Something Else D.C.

More on the Greeks. They believed that the polis, the city, had an intimate relationship with the individual: good laws, good citizen, bad laws, bad citizen. (This is opposed to the Enlightenment idea of the citizen subject to natural laws where the citizen had to be controlled, the general drift of western europe and America, although the American Constitution had high hopes of the individual potential with most of the mischief originating in the government.) But there was more than esprit in the Greek view; the state was constructive. Looking at this mess in Washington made by these pirates and morons, it is hard to imagine how they thought. Worse, if they are right, the citizen in this country is going to have a terrible downturn.

We should change the name of Washington to something else until some real leaders emerge. Actually, that is my new campaign. Change the name of Washington D.C. to Something Else D.C. until we get good, responsible leaders who put the state and the people first. Then we'll change it back.

Solon, Tellus and Thugs

I've been reading two topics, one about the Thugs and one about the Greeks. Fascinating, both of them, because both create intact, consistent self contained worlds that are coherent and yet completely at odds with each other. The Greeks, of course, are more interesting as they have a direct line to us. Solon , the famous "Lawgiver of Athens," was a respected wise man. Herodotus has a story about him that is often quoted and says a lot about him and the Greeks. Solon met Croesus, the Persian, the richest man in the world . After showing Solon some of his riches he asked him "Who is the happiest man in the world?" (expecting "You, O Magnificent One!) Solon answered, "Tellus of Athens," someone no one had ever heard of. Why? Because his Polis (town) was flourishing, he had good children, and he died in a righteous cause (the defense of the Polis).The Greeks were more than just successful; they were wise. They made a real effort to understand themselves and their world. And this effort was a struggle; they did not always agree. Sometimes they came to no conclusion. But they did know that happiness depended on several basic things: the composure of the state, the integrity of one's children, the code of your life. Remember, these people had a very distant relationship with their gods. They had no belief in an afterlife. Their lives were stripped down to the basics. Whether one believes them or not, they must be taken seriously as every individual searches for his own answers.

A Government Stimulus, Literally

This stimulus package has me worried. It looks so full of junk it is hard to believe these people take themselves seriously. I am reading a book about the Thuggee movement, an ancient brotherhood of thieves who practiced ritualistic murder on a huge scale. Some of these people killed thousands of people. The movement lasted centuries. The group had a quasi religious quality so they had a meticulous, devout air about them. They also were horrified and indignant about some crimes--as long as they were not responsible for them. Reminds me of that story about the police in Oakland, California who during their shifts would break into safes. They were discovered when, during one of their robberies, they heard a robber next door and the criminal police rushed out to apprehend the criminal criminal. A cop was shot and the subsequent investigation revealed two robbery sites and only one robber.

These politicians are just killing us during the day and saving us during interviews.

The Japanese, the Greeks 'n' Us

I reread my note from yesterday. It sounds a bit angrier than I meant it. I do despise these grasping politicians and their incestuous self righteous handmaidens in the press but I don't think that alone explains it. I think there is a malaise abroad in the land. I think the reality of the size of our problems is beginning to sink in and people don't like it. Nurses are talking politics; they never talk politics. A scrub nurse today talked bitterly about government, about her 20 year old--an employed, hard working tax paying guy--who is being haunted by the local police because of the look of his car, so much so he sold it. Many hospital people talk openly about collapsing their retirement plans because no one is to be trusted. Some openly criticize the new immigrants brought in as refugees by Catholic Charities for gaming the system and plan with their families how they can do the same thing, not for money but revenge.

The national news is bad. Barney Frank and his ilk are not going away. Obama goes hat-in-hand to Arab t.v.. Pelosi wants to have hearings on Bush administrators. Rahm Emanuel, for heaven's sake. No one knows where 350 billion dollars went. Obama wants to retrofit the auto loans with environmentally friendly requirements, as if these will sell better.

There are some interesting parallels in history. The Japanese remade their country completely, twice, in one hundred years, first after encountering Perry when they went from a feudal culture to a modern world culture and then after the devastation of the Second World War. Perhaps it is easier after military annihilation but they did it twice. And the Greeks are interesting too because they created a culture that was new to the world, entirely new, as they created the polis based democracy that ruled the world and formed the foundation of most of the worthwhile things after it. That culture did not evolve; it appeared. We are early in this mess and many of those responsible are still here. But so are the children of the people who built this country. These times could get rough. Think of the Roaring Twenties becoming the Depression in three years. If I had any advice to offer it would be this: protect yourself. People will get stupid. They will give up on good things and start up bad. For all the wonderful philosophy underlying this country, its basis is work, hard work. Think like a farmer. Work hard every day, plan for the future but know that today's work allows you to eat next week. Enjoy your life and the world you live in. Ignore the jabber of the non-producers; build yourself and your life. The world is living beyond its means. Be prepared so that when it contracts you are able to be self sufficient and content. A lot of very demanding people in history were very content in cultures that were minuscule compared to us.

Arthur Levitt and the New York Times Seduce Eachother

Here is a link to a NYT mini interview with Arthur Levitt. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25wwln-Q4-t.html?_r=1
This thing must have been done at night because I think both of these people represent well the respective positions of their ignorant armies. Levitt is an arrogant functionary, a guy living of the gravy of the land in business and politics, who has no real confidence in the structure or the workings of the programs he is essentially responsible for. He stays at it, bravely, because the peons and the little people like us need leadership and, laughably, have faith in what he is doing even though he does not. He tolerates interviews like this because he knows the interviewer will come across badly because he is so fine.
The interviewer comes across badly because she is a devout believer in the progress of government and its perfectibility. She believes that the S.E.C. can actually catch somebody who lies to them because they are efficient, caring professionals rather than rapacious freeloaders feeding off the productivity of others. Her prime source of her investigative journalism is Michael Moore who stages confrontations with professional actors and is then taken literally by everyone who wants to believe the event true and dismissed by everyone who doesn't want to believe it. The coup de gras is her Carlyle Group insinuation. The Carlyle Group is an investment organization who owns Dunkin' Donuts. If there is a story there--especially showing collusion or conflict of interest other than a lot of guys who go to the same restaurants--investigate it, publish it, win the Pulitzer Prize and glow with satisfaction when they take the criminals away. But my bet is there is no such investigation coming.
These two probably bonded well because they indeed have a common bond. Smugness. The guy in the business suit, the girl in the gypsy dress--both bathed in self righteousness and knowing they are doing as much as they can within the limits of this all-too-human world.

Science and markets

I have put a moratorium on investing over the last year, not because of any real changes but because we had met our objectives in investing in--certainly not in return out. I had a call last night from a friend who has been devastated by the market downturn in the last year. I have mixed emotions; I think the gains of the past few years have been imaginary so I don't think the losses are real either but I am concerned how we, or anyone, can make good decisions in this environment. Everyone makes an investment every time he invests or doesn't. A hamburger is an investment. The market has shown that neither the participants nor the regulators have anything other than themselves in mind so decisions are hard. It is a good lesson for the young: Everyone will put themselves first in commerce. And they will smile and lie. I have had people try to solicit money from me in an investment that was long term (five years) when they knew the business was so flawed in would last only a few months longer.
A corollary lies in the problem of investigation and analysis. The mortgage crisis was precipitated partly by the active encouragement by the government of home ownership. The idea was that home owners were better citizens. That may be an association but it may not be a cause and effect. Perhaps saving money so you can afford a home makes better citizens. Maybe renting selects out nasty neighborhoods and hence nasty neighbors you can't escape and who make you a bad citizen. These are hard to tease out but impossible to base policy on. Global warming is another example. This link is interesting but you have to read only the first paragraph to see my concern. http://co2sceptics.com/news.php?id=2575 A very competent scientist is stating she could not, for various reasons, make an honest statement until now. If our scientists have trouble being honest, don't expect a guy with a 2 million dollar mortgage in N.Y. selling options to be. And that is at the core of our society's problems today.

Obama Innaguration Speech

This has been a historic day. I admit I'm a bit disappointed. I have expected a lot from this guy. He sees himself as a writer and I was expecting some insight and some enlightenment. The old distinction between perfect words and adequate ones is the "difference between lightning and the lightning bug." We got the lightning bug. To be fair, it was a big assignment. There are so many things wrong, so many enemies and so many problems that there may be no unifying idea, no clarified distillate to savor. Maybe instead of a poem we got an anthology, a generality rather than vision. And the mediocrities that followed him didn't help. But he aspires to Lincoln and that raises the bar. Those expectations were created by him, not me. So I get to be disappointed.
When Lincoln wrote the speech at Gettysburg his son had just died, his other son was sick and his wife was hysterical. Lincoln was still wearing a mourning ribbon. The war was slipping away and Lincoln feared he would not win the next election. The Union had suffered a horrible draw but the South was terribly hurt and vulnerable. Meade did not follow up and Lee got away--Meade actually offered his resignation. Lincoln showed up as a courtesy; this was a state affair, not federal. He spoke after Everett, a famous orator who delivered a speech steeped in the Greek tradition which formed much of the basis of American thought as well as Romanticism and the Transcendentalism that was to emerge. He was a genius, a man of letters, a scholar and a diplomat who was regarded as one of the profound men of his time. He spoke for two hours and was brilliant.
Lincoln speech was 272 words and redefined the nation.

obama: the facelessness of things to come

Hard to believe that Obama will be inaugurated this week. I have no idea what will happen here. We know some things. He is a politician from one of the toughest political areas in the country. He is smart, very ambitious and has a vision or some feeling of destiny. He inspires people. He does not seem particularly willing to break new ground initially as evidenced by his Clinton preoccupation in his cabinet appointments. He believes in government is a good tool and should be used. He has no administrative experience at all. Facing him will be bigotry, the American citizen's genetic fear of government, the unbelievable debt we have taken on, the energy mess which has no obvious solution but threatens more debt, the anti capitalists to whom he owes a great deal, the hard core Americans for whom the financial and organizational changes will be philosophically anathema, and the conflicts and stupidity that seem to be inherent in the democrat congress.
And, for the financial and energy problems,a clock seems to be running.
Remarkable times.

Odyssey and cultural detritus

Went to a reading group on The Odyssey last night. An interesting topic in so many ways. This is an epic poem, probably the oldest in the world, that has developed from an oral tradition where it was recited aloud at festivals by a reciter called a "rhapso" (hence "rhapsody"---and , perhaps, "rap"?). It is more complex than the brutal Iliad but easier to read. The interest in it, aside from its artistic appeal, is what the earliest world writings say about us as a species. Can you tease out cultural influences and get to some basic elements about us? There are common myths in the world. Many cultures have a Noah-type story, a story where the living visit the gates of that culture's hell, stories of the gods interfering with the lives of men. But are these stories the outgrowth of some common seed or infective one culture to another or simply random? And after a while it begins to sound very like Jung, who no one likes anymore. The story is commonly repeated in western literature--most recently in Eastwood's "Unforgiven", a movie I thought was profound but many loathed. The basic question I think it raises is: What kind of epic or cultural classic would this society create? What things or ideas or men/women would this culture identify as classic and basic in our lives? Most of the efforts so far have seemed to be little more than parodies (Willie Loman) or distortions (Crucible) of some unspoken ideal. Well, what are those ideals? What is important to us? What exactly would make us launch a thousand ships? As this economy calls some very strong historical concepts into question, I think there should be some effort to fill the void that these questions create.

winter of our discontent

The weather is tough and gloomy. There is also some sadness with some illnesses in some people we know. Today I saw a woman I went to grade school with. It made me think about the decisions and luck people had. She had a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon but didn't take it. I thought she was nuts; she, in retrospect, thought she was right. Life has a lot of twists and turns; maintaining an even keel is a lot to achieve. I think this country is in for some hard times and I think the world will not be sad. Certainly it will be several years before the economy stabilizes but it may be decades before the real problems are solved. It is likely that we will do a lot of stupid experiments before coming to the eventual conclusion. These markets have been more than down; they have been untrustworthy. The people and the planning involved have been revealed to be foolish, grasping, arrogant, and self-centered with no responsibility to each other or to us. And they have been beyond regulation; each step the government has taken has been outstripped by imagination or technology. The "oversight" has been--and likely always will be--behind.
In a way it might well be cleansing, it might make us all rethink how and what we want to achieve. I see us as a debtor nation, like some stupid South American country, with limited expectations. What this really means, if true, is that we are in decline. Each of us must have a care. We must not allow ourselves to be ground down. We must protect what we can, grow where we can and make those decisions compatible with our expectations and our happiness. We will not get any help from our enemies or our competitors. And, as has been amply shown, our leaders are out for themselves. And life is rich, even if we may not be.