Geography

 

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Well she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina
She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize
She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Geography is destiny.

The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. The financial capital of the United States is New York City.  The entertainment capital of the United States is Los Angeles. The capital of Country Music is Nashville, etc.

The capital of the Russian Federation is Moscow.  The financial capital of the Russian Federation is Moscow.  The entertainment capital of the Russian Federation is Moscow.

The United States has a polycentric geography.  There is not one major city or metropolitan region.  There are several.  The Russian Federation has a monocentric geography.  There are really only two major metropolises in the Russian Federation: Moscow and St. Petersburg/ Leningrad/ Petrograd.  That second city by its original name was the capital city of the Russian Empire when Tsar Peter the Great desired to create a European Capital.  It is probably convenient to consider Moscow and Petrograd as one region

If there is a single center, it becomes possible for one faction, or man, to dominate and control that center.  If that faction, or man, acts crazy, then the whole country may act crazy.  In the United States, if one man or faction controls one city, there are still centers that can be control by the opposition, which can then act as a check to that craziness.

There was more than one center in the Soviet Union, but these centers were in fact the major cities of conquered countries that were once part of the Russian Empire: Kviv/Kiev, Baku,  Kharkov, and Odessa in Ukraine; Minsk in Belarus; Baku in Azerbaijan; Tashkent in Uzbekistan; etc. Thus when they were no longer a part of Russia, there was no check on Moscow.

If there is a flash point that should concern us all, it is the isolated Russian Federation enclave on the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad.  This was once the East Prussian city of Königsberg that was captured  by the Soviet Union during WWII and became a major naval base.  If the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine because it feared it might join NATO, what must it think about this mostly military base that is surrounded by NATO countries.

Stimulus

 

After Midnight

After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down
After midnight, we're gonna chug-a-lug and shout
We're gonna stimulate some action
We're gonna get some satisfaction
We're gonna find out what it is all about
After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down (after midnight, after midnight)

What kind of action does a supply-side stimulus get?

Supply side economics assumes that increasing the supply of goods can stimulate the economy.  This is the opposite from demand side economics, also known as a Keynesian stimulus, which seeks to increase the demand for goods, by increasing the purchasing ability of buyers. Actions during COVID such as increases in unemployment benefits, checks to everyone, or student debt relief have been demand side stimuluses, not supply side stimuluses.

To properly execute a supply-side policy, it is necessary to properly define the production equation of suppliers.  The production  equation is traditionally thought to be a function of only capital and labor. However capital is needed not only for investment but also for supplying the raw materials, goods, that are needed to produce a product.  Economists do not classify goods as simply as free and priced.  Economists use an additional attribute besides price, Exclusivity.  A good is Exclusive if it can not be used by more than one person at a time. For example my eating a piece of bread means that you can not also eat that piece of bread, i.e. it is Exclusive.  By contrast, my watching a movie does not prevent you from also watching that movie, i.e. it is Non-exclusive.

This leads to not just two classes of goods, Private and Public, but four classes of goods. These include Priced and Exclusive, which are Private goods, and Non-priced and Non‑exclusive, which are Public goods. But it also includes Natural Monopolies: Priced and Non-exclusive; and Common Resources: Non-priced and Exclusive. Suppliers acknowledge natural monopolies, e.g. a cable TV company.  My watching cable TV does not prevent my neighbor from also watching cable TV, but both of us separately pay the cable TV provider.  ( if you have cut the cord like I have, substitute Disney+ or any streaming provider in this example.) The initial cost of natural monopolies  is often high, thus society offers protections, e.g. an exclusive franchise to offer cable, to industries to encourage then to make that initial investment.  Industry seems less inclined to acknowledge  Common Resources.  Fishing stocks are a common resource.  It is exclusive. If I eat a fish, then you can not eat that same fish. That fish might be free and the stock may seem vast but it IS limited.  Just as it is in society’s interest to encourage industries to invest in natural monopolies, society may spend to increase, or regulate to protect, that common resource.  Fishing stocks are regulated to prevent overfishing.  An educated workforce may be necessary for suppliers, but education is a common resource and society invests in education to provide this work force.  Just because a good does not have a price does not mean that society can’t regulate, or spend, to ensure that this common resource will continue to exist.

“Supply side” economics, as it is currently practiced, stimulates the economy by encouraging INVESTMENT.  If the production equation did not require any common resources, including public education and public highways, as raw materials, then neglecting measures to stimulate labor, encouraging investment should increase supply in the long run.  However if the production equation relies on common resources, eliminating regulations on, and decreasing expenditures for, common resources will in the long run DECREASE supply.  Thus the so-called “Supply side” policies have seemed to serve only to reward investment. It provides no reward for labor, and reduces common resources.  Truly supply-side economics would also ensure that common goods, as regulated and/or provided by society, are available. Supply side stimulus might be an alternative to demand side stimulus, but what had been practiced has NOT been supply-side economics, even if it is called supply-side economics.  It is more properly “INVESTMENT”  economics at the  expense of Labor and Common Resources.

Critical Race Theory III

 

Children Will Listen

Careful the wish you make,
Wishes are children
Careful the path you take,
Wishes come true.

Careful the spell you cast,
Not just on children
Sometimes the spell may last
Past what you can see,
And turn against you.
Careful the tale you tell
That is the spell,
Children will listen...

Can children handle the Truth?

On May 17th, 2022,  the Mansfield, Massachusetts Town Meeting will vote on Article 20 “To see if the Town will vote to prohibit public K-12 schools in the Town of Mansfield from teaching, instructing or training students to adopt or believe, or causing anyone else to teach, instruct or train any students to adopt or believe, certain DIVISIVE CONCEPTS, regarding race or sex.”   Is it necessary to explain what these DIVISIVE CONCEPTS are?

The problem appears to be that certain truths are “inconvenient" and make people uncomfortable.  But that is no reason to shield children from the Truth.  Children will understand as much of the Truth as they are ready to understand. 

Which reminds me of a joke.  A second grader comes into a room and asks his father “What is sex?”.  His father is surprised to face this question so early and proceeds to deliver the “Talk”.  His son’s eyes glaze over and after the talk is over he asks,  “But I don’t understand.  Do I check the “M” box or the “F” box when the form asks the Sex question?”.

I am old enough to know the Truth about Santa Claus.  But if you drive past my home in December you will see a lighted display where Santa’s Sleigh is flying through the air. Because I know that children will also want the Truth about Santa.  And like the response to Virginia long ago, I believe that the Truth about Santa is “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. ‘

I have lived in Mansfield for more than 40 years, but it was not until last year that I found that the Town was named in honor of  William Murray, the First Earl of Mansfield.  He was Chief Justice of England before the Revolutionary War.  During his illustrious career, one of his most famous decisions was the Somerset  decision.  James Somerset was a slave who escaped in England and was recaptured by his “owner”, a Boston Customs official.  Somerset was to be transported by his "owner" to Jamaica and sold.  The question Lord Mansfield was asked to resolve was whether he should be allowed to be transported from England. He ruled that slavery was not legal under English Law and that "no master ever was allowed here (England) to take a slave by force to be sold abroad".

I believe that this is not taught in Mansfield School today.  My sons were never taught this.  To protect school children from ever hearing such a DIVISIVE CONCEPT, I would propose that if the voters approve Article 20, that they also change the name of the Town from Mansfield.

Children will listen.  Our children will learn from this proposed Article that you should hide from the Truth. Is this the lesson that we want to be teaching?

Tribes

 

We Are Family

All of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We're giving love in a family dose

Join in with me!

Man is genetically wired to join groups. Man's smallest group is a family. Families may join together to form Clans. Clans may join together to form Tribes. Tribes may join together to form Nations. You can be a member of more than one group. I am a member of Red Sox Nation. I am also an American .  There are those who live in the Canadian Maritimes Provinces who are also members of Red Sox Nation. ( They probably are not also Bruin hockey fans, but that is another sport and subject). It is thus possible to be an American or a Canadian National and to still belong to Red Sox Nation.

Man is also genetically wired to be fearful of, and not trust, those in other groups. And that creates a conflict when a person is in more than one group. For example, Americans are guaranteed freedom of religion. Thus it is possible, for example, to be an American and a Catholic, or an American and a Southern Baptist  ( As someone who was born in Rhode Island, which was founded by the Baptist Roger Williams, who was exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religion, I think Roger Williams would be appalled that there were Southern Baptists). When John F. Kennedy ran for President, he had to convince a  Southern Baptist conference that he was running as an American, and owed no allegiance to a foreign Pope.

Most religions and cultures recognize this problem and have admonitions for the protection and honoring of strangers. They recognize that the energy spent in excluding others does not serve to advance the purpose of the group. John Donne famously said that “No man is an island”. When you try to exclude others by building a moat around your group, you are trying to act as if you are an island.  This is not a game of Survivor. Let’s not vote people off the island. Instead let’s welcome them if they wish to move to the island. What was true in 1776, is true today.  "If we don’t hang together, we will all hang separately.”

Republicans V

 

Love and Honor

 Love and honor never cross your mind And love and honor is something hard to find When someone tempted you, you ease across the line And I'll bet love and honor never cross your mind

There is no honor among thieves …or apparently  the current Republican Senate. 

·       Lindsey Graham said Republicans wouldn't give Jackson a hearing if they had the Senate majority.

·       "If we were in charge, she would not have been before this committee," he said Monday.

·       His comments underscore the depth of Republican hostility to Biden's Supreme Court nominee.

https://news.yahoo.com/lindsey-graham-says-republicans-wouldnt-191354971.html

Really Lindsey?  Really?  Really?  That is NOT a mark of pride.  It is an acknowledgement that the failure to hold a nomination hearing on Merrick Garland was NOT because his SCOTUS nomination was during an election year and was thus not appropriate.  But Justice Amy Coney Barrett's nomination hearings already proved that,  didn’t they.  The problem is that most Republican Senators will not hold hearings on any nomination to the Supreme Court by a Democratic President. This means that Republican Senators will not honor their constitutional duty to provide advice and consent for nominations by a Democratic President. 

Senators, Democrats and Republicans, swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, whose sovereign is the People. They do NOT swear an oath to the their Party.  Should anyone trust admitted oath breakers?

It looks like those who believe in small government, but who also believe in the truth and who believe in the inclusion of all people do NOT have a place in today's Republican Party.  Representative Upton has only been the latest to have figured that out, hasn’t he?  Where are the rest to go? 

Vigilantes

 

Boss Man

Big boss man!
Won't you hear me when I call?
Yeah, you ain't so big bossman
You just tall that's all!

Just because you are big doesn’t make you right.

Batman is a vigilante.  He believes that his code of Justice is correct.  Criminals who do not believe in his code of Justice must be insane, which is why they are confined to Arkham Asylum and not the Gotham Jail. Batman administers Justice not the Law.  But it is his Justice.  There is a  scene in the Untold Tales of the Batman miniseries where the phrase “It’s not Justice, it’s the Law” is uttered to explain why Bruce Wayne did not become a lawyer or a policeman.

Batman’s popularity grew at the same time that other vigilantes became popular:  The Punisher, Wolverine, etc.  Vigilantes were also embraced in general popular culture: e.g. Death Wish.  Wolverine and the Punisher were first introduced as villains: Wolverine as a villain for the Hulk, the Punisher as a villain for Spiderman. 

Comic book heroes up to that point had a System Optimal perspective.  “Fair Play”; “Live by the Golden Rule”; “Might for Right”; “With great power comes great responsibility”. They captured  criminals and turned them over to the police, society, for the administration of Justice.  Batman in the 1980s, as well as Wolverine and the Punisher, had a User Optimal perspective.  They administered Justice as they saw it. “ My way or the highway”; “ He who has the Gold makes the rules”; “Might makes Right”. Yes, their Justice was also what society promoted as its ideal, but it was still their Justice. There is a difference between administering Justice, and delivering criminals to society for Justice.

The danger of embracing vigilantes is that their belief in what is right may not be the belief shared by the system.  Vigilantes by definition live outside of the system, society. 

We may have reached the logical conclusion to vigilantism.  If you can decide if your wife’s honor has been violated, then you, not the system, can apply a slap.  If you can decide that Weapons of Mass Destruction should be eliminated or DeNazification should be undertaken then you, not the system, can impose your might.  

The objection to Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was that Superman would not administer Justice on his own.  Superman would deliver wrong-doers TO the System, but he would not determine that he was empowered to administer Justice FOR the System.  Superman v. Batman should not be just “Might versus Might”, but  “Might FOR Right” versus “Might IS Right”, System Optimization versus User Optimization.

What Is In A Name

My Name Is

Hi! My name is (what?)
My name is (who?)
My name is
Slim Shady

It sounds like Donald Trump needs some help with names.

"A guy who spells his name M-E-I-J-E-R but they pronounce it Meyer," Trump said. "What the hell kind of a spelling is that?

He continued: "I said, how the hell do you pronounce this guy's name? Nobody knows if he's done nothing in Washington... I said, how do you pronounce his name, is it MA-GER, MY-GER? They said it's MY-ER. How the hell do you get MY-ER out of it?" Donald Trump 4/2/2022

Donald, Donald, Donald. Meijer is a Dutch name. It refers to a profession similar to a bailiff or steward. It originates from the Latin word major and is often rendered Meyer abroad. One would have thought that Donald Trump would be used to Dutch names since New York City was once called New Amsterdam. A large number of the Manhattan elite, who snubbed Donald Trump as an upstart from Queens,  had Dutch surnames.

I can understand how Donald Trump would be confused by European surnames. His father claimed that Trump was a Swedish name after WWII. Actually it is German, but Fred Trump did not want to be associated with Nazi Germany. That is cowardly but what do you expected out of a Ku Klux Klan sympathizer and an admitted racial discriminator. ( Donald should remember that from 1973. He was  fined by  HUD at the same time his father was!)

Cowards run in Cadet Bone Spur’s family. Donald’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, was deported from Bavaria for draft dodging. Friedrich died of the Spanish Fu in 1918. You would think that that his Grandfather’s death would have made an impression on Donald, but he always got it wrong, falsely saying the Spanish Flu began in 1917.

And before the stable genius starts attacking me, yes, I know that he has a Bachelor’s degree from UPenn. But I actually went to class when I got my Master’s degree at UPenn.