Re: Einstein: Time's man of the century [China]
You're welcome Ed. Just a few further thoughts. Ray Ed Goertzen wrote: ==Ed G said: Many thanks to Ray for his detailed answer. (snip) Ed said; I have to agree with Kazantzakis. In an excellent book by David Astle "Babalonian Woe" (Copyright 1975) he traces the causes of conflicts from the time of Summerian dominance and attributes them to the infectious anomaly of monetary systems. I tend to think that it had more to do with literacy. Literacy freed the memory and allowed for communication over distances in a general fashion. This created the first "information of scale" if I may paraphrase the economists. Ed continued: =The jacket quote is enlightening. "The intellectual faculties however are not of themselves sufficient to produce external action; they require the aid of physical force, the direction and combination of which are wholly at the disp[oasal of money, that mighty spring by which the total force of human energies is set in motion. [Augustus Boeckh; Translated: The Public Economy of Athens, P, 7; Book 1, London 1828. Money as a symbol or substitute for an object or effort was and is tied to literacy. I said: Einstein made the same point, more politely, in his essay. I think you could ask what "needs" the Europeans "had" that made them finally use the printing press, an earlier import that sat for a good while before Europe broke forth with books for the common man. You could also remember the problem with the first Millennium being that the Spanish Catholics didn't understand zero or Al Jabaar until they had expelled the Moors and the Jews just prior to the 1500s and translated their books. Ed replied: I would question the "needs" to which Einstein refers. My contention continues to be that, while the printing press "sat for a good while" it was only when its use as a means of excercising power over peoples minds, thereby "moving" them, was realised, that it came into popular usage. (i.e. it obtained the financial backing that popularised it employment.) That is not my understanding. I believe it was tied to the trauma of the loss of oral information through the plagues and the fragility of the existing libraries written by hand and subject to fire. Even in the 20th century the Steinway Piano company used the same logic to build the manual from the information contained in the minds of their individual craftsmen. Two generations later, the families of those craftsmen are still pissed off about the theft of their grandfather secret knowledge. Value went from people to process and the people were then downgraded to hired hands from irreplaceable experts. The piano has never been the same since certain information simply is not literary. But the printing press and later the computer did protect the written information by dissemination. Ray continues: After expelling the above there was ample reason to get these violent and disruptive folks out of the country and into some safe activity like murdering the Inca for gold to cover the ballrooms of Europe. But, I think it is a mistake to mislabel the intent as profit. No one wanted Cortez or Pizarro around in Spain. Ed answers:I see that as making my point. It is not neccessarily the invention that is either good or bad for humanity. It is the (profit) purpose to which the invention (new idea etc.) can be put in terms of geopolitics. I tend to think that culture and the external world shapes our perceptions and options but I think we can control those through manipulation of the external. I agree that something can be either good or bad but my examples were of two very violent and pathological personalities who anti-social acts made their own countries glad to have them abroad. (snip) As I pointed out: The violence behind the ethnic cleansing, that had taken 700 years of constant warfare, lent itself to conquest and Empire. The bankers were the economic structure of choice but certainly not the motivation or the intent for all of that murder and pillage that spread around the world, including China, by the Hunter/Gatherers from the Europe of the time. (See the NYReview of Books URL mentioned later.) Ed continues: Without trade we could not have progressed beyond the family stage into the extended and tribal stage of social organization. (in fact, even within families trade takes place, albeit without the monetary accounting practices.) At the time of Summerian acendance "money" as an intrinsic value for purposes of trade already was well established within and between city states. There was trade in the Americas from the tip of Tierra del fuego to the arctic but various things were used instead of "money" i.e. cacao beans, wampum, quetzal feathers etc. The market in Tenochtitlan was the largest in the world at the time. They were also a violent people but it had little to do with money, profit or capital in the sense that we think of it today. Cortez remarked that they had "thought him a
THINKING OF THE NEED FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
THINKING OF THE NEED FOR SOCIAL CHANGE THESE FOUR ARTICLES WERE PRINTED IN The San Francisco Chronicle, January 6, 2000 Book Links Campaign Gifts To Favors WASHINGTON - Six of the Democratic Party's top 10 donors in the last decade were labor unions, and in return the party has promoted labor's agenda while failing to attack union corruption, according to a report released yesterday by a nonprofit investigative group. On the Republican side, the group said, three of the party's leading financial backers in the 1990s were tobacco companies, which were rewarded in 1998 when the congressional GOP leadership squelched legislation cracking down on cigarette-makers. These are among the conclusions of a new book "The Buying of the President 2000" on campaign finance by the Center for Public Integrity. The organization, which published similar books in 1992 and 1996, said all the leading presidential candidates this year are beholden to some degree to the special interests that fund their campaigns. Buchanan Takes Stand Against Global Forces DURHAM, N.H. - Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan is promising to lead a "millennial struggle" against the steady emergence of a world government "where all nations yield up their sovereignty and fade away." In a draft of a speech he plans to deliver today in Boston and provided in advance to the Associated Press, the twice-failed Republican presidential candidate said the Clinton administration is allowing the United Nations to intrude on America's sovereignty. Buchanan's examples included President Clinton calling himself a "citizen of the world" and Vice President A1 Gore agreeing to a global environmental pact. The United Nations is quietly seeking authority over U.S. troops and control of the nation's borders, Buchanan said. He also said the United States is "trampling on the sovereignty" of other nations by injecting troops in internal conflicts, such as Kosovo. Ex-Police Chief Gets 4 Years for Corruption CAMDEN, N.J. - A former police chief was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday for leading a band of rogue officers in what prosecutors say was the most corrupt department in New Jersey history. Prosecutors say retired West New York Police Chief Alexander V. Oriente and members of his 140-officer department took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from 1989 to 1997 to shield prostitutes, illicit liquor sales and illegal gambling operations in the town of 50,000 just across the Hudson River from New York City. Oriente, 67, said the corruption began almost as soon as he joined the force. He struck a deal with federal prosecutors after a 69-count racketeering indictment returned in January 1998 named him and nine current or former West New York police officers. He received a reduced sentence. Militant Freed by Hijacking Urges Violence KARACHI, Pakistan - One of three Kashmiri militants freed as part of a deal to end the Indian Airlines hijacking called on his followers yesterday to liberate Kashmir and to destroy India and the United States. Encircled by men dressed in camouflage colored clothes and brandishing automatic rifles, Masood Azhar gave a fiery speech to 10,000 supporters who gathered in front of a central Karachi mosque. ADDED TO THE ABOVE FOUR ARTICLES THE ACTIVIST LIFE: ANTIDOTE TO DESPAIR Stephanie Salter article, San .Francisco Examiner, November 28, 1999 We simply need to acknowledge that the world is inherently corrupt, bought and paid for, and that all talk of changing is naive. E-CASH CUTTING THROUGH CONGRESSIONAL GRIDLOCK The San Francisco Chronicle, December 26, 1999 Washington lines up to pass high-tech bills, rake in campaign donations. CLINTON MOVES TO PREVENT COMPUTER-BASED TERRORISM The San Francisco Chronicle, January 8, 2000 [Clinton states] We live in an age when one person sitting at one computer can come up with an idea, travel through cyberspace and take humanity to new heights, yet someone can sit at the same computer, hack into a computer system, and potentially paralyze a company, a city or a government. COMMENTS 1.The above is offered for consideration and comments reflect a background in Technocracy Inc., a scientific, educational-research organization. 2.The laws of our land which interact with our socioeconomic structure, our Price System, date back to colonial past. At that time society was such that it more resembled the Athenian democratic time of 2000 years ago than what composes society today. That age was primitive where most individuals grew their own food, the energy they used mostly came for the wood they chopped and their water was fetched from individual wells. 3. In all its history humankind has never seen the huge change in lifestyle that has happened in the last 100 years in North America. We dont grow our food; we dont get our energy by chopping wood, we dont get our water from our wells. For these three items, which comprise an
Re: FW Corporate Crime (fwd)
At 05:06 PM 1/12/2000 +0100, S. Lerner wrote: >Crime of the Century > > >The corporate century ends with private enterprise unanswerable to the public. etc This piece intrigues me, and I have forwarded it to other Listservs To me the two key paragraphs are: "In the beginning, we the citizenry created the corporation to do the public's work build a canal or a road and then go out of business. We asked people with money to build the canal or road. If anything went wrong, the liability of these people with money * shareholders, we call them today * would be limited to the amount of money they invested and no more. This limited liability corporation is the bedrock of the market economy. The markets would deflate like a punctured balloon if corporations were stripped of limited liability for shareholders." [Does anyone know the original reference for this paragraph? -- CS] and "Let us not forget that corporate control was never inevitable. They took it from us, and it is our responsibility to take it back." These paragraphs have strong implications for the balance between the power of governments and Corporations i.e. the definition of Democracy Obviously, I believe that, over time, Direct Democracy could do much to re-balance this situation. I know of no other change to our governance system that has the potential to do so Colin Stark Canadians for Direct Democracy Vancouver, B.C. http://www.npsnet.com/cdd/ * >Date:Mon, 10 Jan 2000 15:10:40 -0500 >From:Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Corporate Crime >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: text/plain > > >http://www.sfbg.com/focus/71.html > >Crime of the Century > > >The corporate century ends with private enterprise unanswerable to the public. > >By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > > >AS WE MOVE to the end of the millennium, it is important to remind >ourselves that this has been the century of the corporation, when largely >unaccountable, for-profit organizations of unlimited longevity, size, and >power took control of the economy and of the government. And did so largely >to the detriment of the individual consumer, worker, neighbor, and citizen. > >Let us again remind ourselves that corporations were the creation of the >citizenry (thanks here to Richard Grossman of the Project on Corporations, >Law, and Democracy for resurrecting and teaching us a history we would have >collectively forgotten). > >In the beginning, we the citizenry created the corporation to do the >public's work build a canal or a road and then go out of business. We asked >people with money to build the canal or road. If anything went wrong, the >liability of these people with money * shareholders, we call them today * >would be limited to the amount of money they invested and no more. This >limited liability corporation is the bedrock of the market economy. The >markets would deflate like a punctured balloon if corporations were >stripped of limited liability for shareholders. > >And what do we, the citizenry, get in return for this generous public grant >of limited liability? Originally, we told the corporation what to do. You >are to deliver the goods and then go out of business. And then let us live >our lives. > >But corporations gained power, broke through democratic controls, and now >roam around the world inflicting unspeakable damage on the earth. Let us >count the ways: price-fixing, chemical explosions, mercury poisoning, oil >spills. > >Need concrete examples? These are five of the most egregious of the century: > >Archer Daniels Midland and price-fixing >In October 1996, Archer Daniels Midland, the good people who bring you >National Public Radio, pled guilty and paid a $100 million criminal fine at >the time, the largest criminal antitrust fine ever for its role in >conspiracies to fix prices to eliminate competition and allocate sales in >the lysine and citric acid markets worldwide. >Union Carbide and Bhopal >In 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, released >90,000 pounds of the chemical methyl isocyanate. The resulting toxic cloud >killed several thousand people and injured hundreds of thousands. >Chisso Corporation and Minamata >Minamata, Japan, was home to Chisso Corporation, a petrochemical company >and maker of plastics. In the 1950s fish began floating dead in Minamata >Bay, cats began committing suicide, and children began getting rare forms >of brain cancer. Thousands were injured. The company had been dumping >mercury into the bay. >Exxon Corporation and the Valdez oil spill >Ten years ago, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker hit a reef in Prince William >Sound, Alaska, and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil onto 1,500 miles >of Alaskan shoreline, killing birds and fish and destroying the way of life >of thousands of Native Americans. >General Motors and the destruction of inner-city rail >Seventy years ago, clean, quiet, and efficient inner-city rail systems >dotted the U.S. landscape. They were
How capitalism works (sic!) (Was Re: Einstein: Time's man of the century [China] )
Title: How capitalism works (sic!) (Was Re: Einstein: Time's man of the century [China] )
Dear Friends
I snip from an exchange between our friends, and, then, comment.
--
From: "Ray E. Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Ed Goertzen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Einstein: Time's man of the century [China]
Date: Fri, Jan 14, 2000, 2:23 AM
I asked and still am asking:
"why a
"sedentary China" is considered less advanced than a predatory Europe?
(snip)
Ed's reply:I have made the point before, (perhaps generously ignored), that
the international trade that took place between nation states in antiquity
were facillitated with money. The anomaly of monetary systems created a
balance of payments imbalance. That imbalance required the armys of the
creditor nations (and their mercinaries, paid for with money) to collect
the debts.
True in Europe, I suppose but seems like it has to be more complicated
than that. Almost all professions have a theoretical framework for
the reason the world revolves around their view of it. Why should
economists be any different.
*
I'll try, at the end, to reproduce the essence of an analysis of the way in which the pie is cut up under capitalism.
The relevence to this discussion, is the fact that, once the owners of capital (land, knowledge/information and money) have received/appropriated part of the produced 'goods,' they have to find a buyer for it, if they are to convert those goods into a commodity (money) that is useful/valuable to them.
Once this had been done in the early phase of proto-capitalism ('Mercantilism') the proto-capitalists (the merchants) *then* had need of using these monetary surpuses for further gain/profit.
This was their greed and their self deception, since trading for profit was un-Christian (see The Gospel of Thomas Verse 64 for a clear statement of Jesus' view of trading.)
They. thus, pressurised the religious/secular authorities to trash, yet further, the Christian ethical code, by demanding the legitimation of usury (money lending for profit), which, in England, Henry VIII did for them in 1545.
(see Harry Page 'In Restraint of Usury' for historical background, and, also, see Verse 95 in The Gospel of Thomas for Jesus ' comment on usury:
"If you have money, do not lend it at interest, rather, give it to some-one from whom you will not get it back."
- I particularly like the book 'The Gospel of Thomas' by Richard Valantansis - all Christians should be aware of the words there - at present they are not aware!)
The problem with usury (well, one of the problems with usury!) is its compound nature, and, thus, the exponential nature of the devilry that it creates - as we see in today's planetary mayhem.
The *only* solution to all the world's suffering is the abolition of usury - hence our Campaign for Interest-Free Money and its petition to Governments to a) abolish usury and b) the create Public Service, interest-free Banking and Financial systems.
(Please let others know this? Thanks.)
Now, that diagram (apologies if it doesn't e-transfer well):
__A
Wages
-
Salaries
-
Perks
___B
Interest on lent money
_
Dividends on shares ('owned knowledge')
_
Rent on owned land
__C
Proceeds of sale of energy, raw materials
___D
(The vertical scale from A -> C is "Surplus" or "Added Value" on the cost of energy and raw materials.
The step A -> B is the return on labour.
The step B -> C is the return on the three factors of production (aka 'Capital')
(You can see from this, how conflict arises, how wages get pushed down in a competitive market and how the workforce never receives enough money to buy back its production, and, so, why inflation is caused.)
BTW - I'm a mechanistic organic chemist, rather (thank heaven) than a classically-trained economist, hence my diagrammatic representations.
HTH !
Many hugs
j
*
