Ah, my first blog. I don't know where this blog will go content-wise and who will read it. I am not going to start by talking too much about myself, that'll come out in later posts. The immediate future promises to be interesting. In a few months I'll be hopping on a JFK-Tel Aviv flight. I've been to Israel before, three times. This time it'll be less of a trip, and more of a long-term living arrangement. If all goes by plan, I'll be studying Hebrew in Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem, getting my Hebrew level from converstational to semi-fluent. While there, I'll be motivated to write on Israeli life, Israeli politics, Israeli society, and probably on non-Israeli issues as well.

For now, I am still in the US of A, the world's only superpower. Ah, so nice to live in a hegemon. Although, these days, especially from the economic perspective, the hegemony doesn't seem like it'll last for too much longer. The government is getting too big and too cumbersome, and there's no way to check it's growth, as the body politic of the US is pretty much locked out of governing this country. The party duopoly has a stranglehold on Washington DC, and only major corporations have the financial ability to buy the lobbying power necessary to have any voice in government. I am no left wing nut, but it does take so much money to influence government behavior that it's hard to claim Joe Voter really has any voice at all.

On the other hand, capital for personal consumer purposes or for business activities flows like water in the US. So long as that holds true, and so long as the government continues to have the lowest amount of regulation in the Western world, the US economy will continue to be a powerhouse. The challenge from the EU is a total joke. But more on that in a later post.