Forum Post: The Glorious Free Market Capitalization
Posted 8 years ago on Nov. 3, 2016, 8:58 a.m. EST by agkaiser
(2555)
from Fredericksburg, TX
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
What could go wrong with an economic system in which more and more profit is made by lending and investment in the production by others and less by the material producers themselves due to the additional costs imposed by the former?
But wait! Our geniuses of Wall St. have figured it out. The actual producers of goods and material services can simply charge more for their products to cover the additional overhead costs of finance and trade profits. And the FIRE sector can loan consumers the money at a profit to cover their additional costs introduced by that inflation. And Wall St. wealth and profits can continue to grow at the exponential rate of compound interest and everybody wins.
The parasitic nature of economy that inevitably concentrates wealth with an elite ruling class is what threatens the survival of the human race. It has since the beginning of civilization. That is the "fall of man" described in Genesis by the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden.
The "knowledge of good and evil" is better understood as the desire to possess power over and the goods of the community by an individual.
I'll trade you two nine dollar bills for three six dollar bills....
make that 9 $2 bills payable in advance towards 100 years interest on a 1 cent loan at 6%/day compounded hourly and you've got a deal.
You bankers just beat me up.
''Neoliberalism: The Deep Story that lies beneath Donald Trump’s triumph.'', by George Monbiot:
... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/14/neoliberalsim-donald-trump-george-monbiot
multum in parvo ...
Is Cornel West right?! God, I hope so. Are we in a period of reckoning?
"Goodbye, American neoliberalism. A new era is here" by Cornel West
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/17/american-neoliberalism-cornel-west-2016-election
Thank you, Guardian, for all the good journalistic work you do, for giving us Americans a place to look for real analysis.
And, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7plNRs5kwgE just because. Because we can't lose our spirit, not now.
A "period of reckoning"?! "God, I hope so'' TOO!! Here's yet another reason why Revolution is needed:
Thanx for your excellent Cornel West article & much needed melodic fillip and sorry I had to reply with that worrisome link above but all The Dark Truths under tRUMP will have to be feared, faced & fought!!!
quid pro quo ...
Re: Donald Trump and his cabinet of oligarchs. I keep thinking of the movie Carrie when she plunges her hand out of the ground and of Voldemort and how Harry finally takes him down, but it ain't easy.
Maybe this really is the last gasp of neoliberalism in all it's glory as it falls to it's death. But, to suffocate it we're gonna have to be strong and the people are going to have to come together, not to mention those in the Senate and Congress. Will they finally show their humanity and stand up for what is right rather than the almighty dollar? Time will tell.
So ''The case for despair is made. Now let’s start to get out of the mess we’re in'', by George Monbiot:
''There is no going back, no comfort in old certainties. But reviving common ownership is one possible route to social transformation''
dum spiro, spero ...
Monbiot is right about desperation leading to change. When we get desperate enough perhaps we'll start fighting back not just in feel good ways, but in demanding particular things.
"There are many points at which I could begin, but it seems to me that an obvious one is this. The market alone cannot meet our needs; nor can the state. Both, by rooting out attachment, help fuel the alienation, rage and anomie that breed extremism. One element has been conspicuously absent from the dominant ideologies, something that is neither market nor state: the commons.
A commons is an asset over which a community has shared and equal rights. This could, in principle, include land, water, minerals, knowledge, scientific research and software. But at the moment most of these assets have been enclosed: seized by either the state or private interests, and treated like any other form of capital. Through this enclosure we have been deprived of our common wealth."
The commons is a place to begin.
''When we get desperate enough perhaps we'll start fighting back not just in feel good ways, but in demanding particular things.'' ~{:-) and perhaps please consider this reply to another poster later:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/a-3-minute-clip-that-shows-what-we-must-do/#comment-1072560
and http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39265-trump-s-muslim-travel-ban-prompts-protests-at-jfk-airports-nationwide
also http://www.alternet.org/activism/city-communities-boldly-call-increased-sanctuary-defiance-trumps-brutalitycommunities-front
ipsa scientia potestas est!
Not My President's Day
Today is President's Day, February 20, 2017, however, protests are taking place across this country for "Not My President's Day."
No Ban. No Wall. No War. No Hate. No Racism. No Poverty. No wrecking the Environment. No Privatization of Schools. No bad healthcare system. No lowering Corporate Tax. No Conflicts of Interest. NO TRUMP.
''Bernie Sanders' BRILLIANT Response To Trump's Speech To Congress'':
fiat justitia ...
Hope for the enlightenment of politicians and their rich handlers on one hand and shit in the other. A better plan is to use shitty hands to build a subsistence farm to get you and yours thru the coming dark age.
I agree with you, my hopes are probably futile. I agree that we should all stop buying their crap immediately. Take our money out of their banks, stop buying stuff, stop supporting a system that is against us. All they understand is money so that is where we need to hit them.
great story. thanks
''What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class'', by Prof. Joan C. Williams:
I'm not usually one to be quoting or copying from the ''Harvard Business Review'' but this piece has real value & adds to the ''story'' that has to be told, IF Americans are going to wake up, unite & act and vote in their own self interests in future. Solidarity agk and many thanx for ...
http://occupywallst.org/forum/neoliberalism-the-impossible-ideal/ & for completion, also fyi:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35692-neoliberalism-the-ideology-at-the-root-of-all-our-problems
fiat lux ...
Surcharge on CEO pay over 100x workers wage:
"Portland Adopts Surcharge on C.E.O. Pay in Move vs. Income Inequality"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/business/economy/portland-oregon-tax-executive-pay.html?_r=0
"Moving to address income inequality on a local level, the City Council in Portland, Ore., voted on Wednesday to impose a surtax on companies whose chief executives earn more than 100 times the median pay of their rank-and-file workers."
Now that is promising. We need actions like this to sweep across this nation! Never give up! Seeds planted eventually grow.....
A "surtax on companies whose chief executives earn more than 100 times the median pay" - is a great idea in these times of psychopathic greed .. now writ large in tRUMP's Govt. of Billionaires, Millionaires, Bankers & Generals! Also fyi, please consider:
radix omnium malorum est cupiditas ...
debt deflation is the inevitable result of rentier capitalism. The rents of property owner/investors, bankers etc and monopolists like the pharmaceutical/corporate-medicine barons are considered by our Orwellian economists to be earned income. Adam Smith, John Stuart Mills, Ricardo and others saw it for what it is: overhead that eventually consumes all growth and destroys the real economy it depends on.
see: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/michael-hudson-on-meet-the-renegades.html or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH8FWrbzxEs
better. the book has it all and much more: Michael Hudson, "Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/3981484282/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl
Any which way that the wealthy few care to look at it.
If the general population does not earn enough in a 40 hour work week to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table and still have money to put away or spend on other things.
Then the Wealthy FEW will have screwed themselves - as they will have killed their needed consumer base.
I suspect they think they don't need us. They'll just exploit the Chinese, import everything they want and need with the profits and let us starve. They believe they're cutting the ballast that drags down their balloon.
The Chinese may be anticipating that. They're still commies after all. They have no law that restricts them from nationalizing everything and executing the owners for treason; expats and all.
I wonder if our masters expect the military to remain loyal when their families have been expended?
Corp(se)oRat military to make a YUGE expansion as well as police and other emergency (luxuries) services.
This is now Trumplandia after all.
Have a law passed that requires all allotted holiday and vacation days, paid days off, sick days, etc. be taken by all employees and contractors. Any work-related items arriving on the absent days must NOT be done or responded to by the person taking the time off. No mobile devices shall the employer require be carried by the said person. Communications with the workplace shall be restricted only to the takeoff and return. Make a day off, be OFF. This will increase personal expenditures, employment for covering work, and enjoyment of lives.
Germany has a far better culture on this and does it better. I found it extremely hard to enjoy spending time and money if there was no one at work to take over for me on my off days. Lots of overtime work mean little time for spending.
And this snake can live by eating its tail forever and ever. Amen!
You've got it. It's just a Monopoly game. Everyone can get bigger Bills of every kind (take note young women, as you had wished for this) including a world-renowned serial rapist's streaking rerun. Whether a huge bird-mouth or a yuuge carrot, you can stick it in the same old same old TrumPantsPee, on sale for only 3€ or ¡¥ in the lost century on the planet of the chimpanzees.