tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post687598510118104269..comments2024-03-29T02:19:19.866-04:00Comments on Mike Norman Economics: Ben Norton — Koch-Funded Economist Wants “Less Democracy”mike normanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-22319637165036914382015-03-29T18:17:30.020-04:002015-03-29T18:17:30.020-04:00".... and it makes you sound like Donald Duck...<i>".... and it makes you sound like Donald Duck!"</i>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-41567193637892140242015-03-29T12:24:05.713-04:002015-03-29T12:24:05.713-04:00There has never been a more effective Soma invente...There has never been a more effective Soma invented than the Smartphone. <br /><br /><br /><br />NeilWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11565959939525324309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-47546525323395021932015-03-29T10:23:40.075-04:002015-03-29T10:23:40.075-04:00Liberalism is bourgeois through and through, and d...Liberalism is bourgeois through and through, and democracy is the enemy of the bourgeoisie (acquisitive or ownership class) once the hereditary aristocracy of feudalism is dispensed with and capitalism established as the ruling paradigm under the guise of "liberal democracy," which is really plutonomy. <br /><br />Then the problem becomes"proletarians (workers devoid of significant ownership) uniting against acquisitive ownership class and their cronies and minions in the military staff, clandestine services and upper echelon of the bureaucracy, which includes that level of academia that passes through the revolving door or has designs on it. Eventually, it also comes to include the top echelon of the trade unions that are supposed to be representing workers' interests by the ownership class cutting them in on the loot or else criminal usurpation. The Mercatus Center is a wholly owned subsidiary of the plutocrats. (haute bourgeoisie).<br /><br />Now things are coming to a head with even most of the 1% being eclipsed by the .01%, and dynasties of hereditary wealth and power are proliferating, suggesting neb-feudalism as the outcome of liberalism become neoliberalism as a social and political theory based on economic liberalism. This is the model of neoliberal globalization that the US Establishment is spearheading, e.g., with trade agreements and treaties that install transnational corporations and owners of intellectual property above national sovereignty.<br /><br />So I view the work coming out of the Mercatus Center and other such institutions as paving the way for the submersion of sovereignty based on democracy and the rise of anti-democratic technocracy controlled by plutocrats.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-39486274443150107202015-03-29T02:49:48.433-04:002015-03-29T02:49:48.433-04:00You may mock, but this is actually what most econo...You may mock, but this is actually what most economists believe. Can't get those nasty irrational humans get in the way of their perfect clockwork model. <br /><br />This guy is just being excessively honest. He should attend the PR and marketing courses his colleagues have and learn to be more democratic. <br /><br />Of course taking a slightly more cynical line this sort of thing is quite clever since it shifts the boundaries of polite discourse even more to the right.<br /><br />That way when you beg an unelected institution such as the ECB to hand out a few Euros directly to the disadvantaged poor it sounds ever so reasonable. Even though it directly undermines the effectiveness of democracy. <br /><br />When you create a treaty that allows corporations to veto the decisions of the elected body, it feels so much less threatening than the alternative. Even though it directly undermines the effectiveness of democracy. <br /><br />And when the parties all turn up spouting precisely the same neo-liberal line and are so indistinguishable you can barely get a cigarette paper between them you trot out and vote for your favourite colour because of course good people vote for something. Even though that totally defeats the point of democracy.<br /><br />NeilWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11565959939525324309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-71540708219091481092015-03-29T00:04:33.109-04:002015-03-29T00:04:33.109-04:00Wow! So then it's ok for me to sell his organs...Wow! So then it's ok for me to sell his organs on Craigslist? <br /><br />That was easy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com