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".
Showing posts with label corporationism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporationism. Show all posts
Thursday, October 01, 2009
"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.
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.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Full employment with a living wage for the bottom wage rung
Its all about jobs where the BOTTOM rung pays a living wage for adult workers ... with FULL employment. This nation is wealthy enough with enough work to do. (Also -- just for those who are always yelling "communism" -- fair wages are NOT equal wages.)
We learned that the greatest society with great universities, great art, great thought, plus, plus plus ... is NOT dependent on slaves or vassals supporting an elite, but on a vibrant middle class built on an adult living wage as its foundation -- a wage that pays for food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, and recreation for a family of four -- and a market based on rules of fairness (standard weights and measures anyone? pay for the damage you cause? ... as examples.)
And you know who confirmed the worth of a vibrant middle class from the lessons he learned in the WWII economy? It was Ike. Born in Texas in 1890, brought up in Abilene, Kansas, President Eisenhower with his Federal Highway System put us to work on INVESTING in infrastructure that would pay off in multiples ... and selling it to the rearward-looking on the far right as necessary for the defense of the nation.
Yet the Evangelical Christian right has become followers of the anti-Christian elitism of ancient Athens and "God is dead" Nietzsche. Proving god is dead ... I surmise.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/first-public-option-amend_n_303228.html?page=3&show_comment_id=31906482#comment_31906482
We learned that the greatest society with great universities, great art, great thought, plus, plus plus ... is NOT dependent on slaves or vassals supporting an elite, but on a vibrant middle class built on an adult living wage as its foundation -- a wage that pays for food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, and recreation for a family of four -- and a market based on rules of fairness (standard weights and measures anyone? pay for the damage you cause? ... as examples.)
And you know who confirmed the worth of a vibrant middle class from the lessons he learned in the WWII economy? It was Ike. Born in Texas in 1890, brought up in Abilene, Kansas, President Eisenhower with his Federal Highway System put us to work on INVESTING in infrastructure that would pay off in multiples ... and selling it to the rearward-looking on the far right as necessary for the defense of the nation.
Yet the Evangelical Christian right has become followers of the anti-Christian elitism of ancient Athens and "God is dead" Nietzsche. Proving god is dead ... I surmise.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/first-public-option-amend_n_303228.html?page=3&show_comment_id=31906482#comment_31906482
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Fair labor practice - posted on Huffpo
The basic political question is how to FAIRLY divide (NOT equally divide) the wealth human labor — our mental and physical effort — creates. And ALL wealth is created by human effort.
Oligarchs want to drive the cost of labor down to that of keeping a mule: food, shelter, harness, sustaining rest, and medical care for the breeding stock.
We the people have learned that allowing workers to have a fair share (again, NOT an equal share) from their labor produced the world's most advanced civilization ... and proved once and for all that a vibrant community, rich in arts and thought, is not dependent on a elite class supported by vassals or slaves.
It's simple, full employment with the bottom adult labor rung paid a living wage for a family of 4: food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education and recreation. We are still a wealthy nation with plenty of work to be done, work that would lay the foundation for creating the wealth of tomorrow ... Much as Eisenhower did with the Federal Highway Program.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/michael-moore-calls-out-a_n_298605.html?page=15&show_comment_id=31585305#comment_31585305
Leaders of both major parties are adherents to corporationism: protecting corporations "right" to earn a profit no matter what it costs society. Externalities anyone? (What ever happened to the responsibility to pay for the damage we do?)
Inherent in the elitism of corporationists is the believe and active support of the doctrine that slaves produce the wealth that supports their elite status. This doctrine is carried out in the reduce the cost of labor to that of a mule: food, harness, shelter, training ... and medical care for breeding stock.
A labor/progressive consideration should be the working out of a fair distribution to workers of the wealth their labor -- mental and physical effort -- creates.
A fair distribution of this wealth rests on two principles: (1.) the bottom rung of wages for an adult worker is a living wage -- enough for food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, and recreation for a family of 4; and (2) full employment whereby every adult worker able and willing to work can get a job.
Our nation is more than wealthy enough to provide full employment with a living wage as the bottom rung. This should be the economic barometer for us, not the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/michael-moore-mocks-whiny_n_304033.html?page=5&show_comment_id=31928988#comment_31928988
Oligarchs want to drive the cost of labor down to that of keeping a mule: food, shelter, harness, sustaining rest, and medical care for the breeding stock.
We the people have learned that allowing workers to have a fair share (again, NOT an equal share) from their labor produced the world's most advanced civilization ... and proved once and for all that a vibrant community, rich in arts and thought, is not dependent on a elite class supported by vassals or slaves.
It's simple, full employment with the bottom adult labor rung paid a living wage for a family of 4: food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education and recreation. We are still a wealthy nation with plenty of work to be done, work that would lay the foundation for creating the wealth of tomorrow ... Much as Eisenhower did with the Federal Highway Program.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/michael-moore-calls-out-a_n_298605.html?page=15&show_comment_id=31585305#comment_31585305
Leaders of both major parties are adherents to corporationism: protecting corporations "right" to earn a profit no matter what it costs society. Externalities anyone? (What ever happened to the responsibility to pay for the damage we do?)
Inherent in the elitism of corporationists is the believe and active support of the doctrine that slaves produce the wealth that supports their elite status. This doctrine is carried out in the reduce the cost of labor to that of a mule: food, harness, shelter, training ... and medical care for breeding stock.
A labor/progressive consideration should be the working out of a fair distribution to workers of the wealth their labor -- mental and physical effort -- creates.
A fair distribution of this wealth rests on two principles: (1.) the bottom rung of wages for an adult worker is a living wage -- enough for food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, and recreation for a family of 4; and (2) full employment whereby every adult worker able and willing to work can get a job.
Our nation is more than wealthy enough to provide full employment with a living wage as the bottom rung. This should be the economic barometer for us, not the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/michael-moore-mocks-whiny_n_304033.html?page=5&show_comment_id=31928988#comment_31928988
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Corporationism protects the absurd
Dumping the mine detritus from mountaintops into pristine river valleys below is absurd. Allowing it is insane.
It is like as if in our national game of baseball any hit ball would be fair, no matter where it landed.
Or the Yankees could move the home run fence in whenever they were up to bat.
It isn't fair and we all know it. It's absurd and those who allowed it would clearly be nuts.
So when Glenn Beck says — as Frank Rich writes in his NY Times OpEd piece, Even Glenn Beck Is Right Twice a Day —
... he (Beck) strikes a chord in we the people over the absurd unfairness of the current and still evolving economics of corporationism.
And America was founded on the fairness of opportunity for all ... even if that initially meant all non-Irish Northern Europeans in many minds.
Geithner, Summers, and Bernake running the financial rules sector of the Federal government is like having Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bond on baseball's rules committee.
Get real. Should I laugh or cry?
It is like as if in our national game of baseball any hit ball would be fair, no matter where it landed.
Or the Yankees could move the home run fence in whenever they were up to bat.
It isn't fair and we all know it. It's absurd and those who allowed it would clearly be nuts.
So when Glenn Beck says — as Frank Rich writes in his NY Times OpEd piece, Even Glenn Beck Is Right Twice a Day —
“Wall Street owns our government,” Beck declared in one rant this July. “Our government and these gigantic corporations have merged.” He drew a chart to dramatize the revolving door between Washington and Goldman Sachs in both the Hank Paulson and Timothy Geithner Treasury departments.
... he (Beck) strikes a chord in we the people over the absurd unfairness of the current and still evolving economics of corporationism.
And America was founded on the fairness of opportunity for all ... even if that initially meant all non-Irish Northern Europeans in many minds.
Geithner, Summers, and Bernake running the financial rules sector of the Federal government is like having Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bond on baseball's rules committee.
Get real. Should I laugh or cry?
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