Forebodings

Recently reread "Friday" by Heinlein. If you have never read the book, I recommend it and won't go into great detail of it here. The aspect of that book that is 'bothering' me has to do with the Corporation States he described in it. Instead of Nations being the dominant force within the world, the Nations are really nothing more that tapestries draped over Resource laden real estate. The tapestry is there to give illusion for the citizens of said state. The real power being vested in the Corporations. As a quote from the book; "How does one go about H-bombing IBM?"

The reason this is bothering me is the way our country is handling, or not handling, the BP oil spill in the Gulf. I see the bickering going on between both entities and am reminded of the squabbles one sees between Microsoft and Apple of the 80's and early 90's. By Law neither entity is anything but a corporation with a CEO(president). And while one of the entities in this particular squabble is capable of writing laws that effect the other, both are in a position to cause great harm to the other. Either through economic methods or worse.(and if you think that BP doesn't have access to military forces(mercenary of course) then you really need to look at the security that they have to employ in some of the countries they operate in.
Granted at this stage of the game, BP isn't in any position to be able to strike at the U.S. militarily but given time, I could easily see the entire set up shown by Heinlein. With the Economy of the world swirling around the toilet right now, I could easily see the corporations making in roads to controlling the seat of Economic powers, either through infiltration, or election stacking.(SEIU anyone?) I know that the laws of the U.S. are written to prevent anyone holding a major position like that from holding office: one or the other, not both, but we see how well the Government and its divisions are at actually following the laws they 'enforce'.

On one side of my argument, you have the Federal Reserve; a Privatized group of bankers, in control of a nations currency. On the other side, you have the IMF which bears a surprising resemblance to the FedRes. Through in Groups like the Bilderburgers that no one really seems to understand completely and you start to see a growing conspiracy to do things of long standing and rather questionable ends. What would this world look like if Honda and Ford decided to have it out over the Copper and Iron mines of Afghanistan? Using 'national Militaries' to achieve their ends? Now just suppose that a third party (lets say Nissan) decided to wait until one came to the top of that mess to strike at the 'winner'.

I don't know. Maybe I need to just stop trying to bother with it and go hide in the hills until such time as my maker calls me to a higher purpose. I see much of what is going on in the world and the one question I use to try and figure it all is "Cui Bono?" Some state it as 'follow the money' and that works to but when you see where the benefits really fall, then you find the shadow masters. I have been watching the Gulf thing, trying to figure out just what 'benefits' are there to be had and all I see is a political twist to be reaped from it. Something where the PTB can use the destruction as a lever to enact legislation for something else, using public anger to accelerate the process. If they learned one thing from the last 10 years, its this: Public outcry can help any process, no matter how insidious or 'unconstitutional' pass muster. Just look at the PATRIOT act or TARP. There are more that can be listed. This is why no crisis can go to waste. Even if there is a certain amount of manufacturing of it that needs done(in this case, lack of effort can be enough)
The problem that I am finding with the Gulf is this, I can't see it benefiting any of the affected groups. Its making BP look like a clown of an Company, its most definitely showing how weak O'boy is as 'leader', its devastating the environment and livelihoods of those that live in the areas(and that is going to spread out in waves nationwide, we are all interconnected with how our supply system is set up) And now that Hurricane season is here, that mess is going to be spread further inland with no chance of stopping the spread at that time. NO BENEFIT TO ANYONE (unless you look at the way its allowing other things to slip through the cracks of information)

I am going back to packing boxes, Time to get my butt in gear and Finish what I started a couple of years ago. Last stage of the game and its coming fast.