Closer 2004 Quotes

The earth turned to bring us closer, it spun on itself and within us, and finally joined us together in this dream as written in the Symposium. Nights passed by, snowfalls and solstices; time passed in minutes and millennia. An ox cart that was on its way to Nineveh arrived in Nebraska. A rooster was singing some distance from the world, in one of the thousand pre-lives of our fathers. The earth was spinning with its music carrying us on board; it didn't stop turning a single moment as if so much love, so much that's miraculous was only an adagio written long ago in the Symposium's score.

Our third-quarter financial results released on October 21, 2004, showed that sales had grown by 29 percent year over year. Free cash flow had increased by 76 percent. Many corporations would look at such growth figures with envy, but a closer look at our financials at the time revealed a more concerning picture. Throughout 2004, Amazon sales had continued to grow, but the rate of growth decreased from the prior year, across all lines of business. The output metric of sales revenue was not growing as fast as we wanted.

Let’s take the case of US law schools as an example. If you were to say to someone educated, “There are too many law schools producing too many lawyers in the US,” she would probably agree, in part because there have been dozens of articles over the past several years about the precipitous drop in positions at law firms and the many unemployed law school graduates.9 The general response to this problem is, “Well, people will figure it out and eventually stop applying to law school,” the suggestion being that the market will clear and self-correct if given enough time. On the surface it looks like this market magic is now happening. In 2013, law school applications are projected to be down to about 54,000 from a high of 98,700 in 2004.10 That’s a dramatic decrease of 45 percent. However, a closer look shows that the number of students who started law school in 2011 and are set to graduate in 2014 was 48,697, about 43,000 of whom will graduate, based on historical graduation rates.11 We’ll still be producing 36,000–43,000 newly minted law school grads a year, not far from the peak of 44,495 set in 2012, from now until the current entering class graduates in 2016. Meanwhile, in 2011, only 65.4 percent of law school graduates got jobs for which they needed to pass the bar exam, and estimates of the number of new legal jobs available run as low as 2,180 per year.12 Bloomberg Businessweek has projected a surplus of 176,000 unemployed or underemployed law school graduates by 2020.13 So even as applications plummet, there will not be dramatically fewer law school graduates produced in the coming several years, though it will have been easier to get in as acceptance rates rise due to the diminished applicant pool.14 We’ll still be producing many more lawyers than the market requires, but now they’ll be less talented. If anything, the situation is going to get worse before it gets better. Human capital markets don’t self-correct very quickly, if at all. At a minimum there’s a massive time lag that spans years, for several reasons.

Facebook was an infinite player that now seems to be moving down a more finite path. Founded in 2004, Facebook came to life with a well-articulated Cause to “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” Today, however, it finds itself embroiled in scandals that do anything but “bring the world closer together.” Facebook has been accused of violating their users’ privacy, tracking our habits online (even when we’re not on Facebook), failing to adequately police fake accounts or fake news disseminated across their service, then using all the data they collect either to sell or to maximize the dollars they can earn from selling advertising. I doubt this is what Mark Zuckerberg meant by “giving people power.” Has Facebook veered from their once inspiring infinite path because of the overwhelming pressure their leaders feel to answer to Wall Street’s finite expectations? Is it because they are doubling down on a business model driven by selling advertising instead of making an Existential Flex to reshape the entire company? Is it because their leaders have lost connection with their Just Cause and who they need to be primarily serving in order to keep the game in play? Is it hubris? Today, when Facebook does right by the people, it is too often a result of public pressure or scandal and rarely a proactive decision made to protect those they serve and advance their Cause. Facebook reacted to the scandal that erupted around Cambridge Analytica, for example, only after there was a scandal, even though they were aware of Cambridge Analytica’s unethical practices before we found out about

Truth About Love" I apologize for not being Gandhi or Tom            the mailman who is always kind. He makes his way every day no matter            the mood of the sky with our words in a sack and Gandhi made the English            give India back without taking a gun for a wife. My contribution            to the common good is playing with the alphabet in a little room            while the world goes foraging for food. I’m a better poet than man            and it’s well known how little my verbs are worth. I am my only subject,            being the god of my horizons. What saves me is that just beyond my skin            the world of yours is where I’d rather live. The AMA says you’ve added            seven point six years to my life. In a phrase, love is a transfer of wealth.            This is why Adam Smith gave up romantic verse. In trying to say what can’t            be said I’ll take the Dragnet approach. Just the facts. I’d be dead            sooner without you, you’ll die faster for being a Mrs., raw deal can’t be more          clearly defined. To make amends I offer ten percent more kisses each year.            Or do I do more harm the closer we become? If yes, leaving would be love            and a better man might. But my thrills are selfishly domestic. I like sweeping words            into piles and whispering good night. Bob Hicok, Insomnia Diary. (University of Pittsburgh Press. 2004)