Sunday, July 31, 2022

I'll Catch Ya Later

This column will resume in December! 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay


This is a weekly column consisting of letters to my perspicacious progeny. I write letters to my grandkids — the Stickies — eventual selves to advise them and haunt them after they've become grups and/or I'm deleted.

Trigger Warning: This column is rated SSC — Sexy Seasoned Citizens — Perusal by kids, callowyutes, or grups may result in a debilitating meltdown.  

Glossary 

Featuring Dana: Hallucination, guest star, and charming literary device 

"I shall return." -Douglas MacArthur


Dear (eventual) Grandkids (& Gentlereaders),

I'm spending the summer in a cabin on a beautiful lake somewhere in the Swiss Alps, working on my memoirs, and trying to decide if this column will resume post-Labor Day. The market has found me wanting; I'm buying most of my own coffee just now. So be it, I remain an unrepentant supporter of capitalism. 

My big brother Eddie is currently my only financial patron so I'm starting to feel like Van Gogh... without the world-class talent, but with both ears. I'm also considering publishing only when the spirit moves me. Cranking out columns week after week, while enjoyable, is hard work — well, intellectually speaking — at least for me. 

{It sure ain't roofing or the like you whiney b...}

In the meantime, I'll be republishing mostly gently (but occasionally heavily) edited columns with updated statistics and fun facts in [brackets].


Aw, the hell with it.

This column is supposed to be The History of the World Vol. 6, part of a multi-column series originally published in 2016. But I'm pulling the plug, for now at least, on this blog/column. I've decided to not wait for pseudo-Labor Day. I've also decided, like the Terminator, that I will be back — eventually. 

{Pseudo-Labor Day?}

Wikipedia: "Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States."

Reality check: Labor Day is a three-day weekend, one of a handful of holidays that have morphed into three-day weekends, some by law. Many laborers, particularly those employed in the service industries, have to work on Labor Day or the Labor Day weekend. They labor to serve people who don't.  

Irony abounds. 


Anyway, both volumes 6 and 7 were primarily devoted to pointing out how the more or less free markets of the West have created the unprecedented prosperity of the modern world. Even the Chinese "Communist" Party has embraced, sorta/kinda, capitalism. 

However, their version, and unfortunately ours to a lesser but growing degree, is a form of crony capitalism that's devolving into a hybrid, Neofeudalism. The Fedrl Gummi, the Oligarchs, and the Clerisy on the one hand — the rest of us, the neopeasantry, on the other. 

Neofeudalism, as explained by Joel Kotkin in a great article, Newfudalism and its new legitimizers, that you really should read, neatly sums up my thoughts on the matter. 

Unfortunately, what I've come to believe about supposedly free markets since originally writing parts six and seven require that they be significantly revised, and for myriad reasons, including some health issues that have recently reared their ugly head, I'm currently not up to the task. 

So, the hell with it.. for now. But like the Terminator, I'll (likely, hopefully) be back in some form or fashion. Keep an eye on the headlines. 

To be continued...

Poppa loves you,
Have an OK day


Scroll down to share this column/access oldies. If you enjoy my work, and no advertising, please consider buying me a coffee via _____ card or PayPal.    

Feel free to comment and set me straight on Cranky's Facebook page. I post my latest columns on Saturdays, other things other days. Cranky don't tweet.
  

  





















No comments:

Post a Comment

Don't demonize, compromise