Amongst the left over questions that we have from the sixties is the
dialectical tension between the classical marxists, in all of their
class extensions, derivations, and ideological silliness, and what
some would call the 'consumer society' that wanders around them.
We have seen here the allegation that 'home ownership' leads to one
becoming a Puppet Toady of the International Miltarist Imperialists!
{ which as we all know, leads not only to the bombing of Afghanistan,
but the even more sinister plot that the liberal media is covering up,
that given as the 'foreign' Taliban in Kunduz have taken over total
control and isolated the native indigenous afghani fighters, that this
can only be a clear sign of euro-centric-cultural-myopia, and hence the
proof positive that the Taliban are the puppet toadies of the CIA! and
hence the direct consequence of people buying homes in Berkley.}
What happened to the simpler war on property?
If you owned a book, you were hence a puppet toady of the Akademik Factory
System.
I mean Pol Pot's People had a lot of fun clearing out the dangerous types,
you know,
the ones who could read, or wore glasses, or spoke foreign languages.
But what if the 'path to socialism' really does run through 'capitalism'
and hence that the real trick here is not the Armed Foco - but the more
dangerous process by which more and more of the proletarian class actually
become equity holders in the means of production?
In short, what if the whole leninist deviationalism is just that - the
usurption of nationalistic Jingoism? Socialism in One Country? What is
this?
I mean, were we not to suppose to learn from the 'Paris Uprising' that
the white collar and the blue collar needed solidarity against the
capitalist
ruling class that was in the process of turning not only NFL football
player
but also doctors and airline pilots would need to be members of Unions to
protect them from vicious exploitation by, well The Ruling Elites.
But wasn't a principle part of the whole horror story of the nineties,
and the vile Clinton-Gore Recession, that the 401(k) tax loophole for
the rich had become the standard perk for the mere plebian masses? And
hence, with the brutal onslaught of fiscal discipline on the federal
government's part, that the 30 year bond, started in '77, would go the
way of equity positions in horse drawn carriages, and the whole land
scramble that had been the fast road to wealth and fame, collapsed,
leaving only the equity market as the last remaining fast track!
I think that the general figure of something like 50% of americans had
an equity stake in the economic down turn. But the vaporizing of some
$4 Trillion equity really hasn't actually hit anyone yet. Ok, there are
folks who were former employee's of Enron who are a bit concerned about
the fact that the SEC did not step in sooner, and are trying to back and
fill with stock holder litigation.
But isn't that just so 90's! The decade in which activists moved into the
share holder meetings with a vengence to push their militarist positions.
Yes, I am not kidding you, militarist! Go back and check out that whole
propoganda regime from WWII where we were all suppose to learn how to
recycle newspaper, glass, rubber, tin cans, 'for the war effort' - and
now these Militarists are trying to force those war time expediencies
down the throats of Peace Loving Americans! Why they have even forced
major corporations into this whole 'war time economy' model!!!! Oh sure,
they want to HIDE their roots, trying to wave some 'love mother earth'
warm fuzzy - but we know what they are really all about!
I mean, with only a 50% penetration of equity ownership by the great
unwashed masses, we have seen the sort of dot.com craze that this type
of 'ownership of the means of production' has lead to! Can we really
leave the economy in the hands of mere proletarians? Isn't Economics
this complex 'science' that only the true divines of the holy innards
of the correct implementation of the true historico-materialist dialectics
can actually fathom and resolve what the one true path is all about!
Or at least the sort of J.P.Morgans who could step in and rescue the
market from the unbridled panic of the pathetic.
Or could it be that economics wasn't ever a science to begin with?
What if the real 'lesson' we were suppose to learn from the 90's was
that predicting the future is sort of difficult. Merely expanding the
number of equity holders, in itself, is not enough to refocus the
market? That there is no majikal science of management, that can, in
classical Khruschevianist apparachnikiNeff, simply parachute into the
provinces and provide the correct implementation, herding all the little
coders into the correct standards and practices, and keeping them on
track with the actual deliverables, that the people really need.
What if the real scare in all of this is that in american, we live the
nightmare that the peasants and proletariate can tighten up the political
races to dead heats, and invest as equally poorly, because they have the
liberty to do so, and no overarching directorate of public safety to
protect
them from 'doubleplus ungood thot'.
What if the problem isn't going to be a simple bifurcation between the
ruling elite and the repressed underlings - but the menage a troi of
the two extremes worrying about the ever widening morass of a continually
growing middle class comprised of mostly 'late adopters' who wander behind
every new 'bleeding edge technology and social revolution'????
That the real scare on the horizon is that we might export this completely
failed system to the rest of the planet, where we just keep on keeping on?
Suddenly those much beloved 3rd World Countries are no longer the blighted
victims of a post colonialist oppression, but the home of still more middle
class types who want solid jobs, with retirement plans, and an improving
standard of living, that can no longer be the home for Union Busting
American
Imperialist Corporations.
Let your mind run rampant with this frightmare - no longer can dictatorial
powers be vested in junta's and great leaders, as the sole access to the
means of economic improvement, because, well, the middle class will no
longer tolerate that as they seek their part in the equity market! Good
lord
we've seen the creeping capitalism of the 'loan clubs' throughout the 3rd
world as it is, and the growing efforts to cut out graft and corruption, so
that a fair price is a fair price, and one doesn't have to buy off the
political
power like this were a New York City Deal.
We're watching this process unfold right in front of our eyes in
Afghanistan.
Oh sure, today it is allowing men to wear or not wear beards, as they
choose,
the next thing you know, women will be allowed to have jobs as TV
presenters
on the national television. Then its the complete break down, as soccer
stadiums
are used to create Soccer Unions of professional athletes, who need to have
equity backed retirement funds, since, well you can't play forever. Then
its
the whole craze of 'fix it upppers' and trying to get the kids into the
right
schools so that they are better prepared to get better jobs! I mean this
sort
of thing if allowed to remain unchecked in Afghanistan could leak into
Pakistan,
and Iran - its bad enough that the Liberals have taken Teheran - but what
if the
whole Idea of Dying for the Cause takes second fiddle to having a nice
place to
live, and, well, that whole nightmare of 'keeping up with the jones' - you
know,
having food to share, and social gatherings....
Think About IT! No longer do guys get away with being 'hot studs' simply
because
they own an AK-47! No they start down that troubled path of supporting the
whole
nesting habit of women! Fixed Dwelling, internet connections so that they
can do
their e-purchasing of the seasonal gifts that maintain the social cohesion
of
groupings that the guys might otherwise have tried to avoid!!! Then the
next
thing you know - there are internet cafe's and people actually implementing
unicode interfaces - and the whole 'silicon bangalore' moves out of India
to afghanistan....
What if they leap frog past the USA by adopting the Cellular Wireless Model
rather than our fixed wire approach - and hence lead to driving where the
market goes!
I mean! The threat is clearly no longer that they will be the puppets of
the Red Hordes, not even the boogyPerkin of the International Monolithic
Islamic Fundamentalist (the correct implementation faction) Revolution,
but they could actually become the next economic threat! Directly by
bidding on our JOBS, or indirectly, by driving where the market goes!!!
GOOD GOD! Can we really allow this globalization process to deprive us of
our 'deserving poor'???? Who are we going to be left to lord it over? To
be the great liberal protectors of....
ciao
drieux
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Nov 20 2001 - 19:52:35 EST