Philip,

much of your recent thinking makes me wonder if you’re aware of the work Ken Wilber and the Spiral Dynamics crew are doing these days?

Interview with Wilber:
http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/interviews/interview1220_3.cfm/

Intro to Spiral Dynamics
http://www.spiraldynamics.org/pdf_resources/SDMC.pdf

Keep up the good work. You’re always compelling.
http://www.spiraldynamics.org/pdf_resources/SDMC.pdf

I agree with you Phil about low SAT scores. I know a number of blacks and hispanics who would score much higher on the SATs but intentionally score lower because they know they will be accepted anywhere they please because they have non-white skin. Blacks and hispanics get a completely free ride through life because of affirmative action, you’re absolutely right, Phil. Schools that are predominately black/hispanic are exactly equal to those populated by middle class whites, right? Issues of overcrowding, etc. simply do not exist. Therefore the only rationale is that minorities who are eligible for affirmative action aim for low scores. Good work, Phil. You’ve figured it out! Get rid of affirmative action and minority students will get exactly the same scores as white students.

H A R D . . . T R U T H

. A typical black student will score 206 points lower than a typical white student on the SATs.

H A R D . . . T R U T H

Niggers – - Nigerians – - are stupid .

Look at the ENTIRE CONTINENT of AFRICA ,and show me one single country that ‘works’. Show me O N E .

Procreation without compassion . . for their own children . . . . mere savages .

I wish I could say that whites are better ; but I cannot .

I hate being human .

Philip,
I see that you are number 2 in the Harvard Law weblog rankings. Does this mean there is nobody more interesting than you and Dave Winer at Harvard these days?

I agree; Grasso is overpaid given his role.

But you are aware that salaries are deducted BEFORE net income is calculated? In other words, it’s $28 million AFTER his salary (which I believe strengthens the case that he’s overpaid). Second, it is common for pension plans–at nearly any public company whose records you can find–to aim for pension returns in the 6-8% range. Pension assets are long-term holdings, paid out in the distant future; as a result, the target rate of return should be linked to the historical rate of return on a portfolio of bonds/equities. (Pension funds have little if anything to do with money market interest rates, except perhaps for those disbursements expected to take place within 6 months to a year.) Many workers who take part in pension plans (including many government employees) have access to a similar vehicle with a comparable rate of return, though they are obviously entitled to less of a payout as their deferred compensation was less–that is, they took less cash today in lieu of putting that money into a pension plan for the future, which is what Grasso did.

Looking back at the previous comment I see how poorly written it was. Glad you could decode it. I think that’s an interesting point. I remember reading an article some years back about extreme cheapskates who worked little if at all, and spent the rest of their free time doing artistic things, volunteering, relaxing, travelling on the cheap, whatever. One couple in particular had saved up a modest amount of money, something like $50,000 and invested it wisely, living in a bare bones place with other people sharing the rent, and not working at all except as volonteers. At one time these people were hippies, in the 90s they were “slackers.” Anyone who has had a wage slave job, where you spend most of your income supporting yourself so you can work, I think, would see that as extremely appealing. I know I do. It seems like so much of what people spend their money on is so that they can work, i.e., expenseive clothing, professional degrees and training, computers, a reliable car that can get them to and from work, etc. Not to mention stuff that you use once and toss out. It’s a lot worse in places with bad wage to housing-cost ratios, obviously. Tom

Tom: your question is addressed to some extent in the book How to be Good by Nick Hornby (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573229326/). I have a bit more leisure time and material comfort than the American average, after 23 years in the labor force, though mostly my surplus of “free time” as you put it is due to my unmarried childless status. My modest extra amount of time and cash is not a very interesting distinction, though, when you compare nearly any American’s living standard to that of an African or Indian. It would be possible for nearly any American to reduce his or her standard of living in half and still be very comfortable (in fact the average standard of living in 2003 is roughly double that of what was average in 1950 and we didn’t consider the middle class in 1950 to be living in squalor). With the surplus cash that American could raise 10 or 15 people in the Third World from adject poverty into a comfortable healthy standard of living. But of course most people are selfish and would rather have a McMansion and a garage full of SUVs than provide significant help to unfortunates either here in the U.S. or in foreign lands. Hornby’s book looks at what happens when one member of a married middle-class couple decides that being 95% selfish is not longer acceptable and that he should do whatever he can to help the poor.

PHil,

You appear to have plenty of free time. So, I thought I would rephrase my question from before…not “do you feel guilty squandering your talents,” but “would you feel guilty about living your life as you do if you a. Had inherited millions from mom and dad, never working a day in your life and b. Never accomplishing, i.e., getting a PhD? Basically, do you think you feel ok about living in the lap of leisure because you lived your life as a spoiled teenager at age 40.

thats an interesting idea…you dont want the shuttle part below everything else where all the crap falling off is going to destroy it…

the old system seems so much simpler…and better…

All I can say it, thank god Grasso’s children will not have to pay taxes when they inherit that $140 mil.