Billy Joe Mills

Some people produce incredible resources on the Internet. Two interrelated resources pay attention to the economic development of impoverished countries:  TED and Gapminder.

Andrew Mwenda, a journalist in Uganda, has an aggressive and unique view of financial aid that flows into Africa. Mwenda created the Ugandan newspaper The Independent after growing frustrated by government censorship of the Ugandan newspaper he had previously written for. The Independent promises readers “Uncensored News, Views & Analysis.” Mwenda is bold and aggressive.

TED holds conferences around the world that invite innovative speakers to present their ideas on a diversity of subjects. Mwenda argues in his TED talk that aid hurts African economic development. Bono attended Mwenda’s talk and he (rudely, I think) interrupted Mwenda. I have not seen a video, but I have read that Bono spent his entire TED lecture rebutting Mwenda instead of reading from his planned lecture. Mwenda’s thesis, if accurate, undermines nearly everything that Bono has devoted himself to in Africa. Andrew Rugasira, Chairman of Good Africa Coffee, wrote an interesting op-ed response in the Financial Times to the confrontation. Rugasira writes, “[T]he Bonos of this world need to listen more and display greater humility to African perspectives on African problems.”

This is an Irregular Word of the Week post both because the word itself is irregular and because I irregularly post words of the week, which makes the title of “Word of the Week” a lie.

Today I learned the phrase “Ganser Syndrome” from a cynical 1957 Time Magazine review of Jack Kerouac’s most famous novel, On the Road.

Definition:

A pseudo-psychotic condition typically occurring in individuals feigning insanity and characterized by wrong but related answers to questions.

Left to Right: Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs. Did they all suffer/prosper from Ganser Syndrome?

If you watch CNBC, you know Rick Santelli. He reports from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I love his fire. The polemicist goes nuts in the video below about the recent bailout bill and its socialist implications. He proposes a Chicago Tea Party and the idea has some traction.

I find it sad that we forget the values that have made us the most powerful nation in history – economic liberty and limited government intervention – when fear overwhelms logic. Our economy is too complex for the federal government to micromanage it. If America maintains its dominance during China’s rise, it will be because of inefficient and corrupt intervention in the marketplace from the Chinese government. Markets require extensive regulation to prevent them from self-destructing, but market intervention is distinct from market regulation. Economists still debate whether FDR’s Keynesian spending programs hurt or helped the economy. Markets fluctuate and we must learn to accept years of recession. We cope with recessions because in the long-run free markets will generate a far greater abundance than enslaved markets. Big government spending tends to create moral hazard, be inefficient, create abundant opportunities for corruption and create a network of perverse incentives.

A Facebook group and a website have been started to organize the Santelli revolutionaries. I have joined the Facebook group.

While I agree with many of Obama’s social views, I chose not to vote for Obama because I fear his faith in the slimy squid tentacles of the federal government and his lack of faith in the system of economics that has created an abundance of wealth, health, education, universities, food, luxury, travel, philosophy, art, music and film – all of the things that make us human.

Perhaps after reading this post you will no longer doubt my conservative credentials.

Below I have pasted the lyrics to a song I’ve been working on for a couple of months. I recorded an embarrassingly rough version of it that features my sub-par voice and amateur acoustic guitar work. Eventually, I will post a recorded version of this song that I have more confidence in. The music is written in the key of Aminor. I use a I-IV-V progression until the words, “Running through the fields of your scattered daylight.” I-IV-V in Aminor is Aminor-Dminor-Eminor. Minor chords have a somber, melancholy tone. I transition to the major chords within the key of Aminor (ii-iii-vi) at the end in order to musically communicate the happy ending. Aminor and Cmajor share many of the same notes, so it allows for a smooth transition.

Anyway, as with past lyrics I’ve posted, I’m sure few will enjoy these :)

The Faces of Lonely Saints

Running through the woods of Wisconsin
I stumbled upon seven sad grins
Dining on the carcass of an angel
Her wings spread across the table
Her story in the child’s fable

A smile of calm widens her face
As the Mother welcomes her slumber to grace

The faces of lonely saints
The faces of lonely saints
The faces of lonely saints
Of romantics and dreamers, poets and healers
Of writers and readers, peasants and believers

Ride wild ride
Ride wild ride
Ride wild ride

I galloped to the East
A journalist of this war
A girl rides beside me
She’s Faith in pink ribbons

Running through the woods of Salem
I stumbled upon seven smiling saints
Dining on the carcass of a devil
His chest cut open,
His blood splashes and trembles

Hollow sadness narrows his face
As the Mother rejects his slumber to grace

The face of a lonely sinner
The face of a lonely sinner
The face of a lonely sinner
Of killers and cowards, kings and connivers,
Of rapers and dealers, rich and deniers

Ride wild ride
Ride wild ride
Ride wild ride

Running through the fields of your scattered daylight
I stumbled upon a child who smiled to me:
“I am the new dawn
I am the new dawn
I am the new dawn”
And all is calm
And all is calm
And all is calm

The faces of lonely saints
The faces of lonely saints
The faces of lonely saints

Special thanks to longtime pal and aspiring writer Mike Madden for help and encouragement with writing this song.