Wealth

 

Too Close for Comfort

Be firm, be fair
Be sure, beware
Behave, be there
Be wise, be smart, behave my heart
Don't upset that cat when she's so close

How fair is the distribution of wealth?

1) Brunei; 2) Bahamas; 3) United States; 4) Bahrain; 5) United Arab Emirates; 6) Brazil; 7) Ukraine; 8) Russia; 9) Philippines; 10) Lesotho   This is the list of the top 10 unweighted wealthiest countries per capita in the world in 2021.  This tells you the company that the United States keeps, but it is not weighted by the wealth of the country. Number 1 with a bullet is the United States, which has a weighted ratio of mean per capita wealth to median wealth, weighted by the share of the world’s wealth, of 2.3 while the closest country is China with 0.75. The third place country is Germany with a weighted value of 0.25.  The median per capita wealth in the world is $60 thousand but the mean wealth per capita is $144.9 trillion.  Should we say inequitable distribution of wealth or, it ain't fair.

Kings?

 

If I Were King of the Forest

For courage is the king of kings
With courage I'd be king of kings
The whole year round
I'd be hailed and crowned by every living thing
If I, if I, if I, were K-
King!

Cowardly Lion, you already ARE King of the Forest!

There is a difference between being the Head of State and the Head of Government. Most European Union  and British Commonwealth countries realize this. E.g. Canada and Australia have the British Monarch as their Head of State, not their Head of Government. That is why national highways, parks and museums in Canada were previously  the Queen’s and are currently the King’s.   But the British Monarch is NOT the Head of Government. The death of Queen Elizabeth II was mourned in Canada and Australia, but it did not require a change of government in either of those countries.

In the United States, the de facto Head of State is the President, but the sovereign is The People. The people elect a president but that only makes him head of the executive branch of government, and makes him the representative of the country, but it does not, can not, make him the state.  Unfortunately our current President apparently wanted to be Head of State, but apparently does not want to be Head of Government, a position which he is apparently surrendering to Elon Musk.  It is only custom that the President is the Head of State. Perhaps it is appropriate,  so that the president does NOT get the idea that he is a sovereign,  to explicitly elect or designate a Head of State, which is not the Head of Government.

You can have a good sovereign, e.g. “Good King Wenceslas", or a bad sovereign, e.g. “Ivan the Terrible”, or “Dracula”. The problem is Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, was not viewed as terrible by his own people. Being a sovereign does not make you good. Neither does being the Head of Government make you Head of the State.

The tension between the individual and the group is why there is, and should be, a problem. Being the Head of Government does not mean that you own all of the property of the sovereign. It only means that you are a steward for the sovereign, which according to the US Constitution is The People. Neither does being a member of The People mean that you own all government property.  Being King does not make you a sovereign, any more than Col. Saunders was an army Colonel or Commodore Vanderbilt was a Commodore in the Navy. King is sometimes A sovereign, but in the US is not OUR sovereign. King is merely a name, which is part of your nature.  You can change your name, but that does not change your nature.

Distributions IV

 

Danger Zone

Out along the edges
Always where I burn to be
The further on the edge
The hotter the intensity

Highway to the danger zone
Gonna take it right into the danger zone
Highway to the danger zone
Ride into the danger zone

Is the distribution of wealth in the danger zone?

Wealth is NOT an Absolute zero. It is a Relative zero. As proof take Gershwin’ s I’ve Got Plenty of Nothing from Porgy and Bess. In the song Porgy sings, “ I got my girl, got my song, Got heaven the whole day long, Got my girl, got my love, yes got my song”. If he did not have any of those things, then his nothing would be an Absolute zero. The problem is that in two-dimensional space-time, it is possible to construct an outcome matrix which is absolutely TRUE,  
{2/3, 0, 1/6, 1/6} .  This matrix satisfies the components of {true win, true loss, false win, and false loss} and is 100% certain.  It is also possible to construct another outcome matrix which is absolutely TRUE. {3/3, 0, 0, 0} .  The problem is that an absolute matrix can also be constructed which is {1/3, 0, 1/3, 1/3} which is absolutely FALSE and is 100% certain. ( This also suggests that an absolute has three aspects, is a trinity)

Individuals can form a group to act like an absolute. In two dimensional space-time their outcome can be {66.7%, 0, 16.7%, 16.7%}, which is also absolutely TRUE. That normal distribution of individuals can also be skewed maximally positive to {96%, 0, 2%, 2%} which is close to being absolutely TRUE. But that distribution can also be {46.3%, 0, 26.85%, 26.85%} which is skewed maximally negative, and is absolutely FALSE. The problem is that normal individuals acting as a group can not perceive the absolute. They can only perceive at most 5/6^th of the absolute. The danger zone is any outcome, distribution, between {50%, 0, 25%, 25%] and {65.9%, 0, 17.05% 17.05%}. It might appear to be true, but this may be an illusion because the absolute might be perceived incorrectly. The problem is that these appear to be “winning” distributions in that the sum of True wins and False wins is greater than False losses,  but the distribution of wealth is already in the danger zone and the variance in that distribution of wealth is increasing.

Bullies

 

Do You Want To Know A Secret?

Listen
Do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell?
Whoa, oh, oh

Your votes should be secret!

Retaliation is the crime of acting against an individual for actions taken in that individual’s own best interests. Intimidation is the crime which involves defettering or coercing an individual to act against their own interests. There is only a difference in time between the acts.   Retaliation is about past acts, intimidation is about future acts. Both are forms of bullying, which includes both of these acts, as well as present acts. All need fear, domination. "Hold tight to  your anger. Don’t give into your fears. Take your best shot let me see what you’ve got. Bring on your wrecking ball."

But that requires the courage to take a bully’s best shot. If those actions are in secret, then there is no need to fear a bully’s wrecking ball. That is if your votes are secret. Then there is nothing to fear except fear itself to coin a phrase. Don’t be bullied. Keep your vote secret.  It is your own interest that should guide you, not the interests of a bully. They can try to persuade you, but that does NOT include forcing you.

Nothing

 

Something Good

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

What kind of nothing?

One of the great errors is assuming that there is only one kind of zero, nothing. There are actually three kinds of zero. 1)Absolute zero 2) Relative zero and 3) Repeating or cyclic zero.

1.      Absolute zero is defined as the value below which there can be no observations; x>0; 

2.      Relative zero is a zero relative to absolute zero that is inserted for the convenience of recording the observations of the value. Thus while it is possible to talk about -4000 degrees Fahrenheit, in fact no temperature is defined, possible, below -459.67º F, which in this case sets a lower limit for the location parameter; μ; x>μ

3.      Repeating or cyclic zero is a recognition that a wave may pass through the x-axis and appear to be zero on a periodic, p,  basis: even when x is infinite and n approaches infinity;  n*p>x>(n-1)*p.

Given that there are four quadrants formed  by two dimensions, (e. g. winning and losing,  true and false, etc.), when one of those quadrants is absolute, then the other three quadrants must be one of the three zeros for the outcome in the total of those quadrants to be absolutely certain, 100%. This means that there are 4 quadrants in which the absolute can be placed as long as there are zeros in the remaining quadrants. Hower imposing the additional criteria that the absolute has to be true AND a winner, means that only one of those four solutions is real. For any number of players greater than 3, an outcome ensuring a certain winner is true is always possible,

When there are only two dimensions, e.g. players, for example space and time, then the surface passing through those two dimensions can be flat, hyperbolic or spherical. If the surface is flat or spherical, then there is only one solution. If the surface is hyperbolic, then  there are two solutions. But there are three outcomes to a contest: win, lose AND Tie. If an additional criteria is imposed, then it is possible to find a solution which is winning and true by also requiring that false wins and false losses be equal, and whose total is a tie. Thus it is possible to accommodate 3 outcomes among the two dimensions AND the surface. A solution matrix, table, which is winning, true AND normal is {2/3, 0, 1/6, 1/6} which satisfies {true win, true loss, false win, and false loss}. This is true for the absolute. However an observer who is not an absolute will only perceive 5/6, or 1/6, of the absolute, depending on which side of the hyperbolic surface that observer is located. In that case the solution can only be at maximum√ (5/6), or 91.3%, certain, not 100% certain. Another solution can be certain, but then that solution also must not be true.

There is an additional proof that the surface connecting the 2 dimensions is hyperbolic, in order to be absolute and true. An absolute has no error and there is nowhere the absolute is not, i.e. 0, and its error is 0,  Since waves on a surface will interfere with each other, the first part of the statement can be satisfied if μ≥0 and the second part of the statement satisfies σ/√∞ which is true if σ=0 OR if σ is any constant greater than 0.  A hyperbolic surface will accommodate 2 solutions. A group of individuals on a hyperbolic surface may perceive the absolute as an infinite series of trigonometric waves. If that is the case the μ=0±σ=0 is true, but is a solution which only applies to the absolute . The solution must always be always applicable, that is any value of μ and a constant value of σ. Since the definition of a wave is that σ²=½A² and that wave  has a period of 2π in the case of most trigonometric waves or 2πi for most hyperbolic trigonometric waves, for a normal solution σ²=s²π²/3, then the solution which results is a constant (e.g., winning or losing,  true or false, etc.) is π/6 .  This satisfies the requirement that there be two solutions on a hyperbolic surface, σ=absolute zero AND σ= π/6.

This also mean that the multiplicative and additive identities for zero only applies to only ONE of the three zeroes, the Absolute Zero.  Those laws do NOT apply to Relative or Repeating zeroes. Choose your zero, nothing, wisely.

Variance II

 

Ain’t We Got Fun

There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Ain't we got fun?

Do the rich have to get richer, and the poor get poorer?

Given my recent blog post that variance ( e.g. the difference between rich and poor) should be a constant, https://dbeagan.blogspot.com/2025/02/variance.html. it is appropriate to review an earlier blog post on the difference in wealth among nations.  https://dbeagan.blogspot.com/2021/11/distribution-of-wealth-iii.html .  As well as a blog  on the consequences of keeping the location parameter constant and allowing the variance to increase to accommodate growth.  https://dbeagan.blogspot.com/2023/09/distribution-of-income-ii.html

The fact that variance is a constant and location is not, can lead to bad policy decisions if it is wrongly assumed that location is constant and variance is not.  It is totally correct that things were better from 1946 to 1964, and that things were much worse from 1996 to 2013, just as it is true that Christmas is better than the Dog Days of Summer.  But making every day Christmas is a stupid and childish response, just as MAGA is.  The grown‑up response is to work hard during the Dog Days of Summer so that the following Christmas can be as good, or even better than, the past Christmases that you do remember.  The fact that humans don’t live through more than portion of two cycles of historical periods of 100 years does not mean that the cycle is not there, just that a single individual can not experience multiple cycles. 

Mark Twain said that “History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”  William Faulkner said that the “The past is never dead. It's not even past”.  Just because you can’t see other cycles, does not mean that other cycles do not exist, only that you can’t personally experience them. Learn from a study of the historical past.  Grow up! It can’t be Christmas every day!  Don’t be a such a child!

Surfaces

 

Blue Horizon

Beyond the blue horizon
Waits a beautiful day
Goodbye to things that bore me
Joy is waiting for me
I see a new horizon
My life has only begun
Beyond the blue horizon lies a rising sun

The horizon is why Pythagoras Theorem applies Locally by not Globally

There are three kinds of surfaces. 1) Spherical, 2) Flat (Euclidean) and 3) Hyperbolic. While it seems like we live on a flat Earth, the existence of the horizon is actually one of the proofs that the surface of the Earth is actually a sphere, not flat. An observer can perceive 50% of any object that is between the observer and the horizon. An observer can not perceive the object at all if it does not extend above the horizon. However the observer can only perceive 50% of the portion of any object that extends above the horizon. That is why the mast of a sailing ship on the horizon is visible before the rest of the ship, because at that point  the mast extends above the horizon, but the rest of the ship does not. The horizon is defined by the radius of the spherical surface. If the sphere is large enough, then most objects which are perceived will be between the observer and the horizon. But that does not mean that the horizon does not exist, just that it is not always perceived. A Flat surface is thus only the limit of the spherical domain, not a domain itself. The surface will have a curvature defined by the major and minor axes, a and b, of the equations describing the eccentricity of the surface. If a and b are both less than infinity, then a spherical surface is described, and the eccentricity is less than 1. If a and b are both infinite, then a hyperbolic surface is described, and the eccentricity is greater than 1. A flat surface is thus only the boundary between these two conditions where the eccentricity is exactly equal to 1.

For any hyperbolic surface, regardless of the curvature, only 5/6 or 1/6 of an object will be perceived, depending on which side of the hyperbolic surface is being perceived by an observer. That is because a hyperbola has two solutions, one which is the opposite sign of the other. But the solutions are similar to the spherical solution until the numbers involved are very large: e.g. 2/3 the size of the universe or 5/6 the speed of light. Thus could it  also be said that the universe is flat locally, but hyperbolic universally.