Can American Capitalism Survive?

I hope every Democratic candidate has read this book. It's essentially an economic analysis of all that ails our culture. Since the titans of our economic system now own our political system, the two systems are now one.

The author articulates 3 ideas about our economy that were born during the economic stagnation of the 1970's

1. The government was significantly responsible for the decline of American competitiveness.
2. The sole purpose of every business is to deliver the highest possible financial return to its investors,
3. No matter how unfair it might seem to cut taxes for the wealthy, no matter how ruthless a company might have to be in its dealings with workers and consumers, no matter how unequal the distribution of income and wealth might become, we must ignore and dismiss such moral concerns as naive and ultimately self-defeating.

There are many charts and footnotes citing economists, sociologists, psychologists, and government statistics that prove these ideas have led to massive income inequality which is ultimately going to kill economic growth and a destruction of social capital -- a fancy way to quantify good will and trust between humans of a culture.

He offers many excellent suggestions for ways to save ourselves .. It is possible Elizabeth Warren has already read the book -- In fact, I would not be surprised if some of her academic work can be found in the footnotes. She is the one candidate who seems to understand the ways in which our supply side economic policies have benefitted very few and hurt very many.

In summary, it turns out greed is not good.

Dinner with Penelope

Soon, I will travel to Greece. Months ago, I found a list of books about Greece recommended by Rick Steves. Dinner with Penelope sounded the most interesting --it's a memoir written by an American woman in her 20's about the year she spent in Greece. The book was published in 1996.

I have spent months trying to get through the book and ultimately, I failed. Given the fact that it's a memoir, we learn no personal details about the woman who writes it. I have no idea why she chose to spend the year in Greece. She speaks Greek but is not of Greek descent.. again who knows why? In spite of being in her twenties, she seems to approach life like someone in their 70s. She provides 10 million details about a vase inside an Orthodox church or some mundane facts about Byzantine history.

I did learn a few things about Greece that I feel could be summed up by this paragraph:

We are on our way to Mystras, the ghost town which gazes down on the Spartan plain, perhaps the most significant of the medieval sites on the Greek mainland, remnants which have the direct link to contemporary Greece that the classical sites do not -- in these settings the never-resolved struggle between Christianity and classical culture, between philosophy and theology, was engaged, the struggle which is powerfully present, both overtly and covertly, in the living Greece I am traveling in. The schizophrenia of modern Greek history, as well as thought, is demonstrated here, since this site, which became one of the last outposts of the Byzantine Empire, was built by enemies of the Byzantine Empire.

So the Greeks have a long, complicated history and they are complicated people. They are also grossly sexist.. the only personal details the author offers of her experience are the many times she is accosted by Greek men.. who are convinced of their superiority. Women are pleased when their husbands die and their value seems to be determined by keeping their children dependent on them.

2/3 of the way through the book, I had a hard time appreciating Greek culture, so I stopped reading. However one sentence stays with me -- today's Greece seems to know that "her face is her fortune." Greece is apparently such a beautiful place that in spite of a culture that seems to be stuck in many different centuries of the distant past, the country is still thriving because of its geography.

I look forward to having my own experience however brief it will be.. I am also grateful not to have been born into that culture.

No Walls and The Recurring Dream

Ani Di Franco was a musical pioneer when I was in my twenties. She is a folk singer who lived by her own rules which included the ideas the women are equal to men and capitalism is not a great system. Because of her disdain for the record industry, she created her own record label and followed zero rules around what kind of music she'd write and what kind of press she'd participate in.

What I love most about her is that while she suffered all the challenges of fame and self-reflection regarding who she was as a female artist in this world, she tells her tales as a joyful rather than bitter person. I remember watching a documentary about The Eagles years ago. Don Henley is probably the most successful person in that very successful group -- Their record the Eagles greatest hits is the best selling album of all time. I guarantee you know every word to every song of that album even if you can't think of one right now.

Don Henley, however, was so wounded by his experience that he just seems like a big whiner. He is worth $200 million dollars and has achieved more success than most in his field but all he did was complain. He was real dull that way.

Di Franco is his opposite. She suffered many of the same disappointments but seems to respect herself and not take herself too seriously at the same time.

Her book was quite a windy road of a tale but if you love her, you'll love the book.

The Great Work of Your Life

I heard about this book when I went on a yoga retreat a few months ago. Many of the people on the retreat had read and enjoyed the book. While I am not on some quest for a new career or life make-over, I was moved by the testimonials I heard.

The book begins with a quote by Thomas Merton

Every man has a vocation to be someone: but he must understand clearly that in order to fulfill this vocation he can only be one person: himself.

The book uses the struggle of the central character of the Bhagavad Gita as a guide to illustrate the work necessary for human transformation. He also follows the lives of a few historical figures: Thoreau, Beethoven, Harriet Tubman, Susan B Anthony, and Walt Whitman as well as a few people the author met during his time as the head of the Kripalu Institute.

There is a lot of wisdom in the book but here are a few passages I liked

-- Our understanding of dharma is obscured by the narcissism of our time

-- again from Thomas Merton:

We cannot master everything, taste everything, understand everything, drain every experience to its last dregs. But if we have the courage to let almost everything else go, we will probably be able to retain the one things necessary for us-- whatever it may be. If we are too eager to have everything, we will almost certainly miss even the one thing we need.

--Do your daily duty, let the rest go.

Naturally Tan

I love a good pun. Naturally Tan, the memoir by Queer Eye's Tan France, is a good one.  One of his strongest traits is that he has always just been himself. Even though he is the gay son of Pakistani immigrants to England, he never considered hiding. He was also one of the only non-white children at his school and in his neighborhood -- I think that's another nod to the title as many people still have no idea about his ethnic identity.

He was interested in fashion from a young age and started several successful clothing lines. He was asked to try out for Queer Eye as he had no interest in acting or entertainment. He said during the casting call -- which lasted for days -- he was just himself and was not worried about getting on the show. He clearly had no idea what it would mean for his life.

I love the Queer Eye show.  I watched the show after reading a great essay on its implicit critique on toxic masculinity. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a18922990/queer-eye-reboot-antidote-toxic-masculinity/

I liked the book -- it's a quick, light read. It is probably not fair to compare it to the other memoirs I have read in the past year. People who are interested in fashion might enjoy the details more than I did.  I picked the book up at my library because it was featured by our librarians -- the only way I pick up a book spontaneously.

It's Trevor Noah Born a Crime

I read Born a Crime, Trevor Noah's memoir a couple of years ago. Noah just released a young adult version of the book which doesn't remove any of the violence of apartheid or hardship he faced but rather all the swear words. Sonia and I are reading this book together and reading it with her is a very different experience. 

He introduces each chapter explaining one of the legal structures or consequences of apartheid then the chapter shows how that structure affected his life. It is tremendously sad. He doesn't spend any time in this book explaining how he becomes famous so when it ends you can't even imagine how he got from there to here. Maybe he'll write another book?

Night Thoughts

Night Thoughts is a collection of essays by Wallace Shawn. I listened to Shawn read his essays and it's hard not to think of his character from the Princess Bride. Shawn is also well-known as a playwright but I have never seen any of his plays. Ryan is a big fan and he found these essays.

I love anything that challenges the dominant capitalist / neoliberal narrative that seems to cause enormous suffering for many, many people on this planet. Shawn apparently identifies as a socialist and that makes sense. In one of the essays, he imagines the housekeeper of a wealthy friend smashing his friend's head into a marble dinner table until the friend is dead. 

Interesting stuff.