Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 498 Editor's Choice: 43
-
Capital tends towards finance
[Read the article: Why capitalism, like nature, is beyond good and evil]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Andrew is trying to cut the baby in half to 'save' it. Keep on trying, Andrew.
Imperialism develops an overweening finance side as it develops. In the 1970s and 80s the U.S. government and business both consciously decided to gut our productive sector. I got laid off so many times I went into white collar work, in the ... securities industry. Of course the securities industry is just part of finance capital, and the most lucrative and volatile part. At least I have a job now.
All the blue collar jobs went to Mexico, then China, and that was the plan. It devastated the union movement, weakened the Democratic Party, and has underminded the health and wages of every worker in the United States.
Capitalism is no more natural than feudalism or any other economic form. It has a birth, a youth, a mid-life, and an aging process. We are right now in the aging process, especially world wide. Finance and production cannot be separated. But one is primary. A banker would only be a naked man living in a hole, walking around with a stick, hungry, if people didn't make his clothes for him, build his houses for him, make his cars for him, and grow food for him. The computers these people use to make money were soldered by some lowly worker in China.
These 'lords of the world' can't make anything until the productive sector has provided a platform for their finance. Then they move cash from one pocket to another, creating nothing of tangible value. And they think this kind of speculation is new...
-
Treatment of Animals
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Vick just confirms that too many pro football players, and too many college players, are thugs. Well, look at football. It is a thug game, even when we like it.
Hanging, beating to death, shooting and electrocuting dogs is thug behavior too. It has nothing to do with 'rural' or 'rap' or being black or anything. King should stop being a guilty liberal.
Why are animals treated so badly by some people? Well, we live in a world where some people think they are the 'king' of the beasts. And they are.
-
Shia v Sunni
[Read the article: Carl Levin reveals the Democrats' Iraq "strategy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Excellent article. The reasons for getting out of Iraq get bigger the closer that adventure puts us to attacking Iran, Syria, etc. (Bloodbath indeed.)
The Democrats were forced to timidly oppose the war by the population. Now they are reverting to bourgeois form as the 2006 election fades to the background. Typical.
Unfortunately, big protest demos don't stop wars. And incredible pressure at home, not necessarily in protest marches, might help stop wars. But soldiers do stop wars. This war was carefully constructed without a draft so that professional soldiers (the standing army so feared by our founders...) and the ex soliders in the National Guard are all that is on the field. (Other than 100,000 paid mercenaries (Hessians) and contractors...)
Do we need to hit the streets? Yes, but perhaps in a more angry way. Another peace parade will only be marginally sucessful at rousing the sleeping Democrats from their slumbers.
And when bombers hit Iran, what do you think the Shia in Iraq will do? The war there will turn, and the U.S. will be facing the fake government and the Shia militias, as they play the "Sunni" card, which is what they seem to be doing... Perhaps Hussein will rise from the dead to help the U.S...
-
Economic power
[Read the article: Seizing American supremacy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, Troll, after WWII, we did not give money to all our 'allies' - we gave money to everyone but the USSR so that we could stop the electoral victories of Communist Parties in Italy, France, Greece, etc. And we gave money to Japan so we could control it completely for years - economically, politically and militarily.
It was definately in our own self interest, as it created a dependence in Europe/Japan on the U.S. And always accompanying our economic muscle is our military muscle, as we based thousands of troops there for years, and still do. Much like the Roman Empire, we have hardened 'forts' - bases - all over the globe. Even on Cuba. Even in the former Yugoslavia. That is what will remain in Iraq, as we will never pull out unless we are thrown out.
If you subtract the military component of the U.S. economy, the EU is a bigger economy. Looking at the productive economy only, i.e. 'making things' that are not CDOs and other financial vehicles, China is one of the biggest powerhouses in the world, with the biggest working class. Europe/the EU also produce more stuff... Our economy is now dominated by finance instruments, not making 'stuff'.
Look down the road and you will see U.S. dominance is based on oil/gas. Well, oil/gas has now reached a 'peak' and that whole relationship, since whale oil in the early years, is ending.
Add it up, Troll. Everyone else in the world is.
-
Chertoff?
[Read the article: The dismal legacy of Bush's top yes man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nice article. Rule of law, not men, good idea!
Then you follow it with a warm endorsement of Chertoff. Chertoff is another Bush crony and is not independent. The job he did at Homeland security is very questionable. And of course you can read the Salon lead today about his possible lying about Guantanamo.
By the way Johnson&JOhnson, was your letter generated by a 'big word' computer program that has not mastered syntax? It reads like some Republican troll 'spam' meant to be inserted in blogs ... and besides being almost inarticulate, fails to cite any facts or even interesting ideas.
We need someone who can represent the consitution. Being a former attorney is not good enough.