Wealth in 21st Century America
It was a typical beautiful sunny day in Denver, where I happily reside, until Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Just then a high wind suddenly came raging through (you can verify in weather records). I got agitated and a headache followed, but shortly after the calm returned as if nothing had happened. I normally don't put much stock in event charts, but under the circumstances, I checked this one out. It is astonishing. The chart is drawn for February 17, 1:23 PM, Denver, Colorado.
I think it's fairly apparent that the people will realize that the government can't bail them out now, and as a result, progress can be made in other ways as they turn to themselves and their own resourcefulness to get through the hard economic times ahead. They will. They already are. The battle between the status quo and the future will be played out for a long time, as it should to come to a satisfactory agreement, the aim of the opposition.
Some seem happy that the wealthy are losing ground, and a few even think that in 2012, the people will magically have possession of wealth and all will be well. This is probably not quite so. Who says that the commoners can handle it any better, anyway? Wouldn't they just spend it on sports, American Idols, plastic, junk food, and televisions that tell them what to buy? The transfer of wealth is a complicated mechanism and no system has found the answer yet. And people will have to grow into the responsibility.
There's an alternative. We all have a lot to learn about life on earth and the management of riches. The rich are essentially no different from the poor. We are the same. There are good and bad behaviors in all classes. Each side wants what the other has. The poor want the money, and the rich want the freedom of expression as they stay corseted in their strict worlds, unable to cross the line where the common folk often sing, dance, laugh, and love with abandon. No one is satisfied except the few who understand value, the lesson ahead with Pluto opposite USA Venus-Jupiter.
So I am venturing to guess that the re-distribution will be an extended affair taking at least a half a century as Pluto crosses Capricorn and Aquarius, and unites with some resolution in Pisces. Then on to Aries with the Age of Aquarius getting its toehold when things could be a little bit different. Not better necessarily. Good enough. As they are now for the needs of the time.
It might work out in a different way from what's expected, as the pot remains up for grabs while all of us learn something about life on earth. And I mean all of us. Instead of resenting the wealthy, the commoners could learn to be satisfied with what they have as Pluto slowly extracts from the Plutocracy and they learn to live with less. As Muddy Waters sang, "You can't lose what you ain't never had." Give and take on all levels could be asked for. In the meantime, quick fixes and bailouts are unlikely, but change is already happening. It always is. Let the wind blow it in. Some grand orchestration is apparent to me, and I feel privileged to be a part of its perception, while all rearranges itself in continuum.
posted by jm at 1:26 PM
17 Comments:
the commoners could learn to be satisfied with what they have as Pluto slowly extracts from the Plutocracy and they learn to live with less.
I mentioned to Tseka recently that I ran across a sentence in a science fiction book that sums it all up in those pithy phrases I'm so fond of:
"All true wealth is biological." Meaning, the people you love and the richness of the natural gifts we've been given on this amazing planet.
Heheh. The pithy phrases. You're a master.
I agree. Biological wealth. I was just talking to my sister and she said how lucky I was to be so healthy, and I agree with that too. Gratitude shouldn't be all that hard. All the things I treasure are mine to keep ... my humor, intelligence, singing voice, my body, my friends, my rhythm and grace ... you know.
Great mundane chart & analysis!!!
JM thank you also for the compliment on the Hayes blog posting. It was a quick thought as you can tell from the mispelling. Here is another quickie, since I have been dragged into meetings for the next two days so my free time is evaporating. However, I wanted to comment on all the controversy surrounding the NY Post cartoon. Aside from the actual chimpanzee drama being sad to say the least, the reaction to the Post cartoon echoes the anger and drama swirling around the octomom. People need to get a grip. This is the type of situation where an Al Sharpton can do much more damage than good with the over-extrapolations and hussied up outrage. But really which recent incident does this brouhaha echo? The Danish cartoons maybe? Al Quaida morphs into Al Sharpton. Sometimes I think we need to skip the flouridated water supply but instead add plenty of wellbutrin.
That was also quickie analysis for larger purposes as I'm more interested in the overall transits. It would be fun to do some of these together. We will.
I saw that briefly. I haven't been following their daily agony so I didn't catch the whole cartoon story. Al Sharpton is a cartoon himself and typical of the public stage where all are dying for attention and will use anything to get it. The public plays along. People will never get a grip it seems. There is so much underneath the emotional extremes, and I expect it to continue as the real agonies mount and escape is always the chosen route. They are particularly panicked at the moment so this came just in time.
The people they follow lack dimension for me and I have a very hard time maintaining interest. But we have to share current events as they are. I wonder why we struggle so for attention and verification of our elusive significance. Maybe it doesn't exist.
Wellbutrin wouldn't even work, chiron. We're a troubled bunch, eternally puzzled. I take the philosophical view but I can't, for the life of me, figure out why it's like this with so little apparent progress. I realize evolution is slow, but .... I need help in figuring it out. And short of that, interesting analyses from our quarters.
Then again, I look at this way. It's a good sign that these things are what they are invoved in. It's better than WWII!
JM
I rolled across the Mississippi and said a quick hello for you. I spent a night in Youngstown Ohio and woke up to look around. I saw a dying city, an archaic skeleton with little flesh. It was as though it was 1974. I accounted for the changes in the countryside, the changes in the faces of the people. I drove over the GW Bridge into Manhattan on a beautiful day and the city was shining down the westside.
I felt what you wrote in this post every step of the journey. This is a long turning. I ran across one of the most important pieces I have read recently regarding the changes ahead. It is by Richard Florida in The Atlantic titled "How the Crash Will Reshape America"
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/
200903/meltdown-geography
It has really become clear how this is all reshaping and changing America. The demographic shifts and trends have been moving away from manufacturing and the middle of the country dies slowly and feels an exacerbated sense of pain. The auto co's collapse will bring this to an even heightened sense of despair. The median home price in Detroit is $18,513 Can that number be possible? It looks like a misprint from 1932...The Sun Belt will also suffer, lack of 'real' business infrastructure and water resources will take a toll.
I heard another piece by Michael Pollan describing what I already knew but needed to comprehend better. The age of oil and cheap energy is coming to an end and with it food will become much more expensive. How we farm today is unsustainable with the use of petroleum based fertilizers permeating the landscape. He wrote a great piece for the NY Times a while back in a letter to the incoming president.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/
magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=2&scp=
4&sq=pollan&st=cse&oref=slogin
As we learn to live with less
Yes...less of the consumer driven mania and less of the McMansion's and less of the uncontrolled consumption devouring the planet. Will we really miss this?
But there is always yin with yang and there will be more of something else and I am beginning to think it will be a much simpler and sustainable path with the Pluto in Virgo generation coming into its own.
Those born in the generation having Pluto in Virgo experience the call to participate in world transformation on the levels of health and service to those less fortunate. They are also given the challenge of transforming the ecology of planet Earth.
For now I listen to Hermes and move with the flow and watch for the change in currents and I walk down the streets of NYC and listen to the cycles changing as I now know they are inevitable. Spring will come again in 2018 - 2020. Wealth in the 21st century will have a different meaning and I for one embrace this winter.
PSW! Than you for honoring my request. You are a gentleman. I love that mighty river.
Omg. I've been hearing reports like this from everywhere. I grew up in Binghamton, NY, always a depressed area, and I know it in my bones. The commoners and their small lives and struggles are my source. I returned after 30 years away and I was stunned to see where I came from. Quite a trip. Humbling.
This is a long turning.
Such a beautiful way of saying it. That is fascinating about the Detroit home price. It feels good to me to know how sensitive you are to the country's predicament and the sorrow of the people. A lot of of others are in their own cacoons and forget, some never knowing hard times. I think it starts with an awakening to our fellow countrypeople and this is good for me to hear.
As we learn to live with less ... will we really miss this?
No. Something replaces as empty spaces always find fulfillment. In fact, emptying is part of what space does to experience the filling again. I've noticed at first separation, I have difficulty letting go of my attachments, but the human is so plastic in the real sense that it quickly adjusts. We've all been at fault with our overindulged appetites. The rich are just the extremity. This Pluto opposition to Venus now is the first big awakening.
Many are counting on the Virgo generation. Capricorn will help with natural contraction, and maybe when Pluto is in Pisces real spritual experience will come as a replacement. I don't think it can without loss, material denial, and some sensation of emptiness, the only way a vessel can be filled.
Spring will come again in 2018 - 2020. Wealth in the 21st century will have a different meaning and I for one embrace this winter.
Beautiful PSW. That's not too far away. I'll even be here to enjoy it!
I'm glad people are already thinking about the reshaping.
I was glued to the TV for most of the day as President Obama was in Ottawa, Canada discussing a number of issues. I have listed a number of them below. Air Force 1 landed at 10.30 AM Eastern time and departed 5.30. It was a very interesting News Conference. President Obama stressed the point that he is not asking Canada to extend their stay in Afghanistan longer than 2011. Canada as you know is a peace keeping country.
The president will be in Ottawa less than 12 hours before returning to Washington, but this is his first trip outside the United States since taking office four weeks ago.
President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper took some questions from reporters in Ottawa today.
Finishing up the news conference, Obama says that, "we have no doubt about Canada's commitment to security." And, he adds, "it's a safe bet that the United States and Canada will continue to enjoy an extraordinary friendship."
The president also jokes that he's looking forward to coming back -- when it's warmer.
Speaking about the "thickening of the border" between the U.S. and Canada due to concerns about terrorism, Harper says that "not only have we, since 9/11, made significant investments in security ... the view of this government is unequivocal: Threats to the United States are threats to Canada."
"It is possible for us to balance our security concerns with an open border" between the U.S. and Canada, Obama says.
David Jackson asks the two leaders how many more troops may be needed in Afghanistan, for how long and how long Canada will be leaving its troops there.
"The precise reason we're doing a review is that over the last several years we took our eye off the ball," Obama says. "l don't want to prejudge that review. ... We have 60 days of work to do. At that point we will be able to provide you with some clear direction." Obama thanks Canada for its help in Afghanistan. "The people of Canada have an enormous burden ... that they have born," he says. "You put at risk your most precious resource -- your brave men and women in uniform." Mr. Obama went on to say that even though they are deploying more troops their main thrust will be diplomacy.
"Sometimes we have a tendency to take our relationship for granted," Obama says of the U.S. and Canada during his opening remarks. But the president says his visit underscores the importance of U.S.-Canadian ties.
PM Harper says the two men agreed that their countries will continue working to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. He says the two leaders have committed to mutual efforts to boost their economies and economies around the world.
Also, PM Harper says, they agreed to a "new initiative" on environmental protection and security by establishing a U.S.-Canadian "clean energy dialogue."
And, says the prime minister, the two leaders discussed the situation in Afghanistan.
"This has been a very constructive visit," Harper concludes.
CBS News' Mark Knoller wrote today about the foreign trips made by presidents going back to Theodore Roosevelt. As he notes:
"Canada has been the first or second foreign destination of every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan.
"But that wasn't always the case."
One 20th Century president, Knoller says, never left the USA during his time in office. It was Herbert Hoover.
A family that kills together stays together, Buy hey! 2011 is just around the corner. You Canadians got it good.
Obama thanks Canada for its help in Afghanistan. "The people of Canada have an enormous burden ... that they have born," he says. "You put at risk your most precious resource -- your brave men and women in uniform."
Yep. The "brave men and women in uniform," Mr. Obama. You just love that phrase. "Precious resource" and all that. We need an expansion of our language, in my view. Four years is an eternity.
I guess it's good that the fellows are enjoying themselves so much. Thank you duCan.
Gag.
Another precious resource (maybe not quite as precious as the dead ones) is all the working people of his country who pay their taxes while he just gave the Swiss bank a sweet sweet deal for enabling tax evaders, all undercover in true Neptunian fashion while transparency remains a word in the dictionary.
But heck. It's all in the game.
PSW is right about food becoming more expensive with the end of the oil age. I suppose as the Age of Pisces ends, the oil must go too, since oil is Piscean, I believe. I think Americans are going to have to learn how to cook the way Grandma did. In fact, it's already happening. I've been involved in local food issues, sustainability and other similar movements off and on for years. People are snapping up cast iron pans and trying to re-create Grandma's recipes, esp. now that comfort food is desired.
I am astounded by how little Americans spend per capita on food compared to Europeans. Real food from farms and gardens, the kind that previous generations grew up on, is horrendously expensive--as it should be. If it's cheap, then it's made as cheaply as possible to maximize the producer's profits, with fillers, pharmaceuticals, toxic colorants, and rancid oils, all designed to extend shelf life of something that isn't even food. My family thinks I'm nuts to spend as much as I do on food... but then they think I'm weird anyway. :o)
Joe, interesting. I was just reading about rising wheat prices and the coming food shortages with rising costs all around. Labor cutbacks, too. The food thing could be part of the Cancer transits. I think our eating habits are a clue to our whole mental breakdown as a nation, combined with the anti-depressant use and numbing by television. We are undernourished. So extremely odd, when third world countries are starving. And folks here are always seeking a reducing diet. Especially at the check-out counter with their carts loaded with so-called food.
I saw a doc that showed how baby chicks are handled in processing and it's one of those things that I can't get out of my mind. The cold insensitivity to life and the mass production required by over consumption. I don't know what it's going to take to get back to reverence, including a respect for our bodies and everything we put into them. What went wrong? Where do we start?
You know how babies are. Everything they see they want to shove into their mouths. I think we're still there. Maybe we can eat the sky next.
Of course, you're weird. You've got good sense.:-)
You're right about the Age of Pisces. The one amazing thing, though, is how over 90% of the ocean floor is still unexplored, here at the end of Pisces. Too busy mucking around the oil.
How smart you are to spend on your nourishment.
Well I have Uranus in the 6th house of health so I guess it's to be expected. :o)
I think the change is already happening. People with insight are turning from mass production of food (including more humane and compassionate animal husbandry if they are meat-eaters) toward more awareness of where it's coming from. The middleman is slowly being cut out as people go to the source: the farmers themselves. I liken it to people cutting out the priestly castes and going to the source of their spirituality. Likewise, the bankers are being cut out of the equation as people search for alternatives to debt and wage-slavery for The Man. About damn time.
Of course. And I have Mars in the 6th. Health is numero uno.
I liken it to people cutting out the priestly castes and going to the source of their spirituality.
Oooohh.
I read this today re. Australian fires. The images of the vitality of the bush and trees are especially striking to me.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/20/australia-climatechange
I'm fighting off illness with tom yum soup and sleep. And it's about time for more of both!
Get well chris!
Those are awe-inspiring. They tell the story.
All the murderous thieving rampages on which these leaders with no conscience are sending our most precious brave men and women in uniform are not heroic. I've seen enough of these sleazy wars in my lifetime and the low level of them can't be covered up. I want my country to stop doing this.
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