Kevin Drum: Financial parasites “almost” out of control.

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

In response to lamentations about the utter vacuum of serious left-wing discourse in the blogosphere, and the more general neoliberal bent of the nominal left, Kevin Drum replies:

I plead guilty to some general neoliberal instincts, of course, but I plead guilty with (at least) one big exception: I am very decidedly not in favor of undercutting labor rights in order to stimulate economic growth, and I’m decidedly not in favor of relying solely on the tax code to redistribute wealth from the super rich to the rest of us. What’s more, the older I get and the more obvious the devastating effects of the demise of the American labor movement become, the less neoliberal I get. The events of the past two years, in which the massed forces of capital came within a hair’s breadth of destroying the world economy, and yet, phoenix-like, have come out richer and more powerful than before, ought to have convinced nearly everyone that business interests and the rich are now almost literally out of control. If they haven’t, what would?

What indeed would it take to convince Drum that the financial parasites are unequivocally “out of control?”  

Imagine if Jared Loughner had not killed anyone, but only “winged” a few people as he wildly sprayed bullets into the crowd before his spree was temporarily arrested.  Would Drum call that behavior “almost literally out of control.”  Would Drum’s enthusiasm for psychotically-motivated shooting sprees be only somewhat dampened?  Or would he support giving Loughner molecular grade methamphetamine and a larger gun clip?

The fact that Drum remains the least bit equivocal on the question of whether the theoretical basis for the neoliberal agenda has completely and unequivocally de-bunked, shredded, gutted and strangled itself with its own entrails tells you all you need to know about his ability to examine the evidence.  The proportion of bad news accounted for by the neoliberal agenda approaches 1.0, and compared to the Loughners of the world,  zombie money kills real people, on a much, much grander scale.

If you are not pierced in the heart with fear upon hearing Drum’s ambivalent concerns about neoliberalism, and the lack of true left-wing voices, much less the massing of left-wing armies on our ideological borders against the imminent existential threat resulting from financial weapons of mass destruction, don’t even bother to duck and cover when you see the white-hot flash on the horizon.  The annihilation will be systemic and global.

Barack Obama guarantees it:

Barack Obama is 130% pro-parasite.

10 comments

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  1. for pointing to the discussion.

    • TMC on January 18, 2011 at 02:01

    Governments prosecute the whistle blowers who expose the multinational corporations’ and billionaire’s tax cheating.

  2. …probably not what the textbook definition is.

    Neoliberalism is an ideology where the unregulated flow  of capital (money) is the ultimate global right, this “right” transcends national boundaries and renders the self determination of peoples as to how they are governed essentially moot.

    Democracy, under neoliberalism, is just another “style” of government that is bent and twisted to neoliberalism requirements till it is in effect a powerless form of governance.

    …just my two cents worth.

    • Edger on January 18, 2011 at 05:04

    Kevin hasn’t figured out that his neoliberal heroes think they’ve been vindicated by that result and that they think they must have been right all along, since with more regulation there’s no way they would have have come out richer and more powerful than before. Ergo regulation is bad, greed is good, and the only people not getting rich are the stupid fucking peasants who keep calling for more regulation?

    No wonder he’s seems ambivalent. It’s from all the bullshit Drummed into his head that he keeps spewing out fantasizing that it’s some kind of wisdom.

    But there’s that little voice in the back of his head that he can’t shut up anymore.

    He’s not ambivalent. He’s seriously fucking conflicted now… he’s knows that there was wisdom in it, and he’s only now starting to let himself realize what kind…

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