John Wayne illustrates Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's "La propriété, c'est le vol!"

It's amazing, but the clearest video representation I've ever seen of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's famous slogan, "Property is theft!" (first formulated in French as "La propriété, c'est le vol!") is found in Howard Hawks' classic western, Red River. I had posted this movie back in 2011 with the same message, but that earlier clip had been removed from YouTube. Here's the key section of the film again, courtesy of Fandango MovieClips.

The movie ends with John Wayne a respected large-scale landowner, rancher, and all-around successful capitalist asshole. Here he is very early in the film, beginning his Texas real-estate and cattle empire with a murder and the brazen theft of Mexican land that formed his original ranch on the north side of the Rio Grande. I don't think any further explanation is needed to connect the dots to Proudhon's thesis.

I Just Stumbled On The Whitest Corner Of The Internet.

Jimmy Carter's cancer news this week got me thinking about his stellar post-Presidential life of service, which led me to muse about some of the less admirable roles played by recent ex-Presidential candidates (especially from the Republican Party). I knew that Mitt Romney's wealth had insulated him from the financial need host a Fox News show or sell boner pills or reverse mortgages, but I didn't know much about the Solamere Capital group he had formed with his son Tagg, so I visited and found the following three-page white on white on white website.

Shield your eyes.

You've been warned.

The complete home page featuring a white wall and
empty white desk on an empty white background.

The "About Us" mission statement highlighting nepotism and backscratching.

The White Leadership Team.

That's it. That, except for a disclaimer, is the entire website.

How the Capitalists' "God" Weaseled Its Way Into the Pledge and Onto Our Currency

I had always known that the "Under God" and "In God We Trust" additions were products of the anti-Communist 1950s, but I never knew how deeply this Eisenhower-era religious revival was manipulated by corporations and big businessmen for their own purposes just like the current perversions of religion by right wingers:




If you can't see the embedded player above, you can listen or read the transcript to Terry Gross's Fresh Air story about Kevin Kruse's One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America by clicking here.

arrrrrrrgh.

Hello, my name is P.T. Boatwright the Third. I have a Harvard MBA, millions in the Caymans, and I run a hedge fund. #TalkLikeAPirateDay

— TrueBlue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) September 19, 2014

Language Matters: Jargon Equals Death

So, here's the quote of the day:

Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction as a productivity and platform company. Having a clear focus is the start of the journey, not the end. The more difficult steps are creating the organization and culture to bring our ambitions to life. Today I’ll share more on how we’re moving forward. On July 22, during our public earnings call, I’ll share further specifics on where we are focusing our innovation investments. 

--Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in a memo with the subject line "Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture" on July 17, 2014 

That's the first paragraph of a memo sent to Microsoft staff early this morning. The second paragraph goes on to mention the 18,000 employees who are being severed from the corporate teat (it's reprinted in full HERE in this Wire article, "Slaughter at Microsoft as Tech Giant to Fire 14 Percent of Its Staff").

The moral: If someone in a suit starts talking about synthesizing the strategic direction of your office, start bringing cartons to work to clean the tchotchkes off your desk.

Just Call Me A "Global Functionality Facilitator"

... and if you haven't done so already, please find out what your title is with the Bullshit Job Title Generator.

Now I guess I'd better get back to work facilitating global functionalities.

Language Matters: What adjective do you put before "Capitalism"?

If you answered that question with anything other than the word "Crony" you haven't been paying attention to the 2012 GOP Presidential Primary (a.k.a., Clown Circus).

Newt Gingrich today is quoted as saying that "Crony Capitalism is not Free Enterprise" when talking about Willard "Mitt" Romney's brand of vulture capitalism.  (LA Times)

Michele Bachmann (how we miss you!!) invoked crony capitalism as a charge against Rick Perry in late December when talking about his campaign contributors and favor seekers in Texas (National Journal)

Mitt Romney jumped on the CroCap bandwagon a few days ago when talking about President Obama's recess appointments to the NLRB, stating: "This president is a crony capitalist. He's a job killer." I'm not sure how the "socialist" President or the socialist Unions he was serving could also be capitalists, but you'll have to go to Mitt for clarification. (CBS News)

Jon Huntsman worries about how "we have crony capitalism in Congress" because of the lack of term limits and the revolving door between K Street and Capitol Hill. (Investors.com)

Herman Cain jumped on the anti-crony capitalism express back in September when leaping onto the pile of conservatives gleefully swarming over the corpse of Solyndra. (ThinkProgress)

Ron Paul calls lots of people crony capitalists and he made it clear what CroCap isn't in early November: "Crony capitalism isn't when somebody makes money and they produce a product." I don't think anyone's accusing either Mitt Romney or Rick Perry of producing a product. (Politico)

It all seems to have started back in early September when their intellectual leader, Sarah Palin, first starting trotting out the Crony Capitalism label in association with Rick Perry. (firedoglake)

I personally can't think of a better adjective to be inextricably linked with  the word "Capitalism", but why is the GOP doing our work for us?  Did they check with Frank Luntz first before making "Crony Capitalism" (which always reminds me of Bushie and Brownie and Katrina) the unforgettable alliterative enunciation of the year?

Rick Perry, the original target of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann's "crony capitalism" jibes, went one step further in an interview with Fox today, accusing Mitt Romney of being a "vulture capitalist: "There’s a real difference between venture capitalism and vulture capitalism. I don’t believe that capitalism is making a buck under any circumstances." (FoxNewsInsider)

If they keep this up, "Capitalist" will be a worse insult than "Socialist" in their political lexicon (just as it always has been in mine).

I'm sorry, but somehow I seem to have forgotten Rick Santorum.