----
Since so much effort and resource goes into the daily gaming, as the continual onslaught from all media reminds us, one might consider succumbing to the notion that "capital is king" or some such nonsense.
Well, from time to time, we ought to be reminded that not all economics is oriented to that which results in accumulations of most by the few and in the impoverishment of the many. A recent New Yorker article on Professor Duflo was one such reminder.
The focus is development economics. And, I might add, development of people for more than just making them available to be exploited by the new kings.
Who are this new royalty? Those in power in the multi-national companies who are the supposed epitome of capitalism. Kings in the past were geographically local and were a focal point for power and control. That is, the realm was framed upon portions of the planet and had an emphasis that was political in nature.
The new kings are not tied to any country, have now the global internet as a resource, and enrich a few (even if shareholders are included, their take pales when compared to that grabbed by the stars of the show - CEOs and their ilk).
The new kings are about acquisition: more capital, more glory, ... A recent Supreme Court ruling giving them an unlimited political voice reinforces the company as person myth and leads us to the situation where the largest bank account holder can then bully the rest of the populace.
The new kings are more about entrapment of the work force and customers into continual enslavement than development. The new kings move work to where they can most exploit (colonization). The new kings, and their thinking, have led the supposedly developed nations to a standstill where the developed ones are to buy only (from whence the means? unfathomable debt?) and to sit idly while savings diminish (thanks, Big Ben, saver sacker that you are) to nothing (oh, wait, we could go beyond zero to a negative interest).
We can be thankful that there are people who work on the issues related to economic development, yet the underlying threat is that the main effect will be more resources who can then be seen as fodder for those who are wont to exploit.
Remarks:
07/25/2015 -- We're about six weeks after the June look back at 800 years ago (Magna Carta). Too, though, poster boys have popped out of the woodwork, including Zweig.
07/31/2013 -- Ben cannot unwind or taper down; he has too many Doves. We'll have to get back to the king thing (yes, the divine rights of the CEO) and dampening of these types by a new outlook (Magna-Carta'ísh).
03/25/2013 -- The Atlantic had an article about King Abdullah II. Now, he is an example of a doer, from several angles. What I liked when I read it was that while being educated in Massachusetts, he bussed tables. What that means for those who don't know is clean up dirty dishes and such. When I, as a young man, was in the US Army, we had still had KP duty which included such types of things. Another task that ought to be tried once by everyone: cleaning the grease pit.
01/13/2012 -- We'll go more into why the need for the Magna Charta, this year.
05/09/2011 -- This needs to be look at in terms of doers.
01/03/2011 -- Ah yes, now there are demands. The question remains: what growth other than the pockets of these types?
09/25/2010 -- Capitalism was defined within a classist's framework. We can improve on that.
08/21/2010 -- The new kings are not 'royal' by any means; they're mainly takers (exploiters) extra-ordinaire. We need a Magna Carta, for business (local and global) in which rights of the workers (how else a consumer economy?), and more, are addressed. What would this look like?
07/27/2010 -- The Boston Globe had an interesting op-ed, recently, about these types. Of course, there are several types of best and brightest, including the quants. We'll need to address this topic again using what we know of the new kings. Ah, such confidence when underdetermination reigns.
07/21/2010 -- That we let systems run wild says a lot about us. That economics requires systems means that issues of control, truth, and related are of utmost interest to any attempt at founding a better basis. We'll get there, folks, by taming several speculative thrusts that were emboldened by theory, game and otherwise.
07/21/2010 -- Kings of the past had the peerage, in societies that allowed such. Some of these new kings do not have such, with ineffective Boards in some cases. Of interest to this work will be a new look at what roles the peerage had in the US and what this might mean to an improved economic basis.
07/10/2010 -- The machines rule (actually systems going wild). Perhaps, we'll learn from the China experiment.
07/06/2010 -- The real Founders are turning over in their graves.
07/02/2010 -- There are real kings.
06/17/2010 -- Need to collect discussions on development. Trickle down says that letting the big guys grow lifts the waters (hah!). More like the fat arses displace (and, perhaps, squash). What is needed is sustainability (even DAVOS talked this in 2010) that allows the most to reach some sort of potential (unlike the current in which about all is held by the few whilst the rest (most) hold nickles and dimes) .
06/16/2010 --In the past, we had only one king per geographic locale, with numerous henchmen (plus the bullies, would-be kings, that they are). Now, we have a growing set of kings (how many royal arses can we all kiss?) of this ephemeral type (that is, not kings to us in our daily lives, yet they have more than a delusion - just count the benes - boundless inflows of bucks and more). These kings reign in a realm that encompasses an increasingly enervated workforce (which appears to them to be infinite given colonization). Again, the questions arises: whence the means to found a proper economy which does have a large component in the equation, called the consumer? Somehow, we need to get these new kings roped in.
Is the answer a computational framework that replaces these hunks of idiocy with something that we can all appreciate? CEO apps?
Modified 07/25/2015
