Lawry, That's because they don't know the difference between doing it wrong and it being wrong. Been here many times and the questions about what something is for is the first question asked in my profession about everything. Somehow, I feel a certain kinship with the world that I didn't feel when they were OK and my profession was the only one with these "economic" problems.
That conference we were at 8 years ago came up with the conclusion of a problem of vision that significantly aggravated everything that followed it. The resulting options were answers that no one would ever follow even though they were the correct answers. It became an issue of culture and of what constituted value. The value of Tradition, the development of virtuosity in the present and thinking down to the seventh generation is not new. People can't go outside themselves for something that they do not have first within. The little water spider may bring up the dirt that begins the world but once the world has grown, he's still just a little water spider. Martin Buber ascribed it to two different kinds of Faith. A faith that has a grounding in history and a faith that destroys history as an act of freedom. "Kill the Indian to save the man" is what they used to say on the reservation 12 step programs. I suspect there is more wisdom in Africa than in the rest of the world. That more things have been accomplished over the million years or so than the rest of world can even imagine. The movement roots (dance) that grew the big pelvis and allowed the big head to emerge and then the song that moved the temporlis from above the eyes, where it demanded a big thick bone, to above the temple where the frontal lobes could emerge and give us our current intelligence and our language has just recently been discovered in the West. Things known in Africa for hundreds of thousands of years. That Africa couldn't escape the virus of Empire and absorbed its war technology is a story still being played out by the criminals of the day. What is it to celebrate about the summer riots in Africa while the demonstrations and riots in England and Israel are somehow evil? With us they wear suits and rob companies, in Africa they cut off the arms of children and sell diamonds. Where is the aboriginal knowledge that brought the people out of Africa? What has happened to the psycho-physical technology that Wade Davis found amongst the Bushman and is now disappearing? Our fathers made a mess when they died before they taught us the difference. Are we now leaving an even worse mess because we refused to learn the lessons of the value of respect for others? At least you get to travel Lowry. I'm more than little jealous. :>)) REH -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of de Bivort Lawrence Sent: Monday, September 05, 2011 4:02 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] If you were Obama... Yes. Funny thing about people: when they find that something doesn't work, they go out and do it harder. I think that one of the problem of the economists is that they seem not to be able to escape the accounting impulse, and so GNP (good old measurable units of dollars) becomes a substitute concept for value in a country. I like your questions: "What do we want those jobs FOR?" or "What's an economy for, anyway?" I am in northern Africa for a while, examining concepts and programs for, you guessed it, economic development. I have never seen such nonsense in my life, and most of it promulgated by foreign consultants, mostly American and European. They don't seem to have a clue, and meanwhile those local leaders who believe them try valiantly (and fruitlessly) to follow the consultants' nostrums. When one program doesn't work, there are plenty of consultants to take their place and introduce a new form of failure. Questions like the ones you posed MUST be answered before any good will come to these development efforts. Cheers, Lawry Algiers On Sep 4, 2011, at 2:43 PM, Sandwichman wrote: > I watched The Fog of War last night (Robert McNamara interview) and I > think there is a parallel between McNamara's impotence in confronting > the realities of the Vietnam war and Obama's "preemptive compromise." > There is no non-transformational "technocratic solution" to the jobs > crisis. Obama and his advisers, however, are fundamentally committed > to solving the crisis without upsetting the status quo. A little > tinkering here and a smidgeon of high-blown rhetoric there. > > The documentary's title comes from a comment by McNamara: "There's a > wonderful phrase: 'the fog of war.' What "the fog of war" means is: > war is so complex it's beyond the ability of the human mind to > comprehend all the variables. Our judgment, our understanding, are not > adequate. And we kill people unnecessarily." > > There is also a fog of economics. "It's beyond the ability of the > human mind to comprehend all the variables." So what do economists do? > They isolate a few of the more comprehensible and tractable variables > and pretend that is all there is to it. > > Take your pick: > > "Want more jobs? Stimulate more growth! Want more growth? Boost > investor confidence! Want to boost investor confidence? Cut their > taxes and regulations! Didn't work last time? Do it more vigorously!" > > Or > > "Want more jobs? Stimulate more growth! Want more growth? Stimulate > final demand! What more final demand? Spend more on infrastructure! > Didn't work last time? Do it more vigorously!" > > Don't ever, EVER ask, "What do we want those jobs FOR?" or "What's an > economy for, anyway?" > > On Sun, Sep 4, 2011 at 10:47 AM, Sally Lerner <[email protected]> wrote: >> 'President Obama's promised jobs plan needs to be >> unrealistic and unreasonable, at the very least. If he >> can crank it all the way up to unimaginable, that would >> be even better. >> >> 'This is a moment for the president to suppress his >> reflex for preemptive compromise. The unemployment >> crisis is so deep and self-perpetuating that only a >> big, surprising, over-the-top jobs initiative could >> have real impact. Boldness will serve the nation well - >> and, coincidentally, boost Obama's reelection >> prospects.' >> >> Columnist Eugene Robinson >> Washington Post >> August 30, 2011 >> http://tinyurl.com/3tpq9kj >> >> >> What would FWers propose? >> >> Sally >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Futurework mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework >> > > > > -- > Sandwichman > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
