capitalism

"The essence of capitalism is the myth that private individuals, acting on their selfish desire to accumulate money and unhampered by government regulations or by unions, will somehow magically serve the greater good."

http://progressive.org/newt_that_is_capitalism.html

IBM, HITLER AND THE HOLOCAUST: A TERRIBLE TALE OF CAPITALISM WITHOUT CONSCIENCE
Global Revolution 1: American Revolution 2: Day 60: Communication 1
IronBoltBruce's Kleptocracy Chronicles for 15 Nov 2011 (g1a2d0060c1)
How many examples of greed and corruption must you see before you act?

This is taken from "Six million and counting", written by Peter Preston for The Observer, Saturday 17 February 2001:

Hitler's Holocaust was happening anyway. With IBM's help, it was easier, as Edwin Black demonstrates in [his book entitled] 'IBM and the Holocaust'

http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com

You thought, perhaps, that there was nothing fresh left to write about the Holocaust. Think, sadly, again. Edwin Black, a dedicated, even driven, researcher, has a new charge sheet to present. It shows, in compelling detail, that IBM, 'the solutions company', was also the company of the Final Solution.

Well I’m finally back here at work after another recent series of personal adventures; in the middle of all the fun I’ve been finding time to get down to my local “Occupy” event, and for those of you who have not been keeping up I thought we’d take a moment today to compare a bit of Fox-driven perception to the reality I’ve been seeing.

What I’ve been told to expect, at least in certain quarters of the public space, are dirty filthy hippies with no jobs or ambitions hoping to destroy America while having deviant public couplings fueled by the free distribution of dangerous psychotropic drugs.

Sadly, I’ve found that there’s not really much truth in that description, even as tiny bits of it do ring true; but with a manifesto in hand and a few conversations under my belt we’ll see what we can do to create a picture that will surprise a lot of the 99% who already support Occupy Wall Street, even if they don’t know it yet.

So long, suckers.

Let’s get it over with and rename the holiday “Capital Day.” We may still celebrate Labor Day, but our culture has given up on honoring workers as the real creators of wealth and their honest toil — the phrase itself seems antique — as worthy of genuine respect.

I'm reading Joseph Heller's novel Picture This, a rumination on Rembrandt's "Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer." After the fold, what this has to do with economics, poverty, and capitalism.

Not only do the free-market extremists have it wrong when it comes to the practicalities of day-to-day life, they also have it wrong when it comes to the Very Big Picture. When we operate as though the only thing that matters in the world is money, we get a world where that is sadly the case.

The incestuous connection that exists today between business interests, politics, and law is reasonably apparent to most observers. These include outright bribery, to the more subtle sorts of buying access, friendship, and influence through campaign contributions and lobbying efforts. In addition, a culture develops among political leaders based on the precept that what is good for capitalist business is good for the country.

Hence, political leaders increasingly see themselves as political entrepreneurs, or the counterparts of economic entrepreneurs, and regularly convince themselves that what they do for corporations to obtain the funds that will help them get reelected is actually in the public interest. Within the legal system, the interests of capitalists and their businesses are given almost every benefit.

Just a short note and a video I found interesting. It may be part marketing, part politics, part capitalism and part engineering.

You decide.

One take away is that the good folks at BP (and I mean that) are doing their job, one which no one wishes they had to do.

When you see that talent/engineering on display here one can only imagine what we could accomplish in other, less destructive efforts.

Happy 4th.

-b
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I believe in a free market economy. I have seen some people here on NCBlue that put out posts that show they are against that. Here is a link that explains what this means at least from the links perspective:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market

Be the judge yourself.

We are in a unique period in our history. Forces are at work to destroy America and our way of life. Below are two examples from my own life that illustrate this fact: