Deficit-worriers portray a future in which we’re impoverished by the need to pay back money we’ve been borrowing. They see America as being like a family that took out too large a mortgage, and will have a hard time making the monthly payments.

This is, however, a really bad analogy in at least two ways.

First, families have to pay back their debt. Governments don’t — all they need to do is ensure that debt grows more slowly than their tax base. The debt from World War II was never repaid; it just became increasingly irrelevant as the U.S. economy grew, and with it the income subject to taxation.

Second — and this is the point almost nobody seems to get — an over-borrowed family owes money to someone else; U.S. debt is, to a large extent, money we owe to ourselves.

It’s a good point. The counterpoint, I guess, is the question of whether the U.S. economy will continue to grow as it has in the past. Although even that is weak–our economy is still growing, even as the income disparity and mass poverty grow. Krugman also makes the point that the U.S., while it borrows lots of money, also lends lots of it out. This is a point that I’ve seen many times, but he puts it in very clear language:

It’s true that foreigners now hold large claims on the United States, including a fair amount of government debt. But every dollar’s worth of foreign claims on America is matched by 89 cents’ worth of U.S. claims on foreigners. And because foreigners tend to put their U.S. investments into safe, low-yield assets, America actually earns more from its assets abroad than it pays to foreign investors. If your image is of a nation that’s already deep in hock to the Chinese, you’ve been misinformed. Nor are we heading rapidly in that direction.

It’s a good point. Comparing the U.S. debt to an overmortgaged family may be wrong, since most families don’t lend out money to other families with interest.

As for me personally, I’m fine with the government borrowing more money, as long as there are good, hard goals that the government will meet. We NEED to cut government entitlements, get rid of tax loopholes for the rich, narrow the wealth gap, and improve the educational system in this country (including taking the hard step of firing incompetent teachers and wasteful pencil-pushers). We should spend if we have a good plan to get there.

Related posts:

1. Republican Stonewalling on the Debt Ceiling
2. Making stuff
3. How do we fix this leak?

Got this from John at 8A. John writes:

“This season, Cindy Chiang (a 30-year-old Brand Manager from Chicago) will be racing with her fiance, Ernie Halvorsen.”

I saw the picture on the video screen, and I correctly guessed that they weren’t brother and sister. I’m so smart that I sometimes amaze myself. I was wrong about Victor and Tammy Jih in the other direction (after which I stopped watching).

As Mike Goldberg from the UFC might say, “And here we go again! Fight clock brought to you by bigWOWO and the Asian Female Celebrity Club.” After years and years of this show, they’ve only had one AF/AM couple. Now I’m not saying that they have to have such couples, but how about a little affirmative action just to get us in the game? C’mon, CBS, what do you think?

Related posts:

1. What Parents and Other People Say, Pt. 2
2. Say It Ain’t So, Gong Li!
3. I’ll Keep You My Dirty Little Secret, Dirty Little Secret, Dirty Little Secret…

There was once a dude who came to the Fighting 44s and told us a story about how he slipped a roofie into a White girl’s drink and tried to rape her when she was unconscious. Some White guys found out and beat the shit out of him. Then the police found out, arrested him, and sent him to court. He got some time in prison. And now, he said, he was free. He was glad to be part of the 44s “family” and fight White people, like the “racists” who beat him up.

We took exception to this person and said so. He was not repentant for his attempted rape. He saw racism where there was none. He responded that he had paid his dues for the attempted rape, and that he’d moved on and so should we. He repeatedly said (correctly) that he had followed all the 44s rules of engagement. He got angry and said that the White girl deserved it because of all the racism he endured growing up. In the end, we asked him to go because his presence was disruptive.

I respect Asian of Reason’s convictions, but I can’t respect his values. Bringing someone’s family into a debate where it doesn’t concern them–that is considered low, undignified, and cowardly where I come from, especially to do so anonymously. I don’t think he sees it as such–and that’s his view–but let’s just leave it at that. People should go where they are welcome and part of a community, and to be honest, I can’t see myself posting in a community where a person googles and attacks another person’s family when his chip count is low.

Peace out.

No related posts.

Need to update. Asian of Reason has apologized here. We cross posted. I accept his apology. But I stand by the post below. Y’all know I’m an emotional person, and there are certain behaviors that I just have trouble reconciling. Maybe things’ll change in the future, but for now, this is where I stand.

I gotta explain. I was on the other blog post, and I was debating the Asian of Reason. I was debating him, and he said that he put no value on “intelligence” unlike us. He also said that Michael Jordan was less intelligent than John Nash, even though he hadn’t tested their IQs, met them personally, or examined their brains. He said it was “common sense.” I casually pointed out that he DOES place value on intelligence since he advocates eugenics to eliminate less intelligent people, and I wondered how “common sense” can enable a person to judge a total stranger’s intelligence based on nothing but that stranger’s profession and race (He says that he’s not prejudging Michael Jordan based on race, although I find that hard to believe given his past statements about blacks and intelligence.)

He got really angry, cursing and such. Of course, HBD relies on being dispassionate and sticking to “facts.” “Common sense” is often the reason they feel the way they do about minorities, but it’s not as scientific as…well, science. He wasn’t happy that I showed his HBD to be motivated by emotions and stereotypes.

Asian of Reason responded by posting a picture of my family that was taken a few years ago. When I asked him why he did this, he said it was because he knew my wife by wasn’t attractive and wanted to point this out.

I have mixed feelings. I’m not insulted. I don’t for an instant believe that he thinks my wife is ugly, as it’s clear from the context that he googled us and reposted just to get a shot at me. But the fact that he dug up a picture of my family, and then insulted them…it’s kinda hard for me to reconcile.  Even if he thinks she’s ugly–which I don’t think he does–I wouldn’t feel insulted–people on this blog have said that Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li are ugly, and I understand that people have different tastes. I feel a bit like Josh Koschek after the Daley fight, but instead of sucker punching me because he couldn’t win in the ring, this guy threw popcorn at my wife once the ref stood us up.

Anyway, going after a person’s heritage was always a no-no in my house, so I’ve never ever attacked anyone with a slur. Never even thought of it since it was considered cowardly by my grandfather. Googling a person’s wife, and then bashing her looks, just because you’re down in an argument…for me that’s not even ad hominem, that’s beyond.  That’s something that real men never do.

I’ve not bore any ill will towards AOR, and I still don’t. I think he’s misguided, and he sometimes gets pushed around in debates because he’s young and hasn’t had the time to study what others have, but I respect his standing up for his views, and I respect his intelligence. I respect his young passion for his beliefs. I just can’t reconcile what my upbringing taught me is behavior unbecoming of a man. This was something that my grandma and grandpa taught me very early in life as a boy–you don’t attack heritage, you don’t attack family, and you don’t attack people who aren’t around to defend themselves. It’s considered to be something below the dignity of real men. You take it outside and you settle it like men.

So again, I appreciate everything Asian of Reason has added to this blog. I hope he continues to read. But my communication with him probably ends here. If you see another HBD posts and I don’t feel like responding to him personally, that’s why. I understand that we all have different upbringings, and I understand that his might be different from mine, but I can’t reconcile the two. I know that HBD is often a big topic on this blog, but I’m going to probably be bailing out on much of the future convo.

No related posts.

“The girls who are the victims tend to be raised by parents who encourage them to be more age appropriate,” Ms. Rosenman said. “The mean girls are 8 but want to be 14, and their parents play along. They all want to be top dog.” And so the nastiness begins.

On another Asian American website, I read a story about how a blogger’s young daughter was getting bullied.  When the blogger went to the school, she actually saw another student getting bullied.  When she confronted the bully, the little twerp responded with a racial epithet.

When and how does this end?

Related posts:

1. Girly Girls, Princesses, and Asian American Women

James Patterson

There’s a great article in the NY Times Magazine this week about James Patterson, the country’s biggest selling author.  I had seen his name in the bookstores, but holy cannoli, I had no idea how big Patterson was.  I think I have a new literary hero, even though I’ve yet to read one of his books.

There are many different ways to catalog Patterson’s staggering success. Here are just a few: Since 2006, one out of every 17 novels bought in the United States was written by James Patterson. He is listed in the latest edition of “Guinness World Records,” published last fall, as the author with the most New York Times best sellers, 45, but that number is already out of date: he now has 51 — 35 of which went to No. 1.

That’s insane.  Patterson outsells Stephen King, John Grisham, and Dan Brown combined. In his prior work life, Patterson worked in advertising.  He put his expertise to good use by promoting one of his early books, and the rest is history.  He now co-authors most of his books and “wrote” nine books in 2009.

I just picked up a Patterson novel yesterday.  The chapters are really short.  Really short.  It’s about 300 pages, and there are at least 100 chapters.  I feel like a genius–I read for 30 minutes last night and finished around 20 chapters.  It was almost like being the guy who inspired Rain Man, who could read facing pages at the same time.  The story, so far, is compelling.  I’m usually not into these kinds of books, but I find myself turning the pages quite easily.

I wonder if he’d be interesting in partnering with one of the writers on this blog.  Maybe he could corner the Asian American market.  Or the Rice Chasah market.  All I can say is that this guy is selling like mad.

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Art Clokey

I’m putting this here because I’ve seen it nowhere else.  It’s actually crazy to see how this man’s death has hardly caused a blip in the media.  I only saw this because Stephanie posted it on her Facebook (thanks!).  It’s also Asian American related because my son LOVES Gumby.  He’s 3.5 years old, and when we got a Gumby video from the library, he watched it until he knew almost every line by heart.  Gumby has been around for generations, and he will continue to be around for generations more, forever hanging out with his horse pal Pokey.

Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, has died.  I didn’t know anything about him before this morning, but I can say that his creation still amazes me.   Here’s something else that you probably didn’t know:

Despite Gumby’s positive demeanor, his origins stem from tragedy. When Clokey was 9, his father was killed in a car crash. He lived with his mother for a while, but when her second husband made her choose between him and her son, Clokey was sent to an orphanage. Fortunately, he was adopted by a good family. But Clokey wouldn’t forget his father, whose head shape – characterized by a cowlick hairdo – would later provide the inspiration for Gumby’s trademark lopsided head.

Sending your son to an orphanage sounds really bad, but his mother’s situation becomes a bit more understandable when you think about the fact that 89 years ago was 1930, a time when:

1. society didn’t let women work for livable wages

2. the Great Depression was just getting underway

Rest in Peace, Art Clokey.

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2. Claude Levi-Strauss Dies at 100
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Over in the Alphas vs. Betas thread, Robert and King were (were? are? Is Robert still on vacation?) having a discussion on what it means to be “Alpha,” and whether or not the term should even be used among humans. King submits that the term as it applies to animals does not work with humans–humans have so many criteria on how they judge, and there is never only one Alpha male–there are many factors involved, and people’s roles differ depending on the situation.  I volunteered the word “leadership” instead, and Robert opted to use the word “value.”  The conversation moved towards examining the difference between perception and actually being a person of value.  This topic has come up from time to time in diverse posts such as Talent, Hate Crimes, and, of course, PUA–what is the difference between being real and just presenting an image or illusion?

See the guy below talking about the Boy Band principle, and how it helps make you look better when you are surrounded by people who are listening to you. (Incidentally, “Mystery,” the guy in the video, is Better Asian Man’s Sigung–the teacher of his teacher.)

This is the art of illusion. Whether you’re an Alpha male or a Beta male, every person to some degree or another uses some form of image and illusion creation when they interact with others. It’s salesmanship, and it’s a necessary skill for anyone looking to persuade or sell to a large number of people.

The difference is that for Alphas (or leaders or value bearers), altering perception is just one part of the overall package. It’s not the main substance. The President of the United States, for example, makes decisions such as what bills to support, which wars to fight, and which meetings to attend. He plays the politics over the airwaves, but his main job is to make sure that the country is safe and prosperous. There is some strong decision-making that has to take place.  He has some value or leadership capabilities outside of the image he creates.  He needs to be able to make decisions, to stand behind them, to manage resources, and to create and execute action plans.

For Betas, image plays a much bigger role. Look good, say the right lines, and get that girl to buy you a drink.  Hang out with big hitters so that people associate you with big hitters.  Say the right lines so that people will believe that you are a person of value.  Pump yourself up.  Beta-style is actually a great means of survival.  You can succeed risk-free, and it’s easy to remain popular with all people (conversely, the President of the United States always has between 40% and 70% of the population hating him.).  You never fail because you never take risks; you never miss the ball because you never take a swing.  Your expertise is spindoctoring, and as long as others believe you, they will protect and provide for you.  You’re a master of altering perception.

I can’t say that I’m against Beta-style as a survival mechanism because it’s obviously very useful.  Society needs Betas because a world of nothing but straight-talking Frank Chins would bring about the apocalypse.  However, for extreme Beta-Stylists, there’s a substantive difference in quality of survival– beta survival is entirely reliant on the perceptions of others.  Whereas true substance can be backed up by fact, Beta-Style is reliant on others believing what Betas say and how they portray themselves.  An Alpha or Value  Driver or Leader, on the other hand, can create his own opportunities because he knows from experience how to manage risk and failure.  He knows how to truly succeed in his accomplishments.  Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with money.  As John Rawls pointed out, society doesn’t necessarily reward talent equally–Tiger Woods makes more money than Anderson Silva.  But confidence and power doesn’t always come from money; it comes from mastery.

So just two ways in which this recently came up for me:

1. Saw this awesome blog post by Olympic Gold Medal wrestler Cael Sanderson:

http://www.caelsanderson.com/blog/courage-to-develop-our-talents/

“My redshirt year in college while at the Olympic Training Center I saw a quote that really hit me. The quote was from Olympic wrestling champion Jeff Blatnick. The quote read “I learned to win by learning to lose; that is, not being afraid to lose.”

To me that means to reach your greatest potential, you can’t be worried about making mistakes or hindered by a fear of failure. So often we are our own enemy instead of an ally. You should be your own greatest ally in your quest to see what you can become in this life.

As the saying goes….He that isn’t willing to take risks, takes the greatest risk of all. “

Sanderson also relates this to the Parable of the Talent.  If you don’t take risks, you don’t develop expertise.  You don’t get better.  You don’t develop as a person.  You live in fear rather than allowing fear to teach you.  No ability to spin will ever make up for one’s lack of knowledge from undeveloped talent.

2. You know those late night infomercials that teach you how to get rich through real estate?  Someone  bought one of those packages and sent it to me.  She asked me to read it and tell me if it’s good.  I’ve read some pretty stupid real estate books, but it’s clear to me that this particular guy knows what he’s talking about.  It’s clear that there’s substantial knowledge and experience behind his presentation.  One thing he says is that investing in real estate becomes easier as you grow confident in your risk assessment and knowledge of local markets.  It’s true.  Any undertaking looks big and daunting, but if you do it over and over, it becomes less daunting.  It becomes your expertise.

So back to the topic of perception vs. substance, Alpha vs. Beta–I think it’s nearly impossible to be a leader or a person of value or an Alpha Dog without possessing substance.  Perception is okay in the short term.  As Mystery says above, people will gravitate towards the attractive guy or gal just because he or she seems to have something special.  But over time, the crowd knows what it wants, and the crowd can see through the smoke and mirrors.  So if we’re talking long-term, I would submit that perception and reality eventually converge, thereby creating real incentive to develop those alpha traits, whatever they may be.

Related posts:

1. Disturbing Talent
2. Podcast: bigWOWO interviews the Alpha Asian
3. Talent, Pt. 2 (Parable of the Talents) and Countdown to "Justice"

Sound off!

Related posts:

1. Justice, Episode 3
2. Justice, Episode 5
3. Justice, Episode 1

Today, we’ve FINALLY hit our one year anniversary on this website too. bigWOWO is one year old.  Thank you sooo much for making this work.  Special thanks to those who have been following my blogging since the 44s and RiceDaddies.  I’m so honored to be connected with you all.

Now is the time where a blogger is supposed to brag about how much traffic he’s gained in so little time.  I’m supposed to say, “Wow, look at all these people who are interested in what I have to say!”  I don’t know how good my traffic is (and to a certain extent, it doesn’t make that much of a difference), but in terms of the reader comments in the AA Blogosphere, I have some of the best commenters in the whole World Wide Web among all the Asian American sites.  Seriously.  I’ll stand behind that statement.  I have readers who recommend books, suggest questions to ask about moral dilemmas, and read deeply into issues.  I don’t think most other sites have that.  My commenters are often other bloggers, and I appreciate all the wisdom you have shared with me over the past year.

What I like most about my commenters is that you all mix experience with theory.  We have an older crowd here–a majority of us are in our late 20′s, 30′s, and 40′s, and because we have that depth of experience, we combine the best of theory and practicality.

Thank you from WOWO to WOWO, and I hope we can continue to share and learn over the upcoming year.

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3. Happy Lunar New Year!