in the middle of harry shearer’s movie there’s a description of the economics behind the canal they call Mr Go down thair in na-or-lins (New Orleans) and it kudda bin the exact same description of the mortgage backed securities that torpedoed the global economy and it got me to thinkin that maybe it’s not about systemic failure at all but an intrinsic part of our shared humanity.
Ya see this canal was supposed to cut through the rangy way the Mississippi Delta wiggles out to the Gulf and chop a whole buncha nautical miles + time for the barges floatin in an outta there. Trouble is they, the Army Corps of Engineers that iz, hafta dredge it like constantly since it’s dug into soft bottom wet lands that don’t necessarily like to hold their shape. Well, it turns out, it also kinda lets in a whole bunch of salt water too, that kinda kills off the cypress trees that kinda hold the wetlands together that kinda act as a naturally absorbent barrier to the destructive forces of all them hurricanes they have down there ~ but I digress.
What got me going was this statement: (and I paraphrase) “the cost of the canal was spread out among a broad base while the profits accrued to only a few and at the same time all the risks were hidden” ~ which sounded like an exact description of these brilliant financial instruments we all bin hearing so much about since the Fall of ’08.
Now how is it that a nearly identical description could be so fitting for two separately distinct human endeavors? We all know about the greed on Wall Street especially after Michael Douglas told how good it is and all, and systemic failures, and lack of oversight, and the complexities of the modern global economy, and federal jurisdictions vs local control, etc. ~ BUT ~ i wonder now if they aint sum thin a lot more basic and a whole lot less sinister connected with this whole bizzyness and the nature of human creativity?
What I am tryin to get at is this: what if there were some innate flaws in the human psyche that also allows for us to become more “civilized”? And if so maybe we are destine to always be the victims of the unintended consequences of our collective “improvements” to the point where somehow some way it can make perfect sense to go ahead and destroy the village in order to save it?
What I am tryin to get at is this: what if there were some innate flaws in the human psyche that also allows for us to become more “civilized”? And if so maybe we are destine to always be the victims of the unintended consequences of our collective “improvements” to the point where somehow some way it can make perfect sense to go ahead and destroy the village in order to save it?
ok so does this work ?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. I think greed is tied into our innate will to survive. And we'll do all sorts of things - both good and bad - in order to survive. So I think on the good side of survival/greed, we create stuff that may serve the purpose of the greater good. But, when the motivation is tainted, so will the output, ultimately.
ReplyDeleteDoes that make a lick of sense?
eye M licken it
ReplyDeleteYa know LB eye like your comet and it kinda gets at where I am wandering. Swamiji says the elements are balancing. U’ve heard it b 4 = earth water air fire. There is something we sense you N I that is beyond words thoughts and expression as the old saying goes.
ReplyDeleteOccult means hidden from the eye. Mysticism means communion with the ultimate. Magical means paranormal or supernatural. I guess I am lookin for the sweet spot some where in between these 3.