Sunday, January 10, 2016

Distrust in Dependence: The Ancient Challenge of Superior-Subordinate Relations

“… the young people are the ones who most quickly identify with the struggle and the necessity to eliminate the evil conditions that exist.”
Malcolm X, Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers’ Power


Photographer and filmmaker Arkadiusz Podniesinski visits Fukushima Axis of Logic




Fears mount over rise of sovereign-backed corporate debt Financial Times. Fannie/Freddie redux.

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Gecko eggs take a few months to hatch, after that they grow anywhere from 2cm to 60cm ...
Starbuck, William H. and Rindova, Violina P., Distrust in Dependence: The Ancient Challenge of Superior-Subordinate Relations (1997). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2708621
“The oldest surviving advice about management practices concerns leaders’ deceptions of followers. Tension-filled, distrustful relations between leaders and followers pervade the ancient texts. Drawing on the oldest surviving documents, this chapter reviews these common issues and people’s responses to them. The issues encompass: (a) how much leaders and followers should trust each other and speak forthrightly to each other, (b) how leaders manipulate followers and followers manipulate leaders, (c) how much followers respect leaders and leaders respect followers, (d) whether status differences are just, and (e) when leaders act appropriately.”

29 minutes that shook the world Financial Times

Pickering's last essay identified contemporary examples of control that align with George Orwell’s marxist inspired novel 1984. It ended with a brief synopsis of the goals of the sinister Ingsoc (English Socialist) ideology Can totalitarianism corrupt a non totalitarian state ...

Councils demand the power to tax developers who sit on land and block housebuilding  

Saudi Arabia and Iran are playing a winner-take-all game Reuters: “Saudis are punks and have USA backing. Iranians are tough and have Russians. If I were a betting man I thing CIA  will beat KGB ... As Vodka muddies the waters more than bourbon ...




'If something about the human body disgusts you, the fault lies with the manufacturer.'
~Lenny Bruce (1925-1966)

Long has the adage “the rich get richer” stood, and so it was true again in 2015. But it was particularly apt for certain American billionaires, who saw their fortunes balloon, multiply, and expand more than their super-rich compatriots.

What Money Can Buy: Darren Walker and the Ford Foundation set out to conquer inequality New Yorker. Bill B: “Predictably, power without accountability is framed in a positive light. This is a tell. The New Yorker celebrates a mechanism of the wealthy few and its efforts to address the very problem that its donors worked so hard to create. An impressive instance of Chomsky’s propaganda model.”

Most important Neglected Middle East Stories of 2015 Juan Cole

Super Imperialism in 84 Seconds Information Clearing House

America’s Incarcerated Population, Largest in World, Grew Even More Last Year Intercept

Wars of all against all Sic Semper Tyrannis

Democrats, Beware: Billionaires Can Still Buy Elections Very Easily New Republic. The only part that might be news to Team Dem is the “very”.

The Death of the Professional: Are Doctors, Lawyers and Accountants Becoming Obsolete? 
Adapted from the new book The Future of the Professions by Richard Susskind & Daniel Susskind (Oxford University Press, 2015).Originally published at Alternet
The end of the professional era is characterized by four trends: the move from bespoke service; the bypassing of traditional gatekeepers; a shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to professional work; and the more-for-less challenge.