My thoughts on the last leg of my schlepp back to the US were mixed….how did my 4 month jaunt get stretched to double the length, for starters..
And why does a continent as rich in natural resources as South America have poverty of any kind….and why is customer service such a difficult concept for some cultures….
But let me rewind a bit.
I left you in Salta, where I spent a two days recovering from a 33 hour bus trip from Montevideo sans any food.
That wasn’t provoked by an attack of asceticism. When I got to Buenos Aires, I had no Argentine pesos on me, the banks were closed, the ATM wouldn’t take my card for some reason, and it was pouring too heavily for me to venture out into the city. The restaurants at the station wouldn’t accept Uruguayan pesos or a card. So, between Friday morning in Uruguay and late Monday in Salta I literally ate nothing, except for a soggy white bread sandwich with watery cheese and ham. I didn’t really feel hungry, though, until I got off at Salta….
But more on all that in another post, when I’ll give you my impressions of my trip back..
Today, I’m still catching up and will just leave you with a few random thoughts….
1. The infrastructure and organization of the United States is still unparalleled and impressive in every way, in spite of deterioration and neglect…
2. Americans should get over their love affair with politics. They’re bad at it, it doesn’t suit their style, and it annoys everyone else. America is at her best making things happen. The business of America really is business.
3. I love the English language. With a smattering of Asian and European languages for comparison, I still find everything I want in English.
4. You can lead a rich, well informed, and not uncomfortable life without a car or a bicycle, without air conditioning, a fan, internet, a phone, an I-Pod, a blackberry, wireless, a TV, or even a radio.
5. If you’re willing to drink tap water and eat stall food, you can eat every meal out on 2 dollars a day in Peru, and have meat/fish at least once a day. If you cooked at home, you could eat well for under 15 dollars a month.
6. America has been a unique experiment in history, made possible because several favorable elements lined up in one spot on the globe. One of those elements – in fact, one of the cardinal ones – was the puritan work ethic. What it does it say that our intelligentsia, by and large, despises it.
7. A man can be free with just economic freedom. Even if he cannot act politically, or speak his thoughts, he can think them. If he can think his own thoughts, he is still his own man. But a man without economic freedom can think only his master’s thoughts….and his master will be the state.
8. It isn’t the politicians we need to worry about. They have to stand election. It isn’t even the financiers. They have to reckon with bankruptcy.
But the media faces neither elections nor a balance-sheet. There you have the tyrant.
Excellent points, though I would say that in #8 we may not need to worry about the two individually but together we do. The financiers have to reckon with bankruptcy only insofar as the politicians aren’t willing to give them a parachute in order to secure their own reelections.
#2 is especially enlightening.
Chuck –
please post the link on my blog. I had an email from someone this morning claiming the same thing, but couldn’t find anything on the net at the link provided.
I must be doing something right, if people think me worth picking on.
I daresay it’s the enron blog post..
I’m not worried.
Todd,
thanks…you need to go outside sometimes to understand things
thanks for the comment
lila
Welcome back! Hope we can compare notes sometime
about Argentina.
To all trolls and would-be hackers:
1. Have forwarded your IP’s to a data base.
2. I’m pretty sure those “critics” are shills for the media mob.
3. The only criticism of me on the web I’ve actually seen is by someone hiding out from libel charges in Guatemala.
4. My posts are not personal attacks but criticism backed by documentation.
Subject: re: Random thoughts
Priority: Normal
From: “K SNYDER”
Date: Tue, February 23, 2010 11:20 pm
To: “Lila Rajiva”
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file
Welcome home.
“A man can be free with just economic freedom. Even if he cannot act
politically, or speak his thoughts, he can think them. If he can think his
own thoughts, he is still his own man. But a man without economic freedom
can think only his master¹s thoughtsŠ.and his master will be the state.”
I’ve been screaming that from the rooftops for what seems like forever. In
the Liberaltarian lala land where everyone gets the panties in a wad ’cause
“waaaaa, the government says I can’t do this, and the government says that,
and I’m being denied my civil rights”, blah, blah, blah, they happily line
up as slaves to the state to the tune of 3 trillions dollars a year and beg
for more. It is surreal. I remember around 1996 when the National
Libertarian Party put out surveys to decide whether they should FOCUS on-not
just add it to the platform-but FOCUS ALL THERE RESOURCES on medical
marijuana and legalization endeavors. Real wise choice. They barely care
about individual economic issues today.
I don’t have air conditioning. Hell, I don’t even have heat. I don’t own an
ipod. I don’t own a television. Or a car. Blackberry? Hahahahahahaha. Dear
God I sound like the Unibomber.
But I have to disagree about the bike, at least for me. I’d be rather
miserable without the bike.
KS
NYC
Lila,
Welcome back, and so glad to see that you are under the skin of the rabid haters. Keep it up.
Thanks very much…
I’m not worried.
Only friends of America will tell her the truth.
The enemies of America are too busy telling her soothing lies, while looting her..
Welcome back!
Don’t let the nuts get you down! Lot of nastiness out there. Could be a zionist, a statist or just a garden variety jerk.
One thing I have given up (except here) is reading commments on blogs and newspaper in the FT and other “top” papers. The comments are often good but there is a lot of nastiness and stupidity out there. Frankly, reading many of the comments makes you dispair for humanity and marvel that we humans have managed to cobble together a semblance of civilization.
Likely, increasing uncertainty, financial stress, government overreach will spawn more vitriol and even sadly violence of the sort in Austin.
I worked as a taco maker while in graduate school. Making a good taco or curry probably more honorable and contribute more to human happiness than say lawyers and stock brokers.
Great post and as usual the comments are spot on!
Don’t be a stranger!
Robert –
Thanks!
You should teach me how to do a good taco…
Yes…I’d say it’s harder to become a first rate chef than a journalist…
Maybe not as hard as becoming an economist..but then the end product is a lot worthier..
I know that we disagree on Mencken (I think much is made of him being a man of his time and that undermines his depth), yet he correctly pointed out that the radical, the doubter, the critic, protestor while he may disagree personally were better citizens than most. This “nuts’ spoke truth as they saw it, took risks and clearly cared about their country. Whether or not you agree with them is not the issue. The issue is freedom of expression and inquiry and civil exchange. Of course when criminals are involved its another matter but we need more people like you. Honesty and clarity and in short supply these days.
Some hilarious posts on this thread. Lila, no need to defend yourself. Your body of work does that for you. Why waste the energy?
As for disparaging zionists, that’s my favorite hobby! Don’t even think about planting guilt into my psyche over that. Here’s to Dick Cheney’s next heart attack (raises coffee cup).
Hi Jeff –
thanks for that…
I think the email was a bot but I now think the comments couldn’t have been.
I actually don’t have any especial venom for Cheney…or anyone.
I just wish they’d have a moment of enlightenment as to what they’ve done..
lila
Hi Robert –
I couldn’t find that article on any major newspaper…only on La Voz de Azatlan, which is somewhat a nationalist-racist paper…
I know the Mexican papers carried it, because I saw an excerpt but couldn’t find the original publication.
When I do, I will post..
Lila
Lila,
I am happy you arrived safely at your destination.
You are doing an excellent job with the blog giving a rational view on a wide variety of topics. Amazing some of the angry reactions you are getting. I have seen that before (Ayn Rand). Rationality and reason seem to scare the crap out of some people. Reality is a harsh mistress. Rand called them whim worshipers.
Stay frosty,
Barry
Hi Barry –
Thanks for the nice words. I admit I needed them.
I am actually a bit frosty, literally, in the US here…so much for global warming..
Lila
Hey Lila,
I’m honored to have had a minor impact on your life and attitude. Now back to the tedious task of finishing off a boring audit submittal.
Jeff –
It was a major impact.
Kindness and fairness go a long way.
Actually, dear Ralph –
Criticism of Israeli policy or influence on US foreign policy is not anti-Semitism. It actually circumvents anti-Semitism.
By the way, do you…or does any one in this great country…have the original title to this land?
No? How odd..
Then that makes you as much an immigrant as I am…
Kisses to Miami..
Lila
Lila,
Don’t let the IDIOTS get you down.
Not being disrespectful – but if you make a good curry, that is quite appreciated in my world. I can grill a great hamburger, but working at McDonalds is not quite the best use of my talents 🙂
I share your surprise about South Africa. A beautiful place of wonder, with abundant resources and natural beauty, mixed with extreme poverty. The Democratic Republic of Congo takes that a step further, where the poverty is deeper while the resources are even more plentiful.
Your fellow wanderer,
Greg
Hi, Ralph…. again –
1. Your opinion of my books is not of overwhelming interest to me.
2. I defer to your being born here. I realize how much effort, skill, and talent it takes to be born in the right place.
3. You seem to have a fixation for curry. I don’t blame you. It’s delicious. Send me an address, and I’ll send you a few cookbooks.
4. I’ve never been to the Ganges and my ancestors have been Christians for the last four generations, Christianity in India having a pedigree older than in Europe or America – going back to a few centuries after Christ.
Re cows – obviously your knowledge of India comes out of comic books. But at least, you nearly spelled Ganges right, though Ganga is the correct Indian form.
5. Indians have not been in the US for very long. For the length of time they have been here, they have done quite well as a minority.
From Jung to Nietzsche to Lawrence to the Beatles to Capra to Planck to Heisenberg….eastern religion/philosophy has been the prime influence on many parts of modernity..
Greg, hi.
Glad that your sabbatical from blogging is over.
I was writing about S. America actually…but you know S. Africa is a place I’ve thought about ..only it’s so crime-ridden, and a lot of the crime seems to be directed against farming communities and to have racial elements, so I can’t recommend it to anyone.
I do know the big funds are buying huge tracts of land all over Africa…and governments are buying too.
Some call it a form of neo-colonialism, but frankly, I don’t think the Chinese (one of the most prominent countries in this land rush) are interested in political posturing…I think their interest is simply commercial.
African land goes for a few hundred per hectare (roughly 2.5 acres), which is about a tenth of the best South American prices.
But S. America is still cheap compared to Europe and America…
Asian land, of course, is mostly very expensive, prohibitively so…It’s also very difficult to own if you’re a foreigner, because Asian countries realize how vulnerable they are to land speculation, with their giant populations and relatively small land masses…and they allow foreigners to buy only through corporations that are majority native-owned.