Capitalism is probably the
first instance of a cult that creates guilt, not atonement.
(Walter Benjamin, German
essayist, 1892-1940)
Super PACs may be bad for
America, but they're … good for CBS.
(Les Moonves, president of
CBS)
We'll show them
We Americans got good and
mad just before the 2010 mid-term elections. After all, it had been
two years since the global economic collapse in 2008 and life had not
returned to “normal.”
Well, we got up from the
couch, turned off the TV and voted da
bums out, in congressional and state elections. In 2010 the
bums happened to be the Democrats. We then turned the TV back on and
collapsed back on the couch after our hard work.
The only problem was that we
neglected to read the second chapter on how to be good citizens.
That's the part that tells you about being somewhat
informed, knowing
something about the issues and having an inkling
about the candidates who promise you they can of course do a better
job than the persons currently holding the office. We are now paying
a very big price for our intellectual sloth.
Facts and other assorted
irritants
Mitt Romney, the likely
Republican candidate for president, criticized President Obama the
other day on the anemic monthly job creation report—and the report
was weak. Romney claimed that we should be creating 500,000 jobs per
month! Hm-m. Of course, we haven't had that sort of monthly
performance in 30 years but … does anyone know that?
In Who Are the OtherAmericans Now? we once again learn that there are a lot of “poor”
Americans and the numbers are growing but, here again, some people
point out that “80 percent” of poor people have air conditioning
in America. For some apparently this raises the question of how
poor the poor really are. What is the sound of one hand
clapping?
The economist Joseph
Stiglitz says Politics Is at the Root of the Problem and suggests
that some of the change will have to come from the street.
How will the facts effect the outcome? How will the street affect the
change?
Perhaps what we really need
is a wantologist to help
us get in touch with our correct personal reality. The only
requirement is the cash to pay for the service. See below: The
Outsourced Life.
Foreigners to the rescue?
Nope, not going to happen.
For the time being we're stuck with figuring it out ourselves or at
least doing the bulk of the repair work. That new world order is a
good ways off. Pepe Escobar has an interesting article entitled A
history of the world, BRIC by BRIC (see below). The predator classes
in these countries are as ignorant, greedy, shortsighted and
misguided as any in the old world order. Their reality could leave us
all with a very unpleasant world.
So on to the streets but
with a lot less banging of the
drums and a much better plan for concrete action.
The art of bloodletting
Additional reading:
Self-made men, debunked (of
course you didn't make it all by yourself)
Gadgetopia: Chasing After AnElusive Dream (reason for sharing the wealth of productivity)
The real job creators (no
it's not clueless billionaires shuffling money around)
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