Legal breakdown

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Too busy getting a Ph.D. ... and stuff.

A re-post from Facebook:

Supreme Court Rules Drug Companies Exempt from Lawsuits in 5-4 Vote - Waking Times

Of course, free markets and capitalism are to blame for this, not the corrupt legal system of this country.

This is the same situation as with the environmental pollution 100-150 years ago, when the courts sided with large companies (owners of industrial plants, railroads, etc.) in lawsuits brought against the latter by their smaller neighbors. Fast-forward 100 years, and suddenly everyone is environment-conscious and blaming capitalism, free markets, deregulation, profit, and freedom for the environment being messed up... and of course calling for more government!

But what happened then and what is happening now is not "market failure", but a dysfunction within the state-operated monopolized legal system. One single function that the government is theoretically supposed to do — protect people's rights — it has failed at again and again. And everyone, from the right and from the left, is calling for more government in those areas where it's not supposed to be involved at all, when the only solution is more privatization: including that of the legal system!

And, unsurprisingly, the neocon "justices" voted for the corporatist outcome. The two parties in this country are not liberals vs. conservatives. These terms made some sense in the 19th-century UK, but not the US today (Hayek discusses this quite well in his essay "Why I Am Not a Conservative".) Today it's socialists vs. fascists. Pick your poison.

Time magazine men of the year: a collage

(Joseph Stalin, y"sh  — twice)


(Adolph Hitler, y"sh)


(Wow, that's an unflattering painting. Anyway: John F. Kennedy)


(Vladimir Putin — with some barrel distortion)


(Barack Obama)

And now... drum roll...


(Ben Bernanke, Mr. “We screwed up your economy, but it could’ve been much worse”)

By the way: that picture of Obama above? I always wondered what it reminded me of.



I rather prefer William Wallace’s haircut, though.

Police state — reportage from Russia

People of Vladivostok, Russia are protesting against tariffs that would make foreign cars twice expensive and “protect” national car industry. Sounds familiar?

Of course, US government is not as advanced in its methods:



See also this video.

It seems Japanese cars are an international threat to national rubbish produced locally — in the US or across the ocean(s).