gendao

Well, if the profits evaporate - some conditions must have changed - and the company must then adapt or fail. Yes, it's a constant struggle - but that is the nature of life. You cannot eliminate that, nor should you necessarily want to (see Trabant). Competitive struggle is what drives evolution (see Lexus). Life has gone on for billions of years this way. When the climate changed, dinosaurs died...but mammals thrived. There is always more opportunity for more profit for whoever can build a better mousetrap. Or heck, just the next pet rock.

Can't watch the video yet, but I did read a bit about him. Sounds like a ringing endorsement of Taoist hands-off laissez-faire, natural momentum, peer pressure & democratizing the workplace like Wikipedia. Since free market capitalism rewards the most efficient businesses...I wouldn't be surprised if this new style catches on more. Do note that Ricardo Semler is still the CEO and majority owner of Semco SA, though. It is not collectively owned. And he even cautions against forced equality, Stalinesque opacity & micromanagement (typical symptoms of Communism). Basically, he recommends the opposite of Communist factory or Gulag workers who actually have zero say in "their" State-owned & party-run production factories.

But that's the very BEAUTY of free market capitalism - it adapts so quickly to changing reality. If the need & demand for cars dropped, then they would simply cut production. Or shift to another product. This way, excess isn't being wastefully produced that isn't needed. The more demand goes up though, the more production goes up & the cheaper the product becomes though (due to economy of scale). Even today, I think it is a miracle that you can buy an engineering marvel like a Honda for just over $20K. You couldn't buy the parts unassembled for it for that cheap - much less design & build one from scratch yourself. So, if demand were to soar to several billion, they would only get even cheaper.

I think one of Marx's primary flaw here is that he assumes that Middle Class property owners (bourgeois) & laborers (proletarians) are both FIXED classes. When in fact, they are not - and anyone can transition from one to the other. In free market capitalism, YOU can choose what you want to become. If you don't like being a laborer, you can eventually become a property owner. And no property owner is freely guaranteed his status for life - he has to work hard to maintain it, if he wants. You could always ease artificial barriers to class migration, than trying to altogether eliminate either (impossible). By this fact alone, all his forced meddling is unnecessary & often unfair. And really, to demonize the Middle Class? This also shows how out-of-touch Marx himself was with the real proletarians. Go to any lower class area and they're begging for labor jobs from property owners. Because there's a mutual trade-off here - employers take the risks of capital investment - and laborers get to share in the profits of this risk. Of course, Marx himself was a hypocrite. He preached against bourgeois dynastic family wealth, but also subsisted himself off inheritances from his wife's mother & uncle. And it's no surprise, but a lot of the Middle Class objections to Marxism did prove true. Did abolition of private property under Communism cause laziness? Check. Did public education under Communism brainwash & indoctrinate children (like the Red Guard)? Check. Marx's other big flaw is that he falsely claimed you could eliminate property ownership and employer/laborer classes. Look, when you "abolish" private property - who ends up with guardianship & rights over that newly "public" property? Everybody, or just the government? And how can you eliminate employers & laborers - without eliminating production & wages? You can't - which is why 99% of people under Communism actually became laborers to the new 1% party official bourgeois.

Ok, well if you support Marxism then let's go with it. Or if not, let's please hear from some real Marxists or Communists here??? Honda autos are widely unsurpassed in quality & value. This is a result of stiff capitalist competition. Has any collectivist automaker been able to equal this? I'm sure there must be better examples than the Trabant? Or to make closer comparisons, why not compare autos made by Communist East Germany & capitalist West Germany at the time? Mercedes Benz vs Trabant? Why is there such a glaring difference in quality here? If you eliminate competition, do you tend to eliminate efficiency & quality?

Spoken like a true materialist Marxist...lol. Have you ever heard of Niels Bohr, though? He was a well-known quantum mechanics physicist of the Copenhagen School who was heavily-influenced by Taoism. And thus chose the Taiji as the centerpiece for his coat-of-arms:

Ok great. So (for example), you would ban any private automakers like Honda or Toyota? And all autos would thus be produced by the same collective with no competition? In effect, a "Government Motors?" Am I interpreting you correctly, here? How do you think this would affect the value & quality of these cars?

Um, newsflash. As I already pointed out: Heisenberg's uncertainty principle already scientifically proved in the 20s that on the quantum level, consciousness DOES affect matter...and "xiantian matter" is essentially unknowable...because as soon as you know about it, you've already changed (collapsed) it into "houtian" matter. Materialism, Marx's philosophical basis - has thus already been scientifically debunked for about 80 years now. Marx is a scientifically-proven false god. You are, of course, still free to worship him. And believe the Earth is flat. But don't hate on me cuz I don't based on modern science. Uh, the equivalent to "Fuck you dirty Rethuglican" would have been "Fuck you dirty Pinko." I was simply using neo-commie as an equivalent abbreviation to neocon (neoconservative). Another vastly disproportional comparison. You're trying WAYYY too hard, man. Is that really all you got? If so, you got nothing. Again, let's refocus and discuss the CORE TENETS of Marxism/Communism. All you Marxists or Communists - please make a good case describing how their theories would conceivably work & why you support them.

I was attacking intellectual laziness and poor examples being cited in this debate. 140 million does eclipse 18 million. And yes, I am aware of intentional germ warfare used by the European settlers here. However, even if some hadn't done that, smallpox and other diseases were spreading naturally anyways. All they did was hasten it some in some areas. Yes, this was HORRIBLE. But it was happening on its own, regardless. Which then can't be blamed on capitalism. It was simply a biological inevitability that would have happened no matter what form of government happened to be there. My point here only being that 140 million died directly as a result of Communist purges & policies. Whereas the amount of Native American deaths attributable to capitalism was be a tiny fraction of that, at most. So, there's still no comparison there. The Communist bodycount was probably the highest of any "organized movement" in the history of mankind. So, I don't think you can downplay that. It's similar to how Paganism or Satanism get a much worse rap than Judeo-Christianity. Yet, Christians & Muslims have actually killed FAAAARRRR more people than Pagans ever have! There's simply too many tangents in this thread to all address. And I've already said that ethnic discrimination is not unique to capitalism or Communism. GIH was a personal example of that. No, sounds like a criticism of a corrupt government. Who are neglecting their duties to party amongst themselves. This is not really specific to any type of government.

Amen. GIH - You obviously have some deepset, inner issues that you are projecting onto this debate which are causing you to become overemotional, irrational & totally lose your temper. I suggest you examine & resolve those within yourself, rather than displace them & take them out on others. Perhaps you felt "bullied" as an ethnic minority by some ethnic/class majority when you were in the USSR? And you now blame this on the strong bullying the weak in capitalism & Social Darwinism? Except that that happened in the Communist USSR. And sometimes the strong can help the weak, too. It's not as polarized & 1-sided as you see it. But you only see what you want to see. I don't know what is causing your huge blind spot - but it's clearly eating you alive. Most corporations are fairly transparent, if you really took the effort to look. Most Americans today are already well aware of the fact that much of our stuff is made in China. It's usually printed on the bottom of any product you buy, for gawsakes. China is climbing out of the economic hole caused by 50 years of Communism, so happy to work for lower wages right now. Cheap labor is a necessary phase to progress out of poverty. Capitalism is actually their ticket out of Communist enslavement. Politics is a sensitive topic, but there's no reason why we can't just calmly discuss the issues - without resorting to angry cursing & threats of violence. The bullied should be careful not to become the bully. "Fuck you dirty Rethuglican?" Spoken like a truly compassionate liberal. Maybe time for a vacation, buddy?

Retirement pyramid schemes are no justification for increasing the population, though. You're destroying the environment that way & only delaying the pyramid collapse, anyhow. In addition: This is why the NW0 uses the mass media to make us lazier, more apathetic & dependent. It hastens the natural progression back to bondage.

I agree with a lot of your points here. Centralizing power does create a convenient handle for any despots to easily hijack & control the whole collective with. The bigger a single power vacuum you create, the bigger a single a-hole can fill it. However, corporations ARE checked by customers & stockholders in capitalism. If you don't like them, you can just stop buying their stuff. People also organize boycotts all the time. And even short of that, a few angry complaint letters can often have a great effect. Remember, the customer is "always right." So, your real vote lies in your wallet, not ballot - because money talks the loudest. (This actually is true in a democracy as well.) There's definitely a feedback loop there. That's why Whole Foods is expanding so rapidly now - because more Americans are finally starting to choose to eat healthier. Which then quickly gets reflected in the free market response to all their financial "votes." And btw, I'm not a Repub, I'm a Libertarian. I do agree with some Repub points though, as well as a lot of the environmentalism of liberals.

Seems to be a high correlation between Communism & despotism. Can you name a Communist country without iron-fisted rule? If not, why do you suppose they always seemed to go hand-in-hand like PB&J? Sheer coincidence? You do realize that one of the main stated goals of feminism was the elimination of marriage? BTW, the 2nd-wave feminist movement wasn't a true grass-roots movement, either. It was funded by the CIA, the Ford Foundation and the CFR (run by the Rockefellers). All the usual suspects. I hope you're not playing dumb here or aren't really this naive. But if so, here's why: According to Russo, Rockefeller had told him that the Rockefeller Foundation had helped to fund the feminist movement. There were several reasons for this. One, it got women into the work force. This provided more income for taxation. (Marxism's "equal obligation of all to work") Second, it got kids in government funded schools at an earlier age for indoctrination. (Marxism's "free education - aka mandatory State indoctrination like the Red Guard - for all children in government schools.") Funny how Commies hate large private corporations, yet love large government. Do you see a contradiction there? Again, no one is forcing you to watch TV or commercials or eat food with MSG. Mostly what you're complaining about is Bernaysian brainwashing. Edward Bernays was a liberal propagandist who believed in despotism. He was also Freud's nephew and applied his theories to mass spin doctoring. He got American women to start smoking and his methods were later employed by the CIA, NAZIs & Communists alike. So, this type of mass propaganda actually is a branch of liberal, atheist thought (not capitalism). Their underlying goal was to replace all spiritualism with materialism (consumer products) and fission the nuclear family to eventually make everyone a child-slave of the State.

Well, that's one possible factor. But, I think the jury is still out & this case far from fully-closed.

Interesting, guess the lobe-shifting can go both ways, depending on where you're starting. A number of ancient cultures around the world (vasstly predating the New Age scene) allegedly do claim Pleiadian origins, though. Cherokees Paraguay - The Abipones tribe worshipped them as their ancestors. Inca - called the Pleiades 'Seed Scatterer' or 'Sower' Dakota stories speak of the Tiyami home of the ancestors as being the Pleiades Cree mythology speaks of their people coming to Earth from the seven stars in spirit form first and then became flesh and blood. Hopi - called the Pleiadians the 'Chuhukon', meaning those who cling together. They considered themselves direct descendants of the Pleiadians. Balinese Well, it might already be too late, Stephen...lol. And was Jesus perhaps actually a naga (serpent) , and not a carpenter (nangar)?

So, onto some theoretical core tenets.. The philosophical basis of Marxism/Communism is arguably materialism. Well, so much for qi, manifestation & the Great Mystery! And I guess Heisenberg's observer effect is wrong too!

Do people ever actually research the points they make? So, obviously the number of Native Americans killed here is hard to pin down. But, let's take the high estimate of 18 million across North America. Keep in mind, many or most of these were due to the importation of foreign diseases like smallpox. Which would have happened no matter what governmental system happened to be in place. You certainly can't blame a biological disaster like that on capitalism. But, let's just use 18 million killed over 400 years as a rough theoretical guess for Native Americans killed "by capitalism" here. That's still a drop in the bucket compared to 140 million killed as a direct result of Communism over just a few decades. Really, the numbers aren't even comparable. I love how all the neo-Commies here just KEEP GLOSSING OVER THE 140 MILLION BODYCOUNT! Stop for a minute and think of how much that really is - that's HALF OF OUR CURRENT POPULATION!!! Just GONE in a few decades! Really, how do you just blink past that? It's like they've created a giant blind spot in their minds for it...while they focus on nitpicking far lesser suffering in capitalist countries.. Racism is also not unique to capitalism or Communism. Remember, GIH fled HERE to "capitalist" USA to ESCAPE "ethnic prejudice" in the "Communist" USSR. And I've already pointed out that coal miners in VA make TWICE the national salary on average. See how the free market self-adjusts if you let it? That's why the DDJ advised against political micromanagement. Most of these changes (anti-depressants & high divorce rates) sprang up over the last 50 years as this country became more liberal & chemically polluted. That said, we still have the free choice of what to consume & I am totally drug-free & have never been on anti-depressants. Look at David Wolfe. Look at the Amish. Nobody is forced to eat the SAD. Nobody forces you to buy a TV and watch propaganda all day. I don't even own one. Anyhow, maybe we are straying from the main point here. Why don't we debate the actual core theoretical principles of idealistic "real" Marxism/Communism that many here are so vehemently defending?

How offended do you think the Native Americans were at being invaded by the Europeans?How offended do you think the Palestinians were at being invaded by the Israelis? How offended do you think the Chinese were at being invaded by the Tibetans? How offended do you think X were at being Y by Z? Every race is guilty of transgressions against another and therefore any racial slur is justifiable under your logic, here. But if you are going to go that route, at least be consistent and refer to everyone here by their appropriate ethnic slurs. No need to single just Chinese out - ironically the ethnic origin of the whole focus of this site.

Ya, the jury is still out on whether the "green raisins" are actually gallstones...or soap produced from the concoction itself. I'm personally not sure. I've tried the flush myself & sometimes got way more raisins than other times...so it's not as consistent as you'd think if it were merely from the concoction. OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if it was really just from the concoction itself, either. But even if it is, I think it might still be helpful in flushing out the bile ducts & gallbladder. Basically, bile is a very alkaline substance that the liver produces to digest fats. So, what the liver flush does is prohibit you from eating fats all day long (so that all your bile stores up in your gallbladder) - and then has you chug a bunch right before bed, thus releasing a huge dump of this stored-up bile. This action is what supposedly "flushes" out the bile pathway. BTW, I've tried colonics too - & I would say that those do seem to have a beneficial effect. My sides got a lot softer & slimmer afterwards. And my facial complexion would brighten up immediately after too. That's just my opinion based upon my personal experience though, and I can't state any supposed benefits for a scientific fact.

No, what was the fault? Wealth is all relative. South Africa under apartheid was simply still a better place to live for Africans...than . Living in a comfortable, capitalist ivory tower - you have the bourgeois luxury of idly comparing nonexistent idealism with reality. Down in the trenches of the real world, true proletarians don't. They can only compare one realistic alternative to another and choose whatever works best for them in the overall picture. Remember, politics is often about choosing the lesser of evils...or picking the best option that actually exists vs the idealistic one that doesn't. For example, "sweatshops" are bad compared to American conditions, yet could still be an improvement over local conditions abroad. These are all the actual realities out there, behind the propaganda headlines folks. Why do you think China has become capitalist now? And look at the immediate results its had in pulling them out of nationwide poverty.. Get with the program, people! Look, I'm sure 80 years ago...your types would have rabidly lynch-mobbed me as a "class enemy" and supported guys like Stalin & Mao into power. And then after they colossally f'd up these countries (140 million bodycount), fled to ones like the US built upon the principles that you had previously railed against. Sorry, but there's just something really hypocritical about a bunch of Communist ex-pats promoting Communism & railing against capitalism...from their comfy homes in the capitalist country that they all fled to. If you TRULY believed in your convictions, you would have immigrated somewhere else. Actions speak louder than words, my friends.

Not at all. Communism centralizes all power to the State. Which is then run by a tiny cabal of tyrants. Ergo...totalitarianism! That's what happens when you give up all your individual power to someone else. The real initial goal of Communism was inciting organized class warfare for regime change. The longterm goal is the global centralization of power known as the NW0. Actually, the proletarians had far more to lose than their "chains" - 140 million of them lost their very lives. The Hegelian agitators tooled these poor people like ants to do their dirty work for them. And once their midterm goals were met - disposed of them like dirty asswipes. The difference between "proletarian" movements like Marxism vs say, the Ron Paul Revolution is that one was heavily-funded by backroom bankers & the other is a true grassroots movement, for the people, by the people. It's very important to recognize the difference here. Millions of lives could be at stake. Keep in mind that NAZI was short for "National Socialist" & USSR for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." As opposed to say, "German Fascist" or "Soviet Totalitarianism." You have to be fluent in Orwellian Doublespeak & read behind the headlines to truly understand what is going on in global realpolitik. Unfortunately, most proletarians can't - which is why they are courted first by aspiring despots to gain enough power to eventually become fascist & brutally totalitarian. Again, people aren't going to support a despot directly into power. So, he has to bait & switch them into it. Hence, large, banker-funded, prefab "movements" that are pushed on the people are typically for the bankers' benefit...not the peoples'.

So, the poor folks here are poor because they're unemployed. And they're unemployed because they're in prison. And they're in prison because they've committed crimes. So, isn't the real problem here then high crime, and not "high" poverty? If these people would stop committing crime, they'd stop going to jail & could make honest livings. This would also relieve taxpayers of the huge burdens imposed by running prisons as well as the loss of tax revenues from nonproductive, unemployed people. This is why Socialism doesn't work here (see bankrupt California) - as compared to Europe or Canada. We have entirely different demographics & a far higher crime rate. Europe & East Asia don't have violent crime-ridden ghettos. We have one in every town here. And in addition to welfare for all these poor thugs, we also spend $80 billion/mo killing Arabs over in the MidEast. Which is $80 billion/mo less that we could be spending at home improving our infrastructure, providing more services or on R&D for cleaner energy or clinical trials of holistic health methods. Canada doesn't have strong industries that export much...so how do they do more with less? Simple - they are careful to spend a lot less too. They spend little on defense and don't fight offensive foreign wars. They are also essentially a gated country club that has very stringent immigration & import controls. They try to filter out all the societal drains and only allow in productive givers. You're not going to find many ghettos in Canada.. The real solution here is simply for liberals to spend less on welfare & neocons to spend less on foreign wars. With the amount of money saved from those 2 cuts alone, we could provide a much higher quality of life without radical overhauls like Socialism or Pelosicare. Like the DDJ says, it really doesn't have to be this hard. Live within your means. Promote self-reliance & avoid unnecessary wars (remember, the USSR bankrupted itself in our Cold War arms race).

Hmm, I just found another very interesting description of what may be the same phenomena (p 31):

According to this book (which is apparently based on some MoPai rumors, but claims not to be "official" or authentic MoPai)...level 3 is where you cut the cords locking your dantian in place, which allows yin qi to escape outside your body - which then confers siddhis like iron body, levitation & walking on water (p 20-23). If you have achieved level 3, care to comment on any of this?