From the Pen of Adam Smith Vol. 1

Due to NaNoWriMo (and its textbook like qualities), I decided to split up my reading of On the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith's definitive work on capitalism.

So here are a cropping of quotes of Book 1: Of the causes of Improvement in the productive powers of labour, and of the Order according to which its Produce is naturally distributed among the different Ranks of the People.

Is this improvement in the circumstances of the lower ranks of the people to be regarded as an advantage or as an inconveniency to the society? The answer seems at first sight abundantly plain. Servants, labourers and workmen of different kinds, make up the far greater part of every great political society. But what improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconveniency to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, cloath, and lodge the whole body of people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, cloathed, and lodged.
p.110-111

In reality high profits tend much more to raise the price of work than high wages ... In raising the price of commodities the rise of wages operates in the same manner as simple interest does in the accumulation of debt. The rise of profit operates like compound interest. Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effect of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.
p. 136-137

The pretence that corporations are necessary for the better government of trade, is without any foundation. The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman, is not that of his corporation, but that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his fraud and corrects his negligence. An exclusive corporation necessarily weakens the force of this discipline.
p.178

But the rate of profit does not, like rent and wages, rise with the prosperity, and fall with the declension, of the society. On the contrary, it is naturally low in rich, and high in poor countries, and it is always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin.
p.338

The interest of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public. To widen the market and to narrow the competition, is always the interest of the dealers. To widen the market may frequently be agreeable enough to the interest of the public; but to narrow the competition must always be against it, and can serve only to enable the dealers, by raising their profits above what they naturally would be, to levy, for their own benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow citizens. The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adapted til after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.
p. 339

The Truth about ACORN and Voter Fraud

Before we have any discussion about voter fraud, we need to clarify the difference between voter registration fraud and voter fraud.

Voter Registration Fraud is when Mickey Mouse registers to vote. For this to be an issue at all, a fake voter registration form needs to be turned in (actually, it's legally required that is turned in) then election officials need to someone how not realize that Mickey Mouse isn't a real person and then someone who claims to be Mickey Mouse needs to show up and actually vote. Oh and this would need to happen hundreds of thousands of times to have any affect on an election.

Vote Fraud on the other hand is when someone who isn't allowed to vote for whatever reason actually does vote.

ACORN "committed" voter registration fraud ... sort of. ACORN, like most organizations that register voters or petition, often pays people by the signature/registration form. Obviously, there will be unethical people that turn in bogus papers to get paid. (Incidentally, this is the reason that petitions often have a goal of double the number of signatures they actually need). In the incidence that has beeen highlighted this campaign season, ACORN itself was the one who pointed out the phony forms to the state. They are legally required to turn in the forms anyway. Let me repeat: ACORN told the state the forms were fault and followed through on their legal obligation to turn in the forms.

Here's a video with more info: The Truth About ACORN.

But there is another kind of activity that limits people's right to vote: Voter Suppression. There are many tactics that are used to suppress voters: purge lists, "challenging" voters, provisional ballots, intimidation, and whatever else the Republican party comes up with. The Republican party has been engaged in systematic disenfranchisement of voters on a national scale since at least 2000. The ACORN story (as noted in the video) is just another tactic. How you may ask?

Well, here's how it works: Republicans cry voter fraud before the election which in turn gives them fuel to challenge the results of the election once it's over. Or they may do what they're planning to do in Michigan which is to get a list of voters registered by ACORN (or whose homes are foreclosed or whatever) and then have people at polling stations who challenge those voters as they come into the polls. As noted in the Palast article, most of the provisional ballots handed out (along with many absentee ballots) in 2004 were never counted.

Worried about whether your vote will count? You should be.

Here is information and a guide to ensuring your vote will count from Greg Palast and Bobby Kennedy Jr. ... in the form of a comic book!!

The key points are:

• DO NOT Mail in your Ballot
• Vote Early
• DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES vote provisionally
  

To verify that you are registered, go here.

Obama & McCain on Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math

This is an issue close to my heart:

Campaign Responses to Questions from The Association for Women in Science & The Society of Women Engineers

Obviously I'm biased, but McCain really comes off and not knowing anything about the issue. His answers are much shorter than Obama's, he doesn't show that he even knows what the initiatives they are asking about are, and his focus seems generally to be on education. What about female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians working right now? McCain's only real input is to say that he will create a presidential commission to study the issue. Why? There is a plethora of research out there on these issues. To me, this just says that he doesn't care enough to get informed and he doesn't want to committ to a decision.

At the very least, it becomes clear that this is an issue that the Obama/Biden campaign either already was somewhat knowledgeable about or they did some research before answering the questions. McCain comes off as if this is just a waste of his precious time and he'll just delegate all the work to "commissions."

On the SD Abortion Ban ...

Feministing posted this news story on the new South Dakota Abortion Ban. Watch it, then read.

I want to point out a couple things:
- Of the two women from the anti-abortion group, both were motivated by regret for their own abortions.
- One of them said: "... most women do not weigh all of the true decisions that need to be made."
- Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, often considered a swing vote, was brought up. Some argue that he will vote in favor of overturning Roe v Wade by citing his brief in the late term abortion case in which he states "some women come to regret their decision."

All of these arguments effectively boil down to this: women cannot be trusted to make a responsible decision. I think this is incredibly condescending and offensive to all women not to mention fundamentally un-American.

Democracy is based on the premise that as a society we trust people to make well-thought out, responsible decisions about their lives as well as other people's lives and that this collective action will result in what is best for everyone. The Bill of Rights exists to protect people's fundamental rights despite majority opinoin. My point is this: By questioning women's ability to make decisions about their own lives and body, you are inherently question their ability to make any decisions and be political actors. We crossed this bridge when we gave me women the right to vote ... in 1919. Let's get over it.

Moreover, just because you made a bad choice for yourself doesn't mean that you have any right to make my decision for me. Even anti-abortion activists speak about abortion as a 'decision' and yet they are fighting to NOT make it a decision at all and to have a decision forced upon people by the government. I don't think they really realize what they are fighting for - the women in this news story seem to be fighting more out of their own regret than any sense of well-being for women or children.

Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that women don't think through "all the true decisions that need to be made." Does that mean we should make the decision for them? A lot of people regret decisions they've made: beginning smoking, dropping out of school. Yet we don't force them into a different decision.

Lastly, out lawing abortion will NOT stop abortions from happening. (Abortions happened before 1973.) All it will do is force women to have unsafe abortions and increase the likelihood that they will regret it (due to the unsafe conditions, medical complications etc). Thus the motivation of the South Dakota anti-abortionists is completley illogical.

Final thoughts (I swear!):
Ask yourself -

If the government has a right to interfere with my reproductive capacity by forcing me to have a child, can they also force me NOT to have a child by forcibily sterilize me for example (ps - this has happened)? If you say no, what's the difference? (Note: forcible sterilization cannot be construed as "killing" since you are stoping any egg - or sperm - from ever becoming viable)

If my body isn't considered private under the 4th amendent, what is? Do my house or purse get a privileged status under the law but my uterus doesn't?

Find Voter Info On Google!

2008 Voter Info on Google

Even though Wired says you're evil, I love you Google.

Bloomberg says 'F*ck You' to Voters

NYT Times article on Bloomberg seeking a third term despite term limits that have been upheld, overwhelmingly twice - in 1993 and 1996. Apparently, he has the support of the 'business community' so it's a-ok.

We have spent the last 8 (or 20 depending on your perspective) years throwing democracy out the freakin' window in the face of crisis after crisis. Did it occur to anyone that, perhaps, it is this very action that is causing/exacerbating the crisises? Now is the time to rally around what we stand for - citizens in power; not business in power (cuz that, my friends, is fascism).