Thursday, August 4, 2011

robbing the poor to feed the rich--the American way

Subject: the "Great American Fraud"


Joe Public gets screwed again!


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From: bill dality
To: "aaa_

Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 10:56 AM

Subject: Democrats capitulate on debt legislation


"Too little; too late!"


US politicians temporarily avert economic disaster by agreeing to a compromise plan to address? the "debt crisis" .

 Necessary tax increases delayed again ...and the debt continues to grow(like a ticking time bomb)!

The tough decisions are kicked into the future.
The cuts in government services/spending will mostly affect the middle class and the poor.
There is no equitably-shared sacrifice here!
There are no increased taxes on the wealthy and on big corporation.
The banksters  got bailouts (instead of prison sentences),and the top 1% of wealthiest Americans (the billionaires) still are not required to pay their fair share.
Why should the working class exclusively bear the cost of paying down the debt?!

How long will the people tolerate such injustice and betrayal!

To a great extent, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are responsible for America's  enormous debt, and extending them sure won't help!

As long as the "debt ceiling" keeps rising and new money keeps coming in ..."the Ponzi scheme" keeps turning.

But the facade is cracking--when creditors lose confidence,  the inevitable crash will occur ... 

and the "Great American Fraud" will be over!

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From: bill dality
To: "aaa_atomic@yahoo.com"
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 10:59 AM

Subject: the party is over(the money's been spent)!
 It's time to pay the bill!


Playing "chicken" with default


The global economy is being held captive by Washington politics.
US politicians are so embroiled in partisan squabbling , they can't see past their own self-serving party interests. They can't get their act together.
There is no credible plan to pay off the 14 trillion dollar debt!
All this places into serious doubt the willingness of Washington politicians(leaders?)
to subordinate their selfish party interests to make the necessary decisions to reduce the debt and put the country's financial house in order.
There is no willingness  to resolve the underlying problem wch is "too much debt"!
Raising the debt ceiling merely delays the inevitable ...and allows the US gov't. to go deeper into debt!

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 "Working for the Yankee dollah!"


From: bill dality
To: "aaa_>
Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 10:55 AM
 

      Junk Dollar --the immanent devaluation of the US dollar


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From: Bill dality
To: tomasa@yahoo.ca
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 12:50:32 PM
 

Subject: advance warning!


The tipping point!

Global debt crisis


Raising the "debt ceiling" is a temporary, short term, stop-gap measure .
It allows the US to continue spending while deferring payment....thereby increasing it's debt!
It by no means addresses the need to pay off it's crushing debt load and put the country's fiscal house in order!

(You cannot pay off a debt by going deeper into debt!)
This can only be done by cutting spending/services and increasing taxes.
Decreasing consumer and government spending will have a depressing effect on the national economy ,and will precipitate a global recession.

The next generation will face a bleak future  of high taxes and reduced services, low pay, squeezed standard of living, and no pensions at retirement !

As for Canada not being affected:
The US is Canada's biggest trade partner.
70% of all Canada's exports go to the US.
When the US goes down ,it will  take everyone with it! (just as it did in 2008)

(no state is an island --the economies of all countries are interconnected!)

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From: bill dality
To:
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 11:35:38 AM
 

Subject: what will the new world look like?
 (a shift in consciousness)

When we have shaken off the culturally entrenched delusion that money can buy happiness,
and that one's accumulated wealth is an accurate measure of one's life's success,;
When we have re-aligned our values and our priorities (and the economy undergoes a structural reshaping and a change in direction) ...what will the new world  look like?!
What will life be like in the "no-growth era"?

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enriching private corporations through tax breaks and public subsidies


  The bailout of failing private (financial) corporations with public money is a violation of "free market" principles .
The use of taxpayer money to shore up failed financial institutions is socialism par excelence!
Government takeover of the banking system is a form of expropriation and nationalization--the very opposite of privatization and deregulation.
When billionaire banksters become welfare recipients and enrich themselves on the backs of the working class , the public understandably becomes  enraged with both the bankers and politicians (who are accomplices in this crime) ,and demands retribution against those who by their greed and irresponsible behavior  have precipitated the global economic meltdown.
The pain of the  recession must be shared more equitably.
The rich who benefited disproportionally during the boom times must now pay their fair share!

If human behavior did not require "regulation" (if they could regulate their own behavior)...there would be no need for laws or police (or law makers!!)!
The financial sectors cry for deregulation is a cry for placing the fox in charge of the chicken coop.
Without enforcable regulations they can do as they please, and are answerable to no one
Deregulation means doing away with the rule of law...and we've just seen what happens when the "rule of law" does not exist!

In their minds "regulation" is socialism ,because it constrains their freedom of behavior.
The libertarian impulse in America regards all government action as an encroachment upon individual freedom.
Government regulations  simply get in the way of unmitigated greed-- so they can act without any consideration for the public good --and this is just what is happening in the US now.
Any infringement on a corporation's "right to profit" (even at the expense of the public good)
is denounced and vilified as "socialism".

If  "regulation" (of individual and corporate behaviour) is not the role of government,..  what might that be?!

In, Lament for a Nation, Grant states
"Yet what is socialism if it is not the use of government
to restrain greed in the name of the social good"


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Thursday, July 21, 2011

a different way

Living from the inside out

where  true happiness lies

Much of modern life is characterized by "borrowing and spending" in pursuit of endless cravings/desires in the misguided belief that such activity will bring us happiness.
The accumulation of wealth and possesions becomes the gaol of life!
But the more we borrow ,the more we enslave ourselves.
(borrowers are in bondage to lenders; creditors  draw people into indebtedness in order to make slaves of them)
We end up on an endlessly moving treadmill that takes us nowhere fast.
We need to wake up to the realization that what's already available in the "here and now" is sufficient for us to be nourished and to feel fulfilled and happy.
 We exspend so much of our lives focusing our attention on and pursueing what we don’t have and ignoring all that we do have—such as life and breath!
Stop to tell yourself that you already have everything essential—that you are already great!
You are a marvellous and extraordinary creature.
Give yourself the respect and affirmation you deserve!
Everything you need to feel complete and joyful--you already have!
It's already in you!
All things are already complete in us.
There is no greater joy than to be conscious of the goodness and beauty within you/us.
If one strives to treat others as he would be treated by them, one shall not fail to come near the perfect life.
 Indeed the compulsive pursuit of desires only robs us of our sense of contentment and peace
by replacing our sense of joy (gratitude is the mother of joy) with a feeling of deficiency and discontent.
Greed is like drinking salt water--it makes you more thirsty.
If we buy into the "consumption frenzy" we become compulsive shoppers,obsessive consumers--pursuing an endless sequence of desires.
Instead of being their master ,we become their slave.
Such behavior is self-sabotaging to both ourselves and our planet.
The competitive pursuit of finite resources and material possessions , engenders distrust and conflict, poisons all social interactions,and places immense pressure on the environment.
If everyone is in perpetual competition with everyone else ,this generates an environment of distrust.
The erosion of trust destabalizes the social fabric.
Trust is the necessary foundation of all healthy human relationships.
In the absence of trust, all relationships disintegrate!

But you say..."desire energizes and motivates one!"
And this is true, but at some point  they become destructive when they become our master and we become their slave!

see "The manufacture of desire"
THERE IS WAY TOO MUCH DECEPTION(dishonesty) AND COVER-UPS TRANSPIRING ON THE WORLD STAGE

Your present life is a slavery, a heavy prison.
Understand your situation and liberate yourself from it.
Throw off your yoke, and  exit from your prison!
It is sad  to see so much deception, so much suffering, ...so much incapacity to understand where one’s true happiness lies.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

is the universe rotating ?


All celestial objects have rotation/spin.
 Spin seems to be  an intrinsic aspect of the universe.
Therefore it seems plausible that  the universe itself is also rotating around a central axis?
What information would be required to calculate how long it takes the universe to complete one revolution?

How long does it take our sun to complete one orbit around the center of our galaxy?
And what is it's travel velocity?

  Sun orbits the center of our galaxy at the speed of approx 150 miles
per second in a counter-clockwise direction.
 And of course we are moving right along with it,(the earth travels around the sun at 66,000 mph)
It takes the Sun (and us) about 200 - 250 million years to orbit once
 around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
  So yes, the Sun does have a "year" as well - about 200 million times
or so as long as an Earth year.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/solarsystem/where.shtml
  The sun rotates on its axis; a point on its equator makes one rotation
in about 25 Earth days,(while near the poles it requires about 31 Earth
days). 
So a point on the sun's equator travels at about 4500 miles/hr.
(By contrast, a point on the Earth's equator travels at about
1000 miles/hour).
   Additionally, the sun (and the solar system) is revolving about the
center of the Milky Way at about 150 miles per *second*
(that is over a half-million miles/hour!)

In approximately  7.6 billion years the sun will engulf and vapourize the earth!
Upon exhausting it's fuel, the sun will expand into a Red Giant whose outer boundaries will exceed earth's orbital diameter.
 No life on earth will survive such a Supernova event!


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Is there a massive Black Hole at the center of the universe?

According to Newton's third law...
For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action.
This means that for every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size, but opposite in direction

Supernova explosions are models of the Big Bang, but on a human time scale.
When a star explodes, part of it expands and dissipates outward, but another part collapses inward upon itself  leaving a superdense remnant at it's center.
That is ,the outward explosive force is balanced by an equal and opposite inwardly acting centripetal(implosive) force.
If the Big Bang was a scaled up version of a supernova event, 
Newton's Third law requires the existence of a very large Black Hole at the central core  of the universe --the content of wch would more than account for "black matter/energy"

If we measure the outward rate of expansion of a nebula,we can calculate backward to the time of the supernova explosion. That is, each nebula has a unique and calculable birthdate!

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Is the universe expanding?

If space (the universe)  is expanding....it is not just the space between galaxies wch expands, but the space within galaxies also! *
Indeed if space expands, then the space within objects must also expand.
Therefore the diameter of the sun and the earth increases. Atoms expand. The meter stick expands.
The expansion of space requires the lenghtening of even the wavelenght of light.
But for a photon to go from a short wavelenght to a longer wavelenght entails a loss of energy.
What happens to the lost energy, and how is it shed and dissipated?

* Because the gravitational force of attraction between two masses is inversely related to the distance between them, and because the distances between objects within a galaxy are small compared to intergalactic distances...it is possible that the force of gravity has a net contracting effect within galactic dimensions wch counterbalances the force of expansion wch is observed to be in effect between galaxies.
That is ,the contracting effect upon space within the comparatively shorter intragalactic distances... more than nullifies the "expansion of space" observed between galaxies.

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If equal  amounts of matter and antimatter were created at the instant of the Big Bang, where is the antimatter hiding??

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What powered the Big Bang ?
How was the explosion wch gave rise to the universe set into motion?
What was before the Big Bang?

First there was nothing, and that nothing exploded into everything that exists.
How could everything come from nothing?
How could energy spontaneously come into existence out of nothingness?
If energy cannot be created or destroyed, how did it come into existence in the first place?

According to the Big Bang theory ,the universe exploded out of a single point of origin.
If that is true, then that "point of origin" is the center of the universe!

Friday, February 11, 2011

power of the people, by the people, for the people...


Jubilation celebration!

All of humanity shares the joy of the Egyptian people at  the success of their grassroots revolution.
After decades of repression their united voice has been heard and they have reclaimed their rightful freedom.
We honor  their courage and their determination ,and celebrate their overthrow of a corrupt leadership.
Oppressed people everywhere today have a revitalized confidence in their own power to demand justice ,and in a more hopeful future for themselves.
May they be inspired, emboldened ,and empowered by the example of the people of Tunisia and Egypt!

Leaders of the world take heed.!
Your power is a sacred trust bestowed by the people to be exercised in the service of the people.
It's abuse will not be tolerated!

                                                                Humbled Power
                                                     Mubarek brought to trial

Saturday, December 18, 2010

the upside of the downturn


see "the degrowth movement"

 Sometimes some downtime is exactly what we need to re-evaluate our choices and our values, and to adjust our course.
 After all, a recession is simply a correction of an imbalance in the economy, and should best be seen as a period of renewal and rebirth--a time for changing direction!
According to the theory of evolution, failure to adapt/adjust can result in extinction!

Endless growth is not sustainable!
Demanding more and more growth is a suicidal path!

see: "Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered"--E F Schumacher

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Such ideas (zero growth) are not just "politically incorrect', they are economic heresy and subvert the very foundations of the status quo economy.
For politicians its all about "growing the economy"
Recesion is what happens to a consumption-driven economy when consumer demand for product and services declines due to a reluctance to spend using borrowed money (i.e,by entering deeper into debt.)  
 see "too much debt"

However,  "limitless growth" is not only unsustainable, it is irrational!
see "the pathology of unsustainable consumption"
Yet it drives current economic policy.
Therefore some core assumptions of our economic system must be re-examined.
The error in our current economic model lies in the assumption that a healthy economy depends upon ever-increasing consumption.
In a consumption-fueled economy, governments and business seek to stimulate and increase consumption by encouraging consumers to spend more by taking on more debt!
When the debt load becomes excessive, there is a retraction of spending wch results in a recession. And so the cycle repeats.

"How the economy grows and why it crashes"
-peter schiff
the stock market is a classic "pyramid scheme" that is doomed to inevitable collapse.
recessions happen on average every 5 to 6 years as the economy goes through it's "boom and bust" cycle.

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Are there Limits to Growth? 
--, Paul Phillips
 

In 1972, the Club of Rome published its quite famous "Limits to
Growth," an analysis and statistical projection of our usage of the
world's resources and pollution of the environment. This
distinguished group of scientists came to the somewhat ominous
conclusion that we were, literally, reaching the physical limits on
our exploitation of the world's resources and on the ability of the
environment to absorb our wastes.
Economists pooh-poohed the report arguing that it came as a result
of OPEC's restriction of oil production, raising energy prices and
causing a mini-crisis in the western world. Skeptics of limits to
growth won the day in subsequent years as North Sea oil gushed (and
oil prices fell) and the green revolution raised agricultural
production around the third world, erasing the spectre of global
famine. We all heaved a sigh of relief and thought that things were
back to "normal", that we could count on more economic growth,
fueled by global free trade, to solve all our problems of poverty
both in Canada and the developing world.
I wish we could believe this. In 1992 the Club of Rome scientists
put out an updated report that took into account all the objections
raised by critics of the earlier report. There was only one
problem. Their new projections were even more dismal than those two
decades earlier. Yet, compared with the almost hysterical response
in 1972, the 1992 report went almost unnoticed and now, over a
decade later, we are still doing little to stop what a former
British Shell Oil scientist has called the "sinking of our planet's
ship." We are facing global warming. We did, over Alberta's
objections, sign the Kyoto protocol to reduce global warming
gasses. The only problem is we signed on to a commitment to lower
greenhouse gasses by 6 per cent and then proceeded to raise our
emissions by 20 per cent.
Now we are also facing peak oil, the time when the flow of oil to
the market will begin to decline and real energy prices will rise
inexorably. The inevitable result of this, and the rise in price of
natural gas as it also approaches its peak, will be a sharp rise in
the price of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, tractor and
combine fuels, and irrigation systems - all of the inputs into
'green revolution" agriculture - which, of course, means that world
food supplies will begin to diminish and we will have to produce a
lot more close to home, here in the Okanagan, and not rely on fruit
and vegetables imported from Chile, California or Florida, or on
Iamb from New Zealand and Australia.
Yet what are we doing? We are converting more and more land to
housing developments and calling for increased immigration to our
region. But here is the nub of the problem. The world can not
sustain the existing population that it already has, particularly
if we try to raise the majority of the world's population out of
poverty. That is true even if we in the developed world cease
growing completely. In 1800, world population was 1 billion; a century
later it had increased by 65 per cent to 1.65 billion. But in the
last century, fed by cheap oil, population increased by 300 per
cent to 6.5 billion and projections are that it will rise to 9
billion before leveling off. That is simply not sustainable.
If the standard of living of the South were to be raised to the
levels in the North even with the current population, the earth
would use up all its resources within a decade and the world's
economies and population would crash. A common estimate of how many
people would need to disappear before life would be
sustainable is 80 per cent. That is a pretty sobering figure and
may be higher than necessary, particularly if we start now reducing
our population, developing renewable sources of energy and other
resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing, reusing
and recycling more of our waste by products. But even if it is only
a 50 per cent reduction required, the question is whether that
reduction will be achieved by policy, or by the four horsemen of
the apocalypse: famine, disease, war and pestilence.
Alarmist? Guelph University philosophy professor, John McMurtry,
wrote in Value Wars: Inside the Global Crisis (2005 University of
Toronto John and Lois Dove Memorial Lecture):
"A slow-motion collapse of life conditions under ... increasingly competitive
exploitation becomes undeniable, but is celebrated as 'freedom' and
'progress.' For the first time in history, virtually all the
conditions of planetary life are being destabilized and are on a
downward slide - from earth's atmosphere to the oceans, forests,
and topsoils to the funding of non-profit science." These are the
real limits to growth.
If you have thoughts or questions on this or any other economics
issue, write me, care of' Norlh of 50, Box 100, Armstrong, BC VOE
1BO; or emailme at phillipsp@shaw.ca. A native of BC, Paul Phillips
recently retired to Vernon after teaching economics at the
University of Manitoba for 34 years, specializing in Canadian
Economic policy and labour economics. He has recently been elected
Professor Emeritus in Economics at the University of Manitoba and
Professor of American Studies at the University of Ljubljana,
Slovenia.

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the fallacy of ever-increasing growth

Social injustice is not resolved by economic growth.

An economy based on ever-increasing growth is like a Ponzi scheme.Any interrruption in the rate of growth precipitates a collapse

Unlimited economic growth is not sustainable.
 Hence we must aspire to sustainable economic growth.
What limits must be placed on economic growth to achieve sustainability.
We cannot grow the economy at the expense of the environment,
 Economic activities must not be allowed to poison and degrade the environment
We must work with nature and not against it.
We must change our behavior and our relationship with the earth that nurtures and sustains us
This earth is our home. There is no
wisdom in destroying one's home!

See "the pathology of unsustainable consumption"



see "The Limits to Growth"

see "The End of Growth " by  richard heinberg
http://youtu.be/XjFQLGVIJak
http://richardheinberg.com/222-the-end-of-growth

Having more "things" doesn't make life happier!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

the government has no clothes!!


--from George Orwell's 1984

No transparency means no accountability!


Whenever power is exercised without accountability ,
it is suceptible to abuse!

When power is shrouded in secrecy ,people will seek to tear away the curtain that conceals the Truth!

-a refreshing contrast to the doctored pablum and outright lies that often comes out of the mouths of politicians.
-a  rare and honest glimpse into the "behind the scenes" operation of power.(so this is what they mean by "diplomacy"!!)

Wikileaks has given us a peek of the machinations(that take place in the backrooms of power) and raw ideation(unpackaged for public consumption) of those in positions of power

Governments and corporations wield their power behind a cloak of secrecy  and deceit.
They have been denuded, uncloaked, rendered transparent..
Their cloak of secrecy has been rent asunder ,and they stand exposed in all their nakedness--embarrassed,humiliated,shamed--for all to see.
These documents provide an inside/unfiltered look into the exercise and abuse of power.

Interesting how the political establishment/elite wch routinely tramples our right to privacy
becomes outraged when their own right to privacy/concealment is violated.
 Any disclosure/exposure that erodes or threatens the legitimacy of their authority and their privileged position of entitlement.
How they huff and puff (and incite to assassination!)about the leaked information ..always invoking the cliched  "threat to national security" argument,when it is really their own concealment that they are concerned about (and protecting their own positions of power)!
These Wikileaked documents appear to contain little that could endanger the security of any country.
 If our watered-down mainstream media refuses to shine a light on the dark side of the political process,
then we ought to applaud those who are willing to risk their lives and their liberty to do so!

To those who stand with the people (who are tired of being lied to by the political establishment)
Julian Assange is a folk hero  whose place in the mythology of the digital age is assured.

"In a time of deceit,telling the Truth is a revolutionary act" --George Orwell

 "In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth.
In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble. " -- Rep. Ron Paul

"The very word "secrecy" is repugnant to a free and open society" --JFK


Lies engender cynicism and distrust.
Transparency and disclosure increase public confidence in the integrity of gov't.
Conversely,  secrecy ,deception ,and corruption contribute to public distrust of gov't.,and a decline in respect for politicians.
We expect our leaders (those elected to public office for the purpose of serving the people) to exhibit honesty , authenticity, and high moral standards.
When leaders fail to respond to the people's demand for greater openness and integrity in government, those who have placed their trust in them, understandably feel betrayed and angry!
When the people lose their respect for the political process and the institution of government
they will   defy the authority of the government and will mobilize  and take their rage to the streets.

see: protecting info in a transparent world (does the digital age mean the end of privacy)

see "the ethics of information access and management"

see "the interception and aguisition of confidential information--a new kind of guerilla warfare"

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Corporatism:

Corporatism: the worship of money/the religion of consumerism
To: larry.@

Thanks for the article from the National Post titled "Kiwifruit Moralism" .
It was a good satire on left-wing/environmentalist movement.
As one who strongly identifies with liberal values and ideas
I offer the following by way of rebuttal.

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http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20060317180751493=0D

When man's highest ideal and purpose in life is the acquisition of
money and men deny the existence of any power higher that the power
they feel they receive from being fabulously wealthy,they lose
their sense of right and wrong, and answer to no one for their
actions. They are worshipping false gods
They shut off their consciences, and run amuck over anyone in their
way to achieve goals that lead only to their own sense of importance
see "capitalism run amuck"
We have seen the ascendance of the corporate welfare state where
corporations who tout the free market economy are the new welfare
bums--the billion dollar babies-- blessed with massive government
subsidies/bailouts, the beneficiaries of preferential legislation, and
deregulation-- such that insider trading and corporate cronyism are
epidemic
The corporate welfare state has escaped the vicious
attacks handed the social welfare state as government has become
the hand maiden to the corporate welfare state.
 The media, for its part, has effectively been co-opted to this "out-of-control" corporatism
The corporate welfare state is brought to you by neo-conservatives.
They praise the mantras of privatization and deregulation-- the
vehicles of unmitigated greed. These practitioners have proven that
they cannot be trusted with the keys of the kingdom yet they escape
scrutiny because they control the agenda, the media, and most
importantly effective political opposition is lacking.
Neo-conservatives, and their corporate welfare state, also want to
eliminate, or at least minimize government as it quite simply gets
in the way of unmitigated greed-- so they can act without any
consideration for the public good or public consultation-and this
is just what is happening in the US now.
And this leads us to Benito Mussolini and that little word "fascism"
as corporatism too easily mutates/morphs into fascism.

"Fascism" should more properly be called corporatism,
since it is the merger of state and corporate power."
- Benito Mussolini

In, Lament for a Nation, Grant states
"Yet what is socialism if it is not the use of government to
restrain greed in the name of the social good"

The world has been taken over by the neoclassical market economy
theory and is going to hell in a handbasket, with environmental
destruction, human destitution and mass murder ... by hunger, sickness,and war
 growing by the day. This is officially called by our
economists and politicians as "the free movement of wealth creating
capital"
The neoclassical theory has become the biggest crime wave in human history

If the world hopes to save future generations, it will have to shed
all ideology based economic theories and start following the laws of
physical realities.


The neoclassical market economic system is built on the false
theory of so called "competition", including the twisted out words
of Adam Smith.
 He never said: "In competition self interest serves
the common good".
 A totally asinine and criminal statement, neither Smith, or any
sane person would ever say,.. yet it is being taught as economics.

My friends, you can complain and bitch against the actions of
corrupt politicians and their owners/handlers, the corrupt corporations,
but unless you start going after the universities, where this garbage
is being taught, you're wasting your time. Because they are basing
their actions on the theories coming out of universities, picked up
by corporations in courses on business management and administration.
The corporations own the government and so-called elected public officials serve the interests of their financial contributors and not their constituents.We the people need to reclaim our power and our lives! from corrupt politicians whose loyalty is not to those whom they have been elected to represent but to their financial backers.
If they cannot prove that they are worthy of representing us then they should be fired.

The highest priority for corporations is to maximize profits for their shareholders.
Politicians ,on the other hand, are supposed to represent and promote the public interest.
When elected officials devote more effort to creating opportunities for industries (private corporations)
than for the people who they have been elected to serve, they lose our trust and our respect--especially when industrial growth  comes at a cost to the public interest (such as environmental degradation/pollution)

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Taming Predatory Capitalism

JAMES K. GALBRAITH
In 1899 Thorstein Veblen described predation as a phase in the
evolution of culture, "attained only when the predatory attitude
has become the habitual and accredited spiritual attitude...when
the fight has become the nt note in the current theory of
life." After an entire century's struggle to escape from this
phase, we've suffered a relapse. The predators are everywhere
unleashed; and the institutions built to contain them, from the
United Nations to the AFL-CIO to the SEC, are everywhere under
siege.
Predation has again become the defining feature of economic
life.

Our first problem is to grasp this reality in full.
Postwar prosperity was built on a vast cut in the cost of security
and the achievement of peace in Europe and much of Asia. The
American role in the cold war system was to provide security; for
this the dollar's role as anchor of the world trading system was
our reward. But now, with Iraq, we are seen worldwide as the
leading predator state, promoting war as a solution rather than as
the ultimate economic and human horror.
For this, many would like
to see our privileges revoked.
Corporate and financial fraud and political corruption form the
second great domain of predatory capitalism.
 DeLay, Frist and Abramoff are the names in the news, but the tone is set by the
leadership--Cheney of Halliburton and Bush of Harken Energy--a
large predator and a small scavenger, specialists in cronyism and
expert in nothing else. When predation becomes the accepted
business and political norm, the foundation of capitalism crumbles.
Markets lose legitimacy, investors fly to safety in bonds, and
authentic innovation and shared growth both become unattainable.
The solution must be not just a change of parties but a new
political class, including a new media not under corrupt control.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060417/forum/4=0D

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Large contibutions from special interest groups have eroded trust in our elected officials and corrupted our government". A different kind of candidate running a different kind of campaign,depends on the support of ordinary citizens and runs to represent/serve them, not lobbyists and large corporations.
We must elect leaders who are willing to serve, protect, and advance the public interest,rather than betray it!
The failure of the political establishment to protect the public interest is a betrayal of their mandate.
It used to be called treason; now it's called politics!

We must establish and maintain a clear separation between government institutions and corporations(whose loyalty is only to themselves)!
 The independence of the judiciary is deemed to be an essential part of the fabric of a free and democratic society.
Legislators/(those who make the laws) and the government  must also fulfill their role  independent
of the external influences of corporations and their lobbyists.
A lobbyist is by definition someone seeking to influence the outcome of government policy in their own favor!

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Murray Dobbin,a Vancouver-based journalist,author and social activist in his 1998 book titled "The Myth of the Good Corporate Citizen--Democracy under the Rule of Big Business" writes:


“Unspinning “ political issues: a citizen's guide to globalization

"As union, social and environmental activists, we know that the vast majority of Canadians share our progressive values of strong communities, sustainable development, and robust universal social programs;' 
"But somehow, when it comes to choosing governments, those people (including many union members) vote for parties that are slowly dismantling exactly the things people value.
"Part of the explanation is that the language used to talk about these issues in the media is determined not by us but by corporate and party media consultants, business think tanks and right-wing
spin doctors.
"What we are talking about here is how issues are framed."
"All of these effective conservative/right-wing "frames" make our job of promoting social justice much more difficult. -
"But all of them can be reframed from our values perspective. And that also allows us to speak about positive alternatives, rather than always reacting to what they do and say.
"That won't guarantee we will win but if we don't 'reframe' these issues we are likely to keep losing important battles:'