Michael Parenti on Capitalism's Self-Inflicted Apocalypse-1/2

[blearyeyed09]

WoW....how many right wing shills can one excellent clip bring out from under the rug?

The intelligent whole people who see this..... understand and feel solidarity!

Shake your fists as you may...we know who you are and why you're here.

[COMMUNISTPHILOSOPHY]

one capitalist will kill many other capitalists lol Good scheme

[fringeailments]

@COMMUNISTPHILOSOPHY if only

[00RoninSamurai00]

Parenti is a lying socialist shill playing on people's ignorance of economics. Niether Indonesia nor the US represents a capitalist free market. Study their economic systems, and Keynesian and Austrian economic theory and you will find both are Keynesian regulated markets oppositional to the free market. The US market is regulated by the corrupt Fed, and Indonesia is regulated by the corrupt WTO through ASEAN. Regulatory corruption is the problem, not the free market.

[munchkin365]

@00RoninSamurai00 Don't be absurd. 

[00RoninSamurai00]

@munchkin365 Prove me wrong.

[munchkin365]

@00RoninSamurai00

[waketheoblivious]

"Government is a necessary evil" - Winston Churchill

Recognize the basis for Churchill's famous quote which identifys the problem that exists with any and all Governments. People are naturally drawn to externalize their individual conscience, to a Government that has none. Important to realize Government is necessary, but inherently evil.

[waketheoblivious]

The Principle of Self Interest helped determine the Laws of Supply and Demand. Self Interest in Free Market Economies using Capitalism will generate abundance. Conversely that same Self Interest in a Controlled Market Economy (Socialism/Communism) guarantys scarcity and shortages. The only theoretically possible combination that generates abundance is Capitalism and Free Markets. ANY PROPONENT OF SOCIALISM, IS A COMPLETE & TOTAL IGNORAMUS. NEO/CLASSICAL ECONOMIC THEORY WAS PROVEN 250+ YEARS AGO.

[waketheoblivious]

Debate regarding Socialism/Communism vrs Capitalism is entirely ignorant, since only Capitalism can generate abundance. The problem is NOT with Capitalism. Just like in the animated story Animal Farm when idiots blame the Capitalist Pigs when in fact, they were CORRUPT PIGS. Deception and Corruption act like MENTAL KRYPTONITE, getting people to argue Democrat/Republican, Liberal/Conservative, ect when the issue is invariably DECEPTION & CORRUPTION. The problem is not Capitalism it is Corruption.

[waketheoblivious]

Worlds most prominent Economists referred to Supply Side Economics as Vood doo Economics. Inspite of the fact a child can comprehend 1 + 2 = 4 - 1, proving either side of an equation can be manipulated. Classical Ecn Theory proved the existence of the, Principle of Self Interest, Invisible Hand and Laws of Supply & Demand. Fuck Keynesian, Fuck Austrian. Neo/Classical was proven correct over 250+ years ago. Theoretically Capitalism and a Free Market only combination that generates abundance.

[waketheoblivious]

Economics is a Social Science, generally taught in the College of Liberal Arts. The Physical Sciences are in that same College. Economics, proved the existence of the "Invisible Hand". Adam Smith's Classical Economic Theory, including the Laws of Supply & Demand are Natural Laws proven true & correct. Clasical, Keynesian, NeoClassical and now drifting to Austrian Theory, will inevitably return to Classical once again. Why, Classical Theory has been proven true, over and over. God exists.

[joe035]

The US is a corporate socialism, not a free market, the free market never failed as it does not exist thanks to our government & their banker masters!

[00RoninSamurai00]

Study Keynesian economics v. Austrian economics and you will find Parenti is wrong. We do not have anything even remotely resembling a free market, and ours is not a true capitalist system any more than it is a democracy. Our current system is a Keynseian statist/corporatist system of over-regulation favoring international corporate interests over small businesses and the liberty of the people. He blames the free market, when the free market doesn't exist. This is socialist propaganda.

[devourerofbabies]

@00RoninSamurai00 You don't really know what you're talking about. I'm so sick of hearing these self professed economic experts spewing out nonsense and pretending it's knowledge.

Using Austrian so called "economics" to disprove keynesianism. I lol. I bet you don't even know what keynesianism is. In fact, I know you don't, becaue you conflate it with corporatism. That's just stupid and reveals your ignorance. You should be embarrassed.

[00RoninSamurai00]

@devourerofbabies Your immature ad hominem attacks and your inability to support your argument with facts shows your own ignorance.

[devourerofbabies]

@00RoninSamurai00 ??? Do you have a fucking reading comprehension problem? I merely pointed out the fact that YOU have no argument or evidence. My evidence for the fact that you don't know what you're talking about is the lack of any display of knowledge on your part.

And I didn't commit an ad hom. You should learn what that means instead of just saying it because you think it makes you look smart.

[00RoninSamurai00]

@devourerofbabies I clearly pointed out the facts that the US market is REGULATED by the Fed, and the Indonesian market is REGULATED by the WTO through ASEAN, so obviously you have the reading comprehension problem. Furthermore, the US and Indonesian economic systems are both defined in economic terms as MIXED ECONOMIES, not capitalist free markets, because they combine elements of both planned and market economies. Try taking your head out of Parenti's ass and looking it up for yourself.

[00RoninSamurai00]

@devourerofbabies And, yes, your argument was ad hominem. You are just too stupid to know it. Now, stop wasting my time, dimwit.

[devourerofbabies]

@00RoninSamurai00 I said you don't know shit and you haven't displayed any argument. That's not an argument, that's an observation. Just for your future reference, pointing out bits of common knowledge is not a display of knowledge or understanding. Neither do unsupported assertions or bits of dogma or dragging Keynes through the mud. I can't argue with you because you don't know what argumentation is.

[devourerofbabies]

@00RoninSamurai00 Also for your future reference, an ad hominem is different from an insult. If I say "you're a fuckwit", that's an insult. If I say "your argument is wrong because you're a fuckwit", that's an ad hominem. Even if I had said "You're a fuckwit because you're ignorant" it wouldn't have been an ad hom. Tautology maybe, but not ad hom.

Accusing someone of using an ad hominem when they haven't makes you look dumber than if you hadn't used the term at all.

[00RoninSamurai00]

@devourerofbabies My argument is that Parenti is wrong. Neither the US nor Indonesia represent free markets.  And, in spite of your pompous ignorance, I have effectively supported my argument with facts. You, on the other hand, have put forth zero facts to refute this argument, and have resorted instead to abusive ad hominems. It is all right here where everyone can see. Now, good riddance. I have better things to do than argue with a complete imbecile.

[ikallicrates]

A year ago, some hacker redirected all the Justin Bieber videos on Youtube to a porn site. Youtube corrected the problem within two hours. Two days ago, I alerted Youtube to the fact that, when I try to download this video or any other Parenti video, I get some crap about Anthony Weiner and his weiner. They have done NOTHING to correct this. Obviously Justin Beiber has more fans than Michael Parenti.

[pistolpete667]

@ikallicrates nothing gets by you

[Corvusdotensis]

Parenti, G. Furr and Moore influenced me a lot, concerning US thinkers.

[rageagainstboxhead]

Choking Victim brought me here

[Licmycat]

OMG! It HIT me-the stock-holders are the OWNERS THEMSELVES! And their buddies and FAMILIES~WAR!

[DookieFlea]

Parenti, Chomsky and Zinn are the three that really influenced me and now Zinn's dead and I fear all these great thinkers are going to start dying off.

[junkybabes]

@DookieFlea or getting bumped off...

[flyinghotwing]

love the substance, but two people i cannot bare to listen to, just because of the lousy sound of their creeking voice: Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky

[ChrisDutch]

We are paying the price for giving ten minutes of our time to crackpot neo fascist scum like Milton Friedman and the "Chicago Boys" with their terrorist economic theories and drug addicted assholes like Ayn Rand and their "objectivist" theories of behavior. Combine that with Leo Strauss's contemptuous view of democracy and we are living in a witches brew of a hollowed out democracy.

[MultiSmartass1]

Parenti makes an excellent point here when he says that Republicans like debt.

He cites Ronald Reagan who used military spending as a economic trojan horse to spur the American economy.

Reagan helped increase debt by massive spending in military/industrial complex and by working to cut down social spending thus exapnding debt and deficit.

Bush II also did the same thing by urging tax cuts during a massive recession and by funneling millions upon millions into war spending.

Thus debt is hiked

[Rico8458]

marx did say capitalist will hang themselves with their own rope.

[Rotschild1957]

Blaming capitalism for socialists that save the banks with tax payer's money......... We need capitalism with a little government, not socialism or fascism, merger of state and corporations.

[HGSpaceTime]

US dollar failure Doh yes it's coming. Geewihz what do expect when have monetary system operated by corrupt greedy covert illogical jackass.LOL

[arzoyan]

Capitalism is the Monetary bondage of immense humanity in a politically manipulated,armed,tyrannical MARKET MECHANISM of alienation,exploitation and suffering. The Business as usual is the negation of our common humanity in cooperation and harmony to take care of our real needs and well being. Capitalism dominated by Corporate criminals or State dictators is the abstract process of Capital accumulation and concentration. Profit system is historically outdated ,destructive and dehumansing

[August1977]

Hitler ran a socialist party ("for the people") before it became a fascist party overnight. Parenti is right in his analyses of the problem but he doesn't talk about the radical problems that radical solutions incorporate. His work has the pretention of being objective political science but in real fact it stinks of socialist propaganda.

[tom6612]

@August1977 -- Yeah it's a good thing capitalism doesn't have any radical problems. You aren't too ignorant.

[blackmichael75]

@August1977 i'm sick of this garbage about Hitler being a socialist- one and for all, he simply called his party "national socialist" in order to increase its appeal to the working class. The "national" part of it was much more significant than the "socialist" part. The Nazis were in no real sense, "socialist". In fact, the first people they started to round up and send off to camps, before the jews or anyone else, were the socialists and communists.

[blackmichael75]

@August1977 look at the political positions of Adolf Hitler article on Wikipedia: "Anticommunism, racial nationalism, social conservatism, extreme homophobia, militarism, glorification of war", this is all RIGHT WING stuff. The people in the modern United States who most resemble the Nazis are on the RIGHT, it's just bullshit to think otherwise.

[August1977]

@blackmichael75 Hitler obtained popularity with his NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party) = LEFT WING! In the early 30's pamphlets he pleaded the gallow for the profiteers, bankers and Masons. He became popular when he provided work for the people, in like road construction. Only towards the end of the 30's he showed his true colours, he was a fascist dictator not a socialist, it was a 'honey trap'. People like Alex Jones come close to the position Hitler had when he became popular.

[blackmichael75]

@August1977 are you confused? Or is that what i said below? He was PRETENDING to be left wing in order to win votes from the working class. So he had the word "socialist" in the party. That doesn't make him socialist! Some third world dictatorships have parties with names like, "Democratic Freedom Party", don't be naive! As for Alex Jones, he's more of an old style, state's rights, paleoconservative than he admits.

[blackmichael75]

@August1977 Orwell says: "Fascism is a form of capitalism that borrows from socialism just such features as will make it efficient for WAR PURPOSES" . State control of investment, wages etc. BUT all the same people in control, the same private ownership, the same class relations. Rich men had nothing much to fear from the Nazis as long as they weren't Jews. That is state-controlled capitalism and nothing to do with socialism!

[tom87pate]

This guy looks like Captain Kangaroo!

[jupiterztear]

What a douch bag...Free market doesn´t work??? I agree it´s not perfect but because of this "not working" market you can sell your books and express your ideas

[eddypfunk]

i like parenti as i like chomsky..especially from their stand point as Americans. They speak alot of sense but in its own way its dangerous to take it in as gospel truth. As Parenti himself would say there is no objectivity - just a uninanimous way of looking at a paradigm. I often think that Chomsky and Parenti paint things in black and white. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. How can possible summarise the human race in such swathes?

[MultiSmartass1]

"Its not a market, its plunder and it needs to be done away with"

True.

However, the Capitalist system is setup like the mythical Phoenix.

Keep in mind that the system has died and been reborn several times-during the panics of the 19th century and the great depression of the 1920's-only to rise again and terrorize the working classes like a golem.

Capitalism is dying and being re-born as we speak.

[kclau1]

@MultiSmartass1 And the problem is "how many times it can re-born" after dying.

The economic system resembles a person. When he gets sick he can recover. But when he gets sick too many times, he will eventually succumb to his disease and die.

[MultiSmartass1]

@kclau1 If that were the case,we would have a different economic system in place.

We don't because elites and the ruling class like the one we have in place now.

They fiddle with it and tweak it but it works for them.

It is not supposed to work for the average American-not really.

Capitalism doesn't provide you with a roof over your head.

Capitalism doesn't provide you with a paycheck.

Capitalism doesn't provide you with a nice meal.

Individualism does that, one's own ability does it,

[8Thirst]

Micheal Parenti? The 2-3 trillion dollars were taken under a leftist administration as you always wanted. 2-3!! Congress had been mostly democrat since the elections of 2006. Who spends money? Congress. This is why no matter how much you know you cant follow. ROFL Marx? Back in style? Castro is still communist... lets use that example. North Korea?Those are conservative countrys right? There is a lot of truth in what he says, but the natural result of it is a shift of controllers no more freedom

[jupiterztear]

@8Thirst...I Agree, but Parenti as well as M. Friedman on the other side, are both extremists. I believe that the defects underlying capitalism are completely systemic in nature. We tend to think that an exponentially complex system like the economy in democratic states will work and grow with a few generalized set of rules: regulate, de-regulate; we have to add more controlling options into the “long run” evolution of the system. Capitalism has its set of virtues and defects, Socialism also.

[canaan1967]

WHY DID DEMOCRACY NOW ONLY ALLOT A FEW MINUTES WITH PARENTI? HE'S WORTH A COUPLE OF HOURS.

[iPhoNeNfoRmer]

Michael Parenti is my hero! The content of his books is similar to Noam Chomsky's works, but his style is far more satisfying and life affirming. Anybody who is interested in social-justice should check him out.

BTW, Have an iPhone? Check out POCKETPOON d0 t COM for the BEST iPhone and iPod p0rN app on the net!! Word

[arzoyan]

Capitalism the wage slavery of immense humanity for the profit taking of a few. A legalised robbery imposition of market mechanism where artifical scarcity is the iron law of the business as usual.A SOCIO-ECONOMIC MODALITY OF PERPETUAL WAR,POVERTY,EXPLOITATION,ENVIO­RNMENTAL DESTRUCTIONS,SYSTEMATIC ANIMAL CRUELTY and so on. We need to reclaim our lives and our Earth for a world of cooperation for our collective material and emotional needs and well being in harmony with our natural enviornment.

[slimmerskimmer]

Democracy now ? no , for the Americans it's a Republic not a Democracy.

[jazzbo66zz]

People should starve so the rich can afford the luxury of calling capitalism a "Republic"? My favorite example of a "Republic" is South Africa. Why don't we just rename the US the Republic of North America, if that is what the founding fathers had in mind for us.Hey I know, we can put Americas 60 million poor on reservations surrounded with razor wire and call them townships. The beauty of it is, it all makes sense. We defeated the Nazis so we could take up where they left off?

[matchbox555]

@slimmerskimmer republic just means no monarchy

america is a democracy AND a republic

[wda013]

@matchbox555

> america is a democracy AND a republic

democracy as in "rule of the people" ??? har har har

U$ is a fake-democracy; monetary-ism and democracy are incomatible; methinks the term CapitalFascism would much better describe it

--

(( and most sentences with any form of 'to be' "are" wrong (study E' = E-prime, e.g. as described by R.A.Wilson) ))

[rocksiphone]

Clinton's job was to pump up the markets so everyone would put their money in the stock market. Then Bush was put in office to take it all away. Obama will take our money by Inflation Tax. I mean no need to raise taxes, just Print the Money

[jazzbo66zz]

@rocksiphone

You are correct, printed money supplied to banks by the Fed is then construed by economists to represent "growth" Economics is the academic defense of market fundamentalism for people who can't read

Within 3 blocks of my house there are 7 homes in forclosure and 2 going on the auction block March 1.This is the final decapitalization of the middle class and the deliberate production of poverty which may serve as an ideal political medium for a military dicatatorship.

[rocksiphone]

The next solution, they will offer a Global Currency which is controlled by a few.

[jazzbo66zz]

@rocksiphone

It seems to me the 'currency' that Fascists trade in is weapons. Rockwell-Martin, & General Dynamics are like Haliburton & the Corrections Corp of America on the security front, We are witnessing a full blown capitalist paranoid psychosis We produce something on the order of a million pounds of ordinance annualy that is used against the poorest of the poor. China buys essentialy all its ribbon wire riot control & surveillance gear and advanced munitions from us

[Entropy137]

Why does he call it Capitalism when we really have Fascism? Can anyone tell me?

[skollywhop]

because fascism is capitalism

[Entropy137]

Not pure lassez faire free market capitalism. Facism is where corporations lobby to get government to give them an advantage at the cost of the public. That's what we have not. Not capitalism.

[jazzbo66zz]

Economics is the substructure of politics Capitalism and democracy are antithetical to one another but the point is academic . We live in a Neoliberal security state. Neoliberal economics describes a glabal corporate economy bring imposed by force of arms abroad and a budding police state at home. Hitlers political power was a function of his alignment with the interests of Germany's giant multnational business interests like Krupp Steel and IG Farben petrochemical. Politics is economics

[DuffmanIRL]

Capitalism is very similar to fascism. Corporate structures are fascist. They are unaccountable private tyrannies like a fascist state.

[mostro135]

What you have is corporate capitalism which is fascism.

It's the marriage between the corporate/financial and state sectors.

[jazzbo66zz]

@mostro135

how true it is, when democratic society and representative government are repressed,what remains is a security state or dictatorship if you like. It is usefull to understand what the rightwing was envisioning as a future for the rest of us when Reagan started attacking "wellfare queens" & "tax and spend liberals". Exchanging corporate wellfare and security for social wellfare and security. Warfare is welfare for the fortune 500 who depend upon the state for their "free markets'

[centurion180ad]

When national debts have once been accumulated to a certain degree, there is scarce, I believe, a single instance of their having been fairly and completely paid.

The liberation of the public revenue, if it has been brought about at all, has always been brought about by a bankruptcy; sometimes by an avowed one, though frequently by a pretended payment. Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

[jazzbo66zz]

centurion180ad

It is only natual for you to be quoting Adam Smith trying to describe a world that no longer exists, in the vocabulary & from from the point of view of the landed gentry of the 18th century. Adam Smith is invoked by people like you who would like us to return to that golden age of freedom before women could vote and the entire US economy was dependent on the unpaid labor of 9 mllion African slaves while horse theives were hanged in the town square.

[centurion180ad]

We just met, and you hardly know me at all.

If you prefer perpetual war, invasive surveillance, massive plunder, and full spectrum dominance by fascist lapdogs of a mass murdering Debt Syndicate, then by all means continue along with a beloved Federal Reserve System and all the Crimes Against Humanity that decision will force you to pay for.

Please attempt reading Adam Smith, to determine what he and his supporters stand for.

[jazzbo66zz]

@centurion180ad It might be useful for the sake of argument if you would start reading the newspaper or otherwise making some visible effort to position yourself somewhere along the arc of informed opinion pertaining to this century, We can expect to explain nothing that has happened in the past 50 years with models of rhe world that are 200 years old. I would love it if you could reference The Wealth of Nations, to explain statistical regression or derivatives Read the SHOCK DOCTRINE

[centurion180ad]

Derivatives according to Adam Smith, are to be avoided at all costs.

Private letters of credit that are drawn against yet other private or public letters of credit that are unrelated to real assets, are pure fraud.

Inflation is a tax, and irredeemable debt currency allows that tax to be redistributed to private monopolists that curry government favor.

Irredeemable debt currency, is bank fraud and our entire population ought to file a class action against every internaional bank.

[jazzbo66zz]

@centurian180ad

See, I told you. Smith died 2 centuries before they were invented. Smiths mythic "free market" is now passing into history only to be remembered as a cult that ended with a suicide pact between its ideologues and about 3% of the population who financed the greatest bubble in recorded history. Change is as inevitable as was the discovery that human progress has never been a product of greed, self interest or the invisible hand of an aristocracy.

[S2Cents]

@jazzbo66zz They don't read Adam Smith and if some do, they do a lot of blinking.

[wvprogressive1933]

I will add to Michael Parenti's excellent analysis here that the Republicans have run on what has been called the "Two Santa Clauses" theory. This was posited by a Republican strategist named Jude Wanniski. In this scenario, the Republicans would be Santa Claus when they are in power-- spending like crazy and cutting taxes. And when they ware out of power, they get to be Santa Clause again, complaining about all attempts to raise taxes or any attempts to become fiscally solvent.

[IPlayWithFire135]

Indonesia is the true face of capitalism-a hellhole.

[wvprogressive1933]

Indonesia was also home to one of the worst mass murders in history when Soekarno was overthrown. Yes, East Timor was bad, but the crimes committed against the left in Indonesia at this time was absolutely astonishing in its magnitude.

[Rotschild1957]

@IPlayWithFire135 Indonesia is corrupt you idiot. Is has nothing to do with real capitalism.

[canaan1967]

Michael was on his best behavior here. He usually makes no distinctions between Reps and Dems but here he only blames Reps. Must have been coached before the show.

[Appleriver3]

awesome. Thank you.

[robinbreeds32]

Chomskt is mumbling supports the elite Disinfo, Parenti is a free man i now have 5 of his books i could never fault him

[polyzygote]

i don't think so. i like both of them but find chomsky somewhat more radical. parenti too often falls into the bipartisan politics trap, a false pair, which chomsky correctly identify as two sides of the same coin.

[Congest]

Chomsky encouraged his followers (middle class university students) to vote for John Kerry in 2004. Look it up.

[wvprogressive1933]

Yes. And I unfortunately followed his advice.

[dj4monie]

Correct, but there are fewer honest Republicans than honest Democrats....

[FaaarLeft]

Michael Parenti is my hero! The content of his books is similar to Noam Chomsky's works, but his style is far more satisfying and life affirming. Anybody who is interested in social-justice should check him out.

[heylookyatthis987]

fuck yeah dude. high five!

[partymariner]

@FaaarLeft I find Parenti's books to be more readable and less dry than Chomsky's although I appreciate the efforts of both.

[canaan1967]

@FaaarLeft

Mine too. He is much more radical and honest than Chomsky and highly critical of Chomsky for a couple of reasons. CHeck out Michael Parent talk about the Government VS the State. He makes a distinction between the two that have a profound implication. takeoverworld . info/parenti_talks . html (without spaces)

[canaan1967]

@FaaarLeft

They shouls have given an hour long interview with him. He seemed to me to be holding his punches in this interview. It's like the told him to be good. 

[FaaarLeft]

@canaan1967 I don't think so. Maybe this just wasn't the best forum for him.

[kaleo183rd]

@FaaarLeft He's the Messiah, lol, but no i did read Democracy for the few, and ordered against empire, hes a true visionary

[3LARI]

@FaaarLeft Which of his books would be a good one to begin with?

[gregorybgeddings]

@3LARI Get a copy of "The Sword and the Dollar". Used copies on Amazon can be found for dirt cheap...

[mdrndrum]

@FaaarLeft Would you have any suggestions of his works for me (a beginner in understanding how the whole thing works)???

[wolverine2244]

@FaaarLeft I admire Chomsky, but he is so dry. Parenti is awesome, he has such a great analysis, and he is very passionate about capitalism and its real world effects on people.

[waketheoblivious]

@FaaarLeft

Want to deal with Social Justice, then deal with the root of the problem which is CORRUPTION, MOTHER FUCKER. ONLY TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE ON THE PLANET. THOSE WHO ARE SATANIC AND THOSE WHO ARE NOT. The basis of the human logic and belief structure is predicated on a fundamental commitment to the Truth (only sane choice), which inherently expands to include all possibilities. If that commitment is wired to a lightswitch of convenience, then fundamentally they are a fraud & a liar.

[eryksun]

The 2 trillion in loans to banks issued by the Fed is not our debt. But the Fed accepted 'toxic assets' as collateral. So now 2 trillion dollars is in the system, backed by CDO junk. I suppose the difference is made up with the 1.4 trillion in bank bailout from Treasury, which is certainly our debt. Banks are probably using the Fed loans to purchase the Treasury Bills used to finance their own bailout. Effectively they've transferred their bad loans to government books, getting full value.

[eryksun]

Meanwhile the banks' CDS side bets through AIG are also paying out at full value for tens of billions via the credit extended to AIG.

[eryksun]

And for the time being, Asia and Europe will continue to finance our trillion-dollar military with their trade surplus and petrodollars (dollars from OPEC nations that get re-invested in US debt) even though most of their citizens oppose US militarism and hegemony.

[womblefree]

Marxism leads to stagnation, if you really want a sustainable future look to Mikal Balkinin and his successors.

[really12345]

"Marxism leads to stagnation"

and capitalism leads to hundreds of thousands of cars that will have to be crushed and melted down, and millions of unemployed.

But that's OK, Because we are entering a time of revolution, long overdue

Stalin's "marxism" leads to stagnation

[itsacorporatething]

The full comment that you responded to was "Marxism leads to stagnation, if you really want a sustainable future look to Mikal Balkinin and his successors."

Apparently you have no idea who Mikal Balkinin is.

[really12345]

ever hear of a thing called the internet

you have a nice fat head, apparently

[itsacorporatething]

i wasnt trying to be mean, i was just saying that bakunin wasnt pro capitalism.

[really12345]

That's true. Bakunin wasn't pro-capitalist, however his ideas were proven wrong in the Paris commune, and in the defeat of the Spanish Revolution that led to WW2.

Don't take my word for it, I'm just an armchair socialist.

The real revolutionaries are in the front lines, on the shop floors, assembly lines, and any other places workers will be who want to change this rotten condition that exists on our planet.

[womblefree]

So what do you prefer Marxism or something else perhaps syndicalism. I for one dont want some egotist directing my life so Marxism is out of the question.

If you want a revolution the people at the top have to be in a state of disorganisation and confusion with their middle classes as well thats why the spannish revolution failed because the facists were the ones who mainly had the weapons probably provided by britain and germany.Tellme who proved Bakunin wrong at the paris commune and how

[really12345]

Marx and Engels advised the leadership of the commune (Blanqui, and others)  to go and smash the french army while it was disorganized and regrouping in the south of france.

The leaderships failure to do so. led to a murderous counter- revolution and the reinstatement of the french bourgeoisie to political power. A result which the german capitalists did not fear as much as the example the communards were giving to workers throughout the world.

The spanish revolution was betrayed by stalin

[joesub007]

Marxism means communes and the destruction of the traditional pair based nuclear family unit in favor of mixed gender "families" of many males and females. There is no "state" in the sense that you know what a state is now, but more like a loose confederacy of communes. It's utopian I know, but something like this has never been accomplished before.

[womblefree]

I misspelt his name Its Mikhail Bakunin and he was expelled from the international for being anti Marxists and what he said about Marxism turned out to be very prophetic.

[StandUp555]

On Indonesia .. get John Perkins on your show ; author of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" . He will tell you the whole story !

Great reporting .. Thx

[wojiwodj]

I've read that book, kind of a must read. It show's how economists have been used unethically to impose ideology rather than rationality.

[AllieCaulfield]

Dare we mention Marx?  I hear he's coming back in style.

[wojiwodj]

Marx advocated violence. I hope he stay's out of style. What about the third way, scandanavian style society, part private part nationalized, what's wrong with that?

[silversalvo]

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

John F. Kennedy

Marx advocated revolutions of both kind as i understand it. He opposed violence , but sees it as inevitable because the ruling class would not go quietly.

[paganiniGOGO]

true, even though you quoted a murderer.

[AllieCaulfield]

If you are of the opinion that Marx is synonymous with violence you havent actually read him. Capitalism is violence. There is no such thing as a third way or capitalism with a human face. Violence comes from capitalism and not people trying to free themselves from its exploitative hold. The people have the right to defend themselves. Property has no such right. Freedom or nothing is my motto.

[wojiwodj]

Violence has been a crime perpetrated by both Marxists (ie, Che.) and Capitalists. Perhaps it is the use of violence by us humans that is the root of a lot of our problems.

[AllieCaulfield]

Violence by so call Marxist should never be a reason to not read Marx. His analysis of capitalism, although limited should be the starting point for all activists and revolutionaries. "The proletarians (us) have nothing to lose but their chains." Illegitimate authority is the root of human violence. Please watch Refuting 20 Capitalist Myths by youtube user mr1001nights.

[wojiwodj]

will do, thanks