So let me see ıt I have thıs straight…after the Romans did their thang – the Catholic Church did theirs – assisted mightily by Spain, and then the Brits and then the Germans and then the U.S. But the U.S.’s hold on the world has always been tenuous – as we haven’t been able to brutalize subjugated cultures in that inimical Roman fashion. And the Brits, were no slouches in this department either, to wit – the origins of the game we know as soccer. In fact, no good Tehrangelis gathering (that’s Persians in L.A. for the under-informed) is satisfactorally concluded without some solid Brit bashing. The Brits may very well have fucked-up more countries than the U.S. and the Romans – and only Roy Harper (that old cricketer who left the crease) had the balls to say that he hates the White Man.
I wonder…had we named the U.S. The American Republic, and went about our business a bit more ruthlessly, instead of hiring penny ante dictators like the Shah, or Pinochet, or Somoza, or Hussein, or Khomeni, or Marcos, or Noriega (you get the picture) to do our dirty work – then we might not be in this bankrupt state I alluded to in Part 1. But no, instead of brutally extracting tithes from those countries – we pumped in billions of dollars to have someone else dirty their hands because we don’t like to see our hands dirty (G-Bay and Abu whatever excepted).
So now we’re left printing money that has no value, waiting on that Amero Dollar, cuz not that many people want to drive an American car that more – and that’s all we’ve got (really, what else does America have that people want?). Get your Euros while you can!
As General Motors goes – so goes the country. Hell! If my Golden State can’t get it right –with the world’s 8th largest economy (wasn’t it formerly the 5th, then 6th, then 7th?) – then how come the Turks seem to be having such a good time? This vexes me! Not that I don’t think the Turks should have a good time – because they seem like a nice bunch (though I know many Armenians who wouldn’t agree with me) – but there are so many Turks doing such seemingly meaningless things (like selling cold water) in a place with one of the highest costs of living on the planet and seemingly goddamned happy doing it (the Turks pay the highest gas prices in the world!?). And still they still seem to have fun!? Is it the Raki? Or is it something else?
Neighbor Andres, who fattened up my cat while I was away, suggests that tremendous wealth has passed through Turkey over the centuries, and, some very smart Turks have managed to hold onto it (which I believe supports my Illuminati contention). But whoever has the money – seems to be of a philanthropic bent – willing to give back to the general population; quite unlike our Northrops, or Boeings, or Hollywoods, or Blackwaters, or the Carlyle Group – nope, in these here United States – what the rich bastards squeeze-out-of-the-rest-of-us, is not a two-way street; after all, possession remains 9/10ths of the rich man’s Greed Law.
So we are left to eat the crumbs of the cake we helped bake.
Another thing I like about those Turks is that they have armed military guards on many streets, and consequently, have a very low crime rate. Now that’s something I’d pay good money for.