Answering the 'what if' of Alaska independence

 If the United States wanted to get rid of Alaska and Alaska was therefore forced to be an independent nation it would need to rely on the United States or some other nation to supply military defense for it. Alaska of course does have a lot of natural resources to sell, yet I am skeptical about its prospects for defending against Chinese, Russian or Canadian invasions relying just on the national guard.

Alaska would need to become a nuclear power and develop a fleet of nuclear armed Kamikaze drones submarines and aircraft to assure mutual destruction to its attackers. That would be costly and in violation of a few treaties that it hasn’t signed yet though other nations have.

Alaskans could stay alive until they died eating fish and buffalo or caribou. Man does not live by bread alone though, and Alaska would need some kind of immigration policy to attract more quality people economically speaking to live there and the harm to the environment would be substantial with the increased population that presently is fewer than 800,000 people.

People can live in very poor circumstances and so could Alaskans although they might fare pretty well for-themselves. When Alaska participates in a trade fair with an advanced nation like China, it has art, carvings of ivory, snowshoes, oil barrels and smoked fish etc. while China has super-computers, super-tankers, jet aircraft and so forth and a million manufactures. Exporting logs used to be a prime Alaska business and then they upgraded to manufacturing log homes to sell to the Japanese and others who like those for some reason.

In a peaceful environment Alaska could get on fine, while in a war environment it just would not have the trillions invested to defeat an enemy that is well founded. Tourists could arrive by the millions annually to spend cash looking at lem sheds and huts in remote rural locations and Hollywood could make brave movies there with harrowing adventures of people fighting and climbing on the last glaciers in North America.

Inflation of dollars vs bitcoin

 If a high rate of inflation occurred with wages and prices skyrocketing it might be easier for people to pay off mortgages and student loans. For sure inflation would not be good to people on fixed incomes. Contracts written at a particular pre-inflation price could be paid off with inflated dollars. Since the Fed hates inflation as apparently do the rich, because perhaps, capital usually increases faster than wages except during periods of inflation (I believe), it’s unlikely to happen.

It is interesting to compare bitcoin inflation or value with that of a dollar. Inflated bitcoin value is regarded as good, while that of the dollar is bad.

Ecologically sustainable, relevant infrastructure and libertarianism

Governments have always been around to keep social order. In theory they can accomplish things that individuals and private collectives can’t afford or don’t have an interest in. Plato said that the commons is neglected by the polis and is the worst kept area in comparison to private interests. Private interests though have their own interests in mind and not those of the public. A libertarian society, if such could actually exist except in a frontier setting with corruption being the rule rather than the exception and a Frank Reed like character needed to free the town of its Soapy Smiths, would likely be a rathole.

In a libertarian society infrastructure would grow incidentally without regard to public interest. If the technological tool kit required for building infrastructure is simple and if the demands on society are simple the infrastructure may self-regulate. Consider a primitive society with people hunting seals on the ice with spears- they require no public spending because the society is simple and services are provided by nature. Compare that to England in the industrial revolution when people were getting cholera of drinking water from the Thames river- the remedy required public mediation to treat all that sewage effluence.

The nation today has people going off in a zillion directions chasing after tangential political ideas that will not allow the national or global economy to continue to exist very far down the road with more than 12 billion people on Earth by the end of the century. Excellent new ideas need to appear that can coordinate planetary redevelopment toward a new direction of ecological economic synthesis and libertarian won’t do that. Neither will communism or socialism- each have problems in repressing free enterprise where new structures need arise from invention.

Americans in the private sector are quite concerned with getting their special economic interest gored when new and massive government-directed changes take places that would allow an infrastructure of sustainable support for 12 billion people. Governments don’t have a surfeit of inventive people able to originate and explain great redevelopment ideas obviously. Jacques Cousteau and James Lovelock each expressed the idea that humanity has fewer than 200 years left before collapse and I tend to agree with that prospect. On basic political facts and forms they are confused and splintered chasing after things that won’t work very far into the future.

Public and private interests each can mismanage infrastructure and keep existing forms long beyond their historical time for utility. In the present global environment that is akin to packing gunpowder for storage in a warehouse on the waterfront as occurred in Lebanon last year.

Effects of US consumerism 1920s unto today

 The United States was more of a producer rather than a consumer society in the 1920s. People continued to put up their own preserves with home grown food wherever possible. There were no fast food joints and few chain stores. Much of the nation wasn’t electrified, television didn’t exist and in brief the nation was very, very different than today.

The U.S.A. was still on the gold standard and the federal government did usually run deficits except during war. During the 1920s President Harding and Coolidge reduced public debt to about five billion dollars. History of the United States public debt - Wikipedia

Wall Street’s eventual crash was caused by ‘irrational exuberance’ and to great of expansion and investment. Churchill as the British Chancellor of the Exchequer persuaded the U.S. government to be tight with bailing out Wall Street and the lack of financial stimulus helped a run on banks The rise of Nazi problems would also cause increased military spending in the 1930s and further cycles of debt, conflict, military industrial complex spirals and tax increases. History tends to repeat itself in several ways at least in regard to fiscal, tax and public spending policies.

Consumerism in the 1920s was not at all like it is today. The United States was still a primary producer at home and in industry. Manufacturers could put into business the inventions of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell etc. Farming was increased with new machine technology and became more productive and less labor intensive. Road and dam building projects occurred in several states to use the increasing automobile production and electrification to put Americans to work. The nation then was not so reliant on foreign production and financial services for jobs. It still built infrastructure and was not afraid to upgrade in response to existential challenges.

Today the U.S.A. should take at least some small steps to return toward a production value. That could include reducing patent costs and streamlining them by orders of magnitude so U.S. inventors who are poor can do more than give their ideas away on the Internet to whomever wants to use them, creating tax incentives for those out of work longest to be hired and assuring that all Americans can afford higher education through graduate school to maximize their potential etc.

Defining the origin of the Universe

There are lots of theories existing at any given time (in time). Often they are disproven. Sometimes they convey an image of authority to the people that advocate the most popular theory.

A Higgs field and an inflaton that arises about simultaneously splitting off from an unstable field at T=0 from a singularity is a popular theory. It is thought to have existed carefully balanced in a vacuum balanced between positive and negative energy. After the expansion of all that energy in the Higgs field and a win for matter over anti-matter the sub-luminal mass of the Universe continued along with gravity, stellar synthesis and biological evolution. People tend to accept those general parameters as a valid theory of the origin of everything in this Universe back to a singularity.

Then there are meta-theories that have the initial energy before expansion as pure spirit- in the mind of God as it were, with the expansion pre-determined in accordance with His will. Some people have tossed blind random chance into a meta-theory to explain the existence of life, and have postulated a profusion of Universes existing in a Multiverse along the lines of Everett’s every possible universe that could exist does exist principal. That is a good approach for a defining theory that allows for the Universe to be in several forms with several explanations for its existence depending upon where one starts or orients the beginning.

If mass and energy are at the most fundamental level secondary phenomena of mathematical or spiritual construction made by a thinking being, or alternatively is a Super-string theory supports the profusion of Universes, or if the Universes are something like a static field with mind switching between the appropriate Universe that corresponds to what the sentient, primary being thinks (a phenomenon of mind) in a deterministic field with free will determining the destination of the traveler through the moral or soteriological facts, or if one appeals to quantum simulation theory with the idea of origin coinciding with some sort of Schrodinger wave function collapse into self-awareness the definition of the origin of the Universe might appear equally valid to the sentient observer even tested with some measure of falsifiability.

Therefor a definition of the origin of the Universe these days tends to be a process. The genesis of being and nothingness has an in God we trust element to it for those of us that regard an omniscient being and Creator of every possible Universe at some stage of the way, and a logical point to purpose and utility- again a process.

Language itself is a process of associating words and objects, meanings and ideas with definitions and objects each changing in the temporal field of common human experience. God, alternatively, is constant forever and before any temporal field that he manifests.

On clever, creative people in government

 I would like clever creative people to be in government sometimes instead of just the private sector that tends to pay much better. My thoughts on defense against biological war potential differ quite a bit from those of the government apparently, judging from the lack of interest expressed in defending against the possibility. One would need to have politicians that actually would change things to invest much time in making suggestions for change.

Actually I write quite a bit and it is mostly wasted as far as applications go in specific area. One may give away ideas yet they will be transformed into sludge. I would not have applied the term incompetent to President Trump myself as a general criticism. He was mostly irrelevant outside his interests- that is he was satisfied in getting his own interests done and unresponsive to other challenges. It is not my idea that Democrats are very competent in meeting modern challenges to the U.S.A.- quite the contrary. I know expect nothing substantive from them yet would like to be disappointed. Republicans alternatively are just interested in business profits and mostly are exteriorities to the challenges facing the nation, people and environment over the next decade.

Biological war prospects have advanced quite a bit since 2003 when there was a publication by a Colonel reviewing revolutions in military affairs (R.M.A.) He mentioned the number of fully sequenced virus genos then (about 500). I checked on that number this morning and it is more than 10,000. There is a pandoras box of genetic recombinant engineering and subtle modifications for the tool kit of bioweapons that is not in any way addressed competently. Protecting the public as an excuse for not letting the public be aware of the R.M.A. that has made biowar and culling of the population of the nation and/or the planet a real possibility is lame.

Human life on the planet needs new ecospherically conservative and restorative infrastructure that would allow humanity to cut its vector from ancient economic infrastructure with sustainability for the maximum population at the highest standard of living. A healthy and thriving ecosphere is part of the quality of life that makes living enjoyable. Infrastructure firewalls defrapping bioweapons mass culls would need to be part of that new ecological economic infrastructure.

There is a clever mini-electric train that shows the simplicity of modern science and technology that can serve as a for-example to be upscaled and applied with innovation that could help in making mass transit and personal transit a better synthesis in a rewilded ecosystem that requires just a little imagination. 

Senator Romney's anti-stimulus ideology isn't balanced

 Mitt Romney isn’t a bad guy, he is just rich and a little out of touch with the life experience of ordinary people and the poor- that sort of thing. During his Presidential campaign he said that half the people of the U.S.A. don’t want to work. Social disadvantage has an inertia that is hard to break sometimes. Society tends to be picky as well- people that are a little older or uncool may be unwelcome in the workplace. Once one gets out of the social average mainstream of the workplace there is a kind of antibody response that can react adversely to those seeking re-entry into the workplace.   Stimulus unemployment benefits should approximate those of individual employment pre-Covid though.

https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1364557875323015168?s=20

If employers had incentives to hire those out of work longest that might alleviate chronic unemployment. If free education continued through graduate school some people could develop meaningful careers instead of competing with illegal aliens for minimum wage jobs. If all Americans had some secure place to keep their stuff they would not need to repurchase basic items every time they are homeless and recover a little.

The income of C.E.O.s and top executives is vastly greater than it was in the mid-1970s while the average wage of working men as stagnated adjusted for inflation and hasn’t changed in nearly a half century. Capital increases faster than wages over history. Wealth concentrates and Senator Romney is a member of that capital-grows-faster-than-wages class making a farce of wages.

Even during the Covid 19 pandemic the capital and wealth of Wall Street has increased. Giving some Americans a little spending capital is nothing comparable to the wealth the Federal Reserve is giving the rich with continued near-zero interest loans (with one dollar on deposit a bank and loan out nine times more e-dollars (free money).

In actual fact a decent job without victimization in the workplace is far less work than being unemployed…one does not have a fantasy life where work is not necessary-except maybe for the rich who can live off their savings and capital. Real poverty creates real hardship and adversity physically and socially.

Could a different administration reaction to Covid have avoided lockdowns etc

 Trump’s swift response to halt flights incoming from China wasn’t followed up well by actions and leadership that would have defrapped the spread of the virus most effectively. The President lacked motivation, as do many others apparently, to combat biological war at a low level effectively. As a former NBC army trainee I believe the administration should have got hot suppressing the virus- that could be good practice for an actual biological war with an advanced genetically engineered vector.

Could the administration have acted so effectively that Covid 19 restrictions wouldn’t have been needed for so much time, or could any other U.S. politicians have taken charge and eliminated the virus in a few months- probably not. Politicians are promoted to their level of incompetence and aren’t selected for having state of the art intelligence concerning non-traditional economic, technical, environmental or scientific innovation.

While many citizens were concerned with protecting their fellow citizens against Covid 19 there were many others that did not and were as useless as dopey cattle at taking simple measures like wearing a mask. Personally I was disgusted with people going maskless when I enjoyed wearing full M.O.P.P gear at chemical war defense school and could put that on in a couple of minutes. President Trump was a farce of an example at mask prophylaxis. He probably did not want to be reelected…many of his voters from 2016 were aging boomers whom he seemed not to give a whit about.

America’s tardy and uninventive response to Covid 19 besides the manufacturers of the vaccines confirmed my suspicion that a lot of not too bright people live in this nation that are clueless about the meaning of life in general on this somewhat fragile planet and would not do anything to reconfigure economic structures or society that would inconvenience themselves as they use their infernal machines to get things done the easy way, repeat, expand, repeat… Biological war is possibly the most efficient way to kill healthy soldiers and others targeted by special weapons. The brain-dead dragging their feet at Covid 19 defense could themselves be the victims of a future incident that might be just as far away as some secret PhD’s basement laboratory. Biological war is not an obsolete fact- it is a future possibility that national defense needs to develop swift reactions to that would also allow the economy to continue to function- that criterion demands the capacity for walking and chewing gum simultaneously.

The people that manufactured masks at home contributed far more than the scoffers did for the nation to survive the virus. Those people seemed to believe that herd immunity was the way to go and let a million or two die would have suited them just fine. There are many people that increase knowledge with age and some middle aged people that are never more than vehicle driving, beer-drinking consumer-producers with a paycheck never thinking about global or national issues before they drop dead on their sofas. With national and planetary demographics being what they are that attitude will serve the principle of human survival better than lemmings racing toward oblivion. People really need to think and develop good political economy that maximizes human potential for everyone on Earth, as well as the ecosphere.

Passenger Service Vessel Act and Alaskan Cruises

 I probably would be opposed to loosening the PSVA or the Jones Act because of the potential damage to Americans seeking to operate vessels in a very competitive international shipping environment. One could open a Pandora’s box of international firms operating around the nation including Alaska that might endanger national security and otherwise could serve to make being an American even more irrelevant in the corporate, globalist economy.

In a year or so the Covid 19 vaccines probably will let the cruise industry return to normal. Before Covid Juneau had maybe 30,000 visitors a day and even small towns like Wrangell were anticipating a rise in the number of cruise ships tying up. That all crashed in 2020 and 2021.

Rather than end existing legislation it would be better to stimulate land transport to Alaska through Canada on hyper-tubes for cargo. People have discussed extended a rail road to Alaska for more than a half century and that should be upgraded to hyper-tube technology.

Alaska hasn’t got a tradition of bright and innovative politicians except for jay Hammond and Steve Cowper in the office of governor in my opinion. The present fine governor seems not to understand the marine Highway System very well- not that his predecessors did either, and has let it atrophy during the budget crisis. Some private enterprise has stepped in to provide passenger service locally and that should be supported with contracts of some type and perhaps bids to provide private rather than state-owned ferry service in S.E. Alaska at least.

Alaska should try to be more modern an work to upgrade an infrastructure and housing that are ecologically sustainable and practical such as giving tax breaks to earth homes that stay warm when it is -30 F outside and developing fuel cell power plants in remote sites.

The state of Alaska had dumped Prudhoe Bay oil money for decades and that brought a brand of politicians to Juneau that didn’t need to do much besides apportion pork; critical thinking and fundamental policies that governments have used such as a state income tax have never needed to be on the agenda of political leadership. I believe they still cannot reconcile themselves to the end of easy oil royalties as the basis for state government. Clever free enterprise and invention can go a long way to make an economy function well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Vessel_Services_Act_of_1886

Aren't the 1% ad hoc suzerains

 An empire usually has foreign colonies historically speaking and the United States has none. Except for a brief 20 year period when the United States had the Philippines as a colony as a result of the Spanish-American war, before it gave that nation independence. The U.S.A. never did have colonies nor an emperor or imperial government. The original 13 colonies were of course part of the British Empire before the revolution. Today the U.S.A. has a few territories populated by citizens of the U.S.A. in addition to 50 states that became part of the union voluntarily at some point. Puerto Rico is an example; they could petition Congress to become a state yet appear satisfied to be a territory.

There is a plain difference concerning empires and nations historically easy to discern. Britain and Rome had empires as did the Soviet Union in some respects with Warsaw Pact nations taken during the war against the Nazis, yet that definition is debatable. The trouble with morphing historical terms is that they become meaningless in respect to their original sense and one may conflate completely different forms within one form mistakenly. It is as if contemporary history analyst recognize only several ancient forms of government and try to fit new forms into old categories lacking the will to create a new definition for themselves.

Some people like to call the United States an empire because it has a lot of wealth and foreign troops stationed abroad to bring or keep the peace, and one might regard the 1% as an aristocracy, yet technically the United States isn’t an empire so much as a corporatist entity with plutocratic suzerainty that evolved from a national democracy. In this paradigm I would say the 1% act toward the 99% in their own country as suzerains.