17 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2023
    1. as you very well say the the  part of the increase in private wealth at the top   was really made um through you know privatization  of public assets increase in public debt   you know there's one one statistic which i which i  stress a lot which is that if you look at the net   wealth of the public sector uh you know the net  wealth of the government so government assets   00:27:25 minus government debt it used to be you know in  the 1970s net public wealth was you know between   20 30 percent of total national wealth so you know  net private wealth was bigger you know was like 70   or 80 percent but still net public waste was 20  30 percent in germany in the u.s in france in   britain in japan so that was you know substantial  part of everything there was to own in terms of   00:27:52 of marketable assets in society belong to the  public domain you know say around one quarter   or between one quarter and one third today so you  know three four decades later it is uh close to   zero or actually negative in in in the u.s or in  the uk in the sense that the public debt is bigger   than the public assets because many public assets  were privatized and and public debt increased   00:28:18 and you know in effect there was a transfer of  public wealth uh two to private wealth holders   and that's a you know that's a very important  evolution which you see the most extreme case of   course will be russia and post communist country  where you know you just transfer all the public   wealth and you make oligarchs out of nothing but  in fact we've all you know all countries have had   00:28:42 this kind of trajectories over the recent decades  so that's really an important part of the story   that i've been trying to tell so you know again  i i don't think we have any disagreement on this

      !- Thomas Piketty : privatization's impact in the last 4 decades - in summary, marketable assets that belonged to the public domain 3 to 4 decades ago in the average country around the world was 25 to 33 % and today it is zero or in some cases negative.

      !- Hudson's comment : privatization was the biggest transfer of wealth in history - to the elites - This transfer is what created many of today's billionaires

    2. it's what i write about and that is why what  is it that has created this uh uh disparity   and why is it widened so much since 1980. well  the most obvious reason is uh interest rates   reached a peak of 20 in uh 1980 and they've gone  down ever since well in the late 1970s uh my old   00:16:50 boss's boss at chase manhattan paul volcker  said let's raise interest rates to very high   because the 99 are getting too much income their  wages are going up let's uh raise interest to slow   the economy and that will prevent wages from going  up and he did and that was a large uh reason why   carter lost the the election to ronald reagan  interest rates then went down from 20 to almost 0   00:17:20 today the result was the largest bond market boom  in history bonds went way up in price the economy   was flooded with bank credit and most of this  credit uh apart from going into the bond market   went into real estate and there is a uh symbiosis  between finance and real estate and also between   finance and raw materials and also like oil and  gas and minerals uh extraction natural resource   00:17:48 rent land rent and also monopoly rent and most of  the monopoly rent has come from the privatization   that you had from ronald reagan margaret thatcher  and the whole neoliberalism uh if you look at how   did this one percent get most of its wealth well  if you look at the forbes list of the billionaires   in almost every country they got wealth in  the old-fashioned way from taking it from   00:18:13 the public domain in other words privatization  you have the largest privatization and transfer   of wealth from the public sector to uh the private  sector and specifically to the financial sector uh   in in history uh sell-offs and all of a sudden  instead of uh infrastructure uh public health uh   other uh basic needs being provided at subsidized  rates to the population you have uh privatized   00:18:41 owners uh financed by the banks raising the rates  to whatever rate they can get without any market   firing power uh in the united states the  government is not even allowed to bargain with   the pharmaceutical companies for the drug prices  so there's been a huge monopolization a huge   privatization a huge flooding of the economy with  credit and one person's credit is somebody else's   00:19:11 uh debt so you you've described the one percent's  wealth in the form of uh savings but uh i focus   on the other side of the balance sheet this one  percent finds its counterpart in the debts of the   99 so the one percent has got wealthy by indebting  the 99 uh for housing that is soared in price 20   00:19:37 uh just in the last year in the united states uh  for medical care for uh utilities for education   uh the economy is being forced increasingly  into debt and how how can one uh solve this   taxation will not be enough the only way  that you can uh actually reverse this uh   concentration of wealth is to begin wiping out uh  the debt if you leave the debt in place of the 99   00:20:10 uh then uh you're going to leave the one percent  savings all in place uh and these savings are   largely tax exempt uh so basically i think you  you uh left out the government's role in this   wealth creation of the one percent so your  finance has indeed grown faster than economy   absorbed real estate into the finance insurance  and real estate sector the fire sector finances   00:20:39 absorb the oil industry the mining industry  and it's absorbed most of the government so the   financial wealth has spilled over to become  essentially the economy's central planner   it's not planned in washington or paris or london  it's planned in wall street the city of london   and the paris ports the economy is being managed  financially and the object of financial management   00:21:04 isn't really to make money it's capital gains  and again as your statistics point out capital   gains are really what explains the increase  in wealth you don't get rich by saving the   income rent is for paying interest income is for  paying interest you get rich off the government   basically subsidizing an enormous increase in the  value of stocks the value of bonds by the central   00:21:31 banks which have been privatized and uh the reason  that this is occurring is that uh the largest   public utility of all money creation and banking  is left in private hands and private banking   in the west is very different from what government  banking is in say china

      !- Michael Hudson : Wealth is created in the 1% through privatization and loss of the 99% - Largest transfer of wealth in history from the public sector to the private sector, especially through financial sector - govt fire sale of public infrastructure - credit was created and invested in the biggest bon market boom in history - many of Forbes billionaires got rich through such privatization - the 1% got wealthy by indebting the 99% through privatization all around the globe - this was the effect of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher's neoliberal policies - taxation alone is not sufficient to reverse this wealth concentration, the debt has to be completely wiped out

      !- key statement : the elite get rich off the government subsidizing an enormous increase in the value of stocks the value of bonds by the central bank which have been privatized. The reason THAT is happening is because the largest public utility of all, money creation and central banking has been privatized.

    3. to get rid   of monopoly rent you have to return basic key  uh infrastructure to the public domain where   it was before 1980 so that uh basic needs can be  supplied at low prices not uh creating monopoly   for uh the one percent uh and i guess i'm saying  you have to realize that finance has used as well   00:25:12 to take over the economy and this has to  be reversed uh because uh once you have   uh wealth taking the form of uh claims uh  loans and claims on other people's debt   we'll count you up compound interest any rate of  interest is a doubling time and compound interest   is always going to grow faster than the economy's  real growth and the only way to prevent this isn't   00:25:37 simply to lower the interest rate which you've  done today 0.1 uh the only solution is to wipe out   the overall debts that are stopping economic  growth and these debts are the savings of the   one percent the good thing about cancelling debts  is you cancel the savings of the one percent   and as long as you leave these savings in  place there's not going to be a solution

      !- Michael Hudson : reverse privatization and wipe out debt - returning the public infrastructure sold off to companies after 1980 back to the public to get rid of monopolies who gouge the public - cancel all debt so that the savings of the 1% cannot continue compound growth trajectory

  2. Jan 2022
    1. Το δίκτυο αυτό το συντηρούσε έως τώρα η ΕΥΔΑΠ, αλλά πλέον θα κληθεί να πληρώσει για τη χρήση του, συν το γεγονός ότι πρόσφατα δέχθηκε να πληρώσει 157 εκατομμύρια ευρώ στο Δημόσιο για το αδιύλιστο νερό που πήρε μέσω αυτών των αγωγών κατά τα έτη 2013-2020.

      Ετσι ξεπουλούν τα ασημικά της χώρας: με αυυθαίρετους νόμους κ λογιστικές αλχημείες φεσώνουν τις Δημόσιες Επιχειρήσεις, καταστώντας τες προβληματικές, κ ύστερα αναζητούν ιδιώτη επενδυτή, φίλο τους και Άριστο, να τις αγοράσει σε τιμή ευκαιρίας.

  3. Aug 2019
  4. May 2019
    1. el debate actual de los estudios urbanos críticos sobre la forma como el neoliberalismo ha moldeado las ciudades a favor de lógicas mercantiles, afectando los espacios colectivos que estructuran la ciudad, poniendo en evidencia tensiones urbanas referentes al control y usufructo del suelo urbano por cuenta, en este caso, de grupos con poder sociopolítico y económico.

      Es una de las problemáticas centrales que se presentan en la actualidad, guiada por los grupos de poder en beneficio propio, sin contemplación de los espacios abiertos de usos colectivos (áreas verdes); depredando el territorio, demostrando la problemática de las ciudades y su falta de espacios de interrelación, que deben ser analizadas de manera oportuna.

  5. Dec 2018
    1. The Future of the Public Mission of Universities

      A compelling tour through the financial and human impacts of various initiatives to privatize public infrastructures — including public education.

  6. May 2018
    1. Privatization of the public good that was higher education in the United States has been described by Chris Newfield as academia’s “great mistake.”
  7. Apr 2018
    1. Despite its high price, it has glaring flaws. It doesn’t seem to communicate with other software, like Moodle, the open-source learning platform that provides students with resources for their modules. There are disparities between the number of students registered on each module and the number this system says attend classes. This disempowers lecturers from properly monitoring attendance – especially that of the more elusive students.

      More privatization of HE..

  8. Dec 2017
  9. Nov 2017
    1. My blossoming hope is that we can use some of the tools and rhetoric of open to build a public response to the crisis in American public higher education. OER can help us conceive of how the public can generate the materials it needs to support its education, and can help us center access as a key component of any equitable learning environment.

      How can or will institutions better internally support public education in ways that improve access and equity VS. outsourcing personnel, services, platforms, etc. which further adds to the problematic privatization issue.

  10. May 2017
  11. Sep 2015
    1. Gov't to review bill on Peru's largest oil field, president says Published September 21, 2015EFE The Council of Ministers will review a bill approved by Congress that would allow state-owned Petroperu to operate Lot 192, the largest oil field in Peru, President Ollanta Humala said.

      "We're within the timeframe and we're going to resolve this once we have the reports and, given how delicate this matter is, it's going to be looked at by the Council of Ministers," the president said in an interview with state-owned TV Peru.

      The government opposed the approval of the bill by Congress on Sept. 4, arguing that the move would require the spending of public funds and that Canada's Pacific Stratus Energy had already received a two-year concession for Lot 192.

      Argentina's Pluspetrol operated the field from 2001 until July, but the company was the target of frequent criticism from residents, who claimed land had been polluted and the oil company failed to carry out environmental remediation work it had agreed to.

      "We have to strengthen Petroperu, but not try to destroy it. So, we have to give it the opportunity to gradually take on greater responsibilities," Humala said.

      The environmental and land claims made by Indian communities around Lot 192, located in the northern Amazonian region of Loreto, are "legitimate," the president said.

      Lot 192, located near the Peruvian-Ecuadorian border, accounts for 17 percent of Peru's oil production.

      About 11,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude are pumped from 16 wells in Lot 192. EFE

  12. Feb 2014
    1. The limit of any property rights that can be claimed in this manner are defined in the ‘Lockean Proviso’ which states that the aforementioned process of establishing private property only operates “when there is enoug h, and as good, left in common for others” (Bogart, 1985, p. 828; Locke, 1690, Chap. V, Sect. 27).
    2. The Privatization of the Natural State Proponents also invoke Locke’s discussion of the making of private property from the natural state by the joining of one’s efforts to the natural state (Menell, 1999, p. 129). The argument goes that authors (ar tists, inventors, etc.) join their efforts to the natural state of undefined ideas, and through their efforts arrive at an intellectual work; and by that effort, they may make a legitimate claim on that intellectual work as their property (Menell, 1999, p. 129; Locke, 1690, Chap. V, Sect. 26).