Showing posts with label capitalism is a hell of an ism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capitalism is a hell of an ism. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Capitalism and Objectivification

Wow!  Even by the amazing low standards of Sociology, this is bad.  

Socialism and communism literally objectify the individual, who exists only as a means of advancing the interests of the state.  There is no individual, and no valid reason for people to have rights, separate from their membership in and contributions to the state.  Capitalism, according to Marx, objectifies LABOR, but in a voluntary exchange the only way to get labor is to pay the person.  The labor, and in fact the bodies, of citizens are entirely owned by the state under collectivism.

So, as usual, the goofballs of the left have it backwards:  Capitalism celebrates the individual, and collectivism destroys the individual.


The love of money results in objectification
Xijing Wang & Eva Krumhuber
British Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming

Abstract: Objectification, which refers to the treatment of others as objectlike things, has long been observed in capitalism. While the negative impact of money on interpersonal harmony has been well documented, the social cognitive processes that underlie them are relatively unknown. Across four studies, we explored whether the love of money leads to objectification, while controlling for social power and status. In Study 1, the love and importance attached to money positively predicted the tendency to construe social relationships based on instrumentality. In Study 2, the likelihood to favour a target of instrumental use was increased by momentarily activating an affective state of being rich. Temporarily heightening the motivation for money further resulted in deprivation of mental capacities of irrelevant others, including humans (Study 3) and animals (Study 4). This lack of perceived mental states partially mediated the effects of money on subsequent immoral behaviour (Study 4). The findings are the first to reveal the role of objectification as a potential social cognitive mechanism for explaining why money often harms interpersonal harmony.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Why I am on Facebook

Sure the cat vs. cucumber videos are awesome, but check out my Facebook feed this morning.





Epic and wonderful. Thanks Dan and Jason (and WW too!).

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

your aging rap star round up

1. Dr. Dre is in dutch with Jacque Rogge and the IOC for giving away free headphones to Olympic athletes without giving the IOC a taste.


2. Snoop Dogg is banned from Norway for two years! For possession of weed! Really! Unlike his ban from the UK, which he fought and got reversed, He will not be filing an appeal, "his lawyer said. "[Snoop] can live with the decision."" Actually Snoop got hassled in Norway last year for bringing in "too much money". I don't get it, if he can't bring money to buy weed and he can't bring weed, what the hell is he supposed to do?

3. Gore Vidal is dead.


Friday, January 27, 2012

Ok, now vinyl is no longer cool

Why?

Because Target now sells turntables!

Really.

Ouch.

But I bet they won't carry this turntable:





More info is here, and no I don't own a piece of the company nor was I solicited to write about them, nor given any inducement to write about them. At KPC, we KIR (keep it real).









Saturday, December 10, 2011

Now THAT's A Superstore

An exercise in imperfect capital markets. A classic article.

In a system with perfect capital markets, you would be able to borrow against a highly certain future return. A slight discount for risk, perhaps, but if we are talking about a term of a week or so that should be no problem.

Well, this lady decided that she could not borrow against the future earnings to be gained from selling the meth she was going to make. She had a cash flow problem, lack of $$ to buy the meth makin's.

But this woman was an American. From Oklahoma. No barriers like imperfect capital markets were going to hold HER back.

(Gotta like how the news reporter starts out by saying she is speechless, and then jabbers for several minutes).

Point is that our lady went to Wal-Mart, stole the stuff she needed to make the meth, and started cooking it up right there in the store. Yes, she did. Really. You can read about it.

Clearly an example of market failure. P-Kroog will likely want an investigation, a commission, and a new federal agency to ensure that the poor have better access to capital markets. To be fair, the bed-wetters may have a point: THIS loan likely would have been paid back, unlike the crap loans Barney Frank and Mel Watt forced the banking system to make on housing.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Friday, September 02, 2011

Markets in everything: earthmover edition

In the shadow of the Vegas strip, you can pay $400, get 10 minutes of instruction, and then get turned loose to operate earth-moving equipment in a vacant lot.

Really.

The company is called Dig This. Their website is here. The AP story is here. Sharon Zukin could not be reached for comment.