A Hot Society Requires a High Degree of Inequity - Viva La Difference

“So what is an Africore?” I ask.  “It’s a short latte with less milk,” the barista tells me. As Italian opera plays in the background.  I say. “I’ll have one.” . And there is a man just inside the doorway in a fedora hat. He might have been Fellini. But he was not. If he had been he would have been sitting at his regular table in the far back corner in the dark. The man pearling away says that his yarn is pure silk. He has hanks of pink, navy blue and silver. I decide to go parroting? Why not? It’s just a small walk away to the park - or “a short row” as Fellini would have said.

The set of all pink and blue things constitute this group, the ‘infantile’, but each member of the set must be one or the other of these two colors and not any others.

I was neither able to spot nor to hear any parrots up in the trees at the park. Marilyn and Joe had got married at St Peter and Paul’s across the street. I could see them coming down the steps. She was wearing white. He gave a big grin and doffed his hat to the crowd. No one wears hats any more – just caps - mostly baseball - Joe only wore one at work or when he drove a tractor which I don't know that he ever did.

The multitude needs a political project to bring it into existence – Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri – Multitude: war and democracy in the age of empire, 2004 p212

Between 1990 and 2007 the top 5% of New York City income earners boosted their share of the city’s income from 30% to 58%. During the same period the median average wage dropped 8.6%. The bottom half of the city’s income earners claim less than 8% of the city’s annual income earned.

A hot society draws energy from differences within its own system; it uses gaps in wealth and power to extract as much work as possible. Cold communities are egalitarian; hot social structures are class societies – J G Merquior – From Prague to Paris, 1986 p69

How many times have I now used the word ‘ubiquitous’ today? Why not use ‘plenipotentiary’ occasionally.

Drive go
Go eat
Chew go


Sit go
Go go
Gone

Labor that produces an immaterial good… is fundamentally a performance: the product is the act itself – Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri – Multitude: war and democracy in the age of empire, 2004 p200

Unemployment in the nation’s lowest income decile (less than $12,500) hovers at 29.4%. The second-lowest decile (income between 12,500 and 20,000) is 20.1% and for those with incomes between $20,000 and $30,000 unemployment is 14.9%.

Deprivation… may breed anger, indignation, and antagonism, but revolt arises only on the basis of wealth, that is, a surplus of intelligence, experience, knowledge and desire – Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri – Multitude: war and democracy in the age of empire, 2004 p212

The cost of corn and soybeans represents 10% of the total US food costs. In the last six months the price of corn has doubled from $3.50 to $7.00. The increasing demand for corn for ethanol production is a major cause of these price increases.

One discharges fancy homunculi form one’s scheme by organizing armies of such idiots to do the same work – Daniel Dennett – Brainstormes, 1978


The bricolelur is no
     Engineer
     Au contrair

The last man, when he says farewell to the cold, exhausted sun, will consult his watch in order to know the exact time of his death – Machado De Assis – Epitaph of a Small Winner, 1952 p109

It takes a net gain of 150,000 new jobs a month just to accommodate the growth in the size of the working age US population – any thing less means an increase in unemployment. And yet last month the creation of only 36,000 new jobs resulted in a decrease in reported unemployment of 0.4%. This drop in unemployment was accomplished by the withdrawal of 504,000 people considered to be “in” the labor force. The participation rate of US employment (the percentage of eligible workers actually working) is 60.4%

The glory of war falls short of its pathos – Herman Melville – Battle-pieces and Aspect of the War, 2001p242