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Brian Cooney
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I'm a retired philosophy professor at Centre College. My last book was Posthumanity-Thinking Philosophically about the Future (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). I am an anti-capitalist.

OpEd News Member for 784 week(s) and 3 day(s)

124 Articles, 1 Quick Links, 215 Comments, 0 Diaries, 0 Polls

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Helipad Stilli Davos - WEF 2015, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Davos and the crisis of international capitalism The 2015 World Economic Forum at Davos was a gathering of 1500 executives of the world's largest corporations, 40 heads of state, and specially invited celebrities, academics and NGO representatives. The purpose of the WEF is to allow the world's plutocrats to address global problems such as the soaring inequality described in the latest Oxfam report, a dangerous situation of their own creation. Don't get your hopes up.
Milton Friedman, Chicago Style, From ImagesAttr
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 30, 2014
The toxic legacy of Milton Friedman Milton Friedman's doctrine about the "social responsibility" of corporate management unconsciously laid bare the absurdity at the heart of American-style capitalism. It confuses ends with means by subordinating the constitutional goals of government (incl. justice, the general welfare) to the derivative and conditional value of enriching investors. This subordination is irrational and corrupts our political life.
Democracy Not Plutocracy, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The re-election of the Property Party The miserably low turnout on Nov.4 and the success of the GOP despite its absurd goals are symptoms of an inarticulate despair about the political process itself. A growing portion of the bottom 90% see little reason to expect anything good from it, no matter which party wins an election. The super-rich control "who can run for office, what their priorities should be and even what can be said in public" (Sunlight Foundation).
The Gaza Strip, From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 3, 2014
Does "self-defense" justify Israeli attack on Gaza? Palestinians see Israel as the aggressor, and their rocket barrage as a desperate act of self-defense against the deadly stranglehold of Israel's blockade of Gaza. It is a refusal to accept subjugation. A blockade is an act of war. Israel has been at war with Gaza for 7 years.
Vietnam War Memorial, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 5, 2014
Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq: three delusional wars Most Americans feel a grotesque buyer's regret over the killing of 65,000 American troops and 2-3 million foreign civilians at a cost of $5-6 trillion in three wars. Even these huge numbers fail to do justice to the suffering and the lost opportunities these wars have inflicted on the U.S., its allies, and the ravaged nations where we waged war. But what have we learned?
customer-centric, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Amazon and the dark side of American capitalism Amazon is one of the most admired corporations in the world, and Jeff Bezos is rightly seen as an entrepreneurial genius. Yet, says Simon Head, Amazon "treats employees as untrustworthy human robots and relies on intimidation to push them to the limit." Americans reject the kind of government that treats its people simply as means or resources. The purest form of such treatment is slavery. Why then do we accept wage slavery?
Paul Ryan, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 23, 2014
The GOP budget plan is class warfare disguised as a budget The Ryan plan is a dishonest election platform masquerading as a budget. It lets Republicans throw red meat to their base by attacking social programs, throwing more money at the military-industrial complex, lowering taxes for their rich patrons, and pretending to balance the budget.
NYC Rally To Raise The Minimum Wage, From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 7, 2014
Raising the minimum wage is the least we can do GOP objections to raising the minimum wage appeal to a shallow interpretation of the Law of Demand. It turns out that treating workers with respect and decency in wages, benefits and schedule is good economics. Republicans are both inconsistent and callous in arguing against a minimum wage increase while also pushing for substantial cuts in food stamps and other welfare programs.
Martin Luther King, Jr., From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 26, 2014
The final campaign of Martin Luther King Jr. King could have kept his focus on undoing the harm white racism had done to his people. But his heart and vision were big enough to see racial injustice as part of a wider and deeper evil that included economic injustice and militarism, which was oppressing whites and nonwhites alike. The political establishment and his own black community turned on him. Today his radicalism is mostly forgotten.
22.MLKNM.WestPotomacPark.WDC.23August2013, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 25, 2014
What happened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream? In his magnificent "I have a dream" speech, King called for the nation to "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'" But the destruction of so much black family wealth in the burst housing bubble of 2007-09 destroyed King's dream of a post-racial society.
Walmart Black Friday storefront, From ImagesAttr
(22 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Walmart, Waltons epitomize America's class war Walmart's business is extraction; it is the great American Taker. Its goal is to pile up ever more wealth for the Waltons and other investors by underpaying its intimidated workers, violating their right to organize, and getting taxpayer subsidies for its antisocial behavior Walmart's parasitic business plan is becoming the new normal in America's economy.
I: The Transhumanist, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Are humans creating a posthuman future? Until now, technological progress has been increasing the power of human beings over non-human nature (for better or worse). But ongoing research projects in the overlap of brain and computer science tell us that we will soon have the power to alter human nature itself. Do we today have the wisdom to settle on a good direction for our society at this tipping point in human history?
Federal Shutdown Explained, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 9, 2013
The GOP's Distortion of "Freedom" in Shutdown Debate In his public tantrum on the Senate floor, Ted Cruz issued this call: "Defund ObamaCare because it takes our freedom away." He was echoing the conservative meme that because government has coercive power, its involvement in social programs automatically reduces our freedom. The absurdity of this claim is obvious in the effect Medicare has had on the lives of the elderly and the disabled.
We hold these truths to be self-evident..., From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 1, 2013
Is it "self-evident" that "all men are created equal"? "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal. . . .". It's obvious that there must be some degree of economic inequality in order to have an incentive system that rewards people whose special talent and initiative benefit everyone. But how do we make this inequality consistent with the Declaration's claim that we are all equal? Does it matter how great the economic inequality gets?
Prison museum, Dear Lodge, MT., From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Obama administration undermines rule of law The U.S. imprisons people at a much higher rate than any other country. The Obama administration mercilessly punishes nonviolent drug crime, but doesn't prosecute wealthy financial criminals. Like an absolute monarch, Obama feels entitled to kill American citizens without trial. He is the face of a self-dealing military, intelligence, and foreign-policy establishment.
Mitch McConnell at CPAC, From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 1, 2013
My exchange with Mitch McConnell on obstruction and health care Obamacare, for all its weaknesses, is a whole lot better than nothing. Yet nothing is what McConnell offers as an alternative. McConnell faults Obama for his lack of bipartisanship in "unilaterally forcing" the ACA through Congress, as if the law were a purely Democratic idea. Yet it is essentially the same as the Massachusetts Health Care Insurance Reform law (aka Romneycare) signed by Republican Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006.
Mitch McConnell, From ImagesAttr
(16 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 23, 2013
Mitch McConnell is the face of a broken Senate After Mitch McConnell became Senate Minority Leader in 2007, the yearly total of filibusters doubled . It's now assumed that any legislation over which there is disagreement requires a super-majority of 60 votes to pass. Democrats could use the nuclear option to break McConnell's stranglehold. Yet they lack the will to do so. The legislative paralysis created by filibusters can't continue. It's a national embarrassment.
melting ice pack, From ImagesAttr
(13 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The GOP response to global warming is irrational and dangerous On May 9 Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory recorded carbon dioxide levels of 400 parts-per-million (ppm). Earth hasn't had these levels since 3 to 5 million years ago, when temperatures were 5.4 to 7.2 degrees F warmer than now, and sea levels were 16 to 131 feet higher than today. Congressional Republicans respond to scientists' warnings with skepticism or outright denial, and are totally opposed to doing anything about it.
Ayn Rand, From ImagesAttr
(22 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 19, 2013
Who are the real 'takers'? The GOP echoes Ayn Rand in dividing Americans into "makers" and "takers." They overlook the one percent's baseless sense of entitlement to an ever greater share of national income.
Wipe our Debt, From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 18, 2013
The Great deficit debate: looking for money in all the wrong places The right wing mantra is that "We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem." This is a groundless dogma that is distorting the Congressional debate about fiscal priorities. In reality, we are an undertaxed country with a grossly inflated defense budget.

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