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| Silverfiddle Rant! |
A emerging phenomenon that intrigues and unsettles me is the push for socialism by the Silicon Valley Robber Barons. What the hell are they up to???
Professor and social scientist Joel Kotkin explains. In the vast sewer of toxic lies and partisanship the Infotainment Media Complex has become, he is a rare fresh breath of unbiased reporting.
"There’s surely a compelling logic for oligarchic socialism. The tech moguls get to remain wealthy beyond the most extreme dreams of avarice, while their allies in progressive circles and the media, which they increasingly own, continue to hector everyone else about giving up their own aspirations."
I do think it is as simple as that. What say you?
I am visiting with friends just now. He is a wealthy professional who harbors a slight leftward slant, particularly as it pertains to single-payer national health care, and she is a near-rabid communist whose favorite quote is “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” Of course, given how mucked up government has become, she isn’t exactly sure who ought to make those kinds of decisions, and neither of them are willing to give up any of the trappings of their wealth and privilege to achieve utopia for the masses. So, I think your observation is spot on. My guess is that hardly anyone on the left understands the ramifications of their tripe but the really important thing is to memorize all the talking points even if they don’t understand what those arguments actually mean. We no doubt owe a debt of gratitude to our public education system for where we are today ... large percentages of the population who are incapable of thinking for themselves.
ReplyDeleteGreat summation.
DeleteMustang,
DeleteMy guess is that hardly anyone on the left understands the ramifications of their tripe but the really important thing is to memorize all the talking points even if they don’t understand what those arguments actually mean.
Sure 'nuff.
And the neurological imprint is sealed by public education. Very few in that system are not chewed up, then spat out in cookie cutter versions.
God help us.
I'm glad that I'm as old as I am.
Rage, Rage, Against the Dying of the Dream
DeleteAmerican Greatness,
by Michael Walsh
Homer’s Muse sings of the rage of Achilles, brought forth from his tent by the death of his friend Patroclus to engage the Trojan hero, Hector, in mortal combat. But Achilles’ anger solves nothing; although he kills Hector, he then desecrates the body by dragging it around the walls of Troy, thus violating the laws of warfare and sealing his own fate. His determination to avenge his friend thus becomes “the accursed rage that brought great suffering to the Achaeans.” In the end, it’s not the rage of Achilles that wins the war for the Greeks, but the trickery of ...
My guess is that few on the right realize that Trump's brand of populism is just a ploy that's been used since the day's of social darwinism.
DeleteMany on the left understand Elizabeth Warren's latest legislative attempts to resolve the internal conflicts of capitalism as something the right wing working class foolishly see as a bridge too far.
Capitalize the profit, socialize the expense. That's been the right wing clarion for decades and it has us in the unsustainable spiral we all seem to sense.
I wonder how Ducky would describe Obama's brand of populism. Based on his inane rambling about Pocahontas, I suspect it would be just his cup of tea. Socializing the expense of failed communist ideology is the clarion of the left, not the right.
DeleteLizzie Warren's sharpened axe
DeleteWaits to give "Kapital" forty whacks,
And when she has destroyed the banks
She'll say you owe her many thanks.
Then engines of th' economy
She’s reduced to beggary
Will go down on bended knee
To save themselves from bankruptcy
At your expense, and then you'll see
The end of private property,
And all forms of democracy.
Lizzie’s worse than Hillary.
You'll be reduced to penury
By Lizzie Warren's axe.
She longs to heavily levy on thee
A FULL ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT TAX!
~ FreeThinke
Great bit of verse! Thanks for contributing the above to this blog.
DeleteCalling Obama a populist is naive and inaccurate.
DeleteA good example is his handling of the banking crisis where he let Geithner take care of the banks while the people downstream from the mess were left to flounder. It's a significant reason for the rise of tRump although he just revoked the few regulations that were put in place.
Hopefully the banksters aren't going to go out again and bet everything on perpetually rising home prices.
Calling Obama a populist is irrational.
One could make the argument that Obama was no populist, but on the other hand, he did win over the minorities, millennials, graduates from Howard University, and everyone who died since 1965. Plus, who in their right mind would prefer McCain/Palin in the white house? He did less well over Romney, but he was still able to appeal to a large sector of the electorate ... some of whom were so impressed with Obama that they voted for him on multiple occasions. Convincing more than half of the electorate that they must join him in their struggle against the privileged elite (which at one time included Hillary Clinton) (even though by then, Obama had become a full-fledged member of the political elite) was definitely a populist appeal. Whether he ruled as a populist is another matter. He was able to sustain the support of Jews even after revealing his preference for Islamic theology ... wasn’t it amazing how well that “social justice” twaddle worked?
DeleteObama speechified a good populist game, and the suckers bought it.
DeleteMeanwhile, President Trump's policies have brought back those jobs Professor O'Bungle lectured weren't coming back, and wages are rising.
DeleteThe red propagandists in the Infotainment Media Complex are doing their satanic damnedest to tell everyone up is down, but too many people are experiencing the reality.
Sam,
Deletewasn’t it amazing how well [Obama's] “social justice” twaddle worked?
BHO and his cohorts put together one helluva voting bloc, a bloc built on "the foundation" of public education.
SF,
DeleteMeanwhile, President Trump's policies have brought back those jobs Professor O'Bungle lectured weren't coming back, and wages are rising.
Yet, BHO and MO are back on "the campaign trail." I see that MO is booking stadiums to promote her book Becoming. Stadiums!
Like ducky, I applaud Lizzy Warren for realizing that the solution to our problems lies in re-making the legal environment that makes corporate capitalism possible. I disagree ENTIRELY in the direction she wishes to head, to that of a State managed corporate oligarchy (ala "China"), but the solution DOES lie in a revamping of our legal system, as THAT is the only thing propping our currently failing corporate welfare state up.
DeleteThe wrong way.
DeleteYou can't save capitalism by paying the "proletariat" a higher "surplus salary" and making them a part of an ever expanding management. You need to make them OWNERS of their OWN Enterprises, and create a petit bourgeoise. And you do THAT by limiting corporate "size" and legal privilege.
DeleteFJ: Amen! Another part of this is liability--skin in the game. Everybody in, and each person reaps the rewards and suffers the consequences of her actions.
DeleteThe law shields corporations and financial enterprises from the consequences of their actions.
Said even better, sf. People need to have "skin in the game". Proles don't have it. Bureaucrats don't have it. CEO salaried bourgeoisie managers don't have it unless the majority of their compensation is in stock.
DeleteSkin in the Game.
DeleteIt's easy to suspect an ultra-rich CEO of looking for the power grab, but you could dismiss a wealthy conservative's politics for similar reasons.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the somewhat socialist tendency extends further down the rungs in the field of technology too? Could it be the influence of open source? Does the success of that type of license agreement (I don't own this, and neither do you; modify if you wish, but publish your modifications) present a challenge to the assumptions behind traditional American-style capitalism?
Ask Mark Zuckerberg's neighbor's how "socialist" he is when it comes to his neighborhood and community. Professor Kotkin (a self-described "Truman Democrat") nailed it. They got theirs, and they want government protection and enforcement of their avarice.
DeleteMost people are not born as CEO’s of large corporations. Becoming a CEO is usually the result of a life-time of work and well-planned ambition. And, while political affiliation may help someone along the way, success is (generally) the result of prioritizing income over family; a willingness to cut the throat of your best friend is a plus. So, the up and coming techno-weenie may one day hope to make a fortune from a new twist on social media, with some exception, it is not usually the result of an overnight phenomena. The adoption of one political party over another is a question of leveraging. Not even the most liberal of the tycoons is interesting in handing over to the government 60% of his wealth, unless there is a benefit to doing so on the other end of the financial opportunity spectrum ... maybe a hefty share of the Clinton Crime Cartel, for example. Thus, I think it is fair to say that senior corporate executives have much in common with common prostitutes ... although it is not my intent to insult common prostitutes.
DeleteNot really interested in Zuckerberg, I was commenting on the whole tech sector all the way down to the bottom.
DeleteThe One Entity that Can Destroy Mark Zuckerberg
DeleteAmerican Thinker,
by Taylor Lewis
There´s a fake Voltaire quote that floats around the internet: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize." (snip) The power dynamics surrounding Facebook – which are just another application of Lenin´s immortal question, "who, whom?" – is such a fascinating issue because it´s hard to tell who really has his hand on the lever of power. Zuckerberg could easily brush off the endless journalist requests to better police his platform. But he doesn´t; ...
I'm in that minority who said Faceboot don't need to police anything. Stop sharing, manipulating and abusing my personal data, but other than that... meh...
DeletePeople need to use their own powers of reasoning and learn to "test the spirits."
The average intellect of our society is illustrated as seriously degraded, by the manner in which they do freely share their personal information - and - how they get sucked in to manipulative disinformation.
DeletePeople should be warned once and enter at own risk.
Today’s Progressives, Liberals and other leftists, have indeed always believed this. Mainstream Democratic politicians however I would have never thought that in a million years that someone would be as STUPID as Andrew “America Was Never That Great” Cuomo to have actually said this.
ReplyDeleteWe have now crossed that line, and going forward you can expect this kind of public denouncement of our country from Democrats who have now adopted the term SOCIALIST’S, and they have earned it. .
This is the same Andrew Cuomo who pardoned EIGHTEEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS in order to help them Avoid Deportation. Yes, he pardoned 18 convicted Ilegals awaiting deportation ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS who had criminal convictions, ranging from larceny to drug possession.
The same Andrew Cuomo who’s administration issued a disgusting smear of Cynthia Nixon days before the Primary, and on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. Yes, who sent a mailer directly from the New York Democratic Party about Cynthia Nixon’s views on Israel and accusing her of anti-Semitism!
Even with Cuomo’s huge lead in the polls, his party still felt the need to resort to such disgusting, and distasteful tactics. These kind of tactics are typical of the Cuomo’s.
I'm old enough to remember when his Father who was then the Governor did a similar thing to then Mayor Ed Koch sending around fliers saying “Elect Cuomo not the Homo”
And along with the pardons, Cuomo didn't miss the opportunity to take a dig at the Trump administration and its "zero-tolerance" on immigration policies that left thousands of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS who were illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Hey Andy, just in case you didn’t already know it, there’s a difference Between Immigrants and Illegal Immigrants. I know that you aren’t smart enough to know when you say “immigrant” you mean “illegal alien,” though I really hope most Americans aren’t that stupid, but they really seem to be very stupid by electing you 2 times and going on a third term.
Cuomo told President Trump “"If there is a move to deport Immigrants, I say then start with me."... And I say Be careful what you wish for Andy! And mayve he should and take De Blasio along with you!
And today Cuomo faces a primary challenger from Cynthia Nixon, an actress and progressive activist who is over 40 points behind him in the polls, and who has called for the abolishment of ICE! IS she the best challenger they can get? The Republican candidate Marc Molinaro's campaign accused Cuomo of political grandstanding with the pardons. Where are his ads on TV? And is he the best that they can get?
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone in their right mind believe either Cuomo or Nixon would make New York a better place to live? How could anyone in their right mind want to Abolish ICE and give driver’s licenses to illegals? That’s total insanity!
And another thing.... America might not be all that great as we'd like it to be, if It Isn’t,
IT IS MUCH BETTER now that the Buffoon and that Creepy Crook Hillary Clinton and other conspiring Communist cabinet members are finally the Hell out of the White House.
And isn’t it amazing to see all these elitist “Democratic Socialists” who blatantly hate this country and hate the American people so much are trying so desperately to seize political power in EVERY crooked, phoney, Lying, way that they could Hence this idiotic Muller Clown show that’s been going on for 18 or 19 months.
Unlike Obama, we Americans have no need to apologize for being American.......but the Mayor of New York should apologize for being a wacko.
And people like Maxine Waters who says.. "God is on our side" as she urges her deranged followers to take action. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks of "uprisings all over the country" in opposition to Trump policies. If Trump or any Republican spoke this way the media roar of condemnation would be deafening. But as violence against Republicans grows we hear nothing but crickets.
Some day someone else is going to get hurt and perhaps killed. If that victim is a Republican it will be a two day story. If someone decides to give Maxine Waters a taste of her own medicine it will be Trump's fault and weeks of calls for his impeachment.
And Andrew Cuomo wants to be President? And silly me, I thought that the Circus had closed!
Lesbian actress and LBTQRSTWXYZ Activist Cynthia Nixon is as big a fool –– and every bit as dangerous –– as Andrew Cuomo.
DeleteIf I were you I would be GRATEFUL that these two maniacs are trying to damage each other.
When the ENEMY is busily SPOILING his CHANCES for SUCCSESS, it's the better part of WISDOM NOT to INtERFERE.
"Socialism" –– rooted, of course, in MARXISM –– purports to be the panacea needed to foster "EQUALITY" and "FAIRNESS" for all, which of course implies the elimination of all opportunities to acquire Personal Wealth and Private Property, which in turn implies a requirement for the pursuit of Individual interests to die, and for all to become totally ubservient to the furtherance and development of an almighty and ever-living STATE.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Karl Marx truly believed that, and maybe he didn't, but it doesn't matter, because in the real world –– like it or not –– RESULTS are ALL that COUNT.
As it INVARIABKY turns ut "Sociaism" once adopted becomes the means for accruing ever greater, ever stronger CENTRALIZED POWER.
Enter the OLIGARCHS.
The Captains of Industy realized very quickly once so-called "PROGRESSIVISM" [more realistically termed "Ever-Increasing Government Control of Industry"] began to take hold that since BUSINESS could not hope to BEAT Government, tbe best course for Business to take woud be to JOIN Government and thus acquire CONTROL of Government.
A WEE CAPSULE HISTORY of POLITICAL POWER:
First, Power lay in the hands of Tribal Chieftains,–– then barbaric Kings and Emperors of the Ancient World, –– then for a time Power and Control were in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church and the class looselyknown as The Nobility. Then came the Enlightenment. Unfortunately the blessings of that brilliant flowering of good sense and genuine humanitarian impulses were quickly blghted by two developmets:
1. the emergence of The Industrial Revoluton
2. the ununtended consequence of the tdiscoveries and heories of Charles Darwin.
Darwin. who was a faithful, godly man, himself, soon found his Theory of Evolution corrupted, because it proved useful to pernicious philsophers who were the atheistic enemies of Christianity.
The Industrial Revlution gave rise to a NEW form of FEUDALISM. The NOBILITY were replaced by CORPORATE MAGNATES and the EXECUTIVE CLASS. The FACTORY replaced the CASTLE. The factory WORKERS became the new breed of SERFS.
ENTER KARL MARX, CLASS WARFARE, WORLD WARS, the GREAT DEPRESSION, WEAPONS of MASS DESTRUCTION and the BLOODY HELL we must live in today.
From the Pennsylvania Dutch came a wonderful indictment of "Progress:"
"The farther ahead we go, the behinder we get."
_ Kipling’s Little Man _
ReplyDelete_______ ~ or ~ ______
_ Bolshevism Revisited _
A Leftist caught in doubt
Lifts up his head to shout:
Your treatment is unfair,
You bully! How you dare
To question my veracity
With cruel, hard-eyed tenacity
I do not know. My views
Which boldly you accuse
Of being falsely ranked
In truth are sacrosanct.
My thoughts are Holy Writ.
Your thoughts are quite unfit;
Based on selfish fears
They inspire tears
And dare to say the blame
Lies squarely in the frame
Of those whose failing lives
Look to him who thrives
And say: Your gold is mine,
You greedy, bloated swine.
You have more than you need.
It's up to you to feed
Me, the ill and weak,
Else Heaven that you seek
Will ever be denied.
And I will see your hide
Shredded, tanned and dried.
And hung outside the gates
Of each neighborhood that hates
The needy and the poor,
Who soon will storm your door
And drag you from your bed
And then lop off your head.
While the masses you denied
Will ever take great pride
Your ignominious demise
Was effected in the guise
Of condign righteous wrath
Giving Bourgeois digs a bath.
With stolen food and goods
We'll raze your neighborhoods
And laugh to see you hurt
Dying in the dirt.
WE DO NOT CARE TO RISE:
We live for your demise.
We thrive on righteous hate.
It is by now too late
To make a plan to stop us
End the Founder's opus.
Our Marx destroyed your God.
He's in - not on - the sod
Feeding nematodes
In their dark abodes.
With mockery and shrill
Sarcastic gibes we kill.
We drool with sheer delight
At the thought of endless night.
Where everything that's witty,
Charming, gracious, pretty
Slumps to the nitty gritty,
As we revel in the dung
Corrupting all your young.
For 'we are the little folk, we
Too little to love or to hate.
Leave us alone, and you'll see
How quickly we'll drag down the state.'*
~ FreeThinke
–––––––––––––––––
* Rudyard Kipling
Ever since Cockshott's "Toward A New Socialism" came out (sidenote - so the old socialism sucks? LOL) there's been this laughable idea that Mises' economic calculation problem that renders central planning farcical could be solved by a supercomputer.
ReplyDeleteForgetting of course that "garbage in, garbage out" is the first rule of data processing and even kicking in doors to search for contraband won't grant this supercomputer the omniscience required to break the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty that makes it impossible to know where a Federal Express package is and how fast it will get there simultaneously, much less if it actually made it on a truck that wasn't hit by drunk driving guerillas.
Temples of Syrinx is a cool song though.
94 years from now
DeleteNothing beats classic Rush...
DeleteSocialism sees to it that innovation is strangled, leaving the population with a finite # of choices left. If you company is one of those choices, you have hit the bigtime.
ReplyDelete