Staunton Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 I'm essentially very conservative. I value education, and I'm careful with money – I save for the future, pay off my debts promptly and generally adhere to the goods of family, friends and tradition. I mention this as a 'way in', a preamble to my argument below. I could start with 11 September 1973 when Augusto Pinochet, with the support of a number of US agencies and institutions, took control of Chile. I could go back earlier to US president Richard Nixon's going off gold in 1971, or right back to President Woodrow Wilson's Great War adventure. But, if you don't mind too much, I think I'll start with me! My ambition in this thread is to reveal something of the nature of neoliberalism. And in doing so I shall be addressing themes that are far too difficult for people on sheffieldforum to understand! Or at least that's what the economic masters of the neoliberal project would like us to think. But thankfully it's entirely untrue! Their next line is to make sure we are very, very bored if we do try to make sense of their arcane world. Bonds, derivatives, subprime, FICO scores, Consolidated Debt Obligations, tranches, ratings, Credit Default Swaps, short and long investment. Yawn, it all sounds tedious – well that's the plan. They want us to go back to sleep. What the economists and fixers really want is for us to just go away and leave them alone! So, let's not! Now, back to me!, particularly my being conservative of habit. Well as far as my credit card supplier is concerned, that's very bad news indeed. In fact they hate me! Why? Well simply because I'm a careful, prudent sort. And that's no good for the financial sector. In fact it's so bad that they have a name for me – they call me a 'deadbeat'. Surely that's upside down – isn't deadbeat a US term for someone who's poor? Well, yes it is. And am I poor? No, I'm not. But to the credit sector this term means something else entirely, it signifies 'someone you can't make money from'. It means someone who settles their monthly bill before any interest becomes chargeable. They want me and you in debt to them, and the more in debt the better, because they just love all that interest we'd have to pay them. So. Here's the first contradiction – finance hates conservatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 (edited) The so called Conservative party has actually conserved nothing over the past 50 years. Britains institutions are being picked apart. National assets sold off to the highest (invariably foreign) bidder. The union itself is at risk of breaking up. The armed forces is the smallest it has been in generations. We're a society that is based on debt rather than saving. we are becoming a nation of shelf stackers as the manufacturing base is virtually gone. We are becoming a renting society as fewer and fewer people are able to own their own home, and immigration is in the hundreds of thousands net every year. Edited June 18, 2017 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 There's a lot of me and I in your post which is all I need to tell me that you are indeed a Conservative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delayed Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 There's a lot of me and I in your post which is all I need to tell me that you are indeed a Conservative. And the fact that it was the very first thing he said.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 There's a lot of me and I in your post which is all I need to tell me that you are indeed a Conservative. And the fact that it was the very first thing he said.... "I" and "me" are pronouns that you can't really avoid using when talking about ones own point of view on things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apelike Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 There's a lot of me and I in your post which is all I need to tell me that you are indeed a Conservative. Or maybe its just from a first person perspective.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melthebell Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 apparently its harder to come out as tory than bisexual http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/changing_my_vote When 18-year-old Megan McGowan told her family she was a Conservative, it was much harder than when she came out as bisexual. Megan’s parents had been completely fine with her sexual orientation. Her mother, Linda, sent her a text: “Your father and I would never judge you, or anything you do. Unless you become a Tory or a mass murderer. Well, even then we probably wouldn't judge you.” A year later, when she broke the news of her political sympathies to Linda, Megan remembered that "probably". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 And the fact that it was the very first thing he said.... No he didn't, please read the op again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutch Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 (edited) When you need the word "why" and a philosophical explanation why it sounds like you are stuck in thoughts and thinking without really understanding the situation. If you are conservative that's fine, if you are not that is also fine. Just like you are a man or women who doesn't need to go into an explanation of why I am a man or why I am a woman. You don't need to think about it, you simply are. Politics is all in the head, mind, fantasy and the only way out is to drop the why and simply go with the gut feeling inside rather than follow a load of thoughts and arguments. It would be better to flip a coin over what party to support than to start getting all worked up in reasons, for and against, why, the I this and I that aspects. If you want to be free, free yourself of all that keeps you stuck in that mind and go for whatever party you want to. If you don't know, leave it but if you have to convince yourself with a list of reasons you will miss yourself. Go and look deeper who is this person trying to convince themselves and others, is it really you? Politics and organised religion have been closely connected for a long time, now politics is becoming a new religion people believe in. It is just as futile no matter what party you go for. It is futile, all the pushing and pulling, ambitions, habits, keep you away from your inner center that is far more beautiful and totally free from economics and politics. Edited June 18, 2017 by dutch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickey finn Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 When you need the word "why" and a philosophical explanation why it sounds like you are stuck in thoughts and thinking without really understanding the situation. If you are conservative that's fine, if you are not that is also fine. Just like you are a man or women who doesn't need to go into an explanation of why I am a man or why I am a woman. You don't need to think about it, you simply are. Politics is all in the head, mind, fantasy and the only way out is to drop the why and simply go with the gut feeling inside rather than follow a load of thoughts and arguments. It would be better to flip a coin over what party to support than to start getting all worked up in reasons, for and against, why, the I this and I that aspects. If you want to be free, free yourself of all that keeps you stuck in that mind and go for whatever party you want to. If you don't know, leave it but if you have to convince yourself with a list of reasons you will miss yourself. Go and look deeper who is this person trying to convince themselves and others, is it really you? Politics and organised religion have been closely connected for a long time, now politics is becoming a new religion people believe in. It is just as futile no matter what party you go for. It is futile, all the pushing and pulling, ambitions, habits, keep you away from your inner center that is far more beautiful and totally free from economics and politics. Oh dear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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