Mammon category archive
The Formulaic Monopoly 0
In case you wondered, as I did, why there could possibly be a shortage of baby formula, Thom explains how it is a direct result of Ronald Reagan’s decision to stop enforcing anti-trust laws, which in turn has allowed one company to dominate the baby formula market. That company’s manufacturing defects and a resulting factory closure led directly to the current shortage.
And, because of the monopoly, there are no significant competitors to pick up the slack.
Phoning It In 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, Victoria Hugo-Vidal, whose job involves dealing with health insurance companies, describes dealing with “customer service” robots.
If you’ve ever spent 45 minutes or an hour trying to get through to a real live human being, only to be disconnected (thank you, land line telephone company), you will be able to empathize with her. Here’s a bit.
The Crypto Con 0
Thom and his guest, Professor Richard Wolff, find a flowery precedent.
Our New Gilded Age 0
Eboo Patel sees echoes of that earlier Gilded Age in today’s events.
. . . in late 19th century America.
A massive economic shift was underway, as industrialization overtook the agrarian economy. A communications revolution was taking place, with the invention of the radio and the telephone. Income inequality was a problem, disease was rampant and racist hate groups were on the rise.
He also finds a bit of hope. Follow the link to read about it.
The Privatization Scam 0
A person who once worked with charter schools reveals the con.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Amanda L. Giordano explores ten techniques that “social” media companies (remember, they are companies who desiring profits from our “engagement”) use to keep us “engaged.” Here’s what she says about the algorithm:
Follow the link for the other nine items she identifies.
Aside:
I would argue that, in most cases, there’s nothing “transparent” about the “terms of service.” They are often, purposefully in my opinion, dense piles of impenetrable legalese designed to discourage persons from reading them all the way through.
The one exception in my experience is Google, whose terms are written in generally plain language. Yet persons, including on occasion myself, use them anyway.
The Privilege Flew 0
Florida Republicans are turning on Disney since the entertainment company had the unmitigated gall to criticize their hate-full “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell follows the money. A nugget:
But none of these state lawmakers gave a flying fairy about all the special treatment and incentive deals Disney received until Disney stood up for LGBTQ families and said it was financially cutting off the politicians.
Echoes of the Pullman Strike 0
Sam and his crew discuss the new robber barons and their exploitation of workers.
Aside:
Karl Marx was a brilliant economist, but a lousy prophet.
He was wrong about the dictatorship of the proletariat and about the ensuing paradise of “from each according to his abilities and to each according to his needs,”* but he was damned right on the mark about employers exploitating the masses.
The best defense against worker exploitation is not Marxism. It is unions negotiating with employers for fair treatment of employees.
I know. I worked in a union shop.
Oh, for more about the Pullman Strike.
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*I suspect that Marx saw no way out of a capitalist dystopia, so he just made something up out of desperation and despair. But that’s just me.
Vulture Capitalists 0
A Quibble:
We are not in a period of “hyper-inflation” in any classic sense of the term.
That’s a misdirection play, and I contemn Farron for perpetuating it.
We are in a period of legitimate price increases due to supply disruptions caused by a world-wide pandemic (remember the pandemic?) accentuated by a war of aggression started by a would-be Czar and exacerbated by the accompanying uncertainty.
Byt, yes, companies are using this to camouflage price-gouging. Farron’s comments about predatory corporations looking to maximize revenues by any means possible without regard to the common good are quite on the mark.
The damage done to the commonweal by predatory practices justified by the glorification of stockholder returns as promoted by the “Chicago school of selfishness economists” is incalculable and unending.