One Particular Harbour
Thoughts about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from Dave Darby.
All posts in Significance
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Don't Be a Sucker
May 14, 2010Posted by Dave Darby
Read more »PT Barnum said “There’s a customer born every minute.” Yup. Now as with many quotes attributed to famous people, this one is more likely to be recounted as “There’s a sucker born every minute.” While it is disputed that PT Barnum was that disingenuous with his customer base, this quote is also true.
Here’s the problem with the cocky, American economy as I explained some time ago in Economic Cannibalism – we are so proud of our role as the world’s leading economy of consumption that we don’t even realize that we are eating ourselves to death.
And we are suckers for urgency and chaos. So what do snake oil pitchmen do? Never mind importance, they only need focus the gullible masses on urgency. How about a few examples:
- “Sunday, SUNday, SUNDAY!” – great for selling monster rally tix
- “Yours now for only 3 LOW monthly payments!” – most as seen on tv ads
- “But that’s not all folks, order within the next 10 minutes and we’ll DOUBLE your offer!” – most as seen on tv ads
- “Billy Mays here…” – enough said
- “Don’t wait, ask your doctor about Cialis” – gotta love pharmaceuticals skipping the middleman here – MDs study for 7+ years, consumers on average, 7 minutes, nice
And do we really “need” another set of knives? Yeah, the can-cutting thing is cool and I’m sure the tomato drop/perfect split took some skill/practice, but really – have you seen most people’s over-crowded knife drawers?
The point is – if you have overstuffed drawers, can’t get your car(s) in your garage, have a loaded attic (or storage unit) and generally find yourself struggling with clutter – well, you have been duped, sucked right in. You see, we should be following our passions which should be only a few things, I mean, who has time for more??
But, when we are sucked in, we consume/buy until we have trouble storing everything that somebody else told us we ‘needed’. And these people convince us to place a high urgency on something that is of little importance to our life or survival. So, don’t be a sucker. Put a stop to the madness.
a) don’t follow priorities that are urgent but not important and
b) don’t ignore priorities that are important to the point that they become urgent.If you do, you’re just chasing your tail and your focus will always be survival. If you break free and pursue ‘real’ priorities – well, welcome to significance and your Ideal Life and you will be surprised at how much time you will have for leisure – who hates that?
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Economic Self-Cannibalism
Jun 28, 2008Posted by Dave Darby
Read more »Here’s the concept that I am wrestling at this point in my life. Zero-sum competition and outcomes.
As you know, I am compelled on a regular basis to work towards explaining why we are in a recession so that you, my readers, may benefit and parachute before this economic plane crashes.
So, why are we at this point? What is a recession?
A recession by definition is a subjective amount of time in which a country’s total output (GDP) decreases. And this is how President George W. makes his case that we are not (technically) in a recession, because we have experienced minute growth. Only one problem with that reconciliation – you remember when GW claimed during the 2000 election cycle that Al Gore was guilty of ‘fuzzy math’? – well, our ‘growth’ is based on some fuzzy math. Namely, it’s built on smoke and mirrors – federal interest rate juggling, hefty war expenses and some highly inflated oil revenues among many others.
It works like this: our economy shrinks say $19B this year because we are all producing less due to overseas outsourcing, increased debt loads, the housing and mortgage crisis, gasoline hikes, etc, etc. And we all feel that pain. However, approve a $19.1B Iraq War bill (government expenditures are included in GDP) and suddenly our economy ‘grew’ $0.1B. Welcome to fuzzy macro-economic math.
It’s like when my wife returns from shopping and before the presentation of her efforts, begins by telling me she saved 10%. What, am I stupid? I know what that means. It means that she had a 10% coupon, so she bought 30% more! Fuzzy math.
As to why we are at this point, well that involves game theory and what we call a zero-sum game. A zero sum game is a competition in which one individual does better (gains) at another’s expense.
Think:
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Tug of war – one person/team’s gain can only come at the expense of the other person/team’s loss
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Chess/Checkers/Risk – a person only gains by taking away resources from and advancing on the competition
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Poker – a person only wins at the expense of other players at the table.
But how did we get to zero-sum gaming/economics?
Picture yourself in an early civilization (or a least picture yourself as Charles Ingles in Little House on the Prairie) - people then gained by cooperative ‘games’. In those days, if you wanted shelter, you put your hands to work and made shelter. If you wanted food, you plowed, planted, harvested, stored and cooked it all. Our early ancestors were jacks of all trades. But something happened. There was a person who made shoes really well who barely had time to fix his fence – he just happened to know a guy who built great fences, but even if he did have time, made lousy shoes and had sore feet. Voila. Social economics (trade) was born. And because each became specialized in their jobs, they could produce more at lower costs because of efficiencies. Both shoes and fences were made better than ever and everyone gained in this equation – cooperative gaming.Then again, something happened – critical mass. Zero-sum games entered the equation because at some point, both the shoe maker and the fence maker had built up successful businesses which had the accompanying overhead (recurring) costs. Alas, they had to start selling shoes and fences to people who didn’t necessarily need them, so at this point they’re gaining at somebody’s else’s expense. To bring it home – how many pairs of shoes do you have? Now, how many pairs do you need? (NEED?) Somebody somewhere convinced you that you ???needed’ more than 1 pair. Shoemakers gain more from the sales of 10 extra pairs of shoes than you do from having 10 extra pairs of shoes. So zero-sum seems to equate to excess, don’t you think?
Another example – think insurance. Ben Franklin engineered the first organized fire department, then quickly followed by creating the first fire insurance company. Good intentions or capitalism? Both. Insurance at it’s root is socialism – socialism has the intention of being cooperative (everyone can benefit), but ends up a zero-sum (gain comes from others expense). Face it, the people who need insurance are typically high-risks, while those low-risk users keep the system alive. And before you know it, insurance companies are denying worthy claims and dropping low-risk customers who are finally caught by the odds. Why? Somebody has to lose for others to gain in a zero-sum game. In the insurance game, low risk users are there to pay, not use.
And see, our economy right now is based on a zero-sum game. It’s propped up on debt. So the ‘gains’ that we are experiencing, the mideast oil that we are fighting for and protecting, the windfall pharmaceutical and oil profits are all coming at our own expense. We are cannibalists – we are eating ourselves out of our future security, out of stress-lite lives and out of our own homes.
So what have you eaten today? Check your debt against your assets (income, savings, investments) - the answer may just be…yourself.
Bon appetite!
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Personal Values
Dec 17, 2007Posted by Dave Darby
Read more »Today I am reviewing my goals and values. Not those that I need to hit my marks this week – I’m talking about the big picture – the things that I need to focus on to reach my life goals and that I need to teach my children. So, I thought I’d pass those on. Maybe this short list will inspire you to think about (or re-think) your values and bring your life goals back to the foreground.
Characteristics that I value in others and strive for in myself:
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Ambitious: I value people who do not rest on the past but consistently reach for the future of who they might become.
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Supportive: I value those in life who are supportive with the full understanding that no single person ever made a difference.
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Energetic: I value energy as it sometimes is the only cure for resistance or apathy.
- Humble: I value humbleness for today’s success is tomorrow’s failure; the opposite is also true for we are never as good as our loved ones would have us believe or as bad as our enemies wish us to be.
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Unreserved: Those who are reserved in life welcome few failures and fewer successes.
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Patient: Patience may lose the battle, but will surely claim victory in the war.
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Limitless: Children are born with unlimited potential. Take pity on those who restrict them and chain their minds.
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Sincere: Without sincerity, there is no truth, without truth there is no reality, without reality there is no life. Life then must be sincere.
Mottos I live by and respect in others:
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Help anyone who asks: If one sincerely asks for your assistance to reach a healthy goal, you need to ask yourself “who would help if I asked for this?” and let that answer inspire you.
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Live with integrity for the simple fact that every step forward on deceit is truly 2 steps backwards.
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Set goals beyond your current aptitude then rise to the challenge. To set a goal you are capable of reaching is to live in the past.
What do you value and live by?
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