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I wanted to go back to the Oct. 16th entry and re-introduce the discussion of Adam Smith and his famed "Wealth of Nations" book.
We have seen, these past few days, the level of respect and recognition that the Bush administration has of where the money flow from the TARP bailout should go. It is quite obvious that they care more for the suits on Wall Street who decide to shower in the morning before they get to the office, than the do for the hard working Americans who must shower after they get home from work.
Again, we revisit the "Wealth of Nations", Book V, Ch.2, Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society...
V.2.8
No two characters seem more inconsistent than those of trader and sovereign. If the trading spirit of the English East India Company renders them very bad sovereigns, the spirit of sovereignty seems to have rendered them equally bad traders. While they were traders only they managed their trade successfully, and were able to pay from their profits a moderate dividend to the proprietors of their stock. Since they became sovereigns, with a revenue which, it is said, was originally more than three millions sterling, they have been obliged to beg extraordinary assistance of government in order to avoid immediate bankruptcy. In their former situation, their servants in India considered themselves as the clerks of merchants: in their present situation, those servants consider themselves as the ministers of sovereigns.
V.2.9
A state may sometimes derive some part of its public revenue from the interest of money, as well as from the profits of stock. If it has amassed a treasure, it may lend a part of that treasure either to foreign states, or to its own subjects.
As we look at our current state of affairs that have plagued the American taxpayer in order to bailout the corporations, we are not seeing any of this "amassed treasure" that we have handed to Washington reach any of its "subjects".
Let's look again at the relevance to Smith's writings and today's economic crisis.
Treasury Secretary Paulson previously publicly professed that we should make sure these businesses (the financial institutions, AIG, and Fannie and Freddie) do not fail. However, as the people who shower in the morning in Washington try to find where to place the next $350 Billion, they continue to raise the issue of the private jets that the Big 3 used to get to Congress to ask for money. I agree that it wasn't a good move, however, the Washington suits neglect to mention all of the private jets that the financial institutions, AIG, and others use on a daily basis. They also forget to remind people of the ways that these bailed out firms of Wall Street have manipulated their books in order to still hand out year end bonuses to their people. They are calling them incentives for the new year...
The Republican welfare state for the rich shows us that the trickle down theory of economics does not work. It is like Washington has received a little slight of hand parlor trick from Vegas magicians to use with the tax payers money. Your and my future earnings. The funds from the hard working people who mostly shower after work, is being slighted from our wallets while we sit in the audience and smile unknowingly in amazement.
The interesting thing about this democratic capitalistic management philosophy that has transpired through the Bush administration is that we are riding a fine line to communism and or dictatorship. Now, through the Bush bailout, we are riding a fine line between capitalism and socialism.
As I have stated previously, there is NOT ONE WAY to do things as we have come to find that a totally free market capitalism does not work. When you put the suits of Wall Street in an arena without regulation it is the same as a kid in a candy store, or Joe the Plumber in Home Depot.
Our system is built on a capitalistic system with socialistic tendencies. What we have recently experienced is a huge redistribution of wealth to the rich with no parameters to the receivers of the tax payers funds. Or, rather a socialistic system for capitalistic tendencies. Congress failed us big time for giving out the nearly $500 Billion without strings attached or rules to the game. The suits of Wall Street are now unwilling to part with our money that we gave them. This is leaving the economy in a worse position than it was two months ago.
Paulson failed. Well, actually he begs to differ. But then, he showers in the morning. I would venture that he should also shower at night to remove all of the filth he creates during the day.
There is a slight irony to capitalism and Karl Marx. I use the first volume of Marx's major work, "Capital", which was published in German in 1867, as an example. In it, Marx focused on the labour(sic) theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. The labour(sic) theory of value held that the value of a thing was determined by the labor that went into its production. This contrasts with the modern understanding of mainstream economics, that the value of a thing is determined by what one is willing to give up to obtain the thing. Ironically, Smith is often cited for being the conceptual builder of free markets in Capitalism, and also cited as a main contributor to Communist theory, via Marx.
Smith believed that while human motives were often driven by selfishness and greed, the competition in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services. Nevertheless, he was wary of businessmen and argued against the formation of monopolies.
Due to the globalization of nearly everything, including currency, in order to keep prices low of products it is the hard working second and third world countries that do much of the labor. As the world becomes more competitive and smaller it is becoming harder to find ways to stretch the production dollar.
Smith discussed at length of the sovereign social state. In today's Republican party they continue to claim that the welfare state as being dis functional. That is until it is time to meet the needs of the sovereign. Our modern TARP program is case in point.
As quoted from The Wealth of Nations:
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."
I hope that Obama comes out on Jan. 21, 2008, after his first nights sleep as President, addresses the nation by informing us that his first actions will be that the recipients of our hard earned funds MUST begin the distribute those funds back to the people and small businesses to get this economy moving again. That Detroit MUST make new cars that are electric, Hybrid, battery and more. That the government will begin to put money back into the infrastructure of the country and they need people to work...TODAY!
Bush knew about infrastructure and rebuilding. He just spent eight years and trillions of dollars in the WRONG country. Good riddence sir, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!
Man, I must be making money since it is still morning, but after this I need a shower.
This, the 217th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Showing posts with label Wealth of Nations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wealth of Nations. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Adam Smith today...
I wanted to keep my thoughts going with the current ongoing ideas, however, I needed to inject a bit today due to the current economic situation.
I wanted to dive into a few thoughts from Adam Smith, and his landmark book "Wealth of Nations", Book V, Ch.2, Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society...
V.2.8
No two characters seem more inconsistent than those of trader and sovereign. If the trading spirit of the English East India Company renders them very bad sovereigns, the spirit of sovereignty seems to have rendered them equally bad traders. While they were traders only they managed their trade successfully, and were able to pay from their profits a moderate dividend to the proprietors of their stock. Since they became sovereigns, with a revenue which, it is said, was originally more than three millions sterling, they have been obliged to beg extraordinary assistance of government in order to avoid immediate bankruptcy. In their former situation, their servants in India considered themselves as the clerks of merchants: in their present situation, those servants consider themselves as the ministers of sovereigns.
V.2.9
A state may sometimes derive some part of its public revenue from the interest of money, as well as from the profits of stock. If it has amassed a treasure, it may lend a part of that treasure either to foreign states, or to its own subjects.
This seems to me to ring so true to today, just as it did then. Since this first publication back in 1776, I guess it shows that we have(?) come a long way as we look at our current state of affairs and the current band-aids that have plagued the American taxpayer in order to bailout the corporations. This shows us just how important it truly is for this current campaign and the result as to how and who should be running this country for the future. Do to the nature of our economic crisis, as well as, the global economic fallout and the necessary reparations to the perceptions of the world populace to our country this next leader is going to be pivotal to the future global political landscape for generations to come.
Let's look at the relevance to Smith's writings and today's economic crisis.
Recently, we have bailed out some of the largest corporations, and Treasury Secretary Paulson has publicly stated that we should make sure these businesses do not fail. There is some who think that Paulson has self interests involved in which companies succeed and which may fail due to some of the narcissistic patterns of funding and oversight thus far.
Perhaps this is the human pattern of self interest. The current Republican welfare state for the rich shows us that the trickle down theory of economics does not work. Smith tells us that the wages of the poor should be high in relation to their position, and he views that a common street porter was not intellectually inferior to a philosopher. In other words, as to the founding fathers, we are all created equal and should have equal rights and opportunities.
This brings me to Paulson's latest move. If we, as the tax payers and funders of the bailouts to the banks, insurance, and mortgage institutions that we have seen take place, we should also be given the voting rights as the stock holders to these firms. We should be given the opportunity to delegate our individual proxy votes for these companies with transparent oversight to these voting processes. This will give the American people the opportunity to truly protect the investment that our government has put our money into, and to maintain that the people that Paulson has placed into power positions are scrutinized and managed appropriately and fairly as with any other corporation. We, as tax payers, are now the major stock holders to these firms. As a Union of voters we should be given these rights and voting powers just as with any other corporate structure.
The interesting thing about this democratic capitalistic management philosophy that has transpired through the Bush administration is that we are riding a fine line to communism and or dictatorship. I use the first volume of Marx's major work, "Capital", which was published in German in 1867, as an example. In it, Marx focused on the labour(sic) theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. The labour(sic) theory of value held that the value of a thing was determined by the labor that went into its production. This contrasts with the modern understanding of mainstream economics, that the value of a thing is determined by what one is willing to give up to obtain the thing. Ironically, Smith is often cited for being the conceptual builder of free markets in Capitalism, and also cited as a main contributor to Communist theory, via Marx.
Smith believed that while human motives were often driven by selfishness and greed, the competition in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services. Nevertheless, he was wary of businessmen and argued against the formation of monopolies.
It seems that his fears have shown their relevance and we are in this global dilemma. AIG is the world's largest insurance firm, and is now quite possibly the world's fourth largest social benefiting program outside of Social Security, and Medicare which are also nearly bankrupt. For the third largest social welfare program we have the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bailouts and the new mortgage holding corporation of the United States of America. Then we have the multiple corporations that make up the new social banking system that has recently become part the nations growing stock portfolio program.
The difference to what the current administration has done here is created the sovereign social state policies that Smith discusses. The sovereign continually declare the welfare state as being dis functional until it is time to meet the needs of the sovereign.
An often-quoted passage from The Wealth of Nations is:
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.
It is for this reason and this reason alone that there MUST be full transparency and accountability to all actions that are taking place in today's economic crisis. We as the major stockholders to all of these new corporate structures must maintain our position of such and demand that.
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
I wanted to dive into a few thoughts from Adam Smith, and his landmark book "Wealth of Nations", Book V, Ch.2, Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society...
V.2.8
No two characters seem more inconsistent than those of trader and sovereign. If the trading spirit of the English East India Company renders them very bad sovereigns, the spirit of sovereignty seems to have rendered them equally bad traders. While they were traders only they managed their trade successfully, and were able to pay from their profits a moderate dividend to the proprietors of their stock. Since they became sovereigns, with a revenue which, it is said, was originally more than three millions sterling, they have been obliged to beg extraordinary assistance of government in order to avoid immediate bankruptcy. In their former situation, their servants in India considered themselves as the clerks of merchants: in their present situation, those servants consider themselves as the ministers of sovereigns.
V.2.9
A state may sometimes derive some part of its public revenue from the interest of money, as well as from the profits of stock. If it has amassed a treasure, it may lend a part of that treasure either to foreign states, or to its own subjects.
This seems to me to ring so true to today, just as it did then. Since this first publication back in 1776, I guess it shows that we have(?) come a long way as we look at our current state of affairs and the current band-aids that have plagued the American taxpayer in order to bailout the corporations. This shows us just how important it truly is for this current campaign and the result as to how and who should be running this country for the future. Do to the nature of our economic crisis, as well as, the global economic fallout and the necessary reparations to the perceptions of the world populace to our country this next leader is going to be pivotal to the future global political landscape for generations to come.
Let's look at the relevance to Smith's writings and today's economic crisis.
Recently, we have bailed out some of the largest corporations, and Treasury Secretary Paulson has publicly stated that we should make sure these businesses do not fail. There is some who think that Paulson has self interests involved in which companies succeed and which may fail due to some of the narcissistic patterns of funding and oversight thus far.
Perhaps this is the human pattern of self interest. The current Republican welfare state for the rich shows us that the trickle down theory of economics does not work. Smith tells us that the wages of the poor should be high in relation to their position, and he views that a common street porter was not intellectually inferior to a philosopher. In other words, as to the founding fathers, we are all created equal and should have equal rights and opportunities.
This brings me to Paulson's latest move. If we, as the tax payers and funders of the bailouts to the banks, insurance, and mortgage institutions that we have seen take place, we should also be given the voting rights as the stock holders to these firms. We should be given the opportunity to delegate our individual proxy votes for these companies with transparent oversight to these voting processes. This will give the American people the opportunity to truly protect the investment that our government has put our money into, and to maintain that the people that Paulson has placed into power positions are scrutinized and managed appropriately and fairly as with any other corporation. We, as tax payers, are now the major stock holders to these firms. As a Union of voters we should be given these rights and voting powers just as with any other corporate structure.
The interesting thing about this democratic capitalistic management philosophy that has transpired through the Bush administration is that we are riding a fine line to communism and or dictatorship. I use the first volume of Marx's major work, "Capital", which was published in German in 1867, as an example. In it, Marx focused on the labour(sic) theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. The labour(sic) theory of value held that the value of a thing was determined by the labor that went into its production. This contrasts with the modern understanding of mainstream economics, that the value of a thing is determined by what one is willing to give up to obtain the thing. Ironically, Smith is often cited for being the conceptual builder of free markets in Capitalism, and also cited as a main contributor to Communist theory, via Marx.
Smith believed that while human motives were often driven by selfishness and greed, the competition in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services. Nevertheless, he was wary of businessmen and argued against the formation of monopolies.
It seems that his fears have shown their relevance and we are in this global dilemma. AIG is the world's largest insurance firm, and is now quite possibly the world's fourth largest social benefiting program outside of Social Security, and Medicare which are also nearly bankrupt. For the third largest social welfare program we have the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bailouts and the new mortgage holding corporation of the United States of America. Then we have the multiple corporations that make up the new social banking system that has recently become part the nations growing stock portfolio program.
The difference to what the current administration has done here is created the sovereign social state policies that Smith discusses. The sovereign continually declare the welfare state as being dis functional until it is time to meet the needs of the sovereign.
An often-quoted passage from The Wealth of Nations is:
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.
It is for this reason and this reason alone that there MUST be full transparency and accountability to all actions that are taking place in today's economic crisis. We as the major stockholders to all of these new corporate structures must maintain our position of such and demand that.
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
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