Commentary and analysis on American politics, culture, and national identity, U.S. foreign policy and international relations, and the state of education
- from a neoconservative perspective! - Keeping an eye on the communist-left so you don't have to!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Daniel Ellsberg Joins Occupy!
Ellsberg makes some interesting comparisons to the Vietnam era. All the same, he's a blame-America commie. Unreal sometimes how these people think. I mean, what is the Utopian alternative?
Our esteemed host asked, "I mean, what is the Utopian alternative?"
Sorry, Dr Douglas, but your question assumes that they really have some sort of answer in mind, but I see no evidence that they have any real, concrete ideas about what ought to come after the revolution other than something different from today.
Capitalism has been the sole economic system to lift more than a tiny fraction (meaning: the people with military power) above the subsistence level, but, in the capitalist system's function of enabling some people to be winners, it leaves open the fact that some people will be losers. And the losers do not like the fact that they are losers.
According to the latest BLS statistics, only 4.4% of college graduates (BA/BS or above, not Associate's degrees) are unemployed, yet the Occupiers are largely college graduates who are unable to find jobs. When the vast majority of college graduates have been successful, it seems reasonable to ask: what sets these particular college graduates apart, that they are the ones who can't find jobs? Some are hampered by the fact that the job market is tough, and the classes before them got many of the jobs -- see Gretchen's story about what two grads who couldn't find jobs in their fields did -- but when I see a group of unkempt, visually tattooed, facially pierced kids protesting that they can't find jobs, I really don't wonder why they can't find jobs; I know why.
Our esteemed host asked, "I mean, what is the Utopian alternative?"
ReplyDeleteSorry, Dr Douglas, but your question assumes that they really have some sort of answer in mind, but I see no evidence that they have any real, concrete ideas about what ought to come after the revolution other than something different from today.
Capitalism has been the sole economic system to lift more than a tiny fraction (meaning: the people with military power) above the subsistence level, but, in the capitalist system's function of enabling some people to be winners, it leaves open the fact that some people will be losers. And the losers do not like the fact that they are losers.
According to the latest BLS statistics, only 4.4% of college graduates (BA/BS or above, not Associate's degrees) are unemployed, yet the Occupiers are largely college graduates who are unable to find jobs. When the vast majority of college graduates have been successful, it seems reasonable to ask: what sets these particular college graduates apart, that they are the ones who can't find jobs? Some are hampered by the fact that the job market is tough, and the classes before them got many of the jobs -- see Gretchen's story about what two grads who couldn't find jobs in their fields did -- but when I see a group of unkempt, visually tattooed, facially pierced kids protesting that they can't find jobs, I really don't wonder why they can't find jobs; I know why.