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Skeptical Debunker

Prudential-AIG Deal Another Case of Corporate Empire Building - 0 views

moneymorning.com/...prudential-aig

AIG Prudential deal analysis

shared by Skeptical Debunker on 05 Mar 10 - Cached
  • In spite of its new whizz-bang CEO, Prudential is a slow-moving but very reliable organization with a level of integrity that is trusted by policyholders. Frankly, that's what you want in an insurance company. I have had a modest U.K. pension with one of its competitors since 1980, and I am constantly worried that some leveraged buyout (LBO) artist will step in, take it over, change the computer system so that information gets lost, outsource customer service, and drive the company into bankruptcy. If you're buying life insurance or pension services, you want a company that's not going to disappear in the next 30 years, and doesn't change its address or computer system too often. Avoid a company like the plague if it is run by whiz kids. However, that's what AIG was like. We know how AIG operated; a guy who thought betting the ranch on the credit default swap market was a good idea ran it. Its Asian operation is no doubt full of similarly clever ideas. Even in the unlikely event that everything there is on the level, the cultural clash with an old-fashioned British insurance company is huge. And why would you pay a PREMIUM for an AIG operation? Like the Kraft/Cadbury deal, Prudential's takeover of AIA is value-destroying. Also like Kraft/Cadbury, it looks likely to destroy a valuable part of the British economy that millions of people have relied upon for generations - only this time the destruction will be caused by the buyer rather than the target. As shareholders we need a new form of corporate governance. Those in management are hired hands. In the old days, large shareholders used to treat management as they would have treated their butler - and management was equally deferential to the owners of substantial percentages of the company's capital. That's how capitalism is supposed to work - with resources deployed in the interests of the owners of capital. We know that system works; economics shows us why it works. The alternative, with resources deployed to satisfy the egos and fill the pockets of the hired hands, has no theoretical justification and little practicality - just as a big country house run in the interests of the butler would be a mess. As capitalists, we must work together to restore capitalism!
  • Skeptical Debunker on 05 Mar 10
     
    To inattentive observers, the recent announcement that the British insurance company Prudential PLC (NYSE ADR: PUK) would pay $35.5 billion for American International Group Inc.'s (NYSE: AIG) Asian insurance operation, AIA, might seem like just another belated expansion of the old British Empire - a strange contrast to the sale of the premier British chocolate company Cadbury PLC (NYSE ADR: CBY) to Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) last month. Yet in reality both deals are examples of Empire-building that for shareholders is much more dangerous than the benign British variety - Empire-building by corporate management that runs contrary to capitalist ideals.
  • Skeptical Debunker on 05 Mar 10
     
    Monopolies - BAD (Adam Smith even said so!) Companies controlled and run by management (as if it were their own personal fiefdom and with their hands always in the "cookie jar"), rather than shareholders - BAD. BOTH ANTI-CAPITALISTIC. Both the "norm" for "the titans" of "modern [anti] capitalism". We no longer have capitalism (if that, like communism, ever existed in a more or less "pure" form!). We have a kleptocracy of the rich and corporate aristocracy (as incestuously intertwined as the European nobles ever were!).
clariene Austria

Find Notary Public in Inland Empire, CA, California - 3 views

Notaries in CA, California, mobile notary or notary services in Inland Empire, CA, California. Inland Empire, CA and the greater Inland Empire, CA area have 100s of notaries nearby to choose from ...

started by clariene Austria on 25 Jun 12 no follow-up yet
clariene Austria

Find Notary Public in Inland Empire, CA, California - 3 views

Notaries in CA, California, mobile notary or notary services in Inland Empire, CA, California. Inland Empire, CA and the greater Inland Empire, CA area have 100s of notaries nearby to choose from ...

started by clariene Austria on 25 Jun 12 no follow-up yet
thinkahol *

America's Secret Empire of Drone Bases - 0 views

www.readersupportednews.org/...s-secret-empire-of-drone-bases

America's Secret Empire of Drone Bases

shared by thinkahol * on 19 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 19 Oct 11
     
    They increasingly dot the planet.  There's a facility outside Las Vegas where "pilots" work in climate-controlled trailers, another at a dusty camp in Africa formerly used by the French Foreign Legion, a third at a big air base in Afghanistan where Air Force personnel sit in front of multiple computer screens, and a fourth at an air base in the United Arab Emirates that almost no one talks about. And that leaves at least 56 more such facilities to mention in an expanding American empire of unmanned drone bases being set up worldwide.  Despite frequent news reports on the drone assassination campaign launched in support of America's ever-widening undeclared wars and a spate of stories on drone bases in Africa and the Middle East, most of these facilities have remained unnoted, uncounted, and remarkably anonymous - until now. Run by the military, the Central Intelligence Agency, and their proxies, these bases - some little more than desolate airstrips, others sophisticated command and control centers filled with computer screens and high-tech electronic equipment - are the backbone of a new American robotic way of war.  They are also the latest development in a long-evolving saga of American power projection abroad - in this case, remote-controlled strikes anywhere on the planet with a minimal foreign "footprint" and little accountability.Using military documents, press accounts, and other open source information, an in-depth analysis by TomDispatch has identified at least 60 bases integral to U.S. military and CIA drone operations.  There may, however, be more, since a cloak of secrecy about drone warfare leaves the full size and scope of these bases distinctly in the shadows.
thinkahol *

Armed Chinese Troops in Texas! - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

Armed Chinese Troops in Texas! - YouTube

shared by thinkahol * on 05 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 05 Jan 12
     
    NOTE: It is important to separate hunting down terrorists who attack our country and deserve justice (which Ron Paul is 100% for), and not confuse justice with occupying entire countries for a decade under the guise of the "War on Terror" or "Spreading Democracy". Terrorists are individuals and small groups, so why are we picking fights with entire nations? BILLIONS for Defense, NOT A PENNY for Empire. This speech is called "Imagine" and it was given by Ron Paul on March 11, 2009. The original text of the talk is below: Imagine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of "keeping us safe" or "promoting democracy" or "protecting their strategic interests." Imagine that they operated outside of US law, and that the Constitution did not apply to them. Imagine that every now and then they made mistakes or acted on bad information and accidentally killed or terrorized innocent Americans, including women and children, most of the time with little to no repercussions or consequences. Imagine that they set up checkpoints on our soil and routinely searched and ransacked entire neighborhoods of homes. Imagine if Americans were fearful of these foreign troops, and overwhelmingly thought America would be better off without their presence. Imagine if some Americans were so angry about them being in Texas that they actually joined together to fight them off, in defense of our soil and sovereignty, because leadership in government refused or were unable to do so. Imagine that those Americans were labeled terrorists or insurgents for their defensive actions, and routinely killed, or captured and tortured by the foreign troops on our land. Imagine that the occupiers' attitude was that if they just killed enough Americans, the resistance would stop, but inst
thinkahol *

Chalmers Johnson, 1931-2010, on the Last Days of the American Republic - 0 views

www.democracynow.org/...lmers_johnson_1931_2010_on_the

Chalmers Johnson 1931-2010 on the Last Days of American Republic

shared by thinkahol * on 24 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 24 Nov 10
     
    The distinguished scholar and best-selling author Chalmers Johnson has died. He passed away in California on Saturday afternoon at the age of 79. During the Cold War, he served as a consultant to the Central Intelligence Agency and was a supporter of the Vietnam War, however, later became a leading critic of U.S. militarism and imperialism. He wrote the book, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire in 2000, which became a bestseller after the 9/11 attacks. He went on to complete what would become a trilogy about American empire. Today we re-air part of our last interview with Chalmers Johnson from 2007. [Includes rush transcript]
thinkahol *

United States v. Dougherty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...United_States_v._Dougherty

United States v. Dougherty - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

shared by thinkahol * on 24 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 24 Jun 11
     
    United States v. Dougherty was a 1972 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in which the court ruled that members of the D.C. Nine, who had broken into Dow Chemical Company, vandalized office furniture and equipment, and spilled about a bloodlike substance, were not entitled to a new trial on the basis of the judge's failing to allow a jury nullification jury instruction. The Appeals Court ruled, by a 2-1 vote: " The fact that there is widespread existence of the jury's prerogative, and approval of its existence as a "necessary counter to casehardened judges and arbitrary prosecutors," does not establish as an imperative that the jury must be informed by the judge of that power. On the contrary, it is pragmatically useful to structure instructions in such wise that the jury must feel strongly about the values involved in the case, so strongly that it must itself identify the case as establishing a call of high conscience, and must independently initiate and undertake an act in contravention of the established instructions. This requirement of independent jury conception confines the happening of the lawless jury to the occasional instance that does not violate, and viewed as an exception may even enhance, the over-all normative effect of the rule of law. An explicit instruction to a jury conveys an implied approval that runs the risk of degrading the legal structure requisite for true freedom, for an ordered liberty that protects against anarchy as well as tyranny. " Nonetheless, the defendants were given a new trial on the grounds that they had been denied their right of self-representation.[1] The Circuit Judges' assumption that jurors know about their nullification prerogative has since been brought into question by other empirical evidence.[2] According to Irwin Horowitz, "Beyond the empirical issue, lack of nullification instructions maintains a deceit. After all, juries can nullify, but they know this fact only on a so
thinkahol *

America's Tragic Descent into Empire | | AlterNet - 0 views

www.alternet.org/...27s_tragic_descent_into_empire

america hegemony geopolitics military

shared by thinkahol * on 13 Jul 10 - Cached
  • thinkahol * on 13 Jul 10
     
    "Engelhardt's new book, "The American Way of War," explores the U.S.'s jaw-dropping transformation into a global military empire. "
thinkahol *

FDL Book Salon Welcomes Bruce Fein, American Empire Before the Fall | Book Salon - 0 views

fdlbooksalon.com/...mes-bruce-fein-american-empire

FDL Book Salon Welcomes Bruce Fein American Empire Before the Fall |

shared by thinkahol * on 18 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 18 Sep 10
     
    There's no doubting the conservative bona fides of Bruce Fein. A high-level Justice Department lawyer in the Reagan administration in the 1980s and previously a resident scholar with the Heritage Foundation, he is a long-time advocate for uncompromising right-wing political principles. Yet paradoxically, Fein has been, and remains, one of the most eloquent and incisive political voices over the last decade. He was one of the earliest and most emphatic critics of Bush and Cheney's radical abuses of executive power. Two weeks after The New York Times revealed in December, 2005, that Bush had ordered the NSA to illegally eavesdrop on Americans without the warrants required by law, Fein used his column in the right-wing Washington Times to warn that "Mr. Bush has adamantly refused to acknowledge any constitutional limitations on his power to wage war indefinitely"; to scorn as "war powers nonsense" the theories assembled "to defend Mr.
thinkahol *

A "Pledge of Resistance" to Defend Social Security (and Defund the Empire) - 0 views

www.truth-out.org/ecurity-and-defund-empire66591

A Pledge of Resistance to Defend Social Security (and Defund the Empire)

shared by thinkahol * on 07 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 07 Jan 11
     
    For the third time in the last 20 years, establishment voices with high-profile slots in traditional media are trying to convince the public to accept cuts to Social Security by endlessly claiming such cuts are necessary, without giving coherent evidence to justify the claim. Twice, under former presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, these voices were defeated - but they didn't give up. And now they are in striking distance of their goal: the fact that Republicans have taken over the House, combined with the fact that the president appointed a deficit reduction commission which nearly recommended a cut in Social Security benefits - and might well have done so if Representative Schakowsky hadn't worked to undermine the co-chairs' plan - means that one can't be complacent; some reports have suggested that the president may indicate support for cuts to Social Security in his State of the Union speech. Of the two principal Washington political actors who will shape the outcome - the Republican leadership and the president's team - one is a determined adversary of the public interest, the other a very uncertain ally. The most successful anti-poverty program in US history is again in grave danger.
thinkahol *

Surprise, Surprise: Iraq War Was About Oil | Truthout - 0 views

truthout.org/...1303659468

Afghanistan may be the graveyard of empires but Iraq is home a sense humor. Iraqis wonder aloud whether U.S. and Britain would have invaded if its main export had been cabbages instead oil. However obvious answer remarkable array American pundits pseudo-s

shared by thinkahol * on 24 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 24 Apr 11
     
    Afghanistan may be the graveyard of empires, but Iraq is home to a graveyard sense of humor. Iraqis wonder aloud whether the U.S. and Britain would have invaded Iraq if its main export had been cabbages instead of oil. However obvious the answer, a remarkable array of American pundits and pseudo-savants have resisted giving the oil factor any pride of place among the motives behind the U.S./U.K. decision to invade Iraq in 2003. To this day, the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) continues to play its accustomed role as government accomplice suppressing unwelcome news. So, if you don't tune in to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now or read the British press, you would have missed the latest documentary evidence showing that Great Britain's Lords and Ladies lied about how big oil companies, like BP, lusted after Iraqi oil in the months leading up to the attack on Iraq. Oil researcher Greg Muttitt's new book Fuel on Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq presents that evidence, since Muttitt had better luck than his American counterparts in getting responses to his Freedom of Information requests. After a five-year struggle, he obtained more than 1,000 official documents which - how to say this - do not reflect well on the peerage, the captains of the oil industry, and the government of Tony Blair.
Muslim Academy

Some of the most considered Middle East crisis - 0 views

muslim-academy.com/-considered-middle-east-crisis

middle east crisis

shared by Muslim Academy on 11 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Muslim Academy on 11 Aug 12
     
    Zionism is one of the Middle East Crisis which has been increasingly vital for imperialist powers for strategic positions. In 1918, the majority of area that was a part of Turkish Empire was sided along Germany in 1st World War. This area was defeated from Arab armies and by British. During 1920, French and British imperialism further divided Middle East to hand over the pieces of land to the rulers. Lebanon was called as another state which was dominated by the Christian bourgeoisie through a compromise that was taken by the leaders of Moslem peasantry and Druze.
thinkahol *

What collapsing empire looks like - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - 0 views

www.salon.com/...index.html

glenn greenwald collapsing empire politics

shared by thinkahol * on 09 Aug 10 - Cached
  • thinkahol * on 09 Aug 10
     
    Cities are forced to turn off streetlights and slash school days while the wealthy thrive and wars drone on
thinkahol *

How to Dismantle the American Empire Before This Country Goes Under | Books | AlterNet - 0 views

www.alternet.org/...before_this_country_goes_under

america military empire security

shared by thinkahol * on 10 Aug 10 - Cached
  • thinkahol * on 10 Aug 10
     
    America's role in the world should not be to prescribe some specific world order or police the planet by force of arms. It's to save itself.
thinkahol *

Every Day Is Halloween in Empire: The Zombie Apocalypse of Duopoly | CommonDreams.org - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...26-1

Every Day Is Halloween in Empire: The Zombie Apocalypse of Duopoly | CommonDreams.org

shared by thinkahol * on 27 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 27 Oct 10
     
    Rockstroh writes: "Corporatists are Time Vampires: For a moment, reflect on the time lost - languishing in office cubicles, in commuter traffic -- or simply numbed-out and exhausted from the incessant, soul-sucking stress of the corporate state. " 
thinkahol *

YouTube - THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY 1/10 - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

YouTube - THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY 1_10 john pilger

shared by thinkahol * on 27 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 27 Oct 10
     
    John Pilger's documentary explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger claims that the film "...tells a universal story... analyzing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the films message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow". Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who purportedly took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries and who he claims are profiting from the war in Iraq. He investigates the School of the Americas in the U.S. state of Georgia, where General Pinochets torture squads were reportedly trained along with tyrants and death-squad leaders in Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina.
thinkahol *

As the Country Falls Apart, It's Time for Our Revolution | Books | AlterNet - 0 views

www.alternet.org/...it%27s_time_for_our_revolution

As the Country Falls Apart It's Time for Our Revolution | Books AlterNet

shared by thinkahol * on 17 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 17 Nov 10
     
    You can feel it. Or maybe you can't. It doesn't matter whether you feel it or not. It's happening. The story of the United States of America as we know it -- not merely as the world's dominant superpower, but as a discrete political, economic, and geographic entity -- is drawing to a close due to a convergence of emerging economic, environmental, and political crises. Nothing lasts forever, empires least of all. And this one, which only began to expand in earnest circa the year 1900, doesn't feel like it has the staying power of ancient Rome. Not at all.
thinkahol *

4 Scenarios for the Coming Collapse of the American Empire | World | AlterNet - 0 views

www.alternet.org/...ollapse_of_the_american_empire

4 Scenarios for the Coming Collapse of American Empire | World AlterNet

shared by thinkahol * on 10 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • thinkahol * on 10 Dec 10
     
    The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines.
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