to consume less or face dire consequences. See THE BOTTOM LINE.

The days of living off Natural Capital and tossing down crumbs via Trickle Down is coming to an end.

NORTH AFRICA

Speaking of North Africa: Groveton should be fully on board with the need for the UN now that just passing a resolution causes Gaddafi to call for a cease fire – and then keep killing his countries citizens . With instantaneous communications that ploy will not last long. See THE BOTTOM LINE

The excuse was raised again: Caving in to citizen demands, will ‘split the country’… So?

In almost all cases, the only ones who benefit from NOT splitting the nation-states are those in control of divided nation-states.

The US is currently fighting in two nation-states that are the product of imperialist edicts, not enlightened citizen interests.

PROFESSOR BARTLETT

Groveton:

Thank you for posting the videos from Professor Bartlett. EMR has read of his work and had viewing his lecture on the “to do” list for years…

ASAP in Cville has been trying to get him to come to Cville but his health has caused the scheduled presentations to be canceled. The ASAP leadership likes him because he has a simple message and sticks to population and resources topics and does not get into the more complex field of human settlement patterns.

Bartlett’s basic point concerning human’s inability to understand the exponential function is irrefutable. The first Natural Law of Human Settlement Pattern is A = pie R sq. The root of Geographic Illiteracy is failure to understand that this exponential function applies to land consumption for Urban land uses.

Groveton, You will find, if you look, a lot of folks that agree with much of what EMR says even if they are not ‘brothers.’

AND FROM MGM

Here is the note from MGM that was noted at the outset. Jim Bacon, Peter Galuszka, Groveton, Larry and TMT might find the observations of someone up to his armpits in Hydrofracking of interest:

…………………..

All this talk of federal debt is a waste of time.

Humans must focus on the big picture.

NO ONE – no Agency, no Enterprise, no Institution and no Household – to use Professor Risse’s useful Vocabulary – is paying their fair share of the total cost of contemporary, technology driven civilization.

The public debt – federal, state and municipal – is important only as an example of this larger reality. You can solve the ‘federal debt crisis’ and not change the unsustainable trajectory of society.

What about the private debt?

What about the capita
l stolen from future generations by burning through natural capital – not just petroleum and gas resources but top soil, fresh water (water to irrigate my farm), marine animals, rare earths…

NO ONE wants to talk about total debt because NO ONE – Bottom, Middle or Top – knows how those debts could be paid.

[See Professor Bartlett on continued ‘growth’ as a ‘solution.’]

Bottom: Those at the bottom of the food chain cannot pay their fair share because the bottom 70 percent have been losing ground for three decades – they have no assets with which to pay for anything approaching the cost of their consumption AND they are consuming far less than they would like to. [See Note of North Africa and the Middle East.]

Middle: The next 25 percent in the middle of the Ziggurat could not afford to pay their full costs if the costs were fairly allocated. They are running as fast as they can [RATZIES] to cover payment for just a few of the true costs.

Top: Those in the top 5 percent have gamed the economic and governance systems so they do not have to pay anything.

There are many ‘solutions’ but even if the elected ‘representatives’ and appointed staff [Governance Practitioners] knew exactly what to do they would be voted out of office by citizens who have no idea that they have to get off of big rock candy mountain.

In the rest of the ‘developed’ world many of the nation-states are in better shape – until a tsusmai hits.

Those Dr. Pangloss types who think things will get better as soon as ‘the recovery’ kicks in – they count on the stock market going up and the unemployment rolls go down – may be in for a shock when their words are used as evidence that they have committed Intentional Information Sabotage.

………………..

COMMENTS WELCOME

As always, constructive and informed comments are welcome. EMR has a number of dead lines and will not have time to respond. As is the current practice intentionally disruptive and unfounded comments will be deleted upon the unanimous recommendation of a volunteer review committee.

AND A NOTE FOR LARRY

Larry, you need to understand THE ESTATES MATRIX. EMR is NOT an Agency. What he thinks and writes is not an Agency policy or position. When someone repeatedly and intentionally misinterprets and intentionally sabotages posts or comments by those in search of alternatives to Business-As-Usual, they will be deleted. See CITIZEN MEDIA, THE NEXT STEP (Forthcoming)

If that bothers you. just do not submit comments that you know will be deleted. You always have the option to start your own Blog.

EMR