We had a great time at our meeting! We had 4 attendees this time: (from left to right) Kevin Day, Andrew Whatley, VJ Arjan, and Jason Pullen.
Israel v. Palestine
Kevin believes that Israel may not only wipe Palestine out (recently they divided the Gaza Bank in two), but could also proceed on to combat Iran as well while they have strong US support. Israel may feel that as confrontation with Iran will be inevitable, might as well confront them now while they have momentum going in Palestine and support from the United States.
We also brought up Russia. Russia is actually very close to Iran, Iraq, and other Middle East nations. If the Israelis, with American support, enter Iran, Russia may indeed come to its aid at the same time galvanizing support from other Middle East nations as well.
Anti-foreignism
Kevin discussed with us how in his travels throughout the world, he has noted a heightened sense of anti-foreignism. He made a clear distinction that it was not anti-Americanism. Being a lover of archeology and wildlife safaris, he is currently trying to get a visa into Madagascar. The visa office there then replied with a 3-page letter notifying him of the dangers of visiting Madagascar. He has noticed the same with countries like Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). In our effort to find out why this is so, we discussed a few arguments thoroughly.
One such argument was that perhaps capitalism itself is designed to profit only the few rich at the expense of hundreds of laborers. However, this contention assumes that wealth is in finite quantity. This is simply not true. Ideas can create wealth and, therefore, wealth can be transferred to the “poor” as the market rewards profitable ideas with money.
We then discussed and decided upon the growing struggle between the “haves” and “have-nots”. The “have-nots” have existed throughout the previous centuries, but now as they see the standards of living for fellow countries rising, their expectations are changing so that they too want to achieve it. For example, Chile has long been eyed by its South American neighbors as a model for change and progress. Kevin termed this animosity “jealousy”. He believes that as the world looks on the industrialized nations’ progress and as they do not possess it themselves, they feel unfairly for not having the same privileges as well.
Civil War in South Africa
Nelson Mandela’s existence, it seems, is the only thing keeping the deeply divided racial factions in South Africa from going at each others’ throats. Kevin believes that there exists a deep chasm between the black and white factions in South Africa and that hell will be unleashed when Mandela dies (which may, in fact, be very soon) to determine his successor.
Revelation
As the response for the meeting was dismal again this time around, I asked those attending to advise me on what I should do next. My main motivation behind creating these meetings was to help people become more aware of the condition of the world because I felt that that personal awareness could prevent all the unnecessary and absurd wars, genocide, murder, intolerance, bigotry, etc. throughout the world.
To be completely honest, I feel really sorry and compassionate when I see the violence that humans have and are committing to each other. I suppose I have a pain inside me that spurs me to reach out as I realize how unnecessary and absurdly ridiculous are the ways with which most humans deal with their problems and conflicts. Kevin pointed something out to me that I really took to heart: perhaps I must realize that life is not fair and that what I’m doing, no matter how hard I try, is still not going to save the world from its current insanities, miseries and sufferings. Perhaps I had a lofty dream of what the world could be and decided that perhaps it could become reality by the dialogue at these meetings, over time. Kevin pointed out very clearly that although my meetings and the issues discussed are well-intentioned, the abject apathy of most people will prevent the problems from being solved. In other words, most people themselves are collectively responsible for the “good” and “bad” things in their lives. Most people are, indeed, responsible for the wars they create and the prejudices they believe in, even though they may play victim. There is, indeed, and I am forced to admit, nothing I, personally, can do about it. I suppose when the world decides, collectively, that a primitive and basic instinct like war, is ultimately harmful and is not an option at all, only then will wars completely cease. I suppose people must themselves decide to go beyond their petty differences and prejudices and recognize the Confucian proverb for themselves (Do unto others as you would do unto yourself), and only then will true tolerance and complete respect for each human being exist. Although I and a handful of others may be willing to delve into the problems that we face as a race, most people are just not willing to look them, and given a choice would rather delegate the problem-solving to others regardless of their qualifications and the outcomes and solutions those others produce than confront the realities themselves.
I did not come to this just today, but these revelations have grown over the past year. Apart from this concern I have about the future of humanity, I am a very simple and retiring person (not in the complacent and lazy sense). I will go back to living each day one moment at a time, reading great works of fiction and history, listening to Beethoven and Bach, etc.
In reference to the meetings, however, this is what I’ve decided:
- I have already received approval from those attending to keep receiving news of these meetings, but to all others, if you desire to be informed about these meetings and the happenings thereof, please inform me of your request by emailing me at scarletkings@gmail.com or vj_arjan@yahoo.com . To those who do not request, I will not send out emails. For all those who do not wish to receive further notices but have attended previous meetings, I would like to say that it was a pleasure to converse with you all and I wish you the best of luck and success in your future endeavours. I especially want to thank Kevin Day, Tom Murphy, and Vance Hall, VIPs who have attended our meetings and who took out their time and effort to participate in our discussions for our benefit. I will try to get other VIPs to attend as I get to know more and more people and will try to get a few to come to our meetings as I can.
- We will convene on every first Sunday of the month, but probably on a small level like the previous few meetings; I will not expect 10 or so people to attend. There will be no agendas like before to preserve flexibility in our discussions as I believe that, at times, our discussions can become very philosophical. I have often equated those who regularly attend our meetings to a lot of philosophers really, contemplating the world around them and sharing their observations to others who would listen. I also like the fact that our discussions of world events and social issues can even be translated to profitability in the global financial markets; at least this has been the case for my portfolio. I also like just discussing different ideas that pertain to local and world issues, for the mere joy of conversation, I suppose.
- The blog is still open to everyone who chooses to write articles. I will write some as I get time to do so:
Username: scarletkings@gmail.com
Password: kings1215 (1215 A.D. was the signing of the Magna Carta, if that helps)
Kevin Day’s Market Predictions
I wanted to end this post by sharing some insights I received from Kevin earlier this week. I asked Kevin what his thoughts were about the market and he replied with the following:
- Worldwide equities will have a very difficult first six months in 2009
- Nationwide unemployment will probably hit 9 to 10 percent
- The American automakers will go bankrupt notwithstanding the bailout fund they will receive, creating higher unemployment
- The Obama honeymoon will end and his popularity will plunge as those who voted for him find out that he indeed cannot and does not deliver on his promises
- Gold will hit $1,200 before 2009; oil will drop to $30 a barrel before going back to $50 plus before year-end
- Emerging market equities (particularly in China, India, and Brazil) will increase 30%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 indexes will remain volatile but will end 20% up YTD led by recovery in health care, energy, small caps, financials, and secure dividend paying stocks
DEBUNKING THE OPPRESSOR-OPPRESSED HYPOTHESIS
ReplyDeleteThe hypothesis that "perhaps capitalism itself is designed to profit only the few rich at the expense of hundreds of laborers" makes two false assumptions:
(1) A market economy isn’t "designed". Instead, it is a spontaneous order, like human language, that evolves from a de-centralized decision-making process that involves a multitude of market decisions, called "transactions", between buyers and sellers who incur costs to obtain benefits for their self.
And (2) the rich do not necessarily profit "at the expense" of laborers. More often, both higher-income earners and lower-income earners experience an increase in their income. Arnold Kling explains: "The majority of all families in any given year will be in the top 40 percent of the income distribution fifteen years later! For example, in [the book] Myths of Rich and Poor, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm produce the following information based on a panel of [American] families surveyed in 1975 and again in 1991[:]
"WHERE THEY BEGAN IN 1975 . . . PERCENT WHO MADE IT TO THE TOP 40% [OF INCOME EARNERS] IN 1991:
Lowest Fifth . . . 59%
Second Fifth . . . 52%
Middle Fifth . . . 49%
Fourth Fifth . . . 70%
Highest Fifth . . . 86%
"Overall, over 60 percent of families surveyed in 1975 made it to the top 40 percent [of income earners] in 1991. If the 'distribution of income' were a pie, this would be mathematically impossible. The top income category by definition cannot include the majority of people. To put it another way, in 1991 it appears that much of the lower-income category has vanished! [¶] To solve the apparent mystery, think of an escalator. In 1975, many of the families surveyed were young families or new immigrants, and they were near the bottom of the escalator. After fifteen years on the escalator, many of them reached the top half of the escalator. When you came back and surveyed the same families in 1991, most of them were near the top of the escalator. That is, they were in the top income categories relative to all families in 1991" ("The Escalation of Income", 2004 September 24, www.techcentralstation.com).
REVELATION
ReplyDeleteVJ writes, "Kevin [Day] pointed something out to me that I really took to heart: perhaps I must realize . . . that what I’m doing, no matter how hard I try, is still not going to save the world from its current insanities, miseries and sufferings."
Experiencing the "revelation" that the unconstrained vision of human nature is wrong is no reason to give up addressing the world's problems.
The other understanding of human nature is the constrained vision. As Thomas Sowell has explained succinctly: "One of the hallmarks of the constrained vision is that it deals in trade-offs rather than solutions" (p. 14, A Conflict of Visions, 2002).
"Trade-offs rather than solutions"! Instead of trying and failing to "save the world" in one generation, one can study how the world currently functions and then envision a long-term strategy that involves a series of trade-offs that incur costs but incrementally improve the world's problems.
Yes, I suppose you're right, Jason. I think we can at least approach the problems without any expectations of results, but rather as concerned citizens of the human race to merely examine and pose potential solutions. I must admit, however, that it seems rather daunting a task to change a specie that has persisted for thousands of years in the same patterns and behaviours. But we must do so, I think, perhaps out of a sense of duty and nobility as members of the human race.
ReplyDeleteI believe that what is really required here is a fundamental change in the consciousness of mankind. This change requires humans to completely redefine the paradigm in which they currently live, i.e. survival of the fittest, an eye for an eye, "good" vs. "evil", "right" vs. "wrong", etc. (I hope to go into these paradigms further in our next meetings.)
This redefining requires each individual to examine itself and evaluate the value and "happiness" in their lives and to decide whether something needs to be changed or not. For example, one may find after examination that one lives solely for the acquisition of wealth and that the acquisitions, thereof, is not providing a level of satisfaction that is "satisfying enough". One, therefore, tries to selflessly serve other members of the race, or may decide to simplify one's lifestyle, etc.
One MUST be brutally honest. Honesty does not come very easily to the human race; the world thrives on petty desires and dramas that can only exist if one is dishonest. Honesty, truthfulness, whatever one may call it, cuts through the (pardon the French) bullshit of the surface realities to the actuality of things. One can then evaluate more correctly from the inside, rather than from the outside; evaluating one's emotional state of being as it is, rather than seeing what external things from the outside (possessions, people, etc.) can improve one's inner state.
I look forward to debating about these things with you in the next meeting as it deals with something fundamental about the human condition.
REVELATION LOST
ReplyDeleteVJ and I proposed two strategies for reducing world poverty:
I proposed that a nation that wants to reduce its poverty should re-organize its institutional matrix—-the internal checks and balances and external checks and balances between its financial institutions, government institutions, and civic institutions—-so that a market economy may emerge and be productive. The strength of this proposal is that there is indeed an empirical correlation between increasing an institutional matrix’s productivity and decreasing a nation’s poverty. But the weakness of this proposal is that economic development is a long-term process. For more details, see the book Making Poor Nations Rich: Entrepreneurship and the Process of Economic Development (2008), edited by Benjamin Powell.
And VJ proposed that reducing world poverty requires instead “a fundamental change in the consciousness of mankind”. “This change”, VJ explained, “requires humans to completely redefine the paradigm in which they currently live, i.e. survival of the fittest, an eye for an eye, ‘good’ vs. ‘evil’, ‘right’ vs. ‘wrong’, etc.” “This redefining”, VJ continued, “requires each individual to examine itself and evaluate the value and ‘happiness’ in their lives and to decide whether something needs to be changed or not. For example, one may find after examination that one lives solely for the acquisition of wealth and that the acquisitions, thereof, is not providing a level of satisfaction that is ‘satisfying enough’. One, therefore, tries to selflessly serve other members of the race, or may decide to simplify one's lifestyle, etc.” The strength of this proposal is that it involves mostly “one’s inner state” or human nature. But the weakness of this proposal is that it has been tried many times with no long-term success. For details, see the book Heaven on Earth (2002), by Joshua Muravchik.
In short, my proposal works but is time-consuming, and VJ’s proposal is time-consuming and won’t work.
I think you are right, Jason. Your proposal is certainly more practical. Mine, however, as you've rightly said, is time-consuming, but I believe that it is precisely what is needed. The very fact that these very practical solutions have not been implemented is the reason why I believe something more fundamental is required.
ReplyDeleteI believe that many of the solutions to the problems we are inquiring into are oftentimes staring us in the face. But what is needed is what I call "compassion" or "care" for our fellow humans. Mark that this is not a realistic solution as it would require us to literally redefine how each individual looks or perceives itself and its relation to others. I agree that this shifting of paradigm has been tried before and has failed, but this is the only way it seems. If the world cared enough to eliminate world hunger, it would do so in an instant.
In theory, I think your solutions would work. But try to convince the elite oil-rich Nigerians, or the Sudanese, or even the Indians for that matter to adopt such a system, and I think you will find a brick wall in front of you.
As you've mentioned in your post, I will look into the books you suggested.