This is a global revolution
October 17, 2010 3:59 AM Subscribe
An Interview with The Economic Hit Man, John Perkins; where he talks, among other things, about corporate social responsibility; Free Trade; other actors at the State Department and the Pentagon; and the so-called War on Drugs.
I can't help but be reminded about Ghandi's thought about western civilization when I see the phrase "corporate social responsibility".
I think that would be a great idea.
posted by DreamerFi at 4:33 AM on October 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
I think that would be a great idea.
posted by DreamerFi at 4:33 AM on October 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
I met Perkins at a book signing he did here. Hes a great speaker
posted by wheelieman at 6:20 AM on October 17, 2010
posted by wheelieman at 6:20 AM on October 17, 2010
It's going to be very interesting to see the reaction of the tea party candidates (should they be elected) to how things actually work in Washington. Now, I have no illusion that some of them, such as Rand Paul, know exactly how Washington works and are merely riding an outsider pose to get elected. Some of them, however, seem to be truly naive about the machine and harbor some sort of vision that they will well and truly effect change for the people. It's actually quite cute, from a certain perspective.
Now, of course, some of the tea partier's goals dovetail well with corporations' goals. Lower taxes weaken government's ability to enforce regulation and laws, and that's a good thing from a corporate standpoint. Anything that can keep the government from looking into a corporation's activities is welcome. Similarly, eliminating outright certain laws, programs and regulations will be allowed.
On the other hand, I think the real come-to-jesus moment for the tea partiers will come when their goals run headlong into corporate goals. Healthcare, I think, will be one such area. As it stands now, the reform that was enacted is pretty-much a windfall for the insurance industry, thanks to the mandate that everyone must have coverage. I can't imagine the industry allowing the basic mandate to be eliminated. I do see, however, the industry allowing (or pushing for) many of the details that might negatively affect their bottom lines (like must-carry, any pricing controls, etc.) to be eliminated. And, they'll happily work with the tea partiers to get these things done, in the spirit of public/private partnership.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:53 AM on October 17, 2010
Now, of course, some of the tea partier's goals dovetail well with corporations' goals. Lower taxes weaken government's ability to enforce regulation and laws, and that's a good thing from a corporate standpoint. Anything that can keep the government from looking into a corporation's activities is welcome. Similarly, eliminating outright certain laws, programs and regulations will be allowed.
On the other hand, I think the real come-to-jesus moment for the tea partiers will come when their goals run headlong into corporate goals. Healthcare, I think, will be one such area. As it stands now, the reform that was enacted is pretty-much a windfall for the insurance industry, thanks to the mandate that everyone must have coverage. I can't imagine the industry allowing the basic mandate to be eliminated. I do see, however, the industry allowing (or pushing for) many of the details that might negatively affect their bottom lines (like must-carry, any pricing controls, etc.) to be eliminated. And, they'll happily work with the tea partiers to get these things done, in the spirit of public/private partnership.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:53 AM on October 17, 2010
[W]here do I send an e-mail to the California teacher's union or the union or prison guards, policemen, and firemen to complain about their ridiculously generous pay and pension packages? Or about their work rules the crush innovation and necessary change? How do I avoid buying their goods? How does the democratic marketplace constrain this political influence?
Are California's pay & pension packages for teachers, firefighters, and policemen ridiculously generous? That's an awfully broad assertion to make. Sure CA teachers have the highest average salaries in the US, but it's within about $5k of the top ten states and isn't scaled to the cost of living. I'm not going to get into police and firefighters, or into my personal belief that these folks should be making six figures and garnering the same respect as doctors and engineers. I will answer your question, though: your opportunity for political input in these situations begins at schoolboard/municipal meetings and ends at the ballot box.
posted by The White Hat at 7:09 AM on October 17, 2010 [13 favorites]
Are California's pay & pension packages for teachers, firefighters, and policemen ridiculously generous? That's an awfully broad assertion to make. Sure CA teachers have the highest average salaries in the US, but it's within about $5k of the top ten states and isn't scaled to the cost of living. I'm not going to get into police and firefighters, or into my personal belief that these folks should be making six figures and garnering the same respect as doctors and engineers. I will answer your question, though: your opportunity for political input in these situations begins at schoolboard/municipal meetings and ends at the ballot box.
posted by The White Hat at 7:09 AM on October 17, 2010 [13 favorites]
A big problem for me with Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman was that it read too much like a spy-thriller novel, with his hot-chick supereconomist-babe tutoring him in the ways of international monetary policy...and love. His inclusion in the Zeitgeist sequel doesn't help matters.
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:41 AM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:41 AM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
[W]here do I send an e-mail to the California teacher's union or the union or prison guards, policemen, and firemen to complain about their ridiculously generous pay and pension packages?
I dunno. Fantasyland?
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:45 AM on October 17, 2010 [4 favorites]
I dunno. Fantasyland?
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:45 AM on October 17, 2010 [4 favorites]
[W]here do I send an e-mail to the California teacher's union...
Here
...or the union or prison guards
Here
...policemen...
Here
...and firemen
Here
With the police and firefighters, there are many local organizations that you can contact directly. But, you probably knew that already. I'm pretty sure you know how to use Google, afterall. Money --> Mouth
posted by Thorzdad at 8:02 AM on October 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
Here
...or the union or prison guards
Here
...policemen...
Here
...and firemen
Here
With the police and firefighters, there are many local organizations that you can contact directly. But, you probably knew that already. I'm pretty sure you know how to use Google, afterall. Money --> Mouth
posted by Thorzdad at 8:02 AM on October 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
How do I avoid buying their goods? How does the democratic marketplace constrain this political influence?
Well you can home school your kids, when someone breaks into your house don't call the cops, same for any fires that may happen on your property... oh you said BUYING their goods.
Quit you job and you don't have to pay taxes, you can start a commune or something, you know, become the "rugged individual" that all Americans really are deep down.
If you do just stay off our roads ok?
posted by Max Power at 8:49 AM on October 17, 2010 [4 favorites]
Well you can home school your kids, when someone breaks into your house don't call the cops, same for any fires that may happen on your property... oh you said BUYING their goods.
Quit you job and you don't have to pay taxes, you can start a commune or something, you know, become the "rugged individual" that all Americans really are deep down.
If you do just stay off our roads ok?
posted by Max Power at 8:49 AM on October 17, 2010 [4 favorites]
Quit you job and you don't have to pay taxes, you can start a commune or something, you know, become the "rugged individual" that all Americans really are deep down.
Your dickish tone aside, this is not a very constructive way to deal with groups of people who advocate for taking away the freedom of more citizens because their jobs depend on the existence of high rates of crime and maintaining a large imprisoned population (police unions, prison worker unions).
posted by indubitable at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2010
Your dickish tone aside, this is not a very constructive way to deal with groups of people who advocate for taking away the freedom of more citizens because their jobs depend on the existence of high rates of crime and maintaining a large imprisoned population (police unions, prison worker unions).
posted by indubitable at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2010
I didn't say anything about prison guards did I?
And YOU don't have to call the cops either.
posted by Max Power at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2010
And YOU don't have to call the cops either.
posted by Max Power at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2010
Also i don't think it's cops who are advocating harsher penalties for breaking our laws, wouldn't that be tough on crime politicians, primarily repubs shilling for bodies to fill all the privatized prisons their benefactors are building?
posted by Max Power at 10:50 AM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Max Power at 10:50 AM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
i found perkins' interview w/ amy goodman intriguing in an earlier post of yours... as well as his books on shamanism :P i'm open! cf. the real tea party begins here! (based on the web of debt by ellen brown, who was featured in zeitgeist: addendum ;)
posted by kliuless at 10:50 AM on October 17, 2010
posted by kliuless at 10:50 AM on October 17, 2010
thank you for posting this adamvasco. I wish i was able to get on with my pc and write a screed but will attempt on a phone. Perkins book is an eye opener and i read a collection of essays he'd edited that covered things like the world bank loans to marcos and its impact on the philippines, while immersed in a village in that country able to see and experience the subsequent impact. Ignore the writing style and say attention to what he's talking about. I'd like to see what happens to the global economic agenda going forward. More on this soon
posted by The Lady is a designer at 11:03 AM on October 17, 2010
posted by The Lady is a designer at 11:03 AM on October 17, 2010
It's going to be very interesting to see the reaction of the tea party candidates (should they be elected) to how things actually work in Washington.
I assume they'll be like Ron Paul- talking big about cutting spending while quietly stuffing pork into bills that they know are going to pass.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:07 PM on October 17, 2010
I assume they'll be like Ron Paul- talking big about cutting spending while quietly stuffing pork into bills that they know are going to pass.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:07 PM on October 17, 2010
A big problem for me with Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman was that it read too much like a spy-thriller novel, with his hot-chick supereconomist-babe tutoring him in the ways of international monetary policy...and love.
Yeah, I didn't make it past this part. It read like a guy going through a mid-life crisis, trying to spruce up his life story with some James Bond-like exploits. But what do I know? Maybe it's all true.
posted by zardoz at 2:05 PM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I didn't make it past this part. It read like a guy going through a mid-life crisis, trying to spruce up his life story with some James Bond-like exploits. But what do I know? Maybe it's all true.
posted by zardoz at 2:05 PM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
My problem with Confessions of an Economic Hitman was how he starts out by saying, essentially, "I did some shitty things to the world but now I have a kid so I want the world to be a better place." If the only thing that makes you sorry about what you've done is that it now affects you and yours, then I'm sorry, you can go get bent. I stopped there and the book now holds up the back of my laptop so the fan can get ventilation.
posted by Legomancer at 2:49 PM on October 17, 2010
posted by Legomancer at 2:49 PM on October 17, 2010
[W]here do I send an e-mail to the California teacher's union or the union or prison guards, policemen, and firemen to complain about their ridiculously generous pay and pension packages?
Maybe you could write to the people who give their employees poor benefits and wages and encorage them to make them more like the reasonable ones that govt. employees in CA get?
posted by i_cola at 3:25 PM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Maybe you could write to the people who give their employees poor benefits and wages and encorage them to make them more like the reasonable ones that govt. employees in CA get?
posted by i_cola at 3:25 PM on October 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
My problem with Confessions of an Economic Hitman was how he starts out by saying, essentially, "I did some shitty things to the world but now I have a kid so I want the world to be a better place."
I had the same problem, but seem to recall that his conversion occurs before having a kid, but well after he realized the damage he was supposedly doing. I don't have the book memorized, but I recall there was a point where he basically decides to secure his financial future knowing full well he's in the unique position to fulfill or fuck up another plan that will sell a country's future into debt slavery.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:53 PM on October 17, 2010
I had the same problem, but seem to recall that his conversion occurs before having a kid, but well after he realized the damage he was supposedly doing. I don't have the book memorized, but I recall there was a point where he basically decides to secure his financial future knowing full well he's in the unique position to fulfill or fuck up another plan that will sell a country's future into debt slavery.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:53 PM on October 17, 2010
I read the book but couldn't really wrap my mind around it. The material that is well-supported is not that shocking; everyone knows the US has propped up horrible dictatorships. The authors personal recollections that this was part of a systematic campaign to subjugate large parts of the world are not well supported.
posted by miyabo at 9:24 AM on October 18, 2010
posted by miyabo at 9:24 AM on October 18, 2010
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But we the people ought to recognize that ultimately, we're the ones with the control. Because these big corporations only benefit, only survive, when we support them, by buying their goods and services or allowing our tax dollars to buy their goods and services. So the marketplace is democratic if we choose to make it democratic, if we choose to shop consciously, invest consciously, and let them know. Send emails. Let Nike know that we're not going to buy from them anymore because they've got sweatshops.
All true, but in fairness, politicians are also controlled by public employee unions. It's all well and good to boycott Nike because they've got sweatshops, but where do I send an e-mail to the California teacher's union or the union or prison guards, policemen, and firemen to complain about their ridiculously generous pay and pension packages? Or about their work rules the crush innovation and necessary change? How do I avoid buying their goods? How does the democratic marketplace constrain this political influence?
posted by three blind mice at 4:32 AM on October 17, 2010 [5 favorites]