By The Last Boy In Line
Friday, July 31, 2020
Dear America:
Sincerely,
Friday, July 31, 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Societal Collapse
Societal Collapse
By Gregory Langley
July 29, 2020
Here in a culture so inattentive,
We turn a blind eye to reality,
Because reality is so offensive.
So we tolerate exclusivity,
By including all of our outcasts,
In the grand scheme of losers,
At the brink of societal collapse.
He's gay; shes's straight,
They're black, I'm white,
All terms given by our forefathers,
The so-called God-fearers,
Who turned out to be faithless impostors.
Humanity is lost,
Humiliated at best,
Humbled inevitably,
Humming a nocturne of our own foreboding.
Not of death, but of silence,
In a culture so breathless and frightened,
And so de-evolution begin.
By Gregory Langley
July 29, 2020
Here in a culture so inattentive,
We turn a blind eye to reality,
Because reality is so offensive.
So we tolerate exclusivity,
By including all of our outcasts,
In the grand scheme of losers,
At the brink of societal collapse.
He's gay; shes's straight,
They're black, I'm white,
All terms given by our forefathers,
The so-called God-fearers,
Who turned out to be faithless impostors.
Humanity is lost,
Humiliated at best,
Humbled inevitably,
Humming a nocturne of our own foreboding.
Not of death, but of silence,
In a culture so breathless and frightened,
And so de-evolution begin.
Monday, July 27, 2020
The Terminal Decline of The USA
The Terminal Decline of The USA
By Finian Cunningham
Information Clearing House
Monday, July 27, 2020
President Trump’s U-turn admission on the coronavirus pandemic,
acknowledging that it’s going to get worse before it gets better,
could be applied to the general condition of American politics.
It can only get worse under present circumstances.
That’s because there is no way to solve deep-seated problems
in the US system under the prevailing bipartisan framework.
It is delusional for Democrats to blame Trump and the Republicans
for all the woes of the nation.
The notion that America can be returned to some kind of presumed
normality if Joe Biden is elected to the White House in November is
a fantasy.
Likewise it is delusional for Republicans to scapegoat Democrats
for tearing up the social fabric.
Trump and fellow Republicans in Congress and in rightwing media
are casting all the upheaval of protests and street violence on,
“radical left Democrats”.
That’s just a preposterous denial of how deeply entrenched
problems are in the US, from poverty, police brutality and
racial discrimination.
For the US system is fundamentally broken.
That is the legacy of the two-party system, both of which
are dominated by, and servile to, the corporate power of
Wall Street, big business and the military-industrial complex.
Right and Left are superficial meaningless American political
adjectives.
They are both centrally corporate vehicles.
The two parties, Republican and Democrat, are just two sides
of the same coin.
That coin is corporate power.
The US is not a democracy in practice.
The voting cycle is just a chimera of “democratic rights” amidst
a plutocracy.
The idea of voting out one party to be replaced by the other in
order to manifest meaningful change is simply wishful thinking.
Both parties whether they control the executive in the White House
or the legislative branch in Congress have presided over endless
overseas wars and foreign aggressions, while domestically both
parties have overseen massive, relentless impoverishment of the
majority of working Americans for the obscene enrichment of a
ruling elite.
That is the essential function of American capitalism
and its imperialist bullying.
And neither of the two parties have shown any will or cognizance
of opposing that fundamental function.
Barack Obama, the Democrat who extolled, “hope and change”
brought nothing of the sort.
He oversaw more wars and more bombings and killings in foreign
countries.
Donald Trump, the Republican maverick, promised to, “drain
the swamp” and end, “endless wars”.
He has done nothing of the sort.
Nothing changes in the two-party system that defines American
politics because the duopoly is designed to ensure that there is
precisely no change.
American corporate capitalism and its oligarchy is an entity
wired for war.
The intrinsic injustice of the system, from its genocidal foundations
to the contemporary drive for global dominance, necessitates that
violence and war are constant concomitants.
Republicans or Democrats don’t change that endemic condition.
They merely deliver it with different accentuations.
Take the present reckless escalation of tensions with China by the
Trump administration.
There seems little doubt that Washington is seeking to corral China
for its global ambitions under a range of pretexts, from the corona
pandemic to allegations of espionage, which also serves to distract
the US public from its massive internal failings as a fractured
society.
But Democrat rival Joe Biden is not offering anything different.
He is engaging in mindless provocations with China too, trying to
outdo Trump as to who can sound more bellicose towards Beijing.
Biden is also posing as the would-be new sheriff in the White House,
vowing to get tough on Russia over alleged meddling in US politics.
The posturing is an empty, futile fabrication.
Meanwhile Trump asserts that, “no-one is tougher on Russia”
than him.
And so down the proverbial rabbit hole we go, never emerging.
Both parties play the foreign bogeyman game as a way to justify
American imperialism in the service of corporate capitalism.
That’s why nothing ever changes for the benefit and progress of
ordinary Americans, or indeed for the rest of the world which has
to endure US aggression over and over.
What needs to change is the entire paradigm of American politics.
The two-party system is obsolete.
The nation needs to organize political representation to defend
and progress the interests of the majority working people.
That requires a head-on challenge to the vested corporate powers
of Wall Street, big business and its media and the military-industrial
complex.
In short, American capitalism has to be reckoned with.
Can it be reformed root and branch?
Or does it need to be abolished, supplanted altogether
by genuine democracy?
That’s up to the American people organized for their rights
to determine.
But one thing is certain.
There are no answers for progress under the present corrupt
duopoly.
As it is, America is in terminal decline.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55387.htm
By Finian Cunningham
Information Clearing House
Monday, July 27, 2020
President Trump’s U-turn admission on the coronavirus pandemic,
acknowledging that it’s going to get worse before it gets better,
could be applied to the general condition of American politics.
It can only get worse under present circumstances.
That’s because there is no way to solve deep-seated problems
in the US system under the prevailing bipartisan framework.
It is delusional for Democrats to blame Trump and the Republicans
for all the woes of the nation.
The notion that America can be returned to some kind of presumed
normality if Joe Biden is elected to the White House in November is
a fantasy.
Likewise it is delusional for Republicans to scapegoat Democrats
for tearing up the social fabric.
Trump and fellow Republicans in Congress and in rightwing media
are casting all the upheaval of protests and street violence on,
“radical left Democrats”.
That’s just a preposterous denial of how deeply entrenched
problems are in the US, from poverty, police brutality and
racial discrimination.
For the US system is fundamentally broken.
That is the legacy of the two-party system, both of which
are dominated by, and servile to, the corporate power of
Wall Street, big business and the military-industrial complex.
Right and Left are superficial meaningless American political
adjectives.
They are both centrally corporate vehicles.
The two parties, Republican and Democrat, are just two sides
of the same coin.
That coin is corporate power.
The US is not a democracy in practice.
The voting cycle is just a chimera of “democratic rights” amidst
a plutocracy.
The idea of voting out one party to be replaced by the other in
order to manifest meaningful change is simply wishful thinking.
Both parties whether they control the executive in the White House
or the legislative branch in Congress have presided over endless
overseas wars and foreign aggressions, while domestically both
parties have overseen massive, relentless impoverishment of the
majority of working Americans for the obscene enrichment of a
ruling elite.
That is the essential function of American capitalism
and its imperialist bullying.
And neither of the two parties have shown any will or cognizance
of opposing that fundamental function.
Barack Obama, the Democrat who extolled, “hope and change”
brought nothing of the sort.
He oversaw more wars and more bombings and killings in foreign
countries.
Donald Trump, the Republican maverick, promised to, “drain
the swamp” and end, “endless wars”.
He has done nothing of the sort.
Nothing changes in the two-party system that defines American
politics because the duopoly is designed to ensure that there is
precisely no change.
American corporate capitalism and its oligarchy is an entity
wired for war.
The intrinsic injustice of the system, from its genocidal foundations
to the contemporary drive for global dominance, necessitates that
violence and war are constant concomitants.
Republicans or Democrats don’t change that endemic condition.
They merely deliver it with different accentuations.
Take the present reckless escalation of tensions with China by the
Trump administration.
There seems little doubt that Washington is seeking to corral China
for its global ambitions under a range of pretexts, from the corona
pandemic to allegations of espionage, which also serves to distract
the US public from its massive internal failings as a fractured
society.
But Democrat rival Joe Biden is not offering anything different.
He is engaging in mindless provocations with China too, trying to
outdo Trump as to who can sound more bellicose towards Beijing.
Biden is also posing as the would-be new sheriff in the White House,
vowing to get tough on Russia over alleged meddling in US politics.
The posturing is an empty, futile fabrication.
Meanwhile Trump asserts that, “no-one is tougher on Russia”
than him.
And so down the proverbial rabbit hole we go, never emerging.
Both parties play the foreign bogeyman game as a way to justify
American imperialism in the service of corporate capitalism.
That’s why nothing ever changes for the benefit and progress of
ordinary Americans, or indeed for the rest of the world which has
to endure US aggression over and over.
What needs to change is the entire paradigm of American politics.
The two-party system is obsolete.
The nation needs to organize political representation to defend
and progress the interests of the majority working people.
That requires a head-on challenge to the vested corporate powers
of Wall Street, big business and its media and the military-industrial
complex.
In short, American capitalism has to be reckoned with.
Can it be reformed root and branch?
Or does it need to be abolished, supplanted altogether
by genuine democracy?
That’s up to the American people organized for their rights
to determine.
But one thing is certain.
There are no answers for progress under the present corrupt
duopoly.
As it is, America is in terminal decline.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55387.htm
Friday, July 24, 2020
Dear Washington D.C.
Dear Washington D.C.
By The Last Boy In Line
Friday, July 24, 2020
Dear Washington D.C.:
Sincerely,
By The Last Boy In Line
Friday, July 24, 2020
Dear Washington D.C.:
Sincerely,
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Friday, July 17, 2020
The US Is Militarily & Economically Impotent
The US Is Militarily & Economically Impotent
By Scott Ritter
Information Clearing House
July 17, 2020
Mike Pompeo’s statement that Beijing’s claims in the South China
Sea are unlawful was seen by some as a dramatic step toward war.
But it’s little more than bluster as the US knows it is not yet
capable of taking military action.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement this week
which rejected – as official US policy – China’s territorial claims
in the South China Sea, saying that there was no legal basis for
China’s claims and accusing China of using intimidatory tactics
against littoral states with competing claims.
“We are making clear,” the statement read, “Beijing’s claims
to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are
completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control
them. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China
Sea as its maritime empire.”
Under its self-proclaimed “nine-dash line” policy, China claims
about nine-tenths of the 3.5-million square kilometer South China
Sea.
In addition to asserting territorial claims over existing shoals
and islands, China has constructed a series of fortified man-made
islands which it has used to assert its presence in the region.
Five other nations – the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia
and Taiwan – dispute China’s claims, and have filed various legal
challenges over the years, some of which have been recognized
as valid under UN arbitration.
Until Pompeo’s statement was issued, the official US policy
was one of neutrality regarding China’s territorial claims.
Now the US has lined up against China in a dramatic manner.
The timing of Pompeo’s statement did not take place in a vacuum.
Less than two weeks ago, the United States Navy undertook a fresh
round of “freedom of navigation” exercises aimed at putting China
on notice that its territorial aspirations in the South China Sea
would not go unchallenged.
The deployment of two carrier battle groups was an unprecedented
display of military muscle flexing, remarkable not simply for the
size and scope of the drill, but rather the context in which it was
conducted.
Yesterday, the UK, America’s closest ally, said it was intending to
station one of its new aircraft carriers in the region, apparently as
a measure to counter an “increasingly assertive China.”
China has, in recent months, publicly displayed its own military
arsenal, in particular two classes of missiles, known as the DF-21
and DF-26, which have been given the moniker “carrier killers”
for obvious reasons.
The Global Times, an English-language paper published under the
auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, made reference to these
missiles in a tweet published in response to the deployment of the
US carriers, noting that “China has a wide selection of anti-aircraft
carrier weapons like DF-21D and DF-26 “aircraft carrier killer”
#missiles. South China Sea is fully within grasp of the #PLA; any US
#aircraftcarrier movement in the region is at the pleasure of PLA.”
The US Navy’s Chief of Information, Rear Admiral Charlie Brown,
sent out a tweet in response, declaring “And yet, there they are.
Two @USNavy aircraft carriers operating in the international waters
of the South China Sea. #USSNimitz & #USSRonaldReagan are not
intimidated #AtOurDiscretion.”
Admiral Brown’s bluster disguises the reality that missiles such
as the DF-21 and DF-26, which are referred to as “anti-access/
area denial” weapons (AA/AD), represent a new face of maritime
warfare that makes the US carrier battle group obsolete.
This is reflected in new guidance issued by the Commandant of the
Marine Corps for the marines to restructure its amphibious strike
capability to reflect this new reality.
“Visions of a massed naval armada nine nautical miles off-shore
in the South China Sea preparing to launch the landing force…are
impractical and unreasonable,”General David Berger noted.
“We must accept the realities created by the proliferation of
precision long-range fires, mines, and other smart-weapons,
and seek innovative ways to overcome those threat capabilities.”
The importance of the Commandant’s guidance is that it is based
in reality, not theory – the Marine Corps is currently undergoing a
radical restructuring of its combat organization and capability,
shedding so-called “legacy” capabilities such as heavy armor and
military police in favor of a new “expeditionary” structure which
will operate from advance bases in the Pacific and make use of its
own long-range strike capabilities to disrupt a potential adversary
– in this case, China.
While some feverish commentators took Pompeo’s words as setting
the legal foundation for the use of military force against Beijing,
the truth is that neither the Marine Corps nor the US Navy are able
to successfully execute a China-beating military campaign in the
South China Sea today – and any such capability is years away.
This is the fallacy of Secretary Pompeo’s statement – words that
cannot be backed up with might are, to be blunt, "Meaningless."
Pompeo’s statement did not specify what consequences the US
is prepared to impose in the event China continues its aggressive
assertion of its “nine-dash line” claims, for the simple fact that
there are no meaningful consequences that can be imposed.
Pompeo’s bluster seemed more intent in driving a wedge between
China and its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) trading
partners, many of whom have territorial disputes with China in the
South China Sea, than starting a war.
China has been for years now seeking to strengthen its economic
and security ties with the ASEAN bloc, much to the consternation
of the US. Indeed, one of the major obstacles faced by the US in
confronting China in the South China Sea is the reticence among
the very nations Pompeo sought to court in his statement to
alienate relations with China, whose status as the region’s
most economically powerful trading partner most ASEAN nations
cannot ignore.
Here, President Trump’s precipitous decision to withdraw from the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2018 has come back to haunt US
policy makers – void of any viable US-led economic alternative, the
ASEAN nations have no choice but to gravitate toward China.
By putting down a marker that it views the totality of China’s South
China Sea claims as legally impermissible, the Trump administration
is seeking to influence the diplomatic arena where the various
disputes China has with the South China littoral states will be
handled for the foreseeable future.
Other than words, however, the US has limited leverage that it
can apply – freedom of navigation exercises are an irritant to China,
but have done nothing to halt its expansion in the region, and in the
aftermath of the collapse of the TPP, the US has failed to put
forward any coherent regional economic development strategy
to counter that of China.
The critical question is to what extent the South China Sea littoral
nations are willing to rally around the new US declaratory policy
regarding China’s ambitions in the South China Sea.
Lacking either the military muscle to compel Chinese change or the
economic wherewithal to offer a meaningful alternative to China’s
economic influence, Pompeo’s statement is little more than empty
words masking growing US impotence.
The fact that the sole meaningful response to China’s stance in the
South China Sea being pursued by the US is a radical restructuring
of the Marine Corps solely designed to engage China militarily in
the region should be worrisome to all; by failing to back up strong
rhetoric with meaningful policy options, the US is in danger of
backing itself into a corner for which the only solution will be the
military tool offered by the marines.
The entire world should hope and pray that it does not come to
that.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55361.htm
By Scott Ritter
Information Clearing House
July 17, 2020
Mike Pompeo’s statement that Beijing’s claims in the South China
Sea are unlawful was seen by some as a dramatic step toward war.
But it’s little more than bluster as the US knows it is not yet
capable of taking military action.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement this week
which rejected – as official US policy – China’s territorial claims
in the South China Sea, saying that there was no legal basis for
China’s claims and accusing China of using intimidatory tactics
against littoral states with competing claims.
“We are making clear,” the statement read, “Beijing’s claims
to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are
completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control
them. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China
Sea as its maritime empire.”
Under its self-proclaimed “nine-dash line” policy, China claims
about nine-tenths of the 3.5-million square kilometer South China
Sea.
In addition to asserting territorial claims over existing shoals
and islands, China has constructed a series of fortified man-made
islands which it has used to assert its presence in the region.
Five other nations – the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia
and Taiwan – dispute China’s claims, and have filed various legal
challenges over the years, some of which have been recognized
as valid under UN arbitration.
Until Pompeo’s statement was issued, the official US policy
was one of neutrality regarding China’s territorial claims.
Now the US has lined up against China in a dramatic manner.
The timing of Pompeo’s statement did not take place in a vacuum.
Less than two weeks ago, the United States Navy undertook a fresh
round of “freedom of navigation” exercises aimed at putting China
on notice that its territorial aspirations in the South China Sea
would not go unchallenged.
The deployment of two carrier battle groups was an unprecedented
display of military muscle flexing, remarkable not simply for the
size and scope of the drill, but rather the context in which it was
conducted.
Yesterday, the UK, America’s closest ally, said it was intending to
station one of its new aircraft carriers in the region, apparently as
a measure to counter an “increasingly assertive China.”
China has, in recent months, publicly displayed its own military
arsenal, in particular two classes of missiles, known as the DF-21
and DF-26, which have been given the moniker “carrier killers”
for obvious reasons.
The Global Times, an English-language paper published under the
auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, made reference to these
missiles in a tweet published in response to the deployment of the
US carriers, noting that “China has a wide selection of anti-aircraft
carrier weapons like DF-21D and DF-26 “aircraft carrier killer”
#missiles. South China Sea is fully within grasp of the #PLA; any US
#aircraftcarrier movement in the region is at the pleasure of PLA.”
The US Navy’s Chief of Information, Rear Admiral Charlie Brown,
sent out a tweet in response, declaring “And yet, there they are.
Two @USNavy aircraft carriers operating in the international waters
of the South China Sea. #USSNimitz & #USSRonaldReagan are not
intimidated #AtOurDiscretion.”
Admiral Brown’s bluster disguises the reality that missiles such
as the DF-21 and DF-26, which are referred to as “anti-access/
area denial” weapons (AA/AD), represent a new face of maritime
warfare that makes the US carrier battle group obsolete.
This is reflected in new guidance issued by the Commandant of the
Marine Corps for the marines to restructure its amphibious strike
capability to reflect this new reality.
“Visions of a massed naval armada nine nautical miles off-shore
in the South China Sea preparing to launch the landing force…are
impractical and unreasonable,”General David Berger noted.
“We must accept the realities created by the proliferation of
precision long-range fires, mines, and other smart-weapons,
and seek innovative ways to overcome those threat capabilities.”
The importance of the Commandant’s guidance is that it is based
in reality, not theory – the Marine Corps is currently undergoing a
radical restructuring of its combat organization and capability,
shedding so-called “legacy” capabilities such as heavy armor and
military police in favor of a new “expeditionary” structure which
will operate from advance bases in the Pacific and make use of its
own long-range strike capabilities to disrupt a potential adversary
– in this case, China.
While some feverish commentators took Pompeo’s words as setting
the legal foundation for the use of military force against Beijing,
the truth is that neither the Marine Corps nor the US Navy are able
to successfully execute a China-beating military campaign in the
South China Sea today – and any such capability is years away.
This is the fallacy of Secretary Pompeo’s statement – words that
cannot be backed up with might are, to be blunt, "Meaningless."
Pompeo’s statement did not specify what consequences the US
is prepared to impose in the event China continues its aggressive
assertion of its “nine-dash line” claims, for the simple fact that
there are no meaningful consequences that can be imposed.
Pompeo’s bluster seemed more intent in driving a wedge between
China and its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) trading
partners, many of whom have territorial disputes with China in the
South China Sea, than starting a war.
China has been for years now seeking to strengthen its economic
and security ties with the ASEAN bloc, much to the consternation
of the US. Indeed, one of the major obstacles faced by the US in
confronting China in the South China Sea is the reticence among
the very nations Pompeo sought to court in his statement to
alienate relations with China, whose status as the region’s
most economically powerful trading partner most ASEAN nations
cannot ignore.
Here, President Trump’s precipitous decision to withdraw from the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2018 has come back to haunt US
policy makers – void of any viable US-led economic alternative, the
ASEAN nations have no choice but to gravitate toward China.
By putting down a marker that it views the totality of China’s South
China Sea claims as legally impermissible, the Trump administration
is seeking to influence the diplomatic arena where the various
disputes China has with the South China littoral states will be
handled for the foreseeable future.
Other than words, however, the US has limited leverage that it
can apply – freedom of navigation exercises are an irritant to China,
but have done nothing to halt its expansion in the region, and in the
aftermath of the collapse of the TPP, the US has failed to put
forward any coherent regional economic development strategy
to counter that of China.
The critical question is to what extent the South China Sea littoral
nations are willing to rally around the new US declaratory policy
regarding China’s ambitions in the South China Sea.
Lacking either the military muscle to compel Chinese change or the
economic wherewithal to offer a meaningful alternative to China’s
economic influence, Pompeo’s statement is little more than empty
words masking growing US impotence.
The fact that the sole meaningful response to China’s stance in the
South China Sea being pursued by the US is a radical restructuring
of the Marine Corps solely designed to engage China militarily in
the region should be worrisome to all; by failing to back up strong
rhetoric with meaningful policy options, the US is in danger of
backing itself into a corner for which the only solution will be the
military tool offered by the marines.
The entire world should hope and pray that it does not come to
that.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55361.htm
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Humanity Is An Endangered Species
Humanity Is An Endangered Species
Can We Do What It Takes To Save Ourselves?
By Lawrence Wittner
Dissident Voice
July 15, 2020
Have you noticed recently that things are collapsing?
Sure, the right-wing, nationalist rulers of many countries never stop
telling us that they have made their nations “great” again.
But we would have to be dislocated from reality not to notice that
something is wrong―very wrong.
After all, the world is currently engulfed in a coronavirus pandemic
that has already infected over 12.5 million people, taken over
550,000 lives, and created massive economic disruption.
And the pandemic is accelerating, while, according to scientists,
new and more terrible diseases are in the offing.
Moreover, we are now experiencing a rapidly-growing
environmental catastrophe.
Not only are industrial pollutants poisoning the air, the water, and
the land as never before, but climate change is making the planet
uninhabitable.
Extreme heat, drought, storms, floods, melting glaciers, and rising
sea levels are wreaking havoc on an unprecedented scale.
This June, the temperature in the Arctic reached 100.4 degrees
fahrenheit―the hottest on record.
In addition, defying all reason, nations persist in arming themselves
for a nuclear war that will destroy virtually all life on earth.
Publicly threatening nuclear war and casting aside or rejecting
major nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties, the nuclear
powers are currently engaged in an extensive nuclear weapons
buildup, with the U.S. government alone planning to spend at least
$1.5 trillion on this project.
In response to the looming catastrophe, the editors of the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists recently placed the hands of their famous
“Doomsday Clock” at 100 seconds to midnight―the most dangerous
setting in its 73-year history.
Even if these disastrous developments fail to snuff out the human
race, plenty of mass misery can be expected from the rising
economic and social inequality occurring around the globe.
According to a UN study, released in January 2020, over 70 percent
of the world’s people suffer from growing economic inequality.
In a foreword to the study, UN Secretary General António Guterres
declared that the world is confronting “the harsh realities of a
deeply unequal landscape,” characterized by “a vicious cycle of
inequality, frustration, and discontent.”
Feeding on popular fears and anxieties, racism and xenophobia
are on the rise.
But extinction or, at best, mass misery, need not be humanity’s
fate.
Thanks to very substantial advances in knowledge over the
centuries, plus the efforts of creative thinkers and determined
reform movements, human beings have shown a remarkable ability
to confront challenges and to improve the human condition.
From the abolition of slavery to the creation of public education,
the banning of child labor, the guaranteeing of old age security,
the legalization of unions, the recognition of women’s rights, and
the defense of gay rights, previously unimaginable changes have
been promoted and implemented.
Why should we assume that we are incapable of responding
to today’s crises?
Working together, physicians and other scientists have either
eradicated or dramatically reduced the range of numerous diseases,
including smallpox, polio, guinea worm, malaria, and measles.
Responding to climate change activism, scientists and engineers
have developed methods to utilize solar and wind power to replace
fossil fuels.
Similarly, critics of the nuclear arms race and wise statesmen have
fostered nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties and helped
prevent nuclear war.
Furthermore, numerous movements have succeeded, on occasion,
in securing a more equitable distribution of wealth and a reduction
in discrimination.
Of course, the changes necessary to cope with today’s crises will
not be obtained easily.
To successfully battle pandemics, it will be essential to create a
far stronger public health system, accessible to everyone.
Combatting climate change will almost certainly require challenging
the vast power of the fossil fuel industry.
To avert nuclear war, it will probably be necessary to both ban
nuclear weapons and create a stronger international security
system.
And when it comes to securing greater economic and social
equality, limiting corporate greed, taxing the rich, and reducing
deep-seated prejudices remain imperative.
Even if these conditions are met, however, another challenge
remains, for implementing these kinds of changes necessitates
action on a worldwide basis.
After all, disease pandemics, climate catastrophe, nuclear war,
and economic and social inequality are global problems that
require global solutions.
As the director general of the World Health Organization remarked
in late June, the greatest threat to humanity from the coronavirus
is not the virus itself, but “the lack of global solidarity” in dealing
with it.
He added: “We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world.”
Much the same could be said about overcoming the other onrushing
disasters.
Although there is not much time left before the world succumbs to
one or more catastrophes, human beings have been able to alter
their behavior and institutions.
Let’s hope they will rouse themselves and do so again.
https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/07/humanity-is-an-endangered-
species
Can We Do What It Takes To Save Ourselves?
By Lawrence Wittner
Dissident Voice
July 15, 2020
Have you noticed recently that things are collapsing?
Sure, the right-wing, nationalist rulers of many countries never stop
telling us that they have made their nations “great” again.
But we would have to be dislocated from reality not to notice that
something is wrong―very wrong.
After all, the world is currently engulfed in a coronavirus pandemic
that has already infected over 12.5 million people, taken over
550,000 lives, and created massive economic disruption.
And the pandemic is accelerating, while, according to scientists,
new and more terrible diseases are in the offing.
Moreover, we are now experiencing a rapidly-growing
environmental catastrophe.
Not only are industrial pollutants poisoning the air, the water, and
the land as never before, but climate change is making the planet
uninhabitable.
Extreme heat, drought, storms, floods, melting glaciers, and rising
sea levels are wreaking havoc on an unprecedented scale.
This June, the temperature in the Arctic reached 100.4 degrees
fahrenheit―the hottest on record.
In addition, defying all reason, nations persist in arming themselves
for a nuclear war that will destroy virtually all life on earth.
Publicly threatening nuclear war and casting aside or rejecting
major nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties, the nuclear
powers are currently engaged in an extensive nuclear weapons
buildup, with the U.S. government alone planning to spend at least
$1.5 trillion on this project.
In response to the looming catastrophe, the editors of the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists recently placed the hands of their famous
“Doomsday Clock” at 100 seconds to midnight―the most dangerous
setting in its 73-year history.
Even if these disastrous developments fail to snuff out the human
race, plenty of mass misery can be expected from the rising
economic and social inequality occurring around the globe.
According to a UN study, released in January 2020, over 70 percent
of the world’s people suffer from growing economic inequality.
In a foreword to the study, UN Secretary General António Guterres
declared that the world is confronting “the harsh realities of a
deeply unequal landscape,” characterized by “a vicious cycle of
inequality, frustration, and discontent.”
Feeding on popular fears and anxieties, racism and xenophobia
are on the rise.
But extinction or, at best, mass misery, need not be humanity’s
fate.
Thanks to very substantial advances in knowledge over the
centuries, plus the efforts of creative thinkers and determined
reform movements, human beings have shown a remarkable ability
to confront challenges and to improve the human condition.
From the abolition of slavery to the creation of public education,
the banning of child labor, the guaranteeing of old age security,
the legalization of unions, the recognition of women’s rights, and
the defense of gay rights, previously unimaginable changes have
been promoted and implemented.
Why should we assume that we are incapable of responding
to today’s crises?
Working together, physicians and other scientists have either
eradicated or dramatically reduced the range of numerous diseases,
including smallpox, polio, guinea worm, malaria, and measles.
Responding to climate change activism, scientists and engineers
have developed methods to utilize solar and wind power to replace
fossil fuels.
Similarly, critics of the nuclear arms race and wise statesmen have
fostered nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties and helped
prevent nuclear war.
Furthermore, numerous movements have succeeded, on occasion,
in securing a more equitable distribution of wealth and a reduction
in discrimination.
Of course, the changes necessary to cope with today’s crises will
not be obtained easily.
To successfully battle pandemics, it will be essential to create a
far stronger public health system, accessible to everyone.
Combatting climate change will almost certainly require challenging
the vast power of the fossil fuel industry.
To avert nuclear war, it will probably be necessary to both ban
nuclear weapons and create a stronger international security
system.
And when it comes to securing greater economic and social
equality, limiting corporate greed, taxing the rich, and reducing
deep-seated prejudices remain imperative.
Even if these conditions are met, however, another challenge
remains, for implementing these kinds of changes necessitates
action on a worldwide basis.
After all, disease pandemics, climate catastrophe, nuclear war,
and economic and social inequality are global problems that
require global solutions.
As the director general of the World Health Organization remarked
in late June, the greatest threat to humanity from the coronavirus
is not the virus itself, but “the lack of global solidarity” in dealing
with it.
He added: “We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world.”
Much the same could be said about overcoming the other onrushing
disasters.
Although there is not much time left before the world succumbs to
one or more catastrophes, human beings have been able to alter
their behavior and institutions.
Let’s hope they will rouse themselves and do so again.
https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/07/humanity-is-an-endangered-
species
Monday, July 13, 2020
A Bridge To Far
A Bridge To Far
By Paul Edwards
Information Clearing House
July 13, 2020
The murder of black people has been a constant in American
barbarity since Colonial times.
Persistent white murder has caused black agony to erupt in spasms
of despair that have only altered its methods, not ended it.
White racism, officially supported, has suppressed black outrage
but not stifled it.
Whites continue to murder blacks but cannot murder black spirit.
After a long, grisly sequence of vicious and legally inexcusable
murders by various vile, sociopathic, pseudo-military police forces,
the Floyd murder inflamed it again, this time with complex
differences.
Unlike the national fury after the murder of Dr. King or the storm of
rage over Rodney King’s abuse, this explosion can not be described
as a “race riot”.
Though the murder of a black man triggered it, and though his
murder is the central theme around which the phenomenon has
coalesced, the great majority of active participants have been
white.
This is unprecedented.
The question then is whether a small but not negligible minority
of white Americans has, in a historically brief time, so developed
ethically that it now embraces the deeply humanist creed of the
moral giants, Einstein and Schweizer, Eugene Debs and Desmond
Tutu.
The answer is that it has.
Clearly, many whites have made that ethical climb, or they
wouldn’t be in the streets in great numbers over what has
been traditionally a black issue.
This raises questions.
Has definition of a traditionally racist issue morphed from
what it historically has been?
And is there, in fact, any issue that is strictly racial any more,
at least among relatively enlightened whites?
If not, then it follows that for them an existential issue for
one race is an issue for all races.
This is a huge stretch for the propagandized, deformed American
psyche even to grasp, let alone fully to embrace.
Stuffed with the poisonous philosophical styrofoam of American
Exceptionalism, brains and souls befouled and infused with the
shallowest, stupidest, cruelest, latter-day Nazi Ubermensch tripe.
Americans are ill-equipped to understand and accept even
themselves, much less those we’re schooled by The Empire
to regard, around the world, as our subhuman underlings.
Powerful unanimity of purpose between elements of historically
alienated “races”--the term is no longer validated by science, btw--
not only seriously threatens racism and white dominion, it mortally
menaces hegemonist dogma across the board, which makes it
deeply terrifying to the American Capitalist Tyranny, its .0001%
owner class and its purchased government.
Passionate demand for an end to police murder of blacks, for
defunding or eliminating these brutal, dishonest gestapos of state-
directed terror, is just the most openly hideous crime our diseased
system inflicts on all of us.
General awareness of this--taking nothing away from enlightened
white empathy with blacks over serial murder-by-cop--is the far
broader, denser background reality--as dark matter in the universe
is the field and matrix of all that is visible--that with its
tremendous gravity has drawn moral whites into genuine
brotherhood of purpose with violently traumatized blacks in their
frustrated and unending quest for justice in America.
Tragically, as acute observers see, though there is broad and
growing comprehension by Americans of the deep falsity and
brutal exploitation the State inflicts on the great mass of
them, there is neither a committed cadre of inspiring leaders,
nor a coherently formulated creed around which a potent public
uprising against injustice can coalesce.
In place of fused, mobilized, revolutionary unity, we have chaotic,
un-focussed desperation.
This will not win. Historically, it never has.
The long, sad unwinding of the beautifully, humanely motivated
Occupy adventure is the latest case in point.
Based on the widely shared conviction of the deeply evil, biocidal
character of cheating, lying, obscene, violent, tottering Capitalism,
having definite aims and goals, worthy despite the anxious ridicule
of the besieged oligarchic state, it lacked the effectual warhead
of a committed, passionate leadership with a defined program for
elimination and replacement of the gangrenous piratical corpse it
courageously opposed.
And so, rudderless and internally confused, adrift, subject to
attrition and relentless abuse at the hands of the System’s police,
it broke, dissolved and faded away.
The reason no such cell of visionary leaders of a potent
revolutionary creed exists here is neither single nor simple.
Capitalist America--the monstrous corporate combine that owns
and controls the State--has waged ruthless war against any politics
intended to benefit the people, but repression alone has never
eliminated determined political opposition anywhere.
Decades of highly sophisticated propaganda has debased and
lobotomized a victimized electorate but cannot eradicate
intelligences that rise above it.
A rebel group can be bought off if traitors run it but never from
principled leaders and we’ve had public men who have not sold
out and given their all to oppose our vicious system in years gone
by, though we have none now.
The best of them were undermined and sabotaged by the very
organs of law so falsely celebrated as incorruptible and
independent of co-optation.
The fact is that the combination of repression, propaganda, and
legal malfeasance, have so thoroughly strangled truth in America
that coalescence of a core team of the best minds and hearts is
impossible.
And even if it were not, absolute control of all organs and platforms
of communication with American citizens belongs to the criminal
State.
Does the lack of guiding hardcore cadre mean that this broad,
inspired effort will come to nothing?
Well, no, in the sense that Occupy didn’t come to nothing, and its
effects outlived its endeavors, still reaching hearts and opening
minds.
It has already, in its main intent--demand for an end to police
murder, for defunding, dissolution, and repurposing of the hideous
Waffen SS ethic it has come to embody--made waves of progress
that, regardless of success or failure, will never completely subside.
That said, the fantasy of a revolutionary transformation of the
Capitalist Tyranny is just that.
The movement, embodying in an inchoate way so much that is
profoundly just and fervently desired by the most aware and
enlightened Americans, lacks the social power it would need to
break and replace our dirty, dying Empire and its antibiotic system.
A wise man observed that human history is a race between
education and disaster.
The great hope of the moment is that sheer fear of the people will
bring to an end the sick Nazification of American police systems,
for blacks above all, but in reality for all of us.
Overthrow of the Capitalist Tyranny depends, though, on irresistible
citizen action based on a deeply informed conviction of its irr
emediable evil, and unshakable resolve to destroy it.
The furious drive of the Capitalist Tyranny toward ecocide and our
own extinction may not give us time to get there.
Nature has evidently had all the abuse she’s going to take from
Capitalism.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55305.htm
By Paul Edwards
Information Clearing House
July 13, 2020
The murder of black people has been a constant in American
barbarity since Colonial times.
Persistent white murder has caused black agony to erupt in spasms
of despair that have only altered its methods, not ended it.
White racism, officially supported, has suppressed black outrage
but not stifled it.
Whites continue to murder blacks but cannot murder black spirit.
After a long, grisly sequence of vicious and legally inexcusable
murders by various vile, sociopathic, pseudo-military police forces,
the Floyd murder inflamed it again, this time with complex
differences.
Unlike the national fury after the murder of Dr. King or the storm of
rage over Rodney King’s abuse, this explosion can not be described
as a “race riot”.
Though the murder of a black man triggered it, and though his
murder is the central theme around which the phenomenon has
coalesced, the great majority of active participants have been
white.
This is unprecedented.
The question then is whether a small but not negligible minority
of white Americans has, in a historically brief time, so developed
ethically that it now embraces the deeply humanist creed of the
moral giants, Einstein and Schweizer, Eugene Debs and Desmond
Tutu.
The answer is that it has.
Clearly, many whites have made that ethical climb, or they
wouldn’t be in the streets in great numbers over what has
been traditionally a black issue.
This raises questions.
Has definition of a traditionally racist issue morphed from
what it historically has been?
And is there, in fact, any issue that is strictly racial any more,
at least among relatively enlightened whites?
If not, then it follows that for them an existential issue for
one race is an issue for all races.
This is a huge stretch for the propagandized, deformed American
psyche even to grasp, let alone fully to embrace.
Stuffed with the poisonous philosophical styrofoam of American
Exceptionalism, brains and souls befouled and infused with the
shallowest, stupidest, cruelest, latter-day Nazi Ubermensch tripe.
Americans are ill-equipped to understand and accept even
themselves, much less those we’re schooled by The Empire
to regard, around the world, as our subhuman underlings.
Powerful unanimity of purpose between elements of historically
alienated “races”--the term is no longer validated by science, btw--
not only seriously threatens racism and white dominion, it mortally
menaces hegemonist dogma across the board, which makes it
deeply terrifying to the American Capitalist Tyranny, its .0001%
owner class and its purchased government.
Passionate demand for an end to police murder of blacks, for
defunding or eliminating these brutal, dishonest gestapos of state-
directed terror, is just the most openly hideous crime our diseased
system inflicts on all of us.
General awareness of this--taking nothing away from enlightened
white empathy with blacks over serial murder-by-cop--is the far
broader, denser background reality--as dark matter in the universe
is the field and matrix of all that is visible--that with its
tremendous gravity has drawn moral whites into genuine
brotherhood of purpose with violently traumatized blacks in their
frustrated and unending quest for justice in America.
Tragically, as acute observers see, though there is broad and
growing comprehension by Americans of the deep falsity and
brutal exploitation the State inflicts on the great mass of
them, there is neither a committed cadre of inspiring leaders,
nor a coherently formulated creed around which a potent public
uprising against injustice can coalesce.
In place of fused, mobilized, revolutionary unity, we have chaotic,
un-focussed desperation.
This will not win. Historically, it never has.
The long, sad unwinding of the beautifully, humanely motivated
Occupy adventure is the latest case in point.
Based on the widely shared conviction of the deeply evil, biocidal
character of cheating, lying, obscene, violent, tottering Capitalism,
having definite aims and goals, worthy despite the anxious ridicule
of the besieged oligarchic state, it lacked the effectual warhead
of a committed, passionate leadership with a defined program for
elimination and replacement of the gangrenous piratical corpse it
courageously opposed.
And so, rudderless and internally confused, adrift, subject to
attrition and relentless abuse at the hands of the System’s police,
it broke, dissolved and faded away.
The reason no such cell of visionary leaders of a potent
revolutionary creed exists here is neither single nor simple.
Capitalist America--the monstrous corporate combine that owns
and controls the State--has waged ruthless war against any politics
intended to benefit the people, but repression alone has never
eliminated determined political opposition anywhere.
Decades of highly sophisticated propaganda has debased and
lobotomized a victimized electorate but cannot eradicate
intelligences that rise above it.
A rebel group can be bought off if traitors run it but never from
principled leaders and we’ve had public men who have not sold
out and given their all to oppose our vicious system in years gone
by, though we have none now.
The best of them were undermined and sabotaged by the very
organs of law so falsely celebrated as incorruptible and
independent of co-optation.
The fact is that the combination of repression, propaganda, and
legal malfeasance, have so thoroughly strangled truth in America
that coalescence of a core team of the best minds and hearts is
impossible.
And even if it were not, absolute control of all organs and platforms
of communication with American citizens belongs to the criminal
State.
Does the lack of guiding hardcore cadre mean that this broad,
inspired effort will come to nothing?
Well, no, in the sense that Occupy didn’t come to nothing, and its
effects outlived its endeavors, still reaching hearts and opening
minds.
It has already, in its main intent--demand for an end to police
murder, for defunding, dissolution, and repurposing of the hideous
Waffen SS ethic it has come to embody--made waves of progress
that, regardless of success or failure, will never completely subside.
That said, the fantasy of a revolutionary transformation of the
Capitalist Tyranny is just that.
The movement, embodying in an inchoate way so much that is
profoundly just and fervently desired by the most aware and
enlightened Americans, lacks the social power it would need to
break and replace our dirty, dying Empire and its antibiotic system.
A wise man observed that human history is a race between
education and disaster.
The great hope of the moment is that sheer fear of the people will
bring to an end the sick Nazification of American police systems,
for blacks above all, but in reality for all of us.
Overthrow of the Capitalist Tyranny depends, though, on irresistible
citizen action based on a deeply informed conviction of its irr
emediable evil, and unshakable resolve to destroy it.
The furious drive of the Capitalist Tyranny toward ecocide and our
own extinction may not give us time to get there.
Nature has evidently had all the abuse she’s going to take from
Capitalism.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55305.htm
Thursday, July 9, 2020
The U.S. Economy In Four Words: Neo Feudal, Extortion, Decline, Collapse
The U.S. Economy In Four Words: Neo Feudal, Extortion, Decline, Collapse
Our society has a legal structure of self-rule and ownership
of capital, but in reality it is a Neo Feudal Oligarchy.
By Charles Hugh Smith
Information Clearing House
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Now that the pandemic is over and the economy is roaring again--so
the stock market says--we're heading straight back up into the good
old days of 2019.
Nothing to worry about, we've recovered the trajectory of higher
and higher, better every day in every way.
Everything's great except the fatal rot at the heart of the U.S.
economy hasn't even been acknowledged, much less addressed:
every sector of the economy is nothing but one form of Neo Feudal
extortion or another.
Let's spin the time machine back to the late Middle Ages, at the
height of feudalism, and imagine we're trying to get a boatload
of goods to the nearest city to sell.
As we drift down the river, we're constantly being stopped and
charged a fee for transiting one small fiefdom after another.
When we finally reach the city, there's an entry fee for bringing
our goods to market.
Note that none of these fees were payments for improvements
to transport or for services rendered; they were simply extortion.
This was the economic structure of feudalism: petty fiefdoms levied
extortionate fees that funded the lifestyles of nobility.
This is why I have long called America's economy neofeudal: we pay
ever higher fees for services that are degrading, not improving.
This is the essence of extortion: we don't get any improvement
in goods and services for the extra money we're forced to pay.
Consider higher education: costs are soaring while the value
of the "product"--a college diploma--declines.
What extra value are students receiving for the doubling
of tuition and fees? The short answer is "none."
College diplomas are in over-supply, and studies have found that
a majority of students learn remarkably little of value in college.
As I explain in my book Nearly Free University and the Emerging
Economy, the solution is to accredit the student, not the
institution.
If the student learned very little, he/she doesn't get credentialed.
Were students to have access to the best classroom lectures online
(nearly free), and on-the-job apprenticeships in the workplace,
(nearly free or perhaps even paid), learning would be significantly
improved and costs reduced by 80% to 90%.
In this structure, there's no need for costly campuses or
administration; the entire structure of higher education
could be largely automated with software, except for the
workplace apprenticeships which focus on case studies
and real-world projects that are creating value in the here
and now.
Consider healthcare: has the quality of healthcare doubled along
with costs?
Are Americans significantly healthier as the costs of healthcare
have tripled?
The aggregate health of Americans has arguably declined, while
the stresses placed on frontline care providers by the ever-heavier
burdens of compliance and paperwork have increased.
What about the $200 hammers and $300 million F-35 aircraft
of the defense industry?
Once again, as costs have soared, the quality and effectiveness
of the products being supplied has arguable declined.
How about state and local government services?
Are they improving as taxes and junk fees rise?
Once again, government services are often declining in quality
as taxes and fees increase by leaps and bounds.
In sector after sector, the quality of the goods and services has
declined while costs have soared.
This is the acme of neofeudalism: insiders and the New Nobility are
skimming fortunes as prices skyrocket and the quality of the goods
and services provided plummet.
Look at the cost increases in higher education, healthcare and
childcare and ask yourself if the quality of those services have
risen in lockstep with price increases.
This is nothing but neofeudal extortion.
The cartels raise prices and we're forced to pay them,
just as feudal commoners were forced to pay.
But extortion isn't the only feature of neofeudalism that is leading
to collapse.
Just as important is the slow erosion of commoners' self-rule
and ownership of meaningful, productive capital.
This dynamic is explored in depth in The Inheritance of Rome:
Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000.
This gradual, almost imperceptible erosion is the essence of
neo feudalism, a process of transferring political and economic
power from commoners to a new Financial Aristocracy/Nobility.
If we examine the "wealth" of the middle class/working class
(however you define them, the defining characteristic of both
is the reliance on labor for income, as opposed to living off the
income earned by capital), we find the primary capital asset is
the family home, which as I have explained many times, is
unproductive--in essence, a form of consumption rather than
a source of income.
In a globalized, financialized economy, the only capital worth
owning is mobile capital, capital that can be shifted by a keystroke
to avoid devaluation or earn a a higher return.
Housing and pensions are "stranded capital," forms of capital
that are not mobile unless they are liquidated before crises or
expropriations occur.
I am also struck by the ever-rising barriers to starting or even
operating small businesses, a core form of capital, as enterprises
generate income and (potentially) capital gains. (The pandemic
has only increased barriers that were already high.)
The capital and managerial expertise required to launch and grow
a legal enterprise is significant, which is at least partly why a
nation of self-employed farmers, shopkeepers, artisans and traders
is now a nation of employees of government and large corporations.
What sort of capital can be acquired by the average commoner
now? Enough to match the wealth and political power of financial
Nobility?
As for political influence: a recent study found that voters had very
little power in the U.S., which is effectively an oligarchy: Testing
Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average
Citizens.
Summary: "The U.S. government does not represent the interests
of the majority of the country's citizens, but is instead ruled by
those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and
Northwestern universities has concluded."
Neofeudalism is not a re-run of feudalism.
It's a new and improved, state-corporate version of indentured
servitude.
The process of devolving to feudalism required the erosion of
peasants' rights to own productive assets, which in an agrarian
economy meant ownership of land.
Ownership of land was replaced with various obligations to the local
feudal lord or monastery-- free labor for time periods ranging from
a few days to months; a share of one's grain harvest, and so on.
The other key dynamic of feudalism was the removal of the
peasantry from the public sphere.
In the pre-feudal era (for example, the reign of Charlemagne),
peasants could still attend public councils and make their voices
heard, and there was a rough system of justice in which peasants
could petition authorities for redress.
From the capitalist perspective, feudalism restricted serfs' access
to cash markets where they could sell their labor or harvests.
The key feature of capitalism isn't just markets-- it's unrestricted
ownership of productive assets--land, tools, workshops, and the
social capital of skills, networks, trading associations, guilds, etc.
Our system is Neofeudal because the non-elites have no real voice
in the public sphere, and ownership of productive capital is
indirectly suppressed by the state-corporate duopoly.
Our society has a legal structure of self-rule and ownership
of capital, but in reality it is a, "Neo Feudal Oligarchy."
The decline is visible, and so is the trajectory to collapse.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55323.htm
Our society has a legal structure of self-rule and ownership
of capital, but in reality it is a Neo Feudal Oligarchy.
By Charles Hugh Smith
Information Clearing House
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Now that the pandemic is over and the economy is roaring again--so
the stock market says--we're heading straight back up into the good
old days of 2019.
Nothing to worry about, we've recovered the trajectory of higher
and higher, better every day in every way.
Everything's great except the fatal rot at the heart of the U.S.
economy hasn't even been acknowledged, much less addressed:
every sector of the economy is nothing but one form of Neo Feudal
extortion or another.
Let's spin the time machine back to the late Middle Ages, at the
height of feudalism, and imagine we're trying to get a boatload
of goods to the nearest city to sell.
As we drift down the river, we're constantly being stopped and
charged a fee for transiting one small fiefdom after another.
When we finally reach the city, there's an entry fee for bringing
our goods to market.
Note that none of these fees were payments for improvements
to transport or for services rendered; they were simply extortion.
This was the economic structure of feudalism: petty fiefdoms levied
extortionate fees that funded the lifestyles of nobility.
This is why I have long called America's economy neofeudal: we pay
ever higher fees for services that are degrading, not improving.
This is the essence of extortion: we don't get any improvement
in goods and services for the extra money we're forced to pay.
Consider higher education: costs are soaring while the value
of the "product"--a college diploma--declines.
What extra value are students receiving for the doubling
of tuition and fees? The short answer is "none."
College diplomas are in over-supply, and studies have found that
a majority of students learn remarkably little of value in college.
As I explain in my book Nearly Free University and the Emerging
Economy, the solution is to accredit the student, not the
institution.
If the student learned very little, he/she doesn't get credentialed.
Were students to have access to the best classroom lectures online
(nearly free), and on-the-job apprenticeships in the workplace,
(nearly free or perhaps even paid), learning would be significantly
improved and costs reduced by 80% to 90%.
In this structure, there's no need for costly campuses or
administration; the entire structure of higher education
could be largely automated with software, except for the
workplace apprenticeships which focus on case studies
and real-world projects that are creating value in the here
and now.
Consider healthcare: has the quality of healthcare doubled along
with costs?
Are Americans significantly healthier as the costs of healthcare
have tripled?
The aggregate health of Americans has arguably declined, while
the stresses placed on frontline care providers by the ever-heavier
burdens of compliance and paperwork have increased.
What about the $200 hammers and $300 million F-35 aircraft
of the defense industry?
Once again, as costs have soared, the quality and effectiveness
of the products being supplied has arguable declined.
How about state and local government services?
Are they improving as taxes and junk fees rise?
Once again, government services are often declining in quality
as taxes and fees increase by leaps and bounds.
In sector after sector, the quality of the goods and services has
declined while costs have soared.
This is the acme of neofeudalism: insiders and the New Nobility are
skimming fortunes as prices skyrocket and the quality of the goods
and services provided plummet.
Look at the cost increases in higher education, healthcare and
childcare and ask yourself if the quality of those services have
risen in lockstep with price increases.
This is nothing but neofeudal extortion.
The cartels raise prices and we're forced to pay them,
just as feudal commoners were forced to pay.
But extortion isn't the only feature of neofeudalism that is leading
to collapse.
Just as important is the slow erosion of commoners' self-rule
and ownership of meaningful, productive capital.
This dynamic is explored in depth in The Inheritance of Rome:
Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000.
This gradual, almost imperceptible erosion is the essence of
neo feudalism, a process of transferring political and economic
power from commoners to a new Financial Aristocracy/Nobility.
If we examine the "wealth" of the middle class/working class
(however you define them, the defining characteristic of both
is the reliance on labor for income, as opposed to living off the
income earned by capital), we find the primary capital asset is
the family home, which as I have explained many times, is
unproductive--in essence, a form of consumption rather than
a source of income.
In a globalized, financialized economy, the only capital worth
owning is mobile capital, capital that can be shifted by a keystroke
to avoid devaluation or earn a a higher return.
Housing and pensions are "stranded capital," forms of capital
that are not mobile unless they are liquidated before crises or
expropriations occur.
I am also struck by the ever-rising barriers to starting or even
operating small businesses, a core form of capital, as enterprises
generate income and (potentially) capital gains. (The pandemic
has only increased barriers that were already high.)
The capital and managerial expertise required to launch and grow
a legal enterprise is significant, which is at least partly why a
nation of self-employed farmers, shopkeepers, artisans and traders
is now a nation of employees of government and large corporations.
What sort of capital can be acquired by the average commoner
now? Enough to match the wealth and political power of financial
Nobility?
As for political influence: a recent study found that voters had very
little power in the U.S., which is effectively an oligarchy: Testing
Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average
Citizens.
Summary: "The U.S. government does not represent the interests
of the majority of the country's citizens, but is instead ruled by
those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and
Northwestern universities has concluded."
Neofeudalism is not a re-run of feudalism.
It's a new and improved, state-corporate version of indentured
servitude.
The process of devolving to feudalism required the erosion of
peasants' rights to own productive assets, which in an agrarian
economy meant ownership of land.
Ownership of land was replaced with various obligations to the local
feudal lord or monastery-- free labor for time periods ranging from
a few days to months; a share of one's grain harvest, and so on.
The other key dynamic of feudalism was the removal of the
peasantry from the public sphere.
In the pre-feudal era (for example, the reign of Charlemagne),
peasants could still attend public councils and make their voices
heard, and there was a rough system of justice in which peasants
could petition authorities for redress.
From the capitalist perspective, feudalism restricted serfs' access
to cash markets where they could sell their labor or harvests.
The key feature of capitalism isn't just markets-- it's unrestricted
ownership of productive assets--land, tools, workshops, and the
social capital of skills, networks, trading associations, guilds, etc.
Our system is Neofeudal because the non-elites have no real voice
in the public sphere, and ownership of productive capital is
indirectly suppressed by the state-corporate duopoly.
Our society has a legal structure of self-rule and ownership
of capital, but in reality it is a, "Neo Feudal Oligarchy."
The decline is visible, and so is the trajectory to collapse.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55323.htm
Monday, July 6, 2020
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Dear Fourth of July
Dear Fourth of July
By The Last Boy In Line
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Dear Fourth of July:
Sincerely,
By The Last Boy In Line
Saturday, July 4, 2020
Dear Fourth of July:
Sincerely,