It's Time, Nationalize the Banks

Click here to access article by Duncan Cameron from Rabble (Canada). 

Canadian educators are providing a critically important role for the Occupy movement by informing ordinary citizens about the underlying factors that cause so much havoc for the economy.

Protestors want to know why out-of-luck banks got bailed out, while bad-break mortgage holders got evicted from their homes? Are unemployed college graduates struggling to repay tens of thousands of dollars in students loans undeserving of debt relief? And the big question: who allowed public money for bank bailouts to end up as bonuses in the pockets of bank executives?

The focus on bankers, a.k.a. banksters, is appropriate. Banking and finance is where power lies: power to satisfy individual greed, or power to act in the general interest.

The author shows how private banking creation of money provides them with huge profits (30% of all profits generated by the economy) which they use to control government and control who gets money (credit). 

Recently at a teach-in at Occupy Toronto Jim Stanford provided further clarification about the private banking scam of creating money-out-of-thin-air, what the banksters do with all their profits, and finally, what needs to be done so that money serves the public interest. Here is an excerpt from his teach-in lecture.

They produce paper. And then they buy and sell paper, for a profit.

Here's a little economic lesson. You can't live off paper. You need food, clothing, and shelter to survive -- not paper. And since we are human beings, not animals, we need more: we need education, and culture, and recreation, and entertainment, and security, and meaning. Those are the fundamentals of economic life. Not paper.

What is paper actually good for? You can wallpaper your house with it. You can line your birdcage with it. In a pinch, you can wipe your butt with it.

But other than that, paper is just paper. It is not concretely useful in its own right.

How do banks create that paper? Let me put it bluntly again: They create it out of thin air.

It is not an economic exaggeration to state that the private banking system has the power to create money out of thin air.

Not cash. Not currency. Only the government can produce that.

But most money in our economy -- over 95 per cent of money in our economy -- is not currency. Most money consists of entries in electronic accounts. Savings accounts. Chequing accounts. Lines of credit. Credit card balances. Investment accounts.

In that electronic system, new money is created, not by printing currency, but through creating credit. Every time a bank issues someone a new loan, they are creating new money.

It's like a big magic machine, creating money out of thin air. And it's called the private credit system.

One of my favourite economists, John Kenneth Galbraith, put it this way: "The process by which private banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled."

How do they do it? They start out with some capital. Let's say a billion dollars. Then they lend it out. Then they lend it out again. And again. And again and again, 10 or 20 or 50 times over.

Each new loan, is new money. The economy needs that money, let's be clear. Without new money, we wouldn't be able to pay for the stuff we make. So we'd stop making it, and we'd be in a depression.

So the creation of new money (or credit) is as essential function for the whole economy. It's like a utility. But we've outsourced that crucial task to private banks. We've given them a legal license to print money -- and the freedom and power to do it on their own terms.

Their goal is not providing the economy with a sensible, sustainable supply of the credit we need. Their goal is using their unique power to create money out of thin air, to maximize the profits of the banks, and the wealth of the shareholders.

How does this system work, creating money out of thin air? It only works if:

Number 1: Not everyone comes to the bank to withdraw all this imaginary money, in the form of real cash, at the same time. And if...

Number 2: The banks keep lending to each other, which is essential to make sure each one has the cash it needs for withdrawals.

We can immediately see that this system is inherently fragile. Banks create new loans many times larger than their capital, profiting off the interest they earn. But the money was created out of thin air. It's not actually there, if people want it at the same time, and if the banks won't help each other out.

So Canada's banks are fragile, too. True, our banks only lent their capital out 20 times over, not 50 times like the Europeans did. That's because Canadian regulations capped the leverage at 20. But they've still got 20 times more loans out there, than they actually have money in the bank.

Confidence is essential to the stability of the whole system. But confidence is intangible and impossible to predict. If confidence went south, Canadian banks would collapse as surely as Lehman Brothers or Dexia did.

Now, what do the banks do with all that money they created out of thin air? They lend it out. Some of it flows into the real economy, to pay for homes and cars and capital equipment. But not enough goes there. That's why our real economy is stuck. That's why there are 2 million Canadians unemployed, official and unofficial.

What about the money that doesn't flow into the real economy? Unfortunately, the banks use enormous amounts of it to place bets, enormous bets, buying and selling the paper assets that are created and traded in these towers. It's gambling, not production. It's legalized, subsidized gambling, all protected by the state.

The interaction of the private credit system, together with the speculative motive, that creates such turmoil and destruction, with each successive financial bubble. Without massive injections of new credit, the asset bubble could never expand so far -- whether it's sub-prime derivatives, dot-com stocks, or rare earth futures.

If speculators had to spend their own money on these asset bubbles, the prices could never rise to such precarious and destructive levels.

Now, there are two key problems with the operation of this private credit system, and its interaction with speculation, that we must understand in order to fight for change.

First, the flow of credit -- created out of thin air by these banks -- is like a roller-coaster, all depending on the mood swings of the bankers.

When their greed overwhelms their fear, they will lend to anyone with a pulse. But when their fear overwhelms their greed, and they want to hoard every penny possible against the feared run on the bank, they pull back loans even from their most reliable customers.

This roller-coaster, called the "bankers' cycle," is an inherent and destabilizing feature of the private credit system. And since the whole economy depends on the flow of new money, the flow of new credit, we are forced to follow the same roller-coaster.

The second problem is that there's nothing underpinning the paper valuations of financial assets, when they've been pumped up by the combination of speculation and irresponsible credit creation.

Then, when speculators' moods switch polarities, the whole thing comes crashing down. Quoting Galbraith again, "A popped balloon never deflates in an orderly manner."

And then we all pay the price for a crisis we didn't cause. And we all suffer the hangover from a party we weren't invited to.

This cycle of paper expansion and contraction, euphoria and panic, is hard-wired into the DNA of the deregulated private financial system. The cycle has happened before. And it will happen again. The current crisis was no unfortunate accident, no "perfect storm." This crisis is simply par for the course, for a system that values speculation over production -- and that gives the private credit system free reign to throw gasoline on the fire, through unlimited, unregulated credit creation.

It will happen again and again, until we change the rules of this pointless, destructive game.

So what do we do?

First, tax them. That's the idea behind the Robin Hood Tax, that we are fighting for today. Make them pay a little bit, with every pointless, unproductive transaction, to help clean up the mess they left behind.

A transactions tax alone won't solve the problem. It won't stop the process. But at least it will support the public services that we need, all the more so in the wake of each financial meltdown.

Same goes for corporate tax cuts. Let's reverse them. Put the federal rate back to 18 per cent for the financial sector alone, and we'd raise $1.5 billion per year for essential public services.

Taxing the banks is important. But taxing the banks is not enough.

So, second, we must control them. Put in place rules that require them to use this immense power, the power to create money out of thin air, to use it sensibly and productively. Prohibit the gambling. Make sure loans are aimed at sustainable, productive purposes.

The new measures being promoted internationally by Mark Carney are a step in the right direction. But a tiny, tiny baby step. We need more powerful restrictions.

And friends, even controlling the banks is not enough.

What we ultimately have to do is take them back. There's nothing magical about creating credit out of thin air. There's no special technology or knowledge needed. Just the legal power.

We can create credit out of thin air, just as well as any private bank can. Ultimately, we need a public, democratic, accountable banking system. One that serves the Canadian economy, not the wealth of those who own banks.

If we can create money out of thin air to buy and sell sub-prime mortgage bonds, then by god we can create money out of thin air to pay for affordable housing that could end homelessness.

If we can create money out of thin air to buy short options on Greek sovereign debt, then we can create money out of thin air to invest in a green energy system to stop global climate change.

If we can create money out of thin air to speculate on international currencies, we can create money out of thin air to buy needed medicines to prevent hundreds of millions of needless deaths from disease in the Third World.

There's no magic to it. These ideas are prudent and rational and economically sound. Because like we said at the beginning, it is work and production and sharing and sustaining that supports our real economy. Not gambling with paper.

These towers look powerful. But ultimately they are built on paper.

We've got the real power, with our ability to work and produce and share and sustain. We've got the power to build something new. We've got the power to replace these towers with a system that works.

And that's exactly what we've started to do with this movement. Thank you for what you are doing! And let's get on with the job!  

Baghdad's Gone Missing...

Click here to access article by Mark Thompson from Time.

Let me be clear--I am not posting this article because I think it is a good one. I was astonished to read it--not by the article itself posted in this ruling class online magazine, but by the huge gap between the imperial views expressed in the article regarding Iraq and the cynical reactions of the people in the comments section following the article. Could this be evidence of a widening gap between the ruling one percent and the ninety-nine percent? Should this apparent gap continue, what does it suggest about the legitimacy and durability of our governing capitalist class?

Introduction to the Israel Lobby

Click here to access article from Veterans Today. 

The Israel Lobby is one of the most powerful and pervasive special interest groups in the United States. It began its activities many decades ago and played a major role in the creation of Israel.

It consists of a multitude of institutions, many of them extremely well-funded, that work to influence Congress, the Presidency, academia, the media, religious institutions, and the American public on behalf of Israel. It also includes influential individuals.

I'm not sure that AIPAC serves Israeli interests at the exclusion of US (imperial) interests simply because I think that there is a convergence of interests. I think that Israel serves the West's ruling Anglo-American ruling class as a fortress outpost in the oil rich Middle East. But, I acknowledge that a good argument can be made for Zionist interests being the dominant party as does this article. On the other hand, the fact that the US has not (yet) gone along with Israeli's insistent desire over the past decade to attack Iran suggests otherwise. 

Voices From the Occupations

Click here to access article from In These Times by Jeremy Gantz who interviews activists from Oakland, Chicago, and Washington DC. 

The Occupy protesters have been ridiculed by the press, celebrated by the left, and reviled by the right—but rarely allowed to speak for themselves. After the initial New York protest morphed into a national movement in October, reporters struggled to understand the spectacle and pundits stepped in to pontificate and prognosticate. They were right about one thing: United in anger, the mostly young protesters have lost faith in America’s political and economic system—but they don’t always agree on how to repair it.

Sugar Daddies of the Tea Party

Click here to access article by Phillip Doe from CounterPunch. 

I formerly had a habit on Saturdays to post an article about the one percent. Most of these articles were written by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. He has made two excellent films about the one percent whom he knows intimately. I always accessed his articles on the Vanity Fair website; however they are no longer to be found there, for whatever reason. In place of such an article, I am running this one about the infamous right-wing Koch brothers who are attempting to swap some of their land for public land that is bisecting their property. That story is not as interesting as the other tidbits offered by the author regarding the Koch brothers lifestyle and influence. 

Also, see this piece which illustrates what is typical of the one percent--they sponsor both political parties. That way they control the whole electoral system which pretends to be a function of "democracy".

Terror and Revenge Engulf NATO’s Libya

Click here to access article by Franklin Lamb from CounterPunch. (You will need to scroll down to the article.)

It is clear that the current period is cascading into paroxysmal revenge attacks and political cleansing.

(Note: Saif al Islam, mentioned in the article, is another Gaddafi son.)

Nature is the 99%, too

Click here to access article by Chip Ward from Al Jazeera. 

What if rising sea levels are yet another measure of inequality? What if the degradation of our planet's life-support systems - its atmosphere, oceans and biosphere - goes hand in hand with the accumulation of wealth, power and control by that corrupt and greedy 1 per cent we are hearing about from Zuccotti Park? What if the assault on America's middle class and the assault on the environment are one and the same?

Clearly they are the same and it's a point that I have been trying to make for the last two years on this blog. Of course, its not just on "America's [so-called] middle class", it is on every person in the world who is not a part of the global ruling class who live off of money--not mental or physical labor that contributes anything to anybody but themselves. Globalization, right?

But notice that he can't name the system that organizes the economy. That's either because he's been educated indoctrinated to believe that there is no alternative, or he knows that he dare not name the system if he wants to keep writing for corporate media and earn a living.

A Chill Descends On Occupy Wall Street [updated on 11-12-2011]

Click here to access article by Fritz Tucker from Counter Currents. Because I ran out of time yesterday, I have expanded on my comments today, Saturday, November 12.

I have been posting articles that have reported on the positive accomplishments of this radical experiment in people power that has characterized the OWS movement; and this is especially true in New York City which is the original impetus and ideological center of the movement in the US. In contrast, this article offers some very serious criticisms of OWS-NYC that are have been picked up by other bloggers to reinforce some rather cynical views of the movement. In this article Tucker alleges that OWS-NYC is being run undemocratically, run by mostly white middle class males who are selectively using others, especially minority people, to serve their interests, are controlling large sums of money and hence are corrupt. Furthermore, he sees the recent creation of a Spokes Council as merely another ploy to consolidate their control over the movement and the money. Wow!

So, what are we, who are unable to participate directly in the movement, to make of this? I notice in Tucker's article that while participating in proceedings at OWS-NYC, he had some of his views overruled by other participants and the facilitators. Could this be merely sour-grapes on his part?

Tucker's piece is starting to circulate a bit on the internet. Probably the most serious commentator who has made reference to the article is William Bowles, a long time activist in English leftist politics. He seems to feel that it confirms his doubts about the OWS model for political activism. (Read his piece entitled, "OWS: Leading from behind?")  He seems to take Tucker's criticisms at face value. He almost ridicules the OWS participants who he sees as rather naive in their discoveries about existing society: 

    “For the last six weeks we have been meeting at the New York General Assembly…and we get about eighty to one hundred people…[where]…we discuss the economic crisis…debt, the stratification of wealth and try to formulate alternatives to the existing system which we see as flawed and having failed us.” Marissa Holmes

Ok, so for weeks they’ve been talking about stuff that we’ve already spent the last 150 years talking about. But for those of us on the Left, being red-baited is as old as being a Red. Get used to it.

He then goes on to criticize them for a lack of a political agenda:

I hear that the NYC-GA has ‘plans’ or ‘programs’ up to the year 2014 but what these ‘plans’ or ‘programs’ consist of is a mystery to me. They could be a new layout for a tent city for all I know. 

It seems to me that his cool reaction to the Occupy movement is informed by an older tradition of leftist activism that was based on a vanguard organizational model. Such a model was typically inspired and led by a small group of "enlightened" political ideologues who offered a well worked out platform, principles, and agenda. That model seems to have had its day and failed miserably.

Giving birth to a radically different way of organizing people, a way that is democratically inclusive, and that can pose a real threat to the established overwhelming power of today's one percent is undoubtedly going to be a messy process. It is becoming clearer to me everyday that the movement is posing a real threat to the ruling class. They don't seem to know how to deal with it, but they no doubt will employ every means at their disposal to destroy it as they are attempting to do now. In some places they are using heavy handed police tactics to intimidate people (see video at this link regarding more police attacks in Oakland); in other cities especially in the northern US, they are quietly waiting out the Occupiers hoping that the cold weather will discourage them; in some places the authorities are trying to wear them down with all kinds of legal restrictions and obstructions; and I suspect that they are using other more subtle and indirect methods of disruption. For example, as reported the other day in Socialist Worker:

...the media's stories of crime and violence, including sexual assault, at Occupy camps may be sensationalized, but they aren't whole-cloth fabrications. In particular, tensions have increased where police have steered people with mental or substance abuse problems to the camps in an obvious attempt to stir up conflict.

Other tactics that I have directly witnessed during the anti-Vietnam War activities was the planting of people in organizations who proceeded to engage in as many disruptive tactics as possible: spreading rumors and misinformation, and sowing suspicion of other activists. This in many cases was effective in undermining trust and group cohesion.

It seems to me that there really isn't any alternative to an inclusive democratic movement that can provide for equal opportunity for participation while creating practical structures that can accomplish goals. A lot of creative, hard work will have to be done and is being done by the incredible work of many thousands of activists in the Occupying movement. Only a global movement based at the grass roots has the capability of taking power away from the Empire and establishing healthy, sustainable societies. They may fail, and they will, if we don't all get involved and support their work.

A new culture of resistance: from WikiLeaks to the squares

Click here to access article by Pedro Noel from Reflections on a Revolution. 

As activists look ahead to future actions, it might be worthwhile to do a review of what has already happened in this new resistance movement. This article provides a good review. 

Now that the grassroots movement that started inadvertently with the Arab Spring has gone global, it is necessary to cast a backwards glance to try and figure out, with some perspective, the dynamics of what has happened, physically and conceptually, over the last year.

Do the Bomb Iran Shuffle

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. (You may want to turn off your speakers to avoid listening to a commercial.)

Get ready for a flurry of fuzzy satellite ''intelligence'' of generic warehouses all across Iran frantically described as segments of a nuclear bomb assembly line (Remember a famous ''secret nuclear facility'' in Syria not long ago? It was a textile factory.)

Get ready for a flurry of crude diagrams depicting suspect devices, or the containers that hide them, all capable of reaching Europe in 45 minutes.

This writer satirizes the latest Empire campaign to launch a war against Iran using documents and the Empire's historical record.

Debating our tactics in Oakland

Click here to access article by Todd Chretien from Socialist Worker.

In the aftermath of the Oakland general strike on November 2, a debate over tactics has emerged among supporters of the Occupy struggle. The discussion centers on the late-night attempt by a relatively small group of self-described anarchists to occupy a building that formerly housed the Traveler's Aid Society, a homeless advocacy organization closed by city budget cuts.

This piece provides an excellent discussion of tactics by sectarian groups such as the Black Bloc's late night occupation of a building in Oakland following the November 2nd general strike. I think it is clear that independent acts such as this are always going to occur whether directed or encouraged by police agent provocateurs to discredit the larger Movement or by more independent actions of immature activists seeking photo-ops. There will always be these elements who will attempt to tag onto the Movement's actions for each of these purposes. 

The question is: how does the new participatory democratic structures of the Occupy Movement attempt to deal with such events? It seems to me that the obvious answer is the answer to all other decisions: they will be answered by the democratic structures of the Movement. An excellent piece such as this begins the discussion which will lead to such decisions.

A Movement That's Here to Stay

Click here to access editorial from Socialist Worker.

 ...nationally, the day of action initiative out of New York City for November 17 can provide a focus for every local Occupy movement. The list of New York unions backing the call is long and growing longer--the United Federation of Teachers, the Transport Workers Union, Service Employees International Union, AFSCME DC 37, Communications Workers of America and many more.

November 17 is the next stop for Occupy--another opportunity for the movement both to strengthen itself and to reach out to unions, community organizations and beyond.

It is crucial that we, the 99%, keep the Occupy Movement moving. This is another opportunity not to be missed. 

This piece provides another very useful discussion of the pitfalls and opportunities that lie ahead.

Perfect Storm of Internet Censorship

Click here to access 4:44m video and transcript by James Corbett from Global Research TV. 

...the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it’s considering using social media to track and surveil its own population. DHS Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said that the government fears social unrest like that seen in Tunisia last December and wants to use social media services like Twitter to monitor its own population. Last January, Senators Lieberman and Collins renewed calls to give the president a kill switch over the internet to protect the government in times of emergency, a call echoed by Senator McCain last July.

Resilience Circles Resilience Circles small groups for tough times What is a Resilience Circle? Get Involved Resources Blog About For Real Change, Build Relationships: Resilience Circles & Occupy Wall Street

Click here to access article from Resilience Circles.

...we talk about what our groups might accomplish together, not just as isolated individuals. The curriculum takes its time getting to this stage, letting people get to know each other and find ways to help each other. This creates a firsthand experience of solidarity. From there, groups talk about how to “change the rules” and make a better world.

I am just amazed at all the creative ideas that are generated by people when they come together in a spirit of cooperation, sharing, and respect for every participant. People are coming together in affinity groups, collectives, work groups, etc. Clearly, such groups generate good ideas in such a way that illustrates the principle that "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". 

I only know what I have just read perusing the Resilience Circles website, but they look like they are making a promising effort at building a basic social unit upon which a healthy society can be constructed.

I have become aware of how different these activist groups function from that of more conventional groups. I recently went to a large housing association meeting where everything was tightly controlled by the moderator and a parliamentary procedure expert. Very little of substance was discussed and some people were rather arbitrarily cut off while others were given wide latitude to discuss what they wanted. It was clear that the decision to include and exclude were based on indications of social status exhibited by the participants. 

Then I recalled many other such meetings in the past including some that appeared on the surface to be for progressive causes. Such organizations mirror the way larger, more influential institutions of our society function which is to create the appearance of democratic procedures, but manipulating them in such a way as to exclude people who do not conform to the values of a power structure created by the ruling class. 

This experience made me more conscious of how corrupted egalitarian values have become living in a capitalist society. This form of social organization has bestowed huge benefits in terms of wealth and power upon a small group of people who have accumulated so much while the rest of us have been placed in debt servitude to them. This corruption has permeated nearly all layers of our society to the point where it often feels perfectly normal to treat people in a highly differential way.

Debtor's Revolution: Are Debt Strikes Another Possible Tactic in the Fight Against the Big Banks?

Click here to access article by Sarah Jaffe from AlterNet. 

What does it mean to stop cooperating with the banks? Some activists, organizers, and technologists think the answer might be mass refusal to pay debts.

This is another creative idea coming out of Occupy Wall Street movement that needs further study. It looks like a major weapon that, if properly organized, could threaten the major banks and their overlords who constitute the very nerve center of capitalist rule. Social technology seems to exist to be able to create the organization necessary to pull this off.  

However, the use of this tactic would constitute a declaration of war on the capitalist class, and thus should be undertaken with an awareness about all that this implies. On the other hand, I don't see that many people have much of a choice: it's either live out the rest of their lives as debt slaves or wage war.

Take down letter from Citigroup

Click here to access article by John Schmitt from Real-World Economics Review.

I’ve just received my second Digital Millenium Copyright Act take-down letter. As before, the letter is from the Kilpatrick Townsend, Attorneys At Law, and, as before, the letter is on behalf of their client, Citigroup.

It looks like Citigroup is going after websites that have posted their infamous "plutonomy" document, a document that I first discovered in May 2010, posted a link to it on this site, and when that was removed, re-linked to a posting from another site which is still carrying the document. Like the author of this piece, I don't see how they can remove it from the entire internet. But, it appears that they are starting to panic at the prospect of too many people learning about the deep sociopathic characteristics of their class of people.

The Future of #OCCUPY

Click here to access article from AdBusters. 

This brief article provides a good overview of how the Occupy movement is progressing which it must do if it is to become a formidable foe to the system of organized crime--capitalism. The New York City Occupy group is moving forward with a promising organizing innovation:

...how to gel into a global movement without sacrificing the decentralized, leaderless model. There is a widespread acknowledgment that there are challenges that can only be dealt with on a global scale, such as a climate change accord and overturning international casino capitalism, and that we must therefore forge a globally united people's movement. However, there is also a growing recognition that the general assembly model that has worked beautifully thus far may be fundamentally limited on a structural level.

A breakthrough came on Friday from the New York City General Assembly where the structure working group has proposed, and the general assembly has accepted, the adoption of a modified spokes council model....

Major powers successfully dictate regime change in Greece

Click here to access article by Chris Marsden from World Socialist Web Site.

Seeking to force the opposition parties and the trade unions to abandon their token opposition and rally behind a national effort to impose austerity, Papandreou announced plans to hold a referendum on the issue. The financial elite responded with the worst run on world markets since 2008, while ruling circles in Berlin and Paris decided that Papandreou had shown himself to be irresolute.

Even after abandoning his referendum demand, Papandreou was told to go by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

This report illustrates how the capitalist version of democracy typically functions. The real power that determines the major decisions regarding austerity measures in Greece don't even need to be citizens of any particular country: Merkel and Sarkozy have decided that it is time for Papandreou to go. He apparently committed the sin of deciding on a Greek referendum which he didn't clear with them and the European ruling class. "But wait, there's more!"

Merkel, Sarkozy, Papandreou, etc. are the paid servants of the class of people who are hidden behind the facade of democracy and shaping it for their ends. They are merely the forms that the wizards of the ruling class take to deceive the people into believing that they must submit to generations of debt slavery, and that there is no alternative. But, like the Wizard of Oz, they are being exposed by the Occupy Wall Street activists.

...the all-powerful Wizard is exposed and his true identify revealed. Far from a mighty magician, "Oz, the Terrible" is merely a "humbug," a wizened old man whose "power" is achieved through elaborate acts of deception. The Wizard is simply a manipulative politician who appears to the people in one form, but works behind the scenes to achieve his true ends. Such figures are terrified at being exposed; the Wizard cautions Dorothy to lower her voice lest he be discovered and "ruined."

European elites should be wary of the Greek spring

Click here to access article by Costas Douzinas from Greek Left Review.

It is not only Papandreou: Europe’s hubris is also exposed. The Greek people with their prolonged struggles and sacrifices will finally get rid of their government. The weakest link has fallen partly as a result of popular resistance. Now the dominoes will move west. The economic future of Greece will be difficult, but democracy has won. The elite’s fear of “contagion” should not be just about the euro – they should also fear Greek resistance spreading across Europe.

Coming to America: Running From the School of the Americas

Click here to access article by Laura Schleifer from The Leftist Review. 

She author fills in American ignorance with knowledge about the pervasive role of the C.I.A.-run School of the Americas in subjecting Latin Americans to the rule of the Empire.

In Latin America, the role the United States has played in war, dictatorship, manufactured poverty, and human rights abuse is common knowledge. Yet, the vast majority of U.S. citizens have no idea of the existence of the SOA/WHINSEC, and in fact usually assume that the belief in the existence of such a place must be a conspiracy theory, upon hearing of it for the first time.

Yet, her conclusion about simply according immigrants to the US the rights of citizenship is fine, but very limiting. Working on that objective is only treating the symptom, not the cause of the diseased state of affairs for immigrants who, because of the neo-liberal policies of the Empire, have been forced to leave their homes and communities. Nothing less than the dismantlement of the Empire's ruling class and their system must be accomplished before there is peace and justice anywhere in the world.

See the latest activist notice against SOA.

Libya Recolonised

Click here to access article by Aijaz Ahmad from Frontline [India]. 

This rather lengthy article provides breadth, depth, and passion to the events recently concluded with the Empire's victory over Libya. It is well worth your undivided attention. You may think that you have already read all there is to know about the subject; but I think after reading this article, you will change your mind.

Suffice it to say that the fall of Libya is likely to serve as the first major step in the offensive to capture Africa's plentiful natural resources. In the fullness of time, as multiple insurgencies and bloodlettings are let loose across the continent, we are likely to see the erection of many new bases for the AFRICOM-NATO combine, very much on the model of Iraq and Afghanistan. The objective is not only to reserve African resources for the Euro-American imperium as much as possible but also to deny those resources to China....

Scramble for Africa

Click here to access article by John Cherian from Frontline [India]. (The link to the Frontline article can no longer be accessed, but I found it again at this link.)

The installation of the National Transitional Council (NTC) government in Libya by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) could signal the beginning of an open neocolonial scramble for Africa. Suspicions about such a blueprint were first aroused when President George W. Bush set up the United States-Africa Command (AFRICOM) in 2008, months before demitting office. The demand for a permanent American military footprint on the African continent had come from right-wing think tanks that enjoyed great clout in the corridors of power during the eight years of the Bush presidency.

Because there are so few independent Western journalists covering Africa, the Empire's media coverage shows little restraint in reporting events there from a highly skewed point of view. This magazine from India is helping to fill the vacuum.

What do Banks Actually DO? Teach-In for Occupy Toronto

Click here to access the transcript from Real-World Economics Review of a 12:17m speech given by economist Jim Stanford at the Occupy Toronto rally on October 29. The Occupy Wall Street gatherings that are happening all over the world are providing educational forums like this to help people understand how they are being robbed by the 1% of the wealth which they as a working class have created, and what steps are needed to recover that wealth for the benefit of the 99%.

Democracy Is Direct

Click here to access article by Cindy Milstein from Commons Not Capitalism. 

For me the key insight expressed in this article that has sustained the human race for at least 98% of its existence is this ethical foundation:

Embryonic within direct democracy, if only to function as a truly open policy-making mechanism, are values such as equality, diversity, cooperation, and respect for human worth—hopefully, the building blocks of a liberatory ethics as we begin to self-manage our communities, the economy, and society in an ever-widening circle of confederated assemblies.

This passage expresses the essence of human beings as social creatures. Should we continue to abandon that fundamental nature as we have during the past 10,000 plus years, we will descend further into barbarism, and after that, disappear from the Earth like the brontosaurs and the dodo birds. So much is now at stake!

On Corporate Power Miseducation and the New Slavery

Click here to access article by Michael Barker from Ceasefire.

Unlike the vast majority of American historian/writers who write about the US Civil War as being about the freeing of African-American slaves, Barker's article suggests to me that this horrendous war was more about freeing them from traditional slavery so that they could become low paid wage slaves in the newly burgeoning capitalist industries. Barker doesn't directly make this point, but such an inference is blatantly obvious.

Ruling class philanthropists have maintained a long history of subsuming educational needs to capitalist growth prerogatives. In his latest column, Michael Barker looks at how industrial education served as “a major force in the subjugation of black labour in the New South” in the United States.

New Dept. of Energy Priority-Setting Analysis Seriously Flawed

Click here to access article by Gail Tverberg from The Oil Drum. 

This writer has been following the oil/energy resource issue since the 1970s and has published and edited on this website for a number of years. She is a recognized expert in the energy field and widely quoted in energy publications. (For example, see this.) She is honest, objective, and well-informed on the subject. Her only limitation, as I see it, is that she only looks at the issue within the context of a capitalist system. She, like her colleagues, received extensive capitalist indoctrination from an American university which sees the system as fixed, or as the center of the universe much like the Catholic church that up until the 17th century insisted that the Earth was the center of the universe.  

In this piece, she is highly critical of a recent overly optimistic report sponsored by the Department of Energy of the US government which like all important institutions is under the control of the ruling capitalist class and reflects their head-in-the-sand thinking.

The new report sets priories based on a distorted view of the future. One issue is that it is trying to set priorities based on an overly optimistic view of energy supply presented in the EIA's International Energy Outlook 2011 (IEO 2011). Another issue is that it overlooks the way the US and world economy can be expected to change as a result of lower oil and natural gas supply. A third issue is that its view of climate change mitigations is based on a view of fossil fuel supply that is far greater than is likely to be the case.

US long-term unemployment 1967-2011

Click here to access original posting of chart by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

There are probably many more than a thousand words that can be written about this chart, but I will offer only a few. You probably have many more to offer. 

The periods following the peaks shown here show the periodic busts of a typical capitalist economy, which are followed by periods of growth where workers are needed. What is startlingly clear from the chart is that since 1967 dramatically fewer and fewer workers have been required to maintain this type of an economy. 

A capitalist economy requires growth to maintain profits for those who "own" it--and it has indeed grown in terms of GDP during this period due to the system's promotion of huge expenditures for military arms and wasteful spending on unnecessary items of convenience and those which seem to enhance self-image. Of course, this growth is causing lethal long term damage to the earth's ecosystem, but that doesn't seem to bother those in charge of the system who benefit from the rewards that accumulate to them in terms of wealth and power. 

The ruling class in charge of this system believe that wealth is money and the things that money can buy which, besides commodities, includes influence. Thus their system is based on the private ownership of this wealth and over all the activities that can produce money. The latter includes economic enterprises such as farms, mines, and factories where working people engage in such activities. But the labor of working people has also been transformed into a commodity that can be rented by these "owners" to transform raw materials and ideas into things that can be bought and sold for profit to the "owners". 

The reason, of course, for this trend of fewer workers is simply because of the enormous contributions that workers have made through their creativity and labor over the many generations of humanity. Thus, the efficiencies produced by these many generations of workers should be a legacy handed down to us as a society, but unfortunately under the existing system only the "owners" really benefit from this legacy. 

People in increasing numbers are now beginning to question the legitimacy of such a system whose rewards are going to such a small number of people, people who are currently labeled as the "one percent" (actually they are much smaller), and not to the rest of us, the "ninety-nine percent". The latter group is now once again seriously questioning the justice and legitimacy of such a system.

Why Europe’s democrats are terrified of democracy

Click here to access article by Jérôme E. Roos from Reflections on a Revolution. 

The way Europe has handled the Greek referendum is the clearest indication yet that European capitalism and national democracy are incompatible.

Of course, democracy and capitalism have always been at odds, it's just recently that the latter system has caused so much economic and environmental destruction that the people are increasingly aware that they have no alternative but to fight back.

Processed Food: Trick or Treat?

Click here to access article by Bruce Bradley from his blog.

Do you eat corporate manufactured food that's labeled "all natural"? Well, you might not want to continue doing so after reading this article by a former employee of food manufacturers who knows of what he writes. It seems that profit seeking corporations are once again playing deceptive games when they describe their concoctions as "all natural". Well, they might be natural, but would you really want to eat food made with some of the ingredients they put into them?

What’s so infuriating about these ingredients is how they can lurk in your food and you may not even know it. Whether they’re disguised as natural flavors, enzymes, glazes, or colors, you deserve to know if they’re in your food, right? Unfortunately big food companies disagree.

Casino Capitalism and Higher Education

Click here to access article by Henry Giroux from CounterPunch. (You will need to scroll down to the article.) 

This astute scholar explains why the ruling class is currently making savage cuts to all areas of education. Do you think it would be too rash to conclude that the ruling class wants only obedient, ignorant, and only a few highly trained wage/debt slaves to employ in their enterprises?

Ignorance is now the political and cultural currency of choice and provides the foundation for an ongoing neoliberal attack on the social state, workers, and unions, matched by a full-fledged assault on higher education. Such attacks are not happening just in the United States but in many other parts of the globe where neoliberalism is waging a savage battle to eliminate all of those public spheres that might offer a glimmer of critical thought and any viable form of opposition to market-driven policies, institutions, ideology, and values.

Oakland Police Strike Army Ranger...

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog. 

Police Lacerate Army Ranger’s Spleen and Cause Internal Bleeding … Then Deny Him Medical Treatment for 18 Hours

A Brief Analysis from a Wall Street Occupier [a must read]

Click here to access article by Yotam Marom from The Organization for a Free Society. 

This is one of the finest pieces I have seen coming out of the Occupying Wall Street movement. The writer, who is an OWS activist and well grounded in this movement, knows of what he writes. There are so many gems in this article that I have no idea which one to highlight--so, I won't highlight any. It seems to me that the OWS movement is incubating a revolutionary consciousness which appears to be unstoppable. 

Capitalists and their enforcers are shaking in their boots, their political operatives are in a quandary about how to stop it, political liberals are trying to find ways to co-opt or tame it so that only reforms to capitalism are made, and leftists are often confused by its messiness. It appears that this writer is the latter who has undergone the process of this new movement and reached new insights as to what it means. Read it and benefit from his experience. 

After reading it, you might also be interested in another "best post" that I posted on October 25th entitled, "They Don't Get It".

The Global Square: an online platform for our movement

Click here to access article from Reflections on a Revolution. 

More posts are showing up suggesting ways to make the OWS movement move forward. This one has some good suggestions...

...to perpetuate the creative and cooperative spirit of the occupations and transform them into lasting forms of social organization.

Stage One: Occupy Public Space. What Next?

Click here to access article from Ben Brucato blog. 

The blogger has some interesting suggestions as an answer to the question he poses.

The U.S. is Planning World War 3 [8:41m video interview]

Click here to access video interview with Michel Chossudovsky for Russia Today.

With the OWS movement flaring all over the US and in many parts of the globe, and the there-is-no-alternative-capitalism in disarray, ruling class political operatives may out of sheer desperation look to an old ploy: start another war to distract people. They have had their sights on Iran for some time and would love to add this oil rich country to their Empire. Now we are seeing Western officials making frequent references to Iran (and Syria) as a threat to security. See this, this, this, and this. Chossudovsky offers some interesting perspectives to support his thesis that although the planners have a more limited objective in mind, this attack on Iran would inevitably lead to WWIII.

Big profits, zero taxes for large U.S. companies

Click here to access article by Andrea Coombes from Market Watch. 

The official federal corporate income tax rate in the U.S. is 35%, but plenty of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies are paying no taxes — even getting money back from the government in some cases — in years when they reap big profits, according to a new report. 

Global carbon dioxide output soaring

Click here to access article from Al Jazeera. 

The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the US department of energy has calculated, in a sign of how weak the world's efforts have been at slowing man-made global warming.

The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.

Thousands march in Oakland to defend Occupy movement

Click here to access article by Jerry White from World Socialist Web Site. This writer provides a good worker point of view on the events in Oakland during the general strike. However, he only mentions "general strike" in passing and puts it in quotes. I think this is largely due to the rather sectarian slant that this website has to any left events that it doesn't control.

Meanwhile, mainstream ruling class media focuses on the late night violence that occurred as in this report by Voice of America. In contrast, see this very good report regarding the late night violence.

Naked Capitalism's site provides a very interesting report more in sympathy with the protestors.
For minute by minute reports of the events, see this report from IndyBay.

The final blackmail of Baron Papandreou [updated]

Click here to access article by Costas Douzinas from Greek Left Review. (My commentary has been updated from November 1st.)

The unexpected announcement by Greek PM Papandreou yesterday that he is to call a referendum and ask people to vote about the October 24 agreement is the opening salvo in the endgame of the Greek tragedy. Is this extraordinary gambit a genuine request for a popular mandate or a desperate bluff of a gambler down on his chips?

From what I've seen this morning both from business sources (for example, this) and activists at various internet sites, everyone is quite stunned by the announcement of this Greek referendum. The referendum looks very much like a desperate gamble that may very well become a pivotal event. Because if the Greek government fails to gain support for the Oct. 24th agreement, it could precipitate a dramatic unfolding of world changing events in the near term. And that is precisely what worries the global capitalist leaders.

12:25 PM (Pacific Time) Update: the latest word is that the referendum has been cancelled! Clearly, the European ruling class vetoed it.

1:00 PM  Now we hear that the referendum will be held.

11-3-2011: It seems that the referendum is again cancelled, according to this report from the Guardian. After all, the ruling class of Europe can't have the Greek people making a decision about whether they will mortgage their lives for generations into the future. Why shouldn't the people approve this deal made by the elites? See this article.

US and Israeli Tech Teams Develop "Malworm" to Take Down Iran's Computer Software

Click here to access article by Richard Sale from Truthout.

This article is interesting not only for reporting on the Empire's application of cyber-war against Iran, but about all the recent efforts to launch a hot war against Iran spearheaded by Israeli leaders.

Several senior US intelligence officials confirmed large contingency planning drills for an intervention if Israel attacked Iran. Planning for such an intervention was seen as "pretty far advanced," a US official said in July.

These officials reported they were resisting such notions with all the force they could. But one cautioned, "This is no drill." 

Governments turn to hacking techniques for surveillance of citizens

Click here to access article by Ryan Gallagher from The Guardian. 

At the nerve center of the US Empire we see, thanks to this reporter, corporations specializing in surveillance equipment coming together in secret to display their wares to all the oppressive governments of the world. It seems that the facade of democratic institutions is no longer serving the purpose of fooling the people. Hence, the one percent is now preparing to rely on police state methods to control their citizens in order to save their beloved system of capitalism.

At this year’s Intelligence Support Systems (ISS) World Americas conference, the only consumers were the governments of great nations far and wide who came together in DC last month to go over the newest achievements in “lawful interception” methods, reveals an article published this week in the UK’s Guardian. According to their filing, international figureheads came together on American soil to find the freshest ways to carry out clandestine surveillance on their own citizens back home by hacking smart phones, laptops and anything else with a circuit.

Extreme Weather Is a Thing of the Future: So Says The IPCC, and We Should Believe Them

Click here to access article by Astrid Caldas from Huffington Post.

A new IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report obtained by the Associated Press emphasizes that extreme weather events are "a noticeable aspect of climate change" and states that there is a 2 in 3 probability that man-made greenhouse gases have exacerbated recent extreme weather events. The report also states that climate scientists are 99% certain that there will be more extreme heat than cold, and the main concern associated with that is increased precipitation in the form of heavy rainstorms, since evaporation increases in a warmer atmosphere, which will hold more moisture.

Our planet Earth is also rebelling against the capitalist system. The problem is that its rebellion will destroy us all regardless of whether we were on the right side of the capitalism-climate issue.

Crowds gather, businesses shutter for Occupy Oakland general strike

Click here to access article by Cecily Burt, Kristin Bender, Sean Maher, Thomas Peele of the Oakland Tribune. (I normally cite the original sources, but can' t locate this at the Oakland Tribune site--may be due to the strike. The Mercury News is located in nearby San Jose, California.) 

Today's planned strike will be the first of its kind since in Oakland since 1946, and it could potentially turn out to be the biggest demonstration in the East Bay since the Vietnam War.

The demonstration aims to shut down the city by targeting banks, corporations and the Port of Oakland in solidarity with worldwide Occupy movement that decries the economic wealth of the very rich 1 percent while 99 percent of the population struggles to find jobs and pay the bills. 

For more current details of what is happening in Oakland, I recommend this link.

The Looming Occupy Foreclosures Movement

Click here to access article by David Dayen from FireDogLake.

This article suggests an action whose time may have come.

The Occupy Oakland general assembly, a day before a proposed general strike, ruled that they would encourage the occupation of foreclosed and abandoned properties across the city. This is a natural development, but also a useful one.

Move Your Money: Campaign Grows to Divest from "Too Big to Fail" Banks to Local Banks, Credit Unions

Access this 6:44m video and script segment here From Democracy Now. (You will need to scroll down to find the transcript.)

Celebrate "Bank Transfer Day" this Saturday, Nov. 5 by transfering your money out of the big banks.

As participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement continue protesting the record profits made by banks bailed out by taxpayer money, a group of grassroots activists are hitting America’s largest banks—including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo—where it hurts most: the wallet.

The Big Business of Inhumane Detention of Immigrants

Click here to access article from American Civil Liberties Union.

The inhumane and abusive system that is immigration detention in this country is good business for one particular special interest group — the private prison industry.

Also, an informative read is this article from the same source entitled, "Stop For-Profit Prisons".

UK military steps up plans for Iran attack amid fresh nuclear fears

Click here to access article by Nick Hopkins from The Guardian.

Now that the Libyan project has finished, there seems to be a continuing drumbeat from establishment sources for a war on Iran. How convenient during this period of austerity, global protests, and financial debt crisis. Nothing like a war to distract people and bring in the profits! This strategy was widely used in the 20th century, and resulted in more concentration of wealth and power into the hands of the one percent, and the dilution of anti-capitalist activism. 

Yes, folks--the Iranians are coming! And, they look scary!

New Libyan "PM" is Big-Oil Goon

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer Report. 

Surprise, surprise! The latest puppet appointed by the Empire to rule Libya has a very solid US academic background and history of employment with the multinational oil corporations. 

And so begins the farce that is Western "democracy." One corporate-fascist puppet, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, steps down, another, Abdurrahim el-Keib, takes his place. In reality, it is NATO-states and their corporate sponsors that now determine Libya's fate.

Organ Gangs Force Poor to Sell Kidneys for Desperate Israelis

Click here to access article by Michael Smith, Daryna Krasnolutska and David Glovin from Bloomberg Markets Magazine. 

Investigators on five continents say they have uncovered intertwining criminal rings run by Israelis and eastern Europeans that move people across borders -- sometimes against their will -- to sell a kidney.

“The criminal here is the middleman who profits from the sick and the poor,” says Bahat, who investigated an organ- trafficking ring in Jerusalem. “It touches my heart that people will sell part of their body because they need money to live.”

This organ market is another result of a capitalist system that creates huge gaps between rich and poor, that converts everything into a commodity to be bought, sold, rented, or otherwise exploited to enrich the lives of the already rich. For an excellent dramatization of this practice, I recommend you see the film entitled, "Dirty Pretty Things".

 

Occupy Demands: Let's Radicalize Our Analysis of Empire, Economics, Ecology

Click here to access article by Robert Jensen from Jadaliyya. 

This writer summarizes in this one piece so many themes that I have emphasized in my selection of articles, and my comments on those articles, over the past two years of this blog. His call to "radicalize our analysis..." is, I believe, a fundamental requirement of the Occupy Movement if it is to succeed; indeed, if we as a human race are going to succeed. Hopefully, the educative element in these numerous gatherings across the globe will fulfill this requirement. We concerned people must all support this effort more than anything we have ever supported before.

This is a time for action, but there also is a need for analysis. Rallying around a common concern about economic injustice is a beginning; understanding the structures and institutions of illegitimate authority is the next step. We need to recognize that the crises we face are not the result simply of greedy corporate executives or corrupt politicians, but rather of failed systems.

The Pentagon-Arab Spring love story

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from NYTimes eXaminer. 

Anyone who hoped the Arab Spring might eventually take over the Persian Gulf and those lands once known as Arabia Felix has enough reason to drown in sadness.

The Arab counter-revolution is stronger than ever – led by the House of Saud and its monarchy minions at the Gulf Counter-revolution Club (GCC), officially known as Gulf Cooperation Council. And their most precious ally is the Pentagon.

The author uses his exceptional analytical tools to dismantle NY Times propaganda and to construct a very different scenario--Middle East oil kingdoms as a NATO annex dedicated to serving the Empire and crushing dissent.

Read also Glenn Greenwald's article entitled, "Middle East propaganda 101", where he provides another very good counter-propaganda analysis. Clearly the Empire's media pieces are becoming ever more ludicrous and the butt of many jokes. 

Meanwhile, the Empire seems to be threatened from within with all the debt crises, economic destruction, and activist occupations. It makes me wonder when it will be that the US public reaches a critical mass of rejection of Empire propaganda. When that happens, we will see the disintegration of capitalist rule greatly accelerate.

Occupy sends a message about NYC schools

Click here to access article by Emily Giles from Socialist Worker. 

NEW YORK City school officials came face to face with the Occupy protest movement October 25 when 200 teachers, students, parents and community members descended on the first Panel for Education Policy (PEP) meeting of the school year. Within five minutes of the start of the meeting, the panel--largely consisting of billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg's appointees--canceled most of its scheduled agenda.

This report on an activist project in New York illustrates a very constructive means of building people power. It is doing this by involving parents, teachers, and students in confronting puppet-administrators of the ruling class who want to turn the educational system into training schools for corporations and starving schools where students are less likely to achieve corporate training standards.  

The final blackmail of Baron Papandreou

Click here to access article by Costas Douzinas from Greek Left Review. 

The unexpected announcement by Greek PM Papandreou yesterday that he is to call a referendum and ask people to vote about the October 24 agreement is the opening salvo in the endgame of the Greek tragedy. Is this extraordinary gambit a genuine request for a popular mandate or a desperate bluff of a gambler down on his chips?

From what I've seen this morning both from business sources (for example, this) and activists at various internet sites, everyone is quite stunned by the announcement of this Greek referendum. The referendum looks very much like a desperate gamble that may very well become a pivotal event. Because if the Greek government fails to gain support for the Oct. 24th agreement, it could precipitate a dramatic unfolding of world changing events in the near term. 

12:25 PM (Pacific Time) Update: the latest word is that the referendum has been cancelled! Clearly, the European ruling class vetoed it.

False Solutions to Governance and Economic Crises

by Ron Horn.

In the midst of widespread political corruption, never-ending wars, and financial collapse, we will be presented with solutions that really do very little to solve these crises. Some are presented by well meaning people and some are likely to be presented by capitalist political operatives to ward off any real changes to their governing system. This morning I notice two postings on the internet offering such solutions which I firmly believe will do nothing to essentially change the system. They only seek to fix the existing system which I believe is inherently flawed. 

The first one is illustrated by the Story of Stuff cartoonist in their latest video, "The Story of Citizens United vs. FEC", which claims that we can fix things by passing a Constitutional amendment that reverses the legal status of corporations as citizens. 

The narrator in this video presents a very narrow view of the problem as being simply the passage of a recent Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to directly contribute to political candidates. This is total nonsense. Actually, one could argue that this Court decision was good in that it made transparent what has been opaque since the 1886 decision to recognize corporations as people, and before that, what was completely hidden by the role of big financiers and corporations that were key players in a new ruling capitalist class. 

The narrator misses the huge picture of a class of people that has inserted itself in all areas of society to further their interests: the Executive Branch with the secrecy of the CIA and strengthening of the office which can now engage in war operations without the consent of Congress, all sorts of police state operations set up under the Patriot Acts, the control of all major media, the insertion of key members of the ruling class in educational institutions, in NGOs, their control of the Federal Reserve, etc. The list is endless. This only illustrates what a ruling class is: a class of people who rule over society for their class interests. To do this, they must rule all important subsystems of societies.

The second posting from Positive Money (UK) advocates a fix to bank lending. At least they see their proposal as only fixing the debt crisis; but it seems to assume that there is no governance crisis, that the current systemic crisis occurring all over the world is due only to profligate loaning of money by the major banks who engage in fractional reserve lending. 

Such narrow proposals can detract activists and encourage them to go down blind alleys. They are based on very limited views of societies which, in their view, are essentially "democratic". Thus, all that is needed are more limitations and regulations on corporate power.

Euro crisis unresolved: the cycle of stupidity continues

Click here to access article by by Jérôme E. Roos from Reflections on a Revolution (RoarMag). 

I think that this piece provides a very good explanation of why the recent European agreement regarding the Greek debt crisis is not really a solution that has any staying power. It looks to me like members of the world capitalist class are fighting among each other as to who is willing to take a hit in their financial pockets; and being the grasping sociopaths that they are, this agreement will only stir up more intra-class fighting. 

Instead, we may very well see the global banking house of cards collapse from all the fraud that it is built upon. Witness today's bankruptcy of the investment firm of MF Global led by an alumnus of Goldman-Sachs and financial wizard, Jon Corzine.

The Sanders Report on the GAO Audit on Major Conflicts of Interest at the Federal Reserve

Click here to access article from the office of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) 

This report is not that lengthy (only slightly over four pages) and a must-read for anyone wanting more specific information on the banking bailout corruption that has people in the US occupying many bank related sites across the country. 

Audits of the Federal Reserve (the Fed) were authorized and undertaken following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in July 2010. Both audits were performed by the US General Accounting Office. The first audit was released in July 2011 that focused on where the Fed's "loans" went. The second audit report was just released on October 20 and focused on the governance of the Fed. This article is a summary of this recent report from Senator Sanders' office.

It is difficult to get a handle on all the corruption we are seeing--this is a deliberate policy by the ruling class so that we don't understand and don't get too upset. Many people still think that all the money that was given away by the Fed was paid back. They are thinking of the TARP program which involved far less money than the amount banks all over the world have received (16 trillion dollars!).

I don't claim to fully understand the TARP program, but this article from Henry Liu provides a good explanation. Originally $700 billion was authorized to purchase all the worthless mortgages on the books of the banks at their book price (original evaluation), but far less was used. The stated purpose of the program was as stated by Liu:

The prime goal of TARP is to encourage banks to resume lending at levels seen before the crisis, both to each other and to consumers and businesses.

Clearly that never happened. The source of much of the money paid back under TARP was from the super-low interest rates on money that the big banks could borrow from the Fed which creates money out of thin air. The big banks, in turn, use these loans to buy government securities that pay much higher rates of interest. They simply pocket the difference. See this, this, and this. 

Someone Got Rich and Someone Got Sick

Click here to access article by Chip Ward from TomDispatch. (As usual at this website, you will need to scroll down to the article.)

This writer does what I often try to do: link the degradation of people with the degradation of the environment by the same system of capitalism which turns everything into a commodity to be bought, sold, rented, exploited to satisfy the addiction of the 1% to wealth and power.

The fact is: we won’t free ourselves from a dysfunctional and unfair economic order until we begin to see ourselves as communities, not commodities.  That is one clear message from Zuccotti Park.

Occupy Oakland Protesters Remain in Legal Limbo After Release From Jail

Click here to access article by Elise Ackerman from Truthout. 

The author provides the details on how the enforcers of the ruling class are continuing their intimidating tactics against activists during their stay in jail.

Oakland crackdown backfires: the genie is out of the bottle

Click here to access article by Jérôme E. Roos from Reflections on a Revolution. 

What we are witnessing is a change in the collective consciousness. The shedding of fear and the demise of the invisible dictator inside our heads. This is the awakening from a long and lonesome slumber. Something has changed in our perception of the world. When we see the images of people mobilizing in solidarity around the globe, we realize we are no longer alone. We are part of something infinitely greater than the mere sum of its parts. Each and every single one of us is a magnificent being worthy of dignity and respect. But it is only when we come together that the true essence of our humanity is revealed for what it always already was. At last, we are reclaiming our true nature. We are a social animal. And love and solidarity are the glue that binds us together.

The masters of the present governing system of capitalism will do everything they can to crush, co-opt, or tame the movement that has been born in the Squares and Wall Street occupations, but they cannot succeed against the life affirming nature of the human soul. Everyday it is becoming clearer for more people that the governing class and their system are destructive of both human life and a planet that can support human and other life forms. 

Previously the system was able to support an adequate number of people who found it so easy to just accept things and go along by seeking the rewards and avoiding the punishments of the system. Those that succeeded in the system were very much like "house niggers" who felt and acted superior to those who couldn't or refused to go along with the system. Just as old fashioned slavery has (mostly) disappeared, a system based on wage and debt slavery is now being called into question. 

Presently it appears that humans have reached a critical mass in terms of numbers and political awareness to the point where the system itself is starting to lose all credibility and legitimacy. There are now large numbers of people who realize that they are in a fight for their very survival, not only as individuals and families, but as a human species. 

Can we create a new sustainable human life supporting system, or will we perish along with so many other species that are disappearing daily due to the destruction of habitat caused by human activity under the present system? Stay tuned. Better yet, stay active.

Occupy protests: a movement taking root

Click here to access article by Katharine Ainger from The Guardian. 

I'm always impressed when an article from a liberal source can reveal some truths. This one does by showing how the Occupy movements have, and can, take the next steps in organizing actions that will sustain them. Of course, I'm sure the author doesn't see such actions as growing a revolution, but only as a means to...

...rein in the power of finance...and win so much support that governments are more scared of the people's sheer numbers than of the markets.

Because, after all, "there is no alternative" (to capitalism). [sarcasm]

Americans: Awash In Spin

Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from OpEd News.

This article is a much needed antidote to all the positive mad ravings of mainstream media regarding yesterday's announcement of a new Greek bailout agreement and the subsequent erections of the New York stock exchange indexes.

Recovery can only happen in the delusional world created for us by the concentrated media. No longer permitted to utter one word of truth, the presstitutes proclaim non-existent recoveries and weapons of mass destruction and demonize Washington's chosen opponents. 

Note: "presstitutes" is a word the author has coined to combine the words prostitute and press (media), similar to "bankster".

The global wealth pyramid

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

Here is a picture that is worth a thousand words: 

There simply must be an alternative to this kind of human society! Also, read this article by the same author to see how this has been happening here in the US since 1979. If we don't change things, it will only get worse.

NYTimes eXaminer

Click here to access online newspaper. 

Contrary to my other posts, this is not an article, this is a whole new newspaper. Given that it is a direct challenge to the NY Times and by people with very "respectable" credentials, this new source of information can provide another important launching pad for the flight of revolutionary consciousness and action! I think it is worth supporting, at least, initially to see if it can really reflect the interests and views of the 99%. To do this, they must incorporate into their operations people from the OWS movement. Check it out.

About NYTX
The NYTimes eXaminer (NYTX) was launched October 2011. The idea was proposed to a number of leading media critics, intellectuals, and alternative media activists, organizers, and producers earlier in the year. Many of these people expressed their support for the project and have since joined NYTX’s “Advisory Council.” The project’s mission statement and list of Advisory Council members can be found below. NYTX staff information can be found at the bottom of the page. 

The Spanish Summer: Notes Towards a Comparative Revolutionology

Click here to access article by J.E. Hamilton from Guernica.

I am beginning to see articles appearing that are attempting to summarize the meaning of the Occupation movement across the globe and to look for future direction. While focusing on the experience of Spanish activists, the discussion here is relevant for all global activists to think about. I suggest you specifically read the content under section 3 of this article which asks and attempts to answer some key questions:

What exactly is it that will last? Direct, horizontal, and leaderless democracy? For those involved with 15-M—the number continues to grow, according to Lara and Juan Miguel—the feeling is that this year’s experiments in confrontation and horizontal democracy will not soon be forgotten. This is a lesson politicians and bureaucrats may soon shudder to learn: it’s not easy to placate a demographic whose greatest public pleasure thus far has been shutting you out of the conversation.

US cops tried to erase online evidence of brutality

Click here to access article from Russia Today. Also, included in the article is this 5:14m video interview with Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group. 



As the ruling classes across the globe become increasingly concerned about the spread of people power and protests, they are beginning to use rather desperate measures that include obstructing protests by onerous permit requirements, censorship, terrorizing activists, and stopping online payments to activists by banksters: PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, etc. We, the people, must meet these challenges.

Just this morning I heard on my local TV station (Seattle) that several thousand dollars of PayPal donations had disappeared temporarily from a Portland (Oregon) OWS account.

The 9/11 Best Evidence Panel: The 9/11 Consensus Points

Click here to access article from Consensus 9/11. 

I encourage you to read about the background of the panel members, and then the methodology in addition to the findings linked to here in a report on which the panel reached 90% consensus.

Debt crisis splits Europe

Click here to access article by Peter Schwarz from World Socialist Web Site.

The ruling capitalist classes are ecstatic over this morning's news: European leaders reached a deal with Greek debtholders on Thursday morning after nearly 11 hours of talks. The agreement includes a large bailout of Greece by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The latter institution means that more US tax dollars will be tapped. 

Meanwhile the stock markets are engaging in an orgy of stock buying. And ruling class media is likewise hailing this news. For more balanced and accurate coverage, read this article and also one by financial expert, Yves Smith, in her blog article entitled, "Eurozone Leaders Agree a Few Rescue Details, Like 50% Haircut on Greek Bonds; Plan to Develop a Plan Gooses Markets".

David Graeber: On Playing By The Rules – The Strange Success Of #OccupyWallStreet

Click here to access article by David Graeber from Naked Capitalism.

This fairly length piece provides a very good description of how opposition to our Wall Street run government reached critical mass this Fall and materialized as the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Clearly, if progressive change was not possible through electoral means in 2008, it simply isn’t going to [be] possible at all. And that is exactly what very large numbers of Americans appear to have concluded.

The State of Everything

Click here to access article by Peter Radford from Real-World Economics Review Blog. I have had difficulty in finding a biography for this writer, but being on the board of editors for this widely read professional website, he clearly is an economist of some reputation.

I post this piece because it provides more evidence to support my (and others) thesis that the middle class is dramatically becoming disillusioned with the system of capitalism, and that this poses a major threat to the maintenance of the system. 

Contrary to popular usage in the US, sociologists define the middle class as workers who are given special privileges and higher pay to manage and support the system. You see, capitalists know diddly-squat about managing any kind of economy. They live off their money and the system of capitalism that makes this possible. They have a faith-based belief that everything must be a commodity to be bought, owned, and rented or sold. Money is the lubricant that makes the machine of capitalism function. And, capitalists control the money supply through their central banks. They only know how to use people to serve their sole interest of accumulating more wealth and power. Hence, they hire (rent) people--managers, scientists and highly trained technician, academicians, and other professionals to run the system--and, they reward them well. These are the true middle class; and as you can see by the example of this writer, they are becoming seriously demoralized.

I have been mightily diverted by technological and personal matters recently and so am struggling to catch up. As I do so one theme has stood out: exhaustion. We are exhausted. Morally, intellectually, politically, and every other way. We seem to have fought our way into a state of enforced lassitude within which we can no longer even imagine progress. We are suffering from a form of trench warfare. Our leaders are exposed as inept. Brilliantly educated, earnest, well informed, and well intentioned. They are inept. So much for all those advanced degrees and professional qualifications. In our hour of need they amount to not much more than paper. Those achievements are nice to hang on walls to remind us of the hours spent poring over books in the library, or yawning through interminable, and marginal, classes on subjects no one but the professors were interested in, but they don’t appear to guarantee solutions to actual economic problems.

The state of everything is a mess.   

What Do We Mean By “Works”? Anarchist Economics and the Occupy X Movement

Click here to access article by Deric Shannon from The New Significance. (A must read.)

...one of the near-constant criticisms of these sorts of ideas [anarchist] goes something like this:

“That kind of system would never work [the implication being that the current system, although faulty, does work] because of human nature. We’re just wired to be greedy. It’s evolution, survival of the fittest, and all that.”

Many people have been so indoctrinated in the faith-based religion of capitalism with its mantra, "there is no alternative", that they can't think straight anymore.

The arms firm behind the suppression of #OccupyOakland and Palestine’s popular struggle

Click here to access article by Max Blumenthal from New Significance. 

With the rise of the Occupy Wall Street, a new generation of mostly middle class Americans is learning for the first time about the militarization of their local police forces. And they are learning the hard way, through confrontations with phalanxes of riot cops armed with the latest in “non-lethal” crowd control weaponry. Yesterday’s protests in Oakland, California were the site of perhaps the harshest police violence leveled against the Occupy movement so far.

As the global ruling class attempts to deal with the OWS protesters, they are clearly experimenting with the methods of inflecting as much harm on protesters as possible stopping just short lethal weapons. The intent, of course, is to terrorize participants in these occupations and others who might be thinking about joining them. You can be sure that they are carefully studying these terrorist methods to measure their effectiveness in places such as Oakland, California, Athens, Greece and Melbourne, Australia in order to improve their chances of winning the class war that is being waged throughout much of the world. 

Hence, I would agree with our oppressors: there is indeed forces of terrorism at work in the world today. But, who are the terrorists? With whom should we be at war?

It very much appears to me that we are entering a pivotal stage in this war, and the outcome may be decisive as to whether we the 99% will live as free human beings or debt slaves. We must also keep in mind that the same system which attacks us also attacks the planet which supports all human life. Thus, so much is at stake, and we simply must win.

They Don’t Get It (Revised)

Click here to access article from Internationalist Perspective. 

They don’t get it that the absence of leaders in this movement is not a weakness but a strength, testifying to our collective determination, to our refusal to remain followers. They don’t get it that the absence of a narrow set of demands that can be recuperated by this or that institution, results from our understanding that the problem lies much deeper. That there are no quick fixes for a system that produces growing inequality, mass unemployment and misery, wars and ecological disasters.

There are so many gems in this article that I have tagged it as a "best post".

Will Congress Kill Youtube and Twitter to Please the 1%?

Click here to access article by David Swanson from War Is a Crime. 

Using a typical Orwellian bill entitled, "Protect IP Act", Congress is poised to pass a bill that...

...creates new legal liabilities for sites like Twitter, YouTube, and others that rely on user-generated content -- exposing the sites' proprietors to prosecution for certain acts taken by their users.

This, of course, would cause these internet services to act as policeman over content that might incur the wrath of the ruling class. As it becomes clear that an unintended consequence of the creation of internet-access gadgets and services is to enable activists to organize and collaborate better, we can expect more such attacks in the future.