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Economic pain

by mattandi on Wed Oct 01 08:28:53 PDT 2008

There is a quote that is getting a bit of play around the blogosphere these days. "Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin - it just doesn't work" Attributed to Allan Meltzer, economist Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business, I think this is my current favorite quote. I would go further and say that it is like life without pain -it just doesn't make sense. Pain is unpleasant, and we are naturally averse to it. The unpleasantness of pain is the very essence of its value. Pain is valuable. It gets our attention. It motivates. Pain teaches, and it possibly gets the point across better than any other means. Without it, while we may be fat and happy and blissfully drunk, the dynamism of life simply rots away. We have become a culture so averse to negative consequences that we seem to have decided that they must be avoided at any cost. We have mitigated, accommodated, enabled, and made super attempts at removing even the possibility of being hurt. That is a dangerous evolution. If we have even an ounce of human compassion left, it is only natural that we do not want anyone to hurt. We don't want failure. We don't want organizations, systems, businesses, or people to fail. We naturally want to choose a less distasteful option, the path of least pain. But failure must remain an option, and frankly, no matter what we do, it always will be an option. Sometimes we want to share the pain, share the burden. This is appealing, and does make some sense, but we forget that that does not really lessen the pain, it just makes it easier to get through. Worse, we sometimes want to shift the pain to an unwitting accomplice. Pain works best when it is sharp, focused, and intense. It pinpoints the source of the problem. Amorphous and misplaced pain is harder to diagnose. So, it from this perspective that I look at the current economic turmoil, including financials, housing, and the auto industry. We keep hearing that we must do this because the other alternative simply must not be an option. We don't want to go there because that would be too painful. We simply can't let our financial sector fail, or housing values drop further, foreclosures continue to rise, or auto makers go under. Too many people will lose their jobs, too much wealth will be lost. To which I respond, no. I understand that we might not want to go there, but failure is a perfectly viable option albeit an undesirable one. I also do not want anyone to hurt, but accepting that pain, even great pain, will be necessary is not an absence of compassion. Compassion guides us through the wake of pain, to relieve pain, and to move forward. Compassionate consideration should move us to have no desire to cause pain, but I think it is misappropriated when it is used as reason to avoid pain. For what it is worth, I still don't think of the loan program now available to the auto makers as a bailout. The debate over that issue began nearly two years ago now. It is just unfortunate that the funding of that program has gotten caught up in the current economic environment. It looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it just doesn't talk like a duck. At least not yet. Failure for the automakers, in the form of bankruptcy, may yet be the option that accomplishes the most. I tend to think the same way about other issues. No matter what happens, I have not gotten to the point that I believe that GM, Ford, and even Chrysler will simply cease to exist. Coming out the other side of failure smaller, leaner, meaner, more agile and able to compete, may just be the most desirable outcome. Someone just has to decide that it is worth the pain. Seems that along the way we forgot a few other timely quotes. Damn the torpedoes . . . I will fear no evil . . . That which doesn't kill me . . . This too shall pass. Sorry for the long post, but thanks for indulging my thoughts.

Amazon Editorial Review

by gagrice on Wed Jul 30 16:36:08 PDT 2008

The Deniers: The World Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud**And those who are too fearful to do so Is The "Scientific Consensus" on Global Warming a Myth? Yes, says internationally renowned environmentalist author Lawrence Solomon who highlights the brave scientists--all leaders in their fields-- who dispute the conventional wisdom of climate change alarmists (despite the threat to their careers) Al Gore and his media allies claim the only scientists who dispute the alarmist view on global warming are corrupt crackpots and "deniers", comparable to neo-Nazis who deny the Holocaust. Solomon calmly and methodically debunks Gore's outrageous charges, showing in on 'headline' case after another that the scientists who dispute Gore's doomsday scenarios have far more credibility than those who support Gore's theories. These men who expose Gore's claims as absurd hold top positions at the most prestigious scientific institutes in the world. Their work is cited and acclaimed throughout the scientific community. No wonder Gore and his allies want to pretend they don't exist. This is the one book that PROVES the science is NOT settled. The scientists profiled are too eminent and their research too devastating to allow simplistic views of global warming--like Al Gore's--to survive. From the Publisher Al Gore says any scientist who disagrees with him on Global Warming is a kook, or a crook. Guess he never met these guys Dr. Edward Wegman--former chairman of the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences--demolishes the famous "hockey stick" graph that launched the global warming panic. Dr. David Bromwich--president of the International Commission on Polar Meteorology--says "it's hard to see a global warming signal from the mainland of Antarctica right now." Prof. Paul Reiter--Chief of Insects and Infectious Diseases at the famed Pasteur Institute--says "no major scientist with any long record in this field" accepts Al Gore's claim that global warming spreads mosquito-borne diseases. Prof. Hendrik Tennekes--director of research, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute--states "there exists no sound theoretical framework for climate predictability studies" used for global warming forecasts. Dr. Christopher Landsea--past chairman of the American Meteorological Society's Committee on Tropical Meteorology and Tropical Cyclones--says "there are no known scientific studies that show a conclusive physical link between global warming and observed hurricane frequency and intensity." Dr. Antonino Zichichi--one of the world's foremost physicists, former president of the European Physical Society, who discovered nuclear antimatter--calls global warming models "incoherent and invalid." Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski--world-renowned expert on the ancient ice cores used in climate research--says the U.N. "based its global-warming hypothesis on arbitrary assumptions and these assumptions, it is now clear, are false." Prof. Tom V. Segalstad--head of the Geological Museum, University of Oslo--says "most leading geologists" know the U.N.'s views "of Earth processes are implausible." Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu--founding director of the International Arctic Research Center, twice named one of the "1,000 Most Cited Scientists," says much "Arctic warming during the last half of the last century is due to natural change." Dr. Claude Allegre--member, U.S. National Academy of Sciences and French Academy of Science, he was among the first to sound the alarm on the dangers of global warming. His view now: "The cause of this climate change is unknown." Dr. Richard Lindzen--Professor of Meteorology at M.I.T., member, the National Research Council Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, says global warming alarmists "are trumpeting catastrophes that couldn't happen even if the models were right." Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov--head of the space research laboratory of the Russian Academy of Science's Pulkovo Observatory and of the International Space Station's Astrometria project says "the common view that man's industrial activity is a deciding factor in global warming has emerged from a misinterpretation of cause and effect relations." Dr. Richard Tol--Principal researcher at the Institute for Environmental Studies at Vrije Universiteit, and Adjunct Professor at the Center for Integrated Study of the Human Dimensions of Global Change, at Carnegie Mellon University, calls the most influential global warming report of all time "preposterous . . . alarmist and incompetent." Dr. Sami Solanki--director and scientific member at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, who argues that changes in the Sun's state, not human activity, may be the principal cause of global warming: "The sun has been at its strongest over the past 60 years and may now be affecting global temperatures." Prof. Freeman Dyson--one of the world's most eminent physicists says the models used to justify global warming alarmism are "full of fudge factors" and "do not begin to describe the real world." Dr. Eigils Friis-Christensen--director of the Danish National Space Centre, vice-president of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, who argues that changes in the Sun's behavior could account for most of the warming attributed by the UN to man-made CO2. And many more, all in Lawrence Solomon's devastating new book, The Deniers

Re: UAW CAP [gagrice]

by dallasdude1 on Sat Jul 12 20:48:34 PDT 2008

Big labor goes hand and hand with big business. However, business has the funding to impose its will. If we move back to the industrialization in America. We have documentation on the life of a steel worker. He works 364 long days a year, no overtime, one holiday (XMAS), a tater for lunch, works for food/shelter/clothing, and the family has no safety net because he has no social security. So if he falls into a vat of molten steel, the family would most likely end up in the alms house. Andy Carnegie was a swell fella in that he made great contributions to society with the money he made from those who sweat-ed blood at the steel mill. I'm amazed at the way people idolize the wealthy and look down on the poor. I can't respect rich wicked people. Soros, Buffet, Gates, and others are very different than those titans of industry prior. I do respect their views and agree with them in many respects. Today we are under attack by the near to do, a group of pathetic folks who aspire to be great and or parasites on humanity. They are compassionate conservatives very much like that drug addict Rush. They expect the masses to do as they say, all the while they are doing the opposite. Those who take what others fought to get for granted are the slackers who give us all a bad name. Union and non union we all have benefited from the past generations. The labor movement has come along way. God help those who disrespect our humble beginnings. Much suffering by good union folks and their families have built what many take for granted. Sorry for my pontification. I just had to get it off my chest. Basically I do agree with your views and insight.

Re: Idling moms [flash11]

by snakeweasel on Mon May 19 14:58:12 PDT 2008

You believe that hogwash? Well first its not hogwash, there is plenty of truth there. Secondly you have to remember that a great deal of altruism (as well as philanthropy and humanitarianism) is really done for selfish reasons. Most people, if they admit it to themselfs or not, do these types of things for some sort of self gain. That self gain can be recognition, self promotion or public relations. That is what that quote is all about most altruistic acts are done for self gain. Tell me do you really think the Carnegie Museum of Art would have even existed if it couldn't have the Carnegie name on it? This is propaganda and does not reflect the true gravity of the economic situation it has created You really shouldn't call something propaganda if your next breath breaths out your own propaganda. Like saying something has increased 230% without any baseline figures behind it States like Indiana have a 10-20% foreclosure rate. Indiana does not have a 10% foreclosure rate I believe you are reporting the foreclosure rate for sub prime loans and not all loans. FWIW it was recently reported that Indianas foreclosure rate had recently dropped. 30,000 autoworkers from GM lost their jobs within the last 2 years with at least 8 major plants closing. Wow 30,000 auto workers out of a national work force of 153.7 million. Face it thats only a blip and unemployment is running around 5.1% which is near full employment.

Yins from Pittsburgh

by fezo on Wed Nov 07 08:08:33 PST 2007

You Pittsburgh folks are all right. My late, great sister-in-law was from there. I learned how not to pronounce Carnegie from her. I visited there a few times for different reasons and was always pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it.

Re: It's no LR3, but we won [verdugo]

by jmonroe on Tue Nov 06 06:12:53 PST 2007

You went to CMU too? Yeah, but I started when it was Carnegie Tech. If I had minded my P’s and Q’s I would have been outta there before the name change in 1967 (Got out in 1968. That almost makes it sound like it was prison). That’s what happens when you join the Navy and then go to night school, but the GI Bill paid for it so I’m not really complaining. Especially not since that was the plan all along, but I didn’t know they were going to sneak in a name change on me. :surprise: With the bucks they won in that race ($2M), maybe they’ll let the alumni alone for a while. Who am I kidding, that wouldn’t even buy enough lab equipment for one lab. :( So we beat BR's alma mater, That ain’t hard to do. :shades: any Stanford alumni here? Who cares? :D jmonroe