Nationalize It!

OMG! Are you fucking kidding me! The Treasury just gave AIG another $30 bln. Is anyone else looking at this?

If we take a close, or even a vage, look at the companies that are getting all these trillions in bailout money, there seems to be one thing they all have in common. To use their language, the Fed and the Treasury are using the vernacular, “Too Big to Fail”! What this means is that over the years, due to deregulationary politics, these companies have become major monopolies. buying up there competition with the profits from unreasonable risks.

One of the founding principles of the early days of regulation was the protections entitled to competition through Anti-Trust Legislation. Now the US Government is assuming that we want to pick up the tab for this rediculas stewardship of the public trust.

The list of companies that will spin off from AIG looks like the list of companies that were born, or restored to anonimity, during the Standard Oil breakup. The same problem exists with the Auto Industry. The fact is that there is very little resiliance for any industry controlled by a single entity, not to mention the extremely un-American practice of anti-competition.

Who else is at risk? How about the Media groups like Clear Channel and Time-Warner. When did we decide that risk was better than the public trust. Whatever the risk involved, maybe we should Nationalize the industries that form the foundation of our financial industry, starting with the Fed and the SEC, or maybe even Congress. Or, would that be a bit wishful?

Tronic: Like the Beats of the 50’s – Another Generation’s Search for Change

Bassnectar Live

Welcome to the wonderful world of Tronic. A colorful ambient sound frenzy full of people of all walks of life, from Suits to Hippies. It happens in small clubs and venues around the World. I was in Tucson for the Gem and Jam, an annual Festival that happens at the same time as the World’s largest Gem and Mineral show.

Tronic seems to be a name used by a few people to describe this crossover of electronic music and the funky, glitchy Hip-Hop~ish sound being done by some of the most masterful artists like Bassnectar, and Elliot Lipp. Most of these artists are way off the grid as far as the whole music industry is concerned.

It reminds me a lot of the punk movement. A whole network of support grew out of a subcultures need to connect. Crashing on the guys couch that hooked you up with the 1 day gig in Missoula gets repaid in the same way, by someone else in this family, eventually swinging around to catch you again for another road trip! Who needs Sony and the lie of pop radio…

Like any movement, the underground nature of Tronic is actually the people that gather for these mystical shows, mixed on the fly to a radiant audience riding a lightbeam. There is such a wellspring of acceptance and admiration for the uniqueness of each other that it is hard not to be your radiant self too.

The one thing I love the most about it, is the almost total stealth of it. Here is this ship of light traveling the stars within us and like a ghost is invisible to the naked eye. I would suggest to anyone, who is looking for a little depth in a sub-cultural environment, seek out a good Tronic show and give your soul a little fresh water…