The Hidden hand

There is continual reference to a "hidden hand" at work by economists to explain the apparent inexplicable concept of how pricing works. Adam Smith’s originally used the concept of the "hidden hand" to explain of the marketplace.

It has developed into an almost religious jargon for economist. But when you consider it in basic terms it implies that there is a unknown self-regulating power, a God-like force that is controlling the economic system. As an atheist I find this inference repugnant.

Most people do not adopt an Occam's Razor stance to explain things. They are awed by the unknown, and instead of adopting a wait and see or an experimental method to determine cause and effect, it is easier to attribute fanciful imaginings rather than apply real evidence-based explanations.

A cruise control on a car, like any self-regulating system, is run by a simple algorithm or set of instructions of comparing a set point and an actual desired parameter and then sending feedback to an actuator to resolve the difference. Not knowing how this works one might easily say a hidden hand is at work to account for this self-regulation. But a mystery interpretation usually doesn't develop for this because one appreciates that this self-adjusting mechanism was designed by an engineer. 

So why, for evolution, is the algorithm of “survival of the fittest" too difficult for many to appreciate. Why do magical non-evidence explanations persist to explain nature or our own origins. I suppose for some if you're not actually around to see the development of such an algorithm then a "hidden hand" simplification works. A God is created. It's understandable how magical concepts might arise in the past. It's just not easily understood how they persist in a modern world where we can actual see how hidden hands work. Obviously for many, especially those in power, transparency is threat. The Wizard of Oz didn't appreciate his curtain being removed.

What’s with the Jews?

Any Jews reading this will likely think, or rationalize it, as an anti-Jewish rant and that the author is racist against Jews. Not so. I raised my children to be critical thinkers and always question people’s behaviour not the person themselves. Try to understand why people do what they do and judge them. Yes judge. If what you see doesn’t make sense, you might like to avoid them.

To the point, why are Jews making terrorists on their border. Why are they making a whole new generation of Palestinian children from Gaza into potential and future terrorists? Is it perhaps a Stockholm affect whereby they somehow admire the oppressive tactics of their nemesis, the Nazis. I just don’t get it. Are they collectively that dumb? Witness their over-the-top reaction to the Palestinians in Gaza. Showing little restraint by killing so many civilians, especially children here makes no sense. There is no justification for killing children, who most of us are taught to protect. I was under the impression that Jews were an intelligent group of people, perhaps more so than most. Many have excelled individually in their contributions to society. But collectively, they seem to be not all there. Give them a State and look what happens!

It’s hard for me to understand how putting this religious state into an arab area after the 2nd world war was a good idea. Israel does not separate the state from the church like most civilized and developed countries do today. Most Arab countries here do not either, Turkey being the exception. So, what’s with that?  Is this why, as a country, they’re so messed up.  They appear to be acting somewhat like the southern States, that will not teach evolution but rather Intelligent Design. Also, why are their more Jews in the United States than in Israel, if this homeland is such a great idea?  What was the world thinking?  Guilt?  Is that why the US is still feeding militarily this failed state.

My first experience with a jewish person was when I was boarding in a house in my first year at university in Waterloo, Ontario. He was studying engineering at the University and I was in science. As Waterloo has many Germans the house we boarded at was owned by an old German lady. This student and his landlord just could not get along. The mutual hatred was palpable. Coming from Northern Ontario it was the first time I’d been exposed to this irrational racist behaviour. 

He and I did engage in many lively debates. One centred on his English Mini that he drove. I made the mistake of telling him I thought that the Volkswagen was probably a better made car and I was surprised, that as an engineering student, he could not see that.  Of course his reasoning, or lack of it, was totally emotional against anything German. He was still fighting the battle of his parents. "Never Forget", was so ingrained in his upbringing, I could see it was useless to engage further with him.

For many, emotion and conditioning, override any sense of reasoning.  So it seems has occurred in the middle east.

The Negative Collective

I'm a great believer in the collective. However,  I don't  necessarily believe that the whole is greater than it's sum. In fact at this time in history, in 2014 Canada is demonstrating that we are collectively less than the sum of our parts. Collectively, without positive leadership, we are a poor example for the rest of the world.

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Bentonville Arkansas. Here we toured the Walton's Museum, a tribute to the founder of WalMart. Walton along with their Republican/Conservative government leaders,  Reagan and Bush in spite of their folksy persona, have acted to destroy the American middle class and destabilize a once powerful economy. It shows you how poor leadership, focused on Capitalism and free enterprise, can decimate an economy, a country.  But the Walton heiress, Alice Walton, has erected an art museum in Bentonville. The art museum has free admission. Capitalism's altruism at its best.

When we returned to Canada the news headline was that McDonald's Canada had suspended its Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) hiring practise here. It appears that McDonald's Canada, after exposés about it abusing Canadian workers by paying them less and not hiring Canadians in preference to foreign workers, realized it was hurting their brand. They were falling out of favour by the collective here. McDonald's at least shows more leadership and insight than the government that allowed the policy to hurt its own citizens. This TFW policy clearly undermines the labour force in Canada. But it is is just one example of a Conservative government working here in Canada to undermine the middle class by favouring special interests.

Canadians deserve the dysfunctional government they have now. We collectively suffer from the individuals that voted for these Harper Conservatives, or the ones that apathetically sat back and allowed it to happen. By allowing this collective conservative mindset to dominate our government, the roots of their mental dysfunction finds expression. As an example of this form of mental dysfunction, I work with an admitted Conservative who, although has worked all his life in government and is about to retire on a government pension, does not believe in taxes! He's a rugged individual, a leader of his church, who is a professed Christian. He doesn't realize that Christ was a socialist who believed in caring for the collective. This type of individual mental processing helps explain our present collective state whereby our national sport is the only team sport that allows fighting.

Oh well, we can only mature and get better.  In the meanwhile, pardon me while I tranquilize myself with trivia and return to watching the Blue Jays lose.