Insanity II

We covered the dumb handling of the gun issue yesterday. Now the economy.


You don’t cut interest rates as the economy is doing well and threatening inflation. Lowering interest rates usually is the spur for higher prices, inflation and a whole lot of grief. When the economy is doing well, you keep interest rates stable. If the economy is running toward a bubble, you raise interest rates to dampen economic activity. That’s the way this works. Has since the Federal Reserve was created.


Expecting it to work differently to encourage different results, is another definition of insanity.


Another form of insanity is using words that mean one thing and trying to make them mean something entirely different. Like truth and fact. Asserting something not in evidence by provable fact, is not truth. It is empty assertion. Saying it over and over again does not make it any less false.  This is the tactic of the propagandist.


Saying we have an invasion of our southern borders accompanied by a surge in criminal activity, simply is not supported in fact. Saying otherwise repeatedly doesn’t make it true. It is still false.

Saying Mexican and South American immigrants are eating up free services paid by American taxpayers doesn’t make it true. The facts are the exact opposite. Studies show Mexican immigrants pay taxes of $70 billion annually into the American economy. Yet as noncitizens, they are not eligible for social security, Medicare or Medicaid. They may receive free food handouts from charities, but they don’t get benefits from government paid programs. Saying otherwise is still not provable with facts.


Claiming global warming is a hoax does not make it true. Facts have established global warming to be present, steadily so on an upward scale of temperatures. The cause is a flood of CO2 gases. From burning fossil fuels, from forest fires, brush fires and chemical imbalances all caused by mankind’s wanton use of such. These factors have been studied for many decades and the cause/effect relationship well-established.


Violence arises from many causes: fear, emotion, anger, revenge, resentment, mistrust, greed, hate, etc. There are means to dampen these causes; and there are means to heighten them, too. Speeches, rhetoric, blame, and language of disrespect towards others who are ‘different’ from us. Saying otherwise doesn’t make it so. Rhetoric has effects; we need to understand that and dampen the harsh words. And yes, 'white supremacy' is a palpable canard that is fear based and mongered by propagandists. It is not a hoax. It is real and dangerous.


Civility helps people get along. Politeness matters. It keeps heads cooler. Hot reactions are fewer.

The debate over immigration and melting pot dynamics is a rhetorical war, not a debate. We must see ourselves as what we are – a blend of many cultures, bloods, ethnicities, and skin color. We remain humankind, the common call of our identity. Not better than, but different. Different, not lesser.


Insanity builds from poor understanding. This leads to conclusions that make no sense. Accepting false conclusions without proving them, is another definition of insanity.


Which are we? Sane or insane?


August 8, 2019