In These Times

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• • 30 May 07
  • 5:41 am

  Wow - Jimmy Weinstein must be rolling over in his grave. A socialist magazine where the socialists fight with one hand tied behind their back and concede all of libertarians' points before the debate even starts. 1. Egalitarianism is NOT the same thing as resentment and is perfectly defensible. Things were better when the rich, by taste didn't flaunt their wealth so ostentatiously. Like Paris Hilton, anyone? And no, the fact that I can buy more junk than my parents could doesn't refute this - doesn't render it irrational. Sure, egalitarianism can be taken too far, like anything else - such …

  Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

• • 30 May 07
  • 8:03 am

  scorp - Write back when you grow up, ok? I work for one of the country's largest corporations. If the stockholders could see what goes on with their money they would throw it over tomorrow. But they can't and they're shielded from the consequences of bad executive decisions by the vast amounts of corporate welfare that the Republicans so-small-you-can-drown-it-in-a-bathtub government keeps throwing their way. Tax shelter islands? Oh I don't know, the Caymans? Gee, sorry, I guess I must have misspoke, it isn't an island, but what about Dubai, where Halliburton is now chartering itself? I may be old-fashioned, scorp, but …

  Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

• • 31 May 07
  • 10:39 pm

  >> I’m afraid you can’t tell me much new about corporate behavior, but that is beside the point. Really? What is your experience? I work at one of the world's largest corporations. My wife works at a dysfunctional public hospital with no money. If we listed the dysfunctional things happening at both places and jumbled them together, you wouldn't be able to tell which was which. >> The Soviet Union collapsed from corruption and inefficiency, so I am certain their corporate behavior was much worse than our own. No doubt, but if that's where you're setting the bar, you're setting it …

  Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

• • 01 Jun 07
  • 9:11 pm

  Gee, Brian was right. You are kind of like an energizer bunny aren't you? You just go on and on.

  I’ve published a book on disfunctional managers in organizations, based on my experiences in the military and industry.

  Really? Give me the title and publisher, I'll be sure to check it out.

  We are discussing the successes of democracy, free markets, and the rule of law, not the failures of socialism.

  Silly me, I thought these two topics go hand in hand. Oh, and scorp, who brought up the Soviet Union? Wasn't me.

  they made a …

  Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?

• • 02 Jun 07
  • 9:17 am

  Thanks for the history lesson on MITI. You obvously know a bit more about Japanese history than I do. Nonetheless, do you suppose, now that the Japanese have decided to go after high tech rather than heavy industry, that their cabinet ministers in charge of the economy are going around saying "outsourcing is a good thing for Americans" as one of ours did, cheering as they push high tech out the door? No, the Japanese decided what they want to emphasize and they're emphasizing it. They're fighting, as a nation, for those sectors of the economic turf they want to specialize …

  Posted to Who's Afraid of Democracy?