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POPSCome See The REAL New China! Jia Zhangke looks at what's really there, rather than what he wants to see. That's something more people should do. On the one hand, he doesn't flatter global capitalism, but he's not blind to the essential progress that China has made either. China's underground auteur may well be a better anthropologist than entertainer. Although his movies sometimes dwell on the mundane to the point of being unwatchable, they are invaluable documents on the true nature of China's modernization. So few people understand what the "New China" is, but it's all here for anyone who bothers to look. He is the definitive realist of his generation, and a strikingly insightful observer of the human condition. His quotes throughout the article are all gems, but too numerous to clip.
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POPSThe Success of Savage Capitalism is the Failure of our Society
Consider these three articles puzzling over the US Economy. The dollar is in free-fall but the GDP is growing. The credit bubble is bursting, but production is up. American companies are making money hand over fist but the wealth gap is staggering. So the question is: has the Regan/Bush agenda of Savage Anything-Goes Global Capitalism worked? Is America a better nation because of it? The answer is no. We are not developing our economy, we are just generating wealth for the top 1%. We aren't improving our country so much as optimizing it for de facto feudalism. Some one needs to give a real good answer as to why this surreal economic nightmare is a success story, or we need to finally admit that Savage Capitalism is motivated by nothing more than greed and wistful thinking. It's time to get real about our country and our economy. Unless we can save the middle class, then we will be nothing but a crude fiefdom of modern Robber Barons.
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POPSWelcome to Capitalism: Conservative Publisher Cheats Conservative Authors It's very funny that these guys didn't see it coming. Their politics are all about the big rich guy screwing the poor little guy, so why are they so surprised when it turns out that THEY are the poor little guy? The funny thing is that Mr. Miniter notes with surprise that the company is "acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company." Apparently, he still doesn't get it: those cartoons have a point! If he doesn't like getting screwed by big companies, maybe he should think about joining the Wobblies. Conservatives, it seems, rely on the presumptions that they will be the ones exploiting, and they're okay with that until a bigger fish comes along and exploits them, then they want the courts to interfere in the free market!
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POPSSavage Capitalism in the Post-Communist World Although China has grabbed most of the headlines for poisonous toys, Russia has quietly gone to pieces as well. What is happening in these countries is not merely the residual effects of the failure of communism, it is a violently selfish mentality, perhaps born in the desperation of bread lines, but now blooming in the vacuum of law and order created by the collapse of the Communist system. In China and Russia both we see the values espoused by George Bush and his Neo-Conservative gang taken to their horrific logical extreme. Customers have become a commodity. Wealth is the only guarantor of safety and power. Corporations and corruption rule the government. The fanatical pursuit of wealth for its own sake has taken over, leaving the average citizen to fend for themselves in a frightening wilderness of indifference and exploitation. The blazing fires of this economic explosion are fueled by an icy detachment from the basic human traits of empathy and compassion.
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POPSConservatives Do Not Have A Monopoly On Religion These days the Christian Conservatives have worked really really hard to portray the left as secular enemies of the faith, and spread the myth that one cannot be a good Christian and a political liberal, that the left-wing agenda of using the government to care for the needy, defend freedoms and protect the weak is somehow in fundamental conflict with the teachings of Jesus. Now, I normally don't like to tell Christians how they should interpret their faith, and I'm not going to start now, but I think any Christian should seriously consider the following question: What in the teachings of Jesus would condone discrimination against social pariahs (like gays)? What in the anecdotes in the New Testament would encourage the savage me-first capitalism of Bush's Republican Party? As an outsider, I don't see the connection. Actually, I'd have a sincere interest in how Christianity has become so conflated with conservativism, so if anyone cares to explain their side, I'm all ears.
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POPSWho is the greediest? Communists or Capitalists? Although I do not believe that socialism and capitalism necessarily conflict, this article raises a very interesting point. To talk about a slightly different point, I think Communism definitely does make people more greedy and materialistic. Communism (and to be more specific, I refer specifically to Marxism, and large-country model Communism, namely Stalinism and Maoism) is much more complex than simply being the opposite of capitalism, thus it doesn't offer a true counterpoint to capitalism free of other complicating variables. But, even if its not perfect, it provides some valuable insight. From my experience studying the Chinese culture and the way it changed in the last 50 years, communism breeds nothing but greed, materialism and elitism. Most alarmingly it creates a sense of entitlement without the sense of responsibility. It is the freedom of capitalism that saves it. We should be very careful to ensure that our markets are in fact free. Otherwise we are no differen
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POPSThe Three Cs: Korea, Corruption, and Capitalism Wow, the part of Korea that didn't go crazy communist went crazy capitalist. Apparently, according to the testimony of Korea's President, being a powerfull buisnessman actually does make someone above the law. Read the article for more great quotes, like how the prosperity of the nation is more important than the rule of law. Actually, sounds a lot like some of the stuff Fred Thompson is getting at when he talks about not damaging the prosperity of America. Have fun Korean working-class! You will be hunted for sport for the amusement of corporate elites starting next week!
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POPSIs India really developing? This raises an important question: is India developing or just getting richer? Foreign Affairs called it "a roaring capitalist success story" but I wonder if that's accurate. As I understand it, capitalism is about free and open competition in a fair marketplace. How can there be true competition when half the population (or more) lives in abject poverty. I would call this "mercantilism" not capitalism. If you ask me, the gap between rich and poor is anti-competitive, it insulates and entrenches the extremely wealthy, and thus erodes the dynamic elements of competition that are necessary for capitalism to function properly. Just because someone operates for profit doesn't make them a capitalist. Just because a country is making money right now doesn't make them a success. (We should also be asking these same questions about China. The long-term Growth potential we dream of in these countries may be limited by their failure to develop a middle class.)
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POPSPapal condemnation of Capitalism and Marxism. This is an interesting mix, and very revealing about the current political environment, and how it has changed since the 1980s. A condemnation of capitalism, which has at times been enshrined within some Christian ideologies, seems a commentary on the miss-deeds that have been done lately by corporate elites in the name of capitalism. But while his theology is sound, he does not go as far as he could. Catholic theology could be interpreted to condone charity as well. While he provides a provocative indictment of materialism, and Marxism certainly deserves to come under close scrutiny, he ignores the underlying inequities in society that make Marxist ideology so appealing to many. This could be interpreted as saying "Let them eat Faith." He condemns Liberation Theology, but he gives no answer to it. In the end, I feel his struggle is that he is a very philosophical and scholastic Pope, in a world that increasingly demands secular leadership from religious figures.
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POPSAs Adam Smith rolls in his grave... The WTO provides simply the latest example of how far we have drifted from the Capitalism of Adam Smith. Smith was a product of the enlightenment, and clearly envisioned capitalism as practiced by a society of enlightened humanists. The restraint that this would bring serves to vouchsafe the truly free market. When corporate collusion places profit margins ahead of the basic well-being of the people, then who could say this market is truly free? Are we not at their mercy? An economy controlled by corporate elites is no better than one controlled by the state. The Savage Capitalism of the WTO is different from communist or fascist economics in name and execution only. The resultant inequities in society are the same. Is this really the ideal to which we have committed so much blood and treasure?
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