In order to better understand this issue, let's first get some straight talk from an expert:
con DEBT CRISIS IS A GOP LIE - IT'S A JOBS AND GROWTH CRISIS - Robert Reich huffpost 07-28-11
Real grassroots masses in Europe are saying "No way!" to the banksters. The Greek government has already bowed to the inevitable. it will default. Others will follow soon. While seemingly similar to Europe's protests, what is going on in America is an honest-to-god, wolf in sheep's clothing.
Enter the Koch Brothers (David H. and Charles G.), as mean-spirited a pair of misanthropic, mega-freebooting mother-fuckers as we've seen in the modern era (and that's saying something), These Grade A bastards would have given Gould, Frick, and Mellon, along with John D,, J.P and the rest of the roly-poly gang of Barons of yore, a severe run for their money back in the day. So how do the Kochs fit into what's going on in Washington these days?
Faux grasroots is what's going on in the land of corporate "personhood," and myriad other shell games. The Tea Party, whose intransigence and general, all-purpose obduracy stands in the path of anything approaching "compromise," you know, that sunny place where reasonable folks bury the hatchet and come together for the common good? But, the Tead-off Partiers are so brainwashed and brim full of righteous anger at this point (they actually believe that they came up with this brand-new notion of "starve the beast" all by their lonesome), that the only hatchet they want to bury now is in Obama's back (figuratively, we hope).
The Kochs had been trying for some time to create a series of "astroturf" groups to compete with the noise on the Left from unions, the express aim being to visibly set us against one another; the more noise and confusion, the better for them.
Until the Wall Street engendered economic collapse of 2008, they were finding it a tough go. But, as Naomi Klein warned us, a good Capitalist never let's a crisis go to waste. Building on the discontent of Libertarians and Independents (even a Dem, or two), they threw millions into the then nascent Tea Party, breathing professional life into its enthusiastic, but, naively amateur ways.
They paid for posh transport and lodging for all those demonstrators who showed up on the D.C. Mall (if you were broke and unemployed and maybe losing your home soon, would you turn down an all-expenses paid trip to the nation's capitol, in spacious coaches, with snazzy hotels and 3 squares a day, and all you had to do was give "The Man" hell for a few hours?). Then there were all those picnics and meetings with great chow and entertainment.
Additional millions bought the best smear ads in the ad biz. And they funded - via verious front PACs and C-504Ks (for Koch - disclosure not required if non-political) - many of the Tea Party candidates in 2010. A lotta bux, but, as you can see, they got their money's worth.
Rove's Rig Rover took it from there.
Jane Mayer's 2010 piece in The New Yorker provides a vivid portrait of the Brothers Koch. This is also a cautionary tale that nothing exceeds like excessssss -Robert Moses, a man who would know, and why there must eventually be limits placed on the control of personal wealth.
This piece describes a few of the wing-nut outfits and how they go about gumming up the works in Washington; contributing to the contrived carnage. The term "anarchic" best describes their actions.
With that intro out of the way, join me now as we watch the always passionate and bracing mind of Professor Richard Wolff.
He gives a nice recap of the history of how we got here and the different approaches taken by Europe's Social Capitalism vs. the United States' laissez-faire, trickle-down, deregulated, kleptocrati bullshit scams and schemes. As he begins, your instinct will be to slash your wrists - so many cons, grifts and grabs, so little time. But, STAY THAT BLADE! because, as he proceeds, you see what he sees: the sheer unsustainablity of The Nexi's grab for every piece of the pie (not just 90%). Marx was right. Capitalism's basic premise is Creative Destruction... of the masses.
companies form, do well, competiton comes along, best man wins, some do well, others less deserving don't, the world's a better place and the cycle begins anew.
The only thing missing in this happy fiction (besides regulation by grown-ups) is the absence of any concern for the working stiffs with no say-so whatever in the direction or outcome of all this corporate combat. In the final analysis, the burden of creative destruction falls most heavily on those most vulnerable and least able to defend themselves. That's why Capitalism has to go; beginning with the freebooting, take-no-prisoners, variety, as practiced on Wall Street.
The Prof also makes clear why, at this pivotal moment in this nation's history, every hand in Washington is turned against the will of the people, not just the Kochified Tea Party loonies (who are actually being financed to work against their own interests), but Senate Democrats and our first black Prez as well, who, economically speaking, is looking more Honkey to me by the day. He needs to know, I've been abused and lied to by better, old, Anglo-Saxon white guys than him.
The only thing that will stop this wrecking crew is a fed-up citizenry. The less educated, massively distracted and propagandized American public is very slowly beginning to get it. My guess is, we'll all be in the streets before too much longer (within 5 years, barring another false-flag "terrorism").
DEBT CRISIS - DISASTER CAPITALISM - POLITICAL THEATER Prof Richard Wolff - 'Capitalism Hits The Fan' w Amy #28.05 dn 07-28-11
Near the end, he also mentions the next step in corporate America's exit from this country; to wit: the large scale relocation of American industry to "friendlier' (cheaper, more exploitable) shores.
In case anyone flat "missed" America's disappeared 4 million (high-paying) jobs over the past few decades, be sure not to miss Varlet Vamoose II (my term). The Nexi bastards, having now wrecked the economy and stolen everything not nailed down, see no reason to tarry long in the land of the ex-middle class. The Gobi landscape of deserted malls from coast to coast provide mute testimony that the days of shopping therapy are numbered. That may be just as well, because the days of Happy Motoring to get to them won't be far behind.
(of course Florida doesn't need a bullet train. What ever gave you that idea?)
This is Stage 3 of a 3-step strategy that began in the 80s with outsourcing and offshoring, then moved on in the 90s and Nulls to insourcing (bringing in talent for way less money) and now moves on to the latest betrayal: total abandonment of America by the very corporations themselves - let's call it outshoring (my term) - as they look for the next corpus to turn into a carcass.
The Nexi may be greedy, but they're nobody's fools. As they depart, they will roll up our support sytem behind them. You think America's a rough ride now....
Revolution - however you define that term - is headed for these star-crossed shores. By the time the chaos begins here in earnest, the initiators of all this will be long gone,
And as these corporate death stars have always done with only Third World countries up to now, they will sit back with a tall cool one and watch the unraveling of America, that they caused, from afar.
NjW 07-29-11
rot GE moving X-ray leadership team from US to China yahoonews 07-25-11
Nigel Watson freethinker 727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/
"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti
