Suggested Answers to the Second Short Quiz

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johnkarls
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Suggested Answers to the Second Short Quiz

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Suggested Answers to the Second Short Quiz entitled “Prof. Ferguson’s View of the Future”

Question 1

Does Prof. Ferguson present considerable information about his so-called six “Killer Aps” for why so-called Western “Civilization” -- which he posits was no more advanced in 1500 than other world civilizations (most notably China, India and Islam) -- rose over the following five centuries to amass great power and dominate the world?

Answer 1

Yes.

Question 2

In the First Short Quiz, did Yours Truly dispute whether, for example, the Islamic world was not far more advanced in 1500 in at least two of Prof. Ferguson’s “Killer Ap” fields (science and medicine) and that the Islamic world’s superiority in those fields lasted for several centuries after 1500?

Answer 2

Yes.

Question 3

For anyone who has read many (if not most) of the same books as Prof. Ferguson about why certain societies have collapsed – including reading several times each the classics “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon and “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William Shirer – is s/he forced to admire Prof. Ferguson’s effort to identify and categorize the zillions of reasons why societies have failed?

Answer 3

Yes, we are forced to admire Prof. Ferguson’s effort.

Question 4

Indeed, does Prof. Ferguson even mention two societies (Quakers and Shakers) which most historians would agree were identical in all respects except one – with that sole difference preserving the first so that one its members (Richard Nixon) became President of the U.S while the other society had long-since collapsed?

Answer 4

Prof. Ferguson does NOT mention Quakers or Shakers.

Quakers and Shakers were Christian Protestant Sects – both of which got their names from their practice of meditating on the awesomeness of God which caused them to “quake” or “shake.”

HOWEVER, Quakers believed in procreation whereas Shakers believed in celibacy – a “hard sell” which meant that perpetuation of Shaker communities depended on new recruits who were so sparse that the Shaker communities died out.

Question 5

Does Prof. Ferguson conclude (p. 299) that it is impossible to identify all of the reasons why a society might collapse – or even the speed with which a collapse will/can occur?

Answer 5

Yes.

Question 6

Nonetheless, does Prof. Ferguson posit (p. 301) that many civilizations have failed due to a financial crisis?

Answer 6

Yes.

Question 7

Does Prof. Ferguson then perpetuate THE MYTH that the 2007-2010 U.S. financial crisis was caused by subprime mortgages? When the true cause was Congress green-lighting U.S. Multinational Corporations which had accumulated in their tax-haven subsidiaries $4 TRilllion - $5 TRillion from exporting American jobs, to repatriate those profits at a special one-time 5.25% corporate tax rate rather than the normal 35% rate? Because the tax-haven subsidiaries had long-since been effectively forced to loan the $4 TRillion - $5 TRillion to the CHUMP American companies that had NOT exported American jobs? And now the CHUMP American companies were forced to reduce American payroll and capital expenditures by $4 TRillion - $5 TRillion in order to repay the tax-haven subsidiaries of the U.S. Multinational Corporations? And BEING FORCED TO THROW SO MANY AMERICAN WORKERS OUT OF THEIR JOBS WITH NO NEW HIRES TO PURCHASE THE FORECLOSED HOMES OF THE WORKERS BEING THROWN OUT OF THEIR JOBS – WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN AN ECONOMIC MELTDOWN WHETHER OR NOT THERE HAD EVER BEEN A SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE?

Answer 7

Yes, he does perpetuate the myth about the true cause of the 2007-2010 U.S. financial crisis.

And yes, he does ignore (or, perhaps, is ignorant of) the true cause.

Question 8

Indeed, when Congress did the same thing (i.e., permitting another $4 TRillion - $5 TRillion of profits that had piled up in tax-haven subsidiaries since the 2007-2010 meltdown to be repatriated at a 0% tax rate rather than the previously-prevailing 35% tax rate), did we write on 12/26/2017 to each of the Presidents of the 12 Regional Federal Reserve Banks to educate them on the true cause of the 2007-2010 meltdown, to educate them that the same thing was about to happen all over again, to point out to them that each of the Regional Federal Reserve Banks has the authority to make REPLACMENT LOANS to the CHUMP companies so that they do not have to throw American workers out of their jobs, and TO EFFECTIVELY SAY “MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL” IF ANY OF THEM FAILED TO DO HER/HIS DUTY??? Is a copy of one of those letters available for download together with USPS tracking information for all 12 letters available at viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1685&sid=3e2f0fc0d ... 1a95460f6d?

Answer 8

Yes, on 12/26/2017 we did educate the Presidents of the 12 Regional Federal Reserve Banks (1) about the true cause of the 2007-2010 meltdown, AND (2) THAT THE U.S. WAS POISED TO DO THE SAME THING ALL OVER AGAIN AND THEY HAD THE POWER TO AVOID REPEATING THE TRAGEDY.

And yes, a copy of one of the 12 letters together with USPS tracking information for all 12 letters is available on this website.

BTW, the looming 2018 U.S. financial meltdown was avoided.

Question 9

Have we also examined in detail another factor stressed by Prof. Ferguson -- deficit spending? Did our 3/13/2013 meeting 8 years ago focus on “Annual Deficits and Accumulated Debt” of not only the U.S. but also the-then-current “problem children” of Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal? And problems associated with redeeming national debt with “wall paper”?

Answer 9

Yes – Yes – Yes.

Question 10

Nonetheless, although such financial problems might cause a particular government to fall, would it really cause a society to fail??? In other words, don’t such currency failures simply mean that there are “losers” (e.g., people on fixed incomes, businesses whose income taxes are computed using depreciation based on costs denominated in worthless currency, etc., etc.) and “winners” (e.g., people and organizations who/that owe money denominated in worthless currency)???

Answer 10

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 11

Or yet in other words, did the “super inflation” of Germany’s currency 1921-1923 inevitably lead to the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler?

Answer 11

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 12

And in yet other words, how were Stalin and Chairman Mao able to defy popular unrest over their policies which killed, literally, millions of people? For example, didn’t Chairman Mao’s so-called “Great Leap Forward” produce between 33 million and 55 million deaths and didn’t his so-called “Cultural Revolution” produce as many as 20 million more deaths? And didn’t Stalin admit to Churchill at Yalta that he had killed 10 million people during his attempt to collectivize Soviet farms – with most historians putting the figure at a minimum of 12 million? With Stalin’s “solution” to the collectivization disaster comprising sending 25 million city dwellers to Kazakhstan to become farmers, implying that the true death toll from collectivization had been much closer to 25 million? And didn’t Hitler not only kill 6 million Jews but didn’t he also precipitate World War II which caused 70-85 million deaths.

Answer 12

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 13

And in yet other words, isn’t it possible for a ruler or ruling group to subjugate the population if the ruler or ruling group is ruthless enough???

Answer 13

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 14

And in yet other words, what do you think the world would be like today if Hitler had gotten the atomic bomb and gotten it before the U.S.???

Answer 14

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 15

Do you really think a Hitler, even today, would shrink from nuking millions of people whenever he thought his rule could be challenged???

Answer 15

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 16

Doesn’t this suggest that although there may be zillions of reasons why a society or civilization might collapse, the only real “Killer Ap” – a term Prof. Ferguson adopted without, perhaps, appreciating its real significance – is possession of superior weapons???

Answer 16

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 17

After all, wasn’t Winston Churchill famous for often saying that IDEAS create organizations and IDEAS blow them away???

Answer 17

Absolutely!!!

Question 18

But doesn’t that suppose that a Hitler or a Stalin or a Chairman Mao is NOT at the helm???

Answer 18

Absolutely!!!

Question 19

And, after all, didn’t William Manchester demonstrate in “The Arms of Krupp” (Little Brown 1964) that virtually ALL wars throughout history were determined by which side had the superior weapons??? With perhaps only one exception, the Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871 in which the French had superior weapons in every category EXCEPT LONG-RANGE ARTILLERY which meant the French never get close enough to use their superior short-range weapons? And with the observation that IN THE COMPARATIVELY-FEW WARS where neither side had superior weapons (the most recent examples might be the American Civil War and World War I Trench Warfare), the result is a proverbial “meat grinder” with zillions of casualties???

Answer 19

Yes – Yes – Yes.

Question 20

In this regard, didn’t the “Six Days War” in 1967 demonstrate to all of the Arab states that the Soviet weapons they had been using were inferior to the American weapons that Israel was using??? Didn’t that cause all of the Arab countries to clamor for “American toys” (please forgive the crassness of that terminology) thereby enabling “Pax Americana” to prevail in the Arab oil-exporting states through today???

Answer 20

Yes – Yes.

Question 21

Did Prof. Ferguson attempt to rank in importance the causes why a society or civilization might fail???

Answer 21

Yes.

Question 22

Whether he did or not, do you believe that the MOST IMPORTANT CAUSE AGAINST WHICH TO PREPARE is being caught with inferior weapons???

Answer 22

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 23

Do you think for a moment that if some new weapon that could make all current weapons obsolete were developed/invented by a Hitler or a Stalin or a Chairman Mao, we would NOT be “dead meat” notwithstanding all of our other fine institutions such as a democracy, a free press, etc., etc.???

Answer 23

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

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