Capitalism // Current TV

How the Web Might Redefine Capitalism

Capitalism, though a big, incredibly complex concept, can be boiled down to a few... more

cclark_productions
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

YouTube - Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine - Part 1 of 6

Part one of Naoimi Klein speech describing her book 'The Shock Doctrine'

mollymew
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Paradigm Shift: The great machine of capitalism starts to heave.

Here's an interesting article from adbusters.org

Note: For those right-wingers that don't know how to read -and don't know anybody that does, there is link at adbusters.org where you can download the audio version.

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/94/paradigm-shift.html

There’s a tectonic mindshift going on in the science of economics right now, but you wouldn’t know it by tuning in to the likes of Martin Wolf, Paul Krugman, Andrew Sorkin, Lawrence Summers, Tim Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Dominique Strauss-Kahn or most of the professors teaching Economics 101 around the world. These old-school practitioners of neoclassicism are stuck in past, versed in only one language: the language of pure, unadulterated money.

As oil reserves dwindle and climate tipping points loom, they babble on endlessly about liquidity, stimulus, derivatives, bond markets, sovereign debt, AAA ratings and investment banker bonuses. They never say a word about melting glaciers, eroding coral reefs, rising sea levels, fizzing oceans or the methane that’s bubbling out of the arctic tundra. Like medieval theologians who argued endlessly about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, today’s economists argue incessantly about how economic growth can be sustained forever on a finite planet. Ten years from now, as the blowback from the externalities of their way of doing business repeatedly hammers us and global warming kicks in with a vengeance, we’ll look back in shock and awe – and wonder what it was about these logic freaks and their money narratives that so mesmerized us.

Five hundred years ago astronomers following Ptolemy’s geocentric model of the universe were tearing their hair out trying to make sense of all their calculations of the sun, moon and stars moving around above us in the night sky. It was only when Copernicus pointed out that we are not the center of the universe – the sun does not revolve around the Earth but rather the other way around – that all their convoluted calculations fell magically into place.

Today something eerily similar is happening in the science of economics: Economists and lay people alike are realizing that our human money economy is a subset of the Earth’s larger bioeconomy rather than the other way around. Over the next few years, as this monumental shift of perspective kicks in, all the economic, ecological and financial craziness of the industrial era will evaporate, and a new sustainable way of running our planetary household will fall magically into place.

Economics students, especially PhD students, in departments around the world have a crucial role to play in ushering in this new paradigm. Go to kickitover.org and join the movement.

—Kalle LasnHere's an interesting article from adbusters.org Note: For those... more

Roldan
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

New Rule: Television Networks Have to Quit Trying to Put a Happy Ending on America's Wealth Disparity | Video Cafe

Funny stuff, but sometimes getting the truth out there via the humor is the only way... more

kennymotown
added this
1 year ago
|
135 comments

The painted kipper (pt. 3): public service vs. the brute force of money - John Reith and the BBC | Scholars and Rogues

Part 3 in an excellent critical re-evaluation of the founder of the BBC. In this... more

hoosierdaddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Lessons from Wisconsin: Marxist Theory and Capitalist Crisis

As we stand in the recent defeat of union workers in WI, questions must be asked a... more

RaceBannon
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

http://punkpatriot.blogspot.com/2011/02/working-people-vs-wall-street-part-2.html

Now, I never aim to inspire defeatism, but today I aim to inspire disillusionment,... more

asherp
added this
1 year ago
|
5 comments

The Futures Market: …response to my series on the Collapse of Capitalism.

WWH -This letter arrived the other day in response to my series on the Collapse of... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Union Busting In The 80s - The Happy Suits of Doom!

Now the Tea Party (GOP Created) will probably see it's last days after being exposed for who they really are. Tea Party against the Middle Class?

(Union Busting in History - At least today they wear nice suits)

When the famous Patco strike unfolded and President Reagan promptly fired the strikers and crippled the union, it signaled open season on Unions and the beginning of busting, deregulation and a general dismantling of our labor laws and the subsequent fallout that's been reverberating all over our society ever since.

In 1983 we were in the midst of strikes at Continental Airlines and Greyhound Bus. Those strikes made it clear just how damaged our labor laws had become and how the face of Union Busting had changed.

On December 4, 1983 Face The Nation ran a panel that consisted of William Wimpersinger of the International Association of Machinists, Frank Navjot of Greyhound, Studs Terkel, John Nesbitt and Stephen Cabot discussing the state of labor in the midst of Reagan.

Leslie Stahl: “Do you think there is a national management conspiracy to bust or break the unions?”

Studs Terkel: “There doesn’t have to be a conspiracy, I wish it were as simple as that. No, the climate is set and the climate of course is set by the most outrageous anti-labor administration within memory. So we have not, Apple Blossom Time but certainly Union Busting Time”.

Stahl: “Yeah but the public seems to be behind . . .not just the administration . . . .

Terkel: “That’s precisely the point. I think there’s been a lobotomy performed down through the years as Unions and labor are concerned. Ever since World War 2 . .and it’s changed. Big business has become more sophisticated in the person of Mister Cabot say, in contrast to a guy Henry Ford hired in the 30s to fight UAW, Harry Bennett, who would hire thugs and ex-cons with baseball bats to bust the heads of picketers. Today you have smiling three-piece suit guys doing the same job. So much more sophisticated and the result the young members of the workforce have no idea how the minimum wage came to be. They think it came as an apple from the hand of Eve in the garden of Eden. It was bloodied heads that did it, and guys were blacklisted and so minimum wage came to be – that’s under attack today. There’s definitely a union busting climate, no doubt in my mind."

Considering it's 26 years later - the situation hasn't changed. It has only gotten worse, thanks to the Bush Administration. The systematic dismantling of those laws which protected workers from unfair and unethical practices have only become more prevalent with time - and the affects of greed and contempt have only become more entrenched.

It's not going to go away overnight - remember that.

(Note: The broadcast begins with breaking news of U.S. raids on Syrian positions in Lebanon and then goes to the original program)

Tags: 1983, Face the Nation, pinkerton, The Reagan Years, Union BustingNow the Tea Party (GOP Created) will probably see it's last days after being... more

kennymotown
added this
1 year ago
|
141 comments

What Conservatives Really Want

Dedicated to the peaceful protestors in Wisconsin, February 19, 2011.

The central issue in our political life is not being discussed. At stake is the moral basis of American democracy.

The individual issues are all too real: assaults on unions, public employees, women's rights, immigrants, the environment, health care, voting rights, food safety, pensions, prenatal care, science, public broadcasting and on and on.

Budget deficits are a ruse, as we've seen in Wisconsin, where the Governor turned a surplus into a deficit by providing corporate tax breaks, and then used the deficit as a ploy to break the unions, not just in Wisconsin, but seeking to be the first domino in a nationwide conservative movement.

The forces against independent journalism are growing. Help Truthout keep up the fight against ignorance and regression! Support us here.

Deficits can be addressed by raising revenue, plugging tax loopholes, putting people to work and developing the economy long-term in all the ways the president has discussed. But deficits are not what really matter to conservatives.

Conservatives really want to change the basis of American life, to make America run according to the conservative moral worldview in all areas of life.

In the 2008 campaign, candidate Obama accurately described the basis of American democracy: empathy — citizens caring for each other, both social and personal responsibility — acting on that care, and an ethic of excellence. From these, our freedoms and our way of life follow, as does the role of government: to protect and empower everyone equally. Protection includes safety, health, the environment, pensions. Empowerment starts with education and infrastructure. No one can be free without these, and without a commitment to care and act on that care by one's fellow citizens.
The conservative worldview rejects all of that.

Conservatives believe in individual responsibility alone, not social responsibility. They don't think government should help its citizens. That is, they don't think citizens should help each other. The part of government they want to cut is not the military (we have 174 bases around the world), not government subsidies to corporations, not the aspect of government that fits their worldview. They want to cut the part that helps people. Why? Because that violates individual responsibility.

much more at link...Dedicated to the peaceful protestors in Wisconsin, February 19, 2011. The central... more

WakeUpPeople
added this
1 year ago
|
20 comments

"Shared Value" and State Capitalism

David D’Amato responds to a recent NPR appearance by Michael Porter and Robert... more

thomaslknapp
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Workers of the World....its time to unite. Collective bargaining is essential to our democracy.

This attack on unions is pariah, a side show circus and anyone who has a job should be tuned into this issue and stand with the unions that still exist. Less than 7% of workers in this country have unions and yet they are the supposedly responsible for the financial problems of states? Lets get real here. The time we America was at its best is when taxes where much higher than they are jobs were plentiful...we had a strong middle class.

Watch the linguistics of all of this talk. The words are carefully chosen to illicit the desired response. Its all designed to create a false sense of separation. The working class and the middle class and the poor are all in the same pie when compared to the ruling class.

Or you can call the same scenario as the super rich, the professional managers, the wage earners and the entitlement receivers.

Notice the difference of how the words impact your consciousness.

Who are the people behind the economic troubles, really? Its the super rich. They are capable, because of international money policy, to move billions of dollars in and out of a country in hours. They can wreck havoc on financial markets anywhere in the world. Our economic troubles are all the result of their games. Their games.

Its time for unions, collective bargaining organizations, resurge and regain the working force in this country. Its still legal to do so and we need to take advantage of it as quickly and as expediently as possible. Don't drink the tea from the tea party because you will be poisoned in the process. Workers of the world unite! The time has come for us to take our power back and make our servants in government...serve us.

This is why we must all stand with the few unions that are left. We need to make more unions and send a clear and strong message to the government, to corporations, that they are privileged because of us, when they are supposed to be serving us...the people. Instead, we have a system that is completely upside down and contrary to constitutional principles. Our government has become our task master because our government belongs to the corporations unions have been struggling against for the past 100 years.This attack on unions is pariah, a side show circus and anyone who has a job should be... more

jubal
added this
1 year ago
|
384 comments

Collapse of Capitalism, Part IV: Razor Wire and Wealth

WWH - When Egyptians rose up to oust the decades-long, brutal, dictatorial rule of... more

joeeddy
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

New York Stock Exchange taken over by German Market - Must Watch!

The German Stock Exchange has merged with the NYSE and will drop the NYSE name. Is... more

WeAreChangeKy
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Article: UN Sec. Gen. - Capitalism is "Environmental Suicide" Says "We Need a Revolution"

UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon has launched an astonishing attack on the current... more

frankpatton
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

World Social Forum opens in Dakar to thousands of marchers

The first World Social Forum started in Porto Alegre, Brazil in the year 2001. It was... more

Aimee_Kligman
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

The Punk Patriot Performs an Experiment

Hi there. It’s been a while.
I’m a little fuzzier than last time we talked. I know you might have liked me better clean-shaven, but it’s cold outside, so I ask that you just put up with it.

So a little housekeeping to start. I want to point out that in a past video, I said that congress would never pass a repeal of DADT. Some of you asked that I make a retraction. So here it is: I was wrong about that, and I’m glad to be wrong about that. Now I can say things like “Shouldn’t all our soldiers be allowed to marry whomever they want?”

However, I don’t feel I’m wrong that both parties use wedge issues to fire up their base, and that neither party actually cares about these wedge issues. When Republicans rail against illegal immigration, and then it turns out that they have illegal immigrants working at their mansions as full time staff, that’s not hypocrisy. That’s just flat contempt for the stupidity of the voting population. When Democrats say that they care about poor people, but refuse to talk about Single Payer healthcare, or a living wage, that’s not their playing to the middle. They just don’t care. They’ve got corporate dollars to chase after so that they can fight the next election battle. Which brings me to another point I would like to develop more in a later video-- the real power center of the USA isn’t in Washington, DC. Those familiar with the term, “Soft Power” will recognize that the place where the bulk of the nation’s decisions are actually made is on Wall Street, in New York City. Protesting in Washington DC to be heard by congress or the President, is like yelling at a McDonald’s cashier about the rain forests being cleared for cattle in Brazil. It might make you feel better, but the kid behind the counter isn’t the person making the decisions for the company. He’s only there because that’s where he gets his paycheck. His job is to sell you on the idea of buying the apple pie... which isn’t even really an apple pie, but some sort of strudel in a cardboard box. and Ain’t that America?

One more item of housekeeping. This video is sort of an experiment. I want to see if actually want me to keep making these videos or not. If you do, please subscribe over at my blog for whatever level is right for you. We can work together on this. If I can get say, 60 people to subscribe at $10 a month (that’s $2.5 a week) I’ll be able to afford to quit my job, where I’m currently working 54hrs a week, and find part time work. I can also start making a Punk Patriot video every week.
Currently, I have 5 subscribers at the $10 a month level. They are awesome people who get it. Thank you to: Maike Both, Patti Ellis, Jason Dawson, Michelle Duffy, and Billie Rae Lucoff.

Others are saying, “Wait! Didn’t you get rich with your YouTube Partnership and your thousands of views on your last few videos?”

No. Due to a glitch, google ad-sense never linked with my YouTube channel, and I was never able to collect my massive monthly paycheck of a whopping 38 cents in ad revenue.

And now some of you kids who think everything on the internet should be free, I want to tell you something-- things in real life aren’t free. And if I’m going to work all the time so that I can afford to stay alive, then I won’t have time to make videos. So if you’re okay with that, please don’t donate, and I’ll go away.Hi there. It’s been a while. I’m a little fuzzier than last time we... more

asherp
added this
1 year ago
|
10 comments

Winter Olympics results in massacre of 100 healthy sled dogs

The 2010 Winter Olympics held in Canada last year have had a horrific and tragic... more

Deeanna_Harrington
added this
1 year ago
|
12 comments

Disadvantaged turn to disobedience in US

Caught in the eye of the financial crisis, underprivileged Americans have begun seeking ways to subvert system inequality by turning to the new tactic of economic disobedience.
Researchers and activists are documenting that wages in the US have been dropping while benefits and pensions are being cut. In the face of this, some have turned to a different form of protest that does not entail carrying placards or statement-making arrests. This form of resistance is happening in places hardly visible.

In poor neighborhoods in New York City, some residents organize to raise a little money to buy subway cards offering unlimited rides, and swipe as many people in as they can to give them a free ride.

For Ollie, one of the activists who organizes this form of disobedience, most importantly it is a response to an economic system that he sees as unfair.

"Taxes are cut for wealthy people and there are bailouts for banks and none of it reaches people in this neighborhood, and we think that is wrong," Ollie said.

“I think fundamentally it is a neighborhood of immigrants and it is always been that way – a neighborhood that has never had much of a political voice. If they are not going to bail us out this is what we'll do to bail ourselves out,” he states.

Lisa Dodson, an American sociologist, found this subversion of the system is happening across the country. However, she also discovered that the practice extends to middle-class businesses, where managers break rules to help their employees.

“These were managers who felt that the people working for them – doing their jobs, being responsible – were still unable to take care of their family," Dodson, from Boston College, described.
http://rt.com/news/disadvantaged-turn-disobedience-us/

In her research, Dodson found grocery store managers sending bags of food home with workers, fast food managers padding paychecks with overtime wages. Though she said most of these managers were generally opposed to breaking rules, they felt their actions were justified by the circumstances.

“Ignoring the fact that people who are working very hard for you are unable to feed their children…in the minds of some people at least, that has become a bigger wrong," Dodson added.Caught in the eye of the financial crisis, underprivileged Americans have begun... more

MotherForTruth
added this
1 year ago
|
126 comments

WikiLeaks prepares to destroy the Swiss banking industry.

"The hacker battle cry of “free” information reflects either... more

remanns
added this
1 year ago
|
50 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Capitalism

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved