tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post6883786367742533490..comments2024-03-20T02:13:42.947-05:00Comments on real economics: American Revolutionaries were "ashamed of success"Jonathan Larsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05217670446743983955noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-76549640636745212012-07-21T02:54:41.050-05:002012-07-21T02:54:41.050-05:00Of course, we all have a bit of Predator in us. P...Of course, we all have a bit of Predator in us. Producer values are largely learned, after all. But there is one advantage Producers have—our projects are WAY more interesting. Wars are predictable and the accumulated wisdom of doing battle has been known for a LONG time. By contrast, we only figured out how to fly in 1903, and the integrated circuit has only been around since the 1960s. When I was young, I knew people who built the great jetliners, designed major oil refineries, worked on the moon shot, and designing nuclear power plants. Of course, I didn't actually understand what it required to build the tail section of the 727 or how you design controls that allow oil refineries to accept West Texas crude or that near-sludge from Venezuela, but I understood one very important thing—they all acted as if doing something that complicated was perhaps the only thing better than sex.<br /><br />Yes, there are MANY Producer jobs that are sheer drudgery. But almost ALL of them would be quite satisfying IF the pay were good enough. I don't agree with those who believe that only force gets people to go to work. I believe, along with Veblen, that people have an Instinct for Workmanship. When companies allow people to work instead of just exploiting them, that company usually get mighty things accomplished. Make the job interesting. Make the working conditions healthy. Make the pay scale as generous as possible. And people with line up to work as hard as they can for such companies.Jonathan Larsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05217670446743983955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-49789709519550716932012-07-20T10:48:22.276-05:002012-07-20T10:48:22.276-05:00My answer would merely be to continue to share the...My answer would merely be to continue to share these learnings. As often as possible with as many people as possible. To do our part in trying to offset the ravings of the neo- types, who have taken over the public mainstream discourse, leaving us to work the local fringes.<br /><br />But what is the saying about truth and justice works on the long arc? There are two histories of our existence, the one from the winners who wrote the school textbooks (and religious preachings), and the other which has been pushed aside to hide away and gather dust. But being truth and the world needing justice means like dinosaur bones they come to light in later generations. <br /><br />So Chris, you are the man for the task you ask advice of, find the words (or video or graphics) that speak to your generation and footnote Johnson and Niles and Madison et al for those who doubt your words or need to probe deeper. If you find the mainstream attacks you, that probably means you are having some success.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05252804186064393926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-70609076575403587672012-07-20T04:41:40.555-05:002012-07-20T04:41:40.555-05:00I have to quote mike Wow!!!
people probably do un...I have to quote mike Wow!!!<br /><br />people probably do understand, they just don't giva !#&$.<br />as long as there's still (barely) food on the table and they still can go to the beach and drink beer they'll just think about soccer on this side of the ocean, and baseball on that side.<br /><br />They do understand that there has to be rules to control and protect society against the egotistically ignorant destructive actions of the predators/parasites. But almost every one thinks there´s a genetic heritage in humanity, making inevitable the breaking of the social rules (laws) by the predators/parasites and consequently given them almost absolute power.<br /><br />My own personal tragedy is that I can not came to a personal decision, I would like to believe that this incapacity to control the classes in power is just cultural, but what if there´s a gene in all of us that is responsable for our prey behavior...<br /><br />Sorry for all my nonsense but I needed to share this. <br /><br />Once again thank you for shifting slightly my view of the world's recent political and social history (my country is 1000 years old, so for me the french revolution and the USA´s independence is still recent history.)Luís Ferreirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13657847084544778567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-77582580287485219072012-07-20T01:35:36.193-05:002012-07-20T01:35:36.193-05:00@Mike. One of the things I learned from the relig...@Mike. One of the things I learned from the religious pros was that there is a market for "first principles." The reason we teach history (pretty badly, I admit) is that it is good to teach ourselves the stories that have "lessons" that repeat. For example, adultery leads to trauma for a lot of people, or war destroys lives in countless ways. The persistence of religion stems from the fact that it offers people a worldview that helps them understand their lives. So far from being troubled by the fact that people tend to make many of the same mistakes over and over, I find it instructive that on some level, there really IS such as thing as human nature. The trick is to take those natural "flaws" and make the society work anyway. And trust me on this, religious professionals are certainly NOT the only folks who traffic in first principles. The whole study of the founding fathers as it pertains to lawmaking is legal fundamentalism. Free market economics is economic fundamentalism. Etc.<br /><br />@Prom. Welcome to a professional historian. We LIKE history around here! I understand the problem of dropping the idea that many of the founding fathers thought standing armies were dangerous on a population saturated by relentless militarism. It's not just the language, it is the ideas that sounds strange—although the language can be a real deal-breaker. As someone who has tried to get everyone I meet to read Thorstein Veblen, and succeeded maybe four times, I understand what a barrier is presented by late 19th-century thought.<br /><br />So I am far from a good person to ask when it comes to how we talk about ideas that are vitally important but maybe show up at a level that requires a bunch of background knowledge. I try updating the language. I try to use visuals. But in the end, the only thing that (barely) works is repetition. Of course, the main advantage of using history to inform the essential first principles of one's worldview is that after awhile, almost nothing surprises you. In the end, this is history's best selling point.Jonathan Larsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05217670446743983955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-18720728917300874462012-07-19T13:00:08.072-05:002012-07-19T13:00:08.072-05:00I agree with Mike. This is one of the best postin...I agree with Mike. This is one of the best postings I have read to date on this blog, which has become a daily must read for me and which easily outclasses most other progressive sites on the web.<br /><br />I do wonder though, how this line of argumentation can be made digestible to most people. I have a PhD. in history and have studied several of the authors you cite from. While the quality of your analysis and argument are impeccable, it took me several reads to get the gist of some of the key passages, particularly when quoting from 18th century works.<br /><br />The sad fact is that most Americans have no knowledge of this strain of thought among the founding fathers, and little way to get it. We need to change that.Chris Promhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00718053511827202636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413935813892441553.post-44962618927648120032012-07-19T11:43:28.833-05:002012-07-19T11:43:28.833-05:00Wow, quite a strong posting! I will have to take ...Wow, quite a strong posting! I will have to take it in over some time to give it justice. <br /><br /><br />But a couple early thoughts--<br />--It amazes me, sometimes comforts me, sometimes maddens me...when I think of how these fundamental problems have persisted through recorded time, seemingly without any progress, but I have to hope it is there and I just am too small to see it.<br /><br />--Then, there are those enlightened minds, who were able to put into words like this--<br />"...government must be able to resist “the clamorous importunity of partial interests” and especially “the contemptible cunning of Financiers, who seldom possess any intention to promote the general welfare.”" --And even armed with these words our generations leaders fell into the traps, falling down the slippery slope into financial corruption. Too much faith in their fellow man, and too little holding them accountable to do right by society.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05252804186064393926noreply@blogger.com