Free Republic

Ray Dalio turned to class and power struggles in the latest installment of his ongoing series on the changing world order, wondering if the U.S. is at a tipping point that could move it from what he says is “manageable” tension to a full-blown revolution. “People and politicians are now at each other’s throats to a degree greater than at any time in my 71 years,” Dalio wrote in the essay published on LinkedIn, noting that disorder is rising in a number of countries. “How the U.S. handles its disorder will have profound implications for Americans, others around the world,...

In the years after World War II, Korea’s economy was in tragic shape. In 1948, the country’s per capita income of $86 put it on par with Sudan. Disastrous policies led to hyperinflation, snail-paced growth forced mothers to make choices about children along the lines of Sophie’s, plus literacy rates in the country were among the lowest in the world. Analyzing the situation, one U.S. official concluded that “Korea can never attain a high standard of living.” The reason, he observed, was that “there are virtually no Koreans with the technical training and experience required to take advantage of Korea’s...

Academics are always mystified that the lumpenproletariat (i. e., us working stiffs of all income levels) don't join them in the class struggle. It turns out that the one place in America that has a class system is in the institution where they teach them. "In a one-on-one meeting with the school's provost/interim president, I asked if the administration believes that adjuncts share the same academic freedom as full-timers," Larry Jaffee an adjunct assistant professor at the New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan, wrote on the Academe blog maintained by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). "He was...

At the height of the frenzy of China’s Cultural Revolution, victims were eaten at macabre “flesh banquets”, but 50 years after the turmoil began, the Communist Party is suppressing remembrance and historical reckoning of the era and its excesses. Launched by Mao in 1966 to topple his political enemies after the failure of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution saw a decade of violence and destruction nationwide as party-led class conflict devolved into social chaos.

Class Warfare, Obama-style by Jean F. Drew For Aristotle, to be a “mature man,” a spoudaios, implies the state of existence of a public-spirited man — a man who understands that the well-being of individuals in a society ultimately depends on the justness and truthfulness of the order of the society itself. And this order is not something that can ever be left on automatic pilot; rather it is something that the people must constantly strive to defend and preserve. In Aristotle, we find the distinction between the mass of the people, the plethos — who basically function at the...

On Cavuto now, quoting Obama. Host is asking guests what they think. In related news, Obama calls people earning $250,000 "jet owners." "Calling DSM-IV; will DSM-IV please pick-up the red emergency phone..."