Sator, I don't mean to help you keep this thread politically neutral; you're doing a splendid job of "moderating" already. But if I may speak my mind, because the deadlock in Washington you mentioned has me rather incensed. Not at you, but at Washington. I've also seen petty arguments break out over categorically declaring one method better than another. I'm a little crabby right now and I need to blow off some steam, and this looks like a constructive opportunity.
Liberals and conservatives usually manage to find their way into the majority with the right ideas at the right time, tempered by an opposition that is willing to negotiate. USUALLY. And most of us non-politicians are too slow to realise the need for a change of the old ways. Sure, we grouse when our political ideology is in the minority, but eventually when the timing is right all of that grousing turns the tide (or maybe the tide turns because of voter sentiment and grousing is futile). The real problems begin when we become so polarised in our thinking that we are immovable in our positions and we (in the US anyway) call each other Repugnicans and Democraps. I must say that lately a fine example of maturity we are not.
Those old enough might recall Reagan and his supply-side economics (deregulation) and how unpopular his policy was at the time (critics and even supporters of the time favored demand-side wage increases). More recently, Reagan's toughest critics have credited "Reaganomics" for the US economic boom that followed. But without re-introducing enough regulation at the right time, the economy grew too big too fast until it became too big to be stable. When the regulations finally came, it was too late.
My husband uses the analogy of two-part epoxy, that you have to pump both handles to get the epoxy to turn out right. He's right, but I think it's more complicated than that.
Using the analogy of dough (the stuff we bake into bread, not the slang term for the stuff we want more of) we have different components with different functions, and recipes are merely guidelines. If the weather is humid we add more flour, if the weather is dry we add more water. To grow yeast we add sugar. To inhibit yeast we add salt. And then there's the type of fat and protein according to what's on the table, milk and butter for milchig meals or oil and eggs for fleisch meals. This fat and protein part is Jewish custom, but I use it as an analogy of the type of economy, whether communist or capitalist.
I learned to bake bread without a recipe, and to this day I CAN'T follow a recipe. I have to adjust it until it feels right. Likewise, economies have to be adjusted, and as Sator said, these adjustments are mired in politics. Now, I don't like salty bread, but sometimes as I'm mixing up the batter I look over at my yeast starter and think, "Impressive head of foam, better add an extra pinch of salt." Without that extra pinch, the finished dough will rise too quickly and collapse into something too tough to serve as bread. But it makes up into some excellent bread pudding, which has been known to start wars among small children.
Pour on some maple syrup and I'm likely to jump into the fray wielding the rolling pin!
(I knocked myself out with nunchaku once, so I just stick to my non-articulated rolling pin. Seriously, am I the only one that sees this emoticon as an unlucky nunchaku girl? My husband thinks she's cracking a whip. Faith, get back on target or stop rambling.)
Okay. It takes both sides, and both sides must both give and take. When either side becomes so polarised that they lose their willingness to negotiate fairly, NEITHER side can make any progress. I think it's fair to say that we have too many liberals, too many conservatives, and not enough moderates.
The same holds true in business. Moderation (the ability to apply liberal principles when they're best and apply conservative principles when they are best, or more precisely, the ability to apply the correct mix of the two according to the climate), is the most important element of business savvy we can have second only to knowing how to make correct change for a given denomination of currency.
Sator, I know I rather carpet-bombed my way to the objective, but your thoughts?
Edited by Faith, 16 October 2014 - 05:50 PM.