black box mysteries.
its a new moon .. if anyone is interested . once upon a time these things meant something.
however....
ive just been reading about black box software.. how citigroup paid hundreds of millions for a company that had developed software that managed to trade a few milliseconds faster than
anyone else.. something like that. yeah.. they are now so going out of business.
jim rogers, in his book about commodities, says he has found people who have made plenty of money out of selling technical trading software, but few who have made money using it. does anyone else take what mr. rogers says about high finance seriously? i sure do.
but that isnt really what i wanted to talk about today. i would like to set down some ground rules for this blog..
as this is about political-economy, defining political economy is a place to begin.
first of all .. economy: the word comes into modern usage through latin after a greek model. οικονομια... οικος and νομος -- the first meaning house.. second meaning law (among other things) .. so its the law of the household or business. ie. the rules that keep the place going.
you can get an idea of how important the word nomos is from its usage not only in greek and associated languages, but its impact on others as well.. it is a key word. i'd go so far as to say that it is a word of power.. if that makes any sense. (take om nama shivaya for example).
the name of something is like a seed that has programmed into it its total blueprint and destiny .. its true nature.. its secret. something like an acorn.
so.. the law of the house is not something that you want to mistake or take lightly. .. and the first law of economics is to spend less than is earned. of course the mechanism of credit is there to facilitate payment and ease the temporary shortages in the natural flow of events.. shortfall.. etc.
it is not really up to me to take it upon myself to explain what happens if the law is broken.
others have done so.. and while hammurabi's code has been updated by various prophets and the christ himself, the bottom line is that if you break the law, you will suffer. .
ok.. moving on. so far as i know oikos is a household.. of course in antiquity it would have been more extended than a simple modern family house.. in greek today one says 'to spiti'. ' oikos ' has dropped out of usage.. we live in a post classical age.. we most certainly do.
as for politics.. well. i heard on the radio that politics in this country (australia) has become the art of getting scalps.. i can only assume that it is part of a trend in post post-modernity and widespread.
but as for what should be intended by the word, my guessis that it is from the word polis.. like in city state....again from the greek language. the place where many people live.. and by virtue of their collective reason, find out and apply the laws of co-existence. (politikismo... or culture...) i did say its a guess. i probably should have said high hope.. with a bit of luck, built on more than thin air..
hehehe.
hope was left in pandoras box. i wonder if it was a black box.. oh god. ... hope not.... lol.
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