The Greed "Gushes" Forth
The greed mongers and egomaniacs are at it again. Oil and gasoline prices have been escalating as they did a few years ago (prices for many things will follow, as virtually EVERYTHING we do is related to oil/gasoline prices). Folks, there is no shortage of oil.* We all know about the unrest in several oil producing countries, and that has become the excuse for the mad rush to make "mo' money, mo' money, mo' money!" (Don't forget the schemes they came up with to get "mo' money" in the mortgage game. Probably many of the same people, and certainly people of the same mindset.) Any drop in output from Libya has already been made good, according to cooler heads. No folks, this isn't even about what the free marketers like to call "supply and demand;" nope, it's purely about GREED and about the attempts by some egomaniacs to soothe their troubled minds (VERY TROUBLED, in my opinion, with no way to EVER soothe them-see the Word History below, specifically the modern German word for "greed").
They have been unleashed by the free marketers, and if the situation continues, America will continue its decline from the top perch to where the bird doo doo falls. Make no mistake about it folks, the possibility of American decline will never stop these egomaniacs, in case you think that might happen. No, that would assume some sort of rational behavior, and this ego maniacal behavior is not rational; it exploits. If the United States were on its last leg and was about to topple because of these bastards, they would not stop. That's part of the reason for the "anti-government" campaign we've had for more than thirty years. Without government at some level willing to put a stop to their nonsense, they can do anything they want, without fear of repercussions; and so they have, and so they continue. Unions are one of the last organized forms of resistance to the overall rightward shift in the country. The assault on unions will further weaken opposition to them.
Meanwhile, I sit and watch the country decline, as the money transfers from our pocketbooks into their bank accounts. If you're young, you're probably going to have a hell of a time in your life. If you're older, your kids and grandkids are likely going to struggle in this country, where the top income people have taken over. We've lost our balance.
* For those at the other extreme, gasoline is unlikely to be 99 cents a gallon, unless we kick the oil habit; thus not only bringing prices down (true "supply and demand"), but also ending our involvement in wars (and the tremendous cost in lives and national treasure in those wars) over oil. Do any of you truly believe Americans would have given a good damn about Iraq's invasion of Kuwait more than twenty years ago, if Kuwait didn't have lots of oil? We essentially had little choice; we're stuck. That involvement then led to heavier involvement in 2003, clear up until the present. We're stuck too, if turmoil hits others countries, even if we don't get much, if any, oil from those countries, since the countries who do use that oil will then turn to our suppliers; thus driving up prices. That is, like it or not, supply and demand.
WORD HISTORY:
Greedy/Greed-This goes back to a form of Indo European "gher" (or perhaps "gher-d"), which meant "to want, to long for, to like." This gave Old Germanic the offshoot "graedigaz," which seems to have had the more specific notion of "liking or wanting/desiring food, to be hungry" (hunger implying "craving/desire for food"). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "graedig/gredig," with the idea of "big appetite," and also "desirous/covetous," and eventually "greedy." The spelling later changed to "gredi/gredy," before the modern spelling was adopted. It wasn't until the 1500s that English use of "greed" developed from "greedy." The other Germanic languages with forms of "greedy" are: Dutch has "gretig," Danish and Norwegian have "grådige," Swedish has "girig," Icelandic has "gráðugur." German once had "gratag" for "greedy," and obviously related to our word. Modern German has "Habsucht," from "hab"=have + "sucht"="obsession" (so: "an obsession to have, to possess") and also "Habgier" ("insatiable desire to have") and Dutch, besides "gretig," already mentioned above, has the closely related "hebzucht." Note: "German "Sucht" (and Dutch "zucht") is/are related to English "sick," although its more easily seen in it main form "siech(en)," which means "to be very sick, wasting away." Hm, so in German and Dutch these particular words have greed being connected to sickness. I LIKE IT! Nothing like some truth.
They have been unleashed by the free marketers, and if the situation continues, America will continue its decline from the top perch to where the bird doo doo falls. Make no mistake about it folks, the possibility of American decline will never stop these egomaniacs, in case you think that might happen. No, that would assume some sort of rational behavior, and this ego maniacal behavior is not rational; it exploits. If the United States were on its last leg and was about to topple because of these bastards, they would not stop. That's part of the reason for the "anti-government" campaign we've had for more than thirty years. Without government at some level willing to put a stop to their nonsense, they can do anything they want, without fear of repercussions; and so they have, and so they continue. Unions are one of the last organized forms of resistance to the overall rightward shift in the country. The assault on unions will further weaken opposition to them.
Meanwhile, I sit and watch the country decline, as the money transfers from our pocketbooks into their bank accounts. If you're young, you're probably going to have a hell of a time in your life. If you're older, your kids and grandkids are likely going to struggle in this country, where the top income people have taken over. We've lost our balance.
* For those at the other extreme, gasoline is unlikely to be 99 cents a gallon, unless we kick the oil habit; thus not only bringing prices down (true "supply and demand"), but also ending our involvement in wars (and the tremendous cost in lives and national treasure in those wars) over oil. Do any of you truly believe Americans would have given a good damn about Iraq's invasion of Kuwait more than twenty years ago, if Kuwait didn't have lots of oil? We essentially had little choice; we're stuck. That involvement then led to heavier involvement in 2003, clear up until the present. We're stuck too, if turmoil hits others countries, even if we don't get much, if any, oil from those countries, since the countries who do use that oil will then turn to our suppliers; thus driving up prices. That is, like it or not, supply and demand.
WORD HISTORY:
Greedy/Greed-This goes back to a form of Indo European "gher" (or perhaps "gher-d"), which meant "to want, to long for, to like." This gave Old Germanic the offshoot "graedigaz," which seems to have had the more specific notion of "liking or wanting/desiring food, to be hungry" (hunger implying "craving/desire for food"). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "graedig/gredig," with the idea of "big appetite," and also "desirous/covetous," and eventually "greedy." The spelling later changed to "gredi/gredy," before the modern spelling was adopted. It wasn't until the 1500s that English use of "greed" developed from "greedy." The other Germanic languages with forms of "greedy" are: Dutch has "gretig," Danish and Norwegian have "grådige," Swedish has "girig," Icelandic has "gráðugur." German once had "gratag" for "greedy," and obviously related to our word. Modern German has "Habsucht," from "hab"=have + "sucht"="obsession" (so: "an obsession to have, to possess") and also "Habgier" ("insatiable desire to have") and Dutch, besides "gretig," already mentioned above, has the closely related "hebzucht." Note: "German "Sucht" (and Dutch "zucht") is/are related to English "sick," although its more easily seen in it main form "siech(en)," which means "to be very sick, wasting away." Hm, so in German and Dutch these particular words have greed being connected to sickness. I LIKE IT! Nothing like some truth.
Labels: English, etymology, gas prices, Germanic languages, oil prices, the wealthy, transfer of wealth, union busting, unions
posted by Randy at 10:19 AM
1 Comments:
I agree.
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