It's all sex and lies.
Everything. The debt bubble. The real estate bubble. The trade deficit bubble.
Why is there a $600 billion trade deficit? Because Americans want to buy things they
can't afford. Why do they buy things they can't afford? To pretend to be richer than they
are. Why do they want to be appear richer than they are? Because it gives them higher
social status. Why do they want higher about social status? So they will have better
access to the opposite sex.
We are back in the United States after an absence of several months. Suddenly, the roads
are crowded with Hummers. Why would anyone want to drive around in a big, awkward, ugly,
expensive car when a small, cheap one would get him where he was going just as well?
Because they want to "maximize their inclusive fitness" say scientists. They want as many
of their genes floating around the gene pool as possible. The Hummer is like long, bright
tail feathers on a bird. Or a big rack of antlers on a deer. From a utilitarian point of
view, they are worthless. Worse than worthless, as a matter of fact. They increase the
risk that rivals and predators will notice the animal. They take energy to carry around.
And they slow the animal down, making it hard for him to maneuver in a fight or to get
away.
The huge cars are only useful, near as anyone who thinks about such matters can figure,
as conspicuous consumption; they wink to the opposite sex that the animal is game for a
little hanky-panky. If he can carry around all that extra baggage and still survive, he
must be tough. So, too, if a person can live in a McMansion and drive a Hummer without
going bankrupt, he must be a good prospect for a date.
But it's all relative. If everybody on the block buys a Hummer and puts in a swimming
pool, the man who has those things already loses his edge. He has to spend even more -
bringing himself even closer to bankruptcy - in order to show off. What can he do? Write
poetry and put a feminist bumper sticker on his old Hummer?
"Forget sensitivity," said a woman over dinner last night. "The man must show that he's
capable... that he's strong... that he knows what he's doing."
"Yeah," said a divorced friend who has been studying dating strategies, "you have to be
'the man with the plan.' You signal to the woman that you've got it figured out... that
your time is valuable... and that, if she wants to hook up with you, she can to so, but
only on your terms. What you don't want to do is to take her out on a date and spend a
lot of money on her. You have to show that you have a lot of money, but you don't want to
give her the impression that she'll be in charge of how it is spent. That would start the
relationship off on the wrong foot."
Women aren't stupid, of course. They know you can move into a McMansion with no money
down and no money anywhere else. They know you can lease a Hummer and buy an Armani suit
with credit cards. They try to find out if the man really has money or not. It is the
beginning of the battle between the sexes. The man tries to deceive the woman about his
fitness for procreation. The woman tries to detect the deception, while deceiving him -
with make-up and various artifices - about her own attractiveness. The poor man has to
show more and more evidence that he's really the one with the large rack and the bright
feathers. He has to take on more and more expensive burdens. Second and third houses...
European vacations... a home theatre... cosmetic surgery. The schmuck needs to spend,
spend, spend - or he's going to be spending his nights alone.
You might say that a "smart" woman would see her way through the foolishness of it all
and prefer a man with no desire to show off - maybe a good, solid schoolteacher who cares
about the environment and drives an old Pinto. But if she mates with such a man, she
dooms her offspring, say the scientists, for the man is likely to father sons much like
himself - men who are only attractive to smart women. How many of them are there? Her own
genes will find fewer opportunities for reproductive success, in other words... and
what's so smart about that?
In order to spread her genes as widely as possible, a woman needs offspring, particularly
males, who are "high ranking," - that is, those who can carry around gaudy expenses
without going broke. Her best strategy is to make with a high ranking male. Her good
fortune would be to have many sons with him - high ranking boys who would find many mates
of their own. And for that she must make herself as desirable to him as possible. This,
too, begins with deception and often ends in disappointment. She must spend much of her
time and money as though she were a candidate for public office - that is, deceiving
people about what she is. The scientists call it "impression management." She must appear
high ranking - by wearing expensive clothes instead of cheap ones... by driving an
expensive car, rather than a cheap one... by living at an expensive address... eating in
expensive restaurants... going on expensive vacations and sporting expensive jewelry. She
must also appear as physically attractive as possible. Remember, it's all about sex.
Meanwhile, driven by these ancient impulses to sexual reproduction... and chauffeured by
the Fed... Americans arrive at the cusp of bankruptcy. (More on this below... )
You didn't think Thommo was going to comment did you?
Everything. The debt bubble. The real estate bubble. The trade deficit bubble.
Why is there a $600 billion trade deficit? Because Americans want to buy things they
can't afford. Why do they buy things they can't afford? To pretend to be richer than they
are. Why do they want to be appear richer than they are? Because it gives them higher
social status. Why do they want higher about social status? So they will have better
access to the opposite sex.
We are back in the United States after an absence of several months. Suddenly, the roads
are crowded with Hummers. Why would anyone want to drive around in a big, awkward, ugly,
expensive car when a small, cheap one would get him where he was going just as well?
Because they want to "maximize their inclusive fitness" say scientists. They want as many
of their genes floating around the gene pool as possible. The Hummer is like long, bright
tail feathers on a bird. Or a big rack of antlers on a deer. From a utilitarian point of
view, they are worthless. Worse than worthless, as a matter of fact. They increase the
risk that rivals and predators will notice the animal. They take energy to carry around.
And they slow the animal down, making it hard for him to maneuver in a fight or to get
away.
The huge cars are only useful, near as anyone who thinks about such matters can figure,
as conspicuous consumption; they wink to the opposite sex that the animal is game for a
little hanky-panky. If he can carry around all that extra baggage and still survive, he
must be tough. So, too, if a person can live in a McMansion and drive a Hummer without
going bankrupt, he must be a good prospect for a date.
But it's all relative. If everybody on the block buys a Hummer and puts in a swimming
pool, the man who has those things already loses his edge. He has to spend even more -
bringing himself even closer to bankruptcy - in order to show off. What can he do? Write
poetry and put a feminist bumper sticker on his old Hummer?
"Forget sensitivity," said a woman over dinner last night. "The man must show that he's
capable... that he's strong... that he knows what he's doing."
"Yeah," said a divorced friend who has been studying dating strategies, "you have to be
'the man with the plan.' You signal to the woman that you've got it figured out... that
your time is valuable... and that, if she wants to hook up with you, she can to so, but
only on your terms. What you don't want to do is to take her out on a date and spend a
lot of money on her. You have to show that you have a lot of money, but you don't want to
give her the impression that she'll be in charge of how it is spent. That would start the
relationship off on the wrong foot."
Women aren't stupid, of course. They know you can move into a McMansion with no money
down and no money anywhere else. They know you can lease a Hummer and buy an Armani suit
with credit cards. They try to find out if the man really has money or not. It is the
beginning of the battle between the sexes. The man tries to deceive the woman about his
fitness for procreation. The woman tries to detect the deception, while deceiving him -
with make-up and various artifices - about her own attractiveness. The poor man has to
show more and more evidence that he's really the one with the large rack and the bright
feathers. He has to take on more and more expensive burdens. Second and third houses...
European vacations... a home theatre... cosmetic surgery. The schmuck needs to spend,
spend, spend - or he's going to be spending his nights alone.
You might say that a "smart" woman would see her way through the foolishness of it all
and prefer a man with no desire to show off - maybe a good, solid schoolteacher who cares
about the environment and drives an old Pinto. But if she mates with such a man, she
dooms her offspring, say the scientists, for the man is likely to father sons much like
himself - men who are only attractive to smart women. How many of them are there? Her own
genes will find fewer opportunities for reproductive success, in other words... and
what's so smart about that?
In order to spread her genes as widely as possible, a woman needs offspring, particularly
males, who are "high ranking," - that is, those who can carry around gaudy expenses
without going broke. Her best strategy is to make with a high ranking male. Her good
fortune would be to have many sons with him - high ranking boys who would find many mates
of their own. And for that she must make herself as desirable to him as possible. This,
too, begins with deception and often ends in disappointment. She must spend much of her
time and money as though she were a candidate for public office - that is, deceiving
people about what she is. The scientists call it "impression management." She must appear
high ranking - by wearing expensive clothes instead of cheap ones... by driving an
expensive car, rather than a cheap one... by living at an expensive address... eating in
expensive restaurants... going on expensive vacations and sporting expensive jewelry. She
must also appear as physically attractive as possible. Remember, it's all about sex.
Meanwhile, driven by these ancient impulses to sexual reproduction... and chauffeured by
the Fed... Americans arrive at the cusp of bankruptcy. (More on this below... )
You didn't think Thommo was going to comment did you?
