A Moon for the Misbegotten

Posted by MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 16 September 2008 in Plant & Nature.

Thesis #1: The top news of today will have an important impact on the U.S. elections: in a time of crisis nobody wants change, but security. Don't get me wrong here, I won't support the one or the other, but I think that Monday was the day when John McCain has already won the presidential election. All he has to do is just say "No experiments!" and people will follow.

Thesis #2: When Lehman Bros. fires its trainees and other employees, many of them will consider whether it's reasonable to return into this kind of business or if it would be better to do something completely different. If reason couldn't prevent them from jumping into the shark tank then perhaps the trauma of losing their jobs will do.

Thesis #3: The financial crisis is not a crisis of capitalism but a crisis in capitalism. Former utilization cycles worked like clockwork, substantial gains were made that didn't find enough investment possibilities (one of the last approaches - dumping money into the Internet market - was a mere disaster, when the Internet bubble bursted). Then the money went to the financial markets and produced the next bubble that is going to burst now. This is bad for the affected market, but that's the game. It's a rule and not an exception of capitalism.

Thesis #4: You know at least one person in your circle of friends and acquaintances who gives you advices like: "If you have some money to spare, go and buy something you can melt down when times are getting really hard. Invest in tangible assets. Consider planting useful plants in your backyard. Sell your car."

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Comments (10)

dj.tigersprout from San Bruno, CA, United States

i love this -- beautifully titled too! as for your theories: i think we are all waiting anxiously. but it would be a terrible mistake were McCain to win... leaving Palin in office when he suffers a stroke / heart attack in the first year. that would be a true mistake indeed... and direly so! :(

16 Sep 2008 6:12am

@dj.tigersprout: There are chances that the election results don't matter at all, as the economic necessities will dictate the next president's policy.

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

I know a Werewolf is lurking around there somewhere.

I guess it depends on how you want to define "capitalism." But if you consider the less cynical definitions, which would include "free markets," then there is no capitalism to be in crisis. The US has an evolving soft fascist economic system that is euphemistically being referred to by some as "crony capitalism." We're not seeing a traditional economic cycle, we're seeing a cycle of corruption. The thieves tried to steal more gold than they could carry and now their drowning in their own greed. But no worries, both parties support keeping the wealthy criminals in their yachts and mansions at the expense of the middle class taxpayer.

What security? No experiment? McCain wants to go to war with Russia (and about 10 other countries). That seems pretty experimental. And while you might say McCain won the election today, I'd say that the American people, and the world, lost the election, though I'd say the same thing if you had called Obama the winner. You might say that McCain is Bush plus, and Obama is Bush Lite. I doubt, once all the nonsense and propaganda is sorted that anyone can articulate any substantive policy difference between candidates. Both parties are going to give us more war, more death and destruction, more corporate welfare, less rule of law, less liberty, and poorer economic conditions. Bertrand Russell called it a little early perhaps, but this is a plutocracy, not a democracy.

16 Sep 2008 6:13am

@Twelvebit: I think you're missing the GDR experience. In the last ten years of its existence the socialist Eastern Germany tried to set up a market without the rules of the market. The result was a national bankruptcy, German taxpayers are still paying for this.

Btw, a well calculated war is a very classical solution for treating unsolvable problems. Unfortunately I lost the source, but a German magazine for bankers romanced about the 'total war' already in the 1880s! The situation then was similar to ours (financial crisis, funds on the run, declining productivity). You know what happened. The next decade will be most interesting.

MaryP from Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom

This certainly conjures up thoughts of werewolves and the like. Very creepy moon, but i love it.I like the moon glow on the clouds. Great shot. ( I am English and agree with every word from Twelvebit. We have the same problems here.No political party here is worth it's salt. Greed and corruption is rife, and criminal justice is out the window.The rich get rich and the poor get poorer.)

16 Sep 2008 7:51am

@MaryP: One problem is that today you have the 'choice' between conservative neo-liberal parties and 'social democratic' neo-liberal parties. Why should anybody vote for this? The result is a depoliticized nation that is vulnerable to charismatic 'leaders' with simple 'solutions'. As it happened in my country only 75 years ago.

Linerberry from Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand

Absolutely wonderful shot ms! A very spooky atmosphere and love it. I do love the moon and have tried to capture it many times but none have been as good as this!!!
I agree with the above...I worry about what will happen in the US and also Britain...I'm English living in NZ so I don't know if I can comment, but its one of the main reasons i left the UK! You are so right Mary!!

16 Sep 2008 9:12am

@Linerberry: Hmmm... emigrating to NZ would go far enough... :-)

Observing from West Cheshire, United Kingdom

Crisis....? maybe, but it's purposely engineerd just like every other recession and economic collapse in the past, all composed and conducted by the federal reserve. Do you believe that the price of a barrel of oil has done all this? Do you think that forclosures in the US can effect the Euro nations and Asia? Not unless they want it that way.

Yesterday the Eurobank pumped 50billion into the market, today the UK pumped 20billion in, just where is all this money coming from... and who is financing it? Why would they take risks with such enormous amounts of capital? because they know within the next 4 - 6 weeks it will all be over, exactly according to plan.

The result of this crash is that the amount of debt has increased, and the central bank is laughing. When the stocks and shares start to to rise again, we the consumer will have to borrow.... and the koffers are full.

A Bad Moon Rising........!

16 Sep 2008 3:54pm

@Observing: These 70 billion Euros were taking my breath away. Just minutes ago I've read that the Lehman crash will burden the German protection of deposits - that means that maintained accounts on German private banks are no longer secure, because there's no money left to secure them. The domino effect has already begun. I should buy a patch of ground in the countryside and some weapons...

Jennifer Hatcher from Alpharetta, United States

Awesome image...
truly spooky, creepy, eerie and gives a sense of looming doom and evil...'nuff said!

16 Sep 2008 4:34pm

@Jennifer Hatcher: At least I didn't feel like howling at it... ;-)

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

btw, a well calculated war is a very classical solution for treating unsolvable problems.

I guess that depends on how you want to define "war." The US has been in a perpetual war economy since 1941, without remission. We spend as much, or more, on war, as the rest of the entire world combined. We spend something like 10 times more than Russia, and 6 times more than China, with one third of China's population (and all the while our media manages to convince Americans what a big threat Russia and China are --with absolutely masterful propaganda). After the Soviet "threat" evaporated, the "threat" of terrorism was discovered, which to give credit where due, is a much more useful, flexible, and imaginative threat than the "cold war," or even hot war between States --which always ends eventually. A war on a noun like "terrorism" is much better because it is ever changing, amorphous, undefined, provides an endless supply of enemies, and hence, never ends. It's whatever those in power want it to be.

Granted, a few hundred terrorists scattered across the globe don't provide much opportunity for using big fancy new weapons systems, and don't call for much expenditure on hardware and munitions. And F-16s and submarines and tanks are useless against terrorists, so we do still need a little hot war now and then so we can wreak havoc and destruction, buy new missiles and bombs and shiny new planes, and let out massive rebuilding contracts for various national infrastructures. But we're running out of Afghanistans and Iraqs --it seems like all the countries worth bombing now have nukes, like Pakistan. So whatcha gonna do?

16 Sep 2008 7:31pm

@Twelvebit: There are obvious parallels in warfare to the situation in Orwell's 1984: wars of our time are not meant to come to an end. But there are still numerous possibilities: engineers will enhance modern warfare using robotics: soon at a war near you. But 'hot' wars might also come back: the next 5 - 10 years will show if Russia will hold out hope of becoming a superpower again and if they will challenge the leading nation.

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

I'm very pessimistic. I have to consider the very real possibility that if the very unstable McCain gets into power with his end-times seeking VP, the US will cease to exist within the next four years. This is the first time in my life I've actually been terrified about what the future might bring.

16 Sep 2008 11:02pm

@Twelvebit: Invest in tangible assets and hide them. You can sell them later for a much higher price. How fertile is your soil?
Serious: however the next president will be, if he takes his job seriously then he will be totally engrossed in solving the economic crisis. He won't have many degrees of freedom to do this. But I understand your concern, as the worst is yet to come.

Steven from Chicagoland, United States

A great capture where the clouds play a big part in the overall abience and effectiveness of the photo. I don't know if I am reading the EXIF info correct in the side column, but it seems like it didn't require much of a zoom on your part. I'll try to zoom in all the way on the moon and it still appears as a white dot. :-|

I'd love to discuss American politics, but I am all "politicked out." I am glad that I do not live in a "swing state" or else my flat screen TV would have been torn off the wall and thrown in the garbage. :-)

17 Sep 2008 12:39am

@Steven: white dot: Usually this is true for my photos, but here I used a rather long exposure (1 sec) and used the clouds as sort of a dimming filter. So I could preserve some details from the moon's surface as well as the rather dark clouds.
Polictics: I think that policy is still an extremely important subject (there are too many folks trying to steal our civil rights), but the alternatives of how to shape policy are decreasing. If you only have a choice between dark grey and light grey, it's just all grey. Same situation in Germany.

JoeB from Brampton, Canada

I don't think McCain will win the election, I think Americans will wake from the long slumber of the Bush administration. I still maintain that we fight the wrong enemy, its the large corporations we should be going after. The moon is the closest reminder that were not the only thing around, staring at it should make you humble. A Moon for the Misbegotten... Is The Iceman Cometh far behind.

17 Sep 2008 1:25am

@JoeB: I hope that too, but as long as taxpayers have to pay for the white collar boys' failures, they will continue their parasitic work. There are strong forces that will do everything to fulfill neo-liberal fantasies. and their lobbyists are well paid. It takes my breath away when I look at these sums of money that get burned these days.

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Canon EOS 300D
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F/9.0
ISO 100
55 mm