Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us | Paul Verhaeghe We tend to perceive our identities as stable and largely separate from outside forces. But over decades of research and therapeutic practice, I have become convinced that economic change is having a profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities. Thirty years of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatisation have taken their toll, as relentless pressure to achieve has become normative. If you’re reading this sceptically, I put this simple statement to you: meritocratic neoliberalism favours certain personality traits and penalises others. There are certain ideal characteristics needed to make a career today. It’s important to be able to talk up your own capacities as much as you can – you know a lot of people, you’ve got plenty of experience under your belt and you recently completed a major project. On top of all this, you are flexible and impulsive, always on the lookout for new stimuli and challenges.
Neo-liberal capture of the policy making process in Europe Mainstream macroeconomics has mounted a range of arguments over the years to argue against any discretionary involvement by governments or regulators in the economy. The claim is always that the ‘market’ will self regulate and weed out bad players and produce the best outcomes with the least resources each period of activity. Various fancy terms are introduced into textbooks that make these arguments seem to have scientific weight. It called on the European Commission (which is just about to change Presidency) “to tackle the persistent over-representation of corporate interests in European Commission ‘expert groups'”. ALTER-EU was formed in 2005. Two interesting research papers released by the group are: 1. 2. The 2009 Report examined the role of so-called ‘Expert Groups’, which are formed by the European Commission as consultancies to advise it on policy. Expert Groups play a significant role in the development of European legislation both through the Parliament and the Council. 1. 2.
Der Mythos der freien Presse Warum die Mainstreammedien “Mainstream” sind Foto: jeanbaptisteparis / Flickr / CC Der hier vorgestellte Artikel datiert bereits aus dem Jahr 1997 (Originaltitel: What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream), und war ursprünglich ein Vortrag, den Noam Chomsky im Juli des betreffenden Jahres im Z Media Institute hielt. Allerdings ist der Artikel, der sich mit der inneren Struktur der amerikanischen Medienlandschaft auseinandersetzt, auch für den Zustand der europäischen Presse relevant, und hat (leider) nichts von seiner Aktualität eingebüßt – im Gegenteil. Chomsky zeigt einmal mehr auf, warum unsere Leitmedien kein Gralshüter der Demokratie mehr sein können. Von Noam Chomsky Ich schreibe unter anderem deshalb über die Medien, weil ich mich für das intellektuelle Klima insgesamt interessiere und weil die Medien der Bestandteil dieses Klimas sind, der am leichtesten zu untersuchen ist. Das sind drei wichtige Informationsquellen, wenn wir etwas über die Natur der Medien erfahren wollen.
Corporate power has turned Britain into a corrupt state | Seumas Milne If you're under attack, create a diversion. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been floundering as the spectre of Westminster sleaze has returned to haunt them. Four years after the MPs' expenses scandal engulfed British politics, yet another alleged scam has been exposed. First a Tory MP and then a clutch of greedy peers were caught on camera apparently agreeing to take cash from journalists posing as representatives of foreign companies. "Make that £12,000 a month," grinned Jack Cunningham, Tony Blair's former "enforcer". Cameron and Clegg had promised to deal with parliamentary influence-peddling, and done nothing about it. The contemptuous class cynicism of the coalition leaders' response takes some beating. Even Conservative MPs were embarrassed at the crude chicanery of it. The truth is that parliamentary sleaze merchants are small fry in the corporate lobbying game. But lobbying doesn't begin to cover the extent of corporate influence. That's before you get to the politicians.
Programmes | Power of Nightmares re-awakened The Power of Nightmares - first screened in Autumn 2004 and repeated last week on BBC Two - questions whether the threat of terrorism to the West is a politically driven fantasy and if al-Qaeda really is an organised network. The BBC has been inundated with correspondence, some critical much of it very positive. Viewers were invited to put their questions to the writer of the series, Adam Curtis. Here he responds to some of those correspondents, chosen to represent a broad selection of your questions. I know you have already been asked, but PLEASE, PLEASE, release the series on video or DVD Peter Grant, London The problem is that the films are full of archive film and music from a multitude of sources. But so many people have now asked for the series to be released in this form that I think it probably will happen. NOTE: News about the Power of Nightmares and in particular availability of a DVD or video will be published on this website. I have sat through your documentary tonight. No.
Our Economic Ruin Means Freedom for the Super-Rich by George Monbiot The model is dead; long live the model. Austerity programmes are extending the crises they were meant to solve, yet governments refuse to abandon them. The United Kingdom provides a powerful example. The cuts, the coalition promised, would hurt but work. They hurt all right – and have pushed us into a double-dip recession. This result was widely predicted. Two questions arise. Surely the corporate class and the super-rich – the only people the government will listen to – can see that these policies are destroying the markets on which their wealth relies? To understand this conundrum we should first understand that what is presented as an economic programme is in fact a political programme. Neoliberals claim that we are best served by maximising market freedom and minimising the role of the state. As Colin Crouch shows in The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism, the state and the market are not, as neoliberals insist, in perpetual conflict. So where is the economic elite?
The Power of Nightmares The Power of Nightmares, subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, is a BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis. Its three one-hour parts consist mostly of a montage of archive footage with Curtis's narration. The series was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in late 2004 and has subsequently been broadcast in multiple countries and shown in several film festivals, including the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The films compare the rise of the Neo-Conservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, making comparisons on their origins and claiming similarities between the two. The Power of Nightmares has been praised by film critics in both Britain and the United States. Synopsis[edit] Part 1: "Baby It's Cold Outside"[edit] The first part of the series explains the origin of Islamism and Neo-Conservatism. Part 2: "The Phantom Victory"[edit] Part 3: "The Shadows in the Cave"[edit] The final episode addresses the actual rise of al-Qaeda.
Executive Excess 2011: The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging Guns don’t kill people, the old saw goes. People do. By the same token, corporations don’t dodge taxes. People do. The people who run corporations. In fact, corporate tax dodging has gone so out of control that 25 major U.S. corporations last year paid their chief executives more than they paid Uncle Sam in federal income taxes. This year’s Institute for Policy Studies Executive Excess report, our 18th annual, explores the intersection between CEO pay and aggressive corporate tax dodging. We researched the 100 U.S. corporations that shelled out the most last year in CEO compensation. Corporate outlays for CEO compensation — despite the lingering Great Recession — are rising. This contrast shows up starkly in the 2010 ratio between average worker and average CEO compensation. Among the nation’s top firms, the S&P 500, CEO pay last year averaged $10,762,304, up 27.8 percent over 2009. What are America’s CEOs doing to deserve their latest bountiful rewards? How do corporations avoid taxes?
Das jüngste Weltgericht | Welt Die private internationale Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit ist seit den 1950er Jahren wesentlich in der Hand eines US-dominierten Exklusivclubs. Mit TTIP würde das korrupte System noch weiter ausgebaut werden - Von WERNER RÜGEMER, 14. Januar 2015 - Emmanuel Gaillard ist „der einflussreichste Franzose der Welt“, textete das Wirtschaftsmagazin Vanity Fair France. Die Kanzlei Shearman & Sterling Nun könnte man fragen, warum die ZEIT vor den TTIP-Schiedsgerichten warnt, wenn schon jetzt solche Verfahren möglich sind? Die Kanzlei vertritt seit Jahrzehnten internationale Konzerne, Private Equity Fonds („Heuschrecken“) und Hedge Fonds bei komplexen internationalen Finanztransaktionen. Wie am Kauf von Avio durch General Electric ersichtlich, hat Gaillards Truppe als Mandanten nicht nur zweifelhafte „postsozialistische Goldgräber“ und flüchtige Ex-Oligarchen, sondern vor allem etablierte Konzerne und renommierte westliche Steuerhinterzieher. Die Top 20 Dabei steht Shearman & Sterling nur an 12. Anmerkungen
The Ideological Crisis of Western Capitalism - Joseph E. Stiglitz Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space NEW YORK – Just a few years ago, a powerful ideology – the belief in free and unfettered markets – brought the world to the brink of ruin. Even in its hey-day, from the early 1980’s until 2007, American-style deregulated capitalism brought greater material well-being only to the very richest in the richest country of the world. Indeed, over the course of this ideology’s 30-year ascendance, most Americans saw their incomes decline or stagnate year after year. Moreover, output growth in the United States was not economically sustainable. I was among those who hoped that, somehow, the financial crisis would teach Americans (and others) a lesson about the need for greater equality, stronger regulation, and a better balance between the market and government. In the US, this right-wing resurgence, whose adherents evidently seek to repeal the basic laws of math and economics, is threatening to force a default on the national debt.
ZCommunications » On the Clash of Barbarisms French police have surrounded a building in a northern town near Charles de Gaulle Airport as part of a massive manhunt for the two men accused of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Police say they believe the suspects, Said and Chérif Kouachi, are holed up in a small printing business where they have taken a hostage. Meanwhile, French officials are now saying there is a link between the two brothers accused of the Charlie Hebdo attack and the heavily armed man who shot dead a French policewoman on Thursday.