Capitalism // Current TV

Forum: The roar of Occupy Wall Street

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frankpatton
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8 months ago
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When Socialism Saves Capitalism

Have you noticed that one of the Obama administration's most successful programs... more

WakeUpPeople
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8 months ago
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16 comments

America As Number One

Thanks to the US government, America is number one in many ways.

Libertas
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2 years ago
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6 comments

GOP Crowd Cheers Dying Uninsured Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=irx_QXsJiao The Tea... more

Avior
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9 months ago
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289 comments

Resource: 23 things they don't tell you about capitalism

... after seeing this video I bought the book...

frankpatton
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9 months ago
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Why We Do All Of The Work, But Someone Else Takes Most Of The Wealth.

During the 2010 election campaign I heard the Sun columnist Kelvin Mackenzie talking... more

Schnookums
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9 months ago
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38 comments

With things going the way they are, a lot of people are talking about big history in action, whether it's the breakup of the Eurozone, or the simultaneous market/economic/political spasm happening in the US.

Today Paul Krugman reminds us once again that this could be 1937 all over again.
Simon Johnson thinks it could be even worse: The long depression of the 1870s all over again.

Recently Nouriel Roubini got a lot of attention for saying that Marx basically got the battle between labor and capital correct, and that capitalism itself now stood on the brink of collapse.

And even on Wall Street...

UBS' George Magnus has a big piece out on political economy favorably quoting Karl Marx:
“At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or - this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms - with the property relations within this framework of which they have operated hitherto”. Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx (1859)

In ‘The Return of Political Economy’ (Economic Insights, 5th February 2010), I wanted to emphasize how, in the wake of the financial and economic crisis of 2008-09, the interaction between political and economic decision-making would come to play an increasingly significant role in the determination of economic, and market outcomes. Looking at the time at the complicated legacy of de-leveraging in developed markets, the embryo of the sovereign debt crisis, especially in Europe, and growing social and economic contradictions in China, it was possible to imagine, if not predict precisely, pretty much what we see playing out today.

Now you don’t have to be a member of the Socialist International to recognize that Marx’s words above have contemporary relevance. For him, post-feudal ‘conflict’ would lead to social revolution and the overthrow of bourgeois society, but we know different, not least because the Western model of economic development overhauled and democratised the concept of ‘ownership’ (of the means of production). Nevertheless, the old guy was a pretty shrewd analyst, learned a lot about political economy from likes of Adam Smith and David Ricardo among others, and offered some still relevant insights into how and why things happen in the economy and society.

The quote above captures the important idea of conflict or turbulence when events happen that lead to challenges to the power, authority and legitimacy of the existing political and economic order. During the last several months, we have seen a succession of such challenges in the Eurozone, the US, and even, in embryonic form, in China. The recent skittishness in financial markets and increase in risk premiums reflect not only a rise in anxiety about the deteriorating health of the global economy, but the draining of confidence that political elites are up to the task of addressing it.

This note, then, considers the existential crisis in the Eurozone, ‘deficit attention disorder’ in the US and other advanced economies, and China’s current political economy, for which the recent high-speed rail accident serves as an interesting metaphor.

Again, you know it's a real panic when everyone's trotting out the old guys, and even capitalists think Marx got the endgame right.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/karl-marx-is-hot-2011-8#ixzz1VZynnsicWith things going the way they are, a lot of people are talking about big history in... more

Miguel_Teixeira
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9 months ago
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Capitalism is the Crisis

As if you didn't know.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYFw3O--2R0... more

sffsmessiah
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10 months ago
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1 comment

Deportation is Inhumane

The National Day Labor Organizing Network tries "TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF DAY... more

Progresshiv
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10 months ago
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50 comments

Feral capitalism hits the streets

A political economy of mass dispossession, of predatory practices to the point of... more

Miguel_Teixeira
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10 months ago
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1 comment

Some are linking the London riots to Britain's austerity measures; do you think the US could experience similar events?

The London riots have been in the news, and many have linked them to growing... more

sgwhites
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10 months ago
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32 comments

1% of US Americans earn nearly a quarter of the country's income and control an astonishing 40% of its wealth

The richest 1% of US Americans earn nearly a quarter of the country's income and... more

Miguel_Teixeira
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10 months ago
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49 comments

What did you think of 'This (Illegal) American Life'?

On the most recent episode of "Vanguard," correspondent Mariana van Zeller... more

VANGUARD
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10 months ago
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38 comments

Capitalism in a Modern Communist Society: Hip Hop In Vietnam

In its brief history, it's easy to see why Hip Hop has quickly become the cultural paradigm that it is. With its visceral yet fragmented sonic aesthetics and verbally self-aggrandizing, masculinized freedom of expression, it correlated and accentuated precisely a new American perspective growing up and being groomed in a Reaganomics-MTV-Tech Age on the cusp of hitting next gear.

And we haven't looked back since. I mean, we have, but only to commodify and fetishize nostalgia. But that's for another time. Bad pun. Anyway, our way of life sped up and Hypercapitalism and Hip Hop were both the harbinger and beneficiaries of this culture shift. But times change and musical styles evolve self-reflexively.

Obviously, in America, we're relearning a little humility these days. And though the bravado is still there, because we are after all American, the best Hip Hop artist today (if you still even want to asininely categorize into genres) counter the next line with a self-effacing yearning. Kanye or Drake, for example. There's a wave of younger dudes doing it with an R&B tinge a la Frank Ocean and The Weeknd , and that softening points to a much welcome reactive tempering to the overt masculinization cultivated over the last 25 years.

But as Hip Hop has traveled the sea and trickled onto different shores, the influences have not necessarily varied. Rather, I suppose, like any other paradigm that has peaked and transcended boundaries, its reductive elements penetrate first.

Not avoiding anthropologically speculative generalization, there's distinctive qualities in which Hip Hop has reached and influenced different Asian regions. To note, it's fascinating in itself the susceptibility that Asian cultures as a whole are drawn to the Hip Hop bravado. But, perhaps, there is something enmeshed in each individual culture that draws out a different idiosyncratic manifestation. For the Japanese, is it similar to their sexuality, a means of outward expression in a traditionally repressed culture? In some way, most likely. And why is the love of basketball so closely intertwined with Hip Hop in Japan? (There is the obvious answer there. For that, simply watch ESPN's 30 for 30 on the Fab 5).

Juxtaposed with that is Vietnam. A country just unshackling some of its inhibitions. In their case, more ideological and economical. It's a little newer to the world game. The stringency of the older generations' (or at least those that subscribed the communism) are seeing their wall of economical status quo being 808'd by the sheer attractive force of Capitalism and, more importantly, its weaponization of Freedom of Expression.

So Hip Hop in an older form has taken center stage amongst Vietnamese youth today. And B-boy culture instead of Hoops is the intermediary. ... it's true, intrinsically, the Vietnamese just have more flava than most Asian cultures.

I don't have any conclusive argument here. I also apologize for how poorly written this is. A Saturday morning blurb. But, I do wonder about Freedom Of Expression moving forward. I wonder, with fingers crossed, as our society is moving away from Hypercapitalism to a yet-to-be defined sustainable model, if Freedom Of Expression in a world that has all the information at its distracted fingertips can find something sincere and extricate itself from all the saturated, unfiltered talk that hypercapitalism has allowed to infiltrate our train of thought.

I also hope that the many that are seen wearing Spike Lee a la Mars Blackmon tees go watch Spike Lee flicks. HollatchaboiiiiIn its brief history, it's easy to see why Hip Hop has quickly become the... more