Re: Magic Beans. I heard President Obama state, yesterday, that “…There aren’t any ‘magic beans’ or I would have used them already…” which shows, to me, a lack of understanding of magic and, more importantly, a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of beans. Magic, in the most basic terms, is an unexpected result from routine task like, for example, money pumped into the neediest segments of society returning a 60% multiplier just from the immediate spending of the money and the bubbling up of those monies through the other segments of society. Even if we borrowed that money at 3%, we would still net a 57% increase in economic activity, magically. More distressing, for me, is his non-comprehension of beans as both a food source, obviously, and for the propagation of beans, writ large. The choice is so basic the President seems to have missed it: is he pro-peace and prosperity or is he a war president? Given that 50% of our budget goes to defense spending (with nothing to show for it as profiting from war is unseemly [but war itself is acceptable? Huh?]) it would seem to be the obvious place to start cutting but, not so fast, they spend a lot on lobbying and losses in that segment would be bad for the local economy of Washington, D.C.. I get that. I also get that our military power is an expression of our economic self-interest. I also get that we sell a lot of our hardware around the world which is why one of the primary concepts in the European bailouts is that existing contracts for the military take precedence over social programs. Here’s the thing: the more people we kill or enable other people to kill with our technology, the more people are missing from the world, people that could be out working and taking care of their families, inventing or just laboring to make the world a better place for themselves and their children. Is it a co-incidence that the most backward countries continue to send people in the prime of their lives out to be killed and are then burdened with their survivors? We’ve gotten very good at the whole killing thing, we get many of “them” for every one of ours but what you are left with at the end is an angry country that is really just repairing itself so it can seek revenge, an endless cycle of war. The first commandment really should have been written, “Thou really SHOULDN’T kill; it’s bad business, all in all.” Maybe someone would have paid attention if it was linked to profits and expenses… I realize in writing this many people are going to reply that “Bad people should die” (paraphrased) and I’m not saying that might not be true. It’s just expensive, no matter how you slice it, and you could buy a lot of beans with that money. When you’re starving, beans are delicious, magically, like Lucky Charms and if you’re not starving, you could plant them, grow more beans and profit from beans! While ultimately there is no such thing as “magic beans” there is no need for them because all beans are inherently magical.
Unfortunately, we are less magical the more war-like we are.
Ironic.
Unfortunately, we are less magical the more war-like we are.
Ironic.
