[americandream]

We hear an awful lot about the banksters, printing money ad nauseum, the crooked players in the markets etc, etc but unbeknownst to us, the makers of the commodities we buy and the lifestyes we aspire to are in subtle ways, altering our notions of who we are and what we should aspire to be. Some in more insular, rather superficial ways, but many in quite revolutionary ways.

As an individual Trump is a good example of someone who is holding a mirror up to establishment politics, causing many to think seriously about how they continue to survive in the new political paradigm, which of course for us will have repercussions in the sorts of wars and alliances we find our states associated with.

Even more remarkable will be the effects of companies on global sensibilities. Notions of who we are in terms of the freedom to live full and complex lives, not the one dimensional shells promoted by religions and cults of old, but real dynamic lives that take us to the very edge of experience but in safe and private ways which after all, everyone of us is entitled to, if our short, conscious lives are to have any meaning. The link to the apple story is informative to that extent:

http://fee.org/articles/apple-courageou ... ave-labor/

[ennui2]

Apple should know a thing or two about slave labor.

http://www.breitbart.com/california/201 ... bor-again/

[Outcast_Searcher]

Clearly corporations are efficient makers of stuff we want, including innovative stuff. If the electric car (or even better the fully autonomous electric car) becomes the mainstay of our private transportation technology in, say, the next couple of decades, I'm certain it will be due corporations like Tesla and Google, NOT because of establishment politics. And as someone getting older, the possibility of the automated car freeing me to get out and about with safety, ease, and confidence long after I would prefer not to drive is enticing indeed).

OTOH, people are quite adaptable and now that I'm retired and have more time to think (vs work 80 hours a week), I'm not at all convinced the stuff we have and want is as important as the ideas we share (and argue about), in terms of happiness or shaping our mindset.

To me, making a new friend who shares enough values and interests with me that our friendship grows, or finding a new author who's stuff I love (and thus becomes a new virtual friend) is a FAR more exciting and meaningful thing than any material possession (beyond the basics of food and shelter, of course. I do recognize the validity of Maslow's Hierarchy).

OTOH, as a career lifetime deep-in-the-weeds mainframe computer geek, I realize the value of technology in terms of dealing better with information, and the power this brings to understanding. For me, the spreadsheet was what a hammer and nails must be to a carpenter, in terms of fundamental power to analyze complex information. (I used to joke that if I were God, the world would look like a spreadsheet).

So maybe the key thing is that corporations are great builders of better TOOLS, and humans can use those tools to enhance the truly important experiences in their lives. (And of course that's all nice, as long as we refrain from acquiring so many toys we destroy the biosphere in the process. Otherwise, not so much.)

[onlooker]

Corporations as currently constructed are the poison that humanity is slowly killing itself and most of other biological life with. Corporations as per the standard charter exist primarily to make a profit. Thus they are solely focused on the bottom line to the detriment of everything and everyone else. While their products do serve some benefit to many people, it is more than offset by what they would euphemistically say are "externalities" like the environment, unintended harm via risky products or services and in general a cavalier and even reckless pursuit of profit no matter what. The way our business model works is everything exists to make the economy better instead of the economy should exist to make peoples lives better. So yes Corporations have changed the entire landscape of Earth to suit their mandate for profit all the while slowly poisoning both air, water,land and consequently most organisms that live currently. That consumers have been willing participants does not in any way absolve Corporations from the pernicious role that they have played in the demise of the conditions to support life on Earth.

[americandream]

Objectively, history has thrown up these forms, subjectively many of us sense the risks they pose, objectively they nonetheless determine that forms of our interactions, subjectively, we embrace them and acquiesce. This is the quandry.

For example, do not underestimate the levelling character of social networks as they globally rewrite the rules on family, the sanctity of modesty and the nature and quality of relationships that will develop over the coming decades. From Saudi Arabia to the heart of the Netherlands.

[americandream]

Apple should know a thing or two about slave labor.

http://www.breitbart.com/california/201 ... bor-again/

And of course the bizarre spectacle of the right wing cheerleaders of free trade (mostly private sector failures dependent on selling fiction to disgruntled and confused workers, for a living) bemoaning its effect. LMFAO!!!!!

[americandream]

Afghan teen uses rap to escape forced marriage

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/11/world ... index.html

[americandream]

With the emergence of the web, the transitions in global culture are picking up pace, especially through the youth oriented corporate market. This music video illustrates the inroads that capitalist culture continues to make into all regions of the world, progressively blurring tribal boundaries and giving rise to one consciousness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeW9_5 ... T0fuJrBNHg

[americandream]

A universal wage is on the way.

https://occupycorporatism.com/robots-co ... ver-pizza/

[ralfy]

Maybe the robots will also buy and eat what they make and deliver.

[americandream]

Maybe the robots will also buy and eat what they make and deliver.

7 billion...maybe 2 billion currently being harvested for surplus. What do you think?

[americandream]

Tech developed by corporations aiding the global emergence of true collectivisation:

http://freakoutnation.com/2016/03/anony ... umps-info/

[ralfy]

7 billion...maybe 2 billion currently being harvested for surplus. What do you think?

Only if corporations don't ultimately profit from increased sales of goods and services.

[onlooker]

7 billion...maybe 2 billion currently being harvested for surplus. What do you think?

What exactly do you mean AD by the expression harvested for surplus. Hope you do not mean like Soylent Green. "Its people!"

[americandream]

7 billion...maybe 2 billion currently being harvested for surplus. What do you think?

What exactly do you mean AD by the expression harvested for surplus. Hope you do not mean like Soylent Green. "Its people!" 8O

Sorry for the delay in replying. Labour surplus is simply energy mediated through consciousness to transform raw materials into commodities with an exchange value. Which the labourer then purchases with his return from the sale of said labour surplus.

A circular mechanism. There is a mathematical equation out there for this but I think this explains it better for quick and direct access to the meaning which is all we layfolk need.

[americandream]

Disney, Marvel Studios threaten to boycott Georgia if governor signs anti-gay 'religious liberty' law

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/disney-marvel- ... ty-1551321

[ralfy]

That's why "harvesting" will take place only when the mechanism stops working.

[americandream]

I am going to keep this topic alive as it runs quite sympathetically with the discussion on history. That said, we want to shift the focus away from the US to the planet at large as dialecticism is species oriented and not this or other tribe and their notions and such like and clearly, these tendencies are in synchronicity all over the world. That said, the recent developments in Georgia, the US as regards the governors veto, hot on the heels of corporate threats to the states attempts to destroy the LGBT market, is a salutary warning to would be capitalists of a godly nature that history contemplates a very ungodly global market...lmfao!!!!

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/03/28 ... erty-bill/

[americandream]

This is the face of the new and competent capitalist. Fully immersed in his market, fluent with its nuances and constantly changing culture, fully attuned to its globalising face, working hours that most of the useless twats out there who sit in their fat arses and draw backhanders whilst passing glib comments, wouldn't have a clue about.

Not only does one become nuanced, one realises just how important it is to have a fairly paid, fairly represented individual in your workforce. Who the frick wants a bucktoothed moron who can barely get his act together before midday. I work at least 14 hours a day at my business and I would NOT deny my employees a fair slice of what I make...as I know how to make a buck. And yes, I am proudly left wing.

And yes, this is the growing trend in business...it's a hard game out there and you better know it. If you cant bring the shillingies in the door to pay your staff a decent wage for a decent job, you need to reconsider your vocation:

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/28/technol ... d=22957336

[americandream]

Why don't we just chuck some towels on the heads of the redneck feckers and be done with it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/us/po ... p=cur&_r=0