We eat breakfast at a well known Valley spot every Saturday. Ever since people from MSFT told us, we make it a fixed point of our life in this Valley. This fixture is because of the how, more than it is of a matter of what. This morning I noticed a ritual that must mean this person is also a regular. New to me, but a regular to the eatery. The person had two beers and an espresso. These were downed within 15 minutes. Quickly. Mechanically. Then off to his day this regular went.

This seems a symptom to me, but in our world we aren’t to intervene. Information yes, understanding maybe, but caring never. It takes too much time. It ties too much.

In this age, this country, I am able to tell myself that caring is part of service, since this is a service economy it should be reasoned that the market provides all the care needed. At least all the care that matters, since if it matters someone would build a profit machine to produce it. Further, I can argue against my interest along this line. “Should the restaurant not serve sweet cookies to the diabetic?”

In a free market our assumption goes that if the link isn’t immediate, then we are undercover and need not care. Our attorneys, accountants and economists all counsel us that we are not responsible, not liable. Assign blame to another intervening action. Have a happy.

Commerce trumps all else. So it goes. Another Decade Begins.