Republican “tax reform” theatrics have worn thin over many months of waiting, but I still prefer a more theatrical title. “A tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing” rings true. Four centuries later, Shakespeare’s MacBeth is a better description of the matter than any coming out of Washington, DC.
Tag: money
How the Work Week Encourages Short-Term Thinking
Problems can’t be left behind in one week. They will follow us to the next. This is surprising to some people, but it shouldn’t be. By dividing our lives into these discrete chunks called “work-weeks”, we can too easily shuffle away “the old units” down the memory hole.
5 Ways Travel Can Change Your Education
You may get several higher educations, read thousands of books and attend hundreds of workshops, but if you never leave your city or country, you will never understand the real world. There are too many things that are not described in the books, and there are even more things that are described from the author’s point of you.
This Halloween, Celebrate the Commercialization of Sweetness and Surprise
Have you ever noticed how no one complains about the commercialization of Halloween? Halloween is one of the most honest, self-aware holidays. It knows it’s about costumes, candy, parties, and fun scares. It knows money will be involved. And yet you won’t find too many people who don’t like Halloween.
Love Is Powerless
The lure of domination lurks wherever we hold the keys. And there isn’t much self-actualization going on in a relationship between unequals. If you really want to see someone come alive and become more “themself” – in other words, if you want to love them – you’re going to have to give up the keys. You have to surrender your power.
Chaotic Order
I’ve already mentioned that too much chaos AND too much order are both deadly. But here’s another observation: too much order– specifically too much government (which I consider to be any external governance at all)– becomes deadly because it creates too much chaos for individuals.
Words Poorly Used #113 — Appropriation
Don’t we humans make a distinction between appropriation and misappropriation? In the sense of legislation, it means adding money to an enactment, sufficient to pay for the enactment or to establish a spending target.
Rookies
Decades ago, it was common wisdom that the Hunt Brothers could not go broke if they threw away hundred dollar bills as fast as they could pick them up and toss them. It was thought to be an NP-Hard problem. But the Hunt Brothers did figure out how to do it.
Public Schools Were Designed to Indoctrinate Immigrants
The myth we have been told about the history of American public schooling as a national treasure that nurtures our democracy is untrue. The reality is that 19th-century politicians and citizens were fearful of and overwhelmed by rapid societal change, as thousands of immigrants streamed into American cities in the mid-1800s.
The Danger and Usefulness of Labels
It’s better to eschew labels altogether until you have a lot of clear self-knowledge. When you don’t, they stymie the process of getting it and lure you into thinking the label provides meaning. It doesn’t.