"In an effort to bring the best to the system, I am co-chairing a new international group, the Henry Jackson Initiative For Inclusive Capitalism that is trying to showcase several immediate and permanent solutions from the private sector.
In our first working paper, available at henryjacksoninitiative.org, we have highlighted several private sector efforts to improve education, support small and medium businesses and to bring back a bedrock sense of ethics and civics.
Typical middle-class American girl, huh? Yeah. Right. She makes my skin crawl, and perusing her website put the tiny hairs up on the back of my neck.
I don’t want to destroy the system. I want to balance the freedom that has brought me a wonderful life with personal responsibility. That is the only way to save capitalism for the sake of a future generation of girls who have dreams."
Here's the linky-poo to the Henry Jackson Initiative place referenced in the article. And who exactly is this Henry Jackson fellow anyway? I dunno.
The whole thing is creepy.
She may be tooting her own horn a bit too loudly but what is so wrong with her program Lady Red?
ReplyDeleteRe the Henry Jackson initiative, I've no idea what that is, but I wonder if it's connected to the Henry Jackson Society. (It's not mentioned on their website). That is a kind of British neocon think-tank, which IMO does excellent work and are very pro-Israel. The Director of International Affairs is Robin Shepherd who runs the UK blog The Commentator - worth a regular read.
I don't know why I found it so creepy annie, but I did!
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely look into more now though; I like that they're a pro-Israel group. Thanks for the info! :)
I totally get the "creepy" vibe.
DeleteShe is working to consolidate the power of the ultra-wealthy. Nothing more. They see a potential insurgency - OWS - and they aim to insinuate themselves into the leadership of that insurgency.
She also slyly conflates real crime (Madoff, LIBOR - don't even get me started on LIBOR) with issues like CEO pay. Look at the subtext here: Unfairness is crime. Inequality is crime. If someone makes 100x the pay of someone else, then, prima facie, they are criminals.
This is the rhetorical device of a very disingenuous person.
When someone says "I don't want to destroy the system" you cab bet they want to destroy the system.
The billionaire banker is, with some exceptions, not the friend of the entrepreneur or the talented. Demographic and financial realities are going to constrain the economic growth of the developed world for some time. Financial and political instability constitute potential threats to established wealth. The pie is not getting larger, so it's time to grab what slices exist. Will the billionaires co-opt the state and civil society to retain and extend their control? You betcha.
That said, Lynn Forester de Rothschild may be a fine and sincere woman, but she does give a creepy vibe, and that perception isn't unreasonable.
I don't know. Perhaps her intentions are excellent, but until see a lot more than just a policy statement, I will have to think this is just another 'listen to your betters' type of program.
ReplyDeleteOK, the other pages on the site are giving me no more real information.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Henry Jackson they mean is 'Scoop' Jackson, a long-term Dem Congressman & Senator from back when the Dems were still a pro-American political party?
If so, it is an interesting choice of names.
I was wondering about that Henry Jackson as well.
DeleteScoop Jackson? *light bulb going to 150 watt* Yep, I think you fellows are correct.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give my 2 cents before reading any comments so I won't be influenced!
ReplyDeleteI didn't see anything wrong with her ideas, lady red. Sounds like she is a self-made woman and wants the same for others. Did you mean by "her website" the Mail article?
Henry "Scoop" Jackson was a wonderful long-time moderate Democrat senator from our state. He knew how to get things done and work with the other side. I believe he is very fondly remembered by both parties in my state.
Anyway, until I hear more about the project, I really pretty much agree with their goals (they're all for capitalism and so am I! :-). I didn't read much from the second link, however, so I may have to eat my words...
Hmmmm, I'm eating my words after reading lewy's and DWT's comments! That's what I get for trying to read something serious while I watch the Olympics!
ReplyDeleteI take it all back, lady red, it's creepy.
Hey flo, I went on a bit of a rant. To tell you the truth I haven't looked at all at the actual content on the Henry Jackson Initiative.
DeleteI'll freely admit I have a bias. I'd like nothing more than to be wrong about Ms Rothschild.
I do stand by my observations about her use of language; she doesn't strike me as "liberty friendly". I could be wrong.
One billionaire in particular I no longer trust is Warren Buffett. He made a lot of money front running TARP - which saved his bacon on a bunch of derivatives deals he'd done. (Oh yeah, he declared derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction". Nice populist rhetoric. He of course plays by his own rules; the rules he espouses in public are for the rest of us). Then he manufactures a bunch of propaganda about his secretary's taxes in order to provide air cover for Obama raising taxes on the "ultra wealthy" (people making more than $250K). Awesome.
On the other side, one billionaire I like is Peter Thiel, who was a co-founder of PayPal. Very liberty minded guy.
What about Mitt?
While I believe he'd be way better than the current occupant of the Whitehouse, I do believe that he's deaf to certain kinds of criticism of the current financial system, and I don't expect him to change much on that score.
Thanks, lewy. I always appreciate hearing your take on things - especially economics.
ReplyDelete