the deliberate weakening of social protections has produced greater financial and economic insecurity
Joseph E. Stiglitz considers what 40 years of anti-government, low-tax, deregulatory advocacy have wrought around the world.
neoliberalism simply did not deliver what it promised
countries under the sway of neoliberalism have consistently failed to enact strong regulations against pollution (or, in the US, to address the opioid crisis
unregulated markets are neither efficient nor stable
expanding the freedom of corporations curtails freedom across the rest of society
The freedom to pollute means worsening health (or even death, for those with asthma), more extreme weather, and uninhabitable land
what they earn was made possible by government investment in infrastructure, technology, education, and public health ... what they would have if they had been born in one of the many countries without the rule of law
Where would Elon Musk and Tesla be if not for the near-half-billion-dollar lifeline they received from President Barack Obama’s Department of Energy in 2010?
“Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,”
taxes are what it takes to establish the rule of law or provide any of the other public goods that a twenty-first-century society needs to function
if most people are forced to endure the insecurity of not having reliable health care or adequate incomes in old age, society has become less free: at a minimum, they lack freedom from the fear of how traumatic their future might be
dishonesty, socially destructive profiteering, and rent-seeking will prevail, public trust will continue to crumble, and materialism and greed will triumph
selfish
scoundrels and opportunists
a society without trust
if we want to live in a society that values all citizens and strives to create ways for them to live full and satisfying lives
people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare ... lack of job security
In sociology and economics, the precariat (/prɪˈkɛəriət/) is a neologism for a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare. The term is a portmanteau merging precarious with proletariat.[1] Unlike the proletariat class of...
蒲公英族（英語：precariat；/prɪˈkɛəriət/)，或譯作「流眾」[1]、「不穩定無產者」[2]、「殆危族」、「飄零族」[3][4]等，在社会学和经济学中，是由飽受不稳定之苦的人组成的階級。蒲公英族是不稳定（precarious）与无产阶级（proletariat）的混成词。 [5][6]...
除了政黨的貪腐和侵占、賤賣國家資源的各種手段，台灣人過去30年來的痛苦，主要都是緣自藍綠共同的財經信仰與產業政策：通過租稅減免與壓低工資等手段，讓財富向上集中，期盼富人與企業因而不出走；集中資源創造明星產業，讓其他中小企業自生自滅或淘汰；讓頂層1%的人盡量地富有，期待著向下滴流給其他90%人的資源會因而增多──這就是所謂的「雷根經濟學」、「向下滴流經濟學」」、「供給面經濟學」和「新自由主義」……我們期待財富向上集中後，會被用來提升投資與研發意願，促成產業昇級並擴大就業機會；事實是不知道有多少資金被拿去炒地皮，有多少資金被拿去投資對岸而製造我們的競爭者，也不知道有多少政府補貼是在助長企業家的貪婪與不勞而獲，鼓勵他們不長進。結果，研發沒有增加，投資沒有增加，產業沒有升級……這樣的政策，必然導致財富向上集中，房價衝上雲霄，工作機會流失，薪水逐年下降
如果藍綠背後的財團早已勾結一氣，立法院的藍綠黨鞭交情好到匪夷所思，政黨將是換湯不換藥，即便輪替一百次也於事無補。如果藍綠背後的意識形態、財經思想與產業政策還彼此雷同，掉在同一個陷阱內，就更別指望政黨輪...
藍綠背後的財團早已勾串在一起，而且藍綠的財經與產業思維也大同小異，都是為了財團的利益而犧牲90%的台灣人……當90% 的台灣人都期待政府拚「全民經濟」（inclusive development）時，藍綠政府卻沆瀣一氣地在全力拚「富人經濟」（exclusive development）……屈服於新自由主義和財閥的壓力，一邊主張社會民主與清廉從政，一邊屈服於富人經濟
積極引入外商的投資，讓老闆加一倍，就可以激化企業的良性競爭，並且造成「勞動力供不應求」的勞方市場，而使工資上漲幅度超過房價漲幅，讓經濟成長的果實全民分享，而從「富人經濟」轉向「全民經濟」……政府如果積極引進優質外商來投資，得利的是受薪階層，但台灣的企業（尤其是可以直通行政院與總統府的大財團）卻必然會不高興。你說，如果沒有一個跟90%台灣人站在一起的第三黨，政府是會聽財團指使而排拒優質外商投資？還是會積極引入優質外商，來逼迫國內企業改善勞工的待遇？
減稅集中在富人和高科技產業──越能賺錢的稅率越低，越難賺到錢的稅率反而越高，豈不是存心要讓中小企業倒閉？
The early neoliberal ideas of the Mont Pelerin Society had sought to chart a middle way between the trend of increasing government intervention implemented after the Great Depression and the laissez-faire economics many in the society believed had produced the Great Depression ... it would substitute for the nineteenth century goal of laissez-faire as a means to this end, the goal of the competitive order ... By the 1970s, neoliberal thought...focused almost exclusively on market liberalization and was adamant in its opposition to nearly all forms of state interference in the economy
in practice, this "market fundamentalism" has led to a neglect of social goods not captured by economic indicators, an erosion of democracy, an unhealthy promotion of unbridled individualism and social Darwinism, and economic inefficiency...
那么，进化不是说“物竞天择”吗？物竞天择不就是适者生存吗？物竞天择不就是弱肉强食吗？物竞天择不就是个体(individual)竞争(competition)吗？这不就是自由市场竞争吗？进化证明绝对的个体自由是合理的，合理化(justify)个人主义、利己主义、自私主义。所谓：“人不为己，天诛地灭”，强权就是公理！简单来说，“物竞天择，优胜劣汰，弱肉强食，适者生存”这个森林法则（又叫丛林法则）是
When you train people to be good in learning the rules, it is harder to have a rebellious spirit ... people who are not afraid to break the norm, to fail a little
SINGAPORE — They have hopped around countries to build up businesses, before settling on Singapore to sink their roots more than 10 years ago. To them, there is no better place than Singapore for entrepreneurs, so much so that one of them, fish farm Barramundi Asia’s managing director Joep Kleine Staarman declares
culture of defining success a single way
people grow up trying to thrive in school, which, here, focuses on structured learning, and systematic and logical thinking; less on creativity and risk-taking
the education system produces workers good in thinking about structures and algorithms, besides being highly efficient.“But it is still a workforce that is not highly innovative
the results-driven, exam-centric approach in Singapore’s education system does not require students to think creatively
most of entrepreneurial nature is about people
There is this whole obsession for people to be similar to other people
/what needs changing first is for society to be less critical of those who fare less well academically. “If people are not good in school, don’t write them off. Work on their specialties. Oftentimes, they may be the ones with the potential to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow/
凡是國內各族都該一視同仁，社會底層處境比原住民還不堪的，大有人在
封路封山為何事 司馬昭之心乎？山不該成為禁臠？※ 我坐在山上默默不語的看著腳下風景，我和北得拉曼山域間說是隔著一場夢，不如說是隔著一重柵欄。有誰能解夢、有誰能撤除柵欄？是山、是雲、是人？我們替被
潛臺詞其實是：爲什麼華人社會要被迫弱肉強食而原住民可以受保護？无怪優惠少數弱勢又因歷史結構有滅絕危機文化的政策在美國台灣爭議不斷，這兩個弱肉強食的社會。要麼原住民也要弱肉強食、文化滅絕就是競爭力不夠，要麼社會轉型成沒太強調各家競爭，合作、整合(integration)
Acculturation is a process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from the balancing of two cultures while adapting to the prevailing culture of the society. Acculturation is a process in which an individual adopts, acquires and adjusts to a new cultural environment as a result of being placed into a new culture, or when another...
文化翻譯
More than「八尺門的辯護人」從上週開始，我就被戲劇「八尺門的辯護人」深深吸引。主要的原因不是戲劇的場景就在我家附近的八尺門地區，而是此劇連結多元社會議題的能力，將司法正義，移工，原漢以及漁業經濟發展議題的關切透過戲劇的方式表達出來，真是引人入勝。...
國內所謂的「科技與人文的對話」，幾乎都是外行人的連篇鬼話，無助於溝通，反而平添彼此的誤解與刻板印象。 關鍵在於：對話雙方沒有任何人真的認真跨越藩籬，去深刻地認識另一岸的文化與精髓。 即便是英國 C. P. Snow 著名的演講 " The Two Cultures "...
原出處 《論文寫作完全求生手冊》的〈 附錄二、文化人類學的兩難 〉討論紀爾茲（Clifford Geertz）的代表作 〈厚描：朝向文化的詮釋理論〉，並以他的〈深層遊戲：關於巴厘島鬥雞的記述〉 為例進一步闡述他的論點。 《論文寫作完全求生手冊》原本企圖將每...
