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Guest Post: Corporate America Really Really Cares About Its Employees (Really) - A Distributed Rant
A twofer from Charles Hugh Smith today, as always from Of Two Minds
Corporate America Really Really Cares About Its Employees (Really)
Scrape away the Human Resource Department rah-rah about "our mission" and how much your loyalty is "valued," and what's left? A paycheck and a sucking sound.
Let's state the heretical obvious: Corporate America, you suck.
We could count the ways--subverting democracy via your lobbying and
campaign contributions, your sabotage of competition via regulatory
capture, and so on--but what really matters is how you treat your
employees.
We know: you really really care about your employees. Really.
The propaganda would be laughable if it wasn't so bald-faced. Do
corporate managers really believe in the Big Lie theory, that the bigger
the lie, the easier it is to sell?
Here is reader C's experience of Corporate America's transition to wonderfulness and caring. An outlier or "what everybody inside knows"?
I occasionally read your postings linked to Jesse's Cafe Americain and I just want to confirm what you posted about corporate bankruptcy. (The Bankruptcy of Corporate America) I was disappointed with the Reagan administration which imo was the beginning of the takeover of our government by corporations and elites. Still, having a new family, I was fortunate to get an union job at the big telco and now work in the belly of the beast.
At first it was a great place to work, proud of our knowledge & expertise helping customers, but after 2-3 mergers, the overlords have increased our workload 100% (shutting down depts. in other parts of the country and giving us their work), reduced benefits, monitor everything and have rolled out methods & procedures that have totally dehumanized the workforce; we're just button pushers. Nearly everyone there is now miserable and it's a soul crushing, mind-numbing existence. Sorry that I have nothing good to say about it all, just hoping & praying for it get swept away and that my preparations to be free of the system work out ok.
Correspondent K.R. recently submitted this account, and some advice for young people:
In March 2000, I was working for a fairly large biotech company in pharmaceutical development, many of my co-workers were PhD's. When I got out of my car in the company parking lot one morning I saw many of my coworkers walking back the their cars. I asked "what's the matter?" What we discovered that morning is that if your swipe card that gave you access to the building did not work you were laid off. If your card worked and the door opened, you still had a job.
Best advice I could give a young smart person? Skip the corporate rat race altogether. Do not get car payments, mortgages and all the other debts that chain you to your debt enslavement. Enrich your life, work for yourself or for an important cause. Nobody should waste their life on corporate Amerika.
The modern global corporation devotes considerable attention to creating a simulacrum of common purpose via human resource department’s empty cheerleading. But participants know it is only a hollow, cynical ritual that everyone shuffles through in order to keep their jobs. The reality in Global Corporate America is that every employee is dispensable, and their position is inherently contingent. The purpose is the deliver profits to shareholders, and the corporation buys a facsimile of loyalty and presents a façade of purpose to keep the work environment from becoming overtly depressing to the human spirit. The reason they must play this game is the profits, of course; dispirited workers aren’t very productive.
Given that 13% of global Corporate America’s revenues are pure profit ($1.67 trillion last year, or about 12% of the nation's GDP) and another significant percentage is overhead to support the grossly overpaid corporate bigwigs, a vast command-and-control structure and a costly Panzer division of crack tax attorneys to keep income taxes paid near-zero, then it’s clear that smaller enterprises could easily beat the Corporate America Plantation Store in price and service because a third of the corporate expenses are overhead needed by a massive, costly hierarchy and 13% net profit margins demanded by Wall Street and the Financial Elite owners.
Since the top 5% of households collect 72% of corporate profits and bond income and the top 10% collect 93% of the nation’s financial income, the immense profits skimmed from local communities do not flow back to the communities. They flow instead into the elite enclaves of those who own the vast majority of the nation’s financial assets.
The vaunted “efficiency” of Corporate America's cartels is largely a myth. The Plantation Store’s “edge” is not efficiency but these four factors:
1. exploitation of global wage arbitrage
2. access to cheap Wall Street financing
3. eliminating taxes and competition via capture of regulatory and legislative governance
4. a reliance on cheap oil to fuel their global strip-mining operations.
Take those away and much of global Corporate America is revealed as high-cost, uncompetitive sitting ducks awaiting slaughter by lower-cost decentralized competitors.
Local residents lose twice when global cartels collect much of the local income and send it to centralized corporate headquarters, as a percentage of the profits are spent subverting democracy with lobbying and millions of dollars in campaign contributions to political factotums. Local residents lose not only control of their income streams but of their political rights as cartels sabotage democracy by capturing regulation and elected officials.
A key feature of local enterprise is that it retains and recycles local income in the community, rather than sending it to some distant and unaccountable corporate headquarters tasked with maximizing profits globally. Thus even if local earnings decline in recessionary times, local enterprises can still thrive simply by taking some of the cartels' vast income stream and returning it to the community.
As investors, we have been brainwashed into seeing ourselves as disembodied zombies who float around the world, seeking higher returns wherever we might find them. We are disconnected from where we live, and are constantly told that our self-interest is only served by investing in fast-growing global corporations making money from goods and services generated elsewhere. Those who eschew investments in evil are mocked and derided; the only god for investors is maximizing profits, and how those profits are reaped and where they are reaped makes absolutely no difference.
This is how we end up with what we have now: a glorified Colonial Plantation Economy.
Ken R. submitted this story from the U.K.'s Independent on the reality behind the "maximizing profits is all that matters" facade: the human cost: Behind corporate walls, the masters of the universe weep:
In a recent blog post on the Harvard Business Review web site – and praise be to them for publishing it – Haque let rip on some of the absurdities of contemporary business and economic life. “Just ask yourself,” he wrote, “if you were to walk into any corporation, would you find faces brimming over with deep fulfillment and authentic delight – or stonily asking themselves, ‘If it wasn’t for the accursed paycheck, would I really imprison myself in this dungeon of the human soul?’”
That's a good question. What do think an honest answer would be for most employees?
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Rest in peace Ross Perot
Yeah, Corporate America cares so much about us, that they outsourced all our jobs so we wouldn't have to suffer the indignity of listening to the endless stream of verbal diahor00rea excreted by the corner office clowns. Too bad we cannot use chinese management discipline methods on our CEO's when they cheat, rob, lie, bribe and subvert our political processes.
...and a push to privatize all remaining public services is going to help this situation how? Capital wants to consolidate. The oft mis-quoted Adam Smith knew this. The consolidators are only empowered by a landscape of privatized resources. It couldn't be more obvious that Libertarian ideology has failed. Sorry guys.
No matter how much your bitter whiteboy paranoid apocalypse fantasy blinds you from the obvious, these facts will not change.
But the question whether or not the US world order can transcend itself is a fair question. See, US citizens has it that the old orders were unfair and had to substitute with something else.
As bad as these old orders were, they had within themselves the potential to transcend themselves as they gave out what is now to be called the US world order.
Which is by US citizens' words, better than the ancient orders.
Now either you get satisfied with the current one or have to face whether or not the US world order can transcend itself.
See below for one example of whom the US world order brought freedom to.
That DSK story was seminal in some sort, exposing the freedom of speek US kind.
That man comes from a world where women are free to talk against their rapists.
The negro woman comes from a world where women are prevented from talking about their rape.
And it is very interesting. Because as it was postulated by this site, this DSK man had other events before being compromized by that negro woman. Events performed on women who are free to talk against their rapists.
At this point, the nature of freedom brought by the US appears, and freedom for whom.
In both worlds, rape happen. But in that negro woman world, the rapists have to coerce the victims into silence, they have to pressure women. And a victim crossing the line of the prohibition can receive support from her communauty as it is happening right now.
In the US free world, wom en censor themselves. They chose not to talk while they could. Because they felt lonely, because they knew they would go through character assassination, because they knew it would be useless.
Wonderful world for a rapist. Because it brings peace of mind. In that negro world, a rapist is prevented from denying his rape. If he does, he will forget about pressuring a woman into silence.
In the US world order, the rapist is reinforced in his way by the acts of the women. A rapist rapes a woman. The woman is free to talk. As she does not talk, then it is an evidence he did not rape that women. Else she would have talked.
This is the kind of freedom the US has brought to the world: freedom from the criminals. Criminal minds in the US world order have managed to render their victims so helpless that criminals no longer face the burden of trying to avoid social condemnation.
Until they cross path with a backward society member, where freedom of speech has still some power.
Libertarians are like purists of war who want to return to the days of bows and arrows....as their traditional enemies applaud like muthafuckas
"It couldn't be more obvious that Libertarian ideology has failed. Sorry guys."
Bwahh Hah hahahaha!
Look. I'm as upset as the next guy about corporatist evolution of the U.S. But to lay this on the feet of Libertarian ideology is the utmost height of ignorance of that ideology. Nowhere do libertarians support corporatist hijacking of the state, nor the cartelization of the banking system, or for that matter, force applied to us all by the state to get us to conform to the wishes of our corporate masters.
But, no… really. Go ahead and keep believing in the tooth fairy of perfect regulation bestowed upon us all “if we just elected the right people to government”. LMF Narrow AO
And you better dig really deep for some extra special Pixie Dust if you think you'll wrest control of the Leviathan they use to whip you into line.
The problem is that too much might, wealth, power, etc. is centralized and for sale to the highest bidder. The other problem is that too many dipshits out there are enamored by the idea of all that power operated by the perfect set of politicians and bureaucrats, oblivious to the complete and utter oxymoron that such a wish is.
The only solution is the one nobody wants because they're entirely crazy afraid of losing the nanny state: return the power to the people. And I don’t mean democracy. I mean individual liberty. Let true greatness lead us out of this instead of chaining us all to the sinking ship policies of elected morons and their wealth thieving (oh, but the law says it’s legal!!) power-masters.
Yeah... and enough with the worshipping of Democracy B.S. Democracy is the idiotic belief in the collective genius of individual ignorance. The more we celebrate democracy and ignore individual liberty (which always is F'd by democracy), the sooner we sink back into the dark ages. We were intended to be a liberty based republic with elements of democracy. Democracy blows. Ask the ancient Greeks. Ask the founding fathers... Ask your neighbor who is unemployed and still paying for bailouts. Stop the lie!
F’n A. Holy Shit. Where’s the Tylenol?
If the power is to be returned, it means it was people's somewhere, some times. Where and when?
Is it not the sign the US system works as it was intended to work?
To Q1: In the old days you could hang a shingle and be in biz. Doing biz was simple, you didn't need 10 consultants, attorneys and a CPA. Just you and your expertise... AND SATISFIED CLIENTELLE. Those days are gone... Long gone. Power gone from the people and turned over the Corps via the government game of maximizing complexity via bigger and bigger govt. The various ways we're today hindered as individuals are the subject of a long book.
Re Q2: Are you pissing on my leg? The system today, as it's been crafted for the last two centuries, and especially the last 125 years, is a far cry from what it was before, and IMO not as was intended at its creation. That's not to say there were not a few involved in the process who wanted the system as it is today (Hamilton=Big Banking Scum), or that those types have not been pushing nonstop to turn things ever more into a corporatist monopoly, banking or otherwise. See Jackson's fight with the central bankers, the anti trust legislation being essentially written by some of the biggest monopolists going (and designed to eliminate smaller competition in the process), etc.
Where the system was F'd at creation is pretty much where it withheld the right to consent from its citizens. e.g. Slavery; women's suffrage, etc. The same applies today where individuals band together and get the government to do to others what would be otherwise illegal if they did it one on one, as if democracy somehow launders criminal activity.
You are totally correct, Leopold, but I think that guy's a mere troll -- happy when you blow time and energy on his "libertarian fail" bullshit.
Leopold, you rock. The common theme all statist-collectivist-socialists share is that freedom is always the problem. Somebody is doing something you don't like and the answer is to give the State more power and restrict freedom. They acknowledge that many people are "bad" and the answer is a powerful state to control or balance the baddies...even to the point of seizing their earnings and distributing the proceeds to others. What they cannot reconcile is how all "bad" people end up in the private sector but only "good" people go to government. So, if we give people in government power it will never be used to hurt us...in theory.
Libertarians agree that many people are bad, but the solution is to make sure they have no coercive power over us. In fact, we recognize that many "bad" people not only end up in government but it often attracts the very worst among us. Furthermore, given too much power the State itself corrupts and is corrupted. This is where corporatism and crony-capitalism (fascism) derives. Enron, Walmart, Pfizer, General Dynamics cannot do anything to you without the power of the state behind them. Farmers cannot get your money for their businesses, solar power could not keep losing money, GE could not avoid all taxes and welfare recipients could not take your income without the gun-backed power of the state. You, on your own would not allow this if you had power over yourself. Additionally, Walmart cannot raise your taxes, give you a speeding ticket, monitor your seatbelt use, force you to document everything you get to charity, set wages for everyone, inspect your restaurant, audit your business, seize your property or even decide who you get to marry. Only the State does that. If Walmart wants to do that, they have to lobby the State. What you moronic statists do is blame Walmart first when the State is actually the problem.
The solution was our Constitution to severely permanently limit the power of the State at the Federal level. It has been corrupted and ignored at all levels and it all places.
BTW, Leopold has it correct, too. Democracy alone still produces a powerful state where others are given large powers over you, especially distributing what you earn to others.
"Democracy is the idiotic belief in the collective genius of individual ignorance."
Amen to that.
Well I work for a Fortune 500 company and I'm brimming over with deep fulfillment and authentic delight.
But then again I'm fucking bat shit insane.
MAYBE THE PINK SLIPS ON WALL STREET TBTF ARE PROOF??!?!
http://fiatsfire.blogspot.com/2011/06/fairly-tale-fryday-internet-ipos-are.html
AND 3 MORE EARLESS RABBITS BORN OOUTSIDE FUCKYOUSHIMA!!!
I live in Atlanta and I don't think anybody here really has a job anymore. Morning rush hour is like crickets compared to how it used to be. It's now one of the best and easiest times to drive. Nobody is going anywhere 'till the retail stores open up. That's what I call bat shit insane-shopping when you don't have a job.
But I hear the Airconditioning is free at the Mall along with breakfast and lunch you nibble along the supermarket Isle.
He's still with us and is just a bit over 80 years old. Would love for us to hear from him again soon. His family got slammed by some swaps in 2008. He probably has a few choice tidbits to offer regarding "financial innovation".
"Loyalty"?
Long gone.
New philosophy:
"Twice a month, I and the company are even."
Boy that really struck a jangling nerve. :-)
I went from Inndian Navy to Fortune 50 to Dot Con start up to outlier start-up to glorious broke-ness.
So liberating. never worn a tie in the last 10 years.
Corporate culture is really deiseased and disease making.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/nuclear-american-cross-other-thoughts/
Better to be broke than slave for one of these soul destroying institutions. Take a walk down Park Ave in Manhattan during lunch break, see the looks on the faces of the suited up ones waddling into the JPM/BAC/C etc. buildings that line the avenue. The sorriest mob of slaves you will ever lay eyes on, I actually feel deep compassion and sympathy for them. Most are tied to their slavery through their narcissistic "needs" and the facade of an image they think (hope?) has some semblance of permanence, or offers purpose to their space in the universe. How false.
Alas, they are merely disposable as paper towels. Perhaps ignorance protects from a daily nervous breakdown, perhaps other distractions are required. End result is the same: that empty feeling just won't go away!
Matthew 16:26
"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Very appropos Rodent.
My friend recently introduced me to:
Be Passersby.
ORI
There is a lot of wisdom in the Bible...even for those who do not believe in God.
Imagine a society that ignores the collected wisdom of thousands of years of human existence, simply because the writers didn't go to an Ivy League propaganda mill.
Humans are bug house nuts.
Is it not the principal demand of the Bible? To ignore all the wisdom accumulated over thousands years of human existence but the wisdom contained in the Bible?
In what way are Ivy Leaguers different from the Bible? They ignore all the wisdom of humanity but theirs.
It is another leap in logics US citizens are used to.
Ah, no, maybe not. The Bible advocates to destroy all the wisdom but theirs. Maybe Ivy Leaguers dont want the same. In that, they would be different.
Wow... some real hate issues on display.
Best question ever. For many reasons.
"There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
Really lazy thinking and vacuuous assertions. Refute the wisdom of the Bible if you can. Even if you're a nontheist you have to say it is the product of a few thousand years of thought.
In contrast it's easy to refute the "wisdom" of the Ivy League-keynesian-statist-collectivist-atheist-socialists. You see that every day right here on ZeroHedge, by the proletariat, no less!
It is the same for the other thoughts system that were a product of a few thousand years of thought. Yet the Bible advocates for ignoring them.
Hard task as people do not want to hear the refutation of it. Slavery is part of the Bible wisdom. Refute this piece. Or rationalize it.
I don't think Keynes, Marx, the collective, etc. have a few thousand years behind them. Only a facile reading of the Bible would conclude it favors slavery. Other than that Jesus himself says that we all stand equal before God, i.e., there is no slave, no Greek, no Jew, etc. That is the basis of our law. All people (in theory) stand equal before the law. Things like "Love your neighbor as yourself", the golden rule, honoring parents, trading good for evil, etc. all get lost and ignored by atheists and nontheists.
Frankly, it is generally a waste of breath and time to try and enlighten anyone like yourself. You have set yourself squarely against these things. Just try to open yourself to the notion that our relatively successful way of life derives from principles, posited, studied, argued and refined from scriptures over the last two thousand years or even more counting the Jewish roots of Western Christian theology. It is not a finished process but a great foundation.
Well said all around Steve. Been there. Seen that. Been that.
ORI
Glad to have you back friend!
blah, blah, blah,....it's the worst system known to man, except for all the others . okay, so what should replace it and have more success raising the living standards of more people? it's the same type of people that decry the US system of Govt (constitutional republic) as evil and destructive. Okay, so what should we replace it with? Until you answer that (about the econ system or govt. system) with the clarity, forethought, wisdom, and detail akin to what was provided in the Federalist papers, then it's a non-starter. If we returned to the original intent of Constitution, that would be a huge improvement.
I see that the junker-brigade showed up early.
I agree, nantucket. These people don't have any constructive suggestions (or any ideas at all, really).
I thought Charles Hugh Smith was better, but in this piece he reveals that he is just another class-warfare socialist.
yeah, hilarious getting junks by simply asking what a proposed better solution is. i've seen tons of comments proposing beating and killing people and they rarely get junks. too funny.
yeah, when did this site turn in to a lefty rant blog, anyways? Anyone can complain, but lets hear some solution other than hanging the banksters and/or embracing marxism/communism more than we already do. As appealing as hanging the banksters may be, it isn't likely to happen I fear.
yeah, I've put my Hemp Rope of Retribution up for auction on Ebay. So far, only one bid from a 'Blankety_Blank_Blankfein' ebayer..
The system is actually the government and the large corporations in bed with each other. The government creates the rules that make it hard for smaller companies to compete (All kinds of red tape). The large companies have the resources to comply or are exempted the smaller companies don't. Most jobs are created by smaller businesses but who want's to take the risks in this environment.
The solution is to remove most of the red tape which means a big chunk of the government.
Stop subsidising failure in the form of bankrupt corporations and let the system work.
The people who complain that the corporations are bad don't seem to see that it is the government that enables them.
Agree. In fact I was just saying yesterday that they (.gov & inc.) exist in parasitic mutualism.
Kind of like a feudal aristocracy.
This is the necessary derivative of the risk of normalization of profits. If the amount of profit decreases as competition in a market increases, then rational actors will seek to eliminate competition to avoid the normalization of profits. The ability to do this, in an environment of cheap credit and vast distribution of information, can realistically only come through governmental intermeddling. Obviously, all protection of property rights only comes through the government, but the intermeddling causes disproportionate preservation thereof...
+++
FYI left of center is more Corporate - Government control. Right of center is less Corporate-Government control or Fascism . Not surprising to see that brainwashed slaves have no idea what to do without their Fascist masters.
Actually, hanging the bankers might not be a bad way to balance your system. When they were allowed to get away with more and more (allowed by the people they bought and bribed via political donations) they learned that there were no consequences. As there were none they were more encouraged and got away with more and more.
Without actual punishement for raping the system there is no motivation to stop. It's a sad version of "Don't make me pull this car over!!!" one where in the parent never pulls the car over.
Nothing ever changes unless it changes.
+1. Take the junks as a compliment from the mindless left.
... it isn't likely to happen I fear.
Which is why America won't be saved.
Yes, America will fade into history just like the Roman empire did.
It is a bankrupt and historically ignorant mind that thinks the only acceptable criticism is a Solution.
Is he the one that writes the George Washington stuff? Maybe not, didn't see any "here,here,here,here,here,here,here,here,here,here, and here" in there.
LMAO. See here,here,here,here,here,here,here,here,here,here, and here.
Don't forget here.
If you read the article again, perhaps you would notice that the author claims a place for small business over large corporations, not merely on a social level but at the heart of our cherished free enterprise and capitalism -- on the basis of competition :
it’s clear that smaller enterprises could easily beat the Corporate America Plantation Store in price and service because a third of the corporate expenses are overhead needed by a massive, costly hierarchy and 13% net profit margins demanded by Wall Street and the Financial Elite owners.
I claim a place for peace on earth and goodwill towards man with an ice cream sundae and a cherry on top for everyone. The devil is in the details... I think that's what the criticism is about... [hint: greater minds than you, I, or the author have pondered these issues and not come up with anything suitable, consistent, nor durable]
How about keep the system (the game), but implement and enforce serious rules to ensure fairness---for all participants (players)?
The corrupt law enforcement apparatus has been bought and paid for by the bankers. There are thousands of pages of laws and regulations all being ignored by the SEC, FBI, DOJ etc
The problem with imposing a free market system at this juncture (fairness for all) is the head start given by the wealth gap... if you factor that into your equation, our next step gets pretty jarbled and hazy.
Well put, Nantucket!
Tyler, according to the SBA there are 27.5 million businesses in the United States. http://web.sba.gov/faqs/faqindex.cfm?areaID=24. So pray tell, which businesses are you referring to? Could you be a little more specific? Do you hate all restaurants? Dry cleaners? Doctors? Farmers? Would you rather go to the Federal Collective to buy your groceries? How do you think that would work out- maybe just like the DMV. Or just like the Soviet farming system did. (Or the Ukranian farming system which resulted in mass famine. Or the Chinese farming collectives after the Cultural Revolution.) Can you see the Feds outdesigning Apple? Can you see them out-inventing 3M or Cisco? Would the Feds be as service-oriented as McDonald's which, yes, does a fabulous job providing value to consumers?
Why is it today that Venezuela has energy shortages? Why is Cuba so poor? Why did the Soviet Union fail? When has centralized planning EVER worked for an entire economy for a sustained period?
Better to rant about regulatory capture, whereby our ONE and only federal government fails to meet the needs of its people and enforce existing laws. When is the last time you complained about the regulators as opposed to the constant (and often very very appropriate) complaints about the regulated? We hold the regulated up to the highest standards, and the regulators up to... none.
+1000 Stop making sense you are pissing off the lefty fags.
Cuba fails because it is in the u.s. interest to fail. Read up on the cia and george bush and the bay of pigs. United Fruit company is interesting. Why did democracy fail in Iran and why was the Shah brought to power?
If you don't understand how our current system really works beneath the layers of propaganda presented by a compliant corporate/government press, you really have little business presenting an opinion out of pure ignorance and governmental programming.
Of course you are in favor of the current system, you have been raised since birth to be in favor of the system, you live like a bacteria in a broth of propaganda and manipulation, how could you think otherwise?
Central planning was a failure long before the united states was shot out of brittain's cooter.
I'm as against the U.S. government intervening abroad, and doing whatever else you claim it's doing here or there for the benefit of corporate interests. I'm also a rabid anti corporatist, and very much against parasitic capitalism.
But it's sheer DGO (Dipshittery of the Greatest Order) to make the leap that, therefore, the free market is to blame. Too many spouting off about the "problems with the current system" fully embrace the cartelized power structure that enables it (UBER Govt), all because they have their own, wonderful dreams of how they can force their own version of centralized Bullshit down the throats of everyone else via the tool of Big Govt, to make the world perfect.
Yes. We'll put you in charge of Leviathan. Then it will be fair for everyone.
I believe the point being lost, deliberately, in this thread is that post-NAFTA/CAFTA/GATT/WTO we don't have a "free market." Neither do we have "free trade." What we have is parasitic capitalism vis-a-vis global wage arbitrage, i.e., labor sold to the lowest bidder, otherwise known as the spiral to the bottom.
+ 1 dram of Macallan 12. Do you have a blog Leo?
Thanks, doom. Gladly accept all singles of this or that, and the right colored blends, to boot.
Had a blog that I had to let go in late '08 due to switch of employers. Suffice it to say that I started warning of looming calamity to clients in '01 newsletters, and blogging in '05 about the same, and was awarded the bloody tinfoil hat award from the vast majority who read the blog since it seemed so outlandish vs the expert / degreed opinions.
But more to your point... readying to start up again. Will add it to my signature once up.
Cuba was dirt poor and run by the mafia before Castro took over, since then there has been a trade embargo and it's difficult to make any system work under that pressure
Russia was dirt poor and the laughing stock of Europe in1917, if you had told someone then that Russia would be the worlds second most powerful country within 30 years, you would have been locked up in the madhouse, ultimately Russia collapsed because they were spending way too much on defence and their desire to catch up with the west led them to take stupid shortcuts. interesting fact, at current growth rates it will take another ten years before the living standards of ordinary Russians gets back to 1991 levels. the commies in Russia achieved incredible things against the odds but the cost in terms of lives and human misery was horrendous
Venezuela has been run by right-wing military dictatorships for most of the time since WWII, i believe and there have been three attempted coups since chav got voted in, that the man is a megalomaniac dickhead is indisputable but i doubt that he is any worse than any of the US backed dickheads that ruled before him.
context is everything if you really want to make an augruement that capitalism is the best system why don't you point out
there has never been a commie revolution in a proper capitalist society, if America is a proper capitalist country there will never be a commie takeover
are there any proper capitalist countries in the world, cos i fear that greedy fools running things have made a resurgence of communism inevitable
Richard, you are mistaken if you think that any Western nation practices capitalism. These are centrally controlled and regulated economies, where even money is monopolized. The one thing they are NOT, is capitalist, regardless of what they say.
An old saying attributed to Frank Lloyd Wright: I am in favor of capitalism; I only wish someone would try it.
+ spot on.
Venezuela's power shortages WAS because of their Hydroelectric Plants being shut down because of Draughts. Betcha that MSM piece left that part out.
Chavez is no more responsible for a lack of rainfall than George Bush is responsible for the appearance of Hurricane Katrina.
+1. Well said.
Intellectual touchdown, Random! When I've spoken to groups I always ask them to compare their interactions with government to anything in the private sector. Would you like everything you do to be like the DMV?
What a wonderful defense for "don't stop the corporate dick sucking" I've seen in some time. Can I post it on the "I love my bank" (www.ally.com) corporate brain washing web site? They even use Pavlov's dog in their commercials.
<drooling>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zMQI9iO_IE
Again,...what system would be more effective in better raising the living standards of more people and do that more efficiently? I'm not, as you so elegantly put it, "d-sucking" any system, but before I change from the current system, I want to know to what system. I'm all for a better system. let's have the plan......(crickets chirping).
Let's start with enforcing the laws, rules and regs of the present system. Then we can talk again once that happens.
(crickets dead waiting for that to happen)
BTW I didn't say you were dick sucking, only that you presented a defense for it. But if you wish to........
I would suggest looking towards the Swiss for an idea of how to start.
And before you make some silly comment about Swiss banks, keep in mind the wealth gap there isn't nearly what it is in the US.
Bloke #1 makes $300K a year. Bloke #2 makes $30K a year.
Policy passes which increases Bloke #1s income by 10% and Bloke #2s income by 50%. Income gap has widened by $15K, as Bloke #1s new income is $330K and Bloke #2s is $45K.
I'll let you fill in the rest that gets you to understand that INCOME GAP IS A RUSE AND NO BASIS FOR POLICY. It's just the class-warfare drum beat.
BTW, some of us on our own decided that it was possible not to be locked in to a Bloke #2 situation.
Junk away, socialists!
-in my sopwith camel
Where do I sign up to be Bloke #2?
So policy has this power on a finite world (other than by paying with devalued money)
Wonderful. Alas, in a no growth world, as shown by mathematics, it is not possible that A salary grows with B salary goes down (or the reverse)
US citizens and their cheap propaganda. Expansion is ending, maybe time to adjust the propaganda.
Tease them with a little intelligensia and off the wagon they go...
The point of the hypothetical, Einstein, is that efforts to close the income gap are pie-shrinking, class warfare. If we could do something that would provide the lower end of the income distribution an opportunity to increase their income, would we not do it if it also stood to benefit the upper end?
Go back to your sister's closet with the twisting. Everyone understands it's a hypothetical. Your "no growth world, as shown by mathematics" is your own wet dream hitting you in the eye.
Selective quoting. I wrote that in a no growth world, salary A to increase needs salary B to decrease, as shown by mathematics.
Once this point is cleared, are you telling that infinite growth of a finite planet is possible? If so, it is another fine example of the US citizen habit to project themselves onto others because infinite growth on a finite planet is a wet dream.
I'm not a US citizen.
And?
As US citizens say themselves, being a US citizen is a state of mind, no needs to have the paper to have the mind set.
So what about the growth, the wet dream and all?
The growth thing is a misplaced absolute. I don't want to go back to your wet dreams, though...
Nice rationalization of your complete miss on the citizen thing, though, Mr. Kane.
How is it a misplaced absolute?
I questioned about the policy stuff, wanting to know if policy has this power...
Rationalization? Not at all. Acting "American" or acting "unamerican" is.
You junked me 'cause I'm not an American citizen? C'mon man.
I look at junks as goals. Looks like I'm going to have busy box score today.
:D
I have never junked someone. Junking is useless. Facts stand by themselves.
Junking/Appraising them do not change the nature of facts.
I know victimology is high for US citizens and they are used to blindly accuse and persecute their so called victimizers but this is the internet, the lynch mob spirit, so dear to US citizens, has little to no effect.
By waxing off about some collective state of U.S. mind, do you mean the public sector unions or some of the other 40% that derive their income entirely from Uncle Sam? Or do you mean private union members? Or do you mean San Fran Lefties? Or Vermont Socialists? Or entrepreneurs? Or Corporate CEOs? Or...
The whole idea... to even quote some idiot stating that such is the case is sheer dipshittery on your part. The American mind is half down the socialista rabbit hole having drank heartily from that cup over the last 90 years, and certainly nowhere close to what you're insinuating. Granted, the U.S. is no Europe... yet. But just like Europe is facing the music of all its socialist dementia in Greece and the rest of the PIIGS, it will come to the rest of Europe... And gallop through the U.S. just the same. Socialism is and always will be the raiding of the stores of a nation's seed-corn, created and grown by the productive season after season, and gradually redistributed and consumed (vs. grown into more) by socialistas all over. The only difference from one nation to another is how fast the seed-corn is raided and the healthy / wealth producing part of the economy destroyed. After decade upon decade of raiding, the harvests grow ever more lean, and with winter approaching the the bill is coming due.
Mr. Scotch, Sir. Much obliged for the breath of sanity!
The US has been the same since its inception. US propagandists would like to sell the idea of break point, a point when the US has changed...
Not the case.
The US citizen nature is eternal.
would we not do it if it also stood to benefit the upper end?
No. No we wouldn't. Perhaps you've been reading different articles on this site than me.......
Thank you for making my point and identifying yourself as a class warfare bishop.
You speak of class warfare like it is something in textbooks and bedtime stories... it's constant and ever present... in all societies (even if resting in the minds due to the consequences of stepping out of line).
To this end, can you at least acknowledge that a part of the present wealth gap may just have been accomplished through the exercise of class warfare? And, just maybe, those that seek to narrow the gap may simply be seeking to defend themselves and/or remedy past/ongoing wrongs?
Of course. Wealth is always measured in relative terms. That's a big part of the problem. The relative overwhelms the absolute.
My use of the phrase is to prompt folks into thinking about what they're saying. I find it tiresome that we find inequity in what others have.
Your kid gets the flu and nothing matters but seeing them get well again. And we appreciate it. But find out our neighbor has the new 72" plasma special, and we must conspire about how his slice of the pie is unduly larger than our own.
I've been very poor and very not-so poor and I have no sympathy for grandstanders.
Sorry for the rant, Mach. Always appreciate your insights.
Another brilliant trait of intelligence.
Got a few others: a guy's broken his leg and nothing matters but...
But find out our neighbour bought a Limo and...
A house is destroyed by fire and nothing matters but...
But find out our neighbour is going on a one year world tour holiday and...
Methinks you're mocking me. Somewhere, though, perhaps encoded in your letter sequencing, or perhaps translated into ancient Aramaic, you have a point. How long do I get to look before you tell me what it is?
Where is that dazzling intelligence that is supposed to tease people?
US citizens and their propaganda. Cheaper by the day. Now they want you to explain them when their propaganda so obvioulsy fails.
Must another person, just like a typical US citizen, who thinks he/she deserves every single cent he/she's made.
If you hear a knock on your door, it's Charlie Daniels, Toby Keith, and Ted Nugent. And they ain't bringing yer none flowers.
Charlie Daniels, Toby Keith, and Ted Nugent.
Old, fat and ignorant has-beens are supposed to be relevant?
Watch the "weiner" moniker, dude. It's got a long shadow these days.
Nice try at jumping into the fray, though. Hope it didn't take you all day to wipe the cheeze doodle dust off the keyboard to come up with that.
Everyone who thinks ALL of the spoils of the wealth gap were illicitly obtained through fraud and chicanery is a complete and total idiot. You'll also see the omission by those who seek to confiscate the wealth gap... that the measures they would seek to impose would also allow their own wealth to be confiscated just the same (and if not, then how convenient the definition of immoral wealth stops at their doorstep...). It's a very, very dangerous game... and always funny when people want the government to be destroyed while at the same time confiscating and narrowing the wealth gap... decentralization is probably a bad plan to combat localized wealth...
Yes, for most human beings, "fairness" is all about whether or not your team is winning.
Until we can, as a species, collectively discern and carefully watch for those of us born without empathy, we will always wonder why the rest of us are getting screwed over.
Even NATO has funded advanced studies on the topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy
I appreciate your example. But the reality is, if most of the bottom earners saw an increase in their income (to the extent that they aren't having trouble making "ends meet"), I don't think there would be as much outrage over the astronomical pay of corporate persons. Class War-Fare? Perhaps. But, if pointing out the divide between people who 'produce' and people who 'take' is class war-fare, I fail to see the problem.
And to my example: The middle class there doesn't seem to be "squeezed" nearly as bad as in the US.
Why do you care about the "astronomical pay" of others? How does it affect you? This is the core issue, bub.
Really? Because that doesn't come at the expense of others within companies? Or even the company itself?
Don't get tangled in your golden parachute.
You huckleberries keep missin' today. I am not a corporate officer, have no golden parachute, etc. I'm a self-made, which apparently is a concept lost on the small minded that troll here.
You're stuck on the notion that no one can gain without someone else losing. That is antithetical to the framework of capitalism. Voluntary transactions in which both parties agree to an exchange in which each feels he is getting a benefit.
If you want some kleenex, I can ship you some.
That's understandable when energy is cheap and abundant and credit is ever flowing... but what about when the pie is shrinking and no amount of self determination can stem the tide?
We haven't hit anywhere near the peak of the pie (in terms of potential productive value of the planet). It's finite, sure, but we ain't there yet.
We have a receding pie now only because we over-inflated the worth of what we had. Easy credit? Well let's look at the lending policies propounded to make sure everyone had a fair shot at a home. Unions have to have their "due" share of the value of what they produce, right?
Works until it doesn't. And when it doesn't, too many who overcommitted and frankly contributed to the problem are unwilling to siphon off a little. And then the mob mentality takes over and wants to crucify the "haves."
Problem is, this is going to spill over into real violence soon. Look at the mentality of Vancouver - over hockey? It'll be much worse when folks find themselves without stuff that counts.
Point being, at this time, no one can gain without someone else losing... so, if you see us stuck on that point, it's because that's the present reality... not to say that it has to stay that way forever (it won't), but for now and the foreseeable future, that's our world.
Point being, at this time, no one can gain without someone else losing...
Plant a garden and you might take a different view.
Infinite growth here we go.
If I keep typing, will your comments go away?
No, but hopefully yours will.
. There. I wrote in white font. Can you read it?
" "
That's not "white font," it's a string of spaces. And here I had hoped for something clever.
dp
because as adam smith said,
if the top takes too much, the whole system collopes, he said it in a more complicated way
read your history, anytime the top takes too much, it all goes to shit
but if the bottom takes too much, it also goes to shit
a good balance is what we need
How 'bout we all get the same, Karl?
Frankly, I don't care what you or the top has. though I do care how you get it. When some greedy doofuses nearly tank the economy and then come crying to get TARPs and QEs out of the public coffers nd then rather then loosening credit use it to pump up bonuses then I damned well do care. And then we go to discussing the ropes that were mentioned some hundred comments back.
I, for one, *don't* care about the "astronomical pay" of others. I've made more, and I've made less than what I get right at this moment, and for the most part, an increase in pay has equalled an increase in pressure and stress. The work changes, but it does not get easier.
Since we all know the "grow the pie" theory, and it has worked ok until now, I'll use that. The problem is that right now, it doesn't matter how hard some of us work to make the pie grow- because the government and the Federal Reserve are sucking all the filling out, leaving both production and management fighting over the leftover empty shell.
Even in the cases where the economy has not seriously impacted the ability of a company to compete and survive, as is the case in the company I am employed by, any CEO or DOO with half a brain and a distaste for fairness has been rolling the shit down onto those who can least afford it.
So, we have some cases where employees see the issues, and put in extra time and effort to attempt to keep "growing the pie," and are "rewarded" with decreased benefits and stagnant pay. Where I work, I know of many cases where myself or others have increased the profitability of the company immensely. Personally, I saved them just over a million dollars in production costs last year alone through a combination of streamlined processes, product design changes and new fixturing that increases productivity across multiple product lines. Others have made similar contributions, and some have added even more than that.
But in our last company meeting, we were all told, across the board, that even though we had grown from a three million dollar company to a 25 million dollar company in the past three years, they were going to continue to ask us to work harder, and keep labor costs down so that we can "compete with China and India." Nothing but a ploy to profit from the bullshit peddled in the MSM- we make parts for the US military and the medical industry. The US military is required by law to purchase from domestic suppliers, and the medical industry is fully aware that they cannot get FDA approval on Chinese surgical instruments (the certifications don't pass muster- and whenever they try this, class-action lawsuits are the result)
So this is what I care about- we grew the F'ing pie through sacrifice and hard work. And now, someone else is eating the whole damn thing while we watch with growling stomachs.
You are, of course, free to continue to believe whatever you wish. But if you think that the boots on the ground will accept less than what is required to survive, you had better have some damn good security. When a family of five cannot afford food, clothing and shelter on two incomes, they will become wolves at your door.
I don't want to see that, either. But to be honest, people like you have used this system to move millions of people from relatively comfortable lives into lives of sacrifice and privation. I've lost 40 pounds in the last two months just trying to hedge against the shit storm, and empty stomachs make for angry, angry men. I can't even hedge any more- my budget is now consumed by gasoline and food expenses. I can handle a lot, but the first time my kids miss a meal, I am going to start blowing shit up.
So make sure you aren't eating too much pie- at the very least, you're going to need to stay trim so you can run fast and far, piggy.
But to be honest, people like you have used this system to move millions of people from relatively comfortable lives into lives of sacrifice and privation.
Your comments are honest, and I respect them. But what on earth have I done? I'm not a corporate guy. I live and die by my own talents.
Then you're fine by me. I just don't like the defense of the bullshit artists.
Fair. I make an honest effort keep to my core point and not drag in peripheral stuff if I can. Even when I'm at my most sarcastic (like today).
The flip side of my rants is I'll defend to the hilt an honest John. And with a family of five myself, I take your views to heart.
Godspeed.
Switzerland is a tiny country of bankers where the elites meet to plan their nefarious schemes. I don't think that making the USA into a giant country of bankers will work.
Yes. It is. Have you been? Not everyone is a banker. Granted, the country is wealthy from banking, that isn't the only thing they do. And socially they are just better off. There seems to be more equality, which results in social stability.
The country is tiny. That doesn't mean systems can't be scalable.
Their system of independent cantons is remarkably similar to the intentions of the Founding Fathers. Decentralized power - what a concept!
Sun tzu has failed to see the current US banking system as the ultimate in human slavery.
Hey, sunny, Jackson Hole and QE2? Bankers have been meeting in the US for a long time. Most notably since Jekkyl Island...
the diaspora in the years before the Fed act and following WW2 has made it such already, hasn't it?
I have a relative who lives in Switzerland. I suspect you don't know squat about it. I doubt your statement on the wealth gap except that the cost of living is so stratospheric that there is no place for any poor. Switzerland has only specific high margin type companies.
I would suggest that we first have to recognize that any currency can be manipulated. Even gold. The power to manage the currency must be returned to that of soveriegn nations. That would be a good start.
From there, yeah, this is terribly complicated subject because the basis for our advancement is so intertwinded with the fabric of our cultures - and we are so far from being "on the same page" as a species. Many would even argue that diversity is one of our key strengths and as is part of the key to advancement - leading to a completely paradoxial argument of what system is best. So, reality suggests that no system is perfect. That any system will have stresses. That a more fluid, adaptive system is better than rigid systems.
Your question is valid in my humble opinion. The problem is that the question is huge! The remaining brain cells I have can only compute that the current system is on a collision course and changing direction towards discovering another path is better than continuing down this road.
All you need to do is get better at stopping corruption, subversion, kleptomania, sabotage, scheming, bribery, wiliness, greed, treachery, extortion, venality, subornation, malice, abuse of power, exploitation etc…in a word, drop the bomb. I have no problem with dying, I’ve made my peace with god, let it all rot, let it all fucking burn, because there is no way back.
?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=205cLtJmEP0
If we had a true FREE MARKET, things would be better. But we don't have a free market. End Corporate welfare, limit the size and scope of the government, and allow open competititon. Do that as well as end the corrupt banksters hold on the domestic and world economy and then you would have prosperity.
Problem: Fascism
Solution: Withdrawal of citizen participation until power centers shrink. Investors funding reform as growth stalls and goes into reverse.
Problem: Global monarchy
Solution: Digital democracy. Articles of Condederation suggested the U.S. should have several thousand representatives by now. 535 was fine in 1789 with ten million people. The larger the representative group, the more difficult to create laws and make decisions. This is the way it should be when the fate of millions or even billions lay in the balance.
Problem: Bankers using citizens funds to socialize losses, privatize gains.
Solutions: Democratize banking, re-seperation of commercial and investment banking, adopt death penality for officers of the State (be them private or politicians) for currency devaluation (also Articles of Confederation). Law that any financial organization leveraging past 14 to 1 be investigated, shut down and restructured. Ban naked short-selling. Playing the leverage game must include verification of assets by the entire global citizenship, full transparency.
None of this in Fascist banking system of control will happen you say? Back to solution #1.
Problem: Lobbying
Solution: Constitutional convention, reform to general elections.
There is no ONE system to suggest Nantucket. Your either asking a trick question or not considering imperfect human nature. Any 'system' that promotes the opportunity to benefit over the fear of loss is what will succeed over others. Call this political strategy vs. 'system'.
The United States proved this theory out despite its imperfections. However, the last forty years fear as a political strategy has been used far more widely to attempt to continue the unsustainable consumption economy. The fear-based strategy is about protecting rentier streams. Step up one level as to cause, demography drives destiny. Older people tend to stockpile for old age, are general more connected than younger folk and have less energy for innovation. Easier to influence government to lock out competitors. Same reason the Boomer generation from the 1960's failed at stopping the bankers and instead supported them. Same for deficit spending, larger voting blocs vote for (surprise) their own interests. I am not suggesting a counter-strategy to demographic imbalances as some meglomaniacs do.
The Soviet Union was harsher using a fear-based political strategy than what we saw in the U.S. but the same reason why it fell apart is what is causing the U.S. to fall apart. The details do matter but I like to also consider cause when analyzing effect. Such political strategy only works in short-durations and if used continuously is the cause of terrorism as well which dwindles as the opportunity to benefit is restored.
blah, blah, blah,....it's the worst system known to man, except for all the others
Why read past this?
Because its educational. Why did you?
Zing!
Zing*2 ...someone didnt.
lol- Adding comments has been disabled for this video.
I suspect the guy in the commercial is a ZH reader who is beginning to realize that while he might play along in order to get laid tonight, the lady is severely programmed and would be toxic to his system.
This!!
Clearly there is a distinction at all levels - as there is no utopia here. At some point, some corporations morph into something that is contrary to the best interests of a nation, it's people, etc. In some cases contrary to the human race! At some point, governments can do the same. I would suggest just following the flow of money and power here. See where it leads. Our founding fathers warned us. We did not listen to our own peril.
Our Founding Fathers didn't expect for us to become a nation of sports and celebrity worshipping zombies. If people actually read those writings, we wouldn't be in this situation.
Bread and circuses. Yup.
Our founding fathers knew damn good and well what the mouth breathers generally do, given the founding fathers were in the minority and had to fight an uphill battle for independence... the fact is, they tried to build safeguards into the system to help ensure abuses of the past could not regrow in the future... but, the best laid plans... (even their system ultimately failed).
It's ok to admit that their system, ultimately, was a failure... it's not ok to repeat the mistakes of the past (ignorance). Our task is to build something better.
Maybe you should read the post.
Do not get car payments, mortgages and all the other debts that chain you to your debt enslavement.
Precisely.
You don't owe much and can work a flea market all day any time you want to.
Or just be a Temp and say "Company failure or malfunction of equiptment is not my problem"
They cannot fire you.
nantucket
True Anarchy, as with the Paris Commune or a handful of historic but shortlived appearences of the system. Those get crushed by TPTB.
Benevolent Despot, iron fist in a velvet glove. Fuck we already have this but it hidden under the trappings of the state. Remove those obfuscations and people will be much happier because they would understand their position and place, there would be no confusion regarding ones status in society. No plumbers marrying Elizibeth Taylor for example.
We don't need to replace corporations at all.
We need to utterly destroy every last one of them.
The way to do this is simple; go back to the original idea of incorporation started hundreds of years ago and grant them limited charters to do limited things for a limited time, with exclusive rights.
Then kill them and start over.
20 years ought to be about right. Then kill them.
Yes I said kill them. They want to be people, then they can fucking die.
Cougar-w,
Sadly, most people living a near total black-out life have no idea what you are talking about. The history books and corporate media are strangely silent on this fact.
Complete agreement.
Corporations are just like people with one no-so-small thing missing. A conscience and/or a sense of right and wrong.
Eliminate limited liability companies and make owners (stockholders / board members) face complete responsibility for company actions and mistakes and shit will get cleaned up QUICK.
Corporations are people, Jethro. That's the insanity of the corporate bashing. It's as if "corporations" have their own persona. Makes 'em easy to attack because there's no pushback from phantom beings.
Talk about what you want to get cleaned up, and how to do it, then maybe you won't sound like static.
Have they not be granted the same rights as people? Perhaps you should rethink that last statement.
Not really.
You sir, are an idiot. Corporations are most definitely NOT people. They are legally 'artificial' people.
Mayday! Mayday! The stuttering anon has called in kraut-dog and bicycle dude!
nantucket - where'd ya go boss? I'm takin' it for ya cause I'm thinkin' you're a Bruins fan...
Anyway, thanks for your support w-dog. Let me know when a corporation does something without the help of one or more human beings. The corporation is a shell to protect people, that's it. But corporations aren't corrupt. Kinda like fire - can do a lot, reproduce itself, but is not alive and never was.
:D