Feb 2009
Exclusively Inclusive: All Noise on the Western Front
25/February/2009 10:37 Filed in: Weekly Column
As I was listening to some of the discussions of our current financial crisis, one of the commentators began listing some of the impressive creations of literature that came out of financial hardships, wars, and similar stupendous change events. One of the books mentioned was “All Quiet on the Western Front” chronicling the events that brought about the end of WWI, the war to end all wars.
Shortly thereafter I was treated to both far right and far left pundits interrupting each other with pedantic talking points, none of them showing any civility to each other or to the host. Since this financial catastrophe finds its roots in the material crusades of Western Culture, I mused that what we were all hearing was “All Noise on the Western Front.”
Human beings are unique in all of God’s creation, in that we have some cognitive understanding of life. Yet we have developed or fallen to such a desperate condition that we have become completely hostile to others who do not share our appreciation of dead stuff in the way we suppose is the proper way that stuff and money should be acquired. The noise is deafening, almost like artillery attacks, but we have completely missed the fact that we all share a tremendous transcendent gift and that is life itself.
The talk for the last few months is that we have to save the financial system. The current Administration’s conscience is that somehow, someway, throwing enough money at the problem, we hope, we can fix it. There is one truth in all of this; we are throwing money at the problem, definitely not wealth. Eventually wealth will again surface and money will again become worthwhile, but the way things look now, there needs to be a significant change in attitude and policies.
Tuesday Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he hoped that the recession would end this year. This hope gave the stock market hope and it regained much of what it lost last Friday. Later that evening President Obama gave a similar speech to a joint session of Congress. Today and following we will find out if those words, just words, will change the perception of economic realities. It seems from my perspective that he is intent on growing government with little understanding on how to pay for it.
We can’t take our stuff with us. Yet through all this financial noise we have never asked three important questions.
The first is stuff the prime goal of human life?
Is there another worldview that can provide important human civility?
Finally, do we really have the where with all to act as our own messiah?
Read More...
Shortly thereafter I was treated to both far right and far left pundits interrupting each other with pedantic talking points, none of them showing any civility to each other or to the host. Since this financial catastrophe finds its roots in the material crusades of Western Culture, I mused that what we were all hearing was “All Noise on the Western Front.”
Human beings are unique in all of God’s creation, in that we have some cognitive understanding of life. Yet we have developed or fallen to such a desperate condition that we have become completely hostile to others who do not share our appreciation of dead stuff in the way we suppose is the proper way that stuff and money should be acquired. The noise is deafening, almost like artillery attacks, but we have completely missed the fact that we all share a tremendous transcendent gift and that is life itself.
The talk for the last few months is that we have to save the financial system. The current Administration’s conscience is that somehow, someway, throwing enough money at the problem, we hope, we can fix it. There is one truth in all of this; we are throwing money at the problem, definitely not wealth. Eventually wealth will again surface and money will again become worthwhile, but the way things look now, there needs to be a significant change in attitude and policies.
Tuesday Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he hoped that the recession would end this year. This hope gave the stock market hope and it regained much of what it lost last Friday. Later that evening President Obama gave a similar speech to a joint session of Congress. Today and following we will find out if those words, just words, will change the perception of economic realities. It seems from my perspective that he is intent on growing government with little understanding on how to pay for it.
We can’t take our stuff with us. Yet through all this financial noise we have never asked three important questions.
The first is stuff the prime goal of human life?
Is there another worldview that can provide important human civility?
Finally, do we really have the where with all to act as our own messiah?
Read More...
Brute' says common sense is more important than a condecending attitude.
20/February/2009 09:06 Filed in: Et Tu Brute'
Exclusively Inclusive and the Fear Factor
18/February/2009 09:34 Filed in: Weekly Column
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
We began last week with the above quotation from Proverbs, which is the ultimate causative agent in the affairs of man. If the road to passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 doesn’t verify that reality, you truly are not inclined to face the real world.
Blame it on television, especially the Friday night show Numb3rs, where the bad guy almost got away with murder by tampering with the jury. Then math, especially probability theory, figured out how he did it. He succeeded, but only to the closing scene. Add to that a link in Saturday’s WSJ Online email on the Committee on Doubt and Uncertainty, concerning the House Financial Services Committee and we have a program for this week’s column.
Fear is the prime motivator in all-human decisions, or more precisely, the desire for security in the face of the unknown is what makes us do certain things pretty much all the time. To shine some light into that darkness we created the following equation. (For Windows users rather than use a specific math character set, we have attempted to express the variables in standard keyboard text.)
What we want to find out is what is the true Success Probability of any action we take to solve some perceived problem using a Process Factor or factors, which is basically defined as the way we have always done it. This is coupled directly with the Perceived Success over the years we have followed that path. We multiply that average by our Hoped Results and an undefined Fear Factor, which is divided over the Actual Results achieved over time. To use this equation for future predictions we must estimate the Actual Results to calculate the estimated Fear Factor.
(AVG[PFPS]*HR*FF)/(AR*T)= SP
PF = Process Factor
PS = Perceived Success in Years
HR = Hoped Results
FF = Fear Factor
AR = Actual Results
T= Time
SP = Success Probability = 1
Solving for Fear Factor in a potential success
FF = 1(AR*T)/(AVG[PFPS]*HR)
This means the Fear Factor for any defined Success is inversely proportional to the Perceived Success time average.
Now since we do not know the Actual Results until some future defined time, what really constricts our decisions is that inverse proportionality compared to another independent Process Factor. Hence more of the time our decisions are based upon what we perceived worked in the past, rather than what might work in the present, or in the future. Our government’s lack of imagination has been considered the causative agent in the 9-11 attack. The same is true of the current economic mess.
Before I get totally confused with the mumbo-jumbo, let us put this in the context of the recently passed economic stimulus package in the United States.
Read More...
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
We began last week with the above quotation from Proverbs, which is the ultimate causative agent in the affairs of man. If the road to passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 doesn’t verify that reality, you truly are not inclined to face the real world.
Blame it on television, especially the Friday night show Numb3rs, where the bad guy almost got away with murder by tampering with the jury. Then math, especially probability theory, figured out how he did it. He succeeded, but only to the closing scene. Add to that a link in Saturday’s WSJ Online email on the Committee on Doubt and Uncertainty, concerning the House Financial Services Committee and we have a program for this week’s column.
Fear is the prime motivator in all-human decisions, or more precisely, the desire for security in the face of the unknown is what makes us do certain things pretty much all the time. To shine some light into that darkness we created the following equation. (For Windows users rather than use a specific math character set, we have attempted to express the variables in standard keyboard text.)
What we want to find out is what is the true Success Probability of any action we take to solve some perceived problem using a Process Factor or factors, which is basically defined as the way we have always done it. This is coupled directly with the Perceived Success over the years we have followed that path. We multiply that average by our Hoped Results and an undefined Fear Factor, which is divided over the Actual Results achieved over time. To use this equation for future predictions we must estimate the Actual Results to calculate the estimated Fear Factor.
(AVG[PFPS]*HR*FF)/(AR*T)= SP
PF = Process Factor
PS = Perceived Success in Years
HR = Hoped Results
FF = Fear Factor
AR = Actual Results
T= Time
SP = Success Probability = 1
Solving for Fear Factor in a potential success
FF = 1(AR*T)/(AVG[PFPS]*HR)
This means the Fear Factor for any defined Success is inversely proportional to the Perceived Success time average.
Now since we do not know the Actual Results until some future defined time, what really constricts our decisions is that inverse proportionality compared to another independent Process Factor. Hence more of the time our decisions are based upon what we perceived worked in the past, rather than what might work in the present, or in the future. Our government’s lack of imagination has been considered the causative agent in the 9-11 attack. The same is true of the current economic mess.
Before I get totally confused with the mumbo-jumbo, let us put this in the context of the recently passed economic stimulus package in the United States.
Read More...
Brute' finds humans are losing their sense of humor.
13/February/2009 06:30 Filed in: Et Tu Brute'
Exclusively inclusive
11/February/2009 13:16 Filed in: Weekly Column
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
Just nineteen words that you do not hear in any context today about the unfolding crises in the world. Everyone seems to have some idea or plan to save the world, but it is totally amazing, none of those plans include God in any fashion. Some of that I suppose is that God doesn’t consider a top priority that everyone on earth currently, have a large flat screen TV and a retirement account which you can use to quit early and become a human consumptive vegetable.
What we see almost everywhere is greed, cancerous greed, empowered by collusion. Much of that collusion is political, which means in this country that the two political parties maintain control of all elections by forcing political candidates to espouse exclusively exclusive views to receive funding to run for office.
Putting it in a larger context and expanding this enlightened view of extremism, the United States just finished the eight-year leadership of a true laissez-faire capitalist, evangelical Christian. Under the leadership of George W Bush we have seen the demise of both laissez-faire capitalism and religious right Christendom.
The significant fruit of that exclusive exclusiveness is that Americans elected the most leftist president in the history of the country. While Barack Obama claims that the American economy is on the brink of collapse if his economic stimulus package is not enacted immediately, it is impossible to recall another first three weeks of a president in modern times, bungling so much, so soon.
From their vantage point, the remaining political right commentators are promoting the concept that Obama is creating a version of European socialism. What they seemingly fail to understand, is European socialism finds its power from a semblance of centralized planning. There is no central plan in either Obama’s economic stimulus, or in his treasury secretary’s plan to restore financial stability.
Read More...
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
Just nineteen words that you do not hear in any context today about the unfolding crises in the world. Everyone seems to have some idea or plan to save the world, but it is totally amazing, none of those plans include God in any fashion. Some of that I suppose is that God doesn’t consider a top priority that everyone on earth currently, have a large flat screen TV and a retirement account which you can use to quit early and become a human consumptive vegetable.
What we see almost everywhere is greed, cancerous greed, empowered by collusion. Much of that collusion is political, which means in this country that the two political parties maintain control of all elections by forcing political candidates to espouse exclusively exclusive views to receive funding to run for office.
Putting it in a larger context and expanding this enlightened view of extremism, the United States just finished the eight-year leadership of a true laissez-faire capitalist, evangelical Christian. Under the leadership of George W Bush we have seen the demise of both laissez-faire capitalism and religious right Christendom.
The significant fruit of that exclusive exclusiveness is that Americans elected the most leftist president in the history of the country. While Barack Obama claims that the American economy is on the brink of collapse if his economic stimulus package is not enacted immediately, it is impossible to recall another first three weeks of a president in modern times, bungling so much, so soon.
From their vantage point, the remaining political right commentators are promoting the concept that Obama is creating a version of European socialism. What they seemingly fail to understand, is European socialism finds its power from a semblance of centralized planning. There is no central plan in either Obama’s economic stimulus, or in his treasury secretary’s plan to restore financial stability.
Read More...
Stupendous Debt & the demise of enlightenment supremacy
04/February/2009 08:05 Filed in: Weekly Column
The oldest tale in The Book is about a couple that made the wrong choice. That choice was between the perceived understanding of present security compared to the uncertainty of passing time. This choice was precipitated by another created being, who had made a similar choice and now was seeking company for his loneliness.
Following along in that Book of myths we find a time when people thought that they could find eternal happiness by developing mechanisms by which through their intelligence and wisdom they could have it all. The reason given in The Book for that failure was the confusion of languages. I suppose people got so engrossed in doing things their own way, they failed to communicate.
Some may say this was a religious phenomenon, true, for I once heard a leader in the secular Christian TV community using this Book discussion to promote his idea, which if his followers all worked together, they could do what Babylon failed to accomplish. Now if that isn’t a concept rooted in the demise of enlightenment thinking, I have not heard a better.
Finishing up with our brief survey of The Book we find in the last compendium a similar story where in the Babylon of that time, the people of all lands ceased to buy all the things the great leaders of the world provided, for a variety of allegorical reasons. The interesting thing about this Babylon was that the normal ordinary folks were not sad to see the whole thing collapse even though it meant more personal hardship.
There is a whole lot of other wisdom in The Book that is probably applicable to our day and age, but it is just a book, and as we know books are filled with words, just words. To think that words have transcendent meaning to convey something called Absolute Truth is just fiction, maybe interesting fiction, but nothing more. After all reality beyond the concept of man’s own understanding just does not happen in our enlightened age.
Read More...
Following along in that Book of myths we find a time when people thought that they could find eternal happiness by developing mechanisms by which through their intelligence and wisdom they could have it all. The reason given in The Book for that failure was the confusion of languages. I suppose people got so engrossed in doing things their own way, they failed to communicate.
Some may say this was a religious phenomenon, true, for I once heard a leader in the secular Christian TV community using this Book discussion to promote his idea, which if his followers all worked together, they could do what Babylon failed to accomplish. Now if that isn’t a concept rooted in the demise of enlightenment thinking, I have not heard a better.
Finishing up with our brief survey of The Book we find in the last compendium a similar story where in the Babylon of that time, the people of all lands ceased to buy all the things the great leaders of the world provided, for a variety of allegorical reasons. The interesting thing about this Babylon was that the normal ordinary folks were not sad to see the whole thing collapse even though it meant more personal hardship.
There is a whole lot of other wisdom in The Book that is probably applicable to our day and age, but it is just a book, and as we know books are filled with words, just words. To think that words have transcendent meaning to convey something called Absolute Truth is just fiction, maybe interesting fiction, but nothing more. After all reality beyond the concept of man’s own understanding just does not happen in our enlightened age.
Read More...
Money, money everywhere, worth - not a whole lot.
02/February/2009 10:21 Filed in: Oikos Thoughts | Web News
Money historically is the medium for the exchange of goods and services. It could be argued that money is the capital upon which human civilization and culture is based. What happens when governments decide to alter that balance? There are examples from throughout history, pre Nazi Germany quickly comes to mind. However, this tsunami debasement of the basis of money has never happened before on a global scale.
The synopsis of the wisdom of this explosion of debt around the world is, We have nothing else left to try and if this doesn’t work we are all out of ideas. Perhaps the most sagacious speech made at the recent World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland came from Russia’s historic free market guru Vladimir Putin. Actually, I was just kidding about Putin’s free market history, but the speech, did point to some spy type reality that no western leader had the guts to proclaim.
The St. Louis Monetary Base graph below shows the expansion of money in the United States, and comes from information that was presented last week on the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News. Accompanying the graph is Inconvenient Debt video that compares this debt expansion as more deadly in all forms than someone’s illusionary inconvenient truth.
The synopsis of the wisdom of this explosion of debt around the world is, We have nothing else left to try and if this doesn’t work we are all out of ideas. Perhaps the most sagacious speech made at the recent World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland came from Russia’s historic free market guru Vladimir Putin. Actually, I was just kidding about Putin’s free market history, but the speech, did point to some spy type reality that no western leader had the guts to proclaim.
The St. Louis Monetary Base graph below shows the expansion of money in the United States, and comes from information that was presented last week on the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News. Accompanying the graph is Inconvenient Debt video that compares this debt expansion as more deadly in all forms than someone’s illusionary inconvenient truth.