From the inside: Saudi Princess divulges “Orgies with underage girls, heavy drug and alcohol abuse”

November 6th, 2017 – Fort Russ News – Breakingnews.sy – – translated by Samer Hussein –

The Disaster: The majority of the majority didn’t select the candidate

Elections are the only place where marketers try to get fewer people to buy what’s being sold.

In many elections in the US, fewer than half the population votes. Which means, of course, that in most elections, not only doesn’t the winner get a majority, the winner wasn’t even chosen by a majority of the majority.

We make it worse with gerrymandering and arcane vote counting.

It turns out that depressing voter turnout is a shortcut for the selfish political marketer.

It’s easier to get your opponent’s supporters to become disgusted enough to stay home than it is to actually encourage people to proactively vote for you.

When non-electoral marketers try to learn from political examples, we get confused by all of this.

The fact that it’s a one-shot event, that a bare majority is the goal (most marketing doesn’t have to win a majority, it merely needs to matter to enough people) and that decreasing turnout is a valid strategy all add up to make politics a special case.

Blue Bottle Coffee doesn’t succeed against Starbucks by getting people to not drink coffee at all. Nor do they need to sell more than half the coffee sold. All that a non-political marketer needs to do is find enough raving fans. If politicians learned this lesson, I think we’d all be better off.

It’s not an accident we’re disgusted. Politicians spend billions of marketing dollars to create the belief that voting is something that’s better to avoid.

They teach us that it’s not a responsibility we want to take.

They make it feel like a hassle.

They don’t invest in making it a chance to build community and connection.

In short, it’s more like giving blood and less like going to a Super Bowl party.

Too often the incumbents are liked by a minority, respected by an even smaller group and particularly bad at the job. And if many of the registered voters turned out, each would lose in a heartbeat.

The solution is simple, fast and cheap. Show up and vote. Every time.

Once politicians realize that we’re immune to their cynical tricks, they’ll stop using them.

Show up and vote. It’ll make a difference.

Since when does Capitalism exist to maximize civilization? What Degrees of freedom?

There’s a school of thought that argues that markets are the solution to everything. That money is the best indication of value created.

That generating maximum value for shareholders is the only job. That the invisible hand of the market is the best scorekeeper and allocator. “How much money can you make?” is the dominant question.

And frequently, this money-first mindset is being matched with one that says that any interference in the market is unnecessary and inefficient.

That we shouldn’t have the FDA, that businesses should be free to discriminate on any axis , that a worker’s rights disappear at the door of the factory or the customer’s at the lunch counter–if you don’t like it, find a new job, a new business to patronize, the market will adjust.

Taken together, this financial ratchet creates a harsh daily reality. The race to the bottom kicks in, and even those that would ordinarily want to do more, contribute more and care more find themselves unable to compete, because the ratchet continues to turn.

The problem with a race to the bottom is that you might win. Worse, you could come in second.

There are no capitalist utopias.

No country and no market where unfettered capitalism creates the best possible outcome. Not one.

They suffer from smog, from a declining state of education and health, and most of all, from too little humanity. Every time that the powerful tool of capitalism makes things better it succeeds because it works within boundaries.

It’s worth noting that no unbridled horse has ever won an important race.

The best way for capitalism to do its job is for its proponents to insist on clear rules, fairly enforced.

To insist that organizations not only enjoy the benefits of what they create, but bear the costs as well.

To fight against cronyism and special interests, and on behalf of workers, of communities and education. That’s a ratchet that moves in the right direction.

Civilization doesn’t exist to maximize capitalism.

Capitalism exists to maximize civilization. (And failing because it confused optimum and sustainability with maximization?)