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yup, i love words, and english is my first language. thanks for the compliment, frank, i appreciate it from such a fine writer as yourself, as i read here and elsewhere, i aspire to add more substance to my screeds, as i come very late in life to the political table, till then... i practice...and read some more.

Frank Schnittger:

But if we fetishise money, and idolise the rich which have it, why the political aversion to using the state as a mechanism for re-distribution, or even allowing the taxpayer a fair return on the risks the state takes with his money - as in bailing out the bankers. Why the myth that all profits are private, when enterprise is only possible within the security and legal space provided by the state at taxpayers expense?

why indeed? it's a rigged game, just on a larger scale than we have ever known.

many have felt this for years on a gut level, perhaps these recent events will lead to a definitive  restructuring, one can hope...

take the drug of conspicuous consumption away, and what's left?

we're about to find out, i'm hoping it will lead to greater political consciousness, demanding leaders pointing the way to a different way of life, with much more than just rhetoric for buttress.

till then, i read and rant along with the rest, trying to analyse from the dregs of an emptying teacup what kind of future we can encourage, that will be both fairer and more sustainable for the planet.

the best ideas have always bubbled up from the bottom, i take some faith from that, maybe one day...  

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Mar 20th, 2008 at 10:07:57 AM EST
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Melofluous ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Thu Mar 20th, 2008 at 10:09:44 AM EST
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melo:
take the drug of conspicuous consumption away, and what's left?

One of my saddest experiences was driving through Mozambique and seeing real poverty - young kids with bellies swollen from kwashiorkor and then going to a bar where only the most expensive Scotch whiskys were on display.

I asked the proprietor how this could be.  He said he had a store room full of cheaper brands which he couldn't sell.  One drink might cost the equivalent of an average month's salary, but only the top brand name was acceptable, so much were they in thrall to western style media and advertising...


"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Thu Mar 20th, 2008 at 10:51:03 AM EST
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man, i got a cold sweat reading that.

that's one of the most extreme cases i've ever heard of,  it reminds me of nestle and their scams to get third world mothers' milk to dry up, so the latter became completely dependent on the corporation, and many, many children went without and starved.

advertising is the most diabolic force on the planet.

pr, spin, propaganda, all the same mindbending shit.

corporatism, an idea whose time is over, gotta try harder to understand chris cook...

corporation bad if not LLP, corpration good if LLP, is about as far as i've got, lol!

thank the fsm he's a very patient man.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Mar 20th, 2008 at 02:33:36 PM EST
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