Kathianne
08-01-2008, 11:28 AM
Interesting position and juxtaposition:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080100017.html
Rappers' Shout-Outs Make Obama Skip a Beat
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 1, 2008; C01
...
"I love the art of hip-hop; I don't always love the message of hip-hop," he told BET earlier this year. "There are times where even . . . with the artists I love, you know, there's a message that is not only sometimes degrading to women; not only uses the n-word a little too frequently; but -- also something I'm really concerned about -- it's always talking about material things."
....
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDdiYTgxOGE0ZjNiZTEzZmI3OGQwMzBmYWFlNWE1MDg=
August 01, 2008, 0:00 a.m.
The Spoiled Children of Capitalism
In large measure our wealth isn’t the product of capitalism, it is capitalism.
By Jonah Goldberg
...
Capitalism is the greatest system ever created for alleviating general human misery, and yet it breeds ingratitude.
People ask, “Why is there poverty in the world?” It’s a silly question. Poverty is the default human condition. It is the factory preset of this mortal coil. As individuals and as a species, we are born naked and penniless, bereft of skills or possessions. Likewise, in his civilizational infancy man was poor, in every sense. He lived in ignorance, filth, hunger, and pain, and he died very young, either by violence or disease.
The interesting question isn’t “Why is there poverty?” It’s “Why is there wealth?” Or: “Why is there prosperity here but not there?”
At the end of the day, the first answer is capitalism, rightly understood. That is to say: free markets, private property, the spirit of entrepreneurialism and the conviction that the fruits of your labors are your own.
For generations, many thought prosperity was material stuff: factories and forests, gold mines and gross tons of concrete poured. But we now know that these things are merely the fringe benefits of wealth. Stalin built his factories, Mao paved over the peasants. But all that truly prospered was misery and alienation.
A recent World Bank study found that a nation’s wealth resides in its “intangible capital” — its laws, institutions, skills, smarts and cultural assumptions. “Natural capital” (minerals, croplands, etc.) and “produced capital” (factories, roads, and so on) account for less than a quarter of the planet’s wealth. In America, intangible capital — the stuff in our heads, our hearts, and our books — accounts for 82 percent of our wealth.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080100017.html
Rappers' Shout-Outs Make Obama Skip a Beat
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 1, 2008; C01
...
"I love the art of hip-hop; I don't always love the message of hip-hop," he told BET earlier this year. "There are times where even . . . with the artists I love, you know, there's a message that is not only sometimes degrading to women; not only uses the n-word a little too frequently; but -- also something I'm really concerned about -- it's always talking about material things."
....
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDdiYTgxOGE0ZjNiZTEzZmI3OGQwMzBmYWFlNWE1MDg=
August 01, 2008, 0:00 a.m.
The Spoiled Children of Capitalism
In large measure our wealth isn’t the product of capitalism, it is capitalism.
By Jonah Goldberg
...
Capitalism is the greatest system ever created for alleviating general human misery, and yet it breeds ingratitude.
People ask, “Why is there poverty in the world?” It’s a silly question. Poverty is the default human condition. It is the factory preset of this mortal coil. As individuals and as a species, we are born naked and penniless, bereft of skills or possessions. Likewise, in his civilizational infancy man was poor, in every sense. He lived in ignorance, filth, hunger, and pain, and he died very young, either by violence or disease.
The interesting question isn’t “Why is there poverty?” It’s “Why is there wealth?” Or: “Why is there prosperity here but not there?”
At the end of the day, the first answer is capitalism, rightly understood. That is to say: free markets, private property, the spirit of entrepreneurialism and the conviction that the fruits of your labors are your own.
For generations, many thought prosperity was material stuff: factories and forests, gold mines and gross tons of concrete poured. But we now know that these things are merely the fringe benefits of wealth. Stalin built his factories, Mao paved over the peasants. But all that truly prospered was misery and alienation.
A recent World Bank study found that a nation’s wealth resides in its “intangible capital” — its laws, institutions, skills, smarts and cultural assumptions. “Natural capital” (minerals, croplands, etc.) and “produced capital” (factories, roads, and so on) account for less than a quarter of the planet’s wealth. In America, intangible capital — the stuff in our heads, our hearts, and our books — accounts for 82 percent of our wealth.
...