من مظاهرات يوم الغضب – شاب شجاع جدا

Protestor stands ground against water canon. GoGo.

Chasing the Egyptian riot police. GoGo.

In a recent post, I mentioned the price system and suggested that it was the most competent form of goods and labor exchange currently available. It’s not perfect, of course, but it may very well be better than many alternatives (central planning, local bartering systems, etc.). While I intimated that perhaps all was not well, there is one issue that dawned on me only later.According to the price system—as I understand it—each player along the chain agrees to participate because he or she sees some benefit in participating, and this would apply to not just the producers, the workers, the labor, and the owners, but also to consumers, patrons, and the like: all sides of the transaction theoretically see some benefit to participation, no one is forced to participate, and people can enter or leave at will.

This would be all … Read More »

In the beginning there were the temporary workers, who Walmart distributors force to work 60 or more hours per week, but only pay for 40 (or 39), with no health coverage or other benefits, in unheated and unairconditioned warehouses in California and other locales, so Walmart can continue providing its famous low prices, and consumers can continue saving 12 or so cents on plastic stuff from China for which they have no real need.Of course, worker abuse of this type is nothing new, and is actually quite mild compared to some historical (and contemporary) labor situations. The reasons for labor abuses are quite obvious, if a bit complex, and can be traced, with relative ease, to one ultimate factor: Capital Accumulation. Let’s follow the trail for a bit, if only in a highly simplified manner:In the above instance, Walmart sells … Read More »

So what’s my problem?Well, it all began with a link I posted some months ago about abuses taking place in the temporary labor market. After a few weeks researching and thinking about temporary and contract labor (and failing to post my findings as I promised), I came to believe that abuses of the temporary labor idea are systemic, and ‘fixing’ temporary labor (and labor abuses in general) would require ‘fixing’ capitalism (or finding some other economic system).

Of course, developing an economic theory that has the potential to replace capitalism, and convincing the powers that be (whatever or whoever that (or they) may be) to give up the system that allows and empowers the vast inequalities that we see all around us may be far beyond the realistic capabilities of an Art Historian—even a lapsed one with delusions of intellectual grandeur … Read More »

Like many other (somewhat misguided) people, I started the new year with a few resolutions—some realistic, some less so—and a desire to remake myself, become more of what I want to be or wish I could be. At the top of my list—just after ‘eat healthier’ and ‘get in shape,’ neither of which have seen any movement—I want to take advantage of my love of research and writing and spend some of my free time exploring the problems that I see in society and the world, examining their root causes and contributing factors, searching for solutions and ways to modify my own behavior, and thereby limit my contribution to these social ills.  
To that end, I began a theoretical exploration of what I see as the problems of society (namely, corporate control of the state and our general, slavish love … Read More »

Why did America have a 90% marginal tax rate under Eisenhower? 

Michael Hudson on the Real News Network. GoGo.

Denis Dutton explains his Darwinian Theory of Beauty at TED.

I’m intrigued by this, and think—right or wrong—that it has the ability to explain quite a bit about our odder impulses.

Speaking Freely – Chalmers Johnson on American Hegemony from Ice Goldberg on Vimeo.

By BOB HERBERT Published: November 26, 2010

Extreme inequality is already contributing mightily to political and other forms of polarization in the U.S. And it is a major force undermining the idea that as citizens we should try to face the nation’s problems, economic and otherwise, in a reasonably united fashion. When so many people are tumbling toward the bottom, the tendency is to fight among each other for increasingly scarce resources. What’s really needed is for working Americans to form alliances and try, in a spirit of good will, to work out equitable solutions to the myriad problems facing so many ordinary individuals and families. Strong leaders are needed to develop such alliances and fight back against the forces that nearly destroyed the economy and have left working Americans in the lurch.

Winning the Class War – NYTimes.com

Chris Hedges, “Death of the Liberal Class.”

Banksy directs the Simpsons opener?

Yep. GoGo.

If you take your own moral beliefs seriously, the way to respond to a challenge to them is to make sure you understand the challenge and then to try to refute the arguments for it. If you can’t answer the challenge except by mocking the challenger, how can you retain your confidence in your own beliefs?

-Jeff McMahan: “Predators: A Response.” The Stone, NYT, 28 September 2010.

Why is There No Political Outlet for Anger on the Left These Days?

Good question.  There are some of us that are very angry and very left. And there are way more of us who are very angry and rather centrist. And there are even some of us who are very angry and a bit right (but not quite so right as the Tea Baggers). We need our own movement, and I don’t think John Stewart is going to cut it.  And do read the comments. There might be something there. And Marshall Auerback has an excellent follow-up—Where is Huey Long When You Need Him?—which delves into the causes of Leftist anger and their roots. Gogo.  And, as usual with a post like this, the comments are quite interesting. Rox.

I’m wholly unsurprised that Ally (fka GMAC) has been forced to withdraw foreclosure affidavits signed by a second robo-signer. In fact, I would suspect that the vast majority of their foreclosures are wholly invalid. But the best part, by far, is the final sentence: “Ally, which is majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury Department, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.” Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. I would expect no less from a government whose sole purpose seems to be protecting the top 1%. Well that, and the status quo, of course.

More GMAC shenanigans.

via Lifehacker.

Apple sues startup for using ‘Pod’

And the EffBook sued TeachBook for using ‘book,’ and Microsoft sued people for using ‘Windows.’  This is interesting. What if someone wants to remake “The Pod People?” Or what if I decide to write a book, and call it ‘Jam: the Book?” Strange. Can corporations own everyday words? 

“And if you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it, and they’ve been waiting for it. Otherwise, we are open 24 hours — come at 5 a.m., come at 7 a.m., come at 10 a.m. But if you are there at midnight, you are there for a reason.”

This is sad and unfortunate, and has as much to do with Wal-Mart—and, to a lesser extent, all other retailers—itself as it does with the current state of the American economy. 

via theguywhoinventedfire

Poverty Statistics Skyrocketing as America Continues Wiping Out Its Middle Class