We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, August 5, 2013

Framing the Wall Street Commodity Investigation for Carl Levin

Click here to access article by Pam Martens from Wall Street on Parade.

In this article the author reviews the economy-crushing acts committed by key banking institutions to override laws controlling their activities in order to provide a framework for the upcoming investigation by Sen. Levin's subcommittee into the latest scam perpetrated by banksters. This review of recent history demonstrates the overwhelming power of these key players in the US ruling class.

However, the author is naïve to think that anything substantial will come from this investigation. The banking scandals and the continuing banking schemes are the natural development of the concentration of power derived from the concentration of wealth that is inherent in the system of capitalism. To stop these crimes against society, it will take nothing less that the power of the people energized to defeat the entire system.