Episode 40: Three Heaping Scoops of Irony

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Sometimes people say things that are, well, wrong. Other times, they believe things that are, as well, wrong. Here are three beliefs and the actions they precipitate that are, as the title to Episode 40: Three Heaping Scoops of Irony implies, just plain incorrect, and in the long run, perhaps very, very dangerous.

In this episode, I read from John Maynard Keynes' 1920 article The Economic Consequences of Peace, which proves a prescient look at the future Treaty of Versailles terms ending the Great War created. In my opinion, it is all to often ignored. I also read from an article from The Washington Post that describes an interview in Die Zeit, and Professor Mark Blyth's book, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea.



I sample from two videos from the very entertaining Professor Blyth describing his work into hyperinflation and austerity and how they are viewed by various parties.

Musically, we hear Jahzzar doing "Planet Zero." Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today" closer closes the show. I "opened" with a new KMFDM intro featuring Mark Blyth.

Episode 39: Challenging Assumptions of Permanence

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Oh, odometer moments! Those tickings of the calendar or clock or whatever metric timey thing happens to land appropriately on a nice round number. What would journalism or any of us do without them? Episode 39, Challenging Assumptions of Permanence, uses the ten year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall as just such a jumping-off point, noting how our assumptions that the way things have been in our lifetime in too many cases seems to be the way we assume the future should unfold. Sadly, our newspaper industry today struggles under the same delusion of future permanence, at least when it comes to a funding model based on advertising, that only emerged—indeed, that was only possible—in the latter stages of the Industrial Revolution. That funding model evolved to what we had, and now it is moving on, and in my opinion it ain't coming back.

In this episode, I read about historic newspaper production from Eric Burns' book "Infamous Scribblers"; and an excerpt from an article from a Professor Ross, originally printed in the Atlantic Monthly in the March, 1910, edition, and quoted in Upton Sinclair's 1920 book on the newspaper business, The Brass Check (the entirety of which can be read online at the link). I also quoted Soryu Forall, a meditation and mindfulness teacher and the founder of the Center for Mindful Learning. He shared his insights into, well, assumptions and preferences on KMO's C-Realm Podcast Episode #480, "Assumptions and Preferences."

Musically, I played two pieces by Jahzzar, "Brighter" and "Become Death". I opened the show with the Jan Wong KMFDM intro.