Trump supporters and authoritarianism

Posted by on

“Political pollsters have missed this key component of Trump’s support because they simply don’t include questions about authoritarianism in their polls. In addition to the typical battery of demographic, horse race, thermometer-scale and policy questions, my poll asked a set of four simple survey questions that political scientists have employed since 1992 to measure inclination toward authoritarianism. These questions pertain to child-rearing: whether it is more important for the voter to have a child who is :

1. respectful or independent;

2. obedient or self-reliant;

3. well-behaved or considerate; and

4. well-mannered or curious.

Respondents who pick the first option in each of these questions are strongly authoritarian.

Based on these questions, Trump was the only candidate—Republican or Democrat—whose support among authoritarians was statistically significant.” (Mathew Macwilliams, Politico)

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533#ixzz41D71rALj

The crippling cost of zero interest rates

Posted by on

They used to say there are but three ways to ruin the class of petit-bourgeois savers who form the backbone of all successful democracies: a banking collapse (as in the 1929 crash); hyperinflation (as in banana republics); or straightforward state expropriation (as in oppressive taxation). Now we’ve invented a fourth. The introduction of zero to negative interest rates is “destroying” the economics of wealth creation. It has nullified the magic of compound interest, thus making it impossible for a generation of savers to amass a decent amount of money for their retirement. A decade ago, you had to put aside £761,000 to enjoy a £35,000 annuity in retirement. Today you’d need to save £1.4m. That’s not all. Low interest rates have created “a massive black hole” at the heart of company pension schemes; so rather than spend on factories and machines, businesses are having to plug the gap. And since banks can’t profit from super-low interest rates, the supply of loans also starts to dry up. In their obsession to push down the cost of borrowing, Government and central banks have forgotten that “free credit comes at a crippling, hidden cost”. (Allister Heath, The Daily Telegraph, UK).

There is also another phenomenon. You can put money into any number of financial funds, but the return is risible. This is a disaster for the elderly, many of whom have to scrape through on Social Security (thank heaven for it, but it’s rather hard to live on it and actually do anything). This means that the elderly cannot spend. (By the way, all this escapes the attention of people who complain about how pampered elderly people are). I you do have funds invested you tend to ignore them, because it costs more than it’s worth to move them. There is no incentive to even bother. At the moment the stock market is doing well, but for how long? Many fear (or expect?) another disaster, this time caused by car financing or some other financial services idiocy from banks whose greed blinds them to history. What is going up now could disappear next week.   I remember when interest rates were 18% at one point.  That was a disaster, but almost- zero interest rates are as bad in different ways. Cue for mention of Epicurean moderation.

Be wary of online reviewers

Posted by on

One of the aggravations of modern life, is the way we’re always being asked to review things online. You need only take delivery of a small parcel to get a text asking you to rate your “service experience”. So it was a delight to read last week how a young journalist, Oobah Butler, had exposed the “chicanery of online reviewing”. He first claimed he’d set up an “appointment-only” restaurant – actually his London garden shed – aided by photos of its mood-inspired “food” (shaving foam and bleach tablets), and posted breathless reviews of it on TripAdvisor. Eager customers clamoured to book a table, but he ignored their calls, and in no time the website had classed The Shed as London’s top restaurant… even though it didn’t exist. Butler’s prank, and his admission that he used to earn a living writing fake reviews for TripAdvisor, is a timely reminder not to put your faith in the “wisdom of crowds” – too many of us have learnt to game the system. No, place your trust in experts and friends: they’re “our only protection against fake reviews in an ocean of fake news”. (Janice Turner, The Times)

There is not a lot of point in reading online reviews by customers. You don’t know if they are genuine, and what is one person’s luxury hotel bedroom, for instance, with a stunning views,  is another person’s cramped and dreary hole in the wall with uncomfortable beds. In any case I am simply ignoring review requests unless I have had particularly good service, and we want to reward it.  These surveys are management cop-outs that focus on service individuals ( you can seldom talk to an actual manager, hiding away behind his office door), not the overall management and offerings of the company.

Epicurus: the simplest philosopher to understand

Posted by on

Epicurus proposed that we typically make three mistakes when thinking about happiness.

1. People fret if they don’t have a romantic relationship

Then, as now, people were obsessed with love. But Epicurus thought that happiness and love (let alone marriage) seldom go together. There is too much jealousy, misunderstanding and bitterness. Sex is always complicated and rarely in harmony with affection. It would be best, Epicurus concluded, to be careful about relationships. By contrast, he noted how rewarding most friendships are: here we are polite, we look for agreement, we don’t scold or berate and we aren’t possessive. But the problem is we don’t see our friends enough. Work and family take precedence. We can’t find the time. They live too far away.

My comment: if you are lucky your spouse is your best friend.  Happiness and love go together.  On the other hand, Epicurus is right about a significant number of relationships. Proportion of unhappy marriages: unknown.

2. We think we need lots of money

Then, as now, people were obsessed woth their careers, motivated by a desire for money and applause. But Epicurus emphasised the difficulties of employment: the jealousy, the backbiting and frustrated ambitions. What makes work really satisfying, Epicurus believed, is either working alone or in very small groups and when it feels meaningful, when we sense that we’re helping others in some way or making things that improve the world. It isn’t really cash or prestige we want, it’s a sense of fulfilment through our labour.

My comment:  agreed 100%

3. We put too much faith in luxury

We dream of luxury, a beautiful home and  trips to idyllic locations.   Epicurus disagreed with the fantasy of luxury and thought that what we really need  is calm. Yet calm won’t possibly arise simply through changing the view or owning a delightful building. Calm is an internal quality that comes when we sift through our worries and correctly understand them. We therefore need ample time to read, to reflect,  and most of all, to benefit from the regular support of a good listener, a sympathetic, kind, clever person.

My comment :  Ah! calm!  yes, please! As for the regular support of a good listener, a sympathetic, kind, clever person – one’s spouse?

With his analysis of happiness in hand, Epicurus made three important innovations:

– Firstly, he decided that he would live together with friends.  He bought a modestly priced plot of land outside Athens and built a place where he and his friends could live side by side on a permanent basis. Everyone had their rooms, and there were common areas downstairs and in the grounds. That way, the residents would always be surrounded by people who shared their outlooks, were entertaining and kind. Children were looked after in rota. Everyone ate together. It was the world’s first proper commune.

– Secondly, everyone in the commune stopped working for other people. They accepted cuts in their income in return for being able to focus on fulfilling work. Some of Epicurus’s friends devoted themselves to farming, others to cooking, a few to making furniture and art. They had far less money, but ample intrinsic satisfaction.

– And thirdly, Epicurus and his friends devoted themselves to finding calm through rational analysis and insight. They spent periods of every day reflecting on their anxieties, improving their understanding of their psyches and mastering the great questions of philosophy.

Epicurus’s experiment in living caught on. Epicurean communities opened up all around the Mediterranean and drew in thousands of followers. The centres thrived for generations – until they were brutally suppressed by the early Christians in the 5th century. But even then, their essence survived when many of them were turned into monasteries.

Epicurus remains an good guide to life in advanced consumer capitalist societies where advertising cleverly muddles  people up about what they think they need to be happy: romantic love, professional status and luxury.

Epicurus invites us to change our understanding of ourselves and to alter society accordingly. We mustn’t exhaust ourselves and the planet in a race for things that wouldn’t possibly satisfy us even if we got them. We need a return to philosophy and a lot more seriousness about the business of being happy.

My comment: I fully support the ideal Epicurus proposes,  but he ignores one important point: some people tend towards extroversion – for them the commune is ideal.  For those who are introverted, the communal live would be unattractive.  But there is no dogma in Epicureanism as there is in most religions.  One can adapt the thoughts of Epicurus to one’s own character and preferences.

Brexit

Posted by on

Ministers including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are reported to be plotting to scrap the EU working time directive.  This is a crucial piece of EU law that protects working people – and which working people were promised would still apply after Brexit.  If Johnson and Gove succeed, 7 million workers could lose their guaranteed legal right to paid holidays. That includes nearly 5 million women and many workers on part-time and zero-hours contracts.

Stripped of the laws that restrain them, bad bosses could force their staff to work excessive hours, far above the current limit of 48 hours a week. Lunch and rest breaks would be under threat too, as would health and safety protections for night workers.  Workers in sectors like health and transport are more likely to make dangerous mistakes if they’re overworked and exhausted.

Since these rules were introduced, in 1998, they have transformed working life – and family life too. Everyone deserves the guarantee of time off to rest, relax and spend with family and friends.
And it’s not just about the working time directive. If Johnson, Gove and their allies win on this, they’ll surely be emboldened to come after other hard-won rights. Those secured by the EU include parental leave, time off for family emergencies, equal pay for women and equal rights for part-time, fixed-term and agency workers. (Based upon an article by Frances O’Grady,general secretary of the TUC, in The Guardian)

During the referendum campaign, Vote Leave promised Britain’s workers that their rights from the EU would be safe after Brexit.  But in reality you can now see the outline, the drift of extreme right- wing Conservative thinking.  The idea is to make Britain attractive to the most rapacious and conscience-less companies in the world, people who view ex-EU Britain as ripe for exploitation and the worker expendable.

Those of us who support and honour Epicurus believe in looking after employees, in paying them a decent, living wage, and in  getting better productivity by offering decent holidays, sick pay and time off for emergencies.  It seems common sense to us, but not to the Mr. Gradgrinds of the world.  The Brexiteers  promised a better standard of living but, sotto voce, what they  meant was a  better life for themselves and their rich friends.  If the right-wing Tories have their way, Britain will regain the Victorian sweatshops made famous by Charles Dickens, and we will be back where we started.