“Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference.” — Rep. Ron Paul
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.” — Thomas Jefferson
“Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be so or not.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne
Jeremiah 8:8-12:
“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them? Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD.”
Does the Universe have a purpose?
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We want to be free...
Two of the biggest truth seekers out there...
The Cloud...
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Cuban Pete Spider...
Your slavery in one lesson...
What you think you become...
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Now that's a tuna!
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Dog dancing to Grease...
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Killing us slowly with chemtrails...
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Nanophotonics...
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Deer goes head to head with wolf...
Headless portraits...
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Worst free throw ever...
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Lord Monckton makes the best case Obama is a fraud...
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Could this be our future???
3D sculptures of the country's coolest summits
Bring The Force: LaserSaber
Transforming its Spyder 3 model "portable laser" into a real-life
Website
Hear The Past: Radio Time Machine
Like a DeLorean that can only send its FM dial into the past, RTM lets you stream the Billboard Top 100 songs in their entirety for any year since 1940, so you can "hear how popular music has changed" since the charts were dominated by acts like Gee Wiz Khalifa, and (The John Birch Society Says We Should Fear The) Far East Movement.
Website
Boobzies
Initially developed as a one-off project for Hooters, Boobzies are "voluptuous insulated beverage coolers" endowed with large, polyurethane-gel-filled breasts sporting a "life-like" feel, not that you'll have anything to compare 'em to after walking around a party with one. Covered by shirts emblazoned with tongue-in-cheek slogans, each of the "girls" comes with a backstory that's as well developed as their mammaries, so prepare to meet dazzling personalititties like:
Mrs. Robinson
Shirt: "Got MILF?"
An "object of fantasy across many a schoolyard", this divorced mom loves cooking & shopping, and is "more apt to educate than be educated", though whether you want to listen to someone who's loaded with beer and wearing a "Got MILF" shirt is up to you.
Shirt: "Got MILF?"
An "object of fantasy across many a schoolyard", this divorced mom loves cooking & shopping, and is "more apt to educate than be educated", though whether you want to listen to someone who's loaded with beer and wearing a "Got MILF" shirt is up to you.
Tiffany
Shirt: "Boobs Gone Wild"
"Barely 21", Tiff loves drinking Jack, making YouTube videos, and is so single that she's been "in more laps than a napkin", which coincidentally you no longer need to wrap around your sweating bottle.
Shirt: "Boobs Gone Wild"
"Barely 21", Tiff loves drinking Jack, making YouTube videos, and is so single that she's been "in more laps than a napkin", which coincidentally you no longer need to wrap around your sweating bottle.
Gabby
Shirt: "Motorboat"
Believing everything is "better when wetter", the Gabster's favorite food is oysters ("love 'em raw"), and though she's "single and adrift", she's "not afraid to tie the knot", which is nice, because again, you aren't going to attract many women holding a coozie with heaving friggin' breasts.
WebsiteShirt: "Motorboat"
Believing everything is "better when wetter", the Gabster's favorite food is oysters ("love 'em raw"), and though she's "single and adrift", she's "not afraid to tie the knot", which is nice, because again, you aren't going to attract many women holding a coozie with heaving friggin' breasts.
The smartest doorbell you've ever seen
 | Letting
you monitor the goings on outside your door from afar, Doorbot's a
battery-operated, WiFi-enabled doorbell with a built-in cam that beams
live video to/activates two-way audio with your smartphone or tablet
whenever it's rung, so no matter where you are, a well-timed shout will
scare the crap out of some hooligan about to burn a bag of it on your
porch.
|
DARwIn-OP Miniature-Humanoid Robot from RobotisBill Wong of Electronic Design magazine talks to Jinwook Kim, Managing Director at Robotis about the DARwIn-OP (Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence–Open Platform), a stable, customizable and affordable, miniature-humanoid robot that plays a mean game of soccer.
How to Read Blood Chemistry Test Results
If you're like most people, you've probably looked over the alphabet soup of acronyms and abbreviations in your blood work results and wondered what it all means. So to empower yourself, here is a simplified guide to understanding blood test results. If you're interested in playing a more active role in your medical care -- something I strongly recommend -- then I suggest you save this. So that the next time you have blood work done, you'll be able to read the results like a pro!
Blood tests, sometimes called blood panels, are one of a physician's most basic tools. Not that long ago, doctors diagnosed patients through observation and the patients' answers to questions. Today, we have a wide range of testing options to choose from, with blood tests being among the most basic.
Blood tests allow a doctor to see a detailed analysis of the nutrients and waste products in your body as well as how various organs (e.g., kidneys and liver) are functioning.Below, I've explained some of the commonly measured indicators of health. During a physical examination, your doctor will often draw blood for chemistry and complete blood count (CBC) tests as well as a lipid profile, which measures cholesterol and related elements. Here is a brief explanation of the abbreviations used in measurements followed by descriptions of several common test components.
Deciphering Blood Test Measurements
Blood tests use the metric measurement system and abbreviations such as the following:
•cmm ~~ cells per cubic millimeter
•fL (femtoliter) ~~ fraction of one-millionth of a liter
•g/dL ~~ grams per deciliter
•IU/L ~~ international units per liter
•mEq/L ~~ milliequivalent per liter
•mg/dL ~~ milligrams per deciliter
•mL ~~ milliliter
•mmol/L ~~ millimoles per liter
•ng/mL ~~ nanograms per milliliter
•pg (picograms) ~~ one-trillionth of a gram
CHEMISTRY PANEL (or METABOLIC PANEL)
ALT (alanine aminotransferase)
Healthy range: 8 to 37 IU/L
This test looks at levels of the liver enzyme ALT. When all's well with your liver, your score on this test should be within range. Anything higher may indicate liver damage.
Albumin
Healthy range: 3.9 to 5.0 g/dL
A protein made by the liver, albumin levels can be an indicator of liver or kidney problems.
A/G ratio (albumin/globulin ratio) or total protein test
Healthy ratio: a bit over 1, favoring albumin
There are two types of protein your blood -- albumin (see above) and globulin. The A/G ratio test compares levels of these proteins with one another. Elevated protein levels could indicate a health condition in need of attention.
Alkaline phosphatase
Healthy range: 44 to 147 IU/L
This enzyme is involved in both liver and bone, so elevations may indicate problems with the liver or bone-related disease.
AST (aspartate aminotransferase)
Healthy range: 10 to 34 IU/L
This enzyme is found in heart and liver tissue, so elevations suggest problems may be occurring in one or both of those areas.
Bilirubin
Healthy range: 0.1 to 1.9 mg/dL
This provides information about liver and kidney functions, problems in bile ducts, and anemia.
BUN (blood urea nitrogen)
Healthy range: 10 to 20 mg/dL
This is another measure of kidney and liver functions. High values may indicate a problem with kidney function. A number of medications and a diet high in protein can also raise BUN levels.
BUN/creatinine ratio
Healthy ratio of BUN to creatinine: 10:1 to 20:1 (men and older individuals may be a bit higher)
This test shows if kidneys are eliminating waste properly. High levels of creatinine, a by-product of muscle contractions, are excreted through the kidneys and suggest reduced kidney function.
Calcium
Healthy range: 9.0 to 10.5 mg/dL (the elderly typically score a bit lower)
Too much calcium in the bloodstream could indicate kidney problems; overly active thyroid or parathyroid glands; certain types of cancer, including lymphoma; problems with the pancreas; or a deficiency of vitamin D.
Chloride Healthy range: 98 to 106 mEq/L
This mineral is often measured as part of an electrolyte panel. A high-salt diet and/or certain medications are often responsible for elevations in chloride. Excess chloride may indicate an overly acidic environment in the body. It also could be a red flag for dehydration, multiple myeloma, kidney disorders, or adrenal gland dysfunction.
Creatinine
Healthy range: 0.5 to 1.1 mg/dL for women; 0.6 to 1.2 mg/dL for men (the elderly may be slightly lower)
The kidneys process this waste product, so elevations could indicate a problem with kidney function.
Fasting glucose (blood sugar) Healthy range: 70 to 99 mg/dL for the average adult (the elderly tend to score higher even when they are healthy)
Blood sugar levels can be affected by food or beverages you have ingested recently, your current stress levels, medications you may be taking, and the time of day. The fasting blood sugar test is done after at least 6 hours without food or drink other than water.
Phosphorus
Healthy range: 2.4 to 4.1 mg/dL
Phosphorus plays an important role in bone health and is related to calcium levels. Too much phosphorus could indicate a problem with kidneys or the parathyroid gland. Alcohol abuse, long-term antacid use, excessive intake of diuretics or vitamin D, and malnutrition can also elevate phosphorus levels.
Potassium Healthy range: 3.7 to 5.2 mEq/L
This mineral is essential for relaying nerve impulses, maintaining proper muscle functions, and regulating heartbeats. Diuretics, drugs that are often taken for high blood pressure, can cause low levels of potassium.
Sodium Healthy range: 135 to 145 mEq/L
Another member of the electrolyte family, the mineral sodium helps your body balance water levels and helps with nerve impulses and muscle contractions. Irregularities in sodium levels may indicate dehydration; disorders of the adrenal glands; excessive intake of salt, corticosteroids, or pain-relieving medications; or problems with the liver or kidneys.
LIPID PANEL (or LIPID PROFILE)
The lipid panel is a collection of tests measuring different types of cholesterol and triglycerides (fats) in your bloodstream.
Total cholesterol General rules (best to worst):
•Healthy ~~ Below 200 mg/dL (below 5.18 mmol/L)
•Borderline high ~~ 200 to 239 mg/dL (5.2 to 6.2 mmol/L)
•High ~~ Above 240 mg/dL (above 6.2 mmol/L)
This test measures combined levels of both LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol. The test may be done simply to record an individual's cholesterol levels or for comparison purposes (e.g., to determine if cholesterol-lowering medications or nutrients are working).
Triglycerides
Healthy range: 40 to 160 mg/dL
These fats are found in the bloodstream and may contribute to heart disease and other health problems.
HDL cholesterol
General rules:
•Best ~~ Above 60 mg/dL
•Good ~~ 50 to 60 mg/dL
•Poor ~~ Below 40 mg/dL for men; below 50 mg/dL for women
Also known as good cholesterol, HDL (high-density lipoprotein) protects against heart disease. Low scores are risk factors for heart disease.
LDL cholesterol
General rules (best to worst):
•Optimal ~~ Below 100 mg/dL
•Near optimal ~~ 100 to 129 mg/dL
•Borderline high ~~ 130 to 159 mg/dL
•High ~~ 160 to 189 mg/dL
•Very high ~~ Above 189 mg/dL
Also known as bad cholesterol, LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the substance that clogs arteries and is linked to heart disease.
Total cholesterol/HDL ratio
American Heart Association guidelines:
•Optimal ~~ Ratio of 3.5 to 1
•Healthy ~~ Ratio of 5 to 1 or lower
This ratio is another way of checking your risk of heart disease. It is determined by dividing your HDL cholesterol level into total cholesterol. But don't worry about the math -- the lab normally does the calculation, so your doctor will simply tell you what the ratio is.
COMPLETE BLOOD COUNT (CBC)
The CBC test examines cellular elements in the blood, including red blood cells, various white blood cells, and platelets. Here is a list of the components that are normally measured, along with typical values. If your doctor says you're fine but your tests results are somewhat different from the range shown here, don't be alarmed. Some labs interpret test results a bit differently from others, so don't consider these figures absolutes.
WBC (white blood cell) leukocyte count
Normal range: 4,300 to 10,800 cmm
White blood cells help fight infections, so a high white blood cell count could be helpful for identifying infections. It may also indicate leukemia, which can cause an increase in the number of white blood cells. On the other hand, too few white blood cells could be caused by certain medications or health disorders.
WBC (white blood cell) differential count
Normal range:
•Neutrophils ~~ 40% to 60% of the total
•Lymphocytes ~~ 20% to 40%
•Monocytes ~~ 2% to 8%
•Eosinophils ~~ 1% to 4%
•Basophils ~~ 0.5% to 1%
This test measures the numbers, shapes, and sizes of various types of white blood cells listed above. The WBC differential count also shows if the numbers of different cells are in proper proportion to each other. Irregularities in this test could signal an infection, inflammation, autoimmune disorders, anemia, or other health concerns.
RBC (red blood cell) erythrocyte count
Normal range: 4.2 to 5.9 million cmm
We have millions of red blood cells in our bodies, and this test measures the number of RBCs in a specific amount of blood. It helps us determine the total number of RBCs and gives us an idea of their lifespan, but it does not indicate where problems originate. So if there are irregularities, other tests will be required.
Hematocrit (Hct)
Normal range: 45% to 52% for men; 37% to 48% for women
Useful for diagnosing anemia, this test determines how much of the total blood volume in the body consists of red blood cells.
Hemoglobin (Hgb)
Normal range: 13 to 18 g/dL for men; 12 to 16 g/dL for women
Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, which makes blood bright red. More importantly, hemoglobin delivers oxygen from the lungs to the entire body; then it returns to the lungs with carbon dioxide, which we exhale. Healthy hemoglobin levels vary by gender. Low levels of hemoglobin may indicate anemia.
Mean corpuscular volume (MCV)
Normal range: 80 to 100 femtoliters
This test measures the average volume of red blood cells, or the average amount of space each red blood cell fills. Irregularities could indicate anemia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH)
Normal range: 27 to 32 picograms
This test measures the average amount of hemoglobin in the typical red blood cell. Results that are too high could signal anemia, while those too low may indicate a nutritional deficiency.
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC)
Normal range: 28% to 36%
The MCHC test reports the average concentration of hemoglobin in a specific amount of red blood cells. Here again, we are looking for indications of anemia if the count is low, or possible nutritional deficiencies if it's high.
Red cell distribution width (RDW or RCDW)
Normal range: 11% to 15%
With this test, we get an idea of the shape and size of red blood cells. In this case, "width" refers to a measurement of distribution, not the size of the cells. Liver disease, anemia, nutritional deficiencies, and a number of health conditions could cause high or low RDW results.
Platelet count
Normal range: 150,000 to 400,000 mL
Platelets are small portions of cells involved in blood clotting. Too many or too few platelets can affect clotting in different ways. The number of platelets may also indicate a health condition.
Mean Platelet Volume (MPV)
Normal range: 7.5 to 11.5 femtoliters
This test measures and calculates the average size of platelets. Higher MPVs mean the platelets are larger, which could put an individual at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Lower MPVs indicate smaller platelets, meaning the person is at risk for a bleeding disorder.
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED TESTS
Thyroid
While not part of the standard blood panel, I often order thyroid tests for my patients, especially if they report fatigue and weight gain, or weight loss and feelings of nervousness or hyperactivity. Some physicians dismiss borderline low or high tests, but I've found that these can be very helpful for identifying problems with the thyroid gland. Here are the ranges I look for in thyroid tests:
Test Normal Range
•Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) 0.3 to 3
•Total T4 (total thyroxine) 4.5 to 12.5
•Free T4 (free thyroxine) 0.7 to 2.0
•Total T3 (total triiodothyronine) 80 to 220
•Free T3 (free triiodothyronine) 2.3 to 4.2
If your test shows you are below the minimum numbers, you may be suffering from hypothyroidism, or low thyroid. If your scores are above the normal range, you may have an overly active thyroid, or hyperthyroidism. In either case, your physician can advise you on appropriate medication. You may also want to read my earlier newsletter on thyroid issues.
Vitamin D
Normal range: 30 to 74 ng/mL
Regular readers know I often recommend supplemental vitamin D, since deficiencies are very common. Too little vitamin D can put you at risk for broken bones, heart disease, cancer, and a host of other ailments. Our bodies can make vitamin D, but only when bare skin, free of sunblock and lotions, is exposed to sunlight. And even then, people of color and older individuals may not be able to manufacture sufficient quantities for optimal health. The best way to determine if you need supplements is to have a vitamin D test, known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
Here again, doctors don't always agree on how to interpret the results. My own preference is to see readings in the normal range. There are quite a few more tests available, but the ones included here are among the most common. To get accurate readings, be sure to follow your doctor's instructions in preparing for tests. You may, for example, be asked not to eat and to drink only water for anywhere from a few hours to 12 hours beforehand. Please follow these instructions, or your results may be skewed, requiring additional tests or even unnecessary medications.
If you don't understand something in your results, remember it's okay to ask questions. Doctors are busy people, but you are entitled to the information. If your doctor can't provide it, ask the nurse or physician's assistant for help.Knowing where you stand with these important parameters is essential for being proactive and owning your own health.
Thrive in Health & Wellness...
The Holy Trinity of Inactivity: How Boredom, Distraction, and Procrastination Are Vital to Healthy Living
By Thorin Klosowski
Most
of us—no matter how many time-saving techniques we employ—don't have
enough time to waste. When we do, we try to fill the void with more
tasks. The problem with all your productivity? Turning down the volume
on life is extremely beneficial. We fight against boredom, distraction, and procrastination all the time, but that doesn't mean you should get rid of them completely.
It probably sounds a little
counterintuitive to suggest to anyone that they start slacking off, but
in reality it's about as important to your brain's health as sleeping
is. Being bored, procrastinating, and embracing distraction all help
your brain function. In turn, you understand decisions better. You learn
easier. You even foster creativity and productivity better. Let's take a
look at this holy trinity of inactivity from the points of view of both
science and creative types.
How Boredom Works to Boost Creativity and Positive Behavior
If
millions of children's books are any indication, then boredom is well
known to lead to mischief of all types. However, in some ways, boredom
is the necessary filter we all need when we have too much information in
front of us. The New York Times explains it like so:Some experts say that people tune things out for good reasons, and that over time boredom becomes a tool for sorting information—an increasingly sensitive spam filter. In various fields including neuroscience and education, research suggests that falling into a numbed trance allows the brain to recast the outside world in ways that can be productive and creative at least as often as they are disruptive.
It's that boredom that comedy writer Graham Linehan embraces as part of his creative ritual. In an interview with The Guardian, Linehan describes his process:
I have to use all these programs that cut off the internet, force me to be bored, because being bored is an essential part of writing, and the internet has made it very hard to be bored. There's just so much to do – it's funny, because I'm more creative, but I'm getting less writing done. I'm trying to balance that at the moment. It's a difficult one.
Psychology Today also notes boredom is a stepping stone to bigger and better things:
Once we've opened ourselves to the idea that boredom can be the initial step for creative productivity, it becomes pretty quickly apparent when those unengaged, uninterested moments are really the mind's bringing a blank canvas to your psychological easel, ready for you to begin painting.
The argument is that boredom gives you a blank slate to work with. This is echoed in research from the University of Limerick
that suggests boredom can lead to more prosocial behavior because it
pushes you toward meaningful activities. Boredom on a large scale might
be a sign of depression, but cutting off the world for a little while
each day is a good way to help make sense of it. Photo by Monica Kaneko.
How Distraction and Focus Work Together
Boredom
is one thing on its own, but one of the side effects of some types of
boredom is another productivity killer: distraction and inattention. We
get distracted easily—so easy that an entire ecosystem of apps and
browser extensions exist to help you minimize distractions. However, being distracted is a boon to creative thinking because it allows you to think outside the box. Scientific American explainsInsight problems involve thinking outside the box. This is where susceptibility to "distraction" can be of benefit. At off-peak times we are less focused, and may consider a broader range of information. This wider scope gives us access to more alternatives and diverse interpretations, thus fostering innovation and insight. Indeed, [the study] found that participants were more successful in solving insight problems when tested at their non-optimal times.
Distractions aren't just necessary for creative types and problem solvers, they're important for you to focus.NY Magazine explains:
Focus is a paradox—it has distraction built into it. The two are symbiotic; they're the systole and diastole of consciousness. Attention comes from the Latin "to stretch out" or "reach toward," distraction from "to pull apart." We need both. In their extreme forms, focus and attention may even circle back around and bleed into one another.
The ideas in NY Magazine are backed up with research from the Journal of Neuroscience
that suggests that daydreaming improves focus by creating long-range
neural connections. In short, getting distracted and letting your mind
wander can actually make you smarter and more focused in the long term.
You shouldn't stop in the middle of a productive moment and surf the
internet, but if you catch yourself being distracted you don't always
have to fight it. Photo by Ben and Kaz Askins.
Why Procrastination Helps You Make Better Decisions
Procrastination
is a productivity buzzkill for everyone, but it's not always bad. In
fact, procrastination is an essential part of the human condition and
actually a huge help for decision making.
In his book Wait: The Art and Science of Delay,
author Frank Partnoy suggests that procrastination is integral to good
decision making. He also suggests a simple two-step method is necessary
for making good decisions and being happy. He calls this, "don't just do
something, stand there." At a presentation at the Royal Society for the
encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), Partnoy lays out his process:
- Think about what the greatest amount of time you could delay before taking an action or making a decision.
- Wait until the last possible moment in that time frame.
If Partnoy's philosophy sounds a
little odd, it's because it's in exact opposition with Malcolm
Gladwell's praise of gut-reaction thinking in his book Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking.
Where Gladwell praised our innate decision making ability, Partnoy's
idea is that we're not good at decisions and we should give them more
time by procrastinating.
These aren't just decisions
about yourself or your life, but also political decisions, corporate
decisions, and everything else. In an interview with the Smithsonian Magazine, Partnoy adds an importantant disclaimer to this idea:
Some scientists have argued that there are two kinds of procrastination: active procrastination and passive procrastination. Active procrastination means you realize that you are unduly delaying mowing the lawn or cleaning your closet, but you are doing something that is more valuable instead. Passive procrastination is just sitting around on your sofa not doing anything.
The study Partnoy refers to is out of Columbia University
and suggests that some procrastinators make a deliberate decision to
put things off. In itself, this isn't a bad thing and provided you know
the time frame you can take action within, procrastination can have the
same positive effects as getting things done right away. Photo by Paul Swansen.
How to Avoid the Excess and Embrace Inactivity Without Becoming a Slob
We
know a little inactivity is great and you should make time for it. That
doesn't mean you can turn into a total slacker and expect to see life
improvements. All the above ideas accent productive living and are best
used in moderation.
We've talked before about prioritizing nothing
as a means to give yourself a break and just relax. It's advice I've
had to take myself because I found I was filling every moment of my day
with something. If there wasn't a screen in front of me there was
audio playing. Now, I'll let myself be a little bored when I'm cooking
dinner instead of listening to a podcast, and I don't always force
myself to focus on things all the time. More importantly, I've taken
Partnoy's advice stopped using procrastination as a bad word. After a
couple weeks of this I feel less anxious, and more resolved in my
decisions.
As for other methods? Here's Linehan again, with his solution:
Presently he's trying to force himself to take an hour-and-a-half every day to force that boredom to happen, where he sits in a cafe with just his phone switched to Flight mode – no internet, no calls. "The creative process requires a period of boredom, of being stuck. That's actually a very uncomfortable period that a lot of people mistake for writer's block, but it's actually just part one of a long process."
As for procrastination, Partnoy has his own solution to delay without forgetting entirely:
Just take a breath. Take more pauses. Stare off into the distance. Ask yourself the first question of this two-step process: What is the maximum amount of time I have available to respond? When I get emails now, instead of responding right away, I ask myself this. It might seem rude, and it did feel rude at first. But the reality is if you respond to every email instantaneously you are going to make your life much more difficult. If the email really doesn't have to be responded to for a week, I simply cut the information out of the email and paste it into my calendar for one week from today. I free up time today that I can spend on something else, and I'll be unconsciously working on the question asked in the email for a week.
With all three pillars of
inactivity it's about finding what works for you. You might need to
actually schedule in a time on your calendar where you're not doing
anything. Or force yourself to take a walk outside, linger around the coffee cooler, or take a nap. Photo by Kiran Jonnalagadda.
We can't be inactive all the
time, but it's a task we're losing touch with. Like all things, it's
about balance, but the next time you're sitting at the bus stop,
consider leaving your phone in your pocket. Take a walk without those
headphones now and again. Procrastinate on your decisions for a couple
of days. A lot of things in life happen at warp speed and you can't do
anything about it, but a few moments each day can help you better
understand the world.
| The Daily Reckoning Presents | ||||||||
| How Government “Works,” Part II | ||||||||
This is perhaps a good place to point out that government is a phenomenon, not a system. It is best understood as a fight between the outsiders and the insiders. The insiders always control the government...and use it to conquer and control the outsiders. Why do they want to do so? The usual reasons. Wealth. Power. Status. Everybody — or everyone who isn’t either feebleminded or a saint — wants wealth, power and status. And the easiest, fastest way to get it usually is to take it away from someone. That is government’s role. Only government can take something away from someone else lawfully. Why? Because governments make the laws. We’ve already seen how a small group of Romans were able to reach beyond their home town, for nearly 1,000 years, taking wealth from people on the outside. One tribe fell under their control. Then another. Then, one town. And another. And always the power, prestige and wealth flowed back to Rome. But not all Romans benefited in the same way. Rome itself was divided. During the Republican period, the insiders were the leading families who controlled the Senate. Then came the dictators, the emperors, and the scalawags who were able to get control of the government. Often, they were military men, popular or cunning generals who rose through the ranks, murdered their rivals, and took the reins of power for themselves. Each brought in new insiders...and kicked out some of the old ones. Rome sizzled with intrigue...and sometimes erupted into open warfare, with one group of insiders battling it out with another. After Rome fell, barbarian tribes swept over Europe. Local strongmen were able to set up their own governments. There was little theory or justification involved. They used brute force to take what they wanted. Then they settled down to govern. One local lord provided protection from other local lords. All demanded payment, tribute, wealth and power. In the largely un-moneyed economies of the Dark Ages, taxes were in the form of a share of output...and/or days of labor. A serf typically worked one day in 10 for his lord and master.
As the Dark Ages progressed, government became less locally peculiar. Across Europe, serfs, lords, and vassals knit themselves together into the feudal system. One governed a small area and was in turn governed by another, who governed a bigger one. At the top was the king, who owed his allegiance to God himself. Justifying and explaining the phenomenon of government also evolved. How to make sense of it? Why was one man powerful and rich and another weak and poor? Europe was Christianized by then. All men were supposed to be equal in God’s eyes. How come they were so different in the eyes of each other? Reaching back into antiquity, the doctrine of the “Divine Right of Kings” was developed to explain it. Scholars did not maintain that kings were divine, because that would undermine the foundations of Judeo-Christian monotheism. Instead, they claimed that kings had a special role to play, that they were appointed...and anointed, by God (through his ministers in the church of St. Peter)...to rule. Some people thought the kings were descended directly from the line of Jesus Christ. Others thought that God gave kings a “divine” right to govern in His name. In the fixed order of the world, each person had a job to do. One was a hewer of wood. Another was a drawer of water. A third was a king. Each man did his duty. Scholars in the middle ages spent a lot of time on the issue. As a theory of government it seemed coherent and logical. But there were traps and dead ends in it. If the right to rule were given by God, man could not contradict Him. But men did. One divinely-appointed ruler met another divinely-appointed ruler on the field of battle. Only one could win. What kind of game was God playing? And if God granted a man the right to rule other men, did that mean that every order he gave must be obeyed, just as though it had come from the mouth of God himself? And what if the king seemed not to be doing God’s work at all? Adultery was clearly a no-no. God disapproved of it. But kings often made it a habit and a sport. Did not the king defile his body and betray his Lord? In an effort to explain away the problem, scholars put forth the idea that the king actually had two bodies. One sacred. One profane. But which was which? “The Divine Right of Kings” was a theory of government that held water. But you had to put the water in the right container. You had to believe in God. You had to believe that He gave out job assignments. You also had to believe that He didn’t mind when His employees and agents made a mess of things...or even when they contradicted His own orders. Looking at the history of the monarchs who were thought to have been given this divine authority, you would have to conclude that God was either a very tolerant task-master, or a very negligent one. Adultery, murder, thieving, lying — there was hardly one of God’s commandments they obeyed. As a theory of government, the ‘divine right of kings’ would have been okay had it not been for the kings themselves. Some were reasonable men. Others were tyrants. Many were incompetent, largely irrelevant and silly. Taken all together, it was very difficult to believe that they had been selected by God, without also believing that God was just choosing His most important managers at random. Kings were not especially smart. Not especially bold or especially timid. Not especially wise or stupid. For all intents and purposes, they were just like everyone else. Sometimes smart. Sometimes dumb. Sometimes good. Sometimes evil. And always subject to influence. Towards the end of the 18th century, the ‘divine right of kings’ lost its following. The church, the monarch and the feudal system all seemed to lose market share. The Enlightenment had made people begin to wonder. Then, the beginning of the “Industrial Revolution” made them stir.
The school of laissez-faire economics maintained that government was a “necessary evil,” to be restrained as much as possible. The “government that governs best,” as Jefferson put it, “is the one that governs least.” This is, of course, another way of saying that government — like every other natural phenomenon — is subject to the law of declining marginal utility. A little government is probably a good thing. The energy put into a system of public order, dispute resolution, and certain minimal public services may give a positive return on investment. But the point of diminishing returns is reached quickly. For reference, here is the ‘take’ by modern governments today. Government — according the Liberal philosophers of the 18th and 19th century was supposed to get out of the way so that the ‘invisible hand’ would guide men to productive, fruitful lives. Smith thought the arm attached to the invisible hand was the arm of God. Others believed that not even God was necessary. Men, without central planning or God to guide them, would create a ‘spontaneous order,’ which would be a lot nicer than the one created by kings, dictators or popular assemblies. This idea of government, such as it is, leads to what we know of today as “libertarianism.” Libertarians argue about how much authority the government should have. They scrap among themselves over what the government should do and how big it should be allowed to get. But all libertarians agree with Jefferson. And all agree that the governments in the world circa 2011 are much too big. The libertarians are concerned about their loss of freedom. But what we’re concerned about is the downside. When the point of diminishing returns is passed, the payoff from further investment of resources in policing and wealth re-distribution declines. Then what happens? We’ve already seen what happened to Germany in the ’30s and ’40s. Hitler was elected. But then, the Reichstag burned and he suspended democratic institutions. Perhaps more robust, modern democracies can adapt more readily and thereby avoid the downside? |
Dumb Ways (for an Economy) to Die
Laissez Faire Today
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| Douglas French |
In a similar way, there are many dumb ways to kill an economy. Over the last five years, the federal government seems to have set the record for attempting as many as possible in record time. Then we look at growth rates and wonder why they are so anemic, why our kids can't get jobs, why sector after sector seems to be crumbling, and why so many people are looking abroad for opportunity.
In today's issue I thought we'd look at the dumb ways for an economy to die.
Stimulate Failing Sectors. The crash of 2008 exposed gigantic investment errors goaded on by previous bad Fed policy. The market tried so hard to make things right. But the Fed, the Treasury, and every living government official fought the entire way, with TARP, QE, ZIRP, Operation Twist, bankruptcy protections, debt creation, and many trillions of dollars in squandered wealth. And for what? To save the housing, banking, and financial sectors from the consequences of their errors. But the errors haven't gone away. The sectors haven't been stimulated. The net effect has been to ratchet down wealth creation, and so it will be until the stimulators stop diverting wealth and start facing up to reality.
Protect Against Imports and Exports. "Economic patriotism" is one of the most dangerous phrases in the English language. It means using the taxes called tariffs and quotas to prop up economically inefficient industries in our borders and failing to allow consumers to get the best deal whenever they can find it. Obama brags: "We've brought twice as many cases against unfair trading practices than the previous administration and we've won every single one that's been decided." The archetype case concerns China. You are paying more for lower-quality tires due to this intervention, at an estimated cost to consumers of $1.1 billion. The goal of energy independence is a bad one because it diverts production from efficient to inefficient technologies. Protectionism (and we have it for thousands of goods such as sugar, cheese, and ball bearings) is for losers. The belligerence against China is harmful. The sanctions against Iran and a dozen other countries are stupid The U.S. economy needs to embrace the global economy, or else it will die alone.
Regulate Everything. In the name of health, safety, the environment, and intellectual property enforcement, nothing that exists has been left outside regulatory management. Each day, an average of 68 new regulations appear, giving bureaucrats the opportunity for endless meddling and harassment, and shutting down entrepreneurial ideas. Every machine in your home has been forcibly degraded, from your toilets to your washing machines to your soap. We can't kill bugs in or out of our homes. Lawn equipment is wonky now, thanks to the regulatory tsunami. IP enforcement through patents and copyrights has slowed the pace of development of media, software, and industrial machinery. Enterprise lives in a cage and still somehow manages to stay alive. But what are we missing as a result? That's the great unknown.
Kill Cars and the Gas That Runs Them. American cars used to be cool, even amazing. Now the new cars all look alike, like in the old East Germany. The central plan has done this through "Corporate Average Fuel Economy" standards that have forced cars to take a certain shape unless they can be redefined as light trucks. Then there are the extremely weird regulations on pedestrian impact. As a result, the vehicles on the road look boxy and boring or seem big enough to transport the high school band. This is why the only good-looking cars in the new models are hybrids: Only the mix of electricity and gas gets around the regs. And speaking of gasoline, 40% of America's corn crop is burned up in our tanks (thanks to ethanol regs since 2008), and then it leaves residue that degrades engine quality. And we wonder why the American car industry is being creamed.
Save the Banks. Few remember that then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's first plan as the financial system melted down was to have the Treasury buy $700 billion in bad assets from the banks. That would not have been enough. Banking is a leveraged business. What the system really needed was capital injections. Thus, the birth of TARP and so many other programs. It was all designed so that we could go to our ATM machines and have money come out. The problem is that the whole system is unsound. If the banks had been allowed to fail, a banking system would reemerge that is sounder and less likely to create the booms and busts that continuously rock the U.S. economy. Instead, the banks live on, getting bigger and more unstable all the time. The latest estimates guess that TARP will cost taxpayers $65 billion. That's nothing compared with the coming costs of sustaining this dinosaur industry that is so easily replaceable in the digital age.
Raise the Minimum Wage. It's tough enough for young people and unskilled workers to find gainful employment. Legislators have had make it impossible for some by pricing this labor out of the market. Gas stations used to have attendants, typically young men. They would pump your gas, check your oil, and fill your tires. With labor price control, technology had to replace labor (except in attendant-mandatory states like New Jersey). Grocery stores are going the same way. The unemployment rate for workers under 25 years old is 16%, more than double the overall rate. It's no wonder the minimum wage has been hiked three times since 2006 by a whopping 41%. On top of the federal requirements, some states like Nevada and California have higher rates. Indexed to inflation, the minimum wage is 50 cents higher in Nevada, and in San Francisco, the minimum jumps to $10.55 this New Year's Day. Youth unemployment in California has grown 35% since 2000. Unemployment among yo ung people in Nevada is 27%. The young should blame their rulers for this calamity.
Soak the Rich. The war on the rich is completely out of hand, so much so that no one dares state what everyone once knew: The rich are our benefactors. They give most of the donations to philanthropy. They start the new businesses. They provide the capital. They most often have the good ideas. Their consumption habits provide a testing ground for innovations before they reach the rest of us. Yes, there are some sectors of the rich who become that way at others' expense, but that is still the exception, rather than the rule. But don't the rich need to be looted to pay for the debt Congress has run up? Doing so would fund the government for about 10 seconds. No, the real driving motivation behind the campaign against the rich is plain old envy. Envy is a bad habit of heart, one that will kill prosperity dead if it is unleashed in public policy.
Start a War. It was bad enough that the Bush-era wars have been sustained, maintained, and even entrenched in the Obama era. The war hawks seem to be on the lookout for other countries that the U.S. military can muscle and invade, with Iran topping the list. The U.S. military is outrageous bloated. The U.S. spends 800% more than Russia, the next-highest spender on the planet. The military budget is 15 times that of Japan, 47 times that of Israel, and 73 times that of Iran, according to many reports. It has doubled over the last 10 years. To maintain that kind of bloat, you have to whip up the population in periodic frenzies about witches abroad that need to be burned. From an economic point of view, this is catastrophic, throwing good money after bad and killing people in the process. Yes there are winners: the military-industrial complex. But the profitability of DynCorp, ManTech, Textron, Honeywell, and Northrop Grumman is not authentically based on consume r demand; these companies are private in name only.
Confiscate Private Property. The war on drugs has turned into a war on private property and private citizens. In most states, if you are stopped by law enforcement, your car may be searched, and any item suspected to be involved in the drug trade may be confiscated. Cash is the primary item local law enforcement agencies are looking for. Carrying a large amount of cash in your car, instead of having it in the bank is thought to be suspicious. These asset seizures are all an attempt to pay for the prison industrial state that has nearly 2.5 million people behind bars. It's impossible for taxes to foot the bill for all this policing. Now cops on the beat have turned into pirates seeking booty on the streets. Investigating murders and rapes doesn't pay the bills anymore. And stopping the inflow of drugs is the last thing on their minds. They just want the money.
Socialize Health Care. There is nothing more dastardly than ruining the ability for people to get medical care. It is a life-and-death matter. To destroy the market mechanism of property and prices is to destroy economic rationality, with the result being poverty, chaos, sickness and death. Ludwig von Mises wrote in 1922 that to socialize health care was the equivalent of placing this vital service in the hands of the army or prisons, centers of disease and disaster, not health and well-being. Americans complain about health care in this country and agitate for socialized care, when, in fact, 29% of American adults get their health care from Uncle Sam. Three-quarters of those over 65 years old depend on the government for medical care. Medical care is a scarce good. It must either be allocated by force or voluntarily at a cost of either time, money, or both. The price system in health care has been destroyed by government force, making health care unobtainabl e for millions.
Kick Out the Immigrants. Immigrants have been demonized for decades. The Irish used to be lazy drunks. Now it's Latinos. A strange brew of political bedfellows -- the nativist right and environmental left -- seek to shut the borders. But the facts prove that immigrants make us much better off. Immigrants are more likely to save and start businesses. They don't steal jobs from Americans; they create new jobs and do work natives don't want to do. The beauty of (especially) illegal immigrants is that they respond to the business cycle by arriving when work needs to be done and being flexible enough to go where the jobs are. In my own home state, the immigrants are sustaining much of the economy. By the way, the cost to keep immigrants out is billions of dollars and doesn't begin to pay the "supposed" costs that immigrants impose.
Abolish Interest Rates. Since 2008, the Fed has decided to go after natural law itself by using its power to impose a policy of zero interest rates. Problem: You can't earn money by saving anymore. That's seriously awful, since saving is the basis of investment and growth. Another problem: Banks can't earn money by normal lending anymore. That's just extremely strange. Banks, instead, are learning to live on the income stream that comes from keeping their deposits at the Fed, playing the derivatives market, and selling inflated debt securities. This is one step short of nationalization, but it is far from normal banking. Then there are the private-sector lending institutions that are completely ignoring the yield curve and getting normal market returns. But this private sector is seriously hindered by regulations and the money monopoly. The result: a broken banking system that has no conventional way to fix itself.
Look at this list of dumb ways to kill an economy. It is a stunning tribute to the private sector and the power of enterprise that we manage to grow and still somewhat prosperous, regardless of this relentless beating.
And we wonder what's happened. We wonder why capital is fleeing, why people are leaving, why wealth is not being created, why growth is anemic. This is not a reality built into some kind of civilizational way or some inexplicable great stagnation. It is all a direct result of a conscious decision to wreck the machinery of freedom. It's dumb.
Sincerely,
Douglas French
The Exploitation of Labor by Government
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| Jeffrey Tucker |
It's worst of all at place like the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Education. We find that only 50-60% of workers are satisfied with their jobs. To put it another way, every other person working in these concrete bunkers is a wreck.
To be sure, according to the survey, it's not living hell at NASA, the FDIC, and the GAO, but it's dreadful at the Federal Maritime Commission and the U.S. Trade Representative. Even that's not the worst of it. The folks at the Transportation Security Administration seem ready to explode, with only a 48% job satisfaction rating.
At the TSA, we find people begging to be fired -- testing the limits through unspeakable rudeness, outright thievery, and preposterous antics such as confiscating toys and testing people's hands for built-in bombs. When they don't get fired, they sink into further depression of the sort that comes when a person discovers there are no standards at all.
In the private sector, job satisfaction generally floats above 70%. This would seem to be enough evidence to seal it. It should be obvious that the most important first step in having a reasonable chance at a happy life is rather simple: Don't work for the government.
Yet for most, government work offers higher salaries and benefits. This is true across all professions except those with advanced training such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers (remember we are speaking about averages here). Yet the security and pay don't compensate for the misery.
It's not hard to understand what's going on here. Being part of the commercial life of a society, where there is a real sense of serving people and where change and development is the goal, is invigorating and life affirming. You are part of something. Your job is part of real life.
Being stuck in a dead zone like government -- where the money you make is taken from others by force and used only to beat the paying classes over the head even more -- runs contrary to the noblest aims of the human spirit.
It doesn't take long to discover that this is true. If you are in Washington, D.C., you might strike up a conversation in the lunch areas outside of a government agency. You will get an earful about the evil of management, the idiocy of co-workers, the sheer depressingness of the whole place.
Why do they stay? The people feel stuck, fearing life outside like prisoners too acclimated to flee. Even when the bars swing open, they sit on their mattresses and wait for the next meal.
It's hard not to feel sorry for these people. They made bad choices in life and now are stymied and risk averse. The job "benefits" are excellent on paper. The raises come regardless of the quality of your work. You get lots of vacation time. The workload is minimal at best. What's not to like?
Well, it all seems fine from the outside. You can make every rationalization. By the time you realize that you should have listened to that inner voice, it is too late. You are in the system. You are part of the problem.
I had a friend who was ill yet had an incredibly creative mind. He was a fine writer and thinker, and a very dear person. He took a job with an agency in D.C.. He was a good sport and tried to like it. But gradually, he lost touch with his old friends, and his new friends were all from the same agency -- drones mostly, people who live to complain.
He ran out of stuff to do at the agency and started to loathe his colleagues, but he couldn't leave. The money was too good and the health care was generous enough to cover all the expenses of his Marfan's syndrome. Over time, the spark in his spirit went away and the gleam in his eye flickered out. He stopped writing, stopped thinking, stopped enjoying life. Then, a few years later, he died.
I can't shake the profound sense of loss that I feel over this case. I swore I would never let another friend go this direction without getting a warning from me.
Government work really is a terrible trap.
Not all jobs at the federal government are alike. What draws many people of talent are the political positions, the appointed ones that total about 6,000. It's the first duty of any new president to find friends and benefactors to fill these jobs.
It's all that's left of the "spoils system" that prevailed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The new president would fire the old and hire the new. The whole thing came to an end in 1883, when the civil service came to be professionalized and the permanency of the modern nation-state took hold.
Today, the real state that runs our lives operates outside the influence of politics. There is nothing the elected classes can really do about it, even if they want to. They can hire their 6,000, but those people are coming and going and can do very little to outsmart the permanent class.
Plus, at the end of every political season, the political appointees engage in a massive scramble to convert their jobs from political to permanent ones -- and they do this because they fear the private sector and what it would do to their inflated self-esteem.
Yet we can get carried away by drawing too sharp a distinction between the public and private sectors here. The mandated benefits in the private sector, set to increase dramatically with Obamacare, are making these jobs stickier than ever. People are fearful of leaving even jobs they hate, mainly because they don't want to give up these benefits.
The irony is intense. The left always celebrated mandated benefits like company-provided health care on grounds that these benefits give power to labor. Actually, the opposite is true. These benefits give the employer more leverage over laborers than would occur in a free market.
Fearing the implications of being fired or let go -- and no one who has had good health insurance ever wants to be without again -- workers put up with an uncommon amount of abuse.
In contrast, a clean wage contract allows anyone to say, "Take this job and shove it." Pile a bunch of benefits on that wage contract and suddenly the employee is beholden and stuck in a job he or she can't live without.
These benefits are making the private sector more and more like the government sector. They represent gradual steps away from the empowerment that everyone feels in a world of fluid labor contracts and the freedom to hire and fire. And it's all brought to us by those who imagine they could use the force of government to uplift the working class. It is making this class more downtrodden than ever.
People learn too late in life that their job actually constitutes their major life activity apart from sleeping. It defines us, determines our level of happiness, forges a major part of our circle of friendships, and shapes how we think about ourselves and our role in the world.
Choosing where we work and what we do is a human freedom, a human right -- one of the last that we have. Don't waste that right by feeding yourself to Moloch.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Tucker
Peace, love, and happiness...until next time...
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