A few commenters, myself included, have suggested that the American economy is such that protests -- perhaps violent protests -- can't be long in coming. We're not the only ones:
Lessons from London. Profs. Richard Sennett & Saskia Sassen, in a New York Times op-ed: "The American right today is obsessed with cutting government spending. In many ways, [British PM David] Cameron’s austerity program is the Tea Party’s dream come true. But Britain is now grappling with the consequences of those cuts, which have led to the neglect and exclusion of many vulnerable, disaffected young people who are acting out violently and irresponsibly — driven by rage rather than an explicit political agenda.... The two countries today are alike in their extremes of inequality, and in the desire of many politicians to solve economic and social ills by reducing the power of the state."
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9 comments:
MY comment is on the use of military contractors in Somalia:
When Bush exited the White House I had this naive belief that there would be a new era of transparency in the use of contractors. If anything it seems to be worse than ever as President Obama appears to ratchet up the imperial presidency. What sleazy tactics. So, we can say we are not at war with these countries because we rely on drones and mercenaries? I'm sure if you are on the other side of the gun it most definitely feels like war to you. Revoke his Nobel peace prize.
@ Kat. I share your concerns -- both the doing and the opacity of it. On the other hand, these mercenaries, along with U.S. drone attacks, did drive the militant Shabab out of Mogadishu. (As far as I can tell, the Shabab still control the famine-struck areas of central & south Somalia.)
Congress approves the funds for these contractors & drones, so in that sense, it has nominal oversight.
While it does seem the U.S. is engaging in this kind of covert war more & more, this is hardly a new tactic. Arguably, it's how we got into Vietnam & Afghanistan & why Cuba became a communist dictatorship, to name a few of our misadventures abroad.
The NYT article to which Kat refers is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/world/africa/11somalia.html?pagewanted=all
@ Marie,
You are correct in that this is nothing new although I would like to note that I was thinking of Libya and Yemen too. I do think outsourcing all sorts of military operations to contractors has grown quite a bit in the years since Vietnam-- probably really took off under Rummy's watch.
Also, I want to make a special note of Jay Schiavone's highlighted comment on the article. I hope people get the satire. It's pretty funny (if only it weren't so close to the truth...)
Schiavone's comment is here (#49, 2nd one):
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/world/africa/11somalia.html?sort=highlights
He's got a point. Finally a jobs program even Republicans will like. They already label every Democratic proposal, including resolutions to honor Mothers Day, a "jobs-killing" bill. Now they can embrace a Killing Jobs bill.
Actually, I meant "if only it weren't so close to REALITY..."
For a host of reasons, ours will be remembered as a particularly ignominious era in the Western world. But the overarching shame derives from behavior akin to that of the entitled, depraved scion of a enormously privileged family: all the benefits of wealth and education, squandered in the service of arrogance, cupidity, and stupidity.
Today, in the United States and elsewhere, in what purport to be the most advanced civilizations in the history of the world, our leaders know what needs to be done, and they have the tools and resources to save us all. They know we have the wealth base to generate revenue; they know people need jobs to start spending money again, and drive the economy; they know the private sector has no intention of creating jobs in service of a larger good, to preserve the middle class and protect of democracy, when they can fill their coffers by forcing the few to do more; they know that the only way to create jobs, is for the government to spend in a Keynesian/Macro model. But driven by greed and ego, they engage in worst kind of cognitive pathology, where, as John Berger wrote, "knowledge is used to deny knowledge."
There is only so much cognitive dissonance the human brain can take. Keynesian methodologies got this country out of the Great Depression. Conservatives can crow all they want about how it was World War II, but that's a distinction without a difference: government spending is government spending, and we don't need a war to do it. There are now, as there were then, all manner of infrastructure/human service needs that can be addressed, which serve all of our citizens in a fair, meaningful, productive, humanitarian way.
Keynes was right; Milton Friedman was wrong. Fifty-years of supply-side-trickle-down has not worked. And let's be clear: the policies of Ronald Reagan, that great champion of supply-side, were nothing if not Keynesian. Government spending and debt exploded under Reagan; he just implemented it on the backs of the have-nots and have-less, for the benefit of his wealthy, whining, grasping constituency.
Too many people are angry, struggling and desperate. As we are seeing so clearly in England, pathology of one kind -- and greed is indeed a sickness -- only serves to breed pathology of another. We have to confront all of it. As Keynes argued, governments need to act to solve problems, not wait for the magical fiction of free market forces, because "in the long run, we are all dead."
Right Wing World, where hypocrisy is a virtue
A question that never gets asked in our corporate media…how has Rupert Murdoch been able to exert such enormous influence over the British government, Washington politicians, and Australia’s political hierarchy?
Mark Karlin at Truthout says, “Watching ‘Orwell Rolls in His Grave,’ it becomes increasingly clear that we can't see the forest through the trees, because with the consolidation of for-profit corporate media, the forest of information is pretty much owned by just a few companies. And those companies not only frequently create ‘facts’ to enhance profits, but also create the frame through which public policy is debated to meet their business goals.”
http://www.truth-out.org/can-corporate-media-turn-lies-truth/1311705270
“Orwell Rolls in His Grave” is a documentary about the harm done by corporate media consolidation and a testament to how relevant George Orwell's book on totalitarianism – 1984 - is today.
Karlin’s interview with Robert Kane Pappas, the director and narrator of Orwell Rolls, is a must read.
A shoutout to our tireless troubadour of tenacity; The Constant Weader!!
Marie you are awesome!
Great comment, Pubby!
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