Economic Philosophical Clarification

The fact that I am not geared for the modern corporate structure unless I am running the show does not mean I have a disdain for corporations or business.

In the basic, natural order of things, I find it only right for companies to make money, as much as they honestly can. The ideal environment is one in which business is done without coercion of force, the trickery of fraud and deception. What has happened is that artificial market forces have become so influential that the average corporation tends to trade competence for security. The government entanglement, alone, is so powerful and complex that making the better mouse trap takes a back seat to many other factors.

Simple government contracts, for instance, are rarely the free bidding situation they pretend. I remember being in a situation in which the feds were going to buy a large number of a particular machine; something to do a particular job. Several companies made a product that was of reasonable quality. I thought the product I represented and one made by a competitor were the best. One was in no way better than the other of the top two.

What each of us did was to butter up the officials responsible for writing the specs. They didn't specify in terms of a generic nature with the main issue being the ultimate purpose and function of the machines. We got them to specify a particular type and size of wire for one of the components. That was the one internal part which was different about ours. It was not a matter of that detail causing one to be superior over the other. But, whoever got the specs written to favor the material already being produced for his units had the edge.

Another agency specified the stuff that made the other guy's product the sure winner. In both cases it was tax money and probably not something really within proper realm of government. But, like everyone else, we were whores to the public money. And that was one company with few of the typical corporate nonsense I've seen. It was also in the day before all the social training and pretense that has become institutionalized.

The airline and the phone company were spooky with the bizarre duplicity which ran rampant. One put employees at risk regularly then raised hell about job safety. All pretense to satisfy regulators and set people up to fail or get hurt but have no legal leg to stand on. The other made deception a way of life, and the really fraudulent actions were committed under the veil of "disclosure" and "integrity issues". It was and is a sad thing.

Natural trade between individuals and entities, when lying and force are not part of the picture is part of what characterizes us as human. It is the lower aspects of human nature which seek to penalize success and stack the deck dishonestly or behind the guns of government.

Roping Deer

Recently I received a couple of fwd fwd emails which contained a cattle guy's account of his deer roping adventure. One thing is certain, the guy can spin a good yarn. If farming and ranching don't support him, he has a future as a writer, or maybe a stand up comic.

Apparently, since deer regularly helped themselves to the feed trough, the guy thought maybe he'd rope one of them, keep it around and fatten it up, then send it to its maker yielding him a good harvest of venison. He discovered that a deer may act dumb and docile but it is all a trick. Deer can be meaner than horses and cows. This rancher claims that pound for pound deer are stronger.

By the time his adventure ended, the tables had turned and all he wanted was to escape the deer. He never did get that venison, as he lost all desire for it after getting his butt kicked by the cute little creature..

What thought this generated concerns life, media and induced stress. The relative who sent it has done very well in his life; good grown children, comfortable financial status, continuing interests, great wife, and a collection of friends. It somewhat puzzled me that he is preoccupied with dinosaur bone activities in remote parts of the west, hunting and fishing, but little in the ream of things you see in the media, other than getting his news from Stephen Colbert and John Stewart.

The deer roping story sounded like something from his life these past few years. I realized that far from being totally oblivious to matters of civic concern, he has chosen to live life, enjoy what he can, the friends he likes, and let the rest go. It is his prescription for his own health, I suspect. It makes sense.

Possibly I am wrong, but I sense that the stories which are rich in basic humanity, the fun and unusual things people say and do, have become rarer than in times past. Such is the nature of collectivism. Somehow the warmth and humor of individuals just being themselves becomes overshadowed if not frowned upon. The deer roper would be seen by many as a big meany, uncaring when it comes to the possible environmental impact of his interactions with Bambi, and guilty of all kinds of sins.

I tend to see the guy as a hero. He reminded me of another era. It was the time when my great uncles ranched and told stories and trained great cow ponies, and generally minded their own business. I can't imagine them ever deciding that what car someone drove was somehow an affront to the earth and therefore their business. I have to think that they would have resisted arguments which encourage people to find excuses to be in the business of others that way.

Anyway, roping deer is about making the best of one's own world. Doing things just because it makes you feel alive; without concern for what various organizations or celebrities might say. Daring to be yourself. It's about freedom. Lucky people are those who are far enough away from the collective lunacy to engage in whatever folly they can dream up. Not hurting others, just living life, and finding excitement how they choose. It's an art that may be fading. Perhaps only I feel that my ability to live free without all the external filters has been retarded and the rest of the country is not in a similar condition. Actually, I don't believe that.

Maybe I'll give up paying attention to the neo-Bolsheviks for Lent. I certainly have the jump on not believing their theories or their ubiquitous public service ads.

A Million Things

Heck with it.

I doubt my views are interesting. Right, maybe. Ahead of the curve. But inconvenient, and contrary to the opium dreams we've been fed for eons.

There's a difference between being oppositional by nature and refusing to condone any form of slavery. Many of those subjected don't even see it themselves. One hint would be to look twice at those who insist that unity and mass sacrifice are necessary in order for them to fix problems they created. When those who are flying high convince others their freedom is a selfish luxury, I tend to view them with suspicion, if not pure disdain.

When you think of all the possible sources of energy and possibilities for making it more of a building by building independent process, it is disheartening to find authorities insisting on their prescribed choices. It locks out all the unimagined choices. Both those not imagined by the mutant gangsters we know as career politicians (often arrogantly self titled "public servants"), and those unimagined systems that people might conceive who aren't on the subsidy list. Maybe ideas conceived by people who can't comprehend the idea of asking for permission and ransomed money for their idea in the form of government grants or other payout.

The possibilities go so far beyond the tripe that public funded Bolsheviks pretend is the last word in invention, it enthuses and nauseates me at the same time.

Thank God for rich people who can't stand natural teak that turns gray like old barn wood. No, they like it alive with that amber glow, and that is my saving grace at this moment.

I know I should be working on energy ideas I've toyed with since way back in the invention days. But I am having a tough time doing it. Back then after seeing how corrupt agencies and corrupt companies work together, and how that is how government works (and has for a very long time), I decided to quit and never bother again. It's been hard deciding to give it another try. I've not sincerely made the effort to restore that innocent passion for an idea. Besides, I like sanding teak, working in a place that is remote and secluded.

Morons. Cap and trade. Only those who hate people, or have the most incredibly limited view of possibilities would entertain such convoluted plans. What a lame unjustified means of punishment. Once again, it will put the honest companies, those not in bed with sick authoritarian bureaucrats, out of business, while the ones who are in a position to afford it will publicly bitch while privately insisting on it. It won't benefit anyone worth benefitting.

What Matters

Solitary thinking, or reacting to the barrage of information and misinformation, propaganda which assails us 24 hours a day, may be an addiction. Much as I sometimes believe I ultimately want constant company and other things which do not now characterize my existence, I wonder if I'd have to find ways to be left alone for hours at a time. It's kind of a need. But maybe it is the same sort of need that ice cream or opium would be, provided both were equally available to me.

In these times it is hard not to have a storming mind. A second rate newspaper prints a cartoon intended as a dig at Congress for writing a very expensive bill which they then passed without reading. The public and press are so ignorant that they think it was a racial slur against the most deprived person in the country, the racially handicapped and held back poster boy--Obama. Oh, I forgot, he's the president, and has the most sophisticated plane on earth for a company car. Maybe he isn't suffering from unfair discrimination. At any rate, professional instigators of racial hatred decided it was somehow a slur against him for being nominally black.

That wasn't enough. There are people upset because the stupid cartoonist(s) weren't fired. It was a takeoff on the pampered chimp gone wild. No one was talking race. This issue of freedom of speech is reaching a crisis point, I think. The most bizarre part is that the loudest outcry against such things is based on pure ignorance. Anything to drive home the message that we are now forbidden to lampoon certain elected officials. How can I help but think when I hear and see these things?

And we thought the murders and threats and riots over innocuous cartoons aimed at Islamic fanatic terrorists seemed the mark of a backward people incapable of grasping the tenets of freedom. At least some of us did. Apparently our own country has degenerated to the point that freedom and equality are interpreted according to an ever changing set of rules. You can express any view or criticism of government you want as long as you do it in ways that please the right people. Bluntly, the current president is off limits.

I hope it is merely the paranoia that comes from being me, but I honestly think we are being duped in ways which are so insidious and clever that we'll be the 21st century version of the USSR before we know it. Never was any truly free society, of which there have been maybe one (almost), predicated on the idea of collective pain, involuntary sacrifice of the individual for the better good, or any of the things that we are being fed, and accepting.

There are people, some in my own family, who would class what I say on these matters as pure fiction. If I think it, it must be wrong. That was my first postulate of logic when I was old enough to try to figure things out. The more I've encountered authority, the more true that has become.

Since I see what is being done on the legal authoritative front as 100% wrong, it follows that what I think is right is wrong in the eyes of the powers that be. Except now, I am unwilling to accept it just because of the immense resources and power at their command. It's mostly just stolen goods anyway.

But does that matter as much as a good day in a kayak out in the bay? I don't think so. To let these neo-Stalinists ruin one's personal world is a huge mistake. Take my money in the form of killing the market, maybe, but I think it is possible to find some shred of contentment regardless. I know I'd rather die of a minor ailment than accept their vision of universal health care, and I'd rather live like a bedouin in a tent than accept any government housing.

Damn. Ahnold has yet to learn how to speak English. He was just on saying something, and I swear, I could not understand any of it except when he said, "da people get...". I think it had to do with some sort of checks being sent to illegals or teachers or someone.

What if They Said We were Flying High?

I was wondering how many people would find their present view of life to be different if all we heard was how "robust" the economy is. A lot of us would assume we made bad investments, or assumed an unwise loan, or just don't fit in. When they were talking about how strong the economy was, I did not do much better. "The economy" has rarely been in sync with my prospects.

During periods in which it was supposed to be easy to get a job, I had trouble. When "they" said jobs were scarce, work was there to be had. I guess the lesson is that I am not a macro man.

The collective macro economic picture does me no good. It is tough not to think of it, have opinions and feel that a country is being, has been, sold out, but being personally affected too much, as far as believing I can't survive OK, is not the best move. I'm just glad I may be able to bring in as much as I spend because anything saved or invested is a liability. These are times when starting from scratch is not as penalized as being responsible and successful at accumulating some wealth over the last decade or so.

Why are the middle class and upper middle class being punished? It's an odd occurrence. The tone and reality of things does seem like a punishment.

I certainly don't blame the rich, if you define rich like Obama does--people who make over 250K. Those people spend money given the chance. They are the bread and butter of those who make less but want to survive, or do better. Try selling your widgets to the homeless.

Oh well, the king has no clothes but there is so much fog generated that people don't see it. Yet. I doubt they will anytime soon. Too much misinformation for people to think it through from the reasonable starting point. In light of the last 100 years, today is inevitable. None of the permitted schools of thought gave credence to those few who insisted that trouble was ahead over that period of nation dismantling.

Finessing It

The local neighborhood musicians have cranked up the rehearsal schedule because we're playing a coffee house in an area that has recently rebuilt or is rebuilding from a fire awhile back. It's mostly folkish sort of music. Since they sing so well, I find it kind of soothing. Playing with them is a challenge because it is not the sort of thing you wail on through an amp like I was doing in Memphis. Definitely an exercise in subtlety.

On another front, I'm finding that learning basic habits which make tennis more playable requires much the same restraint and precision. It's all about finesse. Maybe that is the right word. probably slightly not. Both endeavors ought to make me a little better and have implications which reach farther. Things which normally provide me a way to vent when frustrated now require that I just keep in focus and exercise restraint.

I'm probably in need of that. I've ventured far from good manners and my new environment is not conducive to such a lapse. Who would have thought it? Until I found myself here, I was unaware of my own edginess. Fortunately, edgy is not what I want or respect. As much as anger has been a blinding factor at times, I never considered myself an angry person or one who considered it a virtue. Some people pride themselves on their temper. I guess if it is channeled toward those who sorely deserve it, then good can come of it. A rare thing.

Imagining the Best

There is a theory that you can attract things you want, or don't want, in life by consciously picturing them. I can only guess that others, especially worriers, have a tendency to picture the worst. In most matters I'm not a big worrier. I do have my areas of paranoia or concern though.

It seems that the more I dwell on the worst of my condition, the more it perpetuates and becomes entrenched. I know that the big move across the universe was begun with the realization that it could be done. It took a lot of effort to make it happen. All part of the big picture goal which was to climb out of the pit. Vague as that may sound, that is exactly how it felt. A dark sticky tar ridden pit with steep slippery sides.

Now that phase one or so has been accomplished, I have discovered that continuity of effort is required in order to prevent falling into the new pit that stagnation brings. No way I want to deal with that again. Hell no, I won't go.

Anyway, now I want to formulate a clearer better picture of how I think things could be, and should be, for a healthier more stimulating life. Variations of the word stimulate have been so rampant lately, the word is nearly in the category of those which bring a gag reflex. Even so, that is the best term for this context. It works in concert with passion, I think. Passion tends to require an object. We're not just going for the typical significant other scenario here, although the proper love goddess has got to fit in there sooner or later.

Where I am, the kinds of friends I already have, and much else is uncannily close to what I imagined when I tried to visualize what circumstances I wanted to find at the end of my journey. Coincidence? I wonder. Actually, I think the friends are better and more understanding and inspiring than I imagined.

I'm only saying this to help me get away from thinking about unwanted views of my future self. If I imagine those, I will soon be that. I'd rather do better.

It's one thing to draw opportunities to yourself, but another to actually make something of them. Good things come my way frequently, and people tend to treat me really well. Better than average it seems. But I often find I drop the ball or get confused at that point. The result is I run and hide until I'm forgotten or reviled. I used to, anyway. That is a pattern that has to go.

So, settling on the scene I want for the future is important. It helps the actions of today which will bring it become easier to initiate. It involves work, setting, people, health, and more. There are plenty of things to be accomplished, many of which would benefit the lives of others, and could make me rich enough.

Feah Its Own Bad Self

What a brat I am in some ways of looking at it. There are mitigating circumstances I suppose. As much as I think our new dictator president is the enemy of my basic values and the freedom of the individual, I guess I am at the point where "Yes I can" should replace my feeling of "Oh sh..., I'm f....d". I know it is silly to bleep out my own expletives but I don't want to tinge tender children's outlook if they accidentally stumble on this. Maybe, if they are young enough not to be aware of the implication, the local adult will tell them it means "Oh shotguns, I'm fermented". I don't know. I figure some language should be kept kind of reserved. Like canned beans. In case of emergency.

Bobby was saying something about passion that hit a nerve and rang a bell. That triggered other thoughts about broken hearts, why, how, and what now.

All of what followed at this point has been deleted in one fell swoop. It was too maudlin and not productive. I think there is more sadness created by things not done than by action taken. I've not done too much serious damage. Except to myself. I suppose, in terms of what ifs, that constitutes a cost to society due to the withholding of more important contributions I could have made to my fellow ingrates. There's a bit of satisfaction in that.

Passion for life is worth cultivating when possible. I miss it. For a minute there in my adult life, it was white hot. That's a far cry from today's tepid existence. I'm not satisfied with that so I keep trying to get some fire burning. In a way, I've made progress. That lust for life was ice cold not so long ago. Little sparks flare up here and there. It must be annoying to others who know me. It's annoying to me. Oh well.

Who would have guessed there is a secret waterfall just off the dirt road to my cottage? I decided to hike/walk down to the bottom and back up today. What a scenic walk. On one of the curves up toward the top, I heard the sound. I followed it a short way off the road, and there it was in a bunch of huge boulders; a little waterfall rushing out of the rocks. Fair volume of water there, gpm-ly speaking.

Dogma is a bitch

More often than not when someone is wanting to make a new form of control over others materialize, arguments against the move are characterized as "outdated ideology", or some other form of ideology. I think they are confusing ideals with dogma. In this sense they are often classing a set of ideals as unfounded dogma, but using the term ideology.

Ideology in and of itself is not a bad thing. I tend to think in terms of the definition of ideology that suggests it is a system of beliefs. Or the study of ideas guiding beliefs and systems of behavior, etc.

Recent trends in discussion of matters which pick the pocket and dampen the spirit tend to lean toward the dogmatic while specifically eschewing anything that might be classed as ideological. It is really a splitting of hairs which begs the question. One example is the angry assertion that the cause, effect, and degree of global warming have been indisputably proven and that is that. It has been set forth from the realm of dogmatic dictate rather than honest analysis of scientific studies and discoveries which might temper or change the conclusions.

The same can be said of present economic discussion, as well as matters involving war and international charity (foreign aid). Tedious as it is to really grasp the problem, I think one would need to examine the process of our development, dispassionately, in detail, for the last 100 years or more. The trouble is that in the realm of business, commerce and monetary policy the various factions jump the gun in defense of either capitalism or socialism without considering the corrupt aspects which hide behind each of those ideologies.

Those, like myself, who favor somewhat unfettered capitalism, tend to ignore the process (unlike myself) by which self proclaimed capitalists became something other than that through changes in government structure which allowed them to control it, thereby reaping tax dollars. When you go too far in that direction, it is no longer what I would call capitalism because it is not a free market; those who pay you do not have a choice.

Socialism by definition removes the choice of an individual to spend his money as he chooses. It is a controlled market, if a market at all.

Both cases rely on dogmatic pronouncements regarding the better good. That is what makes it such a joke that Republicans call themselves capitalists. Their performance when in power proves that they are not. Democrats rarely class themselves as capitalists with any degree of sincerity. Those whom I have known in business tend to consider themselves realists, so they play those in power in order to gain from governmental policies, contracts, and preferences. As one owner of a large advertising firm once told me when I questioned the socialistic rhetoric of a candidate he was actively (monetarily) supporting, "What they say is irrelevant. You back the winner and he will look out for you. He owes you. It's all about who wins".

Never has it been clearer that dogma is being used to manipulate money behavior and the lives of individuals. The more you pronounce a thing to be true, the more people will believe it, with or without evidence. In the general population, global cooling could easily have been pushed as effectively as global warming. People would find that they could sense it themselves. Weather cycles of any significance span more years than most human lives.

The other side of that coin is that it doesn't do much good to ignore byproducts of what you do. Balance in the discussion is astoundingly absent. Hysteria is dangerously given the stamp of sanity.

All you have to do is consider what is an infringement of the rights of others, an assault, or a deception, use the law to prevent and prosecute such crimes, then back off. Let people be free. That requires that we go back to the idea of protecting the individual in the sense of ensuring the rights of the individual to decide his own fate. We now assume that it is best to let the government decide in the name of the collective.

The trouble is that what is set forth by those in power as for the better good is neither proven nor necessarily true, and rarely born of a real desire to promote the "better good". It is just a way to cloud the greed for power and wealth at the expense of those not in power. That would be most of us; not in power. We sorely need to get back to the idea that government is supposed to act only with permission of citizens, not the other way around.

The massive move toward citizens requiring permission from government for almost everything they do is not a good thing. We are continually required to prove innocence without provocation. All in the name of the better good or the security of society. I feel less secure under such a boot.

Although it may be considered idealistic to define right and wrong and the limits on what can be dictated by those with guns, it is a necessary thing. Either a person has a right to live in peace as he sees fit, not forcing others in any way, or he does not. There are naturally times when one's desires have to be tempered because they'd overlap the territory of another's rights, but a lot of freedom can be had without such line crossing. What has happened is that overreaching ideas of "cost to society" have been stretched as far as the "general welfare" clause of the preamble to the US constitution.

I'm curious how those, who discount criticism as steeped in ideology, class their own ideas and agenda. The thing that bothers me the most is that throughout the present turmoil in which many have lost most of their net worth, there seems to be a staunch refusal to look back to the first dominos that were toppled which may have finally led to this. The string of dominoes has been falling one by one for longer than I have been alive. That is true in monetary matters, international affairs and individual freedom.

What makes it so hard to see in this country is the racial history. The move toward racial equality tends to make it tougher to see the larger trend toward wholesale restriction and removal of rights in general. Most people of all races seem unaware of that, and I find that scary as hell. Racial preference in the way of legalizing second class status has changed. The fires are continually fueled but in reality you don't have to be a white male to be president or the secret rich guy whose dirty work I do. It is unfortunate that such a thing as letting everyone be free has somehow been played in the larger game of subjugating all of us to a point we only read about in sci-fi fiction only a few decades ago.

Don't Bring Me Down

That's what I keep having to tell myself over and over these days. I'm only a thread away from full tilt bozo, and I am trying to convince myself that it is best to stay this side of the line.

When TV works and I decide to watch it I'm able to keep up with the Jack in the box saga. Jack, the Ronald McDonald of Jack in the box, was hit by a bus and is in a coma. He/she/it is a humanoid figure with a giant ping pong ball head. It appears to have shattered like an egg. I'm concerned for his recovery and I never even set foot in one of his fast food emporiums, let alone ventured into the drive through. I've seen it in movies. Usually the drive through is the butt of a joke. Poor Jack.

So, helpless as I am to cure the comatose Jack, I contemplate locating his fictitious hospital so I can camp out holding a candle in pious vigil. It would give meaning to my life. Perhaps Jack is but a metaphor for my own existence. Or something.