- Is it naivete to expect responsible leadership in America at this historical moment, or to remind ourselves that previous generations have risen to meet their moments (New Deal, Great Society etc.)? 84
- Do you think most Americans realize how much better off CEOs are now than they were a few decades ago, or how many of their fellow Americans live in "cruel and inhuman" conditions? 84
- Are you confident that "the pendulum will swing back the other way" against poverty, inequality, and injustice"? 85
- What do you think of Naomi Klein's Leap Manifesto?
- Where does "hatred for the poor" and the "winner take all" mentality in America come from? 86 Will the inequities revealed by the pandemic begin finally to challenge that mindset?
- Do working class and middle class Americans really think they too (or their kids) can become Jeff Bezos or Sam Walton? Is that why they tolerate the "sick" gap between corporate owners and employees?
- If more egalitarian societies are healthier and happier, shouldn't that message be politically popular? Will it be, in the years ahead?
- What do you think of Ayn Rand? 90f.
- Is it possible to love and understand both Nietzsche and Aristotle, and still be a Randian? 95
- Have you read Dark Money? 104 Did you know that Fred Koch was a founding Bircher? 105
- Have you read Democracy in Chains? Did you know about the Koch-Buchanan connection? 106f.
- Does MTSU's pride in Buchanan embarrass you? How about the Koch-funded Political Economy Research Institute? Should progressive MTSU students and faculty engage with it, or resist and oppose its sponsored events and initiatives?
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Questions Oct 12-15
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Comment on DQ on how much better off CEOs are now: Excessive compensation of CEO’s has been studied and criticized for decades. If it’s bad, why don’t we limit it? Interestingly, we did. Back in 1993, Congress and President Bill Clinton passed legislation limiting the tax deduction for executive pay to $1 million per year. But that did not include stock options or incentive pay. So guess what – CEOs started getting more stock options and awards. The CEOs of public corporations usually receive stock options as part of their compensation packages, which means that they can benefit greatly when their stock prices rise. (One big negative aspect of this is that short term stock price increase increases the executives compensation, which leads to short term thinking about how to increase earning-per-share, rather than long term planning for the good of the company.) In its attempt to create an economic recovery from the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve has excessively inflated the financial markets. The Fed's inflation of the U.S. stock market is the primary reason why the CEO-to-worker pay ratio has increased so much.
ReplyDeleteDo working class and middle class Americans really think they too (or their kids) can become Jeff Bezos or Sam Walton? Is that why they tolerate the "sick" gap between corporate owners and employees
ReplyDeleteI do not think working class and middle class Americans really believe that. Society teaches us every day that we have to work hard to make money and also that life can be really unfair sometimes. I do not think all these corporate owners need or should have that much money and power, but are we supposed to do about it? According to Google, Jeff Bezos is worth 175.3 billion USD, which basically means he makes $3,715 dollars every second and $321 million per day!! While others live off $1 a day, he makes more in one day than others in their lifetime. These numbers leave me speechless and angry at the same time. Who really needs that much money? What do you spend it on? You can say that he earned because he had a great idea and he made amazon what it is, but when is it enough? When are you going to stop? I am definitely not saying that they should give up all their money but maybe consider what good can be done with it and maybe help people that will not have the same chances as them.
I think in today’s world it can be very hard but also very easy to be successful and maybe not make the same amount of money but at least to be considered well-off or rich. Social Media and Society are unpredictable, something can be a great and useful idea today and tomorrow it is already outdated. Who really knows? All of us individuals together decide as a society what we think is good, what we need and what should get attention. So I do not think there is such think as toleration for these abstract numbers, but more of a resignation and realization that we cannot do anything about it.
Well, we could raise the tax rate on billionaires. We could block stock options and incentive awards designed to be a subterfuge around legislation attempting to regulate excessive CEO compensation. But for that to happen we'd have to get over the impotent feeling that there was nothing we could do to curtail the rise of oligopoly. So long as it's still a democracy, that should be on the table. Maybe we should look to postwar Germany for inspiration?
DeleteAre you confident that "the pendulum will swing back the other way" against poverty, inequality, and injustice"? 85
ReplyDeleteYes, I do think that the pendulum will eventually swing back, but there is no telling when that will happen. In the meantime, I think it is important to keep fighting the good fight even when our politicians aren't prioritizing measures to end poverty, inequality, and injustice. It is when our voices are used in unison, that we have the power to move the pendulum wherever we want it to go.
Do you think most Americans realize how much better off CEOs are now than they were a few decades ago, or how many of their fellow Americans live in "cruel and inhuman" conditions? 84
ReplyDeleteI'm really not sure, but I do think that most Americans are at least somewhat aware. I think many Americans look the other way because we still live under this illusion that any one of us can become rich CEO's so long as we have the right mindset and drive. So, I think that some Americans almost want to protect this system for their own desire to benefit from it in the end. Or, they simply think that this is the only economic system that really "works" at all. What most Americans think, I don't know. But there is clearly a growing number that do want to improve living conditions for the poor in our country and that everyone pay their fair share according to income. Hopefully, this attitude begins to reflect in our elected officials.
Do working class and middle class Americans really think they too (or their kids) can become Jeff Bezos or Sam Walton? Is that why they tolerate the "sick" gap between corporate owners and employees?
ReplyDeleteWhile there are some of us who think we can just become billionaires, I think the reason the working class stomachs the idea of Bezos' net worth is the thinking that he is no different from any other hardworking person. There's this illusion that corporate owners deserve all the money they earn, disregarding all the backs they step on to get there. It creates a fantasy of a man who works hard every day and, in turn, gets to go home and bask in his wealth as the richest person on the planet, due to his tireless labor.
Is it possible to love and understand both Nietzsche and Aristotle, and still be a Randian? 95
ReplyDeleteTo be a Randian is to be believe self-interest is good and altruism is destructive, which Ayn Rand thought was the ultimate expression of human nature and the guide to how we should live our lives. Aristotle and Nietzsche had opposing views. So, when understanding all sides, if it’s possible to love and understand both Nietzsche and Aristotle, and still be a Randian?, I would have to answer yes and no. No, because I think that is that the differences between Nietzsche and Rand greatly outweigh their similarities. They disagree on almost every fundamental issue in human nature and they also disagree on the proper positive standard, means, and end of ethics. However, I would say yes because I believe in the possibility that one can be a Randian and still be influenced by both Aristotle and Nietzsche without being committed to them or their ideas as a whole.
Where does “hatred for the poor” and the “winner take all” mentality in America come from?
ReplyDeleteI believe that the “hatred for the poor” and “winner take all” mentality comes from two different sources. The first one is from fear, and the second is from having to control the narrative. Those who “have” fear those who don’t coming around and holding them accountable for the ever-shrinking concentration of wealth in this country. The level of inequality in our society is not sustainable and eventually people will demand a leveling out of the playing field. In order to justify this inequality and sooth this fear of losing what they have, the wealthy have to push the narrative that everyone who doesn’t succeed or needs government assistance doesn’t deserve it and is “lazy” or “weak” and that everyone has the same opportunities, even though this is obviously not true. The narrative dictated by the wealthy to the rest of us must be that competition is king in our society and that anyone who can work hard can rise to their level. But in order to stay at the top, the rich must keep everyone else out so they keep the minimum wage as low as they can without causing a public revolt, and promote the rags to riches story even though those cases are the extreme outliers. Most people who are wealthy have a leg up on everyone else by being born into wealth. You have to have money in order to make money.
10/16 This post
10/16 Comment on Kathryn’s “Do working class and middle-class Americans really think they too (or their kids) can become Jeff Bezos or Sam Walton?”
10/16 Comment on Aleenah’s “Polluter Pays”
Weekly Total 5
Overall Total 40