Ahistorical Culture of Laziness

We are at spiritual war.  The adversary, Satan, seeks to destroy us.  He seeks to make us miserable.  One area the adversary is laboring dilligently regards our work ethic and related culture of gratitude and cultural awareness.  All three are related, and as the paths to destruction are many and varied, the adversary would be pleased with us taking one or more of these.

One of the marks of a declining civilization and sagging culture is an overall sense of laziness.  Each of us likely has countless tales of individuals in the workplace or classroom (or chapel) whose laziness and apathy knows no bounds: they seem unwilling to do much of anything, and unconcerned at the notion of accomplishing little or nothing.  If honest, most of us could recount instances where we ourselves manifested an unholy laziness, an idleness which does not breed the best in individuals or families spiritually, emotionally, socially, mentally, or temporally.

A recent co-worker was lamenting over the hardship of sitting in a relatively long (by our standards) meeting.  An hourly five minute break, he claimed, barely made the whole experience tolerable.  I was annoyed at this attitude.  After all, he was at work.  Was he getting paid for self-amusement or entertainment?  If only he could go back a few generations and see the sort of subsistent farming his ancestors (or mine) required to merely survive, laboring sixteen hours a day in cold, heat, etc., with no retirement plan or paid holidays.  How can sitting in an air conditioned room be considered any sort of hardship?

It is a sad indicator that few people understand where we have come from, and therefore lack any sort of significant appreciation for the good in our current circumstances.  There exists neither motive for improvement, nor gratitude for current blessings, nor awareness of the billions today who live literally in poverty, in the humblest of circumstances, living day-to-day and meal-to-meal.  This sort of ahistorical and myopic, self-centered view on life is emblematic of our entire culture.

And it is counter to teachings of Latter-day prophets.  For instance, the admonition in D&C 88:79 for all to seek knowledge:

Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home; things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations…and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms.

We could consider other examples related to gratitude and charity, to name a few others. 

There are opposing forces to this over-arching laziness.  Redemption continues to be possible, not just for liars, thieves, and Sabbath-breakers, but for the lazy and ignorant as well.  If such poses a significant barrier to spiritual growth and progress, then we are assured that the Savior’s grace is indeed sufficient (i.e. Ether 12:27).  His power is able to save and redeem us from not only external enemies, but from internal constraints which inhibit spiritual growth and development.

Scripture is full of admonitions to shake off our laziness, to awake and arise, to gird up our loins, to shake off the dust or chains which bind us, etc.  Surely the Lord wants us to take this counsel to heart!

GDP and a Culture of Consumption

Many have the misconception that a true advocate of the free market (a condition where individuals are free to exchange, invest, and economize without coercion) is necessarily an advocate of our consumer culture.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, as it is commonly known, measures three indicators: consumption, investment, and government spending.  GDP is the most commonly used indicator of economic strength among the mainstream.  As consumption is a presumed sign of economic strength, governments around the world perpetually create schemes and concoct incentives to try and boost consumption, for according to this measurement system (which I strongly disagree with), as consumption increases, so does the overall economic health of the nation.

Our culture of consumption is not a product of the unfettered free market, but is largely a result of state interventionism, including unholy alliances between governments and businesses of all stripes.  This is nothing new: the Austrian School of Economics has been preaching this for decades.  Economists of various flavors have been preaching this for centuries, if not millenia.

I clearly do not support increased government spending as a measure of economic strength.  Quite the opposite.  Investment alone (this would include what we call “saving”) is the prime indicator of economic health, in my mind.  As the government can do nothing constructive to assist this (except to protect individuals from acts of aggression), there is really no constructive purpose to measuring GDP.

One argument against measuring investment alone is that investment is bad for the economy in the short-term.  In a sense, this is true.  A consumption-oriented culture and economic system has a capital structure centered around perpetual consumption.  When that ceases, it is true that jobs are lost and companies go under as the capital structure is modified.

As opposed to consumption, investment is a long-term, rather than a short-term objective.  In the long-term, investment leads to stable growth.

Money saved now (and not consumed) will one day be invested in some capital expenditure of value and benefit to society: a car, a house, an education, etc.  Unfortunately, our consumption-oriented corporatist culture diverts resources from where they are most useful (i.e. investment) and puts them in an area where they have short-term gains at the cost of long-term rewards.  That money is diverted from its proper use to purchase some expendable and often non-essential good.  (When such purchases are made on credit, the consequences are even worse.)

Would consumption exist in a country with a small government and no measurement of GDP?  Of course: people still need to eat, shower, brush their teeth, and enjoy recreation.  But there would be less frequent frivolous purchases and more long-term planning and saving.

In short, capitalism gets a bad rap for our government-encouraged corporatist, consumer-driven culture.  My advice: stop measuring GDP, get government out of the business of business, and let the market go to work. In other words, stop interfering with every transaction between individuals: and let them economize and exchange freely, rather than being bound and fettered by onerous regulation, heavy taxation, and myopic incentives.

Bold Automotive Predictions

With President Obama’s proposed upgrade of car fuel efficiency standards (government-mandated standards, of course), I have a few bold predictions to make:

1. The administration’s estimate of an average increase of $1,400 per vehicle is far too low.  A more accurate estimate would be an extra $4,000 or $5,000, what one would pay extra (at least) for a hybrid car.

2. Materials in cars would move increasingly towards polymers (plastics) and aluminum and away from steel and cast iron.  Conventional illumination systems will be increasingly replaced by high-end, expensive LED systems.  This could be good news for some small companies in the South, West, and Northeast, but will probably hurt even more the rust belt, which still has a fair share of iron and steel plants which primarily serve the auto industry by producing low-cost, high-quality, ultra-reliable parts.  They will be driven out in a hurry.  Too swift a movement towards these lighter materials will likely mean a safety problem and almost certainly a quality compromise.

3. The value of some used cars will increase as their demand will as well.  A reliable gas guzzling vehicle purchased in 2014 may depreciate lower than one purchased in 2002.

Let it always be remembered that, as Henry Hazlitt would say, a good economist looks for all effects of a certain policy, and a poor economist looks at a narrow window of scope, ignoring the complete picture.  Sadly we have neglected wisdom and we continually look to our tunnel-vision minded political machine to set our course for us.

Sunday Morning Thoughts on Nihilism and Transcendentalism, and Exaltation in Film

I recently have been persuading my four year-old to watch snippets of the Disney film Fantasia 2000 (one of my favorite all-time films) on youtube.  So far, he has been willing to do so.

I have a passion for classical music, and I find that the music featured on Fantasia 2000 (similar to the music featured on the original Fantasia) includes some of the greatest musical achievements of western civilization.  I have a desire to show my children that there is something valuable, something profound, something meaningful, something transcendent, and even something divine in these great orchestral works, and thus in life itself.

The stories told by the animators, too, are primal and transcendent.  Themes include pure romantic love, family love, the power of community, transcendent communal unity with the divine, individual strength, sacrifice, and timeless struggles of life vs. death and light vs. dark, among others.  Thus, the movie is moving, enjoyable, and profoundly meaningful.  I realize how far off the mainstream I am with this analysis: for instance, when watching this movie nine years ago with a friend and two siblings, I was the only one who thought the movie was better than a marginal “OK.”

And yet, when I compare these transcendent, timeless themes coupled with sublime music, I cannot help but compare this film presentation to that of the other extreme: nihilism, (or meaninglessness) as in The Dark Knight and The Fountain.

Discussing nihilism is pointless and contradictory: if everything is meaningless, then why put forth any effort to preach such a philosophy?  If there is meaning or purpose in preaching meaninglessness, then one does not truly believe in meaninglessness.

It does not take a brain surgeon to comprehend this: such is really the default philosophy of existence.  Just as failure is the default mode of success in life (if we do nothing, we fail to accomplish anything), so nihilism is the default mode of existence (if there is no meaning in anything we do, life must be meaningless).

Who is it that encourages us to adopt this philosophy, that life is dark and meaningless, that values bind us down, and that there is nothing else beyond this dark and dreary existence?  The answer is obvious: the adversary wants us to believe this.

In contrast, the Lord wants us to be happy and to find joy even in darkness and despair.  As we do so, we find the sublime fruits of progression, unity, love, and holiness.  Living the disciples’ life, we can find the good wherever we look and wherever we go, if we choose to do so, and use that knowledge and those experiences to our eternal benefit and our exaltation.

Recession and the Austrian School

All is vanity. -Ecclesiastes 1:2

Who is right about the current recession?

Most economists from the Austrian School of Economics have been saying since the beginning (before most mainstream economists admitted we were even in a recession) that this economic downturn would be long and prolonged, likely a depression.  They are still saying this.  None of the failed Keynesian economic policies will change this for the better.  They will only prolong the agony, as Hoover and FDR’s interventions created and prolonged The Great Depression.

The Cold War taught us this: governments are not only unjust stewards of resources, but they are tragically inefficient as well.  Tens of millions died, for instance, due to Communist failures to allocate food properly.  If governments cannot even allocate food properly, the most basic of necessities, what makes us believe they are able to allocate capital, education, the environment, and health care (to name just four examples) more effectively than we as individuals are?

Mainstream economists have said, and some still say, that the recession will start to end this year.  This is tom-foolery.  We are already starting to see some mainstream shift in opinion (i.e. this news article).  This shift will only continue, validating the conclusions of the Austrian School of Economics.