Excited Delirium

Stories about Excited Delirium, the Shock Economy and a little fiction here and there.

Category Archives: The Corporation

Economics, Media and Mass Manipulation

I don’t recall where I got the link for this site, but the context of this article on Economics, Media and Mass Manipulation is riveting, despite the length.  It’s well worth the read, packed with data and the author accomplishes what they set out to do:  prove that change is coming, whether we like it or not.

The three pillars sustaining the American empire edifice of never ending war, ever accumulating debt and excessive consumerism are crumbling. The growing corruption and weight of un-payable debt have weakened the very foundation of our grand experiment. The existing structure will surely collapse. My entire adult life has tracked the decline of the American empire. I had become comfortably numb. I came to my senses and began to question all the Federal government/Wall Street/Corporate Media sponsored truths about eight years ago. Many others have also awoken and begun to challenge the false storylines dictated by those in power.

Yeah, right.  I can hear you now:  whispering about the pot-induced lyrics of Pink Floyd in context of ‘Comfortably Numb’, the chosen title of this piece, but it was this chart the reminded me that income opportunities, taxation and share of income is definitely not skewed in our favour:

superrich-graphs-motherjones

Every day we work, we lose money to inflation and taxation.  The cards are clearly stacked against us, but apparently things will be OK so long as we continue to inflate our debt, swap real assets for credit assets and keep track of what’s happening with ‘Dance with the Stars’.

What can I say?  Things are going to change.  If they don’t, things are going to change.

Occupy Santa Claus?

While there is an occupyxmas concept already put out there, will someone act on the idea of occupying Santa Claus parades?

It makes sense:

If done right, this visibility could be translated into very positive messages related to the occupy movement.  Those mainstream media types that typically slander and ‘poo poo’ those with a positive message about what occupy is all about may be forced to confront those positive messages as occupiers are broadcast to middle America.

Maybe have messages like ‘Make Gifts, Not War’, ‘Buy Local, Not From The North Pole’, and ‘Stop Shopping, Start Caroling’ to remind people that the ‘season’ is all about, peace, love and understanding and not about emptying your wallets for Wal-Mart, ToysRUs and other international conglomerates.

If we’re lucky, that message will translate to the millions of viewers that are about to spend the next 4 or 5 Saturdays in busy malls and force them to reconsider what Christmas should be all about.

The down side?  Unfortunately, there’s a huge risk that occupiers (or police removing occupiers) might act in poor taste or make threats to parade members or property.  This would destroy any positive currency that occupiers may have earned by looking out for the average ’99%er’ and will draw a LOT of criticism from people that can’t see past the commercialism of the annual events.

Make Them Pay

Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in the US research shows that nearly a third of 280 corporations surveyed didn’t pay taxes or even got a tax break.

More shocking with this news is that the corporations that were part of the survey – a mere fraction of the corporations in the US and Canada – received more than $223 billion in subsidies from various levels of US government.

All of this is proof that high corporate taxes are not the problem.

The more I read stuff like this, the more I want a simple tax system where there are NO deductions from income and a very reasonable and lower flat tax of, say, 10% on all activity.  This would solve a LOT of problems in most economies.

It would also put a lot of lawyers and lobbyists out on the street!

London Ontario: Home of the Intolerant

London, Ontario has done what no other city could do:  be the first city in Canada to boot Occupiers from public property.

What a shame.

The question that will be on everyone’s minds:  what’s next?

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure about the claim to occupy in this small south-western Ontario town, but the reality is this:  those that run the city keep pushing ahead with boondoggles that are going to (a) break the election promises of Joe Fontana and (b) keep wasting taxpayer dollars.

So, in answer to my own question, ‘what’s next’:  we have to continue to send the message that this kind of waste and crony capitalism is unacceptable.

Koch Konnections (aka “If They Can Do It, We Can Too!”)

The Koch Brothers.

What can I say about them?

Anyways, they have made a commitment to connect the 1% as thoroughly as possible with a view to ensuring that Americans and people elsewhere are constantly barraged with messages about libertarianism, anti-government sentiments and opposition to any kind of labour / union efforts.

So … if they can, why can’t ‘WE’?

What are WE doing to integrate our associations, affiliations, money flow, donations, charities and other efforts related to the progressive message in Canada, the US and elsewhere?  How are we presenting a unified front against these people who, ironically, look at solidarity as the model for their own survival?

What are WE doing to educate people everywhere about what the needs of all of us and not just those who can donate millions to political campaigns?

What are WE doing to protect ourselves?

Quebec Outbreak: High Rate of Measle Infection Despite Vaccinations

More than 50% of kids who got the measles in a recent Quebec outbreak (52 of 98) were vaccinated.

Meanwhile, we shove buckets of cash into vaccination programs without fully understanding the contents of these products and the budget implications of holding back on vaccinations.

It’s time we all started asking some serious questions about why we’re doing this to our kids.

Follow the Money Behind Europe’s Debt Crisis

This link offers an insightful look into the roots of the European debt crisis.

It offers some refreshing reminders as to why fake fiscal emergencies and resulting ‘austerity measures’ are nothing but a sham.

Worse, just as they did in 2008-09, governments are rushing to rescue rickety banks with public funds. That’s why the European Central Bank, the IMF and Europe’s leading powers keep bailing out ailing states like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Again: follow the money. When debt-strapped governments receive hundreds of billions in new loans, that money is immediately sent into the coffers of private banks as payments on past loans. The whole situation, observes one writer in the Financial Times, “resembles a pyramid or Ponzi scheme” in which original lenders are paid back with new loans.

The difference is that the new loans are coming from public funds, which is another way of saying that private banks are being rescued once more by the people. Just as in the global bank crisis of 2008-09, bank profits are private, but their losses are public. Not exactly the free market. But it’s a nice deal for profligate bankers.

Any finance minister – including Jim Flaherty – that pretends there are different and more pressing issues behind this building crisis risks their credibility as people wake up to the reality that the big transfer – shifting our funds to the big banks – has to come to a quick end.

It’s important that we all resist austerity measures – fake fiscal emergencies designed to crush public services and public service – in the wake of this knowledge.

70% Agree: Occupy Wall Street Reflects Their Concerns About Corporate Greed

70% of respondents to a FOX poll (yes, FOX, no less) agree that the Occupy Wall Street movement reflects their concerns that the United States economy and government is being undermined by excessive corporate greed.

Take the poll yourself.

And after you do that, remind everyone around you that it’s time for the corporate free ride to end.

Chris Hedges vs Kevin O’Leary

US intellectual and author Chris Hedges was invited to speak on the ‘Lang and O’Leary Report’ on the CBC and gets attacked the money junkie Kevin O’Leary as he tries to rationalize the roots behind the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The full transcript of this ‘discussion’ can be found at the Daily Bail.

Chris Hedges doesn’t ‘call’ Kevin O’Leary anything, whereas O’Leary instantly descends to typical Fox-like rabid name calling and character assassination in order to try to berate Hedges into submission.

It doesn’t work and in fact, fails miserably, reminding us that O’Leary is one of Canada’s biggest hypocrites.  I mean, he’s working for the CBC, right?  He’s collecting a paycheque from the public and constantly attacks public institutions.  He claims he’s into free markets, but when the world questions the ‘socialism for capitalists and capitalism for socialists’ mentality that has overtaken world governments, he thinks we’re all a bunch of nutcases.

Er … nutbars.

O’Leary should be fired from the CBC.

#occupywallstreet grows while MSM misses the message

A massive union in the US – the New York Transit Workers Union – has just voted to join the massive and growing protests related to #occupywallstreet in New York.

This after there were voices saying that the NYPD may stop the violent arrests of protesters as the anti-Wall Street movement grows.

I’ve seen a few comments about the #occupywallstreet campaign, but the most obvious effort has been with Keith Olbermann, who of course, has been the only ‘mainstreamer’ to comment on the lack of commentary on the situation:


What do you think?

Is the protest being ignored?