other|matters

Retreads are quality posts from yesterweeks that are given a second run on Fridays. This is originally a VARANGALI piece from 14 Nov 2006.

drive, he sd

- Robert Creeley, “I Know a Man”

There is a vein that runs deep in the American psyche, one that binds self-knowledge to flight. It is Huck Finn on the Mississippi; Jack Kerouac “driving west into the sun;” James Dean poised on a motorbike, revving our engines as he coolly dangles his cigarette. And it is Bruce Springsteen commenting on its fatalism: “The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.”

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Retreads are quality posts from yesterweeks that are given a second run on Saturdays. This piece was originally posted by VARANGALI on 27 Oct 2006.

I do not feel how to pray.
Fear I never did.
Prostate and bent, haggard and wincing,
wrinkled and furrowed, sweated and sweating –
knew the pain and knew the vigor,
knew the concentration and knew the sinner
inside.

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Retreads are quality posts from yesterweeks that are given a second run on Saturdays. This piece was originally posted by VARANGALI on 18 Oct 2006.

Given the opportunity to fight against poverty and hunger women turn out to be natural and better fighters than men.
Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank founder and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2006

The Grameen Bank has been heralded for what many considered a pipe dream: earning profit by alleviating poverty. Having loaned $5.7 bn over 30 years to poor villagers at a loan recovery rate of 99%, many have asked “where is the magic?” Unfortunately, it lies in exploiting the very same women Grameen Bank claims to liberate.

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Place your hand on your heart and say… “I admire rich people!” “I bless rich people!” “I love rich people!” “And I’m going to be one of those rich people too!”

T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

We live in a self-help world. We have to think positive thoughts, believe we “can do it,” and power through adversity with a grin. Perhaps the Cult of Positivity is but another iteration in the quest for individual freedom, or a crass result of our materialist society. Ultimately, however, it stunts our very ability to reason.

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The US trade deficit … was financed by a steady sale of American assets - stocks bonds, real estate, and, increasingly, whole corporations to foreigners.
Paul Krugman

Economic indicators that catch our eye tend to be short- or medium-term ones: unemployment, inflation, budget deficit, etc. Since such indicators tend to be cyclical (unemployment goes up then down then up); they mask the tectonic shifts that are slowly but surely eroding the American economy. The emperor still has some clothes left, but has been shedding them faster and faster.

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