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All, Comfort and Convenience Plagues

Industrial Everyday Consumer Relationships

What is a credit card?

A credit card is a card with a number on it that you can use to buy stuff.

Yes. Yes it is.

They also represent the systemization of all consumer relationships.

Credit cards have only existed since the 1950’s or so. That is not very long ago. So how new are they? Do they represent a completely new concept? As with many things that appear new, credit cards are really a transformation of something very old. In the case of credit cards, they transformed personal consumer relationships with vendors. The relationship is still there, but it has taken a different form, and different people and institutions handle it and profit from it.

Let’s consider 2 consumers: Consumer A, and Consumer B. We will consider how each did business in 1819, then we will consider how they do business now.

Consumer A: The Person and Habits

Consumer A is very responsible. He spends only what he makes. He is polite when he enters the store, makes his purchases and usually has cash on hand to pay for the merchandise. He likes a good deal, but pays the listed price. He considers debt to be a burden on his life and immediately pays it to keep his life clear. As the store owner, you happen to know several other people in Consumer A’s family who also shop in the store. Consumer A buys mostly bread and horse food, but enjoys the occasional beer with friends on the weekend.

In short, Consumer A is a responsible consumer who is a pleasure to do business with.

Consumer B: The Person and Habits

Consumer B is not responsible. He spends money when he sees things in front of him that he impulse buys. He is polite, but always seems like his politeness has an ulterior motive — hence when it comes time to pay, he is usually short some cash and asks for a “quick loan.” He likes a good deal — so he is always taking what he can get. Consumer B racks up little debt constantly and if you forget about it then so did he. As the store owner, you never really know Consumer B very well. Consumer B buys the necessities, but also a whole bunch of other stuff that nobody needs, drinks during the week and drinks too much on the weekends.

In short, Consumer B is worth doing business with, but only because barring him from the store would be more of a hassle than it’s worth.

Consumer A in 1819

Consumer A spends decades racking up goodwill with store owners, and store owners pay him in kind. When there is excess inventory of horse food one year that will go bad if they don’t give it away, the store owner takes Consumer A to the back of the store and gives him the horse food for free. When the store expands and gets rid of quality office furniture, it goes to Consumer A. When the store owner sees Consumer A at the bar on the weekends, he picks up Consumer A’s drink tab.

Consumer A normally has plenty of savings, but one time spends his savings to buy lumber to build a new house. The first day of construction, the load falls from the cart and breaks his arm. He can’t work for three months and is potentially mildly crippled permanently! The townspeople line up to help him out. The store owner drops off bread to his wife who is taking care of Consumer A. The horses eat for free. Consumer A recovers and manages to pay back the debt that he had his wife keep track of. The store owner and townspeople accept some repayment, but in the end Consumer A is hardly able to pay back what he actually received. There was certainly no interest added to his debt.

In short, Consumer A gets a bunch of extra little stuff that adds up over time, and in hard times gets even more because of the goodwill he had built up with others.

Consumer B in 1819

Consumer B spends decades making everybody a little angry and uncomfortable. He has several enemies who hate him and will take everything they can get from him. When he accidentally leaves his cash clip on the counter, it disappears. No free horse food. When the office furniture was given away, he was the last to know and found out too late. When he passes out at the bar one weekend, he wakes up with nothing. The wallet thief gives some of the take to the store owner because he knows Consumer B owes the store owner money — but the store owner won’t take it because he doesn’t want the dirty money.

One day, Consumer B wakes up with a broken wrist and he doesn’t know where it came from. He spends his recovery time of four months alone begging for crumbs, and loses weight almost to the point of death, but eventually recovers angrier than ever and antagonizing everybody even more.

In short, Consumer B fights hard for tiny little deals constantly and loses every penny that isn’t physically attached to him. In hard times, he loses everything and barely survives.

The Store Owner in 1819

The store owner wants to sell stuff, get paid for it, and go home to his family at the end of the day.

The store owner deals with Consumer A and Consumer B because they both pay for the merchandise, although in the case of Consumer B only after three times as much energy was expended hounding him.

Consumer A in 2019

Consumer A has a credit score of 770 that was determined by algorithms that used Consumer A’s habit data collected and stored by financial institutions.

Consumer A buys everything on the same rewards credit card that constantly gives him 1% – 1.5% cash back on everything he buys, and up to 5% on some merchandise. He pays his credit card statement balance every month.

Consumer A constantly receives offers for 0% financing. Normally he doesn’t use this financing, but the one time when his new house was under construction and he breaks his arm, he charges everything to a 0% credit card and pays no interest for the three months that he couldn’t make his payments.

In short, Consumer A gets a bunch of little extra stuff — well, exactly 1% — that adds up over time to a nice vacation each year.

Consumer B in 2019

Consumer B has a credit score of 550 that was determined by algorithms that used Consumer B’s habit data collected and stored by financial institutions.

Consumer B buys everything on credit from whomever will lend him money. The best credit card he can get charges him the maximum interest rate allowed by law. He pays the minimum balance every month and pays one credit card with another if possible.

Consumer B constantly receives offers for loans to buy a variety of optional expensive items like furniture, electronics, new cars, fancy liquor, anything sellers can put in front of him to impulse buy. He takes the bait often enough that he is in debt to many creditors who hound him all the time.

In short, Consumer B has nothing because every penny to his name is already spoken for by a creditor.

The Store Owner in 2019

The store owner wants to sell stuff, get paid for it, and go home to his family at the end of the day. (Notice this has not changed at all).

The store owner deals with Consumer A and Consumer B because they both pay for merchandise with credit cards. He goes home at the end of the day with 97% of what Consumer A and Consumer B spent without even knowing who the consumers are as people. Where did the 3% go that would make 100%? He paid 3% of his sales to …

…

The Credit Card Company in 2019

The credit card company did not exist in 1819. However, what the credit card company does is far from new. In fact, ironically, people in 1819 were much more familiar with what credit card companies actually do than we are today in 2019. The credit card companies deal with the store owners, and they deal with Consumer A and Consumer B. They manage that relationship and make it transparent to all parties.

The credit card company goes to the store owner and says,

“I will make sure you get paid 97% of all that you sell. You don’t have to know the customers at all. As long as they pay with this card, you will receive 97% of the value of what they purchased. You will receive it from our bank, in one big monthly payment — guaranteed.”

The store owner says,

“I don’t have to deal with Consumer B at all, and I don’t even have to lend to Consumer A when he breaks his arm? Just 3%?!?! Guaranteed payment?? Done. Where do I sign?”

The credit card company (which is essentially banks) collect all the data from all the consumers no matter where they shop, and they collect all payment data on all consumers. They use that data to determine who is Consumer A and who is Consumer B. They then take 3% of all sales, plus the interest – charged mostly to Consumer B – as their revenue. From their revenue, they subtract the rewards given to Consumer A as incentive for being zero hassle to them. The credit card companies then use the remaining money to pay the wallet thieves and hustlers to take everything they can from Consumer B through consumer data sales to impulse goods salesmen, interest charges, general hounding, and repossession. What remains is the credit card companies’ profit.

In short, the credit card companies make a lot of money by charging 3% on all sales to deal with the few Consumer B’s out there.

All, Industrial Change Surfing, Rage and Frenzy Politics

Technopolitics

Geopolitics, from Wikipedia:

At the level of international relations, geopolitics is a method of studying foreign policy to understand, explain and predict international political behavior through geographical variables. These include area studies, climate, topography, demography, natural resources, and applied science of the region being evaluated.

If the geographical landscape affects politics, doesn’t the technological landscape affect politics also? Shouldn’t there be people studying how technology affects our politics?

Technopolitics, from my Rage and Frenzy Politics category:

At the level of national policy-making and international relations, technopolitics is a method of studying policy and foreign policy to understand, explain and predict political behavior through technological variables, especially as those variables change over time. These include technology market penetration studies, cultural attitudes, demography, information flow, and communication norms of the region and time period being evaluated.

Technopolitics, Historical Context

I remember my high school history teachers drilling into our heads the importance of the Gutenberg Press while I went through high school. They said it was easily the most important invention in the last 2,000 years. I remember because it seemed so dull at the time – but it finally clicked. We should all know about the Gutenberg Press and the Reformation, and the technopolitics of the world at that time. This should not be obscure history, this should be daily discussion. Who were the first political leaders in the wake of the press in the 15th century? Who issued the first political proclamation to be copied to a newly-reading populace? These are the right questions to be asking right now in the twenty-eighth year of the internet, very possibly the height of technopolitics for the 3rd millennium. I discuss it here on Rage and Frenzy Politics.

Modern Applicability of Technopolitics

Being the case that technology, especially communication, has fundamentally changed over the last century, technopolitics should be a focus of academia today. The internet went public 25 years ago. Information exchange changed fundamentally, and it increased exponentially. Many attribute the election of the current president of the United States to his use of modern communication technology in Twitter. This is such a simple truth to us that we are instantly bored with it, but it is also such a fundamental driver within our world that we must understand it more deeply.

Solution

Vote, … and participate in the multi-directional free exchange of thought on the open frontier that is the internet. But do it responsibly! Contribute your ideas to Rage and Frenzy Politics. Thank you!

All, Real Estate

Shades of “Cash” Offers

There are two main aspects to every offer. The first aspect is the offer amount (=money from buyer). The second aspect is the “strength” of the offer.

Offer Amount

This is very straightforward. No matter how the buyer comes up with the money, the title company will receive the agreed upon purchase price from the buyer / lender / salty loan shark, and distribute the money to all the people to whom the seller owes money in relation to the property and transaction, then the remaining money to the seller. For the amount, it does not matter where the money comes from, it is all the same money to the seller at closing: dollars $$$.

The amount that reaches the seller depends on the seller’s situation, and can be estimated with a Net to Seller, example here. It does not depend on the source of the buyer’s money nor what the money is labeled within the offer.

The only way that an offer of the same purchase price can yield less or more to the seller is if there is another specific amount written on the contract that obligates the seller or buyer to pay something at closing. The most common example of this is, for example:

“Seller to contribute $2000 toward buyer’s closing costs and related fees.”

Let’s compare two offers.

Offer A: $150,000 / $2,000 in closing costs.

Offer B: $148,000 / $0 in closing costs.

Offers A and B are equal in amount because in offer A – though higher than offer B – the title company will distribute $2,000 from the seller’s funds to the buyer at closing. Offer A might be slightly more attractive to the buyer because the buyer brings less cash at closing because of the money being “kicked back” by the seller. To the seller, these offers are essentially the exact same.

Other common examples are when the seller pays for a warranty on the house, usually $500-$600 to a warranty company, or perhaps the seller agrees during the remedy period to pay for some defect that was found on the inspection.

Offer Strength, The Cash Continuum

“Cash is king,” so cash can get you good deals! … This is true, but there are many factors that influence a seller’s decision of whether to accept an offer or not, or which offer to accept if there are multiple. From strongest to weakest, here are the types of offers that a seller can receive, why they are strong / not as strong, and also which types of sellers consider which aspects of offers. Imagine you are the seller in this case and you are receiving multiple offers of the same amount, but with different strength factors:

Strongest

Cash, “As-Is,” No Inspection

This means that the buyer accepts the house in its current condition. The seller need not so much as set foot on the property again, only give the buyer agreed amount of time to arrange his funds (1-3 weeks usually), schedule a closing, then sign the deed to the buyer and receive the money.

Sellers who care: this matters most to a seller who is selling a house for which most banks won’t issue a loan. For example, when floors are not installed (sub-floor exposed), banks often will not lend even if the house would clearly be very valuable with just $2,000 worth of carpet installed. Complete rehabs want cash buyers because they don’t want to wait for the buyer to convince a construction lender’s slow bureaucracy to finance his project.

Sellers who don’t really care: cash is always strong, but for example when a seller is selling a house that is almost brand new, built by a reputable builder in a neighborhood where 3 similar houses have sold recently after passing inspections for near the offered price, the seller doesn’t really care where the money comes from. A cash buyer might be able to close faster, but it is only a difference of a few weeks at most.

Strong

Conventional Financing

This means that the buyer has been pre-approved for a standard loan. Most banks can close within 30 days, and require an appraisal. The appraisal is the primary risk to the seller, and the seller might also care about time to close. Sellers usually prefer banks that specialize in mortgages as opposed to “big banks,” but on a normal deal, either bank will close within 45 days at the most, and usually within 30 days.

“The Cash Continuum”

As we progress down this list, the buyer is bringing less and less of his own cash to the table. More cash is a stronger offer, so sellers are more likely to accept, and also as a general rule, the more cash you bring, the better deal you get from the lender. Most people know about the cut-off at 20% down, where the lender does not require the buyer to purchase Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), but 20% down is just one of several levels. 10% down gets a slightly better deal than 5% down. “No money down!” loans exist, but they are expensive like credit card loans. There are deals above 20% as well. Banks will often give slightly lower rates to buyers who can bring 30% or 40% down. Most people don’t even consider purchasing with cash only, but still the more of your own cash you bring, the less risk the lender is taking, and the better deal you get.

Not as Strong

FHA Financing

This means that the buyer is getting a loan with help from the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA is a government entity and has inspection requirements and bureaucratic paperwork to complete. These often take more than 30 days, carry risk to the seller, and require more work from both parties to complete. FHA loans are therefore less attractive to sellers and considered weaker offers.

Contingent on the Sale of …

This means that the buyer can only complete the contract and purchase the house if the buyer sells his house first. Agents often advise sellers to turn down these offers (while encouraging the prospective buyer’s interest as much as possible), and remain on the market. However, sometimes sellers will take the chance and accept such an offer for an attractive price (this means it costs the buyer money).

Another option for the seller is to include an “Escape Clause” in the contract that says the seller still has the option to escape from a contract and accept another offer if a second buyer comes along while the first buyer tries to close the sale of his house. Click here for an explanation of the types of contract contingencies / MLS status.

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All, Real Estate

Shades of “In Contract”

1 Comment

This is the continuum of how “in contract” a house it.

Imagine you are a buyer looking at houses and you want to know how available a house is based on its “MLS status.” In order from most available to least available, here they are:

Most Available

Active
  • The seller advertises that he will sell for the listed price. Make an offer!
Back on the Market
  • Same status as active, but the house was previously in a contract that fell through for some reason.
Active* …

*But Listed Very Low

  • When the list price is clearly below market value, it has only been on the market a few days, and it is a hot sellers’ market, there could very well be multiple offers arriving to the seller, and the house will go to the highest strong offer. These usually close for near market value rather than the advertised lower price, or “over list price.”
Contingent Escape
  • This means that the seller has a buyer who intends to purchase, but the seller demanded that the contract include an “escape clause” that he can “escape” from the contract if he chooses, i.e. something better came along.
  • The most common reason for a Contingent Escape status is that the seller received an offer from “buyer 1” that was contingent on the sale of another house. Rather than deny the offer, the seller gives buyer 1 a chance to perform, motivating buyer 1. However, knowing that such an offer can take a long time and be very fickle, the seller wants to have the option to take a stronger offer if buyer 2 comes along to swoop the house up.
  • When I want to search for just houses that are truly available, I do include Contingent Escape. These are not common, and it is better to be buyer 1, but they are likely to be available if you really want them.
  • When Contingent Escape, you are buyer 2, and you have to contend with buyer 1, but the seller is not obligated to sell to buyer 1. The seller can choose your offer if he decides that it is better.

Probably not Available

“Contingent on Finance and Inspection”
  • “Contingent on Finance,” and “Contingent on Inspection” do not exist separately as options on the MLS when the listing real estate agent enters status data. Therefore, when you see “Contingent on Finance and Inspection,” the seller has accepted an offer from a buyer, but the contract is still contingent on both or just one of these, finance or inspection. You do not know which without calling to ask. The agent / seller are not obligated to disclose the details of the contract.
  • The seller must sell if the buyer performs.
Contingent on Inspection
  • This means that the seller has a buyer, but the buyer has not yet completed the inspection portion of the due diligence. The inspection is probably the most common reason that a house returns to the market, but still is fairly rare. Either the inspector finds something unexpected that is wrong with the house, or finds something that that particular buyer will not accept.
  • When this falls through: the house is in contract, and the buyer orders the inspection. The inspector lifts up insulation that covered the basement wall and sees large cracks in the concrete blocks, indicating that the foundation is shifting. The buyer is now looking at a house with a major problem that affects the sale value and the buyer’s overall interest. The seller will now probably have to go back on the market, and now officially knows about the cracks and is legally obligated to disclose the cracks to all future buyers.
  • The seller must sell if the buyer performs.
Contingent on Finance
  • This means that the seller has a buyer, but the buyer needs a loan and does not yet have a loan commitment. The deal is very likely to close, but there is a chance that the appraisal will be low, or the bank may do an inspection and decline to lend on the house.
  • When this falls through: if the appraisal comes back below the contract price, often the buyer asks the seller to drop the price. The seller can then decline and go back on the market, accept the lower price, or demand that the buyer bring cash to cover the difference over the appraisal. The buyer is not required to brign cash unless that was written into the contract. These usually close, but in hot markets where buyers go over market value to get a house into contract, these deals fall through sometimes.
  • The seller must sell if the buyer performs.

Pretty Much Sold

Pending
  • This most often means that the seller has accepted a cash offer, no inspection, and is only waiting for the scheduled date at the title company or lawyer’s office to close the deal.
  • When a bank / loan is involved, once a contract has progressed through the inspection and remedy period, the appraisal is complete and sufficient, and the bank has issued a loan commitment (commitment is much more than a “pre-approval”) the status becomes pending. In the most common transactions involving banks and loans, the loan commitment is not issued until just a few days before closing, so the listing agent never changes the status to pending just for a few days. These go directly from “Contingent on Finance and Inspection” to “Closed.”
  • The seller must sell if the buyer performs, and the buyer is finished with due diligence. Pending houses are pretty much sold.
Not for Sale
  • What it means: You can make an offer on a house that’s not for sale, but of course you have to offer enough to make the owner want to move unexpectedly.
  • What you have to do to buy it: you approach the owner personally or through an agent and make an offer. The owner has to accept the offer.
  • Cool story: I heard of a couple in Washington DC who lived in a townhouse worth ~$800,000. They lived in the townhouse because they had sold their house in a nearby neighborhood that was worth ~$1.5 million. It was not for sale, but sold like this. They were eating dinner one evening and they heard a knock at the door. There was a Chinese couple at the door who asked to look around the house they’d like to buy it. The owners said, “Uh, OK, why don’t you come back tomorrow at x time.” The Chinese couple returned the next day, looked around and said, “We would like to buy it ‘as-is,’ with the paintings on the wall, furniture, everything, all included, how much?” The owners consulted with a real estate agent and a lawyer, and asked for $2.5 million. The Chinese couple agreed. Sold! for an extra $ 1 million. The Chinese couple’s daughter was attending a nearby university and they wanted a place to stay while they visited.
  • There are also companies that make offers on houses not for sale from distressed owners. “Cash for your house!”

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All, Comfort and Convenience Plagues

One Channel Versus Many

“TV is bad.” “TV saps your motivation and rots your brain.” “I don’t watch much TV (therefore I’m better than you).” “TV wastes time.” “Cable wastes money.” “There’s nothing on but trash.”

You’ve heard all that. I’m not going to beat those dead horses.

Cable TV

There is a milestone in the development of television that I believe often goes unnoticed and its societal impact under-estimated. That is cable TV and how cable is different from regular old antenna TV.

I lived in Rio de Janeiro Brazil for six months. Brazil has multiple channels, but for the most part, there is one channel to watch, Globo. The feel there was very different and it felt like lack of cable TV was largely responsible. I say “lack of cable TV” as an American born in 1983, but to them no cable TV – one channel – was normal, nothing to notice.

This is a bit of a rosy picture, but allow me some dramatization. It felt like one big family in Brazil with respect to the TV because everybody saw the same stuff. In Brazil, whether you love the TV darling Flamengo soccer team or not, they are the televised team and everybody watched. Love the current novela or not, everybody watches it at least a little, even in the bars. The news was limited to an hour because otherwise that’s all there would be.

The Good About One Channel

  • Everybody is on the same TV schedule, so it doesn’t get in the way of plans.
  • The news doesn’t have to sensationalize the news to compete with the others, so it is much less emotional and dramatic.
  • Less TV in general, that’s always good.
  • TV was kind of boring, so you didn’t pay much attention to it.
  • I enjoyed the two novelas that ran while I was there, “A Regra do Jogo” and “Velho Chico,” even though I struggled to understand. I was able to get lots of help though because everybody knew what was happening!

The Bad

  • Without competition, one outlet has a monopoly on politics and opinion. Many Brazilians felt like Globo was owned by specific parties and unfairly biased the news.
  • TV was kind of boring. Boring is bad I guess.

The Feeling

I have to admit these differences sound small, but the overall feeling and my perception that it was connected to cable television was really very strong. There was an overall ambiance that the collective attention was outside instead of inside, on others instead of self-focused. Even while actually watching TV, you knew that a good number of homes around were watching the same channel. If you could see in a neighbor’s window, you would see the same channel. If you go outside and run into somebody on the street, you would have just seen the same show. If you go to a bar, the only difference on the TV from your house is that 10 minutes had passed so it is likely later in the same show.

“Winter Storm Harper,” January 2019

I don’t know who started naming winter storms. It was kind of fun having everybody talking about the same thing, but it’s the weather, not the TV. However, instead of the weather – which was underwhelming – we were talking about the TV’s dramatization of the weather. Ridiculous. I heard the grocery stores ran out of food! Hilarious.

So by the way, when did we start naming winter storms?

“When ‘men’ started naming their penises.”

That’s the best answer I heard.

All, Rage and Frenzy Politics

Bigger Than Trump

Big News: Trump. Still Bigger: The Internet

Like him or not, Trump is the most powerful man in the world. He gets more attention globally than any other single person. His media coverage may be mostly negative, but they’re covering him, and more importantly, his coverage of the media is just as negative, and it matters. So what is bigger than Trump? The technopolitics that enabled him to turn the tables on the media and rise to the presidency are bigger than Trump.

The internet went public in August of 1991. The barrier to information dissemination dropped to zero. This is the defining event of our lives. This invention in the last decade of the 2nd millennium will be the defining event of the 3rd millennium. It seems old now after 25 years. It is not old. It is still brand new and its shock wave is still emanating.

The Only Thing Bigger: The Gutenberg Press

You will see a theme on this blog that the best historical analog to the internet is the Gutenberg Press. The movable type press was invented 500 years ago, which is a long time past, but like the internet does today, the press represented an exponential increase in the spread of information. Information spreading has far-reaching impacts. The details of the impacts are unpredictable, but the overall effect has direct historical precedence if you know what to look for and you look for general trends.

The Gutenberg Press, the first movable-type printing press that enabled documents to be copied by machine. Look at the changes that occurred within two centuries of the invention. The press fueled the Reformation that occurred from 1517 (Martin Luther’s 95 theses) to 1648 (end of the bloody Thirty Years’ War). The Reformation was a revolution of literacy and upended the monopoly on religion that the Catholic Church had held in Europe for more than a millennium.

Fake News, A Modern Inevitability

“Fake news” is one small example of the impact that information dissemination has. It is an example of the general trend of exposing corruption and eliminating information asymmetries that leads to tearing down of institutions. We could not have known that Donald Trump specifically would be elected, but we absolutely should have known that ideas would shatter powerful institutions like the established media, and the Republican and Democratic parties. “Fake news” is shattering the established media. The media reports Twitter. They have to. They have to report what Trump says on Twitter because 50 million people will hear what he says anyway, and is therefore by default, “news.”

What It Means

I don’t know exactly. I do know that the fall of institutions and the shift of power is not complete. The internet is still new and we need to pay attention to the technopolitics of what is happening to understand our modern world.

Solution

Get on Twitter. Participate on the internet. Don’t leave it to the power-hungry, narcisistic few YouTubers and Instagrammers. Hard to imagine, but I bet anything there were hold-outs when the Bible was first available to read in 1500. I bet there were many who refused to read Martin Luther’s 95 Theses in 1520. They missed out. We shouldn’t. Help me understand what is happening. Contribute your thoughts here at RageandFrenzy.com

All, Comfort and Convenience Plagues

The Car

The car. We travel mostly by car in our industrial world. Prior to the car, we traveled by horse, by walking, or not at all. As time passes and the memory of life without cars dies, considering life without cars becomes more and more radical-sounding. However, the car has transformed our lives for better and worse.

Timeline

1769: first steam-powered automobile.

1808: first internal combustion engine automobile, hydrogen-powered.

1870: first gasoline-powered combustion engine automobile.

1885: first production automobile, several copies made by Karl Benz.

1913: first car made on a moving assembly line, the Ford Model T.

The Good

  • Almost infinite mobility within range of a city.
  • Goods travel quickly.
  • Cars are extremely reliable today, inexpensive to own and operate.
  • Can visit friends and family far away easily.

The Bad

  • Enables sedentary lifestyle.
  • Driving alone Isolates from other people.
  • Expensive status symbol.
  • Cars are energy expensive.
  • Driving is statistically very risky, dangerous.
  • Enables us to live far from family and friends.

Keep the Good, Cut the Bad

Consider having one car for the family. At first glance, it appears extremely inconvenient or impossible, but imagine if you do not save the extra money from having just one car, and instead spend the extra money to alleviate the inconveniences. You could possibly:

  • Reduce or eliminate a second job.
  • Taxi / Uber when necessary.
  • Rent a car when you really need it.
  • Pay other parents real money to carpool your kids (while still using your one car to carpool sometimes).
  • Car time becomes family time with one car.
  • Nice bicycles to use for short commuting are cheap compared with a second car.
  • Afford a home closer to where you work and go to school.
All, Comfort and Convenience Plagues

Industrial Sugar

Sugar as we know it today is table sugar, which is refined sucrose.

Concentrated sugar includes cane sugar, beet sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup. To start, let’s just look at the overall change that has occurred.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, sugar came from sugarcane, which grows in tropical climates and is native to southeast Asia. Sugar was expensive outside these regions and always labor-intensive to refine. The Greeks and Romans were aware of sugar, but they did not consider it a food, they considered it a medicine.

Sugar remained a plant by-product with limited refinement until the Industrial Revolution.

Timeline

1493, Christopher Columbus brought sugar to the New World from the Spanish Canary islands. Sugar fueled the African slave trade in the following centuries.

1747, German chemist Andreas Marggraf discovered sucrose in beet root, giving another plant source of sugar in addition to sugarcane.

1768, a steam engine first powered a sugar mill in Jamaica and thus began the industrial mechanization of the refinement of sugar.

Modern Effects

This has brought about cheap sugar, and desserts as sweet as we can desire that are often cheaper than traditional food, and made of sugar rather than sweetened by sugar.

Industrialized sugar refinement has brought about normalization of sugar as a food group. Even if you don’t eat candy, there are many other foods that are sweetened with huge amounts of sugar that we often consider to be normal food. Donuts for example, or soda as a drink to wash down a meal.

Solution

How to keep the good part of the industrial refinement of sugar without the unnatural extreme sweet diet? The answer is to have zero refined sugar inside your house. This rule might seem extreme, but by historical standards, refined sugar is an exception within our diets, a rarity. It is not normal to eat refined sugar regularly. Our bodies are not accustomed to it and it is not healthy.

All, Rage and Frenzy Politics

Populism, Polarization, and Social Media

We have a worldwide hate and polarization problem. The problem is perpetuated in the free information exchange that is modern social media, and specifically the irresponsible use of social media.

The Perceived Problem

Populist politicians have been elected recently whose primary message has been of exclusion, hate, and negativity. They whip up their base with rage and frenzy that is destructive even to their very selves. They often use social media to spread their message.

The Actual Problem

The perceived problem is the current politicians, as though they created the situation. While they may be part of the problem, the actual problem is the widespread irresponsible use of social media.

The Mainstream Media

The main stream media and press need only to take a side to win inspired viewers and therefore support the bottom line. Further, a new wag the dog situation has developed where the main stream media is following social media that is completely devoid of actual thought and has developed a vicious cycle where deeply polarized populations in turn produce more hate on social media.

Historical Context

The Reformation represented a fracture of long-standing institutions, for better or worse, and led to violent conflicts including the Thirty Years’ War. Both of these events followed the invention of the Gutenberg Press.

Donald Trump is the first world leader to be elected who used social media to spread his message. Like the Gutenberg Press, social media is a new, extremely efficient means of spreading ideas.

The Solution

The solution is for good intelligent people to take the extra moment to channel their political ideas and develop positive rhetoric on our youngest, most vulnerable forms of media that are just in their infancy. Good intelligent people should start WordPress blogs, contribute to this blog, and promote their productive, thoughtful blogs on social media in a positive way. This must be a group effort.

Editing Notes

The use of the word “populist” here clearly refers to right-wing movements. I seek a counter essay that lays out how both sides, or even just the left are using overly-simple basic instincts to garner votes, i.e. “populism.” Notice that they are just examples, not the primary problem. The solution here has to do with using social media responsibly, so keep in mind your solution must be similarly productive, whatever it may be.

All, Rage and Frenzy Politics

About Rage and Frenzy Politics

For all Rage and Frenzy Politics posts, click here.

Are you tired of polarized politics?

Do you feel like politics are getting worse and reaching a tipping point where they may actually result in violent conflict or the fall of governments?

Do you find that you are unable to discuss politics with the opposing side in a productive way?

Please direct your energy toward this project.

Mission

The mission of this politics category is to channel the frantic energy that has been whipped up by politicians, the media, and social media into something productive. The energy is there, this site provides the structure to channel both sides to common solutions using historical context, and constructive debate.

Goal

The specific goal is to produce one 500 word essay per 2 weeks on a current political topic, throughout 2019. The template below is provided as a guideline.

Essay Template

  • News story, or link to a news story.
  • Historical context for the situation, or link to relevant history.
  • The problem, perceived.
  • The problem, actual.
  • What the main stream media says.
  • Author’s opinion.
  • The solution to the problem.

Each essay must end with a solution. Other editing guidelines are as follows:

  • Full disclosure: this is edited by Nate. The goal is posts that both sides view as productive, even if they disagree.
  • Language used must be accurate and free of contentious political bias.
  • Some phrasing will be necessarily contentious. I’ll deal with that as it arises and be as transparent as I can.
  • Blaming politicians will not be tolerated. They don’t single-handedly cause major problems, and at least they are there participating, trying to contribute.
  • Electing a certain party over another is not a solution. You have to describe an actual policy, at least an overview.
  • Characterizing large groups of people as stupid, uneducated, or wrong is a waste of time.
  • Reference external material with links. This is the internet. You don’t have to rewrite everything and make another copy. Just link to it.
  • 500 words is short. The essay should be concise, and positive. It should not take a long time to write.

If an argument lasts more than five minutes then both sides are wrong. -Neil deGrasse Tyson

  • This is a debate that is made up of concise, 5 minute arguments. If the solution doesn’t work, we try something else and debate that.
  • Comments are allowed but limited to 140 characters. Don’t like that limit? Then write a post in the proper format. Don’t like that? Start your own blog.

The Name

Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.-Edmund Burke, 1790 in reference to the French Revolution

Prefer Mud-Slinging?

For those who prefer that I just trash the media because it’s more fun, I’ll refer you to these quotes attributed to Thomas Jefferson:

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/thomas-jefferson-had-some-issues-newspapers/