I caught another reminder of the beauty of free markets yesterday on slashdot.com. If you are not familiar it is a technology related web portal. They tend to be left wing in their politics, but try to stay out of the political arena, in my opinion.

They linked to a story of a state in India that is trying to encourage citizens and businesses to shun Microsoft products because of their 'Monopolistic businesses practices'. Those of us following the anti-globalization debates, understand that the people that have prospered in India, have done so by using and specializing in Microsoft products. There is a reason for it. PEOPLE USE THEM!!

They encourage using open source products such as Linux and Open Source applications. Some of these products are fine, and some are worth what you pay for it, which is nothing. I have used Linux professionally and personally. While it has some very legitimate uses that it is great with, usability for the average person is not its strong suit. (OK Linux heads this is not intended to start the great operating system holy wars, it is just a statement of opinion).

Now for where this all ties together with markets. Entities do best in markets when they recognize a need and try to fill that need in the most efficient, effective way. The problem with too many who push the Open Source movement, the justification is to combat Microsoft, and not to fill a void. That is too bad because there is a void to be filled, but by people who think like capitalists, not victims.

This beings me back to the Indian state in question. The article states that the government there is communist, translated that means they don't understand markets, but are sure they are bad. This should be good news for America, but since increasingly American people and Politicians also don't understand markets and why they work, it just makes the future of globalization, and our role in it more murky.

This of course is one isolated incident in a large world, but look closely and we see people in China despairing about the growing gap between rich and poor (another communist state). This shows the long held belief of mine that Socialist and Communist beliefs will sabotage themselves in the end. Hopefully we won't join them in our quest to make America fair and just.

Is Security overrated?

I admit that I have feelings on both sides of what I am to debate here, but it is an important subject to me at this time in my life.

Tonight I sat through a meeting at my church where we debated purchasing a house across from our building where we currently own a property next to it. There were many heart felt and passionate opinions. Like most churches and charities, we do have financial woes from time to time. At some future time we will turn these properties into parking. Many of the people expressing opinions about the risk involved in this move. This can not be brushed aside. We are a large church, but in the heart of our city and very little parking. It is very difficult for some families and elderly to walk from the city lot around the corner. Ultimately we decided to make the purchase, as we need to control our destiny with these properties, even if we never make them parking.

The idea of security brought me back to my childhood. My father always advised me to make the safe move. Never quit a job without another to go to. All in all sage advice. I remember a time when I left a job for another that paid a fraction of the old. I was changing careers to one that I felt I would enjoy more. Time showed it to be a good move as now I make three times the salary that I left, 13 years ago.

As a society we are very comfortable. We often look our security and are not quick to make risky moves. I can sight many areas of public policy where issues are facing us in the future such as Social Security, Medicare, Healthcare where changes inevitably must be made. These will require risk. Likewise we are facing unprecedented challenges to our security. A global economy has brought extreme competition for our workers. In the course of this change many good people have been left unemployed.

Societies are made up of individuals. For a society to risk security for a possible better life down the road each person must shoulder that risk. I am perplexed as we become a mature society, that the hunger that us a great people, has in large measure turned to a fragile, careful society. I fear, that in the future, our unwillingness to take on risk will ultimately make life difficult. If our children do not find a way to rediscover the hunger of our founders, will we fade to irrelevance? I hope not but I fear so. We have a drastic shortage of scientists and engineers. In The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman seems to blame this on a shortage of government spending in the area of the sciences. (In fairness I don't mean to imply that this is his only reason he attributes. I highly recommend the book). I tend to think that our developing generation is missing a sense of hunger. I remember being in high school, and instead of challenging myself with something rewarding like engineering or science, I chose the easy way out. It ended up not being the easy way out. I had to finish my degree part time while working full time. I see more and more young people choosing the easy way out. I pray this does not happen to my children. I pray we do not avoid risk that will make us a better people, for the reason of false security.

Mel Gibson and the Pundits

Everyone is talking about Mel Gibson. I prefer not to. I would rather talk about us. His tirade was repugnant. He has apologized and says he intends to reach out to the Jewish community. I prefer to leave it at that. Only Mr. Gibson and our creator know his heart and if he is sincere. I suspect his future behavior will show us whether he is sincere or not. While I do not know if Mr. Gibson has learned a lesson and will rehabilitate himself, I pray he does. Living with hatred cannot be wholesome.

What I find to be interesting is the reaction. Fairly predictable in hindsight. Our society has come to be a self-congratulatory one. We tend to seek out that which reinforces our beliefs. I find that to be true in myself. This is not a particularly positive attribute. It makes us lazy. How does this relate to Mel? I have seen comments on blogs, and commentaries which range from 'I believe he is a genius and have forgiven him', to 'He is a hater and should never work in Hollywood again'. These aren't earth shaking in their depth.

My suspicion is that when the dust settles, the people who were in Mr. Gibson's corner before the incident will be there afterward. People who dislike him before will use this as reason to further cement their hatred afterward. I was never a huge fan, nor against the man, and remain so. I appreciated his movie, of Christ "The Passion of the Christ" (you can only appreciate it, enjoy would be inappropriate with the violence portrayed). His more mainstream Hollywood Movies I could take or leave.

We have seen this pattern before. When the Rev. Jessie Jackson had national notoriety it had the same polarizing effect. The Rev. Jackson is and was a very polarizing person anyway, and this had the predictable effect. Likewise Rush Limbaugh had legal troubles for prescription drug dependence.

What can we learn. I would hope these continuing incidents would teach us something simple. Famous people, whether from entertainment, politics, or faith are humans. That in itself is hard enough. We have to live our lives how we think best. People who attain notoriety are looked at as something above us in our society. They should not be. They bleed like us, they hurt like us, and just like us they do things that they are not proud of. In 1987 I was arrested for DUI. (No anti-Semitic tirades thank goodness). That was a very bleak day for me. While I cannot come to Mel Gibson's defense, I do know what it feels like to live through a very dark day. I cannot imagine if my day were debated on every television channel for a week.

I recommend, for myself and all others, take famous people for what they are. Sometimes they have good insight, sometimes they touch us through their talents, but they are just like us, human and subject to the same frailties that we are. Don't give them too much credit for their good, nor too much scorn for the bad. If one of them falls, such as Mel, say a prayer for them, God can help them much more than CNN.