Category: Illusions

Beliefs or images of reality, as distinct from reality

The Incredible Darkness of Being…a Cop: Warrior or Peacemaker in a Dangerous World. Part III

April 13, 2014

Note: A condensed version of Part III of this series was published in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Sunday, April 13, 2014. It is hard to imagine, after watching the police video footage of the shooting to death of a mentally ill homeless man, James Boyd, by Albuquerque police on March 16, 2014, how that … More The Incredible Darkness of Being…a Cop: Warrior or Peacemaker in a Dangerous World. Part III

The Incredible Darkness of Being…a Cop: Warrior or Peacemaker in a Dangerous World. Part I

April 9, 2014

Almost everyone would agree that the world is a dangerous place these days. Technically, the U.S. has never fought a war on its own soil. Nevertheless, expanding the West and the capture of parts of Mexico were executed on the lands of others, as was the original establishment of the thirteen colonies of New England, … More The Incredible Darkness of Being…a Cop: Warrior or Peacemaker in a Dangerous World. Part I

Apocalypse When? Revealing the World, If We can See It

April 2, 2014

The Next Great Transformation is inevitable. We live in a world that is changing, and that change is accelerating and increasingly undeniable, despite the efforts of the fossil-fuel and related industrial, financial and media elites to cover up the hard facts of climate science and economic failure in a shroud of denial. The direction of … More Apocalypse When? Revealing the World, If We can See It

What Middle Class?

March 3, 2014

In recent memory at least, Americans have been uncomfortable with the idea of class.  That somehow has caused a retreat to the middle.  In the context of the myth of universal opportunity for mobility through achievement, it’s almost like Garrison Keeler’s Lake Woebegone, where “all the children are above average.”  The “lower class” is not … More What Middle Class?

Errors, Mistakes, and Stupidity: Why Magical Thinking Can Be Deadly

February 8, 2014

We humans are both rational and emotional beings.  The mix between the two can produce some strange and amusing results.  Conventional economics assumes that all human behavior is rational in the sense that everyone chooses only actions that serve their best economic interests and the result is the best overall outcome for everyone.  Yet all … More Errors, Mistakes, and Stupidity: Why Magical Thinking Can Be Deadly

The Great Jobs Myth and the Transformation of the Growth Economy, Part II

February 4, 2014

The pervasive acceptance of conventional economic theory as a “natural science” that gives us guidance for dealing with our economic lives is one of the biggest obstacles to understanding and making rational choices about the converging crises of our time.  Simply put, the fundamental flaw in conventional economics is that the economic system it promotes … More The Great Jobs Myth and the Transformation of the Growth Economy, Part II

The Great Jobs Myth and the Transformation of the Growth Economy, Part I

January 30, 2014

A lot of congressional politicians and media pundits of both Republican and Democratic persuasion are jabbering these days about “job creation.”  The 2014 mid-term elections are fast approaching and nobody wants to be caught looking indifferent to the lack of jobs for an increasingly large numbers of Americans. Their approaches are different, of course.  The … More The Great Jobs Myth and the Transformation of the Growth Economy, Part I

“A Revolution of Values” is What It Will Take to Humanize the Coming Great Transformation

January 26, 2014

Martin Luther King referred several times to the need for “a revolution of values,” in his speech, “Beyond Viet Nam,” April 4th, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York, a year before he was assassinated,.  I listened again as it was replayed on Martin Luther King Day, 2014, forty-seven years later. That speech had been … More “A Revolution of Values” is What It Will Take to Humanize the Coming Great Transformation