American Capitalism Gone With A Whimper

Wow, isn't it Pravda the one that nowadays publishes about martians hidden in Britney Spears' breasts and stuff like that?

Edit. Lol, check this out, Russian scientists deciphered message from aliens:

http://www.funreports.com/fun/29-06-2005/1232-0

Originally posted by joe beyser
Your sentence structure, "Very cool." seems to be wrong to me. I don't think I will be looking at Pravada until it is corected.

Jesus, how many idiots are out there?

Originally posted by MacSwain

(My favourite is absence of commas while having proclaimed) "To have touched the feet of Christ is no excuse for mistakes in punctuation."

That was a quotation of Pessoa, clearly signalled by quotation marks.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Compare a few articles from each publication and come back to me.

I wasn't talking about my take on those outlets. Just about the assumptions. I have met plenty of people who reject and denounce Al Jazeira, for instance, having never watched it - and who are proud of the fact they've never watched it. I am very wary of someone who, say, thinks the Washington Times is ok, then talking about their contempt for other agenda-driven rags in far flung parts.

I mean, why is conformity and propagandizing in a Russian paper noteworthy, and yet conformity and propagandizing in the U.S. press - e.g the blank cheque given to Bush in the lead up to attacking Iraq - passes by so many people without note?

Originally posted by FMF
I mean, why is conformity and propagandizing in a Russian paper noteworthy, and yet conformity and propagandizing in the U.S. press - e.g the blank cheque given to Bush in the lead up to attacking Iraq - passes by so many people without note?

You seem misguided. Who do you think is more likely to have swallowed the propaganda in the US press? The original poster or me (or mlprior)?

Isn't it also hypocritical to defend pravda.ru on those grounds, while attacking Fox News? Oh, yeah, you're not really defending pravda.ru.

Except you were.

Originally posted by FMF
I wasn't talking about my take on those outlets. Just about the assumptions. I have met plenty of people who reject and denounce Al Jazeira, for instance, having never watched it - and who are proud of the fact they've never watched it. I am very wary of someone who, say, thinks the Washington Times is ok, then talking about their contempt for other agenda-drive ...[text shortened]... cheque given to Bush in the lead up to attacking Iraq - passes by so many people without note?

You're assuming that the people mocking Pravda haven't read it. Mildly ironic. How far do you plan on stretching this non point that you seem so attached to?

I wouldn't waste my time on some screaming bizarro-world tabloid from America, either -- except, perhaps, for a laugh. In my experience, Pravda's good for a laugh, if you've got the time, but that's about the size of it. McSwain's apparent admiration for the publication is good evidence for his being a citizen of Bizarro World.

Why not consult the Moscow Times, for example, rather than a raving tabloid? A search for General Motors turns up something very interesting:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1009/42/377625.htm

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Why not consult the Moscow Times, for example, rather than a raving tabloid?

Crikey, I'm appalled that I said something somewhere along the way there that made you think I don't! I shall shut up.

Originally posted by FMF
Crikey, I'm appalled that I said something somewhere along the way there that made you think I don't! I shall shut up.

The recommendation was more for McSwain's benefit than yours.

I recommend Pravda's 'Everyday Randomness' feature. The stuff you can learn ...

Originally posted by MacSwain
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/

This two page Pravda article by Stanislav Mishin offers opinion not often heard, other than Vladimir Putin’s surprising warning 2 months past.

If his projections prove true and present directions are un-altered, we will be granted the viewing of a most marvellous experiment played out on world’s stage in real life terms.

Question is: Is S. Mishin's analysis correct?

I guess just add pravda to the long liberal list of unreliable news sources. The only question is are they worse or better than Fox? LOL.

Originally posted by MacSwain
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/

This two page Pravda article by Stanislav Mishin offers opinion not often heard, other than Vladimir Putin’s surprising warning 2 months past.

If his projections prove true and present directions are un-altered, we will be granted the viewing of a most marvellous experiment played out on world’s stage in real life terms.

Question is: Is S. Mishin's analysis correct?

Here is the whole article.

"These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henschmen who are not gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parlament). Again, congress has put up little more than a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barak Obama's command that GM's president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of the "pure" free markets, the Amercian president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEO's and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime MInister Putin, less than two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsered horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper....but "freeman" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury Department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virture) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logcial extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever recieved a tax break or incentive

The Russian owners of American corporations and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilites down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker."


Edit: I have to admit, the last couple of senteces are a killer.

Originally posted by whodey
Here is the whole article.

"These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henschmen who are not gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parlament). Again, c snicker."


Edit: I have to admit, the last couple of senteces are a killer.

Obama et al feared if nothing was done, GM's bankruptcy would've had major effects on an already weakened economy, with unemployment possibly surpassing 10%.

So the government stepped in with the current GM deal - with government essentially owning the company while it goes through a restructuring process. There is legitimate debate over whether this intervention was needed and whether it might have been better to just let GM fail and accept the economic consequences. But there is no Marxist plot here to nationalize the auto industry.

As for the huge CEO salaries and bonuses, they are obvious scapegoats at a time when many people are losing their jobs and-or homes, or fear that this may happen. But companies should remain free to offer big contracts to attract the best talent - companies that make bad decisions will face the consequences when their profit numbers and stock prices drop steadily.

But the main issue here is that when government offers a bailout, the money shouldn't be wasted on bonuses or mega-salaries for the very people who created a mess so bad that they needed government to help them clean it up. If companies don't want these restrictions, they should make sure they don't reach the brink of bankruptcy in the first place.

The article then brings up Barney Frank's sexual orientation which has nothing to do with the GM deal or CEO bonuses - a sure sign that the writer clearly didn't feel comfortable about the argument he was making.

Originally posted by Melanerpes
[b]Obama et al feared if nothing was done, GM's bankruptcy would've had major effects on an already weakened economy, with unemployment possibly surpassing 10%.

So the government stepped in with the current GM deal - with government essentially owning the company while it goes through a restructuring process. There is legitimate debate over whether this ...[text shortened]... ept the economic consequences. But there is no Marxist plot here to nationalize the auto industry.

So the government stepped in and "saved" them, big deal eh? Just like it did when it passed the Patriot Act in order to keep us all "safe"? I think you will find that nothing is "free". So what is the price of your freedom in order to be safe? I guess that is the $64 question. The hell of it is, once you surrender freedom you NEVER get it back.

Originally posted by Melanerpes

The article then brings up Barney Frank's sexual orientation which has nothing to do with the GM deal or CEO bonuses - a sure sign that the writer clearly didn't feel comfortable about the argument he was making.[/b]

That was rather wierd, but I must admit a bit humorous....that is if you don't like Barney Frank. I think the idea was to attack the moral deterioration and corruption we have seen steadily increase in Washington. Even though you might not think Barney Franks sexual practices are immoral, you must admit Washington is morally bankrupt as a rule. No wonder we are where we are today as well as the direction we are headed.

Originally posted by whodey
The article then brings up Barney Frank's sexual orientation [...] That was rather wierd, but I must admit a bit humorous....that is if you don't like Barney Frank.

If you don't like someone it's OK to make fun of their sexuality?

And you are bellyaching about "standards"?

Huh.

Originally posted by FMF
If you don't like someone it's OK to make fun of their sexuality?

And you are bellyaching about "standards"?

Huh.

Take it up with the author of the article, not me. 😀