IMHO, they can throw away the key on him and his ridiculous, inept propaganda.

The husband denies any of this because he doesn’t want to get sued, which would definitely happen if he admitted to knowing she was an addict.

Dear Respondent A.C. –

The government has instilled fear in the hearts of the people for ten years. It’s healthier when the government is afraid of the people. Non-cooperation and civil disobedience can be non-violent. Let’s do what we can.

Peace and We the People,
Mort Malkin

Dear John Conway,

You must surely agree that true and responsible capitalism needs the guidance of regulations, to avoid: the creativity of Wall Street in derivative trading, the off-shore subsidiary accounts with PO Box addresses (a la Enron), the wholesale outsourcing of jobs, the avoidance of taxes by corporations reporting billions of dollars in profits in the same year … We have heard about the Robber Barons and Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting in that era of free market capitalism without regulations. We know of the crash of 1929 and the Great Depression resulting from unregulated free market capitalism.

The regulations that were instituted from the 30s through the 70s kept the business community pretty honest. Then, in the 80s and 90s regulations were removed. Even the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, allowing banks and investment houses to become bank holding companies (trusts?) and do everything and anything — personal savings, home mortgages, business accounts, stock & bond investing, and trading (gambling) derivatives and securitized debt obligations. The derivatives noted in the Gadfly column — from butterfly spreads to iron condors — are not satirical inventions. You can check them all out on Google.

OK, let’s start out with well regulated capitalism. Then, why not give capitalism some competition. A spirit of mutual assistance is in the tradition of communities across America from colonial times until now. The reply to respondent Maxine is worth reprinting here.

Villages and towns are justly proud of their: quilting bees, barn raisings, community pot luck dinners and pancake breakfasts, 3-bean hole suppers, Habitat for Humanity homes, town hall meetings, community credit unions, and worker-owned factories … For centuries before, American Indians owned their land as nations not as individuals. In other areas of the world — Africa, Madagascar, Asia, South America — similar cooperative societies exist today. They are the antithesis of dictatorship or oligarchy as existed in communist USSR. Perhaps the elders or the women of such a mutual aid society might be accused of being heavy handed, but it would only be for keeping everyone else honest.

We just need a better balance: more communitarianism (cooperation) and less faceless capitalism.

Peace and We the People,
Mort Malkin

We no longer practice free-market capitalism here, nor is it practiced to much of an extent anywhere in the world today. Corporatism, as currently personified by the Obama adminstration, is a poor imitation.

Dear Maxine,

If the word “communitarianism” is too close to “communism,” let us use “reciprocity” or “mutual aid.” In the US there is a strong tradition of such cooperative effort that has persisted in rural communities till today. Villages and towns are justly proud of their: quilting bees, barn raisings, community pot luck dinners and pancake breakfasts, 3-bean hole suppers, Habitat for Humanity homes, town hall meetings, community credit unions, and worker-owned factories … For centuries before, American Indians owned their land as nations not as individuals. In other areas of the world — Africa, Madagascar, Asia, South America — similar cooperative societies exist today. They are the antithesis of dictatorship or oligarchy as existed in communist USSR. Perhaps the elders or the women of such a mutual aid society might be accused of being heavy handed, but it would only be for keeping everyone else honest.

Regarding my “out of focus” photograph, perhaps a short course in the Eye of the Artist would be helpful in seeing the focus of the photo. Groups such as CAS in Sullivan County and and WCAA in Wayne County offer such instruction.

Maxine, my dear reader, it does not become anyone to bring back the ghost of Joseph McCarthy — rather, let’s discuss the issues.

Peace and parody,
Mort Malkin as Gadfly

Dear Rich,

Jobs is a serious, complex subject all mixed in with the combinations and permutations of the murky science of economics. We must take seriously those who advise the unemployed to “get a job, loser.” Let us ask them if they will offer said jobs. Then, we can make distinctions between jobs that involve actual goods and real services and jobs that deal in illusion and ultimately are paid by taxpayer bailouts and Federal Reserve loans at near 0% interest rates.

Now don’t get any ideas about asking the Fed for such a loan for yourself. That money is only for the too-big-to-fail banks. You have to obtain credit from a credit card company at rates that qualify as usury.

Gadfly’s next essay “Capitalism Vs Democracy” touches on the subject, and a near future column will go into detail. and name the culprits.

Peace and particulars,
Mort Malkin

Cuz