If you think that none of this affects you, please think again after you're done reading it. I'm too old and decrepit to worry about any of it for myself, but I'm very concerned about the impact of it on my grandchildren...now, and when they become adults.
Neoliberalism is an economic philosophy/policy which promotes (on a global scale) deregulation, privatization of government services, financial liberalization, and trade liberalization. All the Presidents listed in the title above were/are Neoliberals. If you believe that none of this affects you and your family, unfortunately, you're dead wrong. If you're a "Conservative" (which really means Neoconservative) in the USA, and if you believe that Neoliberalism sounds pretty good, you're dead wrong. Here's why.
Background---
The World Trade Organization (WTO) grew out of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The idea (after WW II) was to liberalize Trade around the world... make it easier, which supposedly would benefit all people. The groundwork for the WTO, formally founded in the mid-'90s, was laid during the Reagan-Thatcher Era and the White House tenure of Poppy Bush in the '80s & early '90s...with eight years of trade talks, the so-called "Uruguay Round".
The Catch---
At the last count I'm aware of, the WTO has seventeen Agreements... only one of which has anything to do with Trade in any substantial way. The other Agreements deal with subjects such as environmental regulations, health & safety regulations (including food safety and toy safety), unions & workers, privatization of government services, deregulation of the financial sector, rules for the SERVICE industry, etc. Keep in mind that the WTO controls about 97% of all world trade. Member countries must agree to all seventeen covenents. If a country breaks one of the Agreements, the WTO can apply economic sanctions/trade sanctions to that country. In other words, the country basically can be excluded from world trade.
So, for example, India (the world's largest Democracy) once had laws prohibiting the patenting of life forms, seeds, and medicines. Because of WTO action, India had to repeal or drastically modify those laws. Also because of the WTO, all water in some places in India is owned by private companies...and anyone who collects/gathers rainwater or river water is considered a thief.
Because of the sixteen other Agreements of the WTO, various countries have been forced to privatize government services such as water and electrical utilities. In most cases, the cost of those services then went up to as much as 50% more. This is why, as a result of the Bolivia Water War, commoners in that country essentially and eventually kicked out of their land the transnational corporation, Bechtel...they had the public water contract and water fees went up by half.
The Presidents---
Reagan, along with Prime Minister Thatcher of the UK, concocted what became known as the Washington Consensus---a global promotion of Neoliberalism. In many ways, it's the trickle-down theory of economics---make the rich richer and benefits will trickle down to what the Oligarchy calls the "little people", or "small people", or "ignorant, meddlesome outsiders", or "spectators". But that theory seems to have worked well only for the super-rich.
Poppy Bush was simply more of the same. More than once, he spoke of "a New World Order", by which he meant seamless world trade and Big Business as the savior of all of us. He didn't put it quite that way. :)
Clinton probably was the first of the Neoliberal "Democrats". Thanks to him and Gore, NAFTA deceitfully was sold to the American public. A lot of manufacturing and jobs went South...and mostly only Oligarchs were the financial beneficiaries. Their Administration also was largely responsible for getting rid of the Glass-Steagall Act, thus "liberalizing" the Financial Sector...which certainly to some degree made possible the greatest heist in American history---"too big to fail".
Dubya's Adminstration was responsible for the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) which included the USA, Mexico, and Canada...as well as CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. In the minds of the Oligarchs, the SPP was to be the pre-cursor of the North American Union. All of these types of things are either tools of the WTO or supportive of WTO objectives. Bush also was a big backer of deregulation and privatization...great sounding goals, but their implementation often negatively impacts the so-called "little people".
Obama, much more than the others, truly is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's a consummate liar and deceiver. He blatantly promotes the TPP and TAFTA, and all other so-called "Free Trade Agreements"...selling them as the best thing since sliced bread. He poses as some sort of "Leftist", but in reality is a Corporatist of the highest order. He protects Big Business while backing regulatory reforms that either are window dressing or actually favoring his Corporate financial backers. He ran more or less as a Peace candidate, but he's the most war-like President since LBJ (who also ran as a Peace candidate). He's a genuine Neoliberal...and just as bad as Dubya.
Let's be clear. All the above Presidents support (or in Reagan's & Poppy Bush's cases, laid the groundwork for) the WTO. The WTO is a worldwide economic structure run by unelected elites that promotes deregulation of environmental-health-safety laws, deregulation of the financial sector, the loss of worker protections such as unions, the ability of private mega corporations to own natural resources (such as rainwater) that should be available to all, the ability of mega corps. to PATENT life forms, the ability of mega corps. to control the world seed market, the forcing of countries to accept foods with artificial growth hormones, the forcing of countries to accept genetically modified foods, the forcing of countries to accept potentially unsafe children's toys and pet foods, and on & on. That's Neoliberalism. The Fed Gov't (at the highest levels) and the Corporate Media have a different story...and it's a lie.
ALL the above Presidents (who are still alive) fully support and promote Neoliberalism, especially Obama.
Just my opinion...and that of many, many others. The available scholarship on this subject is impeccable. All you have to do is ignore the Propaganda Kool Aid and do a little digging.
[NOTE: In addition to the economic philosophy/policy of Neoliberalism, there also is a political philosophy by the same name. Political Neoliberalism, as you might guess, simply is broader in scope. I don't have the time or energy for that right now.]
Happy Trails
Showing posts with label Socio-economic Classes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socio-economic Classes. Show all posts
Friday, February 7, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
The Failure of the Meritocracy: Twilight of the Elites
Chris Hayes has it exactly right. He's an Editor-at-Large for The Nation, (at least he was in 2012) and has a book out titled, Twilight of the Elites: America after the Meritocracy. What I refer to as the Corporatocracy (from John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man) or the Oligarchy, Mr. Hayes calls the Meritocracy. It's the same kettle of rotting fish.
The word "meritocracy" was coined by a British social critic in the 1950s. It was used in a satirical way to describe how the elites rig the game and make rules in their favor. Basically, the whole thing boils down to this:
1. in the ethereal atmosphere of the elitist world, the most valuable characteristic of Humankind is high intelligence;
2. the most valuable use of that intelligence is deemed to be the making of vast sums of money;
3. other considerations, such as a social conscience, egalitarianism, democracy, compassion, and the like are deemed to be unimportant...or even hindrances.
Though the Brit who coined the term meant it in the vein of 1984, or Animal Farm, or Brave New World (in other words, dystopian societies), elites have (supposedly by mistake) adopted the concept as a model for society. As a result, they have come to view themselves---because most of them are super-intelligent---as a class apart, superior to the Average Jane or Joe in every way. They also have developed a strong sense of solidarity within their Class because they are, in their minds, vastly superior to the "little people". [I was stunned when the International Head of BP, in a national TV news interview, referred to the Gulf residents as the "small people". The man reeked of condescension...and I think, knew it.]
This all has resulted in a situation in which the elites, who are great Institutionalists, wind up protecting the people in the institution (public or private) rather than the people whom the institution serves...the overwhelming majority of any population. Those of us in the lower socio-economic classes are viewed as Insurrectionists, and there is little or no concern for our well-being. Example: the cover-up (or ignoring) of the Sandusky affair at Penn State by the hierarchy of that institution. Example: the opposition to Cesar Chavez when he protested the lack of protection for farmworkers from pesticides, back when pesticides were barely regulated.
Those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder have experienced the negative effects of the Meritocracy for decades and decades. What's different now is that the Upper Middle Class, since about the late 1990s or 2000, also has been experiencing those negative effects...especially economically, but also socially. Wages/salaries have largely stagnated, people have to work longer in order to survive retirement in anything resembling a comfortable fashion, economic "bubbles" often have negatively impacted retirement funds, the National Security State is becoming more and more demanding and intrusive, wealth is being transferred from the Middle Class to the upper one percent at a truly astounding rate, and on & on.
The Sea Change in all this, the thing that has the elites very concerned, is the fact that the Upper Middle Class (and even many of those at the bottom of the ladder) is demonstrating that it will not put up with business-as-usual. Sometimes actively, sometimes passively, they are expressing their extreme displeasure. Faith in institutions of all kinds is in a free-fall decline...and most of those institutions are controlled by elites.
The Meritocracy/Oligarchy knows that something bad for them definitely is in the wind. Because they're mostly short-term-gain thinkers, I predict that in the not-so-distant future we'll have more economic bubbles and more "too big to fail" bailouts, or something even weirder, enabling the upper crust to scam even more billions. Financial "derivatives" may be instrumental in that scenario...again. I hope I'm wrong.
Partly just my opinion.
The word "meritocracy" was coined by a British social critic in the 1950s. It was used in a satirical way to describe how the elites rig the game and make rules in their favor. Basically, the whole thing boils down to this:
1. in the ethereal atmosphere of the elitist world, the most valuable characteristic of Humankind is high intelligence;
2. the most valuable use of that intelligence is deemed to be the making of vast sums of money;
3. other considerations, such as a social conscience, egalitarianism, democracy, compassion, and the like are deemed to be unimportant...or even hindrances.
Though the Brit who coined the term meant it in the vein of 1984, or Animal Farm, or Brave New World (in other words, dystopian societies), elites have (supposedly by mistake) adopted the concept as a model for society. As a result, they have come to view themselves---because most of them are super-intelligent---as a class apart, superior to the Average Jane or Joe in every way. They also have developed a strong sense of solidarity within their Class because they are, in their minds, vastly superior to the "little people". [I was stunned when the International Head of BP, in a national TV news interview, referred to the Gulf residents as the "small people". The man reeked of condescension...and I think, knew it.]
This all has resulted in a situation in which the elites, who are great Institutionalists, wind up protecting the people in the institution (public or private) rather than the people whom the institution serves...the overwhelming majority of any population. Those of us in the lower socio-economic classes are viewed as Insurrectionists, and there is little or no concern for our well-being. Example: the cover-up (or ignoring) of the Sandusky affair at Penn State by the hierarchy of that institution. Example: the opposition to Cesar Chavez when he protested the lack of protection for farmworkers from pesticides, back when pesticides were barely regulated.
Those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder have experienced the negative effects of the Meritocracy for decades and decades. What's different now is that the Upper Middle Class, since about the late 1990s or 2000, also has been experiencing those negative effects...especially economically, but also socially. Wages/salaries have largely stagnated, people have to work longer in order to survive retirement in anything resembling a comfortable fashion, economic "bubbles" often have negatively impacted retirement funds, the National Security State is becoming more and more demanding and intrusive, wealth is being transferred from the Middle Class to the upper one percent at a truly astounding rate, and on & on.
The Sea Change in all this, the thing that has the elites very concerned, is the fact that the Upper Middle Class (and even many of those at the bottom of the ladder) is demonstrating that it will not put up with business-as-usual. Sometimes actively, sometimes passively, they are expressing their extreme displeasure. Faith in institutions of all kinds is in a free-fall decline...and most of those institutions are controlled by elites.
The Meritocracy/Oligarchy knows that something bad for them definitely is in the wind. Because they're mostly short-term-gain thinkers, I predict that in the not-so-distant future we'll have more economic bubbles and more "too big to fail" bailouts, or something even weirder, enabling the upper crust to scam even more billions. Financial "derivatives" may be instrumental in that scenario...again. I hope I'm wrong.
Partly just my opinion.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Class War, Propaganda, and Debt
Not long ago Warren Buffett stated, "We're in a class war in this country, and unfortunately, my class is winning." He couldn't be more correct.
We don't like to think in terms of socio-economic "classes" in the US. We prefer to believe that, even though we use terms such as "lower class" and "upper class", somehow those do not apply to us as individuals. We like to believe that our family is in the "middle class", and that so, too, are about 98% of all Americans. We've heard that the so-called middle class is disappearing, but we don't believe it. We really are deluded.
When representatives of the Fed Government tell us (via the Mega Corporate Media) that the recent Great Recession officially ended last year, what they mean is that it ended for the upper class. The disappearing middle class and the lower class are still in a recession, and will be for quite awhile. There is no such thing as a nearly jobless economic recovery, regardless of the propaganda from the Government. When the stock market is doing well, the rich are doing well. The primary way in which the rest of us do well is via decent-paying, somewhat secure jobs.
There is a myth in this country that the overwhelming majority of Americans are involved in the stock market. Undoubtedly many are, especially through pension fund investments; but overall, the involvement for most of us is not to any significant degree. I've seen a number of sources that state: only about 25% of working adults are involved significantly with stocks; but for only the upper class, the number virtually is 100%. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the Mega Corporate Media place undue importance on the stock market when it comes to our economy. Two-thirds of our economy is driven by consumer spending, not by the stock market.
More and more, it's becoming blatantly apparent to the average person that the stock market basically is a racket. For example, high frequency traders who use high powered computers to buy and sell in less than a minute have a huge advantage over regular traders, and may be privy to inside information. They were the cause of the market dropping about 600 points in a flash not long ago. Furthermore, the SEC does not have the capability to keep up with these types of operations. Then, too, there is the whole business of trading derivatives that makes the entire system shaky. [There are about $600 trillion of derivatives out there currently.] Derivatives essentially are worthless, they have no intrinsic value, unless you are an insider.
The mega banks are making debt slaves of us all, and the Fed Government is helping them. Recent claims by national politicians that the latest financial regulatory laws are good for consumers but not for banks or Wall Street are pure, unadulterated propaganda. The recent financial reform, including credit card reform, is nothing but window dressing. [If someone misses a payment, banks still can charge as much as 70% interest from then on; there was a time when that was called usury, and it was illegal.] The mega banks loved the reform, mostly because it failed to address any significant issues. For the most part, it's business as usual for the banks and Wall Street.
Because mid-term elections rapidly are approaching, national politicians now are claiming that they're concerned about deficits and the national debt. Those claims either are lies or propaganda, or both. History suggests that's so. As soon as the elections are over, it will be business as usual. To think otherwise is to be politically naive.
Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. all raided the SS Trust Fund in order to get enough money just to pay the interest on the national debt. I'm fairly certain that Obama, as well, will take his turn. [A small portion of the billions taken was returned to the Fund.] Most of those interest payments go to central banks worldwide. This is not a partisan issue. The Republicans and Democrats are factions of the Transnational Mega Corporation Party (the TMCP), the only major political party in the US. Mega banks are an important part of the TMCP. Obviously, I'm inventing/ coining the name, TMCP; nevertheless, the entity exists, by whatever name or no name. As FDR once said, "In this country, Presidents are selected, not elected." Woodrow Wilson, late in his final term, opined that he feared he had ruined the country by signing into law the Federal Reserve Act. He was right. The Fed Reserve has our government borrow its own money and pay interest to the Fed Reserve Bank, "...a privately owned corporation, and not a federal instrumentality...", according to a 1984 Fed Court decision.
The upper crust of mega banks and other mega corporations, not politicians, rule this land. The politicians are puppets. Those few who are not puppets quickly are marginalized and ostracized by the "mega corporate club", so to speak. This all is so blatantly obvious that it's embarrassing. I love this country, but our central government is a farce. Those who think not are, in my opinion, victims of incessant propaganda.
So, what's to be done? There are many options available to us, but frankly, I don't know which one would be effective. Then there's the question of practicality. My observations over the past fifty years suggest that Americans aren't willing to risk much to bring about political change that matters. That's why several options are not very practical. It would seem to me that at the very least, we should retire about 99% of the incumbents in next month's election...and that applies to both factions of the TMCP. Unfortunately, due to propaganda from the Establishment, I suspect even that won't happen.
We don't like to think in terms of socio-economic "classes" in the US. We prefer to believe that, even though we use terms such as "lower class" and "upper class", somehow those do not apply to us as individuals. We like to believe that our family is in the "middle class", and that so, too, are about 98% of all Americans. We've heard that the so-called middle class is disappearing, but we don't believe it. We really are deluded.
When representatives of the Fed Government tell us (via the Mega Corporate Media) that the recent Great Recession officially ended last year, what they mean is that it ended for the upper class. The disappearing middle class and the lower class are still in a recession, and will be for quite awhile. There is no such thing as a nearly jobless economic recovery, regardless of the propaganda from the Government. When the stock market is doing well, the rich are doing well. The primary way in which the rest of us do well is via decent-paying, somewhat secure jobs.
There is a myth in this country that the overwhelming majority of Americans are involved in the stock market. Undoubtedly many are, especially through pension fund investments; but overall, the involvement for most of us is not to any significant degree. I've seen a number of sources that state: only about 25% of working adults are involved significantly with stocks; but for only the upper class, the number virtually is 100%. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the Mega Corporate Media place undue importance on the stock market when it comes to our economy. Two-thirds of our economy is driven by consumer spending, not by the stock market.
More and more, it's becoming blatantly apparent to the average person that the stock market basically is a racket. For example, high frequency traders who use high powered computers to buy and sell in less than a minute have a huge advantage over regular traders, and may be privy to inside information. They were the cause of the market dropping about 600 points in a flash not long ago. Furthermore, the SEC does not have the capability to keep up with these types of operations. Then, too, there is the whole business of trading derivatives that makes the entire system shaky. [There are about $600 trillion of derivatives out there currently.] Derivatives essentially are worthless, they have no intrinsic value, unless you are an insider.
The mega banks are making debt slaves of us all, and the Fed Government is helping them. Recent claims by national politicians that the latest financial regulatory laws are good for consumers but not for banks or Wall Street are pure, unadulterated propaganda. The recent financial reform, including credit card reform, is nothing but window dressing. [If someone misses a payment, banks still can charge as much as 70% interest from then on; there was a time when that was called usury, and it was illegal.] The mega banks loved the reform, mostly because it failed to address any significant issues. For the most part, it's business as usual for the banks and Wall Street.
Because mid-term elections rapidly are approaching, national politicians now are claiming that they're concerned about deficits and the national debt. Those claims either are lies or propaganda, or both. History suggests that's so. As soon as the elections are over, it will be business as usual. To think otherwise is to be politically naive.
Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. all raided the SS Trust Fund in order to get enough money just to pay the interest on the national debt. I'm fairly certain that Obama, as well, will take his turn. [A small portion of the billions taken was returned to the Fund.] Most of those interest payments go to central banks worldwide. This is not a partisan issue. The Republicans and Democrats are factions of the Transnational Mega Corporation Party (the TMCP), the only major political party in the US. Mega banks are an important part of the TMCP. Obviously, I'm inventing/ coining the name, TMCP; nevertheless, the entity exists, by whatever name or no name. As FDR once said, "In this country, Presidents are selected, not elected." Woodrow Wilson, late in his final term, opined that he feared he had ruined the country by signing into law the Federal Reserve Act. He was right. The Fed Reserve has our government borrow its own money and pay interest to the Fed Reserve Bank, "...a privately owned corporation, and not a federal instrumentality...", according to a 1984 Fed Court decision.
The upper crust of mega banks and other mega corporations, not politicians, rule this land. The politicians are puppets. Those few who are not puppets quickly are marginalized and ostracized by the "mega corporate club", so to speak. This all is so blatantly obvious that it's embarrassing. I love this country, but our central government is a farce. Those who think not are, in my opinion, victims of incessant propaganda.
So, what's to be done? There are many options available to us, but frankly, I don't know which one would be effective. Then there's the question of practicality. My observations over the past fifty years suggest that Americans aren't willing to risk much to bring about political change that matters. That's why several options are not very practical. It would seem to me that at the very least, we should retire about 99% of the incumbents in next month's election...and that applies to both factions of the TMCP. Unfortunately, due to propaganda from the Establishment, I suspect even that won't happen.
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