The NeoLiberal

I published an excerpt from an academic essay I wrote sometime ago stating that: We cannot get rid of economic recession and joblessness, because they serve the ruling class' interests. When the economy is tight, the wealthy and those capitalists can strengthen their hegemony over the masses. In effect, they are in a better position to exploit the one production factor controlled by the Working Class, labor. So with jobs scarce, and unemployment high, the ruling class dictates the terms of employment by cutting salaries and benefits with much favor and without fear from the masses. In a depressed economy, with the illusion of limited jobs created by the ruling class to weaken the bargaining position of the working class will result in inequity or unequal distribution of income and wealth.  Recently, the US Census reports that more people are poor since the recession and over the last five years the income of the wealthy has increased while the reverse has happened among the working

RENALDO was one of my most interesting students at Penn whom I’ve had the pleasure of advising on several thesis and works. His book project is really very good. His treatment of Black nationalism and Marcus Garvey in the context of the globalized economy is unique, and really a brand-new interpretation. That’s just one of many very interesting points he covers. The thesis is very thorough, very provocative, well-argued, and overall more than acceptable. MARTIN OPPENHEIMER is professor emeritus of sociology, Rutgers University. His latest book is The Hate Handbook (Lexington). Visit our Parent website at  The NeoLiberal Corporation Follow on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/theneoliberalcorporation/

On June 15, 2020 I wrote that Another Black man killed by Police.... With all the looting and protestations last week surrounding police brutality on black lives and inequities in our system, they killed #RayshadBrooks on Friday; he was just sitting in his car sleeping and unarmed waiting at Wendy’s and the Police made a huge scene out of this.  Sadly today August 23, 2020 I am writing that same story as the cycle continues...Another (Innocent) Black Man Killed by Police, this time in Louisiana.  Louisiana State Police are investigating the death of Trayford Pellerin, a 31-year-old Black man who was fatally shot Friday night during an encounter with officers from the Lafayette Police Department.  It was captured on video by a passerby. The video revealed police shooting a man who was walking casually seemingly unresponsive to their directive to STOP. He never brandished a gun and was just walking causally when he was taken down police for failing to stop walking.  https://www.c

The Lakers destroyed the Nets on Saturday (Lakers 126, Nets 101) without three of their best and star players. Yet the Nets had all their pieces but Kevin Durant struggled and looked out of sorts. In fact, he looked weak and old but according to the Nets he was under restricted minutes. And Kyrie was ejected with Schroeder (Lakers main shooter on the court at the time). Kyrie won’t play on Monday night due to personal issues. He has missed ten games already for all sorts of personal reasons. Moreover, Kevin Durant of the Nets won’t even play in the #NBA2K21 playoffs (my prediction). He’s gonna be injured as always and @KyrieIrving won’t play much he’s gonna continue to have personal issues, so it’ll be just @JHarden13, #jeffgreen, #blakegriffen and #Aldridge in the playoffs & they will loose in the first round. Let me say this again... @stephenasmith @FirstTake the @BrooklynNets ain’t going to no #nba  finals. They cannot even beat @Lakers who had second unit guys dropping

A Brief Excerpt from the Upcoming Book: “The Secrets to Unlocking Divine Intervention” At 9:00AM one day, I prayed—earnestly: “God let them fire me so that I can be freed up to do what I’ve always wanted to do.” You see, I had imagined that if I were to quit my job I would lose needed benefits, so I asked the Divine to let my seniors terminate me from my job, without having to dumb down my work or sabotage my employers to get terminated as I was profusely opposed to that. I reasoned with God saying even if it means doing Uber as a side gig so that I can still earn while having lot more time to work on my dreams and passions and turn my talents into a worthwhile business. I said to God “If I quit I may not receive some benefits but if they fire me I will.” By 9:15AM that same day, 15 minutes after the prayer I got a call from my senior Executive that I was being terminated and Bwuoy I was happy. My life has never been better for I’m so much closer to realizing my ultimate afte

WASHINGTON –   President Joe Biden  unveiled his first major steps to address gun violence on Thursday, directing his administration to tighten restrictions on so-called ghost guns, or untraceable weapons that can be constructed from parts purchased online  (Read the Executive Action Here) However, no more #gun reform that limit the access to guns can stop or reduce gun violence. All this will do is to create an underground gun—market that will drive up the price of guns and criminalize more (black) boys whose gun love is facilitated by #GrandTheftAuto. Visit Jamaica & see what there restrictive gun control policy achieved; nothing but an underground market where guns are exchanged for drugs, and or make shift guns become the new method of obtaining or using a gun.  If you want to reduce gun—violence, limiting gun access either reduces gun-related killings done by a legal weapon and increases the use of illegal weapons in killings so that the authorities will now experience more di

A colleague of mine at the Jamaica Theological Seminary, Rev. Richard Beckford wrote to our JTS Alumni in our Wassup Group: Greetings All, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR JTS STUDENTS.  We just ended virtual chapel and it was quite emotional for me. Many of our students  are concerned about the  violence in our country. Our female students have been gravely affected by the recent attacks on our women as well. We also have students who are fully engaged on the frontline fighting crime in our nation while juggling school work and family. This is coupled with the lockdowns and their impact on the student body. We also have students who are frontline health care workers confronting the pandemic and they need our prayerful support. Let us keep our students prayed up and through the Student Affairs offer any tangible help we can. The teaching component of the semester comes to an end April 30 and then final assessments the first two weeks of May. Let us pray that our students will finish well, mentally,

Greg Goldman who is Senior Director at Audubon and Adjunct Professor at University of Pennsylvania (a former professor of mine) shared a Study about Birds and people via #LinkedIn. The New  study finds birds give people as much happiness as money (View the study here: https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/mental-health/544722-new-study-finds birds-give-people-as-much-happiness ) But, the study’s conclusions are too general and does not consider other factors that helps to make bird watching for [some] people as beneficial as having real money to spend. Only some people find bird watching fun, rewarding & a happy escape—people with money or have other aspects of their lives taken care of. People who don’t have money who must work hard to make ends meet don’t have time to escape to watch birds. The poor & marginalized struggle to survive, with very little to occupy mind with the leisure’s of life such as bird watching, when their minds are in the economic tensions of li

Jamaica needs a safety net for its most vulnerable people and the unemployed especially during this covid pandemic.  In September 2020, the Jamaica Gleaner published an article in its newspaper entitled:   Social safety net stretched as savings wiped out – expert”  which reported “that the scale of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that Jamaica’s social safety net needs to be widened and deepened, sociologist Dr Orville Taylor has asserted. The  preliminary findings of a recent study conducted by UNICEF and the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) on the impact of COVID-19 on children and families revealed that 80 per cent of families suffered a reduction in income.” ( https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20200911/social-safety-net-stretched-savings-wiped-out-expert ).  The article continues pointing out that in a  “ country where the median age is increasing, there is need for greater emphasis at the national policy level on medium- to

I was thinking recently: Your aversion or tolerance levels to risks will determine if and how you gamble, if and how you invest and how you work/earn a living - Entrepreneur or Laborer/worker(working for someone else). As such your tolerance to risks (“risk-aversiveness” )  should also determine your peace of mind and standard of living, ceteris paribus (all things being equal: depending on the fairness of the competition and the context or conditions within which your life is being lived. It’s important to note here that in  economics and finance, risk aversion is the tendency of people to prefer results with low uncertainty to those results with high uncertainty, even if the average outcome of the latter is equal to or higher in monetary value than the more certain results. However, due to the unfairness within most (capitalist) societies such as America, where some people will always have better outcomes given their class, race or gender status etc, risks are only a major dec

#GoodFriday What ever happened to #Easter in America? I mean did anyone know that it was Easter? #Capitalism has not found a way to capitalize on Easter so that they can sensationalize &  profit from it like Capitalists do with #Christmas. But Easter is about sacrifice & compromise, while capitalism is greed getting over on the other. The new American capitalism has no room for Easter. 

#BREAKING: Family of #GeorgeFloyd settles for $27 million in a #wrongfuldeath #civillawsuit with the #CityofMinneapolis and the #police involved in his #death, @AttorneyCrump announces.  What follows next is a #notguilty verdict of the police. Remember what happened after the #police settled with the family of #BreonnaTaylor, the #policekillers were #exonerated. I hope this #financialsettlement doesn’t provide a basis to #vilify the police who #murdered #GeorgeFloyd. Follow up: I was right, the financial settlement provided a useful opportunity for the defense to steal the trial and exonerate the accused. You see, several days after I posted this blog, the defense for Derek Chauvin, the officer accused of killing Geroge Floyd last May attempted to pull a Breonna-verdict strategy. The defense tried to convince the judge to delay or move the trial because of this $27 million dollar settlement. They may have thought that a precedence was set that they could employ to exonerate Derek Chauv

Harry Enten wrote an article in CNN Politics entitled “Why Biden has an Immigration policy problem”. According to Eten,  “The issue is one of the first that puts Biden and his administration between a rock and a hard place. It's not clear looking at the data how to politically deal with the issue.   For one thing, a flow of illegal immigration across the border divides the Democratic base.”  Harry Enten, Why Biden has an immigration problem," in cnnpolitics, updated March 27, 2021)  But Biden’s problems are bigger than that Mr. Enten. You cannot fix the immigration problem, without addressing the International competition between and among countries that makes rich countries richer and poor countries poorer. Where is the will to prop up another country so that their people no longer need to travel or migrate. For in effect, to do so, to make Jamaica like say a Singapore whose people enjoy the benefits of high growth, export and Incomes, would then mean that Jamaica becomes a m

Excert from the upcoming Book: “Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty And Resistance”. You see how the #statusquo hold onto to or advance their #power? They prop up a few #lumpenproletariat or #blacks, giving them a headline night at a #GOP #convention then turn around & manipulate these #simpletons into making decisions that advance the #status quo. In effect, The #black #KentuckyAG did a #quidproquo acquitting the police of all wrongdoing and accountability in the shooting death of #breonnataylor. They say “one hand sweetened the other” and #DanielCameron needed to return the favor to those calling for the police to be exonerated from #breonna’s shooting death. Thereby corrupting the justice system. The #AG is black so we should believe that race was never a factor. But we know that house slaves helped to perpetuate #slavery. The masters manipulate a few who feel bounded by their “bread and butter” life to make decisions that delegitimize their brothers and sis