Mosaic
Mosaic's JournalWhat The Rich Really Think
by Stuart Shapiro
For the conspiracy theorists among you, Henry Blodget (who is quite wealthy himself) pulls back the curtain on how the rich think about the rest of us:
People like me don’t hate Obama because he’s going to raise our taxes, although we hate that plenty. We hate him because his views about the importance and primacy of the middle class diminish our status. The threat he represents isn’t economic; it’s existential. It’s not just our pocket books that are threatened, but, more importantly, our prestige and our influence on this country. Our manhood is at stake. . .
When Jack or Mitt or I call ourselves “Job Creators”, it isn’t because it’s true or that there is any evidence for it. It’s because being a job creator puts us right at the center of the economic universe – where we deserve to be. This belief system isn’t just convenient to us, although it is. It’s essential in order to justify our status and power.
I’m ready to grab my pitchfork!
http://www.alan.com/2012/11/11/what-the-rich-really-think/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+liberaland+%28Alan+Colmes+Liberaland%29
Too close to call?
Am I the only one who thinks it is suspicious how this election is too close to call, according to the corporate media? I mean Obama should be at least at 60%, maybe even 70%. We have 6 huge media conglomerates dictating 90% all the media us sheep digest. Why is a close election, nearly tied, advantageous to the establishment? They want Mitt to steal the election, either by republican voting machines, or voter suppression. A close election makes that harder to detect and easier to steal.
The US presidential election is no contest
If the models are robust, and their predictions strongly in favour of Obama, why are we being told that the race is a dead heat? I think it is partly a cultural issue. Earlier this year I wrote a story about election forecasting for a British publication. The science editor liked it, but a colleague on the politics desk vetoed the piece, in part because he simply didn't believe the forecasts. I can see why. The hurly-burly of day-to-day politics is filled with dramatic events, like the recent leaked video of Romney talking in unvarnished terms about voters he cannot hope to win over. These events make the race feel like a roller-coaster ride.
The truth, as revealed by the science, is much more prosaic. Obama is way ahead and has been for ages. The meat and drink of daily political reporting - party conventions, gaffes, attack ads - have a limited and often passing impact. That's not to say that an unforeseen event couldn't put Romney in the White House. But it would have to be something huge, because studies of previous elections show outcomes depend far more on fundamental factors such as employment rates.
Full piece here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528840.200-the-us-presidential-election-is-no-contest.html
Any Alyona fans out there?
As someone who looked forward to and watched The Alyona Show on RT, I wonder why her show suddenly was canceled. I know she works for Huff Post Live now and I've seen her do some tough topics like she always did, but with more frequency and intensity than she does now.
You can still watch most of her show segments on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlyonaShow
Congressman's skinny-dip is applauded by nudists
And no surprise: Yoder's actions on that fact-finding trip last year are defended by the American Association for Nude Recreation.
It says in a press release that "the U.S. has a long history of political skinny-dippers: John Quincy Adams, Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and George W. Bush all abandoned their skivvies for a refreshing swim. President Johnson even went skinny-dipping while in office with evangelist Billy Graham. Other famous promoters of skinny-dipping include such notable Americans as Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Herman Melville and Norman Rockwell."
The association also cites a 2006 Roper poll that found that 25% of adult Americans have skinny-dipped in mixed company and says that it " advocates people should skinny-dip in appropriate settings like their own back yards, nudist resorts and clubs, legal nude beaches, etc." Apparently the Sea of Galilee does not have the welcome mat out for nude bathers.
http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2012/08/congressmans-skinny-dip-is-applauded-by-nudists/828790/1
The Real Global 1% Ruling Class
The transnational capitalist class can be analytically divided into four main fractions: (i) owners and controllers of TNCs and their local affiliates; (ii) globalizing bureaucrats and politicians; (iii) globalizing professionals; (iv) consumerist elites (merchants and media). . . . It is also important to note, of course, that the TCC [transnational corporate class] and each of its fractions are not always entirely united on every issue. Nevertheless, together, leading personnel in these groups constitute a global power elite, dominant class or inner circle in the sense that these terms have been used to characterize the dominant class structures of specific countries.[iii]
Estimates are that the total world’s wealth is close to $200 trillion, with the US and Europe holding approximately 63 percent. To be among the wealthiest half of the world, an adult needs only $4,000 in assets once debts have been subtracted. An adult requires more than $72,000 to belong to the top 10 percent of global wealth holders, and more than $588,000 to be a member of the top 1 percent. As of 2010, the top 1 percent of the wealthiest people in the world had hidden away between $21 trillion to $32 trillion in secret tax exempt bank accounts spread all over the world.[iv] Meanwhile, the poorest half of the global population together possesses less than 2 percent of global wealth.
Read the full piece here http://www.mediaroots.org/the-real-global-1-ruling-class.php
Which is why I'm amused
By people who speak of 'neofuedalism', like Chris Hedges. I think he and others watch and read too many King Arthur type novels for their own good. That history will never repeat itself. I do believe Hedges knows that in his heart of hearts but fear is the great, and dark, motivator and he employs it well. As an optimist I don't use fear, I prefer solutions. Solutions are hard, require great thought. Fear is easy.
Neoliberalism is toxic
Neoliberalism's economic roots begin with the re-establishment of international monetary stability with the Bretton Woods Agreement, which fixed currencies to the US Dollar and the US Dollar to gold. As an ideological movement, it became increasingly prevalent based on the work of Robert Mundell and Arthur Flemming. The Mont Pelerin Society, founded at about the same time by thinkers such as Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Michael Polanyi spawned free-market think tanks and advocacy groups in the UK and the US during the 1960s and 1970s. They drew upon the theories of the Austrian School of economics and monetarism. Neoliberalism argued that protectionism and government programs produced economic inefficiencies, and that developing nations should open their markets to the outside, and focus on exporting. Also emphasized was the liquidation of state-owned corporations, and the reduction in rules designed to hinder business. Neoliberal ideas found expression in a series of trade talks to form the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as well as regional free trade agreements such as the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement. These agreements went beyond textbook "free trade" to encourage the free movement of capital funds and direct private investment and to limit national restriction of business privileges.
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Neoliberalism
Halt the influence of
Adam Smith and replace his book with one outlining the economic superiority of Democratic Socialism in developing cooperative and democratic economies, and reducing the dark human qualities of greed and selfishness. The founders would look to this work in establishing the U.S., rather than Smith's.
You get used to seeing breasts
At a nude beach in Florida, you could see hundreds of women topless. You know what happens after about 5 minutes, even to a single man? It has no sexual effect anymore. I know it sounds unbelievable but it's true. Nudism is a wonderful lifestyle that in its pure form involves no titillation or sex at all, it's supposed to be family friendly. Most beaches in Europe are topless, when I went to France I casually walked by beautiful women laying topless with not a care in the world. I wish we could be as advanced as they are. We must let go of hangups brought by gnostics (aka puritans) that left Britain because they could not get along religiously with their more sane countrymen back in the 1600's. Now it's 2012, we must evolve and learn to enjoy this short life.
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayHome country: USA
Member since: Thu May 10, 2007, 09:08 PM
Number of posts: 1,451
