Tag: capitalism

The World Turned Upside Down  (One version of the Digger’s Song)

In 1649 to St. George’s Hill

A ragged band they called the Diggers

Came to show the people’s will.

They defied the landlord, they defied the laws,

They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.

“We come in peace,” they said, “To dig and sow,

We come to work the lands in common

And to make the waste ground grow.

This earth divided we will make whole

So it will be a common treasury for all!

The sin of property we do disdain,

No man has any right to buy and sell the earth for private gain.

By theft and murder they took the land,

Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command.

They make the laws to chain us well,

The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell.

We will not worship the god they serve:

The god of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve.

We work, we eat together, we need no swords;

We will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords.

Still we are free, tho’ we are poor,

You Diggers all stand up for glory, stand up now!

From the men of property the orders came:

They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Diggers’ claim.

Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn,

They were dispersed, but still the Vision lingers on!

“You poor, take courage, you rich take care,

This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share.

All things in common, all people one, We come in peace…”

– The order came to cut them down.

If you missed Dylan Ratigan’s interview today with Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) — well you missed a lot!

They spell out in stark relief the very REAL need for serious Wall Street Regulation — NOW!   (and still!)

Or we risk a repeat of the same Bubble-driven collapse of Trillion Dollar Derivative Bets, that occur in the dark, beyond the reach — or even the Watch — of any Govt Regulator, or even the Public scrutinity.

Nothing has changed, they can STILL Gamble Trillions in Derivatives, and let US the Taxpayers pick up the Tab, whenever their Bets GO Bad!

Link to MSNBC Clip to the Ratigan Cantwell Interview

Definitely a “Must See”, in my opinion.

So much so, I transcribed much of it, to help peak your interest …  

FRONTLINE INVESTIGATES THE ROOTS OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

FRONTLINE Presents

The Warning

Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

In the devastating aftermath of the economic meltdown, FRONTLINE sifts through the ashes for clues about why it happened and examines critical moments when it might have gone much differently.

In The Warning, airing Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), veteran FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk (Inside the Meltdown, Breaking the Bank) unearths the hidden history of the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. At the center of it all he finds Brooksley Born, who speaks for the first time on television about her failed campaign to regulate the secretive, multi-trillion-dollar derivatives market whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/…

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities economists just confirmed the trends of the last 8 years — Most of the the Economic Gains went to the very Wealthy, while the rest of us struggled to just get by

TOP 1 PERCENT OF AMERICANS REAPED 2/3 OF INCOME GAINS In last Economic Expansion,

Income Concentration in 2007 Was at Highest Level Since 1928, New Analysis Shows

By Avi Feller and Chad Stone – September 9, 2009

Two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households, and that top 1 percent held a larger share of income in 2007 than at any time since 1928, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.

During those years, the Piketty-Saez data also show, the inflation adjusted income of the top 1 percent of households grew more than ten times faster than the income of the bottom 90 percent of households.

There is a clash of titan forces taking place in the American Economy right now. It’s a tale as old as Greed itself.  

It is the tale of the “Powers that Be” running into the watchful eyes of the “World that Should Be”.

The story involves how corporate Robber Barons avoid the watchful glare of the citizen Muckrakers.  

It is the tale of Deception and Greed vs Honesty and Fairness …

Crossposted at Daily Kos

      “You guys,” David said, “are here to learn how to rule the world.”

~snip~

    “It’s called a covenant. Two, or three, agree? They can do anything. A covenant is . . . powerful. Can you think of anyone who made a covenant with his friends?”

We all knew the answer to this, having heard his name invoked numerous times in this context. Andrew from Australia, sitting beside Doug, cleared his throat: “Hitler.”

“Yes,” Doug said. “Yes, Hitler made a covenant. The Mafia makes a covenant. It is such a very powerful thing. Two, or three, agree.”

harpers.org Jeff Sharlet’s “Jesus + Nothing”

     What Douglas Coe is talking about is fascism, Christofascism, where a few powerful dominate the masses despie their collective will and against their interests.

    Go below the fold. I’m Naming Names.

Here Paul Jay of the Real News talks in November 2008 at The Krahl Academy about foreign policies, wars, the crises of capitalism, media, economies, and about the shit hitting the fan.

Jay’s talk is about 40 minutes. Watch the video. It’s worth your time.

I’m just back from seeing Michael Moore’s new movie, “Capitalism – A Love Story”.

It was moving, funny, and educational, all rolled into one. It made me feel both, proud and sad, to be an American. … but it’s recommended viewing if you still want to take OUR Country back, from the Powers that Be.

There are many lessons to be learned from the film — But the one that struck me, the one I’m motivated to write about now —

Is the Lesson of Plutonomy …

Corporate Rights and Responsibilities: Restoring Legal Accountability

Dr Dan Plesch & Dr Stephanie Blankenburg

[pg 4]

Giant corporations have the rights of a person, but none of the responsibilities.

Society needs successful businesses, but today business is taking over society.

– 51 of the world’s 100 largest economies are corporations

(Institute for Policy Studies, Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power, 2001).

– 80% of the world’s industrial output is made by 1,000 corporations

(The Economist, 29 January 2000).

https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/570…  (pdf)

Staggering Stats! from nearly a decade ago!

If were not careful, metaphorically at least, that world of Terminator 2 may indeed come to pass … that day “When machines rise up rule the world”.

It may already be too late — despite the Human Face, we like to paint on our neighborhood global Corporate Entities …

Crossposted at Daily Kos

2008 Should live on in infamy as the year the class war became OBVIOUS.

No permit was obtained for the grassroots protests of the G20 in Pittsburgh. You have to ask your government permission to protest it. This is what Democracy looks like?

THIS IS WHAT A POLICE STATE LOOKS LIKE!

America, Class War; Battle of Pittsburgh.

~ September 2009

Fascism is coming? IT’S ALREADY HERE!