®

Notebook entry, July 31, 2000

An excellent cover story this week from Business Week's August 7th, 2000 issue titled:" The Politics of Prosperity."  It seems that the past eight years under a democratic stewardship has created such a wealthy upper and middle class that some financial consultants are having difficultly finding the right strategy for their clients. To quote one such financial consultant from Lakewood, Ohio, one, C. Joseph Iacobucci, Business Week may have just hit upon the common denominator for the upcoming election as what to do with the surplus that has descended upon Washington: "There's so much tax money because of the great economy, we should use part of it to help people who are less well off." p.96 The article has created a stir because George Will on ABC This Week on Sunday, July 31, 00 had to defend the republican position on wealth saying that the wealthy are the one's who take all the risks and create more jobs which, in turn, creates more wealth..  Buffalo droppings. It was created on the backs of good working people who don't complain and pay their fair share of taxes, not a tribe of cheapskates who have legions of tax accountants to avoid paying any taxes.

Today is the opening of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia where it is expected that they will present an inclusive and extensive umbrella of "compassionate conservatism."  The opening of the convention was greeted by a impromptu parade of about 5,000 poor people that had no permit.  What is happening is that the people who have not benefited from the wealth creation are noticing the gap is widening between them and those that have the resources.  And they are beginning to become upset at the difference and are becoming organized.  I call this human behavior, Resource Differential Intolerance ratio.  The wider the gap, the more the reaction of intolerance.  See my "Capitalism" essay for more detail. 

This is not the French Revolution.  There will be no revolution in the streets because conditions are not that bad -- yet.  But policy makers had better beware that people are beginning to take to the street because of the wealth gap.

Notebook entry, July 24, 2000

Another busy week at my day job.  22 hours of overtime for the two week period.  The money is good, but it takes me away from the web site and these notebook entries.  Another casualty of work is that it also reduces my time on the book.  John Martin, my editor, finished the major edit of the book around the middle of May, and I just finished going over his work this week.  I've added new entries and I have to double check on the book citations, and then I except to give John the final draft by the middle of August.  Since no one is knocking on my door to publish a book or ask me for my advice lately, we have decided to publish electronically first and see what reaction occurs.

Notebook entry, July 13, 2000

We have some great news to share.  A story by Rick Weiss of The Washington Post tells us that the vast majority of cancers are caused not by inherited defects in people's genes, but by environmental and behavioral factors.  Weiss tells us of the massive study done with 89,576 twins in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.  For every individual who had a cancer, the team that conducted the study, checked whether his or her twin ever had the same kind of cancer.  The difference between the identical and nonidentical twins gave a measure of the extent to which genes were to blame for each kind of cancer. Paul Lichtenstein of the Karolinska Insitute in Stockholm, who led the study said: "Environmental factors are more important than gene factors, and that's important to remember, especially since everyone thinks that everything is solved now that we have the human genome in our computers."

I think that the methodology and results are on solid ground and perhaps, we should try this method to shoot holes in such nonsensical bullshit as race and intelligence, or crime and race studies.  Where are the twin studies for these factors?.  What I know we will find is that environment -- that is what a human is born into and adapts as a child and into young adulthood is the dominate factor in determining crime and conduct disorders than the makeup of the genome.  That is the impact of today's study about cancer and twins.

Notebook entry, July 10, 2000

The Denver area is in the middle of a heat wave which is now in its 15th day of temperatures over 90 degrees. I am out there every day and the heat is affecting my ability to think straight.  Part of my problem is that I have been given new and additional assignments to perform in the same eight hour day that I had before June 10, 2000, but I am expected to perform them in the same eight hour day as before.  It is not working, and my learning disabilities and the heat are combining to create some bad performance days on my part.  In other words, I am making mistakes that are causing people to call in to the office and complain.  

The problems could be solved if I were allowed time to learn the new assignments properly, but the boss is bitch who wants to earn the big bucks on the backs of the workers.  One does that my increasing the speed of the assembly line, and damn if anyone gets hurt, or can't keep up. And the sound of the whip cracks the air even harder.

Notebook entry, July 4, 2000

Happy American Independency day.  The results from Sunday's Mexican vote are in and it was an upset.  The "Marlboro Man" kicked out the ruling PRI party after 71 years of control.  That was the easy part.  You don't change 71 years of cronyism and corruption overnight, and Vincente Fox, and Mexico will find themselves in a very difficult bind.  I'm not predicting violence, or civil war, but what I will predict is that the entrenched bureaucracies will only transform and evolve into another form of cronyism.  Out goes the old cronyism, to be replaced by the new cronyism.  I'm basing this on the male dominated, "Macho" Mexico culture that permeates the country.  The only way for this to change is to have greater economic development for all and not just for the dominate ethnic groups.  In particular, I'm discussing  economic opportunities for the female to influence male dominance.  And that, I fear, will take a long time to change.  Maybe not; as the internet is quickly transforming the American economic landscape, perhaps the same could happen in Mexico. There is always hope.