THE DAY
You know, I’m just too tired out and disheartened by the people in this country who think that intolerance, megalomania, bigotry, and unbridled narcissism are acceptable and desirable qualities in any statesman. I can understand frustration; I understand anxiety; I even understand when people don’t want to hear that what they’ve come to expect as something to which they’re entitled is no longer achievable for reasons that are out of their control and that the standard of living to which we all have to become accustomed is less than what our parents had before us. There are good economic reasons for this, but I don’t have the energy to go into them. Anyone who’s interested can go listen to Robert Gordon’s talk about innovation and growth.
If you’re interested in a thoughtful counterpoint, though, check out Epstein’s assessment of the real causes for and of American Growth: in short, that lack of growth is the fault of an expansion in the size of government that outpaces GDP. This may be true–in fact, I don’t think it’s wrong–but it focuses only on innovation and not the actual improvement in standard of living. An economist friend says it best:
“In particular, no matter what future innovations are made in health care, it’s only possible to drop the rate of infant mortality (US only, not worldwide) from double-digits to a fraction of one percent once. It’s only possible to increase average lifespan by 40+ years once. It’s only possible to increase the average maximum speed of travel by two orders of magnitude once. It’s only possible to have women enter the workforce at approaching the same level as men once. This list goes on but the idea is the same.”
But back to what’s going on right now (and there’s no doubt that economics plays a YUGE role). I am ashamed of this country and appalled by my fellow citizens. Call me an alarmist, but this is how it started in Germany: with disbelief and then acceptance and then a gradual erosion of liberties while people found others to hate and blame for their misfortunes.
If the husband would seriously entertain leaving, I would suggest Canada. Cape Breton sounds nice. England would be lovely, but it’s too expensive. But the husband won’t, and so unless I make a shitload of money, I’m not going anywhere.
WRITING OUT LOUD
Dark Side of the Moon
Day 1: 4326 Day 11: 2500 Day 21: 1800 Day 31: 745
Day 2: 2085 Day 12: 500 Day 22: 0 Day 32: 0
Day 3: 3011 Day 13: 1000 Day 23: 2700 Day 33: 4000
Day 4: 2652. Day 14: 3700 Day 24: 3500 Day 34: 2800
Day 5: 3210 Day 15: 5630 Day 25: 1500 Day 35: 4500
Day 6: 3450 Day 16: 1060 Day 26: 0 Day 36: 4800
Day 7: 0 Day 17: 130 Day 27: 0 Day 37: 0
Day 8: 2756 Day 18: 0 Day 28: 380 Day 38: 450
Day 9: 4580 Day 19: 3000 Day 29: 390 Day 39: 1000
Day 10: 2670 Day 20: 2600 Day 30: 380 Day 40: 2500
Day 41: 2600 Day 51: 1000 Day 63: 4800 Day 73: 1500 (edit)
*Day 42: 830 Day 52: 1600 Day 64: 3300 Day 74: 250 (sick)
Day 43: 3600 Day 53: 2600 Day 65: 2500 Day 75: 3000 (edit)
Day 44: 5000 Day 54: 3600 Day 66: 1200 (edit) Day 76: 2500 (edit)
Day 45: 2600 Day 55: 3200 Day 67: 1000 (edit) Day 77: 2500 (edit)
Day 46: 3000 Day 56: 4000 Day 68: 3000 (edit) Day 78: 2000 (edit)
Day 47: 2800 Day 57: 1200 Day 69: 1000 (edit) Day 79: 2000 (edit)
Day 48: 2500 Day 58-60: 0 Day 70: 1000 (edit) Day 80: 4300 (edit)
Day 49: 1000 Day 61: 3500 Day 71: 1500 (edit) Day 81: 1000 (edit)
Day 50: 4600 Day 62: 3000 Day 72: 2500 (edit) Day 82: 2000 (edit)
Day 83: 1500 (edit)
Day 84: 2700 (edit)
Day 85: 1500 (edit)
Day 86: 0 (travel)
Day 87: 0 (travel)
Day 88: 0 (travel)
Day 89: 2500 (edit)
Day 90: 2400
Blog Post: 600
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What I’m Watching:
This country go down the toilet.
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What I’m Reading:
No more articles on Trump; I know what I think about him. I can barely stand to read the news. Read a bit of German Rocketeers; pretty turgid and definitely not written for anyone to, you know, actually read. Still, going to stick with it and hope it gets more interesting. Right now, my eyes are merging.
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What I’m Listening to:
Hate talk and bigots running around unchecked and actually encouraged to continue.
