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The Importance of Being Idle

theamericanscholar.org

221–226 of 226 posts

Re: The Importance of Being Idle

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American living in Europe, I don't think the well-balanced European way of life is the cause of Europe "falling behind". Instead I think it's a combination of the following intertwined factors: bad policies, a stunningly incompetent array of bad leaders, and bad deployment of capital (by both private investors and the state). Agreed otherwise, the essay is great.

While I agree that having a well-balanced life isn't necessarily the cause of Europe "falling behind", I'd like to point out that the US also shares some of those issues: bad policies: massive tariffs, extreme spend of the military-industrial complex at the cost of education and healthcare, a completely pointless War on Drugs that just increases violence (to be fair, many states have more or less legalized cannabis a…

I agree the US has many problems, and I really don't want to make this a EU vs USA thread. I also wouldn't say the US is "successful", whereas the EU is not. I just think the EU has amazing potential and isn't living up to it.

Also I think any success the US does enjoy over the EU is in spite of the things you mentioned, and a large part of that is the US simply has a much larger economy, much more money, and much deeper and well developed capital markets. Which just goes to show how much more the EU could aspire to, being a much larger bloc of countries with a larger population and all.

Re: The Importance of Being Idle

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a stunningly incompetent array of bad leaders I am honestly curious who you are pointing at (in particular if you exclude British leaders) Partly because I am actually curious, I don't doubt there are bad leaders. But partly also because, without any details, this is a very general trope, that I don't really think is very healthy at the moment. Since it is food for right wing extremists (you probably know yourself…

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to engage in tropes, I'll be more specific. Emmanuel Macron is so unpopular that he has to forestall elections until 2029 to remain in power. In the meantime, his unpopularity means France cannot form a government or pass a budget, while the political center erodes under his leadership, giving way to the far left and far right. Angela Merkel presided over a disastrous energy policy (outsource…

So the politicians made mistakes then (apart from Macron then whose only crime is being unpopular).

Who are you comparing to?

There has to be at least one ideal politician, otherwise I'd say the job is just inherently difficult. And hindsight is 20/20.

Re: The Importance of Being Idle

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to engage in tropes, I'll be more specific. Emmanuel Macron is so unpopular that he has to forestall elections until 2029 to remain in power. In the meantime, his unpopularity means France cannot form a government or pass a budget, while the political center erodes under his leadership, giving way to the far left and far right. Angela Merkel presided over a disastrous energy policy (outsource…

So the politicians made mistakes then (apart from Macron then whose only crime is being unpopular). Who are you comparing to? There has to be at least one ideal politician, otherwise I'd say the job is just inherently difficult. And hindsight is 20/20.

Ideally you would want someone like Charles De Gaulle.

The job is inherently difficult, and I think a big problem is institutional decay/drift leading to a bad pipeline of leaders, which is why you have so many poor, weak, and ineffectual leaders serving back to back. The UK is a prime example of this, but I think all of Western societies are struggling with this to one degree or another.

Indeed hindsight is 20/20, and I won't pretend to have all the answers. I just personally think we have a particularly rotten batch of leaders which can't only be explained by the leaders themselves, but also by the institutions and policies which spawned those leaders.

Re: The Importance of Being Idle

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps. But if you look into the history of that idea, you may notice that it's almost always applied to the young and the lower classes. Perhaps the Baron, Bishop, and Business Magnates are too godly to be at risk?

I don't mean it in a clock more hours in at the factory way. Some people can direct themselves. But you've got to do something, even if only for the personal outcomes, i.e. comparing retirees who keep busy to those who do not, you'll find a significant effect on health, satisfaction with life. And of course there's a ripple effect on others, I am one who gets many presents cooked up in that workshop, and am hardly al…

> Some people can direct themselves.

That's the ideal. Really is a complex grayscale, depending greatly on the person's current circumstances. And, factory or not, for society to function it needs 99% of people to pick from a pretty short list of fairly prosocial choices.

> But you've got to do something, even if...

Yes-ish? I'm not saying it was good - but society didn't much mind people being couch potatoes watching 1960's-era TV. Vs. falling down the addictive rabbit holes of modern social media - that's not looking like it can end well.

Re: The Importance of Being Idle

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if up to date anymore, but if you look at some samples like here, at equivalent adjusted income levels, people across the world have similar standards of living regardless of where they live. https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street

> at equivalent adjusted income levels What is equivalent adjusted income level? PPP between Russia and USA is around 1.8. Median annual salary in the US is $57 ($1196 per week), median salary in Russia is $13200. Even if you adjust it, it's roughly two times smaller. As someone who lived in a bunch of countries, some rich and some poor, no, living standards among the avg. Joes of the world are not even remotely the…

It doesn't say it is. It says at equivalent income. Average in US is still higher/better than the average in Russia.

Re: The Importance of Being Idle

#226
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a long time I haven't thought of Switzerland anything more than "expensive mountain Germany", until a couple years ago I've reconnected with an university friend who happens to live there. I've got to know a bit more about CH and lately I see it quite often mentioned here on HN, though that's probably more of my frequency illusion. From all what I've seen, it feels like Switzerland is a country that pretty much m…

Paranoia as in fear of losing sovereignty. The average Swiss is not a cleverer or more productive person than the average European. However like you said they make outstanding communal decisions because they at their core believe Switzerland must stay strong to stay independent. To the point of paranoia. No one does bunkers like the Swiss. EU does not do bunkers. Or much of anything material for itself these days.

Building bunkers doesn't help well-being, and you did state that wealth difference is also staggering, Albania did a ton of bunkers in their time, didn't really help them much. I'm personally more interested in Swiss economic and social decisions and how they manage to, at least seemingly, do correct decisions on a long timescale wihtout blunders.

A couple months ago in a some post here on HN on, IIRC, something like using personal solar panels to provide power to the grid, I've seen a comment stating that in Switzerland, the bueracracy doesn't churn out regulations and laws, everything is very thoroughly reviewed, thought out, and-re-reviewed again if any objections arise. There was a response to that comment that was along the lines "As, that's the case when the more bueracracy, the better! While they're busy with paperwork, we do practical stuff under the radar."

And, as far as I understand from what I've heard or read about CH, that's not the case here. In US, the opposing parties can fight over issue endlessly to not let an inch of ground to opponent and to gain more for themselves. In Germany, discussions could be deadlocked by rules. In Russia, both things happen, more of former when there is political will from above, more of latter if it's some issue not cared for from above. But in Switzerland, they do actually converge on the real result because that's what they focus on, and the arguing between different viewpoints is not for the sake of itself, but a means to distill the optimal or at least compromise solution. What you've said explains their motivation, that everyone understands that they can't play tug of war endlessly, they have to do real thing. And perhaps that does say that average Swiss may be more clever than average European. Or at least in a more productive state of mind. Or that the Swiss decision-makers are smarter than others - so they are somehow better selected.

However, that's not all, besides motivation, there's also quality of decisions. USSR was also very motivated for independence, but did not decide well. Though average Soviet citizen wasn't really worried about losing independence indeed.

Returning back to bunkers vs economic well-being - perhaps, economic strive to be strong can't exist without strive for political resilience, one needs specific state of mind to be focused on economical sovereignity, that state of mind goes with political and militaty sovereignity as well. Also exacerbated by that Switzerland is a small country and absolutely not an autarky, so they have to stay significantly ahead in what makes them irreplaceable for the other countries, otherwise they would be prone to external coercion.

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