Go get 'em, burghman!

Neoconservatism is Straussian fascism, an intellectual mirror image of the Nazis developed by Leo Strauss in response to his sense of horror regarding Nazi Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Strauss

From my point of view, I agree with Kevin Phillips in AMERICAN THEOCRACY, in that we have already passed the tipping point in this country. Corporations have achieved an imbalance of power over "we the people" out of their ownership of the wealth that "we the people" created for them. The myopic self-interest of these organizations in pursuing their own benefit without regard to the effect on the community/the world will bring this all crashing down on all of our heads.

There are many reasons why the current economic system will fail, but the most important one--from my point of view--is that under the current legal structure of corporationism (which is a monopolistic form of capitalism), corporations do not have to pay all the costs of bringing their goods and services to market. These unpaid costs are called externalities and can in some instances--such as strip mining for coal in West Virginia--exceed all other costs involved in production ... and are never paid for out of the price of the product by the corporations that do the damage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality

Because of externalities there is no such thing as a free market in today's global economic system. And as soon as you hear one of these so-called economic geniuses start talking about "the free market" WITHOUT mentioning how to wring externalities out of the system, you know they are blowing smoke up your backside. (In point of fact, second hand smoke is STILL an externality of the cigarette business.)

I believe in capitalism and a market where financial capital, knowledge capital, labor AND consumers can contend with each other on an even playing field for the goods, services, AND profits of the system. That is the underlying dynamic system that has produced the concept and reality of growing wealth that we have had up until today in a crude fashion ... that the coprorationists in bed with the Neocons now seek to manipulate and control through monopolistic practices for their own greedy purposes. There is nothing "free market capitalism" about these people at all ... except their use of the label to bamboozle the rest of us.

So there ... go get 'em, burghman!

Note: Originally posted as a comment in the thread, "DOJ Coming After The Fourth Estate?", on the Vanity Fair forum, V.F. Dish at:

http://boards.vanityfair.com/thread.jspa?messageID=17814#17814