VOR’s Turn: I Had A Good Sense Of Things In Some Ways, But I Seriously Underestimated This County’s Systemic Problems

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My plan is to share this blog with E&C until I have a better sense of things, and then to give the pair their own site. Meanwhile, we will interchange amicably on a random basis.

Will that be confusing? Probably, but such is the human condition. Besides, it appeals to my sense of the ridiculous. And I have positively no objection to sharing this site with an eagle and a cuckoo.

But, just to be clear, ‘Eagle’ isn’t any old eagle. He is the head of every eagle in the United States of America, and, as such, the very personification of this Great Nation. Given that honor, he feels we are his responsibility. We may think he is just a symbol, but Eagle is high minded and has a sense of duty. He cares about us, and, thanks to Cuckoo, he gradually comes to realize that it is his duty to drag us back from the brink – no matter what.

Eagle, in case you are wondering, is ‘the perfect knight’ but somewhat naïve and uninformed when we first meet him. In contrast, Cuckoo is wise and all–knowing, but restricted by the rules of the game to being a teacher rather than a doer. Together, their task is to save America. That starts with Cuckoo teaching Eagle ‘eagleomics'. Eagle learns and evolves. And the story scales from there.

Some things are wrong with every country, but I confess I didn’t appreciate that the U.S. was in fundamental trouble until around 2004. Then I forecast that there would be a major recession in 2008 and that housing prices would drop by a third. At that time, I thought the economy would recover in about three years.

Well, as we know, I was partly right and partly wrong. At that time, I grossly underestimated America’s systemic problems. Why so? Well, partly, despite the evidence I was gathering (and continue to assemble), I couldn’t believe what was happening in plain sight.

Surely, the corporate suborning of the political system couldn’t be that blatant? Surely, the MICC (Military, Industrial, Congressional complex) could not be that corrupt? Surely, the banking system could not be that egregiously dishonest? Surely, corporate CEOs couldn’t be that greedy?

Generally speaking, it is a good thing not to think ill of people, but that was a principle that led me down in this case. I should have trusted my instincts. From quite early on, even before 2004, they told me that a veritable economic and sociological tsunami was going to sweep this nation.

In reality, things were worse – very much worse – than my wildest nightmares.

And they still are. And they are deteriorating further at a rapid pace. The Roman Empire took centuries to collapse, but we’re being much brisker about the whole thing, and may well set a new standard for self-destruction.

The U.S. is rapidly become #1 at accumulating unsolved problems. This, may I say, is a dubious distinction. Let me give just a few examples:

• We have a banking system that despite its speedy return to profitability and ridiculously high bonuses, remains on (largely un-admitted) life support, but which refuses to lend adequately. And whose too big to fail Big Banks are even bigger than they were; and behaving just as they did before – in that they continue to speculate and play with dubious financial instruments (and whose balance sheets are both opaque and suspect).
• To help to re-capitalize the banks, interest rates are so low that they are penalizing savers and robbing retirees of an adequate return; just in time for baby boomers. Are such actions by the Fed really working in the National Interest, or do they represent yet another massive transfer of wealth from the Middle Class to the Rich? And we are not talking pocket change. We are talking trillions.
• Unemployment is so high that not only is it creating untold misery, but it is dragging down demand to crisis point. The message that unemployment is a major cost to the economy doesn’t seem to have sunk in yet. In fact, it is virtually never referred to. And I’m not talking about Unemployment Pay. I’m talking about the total impact of having 25 million people subsisting, rather miserably, on the margin. They should be – and could be – earning and contributing. To tolerate such a situation is unforgivable; and remarkably bad for our national pocket-book and wellbeing as a nation.
• We have a Republican party whose sole idea of policy seems to be to block everything that the president tries to do and ensuring that Obama is a one term president. It may well succeed, but the cost to the Nation will be cataclysmic.  Government is supposed to govern. Cutting everything is not governing.
• We have a president who seems incapable of framing the issues, let alone articulating them. If he has a vision, it’s invisible. If he has a party, it’s invisible too! Republican talking points virtually dominate the media. Where are those Democrats? Have they emigrated? Are they skulking in a silo in North Dakota? Either way, they are not being heard.
• We have a defense establishment which is bleeding the country dry; and wars to match. This makes some people richer, most of us poorer, and devastates lives by the million. It also kills and maims people, some of them our sons and daughters, and most completely innocent. We should know better. And by the way, defense expenditure is one of the least effective (and most wasteful) ways to create jobs.
• Solutions to all these problems – and many others - are at hand; and yet we seem to be frozen in fear. We’ve become a ‘can’t do’ nation. And we’re getting very good at it.

One might well indeed regard the whole situation as cuckoo.

 

 

 

 

 

VOR’s Turn: To Cuckoo Or Not; That Is The Question

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It would be nice to be able to explain how and why Eagle & Cuckoo came into existence – but I can’t. My best hypothesis is that my subconscious was searching for a less in-your-face way of commenting on America’s decline than the usual polemic; but that would be merely a guess.

At this stage I have no idea whether E&C will succeed or not. E&C is heavily dependent upon irony, whereas the American mindset seems to be (to a transplanted European like me) disconcertingly literal. On the other hand, both Jon Stewart and Bill Maher use irony consistently to great effect. But to niche audiences. Go figure.

The issue came up yesterday when I was talking to a close friend of mine, Greg Wilcox. Greg is a retired Lieutenant Colonel with no less than three tours in Vietnam, and since then has worked for SRI. In short, he is an extremely courageous and intelligent man (and a wonderful human being). Yet he was puzzled by the fact that in E&C, owls are regarded as the dumbest birds in the sky.

“But they are not dumb,” he said. “They’re extremely smart.”

“I know,” I said. “But I’m just turning things upside down. Making owls dumb is part of the joke.”

“And most Americans think a cuckoo is a clock.”

Greg’s second remark had me stumped. As far as I’m concerned, a cuckoo is a bird, and a cuckoo-clock is a clock; but could it really be that 300 million plus Americans didn’t know that?

Or could it be that my audience will be confined to those who do?

This writing business is damnably tough.

 

 

 

E&C Return #9: Eagle Outlines The Current Status Of the Middle Class, And Sums It Up As: A ‘Flight Path To Disaster’

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Eagle looked decidedly better after he had eaten. It was hard to tell with an eagle, naturally gaunt, yet striking-looking creatures; yet Cuckoo was an experienced observer; and to him, Eagle looked more relaxed.

It showed less in his face than in his posture. Eagle was very hard to read, but he had a different way of holding himself when he was unwinding. It wasn’t in his nature to slump, but his bearing now conveyed relaxation. When duty wasn’t driving him, he could be a most agreeable companion. Cookie regarded him with great affection though he tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to maintain some degree of distance if only because he had some idea of the trials Eagle was about to endure.

“Excellent food,” he said. “Thank you, Cuckoo. “

“The perks of travel,” said Cuckoo. “More wine or Calvados?”

Eagles eyes gleamed with restored good humor. “Calvados at this stage, I think.”

“You are saying before I so rudely interrupted you?” said Cuckoo. “And, by the way, I like your term for the Rich and Corporate Interests: The New Plantation Owners. I think that has legs.”

“The Republican Party has moved so far to the right that I cannot but wonder,” said Eagle. “Its leaders seem to be completely unaware of the plight of well over half the population. Instead they exude self righteousness, arrogance and complacency as if they were High Priests presiding over, and judging, a bunch of sinners. Meanwhile they have corrupted the political process, done much the same to the legal system,  and evolved a form of crony capitalism which is so incompetent that it needs to be bailed out by the taxpayer every few years. And the system is blatantly corrupt. Good grief, do you know how much the CEO of Lehman Brothers helped himself to before its collapse? Over half a billion dollars? And yet he goes unpunished. And he is but one of many.”

“Technically, the U.S. is now a plutocracy,” said Cuckoo. “It is government by the rich for the sole benefit of the rich. But, Eagle, you know that by now. Yet when you returned earlier, you were enraged. What set you off.”

Eagle sipped his Calvados. “The scale of the greed,” he said slowly, “combined with how far this country has fallen in relation to our competition. And I blame myself for not having noticed it earlier.”

“You’re an eagle,” said Cuckoo. “You were looking after your own, and very well too, may I add. Until I came along.”

Eagle smiled. “And opened my eyes,” he said.

“The Eagle’s role has traditionally been that of being the symbol of the United States of America,” said Cuckoo. “No more. And, as such, you have always discharged your duties impeccably. You have no reason to chastise yourself. But circumstances have changed. And you are now the last best hope for this country. But you haven’t answered my question. What set you off?"

“The Irks have split into teams and are looking at every economy worth a damn,” said Eagle, “and comparing it with ours. They are looking for comparisons, and better ways of doing business. And they are finding answers. But, they are also spotlighting just how badly the American Middle Class is being treated. It is indeed a variation of Jim Crow, and it’s resulting in a form of economic apartheid. Pick a sector, and the Plantation Owners both have pillaged it, and are continuing to do so.”

“Pay?” said Cuckoo.

“No increase for the average American in nearly 40 years,” said Eagle. “Household earnings now in decline. In contrast, household costs are increasing. The official inflation figures do not tell the whole story. The Middle Class is being squeezed into oblivion.”

“Jobs?” said Cuckoo.

“We have an economic system which is still exporting jobs – and which has no interest in creating full employment. Further, small business is seriously neglected, and government employment is being cut to the bone.”

“Unemployment pay?” said Cuckoo.

“Way less than half those out of work actually get unemployment pay. And those who are out of work for longer than 99 weeks get nothing,” said Eagle.

“Job security?”

“For all practical purposes, the American worker doesn’t have any,” said Eagle. “Such people are increasingly regarded as inferior beings. I mentioned the Jim Crow laws with good reason. The parallels are striking.

“Worker rights and benefits?”

“A recent study compared 34 leading industrialized nations. The U.S. came last overall, and wasn’t even close under many specific headings. The plantation owners do not believe in worker rights and benefits.”

“Union protection?”

“Unions have been virtually driven out of the private sector. They have a toe hold in the government, but anti-union legislation is continuing to be passed. The plantation owners are terrified of unions. After all, they are about the only force which has ever helped the average working American.””

“Vacation time?”

“Vacations are becoming the stuff of memory,” said Eagle. “The American worker works longer hours and receives less vacation than the workers of all other developed nations. And suffers accordingly. Half of this country is on prescription meds.”

“Health?”

“We spend twice as much on health as any other country in the world – and get a decidedly inferior result. Ever increasing amounts are being passed on to the Middle Class, who, more and more can’t afford it. Costs went up 9 percent this year – way ahead of inflation. And close to 50 million people aren’t even covered. Add in poverty, hunger, the lousy American diet, and the consequences are predictable.

“Training?”

“Massively neglected. Though we know how other countries do it successfully, we refuse to. As a consequence, we are building up an ever increasing under-class of the unskilled. And many previously skilled workers are being de-skilled while they are out of work.”

“Pensions?”

“This is a scandal waiting to break of extraordinary size and complexity. On the one hand, many government pensions are underfunded. But it is even worse in the private sector where numerous corporate pensions have been looted by managements. Beyond that, we now now have a situation where corporate pensions are fast being eliminated; and they are already rare in small business.”

“Education?”

“Simply put, we have a lousy K12 educational system compared to the competition. Beyond that, state governments are cutting back on state university costs and overall Third Level costs have increased way faster than inflation.  Third Level education is becoming unaffordable for many in the Middle Class. Student debt is now over a trillion dollars.

“Financial charges?”

“The system forces the average Middle Class worker into debt,” said Eagle. “It starts off with a car loan – and most have to have a car to get to work - and then escalates from there. Usury laws have been abolished. The Middle Class are being financially skinned. No wonder they save so little. They can’t afford to.”

“Housing?”

The principal asset of the average Middle Class family is their house,” said Eagle. “The housing crisis has drained over $5 trillion from Middle Class net worth – and probably a great deal more - and millions have lost their homes. Though massive fraud has been uncovered, remarkably little has been done about it. Five years into the catastrophe, Congress has been able to come up with a way of resolving the issue – or hasn’t cared to. The crisis continues. It’s beyond an outrage.”

“Congressional support for the Middle Class?”

“Research shows that neither senators nor congressmen listen to the Middle Class. “Instead they listen to those who fund their getting to office – the plantation owners. The Middle Class is no longer represented.”

“Social mobility?”

“We are becoming one of the least socially mobile countries in the developed world,” said Eagle. “If you are born poor, you’ll likely died poor. If you’re are born Middle Class, you stand an increasing chance of dying poor. Either way, for reasons mentioned, your life span is likely to be shorter than it should be.”

“Investment?”

“Dividend payments are up. Business investment is down and has been for some time. Investment in research is down. As a result, we are either losing, or have lost, our competitive edge across a range of sectors. So where does those dividends go? Into speculation – everything from commodities to the stock market. As for investment in our essential infrastructure, that’s gone into tax breaks for the plantation owners and wars instead.”

“Have I forgotten anything?” said Cuckoo.

“Lots of things,” said Eagle. “You haven’t mentioned a media that largely turns a blind eye to this issues, government statistics that don’t paint a true picture, the rising prices of necessities like food and gas, the ever increasing demands managements are placing on workers, the lack of adequate public transport, the painting of a completely unrealistic picture of American life by TV, extortionate executive salaries, the health implications of pollution, the corruption of the food chain – and on it goes. And while all this is taking place, corporate profits are higher than ever – and up until recently, the stock market has been booming. What does that tell you?”

“That the plantation owners are doing just fine,” said Cuckoo. “And that they have the money to speculate.”

“If America was a real democracy, the Democrats would be having a field day,” said Eagle. “They’d be slicing into the Right like a hot knife through butter. Instead they are letting the Right set the agenda and are putting forward truly pathetic and inadequate ideas of their own. Why so? Either they are a bunch of wimps, or because they too work for the plantation owners. Or both.”

“The president too?” said Cuckoo.

“That’s what the evidence suggests,” said Eagle. “Look who he appointed to clear up the financial mess when he took office – the very same people who had played a major role in creating it. Look who he appointed as his chief of staff not so long ago – another senior banker. Look at how so little of consequence has happened to the banks. Look at what happened to Elizabeth Warren. Look at how timid he is on most issues to do with the Middle Class. The evidence goes on on and on; and it is not in his favor. Yes, he is better than Bush, but that is not good enough.”

“Since I assume you are not recommending any of the Right Mugs, that leaves this country in something of a mess,” said Cuckoo.

“I don’t think ‘mess’ is an adequate word,” said Eagle. “I think we are on a flight path to disaster. And the plantation owners have the controls; and, as they continue to demonstrate, they do not have the best interests of this country at heart. Their focus is entirely on their best interests.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E&C Return #8: The New Plantation Owners, And Jim Crow Laws for the Middle Class.

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Eagle was grim-faced and tired when he landed back at his eyrie, but the sight of Cuckoo, wine glass in hand, bottle to hand, caused his spirits to rise.

Cuckoo poured him a glass without saying a word. Eagle drank half it immediately and felt much better. Then he noticed the smoked salmon, Irish soda bread, farm butter, and other goodies including lobster; and his spirits rose a further notch.

“You’ll feel better still after you’ve eaten something,” said Cuckoo. “I gather you were with the Irks and skipped lunch as usual. You’ve got to pace yourself. We need you fit and healthy. I can set things up, but you’ve got to do the deed. I’m just the Watcher.”

“The Irks have been getting into the details of what’s being going on,” said Eagle, “and it reminds me of the Jim Crow laws after the Civil War. Here we have African Americans thinking they’ve become free and instead they find they’ve become wage slaves for another hundred years; and based upon recent events, maybe longer.”

Cookie had to think for a few seconds and then realized that Eagle was referring to more than the frighteningly high African American unemployment, but also to the fact that the mortgage crisis and subsequent foreclosures were hitting them particularly hard. In fact the latest statistics showed that the net worth of the average Black was one twentieth of the the average White. Would African Americans ever catch up? At best, it would take centuries. Racism, overt or implicit, still seemed to be alive and well in the Land of the Free.

Eagle continued: “And now we’ve got the modern equivalent of plantation owners doing much the same thing to the entire American Middle Class regardless of race, creed or color. The plantation owners seem to have become bankers and politicians  and corporate CEOs. What angers me is both the scale and the meanness of it. There doesn’t seem to be a single aspect of Middle Class economic life and security that hasn’t been affected.

“The new plantation owners seem to be without either concern or conscience. They don’t seem to care that they are squeezing demand out of the U.S. market because their interests are no longer aligned with those of this Great Nation. They seem utterly unmoved by the fact that most of their fellow citizens are getting poorer by the day. And their greed is unrelenting and vicious in its cruelty. When poverty programs are cut ahead of taxing millionaires - to give just one example - a line has been crossed that demands a response.”

“Explain further,” said Cuckoo. The thought struck him that there was a certain irony in their dining in such luxury while they discussed such matters, but he let it pass. Eagle was stressed, tired and angry; and with good cause. “But eat first.”

“The new plantation owners.” Strong language, and entirely appropriate in Cuckoo’s opinion.  Eagle had an ear for the evocative. He was becoming a formidable politician as he prepared relentlessly for his future role. He read, he studied, he debated and he thought. And he had already proven that he had the kind of killer instinct that was going to required in the most direct way possible. He had killed.

Cookie hoped Eagle never had to kill another human again. But humans were eminently capable of killing each other, and he knew that when income inequality was matched with rampant social injustice and desperation, people eventually reacted; and civil disobedience, however peacefully intended, had a habit of escalating into violence. And violence had a habit of escalating into revolution.

But America was the richest country in the world. Could matters be really that be that bad? Surely, the present situation was just an economic blip and soon prosperity would return? Perhaps it would in terms of GDP, but growth was meaningless if the benefits went only to the plantation owners.

Cookie had been around a long time – a couple of millennia, if truth be told – and his sense was that unless America reformed its worship of U.S. Style Market Fundamentalism, a business model that demonstrably wasn’t working, and that wasn’t even real capitalism, the prognosis was grim.

He’d seen this kind of social upheaval many times before. The plantation owners never seemed to recognize the warnings signs, and of course, much of the build-up of social pressure was was invisible. It was akin to the sequence of events that preceded an earthquake. Mostly, they were undetected. And then came the horror.

Cookie had never understood greed, but it seemed to go hand in hand with complacency and stupidity. Somehow, the plantation owners never seemed to be able to appreciate that it was in their own best interests to reach an accommodation with their less well-off fellows. Perhaps bone-headedness was a required quality for a plantation owner; and, based upon its behavior, for much of Congress. As for the current crop of Right Mug/Tea Mug presidential candidates, clearly it was de rigeur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E&C Return #8: The New Plantation Owners, And Jim Crow Laws for the Middle Class

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Eagle was grim-faced and tired when he landed back at his eyrie, but the sight of Cuckoo, wine glass in hand, bottle to hand, caused his spirits to rise.

Cuckoo poured him a glass without saying a word. Eagle drank half it immediately and felt much better. Then he noticed the smoked salmon, Irish soda bread, farm butter, and other goodies including lobster; and his spirits rose a further notch.

“You’ll feel better still after you’ve eaten something,” said Cuckoo. “I gather you were with the Irks and skipped lunch as usual. You’ve got to pace yourself. We need you fit and healthy. I can set things up, but you’ve got to do the deed. I’m just the Watcher.”

“The Irks have been getting into the details of what’s being going on,” said Eagle, “and it reminds me of the Jim Crow laws after the Civil War. Here we have African Americans thinking they’ve become free and instead they find they’ve become wage slaves for another hundred years; and based upon recent events, maybe longer.”

Cookie had to think for a few seconds and then realized that Eagle was referring to more than the frighteningly high African American unemployment, but also to the fact that the mortgage crisis and subsequent foreclosures were hitting them particularly hard. In fact the latest statistics showed that the net worth of the average Black was one twentieth of the the average White. Would African Americans ever catch up? At best, it would take centuries. Racism, overt or implicit, still seemed to be alive and well in the Land of the Free.

Eagle continued: “And now we’ve got the modern equivalent of plantation owners doing much the same thing to the entire American Middle Class regardless of race, creed or color. The plantation owners seem to have become bankers and politicians and corporate CEOs. What angers me is both the scale and the meanness of it. There doesn’t seem to be a single aspect of Middle Class economic life and security that hasn’t been affected.

“The new plantation owners seem to be without either concern or conscience. They don’t seem to care that they are squeezing demand out of the U.S. market because their interests are no longer aligned with those of this Great Nation. They seem utterly unmoved by the fact that most of their fellow citizens are getting poorer by the day. And their greed is unrelenting and vicious in its cruelty. When poverty programs are cut ahead of taxing millionaires - to give just one example - a line has been crossed that demands a response.”

“Explain further,” said Cuckoo. The thought struck him that there was a certain irony in their dining in such luxury while they discussed such matters, but he let it pass. Eagle was stressed, tired and angry; and with good cause. “But eat first.”

“The new plantation owners.” Strong language, and entirely appropriate in Cuckoo’s opinion. Eagle had an ear for the evocative. He was becoming a formidable politician as he prepared relentlessly for his future role. He read, he studied, he debated and he thought. And he had already proven that he had the kind of killer instinct that was going to required in the most direct way possible. He had killed.

Cookie hoped Eagle never had to kill another human again. But humans were eminently capable of killing each other, and he knew that when income inequality was matched with rampant social injustice and desperation, people eventually reacted; and civil disobedience, however peacefully intended, had a habit of escalating into violence. And violence had a habit of escalating into revolution.

But America was the richest country in the world. Could matters be really that be that bad? Surely, the present situation was just an economic blip and soon prosperity would return? Perhaps it would in terms of GDP, but growth was meaningless if the benefits went only to the plantation owners.

Cookie had been around a long time – a couple of millennia, if truth be told – and his sense was that unless America reformed its worship of U.S. Style Market Fundamentalism, a business model that demonstrably wasn’t working, and that wasn’t even real capitalism, the prognosis was grim.

He’d seen this kind of social upheaval many times before. The plantation owners never seemed to recognize the warnings signs, and of course, much of the build-up of social pressure was was invisible. It was akin to the sequence of events that preceded an earthquake. Mostly, they were undetected. And then came the horror.

Cookie had never understood greed, but it seemed to go hand in hand with complacency and stupidity. Somehow, the plantation owners never seemed to be able to appreciate that it was in their own best interests to reach an accommodation with their less well-off fellows. Perhaps bone-headedness was a required quality for a plantation owner; and, based upon its behavior, for much of Congress. As for the current crop of Right Mug/Tea Mug presidential candidates, clearly it was de rigeur.

E&C Return #7: Less An Economic War Of The Classes Than An Economic Massacre

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Eagle spent several more hours listening to different groups of Irks, and made extensive notes on his iPad.

He already knew  – in broad terms – a great deal about Eagle-Land’s catastrophic economic history since the early Seventies, thanks to Cuckoo and extensive reading; but the Irks were getting into the details. And the details were shocking. And as he went from group to group, they seemed to get worse.

Somehow a small group of extraordinarily greedy people – The Rich and Corporate Interests - had managed to ravage the economic wellbeing and security of several hundred million of their fellow citizens, and almost no one had noticed. Fewer still had protested. Indeed many were under the impression that they had been getting wealthier while their way of life was being actively destroyed.

It said a lot for the soporific power of television, the dangers of having the media as a whole owned by the very class of people who were stealing from you, the corruption of the corporate dominated political system, and the astonishing lack of intellectual curiosity of the average American. Alternatively, they were just dumb. But he truly did not want to believe that.

Yet there hadn’t been any significant political protests about the issues in 40 years, and the core theme that the Right Mugs were determined to destroy the New Deal and the entire Middle Class with it, wasn’t even on the mainstream political agenda. And yet, even such politically sensitive issues as Social Security and military pensions were now on the agenda to be cut – with the Left Mugs conniving in the deed.

In any other country, there would be demonstrators blocking the freeways, burning cars, rioting in the streets; and a tidal wave of civil protest and disobedience. And yet Americans just slumped in front of their big screen TVs, and just took it.

He flew back to his eyrie quite shaken. This wasn’t an Economic War of the Classes, as some had described it. This was an Economic Massacre.

E&C Return #6: Eagle Contemplates Eagles And Leadership–And Makes A Resolve

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Eagle chatted with Plip’s group for another hour, and left confident that they had considered just about everything about the requirements of presidential leadership that  intelligent young eagles could. 

He wondered did it help or hinder that the eagle’s own system was different. He was appointed by the Council of Elders and served at their pleasure. With the post of Eagle – he was the only eagle whose name was never used – came considerable powers and as many responsibilities. But he could be removed at any time by a single majority vote.

He regarded it as a reasonable rule, but had never thought twice about it. He was guided by principle, and though he had made mistakes in his early years, his vision and integrity had never been in doubt.

He felt quietly pleased by the fact, but it was truly remarkable how many nations – close to fifty – had chosen an eagle to be their national symbol. And then there were the eagles of the Roman legions, the eagles of Napoleon’s army, the stylized eagle of the Federal Republic of Germany, and even the eagles of Armenia. Eagles seemed to be synonymous with national power and leadership. But to what end was the question?

It seemed to Eagle that a leader without a clear vision for his people, no matter how competent in other ways, was little more than a political technician.

He was also convinced that a vision that didn’t advancing the wellbeing of all Americans was fundamentally flawed.

But what did wellbeing mean? Did it just mean money? Was that it for most Americans?

Eagle looked up at the sky, and then at the stunning beauty of his surroundings, felt the crisp mountain air against his feathers, and then contemplated the energy and enthusiasm of the Irks. Life was truly wonderful. As the kids liked to say: It was awesome.

Money (for humans) like plumbing, doubtless had its uses, but if wealth was the essence of the American Dream, it was scarcely surprising that the country was in as much trouble as it was.

As far as Eagle was concerned, humans were displaying a truly dramatic lack of both awareness of the wonder that surrounded them; and of imagination. There was so much they could do, but instead they were focused on the restoring the status quo. Madness! It was the status quo that had betrayed them. Nonetheless, it felt familiar and safe; and thinking was exhausting.

But, he was very fond of his Americans – ALL Americans - and he was damned if he was willing to let them self-destruct.

Sadly; frustratingly; they seemed to be obsessed with that objective,