Showing posts with label business forecasts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business forecasts. Show all posts

Monday, June 20, 2011

Internationalists and Global Futurists: The Spoils (And Spoilage) Of Never-Ending Wars

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .


"If wars weren't so profitable, people would abandon them."
-Douglas E Castle


Prologue: Entrepreneurs, Thought-Leaders, Visionaries, Business Owners, Internationalists, Trend Watchers and Global Futurists; this article is about the long-standing international "War On Drugs." Each of us, as an entrepreneurial business owner, a private-sector "citizen ambassador" through the medium of cyberspace, and a producer of value added goods and services must see some of these "Wars" for what they are -- and perhaps they are a source of business opportunities for the sociopathic, megalomaniacal and unscrupulous minority of powerful leaders in this world.

Wars of any sort generate profits for their champions, their financiers, their suppliers, and countless other parties. The common denominator is not principle -- the common denominator is economics -- war is a money-making business opportunity; it follows that an endless war is an endless money-making business opportunity. Perhaps worst of all is that entire economies, governments and international politics are centered around it and steeped in it.

Here's a pun: Governments have become addicted to the War On Drugs. Please read on...



While the public has been conditioned to view illegal drugs (sometimes termed "recreational" drugs) themselves as an evil to be contended with in terms of their propensity to create addiction, loss of mental faculties, and other "sins" of irresponsibility and escapism, the problem has never been truly about the drugs and their effects on users.

The War On Drugs is, theoretically, targeted toward those traffickers, dealers, pushers and criminal organizations which make these substances available for public consumption in contravention of the laws.

If we dig deeper, we can follow the money trail to find out precisely who has benefitted from the prosecution of this unwinnable war. The principal beneficiaries have been:

1) Major suppliers of these illegal (and therefore high-priced) substances to the public;

2) Governments and their agencies which actually utilize various forms of partnering with drug traffickers in order to create piles of money to finance covert operations, undeclared wars, and private wealth-building;

3) Law enforcement agencies (jobs); investigative agencies (jobs); the prison system (jobs -- incarceration, especially in the United States, is a very big business) and various other insatiable, hungry consumers of taxpayer dollars and confiscated assets who render a "service" born of the criminalization of drugs;

4) Some of the large pharmaceutical companies who control the rights (either directly, by proxy, or via lobbyists) to charge enormous prices for prescription variants of these illegal drugs, and the regulatory agencies which are party to the approval process in their gatekeeper role;

5) Political aspirants needing a cheap, indisputable, traditional platform upon wish to campaign to an ill-informed constituency.

We all understand, even those of us who skipped many a class in school, or those whose wits are addled as a result of either genetics or lifestyle (with and without the use of these demonized illegal substances), that the War On Drugs cannot ever be won. It is, sadly a type of Prohibition which goes against Human Nature, but that has been providing profits and capital to all of the wrong people for a long, long time. It is an "assumed necessity" which has become entrenched into the economic structure of the entire world.

As long as the use of so many substances is criminalized, those "forbidden fruits" will sell at tremendous prices and be a magnet for violent criminal activity and "unaccounted for" governmental operations and covert enterprises.

The large pharmaceutical companies have a monopoly in the prescription drug market. They have helped to contribute to rising global costs of healthcare.

If "illegal drugs" were to be decriminalized (and became as readily available as alcohol to persons over a certain minimum age), their prices would plummet. There would no longer be a big profit in trafficking in drugs, or in the continued prosecution (by governments and their agencies) of the new, non-criminal suppliers.

Alcohol is legal, and yet not everyone becomes an alcoholic or a drunken driver. Some people do, but most people don't. I believe that the same behavioral reasoning applies to drug abuse.

The article below, which appears courtesy of Yahoo! News, talks about de-criminalizing many of these drugs. Notice how the proponents of ending the perpetual War On Drugs are "retired" politicians and leaders. They have already either made their own profits from the War, or have simply come to realize how expensive it is, and how the cure (i.e., the War) is far more expensive and violent than the disease (i.e., possible drug addiction and abuse).

After looking at the article, please come back here [we'll wait!] and I'll give you my insight, not as the Chairman of TNNWC, but as an individual schooled in economics, trend citing and event forecasting (I like to call it "Global Futurism"):

Global leaders call for a major shift to decriminalize drugs

By Liz Goodwin Wed Jun 1, 2:49 pm ET, from Yahoo! News
A slew of big-name former politicians are endorsing a report that says the war on drugs is not working and that drug enforcement policy needs to fundamentally change. The Global Commission on Drug Policy will urge a "paradigm shift" that emphasizes public health over criminalization tomorrow at a meeting in New York City, The Guardian reports.

Those backing the report include former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former Fed Chair Paul Volcker. Former elected leaders of Greece, Brazil and Colombia have also signed on. See the full list of backers here.

"What we have here is the greatest collection thus far of ex-presidents and prime ministers calling very clearly for decriminalization and experiments with legal regulation," Danny Kushlick, spokesman for the drug policy center Transform, told the Guardian. "It will be a watershed moment." [whole article...] ####

Douglas E Castle's view, from the standpoint of The Global Futurist and The Internationalist Page, is clear:

While it would benefit the peoples of the world to end the violence and expense of the War On Drugs, it is so deeply encultured and so massively profitable to an elite group of opportunists, that the War will indeed continue. It is simply too profitable for some very powerful people to allow it to end.

I believe that certain drugs, such as marijuana, may be become de-criminalized on a piecemeal basis over a span of many years, but by and large, the War On Drugs is here to stay for a very long time. The decriminalization cry is just posturing on the part of some people who don't get sufficient media exposure without finding a theme to make proclamations about.

Faithfully,

Douglas E. Castle

Original Article Title: "A World-Changing New Direction. Maybe" and "Internationalists and Global Futurists: The Spoils (And Spoilage) Of Never-Ending Wars"

Labels, Tags, Keywords, Categories and Terms For This Article:
  • Actions versus Words
  • Activism
  • Author Douglas E. Castle
  • behavioral psychology
  • Blogs by Douglas Castle
  • Capitalism and Competition
  • Dangerous Dependencies
  • Douglas E Castle
  • Enllightened Leadership
  • Entrepreneurial Business And Growing Companies
  • Expanding Your Knowledge Base
  • Follow the money...
  • Future Trends and Global Forecasts
  • Globalism
  • Governments and Regulation
  • Health and wellness
  • International Economics and Politics
  • International Policy
  • Mob Psychology - Mass Actions
  • News and politics
  • Paradoxes
  • propaganda
  • The Balance Of Global Power
  • The Global Futurist Blog
  • The Human Condition
  • The Internationalist Page Blog
  • THE NATIONAL NETWORKER COMPANIES
  • The War on Drugs
  • The War On Terror
  • TNNWC GROUP - Douglas Castle
  • TNNWC Services
  • Trending Now
  • The Global Commission On Drug Policy
---------------
Related articles

---------------
NOTICE: This article is Copyright © 2011 by author Douglas E Castle with all rights reserved. It may be republished without permission provided that it is published in full, with all hyperlinks and exhibits left intact, and with full attribution given the author. This article does not contain or constitute medical, health, psychological, legal, regulatory, investment, securities, financial, tax, or any other form of professional advice -- the reader acknowledges and accepts this disclaimer. Further, the reader indemnifies and holds harmless both the author and all publications in which this article appears of any damages, claims, loss, responsibility or liability emerging from the reader’s utilization of any information contained herein.

About This Author: Further information regarding this author’s professional experience, expertise and service offerings can be found at ABOUT DOUGLAS E CASTLE

Other Blogs And RSS Feeds By This Author: A comprehensive list of blogs and RSS feeds on various subjects written or moderated by Douglas E Castle may be found by clicking on the orange icon below.

This Blog Is Powered By TNNWC Group, LLC ™

Contact This Author Directly: Click HERE for an instant pop-up form.

You may follow Douglas E Castle on TWITTER 

The author highly recommends that each of his respected readers becomes Pinglerized (a Lingovation™) in order to maximize SEO, search engine ranking, and to exponentially increase both unique visitors and recurring traffic to your website or blog. Leverage this wonderful technology.



The author wishes to thank the following resource providers:

Feedburner, CoolText Graphics, JavaScript Free Code, Zemanta, Google, WordPress, Widgetbox, and Wikipedia
---------------
Posted by Douglas Castle 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, January 14, 2011

International Leadership - The New Paradigm - 01.14.2011

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .



International Leadership - The New Paradigm at 14th January, 2011

Article from The Internationalist Page (http://TheInternationalistPage.blogspot.com) written by author Douglas Castle, Chairman of TNNWC Group, LLC.

Dear Friends, Futurists, and Internationalists:

During the course of these past three years, the entire world has seen and experienced an economic tsunami, a crisis of trust and faith in the most venerable institutions, and a growing divide between those few powerful persons in positions of authority and those many persons who constitute the masses.

The masses have universally become disenfranchised and distrustful of those in positions of authority and power. The members of the suffering masses are feeling either helpless or restless -- but few are trustful or happy with the status quo.

There is a new tie that binds all of those citizens of The Internationalist Community, The Global Village and the Human species -- we are all sharing a crisis of confidence, and a lack of qualified, trustworthy leaders with vision and true integrity.

There is a high probability that some of those currently in power, those currently insulated and ensconsed within the protective palaces which they have built by the sweat, toil and suffering of the barely-subsisting majority will be displaced within these next one to three years.

New leaders will no longer be able to depend upon sovereignty, patriotism, empty rhetoric and hate-mongering to unite the masses behind them and to keep their power. The Internet, the entropic economy and the mysterious changes in the dynamics of the weather have made those safeguards of bygone times a virtual (pun intended) impossibility.

New leaders, in addition to technological mastery and expert advice, will be required to exhibit qualities which the older, dying "guardians by divine right" have never had to bring to the fore.

New Leadership will have to demonstrate a genuine alignment with the populations for whom they are responsible, as well as those same populations to whom they will now have to be accountable. New leaders will have to serve their followers instead of merely stealing votes and money from them based upon half-truths and blind faith.

There will still be a use for weaponry and shows of military strength -- but these will now have to be tempered with a heartfelt passion for their followers, as well as for the causes, organizations and nations which these leaders will lead. There will be a need for empathy, as well as a desire to dominate and control.

New leaders will be tasked with not only leading, but with caring for their constitutents, adherents and followers. The metaphorical muscle of the heart, long neglected but often abused, will have to be strong in these leaders. In sum:

"The Greatest Leaders Must Have As Deep A Love For Their Followers As They Do For Their Sacred Ideals And Objectives." -- Douglas Castle

My borrowed time here has led me to believe that Love can be a strength as well as a weakness. Do not underestimate its power and role in enlightened leadership. -- DC


Tags, Labels, Terms: leadership, leadership paradigm, internationalism, love as strength, power, the global future, qualities of leaders, accelerated breakthroughs, Douglas E. Castle, TNNWC, blogosphere, seizing and holding power, a change in the weather, enlightened stewardship, management, wisdom, a new zeitgeist, a new spirit, uniting nations, uniting peoples, GICBC, a world without walls, management transparency, sincerity, integrity, self-growth, business growth, economic growth, prosperity, peace, Braintenance, Lingovations, Technullity, Gistation, The Internationalist Page, The National Networker Weekly Newsletter, metamorphosis, the next generation, uniting elements, leading from the heart, trends, business forecasts, political forecasts, visionaries, codes of ethics, suicide notes embedded in blogs, borrowed time, repentance.


THE INTERNATIONALIST PAGE http://theinternationalistpage.blogspot.com/

Douglas Castle - Background, Blogs and Sites
Posted by Douglas Castle 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Blog Archive

Bookmark and Share