How the Banks Take Down Politicians (Elizabeth Warren Edition)

Click here to access article by Yves Smith from her blog Naked Capitalism.

This politically liberal blogger often has insights on how the ruling class manages their "democracy", although she would never put it that way. In this piece she describes their use of front groups such as media outlets and non-profit political groups such as RATE to circumscribe and limit the influence of people in government who would like to curb the excesses of corporations and financial interests. 

I applaud Smith for doing this, but as a liberal she seems totally unaware of how the same methods apply to the shaping of the thoughts of 99% plus of Americans to support an economic system that is robbing them daily and turning them and their children into indentured servants of the ruling class of capitalists. She stays safely within acceptable limits of capitalist discourse by criticizing bankers instead of a whole class of capitalists who have rigged their system to serve themselves. Not only do the latter use front groups in media, non-profits, they also use front groups like the Tea Party, legislators sponsored by the ruling class, the privately owned Fed which controls our money, and an educational system used to indoctrinate us, to cull out political dissidents, and to promote those who, like herself, stay safely within acceptable limits of political-economic discourse. 

But, of course, that is the nature of ruling class societies, and we humans have been plagued with them for the last 10,000 of the more than 150,000 years of human existence. It is only now that as a human race we face intolerable consequences if we continue to tolerate such social-economic arrangements: the destruction of our habitat, ever increasing wars, poverty, police states, exhaustion of energy, etc.   

The Whole World Is Watching: Nonviolence at Liberty Plaza

Click here to access article by Nathan Schneider from The Indypendent. 

There is beginning to be much more discussion about strategy and tactics among the Wall Street protesters:

Unity, planning and discipline are also interconnected. When the police make arrests at Liberty Plaza, it tends to divide the protesters. Some want to fall back, some want to fight back. Instead, with more discipline, these incidents could unite them and sharpen their focus. Too often, the protesters are letting themselves forget who their real opponent is—all that Wall Street represents in American culture and politics—by focusing so much on anger against the underpaid, working-class police force deployed around them.

War and shopping - an extremism that never speaks its name

Click here to access article by John Pilger from his website. 

While looking for a bookshop that was no longer there, this perceptive Australian journalist inadvertently enters into the artificial capitalist world of a shopping mall and sees so much of the extremism that illustrates characteristics of the larger capitalist world of wealth and poverty. 

The mega mall, the biggest in Europe, is built in the midst of grey tower blocks not far from where the recent riots occurred, its “designer” products, made mostly with cheap, regimented labour, beckon the indebted. That it stands on a site where London workers made trains – thousands of locomotives, carriages and goods wagons – in what was once called manufacturing is of melancholy interest. The mega mall’s jobs produce nothing and are mostly low-paid. It is an emblem of extreme times.

I don't see that the article has much to do with wars as the title suggests, unless he is thinking in the context of class wars.

A Political Casualty of 9/11: The Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement

Click here to access article by Daniel Denvir from Truthout.

Nine-eleven's ten-year anniversary is sparking retrospectives ranging from lives lost to a War on Terror launched. But media accounts have omitted an important political casualty: the short-lived "anti-globalization" movement, perhaps the largest American social movement since the civil rights and Vietnam War era.

If 9/11 was not at least partially engineered by ruling class political operatives, it should go down in history as the most fortuitous event in the 300 year reign of capitalism. But, with the current economic collapse of capitalist economies, its beneficial effects for the defense of capitalism may be coming to an end.

U.S. Government to Gulf War Vets: Drop Dead!

This 8:05m video is from the Progressive Radio Network.

The narrator interviews veterans living in tent camps on the edge of cities in the US.

The Wall Street Occupation: A Sleep-In Protest in the Shadow of Power

Click here to access article by Manny Jalonschi from Indypendent.

Although this article is a bit dated in the context of the fast moving developments at the Wall Street Occupation, I think it gives a more complete picture of the various activities happening there.

The general assemblies, who began their meetings in circles, sitting on the concrete, broke down discussions into three general areas — problems, solutions and strategies. Most discussions began with an open session for assembly participants to vocalize what they viewed as the biggest challenges the country faces in freeing itself from the power of finance. While much discussion focused on the corruption and collusion between Wall Street and Washington, many assembly members  also noted that general apathy was also a problem of education.

The second part of the general assemblies focused on developing general solutions for the problems just identified. Regulation, transparency and again education became the hot talking points for this session. By the third session, assemblies were working on exchanging strategies for local, national and international action.

This event is hopefully the embryo of a future plant that represents the control of the people over the most vital activity of their lives: how and what they produce to sustain their lives and families, and how they distribute the wealth they create.  

This plant will only grow if it is nurtured by the people. This support can take many forms: participation, money, and by attacking the weeds of corporate and banking ideology that threatens to smother this plant. Unless we fight back, there is no hope of freeing ourselves of capitalist ideology and its banking and corporate insects that are intent on devouring our planet garden and our very lives.

Also, see this and this for the latest coverage.

Occupy Wall Street - Day 6: Revolution is Tweet

Click here to access article by Chaz Valenza from OpEd News.

Yesterday was another rough day for those here in Liberty Plaza, but much better than Tuesday when the police harassment was a definite attempt to nip Occupy Wall Street in the bud.

Meanwhile, the protests are spreading to other cities: Seattle, San Francisco, and other cities in the US. and making news across the globe. However, the numbers involved in these protests are still fairly small; but, who knows, they could easily escalate as the economy continues to deteriorate and impact Americans.

Here in Washington state, teachers in Tacoma have been on strike for over a month, and there is a poorly reported Longshoreman's strike in Longview where things are turning ugly, and it appears that the stock market is taking a steeper dive today.

 

Dearest President and Professor Barack Obama

Click here to access article by Tom Engelhardt from Tom Dispatch.

The author provides a very entertaining interpretation in a very tongue-in-cheek parody of the ongoing corruption in the US military-industrial elite's campaign in Afghanistan. 

Who hasn’t received one -- or 100 -- of those “Nigerian” letters offering you, in florid prose, millions of potential dollars and with nary a catch in sight? But who knew that the highest officials in Washington have been receiving them as well -- and from our war zones rather than Africa.

The Great Transition [a proposal]

from The E. F. Schumacher Society. You may want to skip the introduction and go straight to the title, "The Great Transition".

New Economics Foundation policy director Andrew Simms put it like this.
"For years we have been told that there is no alternative to an economy that
wrecks the environment and worsens inequality. We've been told that we live
in a time of prosperity, when really we're no happier than we were thirty
years ago. We've been told that crashes, bubbles and recessions are all
part of the 'natural cycle' of economies. But faced with potentially
irreversible climate change and corrosive inequality, these are dangerous
fairy tales. The Great Transition shows we have a chance of a better
reality."

Psychologists: Questioning 9/11 Is the Sane Thing To Do

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.

Many mental health professionals have concluded that the official version of 9/11 is false, and that those who believe the official version suffer from defense mechanisms.

The author provides links to many mental health professionals who see a whole society of Americans trying to deal with the conflict between the official propaganda regarding 9/11 and evidence from scientists and engineers that contradicts the propaganda. Currently most people do not believe the official version, and this has caused many Americans a lot of problems. He ends up with this 15:08m excellent video featuring interviews with more mental health professionals relating their experiences with their patients regarding the 9/11 experience:

The age of the Reaper

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. 

There are few observers of international affairs can tell it like it like he does: with his razor sharp vision he with his powerful prose cuts through the newspeak, the diplomatic language, and the incessant propaganda of mainstream media to reveal the naked, raw truth.

What matters are the "facts on the ground" of Israel as the supreme dominatrix of US foreign policy as well as the US Congress being Israel's bitch. What matters is Obama trying to entice Muslims with flowery rhetoric in Istanbul and Cairo just to meekly submit, and when the going gets tough, to feel the dominatrix whip.

However, the article is mostly about the Empire's new weapon, the killer drones, AKA the Reaper, and the increasing use of these weapons to enforce the Empire's interests.

See also this article entitled, "The World of Drone Warcraft".

Anarchism, Autonomy, violence and the state

Click here to access article by Julien Febvre from Eagainst.com 

"Julien Febvre” is a Greek writer, musician, artist and filmmaker, student of politics and sociology in Birkbeck University of London. He has studied Arts and Pedagogy in Griffith College, (Dublin, Ireland) and Musicology in Kingston University of London. He has been influenced by the Greek philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis, the Situationist Movement, anarchism and Libertarian Socialism.

I consider this article to be most reflective of my "imaginary", world view, "weltanschauung" (German), or ideological position. Such an exposition of this ideology is rarely found in American English articles. Unfortunately, this article should have been proofread to eliminate several errors and to conform to ordinary English usage.  (Also, I think it is useful to keep in mind that he is writing this to a British audience following the riots in London and other cities in August, and I think that he is responding to the coverage of these events by British mainstream media.)

But, once you get beyond these problems, you will find numerous clarifications of what anarchism really means and has meant to most of its exponents throughout its history. Once you understand it, you will understand that it is a truly revolutionary world view. That is precisely why capitalist propagandists put so much effort into smearing and obfuscating the term "anarchism". It is totally and fundamentally at odds with any kind of authoritarian system as well as the numerous pseudo-democratic systems in existence today. The latter are simply authoritarian systems dressed up in democratic garb.

To aid in your understanding of this important paper, I will point out some of the most glaring errors:

To those myopic conservatives who claim that a society without state violence or capitalism is inevitable, we would respond that oppression, exploitation, war, consumerism, pollution, is the reality they are defending.

I think he meant to write:

To those myopic conservatives who claim that a society without state violence or capitalism is impossible, .... 

Precisely because of this knowledge [the meaning of "autonomy"], they can set their own laws and institutions and despise them whenever they deem it is necessary, without recognizing any totems and taboos.

I think he meant to write:

"Precisely because of this knowledge, they can set their own laws and institutions and discard or reject them whenever they deem it is necessary without recognizing any totems and taboos."

Such like for a Jewish of the Bible the question “is the law right and fair” has no answer because “the law is given by God, consequently everybody who despises it, is a sinner, a heathen or an unbeliever, hence everybody has to obey this law or will receive eternal punishment”.

I think he meant to write:

"Similarly, for the Jews in the Bible...." 

Direct democracy is not a purport but a mean, an ability to understand how we, ourselves, are able to create laws. In direct democracy, all decisions are taken directly by ourselves (whether through popular assemblies, or other entities).

I think he meant to write:

"Direct democracy is not an objective, but a means, ...."

In Every Age

Click here to access article by David Glenn Cox from OpEd News.

Cox offers his views on the current state of the nation (USA) while attacking the distorted coverage of mainstream media and the phony games of government leaders.

The news is about sensationalism, death and carnage laced with preconceived ideas. Barack Obama proposes his jobs bill, which was filled with perks and play pretties for the Republican side of the aisle, only to meet resistance from his own side. Obama counters that criticism with a new set of proposals to tax the wealthy, but if Obama had been in any way serious he would have proposed these things three years ago. Obama is only stunting for the camera, emoting passionate sounds bites for public consumption.

Occupy Wall Street: Day 5 - Workers Union Joins Protest

Click here to access article by Chaz Valenza from OpEd News.

The police strategy was simple: get that video feed stopped.   Make a show of force.   Scare the crap out of these whiners and poop this little party.

Also, check out this coverage.

Profit Pathology and Its Alternatives [47:46m video]

Click here to access speech by Michael Parenti carried on Dandelion Salad website. 

If you have not heard the insightful views of Parenti before, you should definitely hear him take apart the many myths capitalists use to sell their system, the many contradictions in the system, and disasters it causes for working people that results from capitalism for the first 32 minutes. The balance of his talk is about his views on socialism which I think are much less important. 

This was an informal presentation to a group at Utah Valley University at Orem, Utah sometime earlier this year.

Occupy Wall Street: Day 4

Click here to access article by Chaz Valenza from OpEd News.

This author is providing a very good report on the highlights of the Wall Street protests.

The police tactics are now turning to petty harassment and intimidation to discourage others from physically coming to join the protest.

The local authorities of the ruling class are clearly handling this demonstration with great care. They know full well that if they crack down too hard on the protests, that this will likely only add fuel to the fire. So far, this strategy along with keeping the protests out of mainstream news seems to be working. But, if the activists in New York can sustain their protests, things can very well change.

See also this for the ongoing attempts to provide live streaming of protests.

And, for the latest news on the protests in Paris, see this report. 

The Debt Crisis in the European Union: Austerity for Life (Part 4 of 7)

Click here to access article by Eric Toussaint from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt. 

What the members of the Troika are doing can be compared to the odious behaviour of someone who, while claiming to help a person in a difficult predicament, would actually make it worse and benefit from it. We can also consider that it is a criminal act planned collectively by the IMF, the ECB, the EC, and the governments that are supporting their action. Associating in order to plan and carry out a criminal act increases the responsibility of the aggressors.

I don't know if you can follow all the financial tricks that European banks use to enrich themselves, but it is clear to Eric Toussaint that the European Union and its institutions were designed for the welfare of the private banks and their owners, the capitalist ruling classes, and not for the benefit of the vast majority. Surprise, surprise!

I will continue to run all seven parts of the author's articles to shed some light on the dire debt situation that the private banks have laid upon Europe's working people. It is a situation that is still developing, and many think that it will deteriorate into a much deeper crisis. (For example, see this.) 

Obama’s budget plan: Cut social spending, lower tax rates for the rich

Click here to access article by Joseph Kishore from World Socialist Web Site.

This article provides a good corrective to corporate media's superficial coverage from which one might easily draw the conclusion that Obama is a great populist President fighting off those greedy oppressive Republicans. The author accurately interprets the President's budget plan as offering...

...verbal bromides, including the standard Orwellian line that the cuts are aimed at “strengthening Medicare and Medicaid over time,” are intended to cloak the actual consequences of the measures—the reduction or elimination of care for millions of people.

Obama sears the arc of instability

Click here to access article by Nick Turse from Asia Times Online. 

It's a story that should take your breath away: the destabilization of what, in the George W Bush years, used to be called "the arc of instability". It involves at least 97 countries, across the bulk of the global south, much of it coinciding with the oil heartlands of the planet. A startling number of these nations are now in turmoil, and in every single one of them - from Afghanistan and Algeria to Yemen and Zambia - Washington is militarily involved, overtly or covertly, in outright war or what passes for peace.

...President Barack Obama is in the process of trumping his predecessor.

This thesis illustrates how the US governmental system functions to create the illusion of democracy while serving powerful people behind the scenes whose rule is imposed on the world regardless of who is "elected" from those candidates that are allowed to run for office. (Read an excellent exposé in a book entitled, The Secret Team by (ret. Colonel) L. Fletcher Prouty

Also, the author seems to imply that US foreign policies mistakenly or inadvertently caused instability throughout much of the world. It is clear to me that instability was intentionally created as a strategy to control these areas of the world. See the following links to chaos theory: here, here, and here.

The Federal Budget Through The Looking Glass

Click here to access article by Jules Brouillet from American Monetary Institute. 

Macroeconomic models take the present economic system as an indisputable given.  Their studies, their conclusions, their thoughts remain uncritical; the predominant attitude of the profession is that there is no credible alternative to our system of capitalism. ...For American social science it is a scandal that it remains silent on so great an issue.”  Orthodox economic thinking stops Americans short of seriously reconsidering the merits of maintaining a system that has privatized their sovereign economic power.  Our economic liberty has been shackled to the privately owned Federal Reserve System. 

In departing from my usual policy of posting only current articles, I offer this one which is relatively timeless and insightful. I have great appreciation for this institute and the book they have published called, The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga.  It is a bit rough in the earlier chapters, but the author really hits his stride by chapter nine. He bases his observations on considerable research into this widely obscured subject. 

However, I think that they hold the view that if the Fed were abolished and money issued by the US Treasury solely as a medium of exchange and not based on debt as under the Fed, that the capitalist system would work just fine. To be sure, the Fed does act as huge parasite on the economy, but it is only the logical extension of an economy that is based on private ownership of socially productive activity--capitalism. 

Everything under capitalism has a tendency to become a commodity. Thus, money has been turned into a commodity whose control is in private hands under the Fed. Yes, I know that there is some government participation in this arrangement, but it is very superficial and clearly designed to hide the reality of private control.

The Insidious Truth About Federal Reserve Policy

Click here to access article by Shah Gilani from Money Morning.

I love it when members of capitalist firms shed some real light on the system. This economist and investment strategist does precisely that by explaining the role of the Fed in supporting banks (and banksters) and not the economy of the US--that is the insidious truth that he has just stumbled across!

...the Fed doesn't work for the American public - it works for Wall Street .

That's right. It's not the economy the Fed has on life support - it's the banks.

It is clear that our economy is run by and for bankers, not by or for the benefit of its worker-citizens who produce real wealth in the forms of food, clothing, transportation, communications, housing, education, etc.

Media Blackout - Thousands peacefully protest Wall Street, No media coverage [4:05m video]

Well, to be more accurate, there has been very little coverage in mainstream media. View this to make up for this lack.

What Really Happened in Libya?

Click here to access audio-video interview (38:19m) with Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya from Global Research TV. 

While I was busy last week entertaining guests, I missed the interview with this independent Canadian journalist who gives an unvarnished version of his harrowing experiences in Libya, of NATO's war in Libya, and what war in general is really like.

The Debt Crisis in the European Union: The ECB, ever loyal to private interests (Part 3 of 7)

Click here to access article by Eric Toussaint from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt. 

...we need to be aware that various EU treaties have to be abrogated, that the ECB statutes have to be radically changed, and that the EU has to be founded on other premises. Yet to achieve this, the balance of power has first to be changed through massive street mobilizations.

I don't know if you can follow all the financial tricks that European banks use to enrich themselves, but it is clear to Eric Toussaint that the European Union and its institutions were designed for the welfare of the private banks and their owners, the capitalist ruling classes, and not for the benefit of the vast majority. Surprise, surprise!

I will continue to run all seven parts of the author's articles to shed some light on the dire debt situation that the private banks have laid upon Europe's working people. It is a situation that is still developing, and many think that it will deteriorate into a much deeper crisis. (For example, see this.)

“We are going slow because we are going far!”

Click here to access article by Jérôme E. Roos from RoarMag.

This is a report on the global day of action against the banks that is occurring in Paris.
 

Live streaming of the Wall Street occupation from Global Revolution

Being the best live streaming that I've found this morning on the Wall Street occupation, I thought I would post it immediately. For video coverage click HERE or HERE. (Obviously, this will be a temporary post--to be removed after the event is finished or until the enforcers of the ruling class shut it down.)

The New Arctic Abnormal: Record Low Sea Ice Volume, Area and Extent*

Click here to access article from Climate Progress. 

So far this year the melting data of polar ice from the Arctic portends the complete disappearance of the icecap by 2020.

...what does make it incredible, is the way that freak melting season 2007 has been equaled and even surpassed in some data sets [for 2011].

See also this EarthSky report that provides data from NASA illustrated with great graphics while failing to mention the ominous implications. 

Think of a Tank

Click here to access article by George Monbiot from his blog.

The ruling class always has to deal with the problem of disguising its rule, especially when their indoctrination agencies are always preaching about "democracy". A major method to accomplish this is to disguise their influence through organizations they setup that are called "think tanks" which, of course, are essentially their main propaganda organs. Thus, it is hardly surprising that these propaganda organs are resistant to disclosing where their funding comes from. 

But, this liberal author seem oblivious to the fact that the ruling class has many other alternatives to exert their influence throughout society. They own and control all major media, exert powerful influence over educational systems, and with their direct and indirect control of jobs insure that anybody who fails to follow their "party line" regarding policies does not gain any position of influence. What dramatically occurred in the McCarthy period now occurs in a much subtler, but pervasive form.

The Debt Crisis in the European Union (Part 2/7) The great Greek bond bazaar

Click here to access article from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt.

Eric Toussaint: The ECB is entirely devoted to serving the bankers’ interests.

CADTM: But how?

I don't know if you can follow all the financial tricks that European banks use to enrich themselves, but it is clear to Eric Toussaint that the European Union and its institutions were designed for the welfare of the private banks and their owners, the capitalist ruling classes, and not for the benefit of the vast majority. Surprise, surprise!

I will continue to run all seven parts of the author's articles to shed some light on the dire debt situation that the private banks have laid upon Europe's working people. It is a situation that is still developing, and many think that it will deteriorate into a much deeper crisis. (For example, see this.)

World Bank Policies "enabling" African Land Grab

Click here to access article from Bretton Woods Project 

...WBG has, through an array of different policies, overseen a shift towards prioritising large-scale commercial agribusiness, achieved by attracting and promoting foreign agricultural investment. The Foreign Investment Advisory Service and the Remove Administrative Barriers to Investment program, both projects of the International Finance Corporation, the Bank's private sector arm, have "been working - often behind the scenes - to ensure that African countries reform their land laws and fiscal regimes to make them attractive to foreign investors". The Bank has financed legal reform mechanisms that are promoting rapid changes in land tenure laws, "driven by a desire to facilitate large-scale agricultural investment".

The Bank has also been funding investment promotion agencies in African countries that place private sector advisors in key governmental ministries, including presidential offices.

Death of the Republic on 9/11/01 "For Security Reasons" , "Credible and Unconfirmed Reports"...

Click here to access article by Dr. Bill Friend from Global Research.

...what made me mourn, not only for the lost innocents in my community, but for the death of the Republic, was what began on Friday 9/9....

...those continuing reports on all the mainstream networks and their cable affiliates of "CREDIBLE but UNCONFIRMED" reports of some group of "terrorists" who were coming to somewhere in NYC in some truck or other vehicle loaded with explosives of an undetermined nature to be blown up somewhere in some crowd.  One couldn't get away from these reports and they became incessant.

FBI training material portrays Islam as an indicator of terrorist activity

Click here to access article by Abdus-Sattar Ghazali from OpEd News. 

The seven-million strong American Muslim community was shocked to know that the FBI has been using anti-Muslim instructors and Islamophobic materials in counterterrorism training.

You can be sure that the ruling class will continue to use every trick in their trickster's book to get American workers to fight against each other in order to divert attention away from them.

From Henry Gale's Study Abroad Blog.

A 3 part series by Henry Gales from The Pioneer. Click on links below to access the articles.
 
The author is apparently a student at Whitman College in southeastern Washington state, and is probably doing a "junior year abroad" at a university in Argentina. He offers a comparison of the pseudo-democratic form of government in the US with that of Argentina which is commonly found throughout Latin American with some variations: clientelism.

Government, Part One: Fascism

Goverment, Part 2: Democracy + Part 3: Clientelism 

Famous Wall Street trader: “the system is ‘fuck the poor’”

Click here to access article by Jérôme E. Roos from RoarMag. 

The fact that knowledgeable people like Eisman wasn't initially aware of what was going on is testimony to the covert and sophisticated nature of the operation. It was essentially a conscious criminal enterprise perpetrated by banksters and Wall Street investors that differs little from the methods used by the Mafia and other such criminal organizations. They boldly saw that lower-middle income people in the US were an "easy mark" because they naively believed in the American Dream. One of the leading pitchmen for this operation was none other than George Bush, Jr.

In the eye of the storm: the debt crisis in the European Union: Part 1 of 7 - Greece

Click here to access article by Eric Toussaint from Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt.

...Western European private banks used the money they received at very low rates from the ECB, the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve and the US money market funds in order to increase their loans to countries such as Greece without taking risk into consideration. Private banks thus bear a heavy responsibility for the crushing debts of Greece. Greek private banks also loaned huge amounts to public authorities and to the private sector. They too have a significant responsibility in the present situation. Consequently the debts claimed from Greece by foreign and Greek banks as a result of their irresponsible policy should be considered illegitimate.

I don't know if you can follow all the financial tricks that European banks use to enrich themselves, but it is clear to me that the European Union and its institutions were designed for the welfare of the private banks and their owners, the capitalist ruling classes, and not for the benefit of the vast majority.

I will continue to run all seven parts of the author's articles to shed some light on the dire debt situation that the private banks have laid upon Europe's working people. It is a situation that is still developing, and many think that it will deteriorate into a much deeper crisis.

On Ideology: From Below and to the Left

Click here to access article by Henry Gales from The Pioneer. 

Liberalism and statism, for centuries, have cast a long shadow over all types of ideology. However, there are growing movements that realize the reality of today’s world. We do not need to take state power, work through political parties, or establish hegemony. Instead, we need to build projects of governments that are inseparable from the people, and in opposition to any form of hegemony.

I essentially agree with this thesis, but I worry about the degree of liberal (capitalist) indoctrination of false ideas and values that has informed the thinking of several generations of ordinary people now living. I agree with the author's rejection of vanguardism, but reject his implied notion that left political parties have little to contribute toward building a genuine working class consciousness and viable working class organizations. (It is possible that he differentiates between formal parties that run in elections and political organizations.) Left political parties (and I include organizations) have preserved the history of working class struggles and there are many lessons that can be derived from this historical experience. Thus, they have much to contribute.

Why we are marching in Paris on September 17

Click here to access article by Jérôme E. Roos from RoarMag.

We are mobilizing on September 17 because we know that the total cost of saving the US banking sector was higher than the total cost of WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the New Deal, the Marshall Plan and the Apollo Project, all added together and adjusted for inflation; and we know that the people are now being made to pay for that through years and years of austerity measures — while the bankers themselves are getting away unscathed.

There are many links to information about the role banks have played in the economic collapse and the way they have with impunity looked to taxpayers to bail them out and to provide them with cheap money to gamble with again. I have been covering this scene with in-depth articles for nearly the past two years. Such information informs the anger toward the mega-banks against which the protests are directed.

As I see it, such protests are long overdue in the US, but better late than never.

The World Consequences of U.S. Decline

Click here to access article by Immanuel Wallerstein from his blog.

Politicians and journalists are talking openly of the “dysfunctionality” of the U.S. political situation. But what else could it possibly be but dysfunctional? The most elementary fact is that U.S. citizens are stunned by the mere fact of decline. It’s not only that U.S. citizens are themselves suffering materially from the decline, and are deeply afraid that they will suffer even more as time goes on. It’s that they have deeply believed that the United States is the “chosen nation” designed by God or history to be the model nation in the world.

This distinguished liberal sociologist doesn't seem to realize that we are now entering into an era of globalized capitalism. National boundaries are irrelevant to capitalist elites because they have removed all impediments to their investment activities. Boundaries are now only used to control the movements of workers. Capitalists can and do move workers across boundaries whenever they see profit opportunities, but workers find it very difficult on their own initiative to move across boundaries for better opportunities.

Western capitalist ruling classes have decided on a merger just like corporations have merged with each other to provide more capital and power to extract more profits. The new empire that has formed out of the former Western countries is called NATO, and it is very much in the ascendancy. All the other capitalist countries such as China, Russia, Brazil, Japan, etc. are competitors, but pose little threat to NATO at the present time. Okay, I know that cartographers haven't changed their maps, but this is because NATO's ruling elites want to preserve some fictions about national identity just like they preserve fictions about democratic rule.

Although US and citizens of many other Western capitalist countries are experiencing decline in their living standards, the wealthy elites have never had so much wealth and power. They are clearly in the ascendancy.

We are now entering a world where extremely wealthy people live on well guarded, gated communities like islands in a sea of poor workers. This is the dismal world we are entering and must resist with all of our imagination and courage.

Neoliberalism, Austerity and Participatory Democracy

Click here to access article by Sveinung Legard from New Compass. 

Is there truly an inherent contradiction between fighting for welfare rights on one side and participatory democracy on the other? Do our attempts to achieve immediate reforms to regulate the economy necessarily preclude the revolutionary goals of a post-capitalist society?

Clearly, the answer is no!

The central demand in all of the new mobilizations and uprisings against neoliberalism and austerity policies around the world, has been the demand for real and participatory democracy.

 

Who will occupy Wall Street on September 17?

Click here to access article by Nathan Schneider Waging Nonviolence. 

Something...is definitely going to be happening. A lot of people are definitely going to be there, though 20,000 seems pretty optimistic. Some will know what they’re doing more than others, and all will learn. Not only will this weekend be a test of Americans’ readiness to resist, but of whether an idea lobbed into the internet by Adbusters, then grabbed by artists, students, Twitter hashtags, and a shadowy network of hackers (and hacker wannabes), can really turn into a “flood,” a show of meaningful political force, a new way forward.

If the level of political consciousness of US activists is represented in this article, then I fear for US activism. Assuming that this website is representative of the thinking of US activists, just the name of this website suggests that the only thing they can agree upon is to be non-violent in their actions. 

I have seen this call for non-violence emphasized in nearly every activist organization in the US. One might easily think that it was a basic principle of activism rather than simply a tactic for the present when one is faced with an overwhelmingly armed opponent: the organized security services of the global ruling class who have absolutely no hesitation about their use of violence against political dissenters. 

All humans feel an innate sense of the need to protect themselves from assault; and if they must use violence to protect themselves, they will do so. Given the present circumstances, it just doesn't make much sense to do use violence offensively. There are other ways to thwart our oppressors, and these must be identified and used aggressively.

And they seem wary of ideology as if they hadn't been subject to capitalist ideology all of their lives. It seems that citizens in the US have been swimming in the waters of capitalism for so long that they find it difficult to imagine any other form. Worker history has been expunged from history books by their capitalist masters. Thus, it seems that all the worker struggles for emancipation from capitalists over the past 200 years plus has no relevance for them. It seems like they feel the necessity to start over in the first school grade of political understanding. God, I hope I am wrong!

Of one thing I am certain: we, the people, must learn quickly how to resist this capitalist juggernaut and replace it with something that serves all of humanity; because, if we fail, the consequences will be horrific.
 

NOTICE:

I will be having visitors from now through September 14th which will limit the amount of posting that I will be doing during this period. Should be back on full schedule on the 15th. 

Ron Horn

Airplanes Have Been Flown By Remote Control Since 1917

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.

Haven't had time to review this article thoroughly, but it appears that this blogger has assembled substantial evidence that the 9/11 "hijacked" airplanes may have been under remote control when they crashed into the towers. 

Peak Oil, Peak Debt, and the Concentration of Power

Click here to access article by Charles Eisenstein from The Oil Drum. 

I haven't had time to fully read this article or comment on it, but it looks interesting to me. The first thing that struck me--and, this is typical of many articles written by academics--is that the author is writing about the capitalist system but is unable to name it. He writes around the subject by using  phrases which really refer to capitalism without naming the system. See if you agree.

It should not be surprising, since the profit motive has been the primary driver towards these peaks, that we should be approaching a peak in the realm of money as well, a peak that we might call "peak debt." The crisis in money is ineluctably related to the crisis in everything else, because the viability of our money system depends on growth: the conversion of nature into goods, and relationships into services. This conversion cannot proceed much farther, due to resource depletion and the inability of society and biosphere to sustain more damage.

Obama outlines right-wing program in “jobs” speech

Click here to access article by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site.

While hailed by his Democratic supporters as the return of a new combative Obama, his phony populist demagogy about the need for immediate action and commitment to ensuring that every American received a “fair shake” stood in stark contrast to the actual content of the policies advanced in the speech. All the proposals, moreover, will be paid for by even deeper attacks on core social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

The following quote I found particularly interesting as a contrast to the lack of labor militancy that is still mostly typical of today's workers in the US.

Three quarters of a century ago, the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt found the resources to put millions of Americans to work through programs like the Works Progress Administration, that were responsible for nationwide construction and repair of basic infrastructure, from highways to airports to national parks.

Driven by tumultuous struggles of the American working class and the fears that example of the 1917 workers’ revolution Russia could be repeated, Roosevelt set about to save capitalism from itself.

The success of the revolution in Russia inspired working people everywhere and severely shook the capitalist ruling classes. Few Americans realize this and give too much credit to President Franklin Roosevelt and little credit to working class militancy in Russia and the US. The only people who will improve the lot of working people iare working people themselves.

An afternoon with the English Defence League

Click here to access article by Laurie Penny from the New Statesman.

The picture this young journalist paints of the rise of racist/cultural hate groups in England is not one I was expecting to see so soon. Could these scenes on the streets of London be the future everywhere in the advanced capitalist countries? As the capitalist managed economy deteriorates, the ruling class would love to see workers turn on each other rather on them, and will do everything they can to encourage such developments. The code word that the elites use is "multi-culturalism" as in "multi-culturalism has failed".

Behind the mounted, armoured cops, you can see St George's flags waving, and you can hear the thump and echo of smokebombs and the chanting of hate-tourists out to scrap with members of another disenfranchised community that happens to look and pray differently. The East end is in lockdown, and there are hundreds of police everywhere. The horses are spooked, and so am I.






Although from a politically liberal perspective, a more detailed understanding of this phenomenon can be obtained by listening to at least the first 10 minutes of this 38:15 minute interview from KPFA radio (Berkeley, CA, USA) interview with John Bowen.

Why have so many European leaders recently proclaimed the failure of multiculturalism? What should we make of their claims, and of the proliferating rhetoric of blame directed against Muslims and other immigrants of color in Europe? John Bowen distinguishes rhetoric from reality in France, Britain and beyond....

The Gen Y Guide to Collaborative Consumption

Click here to access article by Beth Buczynski from Shareable. 

As corporate run governments are using our tax dollars to bailout banksters and wage wars and social safety nets are being dismantled, we are increasingly being left to fend for ourselves. We are now forced to collaborate to save ourselves. This article provides some great resources and ideas for doing this, and not only for "generation Y" people. And, in the end, our efforts to construct systems for survival could very well provide clues to creating new, sustainable, and just societies. 

If these ideas get your blood pumping, there’s good news: young people all over the world are already making them a reality. It’s called collaborative consumption, (or the sharing economy) and it’s changing the way we work, play, and interact with each other. It’s fueled by the instant connection and communication of the internet, yet it’s manifesting itself in interesting ways offline too.

Moving to Action – workplace organizing beyond recipes

Click here to access article by S. Nappalos from Liam Fox: Irreverence Cafe.

Organizing is absolutely critical in the war against capitalism and for a just, peaceful world. Too often we read or hear people advise about the necessity of organizing, but a discussion of methods and evaluating various tactics and strategies is missing. Hence, I am really impressed with this article which supplies some of this missing discussion. 

We need to move away from models of organizing by lecturing people about why we could rule this world and capitalism is horrible, or believing getting people agitated will automatically lead to organization because the workers are already radical. Instead we need to think about organizing as a relationship, a back and forth between a revolutionary(ies) and their coworkers in dialogue and common struggle.

Documents Claim Intelligence on Bin Laden, 9/11 Targets Withheld From Congress' Probe

From The Real News Network, 23:16m video:

I think that the evidence that this investigator has uncovered offers additional support for my hunch that the 9/11 project was uncovered by Western intelligence sources well before the event and authorities decided to not only let this project go ahead, but to facilitate it in order to produce a Pearl Harbor type of event which has served to justify the never-ending "war on terror" and all the invasions, torture, surveillance of dissidents, human rights abuses, etc that we have witnessed since 9/11.

Joint statement by Puerta del Sol Economics Working Group and Syntagma

Click here to access article from Take the Square. 

From the USA to Brussels, from Greece to Bolivia and from Spain to Tunisia, the crisis of capitalism is on the rise. A crisis caused by the same culprits who are imposing the reforms to get over it: pumping public funds into private financial institutions while forcing the citizens to foot the bill. Rather than lifting us out the crisis, their structural adjustment plans sink us even deeper in.

Unlike many liberal-left reforms, their recommendations are truly progressive.

50 State Attorney General Effort to Sell Out to Banks Makes Even More Egregious Offer

Click here to access article by Yves Smith from her blog, Naked Capitalism. 

Smith's blog is written for liberals in the financial services industry, and as such, it is addressed in their language. This honest blogger who has had a long career in the financial services industry knows of what she writes. This effort by the big banks to be released from legal actions resulting from many of their gross malpractices in relation to mortgages has been largely unreported in mainstream media.  Remember it was the mortgage scam that was mostly responsible for the crash of our economy and the imperiling of the lives of many working people across the globe.

There is presently negotiations being held in an attempt to shield the banks from US state lawsuits. The author sees a big sellout being attempted by the big banks and Iowa's Attorney General Tom Miller who supposedly represents the citizens of Iowa and the interests of citizens across the country. These negotiations are largely being reported only in the financial media, and it is highly distorted in favor of the banks. (If you need further background on this be sure to read this and other links she provides in her article.)

Organizing the Precariat

Click here to access article by Tom Judd from Shareable.

Although not inspiring, the article provides an illustration of all the management tactics used to stifle union organizing, lack of organized labor support, and NGO's funded by the ruling class that acted like any other for-profit corporation. It must be understood that discouraging union organizing and busting unions has become a major industry in the US and employers have a storehouse of information on such strategies. I don't offer this piece to discourage such organizing efforts, but to inform others as to the forces that they are up against so that more effective strategies can be devised. We must all share ideas in this fight back if we are to take control of our societies for the benefit of all.

Our preliminary organizing efforts, ranging from clandestine e-mails to workplace meetings, was initially met with indifference by the bosses. However, when workplace discontent was detected by management and did not rapidly disappear on its own, our demands were strangled by a massive management counteroffensive. The anti-union backlash took a number of forms; ultimately unhappy workers were sidelined or promoted, and part-timers crowded out in favor of salaried replacements. The previous sense of community was destroyed as workers were isolated and their hours disrupted by new, full-time hires. Strong organizers were lured to accept coveted promotions.to positions which gave them higher wages and kept them busy with new responsibilities. In the face of this restructuring, part-timers were left scrambling to keep their jobs.

Stung by the President on Air Quality, Environmentalists Weigh Their Options

Click here to access article by Leslie Kaufman from The NY Times.

In late August, the State Department gave a crucial go-ahead on a controversial pipeline to bring tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Then on Friday, leading into the holiday weekend, the Obama administration announced without warning that it was walking away from stricter ozone pollution standards that it had been promising for three years and instead sticking with Bush-era standards. 

These shocked environmentalists are an example of North American progressives refusing to grow up. (See masthead statement) Obama is simply carrying out orders from his employers, the political operatives of the global ruling class of capitalists. If he failed to do so, he would be removed one way or another. But, liberals need not worry because Obama was raised by his white banker grandmother to please powerful white folks and serve their interests. These political operatives knew what they were doing when they groomed him to be President.

See also this and this. 

Manipulating Video Images: Sloppy Journalism or War Propaganda? The BBC's Fake Images from Tripoli

Click here to access article by Michel Chossudovsky from Global Research. 

I find it hard to believe in that they were simply sloppy--they were desperate. This ruling class propaganda organ simply needed the "victory" in Libya to be celebrated by Libyans to legitimate NATO's involvement, and this is the best they could come up with.

Global - Guardian journalist negligently disclosed Cablegate passwords

Click here to access article which is a Wikileaks Editorial.

Guardian investigations editor, David Leigh, recklessly, and without gaining our approval, knowingly disclosed the decryption passwords in a book published by the Guardian. Leigh states the book was rushed forward to be written in three weeks—the rights were then sold to Hollywood.

It will be interesting to see how the mainstream media, the propaganda organ of the ruling global capitalist class, manages this event. So far, they have ignored it. But, I'm sure, that they are still  formulating plans on how to turn the event into blaming Wikileaks.

Arab revolutions: “natural allies in a common struggle”

Click here to access article from Klasse! (Netherlands)

The article argues that the Arab Spring uprisings must be seen as an integral part of resistance to neo-liberal policies that are having catastrophic effects on working people throughout the world. Therefore, Arabs must be seen as allies and we working people in the West must join with them in casting off the common oppressor of international capitalism.

...Mohammad-Reza Shalgooni argues that the situation in the Middle East is comparable to revolutionary Russia in 1917, about which Lenin said that because there the contradictions of capitalism were most critical, it had become "the weak link in the imperialist chain". If this is true, the Arab uprising is of such great historical and global proportion, that the success of the Arab uprisings, and solidarity from our parts towards it, might determine the future of capitalism far beyond the region itself.

Sustaining Our Better Angels

Click here to access article by Kathy McMahon from her blog, Peak Oil Blues.

This psychologist takes a part another convenient representation of human nature that "explains" and justifies the system of capitalism. Dr. William E. Rees has written:

From a systems perspective, we might say that our current “unsustainability” is a product of the natural system…

There are certain behavioral adaptations that helped our distant ancestors survive—and thus those predilections were passed on to us. But those same (now ingrained) behaviors today are decidedly not helpful in solving our sustainability crisis—they have become maladaptive.

…we habituate to any level of consumption (once a given level is attained, satisfaction diminishes) so the tendency to accumulate ratchets up. This is particularly so if we perceive that another social group—or country—is “getting ahead” faster than we are. 

McMahon argues that such views are a product of a narrow group of people from capitalist academic institutions. She writes:

The values of Homo Economicus are deadly to the planet.  But it is dangerous to confuse the dysfunction of humans impacted by global free market capitalism, with the norms of human psychology or psycho-evolutionary biology.

Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Start Turning On Each Other

Click here to access article David DeGraw from Amped Status.

I wouldn't get too excited about the outcome of all this. Like many predators various capitalist actors will turn on each other when the easy prey (working people) isn't enough to satisfy their voracious appetites. But the article provides an interesting survey of legal battles to keep us informed with what's happening among the class of people who rule over us. The author seems very upbeat about the outcomes of these battles, but I seriously doubt that they will result in any benefit for us. The people who will definitely benefit are corporate lawyers--I'm sure that they are ecstatic over these developments.

The following 6:32m video provides a rather clear explanation of how the Fed has been running a scam on the American people in their money creating operation, money that they gave to the troubled banks who in turn bought government securities which are debts to be paid back by us, our children, our grandchildren, and so on. This operation has been largely kept from public view. Mainstream media has focused on only the TARP program, but have grossly distorted how that scam also worked.

High profits, low taxes

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review. 

Here is more evidence to support the truth of Warren Buffet's statement that, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Caligula's Orgy

Click here to access article by David Glenn Cox from OpEd News.

It has been ten years now since this country began beating its plowshares into swords and beating its people into submission. It has been ten years of Caligula's orgy, ten years of banquets and fine feasts, ten years of high tech weaponry and low tech poverty, of high tax cuts and low wage cuts and an age of societal dissolution. A time when children go hungry and criminals go free, a masochistic time where we as a nation cut ourselves by punishing the poor for the crimes of the rich when the government of the people and by the people blames the people for the crimes of their government.

California Ignores Its Own Scientists on Dangerous Pesticide

Click here to access article by David Lawlor from Civil Eats. 

It's profit über alles including scientists!

Applying a cancer-causing poison on California’s farm fields sounds like some dastardly plot hatched by a Batman super-villain. Unfortunately, reality is often scarier than fiction. In December 2010, the State of California approved the known carcinogen methyl iodide for use on the state’s farm fields. Yes, you read that right—a chemical that actually causes cancer was approved to be applied on the fields that grow the Golden State’s most prized crops.

See also this piece from the San Jose Mercury.

Escaping Mumana'a and the US-Saudi Counter-Revolution: Syria, Yemen, and Visions of Democracy

Click here to access article by Ahmad Shokr and Anjali Kamat from Jadaliyya. 

This is an interview with Fawwaz Trabulsi, a Lebanese leftist historian at Lebanese American University in Beirut, who provides a number of interesting insights on what is happening in the Middle East with a focus on Syria and Yemen. For example, regarding Syria:

Now, one thing should be said about the Syrian movement: it’s been very much a rural movement. Contrary to the Egyptian revolution, which was almost entirely urban, the Syrian uprising is not. There are a couple of reasons for this.... 

And, regarding Yemen:

The positive thing that has happened recently is that the Yemeni opposition has united to elect what they call a transitional national council—majlis watani intiqali. It was inspired by the initial Egyptian transitional council that never materialized, but in Yemen they actually did it. I think it has 142 people representing all the regions of Yemen. The council was declared late last month against a lot of pressure on the more traditional opposition by both the American administration and the Saudis to delay its formation as it “complicates matters.”  

The ethics of digital direct action

Click here to access article by Gabriella Coleman from Al Jazeera. 

This academic has an ethical concern about the use of the internet for political purposes when such attacks interfere with internet services. She especially focuses on a hackers group called "Anonymous" which attacked banking sites in retaliation for their denial of services to people wanting to contribute to Wikileaks. 

She seems blithely unaware that the internet has already been used by numerous governments as a political weapon to surveil and attack activists. See this, this, and this. The ruling class will use every weapon at their disposal to maintain their rule, and so must we to save society from the catastrophes that await us if we do nothing. It's clear to me that we are presently witnessing the early stages of a worldwide class war.

The political movement known as Anonymous has managed to capture the attention of the media, the hearts of many supporters, and the ire of many spectators after an eight-month spree of political interventions, stretching from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) campaigns, to human rights technical assistance in Tunisia, to a more recent spate of hacks under the guise of Operation Antisec.

'Grow or die' measure heads south

Click here to access article by Gerry Gold from A World to Win.

The author explains the significance of the latest purchasing managers indexes that indicates little growth in the US economy which in the past 30-40 years has been artificially stimulated by the constant use of credit steroids. 

...the share of production costs received by US workers as wages, salaries and benefits was driven down throughout the era of corporate globalisation. In the wake of the 2007/8 credit crisis it plummeted to a historic low of 58% in 2010 even as corporate profits soared. US workers, the so-called “middle-class”, can no longer afford to be the pumped-up credit-enhanced consumers who used to absorb so much of the world’s output. 

Chile Joins Year Of “Global Indignation”

Click here to access article by Corinna Lotz from A World to Win. 

An estimated 70-80% of Chileans support the student movement with parents and grandparents joining their children in massive street protests. Last week, up to half a million people took part in strikes and demonstrations around the country as the Workers United Center of Chile joined in with a 48-hour strike. Over a thousand arrests were made as the state struck back.

Hansen Says Obama Will Be 'Greenwashing' About Climate Change if He Approves Keystone XL Pipeline

Click here to access article by Christa Marshal from NY Times.

The only problem with this report is that it conforms to the mythology about bourgeois democracy that it provides leaders who make decisions. Forgetting for a moment that the elections are carefully managed so that only a safe, select few are presented as candidates for us to vote for, such "leaders" are fully aware that they are merely employees of international capitalism whose headquarters is in the US. Their values and policies nearly always conform exactly with those of their employers. However, even when they might differ, these employees ("leaders") know that they have no real alternative other than following orders from at least a major section of the ruling capitalist class. 

To be sure, although basic interests are identical, policies of the capitalist ruling class are not completely monolithic. There will always be differences of opinion regarding how aggressively to exploit workers and the environment to promote the accumulation of wealth for this class. It's just that the range of differences is always within acceptable limits. That is one reason why we see two political parties. The other reason is to present the illusion of choice for its citizens who have been indoctrinated to believe that they have real choices. 

Regarding the use of fossil fuels, there is little debate in the ruling class regardless of how polluting or dangerous they are. Extremely hazardous nuclear power will be pursued for the very same reasons. The profit addiction of capitalism requires growth and more energy, and more energy right now. So, you see, the addiction is not to fossil fuels, it is to profits. It's just that fossil fuels can give capitalists their "profit high" quicker and cheaper than other forms of energy. And, like all addictions, nothing else matters but that next fix.

If you follow this argument, you will realize that the Obama administration really has no alternative but to promote the Keystone XL pipeline. Because it has made noises in the past favoring environmental concerns, members of the administration will likely try to camouflage their support so that the public isn't very aware of what's happening, and mainstream media will be very helpful in this effort.

With the protests currently getting scattered news coverage, mainly from print and online outlets such as The New Yorker and The Huffington Post, it's not clear the rallies are capturing the public's attention much at all, they say.

And, then of course, there is always the jobs argument. 

After finishing this commentary, I came across this article in the Guardian entitled, "Obama administration backs oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas", and dated the same day as the above article. I've seen very little coverage of this issue anywhere in US mainstream media. One exception is this interview on Fox News' O'Reilly program.

The neoliberal assault on university education

Click here to access article by Carlos Delclós from Roarmag. 

While global elites continue their cynical assault on higher education unabated, the global student movement shows us that another world is possible.

The revolution will not be commercialized

Click here to access article by by Jérôme E. Roos from Roarmag.

In looking for new profits, capitalists are often not very discriminating. Yes, apparently they think there are profit opportunities in revolutions!

Increasingly, global advertising agencies are beginning to capitalize on growing revolutionary sentiments within society. Their manipulation is bound to fail.

Complete English Translation Of German Military Analysis Of Peak Oil Now Available

Click here to access article by Rick Munroe from Energy Bulletin.

A review of this report (in German) was made earlier in June by Munroe, but in this brief article he gives us a link to the full translation in English. (In case you're wondering, they average out the estimates of peak oil to happen before 2020.)

The following section of the Bundeswehr report that I have copied below should serve as a key summary of what we have to look forward to if we continue to be ruled by capitalists. The system, as indicated under the "medium term" effects, is going to collapse anyway; so why why don't we hurry it along so that we can greatly reduce the effects of the other catastrophes listed below? Furthermore, the elimination of capitalism could free up humanity's creative energies to construct societies of social justice, real democracy, and societies that would be capable of living in peace with each other and in harmony with nature. The alternative?


In the short term, the global economy would respond proportionally to the
decline in oil supply.

1. Increasing oil prices would reduce consumption and economic output. This would
lead to recessions.
2. The increase in transportation costs would cause the prices of all traded goods to
rise. Trade volumes would decrease. For some actors, this would only mean losing
sources of income, whereas others would no longer be able to afford essential food
products.
3. National budgets would be under extreme pressure. Expenditure for securing food
supplies (increasing food import costs) or social spending (increasing unemployment
rate) would compete with the necessary investments in oil substitutes and green tech.
Revenues would decrease considerably as a result of recession and necessary tax
reductions.

In the medium term, the global economic system and all market-oriented economies would collapse. [my emphasis]

1. Economic entities would realise the prolonged contraction and would have to act on
the assumption that the global economy would continue to shrink for a long time.
2. Tipping point: In an economy shrinking over an indefinite period, savings would
not be invested because companies would not be making any profit. For an
indefinite period, companies would no longer be in a position to pay borrowing costs
or to distribute profits to investors. The banking system, stock exchanges and
financial markets could collapse altogether.
3. Financial markets are the backbone of global economy and an integral component of modern societies. All other subsystems have developed hand in hand with the
economic system. A disintegration can therefore not be analysed based on today’s
system. A completely new system state would materialise.

         Nevertheless, for illustration purposes here is an outline of some theoretically 
         plausible consequences:     

• Banks left with no commercial basis. Banks would not be able to pay
  interest on deposits as they would not be able to find creditworthy companies, institutions or individuals. As a result, they would lose the basis for their business.
• Loss of confidence in currencies. Belief in the value-preserving function of money would dwindle. This would initially result in hyperinflation and black markets, followed by a barter economy at the local level.
• Collapse of value chains. The division of labour and its processes are based on the possibility of trade in intermediate products. It would be extremely difficult to conclude the necessary transactions lacking a monetary system.
• Collapse of unpegged currency systems. If currencies lose their value in their country of origin, they can no longer be exchanged for foreign currencies. International value-added chains would collapse as well.
• Mass unemployment. Modern societies are organised on a division of labour basis and have become increasingly differentiated in the course of their histories. Many professions are solely concerned with managing this high level of complexity and no longer have anything to do with the immediate production of consumer goods. The reduction in the complexity of economies that is implied here would result in a dramatic increase in unemployment in all modern societies.
• National bankruptcies. In the situation described, state revenues would evaporate. (New) debt options would be very limited, and the next step would be national bankruptcies.
• Collapse of critical infrastructures. Neither material nor financial
  resources would suffice to maintain existing infrastructures. Infrastructure interdependences, both internal and external with regard to other subsystems, would worsen the situation.
• Famines. Ultimately, production and distribution of food in sufficient quantities would become challenging.

Huffington Post-AOL's Black Voices Are Just More Corporate White Noise

Click here to access script and/or 4:28m audio by Bruce Dixon from Black Agenda Report. (Audio access is at the end of the script.)

I was curious about the sale of Huffington Post website, which is known for its environmental coverage, to AOL, which is an aggressive corporation, for a large sum of money. 

If you have been noticing the proliferation of ads, and ads relating to your interests on your favorite sites, then you already have some evidence to support the excellent explanation that Dixon provides for the sale of Huffington Post. 

His explanation and anecdote about prison abuses illustrate how we can expect AOL to use this site more to increase profits than to enlighten us on environmental issues. 

This is also a larger illustration of how corporations insert themselves and their interests everywhere in our society where they see prospects for profit in order to accumulate more wealth for the less than 1% of our society. Their large impact has the unfortunate side effect of marginalizing or diminishing the impact of influences that can sustain and enhance the lives of the rest of us--the vast majority of the population.

Gold campaign moves to accept Bitcoin: "More than ever, we need an alternative currency"

Click here to access article by Sakura Saunders from SF Bay Area Independent Media Center. 

I know very little about the Bitcoin concept, but it might very well be a good alternative to what we have now: an irrational system of global money management under the control of the capitalist ruling classes and serving only their interests. Gold and silver have always been promoted as having intrinsic value to the point where most people believe it, and the metals have become fetishes. As a result ongoing destruction of ecosystems and human right atrocities occur daily. This fact goes unreported in mainstream news, but I hear about it almost daily from Rights Action which focuses only on Central and South America.  

So, why do capitalist love to promote gold and silver as money, as having intrinsic value? Because they can control these commodities and thus control wealth to serve their interests. Real wealth consists of things and services that make life easier and richer in all ways--psychologically, socially, and spiritually. All of these things and services are created by working people, but their creative energies are impeded by the hoarding instincts of capitalists who insist that gold, silver, and money is real wealth simply because their elaborate systems of money, financial management, market casinos, and property rights make it possible for the capitalist class to control and possess these forms of wealth. 

For more details on the chaos that these systems cause, I challenge you to wade through this article from Der Spiegel entitled, "Out of Control: The Destructive Power of the Financial Markets".

NATO faces 'catastrophic success' in Libya

Click here to access article by An Huihou from Jiefang Daily (China).

One must often go to foreign sources not involved in wars to find out what is really going on. Ruling classes always lie about their wars. I believe that this article provides some accurate details of what has happened in Libya during the past eventful month. 

There are two main reasons for the sudden victory of the opposition forces. First, Western countries not only launched air strikes and provided a large amount of weapons to the opposition forces but also sent ground troops to Libya. According to recent media reports, France, the United Kingdom and Italy had dispatched Special Forces to Libya to help the opposition troops finally win the ground war. Second, Western countries reportedly bought over almost all senior officials of the Qaddafi regime. In brief, Western countries planned and directed the opposition forces' capture of Tripoli. 

I assume the translated phrase of "bought over" is not a typographical error and that it means that the senior officials were bribed to defect. It makes perfect sense that political operatives of capitalist NATO would employ such a tactic. 

It appears that NATO's war crimes against humanity are becoming so obvious that even people in their ruling classes are concerned.

A World to Win | Manifesto of Revolutionary Solutions

Click here to access article from A World to Win (Britain).

This manifesto, a work-in-progress, is a major contribution toward the construction of new societies based on humanistic and ecological principles which must be created if the human race is to survive. Presently there are six sections to the document which can serve as a framework for all working people to rally around and to develop further. 

There is so much content here that is marvelous. I'd like to see much more participation by people in its construction. At present, I have only one comment to make on it which I have already submitted. It is in relation to the wording of the Charter of Rights in the section entitled, "Claiming democracy for the people":

Charter of Rights

A new constitution would enshrine a Charter of Economic and Social Rights based on citizenship for all and should include:

•     the right to co-operative ownership and self-management in workplaces
•     employment for those who can work and average pay for those who cannot
•     the right to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing
•     decent housing at affordable cost for everyone
•     free education for students at all ages; the right to free continuing education   and training
•     equal pay and job opportunities for women; free child care
•     free health care at all levels
•     dignity in old age through pension provision at average income, and free social care
•     safe and nutritious food at affordable prices
•     rights to live in an environment shaped by ecological care and basic human needs.

This may be quibbling, but I think that these items should be framed as "objectives" of the new societies. Labeling them as "rights" is too much like the language of a social contract between labor and capital. The new societies must leave no room for capitalists or any other privileged segment of the population. Framing it as "objectives" makes us responsible for creating what we want.

One Year After the G20 Protests: Forms of Protest Reflect Our Power

Click here to access article by Clarice Kuhling from New Socialist (Canada).


This article provides some excellent background on organized labor, its alienation from activist youth, and some excellent suggestions on how to bridge the gap by using more effective militant tactics in future confrontations with highly organized capital.

"Smashing shit up," then, is both an expression of this context and a direct reflection of the low level of struggle and resistance in labour unions and on the left.

...These tactics keep reappearing precisely because they represent a wholesale departure from the forms of passive politics and bureaucratically controlled resistance that have increasingly monopolized the political terrain of working-class struggle in the last half-century in both Canada and the US.

The Miserable Ones

Click here to access article by David Glenn Cox from OpEd News.

Another tragic story of an American architect who has become one of the millions of the new "Les Misérables" that banksters and capitalists are creating across the globe.

I'm going to tell you a story today, it's a story about you and me and it's a story about a father and son. In a larger sense it's a story about America because a story like this only happens in America. I doubt that it happens even in third world countries but it might happen in places like India where people live in wretched poverty, and it might happen during times of war or famine, but this is America, isn't it? 

Riots Reveal Britain’s Forbidden Truth

Click here to access article by John Pilger from Green Left (Australia).

On a warm spring day, strolling in south London, I heard demanding voices behind me. A police van disgorged a posse of six or more, who waved me aside.

They surrounded a young black man who, like me, was ambling along. They appropriated him; they rifled his pockets, looked in his shoes, inspected his teeth. Their thuggery affirmed, they let him go with the barked warning there would be a next time.

Chile strike: Clashes mar anti-government protest

Click here to access report from BBC.

Tens of thousands of Chileans have taken to the streets on the second and final day of a general strike to call for far-reaching reforms.

This insurrection stemmed from student protests against socially unjust education policies in Chile. For much more background on this, you must read this article by Ramona Wadi from Upside Down World.

The ongoing student protests in Chile are an unwavering accomplishment aimed at combating the social injustice riddling the country's education system. What started out as a series of peaceful protests has become a manifestation of unity between students, artists and much of the general population in a stance defying the current government’s position regarding social class, cultural difference and political division with regard to education. 

From this report it seems that after the CIA assisted overthrow of the democratically elected government of socialist Allende in 1973, US neoconservatives imposed their influence on Chilean educational policies. And, if they sound familiar, it is because the policies are very much like those being presently implemented right here in the US. 

You see, under the new hegemony of global capitalism, unjust social policies are being introduced everywhere. For the global ruling class of capitalists, boundaries pose no restraints in the pursuit of their interests; they are only used now to control the movement and exploitation of working people. Unless we as workers organize globally and fight back like the Chileans, the Greeks, the Spaniards, the Palestinians, Egyptians, the British, etc, the end result will be a tiny global elite living in luxury on heavily fortified islands amidst oceans of impoverished working people--a tiny 1st world and a huge 3rd world existing everywhere in the world. 

But, take heart, here is some evidence that working people are beginning to organize across boundaries throughout the world.

Voices are calling from the other side of the sea

Click here to access article by Jérôme E. Roos from Roarmag.

Now that the Gods had failed and the pigs been bailed, it was time for the halls of power to be scaled. They shook the walls with their voices, humble yet brazen, and firmly set their fearless gaze upon the invisible chains that bound them. On that beautiful day in May, the people took back their streets. Reclaimed their squares. And regained their dignity. The word quickly spread from land to land. Have you heard? The people have risen. And things will never be the same again.