Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Someone finally had the wherewithal to step up to the plate and speak the unspeakable. Corporations are fictions and have no “right” to exist. They can - and should - be destroyed the same way they were created; with a flick of the wrist (as in the signing of a paper).

Only when corporations have been eliminated, can we possibly see what needs to be done next.

Social capital cyclically reanimates the dead body of privatized capitalism. 

Socialized Capitalism should, therefore, replace privatized capitalism, so that the socialized capital that enables capitalism can provide benefit to the greater community of mankind, rather than provide for private interests at the expense of the communal interests of the greater community, the nation as a whole.

CJ—
Where have you been all my life? Love your post.

Thank you CJ.
How refreshing to see someone grasp and sketch the big picture.  Historically of course, some did find death a reasonable option.  Could it happen again?  I doubt it.  The expendable sheeple have been methodically herded, like anchovies by whales as their options dwindle.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to watch American Idol.

I’m trying to recall when our cultural values dictated economic procedure, sometime before this latest century. Can’t think of a single occasion. As Marx noted, power—founded in economics—dictates cultural values. “We the (rest of the) people” have yet in our collective history to dictate much more than a collective web posting.

Uncle Milty was wrong, as so often. The corporation’s interest is that of the ruling class, not per se that of shareholders. But manifold quackery has always ensued, which is to say ideologies that by definition serve as cover. Emanating from both ends of the political spectrum, though most especially from the extremist center, that monumental contradiction that really does think it possible to have cake and eat it too. Now THAT is idealism!

It is not the job of politicos to see to the public interest; it is their job to see to the interest of the class that rules and that pays them. Master/slave. True, class conflict, particularly when hidden, must be attended to lest the wage/salary-slave element become as unruly as a pissed off Greek pensioner very much on the dole in the context of a claimed laissez-faire universe.

The time for words is past. Okay, but what then to do when still too comfy after suffering heavy losses? Marx never thought revolution would result from dispossession. He was right about that too. Alas, wrong concerning the evolution of class-consciousness on the part of prole. We could go Greek, but I don’t see that happening here in the land of ardent belief in a laissez racket that still (?) might set one free.

Racketeering having appeared in a few forms ongoing since BC, since long before Jesus or even Buddha, let alone Smith, Calvin and Friedman, and Rand, that pimp of the truly pernicious, hi-jacker of reason to employ as another means to ends. We still don’t seem to know we make history and might make it as we like. “We” the operative term. No number of isolated Is is ever gonna get we anywhere. And a society of pretend Is is yet worse, particularly when each I is encouraged to “love self,” which method is claimed to be means to happiness for the flattened. I see, uh huh, uh huh… “values” (cough, cough). 

What there is is we vs. they. As Gore Vidal noted, they are raised to think differently. Vidal would know. But we knew that already. They hold we in contempt, as means to privileged ends, as suppliers of bonuses.

But even this economy has picked up steam since the latest Great Depression, and so what IS happening? Well, the ruling class is “jittery” as one CNN steno put it. No, she didn’t actually say, “ruling class”! 

When was the last time any entered their workplace to participate in a democratic process? Never is when. Why is that acceptable at the level of what is most essential to life? At the level of (practical, as opposed to formal) political-economy? Who needs a boss or to be bossed?

The Greeks are being blamed for the current crash of the racket, on which those of us who’ve slaved away as proles for decades have a lot riding, and what with no access to the government tit or to university tenure or to writing and/or broadcasting opinion, informed or not so informed. Pensions are long gone while Social Security is fast disappearing. Leaving only the racket in which to participate for survival. If not the Greeks then the Germans, or just today the North Koreans, are to blame. Blah, blah…

What we’re actually witnessing is the ruling class ruling, where and when doing so most counts, so to speak. Sell, baby, sell. Ridding the game of minor players, taking the money (profits) and, okay, running. No conspiracy is required when a ruling class is only acting as it always has, solely in its own—born and raised to, well known to them if not to us—relentlessly powerful, thus privileged, interest. For “we (the rest of) the people” should we get serious? Prison if not death.

Nothing new about it.

One does not discuss or debate with pigs, mon petit cochon.

It’s a waste of time.

It’s like arguing with a Jehovah’s Witness or Seventh Day Adventist on your front porch.

John Ellis seems to have concluded that talking to Eugenio Costa’s automatic word processor is hopeless. My kudos Mr. Ellis!

Great article by Chris Hedges who finally seems to be getting it!  We are subjected to accusations of “moral hazard” when banksters are subject to possible default by borrowers.  Yet when these same banksters run an organized scam to rip off governments and pension funds with their fraudulent “financial innovation” distributed risk crap manipulated to be AAA secure investments, they demand to be bailed out at 100 cents on the dollar and take no responsibility for making outrageous uncollectable bad loan decisions.  Talk about moral hazard.  This is a destruction of the responsible capitalism in which the poor businesses are eliminated by failure in the marketplace.  Additionally, many of these scumbags were smart enough to back up their sales of greed driven lier loan AAA garbage with collateral based on profits from absolutely secure revenue sources from the likes of power plant utilities.  These individuals should be in striped suits and prison cells.  The problem is that they are in cahoots with their bought off government officials there is no justice.  Instead all we see a transfer of wealth from the have nots to the haves by an organized cabal of fascist co-conspirators.  So why are riots and revolution by the those under this boot of oppression unreasonable?

Mr.Ellis, sir:
May I borrow your soapbox? I want to preach in a one-way form of commuinication

And can I borrow your copy of Dianetics?

“Till then, no matter how far up the intellectual ladder you think you have climbed it is just so much smoke and mirrors.”

Railbird

And how in the world would Railbird have come by such “knowledge”, so arrogantly stated in regard to someone else?

Why not enlighten the folks with your epistemology, Railbird, mon petit pseudo-chretien.

Pistis and/or logos and/or….

Eugenio Quixote Costa wondered:
“And how in the world would Railbird have come by such “knowledge”, so arrogantly stated in regard to someone else?”

Your befuddled ramblings speak for themselves senor.
Sr. Agnóstico Railbird (adios)

Un regalo de despedida:
http://tinyurl.com/2u56yhb

WHY ARE WE IN THE SITUATION WE ARE TODAY? A TOTALLY ROTTEN SYSTEM AND THE NEED FOR A SOCIALIST-REVOLUTION !!

Go to these 2 links to download audio speeches by Bob Avakian the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party and Dr. Michael Parenti digging out the ugly truths of the US Empire. And also about the real truth of US founding Fathers, US History and US Imperialism and that in 1776 USA was founded by oligarchs and bankers as an oligarchic-empire and not as a beacon of liberty, freedom and social egalitarian democracy as people are taught in schools

http://bobavakian.net/audio.html

http://www.takeoverworld.info/parenti_talks.html

X

GO TO THIS LINK AND DOWNLOAD SPEECHES BY SOCIALIST THINKERS ON MP3

http://resistancemp3.org.uk/

.

Senor Costa….., may I recommend this for a personal image:  (you can trim the comments)

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/87/quixote.gif

Nous horei kai nous akouei, t’alla kopha kai tuphla.

DREAD, oh my, DREAD! AWE! Mysterium TREMENDUM!

Down on your knees, cripples and perverts.

How many English-speakers dive into bed as if it were a submersion into a watery world, whether of sleep or sexual congress?

EAC

A bientot, mon petit pseudo-chretien.

Kierkegaard was a much as fraud as his Johannes Climacus and his ladder.

You are completely tendentious, rancorous and resentful of quality and learning, anti-intellectual, without humor, and most important without any aesthetic, Monsieur Railbird.

That just a quick reading so far.

Consider it a loss leader.

Sixth Patriarch say: Screw off, little fella.

Senor Costa, when you begin to contemplate your epitaph you may get a glimpse of the truth.  Till then, no matter how far up the intellectual ladder you think you have climbed it is just so much smoke and mirrors.  Useful, enjoyable, but an apparition.

“There are grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it.”
Shakespeare

How may English-speakers dive into bed as if it were a submersion into a watery world, whether of sleep or sexual congress?

EAC

Capitalism is a false god, is incompatible with any concept of democracy, and we
are watching it crash and burn. And we will all be better off after it’s demise….

You might want to read, Arthur Danto’s, Nietzsche as Philosopher.

There is a hint there.

But it is much more complex than that, or looks so to the simple-minded.

It’s kind of like an encoding/decoding—but you have to be really sharp to follow it.

Eugenio Costa, wrote:

“Never was much impressed with Reinhold Niebuhr—very sloppy thinker.”

But you are impressed by your own tidiness, eh Eugenio?  Your “diversion” is vanity, Si?

The mysterium TREMENDUM!

Ta-dah!

Popper—merci, mais merci non.

Mommsen, Seeck—primo.

Not to be confused with Walther Otto—brilliant mind.

Another sloppy German—Rudolf Otto.

Never was much impressed with Reinhold Niebuhr—very sloppy thinker.

Eugenio Costa, wrote:
“Isn’t it strange—one never hears ‘money-crazed beast.’”

Pick your favorite obsession/diversion.  Money, sex, power, legacy, vanity, immortality.  Over investing in these brings about the same ultimate fate as the aforementioned mythical Icarus who flew to close to the sun God Helios.

Religion, as Reinhold Niebuhr pointed out, “is a good thing for good people and a bad thing for bad people.”  This also applies to capitalism, socialism, communism, atheism, etc..

“So it goes.”

Blasphemy is the only parrhesia….

EAC

There are some really depraved crypto-Calvinists unintentionally unveiling their perversions in their language on this thread.

Isn’t it strange—one never hears “money-crazed beast.”

“sex crazed beast”.

Hilarious.

Without altering humans nature all political systems will become as evil as its
followers. There is research being done to stimulate the libido and turn each
person into a sex crazed beast. Their only need would be the objects of their
desire and enough food to keep them alive. This development would end wars and
create heaven here on Earth.

Capitalism with social welfare is still Capitalism, and just as Fascist, Corporatist, and Imperialist.

Bernstein/enough time = Tony Blair.

Pardon—upsetting your apple cart.

If you want a more subtle study see the brilliant Swedish film Du levande.

If you don’t want anything of the kind no skin off anyone’s nose but yours.

The solution is socialized capitalism.

The “unconscious” is a discovery of the West, largely because it is a Western invention—a perversion necessitated by the systematic repression of Christianity, and before that Judaism.

Hypocrisy—so well known among Christians and Jews—is, as Deleuze and Guattari never get around to saying, a phenomenon intimately allied with the schizophrenia generated by Capitalism.

One also does well taking a close look at Marcuse’s surplus repression and how it is connected to Western violence, belligerence, and aggression.

Onward Judaio-Chrsitian soldiers!

Comedy is comedy.

No sane mind can think this stuff up, Zen or no Zen.

The beautiful metaphor of the declawed cat now shows up in another form, the inevitable battle of egos, exchanges of insults.  Different focus, same driving force.

Dogen:
“Just understand that birth-and-death is itself nirvana. There is nothing such as birth and death to be avoided; there is nothing such as nirvana to be sought. Only when you realize this are you free from birth and death.”

“Much has happened to psychoanalysis in its century of life, and Freud today would have difficulty recognizing many of his progeny.”:

http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/davloy.htm

John Ellis. Let me explain why I have concluded that you are not merely a boor but are an arrogant boor. This site is, among others, a vehicle for opinions. In my first contribution I playfully stated that I would like to know the opinion of Sigmund Freud, a well known person from the 19th century. Instead of smiling about my playfulness you emptied your gall bladder on Mr. Freud. What was your Freudian fear? That I might contaminate other readers with Freudian prejudices?
Since then you seem to have concluded that this site is not merely one for stating opinions and facts but that it is actually a classroom of some virtual university of your mind in which you, the Professor, is teaching a class of ignorant freshmen, some of whom make stupid, others intelligent remarks all of which call for your commentaries.

Not “deterrent”,“EXISTENTIAL deterrent”.

How is the clown self-styled as “undeserving to live” deserving of prescribing “exisential deterrents” for others, HAHAHAHA.

This is a useful specimen of White Protestant, crypto-Calivinist Capitalist depravity.

“Existential deterrent”—HAHAHA.

A Neo-Con or Zionist Born Again in supposedly Progressive drag.

Really these Christian Capitalist provocateurs truly manage to make serious discussion and communication on such sites tedious.

And that exactly their aim.

Can’t have any of you American boobs seriously reading Marx or Engels or Lenin and such.

You might get ideas.

To John Ellis: My extensive personal research of seven decades of human foibles tells me that you were a high school bully and that you are now a gigantic boor who believes that he is called to fill the pages of this website with his endless and repetitive ruminations.

Not “deserving to live” but the clown has the definitive poop on “the beginning of the world.”

Why even “deserving” to make nonsense noises then?

Freud to Lacan and Marcuse to Deleuze and Guattari.

Does it matter that Freud, like Columbus,got what he uncovered all wrong structurally?

Not really.

Nor that Lacan untangled only a small part, while realizing the central pertinence of language?

Not really.

What matters is that Marcuse is a powerful antidote to Bernays, and Deleuze and Guattri have correctly diagnosed Capitalist schizophrenia.

Mentioning “greed” in the context of “Capitalism” without any apparent awareness of “commodity fetishism” and “commoditization” indicates the status of an untutored kindergartner.

Anarcissie,

1) Jealousy

2) Arrogance

3) Bigotry

Greed is the desire to get “something for nothing”.

Waiting for the winds of change
To sweep the clouds away
Waiting for the rainbow’s end
To cast its gold your way
Countless ways
You pass the days
Waiting for someone to call
And turn your world around
Looking for an answer
To the question you have found
Looking for
An open door

You don’t get something for nothing
You can’t have freedom for free
You won’t get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be

What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story
In your head is the answer
Let it guide you along
Let your heart be the anchor
And the beat of your own song

DaveZx3 wrote:
“It is all a part of that insidious “get” mentality.  It all becomes a small part of our self-fulfillment, an effort to build ourselves up, to be all that we can be, because, after all, we all are “special” aren’t we?  And we do have a right to “get” stuff, don’t we?”
[end quote]

Round and round the mulberry bush. Freud? Precious little to do with the big picture really.  Who got closest to the truth that everyone is in denial about when it comes to the driving forces behind our recurring predicaments?  Ernest Becker in his Pulitzer Prize winner “Denial of Death.”

Up to digging a little deeper?  Google is your friend but here is some great material for you/us thinkers:  “The Nonduality of Life and Death: A Buddhist View of Repression”

http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/davloy.htm

Quote: “The following is based on my 21 credits in psychology and much personal research”. (John Ellis)

Hey John, should I genuflect? I suspect, however, that you were discredited.

Greed is having or wanting stuff more than someone else thinks you ought to.

Here’s the whole paradigm:

Someone who has more stuff than I have is a greedy pig.

Someone who has less stuff than I have is a worthless schmuck with no ambition.

Someone who has different stuff than I have is a weirdo and should probably be run out of town.

I think that covers the major categories.

Bernays was Freud’s nephew and an American,one of the founders of Public Relations and modern propaganda.

His work on propaganda held an honored place in Goebbels’libary.

Bernays perverted and exploited his uncle and his work just as mercilessly and effectively as he perverted and exploited everything else he set his mind to.

These crytpto-Calvinist Capitalist provocateurs are a barrel of monkeys.

“deserve/don’t deserve”,“feel UNWORTHY” HAHAHAHA.

LIBIDO—ooooooooh my.

What a waste of time,  “mind” and bandwidth.

“Freud is one of the founding fathers of thought control”.

From what primitive and savage realm of unmind do these formulations emanate?

What nonsense—a “trillion” in USD?

The Financial Capitalists are like Mussolini—they have begun to believe their own Meta-economic inventions.

The Republican Party is the reincarnation of the Confederacy. Corporations are plantations. Capitalism is our “peculiar institution.”

Neither Europeans nor Americans will have their benefits reduced. The US at this moment can float a trillion in treasury bonds which is enough to keep friendly governments fat for decades. Future generations will have the benefits of wonder drugs that will keep them euphoric. It will solve the problem of greed.

Quote: Freud was one of the founding fathers of though control, as he locked people in mental darkness by teaching that the libido drive, the physical desire for sex, that this controlled all your hopes, desires, motivations and moral decisions.(John Ellis)

John I suggest that you start reading Freud because your statement is ridiculously wrong.

Capitalism as the root of all evil.

“What we have in this country is socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor.”
Gore Vidal

To rail against capitalism is to misunderstand the nature of our current situation, I believe. We are descended into Fascism.

Not to nitpick, but the authors use of the word “prelapsian” is incorrect I think. It is either sublapsian or supralapsian.

Sub-Lapsarian, Supra-Lapsarian

The sub - lapsarian maintains that God devised His scheme of redemption after the “lapse” or fall of Adam, when He elected some to salvation and left others to run their course. The supra -lapsarian maintains that all this was ordained by God from the foundation of the world, and therefore before the “lapse” or fall of Adam.

Regardless, a note for Samosamo, if he doesnt mind…

I think Mr. Costa an all too familiar poster. Ignoring him is a far better tool than feeding his need for notoriety.

In my recent little dissertation on “greed and the get mentality”,  I did want to mention that of all the things mankind thinks he needs to “get” and add to his inventory of possessions or qualities is the important notion of “superiority.”

Maslow, in his “needs” hierarchy, indicated “self actualization” as the highest level of individual need, but I would have to say that “superiority”, the idea that my self actualization is more important than your self actualization, transcends all of Maslow’s hierarchy, and is more a means than a product of the process.  If I am superior, then I have a right to get mine first, don’t I?

Establishing superiority in the pack is of primary importance to the creature.  It takes precedence over even the more basic needs.  It determines who gets the females, who gets to reproduce? 

Man also puts a high priority on superiority.  Everyone pushing their strong points in the effort to compete, beat and belittle the competition.  The intellectual with his big words, the beautiful with their sensuous looks, the talented, the strong, and so on and so on. 

Putting down other’s opinions, bullying, belittling, intimidating and viscious attacks when all else fails, is all part of the process used by the “unenlightened” in their effort to “get” what they believe they need to “get” and to promote their own little “get” machinery.  Is there anything like this reflected in the posts of TruthDig? 

It is all a part of that insidious “get” mentality.  It all becomes a small part of our self-fulfillment, an effort to build ourselves up, to be all that we can be, because, after all, we all are “special” aren’t we?  And we do have a right to “get” stuff, don’t we? 

I married a true “giver”, and I am finally starting to understand how opposite I am to that, and how much is screwed up by my “get” mentality. 

The selfish/superior attitude of the “getter” is a blight on the face of the earth.  Society will only start to heal when that mentality is drained, (it could never be legislated) out of the minds of the population. It needs to happen one person at a time, each encouraging others to rid themselves of that poisonous attitude. 

You, with all your stuff, and me, with all my stuff, we are the problem.  You can’t blame it all on governments and corporations, because they are made up of millions of “getters” just like us. 

Let he who is without stuff cast the first stone.  But don’t think stuff is only luxurious riches.  It is our drugs, our entertainments, our educations, our appetites, our pornographies, and the fat hanging off of our bones, among other things. 

But if you have all your exquisite and non-exquisite stuff, but are feeling guilty and have turned into an intellectual pseudo-socialist, do not come to me with your guilt and your communist leanings.  There is no honor or enlightment in becoming a fake revolutionary from the living room couch of your $500,000 home.  I am not interested in your self-inflicted guilt.  I am not interested in your attempts to “get” right with your guilt without giving up your “getting” ways. 

Your perpetuation of the “get” mentality is as much a cause of the misery of the poor as anything else.  Reform your own mind and your own life first before screaming at everyone else.  Giving a portion out of your excess, does not a “giver” make.  It is giving out of your own needs which will distinguish you as a true “giver”

Page -1-

Greed is only a symptom of a greater spiritual disease, which is the “get” mentality. 

As an aside, I have read that the direct translation of the name “Cain” is “GET”  (Remember Cain, who wanted to “get” more recognition than his brother Able, ended up murdering Able in a fit of jealousy)  It would be easy to contend that the “get” mentality is the source of all murder and killing. 

Like the positive and negative poles of a magnet, there are only two primary (positive and negative) spiritual states to humankind.  These two states are inherent within each human being to varying degrees.  The positive spiritual state manifests itself as (among many other phenomenon) the behavior of giving and sharing, and the negative spiritual state equates to (among many other phenomenon) the behavior of getting and hoarding. 

The “tree of life,” metaphorically, shows how positive spiritual energy (giving, et al) works. 

Christ said, “I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” 

The vine, or trunk of the tree, feeds the branches according to their need.  New life (leaves) are produced at the ends of the branches.  The branches do not hoard the nutrition which they receive from the trunk, but pass it on to the smaller branches, which pass it on to the leaves.  If the trunk hoards, the branches and leaves die.  If the branches hoard, the leaves die.  If the leaves die, the whole tree dies because some of the energy of life passes (photosynthesis) from the newest life to help sustain the oldest life, in a symbiotic type of relationship.  So, life-giving forces pass both ways, from the oldest to the youngest and from the youngest to the oldest. 

Life is therefore about constantly bringing up new life, which sustains the body (society) as a whole, young and old, both of equal value.  The process of life involves the massive trunk originating sustenance and passing it out through a system of branches, on down to the very newest life in the system.

Page -2-

A religious person might see God as the trunk of the tree, but a secular society might see the corporation or government as the massive trunk, processing the elements of the earth to create sustenance for mankind down to the youngest of its members. 

Whatever you see as the trunk, the metaphor is still of value in teaching the principle of givng vs. getting. 

In the “giving” model, taking more than one needs for the moment is useless.  The metaphor of the “manna” shows this uselessness, as whatever is taken beyond daily need, rots before sunup the next day.  So it is said that, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”.    The most blessed state exists when one “fasts” and passes (gives) the whole portion on down the line, taking nothing for the self.

In the “getting” model, we attempt to get more than what we can use immediately in an act of unfaithfullness, insinuating that it is necessary to hoard to take care of tomorrow, as the system and the body is doomed to disease, failure and death. 

We erroneously contend that our excess is evidence of an inherent strength, skill, knowledge or “blessing”, and we believe it entitles us to be worthy of being looked up to by the “less fortunate”.   

This devious ascension of the “get” mentality is the key factor to most of the problems of the world.  We are all guilty of it to one extent or another.  What do we tell our kids?  “You must “get” good grades, so you can “get” into a good college, so you can “get” a good job, so that you can earn (get) more money during your working life.  Children are bombarded by the “get” mentality from day one. 

The corporation itself, or form of government, (socialism vs capitalism) is not the source of the problem, but a symptom of sorts.  It does not matter who owns something, as long as they are willing to share it. 

The source of the problem is the individual who “buys into” the lie of the “Get” way of life.  It is a spiritual condition in men, and is not something which can be legislated by governments.  People must, one individual at a time, transform their thinking, and reject the “get” mentality.  Excess should not be worshipped, but avoided.  Become a “giver”, and denounce “getting” but do it in a “giving” way, if you know what I mean.

The revolutionary says, “you have too much, so I will go and kill you and take what you have and deliver it to myself and others like me.” 

And I say that developing new ways of “getting,” including violent taking from others, does not make you an enlightened man.

****************

By John Ellis, May 22 at 8:39 pm
“”“Man is an animal and like all mammals, man has a natural
instinct for survival. But this is not greed.”“”
*****************************

I agree with that but as a definition I found on my ‘online’
dictionary:
___________________________
greed

noun
intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or
food.
___________________________
it includes food and that is better than gold and gems or
whatever is considered wealth, as none of that will nourish life
but it is a cause of greed because when food sources get low,
there will be a hoarding of food for survival.

But most greed is known by what corporations are doing, banks
are doing financial fools are doing, and when it comes down to
the basic instincts, hoarding all the females to procreate with
and fighting off suitors is a greed of extending genetics, just as
it can be called ‘survival of the fittest’. All of which include a very
strong defense to prevent what is hoarded being taken but also
the violence involved in ‘choosing the winner’ of the alpha.

So I say it goes either way but your way of saying it in the view
of man as an animal and like all animals there is a natural
instinct for survival, I just say that it includes greed and man is
not the only animal capable of being greedy.

****************

By Eugenio Costa, May 22 at 8:18 pm

What and arrogant troll you are. Demand a definition of a word,
I give it and you are above and beyond reproach to define the
word yourself.  You should go back to your kindergarden
sandbox, build your sand castles so you can knock down,
rebuild them, and knock them down again in your demented
insane way of your inward display of hatred.

I am sad that Sigmund Freud is dead because I would have loved to read his comments on this article and its ensuing comments, especially of John Ellis who seems to know everything there is to know about the psyche/behavior of man.

****************

By Eugenio Costa, May 22 at 7:44 pm

Your obvious ‘expertise’ fails to illuminate the truth and the
world that you inhabit is seemingly made in disney land, and
that I am sure is where you spend your educational hours
honing up on the your version of greed that benefits yourself.
And just as you use those $10.00 words to impress the
undereducated, which appear to be anyone other than yourself,
it leaves you in a class all unto your own, just like w, dick,
kkkrove, pearl, wolfowitz and the rest of your tea time buddies
who all think, and YOU most especially, that greed and the
excuse of greed is in the first amendment.
***************************************

greed |gr?d
noun

intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or
food.

Thesaurus:

Thesaurus  
greed, greediness
noun
1 human greed avarice, cupidity, acquisitiveness, covetousness,
rapacity; materialism, mercenariness; rare pleonexia, informal
money-grubbing, affluenza. antonym generosity.
2 her mouth watered with greed gluttony, hunger, voracity,
insatiability; gourmandism, intemperance, overeating, self-
indulgence; informal piggishness. antonym temperance.
3 their greed for power desire, appetite, hunger, thirst, craving,
longing, lust, yearning, hankering; avidity, eagerness; informal
yen, itch. antonym indifference.

Meanwhile the crypto-Christian cottonmouth is back with a dissertation on “feeling” deserving.

“It’s all in nature and inside the differing species, the drive to hide, cheat, steal and protect what will allow those to survive and become the strongest of the group and to dominate, a natural instinct which is conflict of individuals among speciesand confusion would be a way that an individual member of a species protects what it desires.”

Hogwash—the usual perverse Malthus and Social Darwinism.

You are in big trouble little fella—according to “you” your gut bacteria is out to get you.

Even on the macro level,however, your definition of “greed” is absurd.  The typical perverse Calvinist Protestant monadology and its projection upon the world.

No doubt you were also your own mother, for why would anyone ever bother to nurture you at their “individual” expense?

The only solution is to rein in Wall Street, ban hedge funds which are nothing but Ponzi schemes and invest in Americans instead of war. Make things not war should be the motto. The only way to create true wealth and prosperity for everyone is to go back to making things instead of allowing criminals to run Wall Street on Ponzi schemes and put options and allowing the Pentagon and the CIA to manufacture wars and maintain 700 military bases all over the world. These people have made crime pay -and handsomely- and have made war into a product while shipping American jobs overseas so they can pay slave wages to their workers. You need another war of independence but it has to be fought with brain not brawn and against your own corporations, media and the politicians the corporations have bought.

****************

By John Ellis, May 22 at 3:21 pm
““But SamoSamo failed to tell us what he feels is the root cause
of greed, and so he accomplishes nothing but confusion.”“
****************

Perhaps I should have tried to give an ‘root cause’ of greed, but
being an instinct it would just be something all life has in its
makeup.

For instance, even in groups or tribes animals such as the
chimpanzee, an individual member will find a favorite food and
hide it for later consumption.

The big cats will have a male take over a kill to satisfy its hunger
before others and a new ‘king of the pride’ will kill all the cubs to
‘start’ over with his progeny.

The fastest growing trees get to the light for photosynthesis
while blocking out the light for those not as tall.

It’s all in nature and inside the differing species, the drive to
hide, cheat, steal and protect what will allow those to survive
and become the strongest of the group and to dominate, a
natural instinct which is conflict of individuals among species
and confusion would be a way that an individual member of a
species protects what it desires. And I believe for humans,
Robert McChesney’s description is very adequate because as
McChesney states in the documentary, it goes to the the
ultimate level by crushing the competition, killing them off.

Innate, inherent, hard-wired, inborn for survival. But please
don’t go trying to tell me that being a relatively intelligent
species that we must let those hell bent on gathering all the
wealth to themselves to be considered proper actions of sentient
creatures as the human animal. There is still the survival of the
species.

Black         empirePie    

The black gold flim flam baron cysts
slimy looters looking for another tryst
burn babies for back room beacon deacons
the life trade for black water

black gold water
bottom line black
mercenary black
Lord Conrad black
Beck hackers Glenn black
underwater black
Gulfs in black
Tar sands black
Hacked up Boreal black
Xe blowback black
spade flushed casino capitalism black
trumped Monroe doctrine black
gansta empire black
Goldman sack black
Black robed supreme black
Pre-rapture Palin black
Abrahamic rocking Cash black
Black wearing black
Black chooses black

Black closes in on life

Profit smiles and waits on strife

“—two magic words—-”  (sorry)

As always, there is a clear articulation of the problem, and a call for change, but no indication of where America might place its’ hope and faith.The readership responds with political and personal opinion supported by a laundry list of abstract facts of all kinds, which amount to, a concerned but cynical “bah humbug”.

  My personal experience on the playground is, that the only currency to which a bully responds is a fist in the mouth. We all see that our political institutions and leadership have failed us. American vision has been replaced by superstitious dreams of rapture in the apocalyptic firestorm. I’m not sure how to throw the punch but it has to be thrown. We are already in freefall. I hope people at this site are involved and active in community politics.

  World population, climatic catastrophe and failing natural resources are the real politic. Mankinds only hope is a realignment of nature and technology and revaluation of the human or, there will be no human. The kittycat genetic factor may be a lemming like drive within us that mistakes apocalypse for regeneration. We need new vision,new institutions,new leadership and a new myth. That’s a one human a a time transformation. Stop beating a dead horse. Your going to get your ass whipped anyway!! Throw the punch. Remember those to magic words: #@ck %t!!

Dear Mr Ellis,

With all due respect to you and your ideas, reading the post reminded me of a
criticism my former boss would level at my writing: “This stuff sounds like a
‘word salad’”.

There’re veggies and pieces of meat, maybe a slice of egg and some herbs; so, I
think there must be something to it. 

Im sorry, chew on it as I may, I just cant figure it.

Best,
Not Mr Ellis

****************

By John Ellis, May 22 at 11:02 am #
HUMAN NATURE

We live in a competition based society, an achievement
dictatorship actually as evidenced by High Society hoarding 80%
of all wealth.
*****************

That ‘may’ have been but Robert McChesney, in the ‘Orwell Rolls
in His Grave’ video documentary, succinctly describes that as not
being the case anymore. It all has to do with crushing the
competition as what the current corporate agendas dictate by
reverting to horizontal integration and vertical integration which
in both cases gives almost and sometimes totally control over
money making ventures and that is what creates the distorted
and convoluted economics in this country and world.

For instance, why worry with contracting to sell a musicians
song when you can own the production studios, the facilities to
manufacture the disk, create the packaging, the distribution of
the ‘album’, and the collection of the revenue. That way you
come as close as possible to what bill gates had at microsoft, a
complete monopoly on the operating system that had no
competition or at least when it was the pc OS.

And what could be perceived as competition with, say, oil
companies, they are just one big company with many names so
when on is in trouble, as bp appears to be, then they can quite
conveniently be bought out or merged with another one which
would be the only other business capable of doing so. And we
see this facade of competition in our government with 2
supposed parties while in reality there is very little difference in
the them so taking up where one left off in a ‘change’ of control
is miniscule, thus, no real change.

About the only competition these days is trying to underbid
someone for a job, the corporate world’s favorite situation.

It is all based on greed just as all 7 deadly sins are in reality just
plain greed in all its insidious manifestations. And I believe to
end this madness, it will take wrecking what these vampires
thrive upon, the money.

Trust-busting and aggressive anti-monopoly actions will
slow the need to replace capitalism but not make it any
less necessary.

Capitalism is based on a pyramid scheme that MUST end
once there are no more resources to steal, people to
enslave or markets to buy production.

No amount of legislated reform can even begin to
repair capitalism’s cancerous blight. I should say:
‘no amount that would be allowed’, by any conceivable
lineup of the Major League Teams that get to the
playoffs in this hideous game.

As with ‘sustainability’, the majority consensus is
only interested in token efforts and talking points;
anything more is ‘impractical’ because it goes against
the status quo. There’s only one group that has any
real success by daring to be impractical.

We shouldn’t be falling for the institutional line on
the Tea Party fed by entrenched profiteers within the
two-party system, the media, et cetera. Instead of
ridiculing and reviling them, we should be emulating
them.

Or we could just gossip and complain for a little while, and then go back to supporting the system with our ‘pragmatic’ blindness and ignorance, like the good little conquered people we are.

You have some misguided and misinformed ideas about what corporations are, and what they should be. Let me try to address the issues one at a time.

What is a corporation? A corporation is made up of three parts. Shareholders (owners), Board of Directors (management), and bondholders (creditors). Limited liability is an agreement (private contract) between shareholders and bondholders that the shareholders will only be liable for their actual investment in the company. Bondholders can not hold shareholders personally responsible for outstanding debts. Creditors can not be compelled to accept a limited liability arrangement, and many times do not, nor should they be compelled to not accept the agreement. It is an issue of private contract. The government should not impose or imply any provisions of this contract except in cases of disputes or non-compliance between the parties involved.

Liability for torts is a separate matter. Broadly, there are two classifications for torts: those that are intentional and those that are unintentional, or negligent. This is an ongoing debate. But generally, large corporations carry sufficient liability insurance to cover any claims for unintentional torts. Intentional torts imply malice, and those responsible for the decisions should be held criminally liable. In the case of BP, where they chose to “self-insure”, opens the door for legal challenges on exactly who is financially liable, and by how much. Pay close attention to what becomes of this.

the market must be comprised of small buyers and sellers that have equal access to information and that operate on a level playing field

With this statement, you imply that all corporations are big, monopolistic, multinational, conglomerates. I can assure you, they are not. Any individual or group of partners can form a corporation or an LLC. I agree that the best interests of community are best served by small local companies. In fact, the smaller companies are usually much more efficient, more innovative, and do not carry the heavy burdens of internal bureaucracies that are present in the large corporations. However, the large corporations are able to better deal with restrictive regulations, and have financial resources to obtain government favors such as tax subsidies, grants, government contracts, and permits. This is where the distortions in the free market evolve. It allows big corporations to get even bigger, and help stave off competition from smaller competitors.

So far, I have explained corporations with regard to the general business sector. These businesses should not be confused with those in the financial sector. Financial sector businesses, mainly banks, reek with government intervention, favoritism and flat out fraud. Our government not only facilitates fraud, it encourages, and enables it. It is a system known as fractional reserve banking. It is by nature, fraudulent. Banks loan money which is not theirs to loan. This system is supported by governemnt institutions known as central banks (The Federal Reserve) and federal deposit insurance (FDIC). The very foundation of our financial system is based on fraud, and is supported by fraudulent institutions created by the government. Is it any wonder why these financial institutions can not be properly regulated?

Once again Anarcissie writes an enjoyable and on target comment, though I am far more cynical these days than she seems. I have joined the ranks of the hopeless in regard any reforms or liberalizing having a “good effect”. I see degeneration and collapse around all corners, with the attendant pain and nightmarish personal conclusions for millions of my fellow earthlings. John Ellis’ comment was torturous to read. Round and round with all that bullshit about ‘human nature’, which is part and parcel of the rhetoric of excuses for the sins against humanity of industrialization and imperialism; there is no ‘we’ when it comes to a corporation, it is them against us peons. They see each human bean as an exploitable animal and want you ignorant and consuming away, like the ‘pretas’ of Buddhism, all huge mouth and body filled with passionate hunger, but with throats too small to swallow anything. The last person to listen to about “human nature’ would be a financial ‘expert’, an investment advisor, a catholic priest or nun, or your sneering spencerian boss. They all have us ‘red in tooth and claw’. Cast our eyes south and see the results washing up on the sunny beaches. “It’s all just mistakes.” Now I’ve read where some want to blow the shit out of the Gulf with a nuclear weapon: Wow! Stunning! Nuke ourselves! I can’t even think of what this might do…but wait I sure can think of what might happen…maybe we’ll call that a ‘mistake’, too. We are way past any moment of redemption. Now good ol’ cap’lism has left us so scarred and twisted, our humanity so thin and uncared for, that the alpha dogs are all we hear in the night, howling in the darkness that it was not them, but human nature that destroyed the planet. I’m tired of it, sick and nauseous at hearing it. What evil wind sweeps towards us now? Is that the corporations I hear crunching under their fiat feet our last oil blackened soaking bones?

That we allow groups of citizens to legally limit their liability in order for them to chase profit is mind-numbing.

And the fact that shareholders - arguably those who stand to profit most - have zero legal liability is insane. And wrong.

http://www.leftista.com/index.php/2010/05/corporate-political-propaganda/

The author seems to be saying that reform doesn’t work; therefore, what we need is more reform.

What you do with scratching cats is give them something they’re allowed to scratch, and give them a hard time for scratching other things.  Most cats are social animals and want to get along.  I don’t think this model will work for corporate capitalism, since one of the attributes of capitalism is that it constantly reinvents itself, whereas cats are bound by their genes to just keep growing claws and scratching things.

Clearly, if you want different outcomes, it is necessary to change the arrangements that produce the outcomes.  One such change would be to replace the private, elite ownership and control of the means of production with ownership and control by the workers.  This hasn’t worked out well in the past because it turns out that generally people don’t want the care and responsibility that goes with ownership and control; they just want better bosses.  Bossing, however, is the central problem; its nature has to be changed.

In this regard, we either have a genetic problem, like the cats, or a cultural problem.  If the latter, maybe it can be solved.

Putting weak regulations on a criminal operation still
leaves you with a criminal operation.

As Thom Hartmann has pointed out, our society needs to institute (or reinstitute) a “corporate death penalty” along with draconian punishments for corporate executives who are responsible for a company’s misbehavior.
For many years renewal of a radio station’s license was contingent on the broadcaster ‘s having acted “in the public interest”. Why not hold every corporation to that same standard?

The Tea-baggers are Corportist sponsored, financed, scheduled, and channeled.

The US Constitution is a dead letter.

The separation from Britain was, as the Germans rightly call it, a Warof Independence not a Revolution.

If there was any doubt about that Hamilton put them to rest.

It was all over for with the Watermelon Army.

Mostly it was was sheer rhetoric to begin with.

****************

So, there is no doubt at all, that for this country to rid itself of
the criminals, to reinstate the constitution and amend it where
there are term limits, and that lobbying is harshly dealt with as
the criminal act of bribery or influence peddling that it is, and
the msm gets to handle the information age as per
schedule(ministry of truth) then we have to let these financial
terrorists take the country to its knees, break it completely just
so’s to build it back because the people are not going to do
anything that will stop these jackels from stripping all the meat
from the bone?

No doubt at all? Only in our wildest dreams as the people for the
most part have always relied on superstition to set the course.

The ‘financial reform’ is about as real as the ‘health care reform’.

The TeaBaggers’ call to “take our country back’ reflects the voters’
inability and frustration with continued corporate giveaways and
the lack of government support for the middle class and for the
general welfare.

As we know, single payer was / is the only way to extend health
care and cut costs. So, kill it: It does not enhance health insurance
providers’ profits.

As we know, re-instating Glass-Stegall and instating ‘too-big-to-fail’
are the only ways to avoid future financial disasters of the magnitude
we just experienced. So, kill both these things: They do not enhance
the financial industry’s profits.

There is an obvious pattern here; and a pattern that is disastrous for
the middle class.

Most bizarre is a Democratic President is leading us backward.

What are voters to do? They cannot continue to vote for Democrats who
are simply Republicans in costume. They cant find Republicans to vote for.
So, they vote from anger. ....That’s were the TeaBaggers come in and the
Democrats go out.

Are there no Democrats left in the Democratic Party?

The latest on the stock market.  I crashed because the big guys (a-holes) were gambling on it crashing.  Had enough yet?