The blog of a North Country Swede!

Monday, October 26, 2009

age-old political structure of controlling the economics -- a comment on HuffingtonPost.com

It's the age-old political structure of controlling the economics of an elite living off the labor of the workers: slavery, feudalism, fascism ...

America grew to the greatest society with the concept of a fair share for workers out the of wealth their labor helps create.

"Trickle down" is absurd. There aren't enough "elite" to support the services of a broad and vibrant middle class -- the teachers, doctors, lawyers, master craftspersons, etc -- that is the strength of our -- the greatest ever -- society.

It has to be "percolate up" from workers earning a living wage as the bottom rung of the wage ladder and needing those services.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/25/independent-voters-shifti_n_333168.html?show_comment_id=33428037#comment_33428037

Lackeys of the high priests/gurus pf financial services — a comment on HuffingtonPost.com

How the U.S. Blew Trillion-Dollar Trade of Century: Mark Fisher
Commentary by Mark Fisher

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg)

"Unfortunately, our leaders in Washington lacked the shrewdness required to guarantee taxpayers a permanent ownership stake in the banks their money was being used to save. An innovative investment solution could have secured some of the necessary funds to fix our disaster of a health-care system or Social Security mishap."

They didn't lack the shrewdness required, rather they were (are) lackeys of the high priests/gurus of financial services, the new elite siphoning off the wealth created by the labor. This is the age-old continuation of slavery, feudalism, fascism ... a political structure supporting the economics of some form of slavery: robbing the workers.

America beccame great on the promise of a fair share of the wealth our work — mental and physical effort — helps create.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/26/how-the-us-blew-the-trill_n_333330.html?show_comment_id=33426985#comment_33426985

Support peace! — a comment on HuffingtonPost.com

It is time to invest in the strategies for peace. "Support peace!"

By bringing an end to our nation's strategic objective of controlling access to Middle East oil.

Everyone, please read "A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables" by By Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A. Delucchi in the November 2009 issue of Scientific American:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-path-to-sustainable-energy-by-2030

We can do this! As the authors point out:

"During World War II, the U.S. retooled automobile factories to produce 300,000 aircraft, and other countries produced 486,000 more. In 1956 the U.S. began
building the Interstate Highway System, which after 35 years extended for 47,000 miles, changing commerce and society."


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/obama----really-the-afgha_b_332655.html?page=2&show_comment_id=33422082#comment_33422082

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Percolate up, a comment on HuffingtonPost.com

As fijisailor wrote, "The prosperity of America has always been based on a large middle class."

What the elite believe is that "trickle down" feeds the middle class. It doesn't. "Trickle down" feeds a banana republic.

"Percolate up" from the working class earning a living wage for an adult worker is what feeds a vibrant middle class. Only a viable working class is large enough to need the number of teachers, doctors, lawyers, craftsmen, etc. to create the kind and size of middle class that produced the greatest society in the world.


Read the thread at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-talks-about-bailo_b_333132.html

Thursday, October 01, 2009

A so-called "free market" is a "free-for-all" where bullies win

Let's get some phrases that we the people can understand.

A free market is a free-for-all where bullies win. Do we really want to give up standard weights and measures and speed limits? Are we REALLY that dumb? I certainly hope not.

Do you really want me to make a profit no matter what it costs everyone else? Like, shouldn't I pay for the damage I do to you? See, if you or I are buying something in a fair market transaction, we are getting something we normally view as of equal or greater value. But what if you have to pay for your cancer caused by pollutants I dump into the environment? We already know the answer to that, you can sue me. Now what about the damage done economically by the toxic assets dumped into the economy?

Why should corporations earn profits no matter how much it costs society in real damages for the corporations to earn those profits?

Why then would anyone devise a scheme that rewards folks that caused so much damage? We -- the taxpayer -- are paying the costs of the corporations short-term profits that got distributed in bonuses and salaries in a classic Ponzi scheme that we're paying off ... it's like we made Bernie Madoff whole instead of sending him to prison.

That's an "ism" that I call "Corporationism" (I define as "protecting corporations "right" to earn a profit no matter what it costs society), AND in its current viral form, it's pretty damn evil ... speaking of evil "isms".

"Why our nation is falling apart"

The Forbes 400 Shows Why Our Nation Is Falling Apart
By Les Leopold
October 1, 2009

I emphatically agree with and applaud this post by Les Leopold on HuffingtonPost.com! We have caught a viral form of corporationism: protecting corporations "right" to earn a profit no matter what it costs society.

Would we allow a free-for-all in sports? Of course not. And every time we let the so-called brilliant financial gurus talk us into a so-called "free" market we get snookered in Ponzi schemes. (Who said the Fed is a Ponzi scheme? IMHO they are right.) Because the corporations at the top of the pecking order do not pay the costs they impose on society ("externalities" anyone?) there is no such thing as a "free" market, and we have known this even in economics theory for quite some time.

Besides, who would want a market without standard weights and measures? A market without regulation is absurd on the face of it. And we have listened to these "brilliant" idiots spouting the nonsense of "free" markets and deregulation for 30-plus years?! When it is a simple matter taught to us millennia ago, "The love of money is the root of all evil." This tragicomedy played out over the past 30-plus years leaves me wondering if I should laugh or cry ... or get mad as hell and not take it anymore.

Originally written as my comment on HuffingtonPost.com under my real name: hglindquist.