Hello tireless wanderer watchers,

Procrastination is an art I seem to have unwittingly perfected. I promised in the last note to share insights discovered during my sojourn into Iraq and through Eastern Europe. But, here it is time to finalize preparations for my next adventure and all I have to show for good intentions is a bunch of disjointed notes and no clear plan for bringing them together into anything resembling coherence.

In a few days I'll next be heading into that tumultuous British Commonwealth nation of Sri Lanka. After nearly thirty years of civil war things are slowly returning to normal. That means tourists can expect a safe visit to most parts of the country. My point of entry will be through Bangkok where I'll get my irregular "annual" executive physical checkup at the world famous Bumrungrad Hospital... plus some minor dental work. These past two years have been a time of serious study of what we now know about the human body: how we fail; how we heal. I've completed nearly all of the relevant courses offered by the Teaching Company and regularly watch related YouTube presentations. As a result, I am now resolved to live a more healthy life. That means stopping all prescription medicines as soon as my improving weight and blood parameters will allow! More exercise is always a part of these international expeditions so that part should be easy. Eliminating all red/fat meats and substituting fish and vegetable proteins so far has been easy. Fruits provide all the sweets I crave, so there is a good chance this time I'll succeed! (My weight is down ten pounds since early October.)

I'm departing from Las Vegas in three days, 4 November at 10:25AM (Flight AA183) and will arrive 25 hours later on 6 November 13:30 in Bangkok, the first stop for this adventure.

I continue to think about the big problems facing humanity, with the unequal distribution of wealth on the short list. I had just about concluded that Capitalism naturally creates disparity, that genetically, culturally and socially endowed smart and industrious people will always outperform the less gifted, the less motivated. That realization led me to speculate all we needed was more control over the accumulation of vast wealth through a more aggressive taxation system. Vaguely aware the banking system presents a different challenge, I have been unable to see a way to reform banking because my knowledge of economics has been too shallow. Now after completing an introductory Teaching Company course in Economics I have been prompted to restart an examination of this most complex issue with a search of presentations on the Internet. One extraordinary video documentary recently discovered is: "The Money Masters - the Rothschild mafia controls the Fed and the national Central Banks" If you have been thinking about the issue, you might want to invest the three and a half hours required to view the entire film. Unlike several other examinations of the dysfunctional financial systems in the world, which sometimes hint at conspiracy theories, this one ends with a concrete program being promoted to move our country away from the "fractional reserve banking system" now in use. With widespread growing local governmental support, the sovereignty proposal needs to be understood by anyone pondering our dysfunctional economic system. I'm not sure how we can ever get a congress full of people owing their elections to the small handful of wealthy who paid for their campaigns to do what is in the best interests of the people they are "supposed" to represent, but the effort must be made.

Andy, who enjoys sharing his economics expertise during our occasional luncheon discussions here in Las Vegas, directed my attention to "Wealth Distribution in America," which highlights both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. Anytime you watch presentations on YouTube, related videos are listed in the right hand column. YouTube is an amazing learning tool: the embedded search tool finds videos on just about any subject, eg. Wealth Inequality In America. Following the suggested leads I watched many more related documentaries including: Wealth inequality in the world. One of the most provocative and believable economists I've discovered is Richard Wolf. Watch Bill Moyers interview: "Economist Richard Wolff on Capitalism Run Wild" Does Capitalism necessarily lead to these huge disparities in wealth between the top one percent of people and all the rest? Of the many lectures available on YouTube, one of the most thought provoking has been: "Richard Wolff presents Democracy at work: A Cure for Capitalism" After years of believing the problems are so enormous that no one can say or do anything that will make any difference and that the world's economic systems are headed for a violent correction, I now see a glimmer of hope for better times... albeit in a future generation.

The next postcard probably will be penned somewhere in Thailand, Bangkok most likely.

 

Peace,

Fred L Bellomy

  

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