There have been too many videos, not enough writing on HPN recently. To that end I’m laying down an HPN writing challenge: the first annual summer hitlist. How does it work? Simply write out what’s “in” and “out” in your world this summer.
As George Grant recently quoted on his blog, “When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.” – William Hazlitt
Summer is a time for novelty. New music, new weather, new friends (this town clears out in the summers). So don’t fear the cutting edge – in can be as sophistic or esoteric, or not, as you like.
Here’s my first attempt:
Out: Going Eastern Orthodox
In: Going Anabaptist
Out: Robert Farrar Capon
In: Michael Pollan
Out: Gin and Tonics
In: Gin Rickeys
Out: Just War Theory
In: Non-Violence
Out: Shari’s
In: Smokey Mountain Pizza
Anyone who happens to still read this blog is also welcome to participate.
The Onion hits on something important here. We’re not just outsourcing jobs. We’re outsourcing something else – real productivity, work ethic, our shape and rigidity and resolve as a society – and we call it benevolence. I wonder if it isn’t just laziness.
And I cringe to think what our generation will be like as grandparents. Will we have any stories to tell? Or will we be huddled around a computer screen with our grandchildren sniggering at YouTube Classic?
First of all, how do we even measure output of financial services? If I read this BEA paper correctly, we more or less use “checks cashed†— or, more broadly, the number of transactions undertaken. This may be the best we can do, but it’s a pretty weak measure of actual work done by the financial system.
And given recent events, are we even sure that the expansion of the financial system was doing anything productive at all?
In short, how much of the apparent US productivity miracle, a miracle not shared by Europe, was a statistical illusion created by our bloated finance industry?
