The NeoLiberal Round

This is an excerpt of a Lecture I presented to a group on "Pan African and Caribbean Thought," exploring the "Corner Boys" Mentality; within a Gen-Z's, Gen-X's and Post Millennial's Milieu. It is an interdisciplinary analysis utilizing anthropological/ethnographic methods and Participant observation. 

The discussions forms part of a wider study on "Privilege, Power, Position and Status, looking at how power and its strategies poses problems for progress and its effect on the changing human dynamics in society which. 

The analysis provides an anecdotal and an initial understanding on the minds and behaviors of the Gen-Z's corner boys who seem to have acquired the one percent mindset of "getting money...staying fresh" without having the usual hard commitment to wider society's values and morals to hold them back. It's all about "getting money" - living the dream; the systems and laws are beneath them and can be summed up in this motto: "the law is not a shackle". 

I provide an initial analysis and assessment to my students and also made a comment at the end about Twitter and Elon Musk who have slashed their staff in half since the Elon takeover after requiring them to work hours thinking that they would be able to keep their jobs, (which seemed to have been a strategy to get the staff to do one year's work in two weeks so that the layoffs wouldn't cost them anymore losses), is now charging $8/month to get and to keep a blue verified account. This seems draconian and based on members ability to pay, not on members credibility and reputation which Elon Musk had tweeted was based on privilege. Nevertheless, Elon and Twitter have turned around and is doing the same thing, only this time, they have changed the game and switch privileges from those who are reputable to anyone who can pay. 

Finally, we concluded with a brief discussion on Facebook and Meta which has defrauded many Digital Creators out of their Reels after promising that they would pay these members for their created and posted Reels. Many Video Reel Creators suddenly started to experience glitches with their accounts and lost access to their accounts and payments and then were required to reverify their accounts through notary and other requirements or create new accounts. But up to now, many Creators have not been paid and Facebook and Meta have not provided any public and substantial reply concerning the issue. However, they are slashing staff due to business slowdowns. 

But business is bad for Meta because the platform is not user-friendly and has tremendous control over user accounts. Further, Meta has several security issues and kinks that need to be resolved and members continue to complain that they are not paid for their reels and pay out accounts are constantly coming up with error notifications. So, it is no wonder that Facebook/Meta has to cut staff given the downturn in revenues as the company continues to lose reputational value among its Facebook fans.

Renaldo McKenzie is the Creator/Host of The Neoliberal Round Podcast, Doctoral Candidate at Georgetown University, Graduated from University of Pennsylvania and is an Academic and Lecturer and has taught at The Jamaica Theological Seminary and several other colleges and schools. Renaldo is the author of Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty and Resistance is about to get his second book published: Neoliberal Globalization Reconsidered.... 

Visit us at www.theneoliberal.com. You can support the show by subscribing for free on any stream or on anchor.fm at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal and you're welcome to donate to us at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal.support.

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Many candidates are declaring that they will challenge the Midterm results due to election fraud and irregularities. And guess what, they may not be conspiracy theories as we have encountered some election irregularities in Philadelphia. Question: Do you believe the midterms were filled with enough irregularities to warrant a challenge and was your experience like? We woke up this morning to the reality that there was no #redsea as if God had parted the "red sea"; as the GOP seem to be split down the middle with the #TheDemocrats which will preserve the balance! Yet, Trump seemed to be the factor that helped the #dems… and this … I have Breaking News regarding the Midterm Elections 2022 today concerning election irregularities in Philadelphia PA. I discuss and report on this with Ricardo McKenzie and Maurice Smith who are senior professionals in their field and Ricardo is a consultant with a logistics firm and a senior Advisor to the Board at The Neoliberal Corporation, Maurice Smith a brother with Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and a City Social and Human Services Professional in Philadelphia. I will share in this episode my experience voting for the first time and what I discovered about some irregular voting practices in my district. Further, Ricardo makes a poignant point how, divided a need divisive we are… he [Donald Trump] pulls out the ugly and shows what the underbelly of America can be. It needed Donald Trump to come to power to demonstrate and realize what was always beneath - how divided and divisive we are. How fragile our society is and how it’s necessary for us to combat against this; so that we do not end up in this position that has come to define politics and society…. Listen to the entire episode it is deep dynamic with background sounds and transition music. Thank you for listening and visit us at https://www.theneoliberal.com. Subscribe on any stream for free and support us at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal/support. The Neoliberal Corporation is serving the world today to solve tomorrow’s challenges through communication which is to make popular what was the monopoly.

Kyrie Irving was redefined & his intentions reinterpreted to control his freedom of expression & masculinity which has always been the strategy to enslave & to control. What is it to question someone’s faith? Isn’t it a matter of theology, requiring an apologetic response. What is it to question someone’s faith? Is it Antisemitic? …probably when questioning a certain belief or faith as faiths and beliefs are questioned and attacked every day. But isn’t this the modus operandi. Stephen A. Smith said in this clip on his show ESPN First Take that Kyrie doesn’t have the right or shouldn’t question someone’s faith or belief? But why is that so? When did we come to a point to not want to question another’s faith when this is done every day between and among faiths. The orthodox Christian faith call the Jehovah Witnesses “Cults” meaning a group claiming to be Christians but deny the essential tenets of the Faith. Moreover, Tom Cruise was seen as weird for joining the church of Scientology and many castigate and lambast the Muslim faith as terrorists so on and so forth. This questioning faith is a normal part of the exchanges that occur to arrive at truth or personal faith and theologians defend their faith through apologetics. Apologetics is the use of logic to defend the faith. The apologist is is who must offer a credible response to kyrie, not demanding apology but engaging in apologetics. However, we have become so sensitive and hypocritical; KYRIE can only speak basketball as if he’s livestock, but he cannot challenge and critique history; only the privileged must do so. We therefore stifle and attack his freedoms of expression and speech forcing an apology for what the ADL said caused hurt. But we are told in Psychology that people are not responsible for other feelings. Because people are different and respond to stimuli differently and therefore as a way to mitigate conflict, we use I-Messages so as to not blame based on this fact. Yet the NBA and media is forcing an apology that blames KYRIE for causing grief as if he has that power to do so and requiring him to do what others are not asked to do which then appears to be a matter of pharasaicalism/race. However, as good people who promote life and peace, he should seek to facilitate brotherhood and sisterhood. Nevertheless, we should not deny his critical thinking and freedom of expression by redefining his expressions as foreign and anti-anything to control his masculinity which others are freely able to flaunt. The issue of questioning the Jews’ origin and experience so long as it is not full of hate is a matter of theology requiring an apologetic response. Creator/Host: Renaldo C. McKenzie, author of Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality Poverty and Resistance. Doctoral candidate at Georgetown University, graduate of University of Pennsylvania and Jamaica Theological Seminary, and studied Philosophy at University of The West Indies. Renaldo is a Lecturer and Academic and working on two other books. Subscribe on any stream or at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal. Support us at https://anchor.fm/theneolibersl/support. Visit us and access our services and business solutions at https://www.theneoliberal.com.

Breaking News: Nets Suspends Kyrie 5 games without pay for not disavowing antisemitism even though he maintains that he is not antisemitic. Question: Do you believe Kyrie deserves this punishment?

Kyrie Irving is in the news again. But this time, it's not about vaccinations against COVID. He is being accused by the Jewish community as promoting Antisemitism stemming from a video, he published on his personal social media page containing an external and independent film which seems to suggest antisemitism. Kyrie Irving issued an apology and met with the press today for a press conference to explain his actions and whether he was antisemitic. However, Adam Silver, Commissioner of the NBA did not accept the apology calling it unqualified. Nevertheless, Kyrie Irving was defiant and would only say that he was at fault for posting a documentary film which contained some falsehoods and that he was not antisemitic but that he and his people have been mistreated and told that they were nothing. Yet society has not offered any worthy apology and their de 'jure and De facto racism that is present even today. The reporters pressed him for an apology, asking him repeatedly whether or not he was sorry for causing hurt to the Jewish community.  However, he would not acquiesce and pointed out that just because he posted the video doesn't mean that he is antisemitic.  The video he posted suggested that Black peoples were the real Jewish people whose identity was stolen from them by White people. The documentary film also asserted that some white people took over the name Jewish and stole the original Jews name. However, this idea is not new, because if you read Karl Marx "Das Capital", he refers to how classes and peoples through violence accumulate capital by going on the land of another group and stealing their property, such as in the 14th century where serfdom was replaced by the wealthy free peasant who became the feudal Lord (See Karl Marx, Das Kapital Volume 1, Economic Manuscripts: Capital Vol. I - Chapter Twenty-Seven However, Karl Marx and many Marxists in America never had to apologize for this theory, although it was unpopular. We were told that Obama was born in Africa, but where is the apology for this falsity. on January 6 a group incited an insurrection, engineered by a few strategists of the status quo, yet they are still in power or planning on running for office again. On the other hand, the Black man cannot have an unpopular opinion without a backlash even from his own peers trying to appease the status quo.    Therefore, we must not expect anything more from Kyrie, as just as he held out on COVID, he will on this one because he is the vilification of his duppies (past/ancestors). In retrospect, so as to put Kyrie’s actions into more perspective, I had written a quick blog some time ago saying that I was doing a Doctoral dissertation on #Neoliberalism #power #privilege & #racism. One of my #research topics is on Kyrie Irving: Kyrie Irving is the embodiment and vilification of his “duppies” realization of #individualism and the new black people resistance. I’d like to study the brother using ethnographic research methods. He believes in individual rights and to get vaccinated or to apology for an unpopular opinion when others have been able to express their opinions no matter how crazy betrays that individualism and masculinity that has been denied. Therefore, it can be understood and argued that Kyrie is being the vilification of his duppies (past) who through passive or active resistance… 

Read on at www.theneoliberal.com  

Question: Why are major US Businesses laying-off their workers? The US economy seem to be contracting or that is what we are made to believe, with the slew of American Businesses that are cutting staff due to what business insiders and analysts are reporting as lower-than-expected revenues and profits coupled with rising labor costs. In this episode, we discuss why Businesses are really slowing and provided commentary on this within the present economic context of rising prices and falling median incomes while registering a significant increase in the Gini co-efficient which measures income inequality. 

According to Business Insider, several major companies are slashing jobs from Twitter to Peloton".  The article available on MSN news, reported that:  "A wave of layoffs has swept across American businesses in 2022. The cuts stem from slower business growth, paired with rising labor costs. The layoffs span across industries, from mortgage lending to digital-payment processing. Twitter is the latest high-profile company to get hit with layoffs this year after its new owner, Elon Musk, reportedly ordered a 25 percent headcount reduction". In fact, "major American businesses have picked up the pace of firing in 2022. Peloton has laid off thousands of their employees. Real Estate firm Re/Max slashed 17 % of its workforce. Even traditionally layoff-resistant companies like Netflix have made cuts & companies that saw a pandemic-era boom, like Shopify, are cutting hundreds of jobs". The article concluded that the reason for this is "two-fold: business growth is slowing, while labor costs are increasing. This combination is causing American companies... to slash headcount," (See Business Insider via MSN on 11.2.2022)

However, is it true that businesses are slowing and that this is due to rising labor and lower-than-expected earnings compared to the last period? We delve into this pointing out that real wages are falling due to rising inflation, while median incomes are also falling. Yet, businesses are downsizing and are faulting labor who has always been the scapegoat/ the victim of Capitalists seeking supernormal profits while enjoying increases in their incomes and net worth. Moreover, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) data shows that since 2020 there's been a sharp rise represented by a steep or vertical slope in the incomes and wealth of people at the top percentile of the US population (You may refer to Podcast Season 4, episode 27, or visit The Neoliberal Corporation's website for the article for more on the BLS data showing US incomes since 1990's - Does St. Louis/US Cities with High Crime/Murder Rates suffer from Relative Deprivation? - The NeoLiberal Corporation). So that income inequality has reached its highest in years registering a Gini of nearly 1.0. Therefore, it is quite unusual that Businesses are now saying that they have to cut labor due to rising costs & lowering profits as if labor costs are really what's driving their loss and slowing business. But let's say its labor that is helping to slow business growth/profits, the next question would be then, what labor or which labor?  It is the top-level labor/executives who are demanding high salaries, wages and bonuses that's driving up labor cost, which is represented by the rise in the top 20 percent in incomes and wealth. In addition, the competition between and among billionaires & those at the top is what is driving up labor costs while Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and those wealthy tech and real estate companies compete to be the richest and most profitable in the world. Read on @ https://www.theneoliberal.com.

This episode features, Judge Hon. Stephanie M. Sawyer is trying to make a difference in Philadelphia and stated that once she got elected to the Bench, as a Municipal Court Judge, the first thing she said to herself was that she was not going to be the kind of Judge that was going to “feed the beast that was mass incarcerations.” In fact, Judge Sawyer revealed that, “that is how the system currently operates,” but stop short of providing any further comments on the issue and decided to table her opinions on the matter for later. 

Nevertheless, Judge Sawyer went onto explain that the general path when someone gets convicted, except for “Intentional Carve Outs…,”Ms. Sawyer, interrupted her chain-of-thought to explain what is meant by Intentional Carve Outs, important to understanding the point she was about to make concerning the general path when someone gets convicted. According to Judge Sawyer, “Carve Outs” are things such as Accelerated Rehabilitated Disposition. For example: “they say if you have a zero prior record score, we're not going to put you through the criminal record system, & we are going to give you a different path. They have drug treatment court, so because you’re a drug addict we are going to carve you out of the Criminal Justice System and treat you in this manner, or Veteran’s Court, because you’ re a Veteran we are going to carve-you-out of the Criminal Justice System and treat you in this path, or Mental Health Court, because you have mental health problems, we gonna carve you out of the Criminal Justice system….” Judge Sawyer then went back to where she had left off, when she was commenting on the general path when someone gets convicted, except for intentional “Carve Outs,” pointing out that:

the Criminal Justice system works like this, “a Judge will sentence somebody to probation and flog-them-off to probations or flog-them-off to probation officers, or they’ll sentence them to Incarcerations and flog-them-off to the Department of Corrections and [over ninety percent] (90 %) get out. Then they get flogged off to Parole Officers. And the next time that Judge who sees the person they sentenced, will be when a Probation/Parole Officer is so frustrated that they opine revocation, because the Defendant [or Parolee] is either not doing what the Probation or Parole Officer asked them to do or have a new case, or has a new conviction. In those three (3) circumstances, a Probation/Parole Officer will request a “Violation of Probation Hearing” to recommend additional punishment. And the next time a sentencing Judge sees a person that they had sentenced, is when that happens – [meaning Revocation, Re-incarceration leading to Mass Incarceration]. This led her to a very important conclusion couched in a question, “so if Judges sees people only to punish people, when exactly do they help?” As such, Judge Sawyer explains that she has created a system, a program called “Resource-Based Sentencing and Supervision”; indicating that “it’s how you sentence and it’s how you supervise. In that model, Judges are part of the solution. Judge Sawyer stated that: “most of my corner boys, they are frustrated entrepreneurs, if we give them a change of product, then we’d be actually doing something. So, [we help to cultivate] their entrepreneurial spirit... As a Judge she is trying to help reduce recidivism through the "Consentencing Foundation" that will be launched in November. This episode is available as an article in www.theneoliberal.com, The Neoliberal Commentary in LinkedIn or renaldocmckenzie.com

Does St. Louis/US Cities suffer from Relative Deprivation? Crime and Violence continues to spiral out of control and the perpetrators are young men 10-25 who constitute the age group with the highest rates of arrest for all offenses and especially violent crimes, murders and robberies. Recently, 2 persons were killed, and 7 others were injured after a lone gunman. 19-year-old African American, Orlando Harris, went to his former high school CVPA with an AR-15 & over 600 rounds of ammo. Harris killed 16-year-old Alexandria Bell, who was a beautiful young lady with a promising career in the visual and performing arts. The second, was Jean Kuczka, a 61-year-old physical Ed teacher. The question on all our minds after this is, another shooting and why did he do this? Why would a young man with no prior criminal record become so violent that he would be so enraged has to turn his former school into a battleground. According to reports from eyewitnesses and victims, the gunman shouted just before he started to shoot, “you’re all going to die.” Another student heard him say, “I’m tired of this d…” school and “I hate this d*** school.” Taniya Gholston, 16, was in the dance class when the shooting started. “He said like, ‘I’m tired of this damn school,’ and, ‘I’m tired of everybody in this damn school,’” she said. If those words reveal anything, it is that Harris was frustrated and troubled and seem to blame the school and sought to resolve the problem through what he believe was the only way that resolve his problems. For Harris, the school was the source of his problem and sought to kill everyone except the ballet teacher Raymond Harris. That was inconsistent with his statement that everyone was gonna die at the school yet he stopped short of killing this particular teacher. This needs further investigation and understanding as to why he changed his mind about this teacher. Nevertheless he carried out his heinous plan but due to quick response by the police, was taken out before he could continue his rampage. Press conference reports by the local police suggested that there are unconfirmed reports that Harris had a mental illness in the past but this has not been confirmed, however he left a note saying he felt isolate. Nevertheless, the issue of motive goes beyond Orlando Harris, and must be situated within the wider concern that Crime and Violence continues to spiral out of control and the perpetrators are young men like Orlando ages 10-25…Social movement theory asserts that when one begin to see other people, they begin to compare themselves drawing conclusions about themselves relative to that position. This theory then leads to a conclusion from scientific research and various studies within Social Marxist Materialism of Relative Deprivation, where society of higher income inequality are more prone to higher crime rates than communities that have lower income inequality. Today, US national data and PEW research studies show that crime has spiked and that much of it is occurs within certain cities and communities. The cities that has experienced rapid increases in violent crimes with a weapon and robberies are among the poorest with higher levels of people of colour including St. Louis Missouri where CVPA is located. St. Louis overtook Detroit as the most violent cities in the US with the highest murder rates. While at the same time, St. Louis is among the cities with the highest inequality/disparities with a Gini coefficient of between 0.9 and 1.2. This episode is available as an article in the Neoliberal at Renaldocmckenzie.com and theneoliberal.com. Renaldo is the auth or of Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty and Resistance available worldwide in all formats. Subscribe to the show for free at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal and support us at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal/support. The Neoliberal Corporation, Serving the world today to solve tomorrow’s challenges.

Is Relative Deprivation theory key to dealing with and understanding crime and violence? What is Relative Deprivation? What does it have to do with Crime and Violence? This was part of my Lecture presentation recently to a group of students in my class. I lay out argument in the podcast which will be available as an essay in renaldocmckenzie.com and theneoliberal.com later. We conclude the podcast with a segment entitled "The Hero Within Life’s Journey", where I share a thought in prose about "the hero of life". 

Note/Credits: The Podcast Episode is sponsored by Anchor.fm, a podcast from Spotify. Rev. Renaldo McKenzie is the creator and host of the podcast. He’s an academic, doctoral candidate at Georgetown university, Graduate at University of Pennsylvania and author of “Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty and Resistance,” (available in all formats worldwide. Subscribe to the podcast for free at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal or anywhere you get your podcast or music. Donate to us at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal/support. The Neoliberal Round Podcast is available on Anchor.fm, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Radio Public, Podvine, Stitcher, the Alexa app/device and at renaldocmckenzie.com and theneoliberal.com.