blue man show

If you've been following the news lately you surely witnessed the latest blue man show. No, this one is not on a Las Vegas stage, but it is just as unreal. Light blue clad Chinese "security" people forming a protective cocoon around the Olympic Torch. Despite the baby blue outfit these "pros" are not to be messed with. Some popular websites labeled them "thugs," and other highly descriptive but rather unsympathetic terms were used. Maybe the Chinese government is trying to show the world how it handles dissidents? After Tibet, who is next ?

This latest fiasco shows once again what the "Olympic spirit" is all about. Now that the epic cold war struggle is over, the torch has -quite literally- been passed to China. And the Chinese are trying to show the world how important they really are. One can only hope that people take notice. With all the undue attention given to al-Qaeda and other Islamist organizations, it is easy to forget where the real threat lies. And this one won't be as easy to deal with. China is the one nation that can mobilize millions and it won shy away from a few thousand casualties here and there.

Politicians would do well to forget about phony wars, that generally achieve nothing other than wasting inordinate amounts of money. Phony wars like the war on drugs, the war on cancer, the war on terror, etc. These are nothing but bottomless pits for spending. And all have a negative return on investment. Neither drugs, nor cancer, nor terrorists will ever go away. Furthermore, these are not important threats in the overall scheme of things.

We should pay attention to what really matters. In our world of limited resources, China is adding "another France" every year to its unquenchable thirst for energy. Growth of such magnitude will not come to rest easily. Sooner or later something will have to give. And since all wars are about resources, this is a war in the making. So rather than spend money to beef up another dictatorship in return for some cheap trinkets, we should rein in those greedy "investors" and have them focus on our own economy.

Unfortunately that economy is turning more into a giant fluff ball with every passing day. Every time we ship a real job abroad to save a few pennies, we replace it with another fluff ball position. While that position may pay better over the short run, and economists can happily check the added value box, it won't be so good once the big bubble bursts. Like those McMansions in the desert, we won't have much use for another life-style coach when trouble strikes. Given how close to the edge we are living that trouble cannot be too far off either.