February 2012
6 posts
2 tags
Merits of Meritocracy
“I believe in something I’ll call an opportunity society, a merit society where people, based upon their education and their hard work and their risk-taking, are able to earn rewards.”
Critical of Obama’s “entitlement society”, Mitt Romney has frequently argued that the US should remain a meritocracy. The argument goes that the only beneficiaries of an entitlement society...
2 tags
Euro Agonistes
As Paul Krugman points out here, the last post really shows that there are no good answers to the Greek problem. It really is an agonising situation for all the economies involved.
2 tags
How would you handle the Greek debt?
Everyone thinks that they could handle things better. Here’s your chance to find out if that is true.
Daniel Davies has written this “choose your own adventure” style Greek debt story in the Crooked Timber blog. Now you can see what might happen if you were in charge!
“Reading the media and blogs, it seems to me that left and right are united in the view that the Greek...
1 tag
Plan B for Greece
El-Erian’s article on Project Syndicate points to lessons learnt from Argentina in 2001:
“Greece’s future will resemble that of Argentina if its government and official creditors (namely, the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the IMF) fail to internalize some of Argentina’s lessons and do not undertake an urgent mid-course correction.
Specifically, they should take four...
2 tags
Same Net, More People Falling
Paul Krugman commenting on the rising cost of welfare from his blog:
“James Kwak and Larry Mishel, in slightly different ways, make a point I was planning to get to: the rise in safety net spending over the past decade does not reflect an expansion of that safety net. Instead, it reflects two things: rising health care costs, and a terrible economic slump that has put many more people in...
3 tags
Republican Race Back On
Since my last post following Newt Gingrich’s success at the South Carolina primary, the roller-coaster that is the Republican party presidential nomination race has continued hurtling along.
Mitt Romney comfortably won Florida and then Nevada and increasingly looked likely to be the next Republican nominee.
The Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado primary and caucuses yesterday has again...
January 2012
4 posts
1 tag
Newt Success
“Free-love” advocate, Newt Gingrich recorded a very good win in South Carolina last night. The results courtesy of the Huffington Post are shown below. This leaves the candidacy race wide open as we head towards the Florida primary on the 31st January.
3 tags
South Carolina Wide Open
I’ll be watching the primary in South Carolina today with interest. ”We pick presidents” the saying goes down in South Carolina and if Mitt Romney wins he will surely be clear favourite for the nomination.
But it is not so clear a ride for Ronmey who has slipped up from being the clear favourite to win the state primary. Newt Gingrich and now even Rick Santorum are looking for...
2 tags
Common Ground
Yesterday I found myself at the Bank of Ideas, a space claimed by Occupy London to discuss and imagine and plan for a fair, sustainable future. I was there to take part in some discussions about the future of our economic system.
As was to be expected there was some staunch anti-capitalist sentiment in the room and although named “Beyond Capitalism” I think it is fair to say that amongst the...
2 tags
Republican Primary Schedule
Here are the dates of the GOP primaries leading up to the summer!
January 3 Iowa (caucus)
January 10 New Hampshire (primary)
January 21 South Carolina (primary)
January 31 Florida (primary)
February 4 Nevada (caucus)
February 4-11 Maine (caucus)
February 7 Colorado (caucus) Minnesota (caucus) Missouri (primary)
February 28 Arizona (primary) Michigan (primary)
March 3 ...
November 2011
1 post
2 tags
October 2011
6 posts
1 tag
Movember →
It is that time of year again and so much to my wife’s chagrin I have just shaved and will spend the next month growing and tending a brand new moustache! Its all in aid of mens health charities and you can visit my “mospace” (http://mobro.co/jonswarbrick) and donate or just keep an eye on the progress.
1 tag
Shame on you Littlewoods
Whilst perhaps not famed for their ethical approach to business, the catalogue and online retailer Littlewoods have shown a truly distasteful side with their christmas marketing campaign. Here is the TV advert:
The initial striking feature is an awfully cringe-worthy song but there are darker elements to the advert. Targeting families with limited income, Littlewoods promises “to make...
2 tags
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Occupy Wall Street and New Opportunities
As protesters rally for Occupy Wall Street for the fourth week it is just another sign that we are living through a time of significant transition. The world is always in flux but there is a strong sense that global society is shifting more than has been seen in many years.
From the contagious uprising in the Arab world, riots and protests in southern Europe to the looting and riots on our own...
1 tag
September 2011
6 posts
1 tag
2nd Year Preparations: Elasticity
The concept of Supply and Demand can show how a products price and the supply and demand quantities are all related.
It is easy to see that lower prices can lead to higher demand and lower supply. But elasticity tells by how much. It turns this qualitative information into quantitative data.
Elasticity of Demand
If a product has a low elasticity it is said to be inelastic. A good example is...
2 tags
The 'Urbanisation' of the Church
I should begin by saying that my church community has never been very regular about it’s Sunday meetings but has recently pushed the boat out and begun meeting nearly every week. And I think it’s a great thing. There are a lot of people that appreciate meeting regularly, people who lead busy lives and want to hear someone of wisdom, learning and experience who has considered a topic...
1 tag
2nd Year Preparations: Supply and Demand
The theory of Supply and Demand runs through the core of market economics. An idea so pervasive that its is described as the ‘Law of Supply and Demand”, it determines the prices such as to allocate an economy’s scarce resources.
If you buy a t-shirt, you are adding to the demand of t-shirts. If you look for a job you are adding to the supply of labour; or you sell a sofa on...
1 tag
2nd Year Preparations: Gains from Trade
Over recent years there has often been talk of ‘self-sufficiency’, usually related to growing vegetables and other accessible ‘green’ activities. It is something I have enthused about, pulling potatoes from the earth or making jam. John Seymour’s classic book on the subject is one of my favourites. What is it the bigger trend that lies behind this? Is it simply a desire to get back to...
1 tag
2nd Year Preparations
I am about to begin the second and final year of my masters in economics. This year I’m going to try to prepare by reviewing some of the basic themes. As I am without an economics background it is sometimes easy to get caught up in some of the more complex theories before I have realised the more basic background.
Gregory Mankiw will provide the direction and I will try to post...
1 tag
“The study of economics does not seem to require any specialised gifts of an...”
– John Maynard Keynes
August 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Big Brother Isn't Watching You (Russell Brand) →
Russell Brand’s thoughts on the riots:
“… The only question I can legitimately ask is; why is this happening? Mark Duggan’s death has been badly handled but no one is contesting that is a reason for these conflagrations beyond the initial flash of activity in Tottenham. I’ve heard Theresa May and the Old Etonians whose hols have been curtailed (many would say they’re the real...
“OK… First I’ll access the secret military spy satelite that is in...”
– Garth Algar
July 2011
2 posts
1 tag
“You see, there are moments when perfection itself appears in a hand or a face,...”
– Baudolino - Umberto Eco
1 tag
June 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Rowan Williams - Right Questions at the Right Time
Reading Rowan William’s leader in the New Statesman I was pleasantly surprised. Not that I had expected to disagree with his sentiments, but having read the reactions and criticism in the media, I was struck by how balanced, considered and intelligent his comments were.
The first thing to point out is that his article was an introduction to an edition of the left-centre New Statesman of...
4 tags
Creative Imagining
I want to spend more of my time in my creative imagination.
It often seems as though I need books, film or music to trigger this space. Like reading the Northern Lights books, or Stephen Lawhead’s epic stories. Wow! You just cannot create those moments being caught up on these journeys. It seems to sweep us up into a level of thinking and being that is simply magical!
How can I live...
September 2010
1 post
6 tags
Looking after Apples
I returned home last night from a visit to meet my new nephew with a huge bag of apples freshly picked from my parents tree.
I am keen on growing fruit and vegetables having planted my first pear tree and grown my first set of potatoes last year. But what I have not really considered in depth is how to keep these things for longer than a couple of weeks. Much to my good fortune I have never...
July 2010
1 post
3 tags
Battle of Bundanoon →
Philippe Mingels, and his 3,200 friends online, want the world to bundanoon together.
According to Mingels, “bundanoon” is a new green verb he is promoting to honor an Australian town that prohibited bottled drinking water in 2009.
The town, Bundanoon, is located in New South Wales, Australia and gained wide attention by voluntarily pulling bottled waters off its shelves. The town, about two...
May 2010
2 posts
3 tags
3 tags
WatchDavid Cameron called us to “Vote for Change” during his campaign. Nick Clegg repeatedly petitioned us to turn away from the “old parties” to something… well… different?
Is this something genuinely new or just the same old? I am certain that there are opportunities as we move into this new season but I guess we will just have to wait and see…
February 2009
1 post
3 tags
Wonderment and Co-existence
Today walking to work I noticed two things.
The first is something I am usually ignorant of although it happens throughout every single day. It is a mutual acceptance of the absence of any connection between people. An accepted, undemanding co-existence. As I walk along and approach people that I will pass, from about 12 yards we decide which side we will pass one another. This normally...
December 2008
1 post
4 tags
Russell Brand and Union with the Divine
Russell Brand often talks of “being at one with God and the universe” in a very expressive way - I think there is much truth in a lot of what he thinks.
He does talk of desire and giving to our desires as a way of connecting to this divine - or that we are all divine and in union with one another are able to find that connectedness.
A big part of this is an interesting perspective on...
November 2008
3 posts
3 tags
Can Socialism Work?
Where capitalism supposedly promotes equal opportunity, socialism sets out to hold all people on equal standing through shared wealth and power. The arguement against capitalism, and a fair one, is that although it states that there should be equal opportunity, wealth and power are concentrated in pockets. Socialism would want to “share” this out. There is a greater emphasis on...
3 tags
The New -isms
Remembrance Day brought me to reflect upon the scars left across Europe after by the world wars. Reading “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” a while back I had an insight to the political and ideological struggles during WWII and the vacuums left as these came head to head. Fascism and democratic capitalism coming to blows as communism fought for its place leaving Europe to re-find itself.
The last 150...
3 tags
Into the Wild
I have in the past been very reluctant to engage with the defined structures of our society and culture, I have fostered anger towards cultural codes, symbolism and bureaucracy and have had an unwillingness to engage in a career or material success. The material trappings that numb the spirit.
Last night I watched the 2007 film “Into the Wild”. It is based on a true story of...
October 2008
1 post
3 tags
Economic Crisis (Have your cake and eat it)
There was quite a hubbub at work this morning as staff were discussing the rejection of the bail out plan by the US congress.
I do find it all rather frustrating as it seems we have had to be heading here for so long. The real implications on peoples lives of course bring the biggest concern to people worried about their savings, their mortgages and already tight budgets.
BUT… we cannot have...
September 2008
2 posts
2 tags
Person not Relationship
Sometimes its seems that relationships can be more about the relationship itself rather than the person. (Speaking generally rather than romantic.) Relationships should always be about the person themselves but often it seems that there is relationship breakdown because people idolize the relationship itself and as people change or make mistakes, as inevitably happens, it affects their...
2 tags
Patience
Stop - patience is needed. One mustn’t be instantly pleased nor should he reach his goals immediately after setting out - if it can be helped. It is important not to miss out on the struggle trying to attain them.
A carefully crafted budget or a well thought out plan should be coupled with a steadfast patience, passionately looking ahead into the distance.
What is it the waiting will...
August 2008
2 posts
2 tags
Living and sleeping
Not much time ago I was of the opinion that in order to work 9-5 Monday-Friday in a “normal” job I would have to allow a part of myself to die. I have been starting to feel that this is not a fair reflection, that this part of me must slow down, fade slightly, lie dormant, perhaps hibernate but it does not die. I have certainly found that it revives from time to time.
I want to...
2 tags
My bedroom is me and I am my bedroom
As I sort through my things and have another weekly tidy I realise that my bedroom is a picture of myself. It seems that often my goal is to achieve a state of perfect creative expression. In this place everything is peace, I arrive home from work in total rest and spend my evening in perfect harmony with myself. Time can never be wasted, I no longer have the hunger to consume but an overflow of...
June 2008
3 posts
2 tags
Choice and the Consumer
Should consumers be given the weighty responsibility of choice? Is our understanding of “rights” skewed?
We live in a market driven political and economic society. Consumer is king and bears the responsibility for making ethical choices to protect the long term sustainability of lifestyle and to promote the development of those less rich (quieter voices in the market). Because...
2 tags
Us and Them
Man, If I took everything I read in the media at face value I would be pretty messed up in the head!
I would believe the scaremongering, I would believe that there was an axis of evil, that there were “good” countries of freedom such as those in the West and there were those that were out to get us and destroy the freedom we have fought for. I would probably believe that Iranians,...
3 tags
Giving Time
Douglas Coupland writes of Margaret, trapped in a meaningless job in the defining Generation X:
She was saying that most of us have only two or three genuinley interesting moments in our lives, the rest is filler, and that at the end of our lives, most of us will be lucky if any of those moments connect together to form a story that anyone would find remotely interesting.
People live for...
May 2008
4 posts
5 tags
Redeeming
The last few books that I have read have offered new insights into the nature of redemption (or ‘setting things right’) and have seen that it usually occurs in quite unexpected ways.
The Kite Runner is a book of an Afghan boy whose life takes a huge turn when a shocking event takes place. A sequence of events takes the boy to a point of no return, of emotional isolation from others and the...
3 tags
Becoming a Man
“A man makes mistakes, he gets caught up in things, he is sometimes a sheep, and then he learns by experience and becomes a lion.”
Dr Iannis
2 tags
Day Dreaming
I think living a pace of life that allows for day dreaming is one of the most invaluable things in being human. Dreaming reminds us of what is important, it reminds us of what we value, what moves us, where we meet with God.
There are no limits to dreaming - all is possible. It damages the cages that we might live in and it prevents us from placing limits on our lives. God can achieve many...
1 tag
Blackadder and the fame thing
Why do we have celebrities? What do they do that is positive? Why are people sofascinated by their lives?
The ‘role’ of celebrity has certainly changed
over time. A long time
ago people earned their fame by a feat of brilliance, or bravery or success – apart from monarchs and the like – legends grew and people marvelled at these mysterious demi-Gods. Times moved on and the place of science,...