Charles Ferguson, som brugte sin egen personlige formue p at skabe den prisvindende dokumentarfilm “Inside Job” har skrevet en ny bog, som p engelsk hedder, “Predator Nation”. Bogen handler groft sagt om kapitalismens forfald i USA. Men hvorfor er det interessant for os danskere at lse Charles Ferguson? Det danske samfund er jo vsenforskelligt fra det amerikanske. Nu skal man huske p at USA indtil for ganske nylig var verdens strste konomi. USA var, og er stadig, et forbillede, og for nogen et modbillede, for resten af verden, kulturelt, militrt og konomisk. Hvad der sker i USA har stor betydning for resten af verden. USA er Danmarks nre allierede og forbillede i mange henseender – ikke mindst i konomisk tankegang. Det er alts umuligt at komme uden om hvad der sker i USA i en diskussion af den moderne kapitalisme.
Lidt baggrund: Charles Ferguson er 58 og en velanskreven matematiker og samfundsvidenskabsmand. Han har undervist p MIT og Berkeley University. Han har vret konsulent for Det Hvide Hus. I 1990’erne stiftede Charles Ferguson sit eget it-firma og udviklede FrontPage som han solgte til Microsoft for ca. 800 millioner dollars.
Det bliver sledes svrt p forhnd at beg et karaktermord p Charles Ferguson, idet han hverken kan karakteriseres som inkompetent eller stemples som marxist.
Med udgangspunkt i Charles Fergusons nye bog “Predator Nation” vil jeg gerne udfordre enhver fortaler for den moderne globale kapitalisme anno 2013.
Jeg er fuldstndig enig i den kritik som Charles Ferguson, Chris Hedges og andre giver af det moderne kapitalistiske samfund. Efter min mening er den moderne kapitalisme udtryk for en “rovdyrskapitalisme” som ikke bare er uhensigtsmssig eller uretfrdig – men direkte farlig! Vi, mennesker p jorden, er truet af neandertaleradfrd. Rovdyrskapitalismen er ikke bredygtig. Rovdyrskapitalismen har kun n vrdi, penge, og t ml, magt.
Links:
Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America
Indside Job Chris Ferguson youtube.com
Charlie Rose Interviews Charles Ferguson on his documentary ‘Inside Job’ Chris Ferguson interview youtube.com
Rovdyrnationen – hvordan grdigheden sejrede Mogens Lykketoft Information 15. marts 2013
Update:
Banks gone bad: Our evolved morality has failed us newscientist.com 25. marts 2013
Baggrund:
2011: A Brave New Dystopia af Chris Hedges truthdig.com
Four Horsemen fourhorsemenfilm.com
Forfrt til krig Information 14. marts 2013
Criticism of capitalism wikipedia.org
6 kommentarer til “rovdyrsnationen-usa”
Ha, Hans Hur ligner Elliot Spitzer, måske de er i familie, måske hans bror?
Preface: Not all banks are criminal enterprises. The wrongdoing of a particular bank cannot be attributed to other banks without proof. But – as documented below – many of the biggest banks have engaged in unimaginably bad behavior.
You Won’t Believe What They’ve Done …
Here are just some of the improprieties by big banks:
Funding the Nazis
Laundering money for terrorists
Financing illegal arms deals, and funding the manufacture of cluster bombs (and see this and this) and other arms which are banned in most of the world
Launching a coup against the President of the United States
Handling money for rogue military operations
Laundering money for drug cartels. See this, this, this, this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis)
Engaging in mafia-style big-rigging fraud against local governments. See this, this and this
Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here
Manipulating gold prices … on a daily basis
Charging “storage fees” to store gold bullion … without even buying or storing any gold . And raiding allocated gold accounts
Committing massive and pervasive fraud both when they initiated mortgage loans and when they foreclosed on them (and see this)
Pledging the same mortgage multiple times to different buyers. See this, this, this, this and this. This would be like selling your car, and collecting money from 10 different buyers for the same car
Cheating homeowners by gaming laws meant to protect people from unfair foreclosure
Committing massive fraud in an $800 trillion dollar market which effects everything from mortgages, student loans, small business loans and city financing
Manipulating the hundred trillion dollar derivatives market
Engaging in insider trading of the most important financial information
Pushing investments which they knew were terrible, and then betting against the same investments to make money for themselves. See this, this, this, this and this
Engaging in unlawful “frontrunning” to manipulate markets. See this, this, this, this, this and this
Engaging in unlawful “Wash Trades” to manipulate asset prices. See this, this and this
Otherwise manipulating markets. And see this
Participating in various Ponzi schemes. See this, this and this
Charging veterans unlawful mortgage fees
Helping the richest to illegally hide assets
Cooking their books (and see this)
Bribing and bullying ratings agencies to inflate ratings on their risky investments
Violently cracking down on peaceful protesters
Læs resten af artiklen:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/03/stunning-crimes-of-the-big-banks-updated-list.html
Bank Run: Cyprioterne hæver alle deres penge på Cypern:
EU bailout levy prompts Cyprus bank run
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/economics/article3715461.ece
This Crazy Cyprus Deal Could Screw Up A Lot More Than Cyprus – http://www.businessinsider.com/cyprus-bailout-risks-europe-bank-runs-2013-3#ixzz2NmxpucUC
Noget tyder på at Cypern er i en meget alvorlig bankkrise, en tillidskrise som iflg. eksperter kan risikere at gå som en bølge igennem resten af Europa.
For Everyone Shocked By What Just Happened… And Why This Is Just The Beginning
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-16/everyone-shocked-what-just-happened-and-why-just-beginning
CYPRUS PRESIDENT: Nation Faces Total Financial Collapse And Euro Exit Without Bailout
http://www.businessinsider.com/cyprus-bailout-statement-by-the-president-of-the-republic-mr-nicos-anastasiades-2013-3
Citat fra spændende artikel i Information d. 17. marts 2013 – Vi skal genfinde en ægte åndelig folkelighed: “»Jeg mener dybest set, at man bør genintroducere filosofikum på universiteterne, fordi problemet er, at alt, hvad der hedder grundlagstænkning; alt, hvad der hedder ontologisk tænkning, er fuldstændig bortelimineret på studierne. Hvis man spørger lærerne på økonomistudiet i Aarhus, hvad det er for en grundlagstænkning; hvad det er for en ontologi, som ligger til grund for det, de regner de økonomiske modeller ud fra, så er der ni ud af ti, som ikke kan svare på det. Det, synes jeg, er et problem.«
Vi tænker i dag alt for deterministisk, mener Kjærhus. Alting gøres op i økonomisk rationalitet, også spørgsmål om viden. Kjærhus peger eksempelvis på Bologna-aftalen fra 1999, som de danske universiteter retter sig efter, og som, skønt den var rettet mod at sikre mobilitet for studerende i Europa, samtidig betød carte blanche til rationalisering og kommercialisering af universiteterne. Og sådan behøver det ikke at være. Men det kræver en indsats.”
http://www.information.dk/454557