~ ————/Note 1: Because symbols and pictures can sometimes be more direct than words, I have undertaken to sketch some thoughts and observations of the current state of dire affairs between Big Business, big government, small politics, and the beleaguered citizen (formerly “a person with equal rights”). Hopefully over time my rough art will improve. […]
ECON 001 ~ The (In)Visible Hand($) Read More »
(From Esoterism & Symbol, written in 1947 by R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz1) When one beholds the emotional reactions of the animal—envy, hate, fidelity, love, joy, sadness, devotion to his master to the point of self-denial—one says that an animal sometimes seems human. This is a mistake: it is man who is still an animal. All
The Mentality of Merchants Read More »
(Lessons from the “GULF”1 between theory and practice; between words-then and words-now; between seeing and not seeing; between astute and stupid; between talking sense and talking points; between …; between …; between … . Oh! Déjà vu!) Yes, we get it.2 Oh! how WE GET IT! WE GET that deregulation exacerbates greed, corruption, cutting corners,
Corporations—those bastions of hierarchy, planned economy, command-and-control, short-term rationalizing, meritorious disparity, creative accounting, externalized costs/internalized profits, and enforced consensus—ARE emphatically (you will be pleased to know) none of the above. They have changed. Transformed completely. They now believe in transparency, in democracy, and in YOU, the free consumer. YOU dictate what they produce (via China,
Free Agents, One and All ! Read More »
After nearly four centuries of Republican government, Rome began its century-long descent toward tyranny1 beginning about 133 BC with the murder of the Gracchus brothers.2 Perhaps the chief facilitator of that descent was the conservative/traditionalist group of elites in the Roman Senate—a group that came to be dubbed the optimates (“the best”).3 They claimed to
Beware the Optimates! Read More »
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (New Testament Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13, “No servant …”) These words were spoken nigh 2,000 years ago, and perhaps never
A Proliferation of Masters Read More »
—▪ that unregulated competition destroys competition.—▪ that mergers and acquisitions are mere façades of growth.—▪ that too-big-to-fail SHOULD MEAN too-big-to-be!—▪ that short-term profit mentality does not produce long-term productivity.—▪ that “opposites attract the same lobbyists.” (So whether conservative, liberal, Republican, or Democrat, the concessions and catering to power-brokers descends the same beaten path.)—▪ that unregulated
How Long Till We Get It??! Read More »