Edward S. Herman comes from the Chomsky model of social criticism.
Here he writes a clear and straight forward summation article about the abuses of the Bush administration in relation to the economy, war, and democracy while also pointing out the vast spineless activity of the Democrats who are all to willing to bend to the will of Republicans.
Znet: Bailouts & Sellouts
In the case of the financial crisis and bailout, it is remarkable how much money can be mobilized very quickly to rush to the aid of the big boys—at the expense of the taxpayer—in contrast with the invariable struggle and pain to provide relatively small sums for the benefit of ordinary citizens and even more struggle and elite anger to provide resources for the disposables and poor.
One must also be struck by the fact that management of the (economic) crisis was left in the hands of people who urged policies that led to the unfortunate result, and failed to see it even as it gathered steam.
The notion that this is "Bush socialism" is nonsensical, on a par with making Bush a socialist in paying out taxpayer money to Halliburton and Blackwater for their work in Iraq. The Bush cabal has been throwing vast sums into private hands via war contracting and privatization for years. This is looting, not socialism.
The media don't press the Republicans toward bipartisanship and pragmatism, only the Democrats, and the Democrats oblige. They have voted to fund the looting of taxpayers (and Iraqis) throughout the invasion-occupation of Iraq.
Of course, Pelosi going after the Bush-Cheney cabal for violation of the Geneva Agreements would have run into the problem that while on the House Intelligence Committee she was told about the use of water-boarding in 2002 and did not object. Prosecution of Bush and Cheney for such legal violations would have been awkward not only on water-boarding, but based on Democratic votes on war funding, the PATRIOT Act, and the Military Commissions Act. Illegal war, constitution busting, and torture have been bipartisan.
We seem to be entering another era of Democratic "moves to the center" and, instead of "creating a new reality," adjustment to the existing reality of power.
3 comments:
Paulson's 3 page give me the $$ or else was something I will never forget. The raw nerve and the scary fear that drove that demand was astounding but in retrospect totally in character for these vandals. No shame not even any explanation just fucking give us the money or else we fucking shoot this puppy in the head. Smash and grab pirates. The mentality of bank robbers who knew their time was up and if they didn't take it all now it wasn't going to happen on their watch. But, even more astounding was how quickly the pols in Congress folded their hand and just wrote them a check on our account. They didn't even bother to to see where these bastards were going to deposit it! Obama was right at the head of the class don't ever forget that. Now, it's like pulling teeth to get anything from these guys. Their BIG campaign contributors are taken care ( the banks, Ins. comps. etc et al.) of and it's obvious most of them could care less about everyone else.
Sometimes it seems like the higher up the food chain one goes, particularly in a market capitalist economy, the closer one begins to resemble the very worst petty thug. The two are almost indistinguishable except for costly Ivy League education.
Exactly. It used to be said in merry old England if you were a big enough thief or villain the King gave u a title to fit the crime. I think the modern phrase is something like at the bottom of every great fortune is a crime.
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