Flying the Flag

Posted on 4 July 2012 by Erik Hare | 8 Comments

For Independence Day, I can never do better than this old story I love to retell as often as I can. Enjoy the holiday!

The misunderstandings and suspicions melted away, as they always do, after a few litres of liquid bread that the Germans call “Bier”. Harald was very honest in his German way, a kind of honesty that was spelled out in long, silent pauses as much as words. “With all of these different people and cultures, what is it that makes you Americans?”

I swallowed my beer to give me time, and the perfect answer came to me:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Continue reading →

Jubilee

Posted on 2 July 2012 by Erik Hare | 18 Comments

Terrible news piles up in the financial world. The famous JP Morgan inexplicable $2B derivatives loss may be as much as $9B, making everyone wonder who is in charge. The obscurely infamous shifts in the London Interbank Overnight Rate (LIBOR) that signaled the start of the major financial collapse included a lot of manipulation and other illegal activity that’s only now coming to light. And China is experiencing a slowdown in manufacturing that is only deepening.

It all seems unrelated, and yet it all ties together in this thang called “Globalism” – what happens in one part of the world affects everyone. Yet there are few agreements and organizations that really have this tied together in a way that seems appropriate, at least making sure that corruption and disease in one place does not bring down the whole world. And this points to what will have to happen to get us all to start over again – something I have taken to calling “Jubilee”.

Continue reading →

Folk Inspiration

Posted on 25 June 2012 by Erik Hare | 6 Comments

The tidbits of popular inspiration roll through twitter and facebook in a nearly constant stream. You want your stuff retweeted or shared through the networks? Come up with a bit of folk enlightenment, maybe put it into a jpg pic as a “meme” (horrible mis-use of that word!). Keep it simple – a quick saying or maybe a set of “tips” devoid of heavy philosophy that could wear down a bizzy day. It could be a Bible verse or a simple admonishment to be a more decent person.

There’s nothing wrong with this sort of stuff, and it probably has been present throughout the history of human interaction. But the volume and popularity of these sorts of things leads me to wonder if there isn’t a hunger for spirituality and connection that is missing from the ordinary grind of the day. There appears to be a missing presence in the moment, a sense that ghosts float past our conscience whispering a calling to be a better part of the world.

Continue reading →

Worker’s Paradise

Posted on 20 June 2012 by Erik Hare | 19 Comments

Imagine for a moment that you live in the most fair and equitable economy you can dream up. There are some very specific things that most people in the developed world, especially Americans, would think would be a part of this.

There would be upward mobility, where family circumstances do not determine the kids’ future. People could find their own way according to their own talents and choices as to what makes a good life. Money would rarely limit dreams, as a free-flowing capital market would provide funding for good ideas at reasonable rates. Most would own their own homes and have control over their own destiny. Workers would own the company they work for, banking their retirement at a reasonable age on the place that they helped build. Basics like food and access to health care would not be expensive.

Such a place is the embodiment of pieces of both the Democratic and Republican parties in odd turns. This place of the imagination is also pretty close to the perfect state envisioned by Karl Marx.

Continue reading →

What is Google?

Posted on 11 June 2012 by Erik Hare | 10 Comments

What is google? If the first thing that comes to mind is “search engine”, you’re not alone – nor far from the mark. 96% of their $38B in revenue last year came from web searches. Years of fairly intense competition from Bing, Yahoo, and a lot of others hasn’t really dented their position at all.

If you take a closer look at where google gets its money, it’s nothing more than placing ads in those searches. After all the hype about the online world the business model for google – and facebook – is not significantly different than the one developed about 150 years ago for newspapers and duplicated as broadcast technologies were developed. The only difference is that google is in the business of curation, or using other people’s content rather than developing their own.

My hunch is that William Randolph Hearst would be impressed, but should anyone else? Not given the threat by mobile devices spurred in part by google itself. Google’s biz – curation for profit – has one really big enemy to deal with, and that is google.

Continue reading →