Is capitalism enshrined in the U.S. constitution?

The USA Constitution doesn’t really endorse capitalism. It’s a description of the government, its branches, how it works, and a list of individual rights. 

I ran away from a communist dictatorship when I was 14, landed in a refugee camp in Europe, and had time to think and discuss the topic with a very diverse group of people over the years. 

Capitalism, socialism, communism, and other systems are not necessarily linked to democracy or dictatorship. Communism concentrates power, puts a smallish and very fanatic elite at the top, and therefore it ALWAYS creates the conditions for dictatorship. 

Capitalism, if allowed to function with monopolies, cartels, and corrupted government officials, can create the environment for oligarchy and autocratic rule. This is what we have seen in Latin America until democracy seemed to be gaining ground at the end of the 20th century. Capitalism is entrenched in the USA because it has worked extremely well. As far as I can see, it is also creating the conditions for oligarchy to emerge. I have doubts the system will correct itself unless the people focus more on electing honest politicians rather than so many bullshitters. 

On the other hand, communist systems self correct by imploding or moving into Neo fascism, or whatever you want to call that abomination the Chinese use. Overall capitalism is much better than communism. 

Links to my most popular funny stories from 2014

These are links to some of the most popular posts from 2014. I kept out material loaded with politics and global warming scientific papers I like to write. If you want to see the list and the links read on...

President Obombo opens relations with Cabo Caballo

Kumbasi -- President Patrice Obombo announced a successful prisoner exchange with Waziria´s neighbor, the slave island nation of Cabo Caballo, as well as the re-establishment  of diplomatic relations with the regime led by President Ernesto Kambo.  

Waziria´s President, Patrice  Obombo,  announces

 prisoner exchange  and renewal 

of diplomatic relations with  Cabo Caballo

President Obombo praised the heroism of Wazirian diplomats who traveled to Cabo Caballo to deliver three Cabo Caballo spies, and to recover two Wazirian citizens held by the Kambo regime, and also confirmed rumours that Wazirian diplomats would negotiate the end to hostilities, including the suspension of economic sanctions imposed by Waziria, which forbid trade between the two nations (the only exception being  Wazirian agricultural product sales to Cabo Caballo, as well as the transfer of $2 billion USD per year by Cabo Caballo refugees to their family members).

The president  reminded the Wazirian people that disagreements over Cabo Caballo policies,  between his administration and his political opponent, Senator Bala, could be papered over but would require gifts and perks for the Conservative  Bala faction in the Wazirian Senate. "Many of  them have signed up to support this initiative because they see a huge opportunity for Wazirian companies to profit " President Obombo  said speaking from Greystoke House.

President Obombo also addressed himself to the demands made by  Cabo Caballo refugees residing in Waziria.  These refugees,  designated by the Kambo forces in Cabo Caballo as “capitalist worms”,  moved by the millions into Waziria over the last six decades, and today hold significant political and economic power,  after acquiring Wazirian citizenship and buying up most of the businesses around Waziria´s second largest city, New Yolo.  

"We need to call them what they are, which is Wazirian and Cabo Caballo heroes," said the president, surrounded by loyal politicians and important businessmen representing the “Foreign Interests Investors´Fund” as he spoke in the Greystoke House Royals Room. "They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. However, they must accept that business comes before human rights.  Waziria´s business community and the more progressive factions in our “Change is Coming" party clamor for closer relations with the Cabo Caballo government enterprises. We trade with all sorts of dictatorships and human rights abusers around the world, so what´s the big deal about dealing with the Kambo regime? They aren´t Hamas, and that´s what counts.”

Global Warming 101 Short Course

I´ve been asked to comment on the “fact” that college educated Republicans tend to be “climate deniers” who ignore “facts” as expressed by “the scientific consensus”. This short course is a comment on this point, with emphasis on teaching the reader about something called "data". 

This short course is intended to clarify some points

The request included a link to “The Ugly Delusions of the Educated Conservative” by Chris Mooney  in  Salon.com (see link below).  The article subtitle:

“Better-educated Republicans are more likely to doubt global warming and believe Obama's a Muslim. Here's why”.

I´m not “Conservative”, nor “Republican”. And I´m not a Democrat either. This makes me an excellent arbiter when it comes to their cat fights. In this short course I will ignore the remark about President Obama being a Muslim (he´s probably agnostic like me and faked being Christian to get elected).

Quoting from the article:

..”the rapidly growing social scientific literature on the resistance to global warming (see for examples here and here) says so pretty unequivocally. Again and again, Republicans or conservatives who say they know more about the topic, or are more educated, are shown to be more in denial, and often more sure of themselves as well—and are confident they don’t need any more information on the issue.”

The first here in this paragraph goes to a Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire website. It doesn´t show anything related to global warming, climate change, or related subjects. The Second here goes to a paper by Malka et al 2009, “The Association of Knowledge with Concern About Global Warming: Trusted Information Sources Shape Public Thinking” (see link below). The Malka et al paper has a flaw: it´s based on population surveys, and these were limited to asking people about “climate change”. Most of it is garbage and it doesn´t back anything. 

The Lima Global Warming Conference has ended

The UN´s Global Warming conference, held in Lima, issued a very weak resolution. Summarizing, they couldn´t come to an agreement, and postponed further action until after the Christmas holidays. The media has articles which range from ho hum to victory chants meant to disguise this failure. The conference opened with a very moving speech by Ban Ki Moon about Global Warming...

Ban Ki Moon BSing and asking for ´

$100 billion a year at the Lima conference

Yahoo News wrote this about the opening speech: 

Ban said there was still a chance of limiting global warming to an internationally agreed ceiling of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times to help avert floods, droughts, desertification and rising sea levels.

"But the window of opportunity is fast narrowing," he told delegates from about 190 nations at the Dec. 1-12 talks working on a deal, due in Paris in a year's time, to limit rising world greenhouse gas emissions.

"This is not a time for tinkering; it is a time for transformation," he said.

Ban urged developed nations to "meet and exceed" a wider goal set in 2009 of mobilizing at least $100 billion a year, in both public and private finance, by 2020 to help developing nations.

Uhu, so this is mainly about moving a lot of  cash from A to B. 

Communist versus capitalist cavemen, a story.

The left is understood to be oblivious to fundamental physics (and economics).  This tale is intended as a brief, simple lesson to explain why communism doesn't work:

Two Paleolithic hunter clans live close to each other  in what today is known as the Neander valley. Their respective leaders.  Grok and Hunk, have cave-comunes.

Cavemen discussing politics

Grok, capitalist by nature, has his hunters spend all their efforts hunting for meat, limit their hunting expeditions to no more than two days' march because the energy spent dragging a dead deer back to the cave exceeds the energy they will get from the meat.

Hunk, on the other hand, is a proto Marxist caveman, doesn't get the idea, and allows his men to hunt up to four days away.

Over time, Grok's clan grows healthier and their children are bigger. Hunk's people, on the other hand are skinny, their children are runts.

Hunk, being a proto Marxist,  starts organizing auto criticism sessions, to have hunters reveal their failure to return with as much meat as needed. He also prepares a five year plan which requires 5 %/year increase in meat catch and a reward system to have a "hunter of the year", whose prize is a cap with red feathers.

The plan fails, and hunters try to abandon Hunk's cave to move to Grok's clan. This forces him to assign 5%  of the clan population to serve as snoops and guard their borders to prevent escapes. The plan fails when the two largest hunters manage to get away with their families, and the remaining hunters kill Hunk, and replace him with Orc, a proto capitalist like Grok.