Thoughts While Watching a Baseball Game

I only infrequently have multi-topic blog posts, but I probably ought to do it more often. What better opportunity, though, to post such a sporatic bit of nonsense than a baseball game. Right now the Rangers lead the Mariners 13-7.

Israel continues its warpath in the Middle East, with no end in sight. Hezbollah, too, shows no signs of settlement. I have been reluctant to comment on the situation up to this point primarily because it is an issue of almost infinite complexity and an historical record stretching back millennia. I also think giving it attention only further entrenches its permanence. Hezbollah and their brother terrorist organizations engage in terrorist acts in order to get noticed. They know that it is a statement of their perceived subservience so the rest of the world will be sympathetic to their plight. Israel, too, knows that they can make grandiose claims about being the victims of Islamofacist terror, and brutalize their cultural enemy without serious recourse (at least nothing more than being the most hated country in the world).

The reality is that the world never cares or involves itself in the countless cultural genocides and religious wars that rage daily in Africa. The world hardly bats an eye at the brutality of the communist dictatorships in Cuba, Venezuela, or religious persecution in China and the Middle East. Why did the Darfur crisis (which continues, unmitigated) receive 15 seconds of the world's attention? Robert Mugabe is ruling Zimbabwe with the iron fist of economic oppression with catastrophic consequences, AIDS is ravaging all of Sub-Saharan Africa, and yet the world is concerned with a small ethnic conflict that has been around almost as long as time itself. The news agencies want each flare up between Israel and the terrorists to be the tipping point that drags Iran into open war. The likelihood of this is minute, but it sells.

We need to stop giving the terrorists and the bullies our attention, and maybe they'll stop craving it. At the very least, we could focus on somebody who might be at least remotely interested in our advice.

Next topic...interest rates. For the first time in two years, the Federal Reserve decided not to raise interest rates. I have opposed about the last three rate hikes. Interest rate stability is important to a number of sectors of the economy, not least of which is the consumer debt market, the fundamental underlying support of the U.S. Economy. The ability to leverage income at reasonable rates of interest sustains demand levels for consumer and durable goods, as well as luxury items. The home mortgage market is additionally vital to long-term wealth creation, since one of the few ways Americans save money and build equity. Forcing more individuals into rental markets for housing will significantly diminish individual net worths. We'll see where the Fed goes from here, but if they do not maintain rate stability in the coming months, we will see stagnation in those key markets as well as the US stock exchanges, which have always been leading economic indicators.

7th Inning, Rangers still lead the Mariners 13-7.

This is a totally random comment, but I am finding in my life that the more I complain about a particular woe or dislike, the more aware I am of it and its negative effects. That in turn causes me to complain more. Vicious cycle. I need to utilize the lessons of the contemplative lives led by the likes of Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton to empty myself of those wants and desires so I can be free to offer myself and my love to others. Complaining never remedies the situation anyway.

Typing from my blackberry....my thumbs are sore, so that is all for today.