The March 27, 2007
PinFeed Almanack
Meliora
- Latin adjective meaning "better";
the motto of the University of Rochester at Rochester, New York, used
substantively (i.e. as a noun) in this context to mean "better things,"
"always better," or, more fully, "for the pursuit of the better."
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No, I didn't accidentally re-send yesterday's notice. A couple of items
struck me as so apropos of the 'Meliora' page that I tacked on a P.S., below.
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Yesterday's
Times strikes a particularly high tone in disparate opinion
columns. They weren't funny (so much for 'Lighten Up'), but they were in
being touched for half-a-sawbuck some years ago, in a touristy part of
Giuliani's Manhattan. Knowing he was scammed, Mr Gilbert admits to acquiring
a more defensive, less helpful posture toward his fellow sojourners, and feels
personally (perhaps spiritually?) diminished by the change. In the same
manner as a grifter begging for aid, Nissan's 'lost keys' ad campaign preys
on a helpful impulse to peddle a crass commercial pitch. His point is well
made: we become desensitized, even cynical, by every such insult that makes
us feel stupid for being duped.
The fact that the grifter was outside the law, and Nissan within it, only adds
to the helpless sense of cynicism; at least the grifter had the integrity
borne of personal risk.
has meant the 'haves' vs the 'have-nots'. But Stein sees new, disturbing,
and widening splits: between ordinary employees and investors, and the
insiders who have access to back-dated stock options, which Stein labels
outright fraud; between soldiers dying in Iraq, and citizens splurging on
economy-growing botox treatments and teeth whitening.
Once again, cynicism is overwhelming, as the Secretary of the Treasury and
the chairman of the S.E.C. negotiate with Wall Street to relieve the awful
burden of regulatory oversight under which these Wall Street billionaires
labor. The argument being that regulations hinder business, reduce profits,
slow the economry; and might (naive hope!) have a slight restraining effect
on flagrantly unfair compensation schemes.
The division is not so much between rich and poor, as between those who
exploit, and those who don't. Competition, in this game, is not between
those seeking to outperform their peers to produce a better product more
efficiently. The goal is to entrap the unwary, victimize the naive, and
profit from the disadvantaged.
The Almanack's preferred focus is on 'qwertyness', how things become 'good
enough'. Conventional wisdom holds that competition will always result in
the best being recognized and rewarded; but not always. Politics, accident,
deceit, and unintended consequences often get in the way. Ben Stein and
Daniel Gilbert urge us, as Joseph Campbell said, to 'lean toward the light'.
---------- P.S.:
Kiva is a web site that facilitates micro-lending, in amounts as small as $25,
to third-world entrepreneurs, especially women. Kiva has set a new standard
for meliora.
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