Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
May 31, 2015 at 2:42 AM in reply to: China Hunting Fugitives Accused of Corruption – Many Are Living in US #786855May 30, 2015 at 6:37 PM in reply to: China Hunting Fugitives Accused of Corruption – Many Are Living in US #786846
CA renter
ParticipantAN, there is just as much corruption here, but in the U.S., the most powerful people are not the ones “officially” in political positions; they are the ones working behind the politicians. Think Wizard of Oz. They cannot be voted out, and if you threaten their access to power or wealth, there is a very good chance that you will be severely discredited, ridiculed, and socially ostracized (with the full force and power of our mainstream media); in jail; or, in rarer cases, dead.
Look at what happened to Occupy Wall Street and the original Tea Party when it was attacking the financial industry and the bailouts. The Tea Party was co-opted (and called a “terrorist organization,” with all that that implies) and the energy was redirected to being anti-Obamacare (courtesy of Obama who is simply a tool in the corrupt two-party system that serves a single group of masters). OWS was infiltrated and these people began pushing totally different agendas so that the bulk of the OWS protestors ended up losing steam and walking away — Occupy Wall Street became Occupy “Everywhere,” totally losing its original focus.
And there’s this:
http://rt.com/usa/fbi-assassination-ows-sniper-227/
And why is Edward Snowden still on the run? What about Julian Assange? Bradley (Chelsea) Manning? Some would think they should be celebrated for making our government more transparent.
The government isn’t just trying to hide information from “our enemies,” it’s trying to hide information from us.
May 29, 2015 at 6:29 PM in reply to: China Hunting Fugitives Accused of Corruption – Many Are Living in US #786803Participant[quote=AN][quote=CA renter]All is correct about about the economic system not being communist if private individuals are allowed to own these companies.[/quote]I’m not talking about economic system. I’m talking about communism tend to breed corruption and allow it to run rampant. Just look at all the real life examples. I’m not here to discuss theories.[/quote]
Communism is a type of economic system. Corruption can happen under any type of economic system; it is not specific to communism (or capitalism). Corruption is the problem, not communism.
You can have a very powerful and authoritative political structure while also having very weak and/or corrupt (usually intentionally so) enforcement capabilities. In a corrupt economy — no matter the type — you tend to get a concentration of power in the agencies/bureaus that control things, and the individuals in charge deliberately weaken or corrupt the enforcement agencies. It’s been going on here, too.
[Edited to add that enforcement agencies can often be corrupted in addition to, or instead of, being weakened.]
May 29, 2015 at 5:58 AM in reply to: China Hunting Fugitives Accused of Corruption – Many Are Living in US #786788Participant[quote=AN][quote=all][quote=AN]Again, if not communism, then what are they? If you object to what they call themselves, then you surely would have a better name for them, right? FYI, there’s no such thing as pure communism or capitalism or socialism or fascism. I’ve never claimed that they’re pure communist according to the political theory. Afterall, they’re all just theories. How those theories get applied varry greatly. Especially when you take into account human nature.[/quote]
I already did – it is just another corrupt, authoritarian society.
You can interpret the communist manifesto creatively, but what you labeled as communist society is not described there. If the means of production are individually owned it cannot be communism. If there is accumulation of wealth by a person or a group it cannot be communism. If there are privileged groups (as in class), it cannot be communism.[/quote]This is the first time you’ve defined it as an authoritarian society.
BTW, how do you have a thriving authoritarian society with weak institution? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Don’t you need a very strong institution in order to exhert authority? Isn’t authority at the heart of an authoritarian regime?
[quote=all]This does not sound like communism, or even socialism. It sounds like any country with weak institutions.[/quote]
I’m not trying to interpret anything. I’m using the labels that they put on themselves. I agree, pure communism doesn’t exist and I’ve stated that. Communism sounds great in theory and that’s how those revolutions started. But add in human greed and other human nature, you have China/Vietnam/Laos/etc today. That is exactly my point. Pure theory sounds great. I would love to live in Utopia too. But that doesn’t exist. That’s exactly my point. You might not like that they call themselves communist but they do. That’s how they came to power. If China is not communist, then we’re not capitalist.[/quote]
All is correct about about the economic system not being communist if private individuals are allowed to own these companies.
What you’re describing, AN, is a corrupt economic system. Labels are always used to confuse the masses. It doesn’t matter if an economic system is categorized as “capitalist” or “communist” or anything in between. If it’s corrupt, and if it’s controlled by a few wealthy and powerful people, then it’s simply a corrupt, oligarchical/plutocratic political system. Economically, it can be a planned, mixed, or market economy, but the end result will basically be the same if the political structure is corrupt.
May 29, 2015 at 5:46 AM in reply to: China Hunting Fugitives Accused of Corruption – Many Are Living in US #786787Participant[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=all]
This does not sound like communism, or even socialism. It sounds like any country with weak institutions.[/quote]That’s about right. We can look back to our robber baron days before Teddy Roosevelt.[/quote]
Good thing we don’t have corruption here, right?
This is just one of many, many examples where private interests write laws and then lobby (bribe) the politicians to push them through. You can rest assured that they are going to $benefit$ from this lobbying. Billionaires do it, too. It happens all the time.
FWIW, ALEC is one of the more powerful organizations behind the attacks on public unions. Wonder why?
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=CA renter]Hope you didn’t get your new machine, yet. I made a post about washing machines last year. So far, we’ve been using our Speed Queen washing machine very regularly — just about every day — and we love it! I had spent a ton of time doing research on washing machines before buying this one. The techs all seem to say the same thing…these don’t really break down and are made to last for decades.
http://piggington.com/ot_washing_machines?page=1
Wish they made dishwashers like this, as we’re in the market for one of those now.[/quote]
I’m ok replacing appliances more often. They have become cheaper than in decades past. I remember when I was little watching the price is right. Appliances were luxury items back then.
Just went shopping for appliances for a rental. My own fridge is about 4 years old and I already hate it. I want a new one with fancy LED lights. The old lights are ugly.[/quote]
As long as you don’t call yourself “green” or “environmentally responsible” you can do whatever you’d like. Just don’t go around complaining about other people’s wasteful or polluting habits.
Seriously, there is absolutely nothing worse for the environment than planned obsolescence and the marketing machine’s brainwashing people into thinking that everything needs to be “upgraded” or “updated” every few years. It’s a sickness in our society, IMHO.
ParticipantThanks, Russ. I’ve heard that the lack of a heated dry option prevents the dishes from fully drying, so you have to dry them off before putting them away. Is that your experience?
ParticipantI think the low labor force participation rate is an indication of at least a couple of things: a surplus capacity of workers and wages that are too low. Both are related, but different.
We have low wages because there are too many people for the few jobs that are available. Some people simply cannot find work (surplus workers), while others will choose not to work because wages are too low. Many people are living with other relatives or living with more people per household, enabling some to stay home (adult kids living with parents, stay-at-home parents, and seniors who are moving in with their kids or other family members, etc.).
Personally, I don’t think that the low participation rate is a bad thing, especially for those who find it more economical to stay out of the workforce (see my posts about the cost of work being higher than the net income from many jobs, especially for second income earners in families with young kids).
ParticipantHope you didn’t get your new machine, yet. I made a post about washing machines last year. So far, we’ve been using our Speed Queen washing machine very regularly — just about every day — and we love it! I had spent a ton of time doing research on washing machines before buying this one. The techs all seem to say the same thing…these don’t really break down and are made to last for decades.
http://piggington.com/ot_washing_machines?page=1
Wish they made dishwashers like this, as we’re in the market for one of those now.
Participant[bold is mine – CAR]
[quote=spdrun]Exactly. Which is why the best environmental policy is to make electronics and vehicles that LAST a long time. Recycling them or building new ones is environmentally expensive.
Apple is talking out of their anuses about environmental responsibility, when they deliberately make older app versions for 3-4 year old iPads hard to download.[/quote]
Yes!!!! A quadrillion times yes!!!
Dealing with a dishwasher right now that barely scraped by until the warranty period expired. It will cost almost as much to fix it (with a high likelihood of it breaking down again) as it will to replace it. Talk to any of the appliance salespeople about trying to find the most durable appliance — usually with mechanical controls — and they say with pride: “Honey, these aren’t the kind of dishwashers you grew up with. They don’t last 20-30 years anymore. They last about 7 years now, which is good because technology makes them greener with each new generation.”
Not kidding, they actually say that…like it’s a good thing. 🙁
There is nothing on the planet that is “dirtier” than planned obsolescence.
May 25, 2015 at 3:21 AM in reply to: China Hunting Fugitives Accused of Corruption – Many Are Living in US #786629Participant[quote=AN][quote=CA renter]It’s typical of capitalist societies, too. It’s natural behavior for humans who are on the extremely high end of the greed spectrum, and has nothing to do with a country’s political-economic structure.[/quote]Yes, it is human nature, but communism allow greed to go unchecked.[/quote]
How is capitalism any different? Seem greed goes unchecked here on a regular basis.
May 24, 2015 at 6:04 AM in reply to: China Hunting Fugitives Accused of Corruption – Many Are Living in US #786611Participant[quote=AN][quote=flu][quote=AN]It’s arrogance and the desire to accumulate even more. Not because they need more but because they think they can have more.[/quote]
It’s almost as if it’s some sadistic game they play. Reminds me of the douchebag that tried to rip of my relatives…And when we caught him, he was more pissed that he lost than actually losing his money. Some people are just…. Shitty.[/quote]Sad to say… so typical of communist society.[/quote]
It’s typical of capitalist societies, too. It’s natural behavior for humans who are on the extremely high end of the greed spectrum, and has nothing to do with a country’s political-economic structure.
ParticipantI think most of us would agree that this is a positive development…
Still needs to go further, IMHO, as the police should not be militarized.
Participant[quote=poorgradstudent]Even better than Sell-and-Rent is “Sell-and-live-with-relatives-until-you-Buy”
That’s what the people who we bought our home from ended up doing, and something we’ll consider if we decide to move up in 5-10 years.[/quote]
Definitely a smart thing to do if you can work it out.
Participant[quote=gzz]Berkeley wasted a ton of money subsidizing its football team, training center, and stadium. It was supposed to pay for itself, but it did not even come close.[/quote]
My old university did the same thing. The students had voted against it year after year. Eventually, the administrators overrode us. Naturally, those administrators made well into the six digits, and this was decades ago. 🙁
-
AuthorPosts
