Cold?

I am. Winter is decidedly not my favorite time of the year. I like late spring, early summer, here in the D.C. area. I'll take a summer in Seattle any day. But winter? It should be fired. Oh sure, it gives the Australians an excuse to have summer, but whose idea was it to tilt the planet anyway? That was a Bad Move in my opinion. If the planet just spun upright, we'd have these bands of perfect temperature in the northern and southern hemisphere. We'd just put a whole bunch of solar power generators at the equator and leave it at that. But I digress.

This article isn't about improving yourself. It's not about sociological factors that go into a preference for peanut butter over jelly. It's not even about axiomatic elements of a belief that the world is, in fact, flat. It's about my gift to you of a little warmth.

How good is your imagination? Can you feel the hot sand on the soles of your feet, forcing you to ouchouchouchouch your way back to your blanket? Can you feel the sun forcing you to squint against the glare of a hot summer sun, holding your hand to shade your eyes while you bemoan the fact that your sunglasses are either in the car or on the counter at home. Can you feel the heat of the sun beating down on you, making your skin hot to the touch? Can you smell the spring and summer flowers bursting their way into full bloom? Fragrances of honeysuckle and lavender, mixed with that unique rainy smell of a storm on-the-way.

No? Remember that last trip to the water park to battle the summer heat? Standing in lines in your bathing suit with the sun drying the water from the last ride you went on? The smell of chlorine everywhere, and the feel of the warm white concrete walkways as you walk from ride to ride?

No? Still stuck for a feeling of being warm? Okay, it's time to break out the big guns. Modern technology to the rescue, I give you a roaring fire.

Stay warm.

Brain Civil War

It's complicated, but regions of the brain do different things for us. The Amygdala (we have two of them) regulate our emotions. The Cerebrum is where our perception, imagination, thought, judgment, and decision occur. The Amygdala is part of our primitive brain, while the Cerebrum is the latest addition to our brains, according to the thinking of evolution. The Cerebrum occupies 85% of the brain, while the Amygdala are the size of almonds.

The Amygdala tells us what to do based on our environment. We're happy, sad, afraid, excited - emotional - because our Amygdala tells us to be. Look at a child and you will see the operation of the Amygdala in full force. When the child is happy, you know it. When sad, you know it. Everything goes directly from Amygdala into action. That's because the Cerebrum isn't yet trained to intervene.

Look at what adults can do. No matter the situation, they can do things like "stick to their guns". Soldiers may be terrified, but good ones will still perform their duty. A good parent may be tired and unhappy, but they will still give their child their attention.

Why do we do these things? Because we have learned that there is greater value in doing what is right for everyone concerned than just in reacting to what our bodies are telling us to do. Some people don't receive such training and remain dominated by their emotions. Their Amygdala is running unchecked. Their Cerebrum, the region constituting the vast majority of our brains, hasn't been trained to deal with the wild swings of the Amygdala, those little almonds of brain matter.

Chapter 13 of the first book of Corinthians contains an oft-quoted verse:

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

This is classic brain civil war, with St. Paul telling us that when we become adults we have set aside reflexively instinctive actions, to replace them with well-considered actions that serve a higher, virtuous purpose. Corinthians was written around 54 A.D., and you can be sure that communities have understood the need for people to become more than instinctive beasts for thousands of years before that. Civilization just doesn't happen if people remain bestial in their behavior.

The Catholic faith describes cardinal virtues and cardinal sins. The cardinal virtues are those of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. Now those are the sorts of things that we wish other people would practice. But they're a lot of work. The cardinal sins are much more fun. They are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. Those are the backbone of American culture. If you doubt this, look at where and why Americans spend their money.

The sins are our Amygdala talking. The virtues are what you get with a properly-trained Cerebrum.

Can we improperly train a mind? Sure. Look at any number of people who don't just react emotionally and commit cardinal sins, but actually plan ahead to commit them. Terrorists are planning acts of wrath. Bank robbers are planning acts of greed. The pornography industry does the same for acts of lust. Stalin, Hitler, and many more. These are examples of improperly trained Cerebrums. These people are acting against the cardinal virtues. Those virtues are really only practical if the Cerebrum is trained properly.

What we face is a set of instincts that often drive us towards cardinal sins, when what we need is to be trained to pursue cardinal virtues. This is the ultimate theme for most articles posted to Opinion Dump; believe that there is rightness and wrongness inherent to actions, and that by applying one's self to discovering rightness and wrongness, the whole world becomes a better place.

Unfortunately, as a society we talk as children, think as children and reason as children.

Virtue can win the civil war of your mind. Put aside childish things.

How Much Is Enough?

The law of supply and demand says roughly that the two forces will equalize. If there is a greater demand than supply, prices will go up until an equilibrium is reached. If there is a greater supply than demand, prices will go down until an equilibrium is reached. The changing price alters the demand for a product. Lower prices increase demand and higher prices decrease it.

Perhaps a hundred years ago, neither demand nor supply was particularly great. People mostly lived in a rural setting, not in cities, and there weren't any mass-produced goods. People saved their money until they had enough for a purchase, and then they went and bought what they were after.

One of the first notables of mass production was the Model T automobile, which was targetted specifically for the common man. It sold initially at a third and later a tenth of the price of the competitors. The price of a car dropped hugely, so demand increased hugely. That's how Henry Ford made his money. By applying the simple law of supply and demand. By the way, when you bought a Model T, you paid cash.

Demand is a funny thing, however. If a family doubles its income it wins greatly. It can buy twice the goods that it could before. And it can buy more expensive luxury items that weren't within reach before. All the other families are ensuring that prices on regular items remain low because they won't pay more. They don't have more money, so they won't pay more.

But what happens when more and more families see what that first family did? They figure out how to double their income too. They want those luxury items too. Pretty soon, lots and lots of people have doubled their income and are buying luxury items right and left. Interestingly, they're also willing to pay a little more for the basics. Vendors sell milk for a penny or two more per carton. Families aren't thrilled about it, but they pay it because they have the extra money. They might cut back on some of the luxuries, but that's not a great sacrifice.

So prices are going up. What about the families that didn't double their income? They have to pay the higher prices too. Their budgets get tighter. Any luxuries that they might have enjoyed are quickly being eaten up by those higher prices. There is pressure to find more income.

Meanwhile, the double-income families are busy enjoying luxuries. In fact, so many people are enjoying certain luxuries that those luxuries are becoming ubiquitous. They're everywhere. People are starting to assume that other people have those luxuries. The Model T is the perfect example of this. What started out as a luxury, permitting enjoyable day trips to see new places eventually became a mandatory part of American life. The vast majority of Americans assume that they are going to own a car. That's because all of American society has adapted to the existence of that luxury. It is a necessity.

A college education is becoming a necessity. Advanced health care is becoming a necessity. These are not things that we get for free, and they make demands on our incomes.

Families with double incomes are the norm now. Two working adults is typical, though there are still plenty of families with just one working adult. They are frequently challenged to provide all the necessities for their family - both the traditional necessities of food, shelter and clothing as well as the more recent 'necessities' of cars, advanced education, insurance, health care and so much more.

Automation and mass production have certainly done their part to drive down prices. Some necessities and even luxuries are available in greater abundance than ever before. But with the advent of new necessities and the trend in society to get ahead of the pack by having more available cash, the pressure remains on the income laggards.

Note that the laggards are the ones that are unwilling or unable to have two adults working. Or are unwilling or unable to take other steps to bring in more income. One such step is the use of credit cards.

A credit card is a means of buying things on credit. That is, taking out a loan. The buyer borrows money from a lender and pays it back over time, plus interest. The statistics on credit cards are astonishing.

• 80% of households have at least one credit card
• 60% of credit card holders carry a balance from month to month
• $10,000 is the average debt for households that carry balances from month to month

Credit cards enter the discussion at this point because it is another means of adding to the available income of a household. Take a loan, buy things, then pay the minimum payment each month.

But not everyone is using credit cards to add to their purchasing power. Twenty percent of the population doesn't use credit cards, and a further 32% of the population doesn't carry a balance. That still means that nearly half the population carries a credit card balance. They are willing to pay for things with money that they don't even have! Given the laws of supply and demand, they are artificially increasing demand, which is going to result in higher prices. If not higher prices, then a continued shift of luxuries to necessities.

All of this is applying constant pressure on American families to find income so that they can operate in the resulting society. The lower income a family is, the more they rely on credit cards to permit them to make purchases. What they're buying is up for debate, but remember that yesterday's luxuries are today's necessities. Can a family operate today without cell phones, computers and cable television? Having them provides a competitive advantage in our society. Lacking them means more work for that family to be contacted by their employer, prepare information for school or work, etc.

Now set the clock back again to the days of people paying cash for everything, including cars. If the only way that people could buy a car was if they had the cash in hand, do you think that automobile manufacturers could charge the prices that they do? Would all cars be equipped with so many bells and whistles, or would cars be available that were stripped down to the necessities?

Ultimately, our society is pushing ever harder to get ahead of the curve. Unfortunately, that just pushes the curve farther and farther in the direction of luxuries. We call this "improving the standard of living", yet the means of accomplishing it involves having two adults per family working, buying necessities on credit, and now we're to the point where college students have credit card debt - and children are starting to carry credit cards.

Now go beyond the individual and look at government actions. Each time the government subsidizes an industry by giving money to citizens, the net result is going to be either price inflation or a shift of more luxuries into the perception of necessities. Once that happens, the government program becomes a necessity. To take it away would mean the loss of apparent necessities, and people will not stand for that.

The root of all of this is a demand for a better standard of life at any cost. Too few Americans have a sense of denying themselves any luxury. "Living within one's means" is a dying ethic, to be replaced by "Just Do It". Those who attempt to live within their means are finding that their necessities are creeping ever farther and farther afield, demanding that they pay more money, either for their original necessities, or for new ones.

Take some time to think about what you really need versus what you just want. Each time you indulge yourself with a want, you are making things just that much more costly. Should we stop all advances in medicine, electronics and other areas of progress? Certainly not. There is a question of appropriate pace, however, and if the pace is too great, families will be left behind, stretching the fabric of society, and ultimately producing a tear when the pressure becomes too great.

Revolutions are born of tears in the fabric of society. I'd rather have a peaceful evolution of society than be able to watch television on my cell phone. Assuming I could remember where I left it.