The Root Of All Scams Options Rating

[Jon Awbrey]

Its faces are as legion as its names, but its disguises all spring from one and the same root, the singular notion that you can get something for nothing.

The very idea that you can get knowledge without the work of inquiry, that you can get good at inquiry without the work of accumulating experience, that you can govern a complex society on a shoestring.

Of course, only real losers fall for that, don't they?

Jon Awbrey

[Jon Awbrey]

What people fail to understand is that “government” is just a name for whatever portion of the population has control over the whole population's lives. In a large and complex society you are going to have a proportionately large and complex government, whether it answers to the People or whether it answers solely to its own corporate interest. People are being misled to think that they have a choice between big government and small government, but they don't. The choice is only — “Big And Representative Government” (BARG) or “Big And Unrepresentative Government” (BAUG).

The difference that makes a difference is between the res publica that genuinely responds to the governed and the private interest that exploits the mystique of the invisible hand to absolve itself of responsibility.

Jon Awbrey

[Jon Awbrey]

Corporate Feudalism

We see today a global push toward corporate feudalism. Its promoters mean to destroy what little public sector we have left, de-professionalize all professions except for hedge-fund managers, and de-unionize every worker who is creating true art, producing real goods, or delivering essential services. When we reach that point, corporate ownership of everything will seem like a necessary evil.

[Jon Awbrey]

Polyphemeral Politics

Corporate con artists use the Mystique of the Invisible Hand to divert the People from the real pickpockets. Light fingers lift the Common Wealth, but Presstidigitarians rule the air with news of “economic downturn”, a natural disaster, an Act of God. No one mugged thee, Nemo did it. Irresponsibility is its name, it's out of control, it's past the tipping point, and it just keeps howling for more, more, more.

[Jon Awbrey]

The country my teachers taught me about was declared independent and constituted in part to protect its People from the abuses of corporations operated in connivance with the absentee Lords of an imperial state. That way of doing “Government Like A Business” was mercantilism, the precursor of modern capitalism. The time has come — though it try the souls of all good men and women — to foil those precursors yet again.

Jon Awbrey

[Jon Awbrey]

The hyper-rich can hardly believe they got away with it again, but they have now legalized theft to such a degree that they can't even think of what to do with the excess capital any more — except perhaps to “emergency financial manage” the People's democracy out of existence, “eminent domain” what's left of the Land out from under them, and turn them all into feudal serfs and tenant sharecroppers.

Jon Awbrey

[RMHED]

What we are seeing today is a global push toward corporate feudalism. The pushers must first destroy what little public sector we have left, de-professionalize all professions except for hedge-fund managers, and de-unionize every worker who is creating true art, producing real goods, or delivering essential services. By the time we reach that point, corporate ownership of everything will seem like a necessary evil.

Jon Awbrey

But who owns those corporations?

Most likely those with the most disposable capital; ie The Russian Government & the Chinese Government. Albeit not directly of course, shells within shells...

[Jon Awbrey]

What we are seeing today is a global push toward corporate feudalism. The pushers must first destroy what little public sector we have left, de-professionalize all professions except for hedge-fund managers, and de-unionize every worker who is creating true art, producing real goods, or delivering essential services. By the time we reach that point, corporate ownership of everything will seem like a necessary evil.

Jon Awbrey

But who owns those corporations?

Most likely those with the most disposable capital; ie The Russian Government & the Chinese Government. Albeit not directly of course, shells within shells …

Personally, I'm beginning to see some sense to that Vast Redcoat Conspiracy Theory, but one of the most insidious shills within that Tin Candide Outer Shell is evidently the Koch Brotherhood.

Jon

[radek]

What people fail to understand is that “government” is just a name for whatever portion of the population has control over the whole population's lives. In a large and complex society you are going to have a proportionately large and complex government, whether it answers to the People or whether it answers solely to its own corporate interest. People are being misled to think that they have a choice between big government and small government, but they don't. The choice is only — “Big And Representative Government” (BARG) or “Big And Unrepresentative Government” (BAUG).

The difference that makes a difference is between the res publica that genuinely responds to the governed and the private interest that exploits the mystique of the invisible hand to absolve itself of responsibility.

Jon Awbrey

Why is there no choice between "big government" and "small government" (whether representative or not)? I mean, sure, if you're thinking in terms of extremes. But government size does vary by country and across time - hence obviously there is a choice between bigger and smaller government.

[Jon Awbrey]

In this meditation we are defining “government” functionally, as “that which governs”, more specifically, the sum of human actions that control, dominate, or rule one's life. This is to be distinguished from defining it conventionally, as a collection of office-holders or something on that order.

Jon Awbrey

[radek]

In this meditation we are defining “government” functionally, as “that which governs”, more specifically, the sum of human actions that control, dominate, or rule one's life. This is to be distinguished from defining it conventionally, as a collection of office-holders or something on that order.

Jon Awbrey

Ok. But why can't that sum be bigger or smaller. Unless you're just saying that it either is or isn't by definition.

[Jon Awbrey]

We are talking about controlled systems, that is, systems on a moderately stable course, even if that course is headed toward a cliff or an iceberg. In such a system, experience suggests and plausible theories recommend a law of requisite control which holds that the complexity and size of the controling activity is adequate to the complexity and size of the controled activity.

[Jon Awbrey]

Limited Government vs. Government, Ltd.

If you really think about it, we all believe in low taxes and limited government power over our lives. We all believe in low prices and limited corporate power over our lives. But we want the things we want and everything costs something, so the question of prices and taxes is really, “What is a fair price for the things we want?”

In a complex and populous society, which we don't really have much choice about anymore, there will be people at some distance from us who have a significant impact on our lives, perhaps to the point of life and death questions. That is a form of ruling power, no matter whether it comes from a corporate or a government body. When it comes to organizations that rule over our lives this way, there is a big difference between corporate power and government power, at least, since 1776 when the Founders of our Nation fought for a strongly representative form of government, in other words, a republic.

The difference that made a difference worth fighting for was this — in a republic the people are the bosses. That is not just a polite phrase — it means that we, the people, have a direct impact on the lives of those remote agents who impact our lives. In our contemporary argot, it closes the feedback loop, and in a very powerful way, far more powerful than the impact mere consumers ever have on the agents of a corporation in a market system.