Sophisms of the Anti-Protectionists

In college I was taught in Economics 101 that protectionism simply just doesn't work. If this is true however, then why is it that China has about twice the amount of economic growth per year than America - seeing as how China applies so much protectionism to their economic policies?
 
And furthermore, why is it that the sector of the American economy which is historically the most ideologically opposed to protectionism - the financial sector - so successful at securing protectionist bailouts for themselves whenever they fuck shit up beyond repair?
 
Does anybody else find this anti-protectionist rhetoric which spews forth from the mouths of Wall Street Economists to be, oh I don't know, complete-and-utter hypocritical nonsense bullshit?
 
Could it be that we're being lied to?
 
Perhaps they should rewrite Economics textbooks to say that protectionism doesn't work - until shit hits the fan. Or perhaps they should just stop pretending that protectionism doesn't work - you know - for the sake of reality.
 
Hey what do you call an Economics student that graduates last in his class? You call them an Economist. 
 
But what do you call a college dropout who majored in Economics but wasn't smart enough to hack it through college? Well you call them an employee of Rupert Murdoch of course!

Why Stronger Economy Means Stronger Government

It's not possible to have a strong government without a strong economy because government services are funded by tax revenues. Higher tax revenues resulting from a stronger economy result in more funding for government services.

Democrats achieve stronger government by generally advocating economic policies which increase the circulation of goods and services, which lead to higher tax revenues and thus more funding for government services. Republicans however achieve weaker government by consistently advocating economic policies that weaken the economy - such as free trade, deregulation, and the outsourcing of jobs to other countries.

Societies that weaken their government by weakening their economy become less functional as well as more discordant than societies that strengthen their government by strengthening their economy.

Think about it.

Fox News Rapes America

Political debate & discourse on Fox News bears a striking resemblance to monkeys throwing shit at each other while jumping up and down screaming ooh ooh ah ah. Of course the soulless automatons on Fox wear suits however to better deceive their viewers from seeing through to their true uncivilized monkey natures. To be fair to actual monkeys however, they could probably do a better job of keeping us informed than these loudmouth asshat anchors on Fox who spew near-constant shit-farts from their mouths in projectile fashion. The only positive contribution that Fox News makes to society is that it serves as a perfect example of how not to think, feel, or behave. Sadly most of its viewership is somehow completely incapable of understanding this. And tragically the New York Times isn't much better.

An Important Media Advisory

This important media advisory should be read to the voice of Hunter S. Thompson in your head:
 
Mainstream American journalism has been diseased with a sociopathic anti-intellectualism for far, far too long. Historically and up until recently, the Powerstablishmentary Complex, with its inherent slutty whorishness, has been far too successful in infecting the minds and hearts of establishmentary media swine in much the same way that many a prostitute are often far too successful at spreading venereal diseases amongst the masses - a tale quite possibly as old as humanity itself. It's time we start cutting away at this soulless, diseased sickness on our society - or at least force our "good-ol'boy corporafascist plantation-owning masters" to start "wearing rubbers" or something, so to speak. If our all-powerful captors are going to keep fucking us hard in the ass over and over again against our will, then they could at least exercise some level of respect or decency, right? At least for the sake of our children!

Forecastle 2010 Interview with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips

Forecastle 2010 Interview with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips from Patrick Yen on Vimeo.

Interview with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips for the 2010 Forecastle Festival.

Interview by Cory Greenwell,
Production by Patrick Yen.

Understanding Capitalism

All I ever needed to know about Capitalism
I learned from no-limit Texas Hold'em poker.

Winning at life requires both luck and skill,
but mostly luck.

In the end a few will win,
but most will eat shit and die.

Is the Internet Facilitating Social Anarchism in the 21st Century?

The internet appears to be eliminating numerous barriers that were once more defined than they are now, barriers that are both horizontal and vertical, political and economic, geographical as well as linguistic. There appears to be the emergence of a multidisclipinary & multicultural form of intellectual society that is essentially global ('world-wide') as well as transnational in nature. A planetary-civilization or global-culture, so to speak.

Is easier, cheaper, and ever farther-reaching access to educational and economic opportunities eliminating previously stronger social strata and class division within society on a global, world-wide level?

Could these various political, cultural, and economic effects be characterized
as an emerging form of 21st century 'social anarchism' or left-libertarianism, on a global scale? 

What are your thoughts?

***

anarchism |ˈanərˌkizəm|

noun
belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion.

• anarchists as a political force or movement:
socialism and anarchism emerged to offer organized protest against the injustices of Spanish society.

ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from Greek anarkhos ‘without a chief’ (see anarchy ) + -ism;
later influenced by French anarchisme.

"Said Jesus to the Masses": A Bible Summary

"Hey now, try not to be such assholes,"
said the loving liberal Jesus to the masses.

"Fuck you!" replied some hateful conservatives in power.

Dear VII Photo,

Please pardon oh great photo ubermenschen overlord masters (and I mean that lovingly) if this sounds wrong,
but I am writing this for the proletariat everyman:

“According to Jesus’s Golden Rule moral teachings, of treating others the way you want to be treated,
it’s not entirely fair to fuck others in the ass unless you yourself are also willing to take it up the ass.”

Criticism is the lifeblood of our industry and comes with the territory of being on top.
True journalists would accept this criticism with a smile on their face.
Man up, face the music, and go with that flow, baby.

Criticism is a journalist’s fuel.

How Obama Might Achieve World Peace?

I had a dream tonight
and in that dream
was

Free Energy!

In my dream
the Nobel Peace prize was awarded to Obama
under the presumption that he would make free energy universally available
thereby solving many of the world's problems
as well as engineering real peace.

Dreams can come true..

Evolve, Survive, and Reproduce - is this the Meaning of Life?

Evolving, surviving, and reproducing
appear to be the rule of nature..

Most animal and human behaviors,
be they conscious or unconscious,
appear to revolve around these three characteristics..

Is this the Meaning of Life?

Is man an end product of nature,
or merely a stepping stone to something greater,
perhaps a greater manimal that's yet to be fully realized?

Upon close examination of human history,
I can only conclude that man has a long way to go..

Throughout history, the creatures that appeared to survive and thus carry on
were the ones who could adapt and become better than they originally were.

What do you do to make yourself better than you are?
Are you thriving or merely surviving, and why?

We Live in A World Full of Lies

If everybody could read each other's minds all the time
then could there be any lies
would there be any crime?

Pretty Lights at the Belle of Louisville

Pretty Lights at the Belle of Louisville from Patrick Yen on Vimeo.

"Pretty Lights" performs on July 11, 2009 at the Belle of Louisville during the annual Forecastle Festival's afterparty.

Video shot and produced by Patrick Yen for the 2009 Forecastle Festival in Louisville, Ky.

See That Which Cannot Be Seen

Human perception is incredibly limited.

For example, bees can see frequencies of light that most humans cannot,
dogs can hear frequencies of sound that most humans cannot,
sharks can sense smells that are incomprehensible to man.

What humanity is capable of perceiving to be real and true
is really only a small sample of objective reality..

..perhaps knowing too much would drive us all mad?

In psychology there exists a concept natural to man known as the “overconfidence bias”
which states that people are inclined to think they know more than they actually do.

Overcoming this fallacy of perception is perhaps the first step
to seeing that which cannot be seen,
or knowing how not to know?

***


See That Which Cannot Be Seen - Images by Patrick Yen

We Cannot Solve The World's Problems With The Same Thinking That Killed The Newspaper Industry

Duh.

Is everybody crazy, if only God is sane?

"You'd have to be crazy to be so sane," said the Evil Banshee of Change,
"but lucky for you that really everybody is crazy, because only God is truly sane."

"What do you mean by sane?" asked the Crazy.

"By truly sane I mean 'all-knowing' or omniscient, and of course rational,"
replied the Evil Banshee of Change, "Nobody is sane by those standards."

"Oh," said the Crazy, "Well now I don't feel so alone!"