Glenn Greenwald: "Just think about how this works. People like Rubin, Summers and Gensler shuffle back and forth from the public to the private sector and back again, repeatedly switching places with their GOP counterparts in this endless public/private sector looting. When in government, they ensure that the laws and regulations are written to redound directly to the benefit of a handful of Wall St. firms, literally abolishing all safeguards and allowing them to pillage and steal. Then, when out of government, they return to those very firms and collect millions upon millions of dollars, profits made possible by the laws and regulations they implemented when in government. Then, when their party returns to power, they return back to government, where they continue to use their influence to ensure that the oligarchical circle that rewards them so massively is protected and advanced. This corruption is so tawdry and transparent -- and it has fueled and continues to fuel a fraud so enormous and destructive as to be unprecedented in both size and audacity -- that it is mystifying that it is not provoking more mass public rage."
(Glenn Greenwald, "Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government.")
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
An interesting juxtaposition of ideas and events. . . .
As we consider lives that are caught in the maw of the economic meltdown, read the following story: "Humbled banker parts with yuppie past."
With so many jobs in the financial sector being lost, perhaps we should reflect on the value of jobs tied to trading in money. The kind of dissolution experienced by the loan officer referenced in the CNN story was predicted by Karl Marx in "The Power of Money," in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844:
"That which is for me through the medium of money – that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) – that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money’s properties are my – the possessor’s – properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women. Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness – its deterrent power – is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet. Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: ‘is’. – Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?
If money is the bond binding me to human life, binding society to me, connecting me with nature and man, is not money the bond of all bonds? Can it not dissolve and bind all ties? Is it not, therefore, also the universal agent of separation? It is the coin that really separates as well as the real binding agent — the [. . .] chemical power of society." (Marx)
With so many jobs in the financial sector being lost, perhaps we should reflect on the value of jobs tied to trading in money. The kind of dissolution experienced by the loan officer referenced in the CNN story was predicted by Karl Marx in "The Power of Money," in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844:
"That which is for me through the medium of money – that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) – that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money’s properties are my – the possessor’s – properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women. Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness – its deterrent power – is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet. Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: ‘is’. – Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?
If money is the bond binding me to human life, binding society to me, connecting me with nature and man, is not money the bond of all bonds? Can it not dissolve and bind all ties? Is it not, therefore, also the universal agent of separation? It is the coin that really separates as well as the real binding agent — the [. . .] chemical power of society." (Marx)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Alfalfa Party: Nexus of Power and Politics
This article is about a year old, but it reveals the nexus of power and politics -- as President Eisenhower put it -- the behind-the-scenes incestuous workings of the military-industrial-congressional complex. It also paints a self-congratulatory picture -- along the lines that Chomsky presents -- of those in Washington who regard themselves as "the best" -- as opposed to the rest of us -- the "ignorant and meddlesome outsiders," as referred to by Walter Lippman.
From Court to Jester
From Court to Jester
Monday, January 26, 2009
The hidden cost of the credit crunch, By LAURIE ESSIG
Here's an interesting article that recently appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education that connects the dots re consumerism, body image, and gender stereotyping. . .
The hidden cost of the credit crunch, By LAURIE ESSIG
The hidden cost of the credit crunch, By LAURIE ESSIG
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Glenn Greenwald, "George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel"
An exerpt from Glenn Greenwald's blog: "George Washington's warnings and U.S. policy towards Israel"
"In a democracy, one could expect that politicians would be afraid to express a view that 70% of the citizens oppose. Yet here we have the exact opposite situation: no mainstream politician would dare express the view that 70% of Americans support; instead, the universal piety is the one that only a small minority accept. Isn't that fairly compelling evidence of the complete disconnect between our political elites and the people they purportedly represent?"
"In a democracy, one could expect that politicians would be afraid to express a view that 70% of the citizens oppose. Yet here we have the exact opposite situation: no mainstream politician would dare express the view that 70% of Americans support; instead, the universal piety is the one that only a small minority accept. Isn't that fairly compelling evidence of the complete disconnect between our political elites and the people they purportedly represent?"
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Welcome to Professor Mazoue's philosophy blog for spring 2009
As your 'tour guide', I'll try to make this an interesting journey. For your part, you will need to explore and investigate the conceptual landscape along the way. The journey will only be as interesting as you make it!
Our first issue is knowledge. Can we know anything? To what extent are our beliefs and opinions shaped by propaganda? We will first read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" from Book VII of his Republic. This sets the tone for the course: Can we extricate ourselves from ignorance and the narrowness of our world views?
Our first issue is knowledge. Can we know anything? To what extent are our beliefs and opinions shaped by propaganda? We will first read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" from Book VII of his Republic. This sets the tone for the course: Can we extricate ourselves from ignorance and the narrowness of our world views?
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