Apr 3, 2013

Cartoon of Basic Business Structure & Corruption Motivations With The Example Of Rupert Murdoch

Background: Cartoon Explaining The Socio-Economic Structure of A Functioning Democracy

Business Structure & Corruption Motivations...

Notice at 5 mins that the choice made by the devil for the businessman is the one Rupert Murdoch is about to make (and made before with his buying of the NY Post)... ONLY there is no punishment for Murdoch when caught... as you can see (no charges and he still roams free with no investigation!)

Murdochopoly: Looking to buy the Los Angeles Times, Rupert Murdoch applies for a waiver to circumvent the media consolidation law that was created with him in mind...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

Background on Rupert Murdoch's Fox "News": "US TV News Media: Fox News Echo Chambers"

NOTE: Notice the kinds of equality of rights that is necessary for a true Democratic society to exist (as opposed to a Tyrannical Despotism)...

Democracy & Despotism: 1940s Encyclopedia Britannica Films

by Maria Popova

Vintage lessons in civic harmony, or how small-scale common courtesy paves the way for large-scale peace.

In 1945 and 1946, immediately following the end of World War II, Encyclopedia Britannica’s films division produced two educational short films, one on democracy and one on despotism, exploring how societies and nations rank on the spectrum from democracy to despotism by measuring the degree to which power is concentrated and respect for individuals restricted. More than half a century later, these analyses remain a compelling metric of social harmony and discord, in an era when we’re still struggling to understand the psychology of riots in a global political climate where the tension between despotism and democracy is in sharper focus than ever.

A community is low on a respect scale if common courtesy is withheld from large groups of people on account of their political attitudes, if people are rude to others because they think their wealth and position gives them that right, or because they don’t like a man’s race or his religion. Equal opportunity for all citizens to develop equal skills is one basis for rating a community on a respect scale.”

Sharing respect means that each shares the respect of all, not because of his wealth or his religion or his color, but because each is a human being and makes his own contribution to the community — from healing its sick to collecting its garbage, from managing its railroads to running its trains.”

You might recognize footage from the films, which are both in the public domain, from Temujin Doran’s provocative observations on the distortions of democracy in Market Maketh Man, highly recommended if you haven’t already seen it.

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Notes:

You can measure any community on this simple scale;

Be careful NOT to assume that the 'mere form of a government can guard you against despotism'.

Germany was a Republic and yet a despotic ruler was able to take root (i.e. Hitler).

A competent observer looks beyond fine words and noble phrases. [even Hitler used fine words and noble phrases - You look instead at history, actions, behaviour results of policies (and who was the controller behind the scene NOT just the face of an action)... Then follow the dots into the present using a holistic perspective]

Two yardsticks have been proven to help any community to discover how close it is to despotism;

The Respect Scale

As a community moves towards despotism, respect is restricted to fewer people (such as restricting respect to ONLY members of a small group or one political party).

A community is becoming despotic is respect is withheld from a large group of people on account

of thier political attitudes. (such as persecution because someone is wealthy, of a different race or religion etc.).

The ability of every citizen to better themselves (and educate themselves) is another important measurement of determining the level of respect in society.

The opportunity to develop useful skills is important but not enough as the opportunity to put such skills to use (make a living) is another important measurement on the respect scale.

The Power Scale

This scale is useful to determine the citizens share in making decisions for thier community.

When decision making is left in a few hands (or compiled into a huge bill so that there is at least one issue you feel so strongly for that you have to vote for it even if other aspects of the bill is bad for the community/country - then you have limited choice {and have been tricked!}) THEN the community is moving towards despotism.

Today, a community can move towards despotism by allowing power to become concentrated in the hands of a few.

The test of despotic power is that it can disregard the Will of The People.

Despotism can be official AND unofficial.

The spread of respect and power in a community can be measured using the following 2 scales;

Economic Distribution

If a communities economic distribution becomes slanted then it is moving towards despotism.

If middle income groups grow smaller, then despotism has a better chance to gain a foothold.

One sign of a move towards a despotic society is the concentration of land in the hands of a few people.

When farmers lose thier farms they lose thier independence.

In communities that depend on almost on a single industry (such as a factory or mine) will have find that maintaining economic balance is a challenging problem

Tax Burden

Another sign of a poorly balanced economy is a taxation system that presses heaviest on those least able to pay.

Larger amount of a poorer person's income is spent on food, so sales taxes press heaviest on the poor and middle class.

The Information Scale

A community rests low on the information scale when the press/media is controlled by a few people and when citizens HAVE TO accept what they are told.

If students are not taught critical thinking skills (with a well rounded education so they have basic knowledge of history, politics, sophism, economics etc.) THEN despotism has a good chance of establishing itself.

By keeping students unable to think critically, you get adults who can't think critically (or have any ability to evaluate facts from lies). These adults will accept whatever thier chosen authority source tells them.

A basic definition of Monopoly and Oligopoly:

What Does Monopoly Mean?

A situation in which a single company or group owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service. By definition, monopoly is characterized by an absence of competition, which often results in high prices and inferior products.

According to a strict academic definition, a monopoly is a market containing a single firm.

In such instances where a single firm holds monopoly power, the company will typically be forced to divest its assets. Antimonopoly regulation protects free markets from being dominated by a single entity.

Investopedia explains Monopoly

Monopoly is the extreme case in capitalism. Most believe that, with few exceptions, the system just doesn't work when there is only one provider of a good or service because there is no incentive to improve it to meet the demands of consumers. Governments attempt to prevent monopolies from arising through the use of antitrust laws.

Of course, there are gray areas; take for example the granting of patents on new inventions. These give, in effect, a monopoly on a product for a set period of time. The reasoning behind patents is to give innovators some time to recoup what are often large research and development costs. In theory, they are a way of using monopolies to promote innovation. Another example are public monopolies set up by governments to provide essential services. Some believe that utilities should offer public goods and services such as water and electricity at a price that is affordable to everyone.

What Does Oligopoly Mean?

A situation in which a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms. An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market. In an oligopoly, there are at least two firms controlling the market.

Investopedia explains Oligopoly
The retail gas market is a good example of an oligopoly because a small number of firms control a large majority of the market

Extracts are from here and are in italics:

Why do economists object to monopoly? The purely “economic” argument against monopoly is very different from what noneconomists might expect. Successful monopolists charge prices above what they would be with competition so that customers pay more and the monopolists (and perhaps their employees) gain. It may seem strange, but economists see no reason to criticize monopolies simply because they transfer wealth from customers to monopoly producers. That is because economists have no way of knowing who is the more worthy of the two parties—the producer or the customer. Of course, people (including economists) may object to the wealth transfer on other grounds, including moral ones. But the transfer itself does not present an “economic” problem.

Rather, the purely “economic” case against monopoly is that it reduces aggregate economic welfare (as opposed to simply making some people worse off and others better off by an equal amount). When the monopolist raises prices above the competitive level in order to reap his monopoly profits, customers buy less of the product, less is produced, and society as a whole is worse off. In short, monopoly reduces society’s income.

Explanation:

By having a monopoly in the news media you reduce the quality of media across a whole spectrum of media. for example; Murdoch's tabloid style newsmanship is a model that works for business, in that it attracts attention, and makes money and can direct attention of viewers for advertising purposes.

[Note: To assume that a business model is correct simply because it works is the equivalent of assuming that slavery should be accepted because it has economic value, i.e. cheap labor.]

The more Monopolistic or Oligopolistic power he gains, the more other news media has to follow him to compete with him for market share... and the more the news media will sound, 'like the gossiping of a 14 year old girl'. [Keeping in mind that the type of news structure that works best for a democracy is different from the gossipy /rumor mongering style - click here for more info./or just see above]

Related Blog Posts:

The Case for Monopoly/Oligopoly Regulation In The News Media Industry- Part 1 http://economics-proofs.blogspot.com/2011/07/case-for-monopolyoligopoly-regulation.html

Ducktators: An Ancient Cartoon With Modern Lessons http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/ducktators-ancient-cartoon-with-modern.html

Rachel Maddow Video: Here is the GOP answering questions on abortion etc. during the general elections (and a challenge to the media) http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/rachel-maddow-here-is-gop-answering.html

Bush's Legacy: A Bill Moyers documentary exploring how mainstream media failed to question the war in Iraq http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/bushs-legacy-bill-moyers-documentary.html

Breaking: Iraq Spies Lies Exposed! & Tony Blair Ignores His Own Spy Agencies! http://www.culturesocietyblog.com/2013/03/breaking-iraq-spies-lies-exposed-tony.html