Growth is Good. We Need More People. We Need More Goods.There Was Once Joy In It

Traildog was able to join me for coffee yesterday. We walked down to the river. The current was swift. The days warm enough for him to join me are diminishing quickly. Walk on the water. Walk on the water. No, no - I resisted the temptation. We turned around and went back along Main Street.

Historical figures… speak as they ought to have, rather than as they probably did – William H Gass – A Temple of Texts, 2006 p214

Money is the measurement of our unhappiness and discontent. We can’t count all the unfilled wishes but we can count economic transactions which we equate with fulfilled wishes. Each fulfilled wish is one less unfulfilled wish but also contributes to the creation of ten more. Money is the source of discontent. Discontent is the stimulus for consumption. Consumption leads to growth. Growth is good, or so I have been told. We need more people. We need more goods.

The infinity of wishes lead but to disappointment. All the discoveries which have yet been made have multiplied little but existence – Lord Byron – Selected Letters and Journals – 1821

And David has got that rhythm - Cha-Chinka, Cha-Chinka, Cha-Chinka as he mixed a Martini for the little lady. When she had come in she had asked “Where’s the little girls’ room?” “Right there” David pointed, “Right next to the big girls’ room.” “I probably qualify for the big girls’ room,” she replies and waddles off confused. We guide her towards the door on the right. David is jiggling the door handle. She has locked herself in, he tells me. It was an accident, she protested. He instructs her to slide the latch. “I won’t ever use your bathroom again”, she said as she emerged. She sits down at the bar. “I distinctively remember having said a twist”, she said pointing to her Martini with two olives on a toothpick, Dave offers to make her another but she is happy when replaces the olives with a twist of lemon. I don’t think that this is her first Martini today. You do not never listen. You talk, talk, talk girl. She say this and she says that because, because. No he like you but he…

Our self-esteem is apt to be based on the hypothetical great act we have never had occasion to perform – Edith Wharton – The Touchstone p48

The police clash with

            Demonstrators

As if two gangs met

            To rumble

The Rabbits and the Guards

Let the games begin

And cameras zoom overhead

            The crowd roars

Welded batons - bare skulls

            Crunch; tear gas canisters

            Fly

Kevlar armor - t-shirts

            With slogans

Black Marias await

            Rip down the tents

            Haul the soggy bedrolls

                        Away

The winner, there was never

            Any doubt

The Christians vs the Lions

But the side willing to suffer

            Will endure

To come back again

            And again

The winner is always the one

Who has the least to lose

            And the most to gain

The were not innocent of sex, of course, but of sensuality – William H Gass – A Temple of Texts, 2006 p229

My workout routine – off to the gym – now the YMCA is taking it over – their business plan is to increase cash flow by installing more fancy machines – not needed I proclaim – but how much more would you pay if you had access to …? – my needs are simple, I exclaim to no avail – to walk, to run, to bicycle and to swim – but the casino money is down and the municipality wants to divert some of those funds to meet its deficits – member dues is not even enough to pay for its staff.  I have gotten used to this routine (two miles walk, three miles on the bike – riding through a redwood forest; half a mile running – on a machine as my knee can’t endure the stress of the actual act, and a quarter mile in the pool). Three times a week.  So it's time to move on. I’m getting anxious to get back on the road. Time to start a new routine. How much am I willing to pay? That's a question for the 1%.  How much can I afford to pay? That’s my question.

Opinions on special subjects need not be made articles of faith – Erasmus

To him who haveth not, no one giveth anything

God had thought He was omnipotent until He began to write – William H Gass – A Temple of Texts, 2006 p358

Genocide can lead to a global cooling – The European conquest that decimated America’s native peoples left large areas of cleared land untended. The resulting re-forestation pulled tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and may have caused the global climate change known as the “Little Ice Age”.

Always consult many authorities; they will infect you with suspicion – a desirable service – William H Gass – A Temple of Texts, 2006 p106

Doctors treat patients

            In luxury hotels

Politicians garner votes

            With promissory notes

Police corral the meek

            Who play hide and seek

The wealthy want more

            And more with no remorse

Scientific management

            At its best

How can you correlate

An expanding Universe

            With economic growth?

There will be a Noble Prize

            In economics in it

Dole out bonuses to

            The technocrats

Hurrah!

We like to have victims, but without putting ourselves clearly in the wrong: we want them to live – Marcel Proust – Tine Regained p362

I collect old photographs

            Black & white

Of children playing

Who much later in

            Life will experience

Horrible deaths

Evidence

            That in spite of the misery

            There was once some  joy

You can expect the unexpected… but you cannot know what it is going to be – Guy Davenport – The Hunter Graacchus, 1996  p302