prole

If this is the lengths one must go to find economic alternatives, what is the exact nature of our freedom?

This is actually true.

That's true, though the stagehands strike on Broadway may be a watershed moment for my trade's working conditions. We'll see. Which is exactly why busting unions and bringing in scabs and non-union immigrants is so important!

Arbeit Macht Frei.

Long Live The King!

And if those "excesses" are the system actually working according to its own unique nature and logic?

Wow, the contempt for working people doesn't let up around here, huh? Careful, the elitist underpinnings of your ideology is shining through!

Sure. Your response is a fairly typical, if hollow one. First, absent the "corporate/capitalist model" and the wage-slavery on which it is built, I might not have the desire to ski, climb, or read celebrity-train-wreck-porn, etc. Skiing has been around for centuries, but in our society it takes on some unique features. Etymology of recreation = RE-creation. Early capitalists recognized the need for (re)creation, and built parks and other entertainments (i.e., bars) on or near factory grounds in order to maintain a compliant workforce. This separation between work and leisure was a relatively new phenomenon. As capitalism has grown, the separation between work and leisure has of course remained, and leisure/recreation/entertainment industry has become a realm of capitalist accumulation in itself, a very profitable one. The "outdoor" industry is part of this complex, and has been adept at exploiting white working and middle class desires for "freedom", "adventure", "solitude", and getting "closer to Nature". We've seen the ads, on which the industry spends enormous sums. That such an industry exists only and can only exist in a society that simultaneously supresses these features in people's daily life is no small hypocrisy. My desires are sold back to me in commodity form to be consumed. Having gotten my "fix", I'm ready to face another work week. I'll be paying off the credit card debt for my ski set-up for quite a while. What this means is, I'll working more to afford the means to escape from workdrudgery and the rest of the weekly chores that are required to reproduce my labor on a daily basis. Competition between firms to design and produce lighter and faster products in inverse relation to their durability (semi-planned obsolescence) insures that I'll need to buy more equipment on a fairly regular basis. To answer your question: would we have all this shit without capitalism? No. Is it really all that great? No. Have people enjoyed skiing and will they continue to enjoy skiing after capitalism? Yes. Is the fact that I ski for recreation going to throw me into an identity crisis? No. That we all seek the means to overcome our alienation in this society is entirely natural. The fact that we have to buy it is not.

Maybe he's reaping the benefits of those highly-touted productivity gains we've been hearing so much about? Everybody else enjoying their productivity gains?

Coke?

Yes, sadly Washington State is one of THE MOST CORRUPT STATES IN THE UNION! Oh wait, did I read that wrong?

Hey FW, How many people in the Tacoma Area are unemployed right now? Are they all "losers"? If not, what does Tvash's employment have to do with anything? You are quite the petty Kapo aren't you?

Nice dodge. Fortunately, I'll be skiing so no time for the apologetics of class-rule.

Which is?

Huh. First of all, you read each and every one. Secondly, look what you just did. Did you really do that?!

Did he have any particularly relevant insight into this collection of turds as it relates to the actual historical record?: meddling socialist engineers always trying to "solve" some problem with big gov't and only creating more problems... which of course they will "solve" with big gov't. repeat. meanwhile Archie pays more taxes Recognizing of course that: A. He's dead B. We're talking about the US.

Don't forget the activist judges!

No, it just drove the Soviets underground where they have infiltrated our universities, Hollywood, and somehow puzzling, al-Qaeda.

No, no. These administrations haven't been able to design and implement any policies of their own during their 30-odd years in power, no. They have been too busy beating back wave after wave of attack from civil libertarians, communists, democrats, etc. to actually put any of their own legislation in place! Chip away at the monolithic New Deal Order that still defines our very existence? No way. They have been obstructed at every turn from solving the most pressing problems of our time by well...obstructionists! Yep, look around the world. Truly we are seeing the crisis that Communism, civil rights, and social engineering has brought upon the world. The French, by God...oooh, the 700 Club is on! Gotta go!

Indeed, the burned hand does teach best. Mmm-hmm. Yep. Uh huh.

Huh? Wha? What's that? Huh?

meddling socialist engineers always trying to "solve" some problem with big gov't and only creating more problems... which of course they will "solve" with big gov't. repeat. meanwhile Archie pays more taxes Uh, has financial deregulation been covered here? If not, pull head out of ass. Read a fucking book. Rinse. Repeat.

Nice synopsis. I guess that about wraps it up! Guh.

Brilliant.