VOR’s Turn: We Are Sitting Under A Volcano, Yet None Are So Blind As The Greedy; And The Institutionally Conditioned

Pundits on talk shows like to refer to the 24/7 news cycle, and “The Age of the Internet,” and imply that we are all incredibly well informed these days.

I often wonder if this is true.

Polls continue to indicate a frighteningly high level of ignorance in the U.S.; and my impression about mankind in general is that is that not only is our capacity for rational analysis decidedly limited, but we are not particularly well equipped to handle large volumes of data.

We can’t remember most of it, we’re not particularly good at connecting the dots, we are delusional when it comes to multi-tasking (we think we can, but mostly we can’t) and we find too much data confusing.

After that, personal agendas and vested interests enter the picture, and they tend to trump facts again and again. And then comes ideology, the curse of the thinking classes. I tend to think of ideologies in terms of religion or politics; but they also exist in many other forms, and, in particular, can be induced by institutions, whether corporate, or government, or academic, or religious. Whatever be the form, the end result – if an ideology - equates to intellectual blindness. It is a common ailment.

I’m thinking this way, both because I normally do; and because I’m struck by the fact that trends and developments of significance so often go unnoticed.

For, instance, in the late Eighties and Nineties, when I was working on such books as GAMES OF THE HANGMAN, RULES OF THE HUNT, and THE DEVIL’S FOOTPRINT, it was blindingly clear to me that terrorism would be used against the U.S. in the near future; and I said as much repeatedly.

Subject to some notable exceptions such as the remarkable Vaughn Forrest and his Congressional Task Force On Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, I was substantially ignored. After all, terrorism in those days belonged in the box marked ENTERTAINMENT; and anyway what could an author of fiction know that the security services did not?

I could answer that last question in detail, but since I’m merely trying to illustrate the point that we are disconcertingly bad at recognizing trends and developments of significance, I’ll move on.

The next obvious example was the Great Recession. I forecast that in 2004. I thought it would start in early 2008, last for several years and that housing prices would fall by a third. I wasn’t the only person who forecast such doom and gloom, but certainly neither the mainstream media nor the  government seemed to be remotely concerned. As to why the Fed, with all their resources, ignored the obvious, one cannot but wonder.

As matters stand, though there are obvious threats like the Chinese, the U.S. is unlikely to be seriously threated by any external conventional enemy, using conventional weapons, but is eminently capable of destroying itself, or at least of inflicting the kind of damage on itself that will take decades to recover from.

If such is the case, and I believe it is, then we are misallocating our National Security resources. Further, I believe a threat from within is more immediate than any external threat.

Here, I had better explain that when I say “from within” I am not referring to infiltrated terrorists or enemy sleeper cells (though they exist). I am talking about this society’s capacity to self-destruct in some way. I am talking about structural flaws in the American Way of Life. As is becoming self-evident, they are many. This is not to bely our strengths, which are numerous, but to focus attention on matters we can do something about; if we want to. The latter is far from clear.

Bottom line: We are our own worst enemies.

Let me list the principal threats to our National Security that stem from within. – in the next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VOR’s Turn: Could It Be That The Food We Need To Keep Us Alive, Is Killing Us? Yes!

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The comedian and talk show host, Bill Maher, regularly quips – and not in jest – that the regular American diet, is killing us.

I have collected an increasing amount of data that supports this conclusion.

It’s not that we are eating a hamburger, and dropping dead there and then; but more that our diet is causing a steady degradation of our health.

It shows up in all kinds of ways:

• Our obesity epidemic.
• The fact that we don’t live as long as those in other developed countries.
• The fact that we tend to be sicker, as we get older, than those in other developed countries.
• The fact that over 70 percent of young Americans are not fit enough for military service.
• The fact that our largely factory-farm/intensive agriculturally produced food is neither wholesome nor healthy.
• The fact that we are the most drugged nation (based upon legal medications alone) in the history of mankind.

In that context, I would urge you to read the following letter featured by the commendable Mark Bittman in the New York Times of October 25 2011. It was written by New York meat wholesaler, George Faison.

 

Hey Chefs:

This note explains my thinking about why I believe that you should be pursuing clean agricultural ingredients as standard practice in your restaurants.

Our food supply system is broken. Badly. 80 percent of the U.S. beef production is controlled by four industrially producing companies. Three of these companies also process 60 percent of the nation’s pork.[1] Too much chemical fertilizer and pesticides are used to produce our crops. The variety of crops produced around the world has diminished dramatically in the last 60 years. There are now nearly 5,000,000 fewer American farmers since the 1930s.

Yes, this industrial structure has significantly lowered the monetary cost of the food we consume. But this is misleading. While the amount of money we spend on food has declined, the quality and nutrition supplied by this food has deteriorated. As a country, about one third of all adults are obese, and since 1980, the incidence of obesity has tripled among children ages 2-19.[2]

In 1960, we spent 18 percent of our take home pay on food and 5 percent on health care. Now we spend 9 percent of our take home pay on food and upwards of 17 percent on health care. According to Michael Pollan, during his Oprah interview in February, “We spend less of our money on food than any other people at any other time on this earth.” What’s wrong with this picture?

People have gotten used to eating cheap food and it is killing them. There is little flavor and little nutrition and we eat more and more, because so much of it has been engineered to trigger consumption (salt and sugar have been proven to be addictive, like nicotine in cigarettes).

Regarding meat and poultry, here is what drives me to promote naturally raised meats.

By clean I mean the following:

1. Antibiotic free: Over 70 percent of the antibiotics used in this country are fed to the animals we eat. 70 percent! The practice is banned in Europe. The antibiotics are fed to animals housed in Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). They are so densely housed that they get sick. The producer gives them feed treated with antibiotics so they won’t get sick. Hogs are crammed into concrete and metal pens with grates that allow the excrement to fall through. Chickens are packed into closed houses where the lights are turned on four times each day to make them eat more often. Conditions like these would make any animal sick.

The key problem when antibiotics are overused is that it can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It is a great threat to our country’s health. In fact, there is an antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria called MRSA that is definitely impacting employees working on hog CAFOs. According to the CDC, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that in 2007, 18,650 people died of MRSA, whereas approximately 16,000 died of AIDS. Additionally, JAMA reported that MRSA was also responsible for upward of 94,000 life threatening illnesses.[3]

2. Hormone Free: Hormones are given to dairy cows to produce more milk and beef cattle to accelerate weight gain. The goal is obviously to maximize production in the shortest amount of time. Hormones are hell on dairy cows, causing them to lactate practically round the clock, which is abusive, and the quality impact on beef cattle is huge. Forty years ago, Prime grade made up 6 percent of all beef carcasses graded. Today, that percentage is 1.5!

According to the owner of a very large cattle processor who is well respected in the beef industry here in the U.S., the reason for the reduction in cattle quality is directly related to the use of hormones. The cattle grow quicker but they put on more water weight. The amount of time required for the muscle to develop and the fat to intersperse during grain feeding is shortened by 35-50 percent thanks to hormones. The result is cheaper cattle for the most part. But it is absolutely less flavorful. And there is less highly marbled Prime cattle rising to the top, resulting in dramatically higher prices for Prime beef over choice.

Commodity cattle that are fed hormones are moved to a feedlot after as little as 9 months. There, they are given antibiotic-laced feed to keep them healthy while they adjust to a largely grain diet (that’s like you moving from a salad-based diet to an all-cheese diet overnight). These cattle are intensely fed for 75-100 days. Very efficient. Very cheap.

Naturally raised cattle are on pasture for 16-20 months before transferring to a low density feedlot where they are fed a mixed diet (dried grass/grain for 200 days in a naturally raised, clean program; 400 days for a wagyu program). It takes a lot longer to raise clean, healthy cattle, and this is why they cost more. But they taste a lot better and they marble better. Our naturally raised, clean beef program typically grades over 20 percent Prime, and that’s a lot more than commodity at 1.5 percent.

But the impact of hormones in our food system is becoming increasingly controversial. The practice is banned in Europe. The use of hormones in our food supply has been linked to the earlier onset of menstruation in young women in western societies over the last 40 years. (These dates coincide with the introduction of hormones as an additive/growth stimulant in dairy and beef cattle.) The issue with earlier onset of menstruation is that it is associated with a vastly greater incidence of cancer in women, breast and cervical.[4] That is just one reason why many of our retail customers are ordering DeBragga’s grass fed or naturally raised beef.

So why does this matter to you? Maybe it doesn’t. But from where I sit, I see more and more of our chef/restaurateurs making the switch to naturally raised meats and poultry for the reasons I describe above, and more (like animal welfare, for example). We know that a greater and greater number of our clients, especially in New York City, are looking for these ingredients, even expecting us to be offering them. As an industry, restaurants are on the cutting edge. Not just in culinary technique and quality, or décor and service, but in the quality and production standards used to make the ingredients in our recipes.

Yes, naturally and humanely raised meats cost more. Maybe you can counter the higher monetary cost by offering smaller portions. Or expect chefs to charge more money for it.

I do not think the solution to our food supply problem is to use poorer quality ingredients because they cost less money. In the long run, the true cost of these meats is so much higher.

George

[1] Hendrickson, Mary and William Heffernan. “Concentration of Agricultural Markets.” Department of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri. April 2007.

[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[3] Journal of the American Medical Association, October 17, 2007.

[4] Sellman, Sherrill, “The problem with precocious puberty,” Nexus Magazine, Vol 11, 3, April – May 2004.

VOR’s Turn: Vision Is A Wonderful Thing

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Some years ago I went to see Biosphere 2 in Arizona and was completely blown away by it. Officially, it was closed, but I managed to sneak in; and I was just plain awed by it.

Apart from the fact that it was visually spectacular, to me it represented vision personified. Here were people trying to do something extraordinary. True, they were not entirely successful, but even their failures were inspiring.

I left feeling invigorated and inspired; and hugely impressed; and thinking people at their best are fantastic. That feeling has never left me. I know, with absolute certainty, that human potential remains substantially untapped. We are capable of doing so much; yet mostly we don’t.  But the thought that we can – and sometimes do - remains ever with me; and when I see something inspiring, I react with Pavlovian enthusiasm.

The above relates to Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to establish a research facility on Roosevelt Island. Bloomberg, on behalf of New York, has offered the land and $100 million in infrastructure improvements in exchange for a world class science and engineering campus.

Response, so far has been impressive. It seems clear that New York will get its facility.

I love this kind of stuff!

 

 

 

 

VOR’s Turn: Americans, Delightful Though, Of Course, We Are; Are Some Of The Most Brain-Washed People In The World.

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As you may gather, if you have read a number of these blogs, I am fascinated by how people think; or, in many (arguably most) cases, don’t think.

I tend towards the view that most of our big issue (Job Creation, Healthcare etc.) problems are solvable, and again and again am surprised – I really mean disappointed - that not only are these problems not dealt with, but readily available solutions aren’t even considered. Yes, I know the flaws innate to human nature are the primary reason, but I don’t think it is just that. I also think other factors are involved. Let me proffer some thoughts:

• Conditioning. Americans, pleasant to meet though most are, are some of the most brain-washed people in the world. We don’t use Madrassas. Primarily, we use corporations. They are exceptionally well-equipped for the task. They have massive resources, and (subject to some notable exceptions) they are unconstrained by feelings of social concern, or decency, or values of any kind. They are focused solely on the pursuit of profit. Such motivation means that they are not only unrelenting in their self-promotion, but that their own cultures are about as conformist and authoritarian as can we achieved. As befits our culture of consumption and excess, we use total immersion from birth to death. It works. The combination of commercial, government, and social propaganda – much of it more myth than fact - imbues such a strong sense that the American Way of Life is superior, that any fresh thinking has a hard time getting accepted. That might not not matter if the American Way of Life really was superior, but, across a wide range of issues, palpably it is not. We should be out learning how other societies do things better, but mostly, we refuse to. In contrast, where other countries think they can learn from us, they do. They benefit from the best of both worlds; and, predictably, that gives them the advantage.
• Ideology. Ideologies stem in many cases, though not all, from conditioning. They are dangerous because they involve shutting down one’s mind in favor of blind belief. Accordingly, it becomes culturally acceptable, for instances, to pay people so badly they need Food Stamps; or to cut back on Health Care (as Wal-Mart is doing now). Or to cut back on research in favor of short-term profits (as many U.S. corporations are doing right now). As for the effect of ideology on our politics, the current self-inflicted paralysis speaks for itself. As for the combination of ideology and religion in our politics; it is toxic.
• Specialization. Specialization works best when it evolves from a broad base of experience and where one’s underlying philosophy is, and remains, holistic. In contrast, we have evolved a Third Level educational system which tends to teach more and more about less and less. The end result is the emergence of what I tend to think of as “professional illiterates” – professionally qualified people who tend to know remarkably little outside their own area of expertise; and who, not infrequently, don’t talk to each other. Look no further than the medical profession for examples where different specialists, treating the same patient, not only fail to communicates, but are not even coordinated. It is unconscionable.
• Experience. There is just no substitute for broad experience of life if you want to use your mind to best advantage. That involves – as a minimum - travel, languages, reading, study, an appreciation of the arts, and the active cultivation of one’s critical faculties, together with a keen eye and an open mind. Add in a diversity of work experiences, and perhaps a little combat. There is nothing like being shot at to focus the mind. It really does get you out of your comfort zone. Throw in a period of poverty. Sprinkle with commercial successes and failures. There are few things more brain-deadening than success and riches alone. After all that lot, there is a reasonable chance that an interesting, thoughtful, compassionate, and creative human being will emerge.

The above thoughts have been prompted by reading an extract from WIRED’S publication, I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words

The following is the quote that got my attention:

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have." ~Wired, February, 1995

VOR’s Turn: Andrew N. Liveris Is A Brilliant Communicator. He Also Happens to Be The CEO of Dow Chemical.

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The U.S., at present, is not a democracy though it masquerades as one. Fundamentally, it is run by the Rich and Corporate Interests to their own advantage.

If they don’t benefit, it doesn’t happen. Since Congress is bought and paid for by those self same interests, they follow orders. Much the same situation exists at state and county level. Corporatism rules. It has no right to, but it does. It is an absolute violation of the Constitution.

If you doubt me, just look at unemployment. Currently we have 25 million people either unemployed, or underemployed, or who have dropped out of the job market, yet Congress refuses to do virtually anything. Much as Congress doesn’t do hunger and poverty, it doesn’t do unemployment. Yet, do you doubt for a second that if the tens of thousands of corporate lobbyists were agitating for action. and supporting their pressure with campaign donations, that disastrous situation would continue to exist. It would not. Corporatism really does rule. It also does not care about unemployment. Indeed, it likes it. High unemployment undercuts the ability of labor to bargain.

I’m against corporate control of our economy with ever fiber of my being. I’m well aware of the limitations of democracy, especially in a society where many of the potential voters are ignorant of the issues – as is the situation in this country - but still believe that it is a better system of government than the alternatives. I regret deeply that the U.S. has, in fact, if not in name, abandoned it.

For all that, I’m not against corporations as such. I think the notion that a corporation is legally a person is a corruption of the law, and a damming indictment of the integrity of the Supreme Court; and I would like to see corporate power diminished in a significant number of ways; but such qualifications apart, I wish them good fortune.

It is in that context that I draw your attention of Andrew N. Liveris. He is the CEO of Dow Chemical, a corporation with a dubious reputation, but he’s a superb communicator; who – based on what I have heard so far – speaks a great deal of sense. He is also an advocate for the revival of manufacturing in the U.S., and the author of MAKE IT IN AMERICA: The Case for Reinventing The Economy.

He argues for “smart manufacturing” and he makes a compelling case. As I keep on arguing, we don’t have to be in this ridiculous economic mess. The solutions are out there, and so are some extraordinarily talented people. But, there is a disconnect in how our society is structured so that it’s needs rarely seem to be met by the talented.

It wasn’t always thus.

 

VOR’s Turn: No Wonder I Turned To Eagle & Cuckoo.

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Eagle & Cuckoo haven’t had much of a look-in on this blog recently, and I’m feeling quite guilty about it.

Given that they are entirely fictional characters, that may seem something of a stretch , but the truth is that once I have created a character in reasonable depth, he or she becomes real – as far as I am concerned.

By that, I don’t mean totally real – as in I would invite one of them out to lunch. Instead, I mean that I think about them a great deal and am concerned, in an omniscient sort of way about their development. I want and expect them to evolve as people. I give thought to how they live in steadily increasing detail. How does Hugo Fitzduane, who lives in an old Norman keep on an island off the West of Ireland, feed himself? Does he cook, or if he doesn’t, who does? How and where does he shop? What does he do all day? Given the number of people he has killed (always in a worthy cause) is he suffering from PTSD?

That is not as crazy as it sounds because every character I have created actually has his or her roots in reality; so, in a way, when I’m plotting fiction, I’m also thinking about reality. I’m recalling people, places and situations, and then letting my subconscious take over. Fortunately, it is a subconscious with a work ethic which rarely lets me down.

We have a deal. If I supply it with plenty of material, it will deliver. By material, it doesn’t mean watching TV. It means having real life adventures and experiences which it can really do something with. And if I get shot or knifed in the process – and there are other hazards – why to serve the interests of literature is noble. We’ll ignore whether a thriller is literature or not. It is a good motivational quip. 

E&C rather broke the pattern. I haven’t spent much time socializing with eagles to date – I admire eagles, but am not overly fond of heights and my un-assisted flying capabilities are limited – but when I was searching for a way of discussing our current rather horrendous economic situation, in a slightly less in-your-face way, E&C just popped into my head. 

I guess Eagle’s origins are obvious enough – Eagle being the national bird – but Cuckoo is harder to pin down. Perhaps he stems from the fact that our current situation is cuckoo. We don’t need to be in this situation at all. There are solutions to all our problems, but the Republicans are so hell bent on making Obama a one term president that they seem quite content to wreck the country in the process. And for good measure, they seem to revel in a particular kind of spiteful intransigence which is remarkable reminiscent of the school bully. Again and again, their behavior could well be described as mean and nasty. 

I would mind less if they had rational alternative policies, but they don’t. Instead they pump out the same old propaganda about excessive regulations, and taxes being too high while ignoring any and all contrary evidence (of which there is a great deal). Further, they are so blatantly in the pockets of the Rich and Corporate interests that the chances of their advancing all our interests – as a government should – are zero. In short, they are deeply corrupt, both morally and financially, as is the system as whole. It has been rigged to benefit the few at the expense of the many and the great wonder was that more people didn’t spot this earlier. Good grief, it is not a new development. The process started in the early Seventies and has been gathering momentum ever since.

So why weren’t the Democrats screaming about this decades ago. The data were available. Even if they couldn’t interpret the figures themselves, there is no shortage of socially concerned economists. Yet, somehow the enormity of the havoc being wreaked on the American Dream was missed. Could it be because the Democrats were equally corrupted by the Rich and Corporate interests? It seems highly likely. Correction: It is certain.

This raises serious questions about President Clinton’s conduct. True, he presided over a period of sustained economic prosperity, but he doesn’t seem to have been concerned that this growth was essentially debt fueled, and that the tilting of the economy in favor of the Rich and Corporate interests was continuing. Since, by all accounts, he is an extremely intelligent man, why did he not try to redress the situation? Instead, he chose to be silent on the subject. Power came ahead of principle.

What puzzles and distresses me about all this is the near complete absence of reasoned debate. The Republicans have in effect said: “We are the party of the privileged, and since we have enough economic power to buy control of the system, pretty much regardless of who is elected, why should we care about the wellbeing of most Americans? Our rice bowls are filled by the 1%. The rest of you, the 99%, are just not really our concern. Anyway, we have a strong enough propaganda machine to keep enough of you docile no matter how outrageously we behave. True, you might think the media would cut us to pieces, but they don’t because, to a very large extent, we own them, As for the balance, they have such a peculiar idea of balanced reporting that we can still get away with almost anything. In short, we are grabbing all the marbles because we can. And what has fairness got to do with rugged individualism. Rugged individuals grab what they can and to hell with the rest. That’s the American way.”

To be fair to the Republicans, at least that has the merit of being a coherent point of view. It is a philosophy of greed and thuggery. It is despicable. It is almost certainly Un-American. But at least it is clear.

What the Democrats stand for is very far from clear. Nominally, they are the party of the Working Class; but the Working Class doesn’t exist any more… It has, somewhat mysteriously, become ‘The Middle Class;” the class of most Americans. Of a regular guy doing a regular job who probably belongs to an union.

But wait: Government unions apart, the union movement is almost dead. And it is far from certain that the Democrats will give them the kiss of life. Why so? Well, modern Democrats get a significant amount of their funding from corporations – just like the Republicans. And corporations hate unions, particularly in the U.S., because unions are now the only force available to counteract corporate power. Clearly, they have to go.

I could write pages about the weakness of the Democrats (and I’m sorely tempted to) but let me show restraint, and merely state that the Democrats come across as a bunch of wimps with no clearly defined policies.

Do they want to rein in corporate power – which they clearly should? I have absolutely no idea.

Do they really want to improve working conditions and give Americans the same sort of rights that currently exist in Europe? I see no evidence to that effect.

Are they concerned about the fact that the earnings of the average American have not increased in forty years – and are now declining? I really don’t know. I suspect not.

Do they think the financial sector should be reformed from its gullet to its zatch? Not really, both because leading members of the party are in bed with the banks, and because they don’t really understand all that technical stuff…

Judas Priest! This is a case of the corrupt and ignorant bamboozling the wanting and ignorant. It’s not a debate. It’s a competition over which party can rape and pillage to best advantage.

No wonder I turned to Eagle & Cuckoo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VOR’s Turn: The Illusion of Skill Is Deeply Ingrained In the Culture Of The Financial Sector.

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I like to keep myself reasonably well informed, and to that end, spend a couple of hours each day checking out a wide variety of sources with as open a mind as I can muster.

The latter is not always easy, but I have found it helps if – as a minimum – one is aware of one’s prejudices; and is prepared to think holistically (to assess one’s findings in context, to look at both the big picture and the specific situation, and to join the dots).

Also, I’m blessed with friends, who don’t necessarily agree with me politically, so I’m constantly being forced to question my own judgment. Indeed, let me admit this confidentially (because it is decidedly un-American) I’m even prepared to do something truly shocking: To change my mind.

Quite why I don’t rely on watching TV in the evening for my news, like roughly three-quarters of the U.S. population is a good question, but I don’t. I guess I’m after vastly more perspective, depth, rigor, and subtlety of mind; and nobody could accuse TV news of boastings such virtues. Further, there are some truly marvelous alternatives  around if you are are prepared to dig, so I find my efforts, generally speaking, are well rewarded. And I try, where possible, to incorporate what I learn in my writing. Or so I like to believe .

Let me re-emphasize that there are some truly terrific thinkers, analysts, commentators and writers out there; and I have a suspicion that if our movers and shakers consulted them more, this Great Nation would be in vastly better shape. However, anti-intellectualism seems to be a regrettable, yet widespread feature of American life, and certainly the behavior of our politicians seems to illustrate that point. Would that it stopped there. It is rife in the business community, in the military, and in academia. Instead, the focus, all too often, is on preserving the status quo; on enhancing one’s own image; and, all too often, on blocking innovation.

It is a tragedy, because the answers to many of our problems are out there – frequently in plain sight – yet there seems to be a reluctance to look, let alone listen. Instead, energy is applied to the politics of the situation rather than searching for a solution. And ideology rather than reason dominates. Since ideology is another word for blind belief, and ignorance is a close relation, that is not an encouraging situation. As for facts, they seem to be held in scant regard. I get the feeling that soon they are likely to be regarded as un-American.

To appreciate the significance of what I am endeavoring to communicate, It might be helpful to examine how so many other countries have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps while we have been preening ourselves, and muttering about American Exceptionalism, while the pay of most working Americans has stagnated for nearly 40 years.

A reasonable person, faced with such appalling evidence, might conclude that we should be out there in the streets, engaging in massive civil disobedience, and arguing for more enlightened policies. Instead, the vast majority of us are doing nothing while the buying power of both our earnings and our savings is eroded.

Are we dumb or delusional or both? Or just plain lazy.

The good news is that where American talent shines, it can, indeed, be exceptional. One such example is Barry Ritholtz’s financially oriented blog THE BIG PICTURE, which, apart from being consistently witty, contains a veritable cornucopia of data, from charts to articles to quotes to Ritholtz’s own thoroughly entertaining writing.

I salute the man.  His URL is www.ritholz.com/blog/ or Google THE BIG PCTURE. Either way, have a look. His huge following speaks for himself. This guy is good.

The following is his QOTD of October 21st 2011

Our quote of the day comes from an article in this Sunday’s NYT magazine, Don’t Blink! The Hazards of Confidence by Daniel Kahneman:

“The illusion of skill is not only an individual aberration; it is deeply ingrained in the culture of the [financial] industry. Facts that challenge such basic assumptions — and thereby threaten people’s livelihood and self-esteem — are simply not absorbed. The mind does not digest them. This is particularly true of statistical studies of performance, which provide general facts that people will ignore if they conflict with their personal experience.”

I find that, unfortunately, to be terribly true.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Kahneman, he is a professor at Princeton and Nobel laureate. He is notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, and behavioral economics.