One set of rules for the rich, and another for the rest of us

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/amol-rajan-after-the-capitalist-banquets-its-time-for-humble-pie-6258945.html

”If corruption means anything, it means buying immunity from the law. The protesters occupying temples of capitalism around the world might be an incoherent bunch – more obviously against the present than in favour of a different future – but there is great solidarity with them in Western democracies, because it increasingly feels like it’s one set of rules for the rich, and another for the rest of us.“

I like Amol Rajan, more and more. This is the guy who started being an unofficial bus conductor (shouting ‘Room at the back!) because he was sick of bus drivers not letting people on because the sheep hadn’t ‘moved down the bus’.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/07/20/the-moral-abdications-that-lead-to-empty-rush-hour-buses-and-my-big-society-solution

Observe this, unintended systemic consequence fans: one-man* buses not only increased unemployment by sacking conductors, but also made bus travel a nightmare of overloud iPods and misbehaving yoof with no one to police basic human niceness and give and take, but also – PAY ATTENTION BUS COMPANIES – reduced profit!

Capitalism might be the least worst system, as Amol says, but boy** is it dumb sometimes…

NOTE:

• One -person operated, so sue me.

*** Yes I know, or person

One set of rules for the rich, and another for the rest of us…

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/amol-rajan-after-the-capitalist-banquets-its-time-for-humble-pie-6258945.html

“If corruption means anything, it means buying immunity from the law. The protesters occupying temples of capitalism around the world might be an incoherent bunch – more obviously against the present than in favour of a different future – but there is great solidarity with them in Western democracies, because it increasingly feels like it’s one set of rules for the rich, and another for the rest of us.”

I like Amol Rajan, more and more.

This is the guy who started being an unofficial bus conductor (shouting ‘Room at the back!) because he was sick of bus drivers not letting people on because the sheep hadn’t ‘moved down the bus’. Observe this, unintended systemic consequence fans: one-man* buses not only increased unemployment by sacking conductors, but also made bus travel a nightmare of overloud iPods and misbehaving yoof with no one to police basic human niceness and give and take, but also – PAY ATTENTION BUS COMPANIES – reduced profit!

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/07/20/the-moral-abdications-that-lead-to-empty-rush-hour-buses-and-my-big-society-solution/

Capitalism might be the least worst system, but boy** is it dumb sometimes…

 

NOTE:

• Yes I know, One-person operated, so sue me.

** or person, if you prefer.

 

 

 

 

Capitalism in crisis: what if the protesters got serious?

Good question.

“In Russia, capitalism triumphed over communism. Here, it triumphed over democracy.” Fran Leibowitz

http://www.theweek.co.uk/news-opinion/occupy-movement/35931/capitalism-crisis-what-if-protesters-got-serious”

Sixty-six years after the defeat of Hitler, 40 years on from the neoliberal capitalist counter-attack that ratcheted up its tempo in the early 1970s, the premises of the system are under fearsome pressure, powerfully evoked by demonstrations from Athens to Oakland.

Having briefly tasted batons and pepper spray, OWSers should know that when capital feels it is being pushed to the wall, it will stop at nothing to crush any serious challenge. The cop puts away his smile. The indulgent mayor imposes a curfew. “Exemplary” sentences are handed down. The prisons fill up.

Organised repression can only be defeated by organised resistance, nationwide. How to mount this is the OWSers’ urgent, immediate challenge. In Oakland, on Wednesday, OWS staged a rally calling for a General Strike. That’s at least thinking along the right lines.“