Monday Morning Reads: Systems that Benefit the Privileged Elite
Posted: March 18, 2013 Filed under: morning reads | Tags: capitalism, CNN Rape apologia, Cyprus Bank Runs, Cyprus financial crisis, jesuits, Labor Secretary, Pope Francis, rape, Steubenville Rape Trial, Tom Perez 66 Comments
Good Morning!
I’m going to start the day’s reads off with two really good articles on modern capitalism. Both actually have titles that ask questions. I’ll start with the first one written by Richard Wolfe at The Guardian as reprinted by RS. ” What’s efficiency got do do with capitalism?” The answer is absolutely nothing.
What’s efficiency got to do with capitalism? The short answer is little or nothing. Economic and social collapses in Detroit, Cleveland and many other US cities did not happen because production was inefficient there. Efficiency problems did not cause the longer-term economic declines troubling the US and western Europe.
Capitalist corporations decided to relocate production: first, away from such cities, and now, away from those regions. It has done so to serve the priorities of their major shareholders and boards of directors. Higher profits, business growth, and market share drive those decisions. As I say, efficiency has little or nothing to do with it.
This is what we call a “positive” economic discussion on policy in that that the data leads one to the conclusion and values don’t play a role in the argument until the end of the article when the author makes a case for democratization of the economy. This is called making a “normative” case. For a “normative” economic discussion from the get-go, turn to this article in WAPO by Steven Perlstein. “Is capitalism moral?”
Note the Gordon Gekko-like logic here: Because pursuit of self-interest is the essential ingredient in a market system, it somehow follows that individuals and firms are free to act as greedily and selfishly as they can within the law, absolved from any moral obligations. And it’s not just in the movies. The same amorality was on display at those Senate hearings in 2010 where Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre and the team from Goldman Sachs tried to explain to incredulous lawmakers why it was perfectly reasonable to peddle securities to clients that they had deliberately constructed to default.
Free-market advocates have a stronger moral case against government “confiscating” the money earned by one person to give it to another.
The traditional liberal defense of redistribution, of course, is that a lot of what passes for economic success derives not only from hard work or ingenuity but also from good fortune — the good fortune to be born with the right genes and to the right parents, to grow up in the right community, to attend the right schools, to meet and be helped by the right people, or simply to be at the right place at the right time. A market system should reward virtue, they argue, not dumb luck.
The problem is that we don’t really have anything resembling textbook market capitalism because all markets don’t exhibit characteristics that make them amenable to an unrestrained market. Also, we have a political class that is easy to capture via donations and lobbying who set up laws that allow already dominant industries to become more monopolistic and less ‘free’ through preferential legal treatment and taxation. The worst of the folks that scream about the virtues of ‘capitalism’ are the ones that really know nothing about Adam Smith or the origins of the system and its simple agriculture and industrial roots. For a real life example of the failures of unchecked capitalism, check out BB’s post last night outlining what’s going on in Cyprus. The overall mismanagement of lending and under-evaluation of risk by British, American and German banks has cost the citizen’s of many countries a lot of wealth. The Cyprus situation is unprecedented and sets an especially dangerous precedent. You can see how the powerful can co-opt the system in this play that takes savings from depositors. Markets all over the world are responding. Asian markets were the first to tank.
I spent a lot of time yesterday in an absolute rage over the rape apologia rampant in coverage by two of CNN’s women journalists who seemed more concerned with the lasting impact the verdict of the trial would have on the convicted rapists than the victim and possibly more victims of their out-of-control male libidos. There was also more discussion of the role of teen alcohol abuse in the incident that the attitudes and privileged treatment of the male athletic stars by the media. It was totally disgusting!! I posted some of this down thread in the Sunday Reads but feel strong that it needs to frontpaged and repeated. The judge got the verdict right while CNN turned into a rape apologia factory.
CNN’s Candy Crowley began her breaking news report by showing Lipps handing down the sentence and telling CNN reporter Poppy Harlow that she “cannot imagine” how emotional the sentencing must have been.
Harlow explained that it had been “incredibly difficult” to watch “as these two young men — who had such promising futures, star football players, very good students — literally watched as they believed their life fell apart.”
“One of the young men, Ma’lik Richmond, as that sentence came down, he collapsed,” the CNN reporter recalled, adding that the convicted rapist told his attorney that “my life is over, no one is going to want me now.”
At that point, CNN played video of Richmond crying and hugging his lawyer in the courtroom.
“I was sitting about three feet from Ma’lik when he gave that statement,” Harlow said. “It was very difficult to watch.”
Candy then asked CNN legal contributor Paul Callan what the verdict meant for “a 16 year old, sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, they still sound like 16 year olds.”
“What’s the lasting effect though on two young men being found guilty juvenile court of rape essentially?” Crowley wondered.
“There’s always that moment of just — lives are destroyed,” Callan remarked. “But in terms of what happens now, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law.”
“That will haunt them for the rest of their lives.”
The purpose of a justice system is to make sure those guilty of heinous crimes pay for their crimes. I’m still livid about this and so are most of the folks on my twitter stream. You can look down stream on Sunday’s thread for videos and links. I found Dan Wetzel’s post particularly compelling as it describes the entitlements given to male athletes in Steubenville and elseville.
The Big Red players were disorganized crime. No secrets. No code words. No shame. They neither grasped the depth of the crime nor the unrelenting pressure of true authority – not their compliant parents or ball coach, but a legal system that didn’t care a whit about Steubenville High football.
Steubenville’s football program has long been a source of pride in the community. (Reuters)For all the rumors and speculation around town of cover-ups and favoritism being played, the authorities did their job. There is zero indication the Steubenville police did anything but aggressively and swiftly investigate the charges.
When understandable conflicts of interest – only 18,000 people live in the city and everyone knows everyone – arose in the local prosecutors office, the case was handed over to the state’s attorney general out of Columbus. A judge was brought in from across the state, near Cincinnati. And it was Judge Lipps, not anyone around Steubenville, who granted immunity to the witnesses.
Meanwhile, attorney general Mike DeWine called on Sunday for a grand jury to continue an investigation into the case.
“This community desperately needs to have this behind them,” DeWine said. “But this community also desperately needs to know justice was done and that no stone was left unturned.”
It’s still hard to say if Mays and Richmond ever grasped the trouble they were in until Sunday.
Mays knew enough to grow concerned. The girl was never sure whether to press charges, but once her parents found out, there would be no doubt. They culled social media for clues and walked into the Steubenville Police Department with a flash drive of evidence.
Just prior to that, Mays became panicked and texted the girl.
“I’m about to get kicked off my football team,” Mays wrote.
“The more you bring up football, the more pissed I get,” the girl wrote back. “Because that’s like all you care about.”
They had no idea about the severity of what they had done which means there’s an awful lot of parents, teachers, and clergy that need to sit down with some girls and boys and define sexual assault. They also need to make sure that everyone knows that the laws apply to every one.
I know there are many ‘recovering’ Catholics that read this blog so I thought I’d link to this article in Salon by Andrew O’Hehir entitled “Is Pope Francis a Fraud?” He makes some valid points about looking at each parish or archdiocese as distinct. He focuses on the recent purge by the Jesuits of their liberal coherts and the position of the new Pope in a church in turmoil.
But the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio emerges from a Jesuit order that has been largely purged of its independent-minded or left-leaning intellectuals, and his reputation at home in Latin America is decidedly mixed. While Francis seems to be an appealing personality in some ways — albeit one with a shadowy relationship with the former military dictatorship in Argentina, along with a record on gay rights that borders on hate speech — it’s difficult to imagine that he can or will do anything to arrest the church’s long slide into cultural irrelevance and neo-medieval isolation. His papacy, I suspect, comes near the end of a thousand-year history of the Vatican’s global rise to power, ambiguous flourishing and rapid decline. It also comes after 40 years of internal counterrevolution under the previous two popes, during which a group of hardcore right-wing cardinals have consolidated power in the Curia and stamped out nearly all traces of the 1960s liberal reform agenda of Pope John XXIII and Vatican II.A handful of intellectuals, both inside and outside the church, quietly believe that means Pope Francis isn’t a legitimate pope at all.
I can’t speak to any of those being a WASP turned WASB, but I thought I’d share it all the same since I read the article knowing the role of Popes and the church in history.
President Obama is set to nominate Tom Perez for Labor Secretary today.
Perez, 51, is the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division. If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Hilda Solis, who resigned in January.
The White House portrayed Perez as someone in line with Obama’s sense of social justice. An official lauded Perez for settling the nation’s three largest fair lending housing cases, boosting enforcement of human trafficking laws and protecting rights of veterans and students. He also led the Justice Department in challenging voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina.“Tom is a dedicated public servant who has spent his career fighting to keep the American dream within reach for hardworking middle class families and those striving to get into the middle class,” the White House official said.
I’d say that’s enough of me writing things. Now, it’s your turn. What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
We seem to exist in a culture of “celebrity” where even that tag is capable of filtering down to a high school football team that declares “star status”upon a kid whose claim to fame is how well he can pass, catch or throw a ball. Once you have managed to join that echelon bad behavior can be excused. We see it all the time.
What stands out for me is the lack of “fear” these kids exhibited throughout. Apparently they did not fear parents, school administrators, law enforcement or the shame that would be attributed to filming and chronicling their behavior in public. There did not seem to be any attempt to hide their transgressions with the seizure of thousands of text messages that went back and forth among classmates that eventually found their way into the trial itself.
This does not happen if there was any “fear” involved, just another night of “fun and games” where justification was sought along with a sense of entitlement.
I keep asking “where were the parents?” when homes were casually used, cars were available for transport, and booze was served without one adult being mentioned during this ordeal. These kids were 16 and 17 years old and the lack of supervision was paramount as these kids roamed the neighborhood well into the early hours of the morning.
It becomes pretty obvious after awhile that the values these kids have been raised with are among the missing. That much was on display when we were informed that this was a “town divided” by the reports rather than a wholesale outrage that it ever happened in the first place. .
I was gone for the weekend and missed the “uplifting” speeches delivered by the Clown Posse at C-PAC.
Apparently the “message” that came out of this annual hatefest is that “it’s not us” but everybody else who fails to see the benefit of the GOP platform and offerings.
Clint Eastwood must have been busy elsewhere but Quiterella was on view with her version of “comic relief” as I am hearing snippets of her ear splitting “screech speech” this morning which ramped up the volume for crowd appeal. Is this the best they can do? Really?
The irony was in the hypocrisy she manifested by delivering her standard complaint against Obama and his teleprompter while reading off one herself! WTF!
Why she still garners attention is beyond my comprehension. Her ignorance seems to increase with every appearance and she offers nothing more than the “same old, same old schtick” which doesn’t add up to more than a hill of beans.
The media needs to heed the actions of Fox News and cut her loose!
Snowbilly Snookie’s newest project is writing a children’s book about the War on xmas. Why does any one take her seriously?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/03/12/sarah-palins-war-on-christmas-book/
Take that all you other religions that celebrate other holidays during that part of the year that were around way before the romans stole Mithras’ birthday and turned it into xmas.
Very good morning read Dak.
And thanks for the piece on Bergoglio and the church. It all became obvious to those of us who remember Vatican II, John the XXIII and his attempts to drag the church into the modern world, that the SELECTION of RatZinger was a glaring and unmistakable outward sign of a church that was devolving and in serious decline. I feel badly for the practicing catholics I know because many of them are in denial, afraid to let go of the indoctrination and shake the dust of that tired old fraud off their boots. I have to remind myself that their fears are pushed from generation to generation and have been carefully cultivated by a 1000 year old church that has successfully linked “salvation”, “forgiveness” and the fear of “going to hell” to staying faithful to catholicism. Many folks just can’t or won’t let go or even attempt to see through it. Still, if it helps people get through the night, it’s as good as Lunesta and if you play it right, it doesn’t cost as much.
You are so on target with this analysis.
Catholics are taught to “fear” from the moment they draw their first breath. Babies are rushed to a baptismal font for fear that if they die beforehand they will never see Heaven.
We were taught that every thought, word and deed was being recorded somewhere and would be used as a “witness” in our final judgment in whether we would be allowed through the golden gates.
I know women who are still carrying guilt for using birth control during their fertile years. I know people who divorced and remarried still feeling the sting of guilt because they were denied the sacraments and broke church laws.
We were taught that we were “born in sin” and most spend the rest of our lives trying to overcome the stigma. A whole bunch of “hooey” designed to control the minds and hearts of people raised early on with the premise of “fear” as their guiding tool.
It’s what makes the whole thing so incredible.
“We were taught that every thought, word and deed was being recorded somewhere and would be used as a “witness” in our final judgment in whether we would be allowed through the golden gates.”
It’s what the nuns called our “Permanent Record”. 🙂
The first prayer I was taught as a child “now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take”. Because a 5 year old should be going to sleep at night worrying about dying and going to hell if they do. In my first confession, I asked for forgiveness for “talking back to my ancestors”. I remember the priest laughing and telling me that the word ancestors wasn’t the word I wanted to use. It took me a while to figure out that the word I needed was “elders”, because talking when you weren’t spoken to was a terrible “sin” that would take you right on down to hell. I’m surprised we didn’t end up in padded cells from all the fears and threats inflicted upon on our innocent, pure child minds.
the second prayer I learned
” angel of god, my guardian dear, to whom god’s love, commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule and guide, amen.”
Even that prayer teaches fear and obedience.
Now I lay me down to sleep…that prayer added to my nighttime fear and terrors when I was little. The permanaent record – I think there’s something similar in Buddhism, only more encompassing, called the akashic record.
I can still remember being 6 or 7 years old and agonizing about whether something I did was a “mortal sin” or a “venial sin.” It was agonizing. The worst thing I did at this age was probably tell a lie or talk back to my parents.
Mouse, my first confession was a joke. I never felt like I fighting with my sisters or brother or talking back to my mother was a sin – it was a normal part of being stuck in a small house with a whole lot of people. So I made up a lie and then confessed to lying.
I never could believe, even at a young age, that babies were born sinful – so I just ignored it. I’m glad masses were said in Latin so I could daydream about anything without having English words interrupt my zoning out! And I’m very happy I went to public school – going to catechism once a week was enough brainwashing for me. I can’t imagine suffering through it daily for 12 years. I’d be in an institution by now – probably jail.
I also remember that “now I lay me down to sleep” prayer and thought it was stupid. My little eyeballs were were mostly locked in their upright position. In fact, I thought praying was stupid. None of it made any sense to me and I wasn’t about to make the time to try to understand it. I’d much rather commune with Nature – I could see, touch, hear, feel and taste that. God, not so much.
Delphyne…..That is impressive. You must have been a very strong willed child because you were a Free spirit and a Free Thinker from the get-go. I just bought into it because everyone I knew believed it. I think most of us had to fight the myths for a while before we could break free of them. I remember thinking that making the sign of the cross before prayer and after prayer was some sort of special signal to god that you were entering and leaving the prayer state, I guess you could describe it as “signing-in and signing-out” . I can remember trying to figure out whether or not I had signed-out after I would pray. I would obsess over it, especially at bedtime, so it couldn’t have been a good thing. It was all too confusing for my child mind. To bad I didn’t have a strong-willed friend like you, you could have led me out of the wilderness much sooner. 🙂
All your stories bring back so many memories for me. The priest labeled my mom a “free thinker” and I feel fortunate that when I came home one day from St. Joseph Parochial School…saying people who live in California have black marks on their hearts because they have too much fun…she took me out of that school and put me in a public school.
I have friends who are extremely devout Catholics, and there are many times when I hear that tone in their voices as they “excuse” the church from any wrong doing. One is even sending her son alone to Haiti next month with a Catholic charity. He is 15. I understand how noble it is to do something like that…but it is dangerous as hell over there. And he is a 15 year old boy. WTF?
OT, but Polito just reported that HRC stated that she supported gay marriage in a uTube blurb. I guess we knew that but it’s interesting how and that she state it.
It was pretty obvious she supported it, since she expanded health coverage and other benefits to LGBT employees at the State Department.
Dat a girl, Hil
Can you hear me yelling at Candy and Poppy on CNN?…………………….Are you two the hired clean up ladies, mopping up this violence, and rooting for the boys? Isn’t that wonderful, CNN and hires wash women to avert the violence, and focus on helping HIM (the criminals), better known as the good football players, and leave her stranded and standing all by herself.
You would think showing a little/lot of respect to the victim might help in bringing the awareness to people all over the world, not just here. What else can I say except fuck you Candy and Poppy.
Ditto.
I’m shocked that CNN hasn’t apologized or even responded to the criticism all over the internet. Unbelievable arrogance.
CNN is trying to attract so many interests these days it has to have huge meetings to figure out what impact the apology would have. Would the folks it’s trying to attract from Fox see this as opinion journalism with a liberal bias? The People magazine of the airwaves is a far cry from journalism these days.
Fuck CNN!
I just signed a petition regarding Candy’s employment with CNN……..get her out.
Capitalism, HUH!, what iizz it good for?
The Raw Story article is right on the money… (To borrow a pun.) and we do need more discussion like the WAPO commentary.
.
good god y’all, what izz it good for, absolutely nothin
Say it again y’all…
If you haven’t seen this yet, don’t miss it. The Onion posted this in 2011: Athlete Overcomes Rape.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zWLJZw9Ws-g
That’s really good!!
Ouch! Truth hurts some times, even from The Onion.
Blogger who broke the Steubenville rape story explains how she found the tweets from participants and their friends and saved them.
http://www.xojane.com/issues/steubenville-rape-verdict-alexandria-goddard
Here’s one to make you want to send Cheney, Rumsfeld and Dubya to the gallows:
MI6 and CIA were told before invasion that Iraq had no active WMD http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/18/panorama-iraq-fresh-wmd-claims …
I already wanted them in the gallows! This just makes it a little worse.
Did any of you see the twitter feed on this last night? Glenn Beck was sending out ecstatic tweets about it ,,,
History Channel responds to Satan-looking Obama: “HISTORY channel has the highest respect for President Obama…” http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/history-channels-satan-looks-a-lot-like-barack-obama …
I’m so glad I rarely watch TV. Why would anyone want to watch some show about the bible? Good grief!
BB, I heard or read that viewers complained that the Sodom and Gomorrah story didn’t call out Teh Gay in they way the viewers wanted or expected. I tuned in last night to see if I could catch the story, but when I turned it on it was past the Sodom and Gomorrah fable. I’m going to watch it out of curiosity.
Funny how folks don’t realize that gawd destroyed those cities because the people weren’t generous and merciful to the poor and it had nothing to do with sex. Also, if you read the description of Satan he was the light one and not jesus or the Israelites. Crazy ass white american xtians from those whacked churches will make up and believe anything they want to … don’t any of them actually read the entire bible or do they just select the verses they find that rationalizes their bigotries?
“or do they just select the verses they find that rationalizes their bigotries?”
That’s the right answer. They read those passages that either can be twisted to support their bigotry or the passages that do support their bigotry. The Soddom and Gomorrah fable is one of those pretzel stories.
This is incredible. Adam Lanza had spreadsheets on his computer with the names of mass killers, the number of victims, weapons used, etc.
good grief … his mother must not have kept very good tabs on him.
The article said the guns she bought were probably straw purchases for him.
Why would she buy him guns?
I don’t know. I’m not sure how the cops would know that for sure either. But they did find photo of him all strapped up with weapons that were taken two years ago. He was apparently planning this for years.
I guess since she was a prepper she must’ve have feared the ATF more than her obviously troubled son.
One thing that gets me…is if he planned this massacre years and years ago, why pick an elementary school where the police dept is so close. Newtown PD is right at the driveway to the school.
That is just my observation.
good news via Charlie Pierce and SOD Hagel:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/chuck-hagel-missile-interceptors-031813?src=rss
Amanda Terkel @aterkel
Whoa. Fox News airs Steubenville rape victim’s name http://huff.to/Ykgsee
They used her first name when the convicted rapists said it in court. The funny thing is they didn’t use the names of the underage kids who testified for the defense.
Fuck Fox News!
And CNN to!
The Bank Of Cyprus’ Biggest Shareholder Is A Russian Oligarch With An Insane Real Estate Portfolio
In the late 1990s, he was accused of killing his business partner and served 11 months in jail.
Try this one on for size:
Jamie Dimon Told Regulators He Would Not Follow Regulations http://fdl.me/YLwHjM
Bank holiday in Cyprus extended till Thursday.
They’re worried about bank runs.
Then Jamie Dimon should be in jail!
This quote by HelenaHandbasket fits perfectly.
One year ago this week, the temperature was in the 80s here. This year, we’re expecting several inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.
I already ran out for groceries.
Be safe BB, this weekend was also the 20th anniversary of the storm of the century. Banjoville has bad weather coming our way too…
1993 Storm of the Century – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Just noticed huge storm cells are popping up in Alabama and Georgia… you take care!!
Yeah, the bad weather came and went, but our internet service is going in and out. I’ve also got both kids real sick, with 102 fevers. Blah…
It’s like 84 here. I surrendered and turned on the AC.
80s here but I have not surrendered to AC yet 🙂
Georgia House votes to allow guns in Churches and bars. How many shooting have we viewed done in Churches and Bars? What is wrong with these people?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/03/18/1732601/georgia-house-votes-to-allow-guns-in-bars-and-churches/?mobile=nc
Because the people who make and pass these laws go to churches where the alter is placed before a shitload of deer heads and the idiot giving the sermon says shit like this Science Committee Member Broun: Evolution, Embryology, Big Bang Are ‘Lies From the Pit of Hell’ – Little Green Footballs
J. Bradford Delong for Democracy Journal: Shrugging off Atlas: Issue #28: Exactly how did once-respectable conservative economists get swept up in “moocher class” mania?
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/03/j-bradford-delong-for-democracy-journal-shrugging-off-atlas.html
That was nicely done.
I tried to find out what he meant about the end of page 2, but I couldn’t find anything significant.
I’d like to write a book called a “A Nation of Parasites” where I put Jaimie Daimon and Mitt Romney right up there on the top, Then, all the insurance companies will be covered next.