Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

zooks

(308 posts)
Tue May 28, 2019, 06:51 PM May 2019

WOW!Facebook investor, former advisor venture capitalist Roger McNamee

told a committee hearing in Ottawa today that social media platforms should be shut down until they can be reformed.

"If your goals are to protect democracy and personal liberty, you have to be bold. You have to force a radical transformation of the business model of internet platforms," venture capitalist Roger McNamee told the House of Commons privacy and ethics committee Tuesday morning.



WOW WOW AND MORE WOW!



"At the end of the day, though, the most effective path to reform would be to shut down the platforms at least temporarily. …. Any country can go first. The platforms have left you no choice. The time has come to call their bluff."


more at

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/facebook-grand-committee-tuesday-1.5152436







13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
WOW!Facebook investor, former advisor venture capitalist Roger McNamee (Original Post) zooks May 2019 OP
Add a Fairness Doctrine to the Media. bahrbearian May 2019 #1
And how would that apply here? Mr.Bill May 2019 #8
100% agree Hekate May 2019 #2
Zuckerburg and Sandburg are now in Contempt of zooks May 2019 #4
Venture or Vulture: pick your poison Ford_Prefect May 2019 #7
K&R!!! 2naSalit May 2019 #3
McNamee should join with John Perkins UpInArms May 2019 #5
This is now on my must read list. zooks May 2019 #6
Thanks. Sounds like a must read yonder May 2019 #9
Not just foreign countries...Wall Street has been doing this to our own local governments pecosbob May 2019 #11
Reminds me of Jefferson County, Alabama UpInArms May 2019 #12
to read later zooks May 2019 #13
not in the US but EU countries should be able to do it AlexSFCA May 2019 #10

Hekate

(90,189 posts)
2. 100% agree
Tue May 28, 2019, 06:57 PM
May 2019

Will any Western democracy have the guts? The howling from FB devotees will shake the Earth -- so it's going to take a lot of spine.

zooks

(308 posts)
4. Zuckerburg and Sandburg are now in Contempt of
Tue May 28, 2019, 07:02 PM
May 2019

Canada's Parliament as they didn't show up to a hearing. That attitude makes clear that they have no plans to regulate Facebook themselves in any meaningful way. Very shocking to hear a Venture Capitalist call for such drastic governmental intervention.

UpInArms

(51,252 posts)
5. McNamee should join with John Perkins
Tue May 28, 2019, 08:16 PM
May 2019
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is a partly autobiographical book written by John Perkins published in 2004. It provides Perkins' account of his career with engineering consulting firm Chas. T. Main in Boston. According to Perkins, his job at Main was to convince leaders of underdeveloped countries to accept substantial development loans for large construction and engineering projects that would primarily help the richest families and local elites, rather than the poor, while making sure that these projects were contracted to U.S. companies. Later these loans would give the U.S. political influence and access to natural resources for U.S. companies.[1] He characterizes his role as being an "economic hit man." Although he states that throughout his career he has always worked for private companies, and suggests a system of corporatocracy and greed, rather than a single conspiracy, he claims the involvement of the National Security Agency (NSA), with whom he had interviewed for a job before joining Main. According to the author, this interview effectively constituted an independent screening which led to his subsequent hiring as an economic hit man by Einar Greve,[2] a vice president of the firm (and alleged NSA liaison).

Content
Edit

The book heavily criticizes U.S. foreign policy and the widely accepted idea that "all economic growth benefits humankind, and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits.",[3] suggesting that in many cases only a small portion of the population benefits at the expense of the rest, with the example including increasing income inequality where large U.S. companies exploit cheap labor and oil companies destroy local environment.[3] Perkins describes what he calls a system of corporatocracy and greed as the driving force behind establishing the United States as a global empire, in which he took a role as an "economic hit man" to expand its influence.

According to his book, Perkins' function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity, Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an economic hit man as follows:

Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

pecosbob

(7,502 posts)
11. Not just foreign countries...Wall Street has been doing this to our own local governments
Wed May 29, 2019, 12:41 AM
May 2019

for decades.

UpInArms

(51,252 posts)
12. Reminds me of Jefferson County, Alabama
Wed May 29, 2019, 03:14 AM
May 2019
The Incredible Story Of The Jefferson County Bankruptcy -- One Of The Greatest Financial Ripoffs Of All Time

Since so many people read my post on Harrisburg (thank you), I figured that I might as well explain how Jefferson County's problems evolved. I consider this story to be old news. As with Harrisburg, however, some people mistakenly characterize Jefferson County's financial problems as a canary in the coalmine for the municipal bond market, which suggests that they still have no idea what transpired there (or how long Jefferson County has been in financial distress). Portraying Jefferson County as a typical municipal credit is akin to portraying Enron as a typical corporate credit. With Jefferson County, various financial firms - but primarily JP Morgan - exploited an existing culture of corruption and made taxpayers the victims of one of the largest frauds in the history of the financial markets.


Long read, but ... omg ... the corruption, it burns ...
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»WOW!Facebook investor, fo...