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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 9-Sep-2011
9-Sep-11 World View -- One, Two, Three ... Infinity - Revisited

Web Log - September, 2011

9-Sep-11 World View -- One, Two, Three ... Infinity - Revisited

Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticizes slaughter in Syria

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com.

* Iran's Ahmadinejad criticizes slaughter in Syria
* Greece's GDP fell by 7.3% in Q2 - more than expected
* US investigates "specific, credible" terror threat for 9/11
* One, Two, Three ... Infinity - Revisited
* Generational split among Egypt's Bedouins in Sinai

Iran's Ahmadinejad criticizes slaughter in Syria

Ahmadinejad conferring with Assad in 2009 (RFERL)

Ahmadinejad conferring with Assad in 2009 (RFERL)

As the regime of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad continues its massacre of innocent Syrian people, his principal ally appears to be increasingly critical of Assad. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking to a Portuguese broadcaster, said that "there should be talks" between Assad and his opponents:

"A military solution is never the right solution. We believe that freedom and justice and respect for others are the rights of all nations. All governments have to recognise these rights. Problems have to be dealt with through dialogue.
Other countries in the region can help the Syrian government and people to talk to each other with a view to resolving their differences and introducing the reforms that are needed."

Ahmadinejad's remark carefully avoid mentioning Iran's own massacre of innocent Iranian people two years ago. Al-Jazeera

Greece's GDP fell by 7.3% in Q2 - more than expected

Greece's economy seems to become measureably worse almost every day, making it less and less likely that Greece will qualify for the next tranche of its bailout money, due at the end of this month. Previous estimates were that Greece's GDP would fall by 6.9%, compared to the second quarter of 2010, but the Hellenic Statistical Authority reported on Thursday that the GDP actually fell by 7.3%. Capital.gr

US investigates 'specific, credible' terror threat for 9/11

U.S. officials announced on Thursday that they have discovered information about a threatened terror attack planned for Sunday, the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. The treat is described as "specific and credible," but "unconfirmed," meaning that they'll be working quickly to either confirm or refute that threat. VOA

One, Two, Three ... Infinity - Revisited

Exponential growth of public debt since end of World War II (Spiegel)

Exponential growth of public debt since end of World War II (Spiegel)

The silliest thing in President Barack Obama's jobs speech on Thursday evening was his promise that his new litany of spending projects will be "paid for." Incredibly this is supposed to be done by a special super congressional committee. These kinds of compromises were possible in the 1980s, when the Silent generation was in charge. But today, with the Gen-X culture in charge, there is no chance whatsoever of this kind of compromise. All that will happen is that both sides will maneuver to blame the other side. Bloomberg

In 2008, I wrote the article, "One, Two, Three ... Infinity," in which I compared to the ever-increasing government spending plans to a book by George Gamow that I read in school in the 1950s. My use of that particular phrase was to convey the idea that American debt was on an exponential growth path that would not be stopped except by a major financial collapse and crisis. The point of that article is that each bailout would fail, and the next one would have to be larger, and would achieve a smaller effect. (This is the Law of Diminishing Returns.) As the above graph shows, that exponential growth path has continued since 2008, and it will continue until there is a crisis so huge, that total financial collapse occurs.

As the late economist Herb Stein said:

"Stein's Law: If something cannot go on forever, then it won't."

Generational split among Egypt's Bedouins in Sinai

While the "Arab Revolution" that began on January 25 in Egypt has not seriously divided Egyptians, the exceptions have been the ethnic Bedouins in Sinai, near the border with Israel and Gaza. After the recent terror attack on southern Israel launched from Sinai, Egypt has been planning increase a military presence there, and to build housing for millions more citizens. However, Bedouin tribal chiefs have been losing their influence among the young, who no longer take them seriously, and young Bedouins have been protesting and blocking development plans. Al Masry Al Youm (Cairo)

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 9-Sep-11 World View -- One, Two, Three ... Infinity - Revisited thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (9-Sep-2011) Permanent Link
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