Getting our terms right: free enterprise isn't the same as capitalism

The real divide in our political economy is the Wall Street versus Main Street outlook amongst the business management folks.

"At many companies," says Felix Salmon writing at Wired, "both public and private, the optimal course of action is a modest one — run the business so that it makes a reasonable profit, and can continue to operate indefinitely. If you chase after growth, you often end up in bankruptcy: that’s one reason why the oldest companies in the world are all family-run. Families, unlike public companies or private-equity shops, don’t need growth: they’re more interested in looking after their business over the very, very long run."

Yep. Even though "in the long run we're all dead", as John Maynard Keynes observed we at least have something to pass on.

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Martin Luther King was a gun owner who applied for CWP? Who knew? - Huffington Post (Adam Winkler)
Promoting Gandhian principles of nonviolence is all well and good, but pack a revolver too, you know,  just in case.

Aesthetics are what is missing from urban design schemes - Center For Public Transportation (Wm. Lind)
"Aesthetics matter. A corridor of crap is what it is because that is what it looks like. It is important to a town or city whether it looks handsome or ugly. Walking through Boston is a far more pleasant experience than walking through, say, Phoenix. The difference is that one looks good and other doesn’t."

Some "reality-based" thoughts on modern American economics- 321gold.com (Larry LaBorde)
"We have allowed multi-national corporations to move our factories offshore and left our markets wide open. We were sold the idea that 'we' could 'think' and 'they' could 'work'. The idea that factories and mines were dirty and should be moved offshore while we could operate clean financial services, distribution and other service industry jobs was sold to us. We were taught that our economy was based on consumption. The federal reserve drove down interest rates and encouraged everyone to mine the equity out of their homes and to spend our accumulated wealth on new cars, vacations and other mindless consumer goods."

Giant Jalapeno peppers bred specifically for use as cheese stuffed snackage - Popular Science
And now if they'll just design us all acid indigestion proof stomachs to match.

Firefox 4.0 browser a "huge pile of bugs"
This Slashdot blurb redirects to some news and comments about what a "huge pile of bugs" FF 4.0 is.

Jim Goad doesn't believe in Detroit - Taki Mag
Go figure?