Apech

You are right I (and everyone else) should read more history ... or we are doomed to repeat it. Banking (in the modern sense) started in Renaissance Italy in Florence and Venice an so on. In fact bank derives from the word meaning bench where they used to trade in money loans. What I was saying was that the institutions, global business, international financiers and banks rose to power through the forces of capitalism protecting itself. If you think there is something like a pure form of capitalism which all good then that's just an abstract concept which never has and never will exist. Its not so much the existence of loan sharks and pay day loans and so on which is a criticism of the system but the failure to do anything about them. Why because the system is weighted in favour of the those that accumulate wealth for reasons of the self interest of those that run the system.

I didn't say 'a product of' I said 'a force that drives'.

As usual you are confusing America with The World. The word 'suddenly' indicates the jump in your ideas about capitalism and not the slow march of history. So ... capitalism as a system threw up all the central banks, political affiliations and regulatory bodies in order to preserve itself. So what we have now is a product of capitalism and you cannot divorce them from it. The forces that drive capitalism produce greed and greed means hoarding wealth, which means skimming etc.

Them lizards do.

Memories are Here! Roll up, get them while they last Happy ones, half price.

Off Topic ....

without gaps, no things... remove this ______ there'd be no words to write a haiku.

Nungas ... so you left behind the old world for the new ... just as a reminder this is what being happy looks like in the Iberian Peninsular these days;

Actually Nungas (if I can call you that) think the song was this one ... which takes about a minute to get going ... but you'll like it being Aussie cos it starts with a bloke in the bush shooing away a fly and smoking ... later there are nice ladies and a bit of a punch up ... sooo ... perfect really.

I'll spare you the rest but here's the chorus: E esqueces essa canção que já não passa na rádio Mas que vive secretamente dentro de ti. Fechas a porta à chave com duas voltas e sais. ... rough translation And you forget the song that was just on the radio, But lives secretly inside of you, Lock the door with two turns of the key and leave. ... well you did ask (sort of).

a tent by the sea... something's lapping at my toes my dreams are fishy.

Oh what? Capitalism goes wrong and suddenly its not capitalism any more! Ha! What made skimming such a phenomena? Deregulation of the financial sector. Revolving door of jobs for the boys between big business and banks and regulators. Why? To feed their greed.

@joeblast You don't really have a left wing in the US. What he is referring to is centre right in any other country. Given the overall right wing bias of any US Government it not surprising they can't make policies which are about alleviation of poverty work. Skimming of the top is exactly what capitalism promotes. It is not the fair competition of idealistic free market thinkers but is actually rigged against the ordinary working person. Banks are the exemplars of this ... as are I imagine the backers of Fox News. Nordic social systems don't work anywhere except in Scandinavia because of the particular social, economic and historical circumstances. But that does not mean ideas cannot be borrowed. The whole 'compared to what?' argument falls down because it presupposes that the basic system remains the same ... a system which makes other models unworkable. The costs have to be calculated on the basis of nett gains and not just on the initial outlay. for instance if intervention puts more people in work then more tax is collected to pay for more intervention and so on. Hard evidence is all around. You just have to look and see injustice, anger, disgraceful poverty in the richest nation or earth (still)... if you don't think change is necessary then you are in denial.

Be cautious when doing this, caerphilly does it.

mind made cages burst just like child fried sausage skins best boy split bratwurst.

He was a Marxist briefly in his 20's and clearly didn't really understand the theory ... quickly dumped it when employed in government. Nothing he says demolishes anything ... especially when you see this is just Fox News propaganda anyway.

he'll make you howl... joker under bodhi tree freedom's such a laugh.

If anyone here wishes to liberate themselves from their money I can make a deposit account in my name available which will help them relieve the tension of holding on to cash.

"snark-thinly-veiled-as-pseudo-intellectualism" well said.

You see!!! Even a thread about how to improve the buddhist section turns into the same old stale debate. Maybe there is no hope.

In podcast 17 he says he has no realisation or accomplishment himself ... so he is not exactly an authority on this. However there is a difference between saying that if you attain the great perfection then all the practices and trappings of Buddhism are no longer relevant; to saying that Dzogchen (excluding Bon) is not a Buddhist path. It is just as Mahamudra is also. Taught and practiced by the great Buddhist masters.

Ah sorry to OP I was only aware of the vajrayana practice ... sutra Sanje Menla then ...

You need the initiation and the sadhana instructions.

Have you watched the video called Introduction to Dzogchen that someone posted by Norbu. He starts by talking about the 4 Noble Truths ... Buddhist Dzogchen is Buddhist.