Two Views Of The Future In The USA

Click on the two links below for two views that can't be reconciled:

The Democrats

The Republicans

VOTE WISELY!!

Mega-Corporations And Big Tech: A Monopoly Nightmare

"The effort to turn theory into practice that will open up new ways of thinking about antitrust lawsuits attempting to rein in big tech and other mega-corporations, which are operating in a new phase of capitalism."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the history of monopolies, anti-trust legislation and what is needed presently to resist the continuing growth of monopolistic corporate practices:

New Era of Antitrust for a New Era of Capitalism, Mega-Corporations and Big Tech

Why We Need More REGULATED Capitalism

"The need to hold industries to high safety standards seems like an obvious priority. Yet in reality, questionable business practices are widespread -- from deep-fakes to mass data collection. Vanderbilt University Professor Ganesh Sitaraman says it is time for Congress to clamp down on rampant use of artificial intelligence and tighten regulations on the aviation industry. He joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss his latest book 'Why Flying Is Miserable and How To Fix It.'"

Click on the link below for the details of corporate monopoly abuse highlighting the airline industry as an example:

"Why Flying Is Miserable" Author Offers Solutions for Airlines and AI

The "Gilded Age" Is Alive And Well

"John Oliver discusses freight trains and railroads, how they’ve put profits over safety, and, crucially, what shows he watched as a child that explain…everything. "

Click on the link below for a clear example of corporate behavior that should have ended at the end of the Gilded Age. We need another Mark Twain, or another Charles Dickens, to enlighten voters and to push politicians toward a truly REGULATED capitalism:

Dollar Stores: A Horror Show

"92% of Dollar General's staff was making less than $15 an hour. That is a higher percentage than every other company they surveyed. On top of that, lawsuits and press reports have repeatedly documented Dollar General severely restricting the total hours it allocates in a week to non-managers and then expecting store managers, who are salaried, to cover the rest without overtime and without enough people to do everything from running the register to receiving truck deliveries to stocking the shelves to keeping prices updated and cleaning the bathrooms. Things can quickly fall apart."

Click on the link below for another John Oliver expose, this time of a category of stores that is necessary for the poorer neighborhoods but don't come close to doing the job right:

Dollar Stores: Last Week Tonight 

Chocolate: You Will Not Like How You Get It

Click on the link below for a shocking expose' of the chocolate industry by John Oliver:

Chocolate: Last Week Tonight

One Of The Worst Companies You Probably Never Heard Of

Click on the link below for the latest episode of John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight", which addresses the evil of the oldest and largest management consulting firm: McKinsey & Company:

McKinsey: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

The Dawn Of A Labor Renaissance?

"Rays of hope for the worker's struggle against unfettered, exploitative capitalism are coming from multiple angles as strikes from creatives in Hollywood and autoworkers in Detroit are striking to demand wages, benefits, and protections while executives make arguments for why workers should be made to feel the threat of poverty to keep them in line."

Click on the link below for some hopeful news about the labor movement:

Workers Rights Ascending

Conspiracy Theories: All You Need To Know

"Exploring the captivating world of conspiracy theories! We are all wired to believe misinformation to some degree, but not all to the same degree. With help from Naomi Klein, and other experts, discover why people are drawn to conspiracies, the psychology behind belief, and ideas about the best way to prevent conspiratorial thinking."

Click on the link below for the details:

Alluring Conspiracy Culture Vs Capitalism

A Look At Capitalism

"Is capitalism the reason the world is going to hell in a handbasket? Or is it going to save us? What is capitalism anyway? How does money work and when do free markets fail? This video briefly summarizes a dip I did into microeconomics literature in a dark hour of my life."

Click on the link below for a video from a physicist looking open-mindedly at capitalism. I take the view that REGULATED CAPITALISM is the way to go, which the USA presently is far from :

Capitalism is good. Let me explain

Private Equity: A Conduit For Inequality

"It’s still possible for businesses to exist in order to produce wonderful goods and services. I know many retailers, small manufacturers, and professionals who do what they do mainly for the love of it. (My father ran a clothing store, and although he worked seven days a week, making money was secondary — enabling him to keep his family afloat and continue to do what he loved.)

"But the financialization of the American economy has turned almost all larger businesses into profit centers. Private equity in particular has leached out every other value."

Click on the link below for a synopsis of an economic reality that is undermining the quality of our society:

How private equity is destroying the labors of love

Capitalism: An Economic Idea That Has Never Lived Up To Its Vision

"Today, we take a look at some origins, alternatives, and misunderstandings of capitalism from the Dutch East India Company, to Adam Smith and up through the planned obsolescence and marketing that have tricked us all into working far harder than necessary while failing to make us happy."

Click on the link below for a clear look at what capitalism looked like at its origins and is today:

Capitalism doesn't live up to the hype

The Planet In Crisis

"Today, we take a look at how the war in Ukraine is exacerbating the food crisis that was already underway in a world of climate chaos and capitalism driving resources to the brink."

Click on the link below for a podcast delving into the major issues threatening the planet's livability:

Conflict, Climate, Capitalism, and Famine

Capitalism, Growth, And Human Survival

"Today we take a look at many intertwining economic processes that are permeating society which include but are not limited to the dead-end mentality of infinite growth, the uselessness of growth past a certain point for wellbeing, and the deepening alienation being felt in response to consumerism in place of community."

Poorly regulated capitalism has been the predominant economic force in the developed world since at least the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. A reasonable person presently can look at its results and trend and be alarmed. Click on the link below for a podcast critically looking at economics today and the potentially existential disaster for humanity in the future if the trend does not change:

A Healthier Humanity Through a Wellness Economy

Philanthropy Is A Smoke Screen For The Powerful

"Today we take a look at the ways that extreme inequality and many of the worst instincts and repercussions of capitalism are being upheld and perpetuated by our culture of philanthropy. It turns out that what we see as the rich giving back is really more of a purchase on their part, a purchase of our acceptance of inequality and the right of the wealthy to rule."

Society must objectively look at how the rich are manipulating the unregulated capitalistic system.

Click on the link below:

Naked Capitalism has a Fig Leaf

Here's more:

Billionaire philanthropy is a ‘PR scam'

An Honest Look At Capitalism

"This week's show is dedicated to a discussion of the signs of US capitalism's decline. Wolff explores the passage of US capitalism from its birth, through its state-supported growth and expansion, to its global peaking from 1945 to 2000. He presents the causes of its ongoing decline this 21st century, and then offers a conclusion on the right, center, and left political responses to decline."

Click on the link below:

What Capitalism's Decline Means 

A Science-Based Look At Capitalism

"Rising inequality and growing political instability are the direct results of decades of bad economic theory, says entrepreneur Nick Hanauer. In a visionary talk, he dismantles the mantra that "greed is good" -- an idea he describes as not only morally corrosive but also scientifically wrong -- and lays out a new theory of economics powered by reciprocity and cooperation."

The dirty secret of capitalism

A Look At The Problems With Capitalism (No, Not From Socialists)

"The belief that the government should only intervene to “fix” the market in extreme circumstances, rather than acting as a partner in creating and shaping markets, means we’re constantly putting 'bandages' on problems and 'nothing changes.' The intractability of today’s slow growth and widening inequality can be traced, she says, to the fact that governments in the U.S. and Europe have increasingly shied away from their responsibilities. 'We have to admit that policy steers innovation and growth, and so the question is where do we want to steer them?'”

Capitalism Behaving Badly