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Guest Post: The Rot Runs Deep 3: The Capture of the Professional Class
Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
The Rot Runs Deep 3: The Capture of the Professional Class
A rotten-to-the-core system continues grinding on because it has effectively co-opted (captured) the professional/managerial class with promises of phantom wealth and security.
The Status Quo depends on the professional/managerial class to maintain order and keep the machine running. Since this class has more options in life than less educated lower-income workers, their belief in the fairness and stability of the Status Quo is essential: should their belief in the Status Quo weaken, so would their commitment to positions that require long work days and abundant stress.
I addressed this dependence on the professional/managerial class over four years ago in When Belief in the System Fades (March 12, 2008):
The corollary to this structural need for highly motivated, dedicated people to work the gears is that if their belief in the machine fades, then the machine grinds to a halt.
This belief is far more vulnerable than the Powers That Be seem to understand.
In a way, a belief in the value, transparency, trust and reciprocity of the System is like a religious belief. The converts, the true believers, are the ones who work like crazy for the company or agency. And when the veil of illusion is tugged from their eyes, then the Believer does a reversal, and becomes a devout non-believer in the System. He or she drops out, moves to a lower position, or "retires" to some lower level of employment.
When the most dedicated servants of the system awaken to the realization that they are not benefitting from their service as they'd once believed, that their near-religious faith in the System has been bruised by the grim knowledge that the few are benefitting from the lives and sacrifices of the many, then they simply quit, or move down the chain to an undemanding position.
At that point--a point I anticipate will come to pass in the next 5-10 years--then the Elites' machine grinds to a crawl. People don't have to throw their bodies on the gears of the machine--they just have to stop believing, stop taking that promotion, and stop wanting to trade their entire lives for a thin slice of more more more.
The belief that the Status Quo is fair, just, stable and sustainable is wearing thin, and so the response of the Neofeudal Status Quo has been to "capture" the essential managerial/professional class and effectively chain them to their grindstones.
This phenomenon of "capture" is discussed in the following essay by correspondent Lonn Gary Schwartz, O.D.:
Many are familiar with the concept, regulatory capture, a term generally referring to an industry gaining control over, or capturing, those agencies mandated to regulate their business activities/conduct. A common example is Wall Street and the Too Big To Fail banks that, over the past several years, have been accused of capturing their appointed federal regulators.
I would like to suggest that a similar process applies to the entire American professional class, those highly educated, advanced degreed group of intellectuals designated –legislated - to administrate The System. Except in this case, it is outside - corporate/government - influence that has altered the dynamic of the “self-regulated” professions.
Although this professional capture mostly involves the professions’ elite, once these “thought leaders” capitulate to the needs of the predominant external interests, the bulk of their flock quickly fall into line, understanding that these are not times when fighting The System leads to highly satisfactory outcomes.
Instead of carrying out their professional responsibility of self-regulating their field of expertise - i.e. protecting the interests of their patients/clients/customers - these doctors, lawyers, accountants, educators, etc., have been - in many cases - manipulated, both from without and from within, at times acting completely antithetically to their legislated responsibilities.
Let’s take health care as an example, although this would apply to all professions.
It should come as no great surprise that with the decades-long corporate/government takeover of the American health care system, individual health care providers lost a great deal of professional autonomy.
As this forfeiture revealed itself in decreasing control over patient-care as well as declining real incomes, it becomes easier to understand how professional and economic pressures began to subject health professionals to a variety of external influences.
Accordingly, outside control in health care emerged in several forms. Perhaps the most influential was - and still is - the insurance company provider agreement, a contract that spells out exactly what is expected of the practitioner in terms of clinical care and, in the same breath, stipulates compensation levels.
In other words, not only has the insurance company - in many cases - determined for the practitioner what is best for their patients, but they have also decided how much they are going to be reimbursed for providing these services. They have, de facto, taken over the health practitioner’s business model, a nearly complete loss of both professional and fiscal autonomy.
Whether this can actually work for individual providers - or their patients - seems lost on the insurance companies, as they have judged what works best for their corporate bottom-line, and since they control much of the market, what they say, goes. The result is that both the patient and doctor lose, the insurance company wins.
The greatest degree of external control, though, is exacted by government, whose laws, regulations, taxes, fees, and all the rest, have not only created a bureaucratic nightmare but has sanctioned - through regulation - the private insurance companies and their anti-free market practices [see Obamacare].
Therefore, the current corporate-government coalition in health care has created the worst of all worlds: distorted markets, incredible inefficiencies, skyrocketing costs, tremendous mal-investment, a health [sick] care system designed in the primary interests of ROI [return on investment] in the corporate sector, and a loss of professional control, i.e. professional capture.
The sad reality is - and as a direct result of the above policies - that it has become incredibly difficult to practice ethically and profitably on any level commensurate with the cost of a professional education/investment in a quality practice environment. Indeed, in an increasing number of health [sub] specialties, the insurance companies and government have financialzed and regulated health practitioners right out of existence!
In other words, booming corporate profits and an ever expanding government presence in health care have come at the expense of the patient - increasing insurance premiums/taxes - AND the doctor - loss of professional control/decreasing reimbursements - not to mention declining health care quality levels.
Although the government-sanctioned corporate take over of American life has certainly given us a nearly unlimited selection of mass produced consumer products, at what price has this material frenzy come?
The cost has been the obliteration of our national moral compass, elevating ROI above personal ethics to the point where not only have the professions been sacrificed to the alter of maximum corporate profit, but our very sense of who we are as Americans is being seriously questioned.
When it becomes nearly impossible to do business because of the plethora of laws, regulations, fees, taxes, financialization, and all the rest, highly trained, well-intentioned professionals succumb to the financial pressures and subject themselves to the degradation/humiliation of acquiescing to a system run by hooligans adherent only to the legally mandated corporate bottom-line.
Wealth creation based on widely accepted moral standards is what made the United States the great country it is, but if you can not practice your profession/carry out your business in a way that expresses your true professional nature, treats your patients/clients/customers with high levels of respect, while at the same time, deriving a socially acceptable return on your investment in a professional education/practice capital investment, then what’s the point?
It is time for the leaders of the professions to stand up and say, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!” It is within the power of the professions to bring serious change to this country by acting in the direct interests of the American people.
Whether it is in health care, the legal system, corporate/government accounting, education, or any other professions, massive change is necessary to restore a balance to our national purpose.
It simply takes COURAGE and LEADERSHIP, and a willingness to look at the simple truth that it is time to make the interests of all Americans, PRIMARY.
It is time for those in positions of power and influence to put away the toys and pick up the tools that will enable us to rebuild the foundation of this great country so that future generations of Americans can enjoy what we have almost completely squandered.
The American people need help, and they need help NOW.
The process of capture involves many of the dynamics I have long discussed in the blog and in my books. Wealth is power, and if you want a slice of the wealth then you toe the line and keep quiet. There's a word for for this "voluntary capture": co-option.
At every juncture where a decision to opt out (quit) or continue serving the Status Quo arises, the believer is co-opted by their desire to "stay in the game" for the promised slice of wealth and security. The risk-return calculus is heavily skewed to complicity, because the options for wealth and security outside the machine are meager and loaded with risk.
It is my contention that the wealth and security promised by the machine in exchange for subservience are phantom, and the risk of the promises not being kept is much higher than generally assumed. ironically, those who opt out and accept the risk and lower compensation are actually more secure and much wealthier (in terms of well-being and autonomy) than those who submit to voluntary capture.
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Nationalism, a wasting disease of the mind.
The rot begins within my friend and we do everything in our power to avoid this truth. The sociopaths just fill the vacuum left by our moral decline.
Furthermore, the "professional class" really *are* the muppets. Most corporate drones are not free thinkers, not free and not risk takers.
I say this all the time, and I'll say it again now: An independent shopkeeper or businessman who manages his own business and accounts gets a whole lot more respect from me than a corporate manager who has essentially zero control of his destiny. A guy who owns his own sandwich shop is my equal even if I make 10x as much as him. Because he answers to no one.
Independent businesspeople and entrepreneurs of *any* scale are free. Employees truly are muppets. (And that frankly includes the employees of Goldman Sachs).
I have little sympathy for the drones. Even the ones who are highly paid. You are either free or you are food. You are either your own boss, or you have a master.
(You'll be able to count the office drones reading this by the number of thumbs-down I get). Sorry drones, it's true. You're serfs.
The professionals (of which I am one) are the truly exceptional "Exceptional Americans".
Why is it that we cannot see how utterly blind our hubris makes us?
Working 12 hours these days feels like it barely gets you to the first rung of the corporate toothpick ladder.
The slaves known as the "professional class" do not have the self-sufficiency to "rise-up." They are far too dependent upon the quo for their survival. I'll note that they have some of the highest voter participation rates amongst the various "classes."
professional class contributes most to GDP as they compete on world class level and they contribute most in taxes in highest income bracket.
poor have a good deal getting something for nothing
rich have a good deal paying 15% tax on rigged markets and pro-corporate government
Well, what do you expect? These are all bright people who have gone into fields that are relatively high-compensation/low-risk. Simultaneously, these are all fields that produce little that is of tangible value. Accordingly, these people have the most to lose when the system fails (well, perhaps not as much to lose as their patrons, but you get my point).
labor is compensated not for the value of production but for labor supply.
Not many people want to do the job in the elite.....backstab, lie, cheat, steal, unethical personal profiteering, no friends, no family time, scamming society, selling one's mother, selling one's soul, kill civilians in middle east for oil profit, sell toxic goods, nepotism, racism, nationalism, etc all for one's gain.
that's the problem with capitalism. it rewards sociopaths highly, because most people can't live with themselves being sociopaths no matter how much a position pays. Unfortunately, there are those who willingly will become the devil for the right price.
Orwell understood this dynamic very well. For this reason he stated that the only challenge to the PARTY, would come form the lower classes... the professional class would never be able to break itself free.
Our egoic response(s) captures our mind.....opening the door to the outside capture by those who flatter our ego, either with monetary or social rewards. Once ensnared, in order to break free we must examine our considerable contribution to our own physical and psychological enslavement. Better just to muddle through and hope for the best.
Besides, it's not me.....it's you that is the problem. I'm the victim here.
As I always tell people, "I'm fine! You though... well, yer fucked."
Bet that goes over well. :)
"Ours is a stange and unique relationship. You're strange and I'm unique!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs8QKXtCN9w
Start at :37
It is also well-known that the lower classes cannot bring forth the challenge without leadership from the intelligencia...
Is that leadership or manipulation it's hard to tell.
The Ron Paul Wrecking Crew showed up at the Republican Nation Clusterfuck Convention yesterday like a bull in a china shop and made history on that date in the year of our creator, August 28th, 2012.
We've Done so much More Damage to the Establishment this Time than Last Time.
I junked ya for banal 'fan' mentaity and still believing in action heros.
OMG Michael, this post you made on there is AWESOME! --> ROFLMAO 2012
Thank you
A.I. - "The Vision" outsourced & ported to HFT machines in New Jersey. TINA .
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/pictures/mitt-romneys-federal-bailo...
Thanks for the link.
Unfortunately the plebes vote in the criminals.
And go back, self satisfied, to watch their big screen t.v.s or whatever other diversion they prefer
With the introduction of the electronic vote stealing machines I don't know who's actually voting for whom. And anyone who tries to tell me otherwise is deaf, dumb and blind.
At this point "voting" is an exercise in confirmation/normalcy bias and not the action of a free and informed people.
+1 for trashing the electronic voting scheme. The computers are exactly as honest as the people who are paid to program them. The most reliable method for an honest vote count is traditional hand-counted ballots with observers from all parties present to verify the vote count.
Having said that, it would be wonderful if there were actually a candidate who would represent the people on the November ballot.
"Voting" is an preprocessing prerequisit on Diebold mainframe to approve the Puppet of GoldmanSux Casting Agency to legitimise simulation of "the Markets " on the mainframes in New Jersey .... Hope is obsolete, "the change" an part of CI. Adrenalin for the sheeple makes them softer, Soylent Green long ....
the biggest coup is having upper management muppets call their underlings and clients muppets.
I run 6 Subways, down from 10 in the past two years. Closed 4, and put many loyal employees on the street.
From your example. here are the entities that I am beholden to:
The Feds - run every prospective applicant through immigration. Maintanence of general liability insurance.
IRS - Income, Medicare, Social Security (ha) Unemployment insurance withholding. Audits.
If they are in bankruptcy (some are) a bankruptcy trustee (a REAL pain in the ass)
County - Health inpectors, occupancy inspectors/permits, business license fees
Payment systems - for processing credit cards
Banks - always scrutinizing transactions (deposit more than 3K now, an SAR is files on me)
It cost me more time/money to comply with various legislation that it's almost not worth it any more. And as the owner, I am PERSONALLY liable for mistakes any bookkeeper or manager makes.
It get's worse - I took over a rental property business from my dad. I have to repaint and clean carpet before renting to a new tenant. This is in a shit section of Atlanta. Plus if a tenant OR ANY ONE ELSE (doesn't even have to live there) is caught with drugs on the property, the entire property can be seized and sold at auction. A kid walking across the yard with a joint observed my the cops will do it. Not to mention property tax bills that I have to build in to rent. Then there's more insurance to maintain. If I rehab a house, I'm hit with all manner of inspections (electical, plumbing, even a "pressure test" on the HAC system for Obama's saving energy "initiatives.") Every one of these properties are up for sale.
On my personal property, there is tremendous liability. Someone gets hurt, I get sued. More insurance. Can't have anyone break a leg or get a scratch.....
And my wife teaches school. Kindergarten. This year, the county imposed upon her "primary reporter" responsibility for kids she suspects are getting emotional/physical/psycological abuse. Even if she suspect the kid isn't getting fed at home (easy to spot, they try to steaal food), or comes to school in the same clothes, or smells. This opens us up to TREMENDOUS liability, down to personal retribution. These people just suck.
I'm thinking it's just time to close it all up, head back to the farm and never leave it again.
On a personal note, I had to renew my driver's license in May. In compliance with the Real ID act, I had to PROVE who I was. This requires a birth certificate, SS card, two forms of residence verification (bills....). I found this out after a 6 hour wait, had to gather all this stuff, and go back and wait again.
Starts to suck after a while, I have a real hard time sleeping lately.
JG, good man, we live in interesting times.
Measure T in our county will be voted on this coming fall. The Property Rights Initiative will require a property owner to sponsor a countywide election (at a cost of about $100,00) if he wants to pull permits to build a fence, add on a second bathroom, or put on a new roof if the property is located within a "Natural Resources" zone. The Natural Resources zone looks like 90% of the land in the county.
This legislation is perfect for deep pockets public-private partnerships who will call eminent domain, build huge highrises, and push people out of the "Natural Resources" zones as the final phase of Agenda 21.
Private property is like the herds of wild buffalo roaming the central plains.
There is no such thing as "private property" in this country any more. For a fucking roof on an existing structure?? Makes you just want to burn the shit and be done with it.
Sad, sad state of affairs.
Hope that vote fails, sounds like California.
I just want to withdraw, and I'm having a relatively good day today. On a bad day....whew.
Dear God John, you are living a true nightmare! I few years ago when I was working on site for another hospital I had a similar experience. I had been training a young, boisterous Arabian stallion at the time getting him ready for sale. Needless to say I was pretty banged up for a few weeks. I came to work and was told I was to report to Human Resources immediately. When I got there they put me in a private room with a nurse and a legal rep. and told me I was being counseled for domestic violence. I was incensed, and told them what the F were they talking about. They said someone had anonymously reported that I had bruises on my arms repeatedly which falls under there guidelines for mandatory domestic violence counseling. I demanded to know who had done this. They said they could not divulge that information, he or she had fully confidentiality. I won't go into what happened next but it wasn't pretty. I managed to get through it but it taught me a valuable lesson... Like this is what's it like to live in Nazi Germany. I hope your situation gets better, brings chills down my spine to think of what you and your wife are going through!
Miffed:-)
It's not quite as bad as all that. Those of us who work for an employer can always quit.
The employer/employee relationship is more like a king and his nobles. We perform services for the king and help him make money, but if the king oversteps the terms of the oath of fealty, his authority becomes illegitimate, and can be revoked.
(Not to say that *most* wage-slaves understand this.)
>>>>A guy who owns his own sandwich shop is my equal even if I make 10x as much as him. Because he answers to no one.
Maybe. If he used a banker, he answers to him. If he bought a frachise, he answers to them. If he has customers----he answers to them. So, he has several bosses as opposed to one.
>>>>>Most corporate drones are not free thinkers, not free and not risk takers.
Speaking from experience, this is spot on. It took exponential demoralization for me to pull my head out. Walked away & never felt more liberated.
Simply a 'better compensated' form of indentured servitude - marghinally better than the serfdom of the lower classes. Go to a 'good' school - rack up debt to do so. Get a 'good' job - but be prepared and willing to work 60-80 hours a week in excchange. Don't EVER try to take all your vacation or sick time and better be available 24/7 even when you are on vacation. Save a big hunk of that 6 figure salary (you're never going to get REALLY wealthy as a wage slave but you never realize that) because you're getting laid off before 50 and will be replaced with a youner cheaper version - presuming you haven't already dropped dead of a heart attack.
You're buying a slightly elevated status in society for a limited time period if you play the game but is it really worth it? Try NOT driving the leased BMW or mercedes, try NOT buying the bigger house, try NOT getting all the new and expensive 'stuff' and you may find you can live a very nice - much less stressful life for a lot less compensation. HEll, you might even try living on ONE salary and having a parent around to raise your kids (mom or dad - there are advantages to the latter). Your kids may turn out a lot better if you don't subcontract that out.
Good post, Popo. Ditto.
look we all know this country isheading for some kind of totalitiarian government eventyally..the question is how many more yrs will it take?? 20 to 40 maybe..but as it slowly happens the people of this country will be to fat to mount any type of meaningful revolt..you might thin kim crazy..but at least i can see the storm that is coming..
Twenty to forty years... maybe? You're either kidding, feeble - or just now got net access.
U never know... 50 years after Kennedy's speech & all we got was the moon in a sound stage...
We are about as far from "Ask not what your country can do for you..." as we can get.
Heading? Already chin deep.
Do you live under a rock?
Mrktwtch - i agree you can see the storm coming but judging by your post you're the same as the fat people you mention in letting it happen
Stop Paying Your Taxes: don't let it go any further
What scares me is the idea that we are NOT heading toward overt totalitarianism.
I don't think people would suffer overt, explicit totalitarianism for more than a generation or 2.
But the current subtle, insidious, covert totalitarianism serves the ruling interests just as well as the traditional kind.
And we may toil under its heavy yoke forever.
P
Wow am I hearing this from the twentysomethings. Bright, educated capable, experienced and burned out.
Worth a read: http://www.globalspeculations.com/2012/02/the-corporate-cocoon/
CH1 - good read, thanks. Brings home how surrounded we are by big institutions, i could count alot more too from Big Retail to Big Brands in the stores and every other 'choice' of products and services we use
our world is being destroyed by monopolists and their rotten methods of taking over society, the biggest being the monopoly institution Govt from which all the other rotten fruits hang
... our world is being destroyed by monopolists and their rotten methods of taking over society ...
Our world has been destroyed by those who chase after the cheapest price for a product. Walmart would not have succeeded if the consumer was content to continue paying the higher prices required by their local artisans and producers.
No society can pay decent wages unless the consumers are willing to pay a purchase price that supports that decent wage. Good luck on getting a significant number of consumers to do that.
What nobody seems to be discussing is the real situation we are in: constantly chasing lower prices leads to lower wages across the board (lower wages needed to be able to make a profit on lower prices). Lower wages leads to the inability to pay anything but even lower prices. Which leads to even lower wages - which leads to the inability to pay anything but even more lower prices. That is where the true "deflation" is taking place, and there is no way to reverse it.
As my wages continue to fall, how can I purposely pay higher prices for goods and services so that the producers of these can earn higher wages? If I purposely pay higher prices for some goods, that means I forgo the purchase of other goods that I need (because I'm out of money due to paying higher prices). I'm not likely to engage in that behavior on purpose.
No economy can continue to pay higher wages when the entire consumer base is chasing the lowest price.
If it wasn't for the government and all the expense they add to life, there is no way shitty items from walmart shipped halfway around the world would be cheaper than local made artisan goods or local products and services.
With a sound currency not liable to inflation at the whim of our rulers, dropping prices would be the norm in most cases.
I absolutely agree. In an environment with a stable money supply and no fractional reserve banking, prices would decline over time as production increased.
You've got to be kidding. The source of low wages isn't the frugal consumer. The source of low wages is the high supply of labor compared to the low demand for it. Why is there low demand for labor? Because it is expensive to hire employees compared to machines. Capital is a cheap economic input in a low interest rate environment. And we have a low interest rate environment because of FED and government intervention.
Place side by side on the store shelf an item made by a local manufacturer and that same article made in China. Under normal circumstances, the Chinese-made article will have a lower price.
If the majority of consumers purchase the cheapest item, that will encourage American manufacturers to ship jobs overseas to wherever labor costs are cheaper. If the majority of consumers purchase the more expensive, American-made item, the demand for items made with cheap overseas labor will fade away, and jobs will stay in America.
It is the consumer that is driving this process - not the monopolists and their rotten methods of taking over society.
Our world has been destroyed by those who chase after the cheapest price for a product.
Well then, we'll have to control all those stupid people and make them do the right thing... for their own good!
And enlightened people like us will have to do it!
Yeah, that'll turn out really well.
We can't make people make logical decisions. I know all of my decisions aren't logical. There are times to buy quality products and times to buy something that will just get the job done. My Dad has ruined more power tools by using flimsy extension cords than I can count; I gave up on educating him on this particular issue decades ago. I think most people don't even realize that Walmart has stuff produced to a lower standard just for them so they can be the low cost leader.
"...twenty somethings burned out..."
LOL, yeah, I thought I was too and I still had to work every day for another forty years. Get used to it.
LOL, yeah, I thought I was too and I still had to work every day for another forty years. Get used to it.
With respect: You shouldn't have.
Peace.
The rot in the professional class hurts me the most. These are my peers, who after given privilege and opportunity turned their backs on their fellows to defend the corruption of TPTB. My guess is that they will bear the brunt of the localized anger as the Second American Revolution gathers momentum.
This won't be pretty FiSHeS.
Like all things, division of labor is a double-edged sword. While it allows highly specialized jobs to exist in order to produce ever more complex goods and services, it also sharpens one's focus to the point of not having the time today, nor the background experience of yesterday to observe many other things. So what can one do except to believe that the other experts like them are doing their jobs in these areas?
Worse yet, add in the degradation of honest commerce, and suddenly the experts have been displaced by con men. What does one think then? Cognitive dissonance rules the day, with thinking safely cast behind whatever walls we need to construct.
No they won't, they're professional con-men. They'll paint themselves as kindred spirits and fellow sufferers, they'll point at their bosses and say "yeah! get 'em!" and then, by means of connections, wealth, experience, and malice, start a new con game without batting an eye.
It is fully internalized, they have been trained to be as they are since birth. Few will ever change, most will never want to.
We are really talking of Alienation as a Marxist Concept here. Most White Collar jobs have today been reduced to Blue-Collar types of supervision as the "Modern Times" Economy of Charlie Chaplin's films have become Fritz Lang's "Metropolis". The Welfarist and Corporatist State has basically coopted White Collar Professionals with promises of job security and indentured servitude to pay back the loans required to get the Credentials to rise from the class below, but did so as the security of middle class occupations and vacation time became socialised across all classes in Europe with 6 weeks paid vacation and comfortable job security extended to low-skilled occupations by trade union power
That's the downfall of Marxism they make us all equally desperate
the world is run by fascists... marxism was a fascist creation, it was never real. people need to understand that obama is not a muslim marxists.... he is a puppet, controlled by fascists... an actor for some to hate, others to worship... but either way, a tool to keep you in the system. a fascist corpratist system.
marxism was a fascist creation,
No...it was an OUTCOME of fascism. Marx was no fascist.
Marx also claimed that he was not a Marxist.
"marxism was a fascist creation"
There was no fascism in Marx's lifetime.
how about "the sun never sets on the British Empire"?
Europe is more egalitarian but the business climate is horrible, the red tape stifling. There is no way they will be able to compete with the Chinese and even America. Once their debt ponzi implodes there will be some real pain. I just hope they don't start wars over it again.
Long guillotines and the heads of paper-pushers. Think there is real value in your labor? Prove it or lose your head.
Fucking bring it.
Let's not fight among ourselves lest they divide and conquer. Focus wrath and justice on the overlords.
Purge inward, then purge upward.
The guilotine I speak of knows no class boundary or divide. Simply stand and demonstrate the real value of your labor (already happening in black markets everywhere). Nature finds a way to purge itself of bad ideas and failed management and failed designs, so can we.
At the root of all our woes is the underlying fact that there have been no real consequences for bad behavior.
Having your bonus go from 50 million to 20 million is not a real consequence, especially after you run the company into the fucking ground.
Thankfully, for us "lower-class" workers - we have black markets. Oh, and guns.
Thankfully, for us "lower-class" workers - we have black markets.
And as the corporate drones get bled dryer and dryer, you become the ones with money.
Ironic, huh?
(But don't forget that you'll face a new set of problems then, and that they'll ruin you too, if you're not careful.)
Did you all see this other bit of rot?
High-Frequency Traders Flat-Out Buying Data Ahead of You:
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2012/08/28/high-frequency-traders-flat-o...
how long is the average stock actually held again? Can you trade faster? No, so a pointless arguement.
So unfair advantages are okay as long no one else could take advantage of it?
The likely case is that people with options will emigrate if the calculas works in their favor to do so. America is still a destination for some emigration of professionals but not so much anymore (except from 3rd world nations). Americans need to get out more. There are other parts of the world that have very decent living standards and less corruption. All major powers in decline see their technicians and engineers vote with their feet!
If I didn't already live in the US, I sure as hell wouldn't move here.
Best read Amy Chua "World On Fire" before you do and discover what ethnic groups control business life in which country. It is all about Circles of Power and Circles of Influence and in most of the world it is based upon family and tribe, so Merit won't get you in
Life's about living comfortably...knowing that your hard work creates value....and that value compounds itself into sucess...
It's become more of dream and less of a reality for more and more people...
Still possible for the ultra-ambitous...just need to own farmland and livestock, stack metals, have a way to defend your property, and have a good woman by your side...self-sufficient happiniess...
Not for the corporate lemming types. It's all about what in Russia they call "luxe", luxurious petit-bourgeois materialistic hedonism; mindless excess; pithy extravagance. The uppity professional types are nihilists, value, for them, has nothing to do with anything because it doesn't exist; all they care about is the rat race to live it up with as little work as possible, nothing else matters.
Now I'm going to be mean: they are not real people, they are phantoms who feed and prey on real people, their entire lives are a series of manipulations, obfuscations, inversions, twistings, lies, misrepresentations, and cons. They are sell-outs of the first order, professional nihilists who have forgotten all but the pursuit of "luxe".
Re the above example of health care: Every single medical professional that I know is cashing out; within 5 years the shortage of GPs especially, will be critical. According to two friends who are specialists, under Obamacare, the reimbursements are insufficient to cover the overhead to service medicare or medicaid patients.
"reimbursements are insufficient to cover the overhead"
The key point a lot of people miss is the overhead part of the discussion. These patients used to be gravy. The rates paid by Medicare have gone steadily up, every single year. How did the gravy suffer spoilage? The docs/nurses/admin staff have been rising in wage right along the same inflation curve as Medicare. So what is hitting these docs square in the balls? Primarily, office space, equipment, and insurance (both liability insurance, and dealing with fucking asshole insurance companies, who by the way run the Medicare and Medicaid contracts). Equipment expense I don't have a lot of sympathy for, you don't need every new toy to do medicine effectively, but for fucks sake, the office space skimmers and the insurance company skimmers are eating us alive. A normal, unfucked with commercial RE market and elimination of the insurance company middleman would do a hell of a lot to get this shit right again.
A neurologist I know is considering cashing out and moving to Brazil. He'd better hurry up, in my opinion.
I am in the process of a complicated business transaction with a MD who runs a chain of physical therapy & dialysis clinics right now, which depends heavily on federal and state direct payments.
The entire medical system in the United States has become just another rotten, infectious, Ponzi-like scheme, with a cascading sequence of needless testing (expensive testing) and ineffective (and often harmful) prescription meds, prescribed by a captured organization/monopoly of "doctors" who get direct and indirect kickbacks from the diagnostic equipment makers, diagnostic labs, and Big Pharma, with at least 50% of this massive expense/waste paid for by taxpayers directly (and more if one includes indirect costs).
Some will accuse me of being wrong and even cynical, but I challenge anyone to do the following:
If you know a pharmacist you trust, whether a friend or family member, ask them what % of people getting Rx's filled are doing using federal and/or state programs, whether medicare, medicaid, or other ones (spoiler alert: It will be a minimum of 40% and as high as 90%, depending on where the pharmacist is located; let's call it an average of more than 50%, because it is on a national basis).
If you know a doctor you trust to provide a truthful answer, whether a friend or family member, ask them whether there's built-in direct & indirect incentives to prescribe certain meds, order certain tests, and even designate the specific facilities that medical tests be undertaken at (there's a massive, systemic scam that the MSM hasn't mentioned whereby physicians owning interests in diagnostic companies specifically send their patients there for MRIs, CT Scans, etc.).
Just another intraPonzi-system within the larger Ponzi built on Modern Money Mechanics & radical government hijacking/crowding out of normal market functioning (breaking supply/demand, price discovery, free-rider, etc. models).
As an additional note, this is why primary care/family physicians are overwhelmed with patients and dramatically under-earning on a relative scale compared to specialists (primary care/family doctors are also the first to be hit with reimbursement cuts by insurers, whether government or private), and why there will be a big shortage of these types of physicians (family, ER) soon, and an overabundance of specialists soon. Everyone "knows" the big money is in the sub-specialities of medicine, and also on the business end, not the primary care treatment front.
I have had it with the fucking quacks, I can't wait for their gravy train to derail. I was in perfect health until I went to a "healthcare provider" for a routine test 6 years ago, got a little yellow golf ball inside of me called "Staphylococcus Aureus." This little bastard KILLS your B cells, comes back again and again and again. Bactrim? Bacitracin? Mupirocin? Don't work for the long run. It shows up on your face perhaps, so you look like a Monty Python leper. Yes. Fun times. 80 proof vodka (dabbed with TP, and taken internally) and niacin seem to work best. These smug clowns say that "hand washing" will prevent it. They don't want to admit that their "clinical environments" are full of deadly germs! You pay for the privilege of playing Microbe Roulette! I should have sued, but mother is a nurse, threatened to disown me if I did.... the Pink Wall of Silence... Be your own physician, eat well, stay out of the hospital, they are charnel houses and infection pits. Obamacare now forces us to buy into this machine, just swell. I'd rather not give another nickel to a doctor as long as I live. Just wait until everything goes Vancomycin-resistant, hospitals will go the way of buggy whip factories.
Wow, see patients like you more and more! Oh and guess what...Vancomycin is starting to become ineffective on MRSA ( methacillin resistant staph aureus... Methacillin is a marker drug, if you're resistant to that whole CLASSES of antibiotics are useless) most people don't realize that 70% of all antibiotics are used in farm animals in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations ie feed lots) these are one of the primary reasons today we are seeing such resistance in bacteria today and it will get worse. So if you enjoy swinging though the drive thru for a hamburger, you're exposing yourself to these bugs. Sorry, I don't care how well it's cooked some will get through and colonize your body. The other place you get these bugs as you point out is in the hospital. However we are seeing more and more patients with MRSA coming into the hospital for the first time. Therefore this killer bug is roaming the community too; hospitals are just adding to the spread of these killers. You sound like you have been colonized by mrsa. I recommend trying probiotics. These friendly bacteria have been shown to crowd out the bad and reduce the incidence of reinfection. I work with these killers everyday believe me I know what they can do. Contact me if you want any other info, I'd be glad to help! Good luck.
Miffed:-)
Thanks Miffed, I will take you up on your offer. I have become something of an amateur microbiologist myself, forced to know my enemy intimately. Like Sherlock Holmes in his study..... using myself as a guinea pig. But I likely only know 0.1% of what you know...
A remarkably non-statist piece by a normally statist author. But he is right, I was a good corporate soldier until I was stirred from my slumber in 2001 and awakened fully in 2008 when I walked away.
and now you rroam the land like David Caradine as a nomad searcing for justice and adventure?
I would add that wealth disparity excacerbates this issue. The idea of success and wealth is contructed through culture and therefore where someone believes they should fall is based on a general definition from society through media, etc. Because the consensus these days is such that success is defined at a very high level (possessing millions of dollars or making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year), once individuals discover that the ideal is no attainable they will fall back and not attempt to achieve it. What happens is the realization that the difference between making $100k/yr and $200/yr does not fundamentally change lifestyle or opportunity when weighed against the ideal income level, and therefore it makes little sense to try.
This is a good point, Reggie Middleton actually had a pretty good article on this:
http://boombustblog.com/index.php?option=com_k2&Itemid=200079&id=5893&lang=en&view=item
"One concept that I would like to dwell on this post, but unfortunately will not be able do due to time constraints, is the very real fact that there is NO MIDDLE CLASS! I believe it is a construct created by the capitalist class and their managers to placate the masses and muffle would be insurrectors who would dare attempt to move up the ranks. The reality is everybody is a member of the working class who is not a member of the capitalist class and needs to work for a living. That's right, if you cannot live off of your capital, then you are a working class citizen. Middle class and upper middle class monikers, are just that... monikers. That goes for you doctors, lawyers, accountants and well educated PhDs. You know the old saying about the friends walking down the street in Greenwich. One saw a neighbor and immediately urged the other to hustle across the street. When his friend asked what the rush was, the 1st man replied, I heard that Biff over there is starting to live off of his principle. Long story short, many more of you are members of that 99% than may have been led to believe by those in charge."
The intellectuals have always been used by the rulers to spin out tales to befuddle the population (particulary the military & police ) and to maintain the system.
The intellectuals (that is, those who make their living and have a temperment which focuses on using the mind) are naturally more vulnerable to propaganda provided by 'education' and various media. They are so good at learning - - though usually don't realize that what they have been taught is wrong.
It will be interesting when enough intellectuals come to the realization that theyve been had. Like in 1776, true and lasting transformation must be based on sound ideas. Shaking your fist at the sky, without knowing exactly who and what you should be focused on is counterproductive. (as in most of Occupy WS). The intellectuals will provide the next Jefferson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocPTdtXEKD8
Intellectuals and academics, sadly, tend to be scum - moral cowards, apologists, coconspirators with or members of the political class. The professional classes are separate, but not necessarily any better.
Only chickenshit conformists get the seal of approval.
The next Jefferson would say: Take hold of the fiat-based monetary system. Use the Uniform Commercial Code for the discharge of debts both public and private; It is their biggest strength while hidden and their biggest weakness when placed in the light.
Get into the light!
This is exactly where I am after 20+ years in 'managed care'. Out as of three years ago and have taken to restoring classic cars in my barn. Dead broke and couldn't be happier. Anyone interested in a closet full of $1000 suits?
Sorry, I avoid suits now - - and have my own pile of them.
Paid a ton for the damned things and can't seem to toss them out. (Though I did donate a bunch of slacks to a store run by a charity. - - - Someone got a helluva deal.)
P.S. - - a guy I know recently got laid off from an executive job. - - Thing is, he said he went that career route for the increased pay, but actually his first love is working on cars and boats. Did that since he was a kid, and on weekends thats what he's usually doing in his spare time for fun. (He's got quite a shop at home.) -- I'll have to mention what youre doing to him.
Good for him. I invested in the shop nearing the end. Lift, welder, etc. Best investment ever. My wife thought I was nuts at the time but has changed her tune in a big way...I built it and they come all the time. I pick and choose what I want to do and what I don't. Built a beauty for my son for HS graduation- we had a great time. I wish I had done it sooner.
what size?
46R Tallia Uomo Too big for me now as well :0)
Goodwill. I retired and have enough office clothes that I will probably never run out of clothes to wear while I work in yard. I think I still have 3 or 4 suits which should last me forever when they get worn once or twice a year.
The enforcement of monolopies is creating lots of new jobs for this managerial class:
http://mlatrader.com/sanctions-monopoly-enforcement-creating-new-jobs-at...
Sanctions Manger?
I personally can't think of a better example of how this pattern plays out than the one I see in my own trade; electrical and software engineering. I see and hear about many extremely smart, talented people with the power to improve the world (and make a very decent living doing so) by designing the tools that, while often taken for granted, have the real potential to make life better for everyone, get sucked up by wall street!
No matter what industry you work in as an engineer, you amost always gain the intagable satifaction of creating something of value! No matter the impact; It can be mundaine tools, a foolsh consumer gadget or a lifesaving medical device, you do produce something of value and advance the state of human progress...even by the tiniest amount. However, wall street has provided powerful and almost irresistable incentives to engage in an arms-race that creates ZERO VALUE for society. It's a tragedy that our culture incentivises the diversion of our nations most powerful asset, INNOVATION, away from technological progress and into a digital shell-game.
And the fox said to the dog "Whats in it for you ?" "Why it is fantastic" replied the dog "I get my food each day, get taken for walks, have my own bed, I lack for nothing" "Whats that thing round your neck ?"
the rot runs deep : Federal debt : 16 T Consumer debt : 11.4 T Corporate debt : >10 T official ex. Shadow banking derivatives.
$11.38 Trillion Debt Of American Households - Business Insider
Muni debt : > 5T Entitlement debts : > 20T unfunded.
Total US debt : > 60 T for a GDP of 15 T. Plus the derivatives reset which is unquantifiable.
How do we realistically plan in such an environment?
Simple: Just pretend its doesn't exist. Keep Interest rates low or negative and print, print, print, hoping the world buys the US treasuries to ensure Pax Americana stays the political and monetary framework of world. Status quo of the wealthy imposed on the world.
These facts are so hard and blatant, known to all who have fashioned this world, that moralising about democracy and "fix it" solutions is now denial of reality; big time.
Pension actuaries.
To me this is what the Tea Party has been about.
The MSM quickly labeled and polarized individuals over this uprising because to control the dialog you must label then disenfranchise individuals.
I went to a Tea Party rally in 2009, and it was full of individuals of all kinds. Conservatives yes, but also independents, progressives, and individuals that it would be hard to label. We were all shocked and stunned and despite the differences in dress, social class, political leanings, and other labels were were as one in our dismay.
"We bailed out the banks? What!?! Our government is using the Patriot Act to destroy our rights under the Constitution. What!?! The Supreme Court has approved the confiscation of individual property simply to increase tax revenues? What!?! We are putting people in corporate prisons for the possession of 1/4 ounce of pot? What!?! We are allowing illegal immigrants to stream across the border to treat them like slaves, lower wage scales, fill our schools and hospitals, and have our taxes raised to bail out malfeasant bankers/insurers? What!?!"
The list goes on and on, but as a whole all of these disparate individuals were shocked that our inalienable rights, our most fundamental freedoms dating back to the Magna Carta were being discarded for the benefit of the organs of the state and the corporate body. Those sacrosanct liberties were being extinguished for the sake of expediency, for greed, for lust of mammon and power, for the soul-less bureaucracies and corporations that asked us to sacrifice while rewarding the indolent and the crooked.
The grinding wheel of oppression has only progressed since then: Corzine and his ilk "vaporizing" the savings of individuals, a Central Bank manipulating markets and punishing savers, the Supreme Court ruling that corporations are individuals, the National Defense Authorization Act allowing citizens to be arrested and jailed indefinitely without a jury trial, TBTF banks in league with government to profit from social programs, the wedge between patient and doctor expanded to benefit insurers and corporate healthcare and mandate purchase, no tort reform whatsoever concomitant with the abject absence of the rule of law protecting the individual.
You can't call it the "Tea Party" anymore because it has been labeled "conservative", denigrated and marginalized, pigeon-holed and labeled into uselessness.
Individuals are left with taking the red pill or the blue pill, when it is the collusion of the two parties in league with corporate interests that is precisely what has given rise to the machine. You either join the machine and scrabble for what you can get or become a ward of the state. The rights of the individual, their ability to make choices based upon those rights, and the affect on the machine has been blunted or destroyed. The death of the middle class in the economic sense is a symptom of the death of the rights of the individual and the power of their individual choices.
Centralized control, whether by government or the corporatocracy - alone and/or in league with one another - has built this machine and the Status Quo. The collusion of these rapacious Kleptocrats and Oligarchs has left individuals with the choice of joining the hegemony or opting out.
A sad choice indeed.
The Tea Party fucked up when they aligned with Grover's no tax bullshit. The tax system needs to be completely overhauled and in my opinion to a flat rate. However the the Tea Party is now pigeon holed into the nobody's taxes can go up. Well the 49% that don't pay anything need to be contributing something because they currently can vote in tax raisers with impunity. And depending on where a flat tax is set, the "rich" or more accurately, people with only capital gains instead of income, may need to pay more.
Politicians were eager to claim or deny ownership to fold the feelings of individuals back into the meaningless red/blue political system.
Rule changes yesterday at the RNC to allow the nominee to choose delegates, meaning that someone like Ron Paul has no voice at the convention.
Perpetuation of the false flag election "choices" and political machine essential for the perpetuation of the Kleptoligarchy.
The Constitution is a simple and straightforward document but it has been shredded by the need of the Status Quo to centralize government and corporate control and eliminate the effect of individual choices or the power of individual choice altogether.
Divide and conquer.
No, there needs to be a zero tax rate on incomes, both personal and corporate. This is possible only if you're not borrowing your money supply from a private bank. Think it through and teach THAT to the local Tea Party and you'll push the conversation where it needs to go.
Until then, it's mostly red/blue team games with uninformed cheerleaders.
There's no "50% who aren't paying anything." That's silliness.
There are tons of people who make SO LITTLE MONEY that the Feds have to give back their FICA money, and as a result, they effectively pay no income tax.
The thing is, those people really don't have any money. If your wish comes true and folks earning $12,000 a year have to start paying $1200 in income taxes, the money for their survival will still have to come from somewhere.
Even you likely don't want in a country where half the population isn't eating regularly and sleeps under bridges. That's the way it is in many parts of the world.
"There's no "50% who aren't paying anything." That's silliness."
Agreed, especially when you expand "anything" beyond "federal income tax". Built into every purchase and payment (including rent/utilities) are tax liabilities. Everybody in this country pays taxes.
Sorry, but you are still thinking within the limits of the current paradigm. The federal government is a monster and has become dangerous in the extreme. It is only a matter of time before they start rounding us up and it is going to be really difficult to take any action from behind the barbed wire or from the mass grave. The conversation needs to be about pounding a stake of mountain ash into its undead heart before it sucks us all dry. Paring it down to a manable size is an impossibility as long as it continues to batten on its citizens. I read a comment earlier from a guy who renewed his drivers license and waited many hours, only to discover he needed more documentation because of real ID and I wondered why he would submit to such a thing. Starve the beast. If you think they are going to let you keep what is yours you are deluded. Learn to live without because if you don't learn voluntarily it is going to be thrust on you soon enough.
"Rise like lions after slumber,
In unvanquishable numbers,
Shake your chains off you like dew,
That in sleep, had fallen on you.
Ye are many, they are few."
Exerpt from the Mask of Anarchy, Percy Bysshe Shelley, written on the occasion of the massacre carried out by the British Government at Peterloo, Manchester, 1819.
Personally, I'd like to see the 'income' tax system abolished completely and switch to a federal sales tax on everything except prescriptions and food.
The tea-party went tits up when Glenn Beck appointed himself spokesperson.
It's back to the Attack of the Killer Algorithms in healthcare and in other areas. The middle class has become "data chasers" with fixing inaccurate information compiled on all of us. Want a good example on flawed data...check out this post on how often they update doctor information on the web. This company by the way I'm sure does not like me and it goes back to finding my 8 year deceased doctor still listed as alive and well with seeing new patients. Flawed data and algo duping even outside of the financial areas is what I try to show.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/healthgrades-ceo-founder-joins-wo...
In Chapter 6 of the Attack of the Killer Algorithms...how we became data chasers..
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/12/attack-of-killer-algorithms-part....
Algo Duping I wrote about in Chapter 36 and suggested reading the book Proofiness and some kudos there from the NISS (national institute of statistical science) who also agreed with this and said keep making noise. It's sad we can complain and until a human gets in there and fixes the machine with the flawed data, we are just screwed.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/complexities-in-data-systems-grow...
The Internet is full of stale and incorrect data. I look at the trash email I get and know that data mining is bullshit; just a line they tell investors. Even when companies know what I've purchased from them they try to sell me what they have and not what I want.
This is a fine description of what has happened in American medicine... ICD9 codes... a Dx for every Rx... standardized treatment regimes... reimbursement established by Dx (for hospitals) per a contract, which is, for all purposes, non-negotiable. There is almost no innovation in medicine any more, despite the ever growing price tag. Each Dx has standard treatments. If you deviate, you do not get paid. Insurance companies, billing departments, "case management," and bureacratic overhead eat up more and more of the revenues.
It gets worse each day as insurance companies, emboldened by Obamacare, place obstacles deliberately designed to trip up service-providers trying to get compensation for services rendered. It can takes many hours of time to get paid on 1 claim for a procedure that took 30 minutes. 25 hours of labor to get paid for 30 minutes of service. Only in health care.
And the US is the "only" country in the world that ties ICD diagnosis codes to reimbursment...tons more code to write and analytics for that!
Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho, it's off to work we go!
http://tinyurl.com/6t5akfp
The professional/managerial class is mostly comprised of unskilled enablers that are scared they will starve if they don't follow masters orders.
College professors have come around really well. Doctors and definitely shrinks are questioning their sanity as to if something big is going to happen. Then every professional homeowner knows something is up. Every person in Real Estate. So lots know something is fucked. Most are highly angered at the banksters and don't have much problem of blaming them. It is the upcoming false flag by Obama and the one by Bush is kind of a hard sell. But they don't have time to read or listen to the proof. They think heartless people but not Cheney and Carlyle took down the WTCs.
I believe we are sitting pretty good and growing very well as concerns the knowlege of the take over of the US by the globalist NWO and their financial terrorists.
There will be no more false flags like 9-11 and no WWIII. The U.S. military and various other oath keepers are sick to death of fake commanders in chief and their unconstitutional bullshit. They will be backing the MASS ARRESTS. Obama, Brenanke, Timmy, and hundreds of other top traitors to the Constitution will be in chains and orange jumpsuits soon... http://tinyurl.com/cd5cyjo/
You're a dull boy, dull as plainsong. La-la-la, forever on one note.
What kind of boy are you? The headline chasing, easily distracted, can't see the forest through the trees kind of boy.
The kind that doesn't believe in unicorns, the tooth fairy, or the crap you spam on every fucking thread. Your bullshit meme has been going for over 18 months on the net - picked up and capitalized on by various parties - and how many arrests have been made?
A number that is equal to your credibility - zero.
Stand aside with the women and children and let real men grab the reins of this out of control carriage. Less than 5% of the colonists sent the British empire packing, and less than .1% of Americans are about to send the illegitimate federal government packing.
'Real men"? You mean you're like one of the four short-bus fucktards arrested in Georgia for MURDERING one of their comrades and a 17-year-old girl?
Stay in your mommy's basement with your BB gun, junior - you'll just shoot your eye out if you play with it outside the house. She can read you more fairy tales about aliens and non-existent shadow groups arresting the people you don't like - you seem to adore them so much. Maybe she can read you some history, too, since you're ignorant about the French involvement in sending 'the British empire packing'.
The professions were co-opted lock, stock and barrel when student loans went mainstream and the ability to discharge them in bankruptcy was made impossible.
If you want to know what hamstrings the middle class and professionals - rendering them de-facto indentured servants - look no further, it's student loans.
Go ahead... ignore the 8 billion pound gorilla in the room... the "Professional Class" that is active-duty U.S. military officers, veterans, federal marshalls, and countless other oath takers and oath keepers. Go ahead... keep kidding yourself into believing they are powerless big-government loving zombies. THEY ARE NOT. When they've head enough, and they HAVE HAD enough, the MASS ARRESTS will occur! Obama, Brenanke, the Bushes, the Clintons, Timmy G., and hundreds of other top traitors to the Constitution will be in chains and orange jumpsuits soon... real soon... http://tinyurl.com/cd5cyjo/
"Professional Class" that is active-duty U.S. military officers, veterans, federal marshalls, and countless other oath takers and oath keepers. Go ahead... keep kidding yourself into believing they are powerless big-government loving zombies.
You mean like these guys?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19408479
No, not like them at all, but thatnks for the link. I'm not talking about violent mutiny and assassination, I'm talkikng about handcuffs and speedy public trials for the traitors... backed up by, but not orchestrated by the military. Listen to the Wilcox-Drake interview and give it as much credibility as you see fit.
So, you are for fair trials before we hang them?
Jury trials are what separate us from "the barbarians". However, the juries for the traitors must be comprised of out of work Walmart greeters and the judge must be a law school dropout with well over $100k in student loans.
Charles,
there are no "professions" anymore. There are only "businesses".
I have been a practicing lawyer for 40 years. During the last 30, I have been a "one man show". Everyone told me: You are a dinosaur - you can not compete against these mega law firms. And, that is true. So, I did not compete. I offer personal service to very wealthy businessmen.
Some owners are tired with dealing with law businesses. Those firms have sent him to John to do his corporate stuff; to Sam to fix his taxes; to Bill on where to get a blow job; etc.
Those owners are my clients. They have a problem. They call me. I get the problem fixed. How that happened, they do not care. They want results and only want to deal with one person. And, I charge them good money for this work. After all, I am in business. My bottom line is just as important to me as yours is to you.
Now, I would not still be in business if I had stolen money from my clients; fronted criminal activity; covered up crime, etc.
I stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago, like: "No man is above the law." The Corzine Rule, established in 2012, has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that, if you are a "made man", you are above the law.
What am I supposed to do: Stop "practicing law" because the system is corrupt. I hear talk from other lawyers about how they were going to "work within the system" to make it better ("more honest"). What a bunch of crap. They system can only get reformed when the pressure from society is great enough to make it so.
I am no different than a plumber, a dentist, a doctor, a mechanic - we all fix stuff that is broken, about to break or obsolete.
Charles,
you have some notion that "professionals" are better than others, with higher ethics, etc. Nonsense. We are all just sprokets and gears in a big mechanism.
I never went to law school to better the system. I went to law school to be able to defend myself from the system and not get screwed by it. And make a little money too. And, those regards, I have succeeded.
Agreed... the system will only get reformed when the pressure from society is great enough to make it so. I didn't join the military to better the system, to defend the Constitution, or to restore the Constitution. However, the "pressure" may just be at an all time high. The illegitimate federal government (all three branches), the illegitimate justice department, illegitimate treasury, and so on are universally despised and are in just about everyone's crosshairs both inside and outside the U.S. The illegitimate Federal Reserve Note is circling the drain and about to go the way of the dinosaur. Big changes are in store. If evil flourishes when good men do nothing... well evil is fucked, because everyday good people have less and less to lose by doing something.
"the professional/managerial class" ..."commitment to positions that require long work days and abundant stress." is unlikely to change as they have long discovered that having no debts (student loans, house and other major purchases are paid off) will not help them live decently on one wage (say the lower of the two in the household). So putting up with long stressful work days we will...
This is article is spot on.
Basically, at some point the costs associated with being a member of the "professional"middle and upper middle class start to outrun the benefits. All of those homes and cars and businesses actually, gasp, need maintenance, and it gets expensive. And if those costs rise, they crowd out what otherwise might be spent on "lifestyle" which is basically just conspicuous consumption.
So in the end it's finally revealed that you can't save any more money, because the costs preclude it. And any money you might otherwise save is taken by the Federal government to pay for big welfare. The remainder is diluted through debt monetization.
So you are a high class serf, but a serf nonetheless. The most deluded of all are the MBAs.
Agreed,.. the high class serfs with MBAs have a bigger house and bigger car, but are still only 3 months away from financial ruin, instead of 3 weeks or 3 days like lower class serfs.
What a timely article - I packed up my desk two weeks ago after 25 years at the same company - the bs that comes with today's jobs is just that - bs. Sometimes it just isn't worth it anymore and I'm finally feel FREE of the rat race and feel a thousand pounds of weight have been lifted off my shoulders, my biggest regret is that I didn't do this YEARS AGO!
No idea what lies ahead but I know for certain that I will never, ever allow a company to own my soul again and am cautiously optimistic that opportunities await.
I'm finally feel FREE of the rat race and feel a thousand pounds of weight have been lifted off my shoulders, my biggest regret is that I didn't do this YEARS AGO!
Great feeling to lose that weight of stress! Makes you feel like a feather. I talked to my old boss the other day. For the time he puts in, 24/7 electronic tethering, he's come to realize he's making slave wages & getting ready to chuck it too.
Well, heck guys. The Professional class has to do the bidding of the system in order to pay off those massive student loans.
Now that was what that RAND Corporation study aimed for, wasn't it? Better to be a fit dude workin' on the turnpike, out in the sun, sweet pickup truck and not a care in the world, than another pale white collar schmoe with 675 things that needed to be done yesterday... back to work...!
Those who got student loans so that they could study anthropology (just an example; I like anthropology) just didn't do the math. I'm not talking about higher math here. The whole student loan thing is another example of the government distorting reality.
The professional class (service economy folks) are the most vunerable, not the least, in my opinion. People will always need a ditch digger, a driveway sealcoat man, and a plumber. Far too much human capital is misallocated into services jobs.... in other words, too many people who don't know how to do anything.
The rot runs deep indeed! I woke up in 2000 and walked away from a 13 year finance career. Since then I have never worked or harder, and have never been happier. Now it is all on me and all for me and mine. I will take that setup. All you corporate stiffs out there with that nagging gut 'knowing' inside that 'there must be more to life than this', follow you gut and get out. You will feel the new breath fill your soul almost immediately!
As systematic analysis of CAFR reveals, there is an OUROBOROS OF INCORPORATED ROBBERY. A tiny minority of managers operate a system, which no longer has any coherent "owners." Instead, We the People collectively assert a monopoly over the right to rob, which is effectively directly by a tiny percentage of the population in ways which are used against the vast majority of the people, which has systematically robbed more and more ... Theoretically, We the People need to wake up to the fact that our powers are mainly being used against us! Unfortunately, the real human ecology is run like any other classic set of trophic layers, except different people take up the roles of the various trophic layers in that human ecology. Primarily, there are a large group of people who act like brain dead sheep, who are being routinely fleeced and set up to be slaughtered by a small group of vicious wolves, that specialize in being dishonest (or backing legalized lies up with legalized violence) in order to maintain the overall system. Paradoxically, that runaway triumph of lies backed by violence is going psychotic, and so, will eventually destroy the elites that run it, as well as all the others too. The problem is that the real solutions are for everyone to become better wolves, not better sheep. However, the system is set up so that the wolves have promoted the biggest bullies' bullshit social stories so well, for so long, that most people think that the solutions are for everyone to become better sheep.
the problem with that solution is that even if the new wolves are successful at eating the established wolves, those new wolves create a new system where they hoodwink and dominate everyone else....and the ouroboros turns again.