Headlines for November 8, 2011
… they also use the wealth they are destroying to destroy democracy…
The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen
If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren’t responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes.
The findings of the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, winner of a Nobel economics prize, are devastating to the beliefs that financial high-fliers entertain about themselves. He discovered that their apparent success is a cognitive illusion. For example, he studied the results achieved by 25 wealth advisers across eight years. He found that the consistency of their performance was zero. “The results resembled what you would expect from a dice-rolling contest, not a game of skill.” Those who received the biggest bonuses had simply got lucky.
…ever notice how they want personhood when freedom of speech is concerned, but not where social responsibility in concerned?
End Corporate Personhood
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future. — George Bernard Shaw
Arizona changed its law after 1886 so that the word person would include nonliving as well as living legal entities: “‘Person’ includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person.”
Many states have varying definitions of person depending on the part of law at issue. For example, there was a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court case in which a large part of the argument had to do with whether the Federal Trade Commission had the authority, under California law, to act as a person in enforcing a judgment against a telemarketer.
Not news, but extremely important lesson from Australia to our farming community
When the wheat board went down Down Under
By now Prairie wheat and barley producers should have their ballots for the Canadian Wheat Board plebiscite, which asks whether they want to keep the single desk marketing system for their crops. It is a good time to hear about how Australia’s wheat board single desk ended, and how that has worked out for farmers and grain companies.
… watch the video, and ask yourself, would Evan Soloman sabotage a Conservative like this? What a douche …
Niki Ashton vows ‘new politics’ in NDP leadership bid
Manitoba MP Niki Ashton announced Monday that she will try to become the next federal leader of the NDP. She officially declared her candidacy at an event in Montreal.
“Today I am asking for your support to be the next leader of the NDP and the next prime minister,” Ashton said.
She was introduced at the event by Quebec MP Jean-François Larose and delivered her speech equally in French and English.
LoL. Ya figure?
Sarkozy: Netanyahu Is A ‘Liar,’ Journalists Reportedly Overhear French President Tell Obama
In a meeting with Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy confided in the U.S. president that he thinks Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a liar, the BBC reports.
According to The Guardian, President Sarkozy did not realize his microphone was live when he spoke with President Obama as part of the G-20 meetings in Cannes, France.
“I cannot stand him,” Mr. Sarkozy was quoted as saying. “He is a liar.”Mr. Obama is reported to have replied, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”
