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Russia Is An Imperial State While America Is A Plutocratic Oligarchy

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Created
Tue, 12/12/2023 - 01:30
Russia Is An Imperial State While America Is A Plutocratic Oligarchy

An oligarchy, as we use the word today (the dictionary definition is different) is rule by the rich, because they are rich. (A feudal king may be rich, but his power is not primarily a result of his wealth, but rather his wealth is primarily a result of his power.)

As I have written a number of times before, Russia is NOT a plutocratic oligarchy. America, on the other hand, is. What wealthy American elites want is what they get, and what ordinary people want they don’t get: this was shown clearly by the Princeton Oligarchy Study.

When Putin took control of Russia he broke the oligarchs.

What Do They Want?

https://digbysblog.net/2023/12/11/what-do-they-want/
Created
Tue, 12/12/2023 - 01:00
Economic theory vs. economic reality Reaganism was the Grinch that stole Christmases for decades. The rich got the elevator and the rest got the shaft. The chart above from Forbes is illustrative (although out of date). George Packer reflects on several books on the era for The Atlantic. One, “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream” by David Leonhardt of the New York Times I finished recently. It examines the economic and working class realignment away from Democrats since the early 1970s. Leonhardt notes the red-shift, and that Reaganism was part of it, but sees broader trends. A more technocractic turn among Democrats took their focus off the working class and neoliberal economics ascendant under Reagan undermined labor. Leonhardt “shows that the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which liberal politicians sold as nondiscriminatory but still restrictive, opened the gates to mass immigration. The result put downward pressure on wages at the lower end of the economy.

Did Hamas Carry Out Mass Rapes On October 7?

https://www.mintpressnews.com/did-hamas-carry-out-mass-rapes-on-october-7/28643…
Created
Tue, 12/12/2023 - 00:31

A number of Israeli rape claims, including one coming from an alleged member of Israel’s unit 669, feature significant inconsistencies. Meanwhile, the main source for a BBC report on October 7 mass rapes was none other than May Golan, infamous for leading an anti-black rally in Tel Aviv, screaming, “I am proud to be a racist.”

The post Did Hamas Carry Out Mass Rapes On October 7? appeared first on MintPress News.

Everything a Barber Could Do During a Haircut Before I Speak Up

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/everything-a-barber-could-do-during-a-hairc…
Created
Tue, 12/12/2023 - 00:00

Cut my hair too short

Start trimming my ear hair

Force me to have an opinion on the ’86 Mets to avoid a lull in the conversation

Cut my hair longer somehow

Start using a product I don’t recognize

Start using a product I do recognize: Kikkoman Soy Sauce

Start talking about me on their cell phone

Start talking about me on my cell phone

Say, “I wonder if I’m ambidextrous”

Shave part of my head

Wax part of my head

Wax my whole body

Tell me my hair is “brittle”

Say, “Whoopsie daisy”

Call over the barbers to snap pictures of something on the back of my head

Say, “Be right back,” and then go on vacation

Tell me my hair is “sleepy”

Start sneaking sips of that blue liquid he keeps his combs in

Steal my wallet

Steal my wife

Tell me he’s going to give me the “Van Gogh”

Say, “Wow, that’s a lot of blood”

Insist I had only one ear when I came in

Cut up a line of dry shampoo and ask if I “party”

Ask for a tip after each snip

Sneeze on the back of my head

Get upset when I don’t say, “Bless you”

London’s Lowest Paid Bus Drivers Are Fighting Back

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/12/londons-lowest-paid-bus-drivers-are-fighting-b…
Created
Mon, 11/12/2023 - 23:25

In the run-up to the 1992 General Election, the BBC filmed a documentary following the trials and tribulations of bus drivers at one of London’s largest bus garages, Westbourne Park in Notting Hill. Drivers were incensed by Tory proposals to privatise London’s buses. George Rhoden, an official of the Transport and General Workers Union, the […]

i've got a limited number of lousy documents and they cost me 1.5 pennies each and i want to ensure i get a good trade in the idiomatic marketplace

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4134
Created
Mon, 11/12/2023 - 19:00
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Decemb

No Cognitive Decline Here

https://digbysblog.net/2023/12/10/no-cognitive-decline-here/
Created
Mon, 11/12/2023 - 12:30
None. None at all. I realize it’s cheap and easy to make fun of Trump and that’s not what I’m trying to do here. I just think it’s vitally important that people are reminded of what he really is and how his mental faculties are going. Everyone has a slip now and again. I do too. And I know he’s always loved to sing his greatest hits. But that’s not what these are. They’re takes on these scandals and events from the past as if they’re fresh. And he literally makes no sense at times, like the clip below when he says he wants to build a wall on Day One and literally in same breath says he already built it. Also, he is dumb as a post. The following aren’t examples of decline. He’s always been this stupid:

Matt Gaetz Predicts He’s Going To Prison

https://digbysblog.net/2023/12/10/matt-gaetz-predicts-hes-going-to-prison/
Created
Mon, 11/12/2023 - 11:30
This is more that just the usual, tiresome “I know you are but what am I” nonsense. He’s right about Bannon, Giuliani and Trump but not because Joe Biden is threatening to put them behind bars if he’s re-elected (like someone else we know is doing.) It’s because all of them are under indictment. Unless he knows something we don’t, Gaetz was actually let off the hook by the DOJ for his predatory behavior with drugs and underage girls. But yes, these people are accused criminals and they are going to trial and if they are found guilty they could go to jail. That’s how the Law and Order Party believes it should be for anyone but their crooked leaders.

Does Monetary Policy Affect Non-mining Business Investment in Australia? Evidence from BLADE

https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2023/2023-09.html
Created
Mon, 11/12/2023 - 11:30
We provide new evidence on the effect of monetary policy on investment in Australia using firm-level data. We find that contractionary monetary policy makes firms less likely to invest and lowers the amount they invest if they do so. The effects are similar for young and old firms, indicating that the decline in the number of young firms in Australia over time is unlikely to have weakened the effect of monetary policy. The effects are also broadly similar for smaller and larger firms. This suggests that evidence that some, particularly large, firms have sticky hurdle rates does not mean that they do not respond to monetary policy. It also suggests that overseas findings that expansionary monetary policy lessens competition by supporting the largest firms likely do not apply to Australia. We find evidence that financially constrained firms, and sectors that are more dependent on external finance, are more responsive to monetary policy, highlighting the important role of cash flow and financing constraints in the transmission of monetary policy.