Mammon category archive
It’s All about the Benjamins 0
Thom points out that Libertarianism arose from an attempt by real estate firms to stop rent control and that it just doesn’t work in real life.
Aside:
In line with what Thom said. a previous Republican governor of my state leased local transit tunnels to a third party, and it has not worked out well.
He sacrificed the public good for private profit.
As far as I can tell, today’s Republican Party no longer believes in the concept of the public good.
What it believes in is private greed.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
The New York Times reports on a internet user who used “AI” to compose a false and misleading obituary just to get clicks (and advertising revenue), spreading lies and drowning truth along the way.
Just go read it. The “intelligence” may be “artificial,” but the stupid is real.
Once We Had the “Know Nothings.”
Now We Have the “Do Nothings.”
0
Farron discusses Republicans’ refusal to deal with issues.
The Crypto Con 0
Emma and the crew react to a crypto con artist’s claim that God made him do it. Listen to him closely: he’s clearly describing a Ponzi scheme. (Warning: mild language.)
The “Elite” Misdirection Play 0
Michael in Norfolk conjugates the con.
Courting Disaster 0
The Snaring Economy 0
Sarah Hunter Simanson explains what life is like if you’re trapped in the “gig economy” by circumstances beyond your control.
It’s not pretty.
The Artful Dodgers 0
At The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, David Mills explains the “Texas Two-Step,” a strategy available to corporations to avoid accountability for their actions. Here’s a bit:
Settling all these cases could have cost the company a huge amount of money, given how much was known so long ago about the effects of asbestos and how brutal is the cancer, mesothelioma, it causes. And the legal fees, holy cow, they’d be huge too even if the company won every case.
What does unscrupulous corporation do when faced with such possible losses? Does it man up, as people used to say? Does it take responsibility? No. It uses a legal maneuver called “the Texas two-step,” created in Texas because it’s Texas, that lets the company split off a new part of itself, making that part solely liable for the lawsuits.
Merchants of Death 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, Fred Egan makes a persuasive case that our domestic bullet-based bloodbath is bankrolled by the Benjamins. A snippet:
(snip)
Why isn’t common sense being applied to gun laws in this country? Follow the money. The sale and lucrative aftermarket of 400 million guns carries a lot of influence into the pockets of many of those responsible for our gun laws.
Diamond Jamie 0
At The Philadelphia Inquirer, Will Bunch offers an explanation for the statement by Jamie Dimon, longtime CEO of JPMorgan Chase, that Donald Trump was a good president and is qualified to serve in that role again. Here’s a bit; follow the link for Bunch’s reasoning.
How the Nonprofit Profited 0
Mike and Farron follow the money.
Aside:
I’m so old that I can remember when the NRA was primarily a proponent of gun safety for hunters, not a marketeer for merchants of death.
Indeed, when I was a teen, I attended one of their gun safety classes. That’s one reason what I know that guns are not toys. (The other reason is that we had guns in the house and, natch, my Daddy taught me well.)
You do not play with a gun and you never point one–loaded or unloaded–at any creature unless you intend to do harm–something of which our current generation of gun nuts seems unaware.
Scapegoating Scholarship 0
Sam and Emma talk with professor Nick Kraus about the neoliberal campaign against (small-l) liberal education.
“A God among Men” 0
Afterthought:
If Elon Musk, just to pick one rather obvious example, has demonstrated anything, it’s that our society really needs to stop equating bank balances to IQ points.
The Surveillance State Society
0
The EFF reports on a victory for privacy. A snippet:
So it is welcome news that the Federal Trade Commission has brought a successful enforcement action against X-Mode Social (and its successor Outlogic).
The FTC’s complaint illustrates the dangers created by this industry. The company collects our location data through software development kits (SDKs) incorporated into third-party apps, through the company’s own apps, and through buying data from other brokers. The complaint alleged that the company then sells this raw location data, which can easily be correlated to specific individuals.
More at the link.
Aside:
I find it ironic that persons sweat bullets about limited and regulated “government surveillance” while willingly and heedlessly running nekkid before corporate collectors of confidentia–oh, never mind.
A Taker on the Take 0
Dick Polman follows the money.