NotesWarren rejects the concept that it is possible for Americans to become wealthy in isolation.
"You built a factory out there? Good for you," she says. "But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did."
She continues: "Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."FeedUnfurl
NotesIf, as Marx argued, capital is dead labor, then the products of large language models might best be understood as dead speech. Just as factory workers produce, with their âliving labor,â machines and other forms of physical capital that are then used, as âdead labor,â to produce more physical commodities, so human expressions of thought and creativityââliving speechâ in the forms of writing, art, photography, and musicâbecome raw materials used to produce âdead speechâ in those same forms. LLMs, to continue with Marxâs horror-story metaphor, feed âvampire-likeâ on human culture. Without our words and pictures and songs, they would cease to function. They would become as silent as a corpse in a casket.FeedUnfurl
NotesThe title of this blog post is at least a little sarcastic, but I think is an honest to goodness truth: If you want to build a future that involves beautiful systems like Smalltalk, you must first rebuild the economic environment wherein it could be built. Wherein it could succeed! These systems idealized in lamentations at SPLASH all seem to me to be products of economic surplus combined with the right people. We need an economy that has surpluses around for people to do explorations. FeedUnfurl
NotesBarring a civilization-ending event, technology is not going to move backward. More and more of our world will be controlled by software. Itâs already become so ubiquitous that, argues one of my colleagues, itâs now ridiculous to call some firms as âtechâ companies when all companies depend on it so much.FeedUnfurl
NotesIt really is that simple. The nation's roads, bridges, electrical grid, water systems, national parksâthe whole infrastructureâis crumbling. At the same time unemployment remains persistently high. Put people to work fixing the stuff that's broken. It's not rocket science.
It would be that simple, except for a Republican Party that won't do what's best for the country, won't attempt to fix these things because fixing these things might help reelect President Obama and Democrats in Congress. Furthermore, making the country work proves that government works, and Republicans want none of that.Unfurl
NotesOne reason the unemployment rate may have remained persistently high: The sharp cuts in state and local government spending in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and the layoffs those cuts wrought.Unfurl
Notes So yes, debt matters. But right now, other things matter more. We need more, not less, government spending to get us out of our unemployment trap. And the wrongheaded, ill-informed obsession with debt is standing in the way. Unfurl
NotesBut whether John McCain or House Republicans have done or are doing more damage to the Republican Party isn't something that most people care about. What they care about is making sure that Congress doesn't raise their taxes while the economy is still in recovery. And if Republicans cared more about that, we wouldn't be facing this stalemate now. The American public would be better off, and so would the GOP.Unfurl
NotesThe six children of Walmart's founders, Sam and James "Bud" Walton, had the same net worth in 2007 as the entire bottom 30 percent of American earners, according to an analysis from Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist at University of California-Berkeley's Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics. Unfurl
NotesMoney talks, but not loud enough for the 99%. By circulating dollar bills stamped with fact-based infographics, Occupy George informs the public of America's daunting economic disparity one bill at a time. Because money knowledge is power.Unfurl
NotesFor too long, we over-invested in the wrong places. Those retail centers and subdivisions will never be worth what they cost to build. We have to stop throwing good money after bad. It is time to instead build what the market wants: mixed-income, walkable cities and suburbs that will support the knowledge economy, promote environmental sustainability and create jobs.Unfurl
NotesIf we know anything about the recent income and accumulated assets of the now notorious 1%, it is that much of this wealth, by any rational standard, is undeserved. This applies especially to the Wall Street bankers who looted the global economy with sleazy tactics and, sadly, also with impunity.
That is why, if I was the editor in charge of any news organisation, I would flatly ban the use of the word "earned", when "profited" or "made" (as in money) would be much more accurate, or at least neutral. I would not try to say who "deserved" profits; only that profits were made.Unfurl
NotesNo, both sides aren't to blame for failure. That goes entirely to the Republicans. Maybe we should actually be giving credit to them for their refusal to accept the gutted sacred cows Democrats offered up on a silver platter. At this point you almost have to be grateful to Grover Norquist for keeping the Republicans in line and saving entitlement programs, this round.Unfurl
NotesThe Great Recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably just beginning. Before it ends, it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. It will leave an indelible imprint on many blue-collar men. It could cripple marriage as an institution in many communities. It may already be plunging many inner cities into a despair not seen for decades. Ultimately, it is likely to warp our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years to come.FeedUnfurl
Notes
The New York law firm Steven J. Baum P.C., which specialized in mortgage foreclosures, announced that it would close today, less than a month after the New York Times published photos of its employees dressed as homeless people for Halloween, in a twist too absurd for 30 Rock. "Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices," said Baum in a statement. Last week, following Times columnist Joe Nocera's publication of the offensive pictures from the company's Halloween party last year, Nocera received an angry e-mail from Baum: "Mr. Nocera â You have destroyed everything and everyone related to Steven J. Baum PC. It took 40 years to build this firm and three weeks to tear down." Our sympathy receptors must be broken today.Unfurl
Notes The jobs of 1,000 city employees in Detroit, or about 9 percent of that cityâs public work force, will be eliminated early next year, Mayor Dave Bing announced on Friday, adding new, painful details to his plan to save the city from running out of money. Unfurl
Notes$16,000,000,000,000.00 had been secretly given out to US banks and corporations and foreign banks everywhere from France to Scotland. From the period between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve had secretly bailed out many of the worldâs banks, corporations, and governments. The Federal Reserve likes to refer to these secret bailouts as an all-inclusive loan program, but virtually none of the money has been returned and it was loaned out at 0% interest. Why the Federal Reserve had never been public about this or even informed the United States Congress about the $16 trillion dollar bailout is obvious - the American public would have been outraged to find out that the Federal Reserve bailed out foreign banks while Americans were struggling to find jobs.Unfurl
Notes Mother Nature might be on the side of Giuliano and his cohorts. At the exact moment that rare beans are becoming all the rage, all beans are becoming rarer. The price of a cup of coffeeâwhether it be a $6 pour-over, a $2.50 dark roast at Starbucks, or a $1.50 mug of diner swillâis being driven up by a complex combination of weather events, pest and fungus outbreaks, speculation on commodities exchanges, an unstable labor market in the developing world, and an unprecedented thirst for good coffee among a growing global middle class. The problem, in simple economic terms, is that supply has gone down and demand has gone up.Unfurl
Notes Imagine a mother going to Wal-Mart on Oct. 17 and buying $100 worth of Christmas toys. She makes a down payment of $10 and pays a $5 service fee. Over the next two months she pays off the rest. In effect, she is paying $5 in interest for a $90 loan for two months: the equivalent of a credit card with a 44 percent annual percentage rate, a level most of us would consider predatory.
FeedUnfurl
NotesHouse Republicans donât have time to address the jobs crisis, but they do have time for proposed constitutional amendments that would make the jobs crisis worse.Unfurl
Notes This afternoon the House will vote on another pointless, partisan, finger-pointing bill, but at least this one doesn't directly attack women, so there's that. Today it's the Balanced Budget Amendment, just about the worst idea for the economy as a whole they could come up with. Really. Unfurl
NotesImagine a car thief who, when caught driving a stolen Lexus, tells the police he simply stepped into the wrong car and drove off by mistake. Now imagine he tells the same story when, two years later, heâs caught screaming over the GW bridge in a stolen Mercedes.Unfurl
Notes What would banking look like if bonuses were eliminated? It would not be too different from what it was like when I was a bank intern in the 1980s, before the wave of deregulation that culminated in the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that had separated investment and commercial banking. Before then, bankers and lenders were boring âlifers.â Banking was bland and predictable; the chairmanâs income was less than that of todayâs junior trader. Investment banks, which paid bonuses and werenât allowed to lend, were partnerships with skin in the game, not gamblers playing with other peopleâs money. Unfurl
NotesYou know what, Mitch? If you don't want to look "intransigent" ... then don't be intransigent! If you don't want to look like you're sabotaging the economy ... then don't sabotage the economy! And if you think rejecting the jobs bill makes you look bad ... then don't reject it!Unfurl
NotesFreshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) is known for his anti-Obama rhetoric on cable television and his inability to pay his child support payments. But during a recent meeting with constituents in his Chicago-area suburban district, Walsh lost his cool when several attendees asked about why banks have so much power in government. At one point, Walsh even threatened to eject a man who asked Walsh about the revolving door of bank lobbyists infiltrating Congress and financial regulatory agencies. Unfurl
NotesWhat we're seeing here is another piece of evidence that Republicans are more committedâmuch more committedâto opposing Barack Obama than to doing even the most basic, routine things to keep the economy going and keep bridges from collapsing under us. Filibusters like this are exactly why 50 percent of people believe Republicans are intentionally sabotaging the economy. (And, of course, Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson are joining them.)Unfurl
NotesIn many respects, austerity feeds on itself. If the country needs to invest in education and rebuilding infrastructure to regain competitiveness, as many economists of varying ideological stripes argue, those initiatives are in large part precluded in a political environment that places top priority on deficit and debt reduction. Retrenchment, in effect, becomes a noose, choking off prospects for growth.EmbedUnfurl
NotesTheyâre fighting you, winning big-time, and youâre the loser. Itâs just one generation since conservatives put Reagan in office: In those three short decades the income and wealth of the top 1% has tripled while the income of the bottom 99% of all Americans has stagnated or dropped.
...
Yes, folks, America really is under attack daily. We are fighting on the defense in an historic class warfare. Yes, the Rich Class really did start this war. And yes, they really are winning, big-time. And yes, they are addicted to winning at all costs, to get richer and richer just for the sake of getting richer and richer. Unfurl
NotesThe debate over spending among Republicans in Congress has become so intense that one Senate Republican leader has started wearing a flak jacket to meetings.Unfurl
NotesThinkProgress:Michigan City Removes Streetlights In Desperate Budget Cut â States and cities around the country have desperately slashed spending in the face of record budget deficits, including unpaving roads, shrinking schools, closing libraries, and even a failed attempt to decriminalize ...FeedUnfurl
NotesRosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:Senate blocks $60 billion infrastructure plan, another part of Obama jobs bill â The Senate shot down another piece of President Obama's $447 billion jobs bill Thursday, as a stalemated Congress goes through the motions of attempting legislation to spur...FeedUnfurl
NotesTwo-thirds of likely Iowa Republican caucus goers earning less than $50,000 a year believe they personally would be better off or in the same situation under Herman Cainâs 9-9-9 tax plan, The Des Moines Registerâs new Iowa Poll shows.
Research-group reviews of the plan have found that most families making $100,000 or less would pay thousands of dollars more each year.Unfurl
Notes Many in the tech industry believe the Chamber is doing the bidding of Hollywood and other deep-pocketed members of the content industry. The Chamber believes the IP bills are needed to stop rogue sites from profiting off the content its members spend millions making.Unfurl
Notes Nancy Cordes / CBS News:Boehner: Debt deal will include new tax revenues â House Speaker John Boehner addressed one of the biggest sticking points for the 12 member Congressional âsupercommitteeâ today, acknowledging that any bipartisan agreement will need to include some new tax revenue.FeedUnfurl
Notes"Everybody believes we have infrastructure deficiencies and more needs to be spent to repair, replace and in some cases build new infrastructure," Boehner said in a speech. "The problem is nobody wants to pay for it."Unfurl
Notes Today, the Senate is talking about whether they should vote to debate a jobs bill. Another Republican filibuster looms, in which the Republican Senate won't even vote to allow the Senate to debate and vote on doing a little something to try to save this economy. In this madness, Democratic leadership hopes to at the very least shame Republicans and possibly get a few of them to peel off from the Republican agenda of wrecking everything in sight and stealing all the rest. Unfurl
NotesIn a letter to Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and 182 other House Democrats signaled that including controversial policy provisions known as riders could again risk a government shutdown, and the lawmakers demanded that those measures be removed.Unfurl
NotesA favorite conservative pastime since the financial crisis of 2008 struck is to try and deflect blame away from Wall Street and its excesses and onto Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and government housing policy. No matter how many times the theory that the government mortgage giants caused the crisis gets debunked, it keeps on coming back to life.Unfurl
NotesVia Crooks & Liars we learn that Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan is âincensedâ about all the pressure being brought to bear on his bank and its shady practices. In other words, what Moynihan is saying is: âThe pressure is working. Keep it up.âUnfurl
Notes"Senate hopeful Sue Lowdenâs plan for Healthcare reform is to barter chickens for medical procedures. But you may be unsure how many chickens are required for your medical care. This handy calculator converts many common procedures into chickens so you wonât look like an idiot at your next Doctorâs Appointment. "Unfurl
Notes"With jaw-dropping, surreal, outrageous, unbelievable hypocrisy probably never before matched in scope and breadth, by the first week of March 2009, just over one month into the Obama presidency, Republicans were blaming Obama for the dire economic news. For eight years under Bush any bad news was Clinton's fault; just one month into Obama's presidency, Bush was innocent of all blame. We do not have a vocabulary that can capture the deep absurdity of this assault on reason."Unfurl
Elizabeth Warren: "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own" - CBS News
Dead Labor, Dead Speech - by Nicholas Carr
How the internet is making us poor â Quartz
Daily Kos: Elizabeth Warren: 'Why arenât we rebuilding America?'
Daily Kos: John McCain is worried House Republicans are making the entire Republican Party look bad
Walmart Heirs Worth Same Amount As Bottom 30 Percent Of Americans In 2007: Analysis
Occupy George
Occupy language: the struggle over meaning | Dan Gillmor | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America - Magazine - The Atlantic
Homeless-Mocking Foreclosure Firm Shutting Down -- Daily Intel
The Silver Bear Cafe
The End of Cheap Coffee: Why the Diner Staple Is About to Become a Luxury - Lifestyle - GOOD
Is Layaway Ever a Good Idea?
The Politics of Austerity - NYTimes.com
memeorandum: Michigan City Removes Streetlights In Desperate Budget Cut (ThinkProgress)
memeorandum: Senate blocks $60 billion infrastructure plan, another part of Obama jobs bill (Rosalind S. Helderman/Washington Post)
Top US foreclosure law firm threw Halloween party where staff dressed as homeless, foreclosed-upon Americans - Boing Boing
jr conlin's ink stained banana » Calling Bullshit on the Bullshit Calling
Emptyage â Generation X Doesn't Want to Hear It