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This is more an economic and political history of Britain than anything else.  The economic and political epochs of Britain are covered with nothing else talked about.  Even cultural events mentioned have strong bearing on economics with an example being a massive party that was the prototype rave.  Raves of this type are pay for entry models and more an economic effort than a party as much as they are talked up to the opposite.

Britain was on the edge of bankruptcy at the end of world war 2.  They owed money to the USA and at the same time they wanted to undertake a huge welfare effort including socialized medicine.  Sound familiar?   Sounds like the USA to me in 2009 under Obama. If you have interest in economics you need to watch all 5 of these shows.  In many ways the USA appears to be squarely on the same path as this has been empire.  

…..And just so you know Britain paid off the last of the loans from this era in the 2000′s. 

From video description: Britain in 1945; the country is victorious but nearly bankrupt. As Clement Attlee’s Labour government sets out to build ‘New Jerusalem’, Britain is forced to hold out the begging bowl in Washington. Though Ealing Studios produces a series of very British comedies and there is a spirit of hope in the air, the British people’s growing impatience with austerity threatens to take the country from bankruptcy to self-destruction.

Viewing Notes

• To be added upon second viewing

Links to all the videos

Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain
Episode 1 – Advance Britannia 1945-1955
Episode 2 – The Land of Lost Content 1955-1964
Episode 3 – Paradise Lost 1964-1979
Episode 4 – Revolution! 1979-1990
Episode 5 – New Britannia 1990-2007

Robert McNamara has died.  Unfortunately his brand of social engineering is alive and well.   You may know a couple of Roberts "innovations".  They include the F-111.

 And the ever jamming M-16 rifle.

His life demonstrates the abject failure of when the unwashed hands of government apparatiks touch the inner workings of our society. 

Read George Wills Article to understand better how McNamera introduced his own particular version of errors into the system. 

The apogee of McNamara’s professional life, in the first half of the 1960s, coincided, not coincidentally, with the apogee of the belief that behavioralism had finally made possible a science of politics. Behavioralism held — holds; it is a hardy perennial — that the social and natural sciences are not so different, both being devoted to the discovery of law-like regularities that govern the behavior of atoms, hamsters, humans, whatever.

This sort of social meddling has not ceased.  Unfortunately it has found a new home in the left.  Unable to fathom the mathematics of chaos they straddle the bucking bronco wild horse proclaiming over and over it will end differently this time.  This time we can break this wild horse called human reality.  This from the people who claim there is no god on one hand but on the other purport to have god like qualities of to-the-core understanding.  I think that is unlikely.

I guess all we can do is wait for Obama to be tossed off this pitch black mare with the bewitching eyes.  It will come sure as the sun rises.

In regards "sheeple"….I found this comment on the internet.  Literally I think it is true about the human race.

The scary thing about your cattle response is my family has raised cattle for generations and the first thing you learn is get rid of the smart cows quick.   We had a few that were smart enough to get through gates and every small hole in the fence. You can’t afford for them to show the rest how to do it so you get rid of them. Sometimes I am starting to feel like a smart cow.

Next time you are screaming for more regulation of this or of that you should try to remember you are acting the part of the rancher to dumb down the human race.   

And so begins the Michael Jackson tributes on every channel…….nothing to see here, move along.

I found this passage in   Obama’s women reveal his secret by Spengler and felt I just had to expand its place on the internet.  The full paragraph by Spengler is as follows: 

America is not the embodiment of hope, but the abandonment of one kind of hope in return for another. America is the spirit of creative destruction, selecting immigrants willing to turn their back on the tragedy of their own failing culture in return for a new start. Its creative success is so enormous that its global influence hastens the decline of other cultures. For those on the destruction side of the trade, America is a monster. Between half and nine-tenths of the world’s 6,700 spoken languages will become extinct in the next century, and the anguish of dying peoples rises up in a global cry of despair. Some of those who listen to this cry become anthropologists, the curators of soon-to-be extinct cultures; anthropologists who really identify with their subjects marry them. 

Indeed English is overtaking China and India.  Its optimistic to believe that languages other than English will survive in normal times. Luckily for those languages and the human experiences that generated them we will be able to plug them into our minds as the singularity approaches.   Were it not for this languages other than English would go the way of Latin.

Likely you have heard this old adage about security and liberty.  The security they talk about is economic.  Things are likely to get tougher in the near future.   We are shipping too much money out of the country for oil.   We are too dainty to allow it to be drilled on our coasts and in ANWR.   Thus things will deteriorate more until the pain threshold is found. 

Many people will want to vote for the politician that says it will be ok if we only regulate this or tax that.  These are the unDemocrats who will say anything to get elected.  Say anything to get the power.  I would like to think you as an electorate will have the sense not to listen.  But I’m doubtful about this.  You listened in the past and you likely will in the future.   The problem is this sort of thing never helps economically and in fact damages something much more precious than your temporary economic circumstances and that would be your liberty.  I know this is true.  My favorite home away from home country is Brazil.   As currently constituted Brazil has a fully implemented form of government that the unDemocrats want to have here.  The people know their government and changing it is hopeless.  Nothing will ever change in that area and the Brazilians know it.   With liberty you can improve your economic circumstances.   With economic wellbeing you can not necessarily do diddly squat about your liberty.  I know its tough to be a good soldier.  You have to be brave.  And clearly about 50% of the population lacks any impulse toward liberty. Quite the opposite.  They lick their chops at the thought of another round of incremental carving up of liberty for the sake of financial gain. 

Remember losing a job is temporary.  Living in a land of curtailed liberty is pretty much for your entire lifetime.    So don’t be dour Gus Halls who secretly long for a beer, a recliner and a black and white television.   For an inspired life you have to dream of liberty.

You own and business and you want to encourage gym usage on the part of your employees.  What is the optimum method?  Do you pay the total cost of the membership? The smartest solution is how the owner of EFDATA Bob Fitting handled gym memberships. Gym memberships were subsidized but not free. His explanation was if its free EVERYBODY signs up and they 1 in 10 uses what his company paid for. His solution? It was to charge a nominal fee large enough that you had to really WANT to use the membership or it made no sense. It was like 20 bucks a month. Just enough to make them make a decision. This is a flip side view of the same idea that people do not respect things they get for a low cost.  For example if you are too nice unless the person(s) you are dealing with are very mature and have alot of experience dealing with people you are bound to get short shrift.  Even then it pays to toughen up sometimes.  But then some people are just so sweet they are really not capable of stinking the place up. Its a delicate balance knowing when to spray.  What does Mr. Skanks say?

I’m an engineer.  I’ve spent alot of time separating what I know from what I do not know.  The things that you do not know yet think you do can get you in trouble.  You can not talk your way out of things with a transistor.  The circuit either works well or it flops.  And it WILL flop if there is something important you do not know.

We have just put the democrats back in control of the senate and the house.  We did this because of something we think we know.  We think we know that the situation in Iraq is “bad”.

Hard Facts:  There are 40,000,000 Iraqis.  We have about 100,000 guys there.  That is a 400:1 ratio.  Now lets assume only 5% are upset.  Then that means there are 20 Iraqis out sniping at each 1 of our guys.  Ok its pretty obvious now. If they wanted us out of Iraq then …..we’re out !  There would not be 2 or 3 guys dieing each day.  There would be 50, 100, 500 per day but NOT only 3 or so. 

The simple fact is most of you have not been a soldier in Iraq. Most of you do not have a son in Iraq.  And most of you do not know someone in Iraq…. 

THEREFORE YOU DO  NOT KNOW ONE WAY OR ANOTHER HOW THINGS ARE IN IRAQ!!

Ok so it must not be so bad there.  Well of course it isn’t.  The antique MSM media lives by selling you a product.  That product is made more salable by amp’ing up anything and everything they can.  You’re paying a high price for it.   Not to mention they are all a bunch of femmy democrats themselves.  You know…. Hollywood showbusiness types that can talk alot and have a nice smooth voice but can’t change a flat tire or thing themselves out of a wet paper bag.

Ok so the democrats were harping on Iraq. What was that about?  Are they on the inside ?  Do they know something we don’t ?  mmmm.  No way.   Those people are barely much more use than news-people.  Not only that when would they take time out from their preening ways to actually learn anything ?  Sorry these guys are not rocket – scientists. ( and that includes you’re smartest guy in the world – Bill Clinton. He too is just a bonehead.  Lets see him do some differential equations ).  The democrats weren’t concerned with Iraq.  They want power for the sake of power.  

In the end you assumed that things were bad in Iraq, but you did not really know either way how it is. On the basis of this assumption you put the Democrats back in power.  You are going from bad assumption to bad choice.  It sounds like an intellectual demolition derby. 

Simply put America you are making bad decisions.  Ones I am afraid you are going to have no way of inflating your way out of.  People are going to pay with their lives. 

The Republicans are at least an option.  The democrats long ago ceased to be a viable party or option to anyone with an practical sense about them.  They do a disservice to the country.  The Republicans would have to improve if there was some sort of option existant with the democrats.  The dems simply can’t hold their grits.