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Short Termism--Quotes

"A politician thinks about the next elections - the stateman thinks about the next generations."--Winston Churchill

"Ireland is insecure and apprehensive of the future. At a time when we desperately need to believe in something, anything, we revert to blame and short-term thinking. We are afraid to think for ourselves."-Elaine Byrne, Irish Times

Short Termism-Sydney Oprea House-Part 3

Immediately the relationship between Utzon and Hughes became difficult. But this relationship deteriorated further and became completely unworkable when Askin did not approve of a construction technique of Utzon. Next, Hughes began to withdraw payment to Utzon. In response Utzon threatened to resign unless payment was received stating "If you don't do it, I resign". Hughes replied: "I accept your resignation. Thank you very much. Goodbye."

Utzon left the project in February 1966. Sadly, he would never return to the completed building.

The government made no real attempt to get Utzon to return to complete his design for fear of losing the short term political argument. The government instead appointed Peter Hall and a number of other architects to complete the project.

These new architects made a number of significant changes to the design of the Oprea house on the request of the client. For example, the capacity of the concert hall was increased from 2000 to 3000 people even though much of the stage machinery was already designed and fitted. Again, the government myopic behaviour was adding considerable to the cost.

This and other changes to the concert hall have created a flawed masterpiece, as the hall now experiences severe acoustic problem because of lack of early reflections. These acoustic problems are so severe that a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that "the future of opera and ballet at the Sydney Opera House is under threat because of chronic sound, mechanical and backstage problems". It estimated that the total cost to overcome these problems is about 700 million dollars.

But perhaps such a conclusion is appropriate for the building. The mechanics and functionality of the building were trivial matters to the governments of NSW because there are no votes to be won in creating a high quality acoustic environment or ensuring that there is sufficient wing space for dancers. However, short term political gain is easily accessible by acts of populism and by an addiction to political aesthetics.

Short Termism-Sydney Oprea House-Part 2

The construction of the roof of the was a long and difficult that required new analytical techniques to be developed and formulated because of the huge technical complexity associated with creating the "shell" shape of the roof. Such complexity was not understood by the politicians and the general public who screamed for instant satisfaction.

Overall, there was 12 different analytical methods developed over a six year period from 1957 to 1963 until a solution was finally arrived a upon. The construction of the roof was finally completed in 1967, years after the originally projected date of completion. Such a long process added significantly to the cost, time of construction and resulted in considerable public dis-satisfaction.

During the completion of the roof there was a change in the leadership of New South Wales when Robert Askin was elected prime minister. During the election campaign, Askin had played a upon public unease in relation to the rising costs associated with the Oprea House for his own short term politcal gain.

Based on this mandate, the new leadership ensued that the remainder of the building was completed in an environment that was perverse and acrimonious . This environment was developed by Askin's appointee to the office of public works David Hughes. A man who was later described as having "no interest in art, architecture or aesthetics".

Short Termism-Sydney Oprea House-Part 1

Louis Khan siad of the Sydney Oprea house building "The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected off this building".

The architect of this magical building, Jorn Utzon died on the 29th Of November, 2008. His creation and its interaction with the Sydney Harbour Bridge has become a symbol not only of Sydney but of Austrailia itself.

However, this building also serves as an allegory to short termism. The following posts will examine why.

The initial budget for the project was very low at around seven million austriallian dollars. Such a low figure was budgeted because the government of the day feared that the public may turn against the project if a more reasonable budget cost was assumed. Moreover, such a low figure ensured that construction commenced before the election creating some positive short term capital for the government of the day and would ensure that it would be almost impossible for the opposition to mothball the project if they won the election.

Such myopic behavior by the politicians ensured that the construction of the podium began before Utzon had fully completed the design of the building. As the design progressed it became obvious that the original podium would be under designed and would be unable to fully support the weight of the roof. The podium had to be rebuilt later adding significantly to the expense of project.

J.K Galbraith

"Perhaps it was worth being poor for a long time to be so rich for just a little while" --J.K Galbraith

Ocean Acidification

The New York Times, has an editorial this morning highlighting another mechanism through which global warming is leading to a loss in the equilibrium of our eco-system.

This mechanism is ocean acidification. The oceans of the world act as an carbon sink. However, as more and more carbon is produced from anthropogenic sources, the oceans absorbs more of this carbon. This causes a reduction in the pH of the oceans leading to the destruction of oceanic corals and the extinction of species. These outcomes will create other positive and negative feedback mechanisms leading to further disruption of the equilibrium of the eco-system.

From the NYT today,

"That added carbon dioxide is slowly making the oceans less alkaline and more acidic, altering the chemical balance on which much of oceanic life depends. Carbon dioxide reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid, a process that consumes carbonate ions. Those ions are necessary for the chemical reaction used to form calcium carbonate, the structural element in corals and the shells of many marine animals. As the oceans acidify, shells will simply dissolve. The growth of coral reefs will slow, and their structural integrity would be weakened, making them more vulnerable to storms and erosion. That would be a catastrophic loss. The list of potential long-term effects to oceanic life is only beginning to be explored"

Short Termism-Myopia

my·o·pi·a-- Lack of discernment or long-range perspective in thinking or planning

Time to accept some responsibility

Many people are of the opinion that the economic problems that we are experiencing in Ireland were not of their making them. No, the general sentiment is that the huge party which we have experienced during the past 10 years was destroyed by a couple of gate crashers known as the "american sub primers" and we are nothing more than innocent victims.

This is a cop out and just simply abdicates us of any responsibility. It was always going to end in misery because we were living on credit and even if the sub prime problems had not developed we would have to pay alll the money back someday.

The economy in Ireland never had a truly sound foundation because so much of our economic resources were focused on us simply trading goods and services between ourselves. Such activity does not bring money from foreign shores which is then reinvested in the economy to produce more goods or high quality public services.

Obama-3rd Of November

Naomi Klein & The New Yorker

Naomi Klein, was recently interviewed by the New Yorker. When asked about the financial crisis she says,

"The New Deal is usually told as a history of F.D.R., she said, but we don’t talk enough about the pressure from below. Neighborhoods organized, and when their evicted neighbors’ furniture was put on the streets they moved it back into their homes. It was that kind of direct action that won victories like rent control, public housing, and the creation of Fannie Mae. The other thing that’s important to remember, she said, is that the organizers were a threat—of socialist revolution—and it was that which allowed F.D.R. to say to Wall Street, “We have to compromise, or else we’ve got a revolution on our hands.”

During the massive boom on Wall Street during the late 20's adjusting the existing free market model would of been impossible. Then, a majoroty of people were acquiring huge amounts of wealth from the stock market either directly or indirectly. Moreover, people were generally happy. But the crash changed all that.

Now people were willing to accept government intervention because there was now a consensus that called for a change. This call for change was primarliy caused by the unprecendted wealth destruction that was occuring before their very eyes. And a realization that the existing model was broken.

Thus, F.D.R could shift the economy away from an unstable laissez-faire approach towards a new equilibrium that had a significant humanistic element.