So in the past week, the crumbling economy structured roughly around policies based in the Pleistocene Era has eliminated my Mother's job and in the Super Happy Motoring world she was stopped at a red light and plowed into by a driver going 60 mph. Luckily, she only sustained minor injuries, but in one of those not-so-ironic, not-so-unexpected collisions (pun intended) between the related worlds of economy and cars, the driver was uninsured to top it all off.
The question everyone needs to ask when they get mired in ideological debates and mundane issues is, "is there a better world out there?" And, "how do we get there?"
But first, put down your Ayn Rand. It was too boring anyway.
Showing posts with label Ayn Rand: I'm Glad You're Dead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ayn Rand: I'm Glad You're Dead. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Where Liberals and Libertarians Overlap
As I posted previously, there is a growing convergence between the Obama and Ron Paul movements, at least this one: End the Fed, "Who owns the Federal Reserve?" And why the he11 did we as a country decide it was a good idea to no longer back money by anything other than our ability to pay it back to these banks?
Which brings me to my one worry. Is Obama trying too hard to have the best of both worlds: the happy, ignorant excesses of the 20th century combined with the inevitable progress into the 21st? Personally, I don't feel we can afford it. Now if the point is to let these companies die slowly to prevent any sudden shocks to the system, I can buy that (And in many ways, I guess I am...literally).
And Ron Paul is just a lunatic. A lunatic that happens to actually have a few good points, which makes him a necessary idealogical force, just never a real, legitimate leader. But, to privatize everything? We've been down that road Mr. Ayn Rand.
I suppose we should privatize the Coast Guard so we wouldn't be "wasting" tax payers money looking for those football players off the Clearwater coast. They would have to have a special "subscription" in case such things would happen, i.e. like a "holy shit, my boat capsized and I'm floating in the Gulf, come get me" insurance. Except only morons and the obscenely and toxically wealthy would buy such silly shit and it wouldn't have the necessary resources to perform its life saving functions.
Good theories objectionists. Now go ahead and die. So we can be a nation of problem solvers, not idealogues.
Which brings me to my one worry. Is Obama trying too hard to have the best of both worlds: the happy, ignorant excesses of the 20th century combined with the inevitable progress into the 21st? Personally, I don't feel we can afford it. Now if the point is to let these companies die slowly to prevent any sudden shocks to the system, I can buy that (And in many ways, I guess I am...literally).
And Ron Paul is just a lunatic. A lunatic that happens to actually have a few good points, which makes him a necessary idealogical force, just never a real, legitimate leader. But, to privatize everything? We've been down that road Mr. Ayn Rand.
I suppose we should privatize the Coast Guard so we wouldn't be "wasting" tax payers money looking for those football players off the Clearwater coast. They would have to have a special "subscription" in case such things would happen, i.e. like a "holy shit, my boat capsized and I'm floating in the Gulf, come get me" insurance. Except only morons and the obscenely and toxically wealthy would buy such silly shit and it wouldn't have the necessary resources to perform its life saving functions.
Good theories objectionists. Now go ahead and die. So we can be a nation of problem solvers, not idealogues.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Dovetailing Conversations
Unintentionally, I had a conversation with a reporter, a client, and ahem, myself I suppose while reading this take at HuffPuff: Can Obama get us to the Long View?
When do we start looking at life cycle costs? How can we get past looking at a day on Wall Street like reading our daily horoscope? How can we stop externalizing costs? How do we balance the need for budgeting up front costs with expected or even guaranteed ROIs?
Are these inevitable? Or merely stumbling blocks as we throw out the Rube Goldberg political and cultural apparati of the Baby Boom generation for the Bullet Train of Millennial progress.
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By the way, I was able to catch Dan Rather Reports on HDNet. It is clearly the best news program on television right now and has found a permanent place on my DVR rotation.
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Side note 2: I also recently watched the Behind the Scenes feature on the Wall-E dvd b/c I'm the type of nerd that watches movies with the director's commentary on. Whenever you sit and think just how competent these movie makers might be when viewing the end product - thinking "wow, this is something that I just CAN NOT do," and you get to see some of the work in progress, you no longer feel so inadequate. Holy crap the initial story was utter shite compared to where it finished. More like a bad episode of an otherwise mediocre show, Futurama.
Especially when they mention that if it was the end result of one artist working around the clock, it would take that person 400 years to finish the movie. And the finished product is the better for that collective effort, once again undermining Ayn Rand's notion of the solitary genius.
This is exactly the same reason that I discuss Placemaking as places being greater than merely the sum of the parts. A building is a postcard, a snap shot. A real place is drama.
When do we start looking at life cycle costs? How can we get past looking at a day on Wall Street like reading our daily horoscope? How can we stop externalizing costs? How do we balance the need for budgeting up front costs with expected or even guaranteed ROIs?
Are these inevitable? Or merely stumbling blocks as we throw out the Rube Goldberg political and cultural apparati of the Baby Boom generation for the Bullet Train of Millennial progress.
----------------------
By the way, I was able to catch Dan Rather Reports on HDNet. It is clearly the best news program on television right now and has found a permanent place on my DVR rotation.
----------------------
Side note 2: I also recently watched the Behind the Scenes feature on the Wall-E dvd b/c I'm the type of nerd that watches movies with the director's commentary on. Whenever you sit and think just how competent these movie makers might be when viewing the end product - thinking "wow, this is something that I just CAN NOT do," and you get to see some of the work in progress, you no longer feel so inadequate. Holy crap the initial story was utter shite compared to where it finished. More like a bad episode of an otherwise mediocre show, Futurama.
Especially when they mention that if it was the end result of one artist working around the clock, it would take that person 400 years to finish the movie. And the finished product is the better for that collective effort, once again undermining Ayn Rand's notion of the solitary genius.
This is exactly the same reason that I discuss Placemaking as places being greater than merely the sum of the parts. A building is a postcard, a snap shot. A real place is drama.
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