«Madmen in Authority Who Hear Voices…»

«The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who are influenced by new theories after they are twenty-five or thirty years of age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil».

J. M. KEYNES: «The General Theory of Unemployment, 1936»

Old German Jokes

«During a native rebellion in German East Africa, the Imperial Ministry in Berlin issued the following order to its representatives on the ground: “The natives are to be instructed that on pain of harsh penalties, every rebellion must be announced, in writing, six weeks before it breaks out».
…
«After the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg visited Frankfurt am Main. He stopped in front of a building he didn’t know and asked what it was. “That’s St. Paul’s Cathedral,” someone explained. With characteristic modesty, Hindenburg replied: “Oh, you shouldn’t have bothered, I’m just here for a few days.”
…
«Who would be saved if the Kaiser, the Chancellor, and their generals all capsized while on a voyage at sea? Germany».
…
«Hitler visits a lunatic asylum, where the patients all dutifully perform the German salute. Suddenly, Hitler sees one man whose arm is not raised. “Why don’t you greet me the same way as everyone else,” he hisses. The man answers: “My Führer, I’m an orderly, not a madman!”»

«Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler’s Germany»

Revolution

«The actual term “revolution” had been used since the Middle Ages to indicate the cyclical movement of celestial bodies around the Earth and, from the work of Copernicus and Galileo onward, that of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. It was in this sense of returning to a starting point that the term began to incorporate the traditional notion of the cycle of constitutions, inherited by the Renaissance from the ancient Greeks. Not coincidentally, this usage first appears in the Italian city-states, which not only saw the first revival of Arab astrological practices in Europe but also had a tradition of popular insurgency that led to the regular overthrow of communal governments. The insurrections against the oligarchy of Siena in 1355 and the risings for and against the Medici of Florence in 1494, 1512, and 1527 were all described by contemporaries as “revolutions” in this sense. But by the later sixteenth century the term enters more widespread use: the essayist Montaigne used it in relation to the French Wars of Religion in his 1595 essay “Of the Education and Institution of Children”;»

«How Revolutionary Were Bourgeois Revolutions»

Τα πλοία

«Θλιβερόν, θλιβερόν είναι άλλο πράγμα. Eίναι όταν περνούν κάτι πελώρια πλοία, με κοράλλινα κοσμήματα και ιστούς εξ εβένου, με αναπεπταμένας μεγάλας σημαίας λευκάς και ερυθράς, γεμάτα με θησαυρούς, τα οποία ούτε πλησιάζουν καν εις τον λιμένα είτε διότι όλα τα είδη τα οποία φέρουν είναι απηγορευμένα, είτε διότι δεν έχει ο λιμήν αρκετόν βάθος δια να τα δεχθή. Kαι εξακολουθούν τον δρόμον των. Oύριος άνεμος πνέει επί των μεταξωτών των ιστίων, ο ήλιος υαλίζει την δόξαν της χρυσής των πρώρας, και απομακρύνονται ηρέμως και μεγαλοπρεπώς, απομακρύνονται δια παντός από ημάς και από τον στενόχωρον λιμένα μας.
Eυτυχώς είναι πολύ σπάνια αυτά τα πλοία. Mόλις δύο, τρία βλέπομεν καθ’ όλον μας τον βίον. Tα λησμονώμεν δε ογρήγορα. Όσω λαμπρά ήτο η οπτασία, τόσω ταχεία είναι η λήθη της».

Κ. Π. Καβάφης: «Τα πλοία»

A Greek Actor and one Charles Marx

«When the SS City of Boulogne sailed into Dover on 27 August 1849 its captain notified the Home Office of ‘all Aliens who are now on board my said ship’, as required by law: they included a Greek actor, a French gentleman, a Polish professor and one Charles Marx, who gave his profession as ‘Dr’.»

Francis Wheen: «Karl Marx»

«The First Duty of the Press»

«I prefer to follow the great events of the world, to analyse the course of history, than to occupy myself with local bosses, with the police and prosecuting magistrates. However great these gentlemen may imagine themselves in their own fancy, they are nothing, absolutely nothing, in the gigantic battles of the present time. I consider we are making a real sacrifice when we decide to break a lance with these opponents. But, firstly, it is the duty of the press to come forward on behalf of the oppressed in its immediate neighbourhood … The first duty of the press now is to undermine all the foundations of the existing political state of affairs.»

Αναφέρεται στο «Karl Marx» του Francis Wheen

Offshore System

«Offshore connects the criminal underworld with financial elites and binds them together with multinational corporations and the diplomatic and intelligence establishments. Offshore drives conflict, shapes our perceptions, creates financial instability, and delivers staggering rewards to les grands, the people who matter. Offshore is how the world of power now works. This is what I want to show you. The offshore system is the greatest fault line in our globalized world.

An impression has been created in sections of the world’s media, since a series of stirring denunciations of tax havens by world leaders in 2008 and 2009, that the offshore system has been dismantled or at least suitably tamed. As we shall see, exactly the opposite has happened. The offshore system is in robust health—and growing fast»

N. Shaxson: «Treasure Islands»

Δημόσιοι Υπάλληλοι με το Στανιό

«First, in keeping with the Leninist redefinition of ‘socialism’ as a matter of ownership rather than social relations, the state expropriated large-scale firms in service, commerce and industry, where these were not already in public hands. Next, the state took over, taxed or squeezed out of business all firms employing more than fifty people. In Czechoslovakia, by December 1948, there were hardly any private businesses left with more than 20 employees. By that same date 83 percent of Hungarian industry was in state hands, 84 percent of Polish industry, 85 percent of Romanian industry and fully 98 percent of Bulgarian industry.
One of the means at hand for eliminating the property-owning middle class in eastern Europe was currency reform. This was an effective device for destroying the cash savings of peasants and businessmen alike, an updating of older exactions like the forced capital levy. In Romania it was undertaken twice, in August 1947 (when it had the legitimate objective of ending hyperinflation) and in January 1952, when peasants who had built up savings over the previous four years (there was little for them to spend their money on) saw them wiped out.»

Tony Judt: «Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945»

Moral Lessons and The Nature

«The humanist Sir Julian Huxley, who defended Darwin’s theses at Oxford, used to say that we cannot learn moral lessons from nature, because nature is totally ‘amoral’. In one of his debates, he stated: if we take nature before the court of ethics, it will be condemned, since it is morally indifferent. Therefore, the progress and peace of human society depend precisely on not imitating, in human relations, the Darwinian laws of natural selection. As an antidote, Huxley proposed that instead of violent imposition and competitive destruction, we should exercise the principles of self-control and benefit from the help of our fellow men. For this humanist, our ethical concern should be directed not towards the survival of the fittest, but towards making fit the greatest number possible, so that they may survive».

«The Myth of Development»

Τι δεν μας λένε για την περιουσία του πλουσιότερου ανθρώπου στον κόσμο

«In Mexico, Carlos Slim did not make his money by innovation. Initially he excelled in stock market deals, and in buying and revamping unprofitable firms. His major coup was the acquisition of Telmex, the Mexican telecommunications monopoly that was privatized by President Carlos Salinas in 1990. The government announced its intention to sell 51 percent of the voting stock (20.4 percent of total stock) in the company in September 1989 and received bids in November 1990. Even though Slim did not put in the highest bid, a consortium led by his Grupo Corso won the auction. Instead of paying for the shares right away, Slim managed to delay payment, using the dividends of Telmex itself to pay for the stock. What was once a public monopoly now became Slim’s monopoly, and it was hugely profitable.

The economic institutions that made Carlos Slim who he is are very different from those in the United States. If you’re a Mexican entrepreneur, entry barriers will play a crucial role at every stage of your career. These barriers include expensive licenses you have to obtain, red tape you have to cut through, politicians and incumbents who will stand in your way, and the difficulty of getting funding from a financial sector often in cahoots with the incumbents you’re trying to compete against. These barriers can be either insurmountable, keeping you out of lucrative areas, or your greatest friend, keeping your competitors at bay. The difference between the two scenarios is of course whom you know and whom you can influence— and yes, whom you can bribe.

Carlos Slim, a talented, ambitious man from a relatively modest background of Lebanese immigrants, has been a master at obtaining exclusive contracts; he managed to monopolize the lucrative telecommunications market in Mexico, and then to extend his reach to the rest of Latin America».

D. Acemoglu, J. Robinson: «Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty»

Διαβάστε εδώ το σημερινό δημοσίευμα του Bloomberg για το πως πήγαν το 2012 οι πλουσιότεροι άνθρωποι του κόσμου, με πρώτον τον Slim