Bill Gates and "Creative Capitalism"
Let the world take heed: Bill Gates is calling for "creative capitalism."
Perhaps this is that very same creative capitalism—flush as it is with all that is good, American, and entrepreneurial—that this very same Bill Gates in his younger years used knowingly, willfully, conspiratorially, and with malicious intent to violate decades-old antitrust law, thereby destroying well-established, legitimate, law-abiding companies and, hence, forever and radically altering the landscape of the emerging Information Age in every last corner of its vast complexity.
This, as a side note, would be the same Bill Gates who committed his law-breaking under the watchful eye of the Clinton Administration, whose Internet-inventin' boy-genius, Saint Al Gore, didn't seem at the time the slightest bit motivated to wander over to the Justice Department to share his extraordinary knowledge of all-things-online with federal prosecutors who could have moved rapidly to get injunctions against Microsoft while building a case that would have stopped Mr. Gates and that might even have gotten him and his little "creative capitalist" crew some attitude adjustment time behind bars. (Surely, it could not possibly have been the case that the DLC-driven "centrists" of the Clinton Administration, pining for Cold War-era domestic economic policies, were dragging their feet just so new oligopolists could establish themselves for another neo-Keynesian round of industrial policy.)
Bill Gates, a man whose staggering influence and wealth are the fruit of a poison and poisonous tree of law-breaking, now sits like some kind of Ancient Greybeard Guru, speaking to the rapt audiences of his sycophantic movers and shakers in the IT world, who line up like swaying sheep the same way many Leftist bloggers bleat to the intonations of their well-financed, A-lister shills. It's all like being in some ridiculously out-sized, Fundamentalist megachurch, except that the praise-singing choirs aren't as good out here in cyberspace.
Pundits, industry leaders, and even a fair number of people who should know better are going to let Mr. Gates get by with invoking the hurl-bait of "creative capitalism," but that changes nothing: he is the very essence of the most vile (and necessary) aspect of capitalism, its categorical imperative that success cannot be founded upon doing what is right and ethical, but instead must always be the result of taking calculated risks for expected returns from doing that which is profitable.
To that extent, capitalism disgusts me, even though I am a capitalist; beyond that extent, however, it is Bill Gates's kind who disgust me, and on that score, I can take more than small pride in noting that, if nothing else in this life, I am not Bill Gates's kind.
That having been said, the question for anyone of essential decency is more pointed: what does it say of this age that men like Bill Gates and, no less, George W. Bush will never go to prison, while we as a nation that pretends to any legitimacy prosecute, terrorize, watch, Taser, beat, and incarcerate our commoners by the countless millions?
From my perspective, this new world is nothing but the same old world it has always been. In a perverse way, that's comforting to me. There for a while, I thought things were going to get really confusing here in the 21st Century.
The Dark Wraith has spoken.
Comments
Wrote blackdog:
Wrote roger:
good morning dw,
it's all the same, yet not. our pitchforks and cudgels, even our torches, have been rendered much less useful and effective by the ruling class. they have the patriot act and tasers. blackwater and subprime mortgages. we can bleat all we want on the internet. all is recorded and indexed for our trials.
is there a cheap joke here about exposing microsoft's perfidy as gates-gate? too much of a stretch?
Wrote Dusty:
Good morning to all that stop here,
The stench of Irony first thing in the morning..
It has a way of starting my day off with just the right amount of anger.
Wrote SB Gypsy:
Good Afternoon Dark One,
I have been noticing lately that there is a decided lack of honor exhibited in the United States in this new century. I don't know if they used to feed it to us just to keep us pacified, [and then went around pillaging under cover] or what.
In my youth I do remember they gave honor lip service anyway. To be proven a cheat was a social nightmare, the end of a career. Was it just a mirage? Now all we have is cheating politicians, cheating businessmen, cheating sports teams, cheating athletes.
America used to pride themselves on being a republic, like Athens. I remember being taught to look down on Spartans, who had no honor, and in whose culture the only shame was getting caught.
Nowadays, America seems to have embraced the Spartan ethic.
Wrote trog69:
I predict we will adopt many Spartan ways of life. I read that the warriors took off the handles from their shields to keep the slaves from using them in a rebellion, so we might wanna get some spares made now, you know...just in case.
Bill Gates, a symptom of our malaise, or one cause? Who fucking cares about one guy's obvious rigging the game when we have an entire capitalist system that has stolen from the poor, raped and pillaged the very planet they live on, as if they will somehow find a nice clean, climate-regulated island to retire to when things get dicey?
Thank the Gods we have Ron Paul, Mr. "buck the system" guy: He who strongly believes that Bush's tax cuts should be permanent also thinks:
Full immediate expensing for major business asset investments
· Reducing the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% to be aligned with average rates in Europe
· Indexing the capital gains tax for inflation
· Cutting and simplifying the corporate capital gains rate
All to help get the "people" the help they need.
Wrote Labrys:
Isn't Gates a bit Augustinian in his habits, Oh, Dark One? I mean, rather like that stuffy mouthy Plato-loving bit of pushiness, Gates did the "Save me from greed and nasty practices, ooooh, but not YET...not till I GET MINE!"
This is one of many reasons for maintaining an Apple household as much as possible!
Wrote LindiBee:
"self-interest and caring for others"????
Let's see- this is the same Bill Gates who pioneereed the creation of "Permatemps" back in the 90's- that is, Permanent
temporary workers in Redmond, who received around $15/hr on average and no benefits while he was achieving complete market dominance of the computer industry and making himself the richest man on the planet. He did, in fact, have a
few fair-haired boys who actually were full Microsoft employees and were well paid- the vast majority, however, were temps, most of whom eventually came from India on H1B VISAs.
I guess his trickle-down effect has been an enormous blessing back in New Delhi. :(
Wrote My Pet Goat:
From my perspective, this new world is nothing but the same old world it has always been.
And one tiny little bit of proof that shit never really changes....
Wolfowitz Returns to U.S. Government as Adviser
Wrote trog69:
They had to give him that job, MPG. They didn't have a Medal of Honor on hand.
Wrote Weaseldog:
DOS was a rip of CP/M.
I think if you know much about the 19th century, then you're well prepared for the 21st.
Wrote trog69:
"He was too New York, too Italian, and he had too many wives."
DOROTHY KALIADES, of Queens, on the problems with Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential quest.~NYTimes Newsletter
Oookay then.
Wrote trog69:
I am not all that thrilled about Rudy pushing the "eject" button so early. I was kinda hoping that pre-coronation ceremonies at Fox 'News' for him would be seen by more people. Tying the two together just seemed...right. I see that some wishful thinkers are pointing out lower campaign coverage numbers for Fox, but while they'll still have McCain to megaphone for, Hillary won't be bashful about being snidely bashed, as long as she gets that exposure. "They're doin' alright, gettin' good grades..." Okay, that didn't fit so well. They still got them shades.
Wrote Peter of Lone Tree:
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Wasn't DOS stolen from another operating system, was it called OM/P? Or something like that.
And then it seems that I recall lots of companies getting shoved into the disposal all during the rise of microsoft.
It's one neat thing to compete, but another totally to cheat, and get away with it.
But then the consuming public is a herd without much of a clue, they simply follow whoever bleats the loudest. How else can you still sell a Chevrolet or Ford to anyone? Wasn't the Beta format by Sony considered to be superior to VHS?
What amazes me the most is that regardless of just how he made his multiple billions, when he endows anything with a few million the rest of the world drops trow and bends over.
A few million for him is like pocket change for me.
No big deal.
Seems like a billion is a thousand million, and last I heard, he had 32 of 'em.
Obviously I can't keep up with the Gates.