February 12, 2012 SouthAmerica: It is so important that you keep an open mind to new ideas, and to the opinions of people with superior analytical capabilities such as Noam Chomsky. It is important not to dismiss someone simply because youâve heard his opinion about something that you disagree with â then you wrote that person off about everything else. Noam Chomsky is considered the number one intellectual alive here in the United States today. He is the number one most quoted âliving authorâ today, and he is the number 8 most quoted author in history. I love Noam Chomsky, and I enjoy all his lectures and writings. Noam Chomsky Q&A: "Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours" â February 11, 2012 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XWVWOiRzPb0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Noam Chomsky answers questions after delivering speech at the University of Maryland Friday, January 27, 2012 Noam Chomsky - Crisis And Hope: Theirs And Ours <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ycWOlvsi-44" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> More than 2,000 people attended this historic address, captured here, in which Chomsky offered a powerful analysis of the current economic crisis and its structural roots; the continuity in U.S. foreign policy under the Barack Obama administration; the class interests driving U.S. domestic and foreign policy. He also speaks here at length about the tradition of worker self-management as a concrete alternative to the business as usual approach of corporations and the government during the current crisis. The DVD also features and Introduction by Amy Goodman and a one on one interview with Noam Chomsky. .
February 12, 2012 SouthAmerica: Here is a web link to my blog about Noam Chomsky: http://thefinalcollapseoftheusdollar.blogspot.com/2011/06/noam-chomsky_8716.html .
well, for starters they all love to use this term "worker" but can never really define it. If I own a barbershop am I worker? Or did I lose my status when I quit my job and started my own business? What If I own a machine shop and employ 450 "workers" am I still a worker? Or am I now "the man." What if I am CEO of XON or run a hedge fund. My wife complains all the time that I work too much, but Noam doesn't even give me the dignity of referring to me as a worker. If I work hard all my life and can finally retire they want to protect me because I am just a "coupon clipper" but If I get there before I am 65 I am not a productive member of society anymore because I am not real "worker" I am just a "coupon clipper." Everything was fine until after High School, and then they all split up, half went to the business school and the other half went into political science, and the twain have never and probably never will meet. It's the ultimate bigotry which is namely fearing (and then hating) that which you don't understand.
otherwise, when he sticks to state sponsered capitalism and a foreign policy based on milatarism he's a very rational voice against the status quo. they spend 95% of their time talking about money (which as far as they know is only created by taxes) and about 5% of their time actually studying it.
it's just they are such hypocrites. They work for a University that has an edowment fund, and these days endowments are not just long the market, but also involved in credit default swaps, and options and commodities. And then he has a pension and it is also invested. Yet they act like a proper worker should be paid just enough to cover montly expenses and then when the government determines they are too old to work the government should pay them until they die. Why don't they demonize employers who pay "workers" more than they need who then need to invest it and then must rely on Wall Street Professionals to create a market where the workers can invest and get a piece of the action just like the big boys? I know I am kind of all over the place, but it is just so inconsistent. They want everything to be publicly owned, but then they hate NYSE where no company can be listed UNLESS it is publicly owned. otherwise, I've heard his lectures, and he is much more of a deep thinker than I am, but when it comes to economics, I don't think any of them are going to be happy until the government owns the rest of GM. GM use to be the evil anti union corporation, but now it is their darling child. And when the stock price goes up, they all smile and say, "See? Now we are ALL making money."
I can't speak for chomsky of course, but my understanding of his meaning behind the term "worker" is related to whether or not you have any say or control over capital allocation. And yes, you are "kinda all over the place." Chomsky has a thorough, and correct in my opinion, understanding of capitalism. He know that the capitalist's job is to accumulate and control capital. He recognizes "State capitalism" as a pernicious form, i.e., what we commonly refer to as "crony capitalism" or "corporatism." He is saying to the "worker": "Don't be such a chump. Stand up for yourself and don't let the capitalists run roughshod over you" "Don't let them get away with privatizing profit and socializing risk." "Let those who receive the profit assume the risk." "Don't be so gullible." He also sees the danger in dysfunctional government, or as he puts it "inefficient democracy." I see his message as a fairly simple one, but well thought out and supported by fact.
ok, nothing personal, but I will have to unsubscribe to this thread after a while. I know how southamerica works, he posts and it just goes on and on with no discussion. I doubt he could ever defend anything he posts. I'll agree with you on the capitalism part, but I don't think they ever really think about how someone gets big. They wait until they are big and then pounce on them. To me it is just like solving all the problems of the world by taxing the rich without ever understanding the process of getting rich. If they would use their formidable intellect trying to understand how the little guy could be more prosperous instead of how to destroy the big guy I think it would be better. Sort of like staring out every spring trying to figure out how to get the Yankees to fail. Where's that going to get you? I'm all over the place. Use to study Chomsky back when there was nobody to talk to. At least back when nobody would even acknowledge that perhaps socialism was not all it's cracked up to be. And no capitalist would even listen. So it kind of caught me off guard on ET.
There's a nice chapter on Chomsky in Peter Schweizer's book http://amzn.to/zI23gz -- <i>Chomsky's considerable fortune has translated not only into desirable real estate holdings but also into a nice sailboat... A few years back he went to Boston's venerable white-shoe law firm Palmer and Dodge and, with the help of a tax attorney specializing in "income-tax planning," set up an irrevocable trust to protect his assets from Uncle Sam. He named his tax attorney (every socialist radical needs one!) and a daughter as trustees... He gives speeches on college campuses around the country at $12,000 a pop, often dozens of times a year. Can't go and hear him in person? No problem: You can go online and download clips from earlier speeches -- for a fee...</i>
MIT: Noam, you seem to know everything there is to know about economics, so we've decided to let you run the MIT endowment fund according to the principles you espouse. If you do well you will still get your pension.