tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post8581805056101552509..comments2023-11-05T03:12:10.925-06:00Comments on Renegade Eye: Mexico, the U.S. and the Economic CrisisFrank Partisanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-81641549824211548922008-10-31T16:53:00.000-05:002008-10-31T16:53:00.000-05:00We don't even know how the bailout money, will be ...We don't even know how the bailout money, will be spent.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-92178421716479677542008-10-31T10:35:00.000-05:002008-10-31T10:35:00.000-05:00Ren-"Because of globalization, the US crisis is sp...Ren-<BR/><BR/>"Because of globalization, the US crisis is spreading all over the world. It should be no surprise that Europe has an opinion. They see it as the end of Reaganism."<BR/><BR/>Actually, you came close to hitting the nail on the head. The way I would put it-<BR/><BR/>Because of globalization it is no surprise that the US crisis is spreading all over the world. I saw this coming some time back. <BR/><BR/>What is surprising to me is that so many Europeans put up with it, and way too many Americans. <BR/><BR/>Globalization is to me just another way to "spread the wealth around". The US built up the world's strongest economy in recorded history on the strength of limited and regulated trade, and now our trade deficit is siphoning it away. The only people benefiting from it, the way I see it, are the elites in business and their political cronies. <BR/><BR/>It's like a bunch of drunken sailors gambling their money away at some seedy Reno gambling dens and whore houses, only its not their money to gamble away.<BR/><BR/>All the globalization of trade has accomplished is created a shadow internationalist government run by business elites with no oversight, just some winks and nods.SecondComingOfBasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336586430250490679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-67685788581287375752008-10-31T00:42:00.000-05:002008-10-31T00:42:00.000-05:00Pagan: Because of globalization, the US crisis is ...Pagan: Because of globalization, the US crisis is spreading all over the world. It should be no surprise that Europe has an opinion. They see it as the end of Reaganism.<BR/><BR/>Esteban: Thank you for visiting.<BR/><BR/>The most radical layers of Mexico's working class support Obrador. He and his party are reformist, but provide a base, to call for more radical measures.<BR/><BR/>It is not at all hopeless. One of the most radical happenings this decade was in Mexico, the Oaxaca struggle. That showed Mexican workers, will rise up, under the right conditions.<BR/><BR/>See <A HREF="http://www.militante.org/" REL="nofollow">this</A>.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-65094854689074159872008-10-30T19:49:00.000-05:002008-10-30T19:49:00.000-05:00Greetings from México. Things are going from bad t...Greetings from México. Things are going from bad to worse down here. <BR/><BR/>The abuse by the power elite (political and economical) has been and continues to be rampant. Just today, the government bailed out several prominent companies that lost millions on dollars on the speculative market. There is no sign of them bastards bailing out the MILLIONS of Mexicans living in misery!<BR/><BR/>I see no solution to it. Revolutions in this country have only put a different set of crooks in power. I'm sure that Mr Obrador will be no different, if he ever succeeds. Sorry, but I'm feeling rather hopeless at the moment... and very, very angry.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543320827773696484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-45864366844986968492008-10-30T11:15:00.000-05:002008-10-30T11:15:00.000-05:00"Europe is not against the dollar standard or the ..."Europe is not against the dollar standard or the world leadership of the US economy, but they demand regulation. You should read Stratfor.com. Pure analysis from ex-CIA, with active contacts."<BR/><BR/>Good, that tickles me to death. I hope they demand in no uncertain terms that the US adopt all the regulations the Europeans have, and enforce them in the exact same way, and I hope our politicians accede to their demands no matter what any US citizens say.<BR/><BR/>In the meantime, I'm going to start investing all of my money in ropes, tar, feathers, and any commodity that can be used for bomb-making. Then I'll just hole up in my cellar until I become the world's first trillionaire.SecondComingOfBasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336586430250490679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-61033611113918043922008-10-30T03:27:00.000-05:002008-10-30T03:27:00.000-05:00Graeme: I have it bookmarked.FJ: I think Larry wil...Graeme: I have it bookmarked.<BR/><BR/>FJ: I think Larry will get a laugh out of that. <BR/><BR/>CB: Europe is not against the dollar standard or the world leadership of the US economy, but they demand regulation. You should read Stratfor.com. Pure analysis from ex-CIA, with active contacts.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-57759819404284579832008-10-29T23:24:00.000-05:002008-10-29T23:24:00.000-05:00hey Ren, a bit off topic, but have you seen this?h...hey Ren, a bit off topic, but have you seen this?<BR/><BR/>http://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/rodney-walter/how-europe/index.htm<BR/><BR/>It's a good read.Graemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04230080850680753260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-6208361984995221702008-10-29T16:19:00.000-05:002008-10-29T16:19:00.000-05:00poor mexico indeed!poor mexico indeed!?https://www.blogger.com/profile/01992276117548193938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-91528016407521362082008-10-29T14:08:00.000-05:002008-10-29T14:08:00.000-05:00Sorry Ren, I can't help myself.Emerson, "Conduct o...Sorry Ren, I can't help myself.<BR/><BR/>Emerson, "Conduct of Life, Beauty"<BR/><BR/><I>The boy had juster views when he gazed at the shells on the beach, or the flowers in the meadow, unable to call them by their names, than the man in the pride of his nomenclature.</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-31182788393028616042008-10-28T23:39:00.000-05:002008-10-28T23:39:00.000-05:00Ren,Interesting article. Two observations. I sha...Ren,<BR/><BR/>Interesting article. Two observations. I share the author's disdain for Keynes, central banks and a manipulative monetary policy. This would include, what Larry would call, state capitalism, which, by the way, is the only way a monopoly can be created.<BR/><BR/>However, the author points to this things as critiques of capitalism, rather than what they are, state intervention in the private markets. <BR/><BR/>Nouriel Roubini, Nassim Taleb, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore also predicted this, citing state manipulation as the cause.<BR/><BR/>Sarkozy and others are engaged in wishful thinking knowing that their economies can only survive if ours does and we continue, to among other things, provide a reserve currency and military defense of Europe.<BR/><BR/>I'll get back to Mexico and Venezuela later, I'm sleepy.Craig Bardohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02247430738711822531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-47179819266272358392008-10-28T22:44:00.000-05:002008-10-28T22:44:00.000-05:00Pagan: I think your point about transparency is go...Pagan: I think your point about transparency is good. I would take it farther. If a corporation claims to need bailout money, its book should be allowed to be fully examined, and checked for hidden money, fraud etc.<BR/><BR/>Bob: Expect more regulation. This is an international crisis. The European countries are collectively demanding more regulation from the US.<BR/><BR/>CB: I can show you an essay written by Marxist <A HREF="http://www.marxist.com/world-economy-perspectives141099.htm" REL="nofollow">Alan Woods</A>, written in 1999, that has a totally up to date analysis of this crisis.<BR/><BR/>I read a report at Stamfor.com, the think tank on geopolitical issues, about the international community, is demanding more regulation of the US economy. They still will stay on the dollar standard. Sarkozy openly said, this is the endof the US unregulated economy. Iceland had 100% unregulated banks.<BR/><BR/>The ejido system is based on old fashion fashion farming. A farmer today is not a farmer of 1932. <BR/><BR/>Venezuela's nationally owned oil country, has deals all over latin America. They are working out a deal with China.<BR/><BR/>Hugo Chavez provided heating oil, to Alaska for the poor.<BR/><BR/>Larry; You know more about Marx, than many Marxists.<BR/><BR/>Now we have a whole country bankrupt, Iceland. It had 100% private banks. This is the obvious death of Reaganism, and the inaction of the IMF etc. shows neoliberalism in death agony.<BR/><BR/>FJ: Don't be contrary for the sake of being contrary, it's unbecoming.<BR/><BR/>Ducky: Obama will preside over an economy with stagflation.<BR/><BR/>Interesting the lack of response, from international groups as IMF and World Bank.<BR/><BR/>Interesting see how he deals with the Mexican border.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-82268691585768283502008-10-28T20:35:00.000-05:002008-10-28T20:35:00.000-05:00...and NONE of it stuck! Next time, try staying o......and NONE of it stuck! Next time, try staying off the drugs...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-63770841514438086702008-10-28T18:53:00.000-05:002008-10-28T18:53:00.000-05:00Yeah, I don't know shit about Marx alright. I have...Yeah, I don't know shit about Marx alright. I have only read Capital Vols 1, 2, and 3, the 1844 Manuscripts, the Holy Family, Poverty of Philosophy, Critique of Political Economy, as well as many volumes of the collected correspondence. Of course I have only read selections from the Grundrisse, and managed to finish only one volume of the 3 volume Theories of Surplus Value, so I guess there is where my massive ignorance must lie. Nowhere in all of this did I find any reference to statism equaling socialism, he only referred to it as cooperative production or some variant on that concept such as "the free association of the producers."Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-12212999423097150822008-10-28T16:06:00.000-05:002008-10-28T16:06:00.000-05:00Marx outlined a humanist conception of communism, ...<I>Marx outlined a humanist conception of communism, influenced by the philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach and <B>based on a contrast between</B> the alienated nature of labor under capitalism and a communist society in which human beings freely developed their nature in cooperative production.</I><BR/><BR/>NOT based upon "cooperative production"<BR/><BR/>BWAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<BR/><BR/>Who needs money, right Gambone? Who needs Government. Let the "cooperation" develop "freely"....<BR/><BR/>Now, let's All go sing Kumbaya!!!!!!!!!!<BR/><BR/>Talk about somebody who doesn't understand SHIT about Marx... that's YOU, Gambone!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-88188718261170456912008-10-28T11:09:00.000-05:002008-10-28T11:09:00.000-05:00Ducky, we must not conclude that CB is a neo-liber...Ducky, we must not conclude that CB is a neo-liberal. He is an anarcho-capitalist which is a different kettle of fish. However, the neo-liberals mined the Austrian School for ideas that they then used as rationalizations for destroying social welfare and labour - while at the same time, contradictorily using the government to build up the corporate state. Anarcho-capitalism has its own problems, of course, which I will not go into here. Needless to say, the vast majority of anarchists do not consider it a form of anarchism, seeing anarcho-capitalism as an oxymoron.Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-79788839482232471982008-10-28T11:00:00.000-05:002008-10-28T11:00:00.000-05:00I don't know how many times we have to point out h...I don't know how many times we have to point out here CB, but state ownership/control is not socialism, never was, never will be. It is STATE CAPITALISM. The US and other economies are mixed economies of state, corporate and private capital. It is fine with me if you are against state capitalism, but don't pretend it is what I want, Ren wants or anyone else here wants! And I should add the fact that Mises and other members of the Austrian school have made this error and persisted in it shows an extreme theoretical weakness on their part. Any familiarity with the writings of Marx and Engels, let alone the earlier socialists like Owen and Proudhon, would show that the did not believe in state ownership, but as Marx mentioned frequently, "cooperative production."Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-18839031766871256382008-10-28T10:27:00.000-05:002008-10-28T10:27:00.000-05:00Ducky,First, we have not had a free market since W...Ducky,<BR/><BR/>First, we have not had a free market since Wilson put the Fed in place. Greenspan was never my hero, I think the fed should be abolished! We have been fully socialist since FDR. I view things as on a spectrum and the answers to questions of governance lie on that spectrum. Does more centralization of power work or does a diffusion of power work. Unless you are trying to grow bureaucracies, the diffusion of power works best for the interests of liberty and prosperity.<BR/><BR/>The GOP today is like the Democrat party of the 70s and 80s. It was George Bush and Senate Republicans that bowed to nationalizing banks and socializing losses.<BR/><BR/>There is nothing straw man about CRA and the government intervention of the Clinton administration using it as a bludgeon to interfere in the underwriting of home mortgages. A law permitting the GSEs to securitize loan tranches and to place the government imprimatur on paper, which investors relied upon to their detriment is the cause of the meltdown period. Laissez faire capitalism had nothing to do with this, but then you are the fair ambassador from opposite world.<BR/><BR/>I have pointed to the failure of regulation to prevent any of this and how deregulation eased the crisis.Craig Bardohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02247430738711822531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-25818981115332377212008-10-28T09:57:00.000-05:002008-10-28T09:57:00.000-05:00cb, I would also like to point out that failing ba...cb, I would also like to point out that failing banks were the banks who went to the money spigot and loaned on unregulated mortgages. Greenspan, you hero, required no regulation on loans and simply provided the boys with plenty of free chips.<BR/><BR/>Now you have the fallout.<BR/><BR/>There is NO way you can point to anything in the regulatory structure that caused this meltdown of world markets.<BR/><BR/>You aren't even wrong.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-31944225739640039402008-10-28T09:53:00.000-05:002008-10-28T09:53:00.000-05:00cb, I was discussing your ridiculous contention th...cb, I was discussing your ridiculous contention that the CRA had anything to do with the current Wall Street(i.e. capitalism, free market, call it what you like) collapse.<BR/><BR/> Now if you would like to cut the straw man arguments and man up and defend your position please do.<BR/><BR/> The CRA had NOTHING to do with the Wall Street collapse. Laissez-faire capitalism did.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-31250166979804036602008-10-28T07:32:00.000-05:002008-10-28T07:32:00.000-05:00Yeah, we ought to regulate baseball and football g...Yeah, we ought to regulate baseball and football games, too. I wanna know who's gonna win before I sit down and spend two hours in front of the television set.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-22607475557373085732008-10-28T06:49:00.000-05:002008-10-28T06:49:00.000-05:00The notion that government is the best regulator d...<I>The notion that government is the best regulator doesn't stand up on its face, much less to the light of any scrutiny.</I><BR/><BR/>The problem with this line of thought, however, is that it is neglecting the unchecked greed, pillaging of the poor, and general shafting of the working class that a completely unfettered market will bring.<BR/><BR/>Sure government may not be the greatest regulatory agency but the alternative is worse.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10812133595782131796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-49787266717195003682008-10-27T23:50:00.000-05:002008-10-27T23:50:00.000-05:00I'll leave comments tomorrow.I'll leave comments tomorrow.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-77599893818666437702008-10-27T20:08:00.000-05:002008-10-27T20:08:00.000-05:00It's all about having skin in the game. It isn't ...It's all about having skin in the game. It isn't capitalism, otherwise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-91024338328279157212008-10-27T15:07:00.000-05:002008-10-27T15:07:00.000-05:00PT,I gave you specific examples of how deregulatio...PT,<BR/><BR/>I gave you specific examples of how deregulation helped. Before Graham Leech Bliley, Chase couldn't have bought Bear Stears, B of A couldn't have bought Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs couldn't have changed their charters to attract new capital.<BR/><BR/>On the regulation front. Sarbanes Oxley has pushed capital off shore and hedge fund managers used the legislation's mark to market rules to drive WaMu, Indy Mac and Wa Mu down to cover their short positions at a very nice profit. Further, Sarbox didn't prevent the corruption of Fannie & Freddie nor did it halt the meltdown of the other financial institutions.<BR/><BR/>Moreover, Banks are heavily regulated and they are failing left and right. On the other hand, insurance companies are largely self regulated and are stalwarts. Even AIG's insurance companies are among the strongest in the business, their holding company execs just got carried away. The notion that government is the best regulator doesn't stand up on its face, much less to the light of any scrutiny.Craig Bardohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02247430738711822531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-23697453630237969282008-10-27T14:58:00.000-05:002008-10-27T14:58:00.000-05:00Ducky,Your beloved leader, Karl Marx knew who the ...Ducky,<BR/><BR/>Your beloved leader, Karl Marx knew who the father of capitalism was but you missed that lesson. John Locke and before him, Hobbes, Grotius and Plufendorf understood that unless a man were allowed to own himself and the product of his intellect and effort, then he was not free. He was subject to the whims of the state, dictator or monarch.<BR/><BR/>Jefferson was a smart, well read dude and wrote "We hold these truths...Life, Liberty and [property]. He had to accede to the demands of others and put in happiness instead but got it in the due process clauses of the 5th and after his time the 14th amendment.<BR/><BR/>They were terribly wise in establishing a country on this fundamental premise, that we have the liberty from government interference to buy more and more property, the essence of freedom.<BR/><BR/>In a market economy the distribution of scarce resources is governed by the mechanism of price. It is the most efficient and effective way to distribute scarce resources. There is no notion of equitable distribution there. The equality is built into the opportunity not the outcome.<BR/><BR/>The Soviet Union literally tried to manage prices and created shortages where they could not be tolerated and surpluses where they were not needed.<BR/><BR/>Let's have the conversation about America's "poor" versus world poverty sometime, that should be entertaining and educational.Craig Bardohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02247430738711822531noreply@blogger.com