Gifted Slacker

A short, not-so-sweet explanation of the root cause of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapse (via MR, Econlog, and others):

What went wrong? The illusion that the companies were doing virtuous work made it impossible to build a political case for serious regulation. When there were social failures the companies always blamed their need to perform for the shareholders. When there were business failures it was always the result of their social obligations. Government budget discipline was not appropriate because it was always emphasized that they were “private companies.” But market discipline was nearly nonexistent given the general perception — now validated — that their debt was government backed. Little wonder with gains privatized and losses socialized that the enterprises have gambled their way into financial catastrophe.

This calculator says I should charge about $200 to companies that have me interview for a job. I think I can handle that…

Benjamin Franklin kept a daily log that detailed how well he upheld his thirteen virtues. Apparently he didn’t do very well most of the time.Here’s his list:

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Do you have any other virtues to add?

The UK government is hoping to start issuing a national id card by 2012. The Reg reports that two of the potential suppliers have pulled their bids for “commercial and political” reasons.

There is quite a lot of trepidation in the population about this card in light of the regular data loss by government agencies here. It’s kind of shocking that UK citizens are concerned with these privacy issues, but they welcome CCTV cameras.

The national id card program (or should I say “programme”?) has a lovely adoption strategy:

Documents leaked yesterday reveal the Home Office will target teenagers for early take-up of the cards. Anyone wanting to open a bank account, apply for student funding or buy alcohol or cigarettes will be forced to buy an ID card.

The reality is that privacy is increasingly a thing of the past. For better or worse, whether we want it to or not, it’s going to disappear for all intents and purposes. Fundamental cultural changes are inexorable like that.

Information wants to be free ,and technology is enabling it to be so. That’s a good thing. But it’s also what erodes privacy.

The UK is behind in revolutionary research:

It is sometimes asserted that UK science is thriving, at other times that it has declined. We suggest that both assertions are party true because the UK is thriving with respect to the volume of ‘normal’ science production but at the same time declining in the highest level of ‘revolutionary’ science.

That’s a good reason for not staying at Newcastle to pursue a PhD. The rest of the paper is here.

From Bill Lawrence’s “Why I Write” essay:

Why do I write? As an acknowledged bullshitter, I thought I’d start with some of the lies writers tell. I don’t write because I couldn’t do anything else. I’m a bright guy, I could hold down a number of jobs. I could run a hat shop. I don’t love writing. Nobody does - it’s worse than fishing. Anyone that tells you that he loves to write has either never written anything, or, is in fact, an alien. Throw water in his face, if he is human he’ll get embarrassed and admit he’s never written. If he’s an alien, the water will burn his skin and kill him like in the Mel Gibson movie SIGNS.

Way back when, in the days I got creative writing assignments in school, I loved to write. Howver, I’ve never written anything of substance. I’ve always wanted to try, but I always get caught up in putting each word down in its perfect place.

I recently gave up trying. But Iris Yamashita’s “Why I Write” essay has just about convinced me to give it a go again:

By the time I got to college, however, my Asian practicality and no-nonsense parents brought me back to my childhood philosophy that choosing a life of a writer was choosing the life of a pauper. To make a long story short, I took a long, circuitous route of a career in engineering and web programming and tortuous beginnings of novels that were never completed before I ventured into the medium of the screenplay.

So, I’ll give it a go again. Maybe not right now, but someday. Someday.

Susie Bright’s guest post on Scalzi’s Whatever blog explores the ridiculousness of tagging things NSFW:

That’s the odd case though. It’s usually about the money. If you reach a critical mass, or have the imprinteur of high society, you can run ANYTHING on your site, no matter how sensational or sexually bizarre— no matter how many religions it offends, or work hours it squanders. No one will dream of calling you names and sending you to the sidelines. No longer are you NSFW— you are Safe for Bank, baby.

I’ve always refused to label things NSFW in whatever forum I was participating in. My reason has always been “it doesn’t feel right”, but now I have another stack of reasons.

I no longer have to feel bad about not giving a shit about not buying into the whole “fair trade” scheme. Fair trade (and similar fads) always seemed a bit fishy to me.

Peter Boettke wonders if the content of the above Starbucks marketing message is just an application of material learned in an introductory economics course. And, Matt Dobra replies in a comment on this The Austrian Economists post:

(…)
First, this “fair trade” coffee business is mostly a response to the huge drop in wholesale coffee prices between 1997 and 2004, where prices dropped by about 66%. According to ECON 101, some curve probably shifted. In this case, it was the supply curve, as Vietnam entered the coffee market with surprising efficiency, meaning existing, higher cost producers were pushed out of the industry. So fair trade is little more than subsidizing inefficient producers. Fair trade coffee is about as good an idea as trade protection for the sake of saving jobs in a country that is an inefficient producer, and what grade do you give a ECON 101 student who advocates that?.
(…)

I love Matt’s parting shot, too:

(…)
In the end, it is the ECON 101 student who tells me this is a good marketing ploy that plays upon both the misguided social conscience and the economic illiteracy of the masses is the one that gets the good grade.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I would do if I had a near-infinite supply of money.

Three of the most important things in my life are travel, interesting ideas and thinking about those ideas, and doing what I can to make the people around me happy. If I had endless stores of money: I would live in a simple home in an area where I wouldn’t have to drive. I would go to school and I would travel. I would do humanitarian and world-bettering work.

The thing is, people ask you this type of thing to help you try and determine what kind of profession you should have. It doesn’t work for me. I’ve never had an answer that would even begin to guide me to a line of work.

I’ve been a student, an entrepreneur, a computer programmer, and a few other things. I don’t want to program full time, and I’m going to start a Business/Computer Science MSc. soon. That seems to point me into starting a tech startup at some point.

After I finish the MSc. I’m thinking of taking a PhD in Economics or, perhaps, Educational Psychology (a mentor of mine followed this path, I admire Dr. Bryant quite a bit). If I do that, I’m really not sure where that leaves me. I guess I’ll just take things as they come and do my best to get where I want to be. (Where is that? I don’t have a complete image, but I do have a general outline. And, no, I’m not going to tell you about it. Yet.)

I hate money. I hate talking about it, thinking about it, worrying about it. I hate the things it does to people when they have too much of it, and I hate the things it does to people when they have too little of it.

I hate money.

And right now I’m half panicked over it.

This. Fucking. Sucks.

Update 7:15 AM: Life is back to good. Maybe I can take a nap now, before I have to run around for the day.