Wednesday, October 22, 2008

October Surprise: War on America’s Middle Class (While They Slept)


The Neo-Frat Boy Fascist’s Victory

As we all slumbered, counting our sheep,
The American People were hit in their sleep.
Dreaming of holiday trips to the sea,
Henry Paulson & Friends came looking for me.

There were no loud noises, no sirens or horns,
No flashing red lights through the windows or doors.
Far away on some spreadsheet a liberty lost
Died the death of this Nation, its sovereignty, tossed.
-2Truthy


Are the ruling elites of this country “idiots” or are they instead a clever klatch of diseased sociopaths, drunk on power as they pillage the economy at the expense of the American people? Is the Wall Street Banker Wealth Distribution scheme (otherwise called a “meltdown”) a result of ruling class “mistakes and incompetence?” Or is it the (in) direct result of an emotionally stultified and clueless, indoctrinated public, fed by our media for decades on power delusions of religion, race and social feel-goodism that have diverted attention away from crucial socio-economic policy?

In The Idiots Who Rule America Chris Hedges references the recipe on how to cook up a Fascist state:


“The first three aims of the corporatist movement in Germany, Italy and France during the 1920s, those that went on to become part of the Fascist experience, were “to shift power directly to economic and social interest groups, to push entrepreneurial initiative in areas normally reserved for public bodies” and to “obliterate the boundaries between public and private interest—that is, challenge the idea of the public interest.
Sound familiar?”


While clever Wall Street fox Hank Paulson, King of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) is tasked to “regulate” all of the unprecedented economic misdeeds, the American public is naive about power, which, by training, is at the margins of their attention as jobs disappear to fatten up their profits as no one holds them accountable. Americans have been raised to be good little partisan voters, signing onto a team with “heritage worldviews, as we do in religion.”

Although I must conclude that it was not sheer “idiocy” at all that paved the way for this wealth transfer between Wall Street’s investor class, I do completely agree with the latter part of Hedges’ sentence:

“It is only when these elites are exposed as incompetent parasites and dethroned that we will have any hope of restoring social, economic and political order.”

Indeed, we are in need of a media that is willing to expose the corporate neo-fascist frat boys (who are typically presented as heroes in the media or either completely hidden from view) and a steely, collective public will that is committed to dethroning these panty hamsters. However, I fail to see how scheming bankers can be written off as “incompetent parasites” instead of being called out on their calculated shakedown of John Q. Public. But hey, I’m no economist so what do I know? One thing I strongly suspect is this: We don’t need no stinking EESA. Obama and Pelosi are already planning a new multi-billion dollar "stimulus package" way above and beyond what has already been crammed down our throats. How much “stimulation” can the non-portfolio class of this country possibly take before the whole thing implodes? Never mind.

Perhaps what we need instead is a Department of Deprogramming led by smart, non-think-tanky economists with consciences and a sense of civic duty to replace this Department of Shit for Brains at the “T” to lead us out of this economic quagmire.

What we are now left with for “news” from “progressive” media run by the Power Elite is in crucial ways false and contrary to the public greater good. They tell us lies and instill a false consciousness not because they are idiots, but because they seek to gate-keep the scoop and then plunder and control us. Soon, when Emperor Obama takes the throne, his gr$$n backers will unveil their carbon cap and trade/footprint schemes that will further reduce us to the unsustainable numbers that we, Joe Consumer, in this new world order of dispensable human capital that We, the Disposable People, really are in their eyes:


“Listen to our officials talk about consumers—we’re only valuable to them insofar as we are predictable statistical constructs defined by corporations. Have you heard the Federal Reserve call for a new stimulus package? Beyond the fact that the Fed isn’t even a part of the government, their call represents one of the most troubling features from Hayek’s critique of scientific socialism: that the individual is treated as a means rather than as an end. They would manage us like cattle—not as living beings, mind you, but as potential dollars. None of this is new, and none of this is incompetence. This isn’t a financial collapse; it’s an engineered redistribution of wealth. It’s not a banking failure; it’s a dazzling success for bankers.” - Georg Poothausenschlofths


-2Truthy

Crossposted at BlondeSense

3 comments:

Citizen Carrie said...

I've been reading a lot of comments lately on how it's too bad we can vote our politicians out of office, but we can't vote away the corporate puppetmasters. The oligarchs have run amok for too long.

Notice how the answer to every problem that comes up is, "Let's get rid of more American jobs"?

Notice how they get pretty defensive whenever anyone questions their green energy pie-in-the sky ideas?

2Truthy said...

How true, CC. Add to that "if only we had even MORE Cohen & Grigsbys" just imagine all the cheap labor we could find? Our personal profits would continue to soar as these useless middle class Americans finally become extinct. As long as we continue to shut down hospitals and get our buddies in the insurance industry and big pharma to keep denying health care and access to drugs, why, we can exterminate this whole American middle class in lickity split!"

BTW, think the Obama empire will get around to stop making American corporations "people" or will they all have bailed out to transnational status, making the whole point moot?

Anonymous said...

I blame that criminal, Alan Greenspan.

Greenspan has written another book. In it he exposes, unwittingly, what many know: the Federal Reserve is not about preventing inflation (prices from rising), it's about keeping wages down.

First some background:

Economists have described various causes of inflation. Two important ones are wage-push (wages go up--so goods and services cost more) and cost-push (the supplies needed to produce goods and services cost more).

Note that Alan and friends don't use these terms. They just refer to something nebulous: "inflationary pressures." And why not be specific? Do disguise their real focus on wage-push inflation

Check out the Fed's actions. The PR is that the're doing a good job. But we have had inflation every year since the Depression ended. How about cost-push? Witness the rise in oil prices, health care, and college education: has the Fed ever shown alarm over these and proposed raising rates to cool these costs. NOT A PEEP! What about wage-push? They are doing a perfect job. Wage averages, adjusted for inflation, are now about where they were in 1970! Even though US workers are wildly more productive that 38 years ago!

Anyway, what did Greenspan say in his book? He said that we are headed for lots of INFLATION! Why? Cost of oil? NO. Cost of health care? NO. HE WAS WORRIED THAT WAGES ARE GOING UP IN THE 3RD WORLD AND CISCO AND NIKE AND AT&T AND SO ON WILL HAVE TO PAY MORE!

Apparently Alan is a globalist. Not only is he trying to keep down the wages of US citizens, he wants them stagnant in India and China, also!

BTW, for those still not convinced that Greenspan is no conservative: during the run-up to the current credit crisis, he testified before Congress, stating how great it was that everyone could get a home loan. That the percentage of people in America owning homes was going up and that was a "glorious" thing. Or that he testified over and over again adamantly against regulating derivates?!?!?!?