Sunday, July 22, 2012

Randy Wray — Why We’re Screwed


We are so screwed. These people did not act out of ignorance but greed, and they are winning. Randy lays out the gory details and explains why. It's the F-word. Fraud. And it leads to feudalism.

Randy nails it:
...they are not planning and conspiring for the restoration of feudalism. Still, that is the default scenario—the outcome that will emerge in the absence of action.
 In the second, the 99% occupy, shut down, and obliterate Wall Street. Honestly, I have no idea how that can happen. I am waiting for suggestions.
Read it at Economonitor | Great Leap Forward
Why We’re Screwed
by L. Randall Wray

27 comments:

STF said...

Hope "Hugh" reads this.

JK said...

How bad do things have to get before people turn off The Bachelorette and ESPN, and get angry? … or at least interested?

I'm thinking when food and energy prices become burdensome to the 'middle class'… cause really, who cares about the poor?

It's a amazing racket: while the masses stare at the TV hypnotized by mindless entertainment, the financial sector slides a knife through the couch cushion and and into our back. And we barely even notice. It must be an itch… something mildly irritating, but nothing to be concerned about cause Brandon Marshall is back with Jay Cutler now as a Chicago Bear and Emily got rid of Sean, which only leaves Jef and Arie.. which one will she choose? I'm so excited!!! (spoiler: it's Jef!!!!)

If only the aliens would quit hiding and give us their zero-point energy… that'd be a real game changer.

Anonymous said...

Already turned off!

Ralph Musgrave said...

The amount stashed away in tax havens is more than the GDP of the US and Japan combined. See:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/07/22/tax-havens.html

Carlos said...

I have a whole bunch of ideas for Randy......Nationalization of the banks, universal healthcare, a central provident fund, land value tax, mutualisation of insurance etc etc. All good, all known to work.

I suppose he is asking for ideas that can be worked within the existing political framework. In which case we are screwed.

Tom Hickey said...

Andrew, RW is not asking for economic solutions. They are pretty obvious. That's the easy part

The hard part is legal and political — obliterate the Street and City. The first step is sending the perps to jail, and the second is clawing what they stole back from their grubby hands.

Then, the political process needs to be thoroughly overhauled to prevent state capture, de facto coup d'etat, and establishment of extraordinary privilege.

The next step is deconstructing the empire back into a republic and then turning the republic into a true democracy.

Carlos said...

In that case all we need is for a hundred million Americans to have an experience like Saul had on the way to Damascus.

JK said...

Tom,

Any ideas from the 60's and Vietnam? Was mass political pressure as widespread as its talked about these days? Was it organized, or just widespread?

Certainly today's generations have a much greater ability to connect, and therefore organize, over long distances.

The most important question is what I hinted at above: what's it going to take to get people interested… enough to substitue some of their free time toward it, and turn off the TV?

Clonal said...

JK,

There is a big difference between connecting electronically, vs a physical connection. You need a physical connection before you will go out on a limb for a group.

This was one of the reasons why #occupy had to be a physical presence, and why the PTB had to prevent that physical presence.

There is power in a physical presence, even if it is viewed by the elite as the presence of "Rabble"

Clonal said...

For the power of the "Rabble" see "The Battle at Kruger" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Tom Hickey said...

Andrew :In that case all we need is for a hundred million Americans to have an experience like Saul had on the way to Damascus.:

Don't rule anything out. This is sor of what historical "spiritual awakenings" are about, and Strauss & Howe see the US poised for another historical spiritual awakening around now.

Tom Hickey said...

Any ideas from the 60's and Vietnam? Was mass political pressure as widespread as its talked about these days? Was it organized, or just widespread?"

At the height, there were millions of people in the street around the US and hundreds of thousands in DC. I was in DC, tear gas and all.

TPTB learned a lesson from that and they are now much more firmly on control, having effectively militarized both the globe and the "homeland." The US is now a police state complete with highly developed intelligence service and secret police.

The only way to overcome this is with extensive social breakdown that puts a large section of the population up against the wall.

That is in the process of happening within the vise of global warming and neoliberalism.

Tom Hickey said...

Yeah, that's a great vid, Clonal. Saw it some time ago.

mike norman said...

There is absolutely nothing that the 99% can do with the exception of finding someplace in the world relatively isolated from this tyranny and I don't know if that place exists. (Surely, anyone who has found it is not telling).

The entire, global, law enforcement apparatus is controlled by the elites; the very same folks who are bringing this shit down on us for their own enrichment.

From the cop on the street all the way up to the judges and the military, they comprise the private army of the rich and powerful. Just ask Bloomberg. He even called the NYPD his own army.

Jonf said...

Mike, I think you are right here. The occupy people have little chance of affecting any real change. We are literally between a rock and very hard place. Our political parties are merely arms of the plutocrats who run the country for their own benefit. Shit!

ggm said...

Mike, if you read a fair amount of the material released through Wikileaks, you will quickly realize that no such place exists. Our government has its tentacles buried deep inside every foreign office, agency and politburo.

Jim said...

Blogger Jonf said...

Mike, I think you are right here. The occupy people have little chance of affecting any real change. We are literally between a rock and very hard place. Our political parties are merely arms of the plutocrats who run the country for their own benefit. Shit!

July 23, 2012 3:31 PM
Anonymous ggm said...

Mike, if you read a fair amount of the material released through Wikileaks, you will quickly realize that no such place exists. Our government has its tentacles buried deep inside every foreign office, agency and politburo.

===================
True, but some countries are much less important than others, and their governments are too poor to do much interfering. You just have to be able to do without Starbucks--most Americans are too soft and comfortable. It's like the fat rabbits in "Watership Down," a good, if partial, view of the fix the West is in.

Anonymous said...

Then, the political process needs to be thoroughly overhauled to prevent state capture, de facto coup d'etat, and establishment of extraordinary privilege.

======================
What nonsense! "To prevent state capture." Typical of senile Americans. You dolt!
Your country has been captured! Don't you get it yet, or are you too afraid to face it? It was captured on Sept. 11, and the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Acts cemented everything into place. It was virtually captured by the Wall St. under Clinton. But few see effects in causes. So, to paraphrase slightly the White Rabbit: you're late, you're late, for a very important date.


As for the democracy you dream of, more foolish illusions. A country of hundreds of millions, extremely heterogeneous, living in extraordinarily complex and technologically intricate urban agglomerations cannot be a democracy--assuming such a thing were even desirable (another stupid illusion). Even Franklin said, "a republic, if you can keep it." He had least had a brain.

Tom Hickey said...

"You just have to be able to do without Starbucks--most Americans are too soft and comfortable."

In most countries that I would consider, Starbucks would get people ROFL. Most Americans have lost touch with what quality of life means and associate it with bling. Europeans, not so much.

Do a search on expatriate havens, and retirement havens. There's something out there for everyone. But don't expect someone to hold your hand. Life is for the adventurous.

But no need too go outside of the US. There is a large underground here, and it is not homogenous.

It's pretty easy to get with your own kind, that is, if you have a strong center and know who you are.

Tom Hickey said...

What nonsense! "To prevent state capture." Typical of senile Americans. You dolt!
Your country has been captured! Don't you get it yet, or are you too afraid to face it? It was captured on Sept. 11, and the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Acts cemented everything into place. It was virtually captured by the Wall St. under Clinton


Uh, that's actually the point I was making. Apparently it did not get through.

State capture by privilege began in the political jockeying that led up to the Constitutional Convention that drafted the US Constitution. Serious experts in constitutional law are now saying that we need a re-do.

See, for example, Jack Balkin, Constitutional Redemption/Constitutional Faith

Mark Graber, The Missing Constitution

Our Imbecilic Constitution by Sanford Levinson

Anonymous said...

Re: In most countries that I would consider..."In most countries that I would consider."

Interesting, Tom. Would you mind saying which those countries are?"

The States does have its enclaves, but I'm not sure how viable in the medium to long run.

Anonymous said...

Re: In most countries that I would consider..."In most countries that I would consider."

Interesting, Tom. Would you mind saying which those countries are?"

The States does have its enclaves, but I'm not sure how viable in the medium to long run.

Tom Hickey said...

Really depends on one's network, Anonymous. I have friends that have researched this, make choices, and established roots, or married into the area, They are people with whom I share values, so if I would decide to leave here, I'd travel around a bit visiting friends and see what opened up for me. But in general, the criteria are temperate climate, natural beauty, compatible lifestyle, and favorable exchange rate on one hand, and on the other, safety, access to medical services, infrastructure including Internet, and no hassles. Language can also be a consideration in choice. That limits the choice to either English-speaking countries or large expat communities.

I have friends that have settled in Central and South America, India, Singapore, Thailand, and New Zealand. I think that the most promising places at the moment are in Central and South America at higher elevations.

Anonymous said...

@Tom

Thanks for that, Tom!

Tom Hickey said...

Ecuador is the buzz right now.

Major_Freedom said...

The onset of violence backed monopolies of protection and security are ipso facto "regulatory captures".

Austin-Lehman Adventures said...

Great video, yes this is very frustrating indeed. @ Tom, I have lived in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Both are great Expat communities now. English is heavily accepted in most parts of Costa Rica. -daniella