"At a time when universities are supposedly dominated by Marxists, the economic rivalry of classes gains less attention than a postmodern narrative of ever-more thinly sliced and diced identities, which leads this author to conclude that wealthy class interests do indeed divert debate."
Indeed one of the principal intentions of what some have designated "woke capitalism" is to DIVERT attention from the grotesque and psychopathic embezzlements of the social product by the owners. Thomas Piketty devotes a chapter in his comprehensive monograph "Capital in the 21st Century" disabusing even the most ardent acolytes of our current so-called form of global "capitalism" of the notion that executive compensation is even tenuously causally linked to ability or performance.
It is also a DIVERSION from the grotesque and psychopathic levels of inequality in wealth now exceeding that of the gilded age - but now kept somewhat less ostentatiously visible by much of the owner class many of whom remain anonymous to the masses. As Piketty elaborates this has been historically baked into the system by the simple but highly determinative inequality formula r (return on capital) > g (real economic growth) which leads inexorably over the long term to the wealth of the already-wealthy growing faster than the economy as a whole and to the vast majority of wealth coming under the control of a tiny minority. This hasn't happened "organically" or magically by the benevolent "invisible hand" of the free market. Piketty et. al. have a possible fix - they want a global wealth/capital tax that over time could reduce economic inequality to a sane level. And a herd of rainbow unicorns.
The whole rigged system is underpinned and imbued with a giant cybernetic economic lever that is the central bank system - in the U.S. the so-called Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is not federal and not a reserve - it's a consortium of privately owned financial entities, a banking cartel, granted the power to create money from nothing - literally. Every dollar "printed", every dollar spent by the federal government whether domestically or on foreign wars (literally blood money) instantly becomes an interest bearing asset of the fed and a charge on every citizen. Like any other asset it is owned (largely) by the billionaire shareholder owners of the federal reserve consortium. The more wars, the larger the national debt, the richer these owners become. People at the top of this parasitic pyramid could spend their days at a spa taking mineral baths and nuru massages and still grow their wealth in proportion to the prols' debt and impoverishment. More to the point it allows the owners to operate and micromanage the economic system effecting "crises" of inflation/depression/recession/boom-bust cycles inflicted by the Money Mandrakes to accumulate more wealth and power and ultimately to incarcerate the global masses in a meticulously designed neo-feudal technocratic prison comprised of CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), digital/social credit ID and 15 minute cities for more efficient lockdowns. This is the big grift being heralded to the prols as benefits of a marvelous "new normal" life.
Woke capitalism/social justice theology/identity politics promulgates the DIVERSIONARY and invidious adult fairy tale that all the masses woes are caused not by the above systemic problems but by "systemic racism" and the evil misogynistic hetero-patriarchal powers that be. They have mass hypnotized cadres of woker cultists to believe that If we just beat this "systemic racism" thing, and the misogyny thing, and the anti-trans thing...[insert updated victims list]... grotesque economic inequality and unemployment GO AWAY ! So we just need to conspicuously promote to management a few more BIPOC, women LBGTQ...etc. and Bob's your uncle...PROBLEM SOLVED ! No need to worry about silly things like providing a living wage for all workers, reining in unconscionable executive compensation, restoring and empowering unions, reversing job offshoring, eliminating corporate bailouts and oligopolistic market concentration in key industries, providing actual universal health care, fair and progressive taxation and eliminating tax evasion havens. What are you a commie ? And stop whining about poverty and the economically disadvantaged, we're on it. Look at the great success CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) has had in its "micro-investment" idea. For just a few bucks you can buy a poor person a sewing machine, a bit of raw textile material and voila! instant entrepreneur working for TJX, Nike or Gap. In no time they'll be dumping that scrap reclamation job and planning their 401K and sending their kids to a prestigious college. And without wasteful pensions, minimum wages or workplace safety laws (so 20th century)! Same idea for the "gig economy" where everybody's a self-empowered entrepreneur on the way to being a "new normal" billionaire.
The owners soar around the globe in private jets telling us we should fret about our "carbon footprint" and focus on ESG (Environment/Social/Governance), carbon taxes and cap and trade. These economic three-card Monte games are FUN for the billionaire class ! They do diddly squat for the environment, or economic fairness (actually increasing economic inequality), or grotesque concentration of wealth but they do open more fun table games for the billionaire class in the global casino economy. We need a little fun in this glum world ! (No, prol, you don't get to play or make any of the rules. But feel free to call yourself a "stakeholder", pull up a chair and watch the big boys play. Maybe you can make a side bet on who becomes the first documented trillionaire.)
REALITY CHECK
Sarcasm aside the powers that be could give a rat's ass about race or gender or ideology or equity. They are sharks in human form whose only instinct is maintaining their absolute supremacy over the masses who it is now clear will be whittled down to a manageable herd over time with the absolute minimal required herd kept in ever more restrictive corrals of eternal debt slavery. Time has about run out and if the people don't finally catch on to this giant steaming pile of Simple Simon diversionary BULLSHIT real soon it's game over for a long, long time. When I look at the level of analysis and enlightenment, and the unwillingness to confront or even acknowledge these foundational systemic corruptions even by most of the non-aligned media...frankly I'm going to bring out the booze and have a ball, as the song goes.
The drive to understand things may stem from an interest in history as it shapes our present, but that further breaks down into those who see history as a soup, murky but perceiving flavours that conform to their identity, and those who like their historical perspectives raw.
It is reflected in people’s personality. Some are less informed, some are knowledgeable but guarded, and some are well-formed and comfortable in their nakedness. This means being open to discomfiting ideas, and weighing them without putting a finger on the scales: you have to let your guard down and be disappointed sometimes.”
I prefer my historical perspectives raw. In my lifetime it has gone from less informed by schooling to guarded without knowing why to what I consider well-informed, but can always learn more. I am comfortable (but sometimes it can make me feel squeamish) with its nakedness. Thank you for your work.
Moneycircus writes:
"At a time when universities are supposedly dominated by Marxists, the economic rivalry of classes gains less attention than a postmodern narrative of ever-more thinly sliced and diced identities, which leads this author to conclude that wealthy class interests do indeed divert debate."
Indeed one of the principal intentions of what some have designated "woke capitalism" is to DIVERT attention from the grotesque and psychopathic embezzlements of the social product by the owners. Thomas Piketty devotes a chapter in his comprehensive monograph "Capital in the 21st Century" disabusing even the most ardent acolytes of our current so-called form of global "capitalism" of the notion that executive compensation is even tenuously causally linked to ability or performance.
It is also a DIVERSION from the grotesque and psychopathic levels of inequality in wealth now exceeding that of the gilded age - but now kept somewhat less ostentatiously visible by much of the owner class many of whom remain anonymous to the masses. As Piketty elaborates this has been historically baked into the system by the simple but highly determinative inequality formula r (return on capital) > g (real economic growth) which leads inexorably over the long term to the wealth of the already-wealthy growing faster than the economy as a whole and to the vast majority of wealth coming under the control of a tiny minority. This hasn't happened "organically" or magically by the benevolent "invisible hand" of the free market. Piketty et. al. have a possible fix - they want a global wealth/capital tax that over time could reduce economic inequality to a sane level. And a herd of rainbow unicorns.
The whole rigged system is underpinned and imbued with a giant cybernetic economic lever that is the central bank system - in the U.S. the so-called Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is not federal and not a reserve - it's a consortium of privately owned financial entities, a banking cartel, granted the power to create money from nothing - literally. Every dollar "printed", every dollar spent by the federal government whether domestically or on foreign wars (literally blood money) instantly becomes an interest bearing asset of the fed and a charge on every citizen. Like any other asset it is owned (largely) by the billionaire shareholder owners of the federal reserve consortium. The more wars, the larger the national debt, the richer these owners become. People at the top of this parasitic pyramid could spend their days at a spa taking mineral baths and nuru massages and still grow their wealth in proportion to the prols' debt and impoverishment. More to the point it allows the owners to operate and micromanage the economic system effecting "crises" of inflation/depression/recession/boom-bust cycles inflicted by the Money Mandrakes to accumulate more wealth and power and ultimately to incarcerate the global masses in a meticulously designed neo-feudal technocratic prison comprised of CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), digital/social credit ID and 15 minute cities for more efficient lockdowns. This is the big grift being heralded to the prols as benefits of a marvelous "new normal" life.
Woke capitalism/social justice theology/identity politics promulgates the DIVERSIONARY and invidious adult fairy tale that all the masses woes are caused not by the above systemic problems but by "systemic racism" and the evil misogynistic hetero-patriarchal powers that be. They have mass hypnotized cadres of woker cultists to believe that If we just beat this "systemic racism" thing, and the misogyny thing, and the anti-trans thing...[insert updated victims list]... grotesque economic inequality and unemployment GO AWAY ! So we just need to conspicuously promote to management a few more BIPOC, women LBGTQ...etc. and Bob's your uncle...PROBLEM SOLVED ! No need to worry about silly things like providing a living wage for all workers, reining in unconscionable executive compensation, restoring and empowering unions, reversing job offshoring, eliminating corporate bailouts and oligopolistic market concentration in key industries, providing actual universal health care, fair and progressive taxation and eliminating tax evasion havens. What are you a commie ? And stop whining about poverty and the economically disadvantaged, we're on it. Look at the great success CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) has had in its "micro-investment" idea. For just a few bucks you can buy a poor person a sewing machine, a bit of raw textile material and voila! instant entrepreneur working for TJX, Nike or Gap. In no time they'll be dumping that scrap reclamation job and planning their 401K and sending their kids to a prestigious college. And without wasteful pensions, minimum wages or workplace safety laws (so 20th century)! Same idea for the "gig economy" where everybody's a self-empowered entrepreneur on the way to being a "new normal" billionaire.
The owners soar around the globe in private jets telling us we should fret about our "carbon footprint" and focus on ESG (Environment/Social/Governance), carbon taxes and cap and trade. These economic three-card Monte games are FUN for the billionaire class ! They do diddly squat for the environment, or economic fairness (actually increasing economic inequality), or grotesque concentration of wealth but they do open more fun table games for the billionaire class in the global casino economy. We need a little fun in this glum world ! (No, prol, you don't get to play or make any of the rules. But feel free to call yourself a "stakeholder", pull up a chair and watch the big boys play. Maybe you can make a side bet on who becomes the first documented trillionaire.)
REALITY CHECK
Sarcasm aside the powers that be could give a rat's ass about race or gender or ideology or equity. They are sharks in human form whose only instinct is maintaining their absolute supremacy over the masses who it is now clear will be whittled down to a manageable herd over time with the absolute minimal required herd kept in ever more restrictive corrals of eternal debt slavery. Time has about run out and if the people don't finally catch on to this giant steaming pile of Simple Simon diversionary BULLSHIT real soon it's game over for a long, long time. When I look at the level of analysis and enlightenment, and the unwillingness to confront or even acknowledge these foundational systemic corruptions even by most of the non-aligned media...frankly I'm going to bring out the booze and have a ball, as the song goes.
The drive to understand things may stem from an interest in history as it shapes our present, but that further breaks down into those who see history as a soup, murky but perceiving flavours that conform to their identity, and those who like their historical perspectives raw.
It is reflected in people’s personality. Some are less informed, some are knowledgeable but guarded, and some are well-formed and comfortable in their nakedness. This means being open to discomfiting ideas, and weighing them without putting a finger on the scales: you have to let your guard down and be disappointed sometimes.”
I prefer my historical perspectives raw. In my lifetime it has gone from less informed by schooling to guarded without knowing why to what I consider well-informed, but can always learn more. I am comfortable (but sometimes it can make me feel squeamish) with its nakedness. Thank you for your work.