tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46139719987696200212012-03-12T08:00:05.001-07:00Money is NOT the root of all evil; however, flawed money IS the root of significant evil.mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.comBlogger1151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-26797350325702270482012-03-12T08:00:00.000-07:002012-03-12T08:00:05.006-07:00

Public Opinion Series Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann, 1921, Excerpts The living impressions of a large number of people are to an immeasurable degree personal in each of them, and unmanageably complex in the mass. How do great numbers of people feeling each so privately about so abstract a picture, develop any common will? How does a simple and constant idea emerge from this complex of

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-51514007954223150682012-03-11T08:00:00.000-07:002012-03-11T08:00:03.483-07:00

Public Opinion Series Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann, 1921, Excerpts The manufacture of consent is not a new art. It is a very old one which was supposed to have died out with the appearance of democracy. But it has not died out. It has, in fact, improved enormously in technique, because it is now based on analysis rather than of rule of thumb. The processes by which public opinions arise and

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-69212978354050033442012-03-10T08:00:00.002-08:002012-03-10T09:17:10.606-08:00

Game Objective: “have the highest dollar amount at the end of the game.” So I played this game with my daughter when she was of elementary age. There are several decisions that have to be made early in the game: [1] whether to go to college and take on debt with expectations of a higher salary, or to work right away with a reduced salary, [2] whether to buy a house with more debt, or not, and [

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Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts Bernays presented to United Fruit boss Samuel Zemurray his plan for “psychological activities aimed at developing a better climate of public opinions.” He counseled United Fruit to scream so loud that the United States would step in to check this threat so near its border. Bernays warned that Guatemala was ripe for revolution and

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-59445772130952849772012-03-08T08:00:00.006-08:002012-03-08T08:00:09.505-08:00

Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts Guatemala was a hot spot and had been since 1944, when a mass uprising ended the fourteen-year rule of military strongman General Jorge Ubico Casteneda. Juan Jose Arevalo, a professor living in exile in Argentina, returned home and was swept into office in 1945 with more than 85 percent of the vote. Arevalo faced overwhelming

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-23318347762602411832012-03-07T08:00:00.002-08:002012-03-07T21:17:21.105-08:00

Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts Upon Bernays’ death in 1995, the Library of Congress made public fifty-three boxes of his papers concerning United Fruit. Those documents paint in vivid detail his behind-the-scenes maneuvering and show how, in 1954, he helped to topple Guatemala’s left-leaning regime.  The papers also offer insights into the foreign policies of

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-27816362307449942592012-03-06T08:00:00.001-08:002012-03-06T08:00:02.990-08:00

Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts Bernays worked with doctors who were willing to argue the tobacco company’s side of the story. “The benefits of tobacco are: [1] It is a pleasure. [2] A good laxative after breakfast. [3] Checks obesity by lessening the appetite. [4] Aids nutrition by stimulating the secretory functions of the stomach. [5] It consoles the lonely.

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-77753453510025364912012-03-05T08:00:00.002-08:002012-03-05T08:00:00.462-08:00

Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts Company surveys showed that many women wouldn’t smoke Luckies because its green package with the red bull’s-eye clashed with their favorite clothing. Bernays offered advice that kicked off a campaign almost as legendary as the Torches of Freedom parade. “If you won’t change the color of the package, change the color of fashion –

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Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts The Torches of Freedom campaign remains a classic in the world of public relations, one still cited in classrooms and boardrooms as a brilliant creative analysis of social symbols and how they can be manipulated. For starters, he concealed the fact that American Tobacco was behind his initiatives. Discerning readers might have

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-66030543400676564252012-03-03T08:00:00.001-08:002012-03-03T08:00:04.194-08:00

Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts The share of cigarettes consumed by women more than doubled from 1923 to 1929, but it was still just 12 percent. The quickest way to rally more women to cigarettes was to zero in on their waistlines. Slimness was coming into vogue, and cigarettes could be sold to the public, especially women, as a fat-free way to satisfy their

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-41544639809933109952012-03-02T08:00:00.003-08:002012-03-05T20:09:35.712-08:00

Public Opinion Series Father of Spin by Larry Tye, 1998, Excerpts In 1928, Bernays began working for George Hill, head of the American Tobacco Company, which made America’s fastest-growing brand of cigarettes, Lucky Strikes. Hill was obsessed by the prospect of winning over the large potential female market for Luckies. “It will be like opening a new gold mine right in our front yard.” Bernays

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-47610460415008964172012-03-01T08:00:00.000-08:002012-03-01T08:00:07.496-08:00

Yen Lo, the North Korean interrogator, visits his Russian counterpart, Zilkov, to discuss Soviet operations. Yen Lo's dry wit is Oscar winning material. YEN LO: Attractive plant you have here. ZILKOV: Thank you, doctor. We were able to purchase it three years ago. In fact, it's one of the few Soviet operations in America that actually showed a profit at the end of the last fiscal year. YEN LO

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-42636518409205853382012-02-29T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-29T10:34:25.204-08:00

Public Opinion Series Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928, Excerpts In theory, every citizen may vote for whom he pleases. But the American voters soon found that without organizations and direction their individual votes, cast, perhaps, for dozens of hundreds of candidates, would produce nothing but confusion. We have agreed, for the sake of simplicity and practicality, that party machines

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Public Opinion Series Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928, Excerpts The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Governments, whether they are monarchial, constitutional, democratic or communist, depend upon acquiescent public opinion for the success of their efforts and, in fact, government is

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-6688374645016549722012-02-27T08:00:00.001-08:002012-02-27T08:00:04.139-08:00

Public Opinion Series Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928, Excerpts Who are the men who give us our ideas, tell us whom to admire and whom to despise, and what to believe? The words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes. There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. The invisible government tends to be

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-49008981283855827862012-02-26T08:00:00.001-08:002012-02-26T08:00:01.757-08:00

Public Opinion Series Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928, Excerpts It was the astounding success of propaganda during the war [WWI] that opened the eyes of the intelligent few in all departments of life to the possibilities of regimenting the public mind. [See Creel Commission] The manipulators of patriotic opinions made use of the mental clichés and the emotional habits of the public to produce

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-26329213473039900592012-02-25T08:00:00.001-08:002012-02-25T08:00:01.728-08:00

Public Opinion Series Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928, Excerpts It is chiefly the psychologists of the school of Freud who have pointed out that many of man’s thoughts and actions are compensatory substitutes for desires which he has been obliged to suppress. A thing may be desired not for its intrinsic worth or usefulness, but because he has unconsciously come to see in it a symbol of

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Public Opinion Series Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928, Excerpts Trotter, Le Bon, Wallas, and Walter Lippmann established that the group has mental characteristics distinct from those of the individual, and is motivated by impulses and emotions which cannot be explained on the basis of what we know of individual psychology. If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it

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Public Opinion Series Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928, Excerpts Modern propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group. This practice of creating circumstances and of creating pictures in the minds of millions of persons is very common. Virtually no important undertaking is now carried on without it

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-1562931234942838882012-02-22T21:54:00.002-08:002012-03-05T20:16:13.486-08:00

Public Relations - Public Opinion, National Will, Group Mind, and Social Purpose Father of Spin, Edward Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations by Larry Tye, 1998, ExcerptsSigmund Freud, Edward Bernay’s uncle, had revolutionized the way the world thought about individual behavior. He used his uncle’s ideas in the commercial realm to predict, then adjust, the way people believed and behaved,

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-53373482930021009402012-02-20T15:49:00.000-08:002012-02-20T15:49:51.173-08:00

11 Mar 2011 - Japan Tsunami Warren Buffett, Investor22 Mar 2011Frequently something out of the blue like this, an extraordinary event, really creates a buying opportunity. I've seen that happen in the United States, I've seen that happen around the world, and I don't think Japan will be an exception. Sir Nathan Rothschild, 1815The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets. Napoleon

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-16969352468030771062012-02-14T14:11:00.000-08:002012-02-14T14:11:29.534-08:00

One financial alternative that is never discussed during these crisis budget discussions is the defaulting on debt. Cities and State will cut basic social services at the risk of social endangerment before defaulting on debt. Debt, along with its handmaiden Legal Tender, is sacrosanct. This is not the first time Greece has had issues with debt. Solon literally pulled down the pillars of debt

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-34394725505512368372012-02-13T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-13T08:00:09.466-08:00

The innovation of Legal Tender in seventh century BC was adopted by the greater part of the Greek world. Towards the end of the seventh century BC, wealth and debt went extreme with complications, sort of like now. Money and Man by Elgin Groseclose, 1961The introduction of coined money [Legal Tender] produced what might be called in today’s parlance "boom times" in the Mediterranean. It was an

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-9761031695322894562012-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-11T12:28:02.754-08:00

Princess Diana, 36, and Mr. Al Fayed, 42, died in a Paris car crash on 31 Aug 1997. Gordon Thomas wrote of a scenario Diana's death in 1999 [summary below]. After the summary, there are chronicled news articles of Diana's death, which migrates through complete denial, investigation, inquest jury, and verdict. Her death remains an enigma with powerful parties involved. It will be interesting

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-29139959461984703282012-02-10T19:59:00.000-08:002012-02-10T19:59:50.771-08:00

Plutonomy Series Citigroup Plutonomy Report, 2005, Excerpts Our overall conclusion is that a backlash against plutonomy is probable at some point. However, that point is not now. As yet, there seems little political fight being born out on this battleground. So long as economies continue to grow, there is little threat to Plutonomy. Equity risk premium embedded in “global imbalances” are

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-61167092575154010662012-02-10T08:00:00.003-08:002012-02-10T08:00:04.773-08:00

Money MoneyLiza Minnelli and Joel Grey in Cabaret Money makes the world go around, the world go around, the world go around, Money makes the world go around, it makes the world go round. A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound, a buck or a pound, a buck or a pound, Is all that makes the world go around, that clinking clanking sound, Can make the world go round. If you happen to be rich, and you feel

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-47957821933865904972012-02-09T08:00:00.001-08:002012-02-09T08:00:07.538-08:00

We're in the Money Film Gold Diggers, 1933 We're in the money, we're in the money; We've got a lot of what it takes to get along! We're in the money, that sky is sunny, Old Man Depression you are through, you done us wrong. We never see a headline about breadlines today. And when we see the landlord we can look that guy right in the eyeWe're in the money, come on, my honey, Let's lend it, spend

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-35405849092426286782012-02-08T21:55:00.000-08:002012-02-08T21:56:26.300-08:00

  The aging baby boomers are moving into retirement like a tsunami and have the potential to negatively impact economic growth, straining the economy. Certain sectors will boom, such as pharmaceuticals, caskets, and bingo games, but overall, old folks slow down. Perhaps this will be the boomers' final legacy, sending the economy into a tailspin by merely getting old. Now that's ironic. And

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-82080813390078142092012-02-07T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-07T08:00:11.087-08:00

In the late 1800s, an ongoing battle between silver and gold for Legal Tender supremacy was being played out to conclusion. Silver was widely traded for routine transactions, gold for large transactions. In the bimetallic economy, the value ratio between silver and gold [historically 10:1 to 15:1 for millenniums] was a moving target determined by the Market. Law continuously tried to legislate

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-70577277200437537832012-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-04T21:31:57.597-08:00

Death Care Series The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts Cremation is no doubt a simple, tidy solution to the disposal of the dead. It appeals to the nature lover and the poet, who visualize their mortal remains scattered over sunny hillside or remote strand. It has appeal for the economy-minded; logically one would expect the expense to be but a fraction of that

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-78372946837619415812012-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-04T12:29:14.420-08:00

Death Care Series At-needFuneral and cemetery arrangements after a death has occurred. Pre-needPurchase of products and services prior to a death occurring. Pre-need BacklogFuture revenues from unfulfilled preneed funeral and cemetery contractual arrangements. Burial VaultsA reinforced container intended to house and protect the casket before it is placed in the ground. Cemetery Perpetual Care

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-40494610393997859242012-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-03T08:00:10.207-08:00

Death Care Series The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts Funeral Director or Mortician  NOT  UndertakerMr., Mrs, Miss Blank  NOT  Corpse or BodyDeceased  NOT  Dead Passed On or Expired  NOT  DiedMemorial Service  NOT  FuneralCasket   NOT  CoffinFloral Tributes  NOT  FlowersReposing Room  NOT  ShowroomDisplay Area  NOT  Casket Room Drawing Room  NOT  Parlor Casket

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-22003442703474269742012-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-03T14:46:43.520-08:00

Death Care Series The American Wayof Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts John Eckels, President of the Eckels College of Mortuary Science: “In the hands of a skilled practitioner, this work may be done in a comparative short time and without mutilating the body other than by slight incision, so slight that it scarcely would cause serious inconvenience if made upon a living person.

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-71710404780645373902012-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-01T08:00:05.609-08:00

Death Care Series The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts The two widely divergent interests which spurred the early embalmers – scientific inquiry and the financial reward of turning cadavers into a sort of ornamental keepsake – were to achieve a happy union under the guiding hand of “Dr.” Thomas Holmes and is affectionately referred to by present-day funeral men

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-48117908258438945442012-01-31T08:00:00.001-08:002012-02-08T21:58:25.999-08:00

Death Care Series Pension age: Ministers to speed up rise to 66http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10398918.stm24 Jun 2010The government is to speed up plans to raise the state pension age for men to 66, possibly by as early as 2016. Ministers will also raise the option of extending it further, perhaps to 70 and beyond in the following decades. The default retirement age of 65 - at which

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-55149031745330687142012-01-30T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-30T08:00:10.879-08:00

Death Care Series The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts Of all the changes in the funeral scene over the last decades, easily the most significant is the emergence of monopolies in what the trade is pleased to call the “death care” industry. Of the three publicly traded major players – Service Corporation International [SCI], the Loewen Group, and Stewart

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-79269833979020302592012-01-29T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-29T08:00:05.021-08:00

Death Care Series The American Wayof Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts The primary purpose of embalming, all funeral men will tell you, is that embalming is done for reasons of sanitation and required by law. The true purpose of embalming is to facilitate an open-casket funeral – with the emphasis on casket. Embalming is a procedure that boils down to sales and profits. “

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-7632412899404569342012-01-28T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-08T21:58:40.911-08:00

Death Care Series The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts Embalming is indeed a most extraordinary procedure, and one must wonder at the docility of Americans who each year pay hundreds of millions of dollars for its perpetuation, blissfully ignorant of what it is all about, what is done, and how it is done. Embalming and restorative art is so universally employed

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-53420121445870867212012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-27T08:00:05.542-08:00

Death Care Series The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996, Excerpts If the undertaker is the stage manager of the fabulous production that is the modern American funeral, the stellar role is reserved for the occupant of the open casket. The decor, the stagehands, the supporting cast are all arranged for the most advantageous display of the deceased, without which the rest of

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-76842866708858771092012-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-26T08:00:00.361-08:00

Death Care Series The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford, 1996 The cemetery as a moneymaking proposition is new in this century. The earliest type of burial ground in America was the churchyard. This gave way in the nineteenth century to graveyards at the town limits, largely municipality owned and operated. Whether owned by church or municipality, the burial ground was

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-45655107432472059842012-01-24T09:32:00.000-08:002012-01-25T20:08:53.149-08:00

The modern billboard industry spawned in the late 1800s in a competitive rough-and-tumble billposter industry and has now morphed into a multimedia, global operation where Viacom, Clear Channel, and Lamar are the dominate players. This series examines how the billboard industry formed and developed, along with its controversies, excerpting from Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004. Brilliant book.

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-11462650326706655642012-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-23T16:35:45.063-08:00

Billboard Series The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, 1975, Excerpts The Highway Patrol arrived promptly fifteen minutes late, radioing the report of an inexplicable billboard fire to a causally scornful dispatcher at headquarters, then ejecting self from vehicle, extinguisher in gloved hand, to ply the flames for a while with little limp gushes of liquid sodium hydrochloride to the pyre.

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-67933241250536706402012-01-22T08:00:00.001-08:002012-01-22T08:00:02.366-08:00

Billboard Series On the way to the Grand Canyon for a family vacation in summer of 2010, we passed through Kingman, Arizona on the old Route 66. Pictured is a billboard promoting the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, “doing the job the feds won’t do” with the ‘o’ in ‘won’t’ depicting the Obama symbol. Using a popular WWII poster, a much younger Jan Brewer is pictured as Rosie the Riveter. “Doing

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-19001822271054124092012-01-21T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-21T08:00:04.955-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts Since the 1970s, a new generation of activists determined to rid the landscape of “litter on a stick,” and impatient with a system that favored corporate over grassroots interests, took up their own “extralegal” means of policing billboards. Their activities ranged from that of the “Billboard Bandit,” who used a chainsaw to cut down

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-72956209054052692222012-01-20T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-20T08:00:10.635-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts Opposition to outdoor advertising began in the late-nineteenth-century urban arena and then stretched into the countryside along with cars, highways, and national advertising campaigns. By the 1920s and 1930s, resistance to outdoor advertising became a national battle over aesthetic rights to the roadside environment. If the roadside

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-22645524769372234622012-01-19T08:00:00.001-08:002012-01-19T08:00:03.878-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts For Lyndon Johnson, the decision to fight for highway beautification was not sympathy for the cause, but love for his wife, Lady Bird. Even as he hit brick walls in Congress, Johnson persisted, telling his staff, “You know I love that woman and she wants that Highway Beautification Act. By God, we’re going to get it for her.” Attention

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-4711688217817399032012-01-18T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-19T14:00:17.703-08:00

War is a package deal. Along with hate and killing comes atrocities, which includes torture, rape, abuse, trophy parts, pissing on dead bodies, and other bad behavior. To try to separate this package deal into good and bad legal portions is naïve, disingenuous, and deceptive. Those who send others to War know this is a package deal. Those who try to distance themselves, using the cloak of Law,

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-10398509364235505702012-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-17T08:00:04.205-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts By the mid-1920s, many of the smaller billposting firms were already subsumed by larger companies. In 1925, Foster and Kleiser agreed to sit on General’s board of directors, and also agreed that Foster and Kleiser would limit its operations to the region west of the Rocky Mountains. Between these two behemoths, this put them in control

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-68929007983095082912012-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-16T08:00:06.444-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts The cooperative spirit between government and business during WWI directed attention to the construction of highways, which was greatly aided by the passage of the Federal Aid to Roads Acts of 1916 and 1921. This, of course, was a godsend to outdoor advertising. Outdoor advertisers were among those for whom automobility spelled

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-28329298358128228812012-01-15T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-15T08:00:03.206-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts As motoring speeds increased, from 35 mph in the mid 1920s, to 45 mph and 55 mph in the 1930s, just how to communicate with moving audiences became a pressing question. Just as the text-heavy billboard of the nineteenth century had slowly given way to pictorially based posters in the twentieth century, so did the complicated and ornate

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-86596970606301394192012-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-14T08:00:06.778-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order establishing a Committee on Public Information [CPI], headed by progressive-minded journalist and muckraker George Creel, to rally Americans to war and to use the most modern means of mass persuasion to do so. The CPI was a propaganda bureau aimed to reach all Americans and to

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-56273448878902293592012-01-13T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-16T14:05:22.156-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts The American poster craze of the 1890s coincided with the rise of vocal opposition to billboard advertising as an immoral and corrupting influence. The increasing use of images of women in a variety of advertisements was central to the debate. Other branches of the advertising industry were similarly engaged in self-regulatory and

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-49415297012057279922012-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-12T08:00:00.486-08:00

Billboard Series Buyways by Catherine Gudis, 2004, Excerpts Until the 1900s, the use of billboards remained an uneven and unchecked practice. Advertising space was not yet construed as real estate. Outdoor advertising was still considered a public spectacle that encompassed all imaginable territory, from chimney tops to curbstones, and from romantic glens to roadside rocks. A fundamental

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-61856718460920066112012-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-10T08:00:06.627-08:00

  Zimbabwe Series Fiat Money Inflation in France by A.D. White, 1914, ExcerptsA.D White LL.D. [Yale, St. Andrews and John Hopkins], Ph.D. [Jena], D.C.L. [Oxford], Late President and Professor of History at Cornell University From the early reluctant and careful issues of paper we saw, as an immediate result, improvement and activity in business. Then arose the clamor for more paper money. At

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-39013577052169175282012-01-09T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-09T13:18:34.098-08:00

Zimbabwe Series Khaki Capitalism by Schumpeter, The Economist03 Dec 2011Zimbabwe’s army has recently formed joint ventures with Chinese partners in farming and mining. China Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Zimbabwe visithttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-1242742311 Feb 2011Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has arrived in Zimbabwe at the start of a five-nation tour of Africa. He

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-60409279428600032912012-01-08T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-09T13:18:49.367-08:00

Zimbabwe Series The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell, 2010, Excerpts As early as 1980, when Zimbabwe, then called Rhodesia, was liberated from Ian Smith‘s fascist regime, Mugabe had offered the white farmers open discussions aiming at finding a peaceful solution to the vital question of landownership. His overtures had been greeted by silence on that first occasion and then many times over

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-76955978215100329512012-01-07T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:00:04.940-08:00

Zimbabwe Series Marange diamond field: Zimbabwe torture camp discoveredhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-1437721508 Aug 2011A torture camp run by Zimbabwe's security forces is operating in the country's rich Marange diamond fields, BBC Panorama has found. The program heard from recent victims who told of severe beatings and sexual assault. The main torture camp uncovered by the program is

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-90451853721754804032012-01-06T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-06T08:00:00.598-08:00

Zimbabwe Series Zimbabwe's plans to import US cents to help shopshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-1433116728 Jul 2011Zimbabwe hopes to import US currency coins because shops are often unable to give customers change, the finance minister says. Zimbabwe allowed trade in the US currency in 2009 after hyperinflation made its money worthless. US dollar notes are easily available, but there is

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-68095988070603219762012-01-05T21:56:00.000-08:002012-01-11T20:02:15.542-08:00

I started tracking articles on Zimbabwe's currency crisis starting in August 2006 when their old banknotes ceased to be legal tender, inflation reached the million percent, a 100 billion note bought a loaf of bread, and cholera became epidemic. As Zimbabwe money became completely useless in this hyper-inflation mode, an underground economy emerged using commodities, notably blood diamonds, and

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-78617081532213039162012-01-04T21:31:00.000-08:002012-01-05T21:57:44.482-08:00

Plutonomy Series Citigroup Plutonomy Report, 2005, ExcerptsUnderstanding how the plutonomy impacts consumption is key. There is no such animal as “the U.S. consumer” or “the UK consumer”, or indeed the “Russian consumer. There are rich consumers, and there are the rest. The rich are getting richer, and they dominate consumption. Their trend of getting richer looks unlikely to end anytime soon.

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-55409213070170104452011-12-23T13:09:00.000-08:002011-12-26T09:13:21.174-08:00

Karen Armstrong [Religion Scholar]It has been suggested that Jesus was crucified by the Romans for an attempted rebellion: some Biblical scholars have seen the account of his overturning the tables of the moneylenders in the Temple as a truncated version of a coup, by means of which he and his followers took over the Temple for a period of three days. The Woman with the Alabaster Jar by Margaret

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-59978458126429027152011-12-16T16:20:00.000-08:002011-12-16T16:23:12.469-08:00

  CHRIST CLIMBED DOWN by Ferlinghetti, 1958 Christ climbed down from His bare Treethis yearand ran away to wherethere were no rootless Christmas treeshung with candy canes and breakable stars Christ climbed downfrom His bare Treethis yearand ran away to wherethere were no gilded Christmas treesand no tinsel Christmas treesand no tinfoil Christmas treesand no pink plastic Christmas treesand no

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-49745801987309130172011-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-14T08:00:07.108-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsWhenever the standards of the moneyed life prevail, the man with money, no matter how he got it, will eventually be respected. A million dollars, it is said, covers a multitude of sins. It is not only that men want money; it is that their very standards are pecuniary. In a society in which the money-maker has had no serious

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-54790852186605618722011-12-13T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-13T08:00:04.677-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThere is no free and wide debate of military policy or of policies of military relevance. It is in line with a mass society for manipulation to replace explicitly debated authority, as well as with the fact of total war in which the distinction between soldier and civilian is obliterated. The military manipulation of civilian

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-63958614886768166532011-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-11T08:00:08.140-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThe rise of the power elite rests upon the transformation of the publics of America into a mass society. Life in a society of masses implants insecurity and furthers impotence; it makes men uneasy and vaguely anxious; it isolates the individual from the solid group; it destroys firm group standards. Acting without goals, the

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-18694045999363797412011-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-12T19:58:11.445-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThe daughter of an old upper-class New York family, for example, is usually under the care of nurse and mother until she is four years of age, after which she is under the daily care of a governess who often speaks French as well as English. When she is six or seven, she goes to a private day school, perhaps Mis Chapin’s or

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-32385102234399635682011-12-09T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-12T20:19:39.373-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThe one deep experience that distinguishes the social rich from the merely rich and those below is their schooling, and with it, all the associations, the sense and sensibility, to which this educational routine leads throughout their lives. Each stage of this education is important to the formation of the upper-class man or

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-81821905304250511242011-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-08T08:00:03.838-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThe very rich have used existing laws, they have circumvented and violated existing laws, and they have had laws created and enforced for their direct benefit. The inner core of the power elite includes men of the higher legal and financial type from the great law factories and investment firms, who are professional go-betweens

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-2837195269808228582011-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-07T08:00:06.608-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThe very rich are now deeply entrenched in the higher corporate world of the twentieth-century American economy. Not great fortunes, but great corporations are the important units of wealth, to which individuals of property are variously attached. The corporation is the source of wealth, and the basis of the continued power and

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-51155745459298319282011-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-06T08:00:01.327-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsPrestige is the shadow of money and power. Since the men of the higher political, economic, and military circles are an elite of money and power, they accumulate a prestige that is considerably above the ordinary; all of them have publicity value and some of them are downright eminent; increasingly, by virtue of their position

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-71064499610532538562011-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-05T08:00:03.390-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsPeople with advantages are loath to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. They come readily to define themselves as inherently worthy of what they possess; they come to believe themselves ‘naturally’ elite; and, in fact, to imagine their possessions and their privileges as natural extensions of their own

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-38375160953890092872011-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-04T08:00:06.288-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThose who sit in the seats of the high and the mighty are selected and formed by the means of power, the sources of wealth, and the mechanics of celebrity. As the requirements of the top places in each of the major hierarchies become similar, the types of men occupying these roles at the top – by selection and by training in

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-50331538802094529692011-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-03T08:00:05.201-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThe story of the American economy since the Civil War is the story of the creation and consolidation of this corporate world of centralized property. During World War II, the merger of the corporate economy and the military bureaucracy came into its present-day significance. Within the span of one generation, America has become

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-2585962120321026632011-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-02T08:00:03.399-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsThe political order has become a centralized executive establishment which has taken up into itself many powers previously scattered, and now enters into each and every cranny of the social structure. The economy has become dominated by two or three hundred giant corporations, administratively and politically interrelated,

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-69602286479168963672011-12-01T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-01T08:00:10.666-08:00

Power Elite Series The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsNo one can be truly powerful unless he has access to the command of major institutions, for it is over these institutional means of power that the truly powerful are powerful. By the power elite, we refer to those political, economic, and military circles which as an intricate set of overlapping cliques share decisions having

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-39152765190000311102011-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:002011-12-14T20:39:37.485-08:00

The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, 1956, ExcerptsIn American society, major national power now resides in the economic, the political, and the military domains. Other institutions are duly subordinated to these. Within each of the big three, the typical institutional unit has become enlarged, has become administrative, and, in the power of its decisions, has become centralized. The power elite

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-91473584686751947752011-11-29T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-29T21:39:22.164-08:00

Tax Haven Series Obama 05 Jan 2008"You've got a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 12,000 corporations. That's either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record." US Uncut, Yes Men to Bust Corporate Tax Dodgers in Cayman Islands, June 18http://www.thenation.com/blog/161338/us-uncut-yes-men-bust-corporate-tax-dodgers-cayman-islands10 Jun 2011 The activism groups

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-9554445895295673942011-11-28T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-28T08:00:03.517-08:00

Tax Haven Series Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsIn the large economies, tax burdens are being shifted away from mobile capital and corporations onto the shoulders of ordinary folks. The rich have been paying less, and everyone else has been forced to take up the slack. Tax havens overturn the healthy dynamics by providing escape routes for their elites. The secrecy

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-45724628389005037172011-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-27T08:00:01.366-08:00

Tax Haven Series Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsThe two biggest sources of foreign investment into China in 2007 were not Japan or the United States or South Korea but Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands. Similarly, as of 2009 the biggest source of foreign investment into India, at over 43 percent of the total, is the treaty haven of Mauritius, a rising star in the

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-76313434323661938772011-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-26T08:00:00.664-08:00

Tax Haven Series Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsTax havens don’t just offer an escape from tax. They also provide wealthy and powerful elites with secrecy and all manner of ways to shrug off the laws and duties that come along with living in and obtaining benefits from society – taxes, prudent financial regulation, criminal laws, inheritance rules, and many others. Offering

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-27384971694533155472011-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-25T08:00:07.429-08:00

Tax Haven Series Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsAlong with Britain and Europe, the United States anchors the third big offshore pole. At the federal level, on the top tier, the United States dangles a range of special tax exemptions, secrecy provisions, and laws designed to attract foreign money in true offshore style. U.S. banks may, for instance, legally accept proceeds

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-51804579524024295672011-11-24T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-13T14:03:06.183-08:00

Tax Haven Series Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsThis network of offshore satellites does several things for the City of London. First, it gives it a global reach. These jurisdictions funnel money through to London. Second, the spiderweb lets the City get involved in business that might be forbidden in Britain, giving the financiers in London sufficient distance from

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-62328851386550258102011-11-23T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-23T08:00:10.731-08:00

Tax Haven Series Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsAccounting for about half the world’s secrecy jurisdictions, the biggest, is a layered hub-and-spoke array of tax havens, centered in the City of London, the center of the most important part of the global offshore system. The City’s offshore network has three main rings. Its inner ring consists of Britain’s three Crown

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-78628367805252570552011-11-22T08:00:00.001-08:002011-11-22T08:00:07.417-08:00

Tax Haven Series Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsThe world tax havens can be divided roughly into four groups: a set of continental European havens, a British zone of influence centered in the City of London and parts of Britain’s former empire, a zone of influence focused on the United States, and a fourth category holding unclassified oddities like Somalia and Uruguay.

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-55168737191290052812011-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-29T21:34:43.003-08:00

Russian army ends purchase of Kalashnikov rifleshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-1507675727 Sep 2011The Russian army says it is halting orders of the famous Kalashnikov assault rifle until a newer model is developed by its manufacturer. Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov told Russian media that the army already had too many of the weapons in its stores. A new model is expected to

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-38060502697776944872011-11-20T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-29T21:50:33.334-08:00

Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, 2011, ExcerptsTax havens are about artificially manipulating paper trails of money across borders. The general idea is that by adjusting its internal prices a multinational can shift profits offshore, where they pay little or no tax, known as Transfer Pricing, or Mispricing. Transfer Pricing is one of the most important reasons that multinationals are

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-87070776458275827662011-11-18T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-18T08:00:08.360-08:00

Plutonomy Series Citigroup Plutonomy Report, 2005, ExcerptsOrganized societies have three ways of expropriating wealth - through the revocation of property rights, through the tax system, or to slow down the rate of wealth creation. The three levers governments and societies could pull on to end plutonomy are benign. Property rights are still intact and taxation policies are neutral to favorable

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-34133795055448412452011-11-17T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-17T08:00:01.459-08:00

Plutonomy Series Citigroup Plutonomy Report, 2005, ExcerptsConcentration of wealth and spending in the hands of a few has its limits. There are signs around the world that society is unhappy with plutonomy. If voters feel they cannot participate, they are more likely to divide up the wealth pie, rather than aspire to being truly rich. The population at large might still endorse the concept of

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-53654702010111932162011-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-16T08:00:15.327-08:00

Plutonomy Series Citigroup Plutonomy Report, 2005, ExcerptsWhat are the common drivers of Plutonomy? Disruptive technology-driven productivity gains, creative financial innovation, capitalist-friendly cooperative governments, an international dimension of immigrants and overseas conquests invigorating wealth creation, the rule of law, and patenting inventions. Often these wealth waves involve

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Plutonomy Series Citigroup Plutonomy Report, 2005, ExcerptsPlutonomies have occurred before in sixteenth century Spain, in seventeenth century Holland, the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties. In the early 20th century, capital income was the big chunk for the top 0.1% of households, since the mid-eighties, mainly from oversized salaries. The rich in the U.S. went from coupon-clipping,

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Plutonomy Series Citigroup Plutonomy Report, 2005, ExcerptsThe World is dividing into two blocs - the plutonomies, where economic growth is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few, and the rest. In a plutonomy, there are rich consumers, few in number, but disproportionate in the gigantic slice of income and consumption they take. There are the rest, the “non-rich”, the multitudinous

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-56289729407565075312011-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-20T18:59:46.388-08:00

Watched Michael Moore's spoofamentary on capitalism – Capitalism: A Love Story. Reagan was lucky the internet wasn't around when he was running for president, some good footage of him as a spokesman for GE and Chesterfield cigarettes, a marketing success. Also good footage of FDR's forgotten Second Bill of Rights speech and Jimmy Carter’s Crisis of Confidence speech. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

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OWN - POSSESSMerriam-Webster DictionaryOWN: to have or hold as property : POSSESS POSSESS: to have and hold as property : OWN Law DictionaryOWN: to have legal title or right to something. Mere possession is not ownership. Note how the legal definition explicitly states that possession in not ownership.Common Axiom: Possession is 9/10ths Law. SHAREMerriam-Webster Dictionaryto divide and

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-56801704545584136432011-11-08T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-14T21:30:58.278-08:00

Dear Lender: Our household has not been immune from this 'economy thing' and, as a result, our mortgage check will be somewhat delayed. Our financial resources have finally dwindled to the point where our ability to make payment is affected. Our living expenses have been cut back to the basics and we're still cash short to cover the mortgage payment, which is our largest expense next to taxes.

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-5474884061345968402011-11-07T08:00:00.000-08:002011-11-08T21:57:43.550-08:00

Joan of Arc New York Times, 31 Dec 1905 Left to Right: Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Dan Beard, Sir C. Purdon Clarke, Rollo Ogden, Miss Angersten Mark Twain was the guest of honor at a dinner given last night at the Aldine Association by the Society of Illustrators. All the well-known magazine and newspaper artists were present, while other distinguished guests included Andrew Carnegie, Sir. C

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Joan of Arc Inez Milholland [1886-1916]: Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she grew up in a wealthy family. She attended Vassar College, where she was once suspended for organizing a women's rights meeting. The president of Vassar had forbidden suffrage meetings, but Milholland and others held regular "classes" on the issue, along with large protests and petitions. She led the Suffrage

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Joan of Arc Europe by Geert Mak, 2007, Excerpts A brief section of newsreel has been preserved of the Derby [London] held in June 1913. We see the horses hurtling around the bend at high speed, neck and neck. In the background we catch a glimpse of the crowd, men in straw hats, here and there a woman. Then something happens, so quickly as to be almost imperceptible: a woman runs onto the track,

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Mark Twain considered Joan of Arc, his last finished novel, to be his best and most important work. Twain had a personal fascination with Joan and considered her second only to Jesus Christ. He initially penned this work under a pseudonym originally published as a serialization in Harper's Magazine beginning in 1895. There is a distinct lack of humor, and he didn’t want his readers to have

mammonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446444888935679720noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4613971998769620021.post-51217305827503899782011-11-03T08:00:00.000-07:002011-11-03T08:00:12.587-07:00

The Big Four by Oscar Lewis, 1938, ExcerptsNob Hill was then a treeless waste, bleak and windswept, but its high eastern shoulder dominated the growing town. In the early '70s, it required vision and faith to foresee the future of the hill. Only a few small houses had yet been built on its crest, and for an excellent reason. San Francisco's uncompromising streets veered up its steepest sides at

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The Form of Money The innovation of Legal Tender in seventh century BC was adopted by the greater part of the Greek world. Towards the end of the seventh century BC, wealth and debt went extreme with complications. Money and Man by Elgin Groseclose, 1961The introduction of coined money [Legal Tender] produced what might be called in today’s parlance "boom times" in the Mediterranean. It was an

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