Bankrupting the world…

Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression.

In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on “the Wall Street Bubble Mafia” — investment bank Goldman Sachs. The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi’s piece is “an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories” and a spokesman adding, “We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good.” Taibbi shot back: “Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it.” Here, now, are excerpts from Matt Taibbi’s piece and video of Taibbi exploring the key issues.

I’ll let the five short videos that follow do all the ranting…

Part 1 of 5:

Part 2 of 5:

Part 3 of 5:

Part 4 of 5:

Part 5 of 5:

“They are literally stealing a hundred million dollars a day. Goldman Sachs is stealing every day on the floor of the exchange. They should be in the Hague, they should be taken on financial terrorism charges. They should all be thrown in jail” – Max Keiser

Wake up folks…wake up!!!

- The Ranting Dream

…the dogma rant…

I know that I risk receiving many ‘unsubscribe‘ requests from the blog after this rant…and possibly many more ‘unsubscriptions‘ to the rest of my physical existence on this planet from friends, family, and acquaintances…but I must gather the courage to express the results of my thoughts in clear form…

So here goes…

First, let me stipulate as clearly as I can that I do not wish to insult or provoke your belief system – whatever it may be. Neither am I questioning or ridiculing the existence of ‘GOD‘ (or whoever/whatever it is that you believe to be the ‘force‘ of life and the essence of ‘existence‘ as you know it)…

Second, when I talk about ‘religion‘, it is in reference to the ‘politics‘ and the ‘business‘ that we loosely call religion today…

Third, when I challenge the business that we call ‘faith‘ – I challenge the misguided premise of ‘blind-faith‘ – which is, essentially, intellectual bankruptcy…not the ESSENCE of faith – which, when complemented by the intellect, serves to guide mankind in its search for truth in all matters…

Lastly, keep an open mind as you read through this – if you’re not able (or willing) to, then don’t bother reading through this rant – there are a lot of entertaining shows playing on TV…it may be wise to head for that remote right away…

Based on the Anglo-French etymology of the word ‘religion‘, we are told that it is derived from the Latin ‘religio‘ which loosely translates into “…careful pondering (of the divine)…” – and the origin of the term ‘religio‘ is generally accepted to have been derived from the Latin ‘re-ligare‘ – where ‘re‘ means ‘again‘ and ‘ligare‘ means ‘bind‘ or ‘connect‘…

The context in which ‘religion‘ was introduced to mankind was in line with the root of the word – symbolizing a ‘path‘ through which mankind could ‘re-join‘ or ‘re-link‘ or ‘re-connect‘ with its source (also referred to as the ‘divine‘)…

What that implies, essentially, is that we have somehow been ‘un-linked‘ or ‘separated‘ from our source (some call this source: ‘God‘) and ‘re-ligion‘ is the medium through which we can ‘re-link‘ with that source (attaining that ‘unity‘ or ‘oneness‘ with that source happens to be the ultimate goal of existence if you were brought up in the belief system that I was born into – I‘m sure most other dogmas preach the same as they generally tend to feed off each others‘ myths and beliefs)…

The fundamental flaw (and contradiction) in the ‘re-linking‘ concept, in my humble opinion, is that we can not possibly be different or dispersed or divided or separated from our source – if we did separate, even for a split quark of a moment; then the entire foundation of the ‘religion‘ I was born into becomes baseless – in that belief system, there is ONLY ONE REALITY – an ABSOLUTE REALITY – a TOTALITY…there is NOTHING BUT TOTALITY – which means that you and I (and everything we know and everything we have no way of ever knowing) is but that ABSOLUTE TOTALITY – to claim otherwise, is rejecting the TOTALITY…La Ilaha Illa-Llah, we chant everyday…sadly, we know nothing about the ESSENCE of that chant…

Religion today, rife with essentially meaningless rituals (we claim they‘re only ‘symbolic‘ – but our deeds and actions and the feverish fanaticism with which we observe these rituals as though they were an end in themselves, tell an entirely different story about our ‘true‘ beliefs in these rituals), hypocrisy, politics, business (barter: trade-in your good deeds for a ‘heavenly abode ‘), power-struggles, and superstition is nowhere near the ‘careful pondering of the divine‘ that it set out to be when that word was introduced into contemporary vocabulary…

What we fanatically defend as ‘faith‘ today is nothing more than superstition packaged by the power and fear mongers who use elaborate symbology and mythology to sell (superficial) comfort to the highest bidder as if it were a commodity…somewhere, some business savvy dude (or dudette) decided to bundle this package together for sale…a bundle of lavish promises for those who comply and keep paying – promises of an eternity of luxuries in the most exotic of places imaginable – and decided that the consequences of not subscribing to that bundle would result in the direct dispatch to this gory black hole full of horrible creatures and raging fires – eternal damnation for those who as much as raise an eyebrow…here’s your carrot, which you must pay for, of course – and here’s the stick I’ll beat you with if you as much as sneeze…they kept repeating this propaganda over and over again until the ignorant masses actually believed in this nonsense as if they had seen and experienced it all first-hand…

Why do we fail to realize that the comfort we so desperately seek lies within and will never be found without?

If ‘GOD‘ is ‘transcendent‘ and ‘beyond all material attributes and concepts‘, then what does ‘GOD‘ need to play the carrot-and-stick game with the creation for? I have heard all the nonsense in defense of this from the protectors of the dogma – and believe me, I’ve heard it all – whatever the argument, by reducing ‘GOD‘ to a ‘being‘ that has ‘separated‘ from creation – and is enjoying this hide-and-seek game…at the end of which you’re either going to be whacked with a thorny stick inside a fire-pit or presented with a fresh pair of swimming trunks so you can dive into your very own river of  pure milk; is contradictory to (and a complete negation of) the ESSENCE of the TOTALITY that ‘GOD‘ actually is – that is, if you don’t want to destroy the foundation on which you’ve built your belief system in this ‘GOD‘ in the first place…remember: ‘La Ilaha Illa-Llah‘…

On the other hand, the most successful of businesses in contemporary history have built their fortunes by exploiting the ‘scarcity mentality‘ – inducing any kind of fear  and conquering by division guarantees maximum profitability – you need not look far to verify that assertion – and your friendly neighborhood business of organized religion clued in on that secret to material riches a long time ago – why do you think that the world’s 3 major monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – all preach the message of the SAME ‘GOD‘ (albeit delivered to different dudes at different times) – and have never denied that they believe in the SAME ‘GOD’ – yet who do you see out there slaughtering truckloads of innocent human beings just because they were born into the ‘other‘ faith? Why do you think that is?…even though we worship the same ‘GOD’ – my ‘GOD’ is cooler, and better, and stronger, and nicer than your ‘GOD’…and we blindly purchase this nonsense by the bucketfuls…divided, we fall, time after time…but we can never get enough of this crap into our tummies…

…but: don’t panic even for a moment – your very own ‘re-connection‘ agents will intervene on your behalf and invoke from this ‘angry‘ yet ‘loving‘, ‘feared‘ yet ‘benevolent‘, ‘most merciful punisher‘ the grace, mercy, and forgiveness that you need to ‘get-out-of-jail-free‘ – oh! you lucky soul! as your fellow human beings (i.e. those who believe in a less cooler version of the same GOD you believe in) are whipped away to eternal damnation, you shall be escorted into paradise by a bevvy of beautiful beings – for a teeny, weeny, little fee; of course – because after all is said and done, this ‘re-connection‘ service of yours cannot stop emphasizing how much ‘GOD‘ loves you…and your money…’GOD‘ now has a very good reason to play these games with creation…hundreds of millions of neatly trimmed, crisp wads of reasons, in fact…

…and that still contradicts the ESSENCE of that TOTALITY…

Why don’t you get it??? You are the TOTALITY – you are both contained within, and contain within you, TOTALITY…this is not a ‘transaction‘ you need to have brokered by a ‘re-linking‘ service…this is YOUR REALITY…why do you waste your life knocking on doors that only you can open?…do you not see how, in your misguided faith, you have lost your common sense and your sensitivity to the ESSENCE?…stop being lazy and deferring the ownership of your existence to someone or something else…your guides, gurus, pandits, imams, priests, rabbis may help you experience a little comfort here and there…but all that is only superficial – you are the comfort that you seek – you are the enlightenment that you seek - stop looking without so that you may develop the awareness of that within…everything else, including what you call ‘religion‘, is but meaningless pandering and defending of political positions…

Where do you search me?
I am with you
Not in pilgrimage, nor in icons
Neither in solitudes
Not in temples, nor in mosques
Neither in Kaba nor in Kailash
I am with you O man
I am with you
Not in prayers, nor in meditation
Neither in fasting
Not in yogic exercises
Neither in renunciation
Neither in the vital force nor in the body
Not even in the ethereal space
Neither in the womb of Nature
Not in the breath of the breath
Seek earnestly and discover
In but a moment of search
Says Kabir, Listen with care
Where your faith is, I am there.

- Kabir

Not a believer inside the mosque, am I
Nor a pagan disciple of false rites
Not the pure amongst the impure
Neither Moses, nor the Pharoh

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Not in the holy Vedas, am I
Nor in opium, neither in wine
Not in the drunkard`s intoxicated craze
Niether awake, nor in a sleeping daze

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

In happiness nor in sorrow, am I
Neither clean, nor a filthy mire
Not from water, nor from earth
Neither fire, nor from air, is my birth

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Not an Arab, nor Lahori
Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri
Hindu, Turk, nor Peshawari
Nor do I live in Nadaun

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Secrets of religion, I have not known
From Adam and Eve, I am not born
I am not the name I assume
Not in stillness, nor on the move

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

I am the first, I am the last
None other, have I ever known
I am the wisest of them all
Bulleh! do I stand alone?

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

- Bulleh Shah

- The Ranting Dream

Stand by me…

An inspirational collaboration by (mostly street) musicians around the globe – who recorded their own pieces independently (in their natural performing environment – not in  hi-tech professional studios)…without having met any of their fellow contributors…from the award-winning documentary, “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music“…

- The Ranting Dream

…the dangers of ‘religion’…

“The danger is that every religion, including the Catholic one, says “I have the ultimate truth.” Then you start to rely on the priest, the mullah, the rabbi, or whoever, to be responsible for your acts. In fact, you are the only one who is responsible.”
- Paulo Coelho

Sharing Sam Harris‘ thought-provoking viewpoint on the ‘dangers of religion‘…

Transcript of the video (courtesy of Big Think):

Question: When you read the newspaper or watch the news, what issues stand out for you?

Sam Harris:  Well what astonishes me when I read the newspaper or watch the news is how many problems are the direct result of what people believe about God.  I mean there are days when I open the New York Times where fully half of the stories – in a way that’s unacknowledged by the paper – relate to people’s religious convictions.  It’s a matter . . .  I mentioned the Virginia Tech shooting.  The role that religion played in providing a context for this shooting was never really discussed in the media. But we just hear that the mother happened to be a devout Christian, and schlepped her child from church to church in search of an exorcism.  I just see continually our attention bound up in these competing ideas about God.  At best, this is often just a waste of time.  But at worst, it is just . . . it is manufacturing violence, and unnecessary conflict, and misuses of our resources.  And what’s more, it is very rare that we acknowledge . . .  I mean now we’re beginning to acknowledge the role that Islam is playing in Muslim terrorism; but even that has been very slow to come.  I mean it has been obvious for many, many years – long before September 11th – that a certain style of Muslim infatuation was leading to this kind of jihad-y behavior.  We’re . . . Because of the respect we afford religious faith, we are very slow to acknowledge its cause or role in conflict.

Question:  What is the struggle in what you do?

Sam Harris:  Well I think the biggest challenge as a matter of discourse and debate – and certainly the most frustrating challenge – is what comes from otherwise secular and even non-believing people who are just reluctant to admit how much mad work is being done because of religion in this world.  I mean they either can’t believe that people really believe this stuff . . .  So when a suicide bomber blows himself up in a crowd of children, this secular type of person will imagine, “That wasn’t religion.  I mean it had nothing to do with a belief in paradise and 72 virgins.  Who could believe that?  This is a . . . some kind of psychological aberration.  Or it’s caused by economic desperation, or policies in the region.  I mean it’s not a matter of metaphysical beliefs.”  I think the jury is in on this, and we know that people really do believe these things.  They are telling us ad nauseum that they believe these things.  And I don’t think there’s any more powerful rhetorical device for emphasis than blowing yourself up or flying a plane into a building.  And I mean these people are really willing to die for what they believe.  And we know it’s not a matter of economics.  I’m gonna speak specifically to the Muslim word for a moment.   We know it’s not a matter of economics and education, because this recent plot in the U.K., these are all doctors who are . . . who are aspiring suicide bombers.  And you know, how much more education did these doctors need?  One was a neurosurgeon.  You find me a neurosurgeon suicide bomber, and you tell me the problem is education and economics, it clearly isn’t.  And . . . but the deeper problem, and I think a far more sinister problem, is that it is possible to be well educated – so well educated that you can be a neurosurgeon – and still believe that you can get 72 virgins in paradise.  And this is made possible by the fact that we have allowed a certain mode of thought – religion – to thrive in a cocoon of this sphere of protection from criticism.  It is just taboo to criticize people’s religious beliefs.

…as I have ranted many times before, I completely agree that the business of ‘religion‘ as we know it today is responsible in great part for the manufacture of violence, unnecessary conflict, and misuse (and blatant abuse) of resources…we have to take ownership as an ‘intelligent‘ species for our actions – and can therefore not seek refuge in the shortcomings of something as inanimate as ‘religious dogma‘ to absolve ourselves of the responsibility we have to ourselves and the planet we exist on…but, I am confident that if we choose to practice humanity instead of the fear, superstition, intolerance, and prejudice-driven dogma that we call ‘religion‘ – even for a split moment – this planet will be a much, much better place…

I believe that whether a person follows any religion or not is unimportant, he must have a good heart, a warm heart. This is essential for a happy life, which is much more important than Buddhahood. This is part of what I call ’secular ethics’.

- Dalai Lama

- The Ranting Dream

Let’s start ‘learning’ to learn…

Allow me to rant a bit on this ‘innovation’ thing…

A friend, Max McKeown, summed up ‘innovation’ as follows:

“The term innovation may refer to both radical and incremental changes in thinking, in things, in processes or in services…”

(CLICK HERE for a glimpse of Max’s book: “The Truth About Innovation”)

I’ll not dwell on the meaning of ‘innovation’ (we’ll save that rant for another day) – let’s talk about ‘innovation’ as it applies to us simple, mortal beings living that crazy rat race day in and day out…

Quoting Dr. Eich:

“… Have you been playing defense and no offense? Or maybe you feel you aren’t even on the playing field, you are on the sidelines watching. Maybe you aren’t even on the sidelines watching, you are a spectator in the stands. Or worst of all, you don’t even have a ticket for the game, nor cable TV to watch it at home and you are just lying on the couch. This is how some people feel with their life and how I feel now and then. I feel the action is happening and I’m not a part of it nor even have the chance to see it. This can be a miserable feeling.

Sometimes we assess our professional lives and realize that we have just been operating a machine for an extended period of time. This machine may not even be a real machine but what we discover is that our work, our organization, or our processes have become a bit stagnant or repetitive. We lose our excitement or even hope for the future because nothing is changing. We are doing the same damn thing every day, every month, and every year and this has become bothersome. We are doing precisely the same service, making the same product, doing the same marketing, giving the same speeches, and asking the same question every month and every year. When this repetitive stagnation happens it not only adversely affects our professional life but also seeps into our personal life. Hey, most of our personal lives revolve around our professional lives anyway, so when that isn’t good, little else is. What people need is change. This is the first thing. Staying in ruts is no fun, getting out of them is…”

Change? Oh – NO!, NO! - you’re being reckless again…change is scary, change is difficult, change is unpredictable, change is risky, change is terrifying…I’m satisfied living in fear of everything that exists – there’s no way I’m getting out of that comfy box…

I’ll quote Dr. Eich again:

“…But change for what? Just change for the sake of change? Well, if you identified with that first paragraph, even change for the sake of change is a good thing. It will add a little bit of air and movement to break the stagnation and stop the mold from growing. But what is powerful, what can be downright compelling, is change when you have vision, change when you see potential for a purpose, change when there is a goal that attracts you and others like a magnet. This is what is awesome. When there is a new challenge, this awakens something in you. It may be fear, but that usually comes about first anytime change happens. So, connected to that fear is excitement and also a new found hope and perhaps invigoration in your professional life. This vision, this purpose, this goal gives you a destination to strive for. It gives your mind a reason to start thinking again. This is good for a person.

What is the ultimate for a person’s professional life is this thing called innovation. Innovation is changing. Innovation has a goal, a goal to get better. Innovation can happen in a lot of different contexts. You can innovate new or existing products. You can innovate your marketing. You can innovate your services. You can innovate your business processes. You can innovate your organization as a whole. Most compelling, motivating, and inspiring is that you can also innovate yourself as a person. Yes, all of these things have the capacity to change, to grow, to develop, and to improve…”

And so, let’s all jump on the ‘innovation’ bandwagon and make this ‘change’ happen…

Wait a minute folks!

Stop and think for a moment…

For any change (or innovation) to happen, the ability and willingness to ‘learn’ something new are critical…and the primary reason why ‘change’ is such a difficult, scary, freaky proposition is because we resist ‘new’ and ‘innovative’ ways of doing (or looking at) things – we actively resist ‘learning’ – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

Here’s another cliche for you: “…you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…”

In other words: folks who have long been used to doing things in a particular way will not abandon their habits…

Why?

Simple: we have never ‘learned’ how to ‘learn’….

That’s right folks – we have never taught ourselves ‘how’ to learn…think about this for a moment…

…and I’m not talking about ‘technique’ – the “paper-smart-otherwise-stupid” out there are already screaming: “…but we can cram – that is ‘how’ we learn…we ‘aced’ through University – surely we know ‘how’ to learn“…

…sigh!…

Learning to ‘learn’ is the key to change and innovation…the mindset is one of curiosity, of search, of desire, of passion, of agility, of willingness to accept new ideas, of generosity with what you know, of humility in knowledge, of demanding a higher standard of understanding everything within (and without) your existence…

And learning to learn is not difficult if you think about it – just look at the little kids who are not yet cultured to be ‘afraid’ of failure, or getting hurt, or other consequences – think about their capacity for learning…then stop for a moment and ask yourself why it is that you have yet to learn horseback riding, or a new language, or deep sea diving, or gourmet cooking – heck! there are some folks I know that have yet to learn how to fill gas in their car…I’m guilty as well: I’ve still not learned how to cook for myself…and my silly excuse is ‘laziness’…

Sure we have a million reasons and excuses why we don’t (or aren’t able to) do something or the other…and another million self-limiting habits (like laziness and apathy) that hinder our attitudes and ultimately affect our abilities…

But if we think deeply about it – beyond our silly excuses – we’ll see that it all boils down to one simple thing:

…we have not truly learned how to learn…

So, how does one learn to learn?

There’s no magic formula – or right or wrong way of learning how to learn – I’ll share with you one little ’secret’ that has helped me develop the desire to learn how to learn…I’m not claiming to be a master at ‘learning to learn’ – I’m still taking those ‘baby-steps’ with this myself – and my strategy is not perfect, but it works…

…I read…

Thanks momma! she made me read a lot when I was a little kid and reading became a habit very early in life…

Here’s another little ’secret’: when I pick up a book or an article, I don’t stop on the last page – I go through the bibliography, citations, and references within the book or article and endeavor to at least locate and skim through those articles, passages, books, and reference materials that the author went through during the compilation of her/his own work…

This is something I learned from my days at Microsoft – the mantra at Microsoft is to scale OUT and not UP – in the context that I learned this little ’secret’, the message is to give as much emphasis to the ‘breadth’ of any knowledge or information that you gather as you do to the ‘depth’…

And from a common-sense perspective, it’s a no-brainer – reading just one author or book or article on a subject allows you to learn from one point of view (or perspective) – as you explore ‘wider’, you start getting exposed to other thoughts and ideas from others who have spoken or written about the same or similar (and related) subjects – as you scale ‘OUT’, paradigms start to shift, and you start ‘relating’ to the material rather than just ‘reading’ it…in the process, you are also able to identify with (or at least start getting a sense of) the ‘truth’ about the subject you are pursuing – exaggerations, false claims, unfounded myths; all get exposed as you scale OUT…and you stumble upon things that you never ventured out to learn but end up learning anyway…

…that, I humbly believe, is the beginning of what I call learning how to learn…

Again, that’s not the ONLY way to develop the skill of learning to learn – be creative – do your own thing – seek out ways of learning to learn and share it with us…so that we can learn to learn from what you learn on how to learn to learn (gasp!)…

Get on the ‘innovation’ and ‘change’ bandwagon after learning how to learn – the experience will be much more rewarding and fulfilling…

“I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.”
(Eartha Kitt)

Stay well!

- The Ranting Dream