Yearly Archives: 2007

Is It A Market Economy?

This entry was posted in Anarchism Economics Libertarianism on by

Thoreau asks:

When so many major elements of the ostensibly private sector–the press, telecommunications, and oil, just to name a few (I’m not including the “defense” industry, because there’s nothing even ostensibly “private sector” about it)–are part and parcel of our security state and imperial policies, does it make sense to describe this as being even the faintest semblance of a market economy and system of private enterprise?

That is a question that really shouldn’t need asking. The US economy is not a market economy and has not been since, well, pretty much forever.
It is important to remember that every time someone blames the market, or the free market, or some other similar entity for failing that it is a corporate state economy that has failed and the corporate state economy will fail again and again except at achieving its primary objective: scraping wealth off of the backs of the rest of us.

For more details read Kevin Carson’s The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand.

Friday Ark #169

This entry was posted in Bird Blogging Cat Blogging Dog Blogging Friday Ark Invertebrate Blogging Pet Blogging Weekend Cat Blogging Weekend Dog Blogging on by

We’ll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and….?

Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

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Good Commuter; Bad Commuter

This entry was posted in Transportation on by

Here are a couple commuting statistics from this longer list:

4.5: Percentage of Americans who use public transit to get to work.
88: Percentage of Americans who drive to work alone.

Most days I am a “good commuter” as I join the 4.5 % that use public transit.
Today, though, I am a “bad commuter”; part of the 88 % who drove to work alone.
Am I really good when I ride public transit? Well, I certainly do appreciate the near 80% subsidy I get when riding the bus. It strikes me that a better definition of “good commuter” would one who rides public transportation and pays
the full tab.
Do the folks working in the construction, auto and oil industries consider me bad when I use their services more intensely by driving to work alone?
Probably not.

Good and bad are clearly a reflection of the lenses you are looking through.

NB: I fully support eliminating subsidies for both types of commuters.