Life After Google, George Guilder

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2018/10/01/life-after-google-blockchain-book-review/

I continue my new policy of leaving the "detailed review" to the professional reviewer from the link, and ONLY do my "personal flavor" here. The NR review does an excellent job, just read it to get a fuller concept of the book.

If you are a watcher vs a reader, you can get a flavor here.

I'm reminded of how fun a read Guilder is -- ultra intelligent, witty, sometimes snarky, and very connected to the personalities of those shaping life after Google -- toward the end of the book, he gets a little too enamoured with the personalities for my taste.

I was most struck with the prominence of Peter Thiel ("Zero to One") in the coming age. His 1517 Fund is named after the year Luther put up his thesis because Theil sees the modern university system as the secular replacement for the pre-reformation Catholic Church. His Theil Foundation is looking to help young out of the modern orthodoxy of "Wokeism". 

One of the topics covered in the book is Blockchain.

So what’s the answer? Gilder is clear and unequivocal: Blockchain is the future, not just because it will protect user data but because it will allow every user safe and immediate access to that data. It will usher in a world beyond Google.

To understand how, it’s useful to have a basic grasp of how blockchain technology works. Essentially, information in a blockchain exists as a shared — and continually reconciled — database. The block­chain database isn’t stored in any single location; no centralized version of the information exists (as it does in Google’s Dalles data center) for a hacker to penetrate. Instead, it’s hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, like a spreadsheet duplicated across an entire network whose data are constantly updated and accessible to anyone on the network.

The other ((totally unexpected) item that floored me was the very cogent discussion of consciousness vs randomness -- an example from page 300: "By referring back to their own brains which they don't really understand, the AI scientists plunge directly into the self-referential Godel perplex. By using their own minds and consciousness to deny the significance of consciousness in minds, they refute themselves. As Turing concluded, they need an "oracle"-- s source of intelligence outside the system itself..."

Perhaps it turns out that Laplace has "a need for that hypothesis" (God) after all!

On page 103, he is even more explicit: "Creation is an entropic process of a higher consciousness echoed by human consciousness. This higher consciousness, which throughout human history we have found convenient to call God, endows human creators with the space to originate surprising things. This is the mirrored room of cosmic thought, reflective intelligence. Consciousness precedes creation, the word precedes the flesh."

The book is exciting, invigorating and inspirational, while being entertaining. It just doesn't get much better than that!

CEO Pay Falls Behind

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/09/ceo-pay-fails-to-keep-pace-with-average-workers.php

CEO pay as a giant multiple of workers wages is just another TP / MSM created lie to encourage you to vote for TP to allow the top of the top CEOs in TP controlled companies like FB, Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, etc to continue to make vast multiples of their workers salaries!

In 2005, the median worker made $46,242 and the average CEO made around four times that amount, or around $180,000. In 2017 the median worker made a record $61,372 up around 33%, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average CEO made $183,270 in 2017 or just a 2% or 3% increase in twelve years. The average CEO today makes just three times the average worker, so why does media just repeat the lie? Obviously because they collude with Democrats heightening class resentments, and they don’t want the public to know the truth or they are too lazy to do the research.

Trade, DOW, No News

https://www.actionforex.com/live-comments/125175-dow-breaks-26000-as-nafta-announce-is-almost-certain/

I knew the market was on a tear yesterday, I did a google of "market breaks 26K", and the articles were sparse ... the linked was the only one on the first page of hits (rest were first 26k break in 2017). Dow news was totally absent CNN, and on my Google News, the first semi-related story was from Bloomberg ... "Trump's Mexico Trade Deal Looks Like a Lemon". Wow, is it yellow?

So the president proimises a new trade deal during the campaign, DELIVERS, and the MARKETS surge as business finds it to be very good news, but virtually the entire US media finds the economy to be a non-story! I DID actually go over and look at Fox on the web, which I rarely do -- OMG, what a total tabloid! Fox is no longer "news" at all, fake, or otherwise ... when this is your "below the fold" on the web, you don't deserve to be clicked by sentient humans ...

"Mysterious Appearance"! And yes, ESPN and CNN are out on a Tiger hatefest because he refused to go make disparaging remarks about the President! I suppose at least 50% of BOistanis find this to be ""news", but this is really NOT "a country", let alone "my country" at this point!

Rediscovering Values, Jim Wallis

https://www.amazon.com/Rediscovering-Values-Guide-Economic-Recovery/dp/1439183198

The book is subtitled "On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street ... as well as "A moral compass for a new economy".

I'm very glad that I waited until 2018 to read this book -- time has already done all the judgement on this book, so I don't need to be as judgemental as Mr Wallis. 2008 was not "the end of the American Economy", although Obama nearly was. We are back to super low unemployment and 4.1% growth rates thanks to Trump.

The first point to be made is this, from page 143;

"My adult life has been committed to the ministry of calling Christians to the message of social justice, which is at the heart of the gospel and the life and ministry of Jesus". 

Actually, no ... Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10) ... his kingdom was and more importantly "not of this world". It is ETERNAL and SPIRITUAL, not of dollars and cents! John 18:36.

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

The kingdom of Jim Wallis clearly IS of this world, and his "gospel" ... to the extent it can be identified, is "income inequality" ... although he is apparently a darling of the most elite of the wealthy. On page 81 he talks proudly of speaking at the Davos world economic forum. Davos, the place where in 2017 the top 8 richest men on the planet who in aggregate had more wealth than the bottom half of the people on the planet attended. If the Davos crowd calls you up, you can be pretty sure that they at least "like your cover". When 8 guys have more wealth than half the planet, having Jim come talk is like "MEMO: We care" ... now back to the regularly scheduled amassing of billions.

To the extent that Wallis has "values", they appear to be mostly economic "values'. Certainly he would like people to spend "more time with their familes", but he has not one word to say of the actual moral decline in BOistan that has led to massive divorce, abortion, and even questioning Biblical values as to sexuality and gender. Certainly churches have declined, however the ones that have really declined are the ones that preach what Wallis preaches -- a focus on "social gospel" vs the actual core message of Christ as Savior for ETERNITY. "Social Justice" saves nobody in the eternal way that counts!

Mark 8:36,
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

On page 186 he phones in from the Wallis universe and says "... the dominance of the market over all else has literally caused our society to fall over." and "The public sector has not played the necessary role for the last three decades ...". Well, it certainly cost a lot, and this book is ALL about money!

So the government spends 35% of the GDP -- the rest of us get to fight over the remaining 65%. Guess what, we are losing ... government workers are kicking our butts on the "take".

The book veers into farce as Wallis begins to lament about the Demise of Detroit, once the model city for "progressive" America. Detroit died of the same causes as the USSR, N Korea, and Venezuala ... socialist dreams that drove out innovative business. Socialism doesn't work on any scale ... local or national. Wallis or course is a Socialist at heart -- why is it that when the government takes more and more from the productive and buys votes with more and more to people less productive that we end up with less productivity all around? Rules like "subsidize what you want more of, tax what you want less of" don't work for Wallace -- somewhat because he mistakes government for chairity and the church. Christ commanded US -- the church, individual citizens to care for the poor. Christ didn't suggest it be outsourced to Caesar.

Wallis was however ironically prophetic in this book! On page 210 he talks of Nehimiah (the shortest man in the Bible) "restoring the walls" of Jerusalem and "uniting the people with the vision for a city restored" (Make Jerusalem Great Again???). On 210 he quotes the Bible "remember the Lord who is great and awsome, and fight for your kin, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes" ... pretty much like a Trump rally!

On 228 he says "The game feels rigged -- and it is. What people are really feeling is a crisis of democracy in a country that still has the forms of democracy but has lost much of it's substance. So we feel helpless, angry, or both."

Sort of like the feeling 60 million people get when they elect a president and then the Deep State, Media and entire TP ("The Party" TP-D) apparatus spends all it's time working to overturn the will of the people.

In summary, the "social gospel" is a destroyer of both souls and economies. With the benefit of a little time it is easy to see that Wallis completely miscalled the 2008 crash -- he expect more government to be the answer, but it in fact stalled the economy and it was Trump that finally brought us back to over 4% growth. Capitalism creaded Detroit and "progressivism" / "democratic socialism" killed it -- but since Wallis likes those "progressive" thoughts, that CAN'T be true!

No need to read this book -- this blog is more than you need to know and it is certainly old and very tired thinking.

How Treasonous Trump Operates

https://www.lifezette.com/2018/08/heres-why-trumps-greatest-talent-terrifies-dems-and-baffles-republicans/

Our "balanced" between the left and far left media has nothing but bad to say about Trump. When ideology is all that matters to you, that is not very surprising. The linked column is worth the rather short read -- a couple of quotes;

This was all about Russia. Russia is, basically, a well-armed gas station. Without high profits from the sale of oil and natural gas, Russia’s economy is nothing. And so, with his trade deal with the head of the EU, Trump went right for Russia’s jugular. He said overly nice things to Putin in Helsinki, then went back to Washington and, through his EU deal, stomped on Russia’s throat.

He also stomped on Russia's jugular as he pushed Merkle on the Nord 2 pipeline! Now, on to China ...

But China’s economic jugular vein is their reliance on exports, with the U.S. being their largest customer. Meanwhile, the U.S. exports very little, comparatively, to China. Simply put, they can’t win a trade war with the U.S. We slap big tariffs on all their exports, they respond in kind, and it’s their economy that crashes, not ours. 

And they know that. And Trump knows that. He knows what their jugular vein is, and he’s about to stomp on it. Trade wars are bad. People on both sides get hurt. But in the end, it will be China that loses, and it will be China that opens its doors to more U.S. exports, and it will be the U.S. that wins.

I'm pretty sure all our elites know this very well -- and they have been happily screwing American workers to bump up the early return profits on their Asian investments for a long while. The idea that Trump is improving the economy in BOistan at the expense of the Davos crowd is anything but good news to them.

It is in fact TREASON! Treason gainst the "Citizens of the World" in the Davos crowd where the top 8 guys own 50% of the wealth of the planet  (likely more by now) ... and thus he needs to be IMPEACHED!

The Aristocrat Next Door

The Birth of the New American Aristocracy - The Atlantic:

A rather long and arduous attempt to blackwash the 9.9% of WEALTH holders below the top ".1%". Let's identify these nefarious people right off ...

As of 2016, it took $1.2 million in net worth to make it into the 9.9 percent; $2.4 million to reach the group’s median; and $10 million to get into the top 0.9 percent. (And if you’re not there yet, relax: Our club is open to people who are on the right track and have the right attitude.) “We are the 99 percent” sounds righteous, but it’s a slogan, not an analysis. The families at our end of the spectrum wouldn’t know what to do with a pitchfork.

Remember, the seive being used here is WEALTH, not income! The bottom half these deplorable  cretins hold the vast wealth of $1.2 - $2.4 MILLION dollars! One is reminded of Austin Powers ..

For those that don't pay much attention, **IF** you could find a "safe investment" that would allow you to draw 5% from your vast “million dollar” fortune PLUS "keep up with inflation" (whatever that is, since they don't really track it anymore), you would be living high on the income of $50K a year -- or 9 grand less than the median income.

The column doesn't bother to inform you WHO it is that fits in this newest nexus of evil, but I'll cast my bets that it is primarily people that saved their whole lives, put the money in something that went up in value, and live a conservative lifestyle where they spend very little more than $50K a year minus taxes. Greedy geezers!

So other than work and save money, what kind of dirty deeds did these sheisters pull to gain their undeserved booty? The article is helpful ...

It is misleading to think that assortative mating is symmetrical, as in city mouse marries city mouse and country mouse marries country mouse. A better summary of the data would be: Rich mouse finds love, and poor mouse gets screwed. It turns out—who knew?—that people who are struggling to keep it all together have a harder time hanging on to their partner. According to the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, 60 years ago just 20 percent of children born to parents with a high-school education or less lived in a single-parent household; now that figure is nearly 70 percent. Among college-educated households, by contrast, the single-parent rate remains less than 10 percent. Since the 1970s, the divorce rate has declined significantly among college-educated couples, while it has risen dramatically among couples with only a high-school education—even as marriage itself has become less common. The rate of single parenting is in turn the single most significant predictor of social immobility across counties, according to a study led by the Stanford economist Raj Chetty.

A strange thing happened when more women started completing college and entering traditionally male careers. Nature being what nature is, this unholy thing called "assortive mating" happened ... it turns out that couples tend to "sort" by where they work, who they socialize with, what kind of events they attend, etc. Who knew? In the bad old days, there were things like churches, neighborhoods and various social clubs that would allow people of less similar economic status to "mix" and nature to take it's course, but we killed them off in favor of big government.

WORSE, these educated people are STAYING MARRIED -- even though they have been indoctrinated to believe that such things are completely not in their interest of getting all the pleasure they can in this short life prior to oblivion. So the contagion spreads! Not only do THEY acquire more assets, their children are beset  by a stable home which likely leads them down the evil path of responsibility, education, stable marriage ... more income inequality!

Most important of all, we have learned how to pass all of these advantages down to our children. In America today, the single best predictor of whether an individual will get married, stay married, pursue advanced education, live in a good neighborhood, have an extensive social network, and experience good health is the performance of his or her parents on those same metrics.

Something MUST be done about this! Take the kids away from the parents to "Youth Camps" where they learn the benefits of  sloth, addiction, promiscuity and a sense of entitlement? Hitler gave that one a good shot, and I understand the old USSR did as well ... however it created a population that pretty much just wanted to drink and smoke. There is an old inappropriate joke about two ethnic groups integrating in a neighborhood, and the kids became “too lazy to steal”. Enough totalitarianism and the populace becomes too lazy to breed!

Near the end of the article after discussing what other possible taxation and other regulations could be heaped on this hapless 9.9% aristocracy, the column arrives at ...

Yes, the kind of change that really matters is going to require action from the federal government. That which creates monopoly power can also destroy it; that which allows money into politics can also take it out; that which has transferred power from labor to capital can transfer it back. Change also needs to happen at the state and local levels. How else are we going to open up our neighborhoods and restore the public character of education?

When the answer to everything is the Federal Government, it isn’t really surprising that is the answer here as well. We have been growing the Federal Government forever, and rapidly since FDR, through LBJ, and of course BO ... how much of that lamentable “aristocracy” lives in one of the 6 of the top 10 wealthiest counties around DC? Do the authors care?

Of course not ... the universal answer is “more government” — until, well, until everyone gets their mind right and just agrees with all the doctrines of “The Party (TP-D). Abortion, gay rights, transgender rights, immigration, global warming, etc ... ALL purely mechanisms to be used to gather POWER to the central government!