“Dumb F*cks”?

“Dumb F*cks”?

“Dumb fucks.” That’s how Mark Zuckerberg described users of Facebook for trusting him with their personal data back in 2004.  If the last week is anything to go by, he was right.

-       A grand illusion: seven days that shattered the Facebook façade – The Guardian

By JM Hamilton (4-2-2018)

Happy Birthday Jack.

All that glitters is not gold.  In fact shiny objects all too often turn out to be distractions and a colossal waste of precious energy and time. 

Facebook being a case in point.  

Facebook also reminds its users - and nonusers - that there is no free lunch.  The social media platform requires no fees from its users for a reason, and that is because the platform is not the product, but rather, it’s the bait.  

The product is Facebook junkies, participants, users, friends of same, and their data.  Their data is hoovered up in a privatized version of the surveillance state, and quite often used for very bad ends.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal is just Facebook’s latest in very long list of social media - and Internet giant - scandals.  

Then again, at this point, why is anybody surprised?  

Mr. Zuckerberg himself, the multi-billionaire founder of Facebook, was said to have quipped in 2004 that he couldn’t believe all these “dumb f*cks” were allowing him access to all their data.

And what have hundreds of millions of Facebook users, and their data, beget?  Let’s run down the list shall we:

An increasingly insular society, cut off from each other, and fed a steady diet of distractions - tailored news, and faux-news, stories - that no longer unite us, but divide us as a nation and a people.  The plutocracy couldn’t dream up a better tool to keep the citizenry distracted & divided.

A social media platform used by foreign governments, and their agents, to send targeted advertisements & fake news through to a sellected audience, w/ the goal of swaying elections and their outcomes.  That is to say, Facebook may very well be a threat to our democracy, election outcomes, and our government.

Facebook is just another tool of the surveillance state, whereby the NSA, CIA, FBI, and multinationals hoover up data.  Together - along w/ banking, search engine activity, and travel records - an online dossier can be created on any individual (certainly upon the 90% of Americans who now use the web).  Hence, threatening our very civil liberties, freedoms, and The Constitution.

Bloomberg recently released a piece, that the media platform is utilized by scam artists.  Moreover, Facebook has not only played fast and loose in allowing targeted selling by said scam artists, but has actually facilitated and participated in the scam, costing Americans and the legitimate economy billions.

No less insidious, Facebook has been utilized all too often as a means of cyber-bullying, which have led to fatalities and teen suicide.

Social media platforms – like Facebook - can lead to a form of addiction, essentially making some users slaves to their sites.  This Facebook addiction, or slavery, can cause family, social, and workplace dysfunction (and even child neglect).

And the list goes on.

So why should we allow such a dangerous tool to continue to exist?   A media platform that facilitates, or is utilized to support terrorism; mass surveillance (that only a Nazi or Stasi could love); teen suicide; billions in fraud; a gross invasion of privacy; a nefarious economic drain; and the steady erosion of our civil liberties, the Constitution, and our democracy.

The answer, per the usual, is money. 

Some would argue that Facebook has become too big to fail (TBTF), that it employs too many people, directly and indirectly, to let it go.  And Facebook is, of course, a FANG stock, which up until recently, had produced terrific results for it shareholders, and index funds.  Unfortunately, the exposed Facebook business model more recently cost a $60 billion loss in market cap, and this may fall further still as the revelations continue to snowball.

Multinationals love Facebook because it has become an indispensable employee surveillance tool.  And if there’s one thing multinationals and the oligarchy love, it’s big data analytics and mass surveillance.  There’s a reason why Facebook and Google, combined, suck in the vast majority of online ad revenue.

Even government surveillance - which taps directly into social media platforms, like Facebook - has become, increasingly, privatized; that is to say, government surveillance has become just another money making venture (the efficacy of which is continuously in doubt).

My own experiences w/ the enterprise are rather limited.  When the JMH blog was established, Facebook was visited in hopes of drawing attention to my writing.

No sooner had Facebook’s terms of use, or agreement, been clicked, when before my very eyes, it began to hoover up every contact, email address, and phone number on my computer.  Let’s just say, the plug on my computer was immediately pulled; my guess is, it was too late.  From that moment on, JMH refrained from utilizing the site, and the account is now in the process of being deleted, altogether.   

As an avowed non-Facebook user, my readers should know there are dozens of ways to share your baby, birthday, and vacation pictures with family & friends, via the World Wide Web.  There are also ways to meet new friends, and be liked by said friends (and better use one’s time), via old-school human contact and the donation of one’s time to philanthropic pursuits.  

How quaint, and yet, how very timely.

All this is to say, you don’t have to be a participant in Facebook’s scam, nor do we have to be one of Mr. Zuckerberg’s “dumb f*cks.”

Last week, former Supreme Court Associate Justice, Stevens, wrote an op-ed piece in the NY Times.  In the editorial, Mr. Stevens proposed the repeal of the 2nd Amendment, which - initially - one might consider to be rather extreme.  But when we factor in an ever growing body count - particularly among young people & the NRA’s chokehold over our cowardly and ineffective Congress - Mr. Stevens' recommendation seems hardly novel at all.  

In fact, the repeal of the 2^nd Amendment sounds positively prudent, given that our government is now controlled - and run for - monied interests, among them the NRA.

Likewise, if anybody is expecting real reforms out of Congress, in the wake of successive data theft & privacy invasion scandals (from the Snowden revelations to Equifax and most recently, Facebook) … dream on.

Facebook has already hired an army of lobbyist. And if past is prologue, it’s a very safe bet that the lackeys in Congress will hold hearings - complete w/ stern admonishments - order a committee study… and drag the process out, so that the Facebook scandal is off the front pages before they act.  The Congress’ actions, if any, of course, in response to the Facebook criminal enterprise, will be completely unacceptable.

That is to say, Facebook will have gotten its money’s worth from K Street.

Some still believe that it’s better to have the private sector run the United States, than a truly democratic government (that is to say, a government that is not owned by special interests).  But in allowing the private sector - multinationals & the plutocracy – to own and run our government, what has it yielded (?): our children are not safe at school, and thanks to the NRA, risk being gunned down in a hail of lead; our democratic institutions are under threat by social media platforms, like Facebook, and an oligarchy bent upon owning the government (and Mr. Zuckerberg’s billions means that he very much is a part of said oligarchy); multinationals evade rules, regs, taxation, and paying a living wage, thanks to free trade agreements and globalization; because of the MIC, America is caught in never ending - bankrupting - wars; and post-Wall Street bailout, the banks have driven & led consolidation throughout the U.S. economy (which has fueled wage & wealth inequality, political instability, crony government, economic stagnation, and a lack of innovation & growth).

Many of these institutions, like Facebook, are considered to be too big to fail.  But in reality none of them are.  Just as too many Americans are slaves to, allegedly, TBTF social media, circa 2018, there was a time when another institution w/in the American economy was considered TBTF throughout the Southern states, circa 1860.  

It was called slavery.

Hopefully, it won’t take a Civil War to end the degradation, destruction, & tyranny of soul sucking monopolies and cartels - like Facebook.  As a result of the Civil War, America produced the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th Amendments: which ended slavery; provided equal protections to all citizens under the law; and gave all male Americans the right to vote.

Hopefully, it won’t take a Civil War to repeal the 2nd Amendment, and add additional Amendments, protecting privacy and personal digital data integrity (that is to say, our very lives).

Increasingly, the billionaire class & multinationals (i.e. the 1%) are finding themselves alone on some of these issues.

Given how the U.S. Congress is completely inept and owned - at least presently - it may take a Constitutional Convention to save our democracy and our personal freedoms, from further encroachment by the kleptocracy and the likes of Facebook.  

A Constitutional Convention could also allow Americans to sort out other issues, like: term limits for Congress; popularly electing the Fed Chairman and SCOTUS members; and enacting & enforcing true campaign finance reform.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018

What the World Needs Now: New CEO Bonus & Pay Metrics?

What the World Needs Now: New CEO Bonus & Pay Metrics?

The Koch brothers spent tens of millions of dollars to get the tax law passed and continue to build support for it. The changes are expected to save the brothers and their company more than $1 billion a year in taxes. Charles Koch, his wife and Koch Industries gave Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his political action committee $500,000 in campaign contributions just days after the House passed its version of the tax bill. 

• Huffington Post: Charles Koch Complains About Corporate Influence In Politics In Surprising Op-Ed

By J.M. Hamilton (3-18-2018)

Since the delivery of the Citizens United decision, Americans have become increasingly aware of the exceptional power billionaires and multinationals wield over our democracy, the economy, the electoral process, and politicians.  Indeed, the oligarchy holds vast power over the Federal and State courts, as well as, the executive & legislative branches.

But the corruption, hubris, and myopia that surrounds some of the world’s most powerful billionaires and CEOs not only is widely noticed, but it also means the country is being ruled by men, who often place the C-Suite and shareholder short term interests above the long term health of the nation and its citizens.

And some wonder why the nation is in the shape its in: a slow motion fiscal train wreck is playing out before our very eyes, where the GOP has voted in tax cuts for the wealthy (paid for on credit and the backs of future generations) and annual deficits are projected to soar; bailing out Wall Street banks, and keeping America’s perennial credit card wars financed, the Federal Reserve resorted to interest rate suppression, and only in the last year ended quantitive easing (essentially the printing of money to keep the Federal Ponzi scheme going… the Fed was rolling over assets from QE from its greater than four trillion - plus balance sheet, up until last year); and Americans have grown ravenous for political change, due to the instability caused by oligarchical rule.

Recently four individuals caught JMH’s eye that sum up the problems the US now faces in our Neo-Gilded Age, that is in allowing monied interests to call the shots in Washington.

Koch Industries:  The Koch brothers never fail to amaze; their hypocrisy was on full display recently when they wrote a Washington Post editorial, decrying - get this - crony capitalism.  Despite their verbal & written libertarian political positions, the Koch brothers define “crony capitalism,” which they generally justify as necessary to stay competitive (or everyone else is exploiting Washington, so Koch Industries must participate too).  This time, the hundred billion dollar gorilla - the Koch brothers - was upset that POTUS Trump, for a change, actually attempted to take a baby step forward in helping America’s long forgotten middle class, by enacting steel tariffs.  

The brothers, of course, loved the Trump tax cuts, and poured millions into lobbying for the GOP tax cut law (undoubtedly, creating a tremendous windfall for Koch Industries).  But the Kochs - like any other despots - aren’t happy unless they define the rules of the game, and that includes defining “capitalism, free markets, and free trade” on their terms, exclusively.  That the Kochs’ actions favor crony government, free trade agreements negotiated - exclusively - from the multinational vantage point (that usurps the power of nation states and the people), and the formation Any Randian cartels and monopolies -that are antithetical to capitalism and free markets - apparently is beside the point.  

It’s as if the nation has returned to rule by divine right of kings.

Wells Fargo & CEO Sloan:  Wells Fargo - once adored and loved by Mr. Buffett - has been fighting for number one pole position, for the most corrupt Wall Street mega-bank.  The list of Wells Fargo's, alleged & proven, crimes against its customers, and investors, is exhaustive, and well enumerated in a recent Vanity Fair Hive piece.   So when Mr. Sloan was awarded millions in annual compensation - at a time that Wells Fargo’s corporate culture appears congenitally corrupt, and is presently, under SEC investigation - perhaps a wiser CEO would have flown below the radar.

Instead, the CEO Sloan, unwisely, attacked - a possible Democratic Presidential frontrunner for 2020 - Senator Elizabeth Warren.  Mr. Sloan stated, in response to a Twitter barb issued by Senator Warren (as reported in the same Hive piece): 

It’s not surprising I disagree with almost everything Elizabeth Warren says, Sloan told reporters on Thursday after speaking to the Detroit Economic Club.  Most of her comments are both ill-informed and inappropriate.

Note to Mr. Sloan: Americans are tired of (top-down) trickle-down: fiscal, foreign, monetary, & trade policies.  These policies have been in place for the last 38 years, and they’ve been an abject failure, except to grossly enrich an elite few (at the expense of many).  And pray Mr. Sloan… yes, pray… Senator Warren doesn’t soon become POTUS Warren.  Given Mr. Mueller’s progress, and the current mood of American voters, increasingly, not an improbable event.

Apple & CEO Tim Cook:  What does it say about the most powerful CEO perhaps in the world, and certainly in charge of the company with the largest market cap, that he rants at Western governments w/ derision and great scorn. But when it comes to China and its Dear Leader - who recently had China’s Communist party appoint him Dear Leader for life - Mr. Cook, quickly, rejected principle and parroted China’s Communist party line (particularly on Web censorship and state control of the internet & internet content)?  

1984? Indeed.

All this speaks to the moral failing of America’s corporate leadership.  It speaks to the problem of multinationals - like Apple - exploiting China’s slave labor pool, at the expense of American workers, so as to maximize short term profit mark ups, and investor returns (that are nothing short of astounding).  

What then of Apple donating and lobbying for U.S. government policies that favor its interests, both domestic & foreign?

POTUS Trump - sensing the voters’ shift in mood - has been going on the offensive against unfair trade agreements, and has targeted nation states (and trade agreements) that have benefited at America’s expense.  

But here’s a questions for the Trump administration, and the US Trade Rep, Lighthizer, in particular....

Are American multinationals - who exploit foreign labor, regs, and tax loopholes - any less guilty of dumping product on U.S. shores (to the detriment of the U.S. business, the economy, labor, and our tax base)?  This administration has done everything to help the plutocratic donor class; it's time to help out the citizens, who - and who did not -  place Trump into power.  

Renegotiating trade agreements is a great start.

The brothers Grimm?…  far more frightening, the brothers Koch.

At the end of the day, these three examples say as much about our nation’s commercial leadership, as they do about the very people who run this nation from the shadows.

And Americans are boiling w/ rage.  There are at least two solutions, one political, and the second, market based.  The political solution is campaign finance reform.  Given the oligarchy’s desire to control politicians and the political process, and many politicians apparent love of graft & money, the odds of passing true campaign finance reform are extremely low.

The more likely reform is market based, and that is for investors to insist upon changing CEO and C- Suite pay packages, so that executives aren’t incented, solely, by short term gain; but rather, by the long term interests of the country, and society as a whole.  

For example, reformed CEO compensation might reward organic growth, R&D, and customer service performance, and penalize financial engineering (consolidation, loading the company up w/ debt to pay dividends, M&A, stock buybacks, etc.).  Reforms might further reward paying employees a living wage, and penalize, a scenario where employees are paid a non-living wage.  If executive compensation reform was adopted industry wide, no single CEO could claim that he was placed at an unfair competitive disadvantage. 

It’s interesting, as noted in JMH’s last piece, true reform - after the latest catastrophic mass shooting - hasn’t arrived from the cowards in Congress, or even the Executive branch… but rather, from the multinationals and large corporations that retail guns, and service the NRA.  The consumer, and public relations, likely forced many CEOs to change course in regards the NRA, but one would like to think some of them did it purely because it was the right thing to do.  

Might the consumer, employees, investors, and public relations also force a change in the manner the C-Suite class is paid?

Americans may not be able to reform our government; but, perhaps better still, they may have greater luck in reforming the bonus and pay incentives of the puppet masters, who run our crony government.  Hedge, mutual, and retirement funds (and University endowments) might help clear a path.  

As for the billionaire class, nothing short of a tax on crony wealth will remedy that situation. 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018