In this series he explores the new field of information and surveillance policies and programs of this corporate-military nexus by focusing mainly on Google corporation and its government counterparts. Although not the focus of the series, there is occasional references to ruling class forces that lie in major banking institutions which sponsor these policies and programs. For example, this summary statement from Part 1:
...the investment firm [Goldman Sachs] responsible for creating the billion dollar fortunes of the tech sensations of the 21st century, from Google to Facebook, is intimately linked to the US military intelligence community; with Venables, Lee and Friedman [all top executives associated with Goldman Sachs] either directly connected to the Pentagon Highlands Forum, or to senior members of the Forum.This lengthy article provides more information about the close linkage of the Pentagon with major corporations. By outsourcing questionable and nefarious policies and programs to corporations, this partnership provides cover from government regulations that require public access to what the ruling class's government is actually doing. Also, corporations employ vast numbers of highly skilled scientists and technicians needed by the ruling class's Pentagon to wage both covert and overt wars, to develop methods of subversion to topple unfriendly governments, and even to help organize terrorist armies in pursuit of Empire goals. To top this all off, they outsource the selling of these policies to private public relations firms.
This close collaboration between--one could argue integration of--government, corporations, and military is the very essence of what is referred to as a fascist form of rule. Thus, I differ with Pete Dolack who has argued that we don't have a fascist rule in the US because it doesn't look exactly like what existed in German and Italy in the 1930s.
Militarism, extreme nationalism, the creation of enemies and scapegoats, and, perhaps the most critical component, a rabid propaganda that intentionally raises panic and hate while disguising its true nature and intentions under the cover of a phony populism, are among the necessary elements.Aren't Muslims, usually depicted as terrorists, scapegoats? Don't we view daily TV news which is packed with incidents of crime which causes many to fear their fellow Americans? Don't we have rabid propaganda spewed daily from corporate media that evokes hatred, panic, and fear? Don't we have a militarized police force and a huge prison industry? We don't see many flagrant acts to suppress dissent--yet: the exceptions being that of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning, and Julian Assange. But, our masters have a legal structure in place (the Patriot Acts) ready to be used when many citizens can no longer be bamboozled by the corporate propaganda apparatus.
