Victor Frankl, after surviving Hitler’s death camps, wondered why some kept on and others simply gave up and died? Frankl said that our drive for meaning, or in his words the “will to meaning”, is our most powerful motivation and is what sustains us in extremity. We want our lives to count for something. [...]
A General Systems Law: Complex systems such as economies go through cycles of peaks and valleys. A Rule for Good Government: Governments should increase their spending when the economy is faltering and should cut their spending when the economy is booming. The boom periods would be restrained somewhat and the downturns would be ameliorated. [...]
My friend John was downsized out of his job about a year ago. He ended up working for Walmart for a fraction of his previous salary. A few months after starting at Walmart, John said to me: “I never realized being poor takes so much time. It takes me hours to get to work. [...]
My local newspaper reported on two privatization scams in the last week. The state of Virginia is privatizing some of our roads and tunnels and apparently the local governments have no say in the matter. Meanwhile, several of our local cities have joined forces with private companies to study combining some city services. The private [...]
Coyotes are solitary critters and can’t stand against a foe that is bigger than they are. Wolves are pack animals that can and do defeat even grizzly bears. Wall Street is at least a grizzly. Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest documents that vast numbers of committed activists are working on many many progressive causes all [...]
Bank of America just got a slap on the wrist for reportedly stealing something on the order of 4.5 billion dollars from its debit card customers. Here’s how the bank scam works. Suppose one day you use your debit card to make three purchases, all around ten dollars. Then you end your day with [...]
This is the true story of how Big Bank Bully (BBB) and Fit Financial Firm (FFF) tried to screw me over and how, after a long struggle, I beat them. The names of the banks have been changed, not to protect the guilty, but to ensure that they can’t sue me. Both BBB and FFF [...]
Cybernetics, according to Stafford Beer, is the science of effective organization. Clear as mud, you say! For example, a bacterium that was not effectively organized would quickly die. An ecosystem that was not effectively organized would very shortly be something else. A poorly organized human nervous system would not be able to regulate breathing, heart [...]
Eighth grade Amy Snodgrass was leaving school in tears every Friday afternoon. Outraged, Mrs Snodgrass descended upon Principal Hanson and demanded that the responsible teacher be reprimanded. Amy’s teacher was subjecting her to totally unreasonable demands and probably should be fired. Principal Hanson was a dedicated educator but he was no fool. The Snodgrass family [...]
Time for Class Warfare! According to Warren Buffett, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” President Obama suggests that the rich should pay a fair share in taxes and the usual gang of politicians and pundits begin bellowing “class warfare!” Further, they argue that [...]