Has the U.S. economy reached a state of perfection? Only an answer of "yes" justifies the conservative argument that there should be less government intrusion in the economy.
St. Augustine wrote that evil is merely the absence of good. We are imperfect beings, but have a perfect ideal to emulate. Therefore, change is the natural order of things as we attempt to become less imperfect. Since the imperfect is, by St. Augustine’s definition, evil; since it is not good enough to be imperfect, we see that conservatives prefer to accept evil rather than accept a constant struggle to become less imperfect and more God-like.
In my humble opinion, this document has the potential to undo centuries of damage done to Christianity and Judaism by oligarchs and usurers.
Especially in the context of the ongoing economic and financial crises, in which it is clear that we the people are being sacrificed to save a rotten and useless financial system – bailouts for Bear Stearns and Wall Street, but not foreclosed homeowners - Hudson’s study is very powerful.
This is just another propaganda attempt to make a "dirty word" out of a fairly nondescript term. Lobbyists, Politicians, have done this in the past, tried to make something a "dirty word".
For example, there was an ongoing campaign to make a dirty word the term "liberal". Or to try to change the word conservative to mean corporate agenda. Many examples.
Competitive economic strategy, trade strategy, in the national interest has nothing to do with protectionism.
Currency manipulation clearly violates the theory of free trade as well.
Lobbyists, corporate mouthpieces and our favorite national economic idiot, Thomas Friedman, just spew out this stuff as if it's bad. They are just trying to change the terms.
If you notice George Bush used it in a parting shot before leaving office.
I had considered the current debt load in America and odious debt, and there are certainly some parallels. But compared to the developing world, its a whole 'nuther ball game.
While in America today the debt load is drawn from the middle class to the ruling class, in the developing world the debt load is drawn from everyone to a very small number of ruling elite.
So instead of getting bogged down in qualifications and definitions, I decided to stick with the most obvious.
I could have also gone down the road of "Dollar Imperialism" and how America used its military against Latin America in the name of our eastern bankers for over 100 years, but I decided that was a tangent.
Any time a study decides that morality is not part of the equation, then that study is bankrupt.
Boy, they really don't pay much attention do they? This IS the protectionist backlash, or at least, the start of what passes for a protectionist backlash in the United States this century. Their unbalanced trade policy over the last three decades was the risk, we're now into the response.
This is amusing because the evidence they manipulate their currency is beyond overwhelming.
Maybe Geithner is either an idiot (anyone who has done anything with a 1099-misc knows they must pay self-employment, medicare/SS taxes!) or he plain tried to cheat on his taxes...although turbo joke with their "interview" may have confused anyone. still....
....you cannot separate ethics, politics and the social system from economics. They are intertwined in too complex a way for current theory although big efforts are being made in Universities around the world.
As to the idea of unlimited growth it is clearly impossible and we are now bumping up against the constraints, resources both physical and intellectual, which will require a change in course.
Check out 'Steady State Economics by Herman Daly for starters. People, even economists, are starting to think about this.
I've been waiting for somebody, anybody, to link morality and ethics to economics on this board. I only disagree in one point: It is my belief that among the last three generations of Americans, odious debt is the norm.
The reason for this is the demographic bubble of the baby boom- we're headed into a time where investors will outnumber workers. Any time that happens, you'll see the workers going into debt and the investors getting rich off of that debt. And we now expect the investors to get rich enough to pay their own way, without entitlements? How much is that going to take away from the workers?
I hope Obama does not pick any one of them. With millions of folks unemployed I don't know how Obama could justify temporary working visas. It's a shame if he gets bought by Silicon Valley which means he is only a good orator.
Yes, Microsoft has relentlessly lobbied Congress for more H1 visas because they claim there is a severe skills shortage. But then why would Microsoft be laying off R&D? It's not like they're losing money. They made over $4,000,000,000 just last quarter! 4 billion dollar profit for the quarter and yet Microsoft still feels the need to layoff 5,000? Greed, pure greed.
What's evident then, and what Congress must understand, is that Microsoft does not represent what's best for the US and its citizens, but instead its duty is to do what's best for its shareholders across the world - and that is maximize profits.
Microsoft profit misses, to cut up to 5,000 jobs
" ... Microsoft posted a profit of $4.17 billion, or 47 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter ended December 31 ...To cut costs, Microsoft said it will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in research and development, marketing, ..."
Going to have an area that is searchable, viewable by the public for file uploads, images, graphs, videos. Only registered users will be able to upload and there will be security on uploads, scanning for malware.
Anybody have useful tools, information on either online display and/or conversion of excel spreadsheets, interactive graphs, etc. please put here. This is a major issue since we do a lot of detailed data presentation.
That if one brought in an H1 visa worker and paid them a substantially lower rate compared to the market, that companies must record that as a profit. The difference, of course, being taxed. Crazy....I know.
If I had my way, a quarter of our business leaders who exported our economy to China and India would be swinging on the gallows. Well...ok, maybe not a death sentence, but it would be something bad! As for the thieves on wall street who ruined capitalism for the rest of us....I'll go get my rope.
What is the suicide rate alone and are you telling me some others are plain getting gunned down? That would not surprise me, not over $50 billion dollars and some are financially ruined.
I hate to sound like a hard ass but China giving these guys life/death for putting poison into milk powder to boost profits is the first I have heard in a long time anyone, under the guise of "business" really getting any matching consequence for their crimes.
It sounds horrific but if it dawns on someone these guys in China did murder hundreds of children and then they also murdered thousands of family pets earlier....they killed
kids with toothpaste...
so the punishment really does fit the crime.
In the United States, if we have an individual killing people, they are going to get a severe punishment but if they do it under the guise of business or are incorporated, literally they get away with murder.
In the United States, it's clear only stupid people are getting busted, real consequence, for crime. It's a clear and free pass for corporate crime, white collar crime and even identity theft level of crime.
and I would appreciate any thoughts.
Conservatism, and Evil as the Absence of Good
Thank you for a great article.
I may have missed it, but I did not see any link to Hudson's The Lost Tradition of Biblical Debt Cancellations. I posted a DailyKos diary with many excerpts in March 2008, in which I wrote,
This is just another propaganda attempt to make a "dirty word" out of a fairly nondescript term. Lobbyists, Politicians, have done this in the past, tried to make something a "dirty word".
For example, there was an ongoing campaign to make a dirty word the term "liberal". Or to try to change the word conservative to mean corporate agenda. Many examples.
This is why I wrote the piece You Are a God Damn, *%$$%&*()!!* PROTECTIONIST!
Competitive economic strategy, trade strategy, in the national interest has nothing to do with protectionism.
Currency manipulation clearly violates the theory of free trade as well.
Lobbyists, corporate mouthpieces and our favorite national economic idiot, Thomas Friedman, just spew out this stuff as if it's bad. They are just trying to change the terms.
If you notice George Bush used it in a parting shot before leaving office.
This place never ceases to amaze me.
I had considered the current debt load in America and odious debt, and there are certainly some parallels. But compared to the developing world, its a whole 'nuther ball game.
While in America today the debt load is drawn from the middle class to the ruling class, in the developing world the debt load is drawn from everyone to a very small number of ruling elite.
So instead of getting bogged down in qualifications and definitions, I decided to stick with the most obvious.
I could have also gone down the road of "Dollar Imperialism" and how America used its military against Latin America in the name of our eastern bankers for over 100 years, but I decided that was a tangent.
Any time a study decides that morality is not part of the equation, then that study is bankrupt.
Boy, they really don't pay much attention do they? This IS the protectionist backlash, or at least, the start of what passes for a protectionist backlash in the United States this century. Their unbalanced trade policy over the last three decades was the risk, we're now into the response.
huffy and fussy.
This is amusing because the evidence they manipulate their currency is beyond overwhelming.
Maybe Geithner is either an idiot (anyone who has done anything with a 1099-misc knows they must pay self-employment, medicare/SS taxes!) or he plain tried to cheat on his taxes...although turbo joke with their "interview" may have confused anyone. still....
but this is one silver lining in the cloud.
....you cannot separate ethics, politics and the social system from economics. They are intertwined in too complex a way for current theory although big efforts are being made in Universities around the world.
As to the idea of unlimited growth it is clearly impossible and we are now bumping up against the constraints, resources both physical and intellectual, which will require a change in course.
Check out 'Steady State Economics by Herman Daly for starters. People, even economists, are starting to think about this.
And that's a good thing.
I've been waiting for somebody, anybody, to link morality and ethics to economics on this board. I only disagree in one point: It is my belief that among the last three generations of Americans, odious debt is the norm.
The reason for this is the demographic bubble of the baby boom- we're headed into a time where investors will outnumber workers. Any time that happens, you'll see the workers going into debt and the investors getting rich off of that debt. And we now expect the investors to get rich enough to pay their own way, without entitlements? How much is that going to take away from the workers?
I hope Obama does not pick any one of them. With millions of folks unemployed I don't know how Obama could justify temporary working visas. It's a shame if he gets bought by Silicon Valley which means he is only a good orator.
Yes, Microsoft has relentlessly lobbied Congress for more H1 visas because they claim there is a severe skills shortage. But then why would Microsoft be laying off R&D? It's not like they're losing money. They made over $4,000,000,000 just last quarter! 4 billion dollar profit for the quarter and yet Microsoft still feels the need to layoff 5,000? Greed, pure greed.
What's evident then, and what Congress must understand, is that Microsoft does not represent what's best for the US and its citizens, but instead its duty is to do what's best for its shareholders across the world - and that is maximize profits.
Microsoft profit misses, to cut up to 5,000 jobs
" ... Microsoft posted a profit of $4.17 billion, or 47 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter ended December 31 ...To cut costs, Microsoft said it will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in research and development, marketing, ..."
Going to have an area that is searchable, viewable by the public for file uploads, images, graphs, videos. Only registered users will be able to upload and there will be security on uploads, scanning for malware.
Anybody have useful tools, information on either online display and/or conversion of excel spreadsheets, interactive graphs, etc. please put here. This is a major issue since we do a lot of detailed data presentation.
And therefore, taxed, but I assume you mean an extra tax for this form of profit.
After all, the savings doesn't just disappear- and does affect the bottom line, lower labor costs same price for sales yields more profit.
very interesting idea....to force corporations to stop squeezing their labor force generally...every time they do that, they get super taxed.
Right now it's considered perfectly acceptable and Wall Street rewards layoffs, labor arbitrage almost immediately.
That if one brought in an H1 visa worker and paid them a substantially lower rate compared to the market, that companies must record that as a profit. The difference, of course, being taxed. Crazy....I know.
Make it so they can't afford your tech- put downward pressure on the income of all the early adopters- and this is what you get.
The 1981 low in housing starts was not as bad in percentage terms as this one.
is made in China.
If I had my way, a quarter of our business leaders who exported our economy to China and India would be swinging on the gallows. Well...ok, maybe not a death sentence, but it would be something bad! As for the thieves on wall street who ruined capitalism for the rest of us....I'll go get my rope.
What is the suicide rate alone and are you telling me some others are plain getting gunned down? That would not surprise me, not over $50 billion dollars and some are financially ruined.
I hate to sound like a hard ass but China giving these guys life/death for putting poison into milk powder to boost profits is the first I have heard in a long time anyone, under the guise of "business" really getting any matching consequence for their crimes.
It sounds horrific but if it dawns on someone these guys in China did murder hundreds of children and then they also murdered thousands of family pets earlier....they killed
kids with toothpaste...
so the punishment really does fit the crime.
In the United States, if we have an individual killing people, they are going to get a severe punishment but if they do it under the guise of business or are incorporated, literally they get away with murder.
In the United States, it's clear only stupid people are getting busted, real consequence, for crime. It's a clear and free pass for corporate crime, white collar crime and even identity theft level of crime.
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