Tag: money

Anti-Capitalist Meetup: An Alternative Economic System. Part One by Diomedes77

Think outside the box. Way outside it. That’s the key when it comes to the “vision” thing. Most attempts at vision handcuff themselves to the strange idea that everything must work within the frame of the already done, the conventional, the status quo. Which is strange, given that the desire for change must assume that the status quo isn’t working. That being the case, why would we chain ourselves to it and its (arbitrary) rules?

Okay. So the vision thing in this case is primarily about the way we do business, the tools we use and who benefits. At present, we know that business is set up and structured to rain down benefits on a select few at the very top. Any system that creates the kind of inequality we’ve had since its inception isn’t working, and every single aspect of its structure and reason to be should at least be questioned. At least. Offering an alternative vision is common sense, given the horribly unequal results of the capitalist system, and instead of mocking or dismissing those attempts, it’s long past the time when we should be actively seeking those alternatives.

Money. Money is a strange concept, if you think about it. In the capitalist system, it is a store of value, a form of accounting and a means of exchange. But it is also a fiction. It has no inherent value, at least outside societal and international agreements. The key variable is those agreements, which means, logically, that other agreements could be made instead (there have been so many other kinds of agreements in the past). Again, money is a fiction in the capitalist system. It is printed by central banks all over the world, and virtually all of that is done behind closed doors, without any transparency, and without much rhyme or reason. Our Fed, for instance, a few years ago, printed some 16 trillion dollars and handed it out to banks and billionaires all across the globe. They did this in hopes of avoiding yet another world-wide depression, but still clung to the old ways in that the money went to the richest and most powerful, instead of the people who really needed it.

Money is fiction that works especially well in the real lives of the rich. Right now, roughly $1000 trillion in derivatives trading is being conducted worldwide, with a fraction of a fraction in concrete assets backing this. Even after the crash of 2008/2009, when we should have learned that billions in assets backing trillions in trade is never a good idea, things have actually gotten worse along those lines. And why? Because the fiction of money works so well in reality for the financial elite. They make billions on the fiction, while inequality gets more and more severe.

So, what if we made the fiction work for 100% of the people, instead of 1%? What if we agreed to use common sense when it came to funding what we needed, the ownership of that funding and its distribution? What if we made the fictional world fully accessible to everyone, thus making it, finally, a reality?  

Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Giant Circles Of Stone by EK Hornbeck

I’ll start with my usual non-disclosal- Not only am I not an economist, I have no professional accomplishments I care to share.

Other than I can write and have a certification in adult education, how grown up are you?

Because today we’re going to talk about money and that tends to bring out the worst features of people.

The Chicago Plan: Real Economic Reform To Save The Planet

  What is money? Specifically, how is it created?

It’s an amazing thing. We obsess over it. We sacrifice for it. We debase ourselves for it. We spend our lives trying to acquire as much of it as possible, and yet not one in ten people can accurately tell you how it is created. Most people don’t even care how it is created, because getting it is all that matters.

  If an alien landed here they would consider this behavior irrational to the point of insanity. And they would be correct.

Lying On the Pavement

12,000 babies are born each day in the United States.  Strangers in a strange land, they get weighed, finger-printed, and are sent on their way with a bottle and a blanket and a bunch of balloons.    

Good luck, little travelers. You’ll need it . . .

If you show any sign of life when you’re young, they’ll put you on Ritalin. Then, when you get old enough to take a good look around, you’ll get depressed, so they’ll give you Prozac.  Meanwhile, your steady diet of trans-fat-laden food is guaranteed to give you high cholesterol, so you’ll get a prescription for Lipitor.  Finally, at the end of the day, you’ll lay awake at night worrying about losing your health plan, so you’ll need Lunesta to go to sleep.

They’ll tell you prescription drugs are just fine, but they’ll warn you about marijuana and restrict your access to mind-altering substances like the truth. They’ll tell you all about the dangers of illegal drugs, but for some reason, they always forget to warn you about the most potent, destructive drug of all.

Money.

No Money For You, Suck it Up!

Are you out of work?

Out of unemployment?

Maybe you live off SS thats about to be cut?

Are you sick but cant afford insurance or doctor visits?

Is your Medicaid going to be slashed?

Well too F’n bad. There is no money for your “entitlements” even though you paid into them for your entire working life.

But … we got plenty of money for hospitals and other facilites, just not in the USA. Think we wont have a presence in these countries for years to come?

We have always been at war with EastAsia – Winston Smith

Why Can’t Women’s Sports Be Like Men’s Sports?

While watching the Women’s World Cup in soccer today, I decided yet again to raise a familiar question. Why don’t people follow women’s sports like men’s sports? Before I even started thinking about formulating something of an answer, I decided I would not make arguments that cast the distinction in strictly biological terms. I think they exist, but I don’t think they’re nearly as integral to the issue as we might think. Our visceral reaction to the action going on before us may provide information that is far more helpful.

An Interview with Adlai Stevenson III, Part Four: Diplomacy and Foreign Policy

On the subject of diplomacy and foreign policy, Senator Stevenson followed in his father’s admittedly massive footsteps.  In particular, he spent much time working in the Far East, and holds an expert opinion on Asia and monetary policy.  The most detailed sections of The Black Book are devoted to both subjects.  This next installment, however, will discuss the high-stakes world of brinkmanship and negotiation.  In it, Stevenson directly refutes past political narratives whose veracity has rarely been challenged.  In a Wikileaks world, the Senator has some severe criticisms of a failed system whose abuses have left all of us still feeling the effect.    

An Interview with Adlai Stevenson III, Part One: Government Transparency



Editor’s Note:

Earlier this week I had the great honor to be able to interview former Illinois Senator Adlai E. Stevenson III. He is promoting a new book entitled The Black Book, in which he summarizes a career spent in public service as well as sharing his thoughts about the current day.  We covered a lot of ground in our hour-long talk, so I intend to write a series of posts as a result.  This, then, is Part One.

Thanks,

Cabaretic

 

The Fallacy of Privileged Activism

I think what concerns me most about American society these days is how so many wish to commodify everything, especially other people.  The subject has weighed heavily upon me recently because I’m going to get married fairly soon.  I’ve been reflecting back upon the history of those I’ve dated as a means of judging larger trends in my development.  There were a few instances where I was valued more for my potential net worth than for my heart.  It is one thing to see the possibility of personal growth in a partner, but it’s another thing altogether to see them as a stock portfolio which has yet to mature.  People are not savings bonds or bank accounts.  The dreams of some involve the acquisition of funds, and to them, marriage is the perfect merger between conglomerates.  “Our” dreams are, in fact, “my” dreams with your financial assistance.  Woe be unto those whose economic star does not rise.    

Big Money and Ploitics

Big Money will tend to disintermediate candidates from the citizens of their locales.

A Doctor Responds

In response to my prior piece about Medicare and doctors, I received an e-mail from a physician.  I will summarize her response below.

Unintended Consequences of Health Care Legislation

Something not particularly well known about Social Security Disability is that after two years, a disabled person, regardless of age, is eligible for Medicare.  An eligible person isn’t just given the option, he or she is automatically moved to the program unless he or she specifically declines it.  Until that point, a disabled person usually has to make do with Medicaid and all of its maddening restrictions and budget shortfalls.  One would think that the ability to transition to a better program for health insurance would be reason for celebration.  In some ways, it is, but in unexpected ways, it has not proven to be been appreciably better.

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