{"id":7818,"date":"2012-05-26T20:58:37","date_gmt":"2012-05-27T00:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=7818"},"modified":"2012-05-26T20:58:37","modified_gmt":"2012-05-27T00:58:37","slug":"smart-people-saying-smart-things-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart people saying smart things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Vorjack: \u201cUr Doing It Wrong<\/a>\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n

Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating religion as something you\u2019re born into and stuck with barring deconversion. We don\u2019t often talk about the streams of tradition within the religion that an individual must accept or reject.<\/p>\n

Look around you: in our culture the chances are you\u2019re going to see someone who is a Christian but holds to different interpretations of what Christianity means. Every sect has a tradition that explains how they\u2019ve come to understand their religion the way they do. Every permutation has an argument as to why their tradition is legitimate. And this is fractal: every community has within it different streams of tradition that emphasis and interpret the components differently.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019re an evangelical who places high importance on the words of the Bible. But why do you take this<\/em> passage at face value, while interpreting that<\/em> passage in its historical context? Why is this <\/em>verse intended only for that time and place while that<\/em> verse is immortal and internal? Why do you interpret this<\/em> passage in light of that<\/em> passage instead of the other way around?<\/p>\n

\u2026 Rabbi Hillel is supposed to have said that the golden rule is the core of the law, and that all the rest is commentary. If your interpretation of the law leads you towards treating someone in a way that you would find hateful if the situation were reversed, then your interpretation is wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nick Hanauer: \u201cThe Inequality Speech That TED Won\u2019t Show You<\/a>\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n

For thousands of years people were sure that earth was at the center of the universe.\u00a0 It\u2019s not, and an astronomer who still believed that it was, would do some lousy astronomy.<\/p>\n

In the same way, a policy maker who believed that the rich and businesses are \u201cjob creators\u201d and therefore should not be taxed, would make equally bad policy.<\/p>\n

I have started or helped start, dozens of businesses and initially hired lots of people. But if no one could have afforded to buy what we had to sell, my businesses would all have failed and all those jobs would have evaporated.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I can say with confidence that rich people don\u2019t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a \u201ccircle of life\u201d like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring. In this sense, an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist like me.<\/p>\n

So when businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it\u2019s a little like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it\u2019s the other way around.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Josh Kosman: \u201cWhy Private Equity Firms Like Bain Really Are the Worst of Capitalism<\/a>\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n

Romney didn\u2019t make his fortune through venture capital\u00ad; he made it through private equity. \u2026 Here\u2019s what private equity is really about: A firm like Bain obtains cheap credit and uses it to acquire a company in a \u201cleveraged buyout.\u201d \u201cLeverage\u201d refers to the fact that that the company being purchased is forced to pay for about 70 percent of its own acquisition, by taking out loans. If this sounds like an odd arrangement, that\u2019s because it is. Imagine a homebuyer purchasing a house and making the bank responsible for repaying its own loan, and you start to get the picture.<\/p>\n

O.K., but what about this much more virtuous business of swooping in and restoring struggling companies to financial health? Well, that\u2019s not a large part of what private equity firms do, either. In fact, they more typically target profitable, slow-growth market leaders. (Private equity firms presently own companies employing one of every 10 U.S. workers, or 10 million people.)<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s when the fun starts. Once the buyout is completed, the private equity guys start swinging the meat axe, aggressively cutting costs wherever they can \u2013 so that the company can start paying off its new debt \u2013 by laying off workers and cutting capital costs. This process often boosts operating profit without a significant hit to the business, but only in the short term; in the long run, the austerity approach makes it difficult for companies to stay competitive, not least because money that would otherwise have been invested in expansion or product development \u2013 which might increase revenue down the line \u2013 is used to pay off the company\u2019s debt.<\/p>\n

It takes several years before the impacts of this predatory activity \u2013 reduced customer service, inferior products \u2013 become fully apparent, but by that time the private equity firm has generally resold the business at a profit and moved on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vorjack: \u201cUr Doing It Wrong\u201c Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating religion as something you\u2019re born into and stuck with barring deconversion. We don\u2019t often talk about the streams of tradition within the religion that an individual must accept or reject. Look around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-7818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-smart"],"yoast_head":"\nSmart people saying smart things<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vorjack: "Ur Doing It Wrong" Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smart people saying smart things\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vorjack: "Ur Doing It Wrong" Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-27T00:58:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/\",\"name\":\"Smart people saying smart things\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-27T00:58:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-27T00:58:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"Vorjack: \\\"Ur Doing It Wrong\\\" Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Smart people saying smart things\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Smart people saying smart things","description":"Vorjack: \"Ur Doing It Wrong\" Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Smart people saying smart things","og_description":"Vorjack: \"Ur Doing It Wrong\" Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2012-05-27T00:58:37+00:00","author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/","name":"Smart people saying smart things","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-27T00:58:37+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-27T00:58:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47"},"description":"Vorjack: \"Ur Doing It Wrong\" Religions are variegated things that allow the individual more control than most folks acknowledge. We\u2019re fond of treating","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/05\/26\/smart-people-saying-smart-things-40\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Smart people saying smart things"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}