The John Batchelor Show

Friday 24 August 2018

Air Date: 
August 24, 2018

Photo: Tau-Gu, Chief of the Paiutes, Overlooking Virgin River with John Wesley Powell (at age 39), circa 1872
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 1, Block A:  Gregory Copley,  International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA); also Editor-in-Chief of Defense & Foreign Affairs; in re:  Periods of [strain} where societies require sovereignty for survival, and more relaxed periods where it’s not necessary. Collapse of civilization in 1177 BC: from Italy to Egypt and Turkey (Hittite kingdoms), and a handful of others – collapsed almost all at the same time, yet no one saw it coming, Romans had the globalist civilization for that time.   We’re now at the end of the cycle that followed WWII.   People look for familiar horizons: family, clans, historical identity.  Between people traditional in their views of society, and those who subscribe to globalism. Materialism is an outgrowth of urbanism.  Inferior ot deep-seated family identity; it comes and goes quickly. Young people want to have things without [owning] them. Chinese strategic and economic growth timed from nationalism under Deng Xiaoping. India under the BJP trying to do the same thing, vs the Congress Party (Hindu-centric/nationalist). NATO & Asean fail to block the reversal to nationalist-sovereign. However, under strain, people revert to what’s comforting: family tradition, history, familiar music and language. Xenophobia revives automatically ‘twixt the extremes. Italy, Catalunya, Greece, Egypt, Ethiopia – all over. 
New ISSA / Zahedi Center book, Sovereignty in the 21st Century and the Crisis for Identity, Cultures, Nation-States, and Civilizations.
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 1, Block B: Gregory Copley,  International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA); also Editor-in-Chief of Defense & Foreign Affairs; in re:  Sovereignty.  The logic is that for the US to survive it’ll  have to become more nationalist: protect borders. If the UNS ceases to compete, it’ll either decline or lay itself open to military attack (Japan was nationalist). Globalists oppose national-ism ; if they prevail, US declines. Most civilizations last abt 250 years. However, what humans cleave to profoundly – enduring culture  — lasts indefinitely. [Note cultures lasting ten to twenty thousand years among Australian and North American Aboriginals.]
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 1, Block C:  Richard Epstein, Hover’s Defining Ideas, & NYU and Chicago Law; in re:   Elizabeth Warren on the Accountable Capitalism Act, for the campaign trail.  (1) All corporations earning more than $1 billion must  . . .  (payments, boards, salaries, et al., all to be determined by Miss Warren and her friends),  Mindless and dangerous proposal.   . . . Friedman quotation.  . . . Shareholder (one who contributed money in exchange for some share of future profits; blt for speed and accuracy). Stakeholder has an interest in whether the company goes up or down.
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 1, Block D:  Richard Epstein, Hover’s Defining Ideas, & NYU and Chicago Law; in re:   Elizabeth Warren on the Accountable Capitalism Act, for the campaign trail (2).  Ms Warren says CEOs are grotesquely overpaid compared to most of their workers. They get a little cash, plus bonuses, shares, and a variety of incentives. . . . CEOs have very high turnover, work 24/7, and burn out after maybe five years.  Accountable Capitalism Act is unconstitutional: when the govt gives out benefits, may do so for legit reasons, only.  “We’ll give you a corp, charter if you let us determine how much you must pay to whom.” – not Constitutional.
 
Hour Two
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re:    Regicide. American Civil War was also against a government  [that had grown a great deal in power].   We’ve had almost a century of American emperors – elected, of course.  Can seize legitimacy only with assent of all the [arms] of the res publica.  US has created a reified and unchangeable system of two parties. Orderly transfer of power via election process has been replaced by a war between the two power centers, who also increasingly represent two visions of America that are moving swiftly apart. Nationalist and globalists have separate realities.  Globalists hold that Trump is merely an interruption in their power and must remove him to restore order. Nationalists do not want to revert to Obama or Bush: want a completely different understanding of their relationship with the state, and to return to their identity groups. Bo Language cements the division.  . . . Ergo, right now an election is the most dangerous event we can confront Constitutionally. Sign of a society that is not able to work any longer and remedies have been factored out. The imperial structure of authority and legitimacy is one of the dynamics to cause a crisis to come to a head.
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 2, Block B:  Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re:  Regicide.  A blue wave in November wd accelerate regicide. Corey Booker.  Nullificati0n: rejection of a federal law by a state – not entirely settled law. A signal that we’re reaching a dire-warning point. 
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 2, Block C:  Gene Marks, The Guardian, in re:   Small business.  . . .  Tax reform 2.0?  . . . Many many small businesses will be sold in the coming years, esp by boomers.  . . .  Discussion of corporate forms to obtain best tax advantage; is a spreadsheet question, do it now.    Online lenders: Cabbage, LendingClub, etc.  Can be well into the double digits/expensive.  For US economy to grow at 4%, need to have strong consumer sales, incl the current good reports from Toll Brothers.  Real estate: growth of housing has slowed— we’re out of inventory.  Watch Home Depot & Lowe’s.  Nordstrom, WalMart, retailers are doing very well.
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 2, Block D:  Gene Marks, The Guardian, in re:  Click & brick. Robot-run stores, esp a grocery store [Zip in?]. You sign in, get a mobile app and QR codes.   Furternity: company benefit whereby an employee gets paid days off to spend time with a pet.
 
Hour Three
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 3, Block A: The Promise of the Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West, by John F. Ross
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 3, Block B:  The Promise of the Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West, by John F. Ross
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 3, Block C:  The Promise of the Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West, by John F. Ross
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 3, Block D:  The Promise of the Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West, by John F. Ross
 
Hour Four
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 4, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack,com, in re: Space
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 4, Block B: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack,com, in re: Space
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 4, Block C:  Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back, by Janice P. Nimura
Friday  23 August 2018 / Hour 4, Block D:  Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back, by Janice P. Nimura
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