The Real Bain Capital Story
By Numerian posted by Michael Collins
Originally published in The Agonist
Is the Bloomberg news service turning into The Agonist? Or at least The Agonist, circa 2005, when what was written here was so out of the mainstream that most writers had to hide behind pseudonyms if they wanted to keep their day job? I ask this because I was surprised to see the type of article that is now passing for ordinary on Bloomberg. Here are the Top 5 most popular articles on the news service today, according to their website: “Hardheaded Socialism Makes Canada Richer than U.S.”, “The Secret Behind Romney’s Magical IRA”, “China’s GDP Hit Tells Story of Hubris Run Amok”, “Romney’s Bain Yielded Privatized Gains and Socialized Losses”, and “Do Business Schools Incubate Criminals?” (Image)
The title of that last article is pretty much rhetorical, which says a lot about how times have changed if major business publications are giving credence to claims that business schools churn out criminals. It is the two Mitt Romney articles that really interest me, given how unfavorable they are to the champion of capitalism that the Republicans have put forward as their presidential nominee.
PermalinkGreece: What Can be Done?
James Petras
Introduction
Greece faces the unenviable choice between accepting the terms of “the Troika” and facing the continuation and deepening of a socio-economic crises, which includes five years of negative growth, over 23% unemployment, an astronomical rise in poverty (from less than 15% to over 40%) and mounting suicides, or a rejection of the “memorandum”, and a likely cut-off of Eurozone funding and capital markets with virtually few reserves to cover salaries, pensions or public services.
While the immediate cost of a break with catastrophic conditions imposed by Eurozone bankers may be high, it opens up the possibility of transforming the internal and external relations and structures which led Greece to ground zero.
Crises as Opportunity?
Rude Awakening
by Stephen Lendman
In 2008, a protracted global depression began, criminally manufactured by Wall Street and Washington scoundrels, complicit with major European partners.
Why? To permit greater financial and other corporate consolidation, more power, and ability to buy favored assets cheap, profiting hugely at the expense of millions of working households.
At the same time, Washington's got it own agenda. As White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel (now Chicago's mayor) told the Wall Street Journal on November 6, 2008:
The Link Between War and Big Finance
Veterans For Peace Endorses the April 15th Rally and Protest in Union Square Park
By Kevin Zeese
Veterans For Peace has joined in endorsing “Sounds of Resistance,” a concert and protest against Wall Street banks that draws the connections between militarism, Wall Street, the wealth divide and the downward spiral of the wealth of most Americans. The event, on April 15 at 11:00 a.m. in New York City’s Union Square Park, is part of a democratic awakening that more and more Americans are joining.
Americans are recognizing the link between the military-industrial complex and the Wall Street oligarchs—a connection that goes back to the beginning of the modern U.S. empire. Banks have always profited from war because the debt created by banks results in ongoing war profit for big finance; and because wars have been used to open countries to U.S. corporate and banking interests. Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan wrote: “the large banking interests were deeply interested in the world war because of the wide opportunities for large profits.”
Why is the world rushing headlong into Environmental Armageddon?
By Dr. Tom Termotto
Is there any doubt that planet Earth has been undergoing an environmental armageddon for decades? We are not just referring to the spate of oil spills all over the world such as the BP Gulf Oil Spill, or the many other toxic deluges which go unreported unlike the Hungary Toxic Sludge Disaster, or the ongoing destruction of the world’s rainforests like those being systematically wiped out in the Amazon Basin. We are also alluding to the “unseen” worldwide chemical apocalypse, the global proliferation of ellectro-pollution (EMR), the major uptick in manmade geopathic stress events on both the micro and macro levels, as well as the relentless contamination of living environments throughout the planet with radioactivity.
There are many other forms of ecological apocalypse taking place which, when viewed in the aggregate, are taking an immense toll on human, animal and plant life. Many of these ongoing assaults against the biosphere have unforeseen and collective ramifications which are extremely far-reaching and of great consequence to the viability of the planet. We ignore them at our peril, and will continue to suffer from a plague of alphabet soup diseases, multi-infection syndromes and infectious disease epidemics which have exploded on the healthcare landscape during the 21st century.
Understanding the US Financial Crisis, Why Banking Regulations are a Temporary Fix
Part #3 of Understanding Capitalism and Socialism
by Joaquin
With the great financial crisis of 2007-2010 all over except for the screaming and yelling; and the yelling and screaming is over because oil spilled all over it; and with the oil spill all over because someone parked a SUV with toy timers on it in Manhattan; it's time to understand how the financial crisis was solved; so let's get started. By the way, aren't we all glad the financial crisis is over? Well except in Greece and maybe Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and the UK; don't forget California and other bankrupt states, counties, municipalities, and your parent's pension; not to mention a giant national debt that is ballooning out of control; but yeah otherwise the financial crisis is over. How do we know its over? Well, just turn on the financial news anywhere and you will hear that the recovery is in full swing except for people having jobs and buying houses. The crisis is so over that it has been over and over. I mean if you Google "housing market has bottomed" you can find out that the housing market has bottomed out constantly since 2006.
Understanding Supply Side Capitalism
Part #2 of Understanding Capitalism and Socialism (Part 1)
by Joaquin posted by Michael Collins
Now that Republicans are starting to talk about restoring Reaganomics, it is a good time to review Reaganomics; i.e., Supply Side Capitalism. This is number two of my technical essays about how the world works. Today we will explore how supply side economics will save the world. So let's get to it.
Supply side economics became so powerful that it was renamed Reaganomics in honor of the president and WW II movie hero. Reaganomics helped poor Americans understand what rich people have been telling us since the Middle Ages i.e., Robin Hood was doing it wrong.
Some people call Reaganomics "Trickle Down theory". Its kind of like when I went to college; most of the students studied hard to get in to our college and were from middle class families like me, but this one guy got in because his parents bought a new building for the school.
Understanding Capitalism versus Socialism
By Joaquin - Posted by Michael Collins
Maybe you are a casual Agonist reader or an Agonista at heart but in any case you are probably asking yourself: what's the deal with socialism and why do I like capitalism? (Image)
OK, lets get started by defining socialism: socialism is, by definition, something you don't want. Its that simple and all you really need to remember but, of course, there is a complex academic explanation which goes like this: Americans don't want socialism because the government does it.
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