"Corporate" is too easy. Try Entitlement.

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Thursday March 18, 2010 · 12:46 PM PDT

2010/03/18 · 12:46

Over the last few days/weeks/months of health care reform..well lets be honest. It's descended into a massive pie-fight, generally between pragmatists who think this is the best that can be done right now, and idealists who think that it should all be gotten in one go.

This diary is not about that.

This diary is about one limited aspect of this debate, although often it's what takes it over and becomes the dividing line. As the title says, the term "corporate", as in being a corporate stooge or a sell-out or being corrupt or whatever. That's the accusation that's being thrown about left, right and center.

But is it accurate? Could there be something else that leads to this behavior? I'd argue not just a yes but a big emphatic YES to that. The problem is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

Karmakin

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Thursday January 07, 2010 · 1:32 PM PST

2010/01/07 · 13:32

This is a long-form response of sorts to Slinkerwink's excellent diary here. In it, is a reference to a just as excellent report done by the EPI on how the proposed Excise tax probably will not result in wage increases to off-set the switchover to cheaper health care plans by employers.

While it's a good recognition that this is the case, what should be fleshed out a bit, is WHY that is the case. To put it short, the commonly used labor model...from progressives to conservatives....is wrong. It's upside down, and it understands little about the reality of work and employment.

And yes, we progressives can be just as guilty as the far-right wing of promoting these models.

Karmakin

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Monday March 16, 2009 · 3:27 PM PDT

2009/03/16 · 15:27

Ok, that's not really fair. It's not fake. It is, however, foolish. It's ivory towerish, it's strictly ideological and it's a particularly low form of short-sighted populism. But above all, it's wrong on the facts. Or at least it probably is, if we don't see the contracts there's really no way to know. And that's one thing I agree with. We SHOULD be able to see the contracts.

But at the end of the day, AIG, or whoever owns the payment side of those employment contracts will probably be responsible for the renumeration of the bonuses. It's in pretty much black and white. There is a way that this may not happen, but it's not gunna happen. Not in a million years.

The explanation after the jump:

Karmakin

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Friday February 13, 2009 · 4:43 AM PST

2009/02/13 · 04:43

There's a diary on the rec list right now here that is wanting to know who is responsible for taking out the limits on CEO pay in the stimulus package. Emotionally and morally, I agree with the diary writer. I really do. However, from a more realistic standpoint, I don't see how such a cap is workable. Likewise, the same argument goes for nationalization.

The problem I have with it, is that over the years, I've made one in particular observation. And it's that one observation that makes it clear how it would all go down, and it gives me quite a bit of pause and hesitation.

That point? Companies are not run for the shareholders. They are run for top management

Karmakin

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Saturday November 29, 2008 · 9:51 AM PST

2008/11/29 · 09:51

Both teacherken and GrannyDoc have very good diaries today talking about the consumer culture and what exactly it means for both individuals and the world. Teacherken reminds us that changes to the status quo may have real-world consequences for individuals who work in those affected industries. GrannyDoc points out that regardless, the status quo is simply unsustainable, and absolutely must be changed.

So who's right? Well, as most of us probably know, both are. But what I think was missing, and what really brought this from a comment to a diary, is how to move forward, and especially what pitfalls there are in trying to move this over. THIS IS NOT FIRST AND FOREMOST A POLITICAL ISSUE. This is a cultural issue. And without the realization of this, any hope of substantive change is null.

Karmakin

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Saturday October 11, 2008 · 7:18 AM PDT

2008/10/11 · 07:18

We've all been watching the attacks on the loose (very) association between Obama and Ayers. It makes us angry that they put so much focus on something that's so insignificant trying to appeal to people's baser natures. It also worries us, because sometimes it works.

What's lost in this, is what these attacks really mean. In fact, these attacks say more about the future of conservative thought as a whole than it does about Obama, or Ayers, or this election. From what we've seen in the last week, there's a chasm being driven into the Republican party. We talk a lot of dropping them anchors. Maybe we need to drop an anchor here as well.

How? By pointing out that John McCain and Sarah Palin are telling well-meaning conservatives that they may be terrorists and traitors as well.

Karmakin

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Saturday March 15, 2008 · 4:58 AM PDT

2008/03/15 · 04:58

Although I'm a lurker here more or less, I've been around the blogosphere for a long time. I've also seen this site and this community come up and grow and develop itself. However, over the last few weeks or so, the community has been in quite a bit of turmoil. The rage meter really has been going off the charts. Some long-time (and not so long-time) community members no longer feel welcome here.

The reason I'm writing this, is that I think that nobody is talking about the 50-ton elephant in the room, and for that reason, there's been no real chance of communication. The elephant in the room is the direction that this primary campaign is going, and the proxy war it truly represents, one that challenges to roll back all the gains we've (as in the netroots) have made over the last 4 years or so. Why be surprised when people get downright angry about this?

Karmakin

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Sunday July 08, 2007 · 11:39 AM PDT

2007/07/08 · 11:39

I'm a fan of Moore. I don't agree with everything he says, and I'm not that much of a prankster myself, but to each our own, right? But I think his arguments come from a state of good faith. I really think he's much more open minded than people give him credit for..take for account Bowling for Columbine, in which I guess was going to be your gun control argument #234 and became a great dialog on fear and its effect on the human condition. The greatest movies are said to be about the human condition, are they not?

But Michael Moore goes on my list of people who get it. Thanks to RandyH over at Comments at Digbys, it's a rundown of the end of Sicko. I haven't seen the whole movie yet..not playing locally yet. So I'm not sure if this is the end of the movie, or something else. It matters not. Moore gets it.

Karmakin

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Thursday May 04, 2006 · 10:33 AM PDT

2006/05/04 · 10:33

This is about net neutrality, which I totally support, just to get that out in front. I've been on/using the internet for..12 years now? Practically forever if you think about it. What I do..what I've always done, is watching the internet culture and community grow. So I know what's at stake.

But it's not about net neutrality at the same time. In fact, I'd be willing to say this is more about health care than anything. (You'll see why) So, our favorite whipping boy lately, Mike McCurry, came out with a further...whatever you want to call it, here. But what he doesn't realize, is that when it comes to free and open markets, government isn't the enemy. It's our best friend. Read More

Liberalism vs. Exclusivism.

Karmakin

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Wednesday February 15, 2006 · 10:25 AM PST

2006/02/15 · 10:25

I've always been interested in the way people interact..in the way they treat one another. As well, my political leanings tend to be towards identifying root causes, instead of just relieving symptoms. So I read information from a lot of sources, in order to further refine...to drill down my view of things. To get to a lower level.

Lately, however, I've been hitting bedrock. This, to me is not a bad thing. It's actually fairly relieving to actually find some good place to put in some real hard-core roots.

The idea is basically this. Conservatism does not exist as an important political force. This is no shock to most people, Glenn Greenwald has been doing a great job talking about this stuff. So what's replaced it?

Exclusivism. Read More

The Chicken and the Filibuster

Karmakin

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Sunday January 29, 2006 · 6:07 PM PST

2006/01/29 · 18:07

Which came first? Ha Ha.

One of the big questions is...why don't the Democrats just stand up to the plate? What do they have to lose? Why are they acting like..ahem chickens?

One thing that was reported on the Kennedy con-call really struck out..that there were a lot of Democrats that were worried about a "backlash" from standing up for something that most people say they support. But that got me to thinking...

What do the Democrats actually have to gain from a filibuster at a political level? Read More

How the DLC/PPI are giving away America.

Karmakin

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Thursday December 22, 2005 · 10:39 AM PST

2005/12/22 · 10:39

One of the major issues that is going on below the radar, so to speak, is the effects of media on youth. To be precise, the whole of the argument now surrounds video games. There's not much talk about movies, or music...those lobbyists did their jobs. So a lot of the focus is on gaming. And leading the pack, is Senators Lieberman and Clinton. This is very bad for us, in both the long and the short-term. And we need to come out hard, and very vocal. Because this IS a subject where we can have a big impact.

Disclaimer:I am an avid gamer. I think that most games, in fact come with pretty good moral messages. As well, I believe they're better for facilitating brain activity than just watching TV, or even reading. Yes, I said it. I believe that most books that people read has the intellectual content of your average sitcom. But this is not about that. This is about the political ramifications of this point of view. Read More

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"Corporate" is too easy. Try Entitlement.

Not just Excise--The labor model is wrong

Fake outrage by Kossacks about AIG bonuses

Why we're already screwed over--The realization of tied hands

Resolving the Moral Conflict:The Way Forward

What needs to be said about Ayers

The Orthodoxy of DailyKos

Michael Moore gets it

Net Neutrality: The big fallacy of government and beauacracy.

Liberalism vs. Exclusivism.

The Chicken and the Filibuster

How the DLC/PPI are giving away America.