Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Signs and Portents

Ancient peoples would probably say that the Lunar Eclipse last night was a sign of ... something. Good or Bad omen?

Hmmm.

Europe is covered with snow & ice. They have shown much hubris for years, thinking their computer models can foretell the future. Is Europe being punished?

Ms. Market continues dancing on the table. Will she tire soon, or keep taking off pieces of clothing, one at a time? All good things must come to an end.

Bunkerman continue to ride that bull elephant to the next waterhole. He's often seen picking fruit off tree as he passed, putting it into storage baskets for the next tough period. You'd expect that from Bunkerman - he has a backup to his backup.

The Street wants to get back to its old antics. I saw an announcement of a new multi-billion private equity fund. Street paymasters are looking for loopholes and winks to go back to the gross pay practices of the past.

The public? Joe & Jane Public seem to want to enjoy a good Christmas.

2011 brings many, many deferred decisions closer. Confusion seems to reign - no one has a clear idea of where to lead the nation. Fragmentation and sloganeering dominate the public debate.

Somehow a vision needs to be elucidated and transmitted to the people, a vision that they will understand and accept as an END POINT for where to lead the nation. The END POINT is an eschaton - the end of all things and time - where we want the nation to BE in a decade or two.

We know where we are now. At least those who look as data and facts do know. A friend sent me a link to an illuminating, fact-filled talk by Elizabeth Warren:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A

I recommend it highly. The nation is troubled.
What is our desired END POINT - our national eschaton?
Simply, to be a happier people. What brings more happiness? Peace, prosperity, security, fraternity. Not for one person or a few, but in the aggregate for all. Aristotle (cf. Nichomachean Ethics) would say such aggregate happiness would arise from some optimum midpoint between two extremes. That would be the place of virtue. The extremes to avoid are destitution for some and extreme concentrations of wealth and power for some. The former people suffer with great unhappiness, while the latter embody wasted resources and diminished returns of happiness. A balanced society is the optimum.

A society with maximum freedom for the great majority, a strong safety net for the unlucky or unendowed, and a strong barrier to prevent a few from sucking all the resources of the nation to themselves, like a black hole sucks matter.

With the BEGINNING POINT known and the END POINT fixed, our mission is to find the optimum path to get there. Analogous to a Feynman Path Integral in quantum mechanics - yes, that's how Bunkerman thinks - we need to examine all paths to find the optimum. The wave functions of many will cancel out, but some will add up and show us the path to our desired END POINT.

Free Fraternalism is name (lol its most recent name) for the ideology that provides the optimum path to that happier society. With that ideology, the people can work independently, or with some leadership, to cause the nation to enter this optimum path to the desired eschaton.

Think of this a bit like the journey in Pilgrim's Progress. Many lures and dangerous places are on the journey, but with a strong belief in the principles of Free Fraternalism and a bit of help from true leaders, the people can eventually arrive at its eschaton: a freer, happier, more secure nation with ties of fraternity among its people.

Running out of time. I'll write much more on reforms needed and how to get there with Free Fraternalism.

Word of the Day

"Susurrus" - noun [$10] literary, a T. S. Eliot word
Susurrus means a sound of whospering or rustling.
Sentence: Are the winds of change making that susurrus among the people? Let's hope so.

17 comments:

Bud said...

elizabeth warren ....huh ??? lemme get this right.........you are referring to a lecture by a bolshevick ? a leninist ? a marxist ?? wtf ??? have you gone mad Bman ?????




'view from the politburo '

Bud said...

spoos green..........gold green.....silver green..............oil green.........yup QE2 is working.........SPX 2k coming soon


oh btw......dollar tankaroo



dip the biscuit in this gravy while it's hot my ass

Spin-em said...

has Elizabeth and her numbers cruncher bought a fridge or oven lately.....

Bunk have you found your Mayan calendar buried in the barn?

Bunkerman said...

I just listened to the facts - there was no ideology presented.

charts, numbers.

Bunkerman said...

the numbers were very clear - the middle class is being screwed, and has been for decades.

Bunkerman said...

btw, this is last post of the week - will be driving to Ohio Wednesday.

Bunkerman said...

besides, her facts and research proved some of my long-standing theories.

Spin-em said...

do the dogs like Ohio???

mfl59 said...

Bunkerman are you a supporter of Governor-elect John Kasich?

Bunkerman said...

yup, they love it.

Bunkerman said...

re Kasich, I support some of what he's says he's going to do ...

I worry that he's going to use the state as tool to build a Presidential run.

I think his grandstanding on the high speed rail was stupid. That program needs to be expanded, not cut.

I also wonder if he has any idea of the pain in the small towns, etc.

mfl59 said...

I was surprised to read that he worked at Lehman Brothers for quite a few years...he also used to be a talking head on FOX...

Spin-em said...

you and Mrs B have a safe trip and a holly jolly Christmas Bunk.

Bud said...

Bman take you Ipad ...............i want to be able to keep in touch ....to remind you..........of what ????


dollar tankaroo



F'ng disgusting

Bunkerman said...

I think my iPad won't work in my hometown - AT&T cheapskates.

Bunkerman said...

Hope all readers (commentors OR silent majority) have a fine Christmas, too.

Spin-em said...

heres hoping Santa brings the silent majority a set for Christmas....lool