The History Of Corporate Personhood Interference With US Democracy

"Have we reached the point where corporatism is triumphing over Democracy?"

Click on the link below for a summary of the issue:

Did Corporations Kill Democracy

A Fresh Look At The Luddite Movement

"'Luddite' should never have become the epithet that it is as the Luddites were never afraid of or opposed to technological advancement, they only opposed the exploitation of workers and the degradation to society that came with the unfair distribution of the benefits of the targeted technology."

Click on the link below for an enlightening podcast:

New Tech and the Luddite Movement

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

A Look At US Tax Policy History

"Tax policy shows what a society values.

"Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Moore v. United States. The case illustrates today’s Supreme Court’s tendency to hear cases based on fictional stories to shape society to a right-wing ideology."

Click on the link for details. Ironically, the Republican Party today is against policies that many of them initially supported.

The lies of the Republicans to support economic inequality

Helping The Homeless Financially: Keep It Simple?

"The study, though small, offers a counter to the myths that people who become poor get that way because they’re bad at rational decision-making and self-control, and are thus intrinsically to blame for their situation, and that people getting free money will blow it on frivolous things or addictive substances. Studies have consistently shown that cash transfers don’t increase the consumption of 'temptation goods'; they either decrease it or have no effect on it.

“'I have been working with people experiencing homelessness as a family physician for years and I am in no way surprised that the people who received this cash used it wisely,' Gary Bloch, a Canadian doctor who prescribes money to low-income patients, told me.

“'It should be fairly self-evident by now that providing cash to people who are very low-income will have a positive effect,' he added.'We have seen that in other work (conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America, guaranteed annual income studies in Manitoba), and I would expect a similar outcome here.'”

"What’s more, according to Foundations for Social Change, giving out the cash transfers in the Vancouver area actually saved the broader society money. Enabling 50 people to move into housing faster saved the shelter system $8,277 per person over the year, for a total savings of $413,850. That’s more than the value of the cash transfers, which means the transfers pay for themselves.

"The research team also looked at what’s effective at changing the public perception about cash transfers to homeless people. They found that pointing out how cash transfers actually produce net savings for society, as well as showing how homeless people spend the money, are both effective ways to counter stereotypes among the public.

“'People think that the status quo is cheap, but it’s actually incredibly expensive,' Williams said. 'So why don’t we just give people the cash they need to transform their lives?'”

Click on the link below for counter-intuitive findings regarding helping the homeless:

Is giving out free money the best way to help the homeless?

Monopolies Are A Major Problem For The USA

"Besides their lawsuits against Google and Amazon, the FTC and the Justice Department have proposed new merger guidelines to keep monopolies in check. Not surprisingly, giant corporations are doing whatever they can to stop these new protections from taking effect.

"The optimist in me thinks that as the public becomes more aware of the close connections among corporate power, predation, inflation, wage suppression, and political corruption, the new antitrust movement will eventually succeed." 

~ Robert Reich (/former Sec of Labor under Pres Clinton)

Click on the link below for the details of why and how the USA has allowed this cancer on our economy and democracy:

Who's most responsible for the monopolization of America?

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

On Labor Day Ponder The Value Of Unions

Unions are DIRECTLY connected to the growth of the economy and the welfare of the working class/USA as a whole. Click on the two links below for the details:

FACT SHEET: Treasury Department Releases First-Of-Its-Kind Report on Benefits of Unions to the U.S. Economy

Let's talk about the Treasury Report and You

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

Greenwashing

"Many companies try to appear environmentally friendly without making a real difference, a strategy that’s been dubbed 'greenwashing'. So, is calling a product or service 'eco-friendly' just a ploy of companies to get more money out of us? What are the consequences for climate change? And how can we spot those fake claims? That’s what we’ll talk about today."

Click on the link below for another excellent video by Sabine Hossenfelder, this time presenting the pros and cons of corporate efforts to address environmental problems:

Greenwashing: How common is it, and how can you avoid it?

Litigation Funding: An Answer To Corporate Power?

"Litigation funding involves the agreement of a third party (with no prior connection to the litigation) to finance all or part of the legal costs of certain litigation, in return for a percentage of any damages recovered should the funded litigant be successful."

Click on the link below for a "60 minutes" segment presenting the pros and cons of this recent attempt to help the "small guy" in corporate legal disputes:

More investors fund lawsuits, as rules and transparency lag behind

The Dark History Of The Information Age

 "You’ve probably encountered phishing emails or computer viruses. Or maybe one or more of your accounts has been hacked or compromised. How and why do hackers hack and what are they generally seeking? Our guest this week points out that understanding the answers to those questions is essential for making sense of the psychological, economic, political, and social motivations for and effects of cybercrime. Scott Shapiro is a Southmayd Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at Yale Law School. He is the author of a new book called, “Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks.” The book dives into five historical examples, one of which involves its namesake, Fancy Bear, a Russian cyberintelligence unit responsible for hacking the Democratic National Convention. Shapiro joins WITHpod to discuss some of the biggest inflection points in the history of hacking, why the internet is so vulnerable, the role that generative AI may place in future cybercrime and his thoughts on if we should really be concerned about cyberwar."

Click on the link below for the podcast and transcript:

Decoding the Information Age

America Is NOT Great

"The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Ranking for 2023 shows the United States continuing its descent.

"The US maintained the top position from 1997 to 2009. However, in 2010 it slid to third, overtaken by Singapore and Hong Kong. This year, the US found itself further down the list, ranking ninth.

"The IMD's World Competitiveness Center monitors 64 economies worldwide. It "analyzes and ranks countries based on their ability to manage their competencies to achieve long-term value creation." This ranking does not merely assess GDP and productivity. It also considers "political, social, and cultural dimensions." The assessment is divided into four categories: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.

"Government efficiency appears to be the most critical challenge for the US. The lackluster legislative process struggles to keep pace with other countries whose governments adeptly adapt to current economic conditions."  (US Drops Further in International Competitiveness Rankings)

Nice work, Singapore (my major viewer of this blog!).

One Of The Worse Effects Of Anti-Science Thinking: The USA's Immigration Disaster

"Today, we take a look at the current state and deep context for why our immigration and asylum system is broken, and why our policies have made it worse rather than better, all while stoking anti-immigrant hatred."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the total failure of the USA Immigration Policy. And, no, it is not just Republican or conservative blindness, as the vast majority of all people are magical/antiscience thinkers:

Why Our Immigration and Asylum System is Broken

Photo by Fabian Fauth on Unsplash

Oil Wealth Historically

 "Today, we take a look at the intertwining of oil wealth, philanthropy, and culture washing from John Rockefeller to the sheiks of the Middle East."

Click on the link below for a podcast looking at the history of oil barons' attempts to appear worthy of their wealth:

Oil Wealth and Oligarchy, Over 100 Years of Polishing Unredeemable Reputations

The History And Present Of The Labor Movement In The USA

"Today, we take a look at the history and present of the labor movement to demonstrate how times may change but the fundamental struggle, including many of the exact tactics, remains the same. Plus, get ready to get excited about salts, the secret ingredient in labor movement."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the details:

Tactics and Counter-Tactics of the Struggle for Labor Rights

Cryptocurrency: Follow The Consensus Of Financial Experts

This blogger has written about the dangers of crypto-currency in general, and Bitcoin in particular. In recent days, Bitcoin, the most prominent example of cryptocurrency, has risen about 75% off its multi-year low 6 months ago (link). However, with its extreme volatility and insufficient regulation, the consensus of responsible financial advisors is that it is only appropriate for short-term investors and speculators. Click on the links below for examples of opinions from responsible sources:

"The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this investor alert to warn individual investors about fraudulent investment schemes that may involve Bitcoin and other virtual currencies."

https://www.sec.gov/files/ia_virtualcurrencies.pdf

"The seemingly limitless innovations that are springing out of information technology have created enormous opportunities for all kinds of predatory behavior uninhibited by social regulation. Cryptocurrencies are one of the leading contestants in this competition. Crypto is a Ponzi scheme. It’s the IT version of what Bernie Madoff did in a mutual fund fraud in New York City in the 1980s and ‘90s, which was the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time − until now."

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/01/29/opinion-cryptocurrency-might-be-the-greatest-ponzi-scheme-of-all-time/69836392007/

"If we should have learned anything from the crashes of 1929 and 2008, it’s that regulation of financial markets is essential. Otherwise, they become Ponzi schemes that eventually leave small investors with nothing and destabilize the entire economy.

"It’s time for the Biden administration and Congress to regulate crypto."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/commentisfree/2022/jun/19/the-crypto-crash-all-ponzi-schemes-topple-eventually

MLM: It's A Scam

"The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) should:

• end the current policy of neglect and presumption of MLM “legitimacy”
• initiate investigations of MLM structure, methods and consequences
• refer findings to the US Dept. of Justice.

Click on the link below for the 5 features of Mult-Level Marketing (MLM) that make it a scam:

What is MLM, and What To Do About it

Why Are People Antiscience?

"From vaccination refusal to climate change denial, antiscience views are threatening humanity. When different individuals are provided with the same piece of scientific evidence, why do some accept whereas others dismiss it? Building on various emerging data and models that have explored the psychology of being antiscience, we specify four core bases of key principles driving antiscience attitudes. These principles are grounded in decades of research on attitudes, persuasion, social influence, social identity, and information processing. They apply across diverse domains of antiscience phenomena. Specifically, antiscience attitudes are more likely to emerge when a scientific message comes from sources perceived as lacking credibility; when the recipients embrace the social membership or identity of groups with antiscience attitudes; when the scientific message itself contradicts what recipients consider true, favorable, valuable, or moral; or when there is a mismatch between the delivery of the scientific message and the epistemic style of the recipient. Politics triggers or amplifies many principles across all four bases, making it a particularly potent force in antiscience attitudes. Guided by the key principles, we describe evidence-based counteractive strategies for increasing public acceptance of science."

Click on the link below for a scholarly, in-depth look at the danger and harm of anti-science, as well as its causation and recommended remedies:

Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?

What Conservatives Fail To Understand About Government Expenditures

" - - - a change in aggregate expenditures circles through the economy: households buy from firms, firms pay workers and suppliers, workers and suppliers buy goods from other firms, those firms pay their workers and suppliers, and so on. In this way, the original change in aggregate expenditures is actually spent more than once. This is called the expenditure multiplier effect: an initial increase in spending, cycles repeatedly through the economy and has a larger impact than the initial dollar amount spent."

Click on the link below for a basic economic lesson:

The Expenditure Multiplier Effect