Monday, May 06, 2013
Dr Frankenstein regrets
It only happens** in fiction... until now.
In scifi stories, starting way back with Mary Shelley and Dr. Frankenstein, an inventor sometimes comes to regret his invention. He builds the monster with utopian or purely scientific intentions, then the monster starts marauding and killing.
Finally happened in real life! Oskar Lafontaine, inventor of the Euro monetary unit, now regrets his evil invention.
All sides in this mess are starting from the idiotic leftist assumption that all humans and cultures are identical. From this nonsensical mindset, Austerity and Profligacy are just policies, which any nation can adopt if it chooses.
No. Dead wrong. Precisely wrong. Diametrically wrong.
Here's the PLAIN FUCKING FACT: Austerity is the natural and rational behavior of cold-weather people. Krauts, Scandinavians, Scots. Coldies learned over the millenia to prepare for a long winter, learned to postpone gratification and store preserved food. Profligacy is the natural and rational behavior of hot-weather people. Italians, Greeks, Iberians. Hotties learned over the millenia that fruits and meat and fish were always available, so they didn't need to save and postpone and preserve.
Modern Greece has always been running a deficit, always depended on the rest of Europe for government support. Italy has always been sloppy and corrupt. Germany has always been precise and thorough. Each of these qualities is perfectly rational for each country, given its natural tendencies. Without the rigid coupling of the EU, these qualities were naturally rewarded or punished by natural economic feedback loops. Each nation was able to adjust its own currency and borrowing habits to provide its own style of happiness to its own citizens, without forcing other countries.
= = = = =
** Footnote: The usual myth tells us about an earlier inventor's regret, but the usual myth was written by the Soviets. Supposedly the Soviet spies who designed the atomic bomb came to despise their own invention, and devoted their lives to de-nuking the world. Nope. Dead wrong, etc. Oppenheimer and his buddies were Soviet spies from the start. They worked on the Manhattan Project because it would help Russia defeat Germany. After the war, when America became Russia's enemy, the Soviet spies worked to de-nuke America because it would help Russia defeat America. They didn't regret, repent, recant, renege, or re-anything. They didn't change their goals or mindset by one microsmidgen. Their perfectly consistent and perfectly traitorous goal was to help Russia defeat its enemies.
¶ 3:55 AM
It only happens** in fiction... until now.
In scifi stories, starting way back with Mary Shelley and Dr. Frankenstein, an inventor sometimes comes to regret his invention. He builds the monster with utopian or purely scientific intentions, then the monster starts marauding and killing.
Finally happened in real life! Oskar Lafontaine, inventor of the Euro monetary unit, now regrets his evil invention.
Mr Lafontaine said he backed EMU but no longer believes it is sustainable. "Hopes that the creation of the euro would force rational economic behaviour on all sides were in vain," he said, adding that the policy of forcing Spain, Portugal, and Greece to carry out internal devaluations was a "catastrophe".Good old Kraut utopianism. "Force rational economic behavior." It's impossible by definition. What he means is not rational but Kraut economic behavior.
All sides in this mess are starting from the idiotic leftist assumption that all humans and cultures are identical. From this nonsensical mindset, Austerity and Profligacy are just policies, which any nation can adopt if it chooses.
No. Dead wrong. Precisely wrong. Diametrically wrong.
Here's the PLAIN FUCKING FACT: Austerity is the natural and rational behavior of cold-weather people. Krauts, Scandinavians, Scots. Coldies learned over the millenia to prepare for a long winter, learned to postpone gratification and store preserved food. Profligacy is the natural and rational behavior of hot-weather people. Italians, Greeks, Iberians. Hotties learned over the millenia that fruits and meat and fish were always available, so they didn't need to save and postpone and preserve.
Modern Greece has always been running a deficit, always depended on the rest of Europe for government support. Italy has always been sloppy and corrupt. Germany has always been precise and thorough. Each of these qualities is perfectly rational for each country, given its natural tendencies. Without the rigid coupling of the EU, these qualities were naturally rewarded or punished by natural economic feedback loops. Each nation was able to adjust its own currency and borrowing habits to provide its own style of happiness to its own citizens, without forcing other countries.
= = = = =
** Footnote: The usual myth tells us about an earlier inventor's regret, but the usual myth was written by the Soviets. Supposedly the Soviet spies who designed the atomic bomb came to despise their own invention, and devoted their lives to de-nuking the world. Nope. Dead wrong, etc. Oppenheimer and his buddies were Soviet spies from the start. They worked on the Manhattan Project because it would help Russia defeat Germany. After the war, when America became Russia's enemy, the Soviet spies worked to de-nuke America because it would help Russia defeat America. They didn't regret, repent, recant, renege, or re-anything. They didn't change their goals or mindset by one microsmidgen. Their perfectly consistent and perfectly traitorous goal was to help Russia defeat its enemies.
¶ 3:55 AM
