Debt Rattle Apr 25 2014: Is America Preparing For The Wrong War?
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Roger Sturtevant Auburn, Placer County, California March 27, 1934 Arseniy Yatsenyuk, PM in name only of certain parts of what was once Ukraine, today
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle Apr 25 2014: Is America Preparing For The Wrong War?]Ilara,
A perspective post, and amazing links, as usual. The resurgence of neocon Cold Warmongers is startling. As with the financial industry in 2008, not prosecuting them established an impunity that we will continue to pay dearly for. One of the tricks from their Total Information Dominance playbook seems to be to accuse their opponents, targets or victims of what they themselves are doing or plotting. To appropriate the accusation in advance. So the bit of ventriloquism over World War III would be particularly alarming in that context, and given the degree of crazy in the power formations around Washington.Michael Hudson on Piketty: “Rich people in America don’t earn income, they make capital gains and capital gains are not in everybody’s income statistics, they’re not in the statistics basically that are reported. And the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, only conducts a study of capital gains once every ten years or so, and countries like England and many European countries don’t even have a tax on capital gains, so they’re not going to appear in the statistics. […] One of the things that Piketty does not discuss when it comes to making fortunes is the role of debt, that most of these fortunes that have taken off since 1980 have taken off because of the increased debt leverage. As interest rates have fallen since 1980, you’ve had more and more bank credit going in to just bid up real estate prices, stock prices, bond prices, every kind of price, not to mention fine arts trophies that have gone with this.”
He says Piketty’s book is a good start. Good read.
He lambastes Krugman: “The simple answer is that Krugman is a neoclassical economist. Neoclassical means anti-classical. He does not recognise that there is such a thing as economic rent. He also got in a big argument with your Australian Steve Keen two years ago saying that banks don’t create credit. “All banks do,” Krugman said, “is lend out savings.” He said it’s inconceivable that a bank can actually create credit or inflate asset prices.
So Krugman is applauded by the right-wing to be their liberal of choice not because he understands the economy, but because he doesn’t understand the economy. If he understood how the economy worked he wouldn’t have won the Nobel Price, because that’s a prize for people pretending that there’s no such thing as economic rent; there’s no such thing as unearned income. And that’s why Krugman’s focus is on, well, the real problem is that these managers of companies are paid so much more and they earn so much more income. But he’s even wrong as to his statistics and, remember, he’s a professional bank lobbyist. He’s paid by the banks.”
Yikes!
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/04/piketty-wealth-gap-wakeup.html#comment-2037766
The neo cons are self appointed Grand Global Strategic Thinkers who hate government but love The Nation. The Nation, a grand abstraction that has nothing to do with people, ordinary citizens. Neo Cons hate anything that smacks of the collective then spend their lives trying to figure out how to advance the collective thing called America, The Nation.
While corporations are becoming the primary human organizational model, in the West anyway, and governments are falling all over themselves to grant large corporations virtual sovereignty, there is a catch. Corporations don’t care about The Nation. So the seamless transfer of sovereignty hits a snag when the powerful forces intent on ‘protecting’ The Nation and expanding its power enter the picture. The power and money in the Capitals don’t want to cede all to corporations. Spooks and military men and Secretaries and under Secretaries of this and that are fighting a bigger war, for The Nation, and corporations are simply not up to the job.
Laying in the wings all these years the grand protectors of the nation are chomping at the bit to retake the initiative. Obviously starting a near hot war or worse over Syria or Ukraine and threatening energy supplies and balance an is about the stupidest economic plan extant. Throw in financial currency wars to the ugly mix. CEO’s have no means, no voice, no language even to discourage such however, or so it seems. They want to be patriotic, as much as their job allows after all.
The hand off of power from governments to corporations is always destined to meet a roadblock in the Grand Global Strategic Thinkers. Who think, somehow, they are actually working for the good of corporations and even more absurdly ‘the people’.
I won’t be surprised if someday the great monetary/credit bubble and neo liberal dream of growth dies or dislocates because of war. Of course then the bankers can avoid the blame. It sure would be better to blame Putin after all.
Humm, where is the “War Parties’ ” bread most buttered?
https://www.statemaster.com/graph/mil_def_con_exp-military-defense-contracts-expenditures
Neocon Neolib, who’s sitting on the various Senate and House defense, banking and appropriations committees?
Red/blue paradigm? Or follow the money and power?
At this point, war is in the best interest of the Worlds ever more exposed political Ruling Elite. Has anything really changed in that regard, other than said exposure? Think scorched earth.
Though destruction of living standards is generally caused by .gov through it’s function as protection racketeer and keeper of the currency, war is a plausible excuse for the suffering brought on by it’s corruption. A grand diversion.
In light of this thought, Inflation/deflation worries are moot. Survival is becoming more the focus of concern. These crazies all have cushy bunkers to run to, and many of these narcissists quite possibly believe they could survive a nuclear holocaust.
But, I can’t imagine sitting down to dinner in that hole with Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McCain every night for 20 years, as they wait for the surface to cool.
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