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The People's Republic Of Capitalism. But I Digress.
2008-07-19 11:26:00 Excellent post over at the inside-out China blog on Ted Koppel's recently completed Discovery Channel show, "The People's Republic of Capitalism." The post really shines in analyzing the views of some of the Chinese nationals who spoke during the series and how those views fit in with China's history. It is just a really good piece and I suggest you check it out. The other day, in a post entitled, "F-ck China Culture Lessons. Give Me Anthony Bourdain With No Reservations," I lit into (a bit) courses that purport to teach Chinese culture. The thesis of my post was that one can learn more about how to deal with people of other countries (including China) by watching Anthony Bourdain than by attending a "How to do business in China" class that teaches you not to bring four gifts (hey, that's bad luck) or white flowers (that's death, baby). Just as an aside, I have never known anyone who has given out or received white flowers as a business gift! In response to that...
By: China Law Blog
China: The People's Republic Of Capitalism
2008-07-06 22:58:00 Beginning Wednesday, July 9, and for four straight nights, the Discovery Channel will be running Ted Koppel's "People's Republic of Capitalism." The series will focus on China's economic growth and what this means for the United States. Much of the filiming is in Chongqing. Koppel is a good and fair minded journalist, so I would expect this series to be at least decent. To learn more about it, go here and here.
By: China Law Blog
Problems of Democracy Under Capitalism
2008-06-11 07:13:00 Updated June 18:I've always been opposed to public dishonesty, which is one of my problems with Communist states. They lied about so many things that now even when they tell the truth, people figure that "All Communists lie," so they are unlikely to be believed even when they are honest. You get a "boy who cried wolf" syndrome.Well, capitalists are pretty much the same. Almost all capitalists will always lie to defend their own interests. That is why whenever a businessman or business interest is quoted in the paper on some controversial issue, they are almost always lying. So it seems that in order to be a businessman in capitalist society, one must lie continuously.There are cultures, such as Arab, Japanese, Thai and Filipino culture, where lying is definitely a state of art. American society proscribes all lying as evil, and your average American will tell you that he never lies. The Japanese mindset, which I subscribe to, is, "Only an idiot never tells a lie."So there is a time...
By: Robert Lindsay
Only fools want China influencing our [Canadian] future
2008-06-01 05:26:00 Those Canadians who hope to see the new Asian giants rival the U.S. in a few decades as the great global engine and the new big market for Canada simply do not realize that such a change would be an unmitigated disaster for us. China is a brutal one-party dictatorship, a mixture of totalitarianism and unbridled ...
By: 1913 Intel
Is capitalism a religion we have taken too far?
2008-05-23 10:15:00 by Roland Michel Tremblay Is pure capitalism a religion we have taken too far? George W. Bush may wish to talk about God as much as he wants, his track record and the one of his family, up to his grandfather and great grandfather, speak for themselves. The Bush family has only one God and one religion, it has nothing to do with Christianity, but everything to do with making money. Pure capitalism and pure greed to the extreme is our only religion. I feel it is difficult to speak of capitalism as a whole, without falling in numerous traps and being accused of not knowing what I am talking about. So first thing I did was to go on Wikipedia, then I stopped myself. Don’t get me wrong, I will read it and say what I think of it, but first capitalism must be, before anything else, what the people inside really feel it is. Not the perfect book definition that we all wish it to be, because in practice we know capitalism has evolved into something else, that many consider a rea...
In Twofer, Paper Makes Fun of American History And Capitalism At same Time
2008-05-23 00:00:00 -By Warner Todd Huston Here is a story in a small paper in Philadelphia that serves as a fine example of the junk that all too often passes for “journalism” in America today. This example is as ridiculously anti-intellectual and dismissive of the importance of preserving our history as it is anti-corporate. It’s a fine example ...
By: Publius Forum
EU to ?protect? citizens from capitalism?
2008-05-22 21:38:00 Full story here. Use ShadowTraders to protect yourself from busybody bureaucrats, sleazy brokers and any of the other pitfalls of capitalism. “A top cast of European statesmen has issued a blistering denunciation of financial markets and called for a creation of a pan-EU body to protect the citizens against the “social risk” posed by modern capitalism. “The ...
Capitalism Normalizes Sociopathy
2008-05-19 12:14:00 From a book review of Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, by Steven Bloom. We just discussed Postville a few days ago on this blog. For background information on the Postville Hasidim kosher plant story, see the previous post. Here is another review of the book from the Jewish Tribal Review. JTR is a very problematic site and Chad Powers is a most provocative author, but this review is pretty fair to Jews.A New York Times review and a Boston Globe review are sort of disgusting, seeming to defend the Lubavitchers and condemn Bloom as a bad guy.This book looks at how tensions gradually erupt between locals and Hasidic Jews who opened a kosher slaughterhouse in a rural farming community. This book was written by a secular Jew from the West Coast who had moved to Iowa to take a job as a university professor.While the author certainly has issues of his own (He actually cites the scoutmaster mentioning Jesus Christ at his son's Boy Scouts meeting as an example of antisem...
By: Robert Lindsay
Gravediggers of the world unite! Capitalism Must Die….
2008-05-17 01:49:00 by Jason Miller “What this means is that corporations and those who run them cannot stop exploiting resources and amassing wealth until they have… .I cannot finish this sentence, because the truth is that can never stop; like cancer, they can only continue to expand until they kill the host.” –Derrick Jensen(Perhaps my profane words will offend, but in light of the fact that we are in a race to eradicate capitalism before it renders the Earth uninhabitable, I don’t give a fuck). Yes. It’s another anti-capitalist rant by Jason Miller. Big surprise! I’m the associate editor for Cyrano’s Journal Online, the anti-capitalist tool. We’re not big fans of free market ideology and its tacit socioeconomic license to rape, pillage and plunder. Here’s a novel idea—if you don’t like my diatribes against the predominatingly rotten-to the-core system that ensures the most despicable human beings wield the most power, don’t read them! And you relentless “keepers of the faith,” daz...
Gravediggers of the world unite! Capitalism Must Die?.
2008-05-12 08:17:00 Cyrano’s latest post — Gravediggers of the world unite! Capitalism Must Die?.. A long rant. Unfortunately, he’s right about most of his points.
Capitalism at $4 a Gallon?
2008-05-07 07:48:00 If the Bush invasion of Iraq was a "war for oil," it has been a war for expensive not cheap oil. The crackpot assertions of Bush administration policy planners ? that war would "pay for itself" or the U.S. would take oil profits from the Iraqis as the price of their "liberation" ? aside, the price of a barrel of crude oil is today at an all time high. Meanwhile, the U.S. government has done absolutely nothing to advance alternative energy programs. Instead, the administration, which has a "special relationship" with the most reactionary sectors of the capitalist class in the U.S., that is, the energy companies and the large military contractors, has done everything in its power to sabotage international alternative energy programs, which has not only increased the price of oil but has also obstructed international environmental protection policies. Why is the administration doing this? Mainly, it is indifferent to the consequences to most working families of expensive oi...
By: Circle of 13
Capitalism Kills 10 Million Kids a Year
2008-05-07 04:49:00 Updated May 8:I've had it up to here with this "100 million killed by Communism", "Stalin and Mao, the biggest murderers of all time". No Communist except Pol Pot ever held a candle to what capitalist serial killers and mass murderers do year in and out without fail.As you can see, 200 million kids around the world don't have access to any kind of basic health care (I would argue that that figure is way too low), which kills 10 million of them (5%) a year due to completely preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea.And if you are going to start bitching about overpopulation?Number 1, why are you are capitalist? Capitalism mandates and demands an endlessly expanding population. Capitalism says a declining or even steady population is going to be a catastrophe for the capitalist economy.Number 2, if the world is overpopulated and 10 million dead kids is great news, maybe it's time to shut up about "Commie mass murderers". Can't have it both ways.I would like to point out tha...
By: Robert Lindsay
China Leaves Small Investors Behind on Road To Capitalism
2008-05-05 05:48:00 Important lesson for novice investors when market is overheating. Take heed! "I was greedy," Ma admitted. As a consequence, "I lost more than 80 percent of my total... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Subsidies and Tariffs are Anti-Capitalism
2008-05-04 00:00:00 Subsidies and Tariffs are Anti-Capitalism
Pseudo-Capitalism in Disarray
2008-05-03 11:14:00 by Stephen Bindman, Ph.D From Stephen Bindman's forthcoming book: PSEUDO CAPITALISM: Socialism for the Rich The Flatlanders Continue to Deny That We Live in a World of Statist Economies As the US economy tips over, the government once again intervenes and the Federal Reserve is its arm. But who will benefit? The current ruling eliteÂ’s argument has been to act with interest rate and liquidity interventions, while mystifying and pretending to obey the apparently "divine" function of the "free market." Actions in the current crisis have made this attitude increasingly described and questioned. The contradiction between what members of the new elite, directors of our economic system mandate for the majority of society and what they do to profit for themselves and their fellow elitists - members of "the class of Davos"-becomes increasingly visible and annoying to the rest of the world. As the Flatlanders fatten their coffers, underwriting th...
Alternative Income Neglect
2008-04-30 13:33:00 Over the past month or so, I’ve been working on some new projects outside of the Grumpstump. Combined with the wedding (if any of the groomsmen are reading this I need your tux measurements!) I have been a very busy boy. This of course, has left little time to think up snide remarks for people who ...
By: The Grumpstump
New York Times Attacking Textbook Makers, Veiled Attack on Capitalism
2008-04-29 00:00:00 -By Warner Todd Huston College textbooks are overpriced and something should be done. Why, Congress should even step in! That is the message that The New York Times wants us to understand and I can't say it is, in and of itself, entirely the wrong message -- save the whole bit ...
By: Publius Forum
?capitalism is literally consuming itself?
2008-04-27 12:46:00 The Role of Speculators in the Global Food Crisis By Beat Balzli and Frank Hornig Biofuels and global warming have been blamed for shortages driving up the price of food, and both trends have played their role. The planet’s grain reserves are almost empty for a number of reasons, including global population growth and greater prosperity in ...
Global Capitalism: The Solution to Oppression and Poverty by Andrew Bernste
2008-04-13 05:09:00 Andrew Bernstein, author of the Capitalist Manifesto, gives a great case for capitalism in this speech. If you haven't read his book, I suggest you pick it up on Amazon. We have the link listed in the "Reading List" on the right sidebar of our blog. Hopefully you will find this video educational. Enjoy!! Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story.
In What World is THIS Capitalism?
2008-04-11 17:44:00 1) The Government created a $3,100,000,000,000 budget; 2) The Government created a $311,400,000,000 budget deficit; 3) The largest portion of the Federal Budget is filled with government entitlements, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare Part D; 4) The Government prevents us from drilling for our own oil; 5) The Government prevents us from utilizing our coal reserves; 6)... Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story.
Capitalism, Psychopathy and Evolution
2008-04-11 17:39:00 As Capitalism is the dominant social and economic system of the Western world, we should ask ourselves what kind of person will best survive it, evolve because of it?I am convinced that it is the psychopathic personality.In my encounters with door-to-door salesmen, for instance, I become infuriated with their superficially charming attempts to manipulating me into buy their Acme product. I get rid of them quickly, not having much tolerance of these merchants who descend during - what for many is - the halcyon half-hour of post-work Soap-Opera time.There is an inherent lack of empathy in trying to seduce people into buying something that they can't afford and are plainly being ground-down into placing an order for. I couldn't do that. I couldn't relentlessly pressurise someone without feeling 'bad' for the stress I am placing upon them.Just like the psychopath, salesmen give their most aggressive sales pitches to those who are naive or 'weak'.I predict that evolution - unde...
By: Sementivae
Medicine and Capitalism
2008-04-03 07:03:00 Medical industry is a big sham. They only care about money, and not about helping people.1 Vote(s)
By: JeQQ it
Taming Capitalism
2008-03-31 07:22:00 Know more about the politics of haute finance and what it means when you hear ‘US recession’ and sub-prime crisis. Click here. [ This is a content summary only. Visit PinoyBlogoSphere.com for full links, other content, and more! ]
China: Arbitrage, Capitalism, And Cabbage. Happy Days Are Here Again.
2008-03-27 23:11:00 How to Solve Inflation 101 (h/t to Shanghaiist).
By: China Law Blog
Is This A Good Explanation For Capitalism?
2008-03-26 08:00:00 Published in 1911… addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Floscuatroojos.com-%2F2008%2F03%2F26%2Fis-this-a-g-ood-explanation-for-capitalism%-2F'; addthis_title = 'Is+This+A+Good+Explanation+For-+Capitalism%3F'; addthis_pub = '';
By: Los Cuatro Ojos
god bless capitalism
2008-03-24 16:59:00 Here in the land of nuts and twigs there has been quite the push to overcome childhood obesity. The banning of junkfood (the original crack) has become law in many California schools and I suspect, elsewhere. Now, naturally, this is the perfect solution because I mean, heck if you can’t get it at school, then ...
UNICEF's Tap Project vs. Capitalism
2008-03-22 20:33:00 The United Nations is truly becoming a worthless organization. Like any bureaucracy, it searches for problems and then discovers new solutions to make the problems worse. The latest crisis the United Nations has discovered is that over 1 Billion people around the world do not have access to clean drinking water. Let me start by saying that this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. ... Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story.
Is Free Market Capitalism a Good Thing? in Liberals Versus Conservatives
2008-03-21 00:00:00 cornopean, 21/03/08 (21 Replies)
Obama: Racial Unity Can Overcome Capitalism
2008-03-18 18:27:00 (2008-03-18) — In a landmark address on race, which has already eclipsed Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream‘ speech, Democrat presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama today said the U.S. can achieve the Founding Fathers’ vision of “a more perfect union” only if black and white come together to overthrow the bourgeoisie who run the ...
Fascism is capitalism in decay
2008-03-18 18:26:00 No big deal - Just The End of Your Way of Life? “Fascism is capitalism in decay.” - Vladimir Lenin Least anyone ‘think’ that $4 or $5/gal gas is just too much to take, well, think again. Time is now to get ready for $40 to $50/gal gas (and bread, salad, etc) - if you can. And ...
Subprime Mortgage Cartoon
2008-03-06 13:29:00 I follow Greg Mankiw’s econ blog among others. This is mainly because: 1) He knows more than me about Economics, one of my favorite subjects. 2) He’s funny and often self-deprecating (which is funny) 3) Every once in a while he will post something exceptionally funny yet educational like this presentation on the subprime mess. (Note: Some of ...
By: The Grumpstump
Government Versus Private Business ? and the Dictatorship of One
2008-02-27 23:58:00 In several posts over the last few days, I?ve commented about Disney efficiency. Thousands of people are fairly painlessly shuffled from place to place; Fast Passes are a think of beauty, especially if individuals handle them well; everything is immaculately clean, including the overused bathrooms; the equipment functions superbly well considering the demands made ...
By: Webloggin
Quotes -Unbridled Capitalism-
2008-02-23 12:55:00 "For people to make an idol out of unbridled capitalism is the height of madness, but this is what has happened in the last generation." by Richard Cook. Richard C. Cook is a retired U.S. federal government analyst, whose career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter White House, and NASA, followed by twenty-one years with the U.S. Treasury Department. His articles on economics, politics, and space policy have appeared on numerous websites, and he is cited in the Wikipedia article on ?Economic Democracy? as one of the world?s leading monetary reformers. His book on monetary reform entitled We Hold These Truths is in preparation. He is also the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider?s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age, called by one reviewer, ?the most important spaceflight book of the last twenty years.? His website is at www.richardccook.com.
By: Elder Abuse
The Stimulus Package Counteracts the Fed Rate Cuts
2008-02-21 13:30:00 When the Federal Reserve cuts Interest Rates, it has the effect of lowering the cost for short-term borrowing for banks immediately. In the long term, lower interest rates lead to lower bond rates. Bond rates are what determine the bulk of the pricing for mortgage interest rates. I think we can all agree that the Fed ...
By: The Grumpstump
What is Deep Conscious Capitalism?
2008-02-21 03:52:00 "Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise what is the use of seeing.? " - Thich Naht Hahn, Peace is Every StepBuddha said, since all things are created in mind, all things can be changed in the mind. Maybe there is a way to deconstruct this modern mythical dragon of capitalism, once we are no longer afraid to look at it closely. Maybe we can all be part of a multipurpose solution rather than part of an ever growing boomeritis of poverty, war, injustice, pollution, institutional and social-mental dysfunctions of all kinds.Here is a great blog on Social Entrepreneurism and Conscious Capitalism . I have coined the term ‘deep conscious capitalism’ to distinguish it from ‘conscious capitalism’. The latter is about taking individual responsibility in making conscious choices about what to buy, whom to buy from, where to invest, how best to conserve energy, cut consumption, recycle waste, donate money, volunteer and take care of o...
The Death of Capitalism
2008-02-19 13:50:00 I talked in an earlier post about the right to steal money earned by others to pay for ones own needs. Outside of the pure immorality of it, this concerns me most because it marks the death of capitalism, which cannot function without the profit motive as a carrot and the suffering of those ...
By: Webloggin
Welcome to the jungle: How ?gotcha capitalism? has destroyed the American s
2008-02-18 18:43:00 In order for a disparate group of individuals to band together into a workable community, there have to be rules, both implicit and explicit. There are laws that people agree to follow to preserve the good of the whole, and there are social constructs developed that the members adhere to. “Don’t screw your friends.” “Play fair.” “You get what you pay for.” Basic principles that everyone (at least overtly) respects, thus maintaining the even keel of the group. But we’ve seen over the last thirty years a slow, deliberate erosion of those sort of rules, replaced with the glorification of the individual self as paramount. Nothing else matters but you and what you get for yourself. As long as you profit and make out okay, fuck everyone else. This has led to deliberately hostile, antagonistic moves between the buyer and seller in almost every kind of financial transaction imaginable, and many other social obligations besides. The name of the...
How Venture Capitalism Works
2008-02-14 08:01:00 Venture capitalism is a system wherein a person or a company often referred to as venture capitalists invest money in a company or business exchange for a stake in the business or a share in the earnings, present and future, of the company. Venture capitalists are frequently the ones that provide funding for companies that are ...
Ecological capitalism and consumer capitalism
2008-02-03 16:38:00 The Master said: “Ci, do you regard me as someone who learns much and commits it all to memory?” Zi-gong replied: “Yes, are you not?” The Master said: “No, I use one string to tie it all together.” — from the Analects of Confusius Have you ever noticed that what used to be referred to as citizens or ...
Capitalism without the Thorns
2008-01-27 10:03:00 In graduate school, I shared an apartment with a very interesting fellow who argued in favor of the American Libertarian party. The Libertarians, in America, are a minor party that gets something like 1% of the vote in most elections, so they wield very little influence, but they make some interesting arguments in favor of ...
Nightly Ramble:Snow,Green,Capitalism for the poor, Spain, Always darkest be
2008-01-25 23:08:00 Got a few inches of snow up here yesterday, mostly lake effect stuff in the afternoon. Just enough to drive the birds crazy.they went through three lbs of seed in about a half hour. Yes, Virginia, that means a lot of birds. The hangers on, too; The BlueJays, the crows, the rabbits, and the gray squirrels. The advantage is I spend very little fertilizer to keep the lawn green; the birds see to that. The disadvantage is I have to cut it more often. It evens out. A clash of green values? Possibly. It would, however, be far easier, and perhaps more accuate to suggest that this was merely a clash of two idiots facilitated by an over reliance on written law. Hmmm. This would seem to be a topic totally usable in the upcoming election. Spain is finding out what we’ve been saying here for seven years; Appeasement of Islamo-fascists doesn’t work. McGehee has a big day. Yikes!! Apparently this ‘Get off my lawn” thing is stirring the soup. It appears that word has gon...
By: BitsBlog
Bill Gates calls for kinder capitalism...
2008-01-25 23:03:00 I really do like Bill Gates quite a bit... Much more in the article...
By: Hot Fresh Now
Bill Gates calls for "creative capitalism"
2008-01-25 10:46:00 By Ben Hirschler DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates called on Thursday for a new "creative capitalism" to help the world's 1 billion poorest who live on less than $1 a day. Gates, one of the world's richest men, said he was not dumping the basic tenets of capitalism but argued market forces must be better used to address the needs of those left behind by advances in technology and healthcare. "We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well," he told the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. "I like to call this idea creative capitalism." The speech to top businessmen and politicians in Davos reflects Gates's growing focus on philanthropy. Gates built Microsoft into a formidable and sometimes controversial money machine, which has been accused in the past of abusing its market position. But he will retire from full-time employment at Seattle-base...
By: B4U India
?Creative Capitalism? by Bill Gates
2008-01-25 08:53:00 In Wall Street Journal there is a preview on Bill's speech today at World Economic Forum (they are actually flying over my house going to Davos ? I hear them all the time J). It is a pretty interesting reading on new ways how capitalism could work not only for the rich but also for the poor. What I like ? the longer the more ? is the idea not only of charity but of making money AND helping the poor. Impossible? I do not think so. When I was in South Africa recently I visited a customer of us being a bank and their business model is exactly that: They are handling the transaction (pretty small ones) for people not having a lot of money. Actually they have branch offices in the middle of the slums. They use high-tech solutions to keep their cost to a minimum but with that, these people all of a sudden can save money to buy things later on or can get micro-loans to invest in their businesses. And the cool thing: They are actually really profitable. It works at least for them. Read the...
Gates: ?Creative Capitalism? For Poorer Nations
2008-01-25 00:21:00 Bill Gates said today to the Wold Economic Forum “We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well … I like to call this idea creative capitalism.”. “This kind of contribution is even more powerful than giving cash or offering employees time off ...
Editorial: Cultural Studies of Romania
2008-01-24 01:37:00 First off, I’d like to say happy belated Christmas and New Year on behalf of all the staff of the Butter Stick. I, Walter Craig, have just recently arrived back from my one month holiday “vacation” in Romania, an have an obligation to pass on the knowledge gained of my cultural studies in this formerly Communist nation ...
By: The Butter Stick
Editorial: Cultural Studies of Romania
2008-01-24 01:37:00 First off, I’d like to say happy belated Christmas and New Year on behalf of all the staff of the Butter Stick. I, Walter Craig, have just recently arrived back from my one month holiday “vacation” in Romania, an have an obligation to pass on the knowledge gained of my cultural studies in this formerly Communist nation ...
By: The Butter Stick
Video about Capitalism
2008-01-20 04:27:00 Most of the arguments made in the video are a great case for Federalism and against the United Nations. I disagree with the speaker's present outlook on Iraq, and some of his foreign policy statements, but the overall message is interesting. Keep in mind that his definition of liberalism is the "classical" definition. Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story.
My Destruction of Naomi Klein Supporters on a Liberal Blog
2008-01-20 03:54:00 ?Crooks and Liars,? one of the larger ?Progressive? blogs on the Net decided to declare The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein, their book of the month. For those of you who have followed this blog since January, you are probably laughing already. If you have not read my blog before, allow me to provide some context. I have picked apart Naomi Klein?s book since the... Click the Headline Link to Visit Copious Dissent and Read the Full Story. |
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