Communities of Practice – Page 592 – Public Intelligence Blog

This is about as clear a statement of the noncarbon generation high tech mogul perspective as I have read. The article also gives an accurate, I believe, critique as to where he is in error. Most fundamentally I think Thiel has confused process and specific circumstances. I think democratic government can work very well. It certainly does so in many other countries. There is a reason why Danes are happy, and Americans are not. It is not working well here because of corruption, unlimited money in politics, and the Republican gridlock that has produced, and the compromised nature of our regulatory agencies. There is nothing wrong with the Founders' vision, and everything wrong with its execution. American politics is to the Founders' democratic republic as Fundamentalist Pre-millennial Dispensationlist Christianity is to Jesus' teachings.

Why PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel thinks American democracy is dead

2015/04/022015/04/02

Sepp Hasslberger: Jailing Bankers

Commerce, Corruption, Ethics, Government

Bankers can (and should) be jailed for fraud… Iceland shows the way.

Iceland Jails Four Top Bankers for Fraud in Landmark Case

Iceland has jailed four bankers for market manipulation in a landmark case which sets a precedent for the rest of the world. The verdict relates to corruption at the Kaupthing bank, which collapsed after the financial crisis in 2008 due to fraud at the highest levels.

Proving to the world that even bankers aren't above the law

2015/04/022015/04/01

SchwartzReport: Economic Inequality Far Worse Than Most Realize – Could Riots Ensue If Knowledge Catches Up?

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Officers Call

Part of our social stability, I think, depends on the ignorance most people share about the true measure of economic inequality in the U.S. A definition of the one per cent: “they have median annual household income of $750,000, median assets of $7.5 million, and there are 1.2 million of them across the country.” That's a lot of money, but at that level you are still living in a universe that can be recognized by the 99 per cent. When you get above that by perhaps three times you to move into another realm. And when you are a hundred times that, as are the uber-rich, you may occupy tangential geography, but you live in another world. Why wouldn't you want to avoid all the unpleasant inconvenience of modern air travel for instance if you could move through the world more effortlessly than the 99 per cent move through neighborhoods. It changes the scale of your thought, but it also blurs perception of what life is really like for most people.

Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think

The great divide between our beliefs, our ideals, and reality

2015/04/012015/03/31

Michael Kearns: Why US House of Representative Does Not Represent the US Public

Corruption, Government

Why the House of Representatives Doesn't Represent the US Public

One of the really weird ironies of politics these days is the huge divergence between what the US people actually want and what the radical right-wingers in Washington actually do. You won't hear this on “Fox So-Called News,” but right now the US people are as progressive as they ever have been. Read full article.

2015/04/012015/03/31

Berto Jongman: Corruption of US Think Tanks

Corruption, Non-Governmental

Foreign Funding of Think Tanks Is Corrupting Our Democracy

The New York Times has published over the weekend [9 Sep 14] an excellent study of how foreign governments are buying influence at Washington’s think tanks. According to the story, foreign governments are not only getting prominent think tanks to embrace their views of what is in America’s interest, but to lobby for these views with politicians and high officials.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Corruption of US Think Tanks”

2015/03/312015/03/30

Noah Feldman: The Unconstitutional Judiciary in the USA — Surrendering Judgment to the Executive AND Protecting a Private Cabal

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government

A court case so secret, US Govt says it can't go on

Phi Beta Iota: The story documents two subversions of the US Constitution. First, the judiciary is allowing Executive administrative claims to totally subject the rule of law — no facts, no judgment. Second, the government is further abusing its powers by using them to protect a private cabal from being held accountable for defamation. What would the authors of the US Constitution think? In a further irony, the author, a Harvard law professor, observes separately in his book The Rise and Fall of the Islamic State, that it is the executive imbalance of power –the neutering of the legislative and judicial branches — that produces dictatorships across the Muslim world.

Full story below the fold.

Continue reading “Noah Feldman: The Unconstitutional Judiciary in the USA — Surrendering Judgment to the Executive AND Protecting a Private Cabal”

2015/03/302015/03/29

SchwartzReport: American War Machine — Cash Cow for the 1% Swath of Destruction for the 99%

Corruption, Government, Military

You would think it would be obvious by now that the trillions of dollars we spend on the military industrial complex and its wars are not making us safer and that our geopolitical strategy is not producing the outcomes we seek.

How the American War Machine Is Sucking Up Vast Amounts of Cash to Screw Up the World

Who can even keep track of Pentagon operations and spending anymore?

Category: Communities of Practice

SchwartzReport: Peter Thiel on the Death of American Democracy – Where He Is Right — And Wrong