My dream ticket
I love Sen. Kerry because he spoke at our graduation, and is from Massachusetts...but he's from Yale, so I'm allowed to say that my dream Dem ticket (for the moment) would be Gore/Edwards or Edwards/Dean. Gore went to Harvard, and I think is a much better man than people give him credit for. John Edwards gave a very rousing and cogent thesis on the imperativeness of fixing Us and global poverty on NPR yesterday. It's about 10 minutes, and I think worth a listen.
Finally, I'm a Dean supporter. I didn't like him during the campaign -- it may be because he too is a lefty -- and I wasn't sure if he "got it." But according to the uber political online journal, the Hotline (reposted here at Daily Kos ), Dean does get it. And his investments will bear fruit for a new Democratic party. Here's hoping this new party will lead us to a better society; Capitalist liberalism! (but not liberal capitalism since that term applies more to de-regulation, more "free-market liberalism.")
//start "rant"
What I mean is, I would like to see a country (nee: world) where an individual can wake up in the morning free to ply her chosen craft for profit and enjoyment. All the while, she's can be subject to the positive forces of competition, and not be fearful of the more insidious and powerful interests that seek to corrupt market forces to create a monopoly (nee: oligarchy). I'm afraid we're on the path to the later; a sort of winner-takes all economy where individuals are stifled towards taking entrepreneurial risks because they know there will be no net to catch them when they either misstep, have an unfortunate and unforseeable accident, or treated as rubes by a richer and more cunning advisary.
I think it's funny that supply-siders and other in vogue economic policy-wonks promote "market efficiency" and say, "let the market forces determine policy." Well, whenever consumers (you), or laborers, or smaller-suppliers (businesses) say they want to conduct business in an equitable environment, it's always the supply-siders who often shout, "wait, you're mucking up the system." or when people just make different choices based on "fair-trade" or simply opt to go another route, these, okay I'll say, far-right economists say, "wait, you're not playing the game right."
take the ongoing fad in Europe and America of buying expensive, but organic and fair-trade groceries. Instead of looking at themselves, figuring out a way to compete; these supply-siders think that it's wrong for someone to be emotionally dissatisfied with their product, and for their utility to be based on something other than a tacit agreement that we must buy our products from the bigger companies who may have cut corners which lead to unhealthy food choices, but those cut corners created more profits at the margins, leading to a cheaper food price. So, why would anyone complain?
I remember an interview done my Michael Dell and it was in either Wired or Time Magazine, shortly after Dell Computers had a transition from Michael Dell to Some Other Dude For CEO. The interviewer asked about the (then new) practice of outsourcing customer service overseas. Incredulously, Dell countered that he didn't know what the hub-bub was because in the end, cheaper customer service bred cheaper prices, which increased DC's profits, which increased DC's tax bill. Therefore, American citizens were getting lower prices and more taxes...what could be more American than that? Well, it's a nice spin, but poor customer service leads to fewer customers..and using Mr. Dell's rubric, that means higher prices and less taxes.
Some people just choose to make the "irrational" decision that being treated fairly, or even more than fairly--reverentially almost--is an important economic decision.
I'm often reminded about seeing kids play at a playground or at summer camp. There's always this one big kid who gets by bullying other kids. And then when the other kids decide to get up and leave, the big kid gets his parents or other friends to bully the little kids into playing with them. Take the beating and learn to love it, really love it. Or else the other big kids will beat you up some more until you learn to stay and take it. This is the lesson we learn when we are children, and it colors our social interactions.
I don't think it's the way things should be.
//end "rant"
Finally, I'm a Dean supporter. I didn't like him during the campaign -- it may be because he too is a lefty -- and I wasn't sure if he "got it." But according to the uber political online journal, the Hotline (reposted here at Daily Kos ), Dean does get it. And his investments will bear fruit for a new Democratic party. Here's hoping this new party will lead us to a better society; Capitalist liberalism! (but not liberal capitalism since that term applies more to de-regulation, more "free-market liberalism.")
//start "rant"
What I mean is, I would like to see a country (nee: world) where an individual can wake up in the morning free to ply her chosen craft for profit and enjoyment. All the while, she's can be subject to the positive forces of competition, and not be fearful of the more insidious and powerful interests that seek to corrupt market forces to create a monopoly (nee: oligarchy). I'm afraid we're on the path to the later; a sort of winner-takes all economy where individuals are stifled towards taking entrepreneurial risks because they know there will be no net to catch them when they either misstep, have an unfortunate and unforseeable accident, or treated as rubes by a richer and more cunning advisary.
I think it's funny that supply-siders and other in vogue economic policy-wonks promote "market efficiency" and say, "let the market forces determine policy." Well, whenever consumers (you), or laborers, or smaller-suppliers (businesses) say they want to conduct business in an equitable environment, it's always the supply-siders who often shout, "wait, you're mucking up the system." or when people just make different choices based on "fair-trade" or simply opt to go another route, these, okay I'll say, far-right economists say, "wait, you're not playing the game right."
take the ongoing fad in Europe and America of buying expensive, but organic and fair-trade groceries. Instead of looking at themselves, figuring out a way to compete; these supply-siders think that it's wrong for someone to be emotionally dissatisfied with their product, and for their utility to be based on something other than a tacit agreement that we must buy our products from the bigger companies who may have cut corners which lead to unhealthy food choices, but those cut corners created more profits at the margins, leading to a cheaper food price. So, why would anyone complain?
I remember an interview done my Michael Dell and it was in either Wired or Time Magazine, shortly after Dell Computers had a transition from Michael Dell to Some Other Dude For CEO. The interviewer asked about the (then new) practice of outsourcing customer service overseas. Incredulously, Dell countered that he didn't know what the hub-bub was because in the end, cheaper customer service bred cheaper prices, which increased DC's profits, which increased DC's tax bill. Therefore, American citizens were getting lower prices and more taxes...what could be more American than that? Well, it's a nice spin, but poor customer service leads to fewer customers..and using Mr. Dell's rubric, that means higher prices and less taxes.
Some people just choose to make the "irrational" decision that being treated fairly, or even more than fairly--reverentially almost--is an important economic decision.
I'm often reminded about seeing kids play at a playground or at summer camp. There's always this one big kid who gets by bullying other kids. And then when the other kids decide to get up and leave, the big kid gets his parents or other friends to bully the little kids into playing with them. Take the beating and learn to love it, really love it. Or else the other big kids will beat you up some more until you learn to stay and take it. This is the lesson we learn when we are children, and it colors our social interactions.
I don't think it's the way things should be.
//end "rant"
posted by Coolhand at 12:58 AM
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