In the comments to ‘Push for unipolar world ‘turning ugly’ – Putin — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union, Paul Haeder marshalls some strong arguments against capitalism:

Capitalism can grow externally in terms of wars, foreign interventions and militarized accumulation. In fact, as UC Santa Barbara Sociologist William I. Robinson describes, global capitalism has become dependent on war-making to sustain itself. Or it can grow internally by intensifying privatization, destroying labor rights, human rights and environmental protections within existing capitalist markets in order to open up more avenues for profit. In this interview, Robinson describes it:

For 530 years now, since 1492, we’ve had outward expansion – constant waves of colonialism and imperialism, bringing more and more countries, more and more people into the system. Now every country- every community on the planet- is integrated directly or indirectly into global capitalism.

Continue reading How contraction creates growth at uncoy.

Some argue these stories are just the product of silly reporters. There’s certainly enough of those chasing the bandwagon of public opinion. But behind many of the false stories, there’s something more sinister at work: deliberately misinforming the public to win later in the opinion polls.

VK explains how public opinion became the justification for policies which were pre-fabricated:

There’s an objective explanation for that.

In the 1920s (or 30s), far-rightist Karl Popper coined the concept of “public opinion”. This would become a hallmark of Western Civilization in the post-war.

The public opinion theory states that the masses don’t have an opinion for themselves or, if they have, it is sculpting/flexible. The dominant classes can, therefore, guide the masses like a shepherd, to its will.

Friedrich von Hayek – a colleague of Popper and father of British neoliberalism (the man behind Thatcher) – then developed on the issue, by proposing the institutionalization of public opinion.

Continue reading Perils of the silly fairy tales of the Mass Media at uncoy.

If you aren’t reading Caitlin Johnstone, you should be. Here she describes why visiting North America is like visiting a real Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

We are surrounded by screens full of voices that are always lying to us, and experts wonder why we’re so crazy and miserable all the time.

The screens tell us, “This is a perfectly normal and sane way of doing things. It is perfectly normal and sane to strip the earth bare and poison the air and the water in an economic system which requires infinite growth on a finite planet. People who say otherwise are raving lunatics!” And the social engineers wonder why there’s increasing disaffection and alienation among the populace.

The screens tell us, “Just spend your time in this world turning the gears of the machine and you will be happy.

Continue reading Perfectly normal and sane to strip the earth bare at uncoy.

None of the richest people in the world is a European. Forty per cent of the billionaires people in the world are Americans

And this at a time that their society is struggling with crumbling infrastructure, the highest rate of incarceration in the world, an opiate crisis, literally unpayable debts (USD 20 trillion and counting) and unfunded pensions.

Six of the top ten are American technology billionaires (1. Jeff Bezos, 2. Bill Gates, 4. Mark Zuckerberg, 8. Larry Ellison, 9. Larry Page, 10. Sergei Brin). There are no European tech billionaires. SAP co-founder Hasso Platner is the first European technology billionaire at place 101.

The change among the richest people in the world indicates that the Americans are winning in the game of tilting the financial table in their direction. Just like as Hollywood dominates the motion picture industry due to corruption and distribution (not quality) so do American companies dominate tech, due to financial game playing, IP laws and crooked lawyers.

Continue reading All of the five richest people in the world are now Americans at uncoy.

Cash in safety deposit boxes vs the Stock Market

An investment retirement guru is convinced that millennials don’t know how to invest and are missing the opportunity of a lifetime to invest their money in a stock market.1 which has never been more overpriced (ridiculous multiples) since 1929.

I have been stunned recently by some of the discussions I have had with some of my own children’s friends and relatives about finances and investing towards a more secure financial future….in talking to my own son, he states that his friends (ages 25-40) are afraid of the markets…. Some are even putting cash in a safety deposit box! If there is ONE thing I can never mention enough is that if you want to have a secure financial future, YOU need to save as much as you can, as soon as you can for as long as you can.

Continue reading Retirement Strategy for Millennials: Should Savings go to Stock Market, Cryptocurrency or Real Estate? at uncoy.