LONDON burns. The Arab Spring triggers popular rebellions against autocrats across the Arab world. The Israeli Summer brings 250,000 Israelis into the streets, protesting the lack of affordable housing and the way their country is now dominated by an oligopoly of crony capitalists. From Athens to Barcelona, European town squares are being taken over by young people railing against unemployment and the injustice of yawning income gaps, while the angry Tea Party emerges from nowhere and sets American politics on its head.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/opinion/sunday/Friedman-a-theory-of-everyting-sort-of.html

When I first saw the post I was surprised that these were your views.

Then I clicked and saw it was Friedman. Actually for him it is quite mild.

This one quote from him seems to sum up the situation but he misses it -

"We are increasingly taking easy credit, routine work and government jobs and entitlements away from the middle class"

We aren't taking it away, the market is.

With 6 billion plus people there's lots of competition.

My answer is to teach my culture how to be stronger and successful.

Friedman et al subscribe to a different approach.

cf. kerry's posting on the Canadian 'progressive conservative'.

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It might be instructive to compare Turkey to other Middle Easter countries. No 'Spring' there. Why not? Well, the economy's pretty good but there is also another social dynamic going on. The AKP governing elite is made up of the upper end of the middle class and lower end of the upper is class is deeply religious. Their religion involves almost complete obedience to one man--Fethullah Gulen. The secular elites which previously ruled find themselves powerless to resist the social movement because it has been developing from the grassroots level for 40 yrs. If and when the economy tanks in Turkey, there wont be a rebellious spring because of the strict obedience inculcated in the movement. The Kurds or the Ismails might rebel, but the lack of individualism in the dominant Turkish religion will take it down a path quite different than the other countries in the region. It might result in a rebirth ofa kind of Ottomanism.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Is this good, bad or informative?

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Its the loss of individuality that would be the most troubling for us. Freedom and pursuit of happiness are at odds with the described Turk model of service and obedience to one individual. But if you look at nature, a beehive would not be able to exist and thrive without the collective efforts of the worker bees, and putting the hive and the queen bee first. The only choice a bee has is whether to sting an intruder, thereby killing herself in the process.

In that regard, our model of individuality, letting the individual prioritize himself ahead of the community, defies the natural order of things. But I know which system I prefer.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Wonder how long the bees that are on the dole last?

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Jim

They're called drones and they last just long enough to reproduce.

Yes, and they get to f- the queen. Otherwise they do absolutely nothing. Its a short sweet life.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Sounds familiar.

__________________
Jim

Media coverage will tend to and continue to drive social unrest over time. In far too many cases money will be spent to moderate it.

This money otherwise would not be spent. Some kind of a balance may be attempted by the powers that be. Core values that have driven societies for a long period of time may need to change.