Capitalism and Its Discontents

Now, what news on the Rialto?
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YMix
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by YMix »

What happens when you send three Norwegian youths out into the world to meet the people who sew our clothes?
SWEATSHOP
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Endovelico »

In order to know Yanis Varoufakis a bit better...
(...)

The lesson that Mrs Thatcher taught me the hard way, regarding the capacity of a long lasting recession to undermine progressive politics and to entrench misanthropy into the fibre of society, is one that I carry with me into today’s European crisis. It is, indeed, the most important determinant of my stance in relation to the Euro Crisis that has occupied my time and thinking almost exclusively over the past few years. It is the reason why I am happy to confess to the sin that is apportioned to me by radical critics of my ‘Menshevik’ stand on the Eurozone: the sin of choosing not to propose radical political programs that seek to exploit the Euro Crisis as an opportunity to overthrow European capitalism, to dismantle the awful Eurozone, and to undermine the European Union of the cartels and the bankrupt bankers.

Yes, I would love to put forward such a radical agenda. But, no, I am not prepared to commit the same error twice. What good did we achieve in Britain in the early 1980s by promoting an agenda of socialist change that British society scorned while falling headlong into Mrs Thatcher’s neoliberal trap? Precisely none. What good will it do today to call for a dismantling of the Eurozone, of the European Union itself, when European capitalism is doing its utmost to undermine the Eurozone, the European Union, indeed itself?

A Greek or a Portuguese or an Italian exit from the Eurozone will soon develop into a fragmentation of European capitalism, yielding a seriously recessionary surplus region east of the Rhine and north of the Alps while the rest of Europe is in the clasps of vicious stagflation. Who do you think will benefit from this development? A progressive Left, that will rise Phoenix-like from the ashes of Europe’s public institutions? Or the Golden Dawn Nazis, the assorted neo-fascists, the xenophobes and the spivs? I have absolutely no doubt as to which of the two will benefit from a disintegration of the Eurozone. I, for one, am not prepared to blow fresh wind into the sails of this postmodern version of the 1930s. If this means that it is we, the suitably erratic Marxists, that must try to save European capitalism from itself, so be it. Not out of love or appreciation of European capitalism, of the Eurozone, of Brussels, or of the European Central Bank but just because we want to minimise the unnecessary human toll from this crisis; the countless lives whose prospects will be further crushed without any benefit whatsoever for the future generations of Europeans.

(...)

by Yaris Varoufakis
in "Confessions Of An Erratic Marxist In The Midst Of A Repugnant European Crisis"


https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/confessio ... an-crisis/
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Parodite »

Endovelico wrote:In order to know Yanis Varoufakis a bit better...
[..]If this means that it is we, the suitably erratic Marxists, that must try to save European capitalism from itself, so be it. Not out of love or appreciation of European capitalism, of the Eurozone, of Brussels, or of the European Central Bank but just because we want to minimise the unnecessary human toll from this crisis; the countless lives whose prospects will be further crushed without any benefit whatsoever for the future generations of Europeans.
lol... how sweet of him... to care.

I for one am all for it to see the Eurozone and EU implode and will do cheers with Varoufakis Rex when it happens. But after that? With Greece back to the Drachme I hope he will be able to find enough Greek people to build his Marxist/socialist society. Banks however don't care about ideology, they just want to make money. Even with a financial industry re-regulated into a more sane and responsible player.. I strongly doubt they want to invest in a post-modern Marxist experiment in Greece. But maybe some charitable money can be extracted from desperately rich and desperately old capitalist ex investment bankers!
Deep down I'm very superficial
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

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Rob Arnott, chief executive and co-founder of Research Affiliates LLC, recently picked up the phone to share some thoughts on the current state of the stock market.

[...]

"Right now we have earnings coming off of record highs as a percentage of GDP and yet you have Wall Street saying ‘don’t worry, it’s going to soar to new highs.’ Pardon me, but when did the peasants with the pitchforks come out and start rioting? Society at large has to enjoy some of the largesse, or else the pitchforks come out. So earnings as a share of GDP can’t really advance materially from current levels, or at least it’s not healthy if they do.

[...]
Lawl
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

YMix wrote:
Rob Arnott, chief executive and co-founder of Research Affiliates LLC, recently picked up the phone to share some thoughts on the current state of the stock market.

[...]

"Right now we have earnings coming off of record highs as a percentage of GDP and yet you have Wall Street saying ‘don’t worry, it’s going to soar to new highs.’ Pardon me, but when did the peasants with the pitchforks come out and start rioting? Society at large has to enjoy some of the largesse, or else the pitchforks come out. So earnings as a share of GDP can’t really advance materially from current levels, or at least it’s not healthy if they do.

[...]
Lawl
Personally, I have a long position in tar and feathers.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”

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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

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Image
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Simple Minded »

Nonc Hilaire wrote:

Personally, I have a long position in tar and feathers.
how bout beans, bullets, and band-aids?

Back in 99, I was listening to a bunch of bed wetters describe all the fuel, food, and flashlights they had stock piled to prep for Y2K.

I could not resist. So I said "Well other than guns and ammunition, it sounds like you guys are all set."
It was quiet as I think they wet themselves.
So I pushed on, "well isn't that the lesson of history, that people like me with weapons take what they need from people like you during hard times?"
After a very awkward moment of silence one replied "People aren't like that anymore."
I smiled and said "you don't know anyone who has ever gone 30 hours without eating, do you?" :twisted:
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Simple Minded »

noddy wrote:Image
:lol:

"The climate is increasing at 1 C per century! The oceans are rising at 3 millimeters per year! We can't adapt! YOU WILL DIE IF YOU EVOLVE ANY FURTHER!!!!"
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by YMix »

http://kotaku.com/the-pizza-party-where ... 1685455125
'Daddy's job in video games was no longer a cool thing they liked to brag about'

My husband has worked in the video game industry for just about 14 years. It was always his dream to make video games, and it was a goal he's worked towards since he began learning to program at 12 years old. One day on a whim, he applied to a major console game developer, and three weeks later our family of five was moving to California.

The company my husband was working for was really great. The benefits were amazing, he was paid well, and we had a good life–but we would never be able to afford to buy a house in California. We loved it there, but owning our own home has always been a huge dream of ours, and there was no way we would be able to work out having both. We decided to keep an eye out for positions in other states and entertain the thought of moving somewhere else with a lower cost of living, hopefully enabling us to purchase our own home.

We found some possibilities and, after interviewing, he received a great offer from a wonderful and stable company, in a state where we already had friends and family. We purchased a home and relocated our (now) family of six, leaving California for good. This was a really exciting move for us. Each child had their own room (they had to share in California), and they could paint or decorate their rooms however they liked. Our in-laws were in a position to buy a second home in the area, so they could be closer to the grandchildren. It was a ranch, and the kids loved to explore it. Life was looking very good, and we were all very excited about the future.

The following summer was when we experienced our first layoff. It was devastating and extremely scary. My income wasn't enough to cover the mortgage, even with the unemployment. We received no severance, and our health benefits would run out at the end of the month.

We tried applying for positions at numerous gaming companies (and non-gaming companies) in the area, but no one was looking for my husband's skillset at that time (in addition to there being a mass layoff and the market being flooded with great talent of all levels). In the end, we were forced to relocate. We chose a studio that had been around for many years and had survived through releases of games both good and bad. We had friends in that area, and the entire situation looked like a pretty good fit for us.

We continued paying for the house while it was on the market, and we were once again put up in temporary housing. This time, the six of us had to stay in a hotel for a month, until an apartment that would fit us all became available. Once we moved into the temporary apartment, it was time for the children to start school again. We registered them knowing they would only be in the school for a month or so, and then they would move to a more permanent school once we found our own apartment to rent.

This time, our stay in temporary housing was extended due to the amount of overtime my husband had to work, and we were not able to transfer the children to their new school until they were between semesters. As was inevitable, they had begun making friendships and establishing roots, even though they knew they wouldn't be staying. It wasn't easy for them, but we had prepared them well from the start, and they knew they could keep in contact with their friends and maintain those friendships if they wanted to. I think that made it a little bit easier on them.

After we were settled and a couple of years had passed, I received notice that my appeal for in-state tuition was being granted and that I was able to register for classes at the local college. My son had been very sick for the past few months, and our family pediatrician told us that he felt our next step was surgery. He said it was probably best to do it sooner rather than later. We got him scheduled and started preparing for it. My husband requested some time off so he could be there. It was approved and we were all set.

Two days later, my husband was laid off again. He called me and told me not to freak out, but that he would be home soon. He had been laid off, but we had a great severance package, and we would be able to figure things out. My heart broke, and after I hung up the phone, I cried. I cried until I heard him come home, and then I didn't shed another tear. We would get through this, and we would be fine. I had to be strong for the kids, my husband, and myself.

The company he had been working for was wonderful about everything, and they did give us a great severance package. I think we received paychecks for 60 days, and our insurance was covered for 60 or 90 days, I don't quite remember. At this point, I don't think we would have been able to survive if they hadn't. It took him approximately 40 days to find a position with another company—and we would have to relocate again.

This particular company would not pay for relocation or assist with temporary housing. We were not offered a trip out to find a home. All of those expenses had to come out of our own pocket. Our home still had not sold, and we started renting it out, but our tenants caught it on fire and then abandoned the home. Our property management company gave up trying to help us; we were drowning in debt and eventually headed into foreclosure. We didn't have the finances, strength, or energy to keep going after the tenants ourselves, so we completed a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure instead (apparently, this is not any better than a foreclosure itself, but we did not understand it at the time).

My husband began work at the new studio, and within months was working 100+ hour weeks, often times not coming home at all. He did not have days off. Sometimes he would manage to come home for two hours, and the most he was ever home was five hours a day. If I wanted to see him, I had to watch him sleep.

After the game came out, he was given a week of compensation time for all of the hours he had been putting in. Even though he was on a break, he wanted to keep up on how the game was doing, so he attempted to check his email and see how everything was going on. His login failed. He tried again thinking he'd typed the password wrong. It failed again.

He called in to find out what was going on and after only having worked there for 10 months, he was told he had been laid off, yet again. There had been no phone call, no e-mail to his work or personal account. There was no notification. There would be no severance, and he would not be paid for his compensation time. Our insurance ended at midnight that evening–not the end of the month like most places.

When my husband was laid off, our oldest daughter was in ninth grade attending her ninth school, my fourth grader was attending her fourth school, and my second grader was attending his second. All of the children had just really begun making close friends and getting settled in. It seemed like with each move, it was taking long and longer for them to get settled. It was really sad to watch, but at the same time completely understandable. This time, they really loved their schools, the neighborhood, and the city we lived in. With each move, you hope it'll be the last—that your luck will finally change, but that just never happens.

When we had to tell the children the news about the layoff, they were in tears before we finished. They asked us if we'd have to move and begged us to find a way to stay. It was at this point that Daddy's job in video games was no longer a cool thing they liked to brag about, but instead a source of heartache and pain they didn't like to mention or talk about.

We tried our best to find a job in the local area, even outside of the video game industry, but yet again, it didn't work out for a variety of reasons. This go round, we had a lot of offers from all over the nation (we have always felt incredibly blessed about this—a lot of people have trouble getting any offers, much less multiple ones).

I had several company owners and directors ask to speak to me directly to assure me of their stability and address any of my fears and concerns over their job offers. Out of character for me, I actually did speak to most of them and voiced my fears about layoffs, and accepting offers only to be laid off when the project was complete. I explained how my ex was threatening to file for custody of my daughter because we weren't stable, and my children weren't as young as they used to be. We needed to find them a home, not another temporary place to stay.

We really took our time making our decision and picked the most stable company we could. It was another company he had worked with in the past, who had been around for many years, and the entire team was really down to earth. We promised our oldest that with this next move, once we found a home to rent and were settled, we would do everything we could to make sure she could finish out High School wherever we landed.

With this next relocation, we had to live in a hotel for 45 days. It was the middle of the school year, and because we lived in a hotel, my children were classified as homeless. Their bus stop was located outside of the homeless shelter. This new school didn't offer the same foreign language my daughter had been taking, so she had to switch to a different one. Most of the classes she had been taking weren't offered, so she had to pick new classes and was very behind in most of them. She spent most of winter break catching up, and we spent that Christmas in a strange city, in a hotel.

A year and a half later, we were told he would be laid off in two months. I was seven months pregnant. Our insurance would end two weeks before the baby was due.

This was the first time we'd ever had notice, and that was extremely helpful. They even tried to get him interviews at other local studios, find contractor work, and finagle ways to extend our insurance so that the birth would be covered. They tried everything they could in order to help us in any way possible. It's weird to say, but it was the best layoff situation we'd ever gone through. I will never forget everything they did for us.

In the end, we were able to negotiate a deal with a company in California that would allow him to work from home where we were living at the time. My children would not have to change schools, and my daughter could finish her last two years of high school with her friends. They knew about the baby, and due to circumstance, we had a scheduled caesarean section so we worked out a bit of paternity leave into the deal, and everything was all set. We couldn't believe it! Our daughter was so happy that we'd been able to keep our promise, she really would graduate from the same high school after all. I felt like I could breathe again, and that our luck had finally changed.

I really can't put into words how excited and relieved we were. He was finally working for a truly stable company who had been around since the beginning. They were amazing to us, and they made sure we were all taken care of and covered by insurance in time for the baby to be born, and tried to make sure we didn't worry about a thing.

It was at this point we really felt like life was solid. We decided to actually unpack everything and make a home out of the house we were staying in. This was something we hadn't done since we left the house we had purchased. We hung pictures on the walls. We invested money in decorating the kids' rooms, as best we could in a rental. We took the time to really settle in, and even talked to the owners about purchasing the home in the next few years, if they'd consider selling it.

That company was LucasArts.

He started working in the spring of 2012, and Disney shut down the studio in April of 2013.

That year, my husband couldn't fly out and attend my stepson's graduation, because we had to move instead. We couldn't afford for him to go, or to send him any decent graduation gift.

My oldest daughter just graduated from her 14th school, where when we registered her for classes, the school forced her to take almost all freshman classes because she didn't meet this state graduation requirements. It didn't matter that she took equivalent or more difficult classes, or that she'd taken some of the requirements in middle school, and it didn't matter that they were preventing her from taking AP classes. In the state we left, she only needed two credits to graduate. I had to appeal all the way up to the Board of Education and threaten to go to the state level, so that the school here could allow her to take more difficult classes than they were trying to make her take. They conceded on three of her eight classes and allowed her to take AP Government as an independent study course for the fourth. My daughter did not bother to make any friends or walk at graduation, because, "what's the point". She had no ties to this school, and her senior year was a disaster.

She was accepted into the state university here but assigned out of state tuition because we hadn't been here for a year when she applied. We're working on getting that fixed and so far, it looks like it will be–but if it isn't, her tuition will be $20,000 more than it would be if she were a resident.

Our current state won't accept her out of state driving permit, so she has to get a new one and hold it for a year before she can get her license. We didn't realize this until a few months ago. Her college is an hour and a half to two hours away depending on traffic, and I don't have four to six hours a day to drive her back and forth. It takes three hours one way via public transportation. Instead, she'll have to live in the dorms, so that's another $10,000 for college we weren't expecting.

My middle daughter has recently been diagnosed with extreme depression and anxiety. She has started hurting herself. She has a few close friends but absolutely hates her new school. She had her first therapy appointment recently, but I'm almost afraid to take her because I know it will take a lot of time for her to get comfortable before she opens up and then she may get too attached to that particular therapist.

I'd like to repeat that–I need to get my daughter therapy to help with the trauma and stress from all of these moves, but I'm afraid to because I'm terrified she'll become attached to her therapist, and we'll have to move again.

My son was recently diagnosed with Autism, is severely ADHD, and has a heart condition. He's been put on a six month cardiologist schedule so he can be watched for surgery, because his heart defect is deteriorating faster than it should be. We always knew he would need this surgery, but he wasn't supposed to need it until he was around 50-60 years old. I'm terrified we'll lose our insurance and he won't be covered when he needs it.

He has no friends at school and is picked on, not only by the students, but the teachers as well. To get them into better schools, we'd have to move again, and I don't have the heart to do that to them.

We just hit the one-year mark in our new state, and I am terrified every time my husband calls during the work day, or that he'll walk in the door one day while he's supposed to be at work, to tell me we have to move again. I don't know how long it would take for that feeling to go away, or if it ever will. I literally think about it every single day, and base most of my decisions on the fact that we are only here temporarily.

I paid off all of our debt from all of the moves just last month. We have no savings, and no retirement. We would love nothing more than to buy a home, but even if we were in the financial position to do so, I'd be too afraid to actually do it.

I don't bother making friends, trying to go back to school anymore, or starting a career–with as much as we move, it would only bring more heartache and stress the next time we have to leave.

Everyone asks us why we move so much, but no one outside of the industry understands or can make any sense of it. Everyone thinks or assumes we're military, but we've been told we move more than they do.

After the first couple of layoffs, companies would ask about the one to twoyear stints at different companies on my husband's resume. Now, it's become so common, they don't even bother to bring it up.

By now, I have a routine when he's laid off. We immediately file for unemployment and get the children free lunches at school. We fill out the paperwork for food stamps and state health insurance, luckily we have never needed TANF, but we fill out that paperwork too just in case. If we get a severance, I don't submit any of it, but if we don't, I submit it immediately. Next, I cancel Netflix, cable, and downgrade to the cheapest internet connection we can get. I cancel any other optional services and bills we have, like pest control, etc. We no longer throw away our moving boxes, instead we put them in a safe dry place for the next move.

With our last move we decided that when we arrive in a new home, we'll give ourselves one month to unpack everything that isn't seasonal or isn't going to stay in a storage area. We're tired of living in homes with empty walls, so we make sure to hang things up on them, because, when we don't, everyday life is much more depressing. Right now instead of waiting until we're in between jobs and have to pack in a rush, we're trying to weed down our belongings as much as possible. That's our project over the summer.

That protection that insurance dealerships try to sell you when you buy a car, and no one ever buys? The kind where if your car is totaled and you're upside on the loan, it covers it–but it also covers payments when you lose your job? We buy that. It may be stupid or not worth it in the long run, but it makes me feel a little more secure and stable. It's worth it to me to know that in the worst case, I at least won't lose my car.

Private mortgage insurance when you buy a house? The insurance everyone says to avoid getting if you can? Anything that protects us when he loses his job, or takes care of bills when he's out of work, I welcome with open arms at this point.

Every time we accepted a job offer, we were offered promises of stability and plenty of funding. We were told about the "project after this one," and no offer was given as temporary, or "for this project only." Instead of companies asking us if we'd stay for the long haul, we began asking them instead.
Remember when Spengman wrote that people should have lots of children and put their faith in god? Yeah. I changed schools only once in my life and hated it. I simply can't imagine how it must be for a kid to change schools every year. Relationship-wise, these children are fu*ked for life.
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent? Take a look at what we’ve done, too.” - Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
The Kushner sh*t is greasy - Stevie B.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Simple Minded »

YMix wrote:http://kotaku.com/the-pizza-party-where ... 1685455125
'Daddy's job in video games was no longer a cool thing they liked to brag about'......
Remember when Spengman wrote that people should have lots of children and put their faith in god? Yeah. I changed schools only once in my life and hated it. I simply can't imagine how it must be for a kid to change schools every year. Relationship-wise, these children are fu*ked for life.

This is a truly tragic series of happenings. Reminds me that about 6 years ago the neighbor kid said he was going to some special two year college program to design video games. IIRC, the program cost was about $45K.

I advised against it. It sounded like a typical bull market sales scam. In addition, the kid was none too sharp or ambitious. It struck me as a field where not only every American kid would be willing to work for little or no pay because it may be a hell of a lot of fun, but how many kids not in the Western world would be willing to work for 1/20 of a subsistence Western wage. It seemed logical that the top 1/1000th of one percent video gamers would become rich while the rest starved.

Kinda like in the good ole days when every teenage male dreamed of a job as a Playboy photographer. Shouldn't be a supply and demand problem in that career..... right?

YMix, I'm curious, where do you see the problem as occurring in the above example? How would you fix it?

thanks in advance.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by noddy »

is that a tale of capitalism or a tale of a guy that dragged his family around the country chasing his own hobbies and interests.

im not being flippant, i am that guy, i also dont have a young family and my brother who does have one is not interested in dragging them around the country like that.

he makes do with the work he can find in his local area and puts stability for the kids above his own career.

i think he makes for a much better dad than i would, for the reasons you just posted.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by YMix »

As far as I can tell, any advanced economy where capital, technological progress and legislation make it possible to take advantage of far-flung opportunities requires a population of rootless and restless wanderers ready to go wherever money are to be made. If not the natives, then other people. Before computer programmers, there were roughnecks, lumberjacks, fishermen or cowboys spending weeks at a time away from their families. If all these people abandoned their jobs, would they all be able to find something locally? I doubt it.

Maybe this guy should have chosen another path in life, but I bet he never expected to be laid off every year or so.
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent? Take a look at what we’ve done, too.” - Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
The Kushner sh*t is greasy - Stevie B.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by noddy »

it is the nature of high risk startup work, the failures and shutdowns far exceed the success stories and the magority of the work is short term.
im not arguing that it should be that way, im just pointing out if he didnt know that he was wilfully ignorant/optimistic.

its the number one reason im so cynical about government, its takes all these taxes off me, promises all these safety nets yet when i lose my job its move to fresh pasture or die on the street.

i cant call this capitalism or the problems of capitalism, its todo with the government/corporate nexus and the middle class being indifferent to everyone outside their inner circles.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Endovelico »

noddy wrote:it is the nature of high risk startup work, the failures and shutdowns far exceed the success stories and the magority of the work is short term.
im not arguing that it should be that way, im just pointing out if he didnt know that he was wilfully ignorant/optimistic.

its the number one reason im so cynical about government, its takes all these taxes off me, promises all these safety nets yet when i lose my job its move to fresh pasture or die on the street.

i cant call this capitalism or the problems of capitalism, its todo with the government/corporate nexus and the middle class being indifferent to everyone outside their inner circles.
I think it has mostly to with the fact that for too many people, money is more important than people. Until we decide that it should be the other way around and stop working for those f_ckers, we will continue being enslaved.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by YMix »

noddy wrote:it is the nature of high risk startup work, the failures and shutdowns far exceed the success stories and the magority of the work is short term.
im not arguing that it should be that way, im just pointing out if he didnt know that he was wilfully ignorant/optimistic.
According to the guy's wife, he had applied again and again to established and solid companies, not start-ups.
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent? Take a look at what we’ve done, too.” - Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
The Kushner sh*t is greasy - Stevie B.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Simple Minded »

noddy wrote:is that a tale of capitalism or a tale of a guy that dragged his family around the country chasing his own hobbies and interests.

im not being flippant, i am that guy, i also dont have a young family and my brother who does have one is not interested in dragging them around the country like that.

he makes do with the work he can find in his local area and puts stability for the kids above his own career.

i think he makes for a much better dad than i would, for the reasons you just posted.
noddy, I think you nailed it. We have no idea if he was chasing a big paycheck (as Endo asserts) or if he just loved the juice of his favorite job/hobby, the gambling of being employed/unemployed, and/or the status of being in a trade/profession that is currently makes you one of the "hipsters/cool kids."

Reminds me of the starving artist complaining "The free market is unfair." No, not really, it just that what you think is art or talent, others may not.

Kudos to you and your brother for being mindful of your career choices and effects. I sense a whiff of Buddhist Indifference at play. ;)

Not surprisingly, the neighbor kid found a higher income and more steady work operating a fork lift at a local manufacturer. More steady for now at least, no one knows the future. Cool line of work that doesn't pay, or uncool work that does pay. It is almost like people will pay you to do stuff they do not view as enjoyable to do......... who knew?

My thinking was after one layoff and one kid, Mom & Dad needed to have a sit down and decide if his career desires were compatible with the financial stability required to raise a family. A vasectomy before kid number two arrived would have taken a lot of the tragedy out of this tale. My wife read this post and said "It is all about priorities isn't it? Sounds like the husband and wife had different priorities, and the kids suffered for it. They should have talked more."

Fascinating to see people blame capitalism (voluntary associations & transactions) for these problems. Joe as a consumer, several hours per day, has interests that conflict with Joe as a producer, several hours each day.

Economic system at fault? Not IMSMO. Seems more a internal human nature conflict. It takes an self-conscious adult to balance the internal/external conflicts & needs.
Last edited by Simple Minded on Sun Feb 15, 2015 5:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Simple Minded »

years ago, in SimpleMindedstan, the inherent instability of video game employment became a huge local issue.

By royal decree, I stabilized employment by declaring that only Pac Man and Space Invaders were the only true patriotic video games.

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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by noddy »

YMix wrote:
noddy wrote:it is the nature of high risk startup work, the failures and shutdowns far exceed the success stories and the magority of the work is short term.
im not arguing that it should be that way, im just pointing out if he didnt know that he was wilfully ignorant/optimistic.
According to the guy's wife, he had applied again and again to established and solid companies, not start-ups.
in the games industy everything is done under the startup model - the company and its directors remain fairly stable but the teams of disposables that build product come and go on a per project basis.

its more like the movie industry in that a big pool of talent is brought together for a project and then released upon completion, its how it always is, he should have known that, i most certainly do.
some games, are ongoing francises that pump out the same crap year after year, some movies are aswell, but its the minority.

i still dont know if im to blame seasonal work, or im to blame the middle class sociopaths living on tax money who cry and protest when they dont get a pay rise and then create a society that demonises and destroys anyone that tries to make a living in the unstable, unreliable world of contractors and project based employment.

with all the money ive pumped into the system surely i should get more out of it than a police force that arrests me the moment i cant pay one of my mandated bills that keeps the parasite f*ckers in luxury ?
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Simple Minded »

noddy wrote:
i still dont know if im to blame seasonal work, or im to blame the middle class sociopaths living on tax money who cry and protest when they dont get a pay rise and then create a society that demonises and destroys anyone that tries to make a living in the unstable, unreliable world of contractors and project based employment.
Everyone I know who pursues contract work likes the freedom of not being tied down to a routine, repetitive, job...... enjoys the juice/uncertainty of a fast paced, highly variable lifestyle, and seems to have a bit of a gambler/risk taker/gun fighter for hire disposition.

I have done it in the past and it is exhilarating. Gambling with the rent money or working without a safety net is always thrilling.

For those without kids, or consistent financial needs, it is often a very rewarding lifestyle.

I think more than a few books written in the 80's about how Information Age tech would transform society postulated that we would all become Hollywood style contractors soon.

In the OP, I suspect Daddy would write a very different story than Mommy. It is possible that Mommy didn't realize who she was marrying.

I still want to hear YMix's analysis and suggestions.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by HAL 10000 »

In this article an Oxford economist shows with concrete data that despite all the evils of the top 1 %, in many parts of the world the inequality is becoming less bad, thanks to some redistribution in the form of higher tax brackets for the rich:

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablo ... st-poorest
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by YMix »

Simple Minded wrote:I still want to hear YMix's analysis and suggestions.
To finally answer your question, the suggestions depend on the goals. First figure out what kind of society do you want have and go from there.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Simple Minded »

YMix wrote:
Simple Minded wrote:I still want to hear YMix's analysis and suggestions.
To finally answer your question, the suggestions depend on the goals. First figure out what kind of society do you want have and go from there.
So if we go back to the post that started this discussion, it would appear the cause of all the perturbations was that mama/wife had different goals than father/husband.

Even in a two person "society" the definition of "common" goals towards which to strive can be difficult.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by Azrael »

YMix wrote:
Simple Minded wrote:I still want to hear YMix's analysis and suggestions.
To finally answer your question, the suggestions depend on the goals. First figure out what kind of society do you want have and go from there.
+1
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by YMix »

[...]

"There is a lot of scepticism among (US) Catholics," says Stephen Moore, the chief economist at the conservative Washington think tank the Heritage Foundation, and himself a Catholic.

"I think this is a Pope who clearly has some Marxist leanings. It's unquestionable that he has a very vocal scepticism (about) capitalism and free enterprise and… I find that to be very troubling."

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host (or "shock jock", as he is sometimes called) is blunter. He dismissed Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospels) as "pure Marxism".

[...]

Prof Maurice Glasman, a British economist who used to be a close confidant of Ed Miliband, studied Catholic social teaching for his PhD. He was attracted by the way it rejects the conventional ideologies of both left and right.

"It really opposes this idea that there is just the state or the market," he says. "It believes in activating society - what it calls solidarity - so that it can resist the domination by the rich of the poor, but through trade unions and vocational associations and what's called subsidiarity, which is the decentralisation of power." Glasman says it is opposed to communism because it "upholds private property" and is "anti-collectivist".

Glasman has a vivid memory of being attacked by an American economist after giving a paper at a recent Vatican conference on Catholic social teaching. "You know there's a word for what you're saying, Baron Lord Professor or whatever you are," the challenge began. "Yeah, it's called Communism. You're trying to interfere with the prerogatives of management, you're trying to interfere with capital, and you're trying to interfere with prices. And that's been tried - and that's the Soviet Union."

During the subsequent discussion Glasman was delighted to find himself supported by both the Pope and the Archbishop of Munich, the appropriately named Cardinal Marx.

Francis' interpretation of Catholic social teaching certainly sounds more radical than that of his predecessors. In Argentina he insisted that his priests should see the world through the eyes of the poor, by living among them, and he brought that approach with him to Rome. Evangelii Gaudium - the document which got Rush Limbaugh so worked up - argues that inequality creates "a state of social sin that cries to Heaven". Pope Frances has also said that unemployment is "the result of a worldwide choice, of an economic system that led to this tragedy, an economic system that has at its centre a false God, a false God called money".

Philip Booth, a Catholic economist who works at the London free-market think tank the Institute for Economic Affairs, suggests Francis's views are close to those of the Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee and the left-wing French economist Thomas Piketty, whose book on inequality became an international bestseller last year.

He describes Francis as a "corporatist" who believes in a big state, and argues the Pope's statements are "dangerous" because they could "lead us to bad policy".
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33024951

I like that the Pope is addressing the future by moving the debate beyond the "radical Communism vs. radical free market" choice.
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Re: Capitalism and Its Discontents

Post by noddy »

I like that the Pope is addressing the future by moving the debate beyond the "radical Communism vs. radical free market" choice.
how so ? it reads like another 'one world consciousness' thing to me, which is nice, but hard to legislate :P

we are in moderated middle, any change will be a more radical left or more radical right choice, by definition.

i want more a more radical free market choice, just because that upsets you doesnt mean im not going to keep wanting more free in my freedom (tm).

i get the sense that you have the more extreme version of robber barron capitalism than us, so your society might need more of a radical lefty overhaul - their isnt much thats simmilar about romania and australia politically :)

it will still be a radical change, all the good changes are!
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