Dead peasant

Earlier, in terms of class acts (bankers, in particular), there was a post that mentioned the 'dead peasant' issue that has come to attention, of late. Not that it wasn't already an established thing. Rather, we now know.

What does 'dead peasant' refer to? Well, it's not a bird in hand in some place like Stratford, Texas (the pheasant capital of the world). Rather, it's a reminder of times past when lords had their serfs (peasants). The lord owned all, much like the modern capitalist thinks he or she owns all under their view.

Gosh, that companies can be given the same rights as a human seems to outrageous. What it does is create a bully, yes legal minds consider that (oh, wait, is that not what many lawyers are?). Of course, given that the legal mind has more on its plate than human rights, what ought we to expect?

Anyone who has worked for a company, both management (lower levels) and non-management, knows that one gives one's soul to the company (you load more than 16 tons and get only cursory attention and respect) and that, in many cases when one is feeble and old, promises of a decent retirement don't come forth.

Getting back to the issue at hand, let's just list a few items with comment.

• -- The WSJ had a good overview of the situation. You have to pay to see, but the first part mentions that Bank of America, itself, had received over 17B (yes, billion) at the end of the first quarter of 2009.
• -- Hair Balls' comments are accessible. It points to an original storyline (Feb 2009 timeframe).
  
• 
  
• -- Michael Moore weighs in.
  
• ...
  

Enough said, for the moment.

Remarks:

10/28/2011 -- Unconscionable, in any sane way. The OWS ought to look at this.

05/28/2011 -- They also gave us more lemons than not.

01/01/2011 -- We have four last posts of December under our belt.

01/01/2011 -- The bank settled.

Modified: 10/28/2011

Paul as CEO

Yes, Paul as in the Letters to the Corinthians. See One World, Under God.

Interesting secular take. My first thought was this: how unlike the CEOs of now, celestial stars that they are (in their own eyes manifesting, almost, a perpetual right-of-kings attitude - the Board, of course, as the bestower, thereof).

Then, the thoughts touched on subjects, like globalization, the consumer, labor, et al, as things have been screwed up by these celestials and their ilk, like the latter day variety that wants big pay (for what?).

Following that, and not needing t-issues yet in the scope, thoughts consider that we can look at the current state of the affairs in relation to the time of Paul, via the referenced article.

Briefly, Paul had imperial aspirations, like any CEO, yet his were not based upon needs for aggrandizement or vulgar collections of wealth. Nor, was it to exploit resources according to some doctrine of optimization which, by definition, is sub-optimal for us all, for several reasons.

Paul also had a greater purpose which a modern CEO could argue is outside of his or her scope. Yet, when one looks at the screwed up nature of things, and this is much more than the mere hiccups that we saw with the financial idiots this past year, where is any viewpoint that transcends the silliness?

The mention here, a time or two, that we need 'monks' to run things ought to have some appeal. But, wait! We could start, too, with some mature discussion about term limits. Who the heck needs 'professional' career politicians?

Solve that, and the issue of managers could follow, by law. By the way, see Fallows (same issue): Two years ago, ..., I described an economic symbiosis in which Chinese workers assembled many of the world’s products—while ... America or other rich countries got the lion’s share of the financial returns. It is the announced policy of the Chinese government, and of many Chinese companies, to keep more of the rewards in China. ... Outsiders can rightly criticize the Chinese government ... no one can criticize its ambition to increase the rewards for its people’s work.

Remarks:

01/22/2013 -- T-issues will migrate to issues of science and religion.

10/12/2011 -- The people's heart.

12/15/2009 -- Originally post on 12/9/2009.

Modified: 01/22/2013