friday oct. 1--what is 'janitor'?

monday oct. 4--what is cops? whatcha gonna do?

tuesday oct. 5--who is mary martin? as peter pan

wednesday oct. 6--who is copernicus?

thursday oct. 7--what are seals? they almost got me to guess dolphin, but i didn't bite. i don't think dolphin young are called 'pups'. or that dolphin diet could result in such a high-fat milk.

friday oct. 8--Who is James Patterson? i don't read that stuff too much.

reprinted from a spontaneous rant on the sports frog.

a point about the discipline of economics. as i progressed into my intensive reading program, i focused on the great depression of the 1930s. i read a lot of the descriptions and analyses of this period.

i have read a lot of history. for about a decade i was fixated on the civil war, and i read lots of civil war books. and even 150 years later, there is plenty of informed disagreement over root causes, motives of individuals and large segments of the population, and so forth. you can get a spirited debate among legit lincoln scholars about his true feelings about race and black people, what he really meant to achieve with the emancipation proclamation.

despite these differences of opinion, disagreement over the 'whys' and somethimes the 'hows', historians are readily able to agree on the 'whats'. that lee brought an army of 38,000 to antietam creek on september 17th, 1862, and faced a union force led by mcclelland of 75,000. it may take a few years or decades for the 'whats' of history to be established, but the bare facts are easily discoverable and agreed upon by the experts.

not economics, though.

80 years later, economists don't agree on the whys and hows, they don't even agree on the whats. as a simple example, the standard history i learned and most americans believe is that president hoover was governed by a philosophy of 'laizze faire', and steadfastly avoided government intervention in the capital and labour markets. this 'fact' is repeated in major economic textbooks and by serious, accomplished, even prize winning economists.

and it is absolutely false.

the first time i read an accurate account of hoover's interventions (in his vain attempts to stem the slide into economic depression), i thought it must be bs propaganda. just a few minutes of internet search, even on the wiki, led to primary documentation of the blatantly interventionist (and even keynesian) actions of hoover.

mostly in newspapers.

many ideas, theories, principles, whatever of economics don't even rest upon a foundation of basic historic facts. major schools of economics do not even agree on the simplist events of the past.

economics, as practiced and promoted in recent decades, is incredibly lacking in both scientific and even factual or logical rigor. not only is modern economics far from a hard science, (just cause they use a lot of fancy math, don't be fooled), the field is far behind the social sciences of history, politics, psychology and even sociology.

clausewitz famously described warfare as the continuation of politics by other means. the same can be said for economics; and the cleveing of economics and political philosopy sometime in the 20th century was a disservice to attempting to understand economic behavior of individual humans and large societies and nations.

i prefer a different description. to paraphrase judge roy bean, in this day and age, economics is nothing more than the (soiled, disreputable) handmaiden of politics.

slolz, i'm with you. i really fucking hate this field too. but i am too stubborn to quit trying to understand it. and when i dig deep enough, there is plenty that i don't hate.


eta: like karl marx. i don't think much of his solution, but the dude sure understood capitalism, specially the downsides. his work is brilliant and wonderful. and woefully misunderstood, mangled, and misused.

(that is from something, right?)

from the swamp:

i don't want to be too tedious. nor do i want some recent events to pass completely without comment. three to be specific.

the whitewash that is goldman sach's slap on the wrist for a major securities crime. no admission of wrongdoing. a fine that looks huge in the headlines, but amounts to only 3% of the pool of bonuses they paid last year. and, of course, no personal responsibility of the individuals who committed the crimes.

the worse whitewash of the latest round of aig crimes exposed. bigger headline fine. but, and this is just so obscenely silly, the $725 million fine paid to the sec will be effectively paid by the owners of aig--the american taxpayer. ditto on the lack of personal accountability of anyone.

finally, wacovia. money laundering. drug money from mexican criminals, cleansed for a profit through this bank. how many deaths can be laid directly at the feet of this crime? a fine and a promise to never do it again. why is this bank still in business? at least, make them change the signs to wells fargo (who owns and controls wacovia) and make a big show about how such criminality will not be tolerated.

no, not even empty gestures. this is just routine in the united states of america. major, significant crimes are barely paid lip service. this is embarrassing. such a state of affairs is, i believe, strongly indicative of how incredibly corrupt and amoral our government has become.

it has not always been like this. no fucking way would this shit have flown as recently as 20 years ago. the fact that today it is no big deal is ominous. ominous for our immediate future.

i do not know how you can reach any other conclusion if you think it through. please don't take my word for it, but at least consider these are important events, even though abc news devotes but a couple of minutes to them.

this crap angers me beyond words. the state of our nation angers me beyond words. if there were anything i could do to alter our course significantly, i surely would. the only rational action i can see clear to take is to think, to prepare, and try to inform friends and family. and ignore the noise/propaganda/distractions, keep focused on what is real.

fuck the criminals running our country, and their enablers who are supposed to be arresting and jailing the bad guys. fuck em all.

darn right it is from something:
"The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason. There's also a negative side."
~hunter s. thompson, doctor of journalism

he also said, "It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die."

as usual, i will put the tickets up one month at a time, since my travel plans are usually last minute, and i like to use the seats when i am visiting cali.

tickets can be transferred electronically, instantly and securely, for $4, via the giants' web site. you can pay me with paypal, or if we have done business before, just send me a check.

the giants went to differential pricing this season, so i will list the literal face value for each date. face value varies between $36 and $59. price is always negotiable, up as well as down.

check the available games below. or the calendar to the right, and drop me an email. h.reynolds@earthlink.net

Meet the Mets
SOLD--Thursday July 15 7:15pm--SOLD
SOLD--Friday July 16 7:15pm--SOLD
SOLD--Saturday July 17 6:05pm--SOLD
SOLD--Sunday July 18 1:05pm--SOLD

Florida Marlins
SOLD--Monday July 26 7:15pm--$36--SOLD
SOLD--Tuesday July 27 7:15pm--$36--SOLD
SOLD--Wednesday July 28 4:05pm--$36--SOLD
SOLD--Thursday July 29 12:45pm--$36--SOLD

Dodgers
Friday July 30 7:15pm--$59
SOLD--Saturday July 31 1:10pm--$59--SOLD
SOLD--Sunday August 1 5:05pm--$59 note new start time--SOLD

Monday July 26--Who was Ernest Hemingway?

Tuesday July 27--Where are Luxembourg, or Liechtenstein?

Wednesday July 28--What is the Rosary?

Thursday July 29--Who are the Detroit Lions?

Friday July 30--

as usual, i will put the tickets up one month at a time, since my travel plans are usually last minute, and i like to use the seats when i am visiting cali.

tickets can be transferred electronically, instantly and securely, for $4, via the giants' web site. you can pay me with paypal, or if we have done business before, just send me a check.

the giants went to differential pricing this season, so i will list the literal face value for each date. face value varies between $36 and $59. price is always negotiable, up as well as down.

check the available games below. or the calendar to the right, and drop me an email. h.reynolds@earthlink.net

Oakland
SOLD--Friday June 11 7:15pm--SOLD
SOLD--Saturday June 12 6:05pm--$59--SOLD
SOLD--Sunday June 13 1:05pm--SOLD

Baltimore
SOLD--Monday June 14 7:15pm--$36--SOLD
SOLD--Tuesday June 15 7:15pm--$36--SOLD
SOLD--Wednesday June 16 12:45pm --$36--SOLD

Boston
SOLD--Friday June 25 7:15pm--$59--SOLD
Saturday June 26 4:10pm--$59
Sunday June 27 1:05pm--$59

Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles
SOLD--Monday June 28 7:15pm--$59--SOLD
Tuesday June 29 7:15pm--$59
Wednesday June 30 12:45pm --$59

monday june 28--What is 'Belladonna'? yes kids, that is where the drug atropine comes from. a drug i use every day. at work, it doesn't get you high.

tuesday june 29--What are the proton, and the photon?

wednesday june 30--Who is Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky?