Discount Present Value - Chop Down the Trees

It’s a cold morning – but the water doesn’t seem to have frozen in the puddles – the condensation of the tail-pipe exhaust obscures the vision in the real-view mirror – perfect ice crystals form on the front windshield – I though about photographing the squirrel nests up in the bare trees – Joe had observed last week that there were a lot of them. But I did not. Obama’s infrastructure money is getting spent – there are red dots on all the trees within fifty feet of the street. Squirrels don’t build up there. Except for the ones that are too big to haul away at a profit and not wanted for their timber – there are still a few trees (but not very many) that do not have a red dot spray painted on their trunks. Such is the case when private enterprise go on welfare (and of course it never shies away from this – it just doesn’t want to share any of it, out of philosophical principles, of course).


This is ECONOMICS: Discounted present value represents the value to present people derived from contemplating the welfare of future people. It does not reflect the welfare of future people themselves, or even our estimate of their welfare. Rather it reflects how much we care about future people compared to ourselves – Herman E Daly – For the Common Good., 1989 p154 And it is important to understand that ‘Homo Economicus” for it is he who doing this contemplation and he has neither compassion nor malevolence, just greed and self-interest. Implicit in discounting is the assumption that the future will automatically be better than the present due to growth in productivity. Hence we can convert future production into current wealth. The more deeply we discount the future better off we all are now.

It is not that groups bring out anything new in people; it is just that they satisfy the deep-seated exotic longings that people constantly carry around unconsciously – Ernest Becker – The Denial of Death, 1973 p132

We know nothing about the innate attributes of man because no example of an isolated man has been observed – man only exists in collectives called societies. Just as we cannot describe language without using language, we cannot define man without the attributes of society.

The individualistic model of economic theory leads to advocating policies that weaken existing patterns of social relationships – Herman E Daly – For the Common Good., 1989 p163

Got my Rodeo Cheeseburger
I’m a pal of the man behind
     The counter
I don’t have to say a word
But that would be impolite
Doing OK? Tis better to be OK than not
     I’m OK. That’s right
Out of the microwave and into a
     Brown paper bag
And I walk out the door

People create the reality they need in order to discover themselves – Ernest Becker – The Denial of Death, 1973 p158

Nothing has been more malicious to the meaningful life of man than his knowledge of economics (chramatistics) – it has been a Pandora’s box

In the modern world, presentation counts for more than substance. The less you do, the greater may be the impact – Richard Dorment – New York Review of Books (Oct 22, 2009) p14

Chermatistics is a branch of political economy relating to the manipulation of property and wealth, so to maximize short-term monetary exchange value to the owner

Kiekegaard had no actual idea of what ‘healthy’ is. But he knew what it was not: it was not normal adjustment – anything but that – Ernest Becker – The Denial of Death, 1973 p86

Oikonomics is the management of the household so as to increase its use vale to all members of the household over the long run

A case can be made that the dominance of neo-classical economic theory, the great achievement of the discipline, has had a deleterious effect, working against true understanding of the human situation and misdirecting human efforts – Herman E Daly – For the Common Good., 1989 p129

No discipline is as monomaniacal as economics and all disciplines are inclined to be monomaniacal

And does not habit infallibly lead to professional indifference – Emile Gaboriau – Monsieur Lecoq, 1975 p18

That which you dismiss you must first take seriously

Greenday and
     Arbor Day
Blue skies harbor
     Blackbirds
Pink lips slip away
     In the dark
     Sink ships
Whiteknights fade
     Into daylight
Yield to vermilion
A golden harvest
     Of golden grains


Red light
Green light
Blue light
Hot date
     Tonight
Wish upon a star
      If you might

Wall Street is dedicated to chrematistics of the purest kind. The modern world is full of chrematistics – Herman E Daly – For the Common Good., 1989 p138

From THE JOURNALS – San Francisco, California - March 2004

It’s 8:45 and it’s raining. I shall go to the office when the weather permits. For now it’s a refill for my empty coffee cup and a buttered toasted sesame seed bagel. I flashed my 101 Building pass at the Muni driver again today. She said “what’s that sir?” “Oh, wrong pass,” I replied. “I do have the correct one here”, I assured her and pulled out my March Muni Fast Pass and took a seat for the ride downtown. I am now a single digit midget. As of today I have less than ten days left in my work career. It is good to make irrevocable decisions – death is irrevocable. The last time that I had been short timer was in Vietnam, a half a world away, half a lifetime away. I started keeping a short timers calendar before I even arrived. On the bulletin board behind my desk I had paper cut outs of airplanes for each member of the unit. Each was on the tarmac waiting to take off. Gradually one by one they left. I was medi-vaced out long before my term was up. I jumped to the head of the line and I left. So long suckers!

The Heisenberg principle is a universal - you cannot both trace and map

A entirely necessary enemy, the furniture we are constantly rearranging - Giles Deleuze – Thousand Plateaus

It’s a burger and a beer day, cool & windy. Paddy is behind the bar. The ongoing discussion is about Timothy McVae and John Nichols and Oklahoma City of course. An ambulance driver has been shot three times in the chest and there is a fire and explosion a couple of blocks from Dave’s house back in Kansas City. Two bodies are found when the fire died down. One of the bodies was identified as a man who was questioned in the investigation of the death of the six fireman in an explosion at the construction site down the hill. Dave’s house still has cracks in the plaster from that even. It is a family dining experience.

One needs to learn how to be wrong

Coming and going rather then starting and finishing - Giles Deleuze – Thousand Plateaus

I’m sitting here in a blah mood, not wanting to focus my eyes, mind, ears and what ever else it is that makes sense out there in the world. To write is to overcome inertia. Cindi knits quietly, hurrah. Linda drops a pat of butter on the floor. I have yet to refocus. I am defocusing and then struggling to get back into focus. It seems to be my thing this morning…here…I go…again. What did you say? Your mind seems to be somewhere else this morning Fred! No, not really!