Jesus Christ, CEO

Clyde McGhee:  Interesting read...http://blogcritics.org/book-review-does-capitalism-have-a-future-by-immanuel-wallerstein-et-al/

Synopsis: 
lines are lifted directly from text: Book Review: ‘Does Capitalism Have a Future?’ by Immanuel Wallerstein, et al.;

by A. Jurek, Sunday November 24, 2013
1]   Capitalism is in crisis and will come to an end after 500 years of dominance some  time in the next three decades.
2]   Wallerstein’s (the dean of world systems theory) theoretical presentation of Capitalism is, at its most fundamental, a system of endless capital accumulation.
3)   While capitalism faced crises in its existence before, several forces are coming together now that will make a return to equilibrium impossible in the near future, ushering in a grand crisis. All of these forces involve the rising costs of doing business and the declining opportunities for their externalization.
4)   Capitalists, in order to acquire profit, must create a quazi-monopoly. Competition cuts into profits so limiting it is the essential task of the capitalist.
5)   There are two methods for creating a quazi-monopoly of leading products: innovation and patent laws.
6)    Although innovation does not always involve government, much private sector  innovation results from spillover effects of government-sponsored research and development. Besides patent laws, therefore, government can also create quazi-monopolies by sponsoring research and development and by buying advanced technology.
7)   When a quazi-monopoly is breached, (i.e.: patent infringement; theft of intellectual property) profits decline.
8)   Producers may respond to this loss of profits by outsourcing production abroad as well by as extracting wage concessions from their employees. 
9)   Another option during a terminal phase of a Kondratieff cycle (the quazi-monopolies of leading products) is financializaiton, or the abandonment of production in favor of financial engineering and speculation as a source of profits. 
10)   We have witnessed both a significant drive to outsource production in the last 30 years and a wave of financialiation that ended in a giant speculative bubble in the housing sector. The crash of 2007 has ended the era of financialization and ushered in an era of austerity and crisis.
11)   Unless Americans can overcome their differences, decline of the dollar will make it impossible for America to borrow to finance its spending, causing a fiscal collapse of the state.
12)     . . . the declining power of state as cause of the crisis of capitalism. Weak states, weakened by narratives of neoliberalism, have been unable to moderate the destructive activities of capitalism, which, unless contained once more, will likely lead to a crisis. 
13)   Unfortunately, the interests of capitalism in its unbridled variety are in conflict with the idea of a strong state, for such a state means regulation, taxation, and the limiting of the flows of capital and labor across international borders.
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Jeff Thomas Capitalism is THE future . . . it will consume all competition.

David A Woolsey It will consume all life on earth and wipe out homo sapiens, leaving evolution to try again!!

Clyde    Capitalism may not have much of a future in an historic sense... and if it doesn't then there is room for hope!

Jeff      . . . but can we be Excellent and Equal too?

Clyde    We's all excellent bro, but equal? Something has to work better so... How about putting the CHRIST back in CHRISTian ?... the hell with CHRISTmas! Damn, I wish I still drank, I know I could do better.

Jeff    Where would Capitalism be without the concept of the Exclusive Individual? If Christ left any original, enduring legacy, would be the revolutionary sense of entitlement of the individual to know divinity. Took the church a few brief centuries to beat the message back into horseshoes; and another few centuries after Luther for the message to dissolve it's contradictions into the great experiments of eighteenth century politics and philosophy.
The question of Excellence speaks to one self-serving rationalization of the excesses of Corporate overreach.
The question of Equality, contrarily, yields to the sinister emphasis by these same "Exceptional" of the common Un-Remarkable potential of the fold; a "Dream numbing" program of conspicuous consumption and Church Ritual designed to emasculate the revolution of the Individual, inspired by Christ in the first place.
. . . by the way . . Beach Plum jelly might well satisfy as the blood AND Body . . . thanks Clyde . . . what a Christmas gift! . . thanks bro.

Clyde     The jam is the body and blood of old Prunus maritimus , a communion only people like Uncle Ev, myself and now you Jeff have had the good fortune to enjoy. Have no fear, there will be more!

Lynda Joan Folk    Hey.. where is my beach plum jelly?

Clyde     Probably sitting in the cold corner of our basement along with a bunch of other goodies.

Claudia McGhee    Please save some for me and Karl!

Jeff     Clyde, I’m providing this extension to provoke some discussion and elaborate on a few snippets from my post yesterday. You stirred the hive and some honey spilled . . . (just one guy’s opinion, I suppose. They haven’t taken that from me yet!)

The invention/introduction of Individual Excellence into the spiritual dialogue by Jesus, as evidenced in some gnostic texts (i.e.: Gospel of Thomas; further evidence of intellectual perseverance will be found in works such as the “Jefferson Bible”: http://www.mindfully.org/.../Jesus-Without-Miracles1dec05...),
sparked a clerical backlash, culminating in the council of Nicaea, which enforced the idea back into its black box for more than a millennia, during which time much hay was made to reinforce the artificial concept of a separation of the common from the divine, but through, and ONLY through, the exceptional.
The Individual, as liberated by Jesus, was cleverly neutered, transformed by the ancient ancestors of those same aristocrats we see today on Trading floors, Corporate Boards or in Parliamentary/Congressional hallways.
His greatest accomplishment successfully bastardized, the reinvention of the Christ as “King” seemed the only logical choice; and so did blossom the most hyperactive, fertile corporate behemoth of all time, the Catholic Church, having successfully established the equation:
if: Prosperity = Excellence . . and: Excellence = Divinity .. . then: Divinity must smile favorably upon Prosperity.

And with such reason came the benediction of great opulence, and the dark cloak of mass mediocrity. Kings became our modern Robber Barons and Serfs evolved into laborers. Popes, in their excellence, acted as Generals and peasants died as equals in foxholes by the millions. Trade Unions were the compelling antagonist to all that is good and holy.

And here we have an America today, a nation whose confused Conservatives wail about the fire sale of chauvinistic virtues at the altar of a new and reckless Liberalism; fueled by a hyper-saccharined, Post-War contrivance of white-American exceptionalism, an incubated idea born from twisted scraps of Gospel-chimera and all the privileges of its self-serving inventions . . Observed, defended and obeyed for two thousand years by the extraordinary muscle of unexceptional privilege; the privilege to know some icon named Jesus who despised the needy and crowns thy “good-off” with brotherhood. This might be a starting point for discussion, no?

Clyde      Ah Jeff... I have nothing but good words for you. To see that others also have come to a likewise position in this mess ...to be searching to discover that which we own as a birthright (instead of " an exercise of looking for diamonds in the compost heap." and instead of viewing ourselves as "sinners") ...Well take that Joel Osteen and fellow quacks. As a student of a Buddhist Monk (he also held a PHD. in Theology) , I was quite surprised that he was Buddhist, that is to say: he appeared to be "truly" Christian on all counts, but what was lacking was the importance of Jesus' resurrection... why would that have mattered to someone who had figured out his Koan a long time before? That there is no answer to life's questions leaves us in the here and now... to be beckoned by the parables into thought and action, and to begin living in the kingdom of heaven which of course we already are.

Jeff     Thanks Clyde. Forty years wasn't too long to wait, now was it?

My position is simply rooted in the responsible ownership of my intelligence, a practical confidence in my morality and acknowledgement of my complicity in the chain of strategies throughout western history which have advanced my birthplace to its summit of privilege. To be more succinct: I have very little tolerance for abrasive jackasses who mistake "birthplace" for "birthright."
In as much as I am disaffected by spiritual temptation, it only seems fitting given my practical inheritance, that I use my voice to debate against any idea of white, Christian-American "exceptionalism" as a self defeating label, one which undermines the very moral and cultural tenacity needed to produce the positive, creative changes essential to achieving dominance over the insidious Corporate stranglehold now intoxicating the process.

By the way . . . who the hell is Joel Osteen . . . and what has he done with my bicycle?

Clyde      Joel steals bicycles from little old ladies who rely on Social Security for sustenance... leaving the grandchildren nothing to do when they visit Grandma... except of course to watch reruns of his show. The corporate church wins here, leaving Christ weeping in his beer!

Bill Matthew   . . . . steals bicycles and turns them into Lear Jets.

Jeff Thomas Getting off Christ and back to Wallerstein for a minute, am I the only person who sees the potential for a Non-violent, Democratic response to the over-reach and treasonous ethics of the multi-nationals who rely on tax dollars to protect them?

http://www.politicususa.com/2012/10/25/bernie-sanders-exposes-18-ceos-trillions-bailouts-evaded-taxes-outsourced-jobs.html

 . . . .  . . . and how many people does it take to pedal a Lear jet off the runway anyhow?

Clyde McGhee Gee Jeff, why leave out the guns??? Remember when you wound them, you take up more of their resources.. transportation, medics, cash, hospital space ... butt shots for all !

Jeff Thomas When was an effective revolution ever waged between Wound-ers and the Wounded? . . . . (answer: Never)
When the cat exits the proverbial "bag"; when the "shot heard round the world" exits the proverbial musket, any chance to quilt this mess into something meaningful will be forsaken. As Jurek recites in his review of Wallerstein's book:
"Unfortunately, the interests of capitalism in its unbridled variety are in conflict with the idea of a strong state, for such a state means regulation, taxation, and the limiting of the flows of capital and labor across international borders."
 
The State must simply tag the selfish interests of the Multi-National for the cancer it is and enforce existing legislation crafted to protect our greater society from acts of treason.
Bernie Madoff is doing some serious time for a crime which appealed to the dumbed-down public's castrated capacity to distinguish Good from Evil.
Perhaps it's time for the WPA to issue coloring books outlining the mechanics of Out-Sourcing of American jobs, Packaged Subprime Mortgages and the Privatization of Prisons, Schools and the FDA, so good old, Red-Blooded Christian Americans can begin to understand the consequences of using a Voting Booth as a Public Urinal.