The End of Empire

Jan 12

killermikegto:

From 2dopeboyz
In episode two of Killer Mike and Trackstar’s Educated Villains podcast, Mike speaks on his successful 2012, shares highlights from the Coachella Cruise, including freestyling on DJ Z-Trip’s set as the Mayan calendar didn’t kill us all and El-P being called racist for refusing to buy Bahamian trinkets. On the music side of things, they premiere Killer Mike’s freeverse over Trinidad James “All Gold Everything,” and play other tunes from the likes of Royce Da 5’9″, Raekwon, ScHoolboy Q, Action Bronson and more.

So, I was just listening to Smiley & West. This is a whole ‘nother level of radical podcast. Lemme try this out…

From 2dopeboyz

In episode two of Killer Mike and Trackstar’s Educated Villains podcast, Mike speaks on his successful 2012, shares highlights from the Coachella Cruise, including freestyling on DJ Z-Trip’s set as the Mayan calendar didn’t kill us all and El-P being called racist for refusing to buy Bahamian trinkets. On the music side of things, they premiere Killer Mike’s freeverse over Trinidad James “All Gold Everything,” and play other tunes from the likes of Royce Da 5’9″, Raekwon, ScHoolboy Q, Action Bronson and more.

So, I was just listening to Smiley & West. This is a whole ‘nother level of radical podcast. Lemme try this out…

“Students don’t get interest free loans the way investment bankers do.” Cornell West, on the crippling student debt situation

Heard on the Smiley & West podcast

Jan 6

nice expanded pyramid of capitalism from CrimethInc.

Somebody give me their book “Work” for Christmas

Ironically, looks like their book had some printing troubles, and the binding of the book comes undone quite easily. Cue multiple puns regarding shoddy ”work” done on a pro-labor group. Wonder who did their publishing…

Dec 16

“LG Electronics guarantees employees’ basic labor rights including freedom to associate and right to negotiate. It is highly praised for its fine labor-management relationship based on the labor union’s fulfillment of social responsibilities and future-oriented Win-Win Labor Relations.”

-LG Corporate Social Responsibility document

Subtext: “We make profits, and give you wages! See!? Win-Win”

I don’t like this game…

Dec 11

“Fascism, Bolshevism and Corporatism are the three kinds of totalitarianism that emerged in the 20th century and they have rather similar roots: their roots are in neo-Hegelian ideas about the organic centuries of entities over and above and individuals”

Noam Chomsky

(via scientartist)

I had previously said that this might not be a Chomsky quote. Finding some things now that make it seem like he either did say this somewhere, or it’s a distillation of something that exists, like this quote:

These radical changes in the conception of human rights and democracy were not introduced primarily by legislation, but by judicial decisions and intellectual commentary. Corporations, which previously had been considered artificial entities with no rights, were accorded all the rights of persons, and far more, since they are “immortal persons,” and “persons” of extraordinary wealth and power. Furthermore, they were no longer bound to the specific purposes designated by State charter, but could act as they chose, with few constraints. The intellectual backgrounds for granting such extraordinary rights to “collectivist legal entities” lie in neo-Hegelian doctrines that also underlie Bolshevism and fascism: the idea that organic entities have rights over and above those of persons. Conservative legal scholars bitterly opposed these innovations, recognizing that they undermine the traditional idea that rights inhere in individuals, and undermine market principles as well.[17] But the new forms of authoritarian rule were institutionalized, and along with them, the legitimation of wage labor, which was considered hardly better than slavery in mainstream American thought through much of the 19th century, not only by the rising labor movement but also by such figures as Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party, and the establishment media.

found here

(via paintingarevolution)

Dec 8

jodiddley:

Anti Fascist MMA tournament in Russia, I think.

Yeah, here’s their facebook page

“It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.” Preamble to IWW Constitution

Dec 5

damn straight

(via rigohc)

Dec 4

MIT Gangnam Style

WHAT? “CHOMSKY-STYLE”??

…that’s just…

noooo

Dec 3

jakke:

Oh hey so right now in the US corporate profits (as a share of GDP; the red line) are at an all-time high while wages (as a share of GDP; the blue line) are at an all-time low. There’s never been this much divergence between returns to labour and capital.

Part of this is probably because the Federal Reserve is trying to stimulate the economy by subsidizing capital at an unprecedented scale. And part of it can probably be attributed to minimum wages being eroded by inflation, especially at the bottom of the scale. But most of what’s going on here is a long-term structural change to the economy driven by changes in technology. As automation improves, workers increatsingly need to compete with machines capable of doing their job better and more cheaply. And the returns from the machines go to the owners (and a relatively small number of technical staff).

Not sure what the right policy response is here. Obviously it wouldn’t make sense to ban automation. But at the same time this is leads to a pretty untenable situation over the long run where almost everyone’s standard of living steadily decreases even as total economic output continues to grow. And it doesn’t really make sense to assume that everyone can end up a wealthy investor or a technician for new automated systems.

Excellent post, and good question on the policy response.

hmmm, let me see…
Got it!

1) ax management

2) workers control of industry*

3) democratic control of the investment of the social surplus

…just a policy fantasy :)

…but seriously, ax ‘em

*sure, I guess people can hire a Harvard grad if they want, to keep the books in the basement or whatever…

The End of Empire

Dismantle oppression. Deepen democracy. Destroy tyranny.