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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Dec 25, 2008 20:25:44 GMT -6
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Post by jeffolie on Dec 27, 2008 18:31:57 GMT -6
Batra has remained faithful to his Hindu mentor and Hindu philosophy. In the main sequence of Batra predictions and in his latest Book, Batra is looking toward the violent uprising of workers against capitalism and then onto a golden period. To me this sounds alot like the siren's song of fighting for the worker's paradise of communism or socialism. Truely history has provided many examples of populations installing communism and socialism, thus this is a real possibility. On the other hand the economic failure of capitalism in Japan did not result in such an uprising, rather it brought a prolonged malaise. The US experience with capitalistic failure in the Great Depression indeed did bring a substantial rise in political activity by workers which was molified by Roosevelt's leadership. I doubt workers' will overthrow the US government and cast out Obama and Congress into unemployment and on the streets. Our system of elections every two years draws populism into political movements and gradually a new political consensus is formed without revolution. I expect merely a resurgence under the Democrats of unions and workers' political activities. The US has survived 4 depressions (some were short lived in the 1800's) without revolution. ================================================================ From Wikipedia: In 1978, he published a novel book The Downfall of Communism and Capitalism: A New Study of History, where he turned his gaze from theoretical economics to history. In the book Batra promoted the Social cycle theory of his spiritual mentor, Sarkar, based on an analysis of four distinct classes with different psychological preferences or endowments. [edit] Social evolution The main thesis of the book was that the age of acquisitors, better known as capitalism, was soon to come to an end in the West. This dramatic change was to be followed by the downfall of the age of commanders in the Soviet Union, more commonly known as communism. While his predictions for capitalism to collapse within a few decades due to rampant inequality and speculation have not come true, his prediction for the collapse of communism, due to inner stasis and oppression, arrived in 1990, sooner than expected. The key reason that capitalism, as a self-perpetuating social formation, was seen to be on an unsustainable path, was the relentless drive of acquisitors to acquire ever more capital. Over time, this activity was seen to gain momentum and result in financial booms and busts. A depression would then follow and as it came on top of extreme inequality it would quickly bring social chaos and revolt. As anarchy was not a normal state of affairs, the class of military leaders would step in the breech and reestablish order and thereby usher in a new age of "commanders". In this context, Batra reviews a prior such social change, which occurred two millennia ago, when the Roman Republic was transformed into the Roman Empire. At that time slave uprisings were common but were violently suppressed. This period became known as the Servile Wars. At the same time, the military was in ascendancy as the Roman Army continued to expand the empire. The pivotal figure in the development was the military leader, Julius Caesar, who wrested control from the Senate by diluting its membership, but was in turn murdered by the disgruntled Senators. The military class, led by his adopted son Octavian, cemented the new social order. Batra thinks such a scenario in the future will refocus the social motivity, away from acquisition of money to a mastery of technology and physical bravery including the conquest of space, heralding a new age of commanders in the West. These ideas contrast starkly with those of thinkers like Francis Fukuyama who argues that capitalism, as it is based on democracy and freedom, represents the pinnacle of human social development. For Fukuyama, the collapse of Soviet Communism could have been inevitable, but not that of Capitalism. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Batra
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Mar 22, 2009 19:37:08 GMT -6
from truthout.org Reagan: The Great American Socialistby Ravi Batra March 20, 2009 " Socialism has been much in the news for some months. Recently, some GOP stalwarts charged President Obama with preaching the heresy. John Boehner, the House minority leader, characterized Obama's stimulus package as, "one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment."
"Socialism" is a pejorative term in American politics and needs to be carefully examined. It usually refers to increased government control over the economy, or policies that promote the redistribution of wealth. There is no doubt that President Obama's economic measures, passed and proposed, will raise tax rates on the richest Americans to pay for increased government funding of health care, green energy and education. So the new president is indeed a redistributionist, but so was Ronald Reagan, except that Obama's plans will transfer wealth from the rich to the poor, whereas Reagan's bills transferred wealth from the poor and the middle class to the opulent. In fact, Obama's measures are puny, whereas Reagan's were massive. If the Democrat is a "small" socialist, Reagan was the Great American Socialist.
Let's go back to the early 1980's. In 1981, Reagan signed a law that sharply reduced the income tax for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The president asserted his program would create jobs, purge inflation and, get this, trim the budget deficit. However, following the tax cut, the deficit soared from 2.5 percent of GDP to over 6 percent, alarming financial markets, sending interest rates sky high, and culminating in the worst recession since the 1930's.
Soon the president realized he needed new revenues to trim the deficit, bring down interest rates and improve his chances for reelection. He would not rescind the income tax cut, but other taxes were acceptable. In 1982, taxes were raised on gasoline and cigarettes, but the deficit hardly budged. In 1983, the president signed the biggest tax rise on payrolls, promising to create a surplus in the Social Security system, while knowing all along that the new revenue would be used to finance the deficit.
The retirement system was looted from the first day the Social Security surplus came into being, because the legislation itself gave the president a free hand to spend the surplus in any way he liked. Thus began a massive transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class, especially the self-employed small businessman, to the wealthy. The self-employment tax jumped as much as 66 percent.
In 1986, Reagan slashed the top tax rate further. His redistributionist obsession led to a perversity in the law. The wealthiest faced a 28% tax rate, while those with lower incomes faced a 33% rate; in addition, the bottom rate climbed from 11% to 15%. For the first time in history, the top rate fell and the bottom rate rose simultaneously. Even unemployment compensation was not spared. The jobless had to pay income tax on their benefits. A year later, the man who would not spare unemployment compensation from taxation called for a cut in the capital gains tax. Thus, Reagan was a staunch socialist, totally committed to his cause of wealth redistribution towards the affluent.
How much wealth transfer has occurred through Reagan's policies? At least $3 trillion.
The Social Security hike generated over $2 trillion in surplus between 1984 and 2007, and if it had been properly invested, say, in AAA corporate bonds it could have earned another trillion by now. At present, the fund is empty, because it has been used up to finance the federal deficits resulting from frequent cuts in income tax rates. If this is not redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich, what else is?
Thus, Reagan was the first Republican socialist - and a great one, because his wealth transfer occurred on a massive scale. His accomplishment dwarfs even FDR's, and if today the small businessman suffers a crippling tax burden, he must thank Reagan the redistributionist. However, FDR took pains to help the poor, while Reagan took pains to help the wealthiest like himself.
Reagan's measures were similar to those that the Republicans adopted during the 1920's, which were followed by the catastrophic Depression. More recently, such policies were mimicked by President George W. Bush and they are about to plunge the world into a depression as well. Ironically, the Reagan-style socialism or wealth redistribution is about to destroy monopoly capitalism, the very system that he wanted to preserve and enrich.
Wake up America and elect leaders with a heart - not those who would tax your unemployment benefits and cut the capital gains tax." www.truthout.org/032009R
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on May 17, 2009 1:50:28 GMT -6
Below is a brief description of Batra's "The Myth of Free Trade." Praise for Batra's Myth of Free Trade, and The Great American Deception[/size][/url] " In a 1998 article published in Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Dr. Raj Bhalla, a Harvard educated law professor at George Washington University, writes: "This point is suggested by Ravi Batra in his widely-read and controversial book, The Myth of Free Trade, which has influenced nationally-known politicians and presidential aspirants such as television journalist Patrick Buchanan." Similalrly, in a 1996 review published in Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, Dr. Kirk Kennedy, a law clerk at US Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas, writes: "The Myth of Free Trade is an ambitious challenge to the proponents of liberal international trade…Yet, it is Batra’s willingness to defy the conventions of neoclassical economics that makes the Myth of Free Trade interesting, if not theoretically sound."
In November 18, 1996 issue of Barron’s, John Liscio, a financial consultant, reviewing The Great American Deception, writes: "Batra has set the standard for economic analysis in the Nineties. Think about it: Before Batra, who ever heard of phrases like "jobless recovery," "contained depression" and ‘deflationary boom’?"
To be sure, few writers and reviewers agree with Batra’s views. Most of them are highly critical and sarcastic, but that is only to be expected when someone offers a challenge to hundreds of years of conventional wisdom accepted in America and indeed the whole world. As Kirk Kennedy, a critic, puts it: "The Myth of Free Trade should be required reading for the advocates of free trade. To the extent that Professor Batra enables us to better understand the arguments proffered by the champions of 'new protectionism'.""
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