Marknadsreformer is Good!

Egypt and the global economic order
Egypt's protests were a denunciation of neo-liberalism and the political suppression required to impose it.
Neo-liberalism and crony-capitalism
"The strikers were responding to the fast-track imposition of neo-liberal economic policies by a cabinet led by Ahmed Nazif, the then prime minister who relentlessly implemented the demands of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). These measures included the privatisation of public factories, the liberalisation of markets, decreasing tariffs and import taxes and the introduction of subsidies for agri-businesses in place of those for small farmers with the aim of increasing agricultural exports.

Such economic policies, which are by no means unique to Egypt, are the fruitful soil of neo-colonialism, whereby multi-national corporations are able to capitalise on economies run by regimes that impose low standards of corporate responsibility towards their labour force, have few environmental protection laws and, in the case of Egypt, subsidise natural resources for big industry. This is coupled with the shrinking of the public sector, which is precisely where most of the labour action in Egypt has been concentrated.

These policies benefitted a small Egyptian elite and foreign corporations, while condemning the country's working class to a new form of labour-slavery - many public sector employees held up their wage slips during protests, showing meagre monthly earnings of $50 to $90 - and the broader population to the consequences of a shrinking public sector and increased commodity prices."
ALJAZEERA


Economists Blame 'Neo-Liberalism' for Region's Woes
Egypt embarked on "neo-liberal" economics more than three decades ago reorienting its socialist-oriented policies towards those of the "free market." Now, however, many critics call the strategy a failure and blame it for the country's rampant poverty and unemployment.


"Egypt's experiment with neo-liberal economics has resulted in soaring inflation, steadily increasing unemployment rates and a reduction of the average citizen's purchasing power," Hamdi Abdelazim, economist and former president of the Sadat Academy for Administrative Sciences in Cairo, told IPS.


The experiment first began in the late 1970s, when president Anwar Sadat forsook the socialist orientations of his predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser, by launching his "infitah," or "open-door" economic policy. The new strategy aimed to "liberalise" the economy by opening it up to imports from abroad and welcoming foreign investment in the country's development.
--------------------------------------
Stealing Egypt's revolution
Understanding Egypt
And the rich got richer
Neo-liberalism & Egypt’s Working Class

A 2002 Tribute to Milton Friedman

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld speaking at Tribute to Milton Friedman (transcript)
As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, White House, Washington, D.C., Thursday, May 09, 2002

"Mr. President (George W. Bush), Rose and Milton (Friedman), Minister of Defense of Italy (Antonio) Martino, a student of Milton’s, colleagues and friends, it’s good to see you all.

I am delighted to join in celebrating the life and work of a good friend, and a rare talent-indeed, a talent to be treasured.

Last year, I was disappointed to miss the birthday lunch that Ed Feulner hosts every year at some fish house on the road to Bohemian Grove in July. It’s nice of the President to bring us all together for an early celebration here in the EEOB (Eisenhower Executive Office Building).

And Milton, what an impact you have had. Precious few people live long enough to witness the rise and fall of empires. Even fewer can see that their work has had a profound effect on those truly momentous events.

Milton is the embodiment of the truth that "ideas have consequences."
Donald H. Rumsfeld

Neoliberal Geopolitics (PDF)
Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire

White Power

How whites won the economy
"The implementation after 1994 of the NP’s model of neo-liberal capitalism ensured that while whites lost political power, they retained control of the country’s wealth, argues Christi van der Westhuizen in this edited excerpt from White Power." "The entrenchment of neo-liberal capi­talism during the transition translated into the continuation of apartheid and colonialism’s legacy of extreme inequality. Consequently, white people could hold on to their pre-democracy gains."M&G South Africa

Global Warming Saves Lives!

Johan Norberg: COLD IS THE WORST KILLER:
"The big story in Dagens Nyheter today is that thousands of Swedes will die every year because of higher temperatures. That´s correct, but shouldn´t they also write about the thousands of deaths from cold that will be avoided?

As Bjørn Lomborg points out in his new book Cool it! (now in Swedish) each year 200,000 Europeans die each year because from excess heat, but many more - 1.5 million - die from excess cold. In the UK an increase in temperature by 2 degrees will probably result in another 2,000 deaths from heat, but in 20,000 fewer deaths from cold."

Global warming is a nice bi-product of economic growth and should be seen as a blessing rather than something to fear! I mean who doesnt want a warmer climate?

In these cold wintry times im sure a lot of scandinavians would welcome a little global warming and think about how it would prevent a lot of broken bones in the ski slopes, frozen fingers plus lower heating costs!

Global warming is Good!

Etik is Bad!

Timbro: Etiska krav drabbar fattiga
"De fattiga får betala när företagen vill vara etiska. Det anser Timbro, som tycker att Sida ska sluta sponsra granskning av svenska företag.

Miljöregler, lönesättning och gemensamma standarder gör att det blir allt svårare att göra affärer i utvecklingsländer, säger tankesmedjan Timbros chefsekonom Fredrik Erixon."
"- Jag hoppas att företagen och allmänheten vaknar upp och inser vad som håller på att hända, säger Henderson, när han gästar Stockholm på inbjudan av Timbro. (David Henderson från Westminister Business School)

Han anser att företagen håller på att glömma bort vad som är deras huvuduppgift, att skapa värde åt aktieägarna. I sin iver att framstå som goda drar företagen på sig en massa onödiga kostnader. Aggressiva frivilligorganisationer har tvingat in företagen i ett hörn.
- I slutändan kommer det att göra oss alla fattigare, säger David Henderson."

Jäpp, får man inte ha slavarbetare och släppa ut skit så finns det ju ingen poäng att flytta företag utomlands!
Och använder inte vi barnarbetare så kommer nån annan att göra det eller så kommer dom att bli prostituerade.

(Och det är inte bara slavarbete på bomullsplantager som är bra. Tänk på att vi skulle alla leva under ett globalt islamistiskt kalifat om USA inte kunde outsourca sin tortyr till egypten, syrien, jordanien och andra trevliga regimer!)

AB AB2 DN1 DN2 SvD DI XP

The Poor is Rich!

Johan Norberg;"The neo-protectionists in the US are actually correct: The American middle-class is slowly disappearing in the era of globalisation. The share of households with a middle-class income between $35,000 and $75,000 shrank from 33.8 to 32.8 percent.

"But it´s not because they become poorer, it´s because they become richer, as Dan Griswold points out in a new study."

Yes, it´s a pity that people doesnt read more propaganda from oilfunded think-tanks like The Cato Institute but rather allow themselves to be fed crap like this by the secular-progressive leftist media;

ABC NEWS; Welfare is a Bad Word, but Poverty Keeps Growing
"Opportunity 08 takes a closer look at poverty, and how the next president should address the growing gap between the rich and poor in a way that satisfies all Americans."

Novemberrevolutionen was Good!

Snart är det dags (den 21 november) att fira 22 årsdagen av Novemberrevolutionen! För er som inte minns kommer här en reminder;

Novemberrevolutionen - den okända statskuppen
"Minns ni den gigantiska pengarullningen i slutet av 1980 och början av 1990-talet? Medan utlandet såg på sjönk Sverige ner i den värsta ekonomiska krisen sedan 1930-talet. Ekonomer och politiker hävdade att det var svenskarnas eget fel, vi hade levt över våra tillgångar. Men det fanns en annan förklaring.

I november 1985 genomförde några få sammansvurna en reform som fick katastrofala följder för Sverige. Allt skedde i största hemlighet och utan onödig inblandning från riksdag och regering. Effekten blev så dramatisk att det i efterhand har liknats vid en kupp.

Det blåste nyliberala vindar
Bakgrunden kan sökas i 1980-talet hos amerikanske ekonomiprofessorn Milton Friedman och hans nyliberala idéer som spreds över världen. Friedmans budskap var att marknaden klarar sig bäst själv. Därför måste den befrias med hjälp av privatiseringar, sänkta skatter och avregleringar. Frontfigurer för idéerna var Ronald Reagan i USA och Margaret Thatcher i Storbritannien.

Även i Sverige fanns ett antal ekonomer och politiker som blev starkt påverkade av Friedman. Men här var det svårt att få gehör för nyliberala idéer. Regleringar och statliga åtgärder för att hålla arbetslösheten nere var närmast en dogm. Därför var det i största hemlighet som Riksbankschefen Bengt Dennis, finansminister Kjell Olof Feldt och dennes närmaste man Erik Åsbrink bestämde sig för att agera.

I början såg det ut som tidernas fest med yuppies dansande på storstädernas gator. Men inflationen skenade. Och på bara några år byttes köpfesten ut mot depression och massarbetslöshet. Tusentals företag gick i konkurs. Mängder av svenskar tappade fotfästet. Baksmällan varade i nästan tio år."

SVT
Wikipedia
Korståget mot välfärden
Economist

"Riktigdemokrati"

"One of the mandates of this year’s Ibero-american summit was to try to overcome the wealth and social inequality in Latin America and a fierce ideological debate ensued. The role of imperialism and the multinationals and the policies of privatisation were cited as having serious effects in Latin America. Spanish multinationals in particular, were criticised. They have carried out what could be described as a second colonisation of the continent, taking over and looting companies, particularly electricity suppliers, gas companies, banks, telecommunications companies. The names of Repsol, Union Fenosa, BBVA, Telefonica, inspire justified rage when they are mentioned in Latin America.

"..in the 2002 coup in Venezuela, the two ambassadors involved, who greeted short-lived dictator Pedro Carmona, had been the Spanish and the US ambassadors. Then Chavez went on to attack Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister at the time of the coup who, Chavez noted, has no right to go around the world criticising Chávez as a dictator. It was in this context that Chavez called Aznar a “fascist”.

It should be noted that at the time of the coup Aznar was supporting an unelected regime led by Carmona, who shut down the Venezuelan state TV station Channel 8, who had Chavez held against his will in jail and who ordered the repression and arrest of the Venezuelan people who were protesting the coup. In all, the coup resulted in approximately 20 people killed and hundreds wounded."

It is also interesting to note that Aznar’s father and grandfather both played big roles in the fascist dictatorship of Franco. As a teenager, Aznar was an active member of a student union which was a branch of the falangist official party - the fascist party of Franco."

XP

Nyfascism is Good!

"Aftonbladet: Vänstern i Europa har slagits mot nyliberalismen länge, men inte riktigt tagit nyfascismen på allvar. Nu befinner vi oss i ett läge där vi måste slåss mot bägge.

– Det är tydligt. Man ser det på många platser i Europa. Jag vet inte varför socialdemokratin varit så försiktig. Men en förklaring är att våra alternativ har blivit misskrediterade genom en av de mest framgångsrika propagandakampanjerna från högern. De har försökt sätta likhetstecken mellan demokrati och nyliberalism. Men det tror ju ingen längre på. Kina är ju onekligen ett bevis på att det inte är samma sak.

– Men vad som varit mer framgångsrikt är idén att alla socialdemokratiska alternativ skulle vara katastrofala, att det enda som skulle vara värre än kapitalism är alternativet. Detta tror folk fortfarande på. Till och med vänstermänniskor gör det innerst inne."

Ja, det är ju det jag har sagt hela tiden. Fascism är bra! Varför hålla på att hymla med det? Till och med Socialmoderaterna har insett detta och det enda sätt man kan konkurrera på den globala marknaden och öka tillväxten är att alla barn, gamla och sjuka slutar fokusera så mycket på sina svagheter börjar göra sin plikt som arbetsmyror åt marknadsstaten och slutar vara en börda för de heroiska Atlasarna som bär samhället på sina axlar. Upp med kameror överallt, avlyssna all kommunikation, upp med en svensk golden shield och upprätta arbetsläger åt dissidenterna! Jobba, jobba jobba!

INGEN SKA KOMMA UNDAN!

Singapore is Good!

Singapore is the most globalized country in the world! And Hong Kong is second! Globalization Index

"Amnesty: More than 400 prisoners have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, giving the small city-state possibly the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population of just over four million people."

John Pilger - The New rulers of The World

Peak Oil is Here

PARIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Peak oil is not the result of geological constraints though of course they play a part. It is not the absence of hydrocarbons on the planet, we still have loads. Peak oil is not the failure of Middle Eastern countries to pump lots of oil. Peak oil is also not the failure of individual consumers like you and me. Peak oil is the failure of the modern economic system we know as “free markets” or “neo-liberalism.”
Resource Investor

"After the CEO of Total (the French oil major) last week, two more CEOs of an oil major came out this Thursday to give stark warnings that mean that peak oil is happening right now. In addition, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (the IEA), one of the main cheerleaders of the "there's more than enough oil" camp until now, is giving an extraordinarily pessimistic interview in the Financial Times, following the recent publication of their latest World Energy Outlook. "

"Where is the oil going to come from?" This is the CEO of the third biggest oil major in the USA, admitting that we no longer know where we can get access to oil. And he's repeating exactly what Christophe de Margerie, the boss of energy giant Total said a few days before: that IEA's projections, that everybody uses, are completely absurd"
Energy Bulletin

US military is completely addicted to oil. Unsurprisingly, its oil consumption for aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities makes the Pentagon the single largest oil consumer in the world. By the way, according to the 2006 CIA World Factbook rankings there are only 35 countries (out of 210) in the world that consume more oil per day than the Pentagon. Energy Bulletin

Energy Statistics > Oil > Consumption (most recent) by country
Energy Statistics > Oil imports > Net (most recent) by country
Energy Statistics > Oil imports > Net (per capita) (most recent) by country

"In an economic forecast released today, the European Union (EU)' s executive arm revised down its projections for the economic growth in both the EU and the euro zone in the next two years, citing the recent turbulence on the financial market, triggered by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States this summer, and rising oil prices, which were approaching 100 U.S. dollars per barrel, a level ever unimaginable."

Thatcherism in Action

"It would be easy to buy into Mikhail Saakashvili's claims that Russian agents are responsible for the latest crisis in Georgia. The president's strong pro-US and pro-Nato stance intensely irritates Moscow and relations between the two countries are dire. Russia routinely exploits separatist and border tensions, and a key oil pipeline running from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia undermines Kremlin efforts to monopolise energy supplies to the west from the Caspian basin. But leaders of Georgia's recently formed 10-party opposition coalition, and this week's street demonstrators, do not dispute the country's pro-western orientation, which most Georgians, ever wary of Russia, support. They say their focus is domestic: jobs, wealth inequalities, corruption, a weak judicial system, rights abuses, and what is seen as the excitable authoritarianism of Mr Saakashvili himself."

The opposition's slogan - "Georgia without a president" - refers to proposals to hold early elections and change the constitution, possibly by restoring the monarchy. But it also represents a personal rejection of Mr Saakashvili, whose political hero is Margaret Thatcher. (En enastående kvinna!!)

Four years after he helped lead the so-called rose revolution and initiated an era of breakneck social and economic change, many Georgians appear deeply discomfited by the resulting upheavals."

Shocktherapy Georgia

Kommunister och demokrati

CUF´s Magnus Andersson drar upp det gamla Kubakortet ur ärmen igen.
Har han fortfarande inte insett värdet av diktaturer för att hålla folk i schack? (Med risk att upprepa mig;)

Sveriges Kinahandel
"I och med (Kommunistdiktaturen) Kinas inträde i WTO får landet en än viktigare roll internationellt och landet är i dag världens fjärde största ekonomi. Sveriges ekonomiska förbindelser med (Kommunistdiktaturen) Kina befinner sig i ett dynamiskt skede. (Kommunistdiktaturen) Kina är Sveriges största asiatiska handelspartner sedan våren 2003."

"Communist leaders have no plans to allow democracy in the near future because they must focus on economic development before political reform, China's No. 3 leader said in comments published Tuesday.

Democracy will emerge once a "mature socialist system" develops but that might not happen for up to 100 years, Premier Wen Jiabao wrote in an article in the People's Daily, the main Communist Party newspaper."

Kommunistdiktatur is Good! Till skillnad från dessa hemska socialister som protesterade på Himmelska fridens torg;

China's New Left calls for a social alternative
"For Wang, the problems associated with China's uneven development were first identified by the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Wang himself was one of the last protesters to leave the square on the morning of June 4, 1989, as the tanks of the People's Liberation Army closed in. Normally rather brisk and matter-of-fact, he grew animated as he described in fluent, if occasionally idiosyncratic, English how a "broad social movement" began to grow out of the distress caused by the shock therapy of market reforms."

Shocktherapy is Good IV

Georgians protest against president
VIDEO
"More than 100,000 Georgian opposition supporters protested against President Mikhail Saakashvili for the second consecutive day, Interfax news agency reported.

The mass protest outside parliament began on Thursday evening and was the biggest since the Rose Revolution in 2003. Demonstrators demand early parliamentary and presidential elections in 2008 and the release of imprisoned opposition activists.

"We will not retreat until our demands are met," said opposition lawmaker Gia Tortladse, one of the protest organisers.

The government has refused to resign. Analysts have accused the government of abusing power, suppressing the opposition and a growing divide between rich and poor." The Age

Mikhail Saakashvili, 36, has built himself the reputation of a "crusader against corruption" and an "enemy of poverty".

He received an LLM from Columbia Law School in 1994 and Doctor of Laws degree from The George Washington University Law School the following year. In 1995, he also received a diploma from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

After graduation, while working in the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler

Georgia Arms Spending Rupert Murdoch strays into Georgian politics Georgia to double troops in Iraq Georgia on IRAN border Bush Dictator Friends Pipeline Trouble In Georgia

Corporations Versus Democracy

Corporations Versus Democracy

The Nation - Ned Resnikoff

"The most important issue to young people in the 2008 campaign is one that no presidential candidate will discuss. In fact, even touching on this subject is taboo for anyone with aspirations to Congress or the White House. Anyone who has the temerity to mention this political third rail will almost certainly lose the campaign.

The issue is the curtailing of corporate power, and as long as corporations continue to finance major candidates, it will remain unspoken. No one running for office wants to be blacklisted by corporate lobbyists in Washington.

That's a shame, because this issue is connected to almost every other problem facing America today. As long as corporations have no incentive to avoid polluting, we will continue to poison this planet at an alarming rate, and as long as corporate lobbyists hold an inordinate amount of influence in Washington, there will be no substantive solutions to problems like income inequality or our woefully inadequate healthcare system.

The unchecked power of American corporations does not just affect America, either. It is our corporations that are exploiting developing nations by employing their people at low wages in inhuman working conditions. The environment, obviously, is a global issue. And while some may scoff at the idea of the United States waging war for economic reasons, it is difficult to ignore the mounting evidence that we invaded Iraq, at least in part, to bring profit to American oil companies and defense contractors. What country is next? Iran?"

Usch, vilken antikapitalistisk vänsterpropaganda!!

KAPITALISM= FRIHET

Det vet väl alla?

Shocktherapy is Good! (II)

De nya Socialmoderaterna

DN; S presenterade ny jobbpolitik
"Successivt nedtrappad a-kassa. Hård kontroll. Sanktioner för den som inte söker och tar erbjudna jobb. Socialdemokraterna ordineras besk medicin för att trovärdigt kunna stärka sin arbetslinje och sin jobbpolitik.

Krav, piska och plikt ingick i recepten från inbjudna experter, när partiets rådslagsgrupp om jobben på onsdagen höll heldags-avstamp på temat "En starkare arbetslinje".

".. arbetsliv, läkare och försäkringskassor mycket mer måste fokusera på det friska i människor än på det sjuka."

Jättebra! speciellt som "Detta köttberg av 40-talister som vi ska 60-talister ska föda" kommer 2010 att bestå av 900 000 personer.

Men vi kan ju ta in billiga slavarbetare från Kina (där det är ordning och reda) eller "the New Europe"; Estland, Lettland, Litauen och Polen. Så länge inte facket ställer till problem igen.

Annars skulle ett tänkbart scenario vara;

- Kom igen nu tanten, fokusera inte så mycket på din starr, reumatism, alzheimer, hjärtsvikt och höftledsartros - fokusera mer på det friska!

Om tant vägrar dela ut tidningar på morgonen så får tant inga bidrag och får faktiskt flytta till vårt arbetsläger i Umeå.


PM DN

Shocktherapy is Good!

China’s New Leftist
NY Times October 15, 2006 "Co-editor of China’s leading intellectual journal, Dushu (Reading), and the author of a four-volume history of Chinese thought, Wang, still in his mid-40’s, has emerged as a central figure among a group of writers and academics known collectively as the New Left. New Left intellectuals advocate a “Chinese alternative” to the neoliberal market economy, one that will guarantee the welfare of the country’s 800 million peasants left behind by recent reforms."

"For Wang, the problems associated with China’s uneven development were first identified by the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Wang himself was one of the last protesters to leave the square on the morning of June 4, 1989, as the tanks of the People’s Liberation Army closed in. Normally rather brisk and matter-of-fact, he grew animated as he described in fluent, if occasionally idiosyncratic, English how a “broad social movement” began to grow out of the distress caused by the shock therapy of market reforms."

"When Deng Xiaoping sought to bury the ghosts of Tiananmen for good by calling for speedy market reforms in 1992, he may well have calculated that the prospect of personal wealth — and access to Western brand-name goods — would compensate many newly enriched people for the lack of political democracy."

"More than 150 million people survive on a dollar a day. About 200 million of the rural population are crowding the cities and towns in search of low-paying jobs. More than four million Chinese participated in the 87,000 protests recorded in 2005, and these statistics may not fully convey the rage and discontent of Chinese living with one of the world’s highest income inequalities and deteriorating health and education systems, as well as the arbitrary fees and taxes imposed by local party officials.

Much of this, Wang said, could be laid at the feet of the “right-wing radicals” or neoliberal economists who cite Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek (advocates of unregulated markets who inspired Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 80’s) and who argue for China’s integration into the global economy without taking into account the social price of mass privatization. And it is they, Wang added, who have held favor with the ruling elite and have dominated the state-run media."


Gosh! That was the silliest thing I´ve ever heard!!

Satan is Good!

"Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, is an acknowledged source for some of the Satanic philosophy as outlined in The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. Ayn Rand was a brilliant and insightful author and philosopher and her best-selling novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead continue to attract deserved attention for a new generation of readers."
"Let me conclude this brief overview by adding that Satanism has far more in common with Objectivism than with any other religion or philosophy. Objectivists endorse reason, selfishness, greed and atheism.
Objectivism sees Christianity, Islam and Judaism as anti-human and evil."
-> Church of Satan

LaVey has described his Satanism as "just Ayn Rand's philosophy with ceremony and ritual added"


- YEAH DUDE, SATAN RULE$ !!!

Exporting Freedom

"ABC; BAGHDAD Oct 10, 2007 (AP) A woman and a child inspect a car with blood splattered on the door after two Christian Iraqi women were shot to death in central Karradah, Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007. Iraqi police, and witnesses said that the men who shot them were in a convoy of four SUVs commonly used by private security companies."

USA in i Iran säger jag bara! Det är också trevligt att se den entusiastiska entreprenörandan hos dessa privata säkerhetsbolag!