[lbo-talk] barbaric

Tayssir John Gabbour tayssir.john at googlemail.com
Mon Mar 5 13:40:44 PST 2007


On 3/5/07, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Tayssir wrote:
> >terrorists/communists behind every tree
>
> I don't think there's much fear of communists anymore. The
> terrorists are hiding all over the place but the communists are
> thought of as well-paid academics who are a kind of curiosity.

Yeah, I mean that "communist" was the old word for terrorist. ;) I recall 27-year CIA veteran Ray McGovern pointed out how Reagan was trying to find communists under every rock. (I believe this was during congressman Conyers' mock impeachment of Bush. McGovern was pretty audacious.)

On 3/5/07, BklynMagus <magcomm at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> Yes, and there is no need for your contempt. I was
> just wondering if there had ever existed ever a free
> market without regulation, or if it was merely an idea
> that is used in economic theory.

I certainly know what it's like to wonder this, as I had to rewire certain false understandings of econ.

My understanding is that parts of 19th century Britain offered the best-known example, about which mainstream economist Robert Solow remarked:

"Few markets can ever have been as competitive as those that

flourished in Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century,

when infants became deformed as they toiled their way to an early

death in the pits and mills of the Black Country. And there is no

lack of examples today to confirm the fact also that

well-functioning markets have no innate tendency to promote

excellence in any form. They offer no resistance to forces making

for a descent into cultural barbarity or moral depravity".

Polanyi's _The Great Transformation_ is often cited as the main source of scholarship on the period. I tried reading it once but (I'm ashamed to say) was bored out of my skull. I don't know why, maybe it'll be different next time I pick it up.

On 3/5/07, Tayssir John Gabbour <tayssir.john at googlemail.com> wrote:
> But I agree that many relatively privileged people within the US
> suffer more fear than warranted. (Failure, terrorists/communists
> behind every tree, do I smell bad, etc.)

Oh, but I should point out that we probably spend like 8-16% of GDP on the public relations industry. [1] Much of it is geared at making you feel helpless. (I believe "helplessness" is actually a topic of study.) Our "father of modern PR" wrote at length how "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society." [2]

[1] - Blackfriars put it at 9% (below); Michael Dawson cites more in _The Consumer Trap_. <http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3510121>

[2] - Bernays, _Propaganda_ <http://pentaside.org/article/propaganda-bernays-1928.html>

Tayssir



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