Friday 30 January 2009

Obamarama!

What can I say? First of all I guess I need to say how strange it is to me that I place so much hope in a man who leads another country that is thousands of miles away.

But still, if Barack Obama does all he says he will, (or even half of it), then the world will be SO much better for lots and lots of people. Even if he just tries without succeeding at some of the things he's talking about then the world will change.

Just thinking about him fills me with a sense of such hope that my belly actually churns and I feel sick. We are peddled such a large amount of shit that makes us feel bad, not only about the world around us but bad about ourselves, that when someone comes along who says they will stand up and do good things for everyone because everyone is equal it's hard not to get very very excited. Look at how massive amounts of people line up behind him and the others that have come before him - John Kennedy, John Lennon, The Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King Jnr and Bob Marley to name a few.

Maybe I'm a hopeless optimist or romantic or something. So be it. I'd rather be embarrassingly gushingly hopeful than resign myself to the belief that the terrifying shitheads that seem to run EVERYTHING will win in the end.

I guess a bunch of you will stop reading at this point but in my opinion there are dark people running the world we live in. Maybe I'll expand on that in a later post with some kind of references or something to make it more of a legitimate argument rather than just my ramblings. But man, there is shit going on behind the scenes that we will never know anything about. There are a very small amount of people at the top of this 'democratic' pyramid that we have built who own and run everything. That includes us. They have all the money and all the power. So much money and power, in fact, that it possibly doesn’t even matter to them anymore exactly how much power they have, only that they have it and that it keeps them safe.

Ok I guess one reference is needed so have a look at this about the distribution of wealth from the Office for National Statistics: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=2

And that’s just the UK, chances are that our rich people are NOT the most powerful rich people in the worl.

These people are insanely powerful and who knows whose interests they are serving as they wield those powers. Who even knows what those powers are?

Anyone who stands up in the face of this power and attempts to serve the other 99% must face such extreme, scary opposition. But the people line up behind those that do in their droves. I line up happily.

Barack Obama appears to be one of those people. I’m sure he’ll make mistakes and I’m sure not everyone will agree with everything he does, (that would just be spooky anyway), but if he will at least stand up to some of the bad things that happen and the bad people that do those things then we should ALL line up behind him. When people get together great things really can happen.


I have a theory: Arseholes reach the top of their fields all the time simply by being bigger, stronger, more clever, more cut-throat and more arsehole-ish than their rivals. It’s in their nature to be the top dog and so they often achieve their goals. I’m not saying that it’s always the case but I reckon it happens a lot, especially in business and politics. Arseholes win all the time. It may as well be a scientific fact.


But every so often people get so sick of the arseholes and their lies that their strength of feeling has enough force to push a good guy through the net, despite all attempts by the arseholes to stop it happening.


With that in mind, the fact that Barack Obama is President of the USA means one of two things:

1. He’s been lying all along and really he’s just another arsehole. This is of course a possibility. Or
2. We’ve got one through the net! There is actually a good guy in charge of the biggest superpower in the world!


Barack Obama has a huge responsibility on his shoulders and I don’t envy him one bit but man this could be good. Like I said at the top, he’s not even my president and I’m so filled with hope by his arrival. When people all over the world celebrated the election victory it showed the importance of his rise to office and the dire need for a new era, free from the ludicrous George Fuckhead Bush and the delightful Mr Cheney.



Basically, in amongst all the thousands of total arseholes there are running things for there own ends all over the world, there is one bloke who doesn’t appear to be an arsehole and has managed to become the most powerful non-arsehole in the world.

We need to wrap him up in cotton wool, lead, and bombproof armour and then never let him out of our sight. Or maybe make him an office inside a tank, inside an armoured lorry loaded on board an armoured military bomber in a hanger with the doors open and the engines running constantly juuuust in case anyone tries anything dodgy.


This man could do truly great things, let's keep our fingers crossed and do anything we can to help. I mistakenly thought Blair was a properly good person but he turned out to be a bit of a wolf in sheeps clothing. Lets hope Obama is a bona fide sheep who successfully persuades the wolves that vegetarianism is the only way forward in todays modern world.

I found this picture, it's one way of looking at things...



Wednesday 28 January 2009

And we're off...

Hello and welcome to this, my opening post on this here blog. I figure I may as well just jump straight in. For those of you who prefer a sunnier outlook than that which is imminent then stick about baby, I'll probably be writing about Obama in my next post.

So, these ads that you see on bus stops, the benefit fraud ads that say "WE'RE CLOSING IN..."

What, to "seal my doom" like Michael Jackson?

Fuck off. I find those ads so offensive.

I did a bit of research, only a little bit mind...

The National Audit Office figures show that the average amount spent on benefit fraud per year since 2000 has been £1.25 billion. It's a lot of money and I understand the need to tackle the problem and to stop people from conning the system like that. £1.25 billion would do a lot of good in the health service on in schools.

BUT. I don't see any ads down in Kensington saying "Bankers - We've got your number..." or "Dodgy Hedge Funders - Time to be trimmed..." No. You don't see those ads. Maybe the walls of the toilets in all the private members clubs in the city are plastered with them, but I doubt it.

And lets look at how much the behaviour of the bankers and traders has cost us this year. Hmmm according to what I could find so far, since last October, the treasury has spent £87 billion and made £450 billion available to underwrite loans and debts for the banks in order to try and get the wheels turning again. That's £520 BILLION. And that's not to mention all the other things the govt will end up helping with like energy supply and the transport companies. Apparently some people think it could end up costing well into a trillion. I have absolutely NO idea what that amount of money must look like.

Anyway, back to the point...

Benefit fraud yearly average: £ 1 250,000,000
Bank bailout (official only figures only): £520 000,000,000

The bailout would pay for FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN YEARS of benefit fraud.

So who are the real criminals?

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way condoning benefit fraud. It's naughty, children, and you shouldn't do it. But come ON. These arseholes in the city have fucked everything RIGHT up for everybody and barely anyone is talking about it. I have no idea what this recession will be like but as far as I can tell they're not exactly a barrel of laughs but I'm guessing that they're not so bad if you're a rich banker. Not the cannon fodder floor staff, I mean the guys running things.

I understand so little about economics and I struggle to keep up with all the financial talk but seriously, does no-one else think we've been stuffed a little bit? If you don't then maybe these might change your mind:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/22/darling-fsa-short-selling
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article5533488.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/27/short-selling-rbs-banking

Henry Paulson and his ilk aren't just getting rich by ripping us off, they are actively destroying stuff in order to make their last millions before the recession hits proper. Fuck. I just don't get it.

It's too confusing to think about any more right now but next time you see one of those benefit fraud ads just remember - 416 years.

Peace and Love

Joe

PS I forgot about te £50 billion that went to Northern rock so that makes it 456 years...