Well, one advantage with being a pessimist is that I'm never disappointed.
Unfortunately, Ceaser was very popular with the people so they basically gave away the republic to him. Rome survived for more than 400 years after the Ceasers took over the republic. Business went on, people found ways to make a living, and the circus of power ebbed and flowed. Life goes on.
In 1 Samuel 8, the people wanted a king. There is nothing new under the sun. It isn't the first time anyone has prayed "Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?" (Psalm 94).
The only sound "bulwark" is when people get wise to the con. ... Hopefully, that will not be when it is too late. ... They say that "God is in control" and "God opposes the proud". I hope so, because it seems like all we have left for this democracy is little more than a prayer.
"These Republican members would think of themselves as a perfect candidate to “Quantum Leap” back to 1938 and convince the world the confront Hitler earlier..."
No. These people are the America First spokesmen for the greatness of the Third Reich and want to jump on his runaway train to nihilism.
I think I probably know how you feel, but I think business is probably just pragmatic. Most of us feel powerless against a trend that has probably been going on for many years. Some 10 years ago, we thought the issue was the conflict between science and faith. Actually, that was a symptom. The issue, it seems, was about power.
Probably all human beings are somewhat inclined toward thinking that there are immediate consequences for wrongdoing. Even the brief passage through high school did not teach us that bad people can get away with a lot. What seems to have happened was a gradual, incremental process where the consequences were minimal, or maybe on the short term positive. So people kept going that direction because it was working (for them at least). It is easy to put on the blinders when your economics depend on it. We think "It is for someone else to figure out, I don't have time".
That discussion with Edward Luce was incredibly stunning, especially that quotation.
Not sure if you were referring to my post, but I'll tag along...
Kinzinger was correct with his observation about "small people with small dreams." He was referring to politicians who are value neutral in the way I'll refer to it below. Businessmen are large and small people with small dreams - the here and now.
Business is value neutral and in many ways shielded from the pain that will occur when the train runs off the rails. The story of IG Farben isn't necessarily going to put brakes on anyone in business or industry who is Trump-curious. "You have to break eggs to make an omlet, as long as I'm not an egg" feeds into Arendt's list of banalities. It forgets, though, that it's not unknown for leopards to look at the face of a leader of capital and get an urge to feed.
Yeah, sorry, I seem to have responded tangentially. Interesting point about the leopard ... That reminds me of Putin's kleptocracy. Putin is a really shifty crook. Our Grand Bamboolzer is dangerous and slippery, but compared to Putin, he seems very much a junior kleptocrat.
Businesses will find that it is only a matter of time before they face having to cross him. ... and many will they are caught in his net.
BUSINESS BEWARE” -- The Economist newspaper prints on January 20th-26th cover page -- “Many CEOs fear a Trump second term would be worse than the first for business.”
So true. It started in Viet Nam. Whatever the West said was wrong ., Everything the NVA said was right . The way they portrayed themselves a s victims of war. was an inspiration to many groups around the world .
McConnell ordered companies to stay out of politics then raises corporate money from his leadership PAC. He’s so distasteful.
I can say from experience that companies hand out campaign contributions to bad actors because they say it’s only about business interests. I guarantee that if, due to politics, our economy became deeply unstable and a bad place to do business, these companies would pull up their tent poles and move operations overseas. It’s all private profit and public cost. This is essentially what Dimon is saying.
And that's where nearly everyone is thinking in the wrong dimension (left/right) and needs to rotate it 90 degrees (to up/down). For years I have read how the service economy has replaced the manufacturing economy. But that too is out of date. If anything the "sales economy" has all but replaced the service economy. Stop and think how many times a day you're bombarded with someone trying to sell you something (ads, commercials, billboards, junk mail, computer and phone spam, etc.). Oops, I forgot the biggest part, politicians who only care about winning, not serving. Heck, we expect them to lie. All that time and money spent on "persuading" you into buying something (or voting for someone, or donating, etc.) is NOT spent on making the product or service better or more economical. Instead of thinking long-range and "win-win", the trendy thing is "zero sum game" and instant gratification. Which of course means constant temptation to lie or at least cover up inconvenient facts that would help a prospective victim, I mean "customer," think for himself. So what better role model for that "economy" than the impeached, indicted instant gratification addicted reality TV star? Oh, most rich businessmen would have preferred a "less fascistic Republican" a few decades ago, but most have since found a new "drug."
I don't think I saw any comments about this but the one part of this that really stuck with me though that I can't get over was at the end.
The way that Nikki Haley is trolling the Orange Caligula. It's causing me this peculiar urge to buy one of her "Banned Permanently" shirts to support her. Fair is fair I did donate to Asa's campaign to get him into the first debate. What Uncle Joe et al need to do is start cutting video mocking the Orange Caligula. He will come apart at the seams. Let him lose it completely. That book about Lindsey Graham is coming out next week. There's gotta be some banging material in that to use in commercials.
Might mean Haley v Biden yes, I'm still voting for Uncle Joe 2024. I'd rather lose to Haley than lose our democracy.
I am torn about whether to send Haley money or not. She is certainly in a position where she could do this, but does she realize? I think so, but I am unsure. It's been clear to me for a long time that Trump is most afraid of women who won't bow down. It drives him absolutely crazy. But I don't want to give her money only for her to turn around and endorse Trump.
My uncle is a very successful finance dude in NYC. His company manages the investments of some of the richest people in Latin America.
I vividly recall the family Xmas dinner in 2016 after Trump won the election, but before he came into power, and asking the finance bro if he was concerned about Trump's election (he did not vote for Trump, though technically that was because he wasn't a citizen until around 2020).
When asked the question re: Trump's election as President, my uncle replied without hesitation that there'd be no problem, to paraphrase, because the sane people in the room would stop his reckless impulses.
Obviously, that was a naïve prediction.
Also recall that even the MARGINALLY responsible officials in his administration just quit, and almost all of them refused to even talk about Trump's erratic behaviour, saving the juicy bits to sell a book. So much for their moral courage.
All Jamie Dimon (or anyone else of his ilk) has to do is cross Trump once and he'll be out on his ear if Trump is returned to office. Trump will feel free to make anyone's life miserable and intolerable if he feels the person deserves it. And that is the rub because it is if His Great Orangeness "feels the need", it will be at his whim, not something rational.
I would be very, very careful this time about what you wish for because what you get might not exactly be what you were expecting.
"[For] all his faults, Trump would be better for business than Biden. Trump cut the top tax rate and improved their bottom lines. He is promising to do the same again. Trump’s railing against corporatism is just red meat for the base."
-----
The Marigold Malignancy has had so much success gaslighting his own cultists it's almost laughable. Those who have consumed too much Kool-Aid from the punchbowl with a yuge orange turd floating in it must be extremely gullible, blind to reality (we already know that this is true) or being hypocritical with, or lying to, themselves (both very dangerous traits); this includes the C-Suite execs who think that they can exert some sort of control over the Vengeance Seeker-in-Chief. The Bloviating Butterscotch Buffoon is the walking embodiment of corporatism, and everything he has "accomplished" was for his own benefit, if he helped others it was either by mistake or he saw a personal financial return.
It may be true that the Goldenrod Grotesqueness might be better for *some* businesses, almost all of which are the globalist entities he condemns -- Jamie Dimon's JP Morgan/Chase is prime example; -- while small businesspeople can suck wind as far as he's concerned.
-----
"He ordered a government review of postal rates and urged his postmaster general to double shipping rates on Amazon, as a part of his campaign to pressure Washington Post and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos to provide him with more favorable news coverage.
As a 2016 candidate, Trump threatened to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner because CNN was “wildly anti-Trump” and, after he became president, the Department of Justice challenged the deal."
The big business CEOs have joined the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party, and they discount the fact that the leopard will eat their face the first instant that the Apricot Arthropod is unhappy with them. They have placed themselves and the corporations they run into serious jeopardy by getting in bed with the Marigold Malignancy and his New GOP puppets. The business elites seem to be ignoring the fact that Trump**^^^^ will not hesitate to throw them under the bus if it means self-preservation.
America has 4% of the population on earth. Last year we created 25% of the GDP of all nations. 26 trillion out of 105 trillion. We’re doing pretty good, as a whole. Just look at someone who makes a million a year and someone who makes 50 thousand, between them they make 525 thousand.. not bad.
If greed, mendacity and gluttony were wells, the depths of those on Wall Street would be so deep as to be unplumbable. Jamie Dimon is a malignant narcissistic sociopath, just like his buddy Trump. Both have never experienced any of the consequences that typically attend criminal behavior.
In fact, every time he gets fined billions by federal regulators (the total is about $40 billion now) Dimon smiles, knowing that the stock price will go up, and the value of his stock options will skyrocket. The Board of Directors will never do anything, of course, 'cause they have the same stock options too.
The only real consequence Dimon has ever faced is having to suffer through five minutes of embarrassing questioning by Katie Porter. I'm certain though, that her exposure of him as a selfish, doltish, self-centered and parsimonious dickhead is easily assuaged by the billions he rakes in each time he commits another crime.
The ICJ case is moral depravity and in the long term can only undermine the validity of the courts ability to preserve the word Justice in their name. From the Ethics of the Fathers: The world stands on three things Truth, Justice and Peace. For without truth you cannot have justice and without justice you cannot have peace. The ICJ case is a perfect example of failure to promote peace.
Charlie catalogs the damage trump could do to business out in the open. trump and his enforcers could do a lot of harm behind the scenes. Make sure trump cronies get plum seats on boards of directors. Place incompetent friends, relatives, sycophants, and donors in executive suites. Direct corporate political donations and lobbying activities for the benefit of trump and his loyalists. Ensure the SEC and DOJ turn a blind eye to stock manipulation that enriches friendly corporations and hurts unfriendly ones. By the time trump inc. finishes unleveling the playing field and shredding the rule book, capital flight will have bankrupted the country.
Well, one advantage with being a pessimist is that I'm never disappointed.
Unfortunately, Ceaser was very popular with the people so they basically gave away the republic to him. Rome survived for more than 400 years after the Ceasers took over the republic. Business went on, people found ways to make a living, and the circus of power ebbed and flowed. Life goes on.
In 1 Samuel 8, the people wanted a king. There is nothing new under the sun. It isn't the first time anyone has prayed "Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?" (Psalm 94).
The only sound "bulwark" is when people get wise to the con. ... Hopefully, that will not be when it is too late. ... They say that "God is in control" and "God opposes the proud". I hope so, because it seems like all we have left for this democracy is little more than a prayer.
Catching up on last week's reading...
Kinzinger only goes halfway in his criticism.
"These Republican members would think of themselves as a perfect candidate to “Quantum Leap” back to 1938 and convince the world the confront Hitler earlier..."
No. These people are the America First spokesmen for the greatness of the Third Reich and want to jump on his runaway train to nihilism.
I think I probably know how you feel, but I think business is probably just pragmatic. Most of us feel powerless against a trend that has probably been going on for many years. Some 10 years ago, we thought the issue was the conflict between science and faith. Actually, that was a symptom. The issue, it seems, was about power.
Probably all human beings are somewhat inclined toward thinking that there are immediate consequences for wrongdoing. Even the brief passage through high school did not teach us that bad people can get away with a lot. What seems to have happened was a gradual, incremental process where the consequences were minimal, or maybe on the short term positive. So people kept going that direction because it was working (for them at least). It is easy to put on the blinders when your economics depend on it. We think "It is for someone else to figure out, I don't have time".
That discussion with Edward Luce was incredibly stunning, especially that quotation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRBLzLBLj9k&t=87s
Not sure if you were referring to my post, but I'll tag along...
Kinzinger was correct with his observation about "small people with small dreams." He was referring to politicians who are value neutral in the way I'll refer to it below. Businessmen are large and small people with small dreams - the here and now.
Business is value neutral and in many ways shielded from the pain that will occur when the train runs off the rails. The story of IG Farben isn't necessarily going to put brakes on anyone in business or industry who is Trump-curious. "You have to break eggs to make an omlet, as long as I'm not an egg" feeds into Arendt's list of banalities. It forgets, though, that it's not unknown for leopards to look at the face of a leader of capital and get an urge to feed.
Yeah, sorry, I seem to have responded tangentially. Interesting point about the leopard ... That reminds me of Putin's kleptocracy. Putin is a really shifty crook. Our Grand Bamboolzer is dangerous and slippery, but compared to Putin, he seems very much a junior kleptocrat.
Businesses will find that it is only a matter of time before they face having to cross him. ... and many will they are caught in his net.
BUSINESS BEWARE” -- The Economist newspaper prints on January 20th-26th cover page -- “Many CEOs fear a Trump second term would be worse than the first for business.”
So true. It started in Viet Nam. Whatever the West said was wrong ., Everything the NVA said was right . The way they portrayed themselves a s victims of war. was an inspiration to many groups around the world .
McConnell ordered companies to stay out of politics then raises corporate money from his leadership PAC. He’s so distasteful.
I can say from experience that companies hand out campaign contributions to bad actors because they say it’s only about business interests. I guarantee that if, due to politics, our economy became deeply unstable and a bad place to do business, these companies would pull up their tent poles and move operations overseas. It’s all private profit and public cost. This is essentially what Dimon is saying.
“rich businessmen remember they're Republicans.”
And that's where nearly everyone is thinking in the wrong dimension (left/right) and needs to rotate it 90 degrees (to up/down). For years I have read how the service economy has replaced the manufacturing economy. But that too is out of date. If anything the "sales economy" has all but replaced the service economy. Stop and think how many times a day you're bombarded with someone trying to sell you something (ads, commercials, billboards, junk mail, computer and phone spam, etc.). Oops, I forgot the biggest part, politicians who only care about winning, not serving. Heck, we expect them to lie. All that time and money spent on "persuading" you into buying something (or voting for someone, or donating, etc.) is NOT spent on making the product or service better or more economical. Instead of thinking long-range and "win-win", the trendy thing is "zero sum game" and instant gratification. Which of course means constant temptation to lie or at least cover up inconvenient facts that would help a prospective victim, I mean "customer," think for himself. So what better role model for that "economy" than the impeached, indicted instant gratification addicted reality TV star? Oh, most rich businessmen would have preferred a "less fascistic Republican" a few decades ago, but most have since found a new "drug."
I don't think I saw any comments about this but the one part of this that really stuck with me though that I can't get over was at the end.
The way that Nikki Haley is trolling the Orange Caligula. It's causing me this peculiar urge to buy one of her "Banned Permanently" shirts to support her. Fair is fair I did donate to Asa's campaign to get him into the first debate. What Uncle Joe et al need to do is start cutting video mocking the Orange Caligula. He will come apart at the seams. Let him lose it completely. That book about Lindsey Graham is coming out next week. There's gotta be some banging material in that to use in commercials.
Might mean Haley v Biden yes, I'm still voting for Uncle Joe 2024. I'd rather lose to Haley than lose our democracy.
I am torn about whether to send Haley money or not. She is certainly in a position where she could do this, but does she realize? I think so, but I am unsure. It's been clear to me for a long time that Trump is most afraid of women who won't bow down. It drives him absolutely crazy. But I don't want to give her money only for her to turn around and endorse Trump.
The E. Jean Carroll verdict is in and it's delicious.
My uncle is a very successful finance dude in NYC. His company manages the investments of some of the richest people in Latin America.
I vividly recall the family Xmas dinner in 2016 after Trump won the election, but before he came into power, and asking the finance bro if he was concerned about Trump's election (he did not vote for Trump, though technically that was because he wasn't a citizen until around 2020).
When asked the question re: Trump's election as President, my uncle replied without hesitation that there'd be no problem, to paraphrase, because the sane people in the room would stop his reckless impulses.
Obviously, that was a naïve prediction.
Also recall that even the MARGINALLY responsible officials in his administration just quit, and almost all of them refused to even talk about Trump's erratic behaviour, saving the juicy bits to sell a book. So much for their moral courage.
How much is the average American on the hook for that last tax break for the wealthy? It increased US debt on the order of Trillions.
All Jamie Dimon (or anyone else of his ilk) has to do is cross Trump once and he'll be out on his ear if Trump is returned to office. Trump will feel free to make anyone's life miserable and intolerable if he feels the person deserves it. And that is the rub because it is if His Great Orangeness "feels the need", it will be at his whim, not something rational.
I would be very, very careful this time about what you wish for because what you get might not exactly be what you were expecting.
"[For] all his faults, Trump would be better for business than Biden. Trump cut the top tax rate and improved their bottom lines. He is promising to do the same again. Trump’s railing against corporatism is just red meat for the base."
-----
The Marigold Malignancy has had so much success gaslighting his own cultists it's almost laughable. Those who have consumed too much Kool-Aid from the punchbowl with a yuge orange turd floating in it must be extremely gullible, blind to reality (we already know that this is true) or being hypocritical with, or lying to, themselves (both very dangerous traits); this includes the C-Suite execs who think that they can exert some sort of control over the Vengeance Seeker-in-Chief. The Bloviating Butterscotch Buffoon is the walking embodiment of corporatism, and everything he has "accomplished" was for his own benefit, if he helped others it was either by mistake or he saw a personal financial return.
It may be true that the Goldenrod Grotesqueness might be better for *some* businesses, almost all of which are the globalist entities he condemns -- Jamie Dimon's JP Morgan/Chase is prime example; -- while small businesspeople can suck wind as far as he's concerned.
-----
"He ordered a government review of postal rates and urged his postmaster general to double shipping rates on Amazon, as a part of his campaign to pressure Washington Post and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos to provide him with more favorable news coverage.
As a 2016 candidate, Trump threatened to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner because CNN was “wildly anti-Trump” and, after he became president, the Department of Justice challenged the deal."
The big business CEOs have joined the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party, and they discount the fact that the leopard will eat their face the first instant that the Apricot Arthropod is unhappy with them. They have placed themselves and the corporations they run into serious jeopardy by getting in bed with the Marigold Malignancy and his New GOP puppets. The business elites seem to be ignoring the fact that Trump**^^^^ will not hesitate to throw them under the bus if it means self-preservation.
fnord
America has 4% of the population on earth. Last year we created 25% of the GDP of all nations. 26 trillion out of 105 trillion. We’re doing pretty good, as a whole. Just look at someone who makes a million a year and someone who makes 50 thousand, between them they make 525 thousand.. not bad.
If greed, mendacity and gluttony were wells, the depths of those on Wall Street would be so deep as to be unplumbable. Jamie Dimon is a malignant narcissistic sociopath, just like his buddy Trump. Both have never experienced any of the consequences that typically attend criminal behavior.
In fact, every time he gets fined billions by federal regulators (the total is about $40 billion now) Dimon smiles, knowing that the stock price will go up, and the value of his stock options will skyrocket. The Board of Directors will never do anything, of course, 'cause they have the same stock options too.
The only real consequence Dimon has ever faced is having to suffer through five minutes of embarrassing questioning by Katie Porter. I'm certain though, that her exposure of him as a selfish, doltish, self-centered and parsimonious dickhead is easily assuaged by the billions he rakes in each time he commits another crime.
The ICJ case is moral depravity and in the long term can only undermine the validity of the courts ability to preserve the word Justice in their name. From the Ethics of the Fathers: The world stands on three things Truth, Justice and Peace. For without truth you cannot have justice and without justice you cannot have peace. The ICJ case is a perfect example of failure to promote peace.
Charlie catalogs the damage trump could do to business out in the open. trump and his enforcers could do a lot of harm behind the scenes. Make sure trump cronies get plum seats on boards of directors. Place incompetent friends, relatives, sycophants, and donors in executive suites. Direct corporate political donations and lobbying activities for the benefit of trump and his loyalists. Ensure the SEC and DOJ turn a blind eye to stock manipulation that enriches friendly corporations and hurts unfriendly ones. By the time trump inc. finishes unleveling the playing field and shredding the rule book, capital flight will have bankrupted the country.