The Audacious Ones.

ALJ

When was your last first?

Never look back only ever to the side

Ze Frank 

The anonymous face.

Monterrey, Mexico - portrait photographer Stefan Ruiz the "Cholombiano" street culture of sticky sideburns and stoner cumbia jams.

This is the coming of a new movement as it is no longer sufficient to learn how to apply old concepts to the future or discover which ideas past fit the current economy best. But question how we can create a better system to fit the world we live in today. It is the youths’ transcendent of old economics that will outline the new. The Marxism's’ must accept contradiction that the journey to a “fair” society will not be fair in itself. The Keynesian’s amongst us must tread carefully as to not fall down a hole of filthily lucre. The Neoclassical’s must prepare as we see the dawning of the Meme Wars. Economic concepts must evolve so the economy can survive in the long term. This is what makes economics a fashion. It moves with the people, it changes with the times, it is unpredictable and not everyone has the same opinion. In the end even as beautifully different, diverse, unique humans we all live the paradox that the goal is eudaimonia. This is our onerous duty to life and therefore each other, we must protect what is truly precious now. We are the now, we are always the now.

Author Unknown

-William Blake

The compelling beauty of mathematics comes from the idea that it works with undeniable truths. The simplification of an equation can be done by canceling out constants on either side, leaving no room for argument or debate. Economics is putting postulated thoughts into models. Here we have the constant of rational conforming humans with the assumption that socially manufactured incentives such as money, time, growth are what we wish to maximize and what motivate us in the form of bonuses, deadlines and GDP. It feels that we have the lost the meaning of “self” becoming an x on either side of the equation and should just go ahead and cancel ourselves out. Anything else left in a mathematical equation still has substance; they in society are the non-joiners the ones that did not conform. We can sit there and vilipend them for being disheveled, as the economy does not like them for not having bought the largest house or fanciest car but they are the truly audacious ones. It is the most unsettled of communities that feel the need to conform because evolution has taught us that we have the highest chance of survival if we stick together. We are funnelled through the education system and admittedly I have found myself right in the middle of the flock, with the haunting sense of being exactly what I have been told to be and doing exactly what I have been told to do. But if we were all more imaginative we would create, instead of waiting for jobs to open up create the opportunity for ourselves then maybe we wouldn’t be as scared as after all we only have the abstraction of money to lose.

Look at your life, hold back the nostalgia and think about what you want. Learn about the left and right wings, the authoritarians and libertarians and decide which political ideas are best for you. So vote then hold your breath, as we hope the Prime Minister is virtuous enough to keep his promises. Politics and Economics walk hand in hand though a nation filled with the stochastic variable known as the people and decide to believe that we act rationally. Consciously they choose an economic system to be a capitalist one with private individuals and corporations dominating the wealth of the country. In a nation where young children wish to grow up and be famous; teenagers have one of the best educations; graduates seek well-paid jobs; adults find themselves unable to retire and the old desperately hold on to their health as they live off an insufficient state pensions. Priorities change with age yet we find ourselves on the road to “the pursuit of happiness”, or the 21st century motorway to the pursuit of maximizing utility. There is no hiding the fact that the economic system of the western world is a capitalist one. In the language of economics “utility” refers to happiness gained from goods and services. This idea of paying for happiness is echoed throughout the western world as there is no such thing as too much money. We do not measure success by happiness and we do not limit growth as to what is best for the environment or others but what will maximize self-profit. It must therefore be a necessary condition for a moral man to lead the nation, as if not we fall down a slippery slope shortly meeting corruption. Where young children are kept inside; teenagers are more easily exposed to drugs; young adults can find more money in embezzlement than an honest career and the old are left wondering how this kleptocracy occurred. This is why morality is key, and in this democracy we must find it in ourselves not only to vote for the noble man with honest policies but have confidence that they will be transeunt. Then be brave and take a step forward or rather back to realize that this “utility” must and can be found inherently.