Will Blogs Improve the World?

Please check out Illusions of Freedom, part 1, the first half of an investigative paper I recently completed on the political efficacy of blogs. The paper generally argues that blogs will not make much difference to the real world, but I have to say that I'm still highly ambivalent about that, and I hope I'm wrong. At any rate, this first half is just the introduction and a section talking about what blogs are and what they do -- that's what might be interesting. If anyone is interested, I'll clean up the second (and I'm sure more controversial) half and post it soon, as well.   6:52:56 PM      comment   

So You Thought Retirement Might Be Nice

The prognosis is grim, especially for middle-class families. "The average American household has virtually no chance to reach an adequate retirement savings in the next 50 years," says Christian Weller, a retirement specialist at the Economic Policy Institute. Retirement dreams are taking a beating:

• 37% of those saving for retirement say they are doing only a fair job of managing their retirement portfolios, and 7% say they are doing a poor job.
• 44% of those saving for retirement say they expect to live less comfortably in retirement, according to the poll.
• 29% of retirees say their standard of living has gone down in retirement.

Single women are among the most vulnerable. Linda Peterson, 57, works as a freelance writer in Arlington, Va., after being downsized out of a job. Widowed more than a decade ago, she has a small pension from her husband's job and another from a job she previously held. Together, they will provide about $800 a month in retirement.

So what are we going to do? If things don't change, here's what will happen: The U.S. will become increasingly bankrupt by spending everything on destroying all the "evildoers" on the planet. Then, when it can't pay its debts, it will continue to destroy its creditors (saying they, too, are evil), and it will either be successful in bringing the whole planet under its military rule, or its citizens (you and me) will become slaves or prisoners to the countries of the world who finally stand up and say enough is enough. Do you think my vision is too bleak?   9:46:25 AM      comment   

Get A Life File 1

9:36:03 AM      comment   

categories: mac-related

How Corporate is Apple?

2:29:43 PM      comment   

categories: mac-related

Move To Iceland

(Later: The animation's creator explains the thinking behind the animation. No wonder I found the spoof ad so likable. We agree -- Apple's still corporate, it's still not open source, etc., but it's still the lesser of two evils...)  2:21:58 PM      comment   

Opportunity for Whom? And for What?

"We want to be a Nation that serves goals larger than self. We have been offered a unique opportunity, and we must not let this moment pass."

President George W. Bush - State of the Union, January 29, 2002

Think about that for a minute. Who is the "we" to which Shrub refers? What is the opportunity? Who benefits? So far, the Bush and Co. agenda to remake the U.S. in its pro-business, militaristic image has been the greatest beneficiary of 9-11. This should come as no surprise. (Again, see Madison's quote, below.  1:31:05 PM      comment   

War is the Enemy

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war...and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

As I said below, "the people," (that's you and me) have let ourselves become subdued, and Madison's predictions about the effects of war seem more true every day. For more on this, including suggestions for things we might do about it, see MoveOn.org (the source of the Madison quote, above).   12:51:09 PM      comment   

Don't Assume Anything

From this point we'll get much better information about how companies are doing. Stock options as we knew them, are over. Salaries and benefits matter. Transparent management. Time to ride the Cluetrain, for real. Companies must make identifiable products for real people that they communicate with honestly, directly and openly. You can't view your customers, shareholders or readers as fat, dumb and happy; or they'll take you down the Enron-WorldCom road. It's time for the philosophy of the Web to become the philosophy of business. View your constituents as people with minds, and treat them accordingly.

That all sounds great, except for one thing: Corporate America (and our Corporate government in the form of Bush and Co., especially) treats customers, shareholders, and readers as fat, dumb, and happy because that's how they (we) have been behaving for decades now (since the 1960s, I'd say). We have become complacent and lazy, and far too trusting, which has forced us into the jam we're in today. All of which is to say I fear Winer's hopeful optimism about the changes we're going to see might do more harm than good. Nothing has changed, and nothing will change, unless and until we all actively demand that it does. And that means more than watching the news and saying "me too" when someone says he/she is shocked! shocked! about all this greed and fraud. Real, active demands for change mean marches on Washington, letter-writing campaigns, and voting only for candidates who really get it. For example, despite Winer's optimism, and despite the dueling bills in the House and Senate, there have been zero changes to "stock options as we know them." So what's changing, really? Nada. And what are "customers, shareholders, and readers" (we) doing about it? Nada, really. So where's the hope?   12:45:51 PM      comment   

Operation TIPS

I know that many of you prefer to live as if you awaken each day in a world made anew--why on earth would we worry about giving the FBI broad and sweeping new powers?--but I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say flat out: there are things to be learned from the lessons of history. And an official government system by which citizens are encouraged to spy on their neighbors should really set the alarm bells ringing.

What does your new world look like today? Perhaps if we all set our alarms to "lessons of history" the world might become a better place.   10:41:41 PM      comment   

Accountability What?

Remember when George W. Bush was celebrated as the first president with an MBA, the CEO of the entire country? Remember all those oozing news accounts of the early days of the presidency, which noted how the White House was being run like a tight corporate ship for the first time ever? Makes you a little nervous now, doesn't it? Because even the Executive in Chief himself doesn't appear to know too much about his own past business dealings. When asked by reporters why certain crucial SEC forms concerning his sale of $850,000 worth of Harken stock back in 1990 were filed 34 weeks late, he shrugged: "I still haven't figured it out completely." Why, he just doesn't know.

Out with the lot of them, I say. CEOs should make no more than 10% more than their average employee, and people with an income more than 10% above that of the average American should not be eligible folr public office -- including and especially the office of President of the United States. I predict those measures would reshape American society for the better, across the board.

Meanwhile, a new meme seems to be spreading, namely: Politicians are juggling the Federal budget books just like corporate America does. First I saw it in Ted Rall's strip, now it's made its way to this AP story. And as everyone's honest aesthetic advisor Martha Stewart says, "That's a good thing."   4:14:36 PM      comment   

Mac: Plays Nice With Others

I came to realize something: I'd been with Microsoft for so long, who are complacent and hoard their customers, that I'd forgotten what it's like to use an operating system built by people who want it to cooperate with the rest of the world. It's good.

It's kind of ironic that Apple, the company that "builds the whole widget," might be more interoperable than any other system. I'm sure it's not, and Apple could really do a lot more to make its technologies interact nicely with others, but still, I think Torkington has a good point. I hope Apple continues to work hard to keep its technologies open and make sure they work with others.   8:42:51 AM      comment   

Not A Whore

8:26:36 AM      comment   

categories: meta-blogging

Bill/Steve

8:00:29 AM      comment   

categories: books, mac-related, politics

Earth to McCain

I believe I still believe that the best way to ensure the solvency of the Social Security system, to honor the solemn promise that in exchange for the payroll taxes they have rendered all their working lives, all Americans will receive a minimally adequate retirement income, is to allow them to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in the financial markets. In fact, I can see no other viable way to ensure that those entering the workforce today will receive the benefits promised to them upon their retirement. Markets fluctuate. We are in a down cycle today. But it won't last forever. And investments in the stock market have over time always yielded higher returns than any other responsible investment. Allowing Americans to invest responsibly a small part of their payroll taxes will not only save Social Security, but will provide them with greater retirement income than those who now or will soon depend on Social Security checks.

Wow. That sounds like a really good idear. Perhaps McCain should look at some of the effects of those "market fluctuations" on people who were planning to retire on stock market investments:

The oldest retirees, those over 70, tend to have pensions and so rely less on the stock market, economists say. Those approaching retirement are far more likely to have 401(k) plans, which became the primary retirement option offered by companies over the last two decades. As the stock market swelled in the 1990's, so did those plans, and many people looked at the big gains and thought they could retire early.

"Many retirees became complacent," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, a consulting firm in Pennsylvania. "There was so much money being made, they didn't do the normal shifting most people do. Many of them were putting more in the market, thinking this was a quick way to fund their retirement. They got caught."

According to Labor Department numbers quoted by AARP, the nation's largest lobbying group for retirees, the number of people over the age of 55 in the work force rose by 8.4 percent, or 1.6 million people, between June 2001 and June 2002, compared with far smaller gains in previous years. Every other age group declined in that period.

"What do you do if you find yourself at retirement age without enough to retire on?" asked John Rother, AARP's policy director. "You keep working."

If we listen to McCain and his Repub friends and invest Social Security funds in the stock market, we'll be effectively giving corporate America billions of dollars to play around with. That's just an awesome idea! I wish millions of Social Security dollars had been tied up in Enron stock, or Worldcom. The world would really be a better place right now, don't you think?  7:59:44 AM      comment   

Wanna Play?

THE TIME MACHINE This is a handy application for the Palm Pilot that can help keep you on the righteous path. Simply enter your plans for overstating revenue, doing off-book transactions, or telling all your friends to dump your stock. This program will help you automatically calculate how much time you can expect to serve.

Made by the finest Silicon Valley and legal minds, the algorithm deftly accounts for any legal breaks you may receive for past political contributions. And it doubles as a phone!

Version 2.0 will offer virtual landscapes of a white-collar prison so you can see where you can expect to spend the next 18 months. It will also include a daily organizer, games and e-book function that comes with two complimentary titles, "Seven Highly Effective Habits of People Who Aren't in Lockdown" and "Who Moved My Cellmate's Cheese?"

This gave me an idea: Is there a recent video game that lets people pretend to be a corrupt CEO? I mean, we've got the infamous Grand Theft Auto that lets players pretend to be a car thief and have all the fun running people over and beating them to death that they can never have in real life. Now we need something like "Grand Theft Life Savings" that lets us pretend to be creating shell corporations, hiding cash in off-shore tax havens, and otherwise amassing huge sums personal wealth while making our employees and stockholders think we're doing our jobs. To win the game, you'll have to escape with your loot while your failed corporation tumbles into dust. You'll get extra points for bankrupting widows and orphans (because their life savings was in mutual funds which were heavily invested in your company's stock since you paid the analysts to give it a huge buy rating for the few weeks leading up to your company's collapse). The sequel to the game will be "Grand Theft America" where you buy the U.S. Presidency and proceed to run the country into the ground in the same way you ran your corporation into the ground. What fun! (See Ted Rall's brilliant comparisonof current corporate scandals and Shrub's recent tax cuts.)   7:58:25 AM      comment   

Same Games, Different Playing Field

Bush was elected on a promise to end the contradiction between presidential rhetoric and presidential rationalization. So far, all he's done is change the subject from sex to money.

Whether Bush was actually elected at all is still debatable, as far as I'm concerned, but otherwise, Saletan is absolutely right: Bush is not delivering what he promised. Of course, that should surprise no one. What also shouldn't be surprising is the fact that somehow the media and politicians can whip up more moral indignation and righteous anger over sex scandals than they can over money scandals. I wonder if this is because the Repubs are just better manipulators of public opinion (playing the "morals" card on sex is always a winner for them), or if perhaps it's simply that we all second-guess ourselves before getting angry at greed, since we're all greedy, too. Oh, and then there's the fact that media organizations are probably less eager to pounce on corporate fraud and corruption since they are themselves fraudulent and corrupt corporations. Sigh...  1:52:58 PM      comment   

Good Ol' Tenure

"Historically, collegiality has not infrequently been associated with ensuring homogeneity, and hence with practices that exclude persons on the basis of their difference from a perceived norm," the statement [from the American Association of University Professors] said. "An absence of collegiality ought never, by itself, to constitute a basis for nonreappointment, denial of tenure or dismissal for cause."

However:

Because tenure reviews are confidential, and based so deeply on personal judgment, it is often difficult to assess precisely what went wrong with a particular candidate.

As if the Humanities job market wasn't bad enough, now you have to be nice, too? :-)

The fact that promotions in academic fields (particularly the Humanities) can so easily become capricious and personal only proves the truth of Noam Chomsky's assertion that American universities are normalizing (read: brainwashing) institutions:

The universities, for example, are not independent institutions. There may be independent people scattered around in them but that is true of the media as well. And it[base ']s generally true of corporations. It[base ']s true of Fascist states, for that matter. But the institution itself is parasitic. It[base ']s dependent on outside sources of support and those sources of support, such as private wealth, big corporations with grants, and the government (which is so closely interlinked with corporate power you can barely distinguish them), they are essentially what the universities are in the middle of. People within them, who don[base ']t adjust to that structure, who don[base ']t accept it and internalize it (you can[base ']t really work with it unless you internalize it, and believe it); people who don[base ']t do that are likely to be weeded out along the way, starting from kindergarten, all the way up. There are all sorts of filtering devices to get rid of people who are a pain in the neck and think independently. Those of you who have been through college know that the educational system is very highly geared to rewarding conformity and obedience; if you don[base ']t do that, you are a troublemaker. So, it is kind of a filtering device which ends up with people who really honestly (they aren[base ']t lying) internalize the framework of belief and attitudes of the surrounding power system in the society. The elite institutions like, say, Harvard and Princeton and the small upscale colleges, for example, are very much geared to socialization. If you go through a place like Harvard, most of what goes on there is teaching manners; how to behave like a member of the upper classes, how to think the right thoughts, and so on.

After nearly 20 years of formal education (gasp!), I still feel like I haven't learned how to think the right thoughts and how to behave like a member of the upper classes. More evidence that I need to find a new gig.   10:27:50 AM      comment   

Ending DOJ vs. Microsoft

9:57:00 AM      comment   

White Collar Crime and You

For example, a friend of mine makes $40-50k/year and has been contributing to her 401k plan every month for many years. She told me yesterday that she lost nearly $5,000 in the last quarter, and the fund has been losing value more or less steadily for the last two years. That matches my own experience w/my meager retirement accounts. And, of course, stock people always say that you have to be patient w/stocks, that over time they will increase in value, yadda, yadda, yadda. Fine. That's great. But I don't think we should have to gamble with our life savings and play the odds in the hope that we'll be lucky enough to retire when the market's up. What's happening to people who are reaching retirement age right now? Not to mention the employees of these corrupt and soon-to-be bankrupt companies like Enron and Worldcom -- what about them?

You might see this as something of a leap, but what all this corruption on Wall Street shows more than anything is that we need a national health care and retirement system that's funded by corporate taxes, not by stock dividends. If people's health care and retirement money came out of corporate profits via taxes, when companies like Enron crashed and burned their employees wouldn't be left high and dry -- they'd already be taken care of. Social Security on steroids. It's time.  8:32:12 AM      comment   

Tour de France

8:06:37 AM      comment   

Unlimited Sunshine

The kind of sunshine I'm looking forward to comes in the form of a tour featuring the Flaming Lips, Cake, Modest Mouse, De La Soul, and Kinky. Wow. Unlimited Sunshine is coming to St. Louis at The Pageant on Wednesday, July 31, and to Chicago's Aragon Ballroom on Friday, August 30. Sounds bright and shiny to me.   7:52:55 AM      comment   

Vote With Your Remote

The new Phil Donahue show that debuts next Monday is up against the heavily watched O'Reilly Factor on right-wing Fox News Channel, and a new show on establishment CNN featuring familiar face Connie Chung, who was just snagged from CBS for $2 million a year.

This contest is the clearest national political race since the muddy results from Florida in 2000. Viewers can opt for the conservative O' Reilly; for Chung, the play-it-safe corporate candidate; or for Donahue, who appears ready to speak some truth to power in the populist seat.

Sounds like some good tv.  11:33:37 AM      comment   

Cheney: Also A Crook

Judicial Watch alleges that Halliburton overstated profits to the tune of $445m during the period 1999 to 2001, resulting in some investors "suffering huge losses".

Update: Learn everything you ever wanted to know and more about Crooked Cheney from MoveOn.org.   11:32:37 AM      comment   

George Bush, Failed Corporate Crook

If Bush really wanted to address the situation, all he'd have to do is to pick up the phone, call Attorney General John Ashcroft, and ask him to launch an investigation of any one of these CEOs for fraud, conspiracy, theft, obstruction of justice, or perjury. The president could also turn to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can refer a civil case for criminal prosecution. Bush doesn't need additional legislation to do this. All he has to do is call. He refused to do that in the Enron case, even though his administration knew about the scandal months before the company went public with its bankruptcy. And he hasn't done it with any of the subsequent double-dealings.

Regardless of your political leanings, the expose is definitely worth your time. Consider: If you have a retirement plan through your job (millions of Americans don't), your retirement is probably funded by a 401k. That means that if the market continues to plunge or stays flat, you'll have nothing to retire on. That means it doesn't matter what you think of Bush's performance in other areas, his inaction w/corporate fraud is something you really can't afford to ignore. Literally. [via MLWebblog]

Later: Joe Conason offers related commentary on the fraudlent Shrub in his new "weblog" on Salon.   11:28:54 AM      comment   

Fun With Words

Matthew: Verily, Christ was way cool. Mark: Verily, Christ was the whip. Luke: Verily, Christ was the shiznit. John: Christ was one cute baby!

8:49:57 AM      comment   

categories: books

Simulated Living

8:39:18 AM      comment   

Is XM (and Sirius) the FM of the '00s?

XM senior vice president and chief programmer Lee Abrams, who is credited with inventing album rock, classic rock, urban/dance, and many other radio formats, likens the evolution of satellite radio to broadcasting's big metamorphosis from AM to FM dominance.

In the late 1960s, he explains, AM was ignoring the explosion of new music being made. Stations sometimes played big hits by Jimi Hendrix or Santana late at night, but their outdated-sounding jocks didn't "get" the music [^] which sounded terrible anyway, because it was meant to be heard in stereo. "FM came in and embraced these artists," Mr. Abrams recalls. "Gave them their own format. Secondly, back then AMs were running 18 minutes of commercials an hour and choking people.

"It's the same scenario now, except FM is the culprit," he says. "FMs are not part of the new technological retooling that's happening with the Internet, cellphone, digital, Palm Pilot era. Just like FM took advantage of all of AM's vulnerabilities, [satellite radio] is taking advantage of all of FM's vulnerabilities."

So does that mean that 30-40 years from now satellite radio will be the standard and we'll all hate that, too? Oh, wait, 30-40 years from now, Earth might not be inhabitable by humans so the state of radio and entertainment won't really matter, will it?  8:22:44 AM      comment   

Summer Reading

My summer reading so far has consisted of Straight Man by Richard Russo, half of The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen (I passed it to a friend before I could finish it but I'll definitely read the rest as soon as I get it back), and The Lecturer's Tale by James Hynes. All are somehow related to academia and I'm loving them -- great hilarity derives from mocking ivory tower theorists and their largely petty problems. I do wonder how these things play to people who haven't been through the academic ringer (grad school in the humanities, mostly is what I'm thinking here). Have you read any of these books? Any thoughts?

What are you reading this summer?  8:09:58 AM      comment   

Books: Commodity or Art Object?

being a non-profit "allows us to do all kinds of things other publishers would think was crazy," but then goes on to add, "such as keeping a book in print forever!"

Yeah, what a crazy idea! I mean, I'm not wild about the idea of books as art objects (the idea seems to play too well with the whole romantic notion of "literature" and author as god/genius, which I don't really think helps anyone), but it's sad to see books reduced to commodities as well. Can't there be a middle ground? And can't we publish on demand, by now, so no book ever has to go out of print, ever again? Still waiting for Eldred to win and for us to get a Napster for books.  7:56:49 AM      comment   

Don't I Wish

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You will move mountains today. Get involved in competitive sports or join a fitness club. Your love of excitement and adventure will lead to interesting events and new friendships. 5 stars

It is a gorgeous morning here in the middle of the middle of the North American continent. Thing is, there are no mountains to move. I know, it's a metaphor, and metaphorical mountains I'm sure we've all got plenty of. Time to get a-movin'....  7:42:22 AM      comment   

Moving from Radio to MT

11:02:27 PM      comment   

categories: meta-blogging

The Business of America Is...

Republicans loved to snipe at Clinton and they did everything they could think of to defame him and get him out of office. The dirtiest dirt they seemed able to find on him, though (at least prior to the Monica thing, which, really is debatable as far as political merit is concerned), was Whitewater. And as Krugman notes:

Oh, and Harken's fake profits were several dozen times as large as the Whitewater land deal [~] though only about one-seventh the cost of the Whitewater investigation.

So basically, if Clinton would have been caught doing what Georgie has done, Clinton would have been impeached. Tell me again why anyone listens to Shrub?

On a related note, in Shocked by Scandals? These are Nothing!, Daniel Akst offers a concise speedboat ride through the history of American business corruption to show that it's nothing new. The reminder is great, and Akst comes to an interesting conclusion:

the idea that regulators or auditors can protect us from our own excesses is absurd. The point is not that corruption is our natural state, or that capitalism will always be crooked. It's caveat emptor. Let the buyer [~] and voter [~] beware. Don't invest in companies with no real businesses. Don't vote for politicians who won't deliver some decent regulation. Don't expect to become rich overnight. Maybe most important, don't forget history.

Maybe so. In a way I agree -- corruption certainly doesn't have to be our "natural" state. However, I'm less sanguine about the possibility that capitalism won't always be crooked. So long as profit is the only value, capitalism will be crooked. Akst is correct that no amount of regulation will stop the corruption of capitalism, because when regulations get tight enough to stop the corruption, we won't have capitalism anymore because profit will no longer be a value in itself. Put that in your pipe and smoke it a while: What would the world be like without the profit motive? Blasphemy!   11:00:39 PM      comment   

The End of the World As We Know It

Earth's population will be forced to colonise two planets within 50 years if natural resources continue to be exploited at the current rate. ... The WWF report shames the US for placing the greatest pressure on the environment. It found the average US resident consumes almost double the resources as that of a UK citizen and more than 24 times that of some Africans.

But this is America, dammit! We have a right to consume more per capita than any other nation on the planet and then declare that global warming is a hoax!

This is truly scary stuff. And note: if you're 35 or younger (which I am), the end of the world could easily come in your lifetime,, so it's not like we can afford to remain unconcerned about this. (The pessimist in me predicts the U.S. media will hardly cover this. Yes? No?) [via DayPop]   10:59:41 PM      comment   

Why We're So Hated

I was in Guatemala when the CIA was preparing its attack on the Arbenz government [in 1954]. Arbenz, who was a democratically elected president, mildly socialist. His state had no revenues; its biggest income maker was United Fruit Company. So Arbenz put the tiniest of taxes on bananas, and Henry Cabot Lodge got up in the Senate and said the Communists have taken over Guatemala and we must act. He got to Eisenhower, who sent in the CIA, and they overthrew the government. We installed a military dictator, and there's been nothing but bloodshed ever since.

Now, if I were a Guatemalan and I had the means to drop something on somebody in Washington, or anywhere Americans were, I would be tempted to do it. Especially if I had lost my entire family and seen my country blown to bits because United Fruit didn't want to pay taxes. Now, that's the way we operate. And that's why we got to be so hated.

Why isn't this in the news? Why isn't this part of the Congressional debate about a proper and fair response to the 9-11 attacks and to dealing with "terror" in the world? Why is "terror" only what we, the U.S., don't like?

On a somewhat related note, Matt Welch ponders whether the moratorium on Bush-bashing is over, and concludes that, yes, Viriginia, it just might be. We can only hope.   10:58:44 PM      comment