"It was not me who started with constantly emphasizing how everyone has an agenda and is in essence a dirty, scheming crook."
By taking my words out of context you gave them a different connotation from the intended original one.
Quite the contrary - despite his gruff manner I do have a high opinion of Mr. Mikado, then of Mr. Vizza and of course Mr. Schatzkin (if this would be a race, I would bet on such a team). There are also others. I am not critical of people, I am critical of the way how certain things are done.But thank you for sharing your high opinion of all of us here. I'm touched.
Since members of the forum were on occassions quite justly critical of me, then I think I have the right to be critical too when the situation calls for it.
Let me give you an example. Around March or April I tried among other to raise attention to the global financial and economic disaster that has been gathering momentum and that errupted in September and October. I tried to warn that such factors might influence the development of new technologies and that people should have a plan for such contigencies.
I was vehemently denounced as a delirious doomsayer who only sees gloom without offering any solutions.
In June or beginning of July I again tried to raise the issue - this time in private and solely with Mr. Mikado, because I thought that he would be due to his cynical nature more responsive to such a problem. I sent him an article which appeared in the British newspaper Telegraph and where the Royal Bank of Scotland warned it's clients of the impending disaster.
Contrary to popular opinion I am a very optimistic person, but despite of enjoying having my head high up in the clouds I strive to remain with my feet firmly on the ground.
What I oppose is the spirit of blind, childish optimism without any rational consideration or analysis. Sometimes when reading from this forum I have the feeling of looking at the following image:
If you do not believe me, then please consult the texts of Mish Shedlock, Dr. Nouriel Roubini, Dr. Laurence J. Kotlikoff (he wrote an excellent analysis on the disastrous fiscal policies of the U. S. for the St. Louis chapter of the Federal Reserve in 2005), etc.
Why do you think that the U. S. Comptroller General, head of the Government Accountability Office David M. Walker resigned in such disgust in March of this year? He has been warning and pleading that the fiscal and economic policies in the U. S. are insane and irresponsible. But nobody listened to him.
AM