Robert Kuttner very briefly explains some of the high points of the New Deal and some of its economic reforms.
This was the era when Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, (after the stock market crash of '29.) He aimed to provide “Relief, Reform, and Recovery.”
This was a time when the Unemployment Rate was at 25%, farm prices had fallen 50%, and there was a very high rate of mortgages being foreclosed.
At this point, we went from laissez-faire to managed capitalism. The excesses of unregulated markets left us with a Great Depression. Regulation meant to prevent a repeat of the same excesses was enacted.
Opportunity (for the common person) became more broadly distributed through public investment in higher education. Confidence was restored in the banking sector and it became easier for people to obtain mortgages to buy homes. People were empowered to improve their lives through the G.I. Bill of Rights. (Education and other assistance for G.I.s)
After World War II, conquering communism was used as a justification for some social programs; such as education provided to keep a technological edge over the Soviet Union. A la Sputnick (launched October 4, 1957). Financial speculation was under control via regulation.
I've mentioned a few points not necessarily covered in Robert Kuttner's very brief history. He offers history in a nutshell. Read The Squandering of America, by Robert Kuttner.
© Texas Travel and Leisure
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Naked Boys Singing and Cabaret
Naked Boys Singing
I saw the movie on DVD and now I kick myself for not seeing the show live in New York when I got the chance!
This was a fantastic romp through a bygone era of beautiful show tunes. The music and dancing get an A+ from this old school marm. Or should I say, doting headmaster.
If you are curious about experiencing vocal performances in a style that has become nearly endangered due to the difficulty invovled in puting it all together, and keeping it there, see Naked Boys Singing
This was a collection of musical numbers, all of which were excellent, and almost all performed in the buff.
Liza
I tend to be low-budget. I didn't see the exciting live performance of Cabaret , Theatre Under The Stars, at the Hobby Center (June 16-28th). Instead, I watched the DVD of the 1972 movie starring: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, and Joel Grey. I enjoyed this journey back in time to 1931 Germany and the bitter-sweat love affair with a twist between a somewhat reserved intellectual and the glittering, spontaneous Liza.
Many of the musical numbers in this movie have become iconic. The decadent, and deliciously teasing on-stage performances provide a foil for the brutal intolerance of the increasingly powerful Nazi political movement.
I recommend this movie.
© Texas Travel and Leisure
I saw the movie on DVD and now I kick myself for not seeing the show live in New York when I got the chance!
This was a fantastic romp through a bygone era of beautiful show tunes. The music and dancing get an A+ from this old school marm. Or should I say, doting headmaster.
If you are curious about experiencing vocal performances in a style that has become nearly endangered due to the difficulty invovled in puting it all together, and keeping it there, see Naked Boys Singing
This was a collection of musical numbers, all of which were excellent, and almost all performed in the buff.
Liza
I tend to be low-budget. I didn't see the exciting live performance of Cabaret , Theatre Under The Stars, at the Hobby Center (June 16-28th). Instead, I watched the DVD of the 1972 movie starring: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, and Joel Grey. I enjoyed this journey back in time to 1931 Germany and the bitter-sweat love affair with a twist between a somewhat reserved intellectual and the glittering, spontaneous Liza.
Many of the musical numbers in this movie have become iconic. The decadent, and deliciously teasing on-stage performances provide a foil for the brutal intolerance of the increasingly powerful Nazi political movement.
I recommend this movie.
© Texas Travel and Leisure
My Secret Left Me Unable to Help
The New York Times, Sunday, July 26, 2009
My Secret Left Me Unable to Help
-By Joyce Maynard
Eventually parents and children have to part ways, emotionally if not in actuality. It is inevitable that their paths diverge. This can be a difficult lesson for both child and parent.
This article is about an attempted trip to the heart via e-mail. It is about two secrets, really; one the mother has at violating the privacy of her daughter, the other is the secret to be revealed in the words of the e-mail the mother finds herself reading. (Despite her own respect for her daughter’s privacy, she violates it.)
The article, in my opinion, discusses three trips. On one of them, the mother never reaches her destination. This is the trip to her daughter’s heart. It is on its own journey. As it must be.
Joyce Maynard writes about parting ways with her children, but, also, the heavy burden of still caring for them quite deeply. She read her daughter’s e-mails to discover the details of her daughter’s troubles during her volunteer work in The Dominican Republic. This is far from their comfortable life in Marin, CA.
The details of her daughter’s danger is spelled out in the e-mails the mother is reading. And the mother suffers angst at the distance, both physical and emotional, which prevents her from helping her daughter. Besides, nothing can be done, really.
For a parent, after a certain age, when your children have grown into adulthood, there will be no password into their heart. The heart becomes a moving target. And the parent must, once again, begin their own journey.
I’ve read Joyce Maynard’s excellent article in The New York Times.
Read Joyce Maynard’s book: Labor Day, published July 28th.
© Texas Travel and Leisure
My Secret Left Me Unable to Help
-By Joyce Maynard
Eventually parents and children have to part ways, emotionally if not in actuality. It is inevitable that their paths diverge. This can be a difficult lesson for both child and parent.
This article is about an attempted trip to the heart via e-mail. It is about two secrets, really; one the mother has at violating the privacy of her daughter, the other is the secret to be revealed in the words of the e-mail the mother finds herself reading. (Despite her own respect for her daughter’s privacy, she violates it.)
The article, in my opinion, discusses three trips. On one of them, the mother never reaches her destination. This is the trip to her daughter’s heart. It is on its own journey. As it must be.
Joyce Maynard writes about parting ways with her children, but, also, the heavy burden of still caring for them quite deeply. She read her daughter’s e-mails to discover the details of her daughter’s troubles during her volunteer work in The Dominican Republic. This is far from their comfortable life in Marin, CA.
The details of her daughter’s danger is spelled out in the e-mails the mother is reading. And the mother suffers angst at the distance, both physical and emotional, which prevents her from helping her daughter. Besides, nothing can be done, really.
For a parent, after a certain age, when your children have grown into adulthood, there will be no password into their heart. The heart becomes a moving target. And the parent must, once again, begin their own journey.
I’ve read Joyce Maynard’s excellent article in The New York Times.
Read Joyce Maynard’s book: Labor Day, published July 28th.
© Texas Travel and Leisure
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Island
Island
-by Aldous Huxley
I purchased this book in a delightful bookstore in the Haight district in San Francisco a few years ago.
Island is a story that questions society's relentless pursuit of the technological upper hand.
It is shown how this serves militarism and the ambitions of bloodthirsty leaders.
Whether this commentary is applicable only to a specific point in history, or is universal, this book is worth reading.
We are taken to follow one man on his journey who's motives start out as purely cynical, then watch him develop.
You will find yourself recognizing allusions to the kind's of leaders who are blamed for initiating the aggressions of WWII.
Go on an imaginative journey and watch the tragedy of the petroleum age unfold to its deadly and tragic conclusion.
Island -by Aldous Huxley (Author of Brave New World.)
© Texas Travel and Leisure
-by Aldous Huxley
I purchased this book in a delightful bookstore in the Haight district in San Francisco a few years ago.
Island is a story that questions society's relentless pursuit of the technological upper hand.
It is shown how this serves militarism and the ambitions of bloodthirsty leaders.
Whether this commentary is applicable only to a specific point in history, or is universal, this book is worth reading.
We are taken to follow one man on his journey who's motives start out as purely cynical, then watch him develop.
You will find yourself recognizing allusions to the kind's of leaders who are blamed for initiating the aggressions of WWII.
Go on an imaginative journey and watch the tragedy of the petroleum age unfold to its deadly and tragic conclusion.
Island -by Aldous Huxley (Author of Brave New World.)
© Texas Travel and Leisure
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A Quibble: An Article I Read
I was recently re-reading an article called: A Quibble, by Mark Slouka. It discusses the ignorance Americans have of: "politics, foreign languages, history, science and current affairs."
Sadly, Mark Slouka is correct. And it has metastasized into a reverence for ignorance itself. The reign of ignorance has degraded the political process. One's ignorance used to be something to be ashamed of. Now, it is the opposite. The attempted re-introduction of necessary ideas is scorned by a large part of the electorate.
People now vote with their gut. And it is kind-of like driving a car without caring to look through the windshield in front of you. Both activities lead to wreckage.
Faith and superstition thrive in the absence of knowledge and reason. A society that scorns these cannot call itself "Modern."
Mark Slouka discusses how close the last presidential election was despite the electoral landslide. We still have to concern ourselves with the large number of people willing to cast a vote for Sarah Palin (despite her policies) and McCain. Whatever you opinion of Sarah Palin in her role as a parent, it is her professed policies and viewpoints that will inform her governing of a State or a Nation.
For a country that is so technologically advanced; its citizens are dangerously superstitious.
© Texas Travel and Leisure; texastravelandleisure.com
Sadly, Mark Slouka is correct. And it has metastasized into a reverence for ignorance itself. The reign of ignorance has degraded the political process. One's ignorance used to be something to be ashamed of. Now, it is the opposite. The attempted re-introduction of necessary ideas is scorned by a large part of the electorate.
People now vote with their gut. And it is kind-of like driving a car without caring to look through the windshield in front of you. Both activities lead to wreckage.
Faith and superstition thrive in the absence of knowledge and reason. A society that scorns these cannot call itself "Modern."
Mark Slouka discusses how close the last presidential election was despite the electoral landslide. We still have to concern ourselves with the large number of people willing to cast a vote for Sarah Palin (despite her policies) and McCain. Whatever you opinion of Sarah Palin in her role as a parent, it is her professed policies and viewpoints that will inform her governing of a State or a Nation.
For a country that is so technologically advanced; its citizens are dangerously superstitious.
© Texas Travel and Leisure; texastravelandleisure.com
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Squandering of America, by Robert Kuttner
Adam Smith was an economist who coined the term; the invisible hand. The invisible hand of Adam Smith is supposed to reward efficient businesses and penalize inefficient ones. It should reward factories that produce items that are in demand, and thereby beneficial to society, and cause factories that produce items not in demand to fail. (Demand being a curve that meets with Supply at a point called Price.)
Thus, through the virtues of profit and loss we are to improve our country continuously; so goes the ideology.
Adam Smith was a political economist who lived from 1723 to 1790. He is the father of modern economics. He wrote The Wealth of Nations.
David Ricardo, 1772-1823, was a classical economist, like Adam Smith. He came up with the theory of comparative advantage. This theory explains why bicycle factories don’t waste their resources growing and selling potatoes. A farmer has that advantage. The potatoes from the bicycle factory would cost too much to grow. But, they are efficient enough to make a profit selling bicycles. The farmer would waste too much of his time trying to make one.
Robert Kuttner is someone I would classify as a post-modern economist. His book, The Squandering of America, is all about politics. But it is also about the economic ramifications of politics. He is showing how Adam Smith’s hand was forced, and how comparative advantages can be arranged for by the governments of nations that make having a manufacturing base a priority (for example). With politics a comparative advantage can be arranged for, if those in power want it.
Fostering a society where quality education is available, for example, functions outside the curves of demand and supply. This is a virtue a society adopts. More on that later.
Robert Kuttner exposes the strings moving the puppets. The reader becomes skeptical of tidy theories. An appreciation for messy theories grows.
Robert Kuttner explains the theory of diminished expectations whereby political apathy is an unintended consequence that pays dividends. In other words, voters don’t vote, except for the fringe on either end of the spectrum. Money talks, so the middle spectrum should shut up, please.
Our lowered standard of living is what is pressing, but, to quote California Senator, Barbara Boxer, it is off the table. (She was talking about a war, but, it is the same principle.)
The expression: The silence is deafening -comes to mind. What is not discussed in public is so telling. Economics; the calculus, is not discussed. Economics; the simple arithmetic, is. But this isn’t the economics that explains why Kennedy’s rising tide is now sinking the dinghies.
To quote Nietzsche; we should not be slaves to our virtues. We have to decide what a virtue is. If a society where quality education is available to all is a virtue, it would have to be adopted. But, this is a virtue that empowers fellow citizens to reshape society and function in it. (The definition of citizen comes to light.
If the paths always taken are the two curves that meet at price, then we are doomed. You need calculus to design something really great. Arithmetic should be relegated to counting beans.
© Texas Travel and Leisure; texastravelandleisure.com
Thus, through the virtues of profit and loss we are to improve our country continuously; so goes the ideology.
Adam Smith was a political economist who lived from 1723 to 1790. He is the father of modern economics. He wrote The Wealth of Nations.
David Ricardo, 1772-1823, was a classical economist, like Adam Smith. He came up with the theory of comparative advantage. This theory explains why bicycle factories don’t waste their resources growing and selling potatoes. A farmer has that advantage. The potatoes from the bicycle factory would cost too much to grow. But, they are efficient enough to make a profit selling bicycles. The farmer would waste too much of his time trying to make one.
Robert Kuttner is someone I would classify as a post-modern economist. His book, The Squandering of America, is all about politics. But it is also about the economic ramifications of politics. He is showing how Adam Smith’s hand was forced, and how comparative advantages can be arranged for by the governments of nations that make having a manufacturing base a priority (for example). With politics a comparative advantage can be arranged for, if those in power want it.
Fostering a society where quality education is available, for example, functions outside the curves of demand and supply. This is a virtue a society adopts. More on that later.
Robert Kuttner exposes the strings moving the puppets. The reader becomes skeptical of tidy theories. An appreciation for messy theories grows.
Robert Kuttner explains the theory of diminished expectations whereby political apathy is an unintended consequence that pays dividends. In other words, voters don’t vote, except for the fringe on either end of the spectrum. Money talks, so the middle spectrum should shut up, please.
Our lowered standard of living is what is pressing, but, to quote California Senator, Barbara Boxer, it is off the table. (She was talking about a war, but, it is the same principle.)
The expression: The silence is deafening -comes to mind. What is not discussed in public is so telling. Economics; the calculus, is not discussed. Economics; the simple arithmetic, is. But this isn’t the economics that explains why Kennedy’s rising tide is now sinking the dinghies.
To quote Nietzsche; we should not be slaves to our virtues. We have to decide what a virtue is. If a society where quality education is available to all is a virtue, it would have to be adopted. But, this is a virtue that empowers fellow citizens to reshape society and function in it. (The definition of citizen comes to light.
If the paths always taken are the two curves that meet at price, then we are doomed. You need calculus to design something really great. Arithmetic should be relegated to counting beans.
© Texas Travel and Leisure; texastravelandleisure.com
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