Free Enterprise: For Whom the Bell Tolls

I read something this morning that made me want to throw up just a little bit in my mouth. The sad thing is that the point of the article I refer to was one that I would otherwise agree with. It's just that there's a certain self pitying, xenophobic tangent in which the author indulges, and it requires some response.

My response to Mr. Yellen below:

I neither have an apartment in New York, nor am I a European or a South American, but the reference to exploitation strikes me as greatly ironic, and somehow profoundly insulting.

It comes laced with a sense of hypocrisy, though perhaps both are understandable and forgivable when seen to manifest themselves in people that have known little else.

I would ask Mr. Yellen, who's self confessed (and as quickly dismissed) xenophobia verily drips from some words in his article, where the cries of exploitation were when the American machine used the very same principles of buy and sell in so called third world countries, working into labor, land and capital?

Ah, but when exporting American money, it was labeled by all parties as 'Foreign Investment'. Today, evidently, the tables, to some small extent, have turned. Suddenly the 'cheap dollars' allow the 'exploitation' of cities like New York by 'foreigners'.

The whole thing stinks of this all pervading arrogance, really. Specifically, the idea that it was alright for us, but it's not alright for them to do the exact same thing is what sticks in my craw.

For decades now, the US Government, both Democrats and Republicans, have fervently pushed the Global Economy into being this giant instaweb that it is today. They shoved free trade down the world's collective throat, forcibly at times, coercively at other times, breaking down barriers that in some part protected small time operators in underdeveloped economies from competing with robust megacorporations, and as far as the local small timers went, someone might want to wander down to take a careful peek at the categories of local produce that the US subsidizes in order to create a bulwark for the resident economy. Ah well, dog eat dog world, and all that. Except it wasn't always and it needn't be this savage.

Well, I've got news for you, Mr. Yellen: Free enterprise is a frightful bitch. And she swings both ways.

Don't get me wrong, while I don't tend to talk about economic policy as much as I rant on social issues, I find the unchecked and irresponsible levels of growth one of the greater evils of modern society. Just the wrapping in which this particular point was conveyed was, in a word...

Repugnant. Full Post.

The Raconteur Gets a Facelift.

So, I stayed up till noon today working on this thing, and let me tell you, HTML is something that, as Barbara Bush once said of Ms. Ferraro, rhymes with 'rich'. No really, it's evil. Spawn-of-Satan level evil.

But, we've finally pulled away the hazard tape and taken down the construction signs. I'm proud of my efforts. The Raconteur now boasts:

• Two sidebars, instead of just the one on the right.
• A larger area in total.
• A search box.
• An email address (impressive eh?)

The list looks dishearteningly sparse now but believe you me, actually getting it done while being entirely code oblivious is a frightening concept. And one that can take you upwards of ten hours.

In addition to the above, I now have at least a crude and rudimentary understanding of what changes what in the template code, which gives me the ability to modify such things as color and so on.

Translation: Now that we've tackled the code, expect a thematic overhaul in the coming days/weeks (depending on how long it takes me to woo those imaging genius people into helping me out here).

Also, while I'm being silly here, it bears noting that Svveet Jayne is true to her name.
Full Post.

Blog Under Construction.

The Raconteur is currently in the process of receiving a facelift. You may have noticed the nifty new search bar on the side, plus a couple of other less noticeable additions. Working my nonexistent coding skill in an attempt to add something more interesting. Meantime, don't mind the clutter. Full Post.

Oh my god! The Blog's on fire!

While trying to add in Haloscan's trackback functionality to the Blog today, I somehow managed to mangle the blog into erasing all previous comments. Never fear though, I'ver taken pains to restore vocalization to those gentle few who's actually stopped by and left something for me to read.

As it turns out, Haloscan's trackback functionality also comes with a really nifty looking comments editor (which, or so I hear, will allow me to actually moderate stuff too - should the unfortunate become necessary - rather than just delete, which is what Blogger offers).

Also, I'm not sure if the new commenting system allows for OpenID and Blogger sign in, which would be a real tragedy if it doesn't, so I'm going to experiment around with it and see.

In the meantime, and if I decide to stick with Haloscan (supposedly there's a way to get their trackback without their commenting system - still looking) commenting system, I offer my sincere (believe me, it probably hurts me more to see your comments go away than it does you) apologies, and I'll copy/paste the comments awhich I took pains to save after temporarily restoring the old template. Full Post.

If They'd Only Told Me About the Thousands...

Of dollars bloggers out there are making, I might have broken into this before. And by now I'd be lounging with Andrew Sullivan on Real Time with Bill Maher.

And here I thought I might be approaching a semblance of meaning.

Jokes aside, I -do- know what RSS is now, thanks in no small part to Google, Wikipedia and several other sites in between. We're making progress, captain.

Tomorrow, expect an editorial on the Raconteur Bible, which is something of a statement of ethics, on which pretty much every future argument made here will rely. Full Post.

The Frightening World of Blogs.

Now that we're up and running (nominally, anyway), I'm introduced to obscure, occult-ish sounding things like RSS feeds and trackbacks.

A question is raised: What the hell are these things?

Time to roll up one's sleeves and find out. Full Post.