responding to a phenomenon


“Donald Trump is responding to a global phenomenon … He is not the phenomenon.” —Chris Hedges


the phenomenon is the rage of the dispossessed

the present


I think of Uber as a modern-day version of the Works Progress Administration during the Depression. Thanks to Uber, I am not poor. I am just … nobody.

When I first started driving, I talked to every passenger. I engaged in conversation about the city, life and politics. I told them about my work as a reporter, and as a strip club manager. I felt the need to say, “I’m not really an Uber driver. I am someone too. Just like you!”

Nobody cared.

I found that I could become visible or invisible at will. It’s about the voice. Say “please” and “thank you” and shut up and drive. Don’t make eye contact. People come in with their antenna up and on alert. Once they see you are no threat, they turn you off.

This crushes the ego. As it turns out in my case, that’s a good thing. Next comes acceptance. I am a driver. I drive. I work and go home and then work again. I speak less and listen more. People drone on about their work and lives and I nod as if to agree even as I think, mostly, “what a wanker.”

Only when they initiate conversation do I join in. It just doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.

And that’s when the healing starts. It is Zen and the Art of Uber Driving.

beyond the mind – beyond all thought of past and future – there is only what is

nothing is other than this being

no one is

and what is – this being – is a gift beyond words: the present

* * *

avoid harming any being

avoid killing, stealing, cheating, lying, and otherwise denying awareness of being …
all being, all that is: the present

just be … and do no more than need be done to be and let be*

this being :: Beyond the Mind :: *with loving-kindness, compassion, empathic joy, and equanimity

infrastructure: finance as everyone’s business


public finance, like the law, is a social construct; it’s what we all agree it to be

opinion alert: personal value statement follows

foundations of money and credit: not products to let banks profit, but infrastructure to let people prosper

* * *

Japan may show the rest of us how to spend on worthwhile infrastructure projects by printing money, that is, by moving the interest on new national debt down to zero percent and keeping it there; the next step is to move away from fractional reserve banking by moving the reserve requirement up to one hundred percent and keeping it there.

your Brexit questions answered

Is… is it over?

The constant news? No, it's very much continuing, but there's now some certainty. We've a new prime minister and Britain's negotiations to leave the EU are top of her agenda.

Yeah, I heard about this. 'Brexit means Brexit', right?

Right, except that that doesn't really mean anything. Leaving the EU is one thing, the actual deal you get is quite another. And Theresa May is about to try and solve arguably the most dangerous puzzle in international relations.

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