"All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind."--Adam Smith

In our daily routines there is an intrinsic brainwashing to support the Free Market. The absurdity of the Free Market was unconsciously expressed by president George Bush Jr. when after the horrific 9-11 he waged the war against Terrorism at home by urging people to buy in the stock market. We must learn again to think for ourselves, and ask ourselves if by buying in the stock market we immediately increase our social wealth. We must also understand that investment companies such as Merryl Lynch make money with money by having their trade employees telling their customers to buy and buy and buy; this buying and buying and buying causes companies' shares to have inflated values and therefore this spiraling buying frenzy creates a bubble in the economic system.

Remember this, this buying frenzy occurs in 'cut throat' business competition. When a bubble bursts there is no money to buy and investment companies downsize their work force. At this time Merryl Lynch is planning a work force reduction of 9,000 employees.

Our Free Market is full of many types of economic bubbles. We must learn to understand that these economic bubbles are intrinsic to the gospel of the Free Market, an economic and social system to make money with money. We must also learn that there is a limit to anything, and that therefore there is a limit to the Free Market, there is a limit to the types of economic bubbles, there is a limit to the size of economic bubbles. Further, we must learn that as our economic bubbles have limits so they are going to eventually burst, either directly or indirectly. In a very simple language our economic bubbles are a disconnect between perceived needs (need of shelter for example) and perceived wants (want of a swimming pool in the backyard), and in one way these bubbles are a further disconnect between values (fresh natural good water) and prices (bottled drinkable water). The biggest corporate financial bubble has just occurred last month with the collapse of the Enron corporation.

As I was mentioning, we have many types of economic bubbles, and these economic bubbles contribute to the instability of our overall economic system since they will eventually burst, directly or indirectly. We know that our privileged talking heads make millions of dollars per year. It is my contention that the millions of dollars spent on these privileged talking heads compose an economic bubble other people are going to pay for. We must understand that the main purpose of the media should be to educate and inform the public, however we have found out in the course of our writing that our corporate media distorts information and un-educates the public. Therefore, we understand that the single purpose of the corporate media is to make money and as a consequence they have learnt to present information in an entertainment package.

We have talking head Barbara Walters making US$12-million a year. Then we have talking head Katie Couric, who while being the highest paid "news personality" at US$14.5 a year says that what she wants most is respect. Fox News Channel and CNN are in a fierce competition which has been dubbed as the battle of the blondes. CNN snatched talking head Paula Zahn from Fox four months ago and quadrupled the ratings for the morning show; as a retaliation Fox has snatched talking head Greta Van Susteren from CNN. We must understand that the fierce competition among the media conglomerates occur with the bidding of higher pays for the privileged talking heads, while the total number of TV viewers stay the same and while these same media conglomerates show the American flag and become the propaganda's voice of president George Bush Jr.

The bidding for higher pays for "news personalities" is another economic bubble which rather than bursts within itself bursts at the expense of other people at large as the income gap between the rich and the poor widens, and as the news are further distorted and packaged as entertainment.

We must learn to understand that the Free Market is an economic Big Bubble where the few and privileged engage in cut throat competition while common people become marginalized. Yesterday evening I visited the web site managed by philosopher Ernest Partridge and this is what he says about the Free market:

Today, more and more sophisticated observers of society and politics are wondering how homo economicus, a creature bereft of sympathy, humanity, and noble aspiration, and "the perfect market," a "place" devoid of any social contacts more elevated than market transactions -- has come to be regarded by our political elites as the foundation of a just political order. We suspect, and devoutly hope, that in the near-future neo-classical economic theory [Free Market] will be regarded as the "alchemy" of our century. And intelligent men and women will wonder how it was possible that anyone could ever have believed such nonsense.

References:
Pertinent articles in Ensign

Press Release by Merrill Lynch, January 9, 2002. Merrill Lynch moves decisively to position business for improved profitability and growth; takes $2.2 billion pretax charge in fourth quarter. http://www.ml.com/about/press_release/01092002-1-earnings_update-pr.htm

TV news' battle of the blondes. It's Greta v. Paula v. Katie as the cable wars heat up, Charles Laurence, January 5, 2002 National Post http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020105/1042806.html

TWENTIETH CENTURY ALCHEMY, by Ernest Partridge, University of California, Riverside http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020107/1054689.html