Talk, Talk, Talk
Recently, for reasons I don't think I fully understand, I've been listening again to talk radio. I more or less gave it up right around the time I started blogging on HIVE's predecessor. In short, I got sick of listening to it. Not that my political views had changed that much, just it was harder to listen to when "their guy" was in office and they failed to call him out on the valid things that did actually go against most of talk radio's stated principles.
Now, however, "their guy" is gone (for now) and the "other guys' guy" is in. I'm nearing the point of being sick and tired of listening already, after only a couple of months, so I will probably cut down on how many programs I catch and go back to my own thoughts as the miles go by (I drive a lot for work which is when I've got the radio on the most). The reason is, for most of these radio guys, it's a game—political football. Us versus Them.
I know there are quite a few who think that way. We've essentially been conditioned to think that way. The radio guys will blame the politicians and other media types for that, and they definitely have the lion's share of the fault for it, but the radio guys can be just as divisive, too, all the while pointing the finger elsewhere.
Topics over the last few weeks have been all over the board, but they seem to boil down to similar things:
Liberals are either dumb or stupid, lacking knowledge of the issues, acting like children, etc., etc. When they say liberals, they're referring to the politicians for the most part, though followers and supporters can be thrown into the mix.
Biden is too old, too unstable, too incoherent, too laughable—basically, he's a walking gaffe machine. Some go as far to say he's not in charge, that former President Barrack Obama is directing him through an earpiece, so on so forth.
They get fixated on topics like the fallout from the voting law changes in Georgia, the newest round of presidential executive orders, now focusing on limiting guns, and of course, what can only be called the invasion of the southern border. I'm not saying all of those aren't topics to be concerned about, but it's how much time is being spent on them and how they couch the arguments that eventually turn me off.
Let's Get Something Straight
While there's bound to be some level of incompetence involved—it is, after all, government, and it is neither designed to be efficient or competent—getting stuck on the mistakes should not be the focus. That's because, somehow, someway, everything continues to roll on anyway, and it's not in spite of the errors and foul ups.
Just like the invisible hand of the free market described by Adam Smith in his book The Wealth of Nations, there must be an invisible hand or two guiding the direction of government and society as a whole. I live in the U.S., so I'm aware of what's going on in Oregon government, and try to know what's happening on the federal level. No matter who's in power, who's controlling the presidency or the Congress (and it happens too much on the Supreme Court, too, even if so called conservative judges presently outnumber their counterparts), government keeps getting bigger and bigger, our entanglements larger and larger, our debt more onerous, our regulations more restrictive.
What I'm saying is, to call individuals in power stupid, or too old, or diluted or misled, etc, misses the mark. What it does it make it seem like everything is still fixable, that if we only get "our guys" back into power, everything will be just fine, when in reality, nothing could be farther from the truth. That's because "our guys", if they ever were, rarely stay "our guys" for very long. If they're not already two-faced before they get there, something changes them after they're elected. The invisible hands get a hold of them.
But that's not even enough. There are those in government who are doing things that can only be called traitorous. They very much want to destroy the United States of America (fill in your own country if you like) as we've known it. Those behind this in the U.S. (and their successors) have been on this path of destruction now for well over 100 years, and maybe it dates back to the founding.
A Literary Analogy
Anyone familiar with Marvel Comics will know what SHIELD and HYDRA are. At one point, SHIELD seemed to wipe out HYDRA, but instead of that, the remnants of HYDRA hid, then rooted itself inside SHIELD, until it had virtually taken over the latter as well as many governments and organizations. Instead of being the outside evil, it became the evil within. That's when SHIELD fell.
The "Real World"
The same thing has been happening to the United States, and I would say, to every other nation on the face of the planet, some of it for much longer. These embedded worms have been rotting the core of the entire world, infesting organizations, entire industries, and forever shaping the lives of the people they influence or oversee.
This isn't something that goes away with the changing of the guard. It endures. Sometimes, it flourishes. Once in a while, it appears to be pruned, but the pruning only serves to have it come back stronger the next time around.
What Does Any Of This Have To Do With Finance?
As Yoda once said to a young Anakin Skywalker, the state of our governments and the invisible hands that guide them have everything to do with finance.
Debt, deficits, inflation, deflation, taxes, the redistribution of wealth—all of it affects finance. Nothing is free, especially from the government. At some point, there will be a reckoning.
Not too long ago I posted about one man's forecast that we are heading into a depression the likes of which we've never seen. It's not supposed to last long, but for at least two to three years, there will be a world of hurt. Nothing, when it happens, will be left untouched, except for maybe bonds. But even those will take a hit eventually because the dollar is supposed to be done.
Think of that. The world's reserve currency. Done.
This month is supposed to be the designated time for things to start. As it stands right now, it's not looking like the beginning of the fall. Rather, it seems like business as usual, where the takers continue to take and the rest of us work and toil without really getting anywhere.
Enter Cryptocurrency
This blockchain, and other crypto versions like it, are meant to be where the masses will somehow eventually flock to when the legacy economy and everything associated with it falls. Bitcoin came into being as a trustless, transparent way of doing away with the pervasive and all controlling banks, governments and market manipulators and regulators. Unfortunately, just like the entities it purports to fight against and provide a better alternative to, cryptodom has been taking forays down similar paths.
Is it really about decentralization, a better way, the people's economy, or is it about another way for the rich to get richer, increase their grip, manipulate the markets, and simply shift from one form of control to another?
Without constant vigilance and singular purpose, crypto will become another weapon of the status quo, just like any other device or mechanism designed to usurp power or provide freedom throughout the ages.
The Internet and Social Media are prime examples of this. Once intended to be the means of freeing people all over the world, bringing knowledge and resources to the common folk, both are manipulated and controlled by the telecom/IPs, the social media companies and the device makers that connect to them, who are in turn influenced and governed by governments.
These instruments of the people, by the people, for the people, are no longer, if they ever truly were, in the hands of the people. Instead, they are the means by which we may all be fully enslaved. In consumption, we are the product. There is little to no privacy. Our data does not belong to us.
What About HIVE?
Here there is a much greater level of decentralization and transparency, and therefore, better overall governance. Is it perfect? No, but it's a sight better than virtually anything else and as long as there's enough of us here who seem to care something about it rather than merely here to fleece the Golden Goose, we will find ways to improve it.
Here, we can be the bank. Here, we can earn what the market will allow. Again, is it perfect? No. But I will tell you I have made more in the three plus years of blogging on STEEM plus HIVE than I ever did in multiple years of attempting it in some other form either on my own or on some other platform, using the Internet 1.0 or 2.0 tools available.
It Goes Beyond Blogging
But there is so much more to be had here. Maybe it's pie in the sky right now, but HIVE isn't meant just for sweat equity through blogging or gaming, nor is it just for investing or developing apps and other services.
What if instead of being controlled or defined by the governments where you live, you were truly your own sovereignty, able to go wherever and do whatever you pleased? That's a long ways off still, but that's where cryptocurrency is eventually meant to take us. And HIVE is positioned better than most to get us there.
The One Binary We Need To Quit Buying Into
If there's one thing we need to do away with when it comes to thinking in a binary fashion it's the us vs. them mentality. There is much more than just liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, or whatever the equivalent may be in your country. Most of us neither benefit from or contribute enough to either of those sides, anyway. We have family members we need to live with and neighbors we need to get along with, which means finding ways to peacefully coexist, while we provide for our needs and pursue our own idea of happiness.
Let the 10% on either fringe duke it out over whatever pressing matters they invent for the day, and let us, the 80% majority, make our own way. HIVE has so much potential to be the vehicle for change. But it won't get there if we don't figure out the ways to step out of the status quo game that only truly benefits the invisible hands.
Image source—Pixabay