The Activist Motivator
Cromag
San Jose, CA
United States
Profile Information:
- What Motivates You to Activism?
- I hate corruption, and unethical activity; like how people in corporations or government work to circumvent or even change laws with masses of money, and then use PR campaigns to misdirect their actions. I also dislike the disinformation and conjecture in journalism so you will find that I add respectable facts and sources to support my assertions, and I hope you do the same. Let's hold each other accountable. I want a democratic republic that does not cause suffering and is fair for all citizens. I am pro-business, education for all, and pro government-transparency. My lens is currently on the ruling class; elitism vs. pluralism. -see my random thoughts below.
Cromag
Jun 3, 2009
Cromag
Jun 3, 2009
Cromag
Jun 3, 2009
Cromag
Is the US Lobby system a form of authorized bribery?
The Lobby System disenfranchises all citizens by allowing corporations to essentially write or re-write favorable legislature.
Is this corruption? State Capture by powerful oligopolies?
Antitrust laws have been severely weakened by these oligopolies monopolistic tactics and by the strength of perpetual corporate immortality and its rights as citizen.
President Obama must follow through on his promise to reform (remove) the Lobby System that legitimizes corruption and undermines democracy world-wide.
http://is.gd/Nt1V
Jun 3, 2009
Cromag
by Lynn A. Stout, UCLA School of Law, on Friday June 5, 2009 at 9:45 am
The US Congress is currently grappling with the issue of whether and how to regulate the market for financial derivatives. In my testimony before the Senate Committee on Agriculture yesterday (for historical reasons, the Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over derivatives trading), I explored the theory and history of derivatives and derivatives trading. The full text of my testimony is available here.
My analysis leads to four conclusions. First, despite industry claims, derivatives contracts are not new and are not particularly “innovative.” Derivatives trading in the US dates back at least to the 1800s, and in other countries goes back much further. Second, healthy economies regulate derivatives trading. The only time a significant US derivatives market has been “deregulated” was during the eight years following passage of the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which deregulated over-the-counter financial derivatives. Third, although the derivatives industry routinely claims that derivatives trading provides social benefits, virtually no empirical evidence supports this claim. At the same time, history and recent experience both confirm that unregulated derivatives trading is associated with pricing bubbles, added market risk, reduced investor returns, and increased fraud and manipulation.
Fourth and finally, as a historical matter derivatives regulation generally has not taken the form of either a heavy-handed ban on trading, or oversight by an omniscient regulator tasked with intervening on an ad hoc basis. Rather, derivatives markets have been successfully regulated through a web of ex ante procedural rules that include reporting requirements, listing requirements, margin requirements, position limits, insurable interest exceptions, and limits on enforceability. This traditional approach has a long track record of success.
http://is.gd/POyE
Jun 5, 2009
Cromag
Thirteenth century transformation; two hundred years later - the Renaissance; two hundred years later - the political transformation that started in 1776 (birth of the modern "ism's": capitalism, communism; emergence of the industrial revolution); today we are in the middle of a transformation.
Sep 2, 2009
Cromag
Sep 9, 2009
Cromag
Sep 11, 2009
Harold Hellickson
When Ralph Nader says, "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us", we're in deep deep
dooie. It just won't happen. Yeah, I know it's a piece of fiction. Yeah,
I know he seeks to motivate Warren Buffett and/or others of his ilk but, at
least in my view, sadly, Ralph's effort to motivate these people will be as
successful as has been his bids for the Presidency.
From a new blog:
".. with China cutting back on the purchase of Treasury Securities,
.. with the prospects for the newly elected opposition party in Japan to do
the same,
.. with oil producing-exporting nations beginning to sell in currencies
other than the dollar,
the FED will need to do more to finance U.S. budget deficits and growth in
national debt.
That will further stress the dollar to the point of financial meltdown. The
future date of hyperinflation and collapse of the dollar as the world's
reserve currency is unclear, but certain."
I'm quite certain that it will take such a catastrophic event to move "we
the people" to some form of collective action: With the loss of our
manufacturing base, little oil, limited transportation, lack of fertilizer,
et al, we will be looking at an implosion that may give rise to new
leadership and a movement towards a more egalitarian society and a new
constitution protecting us from the excesses that our current constitution
permit. In the interim following a complete societal collapse, however,
there will be enormous chaos including most probably a military takeover of
Government.
So, at the moment, I await such a new movement lead by new leadership.
The long and short of my current thinking is to join the ranks of the
apathetic passive dissenters. That will put me with the majority of
Americans I guess. The "active concern" amongst Americans just has to be
the lowest by far of any industrialized nation.
I lack Nader's stamina. Maybe I will try and start a movement to replace
the American Eagle with an Ostrich with Its Head in the Sand
Harold
Sep 23, 2009
Harold Hellickson
Sep 24, 2009
Harold Hellickson
The good news is that their supreme confidence is approaching that of "over confidence" which, indeed, inevitably leads to failure
All duopoly political candidates, well before primary elections are held, are vetted by the Plutocrats and both sides are financially supported by them. Obama is no more his own man than have been his predecessors, including Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, Carter, or Reagan, et al, just puppets dancing to the tune of their Plutocrat puppeteers.
To my knowledge, only Clinton was honest enough to admit it when he said, “By the time you become the leader of a country, someone else makes all the decisions. You may find you can get away with Virtual Presidents, Virtual Prime Ministers, and Virtual Everything.
And to understand the Plutocrat puppeteers do not play the game on our behalf, he also stated, "We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans".
We will all suffer through the pain of failure. Hopefully there will be a Phoenix.
Sep 24, 2009
Cromag
Luigi (the father) says to his son: "I want you to marry a girl of my choice."
Son says: "I will choose my own bride!!!"
Luigi says: "But the girl is Bill Gates' daughter..."
Son answers: "Well, in that case...ok."
Next Luigi approaches Bill Gates and says: "I have a husband for your daughter..."
Bill Gates answers: "But my daughter is too young to marry!!"
Luigi says: "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank..."
Bill Gates answers: "Ah, in that case, ok."
Finally Luigi goes to see the president of the World Bank.
Luigi says: 'I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."
President answers: "But I already have more vice-presidents than I need!"
Luigi says: "But this young man is Bill Gates' son-in-law..."
President answers: "Ah, in that case, ok.'’
And that is how Italians do business.
Nov 3, 2009
Cromag
Nov 11, 2009
Cromag
Nov 12, 2009
Cromag
Many people seem to [mistakingly] believe that college education irrespective of the actual college places them on a par with Ivy League graduates...
...economic development will not swell the ranks of the upper classes, but just create richer proles and lower-middle class people. While some people may think that because they are rich they are upper class, virtually no one else is fooled... If we look at the people who benefitted the most from the bubble economy of the 90s (such as software experts, web designers, internet enterpreneurs, telemarketers, singers and dancers and sport idols), we will see that most of them don't even try to appear upper class by wearing Armani or Ralph Lauren clothes, driving Bentleys, taking up polo or hunting or buying a yacht. They are just happy to live it up, and don't much care to be seen as upwardly mobile...
...In the US many people seem to think that money grants class. That is largely self-deception. As Fussell says, it takes at least three generations to produce a middle class person, and many more to produce an upper class one. Readers, do not berate the messenger for the message. To paraphrase Goldwater, "in your hearts you know he's right".
Nov 14, 2009
Cromag
Nov 19, 2009
Cromag
Though I sincerely sympathize with his passionate plea, I can’t help but say, “what have you been thinking over the past decades?” The indentured servitude of the U.S. citizen for the globalization of elitist power has been foretold and taught in schools for decades.
By design, our democracy has not been an illusion as stated, but rather a system of requests from the represented upon the elitist republic. Obama is no less a figure-head than Bush, Reagan or Geitner for that matter. Short of becoming an elite, options are limited to joining them as henchman among upper social stratification, or living in relative squalor and indignation.
The relevant battles are waged among the elite, and if you want to make a difference for the masses, you need to make great sacrifices by moving your life in that direction, if you hope to influence policy. Though I am not a betting man I would wager that you would have a change of heart, for the direction of policy, once you clawed your way into the ranks of the elite battlefield.
The ruling class have always ruled like this, and your well meaning, impassioned plea will never effect meaningful change even if it was followed through. There is little possibility of consensus or rabble uproar given that the ruling class have structured a perfect 50% political division among the masses, (through misdirection) as evidenced by close margins of recent federal elections –obfuscated by a partisan illusion of choice. The ignorance as to the workings of a democratic republic are a disorganizing problem for the masses, while at the same time being the social Darwinist strength for the upper level meritocracy.
Nov 28, 2009
Cromag
Dec 12, 2009
Cromag
Are you falling victim to using activism as a pacifying release or using your discontent to drive the solutions of change?
Mar 5, 2010
Cromag
Mar 6, 2010
Cromag
“Even if the masses were to shed their ignorance and apathy and turn to political action we believe the result would be intolerance rather than compassion, racism rather than brotherhood, authoritarianism rather than democracy.”
“Elections are designed primarily to convince the masses that the government is legitimate.”
“Elites not masses govern all societies. All societies are governed by elites.” -social-stratification
“All societies require leaders and leaders acquire a stake in preserving the organization and their position in it, this motive gives leaders a perspective different from that of the organization’s members.” -rationalizing their views/actions
“Elites control resources, power, wealth, education. Elites in the United States are drawn disproportionately from wealthy, educated, prestigiously employed, socially prominent, white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant elements of society.”
“Only those non elites who have demonstrated their commitment to the elite system itself and to the systems political and economic values can be admitted to the ruling class.”
“Elites share a general consensus and agree on the basic rules of the game and on the importance of preserving the social system. They like to agree on more matters then they disagree on.”
“Public policies are often modified but seldom replaced.”
“Elitism implies that public policy does not reflect demands of the people so much as it reflect the interests and values of Elites.”
“Changes and innovation in public policy come about when elites redefine their own values.”
“Elite values in the United States, the bases of the elite consensus are the sanctity of private property, limited government, and individual liberty.”
Mar 6, 2010
Cromag
Mar 6, 2010
Cromag
So what do we have to replace the modern elite model? More irony!
Many self-actualized, secularized people (pluralists like Bill Maher) voice their ridicule toward religion and may not realize the ramifications. I’m sure this would spark vigorous debate, or more irony.
Mar 6, 2010
Cromag
Mar 6, 2010
Cromag
Mar 6, 2010
Cromag
Apr 21, 2010
Cromag
Aug 26, 2010
Cromag
Oct 25, 2010
Cromag
Dec 4, 2010
Cromag
The Egypt uprising of 2011 was different in the sense that the people were galvanized by crippling poverty stemming from government corruption and were being organized using a nonviolent action movement long before the events that set off the revolt. The suffering and corruption tipping point probably did come from the U.S. central bank's quantitative easing measures which exported inflation of food and other commodities, while the Wikileaks cables of 2010 validated the suspected corruption.
Can we have this type of uprising in the United States? I doubt it because we still have a huge percentage of employed middle class who would not go along with it unless they sympathized with the suffering underclass. This middle class group would need to be pulled from their busy working lifestyles by organizers who could build common parallels of self-interest and create a peaceful protest movement that did not jeopardize or even seriously interrupt their busy middle class lifestyles.
Feb 26, 2011
Ed Blacksheare
Feb 27, 2011
Ben Donahower
Mar 9, 2011
Cromag
May 14, 2011
Cromag
May 14, 2011
Cromag
...
Atypical investing of $15M, with a 10% speculative return, may or may not yield $1.5M the first year. The same $15M leveraged to $250M at 3% return, with NO 'downside' obligation to repay, is guaranteed to yield $8M each year, regardless of bond value, and doubling your $15M every 1.9 years! Even with some increased inflation the leveraged return is staggering. Downside risk is the Fed raising the rate too quickly, too soon (before making back your initial investment with a reasonable return on top), and turning your approx 3% profit into a loss. Not too much of a concern if, as the article states, you don't have to repay the principal, but still a huge concern if you are responsible for making the interest payments to the Fed on rising interest rates. Too many details are left out to have a complete picture, but the premise is fascinating.
Maybe a hedge fund manager will set up a fund so we can all help inflate this new bubble into ginormous global devastation.
Jul 21, 2011
Cromag
The Real Housewives of Wall Street
Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?
By Matt Taibbi on Rolling Stone magazine.
My comment
Matt Taibbi is the Dana White of journalism, brazenly bludgeoning Banksters with yet another brash flurry of blue collar vernacular, but could he be misconnecting the dots?
What if his notoriety opened some doors, into the class of privilege and information, where Mrs. Taibbi was hypothetically offered the opportunity to greatly, increase their wealth; in turn helping stimulate the U.S. economy. All she had to do was put up $15 million of her own money, and a private entity (the Fed) would have a country (the U.S.) leverage it to $250 million. Instead of just buying up $15M of cheap distressed real estate, or a mix of foreign and domestic stocks (waiting for the market to turn), she could help make the market turn by purchasing US Treasury bonds with an almost guaranteed leveraged return funded by the U.S. Treasury. -more on the math a bit later.
Does buying U.S. U.S. securities, from increased money supply, help devalue the dollar? Can it make U.S exports more competitive, and stimulate foreign (job creating) stateside investment ? Does this form of controlled dollar devaluation create controlled (non-hyper) domestic inflation? Does it export devastating, and destabilizing, inflation to poor nations, thus creating opportunities to advance U.S. hegemony? I would say yes to all of these questions....
Jul 21, 2011
Cromag
Santa Fe Institute brought quantum into economics in the 1980s. There has always been a real blocking of new economic thought in US universities controlled by private money. Rockefeller created UChicago precisely because they couldn’t control Harvard or Yale, and you know what kind of bogus economic thought came from there. Now, they all seem to be controlled by private Trustee Money. Blocking complexity economics from Santa Fe Institute is not the first time these webs of institutions managed to do it. They blocked, discredited and buried Henry George who was the most famous American economist in the 1800s and a peer of Marx with a very different solution to capitalism’s ravages. Both Marx and George challenged the absolute power of these property owners over everybody. You can read about this blocking stuff in Eric Beinhocker “The origins of wealth” and Kim Philips-Fein “Invisible Hands”. There is some real hell to pay from these universities who live off private money tax exempt for the public service, and the NFP organizations that accredit them, also tax-exempt for public service not Top 1% service!
By planckbrandt on April 30th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Jul 21, 2011
Cromag
Carmen Hermosillo had been one of the earliest believers in the new communities of cyber space, her online name was humdog and she lived on the West Coast, but then she lost faith and she posted an attack that caused a sensation online -
It is fashionable to suggest, she wrote, that cyberspace is some island of the blessed where people are free to indulge and express their individuality. This is not true. I have seen many people spill out their emotions, their guts online, and I did so myself until I began to see that I had commodified myself.
Commodification means that you turn something into a product that has a money value. In the nineteenth century commodities were made in factories by workers who were mostly exploited… but I created my interior thoughts as commodities for the corporations that owned the board that I was posting to, like Compuserve or AOL and that commodity was then sold on to other consumer entities as entertainment
Cyberspace is a black hole. It absorbs energy and personality and then re-presents it as an emotional spectacle. It is done by businesses that commodify human interaction and emotion and we are getting lost in the spectacle…”
http://ow.ly/626Yk
Aug 20, 2011
Cromag
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 maurauding 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.
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."
Sep 21, 2011
Cromag
"News is what people want to keep hidden. Everything else is publicity."
"While it is important to cover the news, it is more important to uncover the news." http://t.co/0jZIkxpv from video with Bill Moyers
Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man http://t.co/pszwtRaW we need leaders with conviction like this today @Public_Citizen #OWS #documentary
Oct 28, 2011
Cromag
"What fosters revolution is not misery, but the gap between what people expect from their lives and what is offered." Chris Hedges http://tinyurl.com/7aedkf7
May 16, 2012