A Critique of Capitalism
“Capitalism depends on the appropriation of value for its subsistence and growth. The disingenuous rhetoric of the “Free Market” is a smoke screen to justify a system of privilege and exploitation, better called the “Casino Market,” there are certainly some conspicuous winners, but the odds always favour the house. Any organised attempt to beat the odds will be excluded, perhaps violently. In a genuine free market, competition among producers would reduce the price of everything to the lowest level that it can be produced for. If everything truly traded in a perfect “market,” then land and capital, like labour would never be able to earn any more than the cost of providing it. There could be no class that is exempt from working as there would be no income to sustain such a class. For a Capitalist class to exist, the market must be rigged, and all markets are. Capitalism must increase the price of Capital by withholding it from labour. In reality, the “free market” is what property owners want to impose on workers, while retaining their own privileges. Capital needs to make the price of labour low enough to prevent workers, as a class, from being able to retain enough of their own earnings to acquire their own property. If workers could acquire their own property, they could also stop selling their labour to the capitalists. Capitalism could not exist in a free market. The whole idea of the “free market” is part of the mythology of capitalism, is not possible within capitalism and just as unlikely to exist without it. “Free” from the coercion of profit-seeking Capitalists, producers would produce for social value, not for profits, as they do in their private and family lives, and as they have in non-capitalist communities. This is not to say that a free society would not have competition or that it’s members would not seek to benefit from their own labour, the division of labour required in a complex society implies exchange and reciprocity. However the metaphor of “the market” as it is currently used would no longer dominate. The “Market Economy” is by definition a surveillance economy, where contributions to production and consumption must be measured in minute detail, it is an economy of accountants and security guards. The need to account value exchange in tiny and reductive lists of individually priced transactions must be superseded by more fluid and generalized forms of exchange. The motive to maximize profit from ownership, so often the driving force behind irrational and destructive production, would give way to much stronger motive, doing work that has direct benefits for our lives and our society, production that fulfills our real world needs and desires. Without the need to measure our consumption and production to appease the imposers of capitalist control, workers in a free society may not bother producing exclusively for exchange within a “Market Economy,” they may more often produce what they want and what their community needs and share based on mutual respect. This type of economy does not resemble a “market.” A market is not a free space. Control of the physical location of the market has always been the domain of hierarchy and authority, and proximity to the market is the textbook example of unearned income; economic rent. The Market stall is a physical manifestation of the division between producer and consumer. None of these seem like essential characteristics of a free society. Instead of an idealised and impossible “Free Market,” a workers economy would be better imagined as a “Network Economy,” where independent participants exchange according their mutual desires within the context of a common platform, not centrally controlled by any of them, but composed of their own voluntary interconnections.”
Anyone have any thoughts?
Bringing Thunderous Change to New Jersey
Here's best part:
So he closed the $2.2 billion gap by accepting 375 of 378 suggested spending freezes and cuts. In two weeks. By executive actions. In eight weeks he cut $13 billion -- $232 million a day, $9 million an hour. Now comes the hard part.Government employees' health benefits are, he says, "41 percent more expensive" than those of the average Fortune 500 company. Without changes in current law, "spending will have increased 322 percent in 20 years -- over 16 percent a year." There is, he says, a connection between the state being No. 1 in total tax burden and being No. 1 in the proportion of college students who, after graduating, leave the state.Partly to pay for teachers' benefits -- most contribute nothing to pay for their health insurance -- property taxes have increased 70 percent in 10 years, to an average annual cost to homeowners of $7,281. Christie proposes a 2.5 percent cap on annual increases.Challenging teachers unions to live up to their cloying "it's really about the kids" rhetoric, he has told them to choose between a pay freeze and job cuts. Validating his criticism by their response to it, some Bergen County teachers encouraged students to cut classes and go to the football field to protest his policies, and a Bridgewater high school teacher showed students a union-made video critical of him. Christie notes that the $550,000 salary of the executive director of the teachers union is larger than the total cuts proposed for 190 of the state's 605 school districts.
Think we can get Christie to come down to Alabama next??
RWN: A Rundown of GOP Senate Primaries
Here's a teaser:
State: Indiana Election date: May 4. Seat currently held by: Open [Evan Bayh (D)] Candidates: Dan Coats vs. Marlin Stutzman vs. John Hostettler Latest Poll Numbers: Leaked internal poll (April 10, 2010): Coats 29% vs. Hostettler 26% vs. Stutzman 18% Candidate endorsement: Marlin Stutzman Analysis: Retired Senator Coats is a NRSC backed gun grabber who was supposed to step into the race, raise boatloads of money, and turn this into a horserace with Evan Bayh. However, Bayh isn't running, Coats' fundraising hasn't been particularly impressive, and his campaign has gotten a cold shoulder from the base in Indiana. Either Stutzman or Hostettler would be preferable to Coats in the Senate, but Hostettler is one of the worst fundraisers I've ever seen and the GOP won't be able to spend huge dollars this year to make up the slack. That means Stutzman, who has been endorsed by Jim DeMint among others, is the goto guy in Indiana. At the moment, polling data is very thin and this could be anybody's ball game.
Bringing Transparency To Jefferson County Politics
Paul sponsored a bill this session to bring more transparency to Jefferson County government. In a county with as much corruption and mismanagment as Jefferson has, transparency is a vital part of the solution to our problems. The legislation even drew national media attention when The Wall Street Journal picked up the story today:
So as we rail against the dirty politicians in DC and Montgomery we should also remember to thank the good guys. After all, we want more of them...Governor Bob Riley signed a bill into law Tuesday that puts strict guidelines on Jefferson County's debt issuance and swap usage. Among other things, the legislation requires a public hearing before the county, which includes Birmingham, issues more than $5 million in debt or uses swaps.The bill, which passed the Alabama Senate unanimously last week and the House of Representatives last month, also requires that all interest-rate swap deals be awarded competitively and that any payments associated with them be disclosed.The new law comes as Jefferson County grapples with $3.2 billion in sewer debt related to a swap that soured when the housing crisis led to record-low interest rates. Larry Langford, former president of Jefferson County's governing commission, recently began serving a 15-year sentence for bribery in connection with county's bond dealings."I'm hopeful that with passage of this legislation, we can prevent the type of criminal activity and fraud that has led Jefferson County into the sewer debt crisis we find ourselves in now," said Representative Paul DeMarco, who sponsored the bill.
Pileus
Dear Friends,
I am delighted to announce the creation of a Pileus, a new group blog of scholarly and political commentary. I am one member of the Pileus team, the only philosopher; the other members are three political scientists, each with a different specialty, a law professor, and an economist.
Pileus will focus broadly on issues of political economy. It will be both provocative and timely, even with a bit of irreverence and wit, but it will also bring our scholarly specialties to bear on the issues it discusses.
Pileus is hosted by The Fund for American Studies, for which I am the Charles G. Koch Senior Fellow. I thank TFAS for its support, and I hereby absolve them of any responsibility for the contents of Pileus.
Pileus will have new, substantive content every day, so I hope you will read regularly and consider adding it to your daily reading. I also hope you will consider joining the conversation with comment, discussion, or criticism. We welcome your contributions.
I've checked it out and as expected it's very impressive. This article on education spending is the kind of information that's relevant and applicable to our debates over education funding in this state. I encourage everyone to go and check it out. Pileus will definitely occupy a spot on my blog roll.
CD 5 Straw Poll Results
Les Phillip 46%
Mo Brooks 45%
Parker Griffith 9%
Morris and Montiel Viewpoint's Straw Poll Results
Governor:
Bradley Byrne 42.7%
Tim James 22.5%
Robert Bentley 12.7%
Bill Johnson 12.7%
Roy Moore 9.4%
Lt. Governor:
Kay Ivey 76.1%
Hank Erwin 16.8
Dean Young 4.2%
Gene Ponder 2.9%
Attorney General:
Luther Strange 79.6%
Troy King 20.4%
State Treasurer:
George Wallace, Jr. 59.0%
Young Boozer 41.0%
2nd Congressional District:
Martha Roby 63.3%
Rick Barber 20.3%
Stephanie Bell 15.2%
John McKinney 1.2%
House To Take Up General Fund Budget On Tuesday
One thing stood out in particular. The budget overall is 2.12% less than last year. Both the legislative and judicial branch are taking budget cuts. However, the executive branch is getting a 5.5% increase. There could be a good explaination as to why, but I'd like to know what it is. When every other branch is taking cuts, you would think the executive branch would too.
Looking at the current state of the economy, the State may have to start really looking at areas to cut. Forecasts say revenues will continue to fall, and Alabama is bound by a balanced budget amendment. I hope the next governor, whoever it is, will look at any essential services the state provides and start cutting out the rest. Money for the historical society is nice if we have it, but not when we're struggling to meet obligations for Medicaid/Medicare and generally keep the lights on.
Odds and Ends
Senator Jim Preuitt switched parties late this afternoon. He is officially qualified as a Republican in the Senate District 11 primary. Republicans are now 3 seats short of taking the Senate.
Sen. Beason's Alabama Health Care Freedom Act passed the Senate late Thursday afternoon by a vote of 23-8. The legislation will now be sent to the House and assigned to a committee. We should know on Tuesday which committee we'll have to pressure to get it out and to the floor.
Democrats pulled a fast one when Sen. Scott Beason stepped out. Sen. Zeb Little offered an amendment to the Alabama Health Care Freedom Act that changes the referendum date to July 31. It would have originally been on the ballot in the November general election. It seems Democrats were worried that it would spark increased voter turnout on the conservative side.
There were few qualifying surprises this week. Other than Kay Ivey in the Lt. Gov race, the only big surprise that comes to mind is Eric Johnston qualifying to run against Tom Parker for the Alabama Supreme Court. I know and like Eric, so I'm glad to see he's running.
Conservatives should watch the state legislature very carefully next week. The gambling interests in this state are not going to let this bill die. After the dust settles from the FBI story, expect the House Democrats to push this bill quickly. Another concern is the grocery sales tax bill. This legislation, being pushed primarily by the ultra liberal Alabama Arise, will raise taxes on most Alabamians by eliminating the federal income tax deduction. It's just another example of redistribution of wealth on the part of Democrats.
On a totally different note, this interview by Right Wing News' John Hawkins is excellent. Jason Mattera is the author of Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation.
FBI Investigation Shaking Up Alabama Legislature
-At least 2 Republicans are being targeted in the investigation.
-There have been people in and around the state house wearing wires and recording conversations. Doc's Political Parlor also has a story about this here.
-Larry Langford has been offered a very sweet plea deal to tell everything he knows about fixed slot machines at casinos. I have heard the FBI was at his house this morning.
It will be interesting to see what comes of the investigation. I had heard a couple of months ago that the FBI was all over the state conducting an investigation, but no one knew who the targets were. I am now pondering what the timing of the big reveal might imply...
Who Cares About The Constitution?
The sad thing is I think this is the typical attitude of most Democrats.
Wanted: Conservative Leadership For The Republican Party
You must read, but here's a tease:
Over and over, we have seen recently that Republican “leadership” in Washington is a joke, their cowardice exceeded only by their incompetence. Pete Sessions and the National Republican Congressional Committee squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars on the Dede Scozzafava campaign, and the NRCC’s candidate-recruitment efforts consist mainly of trying to find “self-funders” — e.g., Ben Quayle types with lots of Daddy’s money to throw around — rather than identifying real leaders with solid values, like Vernon Parker.
UPDATE: Just after I posted this, I saw this on my Twitter screen. You've got to be kidding me...
Rasmussen Polls AL Gubernatorial Race
He's the only Republican candidate to garner 50% of the vote, and that's in a head to head matchup with Rep. Artur Davis. He beats both Davis and Sparks by a comfortable margin.
The news is not so good for Roy Moore however. He trails both Davis and Sparks in a head to head match up.
The polling included now candidate for Lt. Gov Kay Ivey. It will be interesting to see how her switching will affect the gubernatorial race.
Rep. Bobby Bright Not In Favor Of Repealing Obamacare
I know that Rep. Bobby Bright has voted right on all the "big bills" (all the bills you hear reported on by the media). He claims to be pro-life and pro-gun, and his approval rating shows that he's pretty popular down in your district.
If you think he's doing a pretty good job and you might as well leave him in office, think again. He recently stated his opposition to a repeal of Obamacare:
While Rep. Bobby Bright, D-Montgomery voted against the bill he said he is hesitant to jump on board with a full-scale appeal.
“While I strongly disagree with many aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and voted against the bill, I believe it’s premature to discuss repealing a bill that was just passed and has yet to be signed into law by the President,” he said.
“A wholesale repeal, or legal challenge, of the bill ignores the fact that this legislation contains some good parts, many of which will go into effect soon.”
He thinks he can have it both ways on health care. He can vote against the bill, but vote to keep it in place once it passes. If he doesn't fully support repealing the health care bill...well that's as good as voting for it in my book.
I urge all conservatives in the 2nd district to take another look at Bobby Bright--there are solid conservative alternatives...Martha Roby for instance.
Explaining the Broken Window Fallacy
Thanks to Jason Pye at United Liberty for bringing this to my attention. This is an excellent video explaining the broken window fallacy. It should be titled: "DeBunking The Myth That WWII Got Us Out Of The Great Depression"
PS-If you're not already reading United Liberty, you should be. (and I'm not just saying that because they let me on their podcast from time to time..)