grecian formula

Earlier this month, coinciding with the announcement by the Greek government that there will be no further austerity measures, which lead to riotous protests, to recalibrate the country's economy--I hope that Greece is right and reforms are on pace with recovery, and they are forced to sell any islands or mortgage their cultural heritage to corporate sponsorship, the Hephaisteion all covered with advertizing like a race car--Vanity Fair reporter Michael Lewis embarked on an odyssey from the business centers of Athens to the remote and autonomous, monastic state of Mount Athos to try to gain some insight into the culture that yielded the Greek financial crisis. This article is really intelligent and an interesting read, and while the monks are not precisely sibilants or oracles themselves, their financial acumen is to be respected and their squabble over a swap of formerly mediatised church lands may have brought unwelcome and glaring transparency to the entire Greek market.  Mr. Lewis was able to exercise his journalistic instincts, despite and perhaps because of, as a guest in a place couched with history and tradition.  Maybe the crucial lesson is in his introductory paragraph, when he speaks of Greeks stopped being Greek and Icelanders wanted to forego fishing to become investment bankers during the financial collapse: there is a very Greek term ἐνέργεια, that is being-at-work-staying-the-same.

west world

The Tea Party movement could have been a legitimate protest against US government intrusion in what should otherwise be private affairs, but this new coalition of libertarians have transformed into something quite different--like a band of cowboys lead by Yosemite Sam and Miss Kitty, and this sort of sage brush, gun smoke justice is one that removes all the trappings of civil society. J. J. Rousseau (Dy-no-mite) argued that a functional republic is held together by a social contract, whose government is lent power through the consent of the governed.

The Tea Partiers would elevate themselves above all obligations, civic duties, altogether, and try to realize this sort of cowboys and indians fantasy. It is not unadulterated democratic goals, however, that they are striving noisily for, rather, it is just to unseat whatever new meddlesome, benevolent, or indifferent force that has their old unseated meddlesome, benevolent, or indifferent corporate interests. The Tea Party is not offering reform or a real alternate in their jumbled vitriol, only an uncomfortable choice between two masters, which tries to vacillate among the better qualities of both.

Sophitry can be a dangerous thing, especially if other societies interpret this model as sustainable or honest.  If the sheriff is a socially responsible government, then the public activities are guided and within the framework of general will and overall welfare, and if the sheriff is some corporate entity, there are no inconvenient laws and regulations and greed becomes a means, a measure and an end.  The military-industrial complex can afford security, but its charges, untempered by rights and government leveling, can quickly fall from favour.  Companies may be able to do things more nimbly without bureaucracy and checks and balances, but it is government regulations that give a company motivation to improve its products and services.  Skirting regulations or moving to abandon them altogether accomplishes nothing.  Life gets rather nasty, brutish and short.

middle earth or hope 2.0

Time Magazine has an interesting interview session with Arianne Huffington on her latest bleak and honest take of America's rapid decline into Third World nation status.  I distinctly remember watching talk shows when I was younger, especially late night ones like Joan Rivers on the UHF Fox channel, and the moment of coming to the realization that my celebrity friends were doing the talk show circuit not just to pay a cordial visit to the hosts and not just for the audience's entertainment but rather to promote their latest book or movie or political campaign.

That felt kind of hollow, that their agents were coordinating these charm offensives, but I think the venues and outlets available today have changed the message, and in many cases it is an occasion for dialogue and not just publicity.  Like her aggregator and forum, the Huffington Post, I am sure her book is a dire and desperate clarion, but for those with the stamina to read further than the groping headlines, like Time's reporter echoed, the book's second part, after the morbid assessment, has some brighter prescriptions on what to do and what could be America's reprieve.  It makes me want to compare Obama to Don Quixote, but not just for dare-devil hopes and certainly not for mistaken delusions, but for the author, Miguel Cervantes, having to deal with libel in his own time, ghost-written adventures and unauthorized biographies on his main characters.  There was a difficult choice to face between indulging bewitchment and moving towards disenchantment.  The photograph is from the seaward facing wall of the ruins of the resort at Prora during our trip to the Baltic coast over the summer.  There was a mural with "Yes, we hope."  I am not sure how recently the art work was added or the original message, but the world should certainly never leave off wanting to remain informed and hopeful.

with what shall I fix it, dear liza, dear liza

As the Washington Post reports, debt and infrastructure and regulatory shortcomings have dulled the competitive edge of American business. I believe that it is not only the Americans that subscribe to American-Exceptionalism, and the whole world over expects something superlative and undeniable, self-assured to come out of that nation. Switzerland still directs the most sophisticated game going, but America is slipping in the ranks.

The US, and other nations on the decline, are also suffering due to diminished future prospects and lack of a clear policy direction that can help them address it. While I understand that the World Economic Forum projects its ratings based on economic criteria, the resulting descriptors, like competitiveness, nimbleness and adaptability, remind me a lot of Geert Hofstede's indices and cultural framework as factors that limn business relations. I wrote a few papers on the subject for school and found it to be pretty fascinating material. National character determines whether a people are risk adverse and the attitude they take in forming partnerships, but I wonder how these influences look in reverse. Does an injury to one's national security change the scales from cultural individualism towards collectivism--or vice-versa, and for entrenched ideas for power distance?  Culture is more permanent, surely, than daily shocks and sputters and definitely not monolithic, but historically, I feel, one's dealings matched and were supported by their cultural totems.