Thursday, April 27, 2017

Economic Inequality And The End Of The World As We Know It

Welcome friends!

I probably mentioned the two reasons I often talk about distributional issues such as economic inequality, poverty, unemployment, etc.  One has to do with social ethics: equity, fairness, and so on.  The other has to do with social stability and sustainability.  I’ve talked often enough about the social ethics part.  Conservatives tend to buy into the idea that whatever happens on “the market” is above ethical reproach because of how the system is set up and therefore if some people are unemployed or poor or homeless or starving or sick and uninsured or what have you there’s really no problem with that and it’s exactly what we ought to see in an ethical society.  I along with most other liberals I presume most heartily disagree.  I suppose in some cases this rather notable difference of opinion could be from real differences in our underlying moral senses.  However, I can’t help but wonder if a big part of conservative thinking on the subject comes mostly from a lack of awareness of how real world markets actually operate (an issue that could equally well be expressed as a lack of awareness of the limitations of neoclassical economic theory) and perhaps more practically a deficiency in the variety of one’s life experiences or powers of imagination.  Listening to conservatives talk about social justice brings to mind little darlings emerging from gated cocoons and trying to explain why it’s natural and acceptable to find a dead hobo lying in the street.  Always a bit too quick to think they have an answer and always a bit too outraged when someone points out it doesn’t really make sense.  Of course, sometimes people just put self interest first and let their philosophy follow.  It’s called greed.  Lots of it about.  And you know for conservatives greed is good.  So that’s certainly another possibility.  Anyway, what I wanted to discuss today is not social ethics but the other half of the issue: the relationship between economic inequality and social stability.  Usually I just sort of state this as something that should be pretty obvious to everyone based on common sense and the most casual historical research.  However, this week I read about an article published a few years ago in which some social scientists developed a computer model for investigating social collapse.  They found the two engines of collapse are environmental breakdown and … drum roll please … economic inequality.  So there you go.  I’ve got at least one computer modeling geek on my side!  Regardless of one’s views on the ethics of the matter I would think even the most smugly self-adoring rich conservative might be a little concerned about social collapse.  So let’s talk a little bit about that this week shall we? 

Yes, it seems a systems scientist named Safa Motesharrei along with some colleagues published an article in 2014 that used computer models to delve into the causes of social collapse... Sorry but only selected archived (previous year) posts are currently available full text on this website.  All posts including this one are available in my annual anthology ebook series available at the Amazon Kindle Bookstore for a nominal fee.  Hey, we all need to make a buck somehow, right?  If you find my timeless jewels of wisdom amusing or perhaps even amusingly irritating throw me a bone now and then.  Thank you my friends!

Friday, April 14, 2017

Size Matters for Conservative Proto-Fascists

Welcome friends!

Do you ever have the annoying feeling of not being entirely sure you’ve said something you meant to say and indeed thought you probably said?  I’ve been having that feeling recently.  Certain things set me off and I’m thinking no need to bring it up again because I’ve discussed it all before but then I hesitate.  I hope I didn’t accidentally write it the wrong way around or bury it in the middle of some long winded digression or whatever.  I could look it up but I suppose there’s no great harm repeating myself.  With that thought in mind let me just banish one of these demons right now.  It involves one aspect of the multifaceted relationship between contemporary American conservatism and fascism: the tendency of American conservatives to equate what they characterize as big government with fascism.  Just grates on my ears on so many levels.

First of all I find something a little weird about this whole notion of big versus small government.  What are we talking about anyway?  The number of government employees?  The number of laws and regulations?  The complexity of the laws and regulations?  The areas of life affected?  The significance of the effects?  Because different definitions may imply different things... Sorry but only selected archived (previous year) posts are currently available full text on this website.  All posts including this one are available in my annual anthology ebook series available at the Amazon Kindle Bookstore for a nominal fee.  Hey, we all need to make a buck somehow, right?  If you find my timeless jewels of wisdom amusing or perhaps even amusingly irritating throw me a bone now and then.  Thank you my friends!