Colonized by Corporations
From Chris Hedges at Truthdig:
We have been, like nations on the periphery of empire, colonized. We are controlled by tiny corporate entities that have no loyalty to the nation and indeed in the language of traditional patriotism are traitors. They strip us of our resources, keep us politically passive and enrich themselves at our expense. The mechanisms of control are familiar to those whom the Martinique-born French psychiatrist and writer Frantz Fanon called “the wretched of the earth,” including African-Americans. The colonized are denied job security. Incomes are reduced to subsistence level. The poor are plunged into desperation. Mass movements, such as labor unions, are dismantled. The school system is degraded so only the elites have access to a superior education. Laws are written to legalize corporate plunder and abuse, as well as criminalize dissent. And the ensuing fear and instability—keenly felt this past weekend by the more than 200,000 Americans who lost their unemployment benefits—ensure political passivity by diverting all personal energy toward survival. It is an old, old game.
Came across a post that I think is related to this post by George Mobus at The Oil Drum
I’ve read a bit of George’s blog, Question Everything, once upon a time for his work on biophysical economics:
I’m a strong advocate for any effort in this direction thus why I thought the TOD comment put some significant context into the dialog.
I’m all for better economic science, but I have to agree with Krugman that if Ireland, Greece, Hungary and Spain are any indication, austerity destabilizes governments.
You imply that’s a bad thing ?
It could be if destabilization allows for thinking at the lower level that caused it.
Else, see Einstein:
If the thinking is stuck, it means, typically the pain has to be elevated – the species, per se, is motivated to avoid pain. Individuals all have their own thresholds.
If the ‘planners’ avoid the pain, expect the thinking to remain ‘stuck’.
I’m not sure having Europe take a violent lurch to the left is good for anybody.
That’s the nature of a pendulum.
In fact, the extremes of that travel path and at rest, are precisely Binary.
Only way I see to find out and drive home the point is to make those that create the structures experience the fruits of there labors. And that is anathema to those individuals.
The solutions aren’t difficult, but they are different. Change is difficult if one isn’t capable of living gracefully with uncertainty
What if the pendulum travels in a circle?
You are getting silly, but I’ll play along.
You got any electronics theory in your background ?
How about basic high school geometry ?
I had a Radio Shack electrical science kit.
I did pretty good in geometry, but calculus kicked my ass.
No circular pendelums, huh?
You being a geek, you should be able to keep up with this; I’m going to go a bit, just a bit, abstract.
Start with plotting the the swing of an actual pendulum; max plus, max minus and through it’s idle position of zero. Now you have 180 degrees of a plotted graph. Now mirror image that, making it 360 degrees, and you get a sinewave.
That’s about as close to an ‘actual’ 360 degree pendulum I can come up with.
It also leaves you at the doorway to plotting a whole boatload of phenomena as it’s a technique of Cartesian coordinate system.
So much for Sunday afternoon games
It seems you’re describing the characteristics in two dimensions. Don’t we actually have three?
I said that was as close as I could come to 360 degrees
But anyway, yeah.
With the convergence of economics, politics and social variable, I see the problem as multi-dimensional.