What the Establishment Media Won’t Tell You About Richard Holbrooke

by Max Kantar from Global Research. 

Here in the US we have been subject to more disinformation about a ruling class servant who was eulogized following his recent death. This article corrects the disinformation and reveals that he was actually a war criminal.

Falsifying history is one of the most important functions of the establishment media. Whenever a statesman or lap-dog intellectual dies, it is important that the documentary record is suppressed in favor of telling comforting narratives that perpetuate the harmful myths of the dominant political culture.

MasterCard and Visa cut off Wikileaks, but the KKK is still OK!

by Henry Porter from Op Ed News. 

As you can see, the ruling class financial institutions have no problem with racist organizations that have a long history of violence toward minorities such as the Ku Klux Klan.

Former Greek minister attacked by mob as riots break out in Greece

by Nick Squires from The Telegraph. 

Class war is raging in Greece in the forms of violent clashes between protesters and police, attacks on government figures, and a general strike. See 1:46 video and read report which has more links to other reports.

The violence in Greece erupted during a general strike called by unions to protest against new labour laws which unions say will give employers too much power and take workers' rights "back to the Middle Ages." 

You will never see capitalists attacking protesters--they always hire unemployed, desperate working people to do their dirty work for them.

Also, see Al Jazeera's coverage. 

A sad day for the US if the Espionage Act is used against WikiLeaks

by Stephen M Kohn from the Guardian. 

Numerous US officials are calling for a resurrection of the US Espionage Act as a tool for prosecuting WikiLeaks. The dusting-off of the old law is all but certain. But the outcome of the constitutional dust-up that is sure to follow will result in triumph or tragedy for the US bill of rights.

Using the recent WikiLeaks incident as an excuse, the ruling class is coming up with more attacks against our civil rights.

It was actually the Sedition Act of 1918 which were amendments to the Espionage Act that resulted in such horrific attacks on the civil rights of the popular left wing movements. It was used after WWI was ending to insure that the great progress made by leftists before the war, which was interrupted by the war, would be dramatically rolled back. Such history is rarely treated with any depth in US schools.

The same thing happened after WWII using mainly the Smith Act, the Taft-Harley Act, and all the attacks on leftists during the McCarthy Congressional hearings in order to rollback all the labor gains made during the FDR administration and to stifle pent-up labor demands due to all the restrictions on strikes during WWII.

A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

by Louise Story from the NY Times (free registration required.)

This is a fairly lengthy article about the derivative financial bets placed by an elite few. The bets are obscure, secretive, lucrative, and only the very rich can place bets at this casino. As the article makes clear, it is difficult to know how their bets effect the prices of commodities.

Perhaps no business in finance is as profitable today as derivatives. Not making loans. Not offering credit cards. Not advising on mergers and acquisitions. Not managing money for the wealthy.

The privileged elite guard their little domain fiercely using all their wealth and influence to protect it from any kind of regulation and competition. You see, the very wealthy do not like competition. Competition is for you and I to fight over the crumbs of capitalism.

“The revenue these dealers make on derivatives is very large and so the incentive they have to protect those revenues is extremely large,”.... “It will be hard for the dealers to keep their market share if everybody who can prove their creditworthiness is allowed into the clearinghouses. So they are making arguments that others shouldn’t be allowed in.” 

As a ruling class they influence so much of what our culture consists of. And competition is a major component of it. That is why we "little people" are taught to compete over everything--grades in schools, getting into the best schools, obtaining employment, and even in fun activities like athletics that were formerly associated with recreation. You see, fierce competition provides exceptional athletes to play on teams "owned" by the rich to enhance their profits.

Back in the 1980s I went into a large store in San Francisco that specialized in board games. They had something like 10,000 board games. I was looking for a game that was designed around cooperation where people played to win together. Guess what? They didn't have a single one!

 

Internet Worries

by Michael Albert from Z Space. 

He makes some very cogent observations about the effects of internet activities on the way we think about information. I share many of his concerns.

He raises two key issues:

• Our online information practices are overwhelmingly defined by the choices and agendas of a relative few massive information corporations. Thus what are the implications of this dominance for our information activities.
• What are the implications for our thought processes by accessing online information that "largely entail quickly perusing small nuggets or snippets of information, with constant flitting between options and almost no in depth, immersive attention to anything."

Better Than a Food Bank

by Colleen Kimmett from The Tyee (Canada). 

The article offers some good ideas about supporting small farms while providing nutritious food for low income people.

The organization's ability to harness a growing interest in local food has allowed them to not only boost their own programming, but also build local food infrastructure.

Veterans For Peace: The Permanent War Is Killing Us, Time for Solidarity

by Margaret Flowers from Global Research. 

This pediatrician reports on the health effects of permanent war on the citizens of the US.

There are the consequences of sending our people out to kill and the psychological harm which may lead to violence at home. There are the injuries from which many of our military members will never fully recover and the resulting costs to them and to their families, including bankruptcy and foreclosure from medical bills.

There is the squandering of our youth who, unable to afford college or to find a job, are lured by the promises of recruiters and see no other option but to join the military. Imagine if instead of spending one million dollars a year to send one soldier to Afghanistan we spent the money to provide twenty people with an education or jobs at home. Imagine if that person were employed not to kill but to create, to improve conditions at home.

Dying Beneath the Calm Waters

by Julio Godoy from IPS. 

At first glance, Lake Constance, trapped between Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, looks as peaceful as ever. But under the lake's apparently placid waters, a dramatic change is taking place - one that threatens to obliterate much of local biodiversity.

                                                              ************* 

 This is only one example of many instances where climate change is directly responsible for environmental destruction: the rising lake temperatures have consequences that are not yet fully known. What is known, though, is that biodiversity suffers as natural processes are disrupted by these environmental changes.

Why are wars not being reported honestly?

by John Pilger from the Guardian.

Never has so much official energy been expended in ensuring journalists collude with the makers of rapacious wars which, say the media-friendly generals, are now "perpetual." In echoing the west's more verbose warlords, such as the waterboarding former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who predicated "50 years of war," they plan a state of permanent conflict wholly dependent on keeping at bay an enemy whose name they dare not speak: the public.

His explanation for this question clearly supports my argument that no substantial change is possible without the control of media being taken away from ruling class corporations and establishing media under the control of ordinary people.

Lowering Workers' Wages is the Objective [13:21m video]

from The Real News. 

Paul Jay interviews Leo Panitch, professor of political science at Toronto U. and author of Global Capitalism and American Empire. 

The professor has an excellent grasp of the contradictions and logic of capitalism that promote unemployment and result in the devastation of large parts of society. 

I think it is interesting that in an earlier segment Panitch describes capitalist behavior as "irrational"; but after being challenged by Jay, he clearly explains that their behavior is rational--from a capitalist point of view or logic.

...pressures have always existed on social programs not to interrupt the capitalist labor market, not to get in the way of people's fears that they may not be able to get employment. ...this is going to get much worse, unless we make very, very radical changes, unless labor movements and intellectuals start making far more radical and forward-looking demands than the defensive ones they're making at the moment, because there's an inherent logic of capitalist globalization.

EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees

by Ariel Schwartz from Solidarity Economy. 

The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. ...Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.

Unfortunately, the article does not sufficiently link this finding with the profit interests of corporations and their influence over government agencies.

Quietly Ticking Time Bomb in Fed Data

from Center for Media and Democracy. 

The article provides some excellent graphs and clear explanations as to the reality about TARP and the other huge bailouts of mortgage-backed securities by The Fed. There has been a lot of congratulatory statements made in mainstream and financial media about TARP money being paid back. This article puts things in their proper perspective.

The Fed data supports our long-held contention that the Congressionally-approved and much despised $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was only a small fraction of the total bailout.

Failing to Prosecute Wall Street Fraud Is Extending Our Economic Problems

from Washington's Blog. 


More empty rhetoric from financial experts designed to divert attention away from their participation in, and support of, a system which has inevitably evolved into the sociopathic monster that it is. Most of these people are all talk and no action simply because they are a creature of the system and they have done very well by it. The most sincere among them would like to reform the system which, of course, is like trying to train a wolf to become a vegetarian.

Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, Laurence Kotlikoff, Steve Keen, Michel Chossudovsky and the Wall Street Journal all say that the U.S. economy is a giant Ponzi scheme.

Virtually all independent economists and financial experts say that rampant fraud was largely responsible for the financial crisis.

Cancun climate change talks disappoint global expectations

from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM). 

The title of the article would probably be more accurate if "hopes" were substituted for "expectations".  As the concluding paragraph states:

In Cancun the world´s governments were under an obligation to find solutions to the climate crisis and offer answers that could guarantee the survival of humanity - but they were not up to the task. The results from these climate change talks show that the profit motive still trumps life itself and threatens the very survival of the planet.

The tragic fact remains that as long as the "profit motive" (capitalism) rules, there can be no progress in efforts to maintain a climate that can sustain human and other life forms. Therefore, we have no other choice than to replace this system with one that can permit sustainability.

Bernie's Rant & the Tax Bill War [13:04 video]

by Robert Oak from the Economic Populist.

(This is a speech he gave a week ago, not the more recent "filibuster" speech.)

Sanders who has identified himself as a "socialist" is really a social democrat. The political spectrum is so far right in the US that to be a social democrat is regarded as a socialist. However, his observations on the class war are right on the mark.

The Economy Cannot Recover Until the Big Banks Are Broken Up

from Washington's Blog.

 A lot of people still haven't heard that the economy cannot recover until the big banks are broken up.

But virtually all independent economists and financial experts say that it is vital to break up the giant banks....

I was quite impressed by the people he placed on this list: people who favor breaking up the big banks and letting them fail when they lose their bets. I inspected some of the links at random to check to see if they really took these positions, and they did. But a reading of their arguments leads me to the following interpretation: 

There is definitely a split within the US capitalist ruling class as to the policies pursued by authorities to bailout the banks during this recent crisis. On one side there are these people who fear that the reckless actions of hedge fund gamblers, banks, mortgage industry, etc. went too far this time.  If not reined in, they see that the latter could in the future actually kill the goose, capitalism, that lays their golden eggs. 

But, of course, hindsight is cheap. I wonder where these critics were when the economic crisis started to unfold and before the key decisions were made. And as for their views about breaking up the big banks--it's all hooey, it ain't gonna happen. They know it should happen. It is obvious that it should happen. But they really can't get up enough gumption to really spoil the party.

On the other side, of course, are all the people who benefited: those connected with the big financial institutions, those who continue to grow fabulously rich. The latter are like drunken sailors who won the lottery and regard the former as "party poopers".

Financial arms race underway in Washington

by Tom Hamburger and Matea Gold from Los Angeles Times. 

Learn, if you have been asleep forever, how American "democracy" functions by reading this piece. Learn how the US Congress is auctioned off to the highest bidder. But hey, it's only the guiding hand of the market place at work. Ain't capitalism wonderful?

The only real news is...it's getting worse!

Labor's Last Stand in 2011?

by Shamus Cooke from Workers Action.

So many attacks on working people by the government of the ruling class are performed by stealth--indirect methods that can easily slip underneath the radar of mainstream media. The author explains the latest strategy against public sector workers. As is evident in the article, both ruling class parties use these strategies.

...pensions for state workers are on the cutting board, to be replaced by the 401(k) scam, while state bankruptcy will "abrogate" [abolish] union contracts. But as it stands now, states cannot legally declare bankruptcy. This minor obstacle is being handled quickly for showtime....

Environmental Protection Agency?

by Dahr Jamail from Al Jazeera.

This report illustrates how a government agency of the US ruling class functions--to serve their interests while pretending to serve ours. Officially it is an agency whose purpose is as follows: 

The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.

EPA's purpose is to ensure that:

• all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;

• national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information; 

• federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively; 

• environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy; 

• all parts of society -- communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments -- have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks; 

• environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically productive; and 

• the United States plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global environment.

So far the history of their performance reveals that the main interest of this government agency is far more directed to serving the needs of British Petroleum Oil Corporation.  See this, this, and this.
 
The sharp contrast between official purposes of federal agencies and their actual performance is hidden as much as possible by the propaganda organs of the ruling class, mass media corporations. These organs are a major weapon against any form of popular power. 

If the localization movement accomplishes anything else, it must establish independent grassroots media to counteract this brainwashing. The freedom and democratic nature of the internet is precisely why actions are now being undertaken to exert greater control over it by government and corporations.

Yet, I have not seen any evidence that localization organizations such as Transition Towns regard the development of an independent media as of any importance. Hence, it is easy to conclude that such localization efforts will largely serve to aid the capitalist ruling class by helping ordinary people to survive on less while the rich wage wars, consume ever greater amounts of fossil fuels, and destroy the Earth's habitat. If these trends continue, it seems to me that in the next 30 years the world will increasingly look like this: small islands of the rich living behind powerfully guarded gated communities that are surrounded by huge oceans of the poor everywhere in the world.

Cancún climate change deal falls flat, Kyoto Protocol on life support

by Betwa Sharma from The Christian Science Monitor.

This source provides the latest scoop from the UN Climate Conference concluded yesterday.

Two weeks of Cancún climate change talks ended Saturday, with a vague deal to help poor countries deal with climate change and the original Kyoto Protocol all but dead.

For another report and commentary, you might check this out.

The United Nation's climate change conference here in Cancun came to an end at around 4 a.m. this morning. It would be cynical to call it a bribe, but the Cancun agreements were largely reached because the rich countries continued their vague promises to hand over $100 billion in climate aid annually to poor countries beginning in 2020.

 This from Foreign Policy in Focus is a more comprehensive analysis as of 12-9-2010

You think WikiLeaks is the target?

by Djelloul Marbrook from his blog. 

Regardless of whether the recent WikiLeaks incident was created or aided and abetted by government authorities (see this), it seems likely they will use it to attempt to gain more control over internet access and content.

What is really going on? Could it be that Washington doesn’t give a fig about Assange or WikiLeaks or even the embarrassments? Could it be that this just happens to be tailor-made to build a national security case for controlling the Internet and limiting access to it?

The "Great Game" and the Conquest of Eurasia: Towards a World War III Scenario? - Part 1

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya from Voltaire. 

The author looks at current trends in The Great Game which, as in the past, pose great capitalist confrontations that do not bode well for world peace. 

Inter-capitalist rivalries have always existed. England dominated for a long time, followed by challenges from Germany that resulted in two world wars. The US emerged from WWII as the dominant power that absorbed the old English ruling class and its empire. They immediately went after the Soviet Union that had an economic system which did not allow for capitalist penetration. With the collapse of that country, we now see new powers and alliances emerging to confront the US Empire.

For some strange reason there is a lingering Cold War attitude that seems to inform ruling circles in the US Empire. The end result is that they continue with aggressive policies and actions against Russia and China especially, and also Iran. Thus these policies may force these countries to forge alliances for their own protection.

Washington’s Geopolitical Nightmare: China and Russia boost economic cooperation

by William Engdahl from Voltaire. 

Engdahl, in my opinion, is one of the most astute political observers in the world. Not that I always think he is right, but his observations and analyzes should never be ignored. 

...there are clear signs of late that both Beijing and Moscow are moving decisively after long hesitation to strengthen strategic economic cooperation in the face of the obvious disintegration of America as the sole Superpower. If the recent trend is deepened it will create Washington’s worst geopolitical nightmare: a unified Eurasia landmass capable of challenging America’s global economic hegemony.

Iceland offers risky temptation for Ireland as recession ends

by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard from The Telegraph. 

This noted financial editor looks at countries who refused to bail out their banks.

Iceland has finally emerged from deep recession after allowing its currency to plunge and washing its hands of private bank debt, prompting an intense the debate over whether Ireland might suffer less damage if adopted the same strategy.

Cancún Summit Gives Fossil Fuels a Free Pass

by Stephen Leahy from IPS. 

 The main cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, so why are billions of dollars being invested to find and produce more oil, coal and natural gas?

Like All Rich People, Louis C.K. Hates Spoiled Rich Kids

by Jamie Johnson from Vanity Fair.

Access to unlimited resources consistently undermines any sense of normalcy in the household, and parents fail to restore balance by neglecting to teach their offspring that basic human values are far more important than an attachment to material wealth.

This author is my favorite from the 1% class that holds sway over the Earth's billions of people through their control of the Empire. In this piece he discusses the perils of growing up in a rich family, and for parents it poses...

a difficult dilemma: parents raising children born to privilege run the risk of creating self-satisfied little cretins.

Maybe that explains George Bush, Jr.

Johnson knows his subject well by growing up in a family who are heirs to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. He is also the creator of the film, "The One Percent", a film that I highly recommend if you are going to have much understanding of the class of people who largely rule the world.

Wikileaks: A Big Dangerous US Government Con Job

by William Engdahl from Global Research.

The author presents a very good argument that the WikiLeaks event may be essentially a COINTELPRO type of operation. I, for one, have been expecting an attack on the open, equal access internet for some time. It is one of the last bastions of free, open media that anyone like myself can access and have our voices heard, and, as such, it is a major challenge to the power of capitalist ruling classes. The latter can never tolerate threats to their power, and it is probably the last remaining threat to the control of their respective populations that are becoming increasingly antagonistic to their rule. 

Because the internet is so extremely popular among ordinary people, I have been wondering how they would attack it and bring it under their complete control. There have been moves by corporations to be able to limit access. See this and this. Just as the 9/11 disaster (read this) prepared the American population to launch aggressive wars in Eurasia, so may the WikiLeaks affair provide a perfect excuse to accomplish the takeover of the internet to serve only private interests. 

Of course, it is too early to tell if this thesis is correct. But we, the people, must be ever vigilant in this class war that we keep losing. Remember, it is no longer only a matter of social justice, our survivability as a human race is also now at stake.

Others in addition to Engdahl are skeptical. Read this from a former FBI translator and whistle-blower who was stationed in Turkey.

Companies Cling to Cash

by Justin Lahart from The Wall Street Journal.

Money, money: (Sung to the tune of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?") where has all the money gone, gone to bankers and corporations everyone. Oh, when will we ever learn, oh, when will we ever learn.

Remember when Adam Smith was explaining his theory of value, he wrote: 

...in a more advanced society the market price is no longer proportional to labor cost since the value of the good now includes compensation for the owner of the means of production....

Maybe he forgot to mention that the compensation that the "owner" receives is solely decided by him, and what we get is decided by him, as well as what work is done, who decides how the work is done, and if work is done at all. Nowadays they have decided that little work should be done because they expect little profit from it. In other words, the economy exists only for the benefit of "owners" that their ancestors established in law by their lawyers, enforced by police and military forces under their control.

The cash buildup shows the deep caution many companies feel about investing in expansion while the economic recovery remains painfully slow and high unemployment and battered household finances continue to limit consumers' ability to spend.

With few prospects of making profits in the short term, they've decided to give the money to their investors many of whom are the people who drove the economy into collapse with all their hedge fund gambling with packaged mortgages.

Miami Rice: The Business of Disaster in Haiti

by Beverly Bell and Tory Field from Toward Freedom. 

As we file this article, Port-au-Prince is thick with the smoke of burning tires and with gunfire. Towns throughout the country, along with the national airport, are shut down due to demonstrations. Many are angry over the government’s announcement on Tuesday night of which two presidential candidates made the run-offs: Jude Célestin from the widely hated ruling party of President René Préval and the far-right Mirlande Manigat. This is another obvious manipulation of what had already been a brazenly fraudulent election. A democratic vote is one more thing that has been taken from the marginalized Haitian majority, compounding their many losses since the earthquake of January 12.

What is at stake in Haiti? What interests underlie the grab for power in the country? One answer is the large amount of aid and development dollars that are circulating. Among those benefiting handsomely from the disaster aid are U.S. corporations who have accessed U.S. government contracts. Below is the tale of one U.S. corporation and its subsidiaries, who have received contracts which involve both a conflict of interest and harm to one of Haiti’s largest and most vulnerable social sectors, small farmers.

It is business as usual in Haiti with American and other corporations continuing their rape and plunder of this tragedy-ridden country to satisfy their addiction to profit.

The Obama tax deal with Republicans is insane

from Real Economics. 

Currently there is a big issue before Congress which, as an agent of the ruling class, is about to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich. The rich always argue that the rich need tax cuts to create jobs. (Of course, jobs are the last thing that the rich want: jobs add to the cost of doing business which cuts into "their" profits. Besides, workers are needed in the Imperial Army.)  Well, if you are one of those who have been fooled by that argument, then you simply must read this article.

However, this blogger doesn't appear to understand that the "central premise of U.S. economic policy" is to serve the rich. It has always been this way in capitalist America. It is not that this generation of the rich are stupid in contrast to earlier generations when wealth was invested in US infrastructure, education, and enterprises; it is because the rich US ruling class has gone global. They want to invest their untaxed money where labor is cheap, environmental and labor laws are weak or unenforced, and profits are high.

Of course, extending the tax cuts for the rich is insane from the perspective of what is good for this country. It is so obviously insane that many in the ruling class controlled Congress can't quite stomach it and are refusing to go along with the tax deal.

The World Socialist Web Site gives a lot more details on Obama's deal.

Naked emperor hails sex by surprise

by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.

The author in a lighthearted manor shows the delight that many of us share looking at the naked Emperor and his pathetic attempts to get the guy who tore his clothes off.

World public opinion has not failed to notice the spectacular crossover between WikiLeaks founder Assange's bizarre Swedish sex saga charges and the emperor's (and his minion's) fury.

Here is one of the latest embarrassing revelations, but not terribly surprising given the Cold War mindset that refuses to die.

Meanwhile, many supporters of WikiLeaks are fighting back against the Empire. See this and this (free registration required) and this and this for the latest scoop on the information war between all peace-loving working people and the Empire. And non-hackers can join the fight here.

Some humor to cure whatever ails you

This was posted on Naked Capitalism's blog, origin is unknown.

     The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.”

    The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out.

    Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

    The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.”
    They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

    The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.”

    The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ’s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

    Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

    The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.”

    Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

    The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

    Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is canceled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Environmentalism and political struggle

by Frank Rotering from Energy Bulletin.

I know nothing of Saba Malik other than what is reported in this article, but I am fully in agreement with her orientation as described. It is my position that the localization movement by itself cannot dismantle the Goliath of the capitalist world. At best, it will improve people's ability to survive under conditions of near poverty. The latter is precisely why the establishment has no problem with the localization movement. For example, the Transition Towns movement has enjoyed moderate support in establishment circles. While the financial and corporate operation of capital devour the remaining resources of the planet and destroy its ecosystem, people will be scurrying about at the local level organizing the leftover scraps to sustain their existence. Such people will present no threat to capitalism's death spiral that will bring with it human and other life forms.

As Malik is quoted:

"Numerous organizations are doing lots of great work - permaculture, relocalization, etc. This is wonderful, and I’m involved in it. But everything measurable is going the wrong way. So whatever we’re doing is not working. ... Unless all this community work is linked with a broader political struggle, we’re not really going to get anywhere.”  

What is needed is a comprehensive theoretical framework that informs localization efforts, the dismantling of capitalist structures, and the creation of new societies on an ecologically and socially sustainable basis. 

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Future of Government

by Tom Whipple from Fall Church News Press.

A completely new paradigm of what we do to sustain life is going to have to emerge or things will become far worse than most of us have ever known. Modern civilization simply cannot stand a situation in which a substantial share of its people is destitute. The potential for social disorder is too great.

If current trends continue, somewhere in the next five years a critical mass of us will realize that new foundations for civilization, and new ways of life must be found and implemented if we are going to survive with a modicum of comfort, economic, and political stability.

Well put. I hope that he is right about a "critical mass" in the next five years. However, he makes no mention of climate change, and I think that it is a race against time to "establish new foundations for civilization" to avert the devastating consequences of climate change. Maybe that is why he gives us only five years.

Hackers seek to 'avenge' WikiLeaks

from Al Jazeera. 

In a new 21st century method of fighting the ruling elites, internet activists are hacking websites of those corporations and organizations that are attacking WikiLeaks. So far, they have demonstrated some success.

An anonymous group of internet activists appear to have launched a series of cyber attacks to shut down the websites of Mastercard, a Swiss bank and the Swedish prosecutor's office in an apparent retaliation for action taken against WikiLeaks.

Selling America’s wars to the people [videos and articles]

from Russia Today (RT). 

One often has to go to the media of rival capitalist countries to obtain this kind of analysis of US indoctrination campaigns. 

Meanwhile, as these disinformation campaigns keep Americans ignorant and docile, their European counterparts are acting. See this.

Wikileaks and Media Disinformation

by Gearóid Ó Colmáin from Global Research. 

The author cautions us to read critically the WikiLeaks exposures as reported by mainstream press. The latter, own and controlled by ruling capitalist classes, are engaging in as much media damage control as they can muster. They will do everything they can to reconstruct, frame, and distort the information to suit their interests, just as they do with all other information related activities of the culture such as in education, books, films, and entertainment.

His arguments about propaganda attacks on Iran, Korea, and Belarus are right on the mark. These attacks illustrate an argument I've made many times: that capitalists view all national systems that do not allow unrestricted access to their countries' resources, markets, and labor as their enemy, and thus they will do everything they can to discredit, destabilize, and overturn those countries. 

This has been the major theme that has informed the Empire's policies and actions after WWII and especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Over this period the US ruling capitalist class has become so intoxicated with their near monopoly of military weapons, particularly weapons of mass destruction. The US ruling class also insists on being the dominant capitalist class which means that they put pressure on other capitalist countries that wish to pursue more independent policies such as China, Russia, India, and Brazil. The latter countries are increasingly threatening the dominance of the US ruling class. 

Big Banks Are Stifling Economic Growth & Taxing Consumers

by Dian L. Chu from EconForecast. 

The author appears to have a good understanding of the effects of QE2 on the economy. Not surprising, but the banks and capitalists are using the cheap money to invest in commodities and inflating the prices of all goods made from these commodities. Did you really think that The Fed was serving your interests? The Fed is owned by the banking industry which are in business to serve their stockholders. Oh well, maybe some of that wealth will trickle down. 

And what are they doing with all this cheap money? Nothing productive from an economic standpoint. Instead of lending the money to entrepreneurs, business projects, and venture capital initiatives which actually create jobs and foster much needed economic growth, the big banks are just taking this cheap money and pouring it into commodities like crude oil, copper and grains.

Why do we need the rich?

by Dan Russell from Socialist Worker. 

The author provides an easily understood Marxist perspective on jobs, wealth creation, and capitalist myths. A good primer on how the capitalist economy doesn't work for workers. and how it should be organized by workers, for workers.

However, his solution is hardly innovative or helpful:

When workers fight collectively and strike for a larger piece of the pie--whether for higher wages or higher taxes on the rich to pay for social or employment programs--they demonstrate that their labor is what drives the economy, and they begin to march down a path toward a different society.

We can't solve current problems of a dysfunctional, climate altering, and resource depleting economic system under the control of a powerful, small class of people using methods from the 19th and 20th centuries. Not that those methods aren't useful, but many more need to be created. Most critically needed are methods to take control of information and its dissemination. WikiLeaks is a good, but not a sufficient, example of a new method. And any attempts by corporations to control or limit access to websites must be fought vigorously. 

Some questions to ask our quaint little Teaparty friends

by William Blum from Foreign Policy Journal. 

The author provides some unsettling questions for all those anti-government propagandists out there. Of course, the reality is that the ruling class only wants government to serve its interests--which, of course, it does most of the time. The anti-government propagandists want the government to serve business interests ALL of the time.

The Teaparty folks never tire of calling for “smaller government”. How sweet. Most other Republicans repeat the same mantra ad nauseam as well, as do many liberals (not to be confused with progressives). So for all these individuals I have some questions:

Climate change scientists warn of 4C global temperature rise

by Damian Carrington from the Guardian. 

A hellish vision of a world warmed by 4C within a lifetime has been set out by an international team of scientists, who say the agonisingly slow progress of the global climate change talks that [restarted] in Mexico [Nov. 29] makes the so-called safe limit of 2C impossible to keep. A 4C rise in the planet's temperature would see severe droughts across the world and millions of migrants seeking refuge as their food supplies collapse. 

"There is now little to no chance of maintaining the rise in global surface temperature at below 2C, despite repeated high-level statements to the contrary," said Kevin Anderson, from the University of Manchester, who with colleague Alice Bows contributed research to a special collection of Royal Society journal papers published tomorrow. "Moreover, the impacts associated with 2C have been revised upwards so that 2C now represents the threshold [of] extremely dangerous climate change."

Also, read this for one solution offered by climate scientists at Cancun, Mexico.

Also, read a WikiLeaks report about US strategies used to sabotage last year's Copenhagen Accord. 

The US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed to its approach to tackling global warming...and how the US mounted a secret global diplomatic offensive to overwhelm opposition to the controversial "Copenhagen accord",

 

Adam Smith critiques the Deficit Reduction Commission

by Michael Hudson from his blog. 

This liberal, astute economist, like many others on both the liberal and conservative wing of capitalist thinking, are often critical of contemporary capitalist practices. Frequently they refer back with reverence to the early days of capitalism when, in their view, markets were really free and small entrepreneurs had a lot more freedom to succeed by combining labor, resources, and wealth to produce more wealth. You see, at the present stage of capitalism one finds Goliath corporations who, in large part, control markets and access to resources. 

Hudson refers to Adam Smith's and others condemnation of feudal land rents as unearned income and, thus, not justifiable. Thus, Smith argued for a labor theory of value except that it had a certain twist to it...

...in a more advanced society the market price is no longer proportional to labor cost since the value of the good now includes compensation for the owner of the means of production....

Thus, they argued that such land should be taxed along with natural monopolies like roads, utilities, harbors, etc., but not income derived from labor produced wealth, that is, wealth that they received through their capitalist enterprises.

Much of feudal land had been inherited or conquered or both, and comprised most of the land in these European countries. The class that owned and controlled the land constituted the feudal aristocracy and landlord class. The new rising class of capitalists were learning how to use rented labor (wage slaves) and/or actual slaves, and rudimentary forms of mechanization to transform natural resources into goods which were sold at a profit and appropriated by capitalists. Under feudal laws, land was not a commodity to be bought and sold; and the serfs were not available for wage slavery. This put roadblocks in the way of capitalists who needed land and labor markets for their activities. This conflict eventually resulted in dramatic changes by revolutions in France and the US, and more gradual assumptions of power by the new class in most other European countries.

That natural propensity of capitalism, to grow incessantly, inevitably produces increasing concentrations of capital and control over labor, resources, and societies as a whole. What these liberal economists regard as the "cute little baby" of capitalism has simply grown up to be the monster that it is. 

However, what we are now seeing is a new phenomenon. The huge scale of capitalist enterprise is now coming up against the limits of resource exhaustion and the consequences of climate change caused by their polluting industries. Hence, the capitalist class is finding it easier to get their wealth fixes by...

turning the U.S. economy into a neofeudal economy increasingly indebted to creditors, enjoying their revenue and “capital” gains (mainly land-price gains that John Stuart Mill’s generation called the “unearned increment”) at the top of the economic pyramid.

And if we continue to let them have their way, we will experience one catastrophe after another until human and other life forms will be threatened.

Australia Floods Damage Crops, Force Evacuations; Coal Shipments Disrupted

by Wendy Pugh from Bloomberg. 

It is reports like this, and last summer's drought in Russia, floods in Pakistan, that has me worried about tipping points for climate change. I keep seeing more and more extreme weather patterns all over the world.

No Economic Recovery in Sight: Seven Reasons Why Global Capitalism Can't Recover Anytime Soon

by Shamus Cooke from Global Research.

As the recession grinds on, politicians in most industrial countries have an incentive to make exaggerated claims about the supposed coming economic recovery. Some say the recession is over. Obama is in the group that claims we're on "the road to recovery,” while other nations can only spot recovery "on the horizon.” Below are seven important social phenomena that point to a more realistic economic and political outlook. 

I keep wondering about how much suffering it will take before US citizens stop believing these claims of recovery and start fighting back. Are they going to let themselves be chased down the chutes to the slaughterhouse by the dogs of right-wing propaganda?

Is Christmas Imploding?

by Michael Collins from The Agonist. 

He gives his answers to the question.

The ownership of Christmas by corporations – indeed the perversion of Christmas by corporations – seems to be running its course. We may be witnessing the implosion of Christmas as a marketing, retailing, and consumption phenomenon. What are the tell-tale signs?

 

We have a right to know

from Green Left. 

...Wikileaks is doing precisely what investigative journalists are supposed to do, but generally don’t. It has exposed abuses of power that hide behind the veil of government secrecy.

If the so-called "democratic" governments ruled with the informed consent of citizens as they pretend to do, they might have some claim to legitimacy, otherwise not. The fact is, they are ruled by small minorities who command all important institutions within their respective societies, and rule with impunity, often engaging in unlawful acts and crimes against humanity. It is their secrecy about such acts and crimes that they must at all costs protect. However, we, the ruled, must always attempt to expose their lies. Whether WikiLeaks exposes any really significant lies still remains to be seen; and if they do, will the lies be reported unreconstructed in mainstream media? It appears that various authorities are making it difficult to access, and even closing down direct access to the WikiLeaks website.

Lunch With the CIA

by Mad Hedge Fund Trader from Oil Price. 

I thought that it might be worthwhile to pay a small visit to the world of the rich and powerful, AKA  capitalists or ruling class. This piece written by a hedge fund manager describes, in a very casual style, his meeting with members of the CIA, not just any, but the head of the CIA, Leon Panetta, and four others ("five gorillas built like brick shithouses") who I gather are something like bodyguards. 

I don't know a whole lot about hedge fund managers, but I do know that they manage the money of the rich, very influential, and well-connected. Despite the name "hedge fund", these people often place high-risk bets for their clients at the Wall Street casino using borrowed funds. They do this because the rewards are often very great for everyone involved. Risk is greatly reduced because they, the fund managers, have access to powerful people that can influence the outcome of their bets as well as access to valuable insider information. As we have seen, when their bets go terribly wrong, they merely have their powerful friends and servants in the government bail them out. Hence, we, the people, are stuck with the bill.

The article provides a good illustration of the access that these fund managers have to the powerful and knowledgeable, in this case, to Mr CIA, as I mentioned above. Then you may have a queasy feeling when you read this:

The long term outlook for supplies of food, natural resources, and energy is becoming so severe that the CIA is now viewing it as a national security threat. Some one third of emerging market urban populations are poor, or about 1.5 billion souls, and when they get hungry, angry, and politically or religiously inspired, Americans have to worry. This will be music to the ears of the hedge funds that have been stampeding into food, commodities, and energy since March. It is also welcome news to George Soros, who has quietly bought up enough agricultural land in Argentina to create his own medium sized country.

You will notice how the rich even bet on the suffering of the poor to make themselves richer, and it is "music to [their] ears". Of course, when he writes that with so many people suffering, "Americans have to worry", he really means that the American ruling class has to worry. And in the next paragraph he reports on learning about the fact that US currency is in danger of losing its value. This is another piece of "red meat" for his investors ("profits [on bets] from falling Treasury bond prices!") 

After mentioning a few other tidbits from Mr. CIA that don't appear to have any investment value, he fantasizes about how wonderful it would be to have access to all their CIA data and to manage their pension fund with this knowledge--a hedge fund manager's wet dream!.

Isn't the internet wonderful?

Wrong country blamed for artillery exchange on Korean peninsula

by Stephen Gowans from Voltaire.

Keeping Pyongyang under constant military pressure has been part of a long-standing goal of the U.S. - in tandem with its South Korean ally - to bring North Korea to the brink of collapse by pushing Pyongyang into accrued defense spending to the detriment of its economic development.

After the conflict between rival capitalist powers was settled in 1945, the US assumed the leadership in the defense, and promotion, of capitalism by absorbing the British Empire into an empire under its control (read The Anglo-American Establishment by Carroll Quigley). At the same time the new US hegemony went immediately after its primary adversary, the Soviet Union. There was a seamless transition from the defeat of their capitalist rivals--Germany, Italy, and Japan--to the war against the USSR whose resources, labor, and markets were not accessible by Western capitalists due to the nature of their command economy under the control of a centralized bureaucracy.

In southern Korea, soon to become South Korea under US control, this new war against USSR informed US policies for this country by supporting the previous repressive police and government structures that had characterized capitalist and landlord class rule when they were under Japanese control. The US made considerable use of all Koreans who had faithfully served under the Japanese imposed regime and even used some former Japanese officials. Both groups were extremely hated by all Korean patriots and soon there were uprisings all over southern Korea against the US imposed government. From 1946 till the outbreak of the war the South Korean government under the US puppet, Syngman Rhee, used the most brutal methods of suppression imaginable against these populist movements. 

As 1950 approached, they had largely succeeded in wiping out the opposition, and as a result, the US and its South Korea regime turned their attention northward. (To read all the details of this tragedy, read the extensively documented book by Bruce Cumings entitled, The Origins to the Korean War, v.1. Unfortunately, the book is not easily obtainable, and I suspect for political reasons.)

Thus, one can see that the Korean War never ended either formally or in reality. It is still being fought because the US Empire cannot tolerate opposition to, or independence from, its influence and its economic system.

Obama, Afghan, and that Infernal Drip

by Russ Baker from Who, What, Why. 

This astute observer knows how to read between the lines in mass media reports. The only problem I have is the way he poses the concluding question:

And it raises this question: if an elected president is truly in control, then why are “US military and intelligence officials” going around doing their own thing?

As I see it, Obama was selected, or hired like most Presidents, to sell the main policies of the ruling class. There are always rival factions within this class who try to influence strategies. 

This brings to mind my recent reading of the Korean War and the post-WWII events in the Far East when there was a rather powerful China lobby that wanted to pursue aggressive policies against the newly established People's Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea. The Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, was in charge of foreign policy strategies under the Truman administration. Truman deferred to his judgment because he lacked much experience or knowledge of foreign affairs. Acheson wanted a less aggressive policy of containment of these nominally socialist states. He favored the promotion of splits between the USSR and the PRC, while he wanted to gradually put pressure on North Korea to the point that they would attack South Korea. From my reading of volume 2 of Bruce Cumings book entitled, The Origins of the Korean War, it appears that the machinations of the China lobby greatly accelerated the start of the Korean War, but it probably would have happened anyway.

Military leaders and their followers always have a much narrower view of things and tend to pursue aggressive policies which may backfire if the public is not sufficiently prepared to back them. Obama is very attuned to the various political factions of the ruling class, but it is difficult to tell which ones are in the ascendancy at this time.

Julian Assange: Wanted by the Empire, Dead or Alive

by Alexander Cockburn from Counterpunch.  

Cockburn offers some interesting perspectives on the recent Wikileaks, and mass media coverage of the event.

Millions in America and around the world have been given a quick introductory course in international relations and the true arts of diplomacy – not least the third-rate, gossipy prose with which the diplomats rehearse the arch romans à clef they will write when they head into retirement.

Funny, how the government assumes the right to literally and virtually strip-search people at airports, scan their emails and track their website activities, peruse their medical and banking records, but is outraged when the tables are turned and the people have access to a few of their minor secrets. This would not happen if capitalist governments were run by true representatives of the people. 

I just came across this Democracy Now program video (31:47m) which brings us up-to-date on what is happening with this episode and a debate about the WikiLeaks exposures. The debate features Glenn Greenwald and Steven Aftergood, the long-time transparency advocate with Federation for American Scientists and Secrecy News. Haven't have time to listen to it all, but it appears to be very interesting.

Mapping America’s Factory Farms

from Food & Water Watch. 

This article provides a very interesting map of the factory farms across the country. I was surprised by my local area near Bellingham, Washington: I thought that mostly small, family farms existed here. So why should we care?

Across the nation, while the number of farms raising livestock has decreased, the size of farms raising livestock has increased. In some places this is due to leniency in environmental regulation.  And the growth of factory farms directly threatens independent farmers through unfair pricing and lack of competition. It also threatens consumer health through pollution and widespread contamination like last summer’s egg recall. That’s the price we pay for our food to be cheap and convenient.

I've just discovered this website and am impressed with the amount of important information regarding food and water--the basic stuff of life.

From the "Wealth of Nations" to the "Debt of Nations"

from Washington's Blog. 

Let me direct your attention to the following author's statements toward the end of the article:

As I wrote in October, in a post entitled "The Founding Fathers' Vision of Prosperity Has Been Destroyed":

The ability for America and the 50 states to create its own credit has largely been lost to private bankers. The lion's share of new credit creation is done by private banks, so - instead of being able to itself create money without owing interest - the government owes unfathomable trillions in interest to private banks.

America may have won the Revolutionary War, but it has since lost one of the main things it fought for: the freedom to create its own credit instead of having to beg for credit from private banks at a usurious cost.

The so-called "founding fathers" is a term frequently used to refer to those people who established the main institutions of the US shortly after the War of Independence. The term has taken on an almost religious-like meaning. These historical figures are now regarded as almost demigods whose virtue is beyond criticism. 

What this otherwise brilliant blogger misses is the reality that many of them were the first in the US to privatize banking in the form of the Bank of North America. According to The Lost Science of Money they used as their model the Bank of England. This institutional arrangement has been referred to as a "central bank".  They create the nation's money supply by lending money to their respective governments.

Private individuals, mostly "founding fathers" contributed some of the start-up money, but this fell short a bit and government money ended up contributing about 63%. Essentially it was managed by the private owners, and of course, for their benefit. Except for brief periods in US history, the money supply has been under the control of private banks, and in more recent history in a similar central bank arrangement by the Federal Reserve with some superficial participation by the federal government to provide a cover of legitimacy. Nowadays The Fed creates money "out of thin air" with the government's sanction (fiat money).

From the article one can see how there are layers upon layers of banks. 

Of course, there is no bright line between private and central banks, since big banks own the Fed, and the world's central banks - in turn - own the BIS.

At the bottom of this banking empire are the individual banks like Citibank that are owned by private individuals and institutions. Some of the individuals are major investors and members of the ruling class.

The corporate takeover of American schools

by Paul Thomas from the Guardian. 

The best part of this article are the citations to research that shows that schools can only, at best, have a limited positive impact with children who suffer the disadvantages of poor backgrounds. Such studies are always ignored in US mainstream media--for obvious reasons. 

Under capitalism society exists to serve one class, those who"own" and control all significant economic enterprises in the economy. The tendency for direct corporate involvement in education, in my opinion, reflects the general shift to more direct control by the ruling class of all institutions in society. For education specifically they probably see this involvement as necessary to downsize the greater commitment to education that existed previously. 

The increasing global nature of capitalist rule necessarily means the abandonment of commitment to the home base. Highly educated and skilled workers can be moved around the globe at will by corporations regardless of worker origins, and be paid much lower wages which, of course, enhances the wealth and power to this class. 

The subtitle, "The trend for appointing CEOs to the top jobs is symptomatic of a declining commitment to public education and social justice", provides a liberal slant to their piece by suggesting that there has been a time when there was a true commitment to education and social justice. Education under the rule of this class always served their needs for obedient, non-questioning, well indoctrinated, and skilled workers. And, of course, social injustice is built into the system of class rule. The ownership and control of the wealth produced by working people, that is bestowed under the rules of capitalism to a class of investors, is inherently unjust.

In The Wake Of Victory

by John Michael Greer from The Archdruid Report. 

Because the author appears to be among the most influential intellectuals in US environmental circles, I think this piece may be worth examining as a strategy to alter the destructive path that the "political class", to use his words, is leading us down. 

Also, he interests me because his roots are in my backyard. He was born in Bremerton, Washington, attended Western Washington University, here in Bellingham (where I currently live), and obtained a BA degree in Comparative History of Ideas from the U. of Washington in Seattle. Judging by his numerous writings related to mysticism and the occult, he seems to have a peculiar fascination with these subjects. (For biography, read this.) 

His recent popular influence in environmental circles seems to stem from a number of essays and especially his recent book entitled, The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age, in which he reassures us that we are not faced with an  immediate apocalyptic future and that we can prepare for it with mostly individualistic measures like gardening, re-learning earlier low-tech, agrarian skills. Here is how the Amazon website summarizes his themes:

The Long Descent examines the basis of such fear through three core themes:

    * Industrial society is following the same well-worn path that has led other civilizations into decline, a path involving a much slower and more complex transformation than the sudden catastrophes imagined by so many social critics today.
    * The roots of the crisis lie in the cultural stories that shape the way we understand the world. Since problems cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them, these ways of thinking need to be replaced with others better suited to the needs of our time.
    * It is too late for massive programs for top-down change; the change must come from individuals.

In this article he suggests a strategy that the enlightened few can use to outsmart the "political class" by playing off the "subsets" of this class against each other. In other words, he is saying that his strategy will enable us to essentially "game" the existing system and win. Read the article for the details.

Unfortunately, he hides so much of reality behind the use of the concept "political class". Apparently no understanding is necessary for this concept, and none is offered. It is clear to me that he doesn't understand it, or the basis of its power, that is, what enables this class to rule. He does offer that the "subsets" of this class are the Democrats and the Republicans. Lacking a deeper, systemic understanding of power in relation to societies, to my mind, presents a major obstacle to any real progress in averting the many disasters that lie ahead due to climate change and peak energy.

Why President Obama Won't Deliver On His Network Neutrality Promises

by Bruce A. Dixon from Black Agenda Report. 

It's not just that the presidential candidate who needed our votes smiled at us, told us what we wanted to hear, and now intends to forget those promises. It's far worse than that. By owning the media, and managing broadcast airwaves, cable, telephone and internet networks as their private property, telecommunications companies have become the literal owners of our public and even our private conversation. Communities have no right to hear their own voices if some telecom executives can't reap a profit. 

The assault on net neutrality by the telecommunication corporations is a very dangerous one. If they win, this wonderful medium of communication will be under private control to serve private interests. We simply cannot allow that to happen.

Boston-Area Union Will Block Factory Auction to Save Jobs

by Jane Slaughter from Solidarity Economy.

In a move to save factory jobs that evokes shades of the ’30s, the United Electrical Workers are asking supporters to block a December 14 auction of presses and equipment from a plant south of Boston. The UE is calling for mass picketing and blockading of entrances to the 80-year-old plant if necessary.

Esterline Technologies Corp. of Bellevue, Washington, has refused to hold off on selling the equipment till another buyer can be found. The union’s request to buy the closed plant, which would create an employee-owned factory, has been ignored.

Another plant closure that illustrates, once again, the deep contradictions between a capitalist system and the needs of communities and societies. The system is designed to serve private needs not social needs, and the end result is that society functions to serve private interests--wealth and power. Collectively, these private interests create a class of people, also known as a ruling class, who govern society and insure that society functions to serve their interests.

In this latest example in Massachusetts, we see that the 80 year old plant is "owned" by a corporation in the State of Washington (not far from where I live). 

Under the rules of capitalism--not ordained by some god, but a system created by people, powerful people in the past--this plant became a thing, a commodity, that could be owned by some people with money whose interest was making more money. 

The plant, of course, was the end result of endless generations of working people that created the technology and the wealth that created the form of this plant 80 years ago. Since then workers in the plant created wealth for the various owners of the plant, but they also created wealth for the community that sustained it and helped it grow. The community and the larger society, in turn, sustained the workers by educating them, providing them with health care, entertainment, media, culture--in reality, this entity is a social organism. 

Capitalism, on the other hand, is essentially an asocial system. Capitalists deny the existence or importance of the concept of "social organism". That is why a capitalist leader, Margaret Thatcher, made this statement:

...there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.

Thus capitalists must deny the reality of collective decision making and collective welfare that sustained humanity for more than 98% its existence.

Now this community in Massachusetts, and to some extent the larger society, is threatened because the "owners", whose only interest in the plant is to make money, want to make more money elsewhere. Because they "own" the plant under the rules of capitalism, they are permitted to do this. Why should they "sell" the plant to the workers? The plant might compete with products they want to produce in Mexico and southern California, and thus cut into "their" profits. Thus the workers face an uphill struggle to win the battle to take over the plant.

This is the pattern in the US that has been playing out most dramatically in the last 30 years. More and more plants have been moved to other countries where cheap labor and weak environmental laws provide greater opportunities for capitalists to make more money. Because they govern their societies, capitalists can get away with it. 

We are now witnessing the devastation caused to communities and the larger society in the forms of unemployment, deskilling of American workers, families torn a part, more crime and drug addiction, poverty, mental illness, etc. 

Meanwhile, the "owners" fear that the "natives" may be getting restless and will fight back. Hence, we are seeing more and more repressive police measures and surveillance of citizens which could lead to a police state.

Cancun, and more Consequential C Words

by Michael M'Gonigle and Louise Takeda from The Tyee.

The authors look at the rather dismal prospects for progress at the upcoming UN sponsored meeting on climate change, and the resistance by major powers to any substantive change from the Copenhagen Accord. The latter's emphasis is to incorporate a climate change strategy in the form of carbon trading into markets like Wall Street that will only create the illusion of doing something about the problem, but in reality will allow capitalists to continue their plunder of the Earth. However, there is some hope as evidence keeps surfacing that more and more people are becoming aware of the basic contradiction between the capitalist system and Earth's ability to sustain human and other life forms.

Consider the constricted discourse that prevents any real discussion on the trap of (shhh... capitalist) dependence on growth and commodification. A few brave souls tip-toe around the word with more palatable terms like 'de-growth'. However expressed, the reality is that there is no hope of escape from our planetary momentum without a whole bunch of folks willing to confront the evidence, and the power of denial, and admit that the emperor has no clothes.

The FBI successfully thwarts its own Terrorist plot

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. 

In this piece the author builds a good case for suspecting that the Portland, Oregon incident was brought about by the FBI's use of entrapment. And, to be sure, this enforcing arm of the ruling class certainly has the motivation to do this--spreading more fear among citizens to distract from the social spending cutbacks, to justify the "full-spectrum" surveillance of Americans, and more spending on "security services" that will inevitably lead us down the path to a police state.

As Greenwald points out, the real mystery is why the American people wonder why some people from the Middle East hate Americans and easily succumb to such terrorist fantasies.

We hear the same exact thing over and over and over from accused Terrorists -- that they are attempting to carry out plots in retaliation for past and ongoing American violence against Muslim civilians and to deter such future acts.  Here we find one of the great mysteries in American political culture:  that the U.S. Government dispatches its military all over the world -- invading, occupying, and bombing multiple Muslim countries -- torturing them, imprisoning them without charges, shooting them up at checkpoints, sending remote-controlled drones to explode their homes, imposing sanctions that starve hundreds of thousands of children to death  -- and Americans are then baffled when some Muslims -- an amazingly small percentage -- harbor anger and vengeance toward them and want to return the violence.   And here we also find the greatest myth in American political discourse:  that engaging in all of that military aggression somehow constitutes Staying Safe and combating Terrorism -- rather than doing more than any single other cause to provoke, sustain and fuel Terrorism.

Winning the Class War

by Bob Herbert from the NY Times. 

The class war that no one wants to talk about continues unabated.Even as millions of out-of-work and otherwise struggling Americans are tightening their belts for the holidays, the nation’s elite are lacing up their dancing shoes and partying like royalty as the millions and billions keep rolling in.

This opinion piece is probably the most anti-establishment article that will ever be permitted by the owners and editors of this establishment publication. However, notice that his recommendations for change are very conventional:

What’s really needed is for working Americans to form alliances and try, in a spirit of good will, to work out equitable solutions to the myriad problems facing so many ordinary individuals and families. Strong leaders are needed to develop such alliances and fight back against the forces that nearly destroyed the economy and have left working Americans in the lurch.

For detailed evidence of class discrimination in the US, read this.

The Big Lie: Governments Have to Save the Big Banks

from Washington's Blog. 

The author reviews some discourses on the effectiveness of big lies followed by some recent research to explain why ordinary people believe these lies. Then he concludes that big lies also apply to the recent moves by the US ruling class to justify making ordinary people pay for the bad bets of the banksters.

I think that ruling classes have always made great efforts to instill in the minds of their subjects, ordinary people, the belief that their masters are looking out for their best interests and should never be questioned. Thus, under monarchy they propagated the belief that kings ruled by Divine Right. 

In modern times we are indoctrinated with the belief that authority figures are always right and should always be obeyed. Disobedience usually brings swift punishment. People in authority are portrayed as superior human beings. For example, judges in courtrooms are always positioned on an altar-like edifice above ordinary people. When judges enter the room, people are expected to stand to demonstrate their obeisance. In educational institutions children are taught not how to think critically about information, but to merely memorize. Obviously people are not inherently stupid, but are thoroughly socialized this way by ruling class institutions to believe and act as they do.

Dire messages about global warming can backfire, new study shows

by Yasmin Anwar from UC Berkeley News. 

The results of the first experiment described in the article are completely compatible with previous knowledge found in "death and dying" research. The same dynamics of denial function when one feels doomed. You can't expect climate scientists to offer solutions, they can only report on what they observe.

...if scientists and advocates can communicate their findings in less apocalyptic ways, and present solutions to global warming, Willer said, most people can get past their skepticism.

The problem with offering solutions to the climate crisis is that real, effective solutions are incompatible with the ruling political-economic system of capitalism. Therefore no convincing solutions can be offered by the propaganda organs of the ruling class. Hence, their propensity to engage in denial or to offer false solutions which are usually unconvincing and without scientific support.

Climate change will cost a billion people their homes, says report

by Robin McKie from The Observer.

A special report, to be released at the start of climate negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, will reveal that up to a billion people face losing their homes in the next 90 years because of failures to agree curbs on carbon emissions.

Cutting the Deficit: Sacrificing Workers to Save the Rich

by James Petras from Global Research.

The scheduling of the press releases until after the recent elections by this ruling class "bi-partisan commission" is not coincidental. They did not want their orchestrated elections and their candidates to focus on the issues of cutbacks in social programs. The timing kept these issues from the public's attention while entertaining them with false issues like "fiscal responsibility" and the side show of Tea Party antics. Of course, the ruling class ploy of organizing these attacks on the most vulnerable populations using  a "bi-partisan commission" attempts to give them a legitimate or objective quality.

The deficit proposals put forth by Obama’s Bipartisan Commission threaten to push the one-third of retirees who depend mainly on their social security payments into the food kitchens or destitution.  The added cost and reductions in health care will increase the mortality rate among working families.  The increase in retirement age will result in “work until you die”, with no time for leisure, travel or grandchildren.  

It is clear that the ruling capitalist class is now prepared to accelerate the class war in the US. Are we prepared to fight back as the Europeans are doing?

by Henry McDonald and Andrew Clark from the Guardian. 

One of the largest demonstrations in the Irish Republic's history brought more than 100,000 people on to Dublin's streets in protest over the international bailout and four years of austerity ahead.

Also, read this for more coverage on the Irish protests.

Dancing With Dangl

by Clifton Ross from Counterpunch. 

This is the third book review that I have posted for Dangl's new book entitled, Dancing with Dynamite. (See this and this.) The book deserves all the attention it is getting because many on the left are experiencing disenchantment with progressive movements that continue to be swallowed up or co-opted by ruling classes. 

Dangl surveyed many progressive movements throughout the Americas and concluded that...

“...the state and governing party is, by its nature, a hegemonic force that generally aims to subsume, weaken or eliminate other movements and political forces that contest its power.”

However, experience reveals again and again that after so much time, energy, and commitment has gone into the building of these movements, they seem to result in only minor gains, at best, in the lives of ordinary people. Their credo is best expressed by this statement from Howard Zinn:

Democracy is social movements. That’s what democracy is. And what history tells us is that when injustices have been remedied, they have not been remedied by the three branches of government. They’ve been remedied by great social movements, which then push and force and pressure and threaten the three branches of government until they finally do something. Really, that’s democracy.

I believe that it is time--indeed, a long overdue time to re-evaluate this perspective--and, Dangl also thinks so. Progressives everywhere must wake up to the facts that this is leading us down a dead-end road. Hierarchical social arrangements and technological prowess has resulted in the system of capitalism that will end in the exhaustion of energy resources, environmental destruction, climate change and the end of human and other life forms. 

The first task, in my opinion, is to destroy this system which automatically provides huge advantages to people who "own" productive property and has resulted in a class of people over and above all others. An economy is always social in nature. It is a legacy that has been handed down to us from many generations of working people. Thus, all significant economic units must be publicly owned. This eliminates the economic basis for hierarchy. Then there remains the addiction to power that can afflict individuals and produce systems of oppression.

As I have argued before, at least 98% of human existence has been organized around small groups where decisions were made collectively. That is our fundamental human nature. As soon as you elevate people to a higher level decision making group, they are absorbed into a new group that creates its own identity and interests which are often different from their original group affiliations. As people rise in a social hierarchy, this process keeps repeating until you have people at the top whose interests have little to do with their social origins (assuming ordinary social origins). 

People who rise in such a system tend to lack moral constraints. Thus the people with the most sociopathic tendencies tend to rise to the top. Their new group references are at, or near, the top and together they establish their own group norms and interests. Groupings like this tend to regard people at the bottom of this heap as expendable when they get in the way of their interests. 

Thus, we see under capitalism that they have little difficulty in deciding to close down a factory and move it where they can find cheaper labor regardless of the consequences to the people living in the community. They have little difficulty deciding to engage in all kinds of financial scams to enrich themselves that have ended in the devastation of whole economies. They have little problem lying to their citizens to justify invading other countries to kill their people and steal their resources. They always do this with their peer's support. It is the social nature of the human beast always to be guided by their referent groups.

It seems to me that the solution that follows from this analysis is that we must do away with these elaborate hierarchical social systems by designing highly decentralized societies that require a high degree of political participation by people at the grass roots. Dangl senses this when he writes:

For progressive changes to take place in the US, more people need to become participants in politics rather than spectators. And by this I mean making revolution a part of our everyday lives, not just something we watch on TV or a vote we cast for a politician.

What is there to lose by not trying to do this? By continuing down the same path as we have in the last three or four millenniums, we will surely end up destroying our habit and ourselves.

  

January-October 2010: The Warmest Period on Record

by Andrew Glikson from Dissident Voice.

Let us pray that we have not yet passed significant tipping points.

Ignoring reports by the world’s major climate science organizations (NASA/GISS, NCDC, Hadley-Met, Potsdam, BOM, CSIRO), governments continue to consider the issue almost exclusively in economic $ terms, the ultimate Faustian bargain.