"Capitalism has no moral or ethical values - everything is for sale. In such conditions, It is impossible to raise a Nation: people turn into egoists, and sometimes - into thugs."
"Real power is achieved when the ruling class controls the material essentials of life, granting and withholding them from the masses as if they were privileges."
again... I VERY much like the quote you provided BUT (as previously noted), before I (personally) would forward this out to others/friends/etc, as an authentic Orwell quote, I would want verification, and... I did a search and could not find anywhere that exact quote attributed to Orwell (or anyone else, for that matter)... although its "sentiments" do match up with Orwell's.
Right again musicbob! I could find no connection to this quote and George Orwell (other than the fake quotes/attributions on many quote sites on the internet).
Here are some responses from ChatGPT5 ->
(1) "The quote you're referring to is likely a paraphrase of ideas expressed by Karl Marx, who emphasized that true power lies in the control of material resources and the means of production. This concept suggests that the ruling class maintains dominance by managing the essential resources that society depends on."
Then I asked, "Is this a George Orwell quote?", and it replied ->
(2) "No — that phrasing is not a George Orwell quote. It echoes Marxist ideas (control of the means of production) and similar observations found in political theorists, but it doesn't appear in Orwell’s works."
Then I asked "provenance of quote?", and it replied ->
"I can’t find a reliable source attributing that exact wording to any known author (Orwell, Marx, etc.). Likely provenance: anonymous paraphrase of Marxian thought, circulated in online articles and commentary; no verifiable original source or published author found."
See? AI LLMs, when used with 'good' prompts (there is a whole subfield of prompt engineering for interacting with LLMs) can help in SAVING TIME for finding VERIFIABLE information.
...what you've written here, especially in the last paragraph, highlights just one of many reasons why we should not be "frightened" by (or come to such knee-jerk emotional responses about) AI, but instead... concern ourselves with the particular societal systems in which it is being used. Your last paragraph especially, to me, seems really important when logically projected much further. Really interesting AI exchange you had...Thanks CC.
It's true. Staff a company with mid-level managers and give them bonuses for accomplishing things that further the company's goals, and you have willing participants in society's destruction, even without them doing heinous acts.
Why do you assert "mid-level managers"? Far more damage is done by those at the top and those wealthy enough to invest. The majority of mid-level managers just get to take the pain induced ire of those below them in the hierarchy and be the scapegoats for the poor decisions or performance of those above them in it.
ChatterX, It is good to read a Fidel Castro quote at the start of Caitlin's Newsletter. Even if some will argue if it really is his! The important truth is what revolutionaries like Che and Castro were striving against - the lack of ethical and moral values of capitalism and its exploitative nature - and to usher in a better world for all people. All these flows from Marxian thought.
Another Castro quote on the face of the onslaught of capitalism:" Socialism or barbarism"!
I very much like that "quote" but I have not been able to match it up, associate it, with Fidel Castro (and accuracy is important to me), and I would love to forward it out to others BUT would never do so, unless I was certain of its veracity. Are you sure Castro said/stated this?
I checked it out, and the quote floating on the internet seems to be "Capitalism has neither the capacity, nor the morality, nor the ethics to solve the problems of poverty."
But there is NO provenance for either this version of the quote or the earlier one by ChatterX.
When I asked the LLM to provide a source for me, it said "I could not find a precise original speech transcript or exact date in primary-source archives; most appearances are in secondary quote compilations attributing it to Fidel Castro."
Thank you Musicbob! I guess there was a problem with 'false quotes and attributions' before AI, and I guess this will continue with the advent of AI.
"The problem with capitalism is that it best rewards the worst part of us: the ruthless, competitive, conniving, opportunistic, acquisitive drives, giving little reward and often much punishment-or at least much handicap-to honesty, compassion, fair play, many forms of hard work, love of justice, and a concern for those in need."
I have always believed that one cannot become super wealthy without being a backstabbing asshole. The only exception to that rule is inheriting wealth, which often gives rise to privileged assholes.
The Capitalists, through their ownership of capital and means of production, which came from the previous exploitation of workers (or just inherited) , are thereby in a position to further exploit workers.
Look up how many apartments the orange man inherited. Not Earned, inherited.
Only delusional idiots would expect this guy to care about "working people"..
When the means of production (basically all the land, factories, Companies/Corporations, Healthcare, Utility Services) are State owned, the PRIVATE individuals cannot excessively CONCENTRATE the Capital (and therefore power) bc they cannot INHERIT the means of production.
It does NOT mean Socialism will take your PERSONAL Property (like your house).
PERSONAL Property differs from the "Means of production" in that it cannot be used to derive profit (RENT) from it.
Ppl don’t seem to realize the only thing Oligarch (Rentier) Class is capable of is suck out the Interest/RENT from the working people.
The term “real estate” originally meant “land” and whatever was under it or growing upon it. While an estate might include buildings, furniture, jewelry, etc., only the land had “real” and lasting value. Most of the original taxes were property taxes upon real estate because the landowners couldn’t abscond with their land.
This is exactly what Capitalism is - insatiable concentration of Capital, for the sake of Capital itself. That's why Greed is one of the deadly sins.
When they say "GREED is nature" don't forget animals don't take more than they can eat. Billionaires have so much money/assets they can't spend in 100 lifetimes.
***
"Wealth is addictive, the rich will eventually destroy society"
-Socrates and friends, about 2400 years ago.
***
"Money is an abstract human happiness, so who is no longer able to appreciate the true human happiness, is completely dedicated to it"
"The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle/working class pays all of taxes, does all of the work. "
"The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep 'em showing up at those jobs"
-George Carlin
***
BTW Inflation is in fact a mechanism for transferring wealth from the Middle/lower classes to the Rich.
Remember, Inflation always means that all the goods/services (esp. essentials) are getting more expensive EXCEPT for your LABOR. It is a hidden Tax that the poor pay to the Rich.
The Fed has a mission that includes creating annual inflation, by design. The Fed is not the US government. It may be an agent of the government, but operates as a Capitalist business.
The secret Jekyl Island meeting was to design a plan to bring a central bank to the United States disguised as a regional banking system...while the bankers publicly opposed what they privately proposed.
The unconstitutional “Federal” Reserve Act of 1913 transferred control of the monetary supply of the United States from Congress to a private elite
It always gets me when the rich and the US government that they now run entirely, start complaining about giving "free stuff" out to other Americans who live in poverty - i.e. the poor Americans who still work their asses off.
So Capitalists have cleverly flipped the script: poor working class Americans don't deserve anything more than what they get - despite huge productivity gains and working more than ever these last few decades - and anything beyond what the Wealth Class wants to give them is "Free Hand Outs". Meanwhile, any further profits the Rich can make off of the backs of the Working Class - is not "Free" and is completely deserved! Year after year, record breaking profits for corporations are considered "Deserved". But giving back to the labor class is considered handing out "Free stuff".
Note that, without Labor, there is no Capital. The Capitalists and Owner classes could not exist without Labor. Therefore Labor comes first, and is essential.
The Big lie is that the bread crumbs you are given is all that you deserve. That's the Big Lie.
I agree with your premise, but not with this example "don't forget animals don't take more than they can eat." There are many examples, but here are two: Watch what happens, especially during the great migration, when lions kill as many wildebeest as they can. They will hunt another even when they have just killed one.
And, take a look at bears, especially during the salmon runs, when at some point they resort to high-grading, in which they eat only the heads, skin and roe, leaving the rest, which will nourish the gulls, and the forest. I have this thing about accuracy, even when it must seem tangential, and also about not attributing false characteristics to animals.
"When they say "GREED is nature" don't forget animals don't take more than they can eat."
Nature has a way of slimming down animals that eat too much, either by putting them on a diet (fat cats catch few mice) or turning them into prey (fat cats are an easy mark for cat eating monsters).
I wonder if we'd all be better off if we'd characterize the workers who'd struggled and died in the Labor movement as martyrs -- just as Palestinians do their dead. For example, the key year of 1886 in the US, when thousands struck and hundreds died in defense of human rights is sloughed off in standard histories as "Knights of Labor". But it was a year of martyrdom for human rights and against oppression by rich oligarchs. Perhaps it'd emphasize that we're all potential martyrs to this diseased system.
Only cogent response I can think of is to put myself in someone else's shoes — in this instance, in the position of being a descendant of one of the dead. I'd feel a shitload better and more justified about my progenitor being portrayed nobly as having died for a just cause, rather than as an afterthought of some rich a-hole's whim. Otherwise your premise of dead is dead holds true, which kind of sucks.
Sadly, I think we have past the easy transformation into Socialism. Strange hearing people saying they are against taxing the rich, they provide the jobs, they one day will be rich : (
I have more in common with a houseless quadriplegic than Mush, Gates, or the Anti-Christ
Thiel. The arrival of Reagan may have been the signal of the end. If the Air-controllers, flight attendants, rail-workers, port workers had joined together to say no. The world would be a far different place in my dreamy, privileged self deluded bubble. : (
Bernie was afraid of the movement he started. He had no idea people would come together IF offered a venue to do so. Fuck you Bernie you traitorous monster giving hope to people and then " Joe Biden is a friend of mine he would make a great President" on the debate stage in South Carolina. Fuck you Bernie, BTW, I hope you are reading this, the book you sent me autographed after donating 4800$ to your two campaigns, I burned that book, the only book I have ever burned. Fuck You Traitor!
I have a personal email written by Bernie on AOL from 1990 having been introduced by a mutual friend teaching in Vermont. I keep that email to remind me we are in this without politicians. I never thought I would think it let alone write it.
Fuck You Bernie. Free Palestine and free ourselves.
I blame Bernie for mentoring the new generation of democratic socialists, from AOC to the new mayors of New York and Seattle. And I blame him for leading the fight to stop arms shipments to Israel. Together, we will defeat democratic socialism and keep those arms flowing to slaughter the Gazans.
yOU ARE HURTING THE CAUSE BOTH OF DEMOCRATIC socialism, which is on the rise in the US mostly due to Sanders, and his leadership in getting, at the last vote, the majority of Democrats to vote for ending arms shipments to Israel. If you are butthurt by his strategic support for Biden over Trump, you are simply dead wood in the way of progress. Lend a hand or get out of the way. You arre offended by his words, meant to elect Biden instead of Trump (do you think he should have helped Trump by attacking Biden?) , while ignoring his leadership for both socialism and justice for Palestine. If you can't understand why someone would support Biden over Trump, you are an idiot. And if you can't lend a hand in promoting the democratic socialism that Sanders has worked for his entire life and if can't support his attempt to stop arms to Israel, get out of the way.
idiots are those who fail to understand how lesserevilism brought us to our present situation; that the Democrats bear as much responsibility for the current shitshow as any other factor; that both capitalist parties serve the interests of the ruling classes at the expense of everyone else; and that the differences between those two oligarchy-friendly parties are matters of tempo and tactics.
Sorry, I know him. If that bothers you OK, but you are wasting your time. We need a third party. Bernie, could have won that race hands down running third party with any name. Ask Kshama, Chris Hedges what they think. Bye. You are the reason we fail.
Your claim is absurd. You are the reason we fail by trashing the most effective socialist in American history and the man leading the charge to block weapons to Israel. I would welcomea 3d party but given the system which runs elections, the only option is to transform the Democratic Party by electing socialists and progressives rather than helping the right win by splitting the vote. Your ignorance of history and political science is obvious. Hedges said "explicitly stated that in a truly “fair election, where corporate money did not dominate … he [Sanders] would have beat her [Clinton].” Well, in a just world, there would be no war, but the world is not just nor would corporate money not have dominated in 2016. By trashing Sanders, you help the Zionist fascists in Israel, who could not wage war without US support that Sanders has tried to stop since 1988, and you help those who wish to destroy the democratic socialist movement, which he has spearheaded. I would rank you as a useful idiot of the fascist right.
Yes, thank you. Fuck Bernie and AOC and all fake-ass pseudolefts who would have us support the Democratic Party, which has absolutely no intention of disturbing capitalist property relations.
China's system of socialism seems to be working well, although it is still based on capitalistic growth, with increase in production to provide jobs, energy and food, though the state owns the banks. It may help even out wealth among the people but it is certainly not the cure to humans living on a finite planet with rampant human-made climate change. Only a global degrowth economy can cure this. We have it within our power to do this and to pull the legs of the villain at the same time. It's not as glamorous as calling for a revolution, but is achievable and effective and less destructive to the vulnerable in society.
imo, it's achievable and effective if you have a revolution in which you end the overall system of capitalism. one has to suppress the reactionary capitalist tendencies (even in own ranks). there's indeed lots to learn from the chinese model.
Marx would be proud. I have read, Marx warned, Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky they would fail not having gone through Capitalism. Capitalism does have to end or we see what happens as the 1% try to hold their wealth in declining means. We are the Colonized.
Growth economies have to end or we see what happens when there's not enough food. Until then we in the West do much better than most everybody else surfing on colonisation.
Great question, the structure works IF you have unions of working people. There are no unions in the u.s. police, teachers, nursing with only teachers and nurses demonstrating power by shutting that sh it down. The major unions back the owners as seen by the farce that was the railroad workers pretend strike. Today they still don't have sick leave ha. There is a reason the u.s. Gov. used it's Air Force to bomb coal miners striking. Working people have power when they come together.
I liked my own comment, so few people know history of labor, Eugene Debbs running for President from F U C K ING prison. The bit of history people call me a liar for repeating During the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, U.S. Army bombers dropped bombs on striking coal miners in West Virginia after federal troops arrived to end the conflict. When people doubt, I say stay ignorant and nothing will change. Blank stares. The 1% are counting on us trying to save our family and friends. I paid several months of my Sons friends rent, she and her Daughter, Grandson where about to be evicted. Why because the hospital she works at owned by a fucking private equity co. only allows her now 34 hrs. a week.
My solution, a General Strike named Shut That Shit Down!
Free Palestine and we free ourselves. Shut that Shit Down!
Who is our Eugene Debbs, Fidel, Che, I cry as I write this.
Democracy: majority rule: for example, in a workers' coop, if times are hard, rather than the boss laying off workers, the workers, who are the boss, decide to each work fewer hours so that all can survive; and when the good times come, the profits are shared. Mondragon,,in Spain, a federation of workers coops ,with 80,000 members has been doing this for 60s yrs with great success, independent of the government and the who deciding who gets what being the workers themselves.
Mondragon doesn’t look like a bad way to run a private company. There are smaller companies in the US that are run much like this. It’s not socialism though. They’re all still operating in a capitalist environment.
I am a libertarian socialist for about 60 yrs now. The evidence shows that hybrid economies with a strong public sector and a complimentary private sector have produced the most prosperous societies. The Nordic nations, among the high income nations, are the most socialist (along with robust private sectors) and wealthy, free, and happy. Among the nations approaching high income, China, with a Communist leadership but a huge private sector, is the amazing success story of the past 50 yrs. Hybrids with social democracy take the best of both systems, without the worst of either system. In Norway, for example, where the state generates and owns (on behalf of the people) the majority of wealth, private corporations are hired by the state to extract and sell oil on the world market, paying a 78% tax, with both the corporations and the state benefitting. It seems that a world of either/or does not exist, as all nations are hybrids, and that both and, under the concept of democratic socialism or social democracy, produce the best results.
This commentary on capitalism is an indicator that true democracy and capitalism cannot coexist; thus America’s boast of “democracy” is an illusion that has destroyed nation states forced to ingest such toxicity.
A variation on and illustration of the overall theme... Recently attended a health care conference. HR 1, ya know, the Big, Beautiful, (Further) Budget-Busting Bill came up, specifically its Medicaid "reforms" with work requirements. It was interesting to get some of the details, but come the Q&A I had to ask, "With these work requirements, aren't we just seeing latter day Poor Laws of 1834, when one's sorry lot in life was due to moral failing, for which you had to pay in order to get help? And all this while as a society, or a government, we just crossed the threshold of a $1+ TRILLION per year Penta-gone budget? And therefore haven't we crossed another threshold, on the road to becoming a failed state, financially, morally?"
A woman came up to me afterwards and thanked me for having asked the question.
"This motto drives the otherworldly pronouncements to their flocks and wage-slaves who attend church, that the Lord prefers them where they are in the conditions in which they find themselves; because even as a baby you are responsible for not being born wealthy… as the errant Senator Grassley has put it, “You’d all have a million dollars if you’d stop spending your money on booze, women, and gambling.” The capitalists’ holy motto, “God helps those who help themselves”, is a brilliant masterstroke which lets you know that they are favored for “helping themselves”. “God gives the money to the capitalists” (a Reverend Doctor) because He loves them, and trusts them; and I knew a Lutheran Pastor who proclaimed in 1990, “I refuse to preach the Gospel of Jesus for less than $30,000 per year [that’s not including perks).” You are simply a low person, “Oh Lord! Heaven knows! We belong way down below… Oh Lord! Tell us so! We belong way down below!” (The Pretty Reckless). So in this rich man’s heaven, the following occurred in Salt Lake City:"
Awhile back TCM (Turner Classic Movies) had as a guest programmer Harvey J. Kaye, writer of The Fight for (Roosevelt’s) the Four Freedoms. One of his movie selections was The Grapes of Wrath. I got the book and for me, the gist of it is that while there are progressive forces and unions working for a more egalitarian society, there is a relentless, utterly ruthless, and highly “successful” group of reactionary institutions and individuals fueled by immense capital who never, ever stop trying to roll back even the slightest gains by the average citizen. We can see how unions are a shadow of their former selves, and progressive forces are squabbling among themselves and disorganized. Starbucks is in the midst of a limited strike but you wouldn’t even know it.
You can always rely on Caitlin to brush aside all the spin and the BS and tell it like it is. Sometimes it hurts to hear about our complacency in the downfall of civilization but it’s like the choice between the red pill and the blue pill, in the Matrix. It’s rough going but prying those eyes open, even one pair at a time, is worth the effort in the long run. I hope everyone reading this blog is supporting her work. We desperately need her voice.
Capitalism turns everything into a commodity. If the price of milk falls, millions of liters are dumped to drive it up. To keep wages low, millions of workers are thrown into unemployment and poverty. True ecology consists of ending capitalism.
To add to that, Capitalism turns everything into a 'market'. There is a wonderful book by Michael Sandel called "What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15793627-what-money-can-t-buy) that talks about how Capitalism turns EVERYTHING into a market (to sell everything that it turns into a commodity to buy and sell and gamble in such markets).
A lot of capitalism’s perversity could be tempered by a strong, vibrant workers’ movement, which is why capitalists devoted themselves to killing it off (well about 90% off). This they accomplished by bribing politicians to pass anti-labor laws. Isn’t it great how an undemocratic political system works? Really rich people absolutely love it.
Will the word Guillotine become Anti-Semitic? What we did to the Palestinians will be done to us. There is no doubt. I wonder if anyone in Mexico understands they are the next Venezuela?
With 38.3 Trillion in debt, the Fed can not even borrow more than a few 10s of billions at the long end 10-30 yr. so the continued ever climbing need for more and more short debt will collapse the financial markets of all kind. The AI bubble explosion is 5x the size of the Com. Backed Sec. failure. All of this chaos is about the 1% saving themselves. Will 1789 become Anti-Semitic?
heard there's 'gen-z'-nepal style (+ hijacked) protests going on in mexico. the system noticed gen-z fueled palestine, now it is weaponizing this generation for color revolutions serving empire. someone should tell them.
Just like Glenn Greenwald states in his segment (see ScheerPost link below), I too, was mystified by the Noam Chomsky-Jeffrey Epstein connection (or friendship, perhaps?… though I don’t know if there was really a friendship there), until it dawned on me a few minutes ago, while sitting here having a quiet breakfast… This too… Even this… Is the result of capitalism… If you watch the brief Glenn Greenwald segment at the link below,, you can easily see why none of us are immune to its sickness (and I have always considered Chomsky to be one of my “heroes”)… Just being human can make any one of us fall prey to the capitalism disease in some respect, way shape or form. (Sort of in the same way that Israeli Jews committed, and are committing, the same horrendous genocide inhumanity as Nazi Germany... thereby absolutely PROVING the fact that they are not in any manner "chosen people"... no human is... no such fucking thing!... humans fall prey)
One might consider the possibility that Chomsky is a deep-cover Elite operative whose job is to lure concerned hopeful people in with sharp analyses about what’s wrong with the power structure and then uses his position to slam the door shut when truly dangerous questions about the Kennedy assassination, 9/11, and Covid are posed. Or, he’s a sheltered victim of cognitive dissonance and fear who can’t intellectually punch his way out of a paper bag when confronted with extreme possibilities. I gave up on him long ago.
there's still a lot of his academic-like work on the wrongs of the power structure and us foreign policy that is very valuable, imo. but, among the more slightly radical left-leaners, he's sometimes indeed considered somewhat of a 'gatekeeper'. he's confessed of having been a zionist as a young man (back when a more left-idealistic interpretation of zionism - kibbutz - was still possible). the system 'hampered' his career and ignored him, but still did not eliminate him, which maybe added to the suspicion of 'gatekeeping'. he identifies as an anarcho-syndicalist. (maybe that's why the system leaves him be - anarchists are no real threat to the system, since they'll probably never manage to reach the level of organisation necessary to overthrow it).
I have a somewhat 'low opinion' of Glenn Greenwald (based on some research I did on him). I consider him to be a highly intelligent communicator/story-teller that knows how to hook audiences with 'just enough' curiosity so that they keep coming back for more, but I notice subtle patterns of manipulation of thought in his delivery.
I used to like him when he did his reporting on Edward Snowden, but man - has he changed so much since then (similar to Matt Taibbi). There is a whole breed of 'opportunist' so-called 'independent journalists' (and this includes many others like Tucker Carlson-who is a certified conspiracy theorist, Cenk Uygur of TYT, etc.) that know what sells and what doesn't. (BTW, this doesn't mean that they should be ignored as they often provide useful information/perspectives, but one needs to listen/engage with more critical attention to decipher 'what is not said' and half-truths).
Btw, I agree with everything you wrote, and I will subscribe to some of them, their free postings, because they will occasionally have something useful to say (except I actually had to UN-subscribe from Taibbi because he refused to take a public stance on the genocide of the Palestinians... major no-no for me). Interestingly, I've grown to have a similar feeling about Greenwald's "delivery" but, in this particular case, ScheerPost's headline about Chomsky caught my eye.
"Capitalism has no moral or ethical values - everything is for sale. In such conditions, It is impossible to raise a Nation: people turn into egoists, and sometimes - into thugs."
-Fidel Castro
People used to joke that the phrase “business ethics” was an oxymoron.
"Real power is achieved when the ruling class controls the material essentials of life, granting and withholding them from the masses as if they were privileges."
- George Orwell
...and are you certain this is an Orwell quote?
again... I VERY much like the quote you provided BUT (as previously noted), before I (personally) would forward this out to others/friends/etc, as an authentic Orwell quote, I would want verification, and... I did a search and could not find anywhere that exact quote attributed to Orwell (or anyone else, for that matter)... although its "sentiments" do match up with Orwell's.
Right again musicbob! I could find no connection to this quote and George Orwell (other than the fake quotes/attributions on many quote sites on the internet).
Here are some responses from ChatGPT5 ->
(1) "The quote you're referring to is likely a paraphrase of ideas expressed by Karl Marx, who emphasized that true power lies in the control of material resources and the means of production. This concept suggests that the ruling class maintains dominance by managing the essential resources that society depends on."
Then I asked, "Is this a George Orwell quote?", and it replied ->
(2) "No — that phrasing is not a George Orwell quote. It echoes Marxist ideas (control of the means of production) and similar observations found in political theorists, but it doesn't appear in Orwell’s works."
Then I asked "provenance of quote?", and it replied ->
"I can’t find a reliable source attributing that exact wording to any known author (Orwell, Marx, etc.). Likely provenance: anonymous paraphrase of Marxian thought, circulated in online articles and commentary; no verifiable original source or published author found."
See? AI LLMs, when used with 'good' prompts (there is a whole subfield of prompt engineering for interacting with LLMs) can help in SAVING TIME for finding VERIFIABLE information.
Thanks Musicbob!
...what you've written here, especially in the last paragraph, highlights just one of many reasons why we should not be "frightened" by (or come to such knee-jerk emotional responses about) AI, but instead... concern ourselves with the particular societal systems in which it is being used. Your last paragraph especially, to me, seems really important when logically projected much further. Really interesting AI exchange you had...Thanks CC.
>>"...concern ourselves with the particular societal systems in which it is being used."
💯 Yes! 🙏
Except that, as a generalisation, it was never and still isn't an oxymoron - it's a truth.
It's true. Staff a company with mid-level managers and give them bonuses for accomplishing things that further the company's goals, and you have willing participants in society's destruction, even without them doing heinous acts.
Walmart, Amazon, the MIC, Pharma, etc.
Why do you assert "mid-level managers"? Far more damage is done by those at the top and those wealthy enough to invest. The majority of mid-level managers just get to take the pain induced ire of those below them in the hierarchy and be the scapegoats for the poor decisions or performance of those above them in it.
100%. The true sociopaths are at the top.
My point is about the banality of evil, and how societally malignant actions can stem from things that seem fairly innocuous.
They could refuse, quit, exit, but don’t want to be free of their golden shackles.
ChatterX, It is good to read a Fidel Castro quote at the start of Caitlin's Newsletter. Even if some will argue if it really is his! The important truth is what revolutionaries like Che and Castro were striving against - the lack of ethical and moral values of capitalism and its exploitative nature - and to usher in a better world for all people. All these flows from Marxian thought.
Another Castro quote on the face of the onslaught of capitalism:" Socialism or barbarism"!
Are you certain this is a Castro quote?
I very much like that "quote" but I have not been able to match it up, associate it, with Fidel Castro (and accuracy is important to me), and I would love to forward it out to others BUT would never do so, unless I was certain of its veracity. Are you sure Castro said/stated this?
Thank you for pointing this out musicbob!
I checked it out, and the quote floating on the internet seems to be "Capitalism has neither the capacity, nor the morality, nor the ethics to solve the problems of poverty."
But there is NO provenance for either this version of the quote or the earlier one by ChatterX.
When I asked the LLM to provide a source for me, it said "I could not find a precise original speech transcript or exact date in primary-source archives; most appearances are in secondary quote compilations attributing it to Fidel Castro."
Thank you Musicbob! I guess there was a problem with 'false quotes and attributions' before AI, and I guess this will continue with the advent of AI.
If Fidel didn’t say it, he should have said it.
But Communism is also, not the answer
"The problem with capitalism is that it best rewards the worst part of us: the ruthless, competitive, conniving, opportunistic, acquisitive drives, giving little reward and often much punishment-or at least much handicap-to honesty, compassion, fair play, many forms of hard work, love of justice, and a concern for those in need."
-Michael Parenti
I have always believed that one cannot become super wealthy without being a backstabbing asshole. The only exception to that rule is inheriting wealth, which often gives rise to privileged assholes.
Exactly.
The Capitalists, through their ownership of capital and means of production, which came from the previous exploitation of workers (or just inherited) , are thereby in a position to further exploit workers.
Look up how many apartments the orange man inherited. Not Earned, inherited.
Only delusional idiots would expect this guy to care about "working people"..
When the means of production (basically all the land, factories, Companies/Corporations, Healthcare, Utility Services) are State owned, the PRIVATE individuals cannot excessively CONCENTRATE the Capital (and therefore power) bc they cannot INHERIT the means of production.
It does NOT mean Socialism will take your PERSONAL Property (like your house).
PERSONAL Property differs from the "Means of production" in that it cannot be used to derive profit (RENT) from it.
Ppl don’t seem to realize the only thing Oligarch (Rentier) Class is capable of is suck out the Interest/RENT from the working people.
That's literally ALL they can do..
That's why they're called RENTIER Class
Well said ChatterX!
>>"Only delusional idiots would expect this guy to care about "working people""
And America seems to be full of delusional people - over 80 million of them voted for Trump.
And as you rightly pointed out, many people confuse/conflate PERSONAL property with PRIVATE property and private property with personal property.
The term “real estate” originally meant “land” and whatever was under it or growing upon it. While an estate might include buildings, furniture, jewelry, etc., only the land had “real” and lasting value. Most of the original taxes were property taxes upon real estate because the landowners couldn’t abscond with their land.
Another alternative: You may also marry a wealthy asshole. Ask Melania.
True, I had not thought of that.
This is exactly what Capitalism is - insatiable concentration of Capital, for the sake of Capital itself. That's why Greed is one of the deadly sins.
When they say "GREED is nature" don't forget animals don't take more than they can eat. Billionaires have so much money/assets they can't spend in 100 lifetimes.
***
"Wealth is addictive, the rich will eventually destroy society"
-Socrates and friends, about 2400 years ago.
***
"Money is an abstract human happiness, so who is no longer able to appreciate the true human happiness, is completely dedicated to it"
Arthur Schopenhauer
And "those less fortunate" should be changed to "those most ripped off"
"The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle/working class pays all of taxes, does all of the work. "
"The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep 'em showing up at those jobs"
-George Carlin
***
BTW Inflation is in fact a mechanism for transferring wealth from the Middle/lower classes to the Rich.
Remember, Inflation always means that all the goods/services (esp. essentials) are getting more expensive EXCEPT for your LABOR. It is a hidden Tax that the poor pay to the Rich.
***
The Mandrake Mechanism:
youtu.be/rTkzYWCYU3g?t=452
The Fed has a mission that includes creating annual inflation, by design. The Fed is not the US government. It may be an agent of the government, but operates as a Capitalist business.
The secret Jekyl Island meeting was to design a plan to bring a central bank to the United States disguised as a regional banking system...while the bankers publicly opposed what they privately proposed.
The unconstitutional “Federal” Reserve Act of 1913 transferred control of the monetary supply of the United States from Congress to a private elite
It always gets me when the rich and the US government that they now run entirely, start complaining about giving "free stuff" out to other Americans who live in poverty - i.e. the poor Americans who still work their asses off.
So Capitalists have cleverly flipped the script: poor working class Americans don't deserve anything more than what they get - despite huge productivity gains and working more than ever these last few decades - and anything beyond what the Wealth Class wants to give them is "Free Hand Outs". Meanwhile, any further profits the Rich can make off of the backs of the Working Class - is not "Free" and is completely deserved! Year after year, record breaking profits for corporations are considered "Deserved". But giving back to the labor class is considered handing out "Free stuff".
Note that, without Labor, there is no Capital. The Capitalists and Owner classes could not exist without Labor. Therefore Labor comes first, and is essential.
The Big lie is that the bread crumbs you are given is all that you deserve. That's the Big Lie.
I agree with your premise, but not with this example "don't forget animals don't take more than they can eat." There are many examples, but here are two: Watch what happens, especially during the great migration, when lions kill as many wildebeest as they can. They will hunt another even when they have just killed one.
And, take a look at bears, especially during the salmon runs, when at some point they resort to high-grading, in which they eat only the heads, skin and roe, leaving the rest, which will nourish the gulls, and the forest. I have this thing about accuracy, even when it must seem tangential, and also about not attributing false characteristics to animals.
The bears must be socialists.
"When they say "GREED is nature" don't forget animals don't take more than they can eat."
Nature has a way of slimming down animals that eat too much, either by putting them on a diet (fat cats catch few mice) or turning them into prey (fat cats are an easy mark for cat eating monsters).
Doesn't appear nature is working that well, here in the US, regarding slim human beings.
They don't live in nature. There weren't too many fat Indians, from what I can tell.
I thought humans were something Nature created. So humans are Aliens?
They don't exactly live natural lives, unless there is something to chasing pieces of green paper that I don't get
I'm pretty sure my Aunt is an Alien.
Consumption of deliberately addictive Capitalist industrial junk food leads to obesity.
Read https://www.markschatzker.com/doritoeffect-home-page/
I wonder if we'd all be better off if we'd characterize the workers who'd struggled and died in the Labor movement as martyrs -- just as Palestinians do their dead. For example, the key year of 1886 in the US, when thousands struck and hundreds died in defense of human rights is sloughed off in standard histories as "Knights of Labor". But it was a year of martyrdom for human rights and against oppression by rich oligarchs. Perhaps it'd emphasize that we're all potential martyrs to this diseased system.
Being a martyr might be memorable, but dying is the part that doesn't sound very appealing. When you're dead, you're dead right?
Only cogent response I can think of is to put myself in someone else's shoes — in this instance, in the position of being a descendant of one of the dead. I'd feel a shitload better and more justified about my progenitor being portrayed nobly as having died for a just cause, rather than as an afterthought of some rich a-hole's whim. Otherwise your premise of dead is dead holds true, which kind of sucks.
Yeah it does suck. But man, there have been a lot of brave souls out there. That's for sure.
You hit the nail on the head, as it were.
Excellent description of capitalism. Socialism is the cure. So how to establish the cure is the question.
Sadly, I think we have past the easy transformation into Socialism. Strange hearing people saying they are against taxing the rich, they provide the jobs, they one day will be rich : (
I have more in common with a houseless quadriplegic than Mush, Gates, or the Anti-Christ
Thiel. The arrival of Reagan may have been the signal of the end. If the Air-controllers, flight attendants, rail-workers, port workers had joined together to say no. The world would be a far different place in my dreamy, privileged self deluded bubble. : (
Bernie was afraid of the movement he started. He had no idea people would come together IF offered a venue to do so. Fuck you Bernie you traitorous monster giving hope to people and then " Joe Biden is a friend of mine he would make a great President" on the debate stage in South Carolina. Fuck you Bernie, BTW, I hope you are reading this, the book you sent me autographed after donating 4800$ to your two campaigns, I burned that book, the only book I have ever burned. Fuck You Traitor!
I have a personal email written by Bernie on AOL from 1990 having been introduced by a mutual friend teaching in Vermont. I keep that email to remind me we are in this without politicians. I never thought I would think it let alone write it.
Fuck You Bernie. Free Palestine and free ourselves.
Fuck you Bernie. Sounds like I blame Bernie for everything, YEP.
I blame Bernie for mentoring the new generation of democratic socialists, from AOC to the new mayors of New York and Seattle. And I blame him for leading the fight to stop arms shipments to Israel. Together, we will defeat democratic socialism and keep those arms flowing to slaughter the Gazans.
yOU ARE HURTING THE CAUSE BOTH OF DEMOCRATIC socialism, which is on the rise in the US mostly due to Sanders, and his leadership in getting, at the last vote, the majority of Democrats to vote for ending arms shipments to Israel. If you are butthurt by his strategic support for Biden over Trump, you are simply dead wood in the way of progress. Lend a hand or get out of the way. You arre offended by his words, meant to elect Biden instead of Trump (do you think he should have helped Trump by attacking Biden?) , while ignoring his leadership for both socialism and justice for Palestine. If you can't understand why someone would support Biden over Trump, you are an idiot. And if you can't lend a hand in promoting the democratic socialism that Sanders has worked for his entire life and if can't support his attempt to stop arms to Israel, get out of the way.
Idiots are those who dismiss as idiots all those who refuse to choose between two unacceptable alternatives.
Idiots are those who cannot distinguish the lesser evil from the greater and thus help the greater evil to triumph.
dale ruff, the lesser evil is still evil.
idiots are those who fail to understand how lesserevilism brought us to our present situation; that the Democrats bear as much responsibility for the current shitshow as any other factor; that both capitalist parties serve the interests of the ruling classes at the expense of everyone else; and that the differences between those two oligarchy-friendly parties are matters of tempo and tactics.
Sorry, I know him. If that bothers you OK, but you are wasting your time. We need a third party. Bernie, could have won that race hands down running third party with any name. Ask Kshama, Chris Hedges what they think. Bye. You are the reason we fail.
Your claim is absurd. You are the reason we fail by trashing the most effective socialist in American history and the man leading the charge to block weapons to Israel. I would welcomea 3d party but given the system which runs elections, the only option is to transform the Democratic Party by electing socialists and progressives rather than helping the right win by splitting the vote. Your ignorance of history and political science is obvious. Hedges said "explicitly stated that in a truly “fair election, where corporate money did not dominate … he [Sanders] would have beat her [Clinton].” Well, in a just world, there would be no war, but the world is not just nor would corporate money not have dominated in 2016. By trashing Sanders, you help the Zionist fascists in Israel, who could not wage war without US support that Sanders has tried to stop since 1988, and you help those who wish to destroy the democratic socialist movement, which he has spearheaded. I would rank you as a useful idiot of the fascist right.
Bernard Sanders, so-called "Bernie" exists and function as "Controlled Opposition," no more; no less.
No change comes from inside the political oligarch.
dennis hanna
Yes, thank you. Fuck Bernie and AOC and all fake-ass pseudolefts who would have us support the Democratic Party, which has absolutely no intention of disturbing capitalist property relations.
Can I move into your self-deluded bubble?
I would love that : ) The nation of Caitlin : ) I worn you I am a coffee snob.
What does that mean? We can only have your kind of coffee in our bubble? As long as it's light roast, fairtrade, organic coffee I'm fine with that.
https://justcoffee.coop/ I do prefer darker roast having less caffeine : )
That's it, I' moving out of your bubble, don't like dark roast. Tho your source is much like mine, highergrounds trading company.
China's system of socialism seems to be working well, although it is still based on capitalistic growth, with increase in production to provide jobs, energy and food, though the state owns the banks. It may help even out wealth among the people but it is certainly not the cure to humans living on a finite planet with rampant human-made climate change. Only a global degrowth economy can cure this. We have it within our power to do this and to pull the legs of the villain at the same time. It's not as glamorous as calling for a revolution, but is achievable and effective and less destructive to the vulnerable in society.
👏🙏
imo, it's achievable and effective if you have a revolution in which you end the overall system of capitalism. one has to suppress the reactionary capitalist tendencies (even in own ranks). there's indeed lots to learn from the chinese model.
The government of China keeps billionaires on a short leash. The government of the USA is owned by billionaires who keep Congress on a short leash.
The leash on the POTUS is a tangled mess.
POTUS is one of the billionaires, he has no leash.
The current POTUS may have slipped his leash, but the billionaires who are really in charge remain in the shadows. The POTUS is their rabid dog.
He will expire, soon, but the billionaires’ cabal will remain.
If he lives long enough to the end of his current term of office, he may meet his replacement.
yep
Marx would be proud. I have read, Marx warned, Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky they would fail not having gone through Capitalism. Capitalism does have to end or we see what happens as the 1% try to hold their wealth in declining means. We are the Colonized.
Growth economies have to end or we see what happens when there's not enough food. Until then we in the West do much better than most everybody else surfing on colonisation.
I have so many questions. Let’s start with an easy one. “Who decides who gets what?”
Great question, the structure works IF you have unions of working people. There are no unions in the u.s. police, teachers, nursing with only teachers and nurses demonstrating power by shutting that sh it down. The major unions back the owners as seen by the farce that was the railroad workers pretend strike. Today they still don't have sick leave ha. There is a reason the u.s. Gov. used it's Air Force to bomb coal miners striking. Working people have power when they come together.
I liked my own comment, so few people know history of labor, Eugene Debbs running for President from F U C K ING prison. The bit of history people call me a liar for repeating During the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, U.S. Army bombers dropped bombs on striking coal miners in West Virginia after federal troops arrived to end the conflict. When people doubt, I say stay ignorant and nothing will change. Blank stares. The 1% are counting on us trying to save our family and friends. I paid several months of my Sons friends rent, she and her Daughter, Grandson where about to be evicted. Why because the hospital she works at owned by a fucking private equity co. only allows her now 34 hrs. a week.
My solution, a General Strike named Shut That Shit Down!
Free Palestine and we free ourselves. Shut that Shit Down!
Who is our Eugene Debbs, Fidel, Che, I cry as I write this.
Fuck you Bernie! Shut That Shit Down!
The Air Force did not drop bombs on miners at Blair Mountain. https://www.history.com/articles/americas-largest-labor-uprising-the-battle-of-blair-mountain there was an awful battle for sure, but it was the sheriff who was in the middle of the machine gun (used by both sides) battle who hired private planes to bomb the miners and union.
Democracy: majority rule: for example, in a workers' coop, if times are hard, rather than the boss laying off workers, the workers, who are the boss, decide to each work fewer hours so that all can survive; and when the good times come, the profits are shared. Mondragon,,in Spain, a federation of workers coops ,with 80,000 members has been doing this for 60s yrs with great success, independent of the government and the who deciding who gets what being the workers themselves.
Mondragon doesn’t look like a bad way to run a private company. There are smaller companies in the US that are run much like this. It’s not socialism though. They’re all still operating in a capitalist environment.
Elon Musk?
I am a libertarian socialist for about 60 yrs now. The evidence shows that hybrid economies with a strong public sector and a complimentary private sector have produced the most prosperous societies. The Nordic nations, among the high income nations, are the most socialist (along with robust private sectors) and wealthy, free, and happy. Among the nations approaching high income, China, with a Communist leadership but a huge private sector, is the amazing success story of the past 50 yrs. Hybrids with social democracy take the best of both systems, without the worst of either system. In Norway, for example, where the state generates and owns (on behalf of the people) the majority of wealth, private corporations are hired by the state to extract and sell oil on the world market, paying a 78% tax, with both the corporations and the state benefitting. It seems that a world of either/or does not exist, as all nations are hybrids, and that both and, under the concept of democratic socialism or social democracy, produce the best results.
I think we are already at the beginning of chaos, Harry. The light will come but people need to "grab the man's' legs" to empty the pool.
This commentary on capitalism is an indicator that true democracy and capitalism cannot coexist; thus America’s boast of “democracy” is an illusion that has destroyed nation states forced to ingest such toxicity.
A variation on and illustration of the overall theme... Recently attended a health care conference. HR 1, ya know, the Big, Beautiful, (Further) Budget-Busting Bill came up, specifically its Medicaid "reforms" with work requirements. It was interesting to get some of the details, but come the Q&A I had to ask, "With these work requirements, aren't we just seeing latter day Poor Laws of 1834, when one's sorry lot in life was due to moral failing, for which you had to pay in order to get help? And all this while as a society, or a government, we just crossed the threshold of a $1+ TRILLION per year Penta-gone budget? And therefore haven't we crossed another threshold, on the road to becoming a failed state, financially, morally?"
A woman came up to me afterwards and thanked me for having asked the question.
"This motto drives the otherworldly pronouncements to their flocks and wage-slaves who attend church, that the Lord prefers them where they are in the conditions in which they find themselves; because even as a baby you are responsible for not being born wealthy… as the errant Senator Grassley has put it, “You’d all have a million dollars if you’d stop spending your money on booze, women, and gambling.” The capitalists’ holy motto, “God helps those who help themselves”, is a brilliant masterstroke which lets you know that they are favored for “helping themselves”. “God gives the money to the capitalists” (a Reverend Doctor) because He loves them, and trusts them; and I knew a Lutheran Pastor who proclaimed in 1990, “I refuse to preach the Gospel of Jesus for less than $30,000 per year [that’s not including perks).” You are simply a low person, “Oh Lord! Heaven knows! We belong way down below… Oh Lord! Tell us so! We belong way down below!” (The Pretty Reckless). So in this rich man’s heaven, the following occurred in Salt Lake City:"
https://griobhtha1.substack.com/p/i-dreamed-i-saw-joe-hill
Remember: Socialism is the Fire Department saving your home. Capitalism is the Insurance Company denying your claim.
Awhile back TCM (Turner Classic Movies) had as a guest programmer Harvey J. Kaye, writer of The Fight for (Roosevelt’s) the Four Freedoms. One of his movie selections was The Grapes of Wrath. I got the book and for me, the gist of it is that while there are progressive forces and unions working for a more egalitarian society, there is a relentless, utterly ruthless, and highly “successful” group of reactionary institutions and individuals fueled by immense capital who never, ever stop trying to roll back even the slightest gains by the average citizen. We can see how unions are a shadow of their former selves, and progressive forces are squabbling among themselves and disorganized. Starbucks is in the midst of a limited strike but you wouldn’t even know it.
You can always rely on Caitlin to brush aside all the spin and the BS and tell it like it is. Sometimes it hurts to hear about our complacency in the downfall of civilization but it’s like the choice between the red pill and the blue pill, in the Matrix. It’s rough going but prying those eyes open, even one pair at a time, is worth the effort in the long run. I hope everyone reading this blog is supporting her work. We desperately need her voice.
Capitalism turns everything into a commodity. If the price of milk falls, millions of liters are dumped to drive it up. To keep wages low, millions of workers are thrown into unemployment and poverty. True ecology consists of ending capitalism.
To add to that, Capitalism turns everything into a 'market'. There is a wonderful book by Michael Sandel called "What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15793627-what-money-can-t-buy) that talks about how Capitalism turns EVERYTHING into a market (to sell everything that it turns into a commodity to buy and sell and gamble in such markets).
Thank you.
A lot of capitalism’s perversity could be tempered by a strong, vibrant workers’ movement, which is why capitalists devoted themselves to killing it off (well about 90% off). This they accomplished by bribing politicians to pass anti-labor laws. Isn’t it great how an undemocratic political system works? Really rich people absolutely love it.
Will the word Guillotine become Anti-Semitic? What we did to the Palestinians will be done to us. There is no doubt. I wonder if anyone in Mexico understands they are the next Venezuela?
With 38.3 Trillion in debt, the Fed can not even borrow more than a few 10s of billions at the long end 10-30 yr. so the continued ever climbing need for more and more short debt will collapse the financial markets of all kind. The AI bubble explosion is 5x the size of the Com. Backed Sec. failure. All of this chaos is about the 1% saving themselves. Will 1789 become Anti-Semitic?
heard there's 'gen-z'-nepal style (+ hijacked) protests going on in mexico. the system noticed gen-z fueled palestine, now it is weaponizing this generation for color revolutions serving empire. someone should tell them.
Just like Glenn Greenwald states in his segment (see ScheerPost link below), I too, was mystified by the Noam Chomsky-Jeffrey Epstein connection (or friendship, perhaps?… though I don’t know if there was really a friendship there), until it dawned on me a few minutes ago, while sitting here having a quiet breakfast… This too… Even this… Is the result of capitalism… If you watch the brief Glenn Greenwald segment at the link below,, you can easily see why none of us are immune to its sickness (and I have always considered Chomsky to be one of my “heroes”)… Just being human can make any one of us fall prey to the capitalism disease in some respect, way shape or form. (Sort of in the same way that Israeli Jews committed, and are committing, the same horrendous genocide inhumanity as Nazi Germany... thereby absolutely PROVING the fact that they are not in any manner "chosen people"... no human is... no such fucking thing!... humans fall prey)
https://scheerpost.com/2025/11/16/glenns-thoughts-on-chomsky-epsteins-baffling-relationship/
Thanks for sharing that clip with Glenn trying to make sense of it.
One might consider the possibility that Chomsky is a deep-cover Elite operative whose job is to lure concerned hopeful people in with sharp analyses about what’s wrong with the power structure and then uses his position to slam the door shut when truly dangerous questions about the Kennedy assassination, 9/11, and Covid are posed. Or, he’s a sheltered victim of cognitive dissonance and fear who can’t intellectually punch his way out of a paper bag when confronted with extreme possibilities. I gave up on him long ago.
there's still a lot of his academic-like work on the wrongs of the power structure and us foreign policy that is very valuable, imo. but, among the more slightly radical left-leaners, he's sometimes indeed considered somewhat of a 'gatekeeper'. he's confessed of having been a zionist as a young man (back when a more left-idealistic interpretation of zionism - kibbutz - was still possible). the system 'hampered' his career and ignored him, but still did not eliminate him, which maybe added to the suspicion of 'gatekeeping'. he identifies as an anarcho-syndicalist. (maybe that's why the system leaves him be - anarchists are no real threat to the system, since they'll probably never manage to reach the level of organisation necessary to overthrow it).
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/in-capitalism-they-tell-you-to-become/comment/178036475
I have a somewhat 'low opinion' of Glenn Greenwald (based on some research I did on him). I consider him to be a highly intelligent communicator/story-teller that knows how to hook audiences with 'just enough' curiosity so that they keep coming back for more, but I notice subtle patterns of manipulation of thought in his delivery.
I used to like him when he did his reporting on Edward Snowden, but man - has he changed so much since then (similar to Matt Taibbi). There is a whole breed of 'opportunist' so-called 'independent journalists' (and this includes many others like Tucker Carlson-who is a certified conspiracy theorist, Cenk Uygur of TYT, etc.) that know what sells and what doesn't. (BTW, this doesn't mean that they should be ignored as they often provide useful information/perspectives, but one needs to listen/engage with more critical attention to decipher 'what is not said' and half-truths).
Btw, I agree with everything you wrote, and I will subscribe to some of them, their free postings, because they will occasionally have something useful to say (except I actually had to UN-subscribe from Taibbi because he refused to take a public stance on the genocide of the Palestinians... major no-no for me). Interestingly, I've grown to have a similar feeling about Greenwald's "delivery" but, in this particular case, ScheerPost's headline about Chomsky caught my eye.
Oh, of course Joy.