Friday, March 30, 2012

Capitalism Hits the Fan


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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 13-14 -- March 30, 2012

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio program #213-214, April 3 & 10, 2012

Capitalism Hits the Fan:
A Talk by Richard Wolff

In brief

With clarity, force, and wit, economist Richard Wolff explains the 30-year-long process that got the US economy into its present crisis. He shows why there are no quick fixes--while suggesting (in Part 2) some practical actions that will improve the situation. Actions that nobody in Washington is proposing.

More fundamentally, we need to re-think our commitment to corporate capitalism, he argues.

Part 1 of his talk focuses on the factors most affecting workers: growing workforce, growing productivity, declining available jobs, stagnant pay, and--perhaps an inevitable consequence--growing consumer debt.

Part 2 focuses more on the CEOs and financiers--who managed to make a bad situation much worse. Part 2 includes also Wolff's practical suggestions for near-and long-term changes.

Richard Wolff

Some conclusions

Just as there are no easy fixes, Wolff concludes, so there are no dastardly villains--not even Wall Street. Wolff has written,

"Everybody did his or her part to contribute to the crisis. The bankers did what bankers do; the working people did what working people do. Everyone tried to make this system work for them. ...

"When a system has everybody playing more or less by the rules and achieves the level of dysfunction we have now, it’s time to stop looking for scapegoats and understand the problem is the system itself."


Notes, credits, & links

Wolff gave this guest-lecture at Brown University on December 2, 2009. I have condensed it for radio broadcast. A video of the entire presentation including introduction (1:45:00) can be found on YouTube.

More on & by Richard Wolff: http://rdwolff.com/

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "counter") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • April 17 & 24 -- Peak Oil, Peak Natural Gas, Peak Electricity--Why 'More of the Same' is Not an Option
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Power, Propaganda and the Silence of Writers


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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 12 -- March 25, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #212, March 27, 2012

Power, Propaganda and
the Silence of Writers


In brief

Independent journalist John Pilger exposes the hypocrisy of the news media--and how they further the aims of Established Power by producing a barrage of propaganda.

The examples he cites are striking. In Pilger's native Australia, the media have invented a child-prostitution scandal among Australia's indigenous people--thus furthering yet another land-grab by the government.

Then there's the press's "propaganda of silence": not reporting facts and stories that contradict the (often false) claims of the powerful.

UN weapons inspectors and all the major U.S. spy agencies report that they have found no evidence that Iran has a program to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has signed and is abiding by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Under the treaty, Iran has the right to enrich uranium to levels useful for power generation and medical research. Enriching it to the much-higher level needed to make bombs would require a huge increase in uranium imports and a huge increase in infrastructure--impossible to conceal.

Israel has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and possesses hundreds of nuclear weapons.

Don't look for any of these inconvenient facts on the front page of the New York Times--or from any other Establishment "news outlet."

John Pilger

Notes, credits, & links

Pilger gave this talk on August 23, 2008, at the Melbourne Writers Festival. I've condensed the talk for radio broadcast. A video of the entire presentation is here: http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/melbourne-writers-festival-john-pilger/ce8xBDNRwI04RdzibPvOjA

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "Freedom of Information Act") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • April 3 & 10 -- "Capitalism Hits the Fan," a lecture by economist Richard Wolff
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Sunday, March 18, 2012

How 'The System' Causes Addiction


To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 11 -- March 18, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #211, March 20, 2012

How 'The System' Causes Addiction
with Dr. Gabor Mate 


In brief

A good introduction to Dr. Gabor Mate's insights into addiction.

Mate (mah-TAY) shows that addiction is caused not by chemical substances but by the complex interaction of brain, experience, the environment (including society & the economy), and chemical substances. He argues that our stressful, exploitative economic system is a major factor causing addiction. Not just promoting addiction but causing it at the basic, biochemical level.

And since The System's "War on Drugs" does little good and much harm, could its real goals be more sinister than its professed goals?

Mate's insights come from both scientific research and his own clinical experience treating addicts in Vancouver's version of Skid Row.

Notes, credits, & links

Gabor Mate's most recent book is In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction.

This program replays parts of an interview with Mate (January 2010) by Mike McCormick, on Mind Over Matters, and parts of a speech Mate gave in Berkeley in November 2011 (courtesy of the National Radio Project and Making Contact). Many thanks to both sources.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "thumb") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • March 27 -- John Pilger: Power, Propaganda and the Silence of Writers
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, March 10, 2012

For-Profit Medicine


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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 10 -- March 10, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #210, March 13, 2012

For-Profit Medicine

Connecticut's new execution apparatus? Close, but no cigar. It's a CT scanner. The CT-scanning business is booming ... and, it turns out, a major cause of breast cancer.

In brief

This week, a brief first look at a very large subject: corporate-controlled, for-profit medicine.

We feature 2 interesting articles. One examines the booming business of diagnostic CT scans. Problem is, researchers have found that the biggest identifiable cause of breast cancer is ... CT scans.

The other article exposes the Susan G. Komen organization as a right-wing tool of Big Pharma. It's an outfit that has no interest in preventing breast cancer, and it turns a blind eye to the ways its corporate backers are causing breast cancer.

Plus remarks by Ralph Nader, Dr. Susan Rosenthal, and me.

While Connecticut's industries and businesses continue declining, downsizing, laying-off workers, and closing, one business is growing and getting richer: for-profit medicine. Here's the "topping off" ceremony for new medical offices outside Hartford.

Notes, credits, & links

I condensed and edited both articles for radio broadcast. The original texts are here: http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/12/26/the-leading-cause-of-breast-cancer/

and here: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/09/the-komen-con/ . Thanks to the authors and CounterPunch.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "table") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Above: Nancy G. Brinker: entrepreneuse, major GOP fundraiser, founder & head of the Susan G. Komen organization--and agent of Big Pharma? Detecting and treating cancer means money for her corporate sponsors. Preventing cancer does not.
Below: Answer: channel new customers to corporate sponsors such as General Electric and AstraZeneca.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • March 20 -- How "The System" Causes Addiction -- featuring Dr. Gabor Mate'
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Nader: The Government's Crimes Against the Constitution


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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 9 -- March 3, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #209, March 6, 2012

Nader: The Government's Crimes
Against the Constitution


In brief

In this hard-hitting talk at Harvard Law School, Ralph Nader indicts both Barack Obama and G.W. Bush for their (clearly impeachable) crimes against the U.S. Constitution and against the people of the United States.

And he denounces the needless suffering and deaths caused by government policies that place corporate profits above the welfare of the citizens.

On a positive note, Nader urges law students to be "first responders" in defense of our liberties.

Includes selected Q&A.

Nader spoke at Harvard Law School--his alma mater--on February 8, 2012. His talk was gently edited for radio by K.D.

Is that a noun or a verb? Let it be both, say we!

Notes, credits, & links

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "first floor") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Above: Ralph Nader and Bruce Fein--another good-guy activist lawyer--spoke at Harvard Law School on February 8. Nader received his law degree from Harvard in 1958, Fein in 1972.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • March 13 -- Corporate Medicine
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net
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Friday, March 2, 2012

The Art of the Rant


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New World Notes News
Vol. 5, No. 8 -- March 2, 2012

This week in New World Notes, radio program #208, February 28, 2012

The Art of the Rant


In brief

A celebration of that under-appreciated verbal art form, the rant. Good rants are extreme, impolite, impolitic, impassioned, publicly significant, ... and by and large true. We feature choice rants by Paddy Chayevsky (from the movie Network, 1976), George Carlin (1992), George Galloway (2006), and TeneBROUST (2009). Alas, all--even the oldest--are still cogent and very relevant!

Introduction & afterword by K.D.

Previously broadcast in July 2009.
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