Clipmarks | ouyangwulong's 'capitalism' clips

Come See The REAL New China!

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:48:02 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Jia Zhangke looks at what's really there, rather than what he wants to see. That's something more people should do. On the one hand, he doesn't flatter global capitalism, but he's not blind to the essential progress that China has made either.

China's underground auteur may well be a better anthropologist than entertainer. Although his movies sometimes dwell on the mundane to the point of being unwatchable, they are invaluable documents on the true nature of China's modernization.

So few people understand what the "New China" is, but it's all here for anyone who bothers to look. He is the definitive realist of his generation, and a strikingly insightful observer of the human condition.

His quotes throughout the article are all gems, but too numerous to clip.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Jia Zhang-ke's portraits of China's convulsive change

"Such a quick destruction of a 2,000-year-old town is simply unimaginable," Jia said

Convulsive change is the norm in capitalist China, and since it is also the subject of Jia's films, he said, "I sometimes feel I'm racing against time." At 37 he has amassed a body of work - seven feature-length fiction films and documentaries - that is remarkable for its formal ambition, ethnographic richness and moral weight.

"I don't start from a political standpoint," Jia said. "But if you make a film about China right now, you have to talk about the politics and the changes that are affecting people."

In an increasingly materialist society he gravitates to the have-nots. His films expose the social and spiritual disarray beneath what has been called the Chinese economic miracle.

"Globalization is very complex in China,"

"It has accelerated the consumerist mind-set, but it has also allowed people more access, more information, more technology."

Tags: china, global capitalism, globalization, trade, development, film, jia zhangke, realism

The Success of Savage Capitalism is the Failure of our Society

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:11:29 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Consider these three articles puzzling over the US Economy. The dollar is in free-fall but the GDP is growing. The credit bubble is bursting, but production is up. American companies are making money hand over fist but the wealth gap is staggering.

So the question is: has the Regan/Bush agenda of Savage Anything-Goes Global Capitalism worked? Is America a better nation because of it?

The answer is no. We are not developing our economy, we are just generating wealth for the top 1%. We aren't improving our country so much as optimizing it for de facto feudalism.

Some one needs to give a real good answer as to why this surreal economic nightmare is a success story, or we need to finally admit that Savage Capitalism is motivated by nothing more than greed and wistful thinking.

It's time to get real about our country and our economy. Unless we can save the middle class, then we will be nothing but a crude fiefdom of modern Robber Barons.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Chasm widens between rich and poor in U.S.

The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office show.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Is the U.S. economy in recession?

Jason Furman

Looking only at standard macroeconomic statistics, you would think the U.S. economy was in very good shape. Gross domestic product has grown at a 4.4 percent annual rate in the last six months, well above the historical average.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Stephen S. Roach

The U.S. economy is slipping into its second post-bubble recession in seven years. Just as the bursting of the dot-com bubble led to a downturn in 2001 and '02, the popping of the housing and credit bubbles is doing the same right now.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

But, standing on the platform among my fellow members of the middle class in New York City, the thought is not so much about the gap between the rich and the poor, but between the relatively well-off and the fabulously wealthy.

Tags: capitalism, bush, faliure, regan, evil, wealth gap, robber barons, opression

Noam Chomsky on Anarchism, Marxism,and Future Hope

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:21:58 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Great interview (1995) Read the full text for his interesting insights.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

Noam Chomsky is widely known for his critique of U.S foreign policy, and for his work as a linguist. Less well known is his ongoing support for libertarian socialist objectives. In a special interview done for Red and Black Revolution, Chomsky gives his views on anarchism and marxism, and the prospects for socialism now. The interview was conducted in May 1995 by Kevin Doyle.

What is called 'capitalism' is basically a system of corporate mercantilism, with huge and largely unaccountable private tyrannies exercising vast control over the economy, political systems, and social and cultural life, operating in close co-operation with powerful states that intervene massively in the domestic economy and international society.

That is dramatically true of the United States, contrary to much illusion.

More than ever, libertarian socialist ideas are relevant, and the population is very much open to them.

For an excellent collection of anarchist resources, please visit the All about Anarchism page.

Welcome to Capitalism: Conservative Publisher Cheats Conservative Authors

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:27:35 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: It's very funny that these guys didn't see it coming. Their politics are all about the big rich guy screwing the poor little guy, so why are they so surprised when it turns out that THEY are the poor little guy?

The funny thing is that Mr. Miniter notes with surprise that the company is "acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company." Apparently, he still doesn't get it: those cartoons have a point! If he doesn't like getting screwed by big companies, maybe he should think about joining the Wobblies.

Conservatives, it seems, rely on the presumptions that they will be the ones exploiting, and they're okay with that until a bigger fish comes along and exploits them, then they want the courts to interfere in the free market!

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Conservative Authors Sue Publisher

Five authors have sued the parent company of Regnery Publishing, a Washington imprint of conservative books, charging that the company deprives its writers of royalties by selling their books at a steep discount to book clubs and other organizations owned by the same parent company.

Mr. Miniter said that meant that although he received about $4.25 a copy when his books sold in a bookstore or through an online retailer, he only earned about 10 cents a copy when his books sold through the Conservative Book Club or other Eagle-owned channels. “The difference between 10 cents and $4.25 is pretty large when you multiply it by 20,000 to 30,000 books,” Mr. Miniter said. “It suddenly occurred to us that Regnery is making collectively jillions of dollars off of us and paying us a pittance.” He added: “Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”

Tags: capitalism, communism, international workers of the world, right wing cry babies

Savage Capitalism in the Post-Communist World

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:51:39 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Although China has grabbed most of the headlines for poisonous toys, Russia has quietly gone to pieces as well. What is happening in these countries is not merely the residual effects of the failure of communism, it is a violently selfish mentality, perhaps born in the desperation of bread lines, but now blooming in the vacuum of law and order created by the collapse of the Communist system.

In China and Russia both we see the values espoused by George Bush and his Neo-Conservative gang taken to their horrific logical extreme. Customers have become a commodity. Wealth is the only guarantor of safety and power. Corporations and corruption rule the government. The fanatical pursuit of wealth for its own sake has taken over, leaving the average citizen to fend for themselves in a frightening wilderness of indifference and exploitation.

The blazing fires of this economic explosion are fueled by an icy detachment from the basic human traits of empathy and compassion.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Coating on toy beads from China could be life-threatening

the boy had eaten Bindeez toy beads coated with a glue compound that the boy's digestive system had converted into GHB. At least four other children have been temporarily hospitalized in Australia and New Zealand in the past three weeks after eating the beads.

Moose said that it had reviewed the ingredients of the beads and found that some batches did not match the list of ingredients promised by the supplier. "The substitution was not at any time approved by Moose, nor was Moose made aware of any substitution by the supplier,"

Clip Source: www.iht.com

In Russian renaissance, safety takes backseat

Respect for law, safety and public health, and the Russian government's ability to govern, still lag far behind the Kremlin's restored sense of self, as evidenced by the scale at which Russia's population suffers from fires.

Tags: capitalism, communism, greed, safety, not a good combination!

Conservatives Do Not Have A Monopoly On Religion

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 07:32:49 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: These days the Christian Conservatives have worked really really hard to portray the left as secular enemies of the faith, and spread the myth that one cannot be a good Christian and a political liberal, that the left-wing agenda of using the government to care for the needy, defend freedoms and protect the weak is somehow in fundamental conflict with the teachings of Jesus.

Now, I normally don't like to tell Christians how they should interpret their faith, and I'm not going to start now, but I think any Christian should seriously consider the following question: What in the teachings of Jesus would condone discrimination against social pariahs (like gays)? What in the anecdotes in the New Testament would encourage the savage me-first capitalism of Bush's Republican Party?

As an outsider, I don't see the connection. Actually, I'd have a sincere interest in how Christianity has become so conflated with conservativism, so if anyone cares to explain their side, I'm all ears.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Walter Rauschenbusch, the leader of the Social Gospel movement of the early 20th century, did just that in “Christianity and the Social Crisis,” published 100 years ago this year. Although steeped in church history and riddled with obscure terminology like “Ebionitic” (a reference to Jewish followers of Jesus who, in sympathy with the Sermon on the Mount, chose lives of poverty), the book quickly became a best seller. The Federal Council of Churches (which later changed its name to the National Council of Churches), founded one year after its publication, spread Rauschenbusch’s message of social reform. It was one of two books — along with Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle,” published a year earlier — most responsible for tempering the rule of rapacious capitalism and helping Theodore Roosevelt to define a new progressive agenda. As late as the 1950s, one aspiring Baptist preacher read it and wrote that it “left an indelible imprint on my thinking.” His name was Martin Luther King Jr.

Tags: politics, left, right, religion

Who is the greediest? Communists or Capitalists?

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:16:51 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Although I do not believe that socialism and capitalism necessarily conflict, this article raises a very interesting point. To talk about a slightly different point, I think Communism definitely does make people more greedy and materialistic.

Communism (and to be more specific, I refer specifically to Marxism, and large-country model Communism, namely Stalinism and Maoism) is much more complex than simply being the opposite of capitalism, thus it doesn't offer a true counterpoint to capitalism free of other complicating variables.

But, even if its not perfect, it provides some valuable insight. From my experience studying the Chinese culture and the way it changed in the last 50 years, communism breeds nothing but greed, materialism and elitism. Most alarmingly it creates a sense of entitlement without the sense of responsibility.

It is the freedom of capitalism that saves it. We should be very careful to ensure that our markets are in fact free. Otherwise we are no differen

Clip Source: www.mises.org

Does Capitalism Make Us More Materialistic?

By Ben O'Neill

There was a time when the advocates of socialism argued that it would lead man to material abundance, whereas free-market capitalism would lead only to increasing misery and would ultimately collapse under its own internal stresses.

These days the attack has shifted. Capitalism does not lead us to poverty; it leads us to too much wealth. This makes us "greedy" and "materialistic." It leads us to excessive "consumerism."

Some things of value are alienable goods: they can be transferred to others. So, for example, we can give a gold watch or a pair of shoes to another person. We can teach a person to play the piano or supply them with a cruise on a ship. But some things are inalienable goods: they cannot be transferred to others. We cannot transfer our time, our knowledge, our health, or our physique to another person. They must acquire these things on their own, by their own effort.

Tags: communsim, capitalism, greed, corporations, china, usa, gop, socialism, freedom

The Three Cs: Korea, Corruption, and Capitalism

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:15:49 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Wow, the part of Korea that didn't go crazy communist went crazy capitalist. Apparently, according to the testimony of Korea's President, being a powerfull buisnessman actually does make someone above the law. Read the article for more great quotes, like how the prosperity of the nation is more important than the rule of law. Actually, sounds a lot like some of the stuff Fred Thompson is getting at when he talks about not damaging the prosperity of America.

Have fun Korean working-class! You will be hunted for sport for the amusement of corporate elites starting next week!

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Korean court suspends prison term for Hyundai chairman

SEOUL, South Korea: An appeals court suspended on Thursday a three-year prison term handed to Hyundai Motor Co. Chairman Chung Mong-koo for embezzlement, saying the tycoon is too important to South Korea's economy to go to jail.

A three-judge panel at the Seoul High Court suspended the sentence for five years, meaning that the 69-year-old head of the world's sixth-largest automaker will avoid prison as long as he keeps a clean record during that period.

A lower court had sentenced Chung in February to three years for embezzling more than US$100 million (€73 million) in company money to set up a slush fund. Prosecutors say the fund was used to pay lobbyists to gain government favors and for personal use.

Presiding Judge Lee Jae-hong told the packed courtroom that Hyundai Motor has great influence over the nation's economy and Chung, its hands-on leader, is the symbol of the company.

Tags: corruption, arrogance, greed, capitalism, korea

Is India really developing?

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:59:05 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This raises an important question: is India developing or just getting richer?

Foreign Affairs called it "a roaring capitalist success story" but I wonder if that's accurate. As I understand it, capitalism is about free and open competition in a fair marketplace. How can there be true competition when half the population (or more) lives in abject poverty. I would call this "mercantilism" not capitalism. If you ask me, the gap between rich and poor is anti-competitive, it insulates and entrenches the extremely wealthy, and thus erodes the dynamic elements of competition that are necessary for capitalism to function properly.

Just because someone operates for profit doesn't make them a capitalist.

Just because a country is making money right now doesn't make them a success.

(We should also be asking these same questions about China. The long-term Growth potential we dream of in these countries may be limited by their failure to develop a middle class.)

Clip Source: www.nybooks.com

Dominated by modern office buildings, cafés, and gyms, and swarming with Blackberry-wielding executives of financial and software companies, parts of Indian cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Gurgaon resemble European and American downtowns. Regular elections and increasingly free markets make India appear to be a more convincing exemplar of economic globalization than China, which has adopted capitalism without embracing liberal democracy.

However, many other aspects of India today make Foreign Affairs' description of the country—"a roaring capitalist success-story"—appear a bit optimistic. More than half of the children under the age of five in India are malnourished; failed crops and debt drove more than a hundred thousand farmers to suicide in the past decade.^[2] Uneven economic growth and resulting inequalities have thrown up formidable new challenges to India's democracy and political stability. A recent report in the International Herald Tribune warned:

Tags: india, development, globalization, economics

Papal condemnation of Capitalism and Marxism.

Mon, 14 May 2007 17:04:46 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This is an interesting mix, and very revealing about the current political environment, and how it has changed since the 1980s. A condemnation of capitalism, which has at times been enshrined within some Christian ideologies, seems a commentary on the miss-deeds that have been done lately by corporate elites in the name of capitalism.

But while his theology is sound, he does not go as far as he could. Catholic theology could be interpreted to condone charity as well. While he provides a provocative indictment of materialism, and Marxism certainly deserves to come under close scrutiny, he ignores the underlying inequities in society that make Marxist ideology so appealing to many. This could be interpreted as saying "Let them eat Faith." He condemns Liberation Theology, but he gives no answer to it.

In the end, I feel his struggle is that he is a very philosophical and scholastic Pope, in a world that increasingly demands secular leadership from religious figures.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

APARECIDA, Brazil: In a major speech on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI condemned capitalism and Marxism as "systems that marginalize God" and urged the Latin American clergy to feed people's spiritual hunger as the way to ease poverty and halt the Roman Catholic Church's steady decline in the region.

The speech was widely anticipated for how Benedict — on his first visit as pope to the Western Hemisphere — would tackle issues from poverty and social injustice to the evangelical groups eroding Roman Catholicism in some Latin American countries at the rate of 1 percent a year.

"What is real?" he mused in the speech, hours before heading back to Rome after five days in Brazil, the world's most populous Catholic country. "Are only material goods, social and economic and political problems 'reality'?" Without agreeing first on God, he argued to the bishops, society is unable to tackle the problems of poverty and social injustice.

Tags: religion, politics, latin america, pope benedict xvi, capitalism, marxism, materialism

As Adam Smith rolls in his grave...

Tue, 08 May 2007 06:44:30 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: The WTO provides simply the latest example of how far we have drifted from the Capitalism of Adam Smith. Smith was a product of the enlightenment, and clearly envisioned capitalism as practiced by a society of enlightened humanists. The restraint that this would bring serves to vouchsafe the truly free market. When corporate collusion places profit margins ahead of the basic well-being of the people, then who could say this market is truly free? Are we not at their mercy? An economy controlled by corporate elites is no better than one controlled by the state. The Savage Capitalism of the WTO is different from communist or fascist economics in name and execution only. The resultant inequities in society are the same.

Is this really the ideal to which we have committed so much blood and treasure?

Clip Source: www.iht.com

For decades, Indian law allowed its pharmaceutical companies to replicate Western-patented drugs and sell them at a lower price to countries too poor to afford them otherwise. In this way, India supplied half of the drugs used by HIV-positive people in the developing world.

But in March 2005, the Indian Parliament, under pressure to bring the country into compliance with the World Trade Organization's rules on intellectual property, passed a bill declaring it illegal to make generic copies of patented drugs.

This has put life-saving antiretroviral medications out of reach of many of the nearly 6 million Indians who have AIDS. Yet the very international drug companies that so fiercely protect their patents oppose India's attempts to amend World Trade Organization rules to protect its traditional remedies.

Tags: wto, india, free trade, intellectual property rights, capitalism, savage capitalism