The Arborist

***************** Via Ben Hunt's Epsilon Theory Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore benefit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there. – Lao Tzu (c. 530 BC)   This is the only quote I’ve used three times in Epsilon Theory notes, previously in The Tao of Portfolio Management and Who’s Being Naïve, Kay?, because it’s such a powerfully w

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9 thoughts on “The Arborist

  1. Well and beautifully written. You have successfully and eloquently put lipstick on a pig. The pig being our current political and economic destiny:

    “I’m pretty sure that the answer is a grassroots movement devoted to Making, Protecting, and Teaching, where really old school notions like feudal bonds of personal obligation and trust are reinvigorated through modern technology like blockchain, mitigating both the limits of geography and the unblinking stare of the State.”

    I’m pretty sure it’s a lot more than that – all of those are being done – not necessarily well enough, but they are being done. Clearly not well enough in that was after all a “grassroots” movement that brought us Trump.

    I’m pretty sure its starting with a non-profit, non-money motivated based campaign and election system base real democracy – not this fake and unqualified democracy that we have.

    I’m pretty sure it has to something to do with the voters taking enough responsibility to actually research both the “wonders” and the “warts” of their favorite candidates. Nobody. Absolutely no body in their right mind with average intelligence and who prior to the election researched who Donald Trump really was, his family history of white supremacist and racist leanings – would have ever voted for him – unless they were white supremacist neo-Nazis. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Trump#Controversies).

    I’m pretty sure given the current realities of one incompetent and or corrupt leader after another in Congress and the Presidency – for decades – culminating with ultimate national embarrassment in the gross the incompetence of Donald J. Trump, this country does not have decades for any kind of gentle correction and or re-invigoration – unless you think learning Russian or Chinese is invigorating…

    1. Back when trump was campaigning and the media was swarming him like he was gonna be the savior or at least more interesting than Jeb or Ted or Ben (omg!) … and he was feeding off the free publicity — I was pissed way back then because I had done some amateur research–didn’t take much to find out what an disgusting human he is… and the media easily had to know all that and way more BUT did not put that info out there for the world to see! That is why when he was actually elected (wrongly) people were slamming the media for leading his campaign! And they did lead that campaign. Then he turned on them. HA! Now, you see how ‘too late’ it is? Same thing is happening with Congress just ignoring all this shit going on now! The longer he sits in the Oval Office, the bigger the problem will be to remove him AND deal with these Nazi bastards as a result.

      – Murphy

  2. Here is the deal, Trump is our dictatorial crazy person, it’s our turn and probably needed on some level. Look around the planet and you will see some form of Trump popping up through history in many forms and locations. It is called “GREED”, you don’t need the names because you already know them, have seen them, have read about them. There are just more of them now because greed is much easier to see, develop, teach, learn, understand and use than ever before.

    It seems the “the have’s” decided now is their time to band together and grab as much as they can while they can and if “it is the whole damn thing, great.” The planet is right now in the process of deciding for both “the have’s and the have not’s” because EVERY system is at and in MOST cases beyond critical (from over-population to massive climate changes) and everybody knows it or is living it on some level. The planet will decide, not the “have’s” and maybe Trump’s egregious behavior will trigger some important changes in our future.

    Could this be the beginning of a “new enlightenment”? I doubt, but one can only hope so for our own good.

  3. A long time ago I was an activist with a teachers union. We won a great legislative battle to restore bargaining rights. Then after 20 years of bargaining the legislature took away those rights and I was dismayed.
    Until I went to the union’s website where I saw two things: 1) since the union had made the effort to work directly with administrators and teachers, the unions activities still continued to be effective, 2) the union president made the following simple statement:

    ‘We have never thought it was a good idea to rely on government for our rights.’

    Making meaningful and lasting change is always about organizing.

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