Whammy Words: Semantic Synonymity

Flaring
Inflation
Flatulence
Flattery

The downwind droughts result from flaring the natural gases, a process which has repeatedly cheapened the lives of those who live downwind. John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath described the cheapened human lives--the Okies reduced to subhuman subsistance from the Dustbowl drought, downwind from the flared Texas oil fields. In the unity of life grounded in the quantity and quality of time, it is not surprising that the

• flaring of gas yields
• inflationary suffering with
• flattery of oil's false hopes matching
• flatulence from long-winded politcians.

If you use the timistic clutter cutter, these four semantic siblings have the same costly time damage to humanity.

Is inflation merely a cheapening of the numbers on paper? Or, is it really the cheapening of the human time behind these numbered papers? If inflation only cheapened numbers, we would not care. Whether my computer counts to ten or to ten million, I don't care. But I do care if my lifetime is reduced by death or by someone stealing the bread created by the sweat of my brow--my time at work.

But inflation cheapen's our workweek and worklife by reducing the worktime we invested to own the numbered papers. If a person saves a hundred lifehours in numbered papers then the person should get 100 lifehours when the papers are traded back for the worktime of others ... elsewhere or elsetime. Unfortunately, economists and politicians don't see things in time. 

If one accepts that "the quantity of quality time is the true wealth of humanity", one sees a sad, semantic slippage in how oil field flaring cheapens lives: economic inflation, political flatulence and executive flattery. The flattery of the oil companies is what the name means, false and empty compliment. The economists of the energy companies say oil and gas will solve our problems, but the data indicates the record increase of numbered papers is not a net profit but is a net loss for humanity--see Timistic Analysis. Profit is Latin for "forward existence." There is no forward existence (time) when one segment of the world and economy has an overpaid, cancerous monopoly that destroys the polis, polity and politics.

Until economists unite the symbols of our time with the substance of our time in solving real problems, there will be politicians who argue for economic health that is unhealthy to humanity. The Bush administration's numerous, unilateral and unexplained reversals on campaign environmental promises will kill a lot of human beings, families and communities. In the end, the greatest tragedy of the 2nd Millennium will be escalating suffering and death from oil. As such, the apologists and advocators will be reviled more than the Nazis and Hitler in the annals of history.

Inflation is primarily the cheapening of human time. The cheapening of numbered papers (money) is merely a secondary, downwind indexing of human decline. The worst form of inflation--short of death--is unemployment. Why do economists use unemployment to fight inflation? Intellectual street-walkers--necronomists, knowers of the laws for death.

The symbol/substance schism is why economists know the price of everything but the value of nothing. All the wealth created on the Nasdaq was not wealth, just a bunch of numbered symbols without sustaining substance. Likewise, the wealth suggested by recent GDP and productivity gains are false paper numbers inadequately adjusted for inflationary suffering. Likewise the promised prosperity of unfettered energy production will kill civilization as we know it. Only for a while can the figures of economists hide how humanity is experiencing an accelerating existential meltdown.

For a better understanding of the symbol/substance void, read the Timism: The Periodic Table of Existence, What Einstein had in part but not in whole. Summary ... Essay.

1950s Dustbowl II Key Figure

To wit,