by cameron | Apr 26, 2009 | climate change, science
NYT has an article about how the “Global Climate Coalition, a group representing industries with profits tied to fossil fuels, led an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign against the idea that emissions of heat-trapping gases could lead to global warming. But a document filed in a federal lawsuit demonstrates that even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted.”
What say you to that, climate change skeptics?
by cameron | Apr 25, 2009 | banksters, capitalism
I’ll admit that, until now, I’ve never wondered much about where money comes from. However, after watching this video, I am totally fascinated by the concepts it explores. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the content or how it applies in Australia, but nevertheless, it’s a terrific video that everyone should watch.
The basic premise of the video is that the monetary system we have in the West is a complete fraud and totally unstable as it is built on the foundation that money is created by the banking system through issuing debt. When they agree to loan you (or a corporation or a government) money, they literally create that money out of nowhere. Watch and learn more. I’ll no doubt be talking about this during next week’s live show which will feature @brad_fidler talking about the origins of – and possible alternatives to – capitalism.
The video was created by Paul Grignon and I was pointed to it by @lelaissezfaireisover.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2244372&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Money as Debt from RoneTyne on Vimeo.
by cameron | Apr 15, 2009 | Cuba
Business Week has an article about the Cuban embargo that contains the following line:
“Castro has been able to spin the embargo as evidence of “cruel” U.S. policies that use human suffering as a means of political pressure.”
Spin it? Nice work with the biased reporting there Business Week.
There’s no spin involved. The UN has voted with an overwhelming majority that the US should end the embargo for 17 years straight. Why? Because it’s inhumane, immoral and cruel.
But Business Week, another tool of the ruling elite in the US, neglected to mention that fact in its article. It chose to suggest that Castro “spins” the embargo to try to win sympathy.
Just one more example of how the US media can’t be trusted to report impartially on subjects that effect US corporate interests.
by cameron | Apr 8, 2009 | capitalism, Podcast
OMFG. Last night I did a live show with my most-excellent co-host Mr Nick Hodge and WE TALKED FOR FOUR HOURS. I kid you not. I only recorded the first THREE HOURS and I present them to you here (well the audio version anyway – to see the video you have to turn up on the night). Oh and this audio recording only has two of the five live numbers I performed during the show. One was in the pre-show festivities (“Come On Eileen”) and there were a couple during the post-show wind-down (including “Ship Song”by Nick Cave).
During this four hour marathon, Nick and I discussed:
Australia’s National Broadband Network
America’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Whether or not Nick is an atheist or an agnostic
The financial crisis scam and what we might replace capitalism with
The ethics of veganism
The Church of LOTU
The historicity of Jesus (or lack thereof)
And much, much more.
Listen to the full three hours – if you dare.
Tune in to future live shows every Tuesday night at 8pm here.
by cameron | Apr 6, 2009 | banksters, capitalism
Bill Moyers sits down with William K. Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of what went wrong and his critique of the bailout.
I love the term they are using for bankers who deliberately defraud society – “banksters”. Black says the entire financial system is one big ponzi scheme, making Bernie Madoff looking like an amateur and fall guy for the larger crime which involved the entire financial system and governments who allowed them to go unregulated.
Watch.
by cameron | Apr 4, 2009 | capitalism, geopolitics
“(Karl Marx is) the most accurate prophet in all of history, there should be no doubt about this.” – Richard Metzger, written on Boing Boing.
I hope the current financial crisis leads to a new generation of people reading Marx and those of us who have read him before should be re-reading him.
As David Harvey says in the below video, the G20 governments are just trying to re-boot the same kind of capitalism we’ve had before which has seen a series of collapses over the last 30 years, each collapse leading to the bankers being bailed out by the taxpayers and walking away scott-free so they can do it all over again, “sticking it to the people”, as Harvey says. Rampant consumerism is to blame for our problems and Marx predicted this 150 years ago. Propping up the old regime isn’t the answer. We need a new model. And we need to start figuring out what that model might be. We need to pressure our leaders to start thinking about it, talking publicly about it, not just propping up the old broken system.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkTMO93Jyp0&hl=en&fs=1]
Read Marx’s DAS KAPITAL along with David Harvey here.
