I can no longer afford to squander time, money and energy on exposing the various different ways that the Bush-Cheney-McCain axis's foreign policies have failed us. At this point in time, I need to start using whatever few resources I have left to buy solar panels and root-stock instead.
And you should be doing this too.
PPS: Madam Jane just got some fan mail. "MJ, do you always have to be so gloomy about everything? Lighten up!" And then said fan then proceeded to open up a whole big can of gloom too. Humph.
"What is missing in this prediction," wrote the fan, "is a tad bit of historical context. If I was you, I would google 'downfall of nations and empires' and see if you can't come up with something universal on why nations crash. Maybe you could write something about over-reach. Historically, powerful and wealthy countries have built economic empires over time which keep getting larger and larger, but also require that they station troops further and further away in order to defend more and more economic interests further and further from home base -- to the point where their empires cost more than the economic benefits of said empires and, at that point, the big drain sets in. And the end of the big drain is called the big toilet."
This fan then goes on to hint that Madam Jane might be misguided. How can that be? Madam Jane sees all and knows all!
"It's not so much being screwed at home that is sinking us into the toilet. It is the mercenaries screwing us from afar that are draining the piggy bank at home," writes the fan. "We went into Iraq for oil, for economic interests, for empire -- and now it's costing us a fortune. The empire is now dry. And I'm not talking about being dry for just a year or two and then we'll bounce back. This drain-to-dry will be going on for decades to come. And in the meantime, there are other empires that do not have the overseas drain that we have and are building up their own power base at home and are raking in the money without having to pay the costs of defending an empire. That would be Europe and China and possibly India."
Madam Jane predicts that this fan may be on to something here.
"Oh yeah," added the fan, who now appears to be trying to compete for MJ's job himself. "Don't forget to remind people that their kids should be learning to speak French and Chinese."
And you should be doing this too.
PPS: Madam Jane just got some fan mail. "MJ, do you always have to be so gloomy about everything? Lighten up!" And then said fan then proceeded to open up a whole big can of gloom too. Humph.
"What is missing in this prediction," wrote the fan, "is a tad bit of historical context. If I was you, I would google 'downfall of nations and empires' and see if you can't come up with something universal on why nations crash. Maybe you could write something about over-reach. Historically, powerful and wealthy countries have built economic empires over time which keep getting larger and larger, but also require that they station troops further and further away in order to defend more and more economic interests further and further from home base -- to the point where their empires cost more than the economic benefits of said empires and, at that point, the big drain sets in. And the end of the big drain is called the big toilet."
"It's not so much being screwed at home that is sinking us into the toilet. It is the mercenaries screwing us from afar that are draining the piggy bank at home," writes the fan. "We went into Iraq for oil, for economic interests, for empire -- and now it's costing us a fortune. The empire is now dry. And I'm not talking about being dry for just a year or two and then we'll bounce back. This drain-to-dry will be going on for decades to come. And in the meantime, there are other empires that do not have the overseas drain that we have and are building up their own power base at home and are raking in the money without having to pay the costs of defending an empire. That would be Europe and China and possibly India."
Madam Jane predicts that this fan may be on to something here.
"Oh yeah," added the fan, who now appears to be trying to compete for MJ's job himself. "Don't forget to remind people that their kids should be learning to speak French and Chinese."
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