Author: Katya G
Conservative Mind Expansion
The average conservative head is a complete mess these days. But it’s a creative mess. They have learned so many new words and names and concepts they haven’t heard of before and are so eager to share their newfound knowledge that they remind me of a teenager who has just discovered Nietzsche. They walk around dispensing words like socialism, Marxism, Objectivism, anti-colonialism, quoting Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and even Saul Alinsky. But I commend them for the mere … Read More
The Spell of Wall Street
“Seek first to understand, then be understood.” -Anonymous Understanding Wall Street mentality is a bit like understanding military mentality. There’s something utterly profound when brothers in arms pull together in the heat of battle and persevere. Wall Street fancies itself to be like the military. The place is rich soil for military quotes and references and “war stories”. Making money in adverse conditions is viewed as an act of valor, a display of incredible courage. Many in a decision-making position … Read More
Honest Conservatives
It is possible, although decreasingly so in American politics, to admire, if disagree with, your political opponents. I keep a dwindling collection of conservatives, who are not preoccupied with vengeance, destruction, pledges and sexual politics. I call them “thinking conservatives” and perhaps the matters where we disagree would come down to economics and foreign policy. David Frum is on that list. So is David Brooks. William Buckley, the lucid founder of conservative magazine National Review, whose son Christopher Buckley famously … Read More
New Year Resolutions
“The way I learned it, the kid in the school yard who doesn’t want to fight always leaves with a black eye. If you indicate you’ll do anything to avoid trouble, that’s when you get trouble.” 50 Cent As a rule, New Year’s resolutions are not directed at others but projected onto ourselves in an attempt to become better in the coming year. Thus, I will indulge myself in some inward-looking (in a collective sense) narrative. Perhaps you are already … Read More
Republicans – A Party without Judgment
Capt. Willard: “They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.” Col. Kurtz: “…Because it’s judgment that defeats us.” – John Milius & Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now. In the run up to a debt ceiling debate last summer, I wrote this on my wall: In the battle between the Tea Party and Wall Street I’m betting on Wall Street. How naïve I was back then. How much faith I put, wishfully, into Republicans’ … Read More
Why Play a Rigged Game?
Poker is my religion. There are rules, upon violation of which, you get punished mercilessly. Some call it statistics, some – including myself – poker gods. When I sit down at the table, I appreciate the plethora of characters from all walks of life. I appreciate the fact that there are winners and losers, luck and grind, spectacular twists of fate, rivalries but also universal fairness: In the long run, if you play correctly, you win. Very American Dream, isn’t … Read More
Trickle-Down Economics? Still?
It is puzzling to me that it took month-long (and ongoing) protests to bring attention to the issue that should have had Democrats talking for years: how Trickle-Down Economics work (or don’t). We have never demanded that Republicans and their affiliates such as the Chamber of Commerce and Club for Growth describe exactly how the theory works. They got off the hook by simply repeating the mantra that giving rich people more money will create more jobs. The other day, … Read More
Think Wall Street Suits are the 1%?
Think Again.
Remember how in the original Wall Street movie Gordon Gekko, while riding in a limo with Bud Fox, describes what it means to be rich? I’m not talking about $400K-working-Wall-Street-stiff-flying-first-class-and-being-comfortable. I’m talking about being rich enough not to waste time. Then he points a finger at a homeless person and a man in a suit on the sidewalk and says something like “there’s no difference between the two.” I agree. There’s no difference between the current day protesters and most … Read More
