Note: The endnote sources are important to review. They
provide the needed context for this essay.
Network - Money
speech (1976)
link =
http://youtu.be/zI5hrcwU7Dk
Another day, another
"crisis" diverted...and created. Politicians and media both promote
the art of illusion (idealism) over reality. But for good reason...to maintain
hegemonic power. Public Enemy said it best: "Don't believe the hype."
...as always. The
"narrowly avoided crisis" had the same winner as most other
"shock doctrine" created crises: corporations. The corporatization of
society basically guarantees that all decisions politicians make, and all
crises created and/or averted will be to the benefit of big business. For those that
understand this reality, this "crisis" was never real. In a
globalized economy where corporate capitalism rules the day, the question that
one must always keep in mind = "What benefits multinational
corporations?"
For that reason,
don't expect too much turmoil from the next "crisis"…i.e. the debt
ceiling debate. Yes, it is true that the Republican party is now split between
those that really hate government and want to leave everyone to their own
demise (in the libertarian, Ayn Rand vein where even disaster relief is frowned
upon), and the corporate shills that answer to Wall Street (think corporate
welfare, loop holes, tax breaks etc). But when you include the other side of
the political aisle (bought Democrats), advantage tips to Wall Street and big
donors will be taken care of first and foremost. The façade has already started
to fade as recent reports indicate Republicans will increase the debt ceiling
and not use it as leverage in budget negotiations.[6] So,
what we get and should expect from business (i.e. our government) is business…as
usual.
The Loser of the Fiscal
Cliff "Crisis" = The In-Debt Public (99%)[7]
16 trillion and
growing. The U.S. debt basically is a function of public money being
transferred to private entities (corporations), but what we are being told
(sold) is that government programs we support through OUR tax dollars are no
longer sustainable (remember, there are no government resources, there is only
OUR resources we give to so called governments to distribute). In this
narrative, they leave out the reason these programs are becoming unsustainable:
governments supposedly representing the people have siphoned OUR resources, out
of the hands of the MANY to give to the FEW...in 2008 it was specifically bailing out the financial sector (socialism for the rich; i.e. privatizing profits, socializing losses)...but to better label this
process, think PRIVATIZATION, the ultimate goal of corporate capitalism.
In a perfect world
for corporate capitalists, institutions and systems where profit can be gained
will no longer be publically funded AT ALL (education, defense, healthcare,
criminal justice, etc.) ...This process started long ago (Blackwater, private
prisons, HMOs, for-profit schools) but complete corporate privatization is the
ultimate goal. Small business, mom and pop stores, and true ''free market"
capitalism is so 1950s. Globalization and multinational corporations ended that
form of capitalism a long time ago. Public education (from K-12 to affordable
public universities) is now the target of privatization, from charter schools
to expensive $1000 per unit for-profit "universities" popping up all
over. And with the debt "crisis" debate, pension and entitlement programs
that we pay into like Social Security and Medicare will be put on the table in
the name of "debt reduction" which really is just a move to solidify
a society where everything is privately owned...by corporations. As bleak as
the economic future looks under these present circumstances, the future can
always be re-written by the actions we take in the present.
The Silver Lining(s):
1. As long as humans
breathe, humanity exists
While it often takes
a tragedy or natural disaster to see the true depths of people's compassion for
others, it never fails to be revealed. From the many around the globe that see
themselves as their brothers' keepers, to the raw politics of disaster relief, or gun control after a mass shooting tragedy, opportunities arise to promote
humanism. We must continue to seize our power. #Occupy provides a model.
2. Checks &
Balances 2.0
Checks and balances were
supposedly built in to the branches of government, but with all branches
now corporate bought, checks and balances within government have become null and
void. But checks and balances exist in other forms to fill the void.
Anonymous
Whether you believe
Anonymous to be an organized group or an obscure idea, the possibilities of
technology as a tool to fight hegemonic power are as limitless as cyberspace.
Anonymous provides the technological strategy in this battle for freedom.
China, a new global
power
While the U.S.
becomes weaker as a nation state by its own embrace of financialization
(bailing out banks and selling out American workers), China makes moves to solidify
its economic power, by working its way into Africa and South America for
natural resources and being the world’s largest creditor nation.[8]
3. Dialectical
Materialism[9]
"The ideal is nothing else than the
material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of
thought." —Karl Marx, Das Kapital, Vol. 1.
Despite framing to
the contrary, Marx was right. It is no surprise that the biggest proponents of
the corporatization of society and privatization find it necessary to malign
Karl Marx and his work whenever possible. Think about it, unless you are in a
social science course in academia, who else spends more
time discussing Marx? The average person just living and working and raising
a family probably spends little time contemplating his ideas...unless they watch Fox news or listen
to conservative radio and absorb that side's anti-communism talking points.
For a theorist of a day long gone, he still strokes many fears....why is that?
Because he understood the illusion of capitalism and many other “ideas” that
are represented as independent of the material world from which they derived.
Capitalism and
Idealism
Such an
approach means accepting, or at least leaving open the possibility, that the
material world we live in is ultimately shaped by forces from outside it, and
that consciousness or ideas come first, in the sense that they can exist
independently of the real world. This approach, which is the philosophical
opposite of materialism, we call 'idealism'.
According
to this approach, the development of mankind and of society - of art, science,
etc. - is dictated not by material processes but by the development of ideas,
by the perfection or degeneration of human thought. And it is no accident that
this general approach, whether spoken or unspoken, pervades all the
philosophies of capitalism (Dialectical Materialism).
Although Romney was
dismissed and ridiculed for the statement, Romney revealed a real truth when he
said the following: "Corporations are people, my friend."
The reason that is
not believed is because corporations have PURPOSELY been mystified, and outside
of the CEOs and shareholders, the people that actually make them possible have
PURPOSELY been alienated. Much of the wealth in the globalized economy comes
from consumer capitalism.
Case Study: Walmart
1. Fact #1: Walmart
is richer than most nation states in the world.
2. Fact #2: Six
Waltons (family members of Walmart dynasty) have more wealth than millions of
Americans combined (49 million families) ...and when looked at globally, the
inequality in wealth becomes even more pronounced.
3. Fact #3 Walmart
can't exist without 1) the labor of those that manufacture the goods, 2) the
labor of the workers that sell the goods in their stores worldwide, and 3) the
consumers that buy the goods in their stores worldwide. In other words, without
the people that work for and buy from Walmart, there is no Walmart and Facts #1
and #2 cease to exist.
Capitalism is nothing
more than an idea where few benefit from the labor and consumerism of the many...and
from goods we already make and use for ourselves. It basically comes down to
understanding who are the REAL makers and who are the REAL takers. As Marx
understood, as soon as the many understand this reality, capitalism as we
have created and allowed to exist ...will end. Our material reality is
constantly changing, and with it, our understanding of it. Yes, another world
is possible…but more than that…it is inevitable.[10]
Never forget...we
blame society...but we are society.
Essays to revisit:
1. Rise Up Hip Hop
Nation: 2012: A Year of Reckoning, Awakening, or Both?
2.The Burden and Freedom of Reality
3. Dis'United States of
America: The Red, White, Blue...and above all Green
[1]
Financialization –
Summary; link = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financialization
[2]
Financial Capitalism
v. Industrial Capitalism (September 1998)
[3]
America’s Deceptive 2012
Fiscal Cliff (December 2012); Link = http://michael-hudson.com/2012/12/americas-deceptive-2012-fiscal-cliff/
[4]
The Finance Industry
Has Pried into Every Sector of the Economy, and Has Ended Up Running the Whole
Show
[5]
Bernie Sanders says
six bank companies have assets equaling 60 percent of U.S. GDP
[6]
GOP Moves to
Extend Debt Ceiling; link
= http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324468104578249851529460778.html
[7]
2013 – the stage is
set (January 2013); link = http://michael-hudson.com/2013/01/2013-the-stage-is-set/
[8]
US Black Debt Hole: 'We
want you all bankrupt!'; Link = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P1fihT5B7o
[9]
Dialectical Materialism; link = http://www.marxist.com/pickard-dialectical-materialism.htm
[10]
Reality economics;
Link = http://michael-hudson.com/2012/12/reality-economics/
