No Plan B

As I listened to analysis of Ben Bernake's most recent statement I understood that he is dancing with the global finance industry. He's trying to provide encouragement to global finance in the face of the threat that they will pull out of the world economy if Bernake doesn't handle the U.S. economy in a manner that they approve of. So obviously we're not in a real recovery but still on the precipice of global financial collapse. That's why Bernake is sufficiently scared to offer what little he can to sustain the current "recovery." Unfortunately, the repeated insistence that we are already recovering diverts our attention from the reality that our economic system is so fragile. If global finance collapses, what are we going to do? Is there a plan B? Any sort of backup plan? I'm convinced that there is not and we are actually witnessing the potential demise of global finance. Since there is no plan in place for this potential, we see every "developed" country trying everything they can to keep finance afloat.

Musings on Employment

As Los Angeles cuts a few thousand jobs, I reflect upon the nature of employment. For most people, work is taken for granted as necessary condition for survival, and rightly so. Humans are born with no capacity for self sustenance. Never has a baby been born who could feed and protect itself. So at first we depend on our mother to feed and protect us, but once developed humans, like most creatures, must secure their own subsistence. This is where the need for work comes in. We no longer live in ancient times when the only endeavor that could sustain us was working the land, foraging, hunting and/or fishing. Most people nowadays have no access to land that they can freely work or forage or hunt, and while fishing can surely still provide a man with sustenance, it rarely provides such surplus as to be able to afford the land on which to live. The long and short of the story is that almost everyone is born with nothing but their labor to sell. 

Teach a Man to Fish

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." - Chinese proverb.


In our current global system we are like Oscar Wilde's cynic, we portend to know "the price of everything and the value of nothing." We think we know what things are worth, but dedicate little effort to examine whether this belief is accurate. Price is a convention, a covenant of sorts, but value is the fulfillment of a potential. As houses sit empty and people live on the streets we sense the irony in the lost value of the empty home and the cruelty that price enacts on those who would see its value fulfilled but lack the means if not the need. 

Can We Spread Hope While Others Spread Fear? Numbers and a Few More Questions from TED

"Corporation, n., An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility." - Ambrose Bierce.


"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." - Paulo Freire


Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Dissatisfied? No Way.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021004708.html



According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released today "Two-thirds of Americans are 'dissatisfied' or downright 'angry' about the way the federal government is working." Whoa, hold the press, I mean this is news. And here I thought I alone was dissatisfied, turns out there's way more dissatisfaction. I'd venture to guess that I'm not the only person to think that calling what the federal government is doing "working" probably stretches the definition of the word substantially. 

The Greatness of Humanity

The greatness of humanity is only surpassed by its selfish incapacity to realize its greatness. Held back by opinions and prejudices, society stumbles along despite great achievements. Failing to recognize potential and incapacitated by greed, accepting and promoting many great lies and ignoring great truths. All things are so very deeply connected. This connection denied, humanity and life suffer. Human progress is defending the truth, exposing the lies, conquering greed, and appreciating and promoting the greatness of the collective mind and soul of humanity. 

"Fortune" Cookie

I recently had my fortune predicted by a cookie from the Chinese restaurant near my home. Normally, I don't put a lot faith into these predictions, but this one was different. "The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next." The "fortune" is actually a quote from Henry Ward Beecher (brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe.) Maybe he was right, though in some areas it may take more than a single century for common sense to catch up to philosophy.

Raj Patel: The Value Of Nothing, Part 1 (VIDEO)

Food is of utmost importance to our development and gets far too little attention imho. And in our "free market" system externalities abound in most areas of industry and manufacture. Patel has put his finger right on the problem: price vs. value. So much value is wasted or stolen, or both. And price rarely manages to achieve it purported purpose of valuation. Much must be done to correct the misinformation and misunderstanding that permits these misdeeds, but change is nearly impossible when the interests of capital are opposed.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost