'merican Medicinal Madness.

Many people view the American health care system as broken. As in, temporarily broken down. They believe that with some new corrective legislation and minor tweaks it'll be up and running again, good as new. I fear however that the situation is much worse than that. I fear we are dealing with a massive case of systemic failure. A rot that goes so deep as to be incurable. An infection that started somewhere else in society but that has now completely overtaken a system that is vital to said societies continuation.

What started out as a wish to do good business paired with the right to the pursuit of happiness has over time and various negative influences warped into a mentality of psychotic greed. The problem is two-fold:

• Ordinary supposedly God-fearing Americans justify their reluctance to reform by biblical verse taken out of context, plain ill willed ignorance or some inculcated fear of "socialism". What it comes down to in the end is fear. Fear of not having enough. And the fear of what you do have being taken away from you.

• The owners of America see these fears they've so skillfully seeded into society and exploit them to their fullest potential. Fueling them by hypothesising a we-against-them type scenario where someone is somehow out to destroy this wonderful health care system which everyone loves, sometime soon.

Fear is a powerful tool. Apparently it can even convince people that they're not actually being raped; they're being loved - forcefully. The facets to all of this are too many to delve into here. But needless to say this culture of rampant fear and Bottom line blindness has been allowed to do massive damage on the morals of medicine and plain human compassion.

It has taken America over seventy years to even begin to approach a "public option" health care system like the ones employed by every other industrialized nation. One has to guess that millions must have died due to lack of health care during those decades. More than 45,000 people each year by some estimates. Yet no one seemed to feel any urgency to fix the problem. Conscience soothed by bags of money from people in high places, no doubt.

The American health care system needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot. Point blank. In the face. Everyone has to know this by now. Even staunch Republicans must feel that twinge of disgust towards it, deep down in those empty suites they wear. The system has grown into this rabid dog about to chew the faces off of your entire family if it gets the chance. It is not Old Yeller. It's not even Cujo. Even if it's always been a good friend to you, the fact still remains that it kills poor people every day. At least Cujo killed indiscriminately.

Open wide and say "Aaaaah!"

A booger of a thought.

Self-righteousness is a swelling and bloating feeling I'm sensing in this social body I occupy. It's pouring out of all corners and viciously attacking me from all angles imaginable. It's not just oozing out of the regular go-to-places from which I've come to except this vile sense of self. Instead of the figurative smelly armpits of this global community I'm catching a whiff coming from, I don't know, the ears or something. Can ears stink?

Christian people are easy targets these days. Especially in the secular haven of Scandinavia. I can literally (and hopefully)  go days without ever running into a person of the religious persuasion. What I cannot do however is avoid encountering the occasional smug cretin with their head lodged firmly and deeply up their own asshole. Oh, he may be a self-professed atheist, animal rights activist, fair trade-advocate. But he's still incapable of rational thought and introspection. For instance; You see - he's not an atheist because he's come to the rational conclusion of a well deliberated internal argument. He's a non-believer because he has been told that religious people are dumb and he's certainly not dumb. He's smart, his momma told him so, although all factual evidence points to the former.

So in a seriously convoluted way, the only "logical" path to take is that of atheism. Not agnosticism by the way, that's for pussies. The same goes for faux-vegans, who don't eat meat because people who do are immoral and inferior to them. Pseudo-eco warriors who only really care about the bike path outside their condo. Wannabe-feminists who join up because they hate men. Impostors shouting "support the troops!" while actively obstructing increased pay and benefits for service men/women.  Fake freedom of speech supporters who want to stop others from expressing offensive ideas. And anyone else who dons the mantel of righteousness to simply feel better about themselves.

You can only truly know something if you actually believe in it. Answering the question: "Why do you believe?" with something akin to: "'Cause!" or "It makes me feel good about myself." are not viable options bucko. Pointing fingers at people and proclaiming your superiority feels good sometimes. Damn good. Just remember to pull that sucker out of your nose first. It's flu season you know.

The Power of Imagination.

The economy does not actually exist. I know what you might be thinking now. "Hey, how deep of a hit did you just take from your opium bong? You godless hippie." The short answer is: not that deep. The long answer is: An economy is just an agreed upon system of values and trade rules. It is no more set in stone than any other idea, and can be re-arranged or fundamentally revised any time we feel like it.

I know it seems as if economic systems, such as our pseudo-capitalist one, are quite real. As real as the buildings that house all of the institutions that prop up this concept. But it really isn't. It's "simply" a very elaborate system we have concocted in order to keep people producing goods and services that in the end benefit most of us. Motivated by greed. Punished by hunger. I will leave any further moral values and my own Utopian hopes out of it.

If this current model of incentives and punishment isn't getting the job done let's change it. Fine tune it to work better. Improve the social safety net for workers. Tax the rich bankers a little higher. Make sure stock trading is better regulated. Even out the peaks and valleys. We also have the short term option: Keep on buying stuff, you dumb shits.

A recession happens when people think a recession will happen. They stop buying and start saving. Industrialists stop producing the things that aren't being bought anymore. The same people who stopped buying get fired and continue not buying (now for a different reason, lack of funds) and the downward spiral worsens. Do you want to keep your job? You want your friends to keep their jobs? Stop stuffing your mattress full of imaginary wealth printed on paper and purchase things that might be useful. Either sneakers with lights in the heals or a shotgun for fending off the mutants when this economic crisis hits apocalyptic proportions.

You think I am over-simplifying a very complex issue? Yes, I might be. Bare in mind though that economist's seemingly elaborate hypotheses are not any more accurate. If these Oracles of Wall Street and Captains of Industry had any clue what pattern the market follows (if any) they'd be able to fix it. Instead they're just throwing anything they can think of at the problem and seeing what sticks. So far, nothing is.

A system no-one understands isn't a system, it's chaos. So kick back, grab a beer you've just brewed in your own toilet and enjoy watching as these granite monoliths of capitalism crumble. Like that pension you had saved away. It's much more fun watching something come crashing down. At least now you are not alone, standing in the rubble.

Also:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci80-3NrEv8]

A Grande Gesture, please.

Take a gander at this ad from Starbucks. I think it's just swell! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkC5qYH0ln0] So you're telling me that 5 cents from every espresso-latte-truffle-mocha-thingy is going towards some sort of charitable AIDS-related action? Holy jumpin' coffee bean Batman, that's like 2% of every order! Rather than acting like human beings the people at Starbucks, like every other corporation it would seem, manage to morph charity into commerce. Brilliant. Instead of just buying more of the produce (which the company's very existence depends upon) at reasonable and fair prices, they're going to perform a public relations stunt. Another alternative would be to just give AIDS foundations in Africa a lump sum of money, but would that get the same amount of media exposure? I would applaud their impressive dedication to callousness if only my hands weren't angrily clutching and shaking my keyboard. Underpaying poor farmers in the third world. Overcharging the working class in the first. No java in either world is as dark as their souls.

Bring forth the comfy chair!

When this economic crisis hit the first thing that went through my mind was: "Well, that's going to come out of my pocket." And surprise surprise, it is! Did anyone actually have any doubt that our rich overlords would be paying for their fuck-ups with our money? No sane person should feel even the slightest tinge of astonishment. On the other hand it might come as some shock that there are people out there that would gladly use your carcass to heat their house. Just toy around with that thought for a moment. Inside of your head. Chew on it and taste the pure amorality of this concept. Does it scare you? Well it should. There are such people - and they are the ones in charge. They don't care about you. They don't give a shit about you. And they would without hesitation use your body as kindling. I'll freely admit that I have little compassion for most people. I do however possess these funny things called morals, ethics and a sense of shame. Niggling little thoughts that thankfully make me take a step back now and again. Mental barriers that block my immediate instinct to steal and savage whenever possible. Such barriers are not set in stone however. Greed cancels out shame. Absolute affluence and power warp your perception of reality to such an extent that any identification with another individual becomes impossible. Make no mistake though: the ones in control are not whimsically aloof or unaware of the public's situation. They don't want us to eat cake, they want us to eat shit. An international malevolent plot is not what's upholding this status quo. Not in any direct way. There is no vast clandestine society of rich socialites. Communicating with each other by whispering through secretive channels. The Illuminati, the New World Order and Lizardmen are not running the show. If you believe this you're a certifiable idiot. Nevertheless there is a conspiracy of convenience and common interest at play. A parasite will latch on to its symbiote the same way every single time. It is in the organisms nature. No intricately laid, agreed upon scheme is required. We are a resource, a commodity that can be utilized. We have earned nothing in their eyes. We exist only to serve them. We are alive by their good graces. We should rise up and slay them. We won't, there's something shiny on television.