America cannot live so carelessly forever - The Financial Times

America cannot live so carelessly forever -The Financial Times


October 7, 2013 3:49 pm

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/33512640-2f38-11e3-8cb2-00144feab7de.html#axzz2h6VEFRPW

America cannot live so carelessly forever

By Gideon Rachman

Playing Russian roulette is never advisable. Congress may find a bullet in the chamber this time

©Ingram Pinn

Watching the US budget crisis unfold, I was reminded of a famous passage inThe Great Gatsby. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy,” wrote F Scott Fitzgerald, “they smashed up things, and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together.”

Right now, the Republicans and Democrats in Washington are behaving like theTom and Daisy of global politics – a warring couple, whose rows seem more likely to damage innocent bystanders than themselves. American politicians seem confident that their nation’s wealth and power allow them to get away with careless behaviour that would be swiftly punished in a weaker and poorer country.

History suggests that this complacency is justified. Congress has played Russian roulette withgovernment shutdowns before – and the bullet chamber has always been empty. More broadly, the 50 years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy have thrown up repeated political melodramas – from Watergate to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Each time, many thought that the American system was unravelling. Yet, each time, the US bounced back. For while America’s political flaws are very visible, its economic and social strengths are too easily discounted.
By contrast, foreigners have sometimes paid a heavy price for careless behaviour in Washington. It is a standard, self-pitying complaint in Brussels that the crisis in the eurozone was triggered by the collapse of a US investment bank, Lehman Brothers. A large part of the rest of the world’s grim fascination with the budget crisis reflects the fear that if the US economycatches another cold, the rest of the world will get pneumonia. China has told the US not to imperil the value of its holdings of US Treasury bills and Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, has warned of the damage the crisis could do to the world economy. But such complaints are drowned out by self-interested bickering in Congress.

The sense that the US is prone to “careless” behaviour that puts others at risk extends to international politics. America paid a high price in lives lost and money wasted during the Iraq war. But the US has now gone home and lost interest. Iraq, meanwhile, is still in the grip of the terrible civil conflict that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The current crisis evokes mixed reactions in foreigners. Many, like Ms Lagarde, know that the rest of the world could pay a heavy price for the folly in Washington – and genuinely long for the Americans to pull themselves together. America’s admirers wince at the sight of a nation that they hold up as a model, making itself look so bad. But among those that resent US global leadership, there is considerable schadenfreude at the sense that the Americans – who like to preach about democracy abroad – are making such a bad fist of democracy at home. The Chinese will also be delighted that America’s efforts to assert leadership in Asia at the Apec summit have been thwarted by the fact that President Barack Obama has had to pull out to attend to the crisis in Washington. As for Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president – who recently took to the pages of The New York Times to warn Americans against the dangers of believing themselves “exceptional” – he would doubtless take a certain pleasure, if the markets eventually told Americans that they were not so exceptional, after all.
Conversely, the fear for the likes of Mr Putin is that those careless Americans will get another free pass. For the fact is that the US is so important to the smooth functioning of the global economy that the rest of the world has a vested interest in overlooking reckless behaviour in Washington. The last time the US played fast and loose with the debt ceiling, in 2011, Standard & Poor’s downgraded its debt rating. At the time many commentators saw this as a historic turning point and predicted that America’s borrowing costs would soar. In reality borrowing costs stayed low. Tom and Daisy had got away with it, again.

However, the fact that America has repeatedly survived careless behaviour – and bounced back from crises – has bolstered the inward-looking complacency in Washington. That, in turn, seems to have persuaded US politicians that they can take ever greater risks with the nation’s finances. But repeated games of Russian roulette are never advisable. It is certainly possible that this time Congress will spin the chamber – and find that there really is a bullet in it.
If a compromise is reached before the US Treasury runs up against the debt ceiling on October 17, then this will probably just be a case of “crisis as usual”. But if America crashes through the debt barrier, things get serious. As Gavyn Daviesargued last week, it seems marginally more likely that the Obama administration will drastically cut back on current expenditure rather than default on debt payments. Moving overnight to a balanced budget would be a form of immediate forced austerity of the kind that has caused deep recessions in countries such as Greece and Spain – as they too have struggled to balance their budgets.

The difference would be that US austerity would be caused not by the pressure of the markets, or the IMF – instead it would be a self-inflicted wound that caused huge damage to ordinary Americans and to the global economy. That really would be careless.

gideon.rachman@ft.com

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Globalisation

The following is an essay written by me about Globalisation which has been extracted from my book - The Universe - A Personal View ( page 233 to 236 )

Link to my book :-  https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqa2hjbGlmZXN0eWxlfGd4OjM5NmM2NTViMjAzY2M5MTk

Globalisation

This is one of those grand terminologies that can spell disaster for the weaker party taking part in the game. The World Bank defines globalization as “ the freedom and ability of individuals to initiate voluntary economic transactions with residents of other countries. “ This term has been popular since the 1980s and is used in connection with the increased economic activities between all countries in the world especially the opening up of Third World economies to the developed nations such as the USA and the European Union. It is similar to the free trade concept between two partner nations only that it is universally applicable to all countries in the world through the establishment of international organizations such as the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( GATT ). It is, in fact, the modern term for internationalization that had been in progress since the industrial revolution in the western countries that was gathering pace during the 1850s. With the dramatic increase in productive capacities brought about by the industrial revolution and mass production methods introduced by industrialists such as Henry Ford in the motor car industry in USA in the early 1900s, the need to open up international markets became a pressing issue. The technologically more advanced and better developed nations were making excessive profits out of the economically and industrially less developed countries including resource rich ones like China. Thus, industrialization and imperialism went hand in hand during the century up to the 1950s. Cutting a long and painful story for the human race short, the profit making motive ( or simply greed ) of the classical capitalistic countries such as England, USA and other European powers had led the industrialized countries to dominate the world stage for over a century since the industrial revolution at the tragic expense of the less industrialized nations until the enlightened version of capitalism developed after the First World War. Internationalization continued in the formation of global or nearly global organizations such as the League of Nations after the First World War and subsequently the United Nations ( established by the San Francisco Conference of 1945 ) after the Second World War. The more important global financial institutions are the World Bank ( as mentioned in connection with the definition of globalization ), the International Monetary Fund and the G-8 Summit involving the eight most economically developed countries ( USA, Canada, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Russia ).

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There were also lesser regional trade and political organizations that were also part of this gradual globalization process. These included the OPEC of the oil production countries formed during the global oil crisis in the 1970s, EFTA, the predecessor of the EU, NAFA of North American countries for free trade, NATO ( North Alantic Treaty Organization ) for the defence of Western Europe and USA, the Warsaw Pact countries under the former Sovet Union for the defence of Eastern Europe, SEATO ( South East Asian Treaty Organization ) for the defence of the pro-western countries of South East Asia, including Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, France, UK and USA ( the last three countries were involved because of their colonies and protectorates in South East Asia ). The main purpose for SEATO's establishment back in 1954 was to oppose any further Communist expansion in the area. Anyway, globalization has been a slowly creeping international phenomenon since the industrial revolution of the mid nineteenth century.

The basic problem with globalization is that it is a strong man's game and money calls the shots as it was the case with classical capitalism. The golbalization process is getting more and more like a resurrection of the old form of inhumane capitalism. Despite the World Bank's definition of globalization being “ the freedom and ability of INDIVIDUALS to initiate voluntary economic transactions with RESIDENTS of other countries “, the indisputable fact remains that the major players are all international MEGA CORPORATIONS. So, the reader will appreciate the tremendous difference between the high ideal of free trade and the harsh reality of globalization which is based upon the very concept of free trade. These legal entities as I have pointed out earlier are by and large controlled by the corporate custodians such as CEO, CFO and other members on the board of directors all of whom are sworn to and bound by the corporation's memorandum and articles of association ( or simply the corporation's legal charter ) to make the maximum return on the shareholders' investments ( or is this really the case ? - please refer to chapter (x) – What I Believe – Of Money and Men to refresh your memory ). In short, they are all motivated by the heartless and impersonal vice of greed. They in their turn and by virtue of the vastly superior financial resources at their disposal ( that do not legally belong to them but to their absentee shareholders instead ) are able to exert tremendous pressure on their respective governments through lobbying consultants ( who are usually former politicians and who themselves receive huge amounts of fees from mega corporations ) and even media organizations owned by them to enact legislations and to follow trade and foreign policies in their favour. All in all, it is a matter of a small number of a privileged few holding the vast majority of conscientious and hard working modern global citizens of the world for ransom to a less than ideal economic and social and, to say the least, unfair system.

Of course, no one can argue against the economic soundness of the free trade concept. It is the abuse by a minority of black sheep that should be blamed for the undesirable reality resulting from the working of the principle of free trade. Since the time of Adam Smith in the 1770s, the concept of free trade and maximization of consumer utility have always been sacred principles of free market economics. As applied to international trade, the free trade concept runs into some human problems such as conflicts of interests between trading partner countries and different priority of economic goals of the countries in question. We must look at these problems in turn before we can appreciate the nature of the basic problem in globalisation.

Conflicts of interest inevitably arise between trading partners because of the differences in the economic backgrounds and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the countries involved in a particular international trading relationship. For example, a technology intensive economy like Japan with littte natural resources will love to export their high value added products ( in the form of technical know-how and high tech designs such as computers and highly automated robotic productive systems ) to resources rich but technically less developed economies like China because a small amount of Japan's high tech products ( such as video games and audio-video equipments ) will earn a lot of low value added natural resources which are badly needed industrial inputs to the Japanese economy. These raw materials can in turn be used by Japan to manufacture more high tech products with higher profit margins to earn more foreign exchange from other buyer countries. To facilitate greater trading volumes, unfettered and open markets would be ideal for Japan in her trade relationship with China

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but is this an equally ideal situation for China ? Obviously, this question can be answered both in the postive and the negative with some reservations from China's point of view. Unconditional free trade without any restrictions will definitely favour Japan who can make a higher profit margin from exports of high value added products to China while the latter can only earn a nominal amount of profit from her export of low value added natural resources to Japan. Furthermore, the complete opening up of a country's economy will mean removal of all trade barriers such as protective tariffs in support of that country's weaker trade sectors which are not as competitive as those in other countries for the same lines of trade. Removal of protection of such sectors must result in higher unemployments in those sectors. In political terms, unemployment contributes to instablity. It must be avoided at all costs. There is a very popular saying or slogan among Communists Party members in China in the past decade since the Tianmen Massacre of 4th of June, 1989 and that is “ stability above everything else “. One of the greatest issues with China with regard to opening up its economy according to the terms of entry into the WTO is the abolition of all subsidies to the peasants in producing agricultural products because such a move will inevitably lead to mass unemployment which is already quite serious in her agricultural sector. There are millions upon millions of peasants in China and mass unemployment in the agricultural sector will spell political disaster and possible social and political unrest. The same problem with abolition of agricultural subsidies also arises in Korea and even France where massive and sometimes even violent demonstrations are held by farmers during WTO conferences. Demolishing all trade barriers in the world will undoubtedly lead to the phasing out of all economically inefficient productive units and thereby achieving higher efficiency in the utilization of the world's economic resources in the long run. But the short-term problem of structural unemployment and the possible political instability must also be addressed. There is also the question of humanitarian considerations for the workers of the inefficient sector. As the famous saying by the great economist Lord John Mayard Keynes ( whose innovative ideas in fiscal spendings based on the paradox of thrift saved USA from the great economic depression of the 1930s ) goes :- “ In the long run, we are all dead ! “ Therefore, short-term problems must also be properly taken care of.

Economic efficiency must be put in its proper perspective of human values. Effficiency is not everything there is to consider. As human beings, there are other non-materialistic considerations such as justice, fairness and compassion which all flow directly from the Natural Law, the supreme and ultimate authority. Any human policy inconsistent with the laws of nature should be reformulated because no noble end can justify the ignoble means. As can be expected, the culprit in the pitfalls of globalization is none other than the cardinal evil of greed. The same vice that has given rise to other urgent world problems such as environmental desecration. Incidentally, the same agents guilty of abusing globalization are the identical ones responsible for our environmental disaster – just a handful of black sheep who should go back to the basic educational training on elementary human ethics and, in particular, the futility of endless personal wealth building. It is about time that these crooks be exposed for the harms they have done to the whole human race and our beautiful Big Blue Marble and that they be held accountable for their heinous crimes committed against humanity. Without the preparation of successfully re-educating these misguided and corrupt corporate custodians and dirty politicians, the blind push towards globalization will simply bring about more injustice and suffering upon all the honest and hard working global citizens for the benefits of just a handful of black sheep. A healthy and equitable international legal system for effective control and a satisfactory moral code accepted and practised by everyone are pre- conditions for successful globalization. Law and education must lead the way.

The second basic problem of globalzation springs from the different priorities each nation places on their own economic goals. As the objective of launching economic policies is to achieve the various economic goals of full employment, growth, price stability and fair income ( and wealth ) distribution, there must be some order of importance to be put on each objective for the simple reason that these objectives sometimes conflicts with one another. For example, full employment generally leads to better spending power by consumers and will give rise to inflation. If government increases interest rates to control inflation, such a move will dampen the incentive on the part of

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investors to make investments in housing and other business ventures that will cause employment to fall with the related political repercussion on the ruling regime. On the other hand, a low interest rate will favour long-term economic growth but has an adverse effect on inflation. Then, a fair distribution of income will entail redistribution of income through a progressive taxation system which is a disincentive for more personal efforts. A less hard working labour force will result in a slower rate of economic growth. So, it is all a matter of value judgment for the independent nations and their citizens to set their own priorities in their economic goals. This being the case, it is not difficult to see that the ultimate aim of globalization which is to maximize the utility of available economic resources may not be a top priorty of each and every nation of the world. For less developed ones where over- population is the usual situation, full employment may be of top priority. In other less populated but more resource rich countries like Australia, a more equitable income distribution and price stability may be preferred by the majority of citizens. Such priority will ultimately be reflected in government policies through the democratic process.Therefore, a completely open economy without any protection for the standard of living of the workers in various economic sectors may not be welcomed by the voters. All in all, the question of different economic priorities of different nations poses an insurmountable barrier to successful globalization even if the short comings of this economic phenomenon are ignored which, in my opinion, is quite unrealistic. Notwithstanding my personal views, it would appear that globalization is becoming a fact in our economic life that cannot be avoided indefinitely. I have chosen it to be one of the pressing world problems because it affects each and every global citizen and their livelihood whether they like it or not.

Extremism and Terrorism

The following is an essay written by me about Extremism and Terrorism which has been extracted from my book - The Universe - A Personal View ( page 236 to 240 )

Link to my book :-  https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqa2hjbGlmZXN0eWxlfGd4OjM5NmM2NTViMjAzY2M5MTk

Extremism and Terrorism

One of the greatest evils in our world at the present moment is undoubtedly terrorism. It can strike anywhere and at any time without any warning and everyone can be a victim. This is the worst characteristic of terrorism. Its sole aim is to instil fear into every aspect of our daily lives in the hope of succeeding in disrupting or forcing us to change our preferred way of life. The worst scenario is that we are led to changing our principles regarding justice and common sense by taking drastic measures or over react to the intended threat by treating everyone as a possible terrorist thereby becoming as inhuman as the terrorists themselves. If this happens, the terrorists would have achieved their evil purpose. To me, terrorism is merely cowardice in disguise. Whatever the alleged reason for carrying out terrorist acts it cannot white wash the true nature of terrorism which is the heartless venting of one's frustration and anger ( another most destructive form of cardinal sin ) on precious, innocent and helpless lives. If they are man enough, terrorists would only have targeted the powerful military machine or the idiotic politicians who are accused of perpetrating the alleged original crime that calls for retaliation. Not that I am in support of taking revenge and the law into our own hands. However evil the alleged crime is or however noble is the end of so-called doing justice, it can never justify the evil means of terrorism for all our actions must always be subject to the supreme rule of the Natural Law. How stupid can the argument by the terrorists be when they claim to serve God by the destruction of precious and innocent lives created by the Almighty Himself ? Or for the terrorists themselves to claim that they would be admitted to heaven if they die during the course of their own cowardly act of killing precious and innocent lives ? How do all these stupid arguments square up with the infinitely good and loving nature of God ? Don't they ever read the good Book ? Just to take the Old Testament which most religious people accept. “ Vengeance is Mine ! “ How dare the terrorists ask God to forfeit His divine right to punishment ? Who do they think they are ? The incarnate of the Almighty ? Notwithstanding my emotional outbursts out of

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intellectual rage ( because their foolish arguments have grossly insulted my intelligence ), let me try to analyze the causes of terrorism from which we may learn some useful lessons.
To start with, most terrorists come from underprivileged social groups and they are very likely to have some of their loved ones killed for some political or religious cause usually under unfortunate and violent circumstances. Violence beget more violence and blood shed only leads to endless rounds of senseless slaughter of precious lives. Terrorists are usually members of an extremist sect of a religion that does not accept any other points of view in anything except in accordance with their own religious or political dogma. Extremism breeds terrorism because the former justifies its means by whatever end it has set its eye upon. The latter is the inevitable result. And once its target is set, it is a one way ticket to everlasting damnation for extremism has the narrowest of all perspectives like a frog trapped at the bottom of a well. The sky to the frog is but a small circle of light. What a big pity for the frog because it is such as vast and colourful world out there for everyone to enjoy in haromony except for the frog that is ! Such unfortunate background may even arouse sympathy if not for the destructive results arising from its bitter fruits. Now the world can never go back to its peaceful good old days again because of the emergence of terrorism.

Of course, this is only a typical profile for a terrorist and there are other contributing factors to make a real life terrorist. Injustice is on the top of the list of contributory factors to terrorism. We seldom come across a wealthy terrorist who actually becomes a martyr himself. If ever a wealthy extremist is the master mind behind some terrorist plot, it is only financial or moral support that the wealthy extremist will offer. He would never have risked his own life because for all the extreme and vocal slogan of a holy war against the so-called infedels the wealthy extremist knows better than put his own life at risk for fear of sacrificing his own earthly pleasures. It is all a matter of big and empty talk but nothing much else. As the famous Chinese saying goes :- “ The wise man uses his mouth while the idiot uses his hand to strike at his enemies. “ Of course, you will appreciate that it is the idiot that will get hurt while the wise man gets his honour without risking his life. As statistics have shown, all those terrorists who got killed as martyrs are from poor families who have received what the Chinese aptly called “ family settlement money “ before venturing upon terrorist acts such as in the 9/11 attack on the twin World Trade Towers in New York City back in September 11, 2001. The amounts involved were reported to be a mere US$9,000 for some. Had there been a more equitable distribution of income and wealth in the world in general, there would not have been anyone who were willing to die for such meagre sums of money even though an extremist religious or political view may still be a possible motive for terrorism. Therefore, one way of rooting out terrorism in a substantial manner would be the worldwide promotion of social justice. But this must be done with genuine international co-operation and not simply by lip service of some international organization such as the United Nations. This is a very pressing issue because social injustice is the root to all kinds of evils and terrorism is but one of the bitter fruits of social inequity.

Then, there is the second problem of the uncompromising attitude adopted by some developed countries notably the USA to pitch military and financial might against terrorism and its related violence. Such policy as that adopted by the current US president, George W. Bush - “ if you are not with us, you are against us “ - will definitely lead to further polarization of the opposing forces of terrorism and western global influence. Such an uncompromising attitude inevitably leads to the extensive use of military force and collateral damages in terms of losses in innocent civilian lives that breed even more terrorists. It is simply a case of a vicious circle where violence begets more violence. In some sense, these two seemingly unrelated activities of terrorism and western global influence do have at least one common quality which is the attempt by one group of people to impose their values on the rest of the world out of greed and ignorance. The former vice is connected to globalization through the workings of profit-crazy mega corporations and the latter vice is the hallmarks of terrorism ( and extremism ) through their ignorance of the precious nature of life and the workings of the natural law. While terrorism resorts to violence and the killing of the innocent to impose its evil will on the rest of the world globalization uses economic and financial forces ( which can be equally

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violent in the economic sense in destroying existing life styles of the underprivileged – does this not sound like the definition of the international crime of economic and ethnic clansing ? ) to open up markets for the stronger economic powers. You may think that my view on this issue tends to be a bit radical but carrying out total globalization to its logical conclusion is tantamount to subjecting the whole world to the tyranny of money. Little has been said about improving the quality of life of the underprivileged people both on the materialistic and spiritual levels in any concrete and substantial terms. Environmental protection is yet another casualty of globalization. The former problem is very often bypassed or reduced to secondary priority in the earnest pursuit of globalization. There is just too much emphasis on the maximization of the utility and effecicency of economic resources which in the short term simply translates into more profits for the mega corporations and, worse still, mostly for the corporate custodians. I have yet to find any effective control measures being taken on the crooked corporate custodians against the abuse of their powers out of greed. For one thing, I am of the opinion that crooked corporate custodians and dirty politicians are strange bed fellows. They have a very turbulent relationship. The former need the latter to carry out policies in their favour and the latter need the former for their powerful financial support to stay in power. But somehow, even the dirty politicians have to pick on the crooked corporate custodians once in a while to make a mock fight against corporate greed to shore up their opinion polls. I really think that there can be no genuine control of the crooked custodians by the dirty politicians. It is just like asking a naughty child to keep a greedy candy seller away from other children for their better health. It will never work. It is not by polarization but dialogue instead that any dispute can be satisfactorily settled. I earnestly wish that the leaders of world powers such as the USA could acquaint themselves with more oriental philosophy of compromise and a holistic approach to any urgent global issues such as terrorism instead of adhering to the Rambo or John Wayne cowboy spirit that can spell sure disaster for mankind.

The third cause contributing to terrorism is, in my opinion, radical and extremist political or religious doctorines. Going into all the extreme and fundamentalist religious views will take endless volumes of history and philosophy books. Suffice it to say that all such views and doctorines are the results of misguided opinions. In short, it is again the cardinal sin of ignorance of the workings of human nature and of nature herself that is at root of the problem. When it comes to prejudice and bigotry, common sense is thrown out of the window. In the context of TOEL which is heavily based on scientific theories, I would simply draw the reader's attention to the relevance of the invariant rules of Chaos and Complexity. The primary precaution is not to initiate any unnecessary action that may lead to unpredictable consequences as all human beings are chaotic in behaviour. Therefore, resorting to force in settling disputes is to be avoided at all costs. The only sensible approach to fighting extremism and, ultimately terrorism is the long term process of educating the younger generation and re-educating the current generation wherever possible in the virtues of forgiveness and compassion for all life in order to disentangle the existing complex emotional knots of destructive hatred and obssession for vengeance in the hope of a better tommorrow. But in order to achieve this ideal situation, there has got to be a stop right away to all the killings and revenge killings that are ongoing. There had been some silver linings in the dark clouds of war between Israel and her Arab neighbours back in the 1977 when then Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin and Egyptian president signed a peace deal, the first ever in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the Egyptian President Mohammed Anwar el Sadat who was responsible for this historic breakthrough in the Middle East peace process was subsequently assasinated in 1981 by Muslim fundamentalist elements in his army and this tragic episode signalled the gradual reversion of the peace process back to increased hostilty between Israel and other Abrab nations. Since then, the Middle East crisis has deteriorated from bad to worse and is now at an ever expolsive edge. It is the eleventh hour and unless we all co-operate fully to put a stop to the ongoing madness the end of the world will become a frightening reality in the not too distant future as the extremist regimes are able to get hold of the destructive power of nuclear fission. Barring that, our quality of life will deteriorate further down the path to constant fear and insecurity for our
very own existence.

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Now let me describe to you my own personal experience in acts of terror and how I tried to deal with them. I would now take the reader back to the times of the Cultural Revolution in communist China during the decade from 1966 to 1976 ( the year when the Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung passed away ). I was not a red guard then but just a peaceful secondary school student preparing for entry into the university in Hong Kong in the matriculation class. The Cultural Revolutin overflowed from China across the border into the British Crown colony in the form of general strikes by leftist workers unions and violent demonsrations by subversive elements bankrolled by the same unions with a view to toppling the imperialist colonial British Hong Kong government. At the height of the unrest which lasted for over six months home-made bombs were planted by leftists radicals in public places and on public transports to instil fear into the general population. Such bombs were at first ridiculed by the British and Hong Kong governments as nothing more than large firecrackers but they did subsequently kill a few unsuspecting policemen who handled suspicious objects or ' pineapples “ as they were used to be called without due care and proper protection. Even one experienced police ballistic expert was maimed by a premature explosion suffering the loss of one of his arms. A sense of desperation and insecurity prevails in the whole of society and many daily routines like public transport and social and cultural activities are badly disrupted. We, the students were allowed to stay home or skip class if public transports were unavailable. To show our disgust for the terrorists and as a sign of defiance, most of our schoolmates used to walk to and from school in the midst of all the mayhem. Whenever we come across a suspicious object that part of the street would be sealed off and all pedestrians would be asked to take shelter behind street signs and pillars while ballistic experts from the police and sometimes the British garrison ( when martial law was at one time declared and night time curfews enforced ) risked their lives to detonate the “ pineapples “. So, there was a certain amount of risks in walking on the streets but we all defied the terrorist threats most of the time. Some innocent citizens had been wounded though none had lost their lives during the 1966-67 riots in Hong Kong by the grace of God. Except there was one outspoken radio news commentator who took a very vocal lead in denouncing the terrorist acts and was murdered by the extremists in an act of arson near his home when he was on his way to work. Some of the even more courageous citizens like my own elder brother joined the Royal Hong Kong Regiment, the Volunteers to patrol the city streets and the secured border with mainland China in full military gears to deter terrorist actvities and to provide some moral and defensive support for the ordinary citizens of Hong Kong who went about their daily business as usual in defiance of this radical communist threat. Therefore, the best way to deal with terrorism is to keep our composure and carry on with our daily routes with caution and as an act of defiance against such evil forces. Never over react which is what the terrorist wants you to do and you would become an extremist exactly like him. If that ever happens the terrorist devil would have won.

Then, there were the cowardly acts of the terrorists which I so vehemently denounced earlier. Our family home in 1966-67 was located at the edge of Kowloon City facing the old Kai Tak International Airport in Hong Kong. We were on the sixth floor of an apartment block that overlooked the main thoroughfare called Prince Edward Road. A lot of terrorist activities occurred along this stretch of the road because many public buses passed along this particular section of the main road on Kowloon side of the colony. It is also a strategic point because it is only 50 metres across from Kai Tak International Airport. This fact made it an ideal place to make a scene and catch the headlines in the newspapers that would in turn become world events if the terrorist acts were spectacular enough. I and other members of my family had witnessed more than a few terrorist plots that involved terrorists paying small children to plant home-made bombs for them in the middle of the thoroughfare to disrupt traffic and to target conscientious transport workers who defied the public transport strike to serve the public by continuing to operate public transports. They used innocent children to carry out their dirty and dangerous job for them. Yes, you have read me correctly. Those heartless and cowardly communist terrorists did turn to innocent youngsters of 9 and 10 years of age to ask the boys to carry out for them what they had considered to be too risky acts of terror which they were not man enough to perform themselves. Such is the low down nature of terrorists. Furthermore, we had time and again seen the terrorists standing behind young

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children from uneducated and poor families originating from the Kowloon walled city and prompting them to throw stones at cars passing by Prince Edward Road. The targeted cars were mostly driven by foreigners as a symbolic gesture of directing the conflict against the western imperialists. As usual, the communist terrorists hid behind the protective wall of the young, innocent and misguided children when they carried out their sordid affairs in the hope that the riot police would be hindered by the concern for the safety of the children to take any lethal action against the terrorists. There you have it. This is the true face of a terrorist. Of coure, the events described above are nothing compared to the horrific destruction of human lives by terrorists today. Nevertheless, the true nature of a terrorist remains unchanged. He is always a coward. He is heartless and ignorant of the reality of nature, human feelings and compassion. In short, he is an ignorant and foolish coward who could have seen the beauty of life but had chosen death and destruction instead. Like the frog trapped at the bottom of the well, the terrorist has condemned himself to eternal darkness and misery both for himself and sometimes for everyone around him.

What is the US debt ceiling?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24365018  ( BBC NEWS - Oct.,3, 2013 )

Q&A: What is the US debt ceiling?

By Ben MorrisBusiness Reporter

A US default would undermine confidence in the dollar

Continue reading the main story

US Economy

• US government shuts down over budget
• US house prices continue recovery
• US shares hit high after Fed meeting
• US prices rise slightly in August

The debt ceiling is a cap on the total amount the US government can borrow, set by US lawmakers.

The current debt limit of $16.699 trillion was reached in May. Since then the US Treasury has been using what are called extraordinary measures to keep paying the bills.

Why does the US government need to borrow so much?

If you compare borrowing to the size of the US economy, it has been increasing since the 1980s.

But the 2007 financial crisis created huge gaps between government income and expenditure.

The economy was plunged into a deep recession and federal finances deteriorated dramatically as the government attempted to boost the economy and stabilise the financial sector.

As a result the debt ceiling was raised twice in the second half of 2008 and twice in 2009.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), US debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is now 73%, twice as much as it was at the end of 2007.

Why can't the president raise the limit?

He doesn't have that power.

The limits are set by lawmakers in Congress, which is made up of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

They set in law how much the Treasury department can borrow.

How often has the limit been raised?

Since March 1962, Congress has enacted 77 separate measures that have altered the limit on federal debt.

Until recently those changes have been achieved without a lot of fuss.

Why has it become such a big issue?

Since the Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans in 2010, budget fighting between the two parties has become commonplace.

Republicans took their victory in the mid-term elections as a sign that Americans had rejected the president's Democratic agenda, and more specifically, that Americans were unhappy with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare" as Republicans label it.

Although past budget fights have included larger questions about the size and scope of the US government, this one is very specifically about Mr Obama's healthcare law, substantial parts of which took effect on 1 October.

Republicans have been doing everything in their power to force Mr Obama to delay implementation of a law they strongly believe was rejected by the American public.

Democrats argue the law was validated by the Supreme Court in June 2012 and was a central issue in the 2012 presidential election, which Mr Obama won decisively.

It seems a messy way to run the nation's finances.

Part of the problem is that Congress approves spending separately from the debt ceiling.

So politicians can agree to all sorts of expenditure without necessarily having the financing in place to pay for it.

In good years that does not matter too much as government income is greater that expenditure.

But historically those have been rare.

Usually the Treasury has to cover the gap between income and expenditure, by borrowing on the international money markets.

When does the money run out?

The government has been juggling its debts to keep paying the bills, but those measures will run out between 22 October and the end of the month, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

What happens then?

The government could make drastic cuts in federal spending or try to raise taxes, or possibly even both.

That would be difficult and, perhaps, not enough.

During the previous row over the debt ceiling in 2011, then Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warned that the US government's obligations are so great "immediate cuts in spending or tax increases cannot make the necessary cash available".

So what does that mean?

The big worry is that the US government may have to stop paying back its debts, which is known as a default.

Traditionally the US has been able to borrow at low interest rates on the international markets, which has helped keep interest rates low for consumers.

But a default could damage confidence and drive up the cost of borrowing for Americans.

A default could also create a chaotic situation on the international market for debt.

Investors would not want to accept bonds that were no longer being honoured.

But the market is not set up to deal with rejected bonds, so there could be a period of confusion for traders.

What would it mean for the rest of the world?

A default would send a shock through the financial markets.

US bonds, known as treasuries, have always been seen as a safe investment and trillions of dollars are invested in them.

Analysts say it is hard to know what would happen and a lot would depend on how long the default lasts.

Investors may be prepared to wait out a short disruption.

But a lengthy default might see money switch into other perceived havens, such as German and Swiss debt.

There might also be a rush into gold, which is traditionally seen as a safe investment.

Are there any other options?

The president could ignore the debt ceiling.

He would be breaking the law and could be impeached.

But if the alternative is to cut funding for doctors, schools and agencies such as the FBI, he might decide it is the least bad option.

Environmental Protection - We are at a crisis point !

Environmental Protection

With regard to environmental protection, I feel that it is the top priority because at present we are all walking down the path of self-destruction at a progressively increasing and alarming rate. In the prologue, I mentioned my own weakness in mathematics. Now I have come to understand that knowledge in this discipline is indispensable in life. As regards the environment, the damages we have already done to date are growing according to an exponential function just like the over-population problem. As the famous physicist, Albert A. Bartlett wrote ;- “ The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function. “ There was this legend about the inventor of the game of chess in ancient times who pleased the king so much with her interesting and challenging game that she was granted a wish for anything by his majesty. She only asked for two grains of wheat to be placed on the first square of the chess board and that the number be doubled progressively on each and everyone of all the remaining 63 squares. The king was tricked into granting this apparently insignificant wish. It turned out that 2 to the power of 63 represented more than all the wheat produced by human beings in the entire history of the world. The reader may recall that the total number of atoms in the whole universe is 10 to the power of 78. Applying the exponential amplification to environmental problems such as waste matters produced by a exponentially increasing population, it can easily be seen that there is no such thing as sustainable growth or sustainable exploitation of resources. There is a very interesting analogy between our brain and population growth. According to his book, The Mind, Anthony Smith noticed that the human brain has 15 billion nerve cells which is about three times the total world population. The brain cells also multiply by exponential amplification. It takes only 33 doubling of the first nerve cell to reach 15 billion. To attain half that number, it takes 32.

The lesson to be learned here is that all the previous doublings up to 32 seem insignificant. The problem of over-population and man-made waste is the same. When the problem really appears to be overwhelming such as when the world is half-full of people, it only takes one more doubling which will only require the same time cycle as each and everyone of the previous doubling up to the half-way mark ( much more quickly than you can imagine ) in terms of physical capacity to make a full house on our planet. Our minds work on a linear scale. Thus, we treat 33 as only 1 additional number from 32. We cannot visualize the exponential effect until we actually see the imminent result of the second last doubling which would be too late. Therefore, I consider environmental problems which very often work on exponential amplification as the most urgent of all human problems.

The second reason why I have, apart from mathematical reason, ranked environmental protection as the biggest of all human problems is the fact that it does not kill us immediately but will definitely do so in time and not in the too far distant future at the present rate of destruction. Damaging our precious environment is like taking slow poison. You would not feel the pain until it is too late. As the accumulated effect reaches the critical limit ( in the same sense as that used in the Theory of Chaos and Complexity ), one extra push no matter how insignificant it may seem will spell instant destruction of our Big Blue Marble and all living things in it. The worse part of it all is the frightening prospect that we might all perish out of ignorance and in the comfortably dead calm before the storm. In our ignorance and complacency, we have acquired very bad habits of carrying on ecologically unfriendly practices that cannot be easily changed ( such as the excessive and indiscriminate use of plastic bags ) due to the adverse conditioning of our brain. As such, we will inevitably pass on our bad habits to succeeding generations thus hastening the deterioration of the environment. We must wake up before it is too late. It is now the eleventh hour already. Let us all heed nature's warning signs such as abnornmal weather conditions and disastrous meteological phenomenon like the El Nino Efffects to muster a global effort in concert to stop and hopefully to reverse the damages while we still can.

The deforestation of the Amazon equatorial rain forest is a case in point. Out of greed, commercial enterprises in collusion with ill-advised governments have carried out indiscriminately, so-called sustainable exploitations of lumber and other minerals in this largest of all ecological systems in the world that can regulate the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere. Wholesale destruction of the forest in the size of a whole city is a daily routine in this region of precious natural resources. A conservative estimate put the extinction rates of scarce animal species including many rare insects at the hundreds and rarer still plants including many with disease healing potentials ( for killer disease such as AIDS ) at the thousands. Many of such rare species of animals and plants have not yet been studied or discovered by scientists but already they are lost to us forever. All these tragic events happened because of the lowest of all motives which is greed. All these wholesale exterminations of life for a few lousy bucks not a single cent of which we can take away when we leave this world. Such stupidity is compounded by the limited human capacity to enjoy earthly goods as explained in chapter (x) – What I believe – Of Money and Men. Furthrmore, it is very often just a number game for the greedy entrepreneurs who may be earning money for its own sake without even bordering to find the time to enjoy it notwithstanding their already limited capacity to enjoy earthly goods. It has frequently been argued by eloquent corporate custodians that their duty is to maximize the the investment return of their shareholders and this fact constitutes their sacred mandate to turn on their greed engine to maximum capacity in the senseless pursuit of profits no matter what. Their sacred duty is to make profit for their shareholders ? My foot ! It is all a matter of personal greed on the part of some corrupt corporate custodians to line up their own money belts and to fatten their piggy banks just as in the imfamous Eron case in USA. Why should the whole human race and all living organisms suffer such a miserable fate because of just a handful of these greedy and heartless crooks ?

All in all, the profit motive which is so very often glorified in the capitalistic system is nothiing but a senseless pursuit based on ignorance and selfishness that has led to this great catastrophy for the whole human race. Enough is enough. Let us put a stop to such madness here and now ! Just to give you a more graphic example of the deadly nature of our environmental problem. It can be compared to the deadly disease of liver cancer. This type of cancer is so deadly because it silently creeps upon the victim. Like all forms of cancer the definite cause has not been confirmed. However, it is most likely to be the result of faulty genes and it has a very high correlation ( not causation ) with hepatitis B and heavy alcohol abuse that will adversely affect our liver function. As hepatitis B is very common among the Southern Chinese population ( about one tenth of the population are carriers of the virus ), about one-third of the carriers of the virus have the chance of developing liver cancer at their old age. The most dreadful part of this kind of cancer is that it will not noticeably affect the liver functions and the organ can continue to work normally until about one-third of the liver cells have been contaminated by the cancerous cells so that there are no conspicuous warning signs unless under observation by ultrasound or CT scanning. Therefore, by the time the victim notices his or her own liver malfunction, the condition is likely to be terminal. It is the same with environmental pollution. When the noticeable signs are detected it may be too late to reverse the damages which multiply by exponential amplification.

The appropriate measures that should be taken in order to solve our progressing environmental disaster should be three fold. For the long-term, education is the appropriate tool to cultivate a new generation of environmentally conscious citizens. In the medium term, there must be effective enforcement of environmentally friendly laws and regulations to prevent and apprehend the greedy culprits who damage the environment to achieve their own selfish ends. In the short term, the more urgent problems such as green house gas emissions, deforestation and pollution of the oceans must be dealt with through immediate international co-operation and joint global efforts to stop the on going irreversible damages to the environment. Most importantly, all countries must put aside their political differences and selfish economic agenda to make a genuine effort towards the vital goal of environmental protection before it is too late. Admittedly, there have been international conferences such as the Kyoto Protocol to limit green house gas emissions but countries like the USA and Australia have refused to sign the treaty on the ground that it does not take into account their particular economic objectives and so-called special circumstances. Such excuses are untenable and must be done away with immediately to comply with the paramount global objective of environmental preservation which surpasses all other national goals. TOEL ( Theory of Everything in Life ) can be useful with regard to environmental protection because the principles of intergeneration education, a genuine sense of social responsibility and respect for all life and things are an integral part of TOEL as will be seen in greater detail in the final chapter of this book. ( Link to my book from which this note is extracted - " The Universe - A Personal View " -https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.a019e174-7abb-427e-b264-ecc7bdcc5fc3&hl=en  )

Joseph K.H. Cheng

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism by Lawrence Britt

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism by Lawrence Britt

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

 

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The excerpt is in accordance with the magazine's policy.

The 14 characteristics are:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
   Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
   
   
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
   Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
   
   
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
   The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
   
   
4. Supremacy of the Military
   Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
   
   
5. Rampant Sexism
   The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
   
   
6. Controlled Mass Media
   Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
   
   
7. Obsession with National Security
   Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
   
   
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
   Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
   
   
9. Corporate Power is Protected
   The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
   
   
10. Labor Power is Suppressed
    Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .
    
    
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
    Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
    
    
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
    Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
    
    
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
    Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
    
    
14. Fraudulent Elections
    Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Copyright © 2003 Free Inquiry magazine
Reprinted for Fair Use Only. 

This article was based upon the article "The Hallmarks of Fascist Regime" by Skip Stone, at www.hippy.com/php/article-226.html.

Albert Einstein - Essence of His Theory of Special Relativity

According to the reasoning of relativity, time slows down for the observer as he speeds up because everything is physically compressed more and more as the observer moves faster and faster. It is as if space and everything in it is elastic ( the same concept is working behind the formation of black holes when there is an ultra high concentration of mass ).  The essence of Einstein's discovery is that the relation between time-space is tied by the constant speed of light. Brian Greene summarizes this point in the most elegant way in his book " The Fabric of the Cosmos ( on page 49 - Penguin Books ) in the following manner :- " Special relativity declares a similar law for all motion : the combined speed of any object's motion through space and its motion through time is always precisely equal to the speed of light ....The key fact, Einstein discovered, is that these two kinds of motion are always complementary. When the parked car you were looking at speeds away, what really happens is that some of its light-speed motion is diverted from motion through time into motion through space, keeping their combined total unchanged. Such diversion unassailably means that the car's motion through time slows down. " 

( my personal notes : - when the car is parked it experiences all its motion through the time dimension. Light is peculiar in that it is massless and lives " its life " in the fast lane - it always travels at the fastest possible speed. From this fact, Einstein also concluded that mass is equivalent to energy - E=MC2 - because it will take an infinite amount of energy to accelerate anything with the slightest mass to the speed of light which is massless. Please note that the constant speed of light again ties the relation between E and M in nuclear reactions in the above most famous of all equations. Another profound conclusion from the above facts is that light ( or the quantum of light - the photon ) is timeless in the sense that for the photon time stands still. This can be seen in the modern version on the Double Slit experiment pioneered by Thomas Young in the 1800s. )

I may as well set out my other views on the concept of space-time. Light is the single most important entity in the universe as far as human beings are concerned. Without light no signals can be communicated and nothing can happen. Our feeling of time is based on events which are only made possible with the help of light. The light signals we receive must interact with our photo sensitive cells in our eyes to transmit signals to our brain that interprets these signals to make sense of the situation we are in. Our consciousness as expressed through our physiological systems then make events happen. Therefore, I totally agree with Sir Roger Penrose that we will not be able to completely understand all the basic concepts such as time-space until we understand more about our own consciousness. 

NOTE : For interested readers please read Chapter ( iv ) of my e-book on the detailed explanation of both Special and General Relativity from pages 73 to 84 at this link :-https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxqa2hjbGlmZXN0eWxlfGd4OjM5NmM2NTViMjAzY2M5MTk

( The above account is my elaboration of Albert Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity on the official forum of the world's largest online scientific research project - Galaxy Zoo ( now part of the voluntary online research project - Zooniverse ) with over 1,000,000 members worldwide. I was lucky enough to have been the No.1 most prolific researcher in Galaxy Zoo 1 when it started on July 11, 2007. I had personally analysed and classified over 1.2 million galaxies images from the database of SDSS Sloan Digital Sky Survey camera sited at Apache Point in New Mexico, USA. This automated survey camera with an 8 feet diameter lens has taken over 80 million images and mapped over half of the visible universe. Please follow this link if you are interested to take part as a volunteer researcher : -https://sites.google.com/site/jkhclifestyle/Home/milky-way-over-hawaii/my-galaxy-zoo-images   )

Thoughts to You from Yours Truly - ( TYYT ) - ( 88 ) - Moral Code and The Law

Thoughts to You from Yours Truly - ( TYYT ) - ( 88 ) -  Moral Code and The Law

It is my humble opinion that a healthy moral code for society is the safety net for our legal system. If each and every bit of our daily routines is to be codified into the legal system, every country will become a totalitarian state. All citizens will be put into a legal straight jacket. Our legal system would become both costly and draconian to say the least. By having a healthy moral code for social behaviour everything would run more smoothly for society as a whole. The social atmosphere, so to speak, would be more amicable for everyone.

We need minimum standards in setting up our moral code. In support of my claim I would like to give you a real life example of a tragic incident which is not a crime in the legal sense but a totally disgusting and infuriating case of moral violation to an extremely despicable degree. I really regret to say that it happened in Hong Kong about 20 years ago. It concerned a traffic accident in which a private car caught fire in a less busy part of the city ( a place called Kowloon Tong ). A fire had broken out on the engine due to a major leak in its radiator resulting in the emptying of its coolant content. The driver was trapped inside the car on account of the malfunctioning of the door locks. A few pedestrians tried to stop a passing bus in an attempt to borrow a fire extinguisher which is a standard piece of safety equipment required by law to be installed on all public transports. To the disgust of the good samaritans, the driver of the bus refused to let them use the fire extinguisher to put out the fire. This unreasonable refusal to help a fellow citizen in grave danger resulted in the tragic death of the victim trapped inside the private car. The bus driver's ridiculous excuse for his refusal to save a life was that he did not want to undergo the trouble in filing a report to his bus company for utilizing the fire extinguisher on another vehicle which he felt might adversely affect his employment prospects. 

The bus driver was prosecuted for manslaughter in a court of law but was acquitted on the basis that he was not aware of the urgency of the situation and had no intention of causing the death of the victim. However, the judge presiding over the case specifically denounced the bus driver's behaviour as an affront to all civilized human morals and codes of decent behaviour. The judge further said that while he might not be guilty legally, he was guilty as hell morally in causing the death of the victim. This tragic example unambiguously highlighted the importance of a generally accepted moral code for society and everyone of its members. Without an effective and healthy moral code society would become a living hell ! Not every social issue or private dispute can be resolved through the legal system. It is simply impossible to legislate for compassion, generosity, good manners and a gracious personal disposition. A healthy and positive social and moral code is the right answer.