The last thing I expected after the epic Ugo beat down at the end of episode 10 was to see episode 11 of Magi segued into a better explanation about the pitfalls of the preferred fiscal policies of the current administration then I’ve heard from the increasingly inept looking Boehner and the Republican party.
It was almost eerie how close the explanation of how Balbadd in Magi has fallen on bad times matches what’s going on right now in the United States. It started with an economic depression which the ruling party decided was best remedied with large infusions of paper money. In Magi this money was loaned to them by the Kou Empire and in real life our government just printed it and foreign countries like China bought the underlying bonds that backed this money (so slightly different at the start but eventually it’s almost exactly the same thing because the countries holding US debt can start influencing US policies because they, in effect, own a share of the country). Everyone applauds this injection of money but it gets thrown around with little thought of really accomplishing it’s supposed goal of helping turn around the economy.
The money runs out, the economy is still no better off and both Balbadd and the United States need more money. Balbadd borrows more money from the Kou Empire and the United States prints more money after getting China and others to buy more of their bonds. The cycle repeats and the economies of both Balbadd and the United States are still no better off and all this manipulating of the money supply has the side-effect of increased inflation. In Magi the general mentions how things that one day cost a single Fan note would cost two the next day. Here, the bean counters try to hide how much inflation has occurred but shopping at the same store for several years and comparing the experience is all that’s needed; a box of mac’n’cheese that cost $0.29 in 2008 now either costs $0.55 or it’s gotten reformulated with cheaper ingredients and only costs $0.45 (with an inferior taste) or a frozen chicken pot pie that cost $0.33 in 2008 now costs $0.79, to name just a couple of examples.
Another side-effect is that the poor in both Balbadd and the United States are worse off since the institution of this fiscal policy. Though, in Balbadd the poor rightly blame the ruling party for the problems but in the United States the ruling party convinced the poor that it’s not them but the other guys (who have no power in the government) who are making them worse off. I was even struck when, in Magi, the general said that they were borrowing money to try to pay off their debt because that so mirrors what’s going on in the United States.
Now, it’s not exactly the same between the two; Balbadd is further along in their slide and worse off and has a ruler set to sell the citizens of the country into slavery but that doesn’t change the underlying parallel circumstances.
How Balbadd gets back on it’s toes remands to be seen and will probably include at least a little hand-waving because even if they change rulers Balbadd still owes the Kou Empire a bunch of money. One part of the solution that seems heavily hinted at is the need to stop using the paper money of the Kou Empire and to go back to a money backed by gold. Which is where Ron Paul comes in because he believes the United States needs to do something similar. I’ve always found him a bit out-there but looking at the “negotiations” between both parties about this “fiscal cliff” and the inability of both sides to even attempt to rein in the monster debt-creating-habits of the government and thinking about episode 11 of Magi – I think maybe he’s onto something.
The Null Set 
Often times what is seen as incompetence is much more complicated, such as black mailed goodies.
There’s been a recent pattern where elections don’t matter nearly as much as who knows where all the bodies are buried. That guy gets things done, since coincidentally all the people opposing him seem to drop off due to PR damage.
The old nomenclature of science and Occam’s Razor, never did apply to complicated human politics.
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There was once a leader of a Middle Eastern country who believed democracy consisted of popular support, so he held an election and got 99% of the vote. Coincidentally, DC voted 93% for one particular faction in the 2008 elections and urban fiefdoms of a particular faction in the US vote 99% for one and only one leadership cadre.
It wasn’t just the desert and oil country that had its third world problems, but the solutions that worked there perhaps frightened everybody else into thinking it would work here as well.
The line between tyranny and democratic popular support, is perhaps not as wide as popularly believed. Too much exertion of yang energy in Taoist philosophy and in Taiji Chuan, results in an energy imbalance, loss, and decay/sickness of one’s body and roots. Too much “doing” things to the world external to ourselves results in an imbalance because the universe is made out of two energies, creating one entity. If a person exerts himself too much externally, he lacks the internal energy to sustain such efforts because he never bothered to nurture his internal energies and thus external/internal becomes in conflict and disharmonious.
The world is too full of corruption and evil, yet perhaps the greatest evil and corruption rested nearer to our hearts than many would liked to believe.
The warrior that fights best when annihilating enemies, is least susceptible to PTSD when he has a clear view of his ethics and love. When one devotes 4 hours of hurting evil, and devotes 4 equal hours to healing the sick or one’s beloved, one has achieved harmony, in everything but name.
In classic military battles and stories, there is always that guy who wins a bunch of battles, and then loses the war in the long term. Alexander the Great, burned out at an early age due to taking stupid risks in war and getting himself killed, leaving a child and wife from barbarian allied tribes to be killed by his lieutenants in eternal power struggles, with his empire going to the strongest. Or what was left of his empire. Pyhrric victory, came from a king with a similar name who invaded Italy and won. But his victory was so costly he might as well have lost.
Even in the classical arts, geniuses such as Mozart burned themselves out. Bright as the sun and living life with a burning intensity, yet all too short a span in time. Their energies were imbalanced. They have too much of one, but not of the other. Such imbalances lead to corruption of the soul, the mind, the body, and the spirit, all in one. They use up the energy but then don’t take the time or effort to replenish the Sole Source.
The more one learns of the healing arts in martial arts, the easier it is to exert lethal force against living entities. The opposite is also true. Only the greatest destroyers can heal with the same power, since it’s basically different sides of the same coin. Miyamoto Musashi the Kensei, or sword saint, could alternatively be viewed as a cold blooded killer or a person who achieved spiritual enlightenment through the sword. He did such things not by cutting off the heads of babes, such as one particular government did at WACO, but against opponents that could just as easily have killed him. Yet his creative energies went into more than just the sword, but also painting, creation, writing, and such forth.
A country can no more live a life of parasitism forever any more than a person can.
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Except that US citizens ARE used as collateral for the national debt. Wage slavery.
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