Capitalism

Digital Rights Activists Use Jumbotron To Pressure Wyden

March 31, 2015 Annie Ellison, www.golocalpdx.com Resist! Capitalism, Congress, Free Trade, TPP

Fight for the Future parked a truck adorned with a Jumbotron on Capitol Hill for an impromptu “film festival” as part of the group’s ongoing campaign to pressure Oregon Senator Ron Wyden to drop legislation that would fast track the multi-national Trans-Pacific Partnership. The trade deal between countries in Asia, Australia and the Americas would boost U.S. trade, but activists fear it would jeopardize transparency due to issues of internet censorship. “Senator Wyden has built his career on a platform of government transparency and support for Internet freedom,” Fight for the Future campaign director Evan Greer said.

The New Asian Bank & A New World Order

March 30, 2015 Teymoor Nabili, www.aljazeera.com Educate! Asia, Banking, Capitalism

It's usual these days that every policy statement coming out of Beijing is minutely scrutinised and commented on by the English language media, so the absence of any alarm bells on and after February 3 came as something of a surprise. The 13th Meeting of Russia, India and China's foreign ministers should have merited at least passing mention - but not a single major western newspaper covered it. There was no reporting of the final communique; no editorial comment was made and no reaction sought, from Washington or London. The relevant comment was short, and buried within 30 other paragraphs of much more conciliatory language; nonetheless it was punchy. . .

Post-Capitalism: Rise Of The Collaborative Commons

March 30, 2015 Christopher J. Dew, www.medium.com Create! Capitalism, Decentralization, Governance

Ironically, the operating principles of the capitalist marketplace are bringing us ever closer to this very state, while simultaneously the relevance of the competitive market is progressively undermined by the same emerging paradigm. Capitalist logic dictates that the entrepreneurial spirit of a competitive market will continually drive productivity increases and marginal cost decreases. Marginal cost — the cost of producing additional units of product — is the focus, as this is where entrepreneurs and businesses make their profits in a market-exchange economy (at the margin); and when marginal cost approaches zero, so too does profit. The effects of near zero marginal cost can already be seen wreaking havoc across several media industries such as entertainment, communications and publishing, as more and more content continues to be shared and made freely available across digital, collaborative networks.

Cost Of Incarceration In Baltimore’s Poorest Neighborhoods

March 28, 2015 Stephen Janis and Mark Schindler, www.youtube.com Educate! Baltimore, Capitalism, Mass Incarceration

Well, this is a significant issue for the state of Maryland and for the country as a whole, as you talked about. The amounts that we're spending to lock people up in our cities and states around the country is extraordinary. In Maryland, we spend nearly $1 billion on the corrections agency--and just in Baltimore City, almost $300 million a year to lock people up. And so one of the things that we talk about from a policy perspective--and I used to run a corrections agency--is: what are we getting for that investment? Are our communities safer? And, unfortunately, the answer largely is no. And so what we did when there was some data available here in Baltimore, particularly, was look more closely at the data, particularly where people who are incarcerated live prior to their incarceration and what's going on in those communities.

And Other Dangerous Thoughts, Part II

March 28, 2015 Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kerk, www.occupy.com Create! Capitalism, Corporatism, Democracy, Ideology

All we lack is the confidence to see beyond the constraints of the present story. And we start by asking the hard questions we have been told not to ask. People around the world are beginning to do just this. They are rising up in response to our civilization’s crisis – from Occupy Wall Street to the Arab Spring, from protests in Brazil to the Chilean Winter, from the Zapatistas in Mexico to the student uprising in Quebec, from the Idle No More Indigenous People’s movement to Transition Towns around the world. These are all expressions of a new world that is possible. They are signs of great hope for us all. The world is beginning to heal, but we can take it farther, faster.

University Protests Around The World

March 28, 2015 Rebecca Ratcliffe, www.theguardian.com Resist! Capitalism, Education, Higher Education, Student Activism

Students at University of the Arts, London, took over their university’s reception area last Thursday to protest against proposed cuts to some of its course programmes. This makes UAL one of the latest institutions around the world to be hit by occupations and strikes by staff and students. The causes of such protests vary: some are concerned about working conditions facing graduate students, others point to a lack of transparency about how universities are run. A key issue is the commercialisation of higher education, which many feel has led university leaders to prioritise financial goals over the needs of staff and students. We speak to academics and students in Canada, the Netherlands and the UK to find out why they’re taking a stand.

Capitalism Is Just A Story And Other Dangerous Thoughts

March 27, 2015 Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kirk, www.occupy.com Create! Capitalism, Globalization, Ideology

Our system of modern capitalism is just one story; it is not the only one there is. It’s not inherent within us. It isn’t some inevitable expression of predefined Human Nature. It was invented by human beings and so human beings can change it. But in order to get there, we first have to engage in some "dangerous thinking." Those in power have always told us to beware of ideology. There is a strong inference that it represents a warping of our pragmatic ability to get things done by whatever means necessary. But that’s just plain wrong. And a necessary distraction, of course. Ideology is the set of ideas and ideals we all must hold to operate in the world. It is not a weakness of those who don’t agree with us.

Protests Target Gates Foundation Meeting On Africa Seed Systems

March 24, 2015 Sustainable Pulse, www.sustainablepulse.com Resist! Africa, Capitalism, Corporatism, Food and Agriculture, wealth inequality

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are sponsoring a secret meeting Monday in London to promote a recent report detailing in clear terms how to privatize the seed and agricultural markets of Africa– without African stakeholders having a seat at the table. The meeting is being criticized for including corporations, development bodies, trade bodies and aid donors, yet excluding any African farmers or representatives of affected organizations. Today protesters on both sides of the Atlantic are picketing to protest the corporate capture of seed, and to urge the foundation to support African food sovereignty. Both in London and Seattle protesters will distribute open-pollinated seeds as a symbol of the alternative to the corporate model promoted by USAID and BMGF.

Wall Street Bonuses Rise As Profits Fall

March 16, 2015 Suzanne McGee, www.theguardian.com Educate! Capitalism, Wall Street

With all the changes that have taken place on Wall Street since the financial crisis hit – the mergers, the new regulations and the lawsuits that continue to take a toll on banks’ bottom lines, not to mention the Federal Reserve’s demands that they continue to prove their health via regular “stress tests” – one thing remains unaltered. It’s the ritual of the annual bonus check handed out to those lucky folks who have survived the job cuts and who continue to endure the Hobbesian life – nasty, brutish and short – on trading desks and in investment banking groups across Wall Street. Given the banking industry’s reputation for ruthlessness and its emphasis on the “buyer beware” philosophy, you might expect a difficult environment to be reflected in the size of those bonuses. Well, not so fast. This is Wall Street, after all.

Pressure Grows On US Firm Selling Homes In Israel’s Settlements

March 11, 2015 Charlotte Silver, www.electronicintifada.net Resist! BDS, Capitalism, Israel, Las Vegas

The campaign against RE/MAX, an American real estate firm that sells apartments in the settlements Israel is building in the occupied West Bank, is growing. Last week, activists from around the US traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, todemonstrate at and disrupt RE/MAX’s annual convention held at the Mandalay Bay Casino and Hotel. “The fact that it is known that RE/MAX is helping to facilitate the settlement expansion within the West Bank makes this moment important for folks across the globe to expose and target huge multinational corporations making money off the occupation,” Sophia Armen told The Electronic Intifada. Armen is the national coordinator of the Boycott RE/MAX: No Open House on Stolen Land campaign.

Unions To Fight Trade Pact By Freezing Political Donations

March 11, 2015 Melanie Trottman, www.wsj.com Resist! Capitalism, Free Trade, Labor Unions, Neo-Liberalism, TPP

Dozens of major labor unions plan to freeze campaign contributions to members of Congress to pressure them to oppose fast-track trade legislation sought by President Barack Obama , according to labor officials. The move is part of the unions’ campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which the Obama administration is negotiating with 11 nations around the Pacific Ocean. The unions worry the trade agreement could send more jobs to low-wage countries, including Vietnam and Malaysia. Unions have opposed the TPP through demonstrations, letters to lawmakers and political ads, but withholding political contributions is a more forceful way of flexing their muscle. In the 2014 midterm elections, unions—the lifeblood of the Democratic Party—contributed about $65 million from their political-action committee, or PACs, to candidates, nearly all Democrats.

Canadian Activists Call For Boycott Of Air Canada

March 11, 2015 Marion Kawas, www.mondoweiss.net Resist! Canada, Capitalism, Israel

Its not just the Canadian government that is complicit with Israeli apartheid . . . In recent months, Canadian government officials have been working overtime to further cement their outrageous and biased support of Israeli policies. One example is the January 18, 2015 Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries that committed to develop “a coordinated, public diplomacy initiative both bilaterally and in international and multilateral fora to oppose boycotts of Israel, its institutions, and its people within three to six months”. This was quickly followed with the Canadian ‘Public Safety’ minister stating at the United Nations that “Canada has taken a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination including rhetoric towards Israel, and attempts to delegitimize Israel such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement”.

World Bank President Admits Resettlement Failures

March 10, 2015 Ryan Schleif, www.theguardian.com Educate! Capitalism, Corporatism, Displacement, World Bank

The World Bank last week admitted publicly it had no idea how many people may have been forced off their land or lost their jobs due to its projects. The Bank also did not know whether these people were compensated fairly, on time or at all. “We took a hard look at ourselves on resettlement and what we found caused me deep concern,” said World Bank group president Jim Yong Kim. “We found several major problems. One is that we haven’t done a good enough job in overseeing projects involving resettlement; two, we haven’t implemented those plans well enough; and three, we haven’t put in place strong tracking systems to make sure that our policies were being followed. We must and will do better.” In internal documents now made public, the World Bank admitted its own failures to understand, monitor and deliver even on its most basic policies.

Another Obama Regulator Refuses To Regulate

March 6, 2015 David Cay Johnston, www.america.aljazeera.com Educate! Capitalism, FERC, Law, Regulation

Hardly anyone has heard of Cheryl LaFleur, but she is one of America’s most powerful government officials, entrusted with vast authority to oversee the electricity, oil and natural gas industries. She chairs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a tiny government agency with only 1,500 employees. Its budget is covered not by taxpayers but by the industries it regulates. Her sworn duties include making sure charges for electricity are always just and reasonable. That means suppliers should be reasonably compensated and customers should pay reasonable prices. But she has consistently ignored this responsibility. When presented with serial indicators of unjust prices, she puts on a blindfold and sits on her hands. In a Feb. 18 letter to six senators and 13 representatives, LaFleur demonstrated beyond any doubt her fealty to electricity companies and disregard for consumers.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

assetto corsa mods

Daily movement news and resources