How Wealth Reduces Compassion ANNOTATED NEWS, ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, BATTLE OF COMMUNICATIONS, PLUTOCRATS Comments Off Apr 262012 As riches grow, empathy for others seems to decline By Daisy Grewal, Scientific AmericanThank you, SA Who is more likely to lie, cheat, and steal—the poor person or the rich one? It’s temping to think that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to act fairly. After all, if you already have enough for yourself, it’s easier to think about what others may need. But research suggests the opposite is true: as people climb the social ladder, their compassionate feelings towards other people decline. Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
China’s Rise, America’s Fall ANNOTATED NEWS, ASSHOLES, BASTARDS & CRIMINALS, BATTLE OF COMMUNICATIONS, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, CHINA, CLASS STRUGGLE Comments Off Apr 262012 Editor’s Note: It’s not usual for us to find a great deal to agree with in an article in a conservative publication, but nothing is absolute, everything admits exceptions, and here’s one, a piece whose chief points seem to us to be soundly argued and well grounded in the contemporary reality we all inhabit (but which many refuse to accept). Ron Unz, who serves as The American Conservative’s publisher, sketches a landscape in which our conceits about democracy and inherent cultural (not to mention economic) superiority are severely questioned. It’s a damn thought-provoking piece, to say the least. Some of the comments, as usual, proclaim the nonsense usually disseminated by libertarians and true believers in capitalism, so take those with the lump of salt they require. They’re here to illustrate reaction to a piece like this by conservatives themselves. It’s all an education, fellas. Keep your shirts on.—Eds Which superpower is more threatened by its “extractive elites”? By Ron Unz | April 18, 2012 The rise of China surely ranks among the most important world developments of the last 100 years. With America still trapped in its fifth year of economic hardship, and the Chinese economy poised to surpass our own before the end of this decade, China looms very large on the horizon. We are living in the early years of what journalists once dubbed “The Pacific Century,” yet there are worrisome signs it may instead become known as “The Chinese Century.” But does the Chinese giant have feet of clay? In a recently published book, Why Nations Fail, economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson characterize China’s ruling elites as “extractive”—parasitic and corrupt—and predict that Chinese economic growth will soon falter and decline, while America’s “inclusive” governing institutions have taken us from strength to strength. They argue that a country governed as a one-party state, without the free media or checks and balances of our own democratic system, cannot long prosper in the modern world. The glowing tributes this book has received from a vast array of America’s most prominent public intellectuals, including six Nobel laureates in economics, testifies to the widespread popularity of this optimistic message. Yet do the facts about China and America really warrant this conclusion? Continue reading » Did you like this? Share it:
