The Weekend

Religious Radicals


Why Isn't Anyone Asking Where Poway Shooter Was Radicalized?


Politics

Horrible thought of the day: If Trump were to quit tomorrow, this man could be our President for almost 10 years. Mike Pence: The "Economy is Roaring" So Let's Cut Rates


Libertarians !?

Big business isn’t big politics - Tyler Cowen beating the drum that Business doesn't really control the US government. I think he's lost his mind.

But again, national policy isn’t exactly geared to making businesses, and particularly big business, entirely happy.

I don't know about you but everywhere I look I see government driven by and for big business at the expense of the people, a few I can think of...  

The recent corporate tax cut.

Our crappy health care system kept in place for our insurance and health care business.

Unions continually being beaten down.

We have wars for the arms builders, gambling laws loosened for casino owners, responsibility for old age pensions pushed from employer to employee. Bankruptcy laws created to protect banks over people, Pay-day loan-sharks protected by law, Telecoms killing net neutrality and creating laws to block cities from building their own fiber networks, drug laws kept in place by the big pharma and alcohol industries, private prisons, private schools over public schools, the trade agreements of the last 40 years. Roads and bridges sold to private firms. Gun manufacturers fund the NRA to control our loose guns laws. Business criminals get fines while people go to jail for smoking a weed.

All of these favor business over "the people" and have been driven into place by business control of our government.

And yeah, recently the people have been fighting back. Hell, I think the last 40 years of government of business.. by business...and for business is what ultimately led to the rise of Trump. the left isn't far behind with the recent rise of the Social Ds. 

Also, as the post states, there are a few super rich playing in politics now but they don't really look like they're in it for the common man.

Anyway, to say that business doesn't control the our system might be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard from a smart person. 

Get back with me when we throttle big pharma and throw the insurance companies out of our health care system. 

tnb. 

A few related posts: 

The Noble Crony: Big Business on the Politics of Business

Right to Repair Bill Killed After Big Tech Lobbying In Ontario

 ANOTHER STEP TOWARD MAKING UNIONS ILLEGAL

The economy we need  

Or consider Trump’s obsession with trade agreements. Insofar as US workers have been ill-served by policymakers, it is not because trade negotiators from developing countries outsmarted US negotiators. In fact, the US usually gets almost everything it asks for. The problem is that what it asks for reflects the interests of US corporations, not of ordinary citizens. 

On Mr. Cowen's page on the same day.... The progressive nature of big business - I agree with this, big business needs customers of all stripes so can drive social issues. A few years ago, Mike Pence led Indiana to pass an RFRA act which big business promptly forced him to walk back.

So again, the wishes of big business triumphed over the demands of the religious extremists in Indiana.

I guess crony capitalism isn't always bad.

State Media

Facebook’s Unintended Consequence - People who lack the wisdom and humility to use their power responsibly. Bret Stephens is the old guy yelling at the kids in this opinion piece at the NYT.

Over the past several years we’ve learned a lot about the unintended consequences of social media. Platforms intended to bring us closer together make us angrier and more isolated. Platforms aimed at democratizing speech empower demagogues. Platforms celebrating community violate our privacy in ways we scarcely realize and serve as conduits for deceptions hiding in plain sight.

and   

The issue is much simpler: Do you trust Mark Zuckerberg and the other young lords of Silicon Valley to be good stewards of the world’s digital speech?

I notice the front page of the NYT this morning and I don't see any stories about the US trying to topple the Venezuelan government, the Saudis using US equipment to bomb the shit out of Yemen, Israel bombing the shit out of its open-air prison, Gaza. Also, nothing about how medicare for all, more union membership, increased social security or cheaper college might help millions in the US. Also, I seem to remember something about Judith Miller and the NYT beating war drums a few years back.  

I guess Mr. Stephens really just prefers media that makes us angrier, empowers demagogues, and serves as a conduit of deception while forcing us all into the same line.  

So really the issue is a bit more complicated. 

Do you trust Mark Zuckerberg and the other young lords of Silicon Valley or Bret Stephens and the old lords of state media to be good stewards of the world’s digital speech?

Well kid?