2022-07-31 History IV

All the history chapters prior lead to my theory of America and why it is gonna collapse.

Hype vs. Hyperbole - I lived in Asia for around 30 years. If you aren't the elite class in most of these countries you tend to spend all your time thinking about how to get to America. Latinos pay coyotes, go into indentured servitude and walk across the most inhospitable desert around to get here. They suffer being caged at the border for the "chance" they could get in. Not to mention Cubans who make rafts out of soda bottles for a 90 mile crossing into Florida. The Chinese get packed into the bilge of decrepit freighters to come here.

Even white folks come here in droves - it's just a lot easier for them because they look like the ruling class and get a lot of white privilege.

So why? America is largely denigrated overseas, hated by many. I was sitting in a sidewalk bar in Singapore with a buddy from Australia and a totally plastered Dutchman comes to our table and lights into me about how the whole world is fucked up because of America and I personally must be an asshole because all Americans are assholes. I replied, as usual, "You are right America is fucked up That's why I live here." My buddy was floored. "Does that happen a lot? I would have kicked his arse..." - "Dude. If I wanted to fight I could get into a fight every single night. Everyone hates America right now." Then Obama got elected (seriously cheers erupted in the bar I was in when the results were announced) and Americans were cool again and drunk Dutchmen would buy me beers... at least for one election cycle..."

Why? It's the same reason Pilgrims got in boats, expecting half to die either on-route or though disease, starvation or Indian scalpings. "There is a place you can go, the journey is hard, but when you get their you are "free" to practice religion the way you want, live the way you want and be unmolested (largely) from kings and government.

You make people fight other people's through promise of riches (Vikings), being paid (Frank and Mongol mercenaries), because you are indentured to the land baron (England), for God (whichever God you happen to be brainwashed into) or to maintain the status quo (defend the homeland - Long live the King and England) or to overthrow an occupier (Scotland - You can't take away my "FREEDOM!")

Freedom? - Scottish highlanders fought to get rid of England because the Englanders didn't wear skirts - LOL... Of course it's more complicated than that. But really, Scots would be free of England's king only to be ruled by some Scottish king asshole.

Freedom. Now that's something worth fighting for. All you gotta do is make everyone believe they are free and who won't fight for their freedom? But unlike 1800, today you can't just head west to Arizona, plant some stakes in the "territory" and live free. Arguably Canada is probably one of the nicest places to live. Scandinavian countries score high as well.

See there is no "freedom." To have a society you have to have rules or you have Lord of the Flies Anarchy set in. Cattle barons in the developing west. Train robbers, Father rapers sitting on the group W bench!

But America freedom has this entrepreneurial aspect to it. Anyone in America can "make it." If you have the secret sauce, hit the one good idea, get lucky or whatever you can be rich in America. You can launch from the serf class to the noble class, seemingly at will. You can also get elected and become part of the ruling class. You don't need to be a distant cousin of some other noble or king. You can jump classes. We stare at the tv non-stop and everyone from Obama & AOC, to the Kardashians & Oprah, to Gates & Zuckerberg, to OJ & Kobe, J-Lo & Madonna - pick an industry, you can make it in America!

One of the great downfalls of England, IMO, is simply that if you didn't go to the right school you can't be "upper class" and therefor couldn't become a minister or a leader in the military or a captain of industry. It's a little different today but I know a ton of "professionals" from England. Very few working class. Almost all of them started as upper class or at least upper-middle class - and I met like no one of color in the professional ranks - all whitebread protestants. And when you promote based on class and not merit you are gonna have dumbasses running your businesses and armies.

Government by the people and for the people?

I do not purport to be a scholar of the federalist papers or the constitution, but I have a brain and I can read. There are billions of on line forums where you can debate what the founders were really after for your whole life.

I do know that the founders were all landed white men of the ruling class who owned slaves, had biases and so on. They were classically educated and studied Greek, Roman and British forms of government. They knew they did not want a monarch or ruler for life. They well intentioned wanted to put the power of the government in the hands of the people. They did not want parties. They wanted the states to have complete autonomy except in the areas of interstate trade, foreign treaties and waging wars.

They also set up a number of safeguards against foreign influence. They did not want our government being perverted by undue influence.

It was impractical if not impossible for all the people to travel to Washington to vote - one man, one vote. They also did not want any state to have undue influence over other states - so we got saddled with a cumbersome electoral college system. We also have senators and congressfolks who are supposed to represent the will of the people in making our laws. And we put the power of interpreting those (federal) laws in the hands of a very few people.

In statistics there is something called sample size & power. Basically for a population Y you need to sample X in order to be sure you have the "median" or average answer. To represent 350 million people there are 100 senators, 535 congressfolks and 9 supremes.

In order to get a valid sample among 330m people you need 2400+ respondents. With the amount of money involved in the economy business can easily buy 100 senators and 530 odd congressfolk.

2400 congressfolk would obviously be unwieldy (and probably would end up in a 1200/1200 bipolar tie - LOL) but, hey, we have the inter-freaking-net. I can directly vote on local propositions. Why can't I vote on "everything that matters." My congressfolk and senators can form law and debate law and inform their constituents how to vote, but the constituents vote directly just like local referendum.

Never gonna happen - So we have a ruling class basically making up the rules for all of us - The Baron class.

The Supremes should be "different." They are trained lawyers and all they are doing is interpreting a law against a standard, right? Not in my opinion.

Clearly every supreme is affected by their own bias. They are also pulled from anywhere. What if there were 1 supreme for each state? In the case of a tie, tie goes to the runner - i.e. whatever the status quo is stands. We have way too much power in the hands of these 9 farts and they definitely are not representing the will of the people. There sould be term limits on supremes of like 10 years. They can run over and over but they need a referendum every 10 years

President can still nominate, congress can recommend but the people of the state get to confirm the selection on a simple up/down vote.

Never gonna happen - The supremes are influenced by party and religion - it's broken.

We have perverted a decent system of government through influence and money. Debate it all day long but business and (mostly) white religion runs America. Buying influence in congress by donations to campaigns. Look at any congressfolk's net worth at first election vs. second and beyond - This money ain't coming from a family trust.

The framers did not see that perverted influence on the government could come from within.

OK - enough of "my" background on our political system - basically it is no longer working for the people and the people are getting more and ore pissed off - First sign of empire collapse is civil unrest. Not among the poor but among the middle classes - who actually are educated and vote.

The young America spent some time getting rid of the French and British and was opportunistic in getting rid of the Spanish while acquiring some of their territories but the US was a reluctant occupier. It was important to have a forward base in Asia - the Philippines, control of the Panama canal and Guam as a mid ocean stepping stone.

Rather than occupy foreign lands with governor's and government, the US placed bases and left the locals to run the countries.

Maintaining an occupying force is super expensive. In fact there is diminishing return on the good(s) one gets vs. the cost of occupation. Eventually the middle and upper middle classes are taxed heavily to support a government overseas and the military to defend it.

This is largely what happened to the Romans. They could not afford to police all the territory they had and it was easier to let stuff go than to fight endless wars in far away places. Then when you aren't drawing all those taxes and resources your middle class is burdened with more taxes and/or the economy shrinks and you eventually whiter away.

Great Britain had far flung bricks and mortar everywhere and relatively weak military presence. They also had very few natural resources at home. Once they got into WWII with Germany, almost losing the battle of Britain, they were in big trouble. The UK had already issued a ton of war bonds to finance WWI and in WWII they were a little more creative encouraging the population to save and then borrowing from the banks. This debt basically had the UK in handcuffs throughout WWII and beyond. They also incurred huge debt through the lend lease programs with the US. When Japan go into the war the empire was basically over and the UK probably didn't recover until after the boom boom 90's. Additionally once foreign territories were lost and/or disrupted the resources needed to wage war were scarce.

The US has vast natural resources and in the mid 20th century would have been all but impossible to invade or isolate. It's clear that the US' ability to produce vast amounts of war machinery never left the outcome of WWII in doubt. The game board could play in a few different ways but ultimately the US could not lose.

The US imposed taxes to fund the civil war and a few other skirmishes. It wasn't until WWI the 16th amendment and WWII that the burden really began to weigh heavy on the population.

Not only did they start collecting income tax there was a "victory tax" of 5% from 1942-1944 (which was replaced with different tax). WWI cost the US about $30b dollars. In addition to personal income taxes the US raised about $185b in War Bonds to fund WWII. By the end of the war the US was spending about 40% of GDP on the military.

Of course no one dropped taxes after the war and the government became addicted to taxation.

The canary in the coal mine that wars are expensive. In today's dollars:

WWII - $4 Trillion

Iraq - $1 Trillion

Afghanistan - $1 Trillion

It's one thing to look at defense spending in "peace time" but kick in a major conflict and even the mighty US economy can be put on its knees, at the expense of taxation on the population. i.e. the middle class. This is what happened to Spain.

Post WWII the US enjoyed a king of the hill status. They were the only superpower and life was great in the 50's and 60's. The US had ample opportunity to take territory in a classic sense but chose to "invade by influence" - exporting US goods, culture and military bases. It became the new way to build an empire.

It is unprecedented in history that so many allies allow so many US bases on their dirt. The US is everywhere - hoping that mere presence is deterrent enough to avoid invasion or conflict. The US population is very attuned to the cost of war in terms of dollars and boy's lives. American's will not tolerate losses like were suffered in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

The cold war reinforced how the new game was played among superpowers. Stemming the tide of communism was fought in proxy wars in places like Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and Granada and later in the middle east. But over the last 50 years the US has demonstrated time and time again that they are terrible at "checkbook influence." Over and over again we have backed the wrong insurgent dictator/despot in dozens of countries and have failed to set up a US style democracy anywhere in the past 50 years. The Philippines came close with Aquino and People Power but guess what? They have a Marcos as their leader - LOL.

American kids don't fight for king, they don't fight for God (although he is on our side) and they don't fight for money (mercenaries). Those concepts don't work today. American kids fight for patriotism and "Freedom" - project our culture - Hooahhh! It's been a easy sell - We are the greatest nation, we won WWII, we are the protectors of freedom at home and abroad. Baloney...

We perverted the call to arms of, "We are fighting for freedom" - Not only did we convince ourselves that freedom starts at home - there is no conflict in the world where I can't convince the populace that going there and fighting for someone else's freedom protects our freedom at home. Or that our "job" is to go to war and set other peoples free - even if they don't want our style of freedom.

It's always been about power and control. Projecting our style of democracy because it is good for business and what's good for business is good for America. The problem is business is short cited and has no 50 year plan.

In the meantime, US business has permeated everywhere. The recent pandemic illuminated the lack of US manufacturing infrastructure - we've moved it to low cost poles. In the interest of "free trade" we have been allowed to ship 100s of 1000s of jobs overseas turning the continental US into largely a service economy. There is a huge income disparity and more and more of the cost of government is falling on the backs of the remaining middle class.

In the 1970's we got a wake up call on dependency on foreign oil and the handcuffs that OPEC could put is in. The boom-boom 80's and 90's in tech and the boomer-consumer masked underlying erosion of the infrastructure - the US doesn't even make computer chips ay more. No problem, we can all go to college (accumulating $1 trillion in student debt) and be knowledge workers!

The boom-boom years also brought out the worst in us as individuals and as a culture. We are no longer the welcome place for the poor, tired, huddled masses. "I'm alright Jack, keep your hands of of my stack." - Greed - The original tribal motivation. I have the opportunity to accumulate the most so screw everyone else. Envy - I see someone with more than me so I can take it at gun point. Sloth - A population that is distracted and placated by and endless stream of media while educational standards erode for the lower classes.

The richest country in the world cannot/will not provide health care for the masses. #1 cause of bankruptcy in American is medical debt - 62%. In the meantime bridges are collapsing and roads are in ruins.

And the population is not happy. They are totally stressed out and there is enough of the population with an insurrectionist mentality to let an attack on the US capitol happen from within.

Culturally and national unity-wise the US is in ruins.

China - The biggest winner since WWII is China. They play the long game. With 1.4 billion population they have a long way to go in terms of growth.

I am not a free trader. I am a protectionist/technologist. In the long run the only way to win is to sell more than you consume. The US has been on a backwards trend for a long time - The US debt grows exponentially. We import way more than we export and have for years and the biggest beneficiary is China.

While we are still cleaning up places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and the Crimea, China is continuing to build their military and promote their regional territorial desires.

Why did China want Honk Kong back? National pride? Hell no. They gained immediate control of Asia's largest financial hub. Their eyes are set squarely on Taiwan. Because Taiwan is a threat? Because of national unity? No way. There is a ton of high technology manufacturing and invention in Taiwan. Even if the US and others pull their businesses out, the local population already has the knowledge. Sure there is a territorial proximity thing but it's a lot more than that.

China also has it's sights on the China sea, the Spratley's and so on. Taiwan will fall and it's only a matter of time.

I don't think China has any long term goals on future Asia expansion - i.e. the Koreas, Thailand/Cambodia, the Malay Peninsula or Australia. I think they learned from our mistakes. When the population is against the occupation then grass roots insurrection follows. The Chinese themselves did it, the Vietnamese did it and it is playing out in a similar fashion in Iran and Afghanistan. Killing people is relatively easy - killing ideas is impossible.

But a fight is coming. China is clearly watching the world reaction to the Crimea. How far can Putin push before the US and NATO put troops on the ground?

Would the US put troops on the ground if China backed a North Korea invasion? Will the US go head to head with China if they started occupying contested areas in the south China sea? The Philippines certainly could do nothing about it?

A proxy war with China is on the horizon. If it gets into a bigger conflict the risk and question is, "Will it go tactical nuclear" and will China and the US target each other's homelands. Most likely it will be a proxy war like a Vietnam or Cuba or Grenada.

Because the continental US is the largest military base on the planet, I am convinced there will be a USA for a long time. But it will look more like England than the current US. The US influence overseas will wane and once the US exits the world stage the middle east will go insane, China will likely gobble up larger parts of Asia and even Europe may get into another shit fight.

So if I were king?

1 - Institute a VAT - make continental manufacturing competitive again while enjoying the current high standard of living

2 - Invest heavily in invention and tech - Free university on an academic scholarship basis.

3 - Reimagine the supreme court with term reconfirmation limits and state by state representation.

4 - Term limits for Senators and congressmen

5 - Eliminate all political funding that is not private citizen donations. i.e. eliminate PACS

6 - Eliminate the complexity of riders on house ad senate bills. Direct voting of key legislation by the population - i.e. each representative shall securely poll the citizen's they represent and vote according to their wishes.

7 - It's probably time to reimagine the electoral college. I fully believe that the states should have equal representative power but gerrymandering is a disease that is disenfranchising the poor and the minority.

8 - Return to a version of the Monroe Doctrine. Our military business should not extend beyond the Americas, the continental US and the Pacific and Atlantic rims. We can't afford to police the world and should not have to. Let the middle east sort itself out, or let Europe get involved, it's their back yard. Let the Europeans deal with Putin. The US is big enough to go head to head with any superpower without help. Any help from others in any conflict since 1980 has been notional at best.

(ETA - Forgot Taxes) - Institute a flat tax on personal and business income. Singapore has a 10% flat tax and scads of money to spend. One of the richest SEA countries with a high standard of living. Accompany this with a balanced budget amendment and limit military spending to a reasonable percentage of GDP, like 2-2.5% except in times of war. The US debt ceiling likewise should be capped based on a percentage of GDP.

Of course none of this is gonna happen but a boy can dream. None if this will go supernova in my lifetime. I'm gonna get out OK but the future? All I can say is expect what you don't expect.

History class is over - LOL...

#13 Don't Forget Your Galoshes

I head back to California to close out my stuff and then return to Cinci for 2 weeks of training.

Like every guy ever, as soon as I started making real money I financed a car. I had a sweet brand new Toyota SR5 4WD - there were a few washes and some fire trails in the mountains above Ontario and I had fun exploring them a bit. Great truck. It was the only car I have ever bought new. Dianne and I bought a Camaro, but that was really for her and she kept it. Like every boy ever my first car got repossessed. What happened was I could not sell it in time so I simply drove it to the Toyota dealer and said, "I'm going to the Philippines. Here's your truck back" and tossed them the keys. Today I it would be a huge drama with penalties, credit score damage and a huge debt on the remaining loan vs. KBB wholesale value. Back then there was no Equifax or internet and I never heard a thing after that.

I get back to Cinci and I am put up at the Howard Johnson's. This place looked like a bomb hit it. All the carpet was out and they were remodeling. They had an indoor pool with a Tiki bar setup and the whole place smelled like Chlorine. The room was a standard room - no executive suite - and the carpets were stained with lots of unidentifiable stains. But I've lived in a lot worse places. I guess I am not being courted any more. This is how the staff live - LOL.

The rest of this memoir is gonna be filled with what today would be atrocious "male" behavior. I am not gonna apologize for it but I will explain context as I go along.

In my second foray with company ink I met a young female engineer in -50 school named Jane and we sort of had a drunken fling. She was my first experience with "wild sex." She was pretty adventurous. I crossed paths a few times in my career, she married another engineer and we exchanged embarrassed looks across one conference table or another - LOL.. I couldn't figure out if Jane wanted a relationship at that time but I wasn't gonna get distracted.

One night I am sitting in the Tiki Bar and a statuesque long haired blonde was sitting a couple chairs away. I have never been a good "pick up" guy. Horrible at it. Somehow she starts a conversation. She introduces me to Long Island Iced Teas and we get hammered. The next morning I find out she's a Deputy Sheriff. She hands me a business card and tells me I have a friend in the po po! Wow. New job and two one night stands in two weeks - Life is changing!

As I got to know Field Service in the mid-80's it was pretty obvious everyone was banging everyone. Secretaries and reps, secretaries and bosses etc. etc. It was a pretty hedonistic boy's club TBH. Up until the late 90's I think there were only 2 female reps. One was in Czechoslovakia because I think no one else would go there and one in Scotland who turned into a great friend.

I start CF6-50 Line Maintenance School. GE has a complete training school. We train tons of customers. The way it was structured back then is that if you buy our engines, you get a "rep" on site, a bunch of negotiated training credits, often some infrastructure like tooling, fixturing all the way up to on-site consulting on building engine repair shops and test cells (with all the tooling bought from GE. For years I had a great buddy named Chuck Loux. He eventually ran the tooling business. We built the Philippine Airlines engine shop and test cell while I was there. PAL sub-contracted the whole thing to GE and we sub-contracted to Burns & McDonnel They had two lead guys over the time. The first one was a pretty uptight married dude and I eventually bought his car from him when he left. He was replaced by a ginger guy named Mark Frentsos. He was single, about my age and we got up to all kinds of nonsense.

The airline students all love coming to Cincinnati and it is an honor to be selected. Thai International had recently bought a bunch of engine and I was in a Thai customer class. I was also in class with a guy named Bill Shirko. Bill was a hoot. He was almost totally deaf and had huge "ice cube" hearing aids. He and I would sit in the back of the class, Bill would turn his hearing aids off and read the newspaper - totally ignoring the class. He was a great guy but definitely not the best hire GE ever made. Bill was also a food hound. He probably went 240 pounds back then when I was still pretty much at my high school fighting weight of 175. Bill was always looking for breakfast lunch or dinner.

The Thai's were great. Completely gentle, sincere and warm. Unless you crossed them. I became really good buddies with a guy named "Woodie." Woodie had a distinct feature. In some sort of street fight in Thailand a gun was pulled and Woodie was shot through his cheeks across his face and it split his tongue so he had a distinctive scar and speech.

During this class the King of Thailand was having his birthday. Woody invited me to the Thai apartment to celebrate with them. Thai had rented an apartment for community living and lower costs for their students. Each new class inheriting the same apartment.

I arrive to find basically no furniture in this place. The carpeted living room had a very ornate table cloth laid on it and we had a community feast. Back then there wasn't a lot of customs control and the classes would bring food and drink with them. I got totally hammered on Mekhong and beer. I had lived with Pakistani exchange students in A&P school and they cooked the spiciest shit I have ever tasted. I'd walk into the house and my eyes would water from the spices. Some Thai food is like that but the food was nuanced and tasty. I passed out on the floor with the rest of the gang.

When I woke up the next morning it had snowed about 2 inches overnight. I'm from freakin' California. Snow belongs on mountains and Christmas cards for Pete's sake. So I get to the car and start wiping snow off with my hand and my Tiger Eye rings goes flinging off into the snow. Dianne had bought me the stone and I had it ground and mounted. It wasn't Dianne sentimental but I loved that ring. Poke around in the snow a bit but give up. When I get to the ice layer I realize it's gonna take forever to clear with the defroster so I start shuttling pots of hot water and dumping it on the windscreen. Of course snow people know this is a bad idea and I was lucky the windshield didn't crack. That night I headed back and with a spatula excavated the parking spot and eventually found my ring.

In the second week of class Karl called me up and told me my Senior Rep was in town and was gonna meet me at the school. John is still a legend in GE. He was a Vietnam era rep for Pratt & Whitney and I think was married like 4 or 5 times. His first wife was from the East Hartford Connecticut area and she was long gone by the time I met him. I probably don't know where John was originally from but I am guessing mid-upper-east. No distinct accent but a growly gravelly voice from too many cigarettes and beer. John was like a God - he was from everywhere all at once - LOL.

He had two kids with her and I was to meet and spend time with Mike in Manila. Tracy was a tragedy. John had a condo in Florida on New Smyrna Beach and Tracy made home in Florida. I met her one time on a trip. Shortly after she and her boyfriend tried to rob a gas station for like a spare tire and the boyfriend shot and killed someone. At like 18 years old Tracy spent the next 20 in prison.

But I am ahead of myself. So I see this 40-ish, handsome man with a big belly and a hitch in his giddyap. John had chronic lower back pain for years and always looked in pain if he wasn't drunk and walked kinda sideways like John Wayne.

He kinda looked at me like I was dog shit on his shoes. "Oh jeez, what has Schneider saddled me with?" John didn't suffer fools and was skeptical of anyone who wasn't 300 years old. "OK, here's the deal. There are 4 things you gotta have in Manila and you can't get shit there so bring it with you. First you need a good umbrella. It rains all the fucking time and you'll need it. Second you need to bring good galoshes. It rains all the time and the streets and roads flood like fuck. Third you need a short wave radio. The local news is corrupted by Marcos. In fact the whole fucking country is corrupt. You need a short wave radio to listen to the BBC so you can find out what's going on in the world." I am speechless, mouth hanging open, like I am talking to an alien. "The fourth thing you need is $2000 in cash or you will starve to death in your first month. Your paycheck is gonna be fucked up and I am gonna have to teach you how to get money from the black market." WTF???? Now I knew GE authorized 2 weeks in the hotel so there would be no housing or food expense at first.

So I am like, "Yes sir. No sir. Would you like another sir?" all the while wondering how I'm gonna dig up $2,000 in cash. My mom and dad were getting divorced and I was basically supporting her and until recently splitting expenses on a 4 bedroom house in Fontana. Turns out I had like just enough to get an umbrella and a short wave radio. Fuck the galoshes.

My flight date was December 26th and arrival date December 27th. "OK. When you get to Manila the airport is gonna be a fucking zoo. There will be like a million people in the place. Everyone is a scammer, everyone is traveling for Christmas. Hang on to your fucking bags and don't give them to anyone or you will never see them again. After you come out of customs, I will be there and get you on your way to the hotel. See ya!" and he turns and giddyaps back to his car.

So the final thing is getting my travel shit. GE had a whole department of ladies taking care of Field Service. This blog in fact is in tribute to Kathy Ward who was there when I started and retired only a few years before me. In this office they bought tickets - remember paper tickets? They issued travelers checks for cash advances and issued and maintained what GE called a travel card. It was a credit card to be used only for buying tickets and travel like hotels. They also worked up the payroll, making sure you go all your COLA and hardship bonus money.

So I am in Karl's office and his is giving me my final pep talk. Then he says, "OK. All that's left is to go over to GETSCO in the basement of building 500 and get your tickets and cash advances. You are gonna see Millie Bacon. Don't piss her off. She runs everything and can make you miserable. And the most important thing is if she wants to fuck you then you better smile and fuck her. That won't be a problem will it?" - What the holy fuck? Karl was totally deadpan and was watching the extreme confusion on my face. "uhhh... Yeah I guess so.." Then he busted up laughing and told me to get my ass to Manila.

So I go to GETSCO. The basement system in Cincinnati was amazing. There were blocks of buildings the big manufacturing buildings were Bldg. 500 and Bldg. 800. 100 had the exec offices 200 had labs and machining I think. Along I75 there were like 3 main gates. There were gates on the ends and in the back. It's a big place and most of the buildings have huge basements connected by tunnels. I mean like 3 golf carts wide plus pedestrian walkways on each side. In the basement were banks, restaurants and all kinds of shit in the hallways and intersections. You could live in the plant and never go home if you wanted. There were strong and credible rumors of a brothel being run in one of the many back trailers on the lot. After visiting GETSCO (GE Technical Services Company - a subsidiary business as a tax shelter) I explored the basement at the risk of getting lost never to be found.

Anyway, I descend into 500 and find a door labelled GETSCO and step inside. Imagine the shadiest Mafia back room with clouds of smoke. Papers piled everywhere. 4 little desks with ladies sitting at them. In the center back is something I can only describe as a mix of a vampire, a dragon and a witch - at least 800 years old and like drywall paste makeup. She is coated to look like some macabre mime mixed with the Joker from Batman. Chain smoking with overflowing ashtrays and at least 2 burning cigarettes in different ashtrays. Millie Bacon! I can see why fucking her would scare off any but the most committed young rep.

"Whooo'reyou?" shouted, drawled and groaned all as one gravely voiced word. "Uhhh. I am Dan Deutsch..." " Ahhhhh. Deutsch... Hold on a minute." Puff puff shuffle shufflle looking for a file. "Whooo're you again?" Tentatively - "Ahhh... Deutsch?" as if it is a question. I knew I didn't have to fuck her but she is the person that is gonna be doing my payroll so I ain't gonna piss her off. Ring, ring.... "Millie Bacon. Whooo're you?" So a brief phone call. Puff Puff, cloud of smoke... "Who'reyou?" "Deutsch?" - Ahh. Yes right here..."

I don't think Millie ever died. She just went back to wherever gargoyles come from. So with tickets, cash advance, divorce papers, umbrella and short wave radio I head to Manila after a brief stop in California. GE was gonna ship my personal effects by sea or air depending on the load so I had to get that organized. I didn't have much except more clothes and the basics to set up an apartment. No furniture as GE also provided that!

So on the big PanAm bird to Manila we go!

Here are some photos of photos. Scanner is down right now so I will scan replacements later.

Foreman Frank - One of my first mentors. Shown with his wife. Looks like a Christmas party.

My ultimately repossessed truck somewhere up on Mt. Baldy. Pictured with Robert Nelson my absolute best friend in HS. Robert Joined the army and we lost touch. In those days you had to write letters. We exchanged a few letters but broke contact for years. We recently reconnected (2021) and he is living in Kansas. He married a Captain, retired from the army and opened a dojo.

This is a tennis club party around 1985/6. From left, Helmut - A German guy we were friends with through the club. The most amazing thing he told me was that growing up in Germany in the 50's there was absolutely no teaching of WWII and Hitler. It was like it never happened. He only learned about the atrocities after he started traveling. Sam Lee - Sam was a Garrett APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) rep from Phoenix. He was single and we were partners in crime all through my PAL years and beyond. He stayed in Asia and I think is retired there in Thailand. I last bumped into Sam in a bar in Bangkok. Just serendipity. Creatures of (bad) habit always going to the same watering hole. John Grosvenor - A huge mentor in my career, a legend and God among Field Reps. Mike Grosvenor - John's son visiting Manila.

2022-07-27 History Part III

Empire building allows the Emperor to siphon off resources while enjoying cheap labor or slavery. The Romans primarily conquered and occupied. There was little intermixing with the indigenous peoples. They built roads, forts, monuments and castles to protect the realm. For a time they also hired mercenary strong arms to keep order. Later the church became a huge political and policing force - nothing keeps the serfs in line like a good public crucifixion. The good thing about that is that now the rules can be the same in Rome as the are in Wessex.

On a small scale the Vikings did CCC. Conquer, cleanse and colonize. Kill all the local people. The huge issue with this is the empire can only grow as fast as the population grows and relatively quickly some Vikings started converting to Christianity and intermarrying in Daneland. Of course this eventually eradicates the original culture and Gods.

Setting aside the Asians for a moment, the British, Spaniards and French largely did not want to go to war with each other (big dogs) and so (IMO) intermarriages and treaties became the fashion. It makes for colorful history as babies are wed to babies, children are hidden away for years lest they be murdered by an uncle. When you look at it as a collage it's pretty fucking crazy and stupid. But for the common man it is not something that affects my daily life. Some asshole is always gonna sit on the throne and I am gonna always be a turnip farmer.

It's kinda like the US federal government.

The second hammer was the church. You had king law and God law to keep order among the serfs and make up the kingdom's rules.

But in order to get hands off so they could focus on global expansion, most of these monarchies used nobles. Some nutbag would get ceded lands and be called noble, largely through some distant or close relation with the king or the king's wife. Nobles organized the farming, mining, gathering, manufacturing and policing, sent a butt ton of money to the king and if required had to produce an army if the king needed it.

Nobles had to abide by king law and God law but could also make Earl laws if needed. If that doesn't draw a strong parallel to the US state system I don't know what does - LOL

You now have kings, nobility and peasants. A good 3 class working system.

The Spaniards spent most of their empire period looking for places with gold and silver. When they sent Columbus sailing the ocean blue they gave him lots of power. He could make king law anywhere he went. Not only that he was empowered by the church to take any land for Spain where the locals aren't Catholic because it was God's will. He also was empowered to baptize and convert locals. So the Spanish realm grows in the Caribbean for a while its the big time when they find the Aztecs (who got da gold) and the Mexicans (who got da silver). Eventually they get over to Asia and convert a bunch of folks to Catholicism, most notably the Filipinos.

The Brits & French being Protestants by now didn't see real need to convert the locals so much but Christianity did take hold in places and pockets.

The Spaniards were really good at shipping gold back to Spain and despite folklore and movies rarely lost a shipment.

The Spaniards spent a lot of time and money fucking around with the Spanish peninsula, specifically fucking with territorial claims with Portugal. They were spending a lot of money on this and maintenance of the empire and in a sense were living paycheck to paycheck.

Sidebar - The Mafia in modern times would say, "Wars are bad for business" and of course it is true. I am watching a few shows on 1970's and 1980's gangs. Some of the guys that ran these gangs were wicked smart. When you are making $50m a year you need a pretty good command structure - They were interviewing one of the kingpins from Queens in jail and he would talk about how it was super important to keep the streets quiet - no crime on civilians. No fucking with the police - They have a much bigger gang than anyone. And don't start gang wars because they are bad for business. Of course eventually the drugs erode the neighborhoods from the inside out and shit collapses. The point is anyone running a large enterprise figures out that conflict is bad.

The other issue Spain had were uprisings from the indigenous people. If the people are not "distracted," fulfilled and satisfied civil unrest follows. The Romans knew that so they built coliseums. The Brits knew that so they had public punishments and May Fairs and shit.

Today we have Football, Tractor Pulls, MMA and C-Span - LOL.

And then Spain's world turns to shit. For some reason the Brits and the French were always fucking with each other. And Spain had this pesky treaty or 10 with France. So Spain, depleted by Portugal and empire building gets into it with the Brits - Of course they now have a Global War and the Brits and Spaniards start fucking with each other in the Caribbean giving rise to privateering and piracy.

The Brits attack places like Colombia but they too have expenses back home. Just prior to this you have a lot of poor sailors in the American colonies. The Navies had shrunk and unemployment was high. The slave trade was still going on but privateering put a lot of guys in business. Get a commission, get a boat and go steal Spanish gold and silver.

There are big events in history and popular events in history. Piracy is romantic and stuff but in reality it's just a bunch of poor guys taking a piece of the pie illegally. They are opportunistic and see an opportunity for wealth through crime. Kinda like gangs of today. I think that is largely why the majority of the unwashed cheer on certain criminal enterprise. Ned Kelly, Billy the Kid, John Dillinger, OJ Simpson, DB Cooper - the list is endless. Working class heroes for the working class sharing the common trait of all dying young at the hands of the nobles and kings.

So a crack boss makes $50m. Big deal. The US economy is in the trillions of $$$. The kings largely don't give a shit at all. Unless the middle class gets affected for the middle class is the key to it all - More on that in Part IV.

Around about this time the Spanish lose a big gold shipment. The pirates go searching (and finding most of it) in Florida and the Spaniards, living paycheck to paycheck are on their ass financially. They can't afford to fight everywhere and maintain the empire.

So young America gets involved with the Cubans in their revolution, we have a brief Spanish American war and we get a lot of Spanish territories including the Philippines. You've pushed the Spanish out of mainland America, you got Cuba (for a while) Puerto Rico, the Philippines - a strong foothold in Asia and Guam signaling and portending that the Pacific is gonna eventually belong to us.

Into the 20th century century we go with the Ascendant US empire gaining momentum.