This nation of tanned, toned, comatose vegetables is choosing to cash in its chips and spend them on the VIP Cabana at the pool, where they can be fed $10 soy-chai-mocha-lattes by legions of McVassals — instead of forging the path towards a better tomorrow.
All across the United States, large and small cities are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operations. Detroit, I read a few days ago, may close all of its branches and Denver half of its own: decisions that will undoubtedly put hundreds of its employees out of work. When you count the families all over this country who don’t have computers or can’t afford Internet connections and rely on the ones in libraries to look for jobs, the consequences will be even more dire.
A Country Without Libraries by Charles Simic (via infoneer-pulse)
This is a tragedy and a travesty. The rate at which America continues to devalue literacy and education as a whole is staggering.
(via infoneer-pulse)
Source: nybooks.com
You Have the Power to Choose Prosperity
I think it would be fair to say that looking to the venerable Harvard Business Review for existential reflection will generally leave one unsatisfied. However, this piece by Umair Haque deserves a careful read for his thoughtful commentary on what he posits to be the real root of America’s economic malaise:
This Great Stagnation? It might not just be about greedy bankers, hollow politicians, and glad-handing spin-doctors. Instead, its roots might have a great deal to do with us — and the consumption and investment choices we make, every moment of every day.
If we were to borrow from the Ancient Greeks, and separate life into thoughtfulness and primal urges, the American economy would resemble a massive Bacchanalian orgy.
This is one of the most thought-provoking essays I’ve read in some time.
Barbara Ehrenreich does a wonderful job in this talk, aided by the fine folks at RSAnimate, explaining the damaging effects of magical thinking.
We are each finite and fragile physical beings. How much ‘stuff’ – fast foods, TV commercials, large cars, new gadgets, and latest fashions – can we stuff into ourselves without deranging our own psychological well-being?
Source: project-syndicate.org
Cory Doctorow’s Makers becomes more fact and less fiction every day.
Mistaking beauty for truth in science and economics
… the economy is a complex system of interacting individuals — and these individuals themselves are complex systems. Neoclassical economics radically oversimplifies both the individuals and the system — and gets a lot of mileage by doing that…
Source: 3quarksdaily.com
