Three Degrees of Equality. Three Degrees of Liberty.

Many so-called conservatives insist on distinguishing between equality and liberty.  They say that what makes them conservative is their belief that liberty trumps equality (which does not exist in nature, anyway).  Conservatives also assert that what makes so-called liberals liberal is their alleged belief that equality trumps liberty.

While there is a certain truth in how conservatives characterize the differences between them and liberals, the distinction is, in fact, false.  Liberty has no meaning if it is not an absolute.  You either have liberty, or you do not.  If it is possible for one citizen to have more liberty than another, than nobody truly enjoys liberty.

My take on the "conservative" Roberts Supreme Court is it sees three degrees (or axes) of equality, and it makes decisions regarding equality so as to curtail individual liberty.  Specifically, the Roberts Court appears to recognize political equality, economic equality and social equality and seeks to eliminate the political and economic equality of ordinary citizens so as to eliminate their political and economic liberty.  Social equality and social liberty are the only things left open for debate, and liberals and citizens alike take the bait and so fail to see that they are being robbed of any semblance of political or economic equality and liberty.

The equality and liberty that neoliberalism offers the masses is the equal opportunity to choose between the choices offered them.  Free to choose indeed.

Leading a Significant Life v. Leading a Meaningful One

I had lunch with a friend today.  He told me a story of how Bill Haslam, the current governor of Tennessee, decided to "commit" himself to "public service."  Paraphrasing: Haslam decided he was a success but wanted to be significant.

Now, my friend related this story to me because I informed him of my desire to exit corporate life (and stay gone) and focus on making a difference.

My response was that there is a difference between being "significant" and being "meaningful."

Leading a significant life requires that others think you are important.  It's all about ego.

Leading a meaningful life is not about ego.  You can be meaningful to others without them even realizing it.  Indeed, helping others to find their own way is the most significant thing you can do, and letting them take the credit for their own success is the only right thing to do.  Their success is their own.  You only helped them find their way.

May you lead a meaningful life and not a significant one.

If We Don't Know How the Story Ends, How Do We Live On?

CHS has a hard-on for "narratives."  We needs us some narratives, or we're lost:

If the causal chains of history and narrative are disrupted, then how can anyone fashion a meaningful context for actions and narratives, and effectively frame problems and solutions? If everything is equally valid in a non-linear flood of data, then what roles can authenticity, experience and knowledge play in making sense of our world?

The reality is that narratives are the beginning of the end, the cause of all conflicts that prove the theory of entropy.  Our demand to force reality to fit our narrative is precisely what creates all the strife and suffering in the world.

Shorter CHS: BOHICA

Bend Over.  Here It Comes Again.

I have a huge problem with the "Fourth Turning" argument.  I think it is nonsense, primarily because it is rife with cognitive biases and unrecognized anachronisms that neutralize any real insight into the patterns of history, which patterns I cannot, and therefore do not, deny.  The problem is that Fourth Turners appear to have no real understanding of history so the patterns they see don't mean what they think they mean, if they are even there (or meaningful, if they are there).

On the bright side, Fourth Turning fatalists/nihilists have found a reason to live, i.e, to preserve themselves and their loved ones.  That's better than just sitting there and whining.  It is also better than standing on a street corner preaching to strangers that the end of the world is near.  Not much better, but better.  To his credit, Eric A. admits that such preaching is useless and, thus, he and other Fourth Turning nihilists save us all from that kind of embarrassment.

What Should Be Obvious Is There Is No Market

Free thinker Charles Hugh Smith asks "What Is Obvious About This Market?"

He then goes on to say everything an Austrian-inspired person can be expected to say.  Indeed, several other members of the Austrian "cargo cult" said much the same thing on the same day, on the same sites.  Central banks are blowing bubbles that have caused a "disconnect between the real economy and the stock market [that] is widening [and] obvious."

The problem with laying everything at the feet of central banks is that doing so ignores how private actions have completely destroyed any semblance of a "market" in the so-called stock market.  Between dark pools and HFT, there is no possibility of price discovery and, hence, no market.  The relatively small positions of retail investors that are traded out in the open of "light pools" such as the NYSE are used as a proxy to set the prices of secret trades in dark pools, and if the retail investor gets weak-kneed, HFT can be counted on to supply the illusion of demand to prop up the proxy pricing.

Private parties are using dark pools and HFT to create and enforce the decoupling between the "market" and the "real economy," and there is little chance of a true collapse of the stock market unless and until there is a true solvency crisis of a major player.

Knowing Trumps Thinking

Once you know, there is no need to think.   But once you stop thinking, you are trapped in another's truth.  The only way to escape is to start thinking, but where will that lead you?  Safer to know.

The Correct Response

The correct response to the bombing of the Boston Marathon is for more Americans, including me, to get off their fat asses and start running marathons.

I have grown tired of both the calls for less "bomb control" (among other things) and more "security measures" (that don't make us safer but make us less free).

Run towards the danger and demonstrate you are not afraid.  Inspire the cognitive dissonance of terrorists who will be left with nothing to do as a result of inspiring the opposite of their intended result.

Seriously.  After a decade of this kind of "debate," shouldn't we "get it" by now?