The Political Thread

[TordelBack]

Much truth being spoken here.

[von Boom]

I think this forum needs to be reinvented as a serious news/journalism outlet. Can't do any worse than the ones we've got now.

[TordelBack]

* going back as far as "The Financial Panic of AD 33", Roman banks created a financial crisis by issuing too many unsecured loans (LOL) until Tiberius salvaged the economy with quantitative easing (ROFLcopter).  Capitalism sure doesn't like to change much.

Yeah, but at least no-one got nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change.

[The Legendary Shark]

I think this forum needs to be reinvented as a serious news/journalism outlet. Can't do any worse than the ones we've got now.

Bagsie the Howard Beale slot!

[Funt Solo]

The fundamental flaw shared by capitalism corporatism (fascism) and communism is that both systems are presided over by a tiny fraction of greedy wazzocks pretending to have the right to dictate how things go and supported by great masses pretending to be inferior.

But bullets are not imaginary. 

[The Legendary Shark]

That's very true but neither does a bullet care if it's fired by a communist or a corporatist. Just because one does not share the beliefs of the shooter, that doesn't make the bullets any less dangerous.

[Tjm86]

Communism claim that Capitalism must inevitably fail has rung true; it did fail, and this is the fallout were still under a whole decade after the crash of 2008.

I'm not completely convinced that 2008 was a single event but rather the beginning of a chain of events that we're still struggling through.  It always felt like the 'left' failed to come up with an effective response largely because, as you say, the collapse of communism provided a rather effective rebuttal.  Questions relating to the damage that neo-liberal capitalism / corporatism had wreaked were dismissed by challenging opponents to provide viable solutions then screaming 'communist' at anyone who suggested anything even remotely social-democratic.

So the 'right' largely claimed that they had been vindicated and had won the day then carried on with business as normal but now with austerity thrown in for good measure.  Social welfare programs and public institutions have been decimated by freezes, real term cuts, quasi-privatisation and the 'balance the books / live within our means' narrative.  The result has been the longest and most profound squeeze on living standards in generations against the backdrop of a political and financial system that has failed to realise that 'business as usual' is no longer a viable option.

I'm not sure that we should be surprised about the likes of Trump, Farage, Robinson et al gaining traction or events like Brexit.  If mainstream politicians are going to pretend that they don't need to listen to large segments of the population someone is going to harness that growing discontent.  We've seen it before.  Mind you, someone recently noted that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history!

[sheridan]

* going back as far as "The Financial Panic of AD 33", Roman banks created a financial crisis by issuing too many unsecured loans (LOL) until Tiberius salvaged the economy with quantitative easing (ROFLcopter).  Capitalism sure doesn't like to change much.

I'll take your AD 33 and raise (or lower) you the Late Bronze Age collapse.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I've just come across this trainwreck and watched till the end in fascinated horror.  This is a very frightened little man.  Also, it seems Garth has succeeded in doing exactly as he'd planned - upsetting a weak-minded man who fears strong women.  My respect for him grows all the time.

https://youtu.be/WB01D5PGIQU

[Steve Green]

Ah shit, I'd avoided that guy for a good while...

[JayzusB.Christ]

Sorry. I hadn't heard of him before. Rorschach indeed
I'm sure Alan Moore would be overjoyed.

[Steve Green]

He popped up sometime last year complaining about 2000 AD SJW etc. etc.

[Jim_Campbell]

He popped up sometime last year complaining about 2000 AD SJW etc. etc.

Yup. ISTR he didn't like the Scream/Misty special last year, either. Too many girls, too many Nazis getting socked in the gob. Typical leftist propaganda. Apparently.

[TordelBack]

He's actually priceless. Did you watch the one where his main objection to Spurrier's Dora (in The Dreaming) is that her type of woman (and he doesn't mean monstrous teeth and wings sticking out of her head, BTW,  he means a 'masculine empowered woman' with a short haircut) doesn't exist in the real world? This revelation is illustrated with scenes of her talking to Merv Pumpkinhead,  Lucien the Librarian of Books That Never Were and Matthew the Raven-that-in-life-was-married-to-Abby-Holland-nee-Arcane. In the Dreaming. I don't know about you,  but that's where I go to read about grounded, real-world characters.

[JayzusB.Christ]

It's not this fucking clown, is it?

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