I’m at Starbuck’s again, not drinking coffee because I like to throw multiple resolutions against the wall to see what sticks and this one has. I am nursing a giant tea though. It’s like going from chewing tobacco to cigarettes I think—a slightly less horrible way to feed the same addiction.
I’m sitting outside trying to get a clear enough idea of how to do the math on annuities placed at the beginning and end of the year, on present and future valuation, on compounding and discounting interest (quarterly to annually), and honestly, I get it in theory but I hate to read numbers. I have a built in defense mechanism that allows me to come out of a math related textbook unchanged. The midterm is in two weeks with no finance calculator and I can see the whole situation not ending well.
So of course I’m staring at the page but the only thing I’m comprehending is the drifting conversation from everyone around me. Everyone is talking about the economy. The guy at the next table can’t get a job, or a girlfriend, and his church is hypocritical, but he’s still a young stud and he doesn’t get it. These are his words, not mine. I’m assuming he’s an out of work actor because one job thought he would be a perfect rapist but never called back. He laughs hollowly and denies being a rapist (he really does look like a rapist). He’s calling in favors from friends and with each call it’s the same thing—Jesus is amazing, he’s so amazing—P.S. I’m homeless can you help.
It doesn’t help that one group of 3 sat down at my table and won’t stop using their ‘outside voices’. They’re talking about income tax rising in CA, about double taxation and the unconstitutionality of it. They’re talking about getting divorced and putting houses in children’s names to beat the system. And they’re predicting a cash economy. They say this is the shit we revolted over in the first place, they want to know how America has come to this when we were founded on it’s antithesis.
They’re saying this latest bailout package is a catastrophe. They’re talking about caste systems and how in Russia the middle class were eliminated first as a tactical move to create class warfare before they struck down the rich and put their own in. The woman mentions India, where “Slumdog Millionaires” did nothing for the children in it. The producers bought them a house to move them up and they were photographed last week on the same block, same dumpster. The common thread is class warfare and they think we’re setting ourselves up for it.
I want to close the finance book and jump in on this. I haven’t turned the page in 30 minutes so they must know I’m already an active listener in this exchange. These people are doctors and lawyers. Wrong or right, they must have taken an intelligent path to the conclusion and I want to know more, but instead I’m pretending to do homework while I blog about them and eavesdrop.
11 Responses
Was America really founded on the antithesis of things like excessive taxation?
I disagree.
Of course you do
I kinda like watching our economy tank. Don’t get me wrong I love America and don’t want to see people get hurt but i can’t help but feel that we did this to ourselves. It seems everyone got a little greedy…rich and poor.
we all gotta pay so f*ck it. you and i have front row tickets to the biggest circus show on Earth at the moment. Enjoy!
backspace’s comment is precisely why I disagree. blaming it on greed is the evidence; here’s the theory:
America has never been founded upon anything. From it’s start, it has been teetering upon a contradiction. All that has changed is that the contradiction, steady growing since the country’s birth, has reached a critical mass.
This country has always lacked an explicit philosophy to explain it’s superiority. It has never connected it’s superiority in some realms to it’s implicit superiority in others. Those realms are rarely identified, and when they are, the ideas offered are explicitly unAmerican.
Moral relativism is the flip side of moral intrinicism. This country was founded upon the latter and so it was bound to meet the former. Both hold that certain parts of human life are beyond rational scrutiny and that objective answers to certain questions do not exist. Or, at best, if they do, they are subject to change at any moment.
There has never been an air-tight argument against excessive taxation, or any other irrationality, offered by a major influence to this country.
When such an approach to ethics is wide spread, economic decline and political chaos/dictatorship are inevitable.
Come to think of it, your comment would have done just fine too.
goodwill wrote: America has never been founded upon anything.
Is our Consitution just for show?
goodwill wrote: From it’s start, it has been teetering upon a contradiction. All that has changed is that the contradiction, steady growing since the country’s birth, has reached a critical mass.
what contradiction are you implying? i kinda wanna agree but this statement is loaded with generalities.
goodwill wrote: This country has always lacked an explicit philosophy to explain it’s superiority. It has never connected it’s superiority in some realms to it’s implicit superiority in others. Those realms are rarely identified, and when they are, the ideas offered are explicitly unAmerican.
would you count freedom of speech and secular governmen unAmerican? I generally refer to these two pillars of truths as America’s best export. Clearly these values are far superior to those held by theocracies and dictatorships.
you might be right about everything but my small brain couldn’t keep up with most of your theory to be honest. i suppose greed was a major factor but perhaps it was one of a few factors. i don’t f*cking know. what i do know is how funny (painfully funny) it is to listen to people on tv, radio, starbucks, etc pissed off about the situation we’re in. i’m pissed too but i’m willing to give the new management team a shot to implement their recovery plan. what’s the alternative anyway?
An HONEST read of a little History could do much for the understanding of what is currently happening in the USA (and abroad for that matter). Unfortunately for most, that would require turning off the television-radio, not texting for 10 minutes, blogging, picking their nose or scratching their ass AND picking up a book.
I fully understand this is a foreign concept to the dumbmasses, but for the one or two who may have read this far and are tired of floundering in darkness, despair and lack of understanding, I suggest the following books as a good start. They are excellent reads, with the ability to shine a light on the path being followed.
• The Forgotten Man – Amity Shlaes
• Liberal Fascism – Jonah Goldberg
• The Virtue of Selfishness – Ayn Rand
• John Adams – David McCullough
• Selected Writings of Thomas Paine – http://www.constitution.org/tp/paine.htm
Interesting list. I’m a big big Thomas Paine fan. But I doubt anyone will find the root of this banking crisis in any of those works though. Too much philosophy and not enough practicality in my opinion.
I’m not surprised.
The “banking crisis” isn’t the real issue/crisis, only the symptom. I stand by my recommendation, acknowledging both the philosophy and historical aspects will undoubtedly bore most. As for practicality… I’ll simply disagree with your opinion.
that’s similar to saying that the economic boom in the 90s is a symptom of the American Revolution.
I’m not one to discourage reading but we have practical problems facing the country that need practical solutions. Tackling issues like, religious fundamentalism, health care reform, entitlements, foreign wars, energy, and education will go further in stopping the bleeding from this banking crisis than figuring out which side of the political spectrum you think you might fall in based on the opinion of someone like Jonah Goldberg.
I doubt anyone has the *perfect* answer. Everything’s an experiment including this Republic. If things don’t turn around we go to the polling booth and pull the lever for a different team next time.
Palin/Santelli 2012 lol!!!!
I didn’t write this but I wish I had:
Suppose a dear friend is seriously ill in a hospital. You go to see him and ask the nurse what is his diagnosis? “Diagnosis?” she exclaims. “Silly man. We don’t deal in such abstract theories. We have to pay attention to the real world, the here and now.” “So how do you plan to make him better?” you ask. She replies “The doctor has given him a shot of medicine A. If that doesn’t work I’m sure he’ll go to others.” But what about his medical history?” you inquire. “Sir” she says painfully, “everyone knows that what was true yesterday won’t be true today and to rely on that would be simply irresponsible.” “But” you cry, “What if he dies”? “Well” she admits, “that would be unfortunate but at least we tried. We took action! We did something!” You start to consider funeral arrangements.