The Golden Laws of Prosperity
September 8, 2011 4:16 AM Subscribe
idiot
posted by fistynuts at 4:54 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by fistynuts at 4:54 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
I remember conversations like this - either with a couple of stoned mates, a bag of cheeba and a couch...
"totally man... do not allow elites to opt out of the experience of ordinary citizens...."
"right on..."
OR
At that coffee shop near uni, desperately wanting her to stay for another coffee...
"Sorry, I really need to get back, mummy said she really needs the Volvo to pick up daddad and fluffles from scary old uncle..."
"but, but.. I was just saying, make it worth doing social work and do not allow the private sector to pillage the social sector... and.. and... recognize health externalities caused by urban and exurban planning, pollution and additives.."
posted by the noob at 5:19 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
"totally man... do not allow elites to opt out of the experience of ordinary citizens...."
"right on..."
OR
At that coffee shop near uni, desperately wanting her to stay for another coffee...
"Sorry, I really need to get back, mummy said she really needs the Volvo to pick up daddad and fluffles from scary old uncle..."
"but, but.. I was just saying, make it worth doing social work and do not allow the private sector to pillage the social sector... and.. and... recognize health externalities caused by urban and exurban planning, pollution and additives.."
posted by the noob at 5:19 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
These are all perfectly reasonable and defensible things. Thank you for posting this - at least some people appreciate it, I am sure. And any other comments that I might have had about it are, as usual, replaced with a sense of contempt for those who rush to disgrace themselves in response.
It's funny how the Metafilter response to wisdom is almost always the same: cynicism, but about the wrong things - about the poor, not the rich; about the weak, not the powerful; about change, not the status quo. Sometimes, I think the people who pretend to speak for the real world are the ones with the rosiest-tinted glasses.
And the tedious and predictable references to smoking drugs.
At least people could try to seem a little more intelligent?
posted by lucien_reeve at 5:23 AM on September 8, 2011 [18 favorites]
It's funny how the Metafilter response to wisdom is almost always the same: cynicism, but about the wrong things - about the poor, not the rich; about the weak, not the powerful; about change, not the status quo. Sometimes, I think the people who pretend to speak for the real world are the ones with the rosiest-tinted glasses.
And the tedious and predictable references to smoking drugs.
At least people could try to seem a little more intelligent?
posted by lucien_reeve at 5:23 AM on September 8, 2011 [18 favorites]
A lot of these ideas are attractive. And a lot of the motivations behind the things they seek to curtail, much less so. But the bit that always leaves me baffled is that all these things are driven by human nature, or at least how some aspects of human nature in some people are played out in their careers in business, finance and government. So the real challenge is perhaps not in how we regulate some of these business or personal behaviours, but how we manage the aspects of human nature that underpin them. And I have no ideas about that.
And, yeah, this place is starting to feel like fark sometimes.
posted by dowcrag at 5:38 AM on September 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
And, yeah, this place is starting to feel like fark sometimes.
posted by dowcrag at 5:38 AM on September 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
In Florida there are cockroaches and waterbugs, right? Big fuckers. Run around at night, eating glue, spilled cereal, crumbs, grease, whatever, so heavy that you can hear them skittering around from several rooms over. Now there was a time maybe twenty years ago that the cockroaches would run away when you turned the lights on or opened the cupboard door. There might be one or two left, motionless except for their antennae which were waving slowly with an undercurrent of ooohh shiiiit. But if they caught a whiff of you moving they'd run like hell or even fly up in your face.
At some point a new breed of cockroach started becoming more common, the oriental, which has all the same nasty habits except for a different demeanour. Oriental cockroaches don't give a shit. You hear them, munching and snacking and stomping around in the next room and you go over and flick the light on or open the cupboard door and there they are, fat and sassy, full of attitude. They just look back at you, all cool and shrugging as if to say 'sup? And then they get back to whatever it is they were doing because they just don't give a shit. You wanna start something? they say.
"Go on ahead, let's see what you got. You ain't got shit, because even if you squish me I got sixty brothers and sisters behind the backsplash and two thousand egg cases in the recliner you never vacuumed the spilled Doritos out of. So, SUP?"
And that's where we are with the financial sector today.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:39 AM on September 8, 2011 [32 favorites]
At some point a new breed of cockroach started becoming more common, the oriental, which has all the same nasty habits except for a different demeanour. Oriental cockroaches don't give a shit. You hear them, munching and snacking and stomping around in the next room and you go over and flick the light on or open the cupboard door and there they are, fat and sassy, full of attitude. They just look back at you, all cool and shrugging as if to say 'sup? And then they get back to whatever it is they were doing because they just don't give a shit. You wanna start something? they say.
"Go on ahead, let's see what you got. You ain't got shit, because even if you squish me I got sixty brothers and sisters behind the backsplash and two thousand egg cases in the recliner you never vacuumed the spilled Doritos out of. So, SUP?"
And that's where we are with the financial sector today.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:39 AM on September 8, 2011 [32 favorites]
Great now we have the solutions, but we have always had solutions. I know it's more fun to come up with creative solutions to the status quo but the problem with out society is not a lack of solutions but the massive corporate structure that guards the status quo with standing armies of PR agent highly skilled in the art of division, distraction and repression. Corporate hegemony is so ingrained into the soul of every individual through work, consumerism, investments etc it's almost impossible to dismantle without destroying ourselves in the process.
posted by any major dude at 5:46 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by any major dude at 5:46 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Opinions, like ideas in the knowledge economy, are worthless.
Only action and implementation have value. What are you doing about it any of it other than complaining?
Or were you planning on eating your thesis?
posted by fistynuts at 5:52 AM on September 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
Only action and implementation have value. What are you doing about it any of it other than complaining?
Or were you planning on eating your thesis?
posted by fistynuts at 5:52 AM on September 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
You're right, principles are good but they aren't enough. You (we) need a path, method, vehicle for disrupting that unjust but overwhelmingly powerful system that's in place. I've a belief that the answer to that conundrum lies in self-organizing systems & applying systems thinking to social systems, that new forms of social networking like reputation-based voting schemes & open source organization can be disruptive to the entrenched power systems & bring about a more fair, free & just system than the one we have now. It's perhaps not a path yet but I think it's a path to the path, if you get my meaning.
posted by scalefree at 5:59 AM on September 8, 2011
posted by scalefree at 5:59 AM on September 8, 2011
And, yeah, this place is starting to feel like fark sometimes.
My point with the Python video is that this is a stupidly long list of chirpy, un-actionable items. Let's take just one of them:
Do not allow private money to buy elections
Great idea! Now, Random Blogger Who Knows What's Best for the World, make us a list of steps and let's get started.
posted by jbickers at 6:51 AM on September 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
My point with the Python video is that this is a stupidly long list of chirpy, un-actionable items. Let's take just one of them:
Do not allow private money to buy elections
Great idea! Now, Random Blogger Who Knows What's Best for the World, make us a list of steps and let's get started.
posted by jbickers at 6:51 AM on September 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
My point with the Python video is that this is a stupidly long list of chirpy, un-actionable items.
Interestingly, the use of the video is what undid you (in my opinion, at least) - the criticism is valid, but the method is pure snark.
I like the list, though mostly it's the first twenty or so entries that make the most sense to me. After that, it seems to get softer and softer around the edges until I start to hear it in Yoda's voice: "Recognize health externalities caused by urban and exurban planning, pollution and additives, you must."
posted by Mooski at 6:59 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Interestingly, the use of the video is what undid you (in my opinion, at least) - the criticism is valid, but the method is pure snark.
I like the list, though mostly it's the first twenty or so entries that make the most sense to me. After that, it seems to get softer and softer around the edges until I start to hear it in Yoda's voice: "Recognize health externalities caused by urban and exurban planning, pollution and additives, you must."
posted by Mooski at 6:59 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
I heard this on NPR a day or two ago. How to avoid the curse of oil.
A couple of the things on the list in the FPP are used by Norway in the NPR story, and the list reminds me of Scandinavian policies in general. The thing is, Scandinavian culture is communal in nature, and the people there like the way things work. While a nation can copy the laws and policies, they can't import the cultural, collective appreciation for those laws and policies.
posted by Xoebe at 7:08 AM on September 8, 2011
A couple of the things on the list in the FPP are used by Norway in the NPR story, and the list reminds me of Scandinavian policies in general. The thing is, Scandinavian culture is communal in nature, and the people there like the way things work. While a nation can copy the laws and policies, they can't import the cultural, collective appreciation for those laws and policies.
posted by Xoebe at 7:08 AM on September 8, 2011
I get the error on the FPP also
posted by I am the Walrus at 7:15 AM on September 8, 2011
posted by I am the Walrus at 7:15 AM on September 8, 2011
Cripes. Half of those rules conflict with the other half. If you followed all of them, all that would be left is you sitting in an unadorned cell, shaking and weeping.
posted by gjc at 7:28 AM on September 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by gjc at 7:28 AM on September 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
90% of these wouldn't be possible to achieve or maintain without a totalitarian police state.
No, thanks.
posted by rocket88 at 7:44 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
No, thanks.
posted by rocket88 at 7:44 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
What a lot of words, but still yet, it feels incomplete and lacking.
posted by fuq at 7:48 AM on September 8, 2011
posted by fuq at 7:48 AM on September 8, 2011
A bunch of fine, but difficult to implement, ideas listed in a way that provides no structure or framework. Strategies and tactics without goals or vision to bind them together. The author's failure to connect all the pieces nicely mirrors the real problem with American public policy.
posted by pjaust at 7:57 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by pjaust at 7:57 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Interestingly, the use of the video is what undid you (in my opinion, at least) - the criticism is valid, but the method is pure snark.
That clip of poorly thought out ideas is exactly what popped into my mind when I saw this also. Punish negative externalities? No shit, sherlock. Keep the rich poor? How poor? What non-distortionary mechanism do you propose? Why preserve first sale? There are some positive economic behaviors that non-transferable rights promote. There is zero thought here.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 8:07 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
That clip of poorly thought out ideas is exactly what popped into my mind when I saw this also. Punish negative externalities? No shit, sherlock. Keep the rich poor? How poor? What non-distortionary mechanism do you propose? Why preserve first sale? There are some positive economic behaviors that non-transferable rights promote. There is zero thought here.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 8:07 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Error establishing a database connection
Just my luck. Now I'll never know.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:48 AM on September 8, 2011
Just my luck. Now I'll never know.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:48 AM on September 8, 2011
It reminds me somewhat of this list "Evil Villain Mistakes To Avoid".
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 9:08 AM on September 8, 2011
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 9:08 AM on September 8, 2011
90% of these wouldn't be possible to achieve or maintain without a totalitarian police state.
Absolute dictatorship under an absolutely kind, benevolent and capable dictator is the best form of government, no?
posted by 3FLryan at 9:16 AM on September 8, 2011
Absolute dictatorship under an absolutely kind, benevolent and capable dictator is the best form of government, no?
posted by 3FLryan at 9:16 AM on September 8, 2011
(I mean as long as we're dreaming all this is possible, why not dream up a god-like figure to run it all for us)
posted by 3FLryan at 9:18 AM on September 8, 2011
posted by 3FLryan at 9:18 AM on September 8, 2011
Absolute dictatorship under an absolutely kind, benevolent and capable dictator is the best form of government, no?
I'll do it. Don't thank me.
posted by Summer at 9:27 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'll do it. Don't thank me.
posted by Summer at 9:27 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'll do it. Don't thank me.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our new supreme leader, Summer.
For those of you that like snow, we thank you kindly to go soak your head.
posted by 3FLryan at 9:33 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our new supreme leader, Summer.
For those of you that like snow, we thank you kindly to go soak your head.
posted by 3FLryan at 9:33 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh no, I fully intend to be tolerant and accepting of all points of view oh god who am I kidding DOWN ON YOUR KNEES.
posted by Summer at 9:40 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Summer at 9:40 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
Ian Welsh sounds like a very well intentioned guy. And an idiot.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:52 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by 2N2222 at 9:52 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
In some ways it is nice to see good ideas gathered together, but not all of these are good ideas. That said, an intelligent group of people could take 70% of these ideas, flesh them out, fit them into a comprehensive plan, and actually have something. Of course that is the hard part, but as Xoebe said above, there are people who rightly value some of these concepts.
While pretty naive, perhaps Ian Welsh is only attempting to add some goals of the genuine Left (albeit in the typical baseless was of most political grandstanding and with some foolish things thrown in [Keep the rich poor? Don't be an ass]).
posted by Wyatt at 10:02 AM on September 8, 2011
While pretty naive, perhaps Ian Welsh is only attempting to add some goals of the genuine Left (albeit in the typical baseless was of most political grandstanding and with some foolish things thrown in [Keep the rich poor? Don't be an ass]).
posted by Wyatt at 10:02 AM on September 8, 2011
Part common sense, part absolutely nutjob. Some require an authoritarian govt, others require communism, several more require pure anarchy. And add a sprinkle of unregulated capitalism.
Yeah, I could see that working.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:15 AM on September 8, 2011
Yeah, I could see that working.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:15 AM on September 8, 2011
While we're at it, we should do something about all the problems.
posted by jbickers at 11:41 AM on September 8, 2011
posted by jbickers at 11:41 AM on September 8, 2011
I want to see Irvine Welsh's version.
posted by Blue Meanie at 12:52 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Blue Meanie at 12:52 PM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
Why am I reading fanfiction about how Bizarro America will run in the DC Universe Reboot?
posted by nanojath at 3:15 PM on September 8, 2011
posted by nanojath at 3:15 PM on September 8, 2011
These are all perfectly reasonable and defensible things.
Most of them are half baked and/or ill defined things. The intention is sweet and sweet natured, I guess, but good God, read a little history before suggesting that these are good policy directives.
(He calls himself, among other things, a social media consultant. What does one do to become a social media consultant?)
posted by IndigoJones at 6:02 PM on September 8, 2011
Most of them are half baked and/or ill defined things. The intention is sweet and sweet natured, I guess, but good God, read a little history before suggesting that these are good policy directives.
(He calls himself, among other things, a social media consultant. What does one do to become a social media consultant?)
posted by IndigoJones at 6:02 PM on September 8, 2011
What does one do to become a social media consultant?
TWEET AS FAST AS YOU CAN
posted by nanojath at 9:33 PM on September 8, 2011
TWEET AS FAST AS YOU CAN
posted by nanojath at 9:33 PM on September 8, 2011
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posted by jbickers at 4:20 AM on September 8, 2011 [4 favorites]