tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post9095664634588988343..comments2023-11-22T01:14:54.298-08:00Comments on amor mundi: The Suicidal Sociopathy of the Tech SectorDale Carricohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-22272213013328345922013-01-16T14:57:15.974-08:002013-01-16T14:57:15.974-08:00> They get representation because of taxation, ...> They get representation because of taxation, and when<br />> they become rich and well nourished in the govt womb<br />> which is composed of myriad stable peoples and institutions,<br />> they essentially tell society and thus everyone to go<br />> fuck themselves.<br /><br />"Do you have too many readers of your books and articles?<br />Want to reduce traffic on your blog? It turns out, there<br />is a foolproof way to alienate many of your fans, quickly<br />and at almost no cost.<br /><br />It took me years to discover this publishing secret, but<br />I’ll pass it along to you for free:<br /><br />Simply write an article suggesting that taxes should be<br />raised on billionaires.<br /><br />Really, it’s **that** simple!"<br />----------------<br />http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/how-to-lose-readers-without-even-trying<br />jimfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04975754342950063440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-3901538195414573172013-01-16T06:05:11.498-08:002013-01-16T06:05:11.498-08:00Thank you for the elaboration. It is very bizarre ...Thank you for the elaboration. It is very bizarre how these libertarians seek desperately to divorce themselves from government while also being inextricably linked and tethered to the govts they so despise. The government surrounds them in safety and comfort to do business. They benefit by the original crowd-funding called taxation, in which govt and people literally owe them nothing yet they do and pay fair share anyway. They get representation because of taxation, and when they become rich and well nourished in the govt womb which is composed of myriad stable peoples and institutions, they essentially tell society and thus everyone to go fuck themselves. This is evil. I have no other word to use to describe this sort of "ideology" and behavior.Black guy from the future pasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14136170325730022110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-38124779641408872862013-01-16T04:47:19.241-08:002013-01-16T04:47:19.241-08:00I actually approve of the mission of the Fed to en...I actually approve of the mission of the Fed to engage in countercyclical stimulus through monetary policy -- but it is hard to argue against IW's obviously correct empirical observation of the failure of that mission in living memory under the influence of neoliberal ideologues Volker, Greenspan, and Bernanke, Chairs captured by the culture of finance and enraptured by market fundamentalist pieties (Greenspan a literal personal life-long devotee of Ayn Rand, for pete's sake). Apart from the brazen refusal of these Chairs to embrace the published mandate of the Fed to encourage full employment, it is also difficult to judge the efficacy of the Fed to ameliorate the pathologies of the business cycle in principle in an environment of sweeping financial deregulation, the dismantling of organized labor, and in the absence of a steeply progressive taxation without which not even the most diligent and democratically-minded Chair of the Fed imaginable could really enact that mandate.<br /><br /><i>One... has to wonder if it wouldn't have been better if Greenspan had never existed, and we just let the recession run its course, let the over-leveraged go bankrupt, let the dot-com boom die the death it needed to die and instead expand our social safety net to catch the down-and-out and get them through to the better times ahead.</i><br /><br />I agree with your preference for vastly expanded welfare to insulate majorities from the suffering caused by reckless plutocratic minorities, but I personally would have preferred a version of the bailouts in which banks were recapitalized on the condition of breaking up too big to fail institutions as too big to exist and introducing a financial transaction tax, and also bailing out owners of a single home with an underwater mortgage by refinancing at new market values, and also bailing out all student loans and credit card debt over six thousand dollars, and also lowering -- yes lowering! -- the retirement and social security eligibility age to 62.<br /><br /> In other words I would have preferred a response to the Great Recession that was a kind of jubilee for all rather than the plutocratic bailout we got. Together with stimulative renewable infrastructure investment at zero-lower bound interest rates and an introduction of at least two new higher progressive tax brackets and a raising of the taxable cap on social security taxes I think this would stimulate economic growth and reverse wealth concentration while leaving a recognizably capitalist system intact -- though the plutocrats and wingnuts would no doubt shriek about communism even as personal property was as respected as ever (taxes are not theft), employment rose, general prosperity returned, and still countless vast personal fortunes accumulated anyway.Dale Carricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-21935775174661617032013-01-15T22:05:33.646-08:002013-01-15T22:05:33.646-08:00Not only is the macro state of the US economy subj...Not only is the macro state of the US economy subject to planning under the rubric of defense (and to a lesser extent, health care), but it is also ham-handedly manipulated via monetary policy to an extent rivaling even the late Soviet Union. The stated aim of monetary policy is to ameliorate the negative effects of business cycles, but it's not at all obvious to me that changes in such policies in response to changes in the economy do any more good than they do harm. The most recent example is the low-interest rate monetary policy of Alan Greenspan which was meant to ameliorate the effects of the recession following the end of the tech bubble in the late 90s. The extremely low interest rates he wanted led to massive demand for credit, malinvestment in real estate, a long process of decline in lending standards and risk controls in the banking and shadow banking systems to meet the demand for credit, and finally (when the last borrower was tapped out) a steep correction in real estate prices for which the global financial system was woefully unprepared. One looks at this and has to wonder if it wouldn't have been better if Greenspan had never existed, and we just let the recession run its course, let the over-leveraged go bankrupt, let the dot-com boom die the death it needed to die and instead expand our social safety net to catch the down-and-out and get them through to the better times ahead. It seems so simple, really. This would be a freer market, of course, but you'll never catch a libertarian gazillionaire advocating such a thing. <br /><br />No, because instead of doing the right thing, these central bankers try to preserve the status quo at all costs, get asset prices rising again with cheap liquidity so that the plutocrats and oligarchs don't ever have to take a loss on any of their investments, no matter how stupid they happened to be. We'll pump asset prices any way we can. Why would a gazillionaire discourage such a thing?<br /><br />Ben Bernanke is no better. For the last 4 years he has pointed to the rising stock market as evidence that his ultra-loose monetary policies are working. It wasn't until late 2012 that he decided to tie the continuation of this loose policy to the unemployment rate. It took him literally 4 years to even recognize publicly that the stock market isn't the economy, wealthy people getting even wealthier on paper doesn't end the suffering of millions of unemployed.<br /><br />These gazillionaires this guy Clint is fellating are more beholden to government for their fortunes than they think. Even Warren Buffet (America's greatest ever investor, or something) made his money by front-running monetary policy, government spending and changes in regulation. Let's run the list, shall we?<br /><br />GEICO - Car insurance? Who would bother if there wasn't a government legislated requirement? <br />BH Assurance - Bond insurance? So governments and municipalities can borrow for less if they give you taxypayer dollars to insure their bonds? <br />MidAmerican Energy - a utility? Yes, a government sponsored monopoly.<br />Clayton Homes, Benjamin Moore, etc -- builders and building supply, bought em up from 2000 to 2003, just ahead of the real estate bubble caused by the Greenspan Fed.<br /><br />Etc..<br /><br />I could go on and on. So Dale is right, and Clint is just wrong. These gazillionaires he worships owe much of what they have to the existence of government, and what little remains they owe to luck.<br /><br />And that's that.Impertinent Weaselhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16641434724740469395noreply@blogger.com