This communist provides an excellent summary of the greed that pervades the western system and the lies the Oligarchy must tell to get the "average citizen" to support one criminal mafia over another. The thing is though, people believe those lies and come to expect follow through. Tucker Carlson has seen the future and knows that the end of the current manifestation of the Oligarchy is coming to an end. Which direction it goes from here is unknown.
We are seeing what happens when government abdicates its role as regulator allowing catpialism to become completely predatory. Its called neoliberalism and it has been in effect for half a century and the damage is proportionate and exponential.
>>"We are seeing what happens when government abdicates its role as regulator..."
Robert, I believe this "regulatory role of the government" was never intended to actually regulate capitalism (or serve the interests of proletariats and lumperproletariats) - not even when the US constitution was written. The government and corporations are mixed together like salt-and-water. The regulation that does happen is a farce. But its more than that. Government regulation has come to mean "how do you regulate a population whose interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capital class (power elite, oligarchs, bourgeoisie)?"
I think you're white washing regulations that have been good. It's the same type of white washing when the advocates of Privatizing public works - claim it will be more efficient and lead to a better outcome - when it has been well documented to rarely be the case.
This blind belief that any kind of regulatory control must be bad - and government by default is bad - is hogwash. There are plenty of examples throughout the world where a country and its citizens are thriving because government plays a key role. For example UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE - which the right-wing with all the anti-government rhetoric has been vociferously against now my ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE here in the United States. And ordinary Americans should be sick of this continuing ideological garbage - paid for by the obscenely rich. Americans deserve a Universal Health Care system and fuck anti-government half-truth white washing bullshit.
Jamenta - again you are engaging in emotional rants instead of attempting to understand what is actually being said.
Let me expand and explain how government works in conjunction with private multi-national corporations & entities to subvert support for the common man and democracy. (and how "regulation" fits into this framework). Maybe that will help you understand my comment above:
Quotes:
(1) "The federal government is replete with supportive programs—subsidies, research, promotional, contracts, tax privileges, protections from competition—which flow regularly into the corporate mission of profit and sales maximization." - RALPH NADER (Introduction to Morton Mintz and Jerry S. Cohen, America, Inc. (New York: Dial Press, 1971)
(2) "Both welfare spending and warfare spending have a two-fold nature: the welfare system not only politically contains the surplus population but also expands demand and domestic markets. And the warfare system not only keeps foreign rivals at bay and inhibits the development of world revolution (thus keeping labor power, raw materials and markets in the capitalist orbit) but also helps to stave off economic stagnation at home." - JAMES O’CONNOR (Fiscal Crisis of the Stale (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1973))
State-supported capitalism has been imperfectly labeled by many popular terms which, while containing particles of truth, conceal the genuine nature of the new business-government relationships: “state capitalism,” “welfare state,” “warfare-welfare state,” and “mixed economy.” The power of the concept “state capitalism” (or “state monopoly capitalism”) is that it stresses the alliance of powerful capitalist forces with the state. But it greatly underestimates the extent to which big business operates on its own, both without the state and beyond the reach of the state. In no country of advanced capitalism is business completely controlled by the state; the state, rather, is subject to business control, although not completely. The relationship is more that of a business-government partnership, with business often serving as the senior, although sometimes silent, partner.
In a broader sense, the “welfare state” idea is fundamentally misleading. The welfare provided is not the general well-being of the people. It is welfare, rather, in the narrow and restrictive sense of public assistance to the poor and other programs (usually financed by the lower and middle classes themselves) to take the rough edge off capitalist exploitation, promote docility among the exploited, and thereby help form a more perfect capitalism.
Very often, Big Welfare (i.e. by the Government) gives handouts to Big Business from the normal peacetime activities of the capitalist state. Although it is perfectly true, as conservative economists insist, that “there are no free lunches,” there are scores of corporate “free lunchers” who manage to get other people—via government intervention—to pick up all or part of the bill. (i.e. socialism for the rich and unknowingly supported by the working class people). Here are some examples from the US:
• The Federal Reserve system, which supports bankers by maintaining high interest rates and bailing out bank failures.
• The nominally progressive federal tax system, which has become a labyrinth of special loopholes that provide many billions of “tax expenditures” (indirect subsidies) for specific companies or groups.
• The Treasury Department, which maintains huge interest-free deposits in large banks while at the same time paying the bank’s interest on money lent to the government.
• Billions in direct subsidies that are paid to airlines, the merchant marine, agribusiness and others.
• Federal expenditures for scientific research and development, which have subsidized the growth of capitalism’s technological reserve.
• Government guarantees that protect many billions of bank mortgages and foreign investments against losses.
(X) • Government regulations that give the large banks control over the investment of the pension funds of most labor unions.
(X) • So-called regulatory commissions, which help maintain the oligarchic power of the communication media, public utilities, and major transportation interests.
• Government forays into wage-price controls, or “incomes policy,” which are used to keep wages down or squeeze out business competitors.
Again, in terms of "regulation", pay special attention to the points above marked by "X".
So jamenta - you land up making all these assumptions and hurling accusations without understanding the depths and nuances of "how the regulatory system works" in the US.
Also, you continue making strawman arguments like "blind belief that any kind of regulatory control must be bad" and "government by default is bad" and then continue on your emotional and expletive laden rant.
jamenta - I don't know if you are having a bad day or something, but maybe spend some time understanding what is being said rather than imagining things in your mind and then argueing against those imaginations?
Dude I don't have time really to argue over such right-wing bullshit like what you said in your original post: "The regulation that does happen is a farce."
"how do you regulate a population whose interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capital class"
Which is a perverted, pseudo-intellectual take on governmental regulations and their actual intent.
You want me to engage with your long winded anti-regulation rant here that goes on and on about how bad the government is with its regulatory control - pretending that nothing good has ever come out of regulations. Or your implied nothing good can come out of it - which is intellectual garbage.
And I suppose then you want me to counter your argument with a long list of my own demonstrating some of the obvious benefits of regulation. Like maybe quote Upton Sinclair on meat industry regulation. Or cite Standard Oil for monopoly regulation. Or perhaps you want me to discuss rules in congress regarding Filibuster "regulations". Or maybe you want me to cite use of public land regulations. Or maybe talk about regulations of machine guns or ownership of M1 Tanks. Or maybe we should talk about regulations on price fixing, or automobile safety. Or maybe I should bring up how drinkable the water is in Flint Michigan. Or maybe we really should talk about regulations of billionaire sponsored think tanks with the assholes that are hired to pervert social media. Or maybe we should talk about rules (laws) regulations of the deep state to stop them from torturing some folks, and spying on everyone. Because it sure the fuck isn't going to happen spontaneously with corporations or the rich - they'll just spy on us more Mr. shithead Chang.
Or maybe, maybe you can fuck all the way off with your pseudo-intellectual anti-government, anti-regulation spewing that shows a complete lack of objectivity because you are indoctrinated up to your ass with your right-wing propaganda bullshit - hook, line and sinker.
jamenta - you're missing the point (by a large extent) - and I have been trying to explain to you about some of the nuanced perspectives needed to understand the "role" and "implementation" of regulation by US organizations (either public or private. It seems that for a multitude of reasons, we are unable to communicate on the topic. (And in case you still don't get where I'm coming from - we are on the same side).
Maybe I need to explain things better, and hope that it will help in clearing up the confusion:
(1) Regulation is needed (and in fact is essential) for the proper functioning of any decently sized social structure.
(2) Without adequate regulation, there would be chaos - and we would have a system of social darwinism - i.e. "might is right".
Such a "might-is-right" system - in the absence of regulation - will collapse under its own weight - regardless of the political system (i.e. regulation is needed in capitalism, communism, socialism, and any other isms you can think off).
(3) The point of contention is NOT that regulation is needed and required - it is that the "kind of regulation" implemented is of paramount importance. Also, who is doing the regulating? Who are the overseers? Who is responsible for designing these regulations? What are the motives and who are the beneficiaries of the policies enacted? The devil is in the details.
(4) Regulation is needed in protecting the rights and interests of the 98% from the inbuilt systemic abuses of the 2% in our current capitalistic society. BUT - the kind of regulation implemented is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. A large part of the regulatory mechanism of the US Government has been co-opted by the "power elite" (oligarchs, billionaires, etc.) as a successful strategy of maintaining the status quo.
My statement "regulation that does happen is a farce" is indicative of ineffective and inadequate regulation. Not only is there an "under-regulation" problem in the US, there is a "wrong kind of regulation" problem. Many of the regulatory policies are designed to serve the interests of the "power elite". Such regulatory policies need to be re-worked to serve the interests of the 98%. i.e. there is a "regulatory capture" issue in the US.
My statement >>Government regulation has come to mean "how do you regulate a population whose interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capital class (power elite, oligarchs, bourgeoisie)?" means exactly that - that Government regulation has been co-opted by the interests of the 2% (based on the ineffective and inadequate regulation policies enacted by the US Government).
So what are some of the possible solutions?:
(1) More regulation - but not just any kind of regulation - it needs to be the right kind.
(2) Disallow "self-regulation" - which is a farce, a subterfuge, a trick - perpetrated so as to circumvent the "real benefits of regulation".
Many others, but this is not the place to elaborate on them...
We are on the same side. The sad part is that your emotional reactions are preventing you from digging deeper into the nuances of "regulation", instead prefering to bask in the comfort of simplistic black/white thinking about regulation/no regulation.
If you are interested in gaining a better understanding of "regulation" (that both you and I agree are indispensable for the proper functioning of society), then I suggest checking out resources (and books) on pros-and-cons of different methods of regulation (in the US) instead of arguing against a point that no one is making.
I hope you are right but the military industrial complex needs war to justify it's insane budgets. Hence when the cold war ended they planned and executed 9/11. If Ukraine ends they will be planning the next war. China, Russia, the American people. They are not fussy about who they kill.
Mix in some of that Joti Brar from the Garland Nixon interview.
There's nothing to be gained by the "Average American" if we follow Carlson. He sounds good right now, but as Brar said about previous manifestations of the Oligarchy and Empire, he's not on our side.
Must be some crossed wires as I did not even mention Carlson. He does not matter. The CIA military industrial complex has now merged with the drug dealers and gone to war with us all. If you are not hyper rich you are a useless eater and will be culled for profit.
You're repeating the obvious to most here but refusing, like Jenny, to understand who the oppressors are.
The CIA and the MIC are just fronts for the Oligarchy, the mafia, the privileged elite.
Tucker Carlson is a member of that group. Ask yourself why he is mouthing the progressive positions that were once the domain of Bernie Sanders. The Bernie Sanders that insured Hillary was the 2016 nominee.
I count all the oligarchs, mafia and elite as part of the MIC. Politics does not matter. Red or Blue they both keep printing to fund them. Tucker may or may not be paid by the MIC I don't think it matters.
Simplicius is brilliant and a good writer, but what he is reporting is the Exit Ramp propaganda narrative that Biden and the Dems crafted to they could blame the Republicans for "losing" Ukraine by denying the latest round of $61 billion in military aid.
Biden laid the groundwork for this narrative last year, when he included Ukraine aid in the bill to extend the debt, knowing that it would be rejected by Republicans in the House.
"Exit Ramp propaganda" makes it sound as if Simplicius supports or favors the Biden plan and therefore the rest of his analysis is rather suspect. He did mention that AFU soldiers were in their trenches scrolling on their phones wondering about Congressional passage of the stalled aid bill, but nothing else.
You may be correct that is the narrative that the administration is trying to sell, but I seriously doubt a majority of voters will be suckered into believing it. Rather, I'm going to assume that the DNC will promote some nobody to be their Presidential candidate at the convention. If Biden remains in place, Trump's win is pretty much guaranteed.
Then entire US MSM is reporting that line - it's not coming from Simplicious.
I didn't say people would buy it. I said it was the Dems' cover story for their failure. Kind of like Russia-gate was their excuse for 2016. Dems will do anything but examine their own Neoliberal pro-war pro-corporate policy and bad candidates as reasons for losing.
" but what he is reporting is the Exit Ramp propaganda narrative that Biden and the Dems crafted to they could blame the Republicans for "losing" Ukraine by denying the latest round of $61 billion in military aid."
Which sounds to me rather dismissive and derogatory of Simplicius and "the exit ramp" wasn't anywhere in his article.
>>"When the Oligarchy owns the companies that manufacture the voting machines, we should all know the game is rigged."
I disagree. It doesn't matter who owns the voting machines (or even if voting machines are replaced by manual processes), the "electoral process" (game) will always be rigged (in order to maintain the status quo).
Elected officials are manufactured personalities and celebrities. We vote based on how we are made to feel about corporate political puppets. The puppets, Democrat and Republican, engage in hollow acts of political theater, keeping the fiction of the democratic state alive. There is no national institution left that can accurately be described as democratic. Citizens, rather than participate in power, are permitted virtual opinions to preordained questions, a kind of participatory fascism as meaningless as voting on “American Idol.” Mass emotions are directed predominantly towards the culture wars that include battles over abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration fear-mongering, manufactured moral panics like CRT, great replacement theory (espoused and proliferated by personalities like Tucker Carlon), ... etc. (each generation has its own particular set of manufactured moral panics). We are only permitted to take emotional stands on issues that do not affect corporate power. What we call politics is no longer political.
So, the game will always be rigged - that is the only way the "power elite" can maintain their status quo - by creating illusions using smoke-and-mirrors and psychological manipulation (feelings & emotions - as Caitlin Johnstone so poignantly elucidates in this article).
"Always" is an exaggeration. Sure nothing is ever perfect. But to believe nothing can be done to fight corruption in government is absurd. It's like saying you're always going to have theft in supermarkets - so why have supermarkets in the first place? It's the usual piss poor irrational argument insisting people believe an Ayn Randian based society (without government or taxes) would be a perfect society. What a joke.
To push against your username : ) I do believe this is the strongest possibility of a third party (Jill Stein) victory as with Ross Perot. People are asking for a vote for anyone not Monopoly party. Fear of Trump ended with Genocide Joe. Could Stein win 34% of delegates? I find it interesting as a realist : ) Can you imagine the Accelerationism with a Stein victory ha.
Ross Perot after his on again off again, conspiracy they are going to kill my family campaign won 19.5% of the vote not being on all the state ballots. Jill will be on the ballots and understands how to run a campaign. I do think IF she chooses the right V.P. this may be our last chance. We'll meet back here in Nov. ha.
See the many other links I've posted to Norton, Wolff, etc.
Especially the Garland Nixon interview with Jodi Brar
In summary. US sanctions have totally failed to isolate Russia. Rather they have spurred the BRICS to counter the Hegemony of the American Oligarchy.
The Oligarchy is well defined by Aaron Good's series of youTubes and his outstanding videos on "The Devil's Chessboard". Basically, they came to America to seek their fortunes centuries ago.
They have worked very hard to maintain their positions of privilege through legislation and taxes that serve them and not the "Average American" (which Marxists would label the "proletariat").
They are very loosely organized much like the mafia. They fight one another but mostly behind the scenes unrecognized by the "average American".
Tucker Carlson is a member of that privileged elite. He sees the coming economic decline of the American Empire and is working on establishment of a group of "Average Americans" who will follow his pied piper whistle allowing the subset of the Oligarchy he belongs to to remain in control of the American Economy and thus allow those who provide him with resources to "carry on" to maintain their positions of privilege in the coming reorganization of the economy.
In 2008 Lehman Brothers was sacrificed. In the coming economic turmoil it will be even more members of the Oligarchy.
But for the "Average American" it will just be a repeat of the dot-com bubble, the mortgage crisis, the covid recession and the upcoming Ukraine war recession. The question to ask is which false prophet will Americans follow?
It appears that Carlson is backing Trump at the moment -- or he's backing some other unknown. His interview with Putin and his trip to the Russian grocery store makes him look like someone Americans should listen to. But do recall what he was selling 3 years ago.
He put forward some information that you and I agree with and which we hope others will gain insight from.
But he comes from the Oligarchy. He is not on "our side". He (and his financiers) may make temporary alliances with us, but we need to be aware that his motives are going to be quite different from ours. His group wants to maintain their position of privilege. Much like Obama appeared to be on our side and then betrayed us with Obamacare rather than universal health care. I'm just urging extreme caution.
John Zwiebel, thank you for sharing the link to the indefatigable Joti Brar. To those who talk of what a revolution will look like and if it's possible, we have to first get rid of the brainwashing that has given us colonised minds that clouds our judgement.
The end is in sight for Ukraine:
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/avdeevka-denouement-russian-momentum
This communist provides an excellent summary of the greed that pervades the western system and the lies the Oligarchy must tell to get the "average citizen" to support one criminal mafia over another. The thing is though, people believe those lies and come to expect follow through. Tucker Carlson has seen the future and knows that the end of the current manifestation of the Oligarchy is coming to an end. Which direction it goes from here is unknown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px3Y3UZxB5w
We are seeing what happens when government abdicates its role as regulator allowing catpialism to become completely predatory. Its called neoliberalism and it has been in effect for half a century and the damage is proportionate and exponential.
For anyone who wants to follow up on Robert's point:
Ben Norton
https://www.youtube.com/@GeopoliticalEconomyReport
Richard Wolff
https://www.youtube.com/@democracyatwrk
Aaron Good
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNArLl765PXe8tsTKmOciGL
Michael Hudson
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP
Thanks John, great links to follow!
>>"We are seeing what happens when government abdicates its role as regulator..."
Robert, I believe this "regulatory role of the government" was never intended to actually regulate capitalism (or serve the interests of proletariats and lumperproletariats) - not even when the US constitution was written. The government and corporations are mixed together like salt-and-water. The regulation that does happen is a farce. But its more than that. Government regulation has come to mean "how do you regulate a population whose interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capital class (power elite, oligarchs, bourgeoisie)?"
I think you're white washing regulations that have been good. It's the same type of white washing when the advocates of Privatizing public works - claim it will be more efficient and lead to a better outcome - when it has been well documented to rarely be the case.
This blind belief that any kind of regulatory control must be bad - and government by default is bad - is hogwash. There are plenty of examples throughout the world where a country and its citizens are thriving because government plays a key role. For example UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE - which the right-wing with all the anti-government rhetoric has been vociferously against now my ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE here in the United States. And ordinary Americans should be sick of this continuing ideological garbage - paid for by the obscenely rich. Americans deserve a Universal Health Care system and fuck anti-government half-truth white washing bullshit.
Jamenta - again you are engaging in emotional rants instead of attempting to understand what is actually being said.
Let me expand and explain how government works in conjunction with private multi-national corporations & entities to subvert support for the common man and democracy. (and how "regulation" fits into this framework). Maybe that will help you understand my comment above:
Quotes:
(1) "The federal government is replete with supportive programs—subsidies, research, promotional, contracts, tax privileges, protections from competition—which flow regularly into the corporate mission of profit and sales maximization." - RALPH NADER (Introduction to Morton Mintz and Jerry S. Cohen, America, Inc. (New York: Dial Press, 1971)
(2) "Both welfare spending and warfare spending have a two-fold nature: the welfare system not only politically contains the surplus population but also expands demand and domestic markets. And the warfare system not only keeps foreign rivals at bay and inhibits the development of world revolution (thus keeping labor power, raw materials and markets in the capitalist orbit) but also helps to stave off economic stagnation at home." - JAMES O’CONNOR (Fiscal Crisis of the Stale (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1973))
State-supported capitalism has been imperfectly labeled by many popular terms which, while containing particles of truth, conceal the genuine nature of the new business-government relationships: “state capitalism,” “welfare state,” “warfare-welfare state,” and “mixed economy.” The power of the concept “state capitalism” (or “state monopoly capitalism”) is that it stresses the alliance of powerful capitalist forces with the state. But it greatly underestimates the extent to which big business operates on its own, both without the state and beyond the reach of the state. In no country of advanced capitalism is business completely controlled by the state; the state, rather, is subject to business control, although not completely. The relationship is more that of a business-government partnership, with business often serving as the senior, although sometimes silent, partner.
In a broader sense, the “welfare state” idea is fundamentally misleading. The welfare provided is not the general well-being of the people. It is welfare, rather, in the narrow and restrictive sense of public assistance to the poor and other programs (usually financed by the lower and middle classes themselves) to take the rough edge off capitalist exploitation, promote docility among the exploited, and thereby help form a more perfect capitalism.
Very often, Big Welfare (i.e. by the Government) gives handouts to Big Business from the normal peacetime activities of the capitalist state. Although it is perfectly true, as conservative economists insist, that “there are no free lunches,” there are scores of corporate “free lunchers” who manage to get other people—via government intervention—to pick up all or part of the bill. (i.e. socialism for the rich and unknowingly supported by the working class people). Here are some examples from the US:
• The Federal Reserve system, which supports bankers by maintaining high interest rates and bailing out bank failures.
• The nominally progressive federal tax system, which has become a labyrinth of special loopholes that provide many billions of “tax expenditures” (indirect subsidies) for specific companies or groups.
• The Treasury Department, which maintains huge interest-free deposits in large banks while at the same time paying the bank’s interest on money lent to the government.
• Billions in direct subsidies that are paid to airlines, the merchant marine, agribusiness and others.
• Federal expenditures for scientific research and development, which have subsidized the growth of capitalism’s technological reserve.
• Government guarantees that protect many billions of bank mortgages and foreign investments against losses.
(X) • Government regulations that give the large banks control over the investment of the pension funds of most labor unions.
(X) • So-called regulatory commissions, which help maintain the oligarchic power of the communication media, public utilities, and major transportation interests.
• Government forays into wage-price controls, or “incomes policy,” which are used to keep wages down or squeeze out business competitors.
Again, in terms of "regulation", pay special attention to the points above marked by "X".
So jamenta - you land up making all these assumptions and hurling accusations without understanding the depths and nuances of "how the regulatory system works" in the US.
Also, you continue making strawman arguments like "blind belief that any kind of regulatory control must be bad" and "government by default is bad" and then continue on your emotional and expletive laden rant.
jamenta - I don't know if you are having a bad day or something, but maybe spend some time understanding what is being said rather than imagining things in your mind and then argueing against those imaginations?
Dude I don't have time really to argue over such right-wing bullshit like what you said in your original post: "The regulation that does happen is a farce."
"how do you regulate a population whose interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capital class"
Which is a perverted, pseudo-intellectual take on governmental regulations and their actual intent.
You want me to engage with your long winded anti-regulation rant here that goes on and on about how bad the government is with its regulatory control - pretending that nothing good has ever come out of regulations. Or your implied nothing good can come out of it - which is intellectual garbage.
And I suppose then you want me to counter your argument with a long list of my own demonstrating some of the obvious benefits of regulation. Like maybe quote Upton Sinclair on meat industry regulation. Or cite Standard Oil for monopoly regulation. Or perhaps you want me to discuss rules in congress regarding Filibuster "regulations". Or maybe you want me to cite use of public land regulations. Or maybe talk about regulations of machine guns or ownership of M1 Tanks. Or maybe we should talk about regulations on price fixing, or automobile safety. Or maybe I should bring up how drinkable the water is in Flint Michigan. Or maybe we really should talk about regulations of billionaire sponsored think tanks with the assholes that are hired to pervert social media. Or maybe we should talk about rules (laws) regulations of the deep state to stop them from torturing some folks, and spying on everyone. Because it sure the fuck isn't going to happen spontaneously with corporations or the rich - they'll just spy on us more Mr. shithead Chang.
Or maybe, maybe you can fuck all the way off with your pseudo-intellectual anti-government, anti-regulation spewing that shows a complete lack of objectivity because you are indoctrinated up to your ass with your right-wing propaganda bullshit - hook, line and sinker.
jamenta - you're missing the point (by a large extent) - and I have been trying to explain to you about some of the nuanced perspectives needed to understand the "role" and "implementation" of regulation by US organizations (either public or private. It seems that for a multitude of reasons, we are unable to communicate on the topic. (And in case you still don't get where I'm coming from - we are on the same side).
Maybe I need to explain things better, and hope that it will help in clearing up the confusion:
(1) Regulation is needed (and in fact is essential) for the proper functioning of any decently sized social structure.
(2) Without adequate regulation, there would be chaos - and we would have a system of social darwinism - i.e. "might is right".
Such a "might-is-right" system - in the absence of regulation - will collapse under its own weight - regardless of the political system (i.e. regulation is needed in capitalism, communism, socialism, and any other isms you can think off).
(3) The point of contention is NOT that regulation is needed and required - it is that the "kind of regulation" implemented is of paramount importance. Also, who is doing the regulating? Who are the overseers? Who is responsible for designing these regulations? What are the motives and who are the beneficiaries of the policies enacted? The devil is in the details.
(4) Regulation is needed in protecting the rights and interests of the 98% from the inbuilt systemic abuses of the 2% in our current capitalistic society. BUT - the kind of regulation implemented is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. A large part of the regulatory mechanism of the US Government has been co-opted by the "power elite" (oligarchs, billionaires, etc.) as a successful strategy of maintaining the status quo.
My statement "regulation that does happen is a farce" is indicative of ineffective and inadequate regulation. Not only is there an "under-regulation" problem in the US, there is a "wrong kind of regulation" problem. Many of the regulatory policies are designed to serve the interests of the "power elite". Such regulatory policies need to be re-worked to serve the interests of the 98%. i.e. there is a "regulatory capture" issue in the US.
My statement >>Government regulation has come to mean "how do you regulate a population whose interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capital class (power elite, oligarchs, bourgeoisie)?" means exactly that - that Government regulation has been co-opted by the interests of the 2% (based on the ineffective and inadequate regulation policies enacted by the US Government).
So what are some of the possible solutions?:
(1) More regulation - but not just any kind of regulation - it needs to be the right kind.
(2) Disallow "self-regulation" - which is a farce, a subterfuge, a trick - perpetrated so as to circumvent the "real benefits of regulation".
Many others, but this is not the place to elaborate on them...
We are on the same side. The sad part is that your emotional reactions are preventing you from digging deeper into the nuances of "regulation", instead prefering to bask in the comfort of simplistic black/white thinking about regulation/no regulation.
If you are interested in gaining a better understanding of "regulation" (that both you and I agree are indispensable for the proper functioning of society), then I suggest checking out resources (and books) on pros-and-cons of different methods of regulation (in the US) instead of arguing against a point that no one is making.
I suspect "fascism" would be better ... but
- I don't know anything about neoliberalism;
- see "Why You Should Stop Using the Concepts "Left-wing" and "Right-wing"".
https://whatdoino.substack.com/p/why-you-should-stop-using-the-concepts-a49
Neoliberalism is economic fascism
Thank you!
(It seems a remarkably inappropriate name for it)!
An excellent article.
A companion piece to Snowden's article on Apophenia
https://edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/conspiracy-pt2
Sadly snowden hasn't been writing since 2021
Thanks for the support and the link.
:-)
I hope you are right but the military industrial complex needs war to justify it's insane budgets. Hence when the cold war ended they planned and executed 9/11. If Ukraine ends they will be planning the next war. China, Russia, the American people. They are not fussy about who they kill.
RobertSmith. I agree with you. US is 'losing face' so another war is almost guaranteed at this point.
Actually, you don't hope I'm right. ;-)
See my response to Patrick above.
Mix in some of that Joti Brar from the Garland Nixon interview.
There's nothing to be gained by the "Average American" if we follow Carlson. He sounds good right now, but as Brar said about previous manifestations of the Oligarchy and Empire, he's not on our side.
Must be some crossed wires as I did not even mention Carlson. He does not matter. The CIA military industrial complex has now merged with the drug dealers and gone to war with us all. If you are not hyper rich you are a useless eater and will be culled for profit.
You're repeating the obvious to most here but refusing, like Jenny, to understand who the oppressors are.
The CIA and the MIC are just fronts for the Oligarchy, the mafia, the privileged elite.
Tucker Carlson is a member of that group. Ask yourself why he is mouthing the progressive positions that were once the domain of Bernie Sanders. The Bernie Sanders that insured Hillary was the 2016 nominee.
I count all the oligarchs, mafia and elite as part of the MIC. Politics does not matter. Red or Blue they both keep printing to fund them. Tucker may or may not be paid by the MIC I don't think it matters.
>>"The CIA and the MIC are just fronts for the Oligarchy, the mafia, the privileged elite."
So very well said John Zwiebel. Thank you.
Simplicius is brilliant and a good writer, but what he is reporting is the Exit Ramp propaganda narrative that Biden and the Dems crafted to they could blame the Republicans for "losing" Ukraine by denying the latest round of $61 billion in military aid.
Biden laid the groundwork for this narrative last year, when he included Ukraine aid in the bill to extend the debt, knowing that it would be rejected by Republicans in the House.
"Exit Ramp propaganda" makes it sound as if Simplicius supports or favors the Biden plan and therefore the rest of his analysis is rather suspect. He did mention that AFU soldiers were in their trenches scrolling on their phones wondering about Congressional passage of the stalled aid bill, but nothing else.
You may be correct that is the narrative that the administration is trying to sell, but I seriously doubt a majority of voters will be suckered into believing it. Rather, I'm going to assume that the DNC will promote some nobody to be their Presidential candidate at the convention. If Biden remains in place, Trump's win is pretty much guaranteed.
Then entire US MSM is reporting that line - it's not coming from Simplicious.
I didn't say people would buy it. I said it was the Dems' cover story for their failure. Kind of like Russia-gate was their excuse for 2016. Dems will do anything but examine their own Neoliberal pro-war pro-corporate policy and bad candidates as reasons for losing.
You said:
" but what he is reporting is the Exit Ramp propaganda narrative that Biden and the Dems crafted to they could blame the Republicans for "losing" Ukraine by denying the latest round of $61 billion in military aid."
Which sounds to me rather dismissive and derogatory of Simplicius and "the exit ramp" wasn't anywhere in his article.
You left out there part where I prefaced that comment - which has NOTHING to do with Simplicious - with PRAISE for him. Reading is fundamental.,
Writing is fundamental. You praised him then immediately insulted him. Perhaps you should have read Simplicious' article
I don't care to get further into this pissing context.
"If Biden remains in place, Trump's win is pretty much guaranteed."
Why would anyone believe the electoral process is the solution?
When the Oligarchy owns the companies that manufacture the voting machines, we should all know the game is rigged.
But we don't.
>>"When the Oligarchy owns the companies that manufacture the voting machines, we should all know the game is rigged."
I disagree. It doesn't matter who owns the voting machines (or even if voting machines are replaced by manual processes), the "electoral process" (game) will always be rigged (in order to maintain the status quo).
Elected officials are manufactured personalities and celebrities. We vote based on how we are made to feel about corporate political puppets. The puppets, Democrat and Republican, engage in hollow acts of political theater, keeping the fiction of the democratic state alive. There is no national institution left that can accurately be described as democratic. Citizens, rather than participate in power, are permitted virtual opinions to preordained questions, a kind of participatory fascism as meaningless as voting on “American Idol.” Mass emotions are directed predominantly towards the culture wars that include battles over abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration fear-mongering, manufactured moral panics like CRT, great replacement theory (espoused and proliferated by personalities like Tucker Carlon), ... etc. (each generation has its own particular set of manufactured moral panics). We are only permitted to take emotional stands on issues that do not affect corporate power. What we call politics is no longer political.
So, the game will always be rigged - that is the only way the "power elite" can maintain their status quo - by creating illusions using smoke-and-mirrors and psychological manipulation (feelings & emotions - as Caitlin Johnstone so poignantly elucidates in this article).
Government itself is not the problem.
"Always" is an exaggeration. Sure nothing is ever perfect. But to believe nothing can be done to fight corruption in government is absurd. It's like saying you're always going to have theft in supermarkets - so why have supermarkets in the first place? It's the usual piss poor irrational argument insisting people believe an Ayn Randian based society (without government or taxes) would be a perfect society. What a joke.
To push against your username : ) I do believe this is the strongest possibility of a third party (Jill Stein) victory as with Ross Perot. People are asking for a vote for anyone not Monopoly party. Fear of Trump ended with Genocide Joe. Could Stein win 34% of delegates? I find it interesting as a realist : ) Can you imagine the Accelerationism with a Stein victory ha.
Nice wish :
But for this election cycle (?);
Not happening:
Start with ‘26 and NEVER STOP
NOT going to happen..........
Ross Perot after his on again off again, conspiracy they are going to kill my family campaign won 19.5% of the vote not being on all the state ballots. Jill will be on the ballots and understands how to run a campaign. I do think IF she chooses the right V.P. this may be our last chance. We'll meet back here in Nov. ha.
I hope this was irony? Brilliant guy Simplicius.
Just to be clear, Tucker Carlson is NOT on your side no matter how much you agree with what he is reporting.
I mentioned NOTHING about Tucker Carlson!
But I did.
?
See the many other links I've posted to Norton, Wolff, etc.
Especially the Garland Nixon interview with Jodi Brar
In summary. US sanctions have totally failed to isolate Russia. Rather they have spurred the BRICS to counter the Hegemony of the American Oligarchy.
The Oligarchy is well defined by Aaron Good's series of youTubes and his outstanding videos on "The Devil's Chessboard". Basically, they came to America to seek their fortunes centuries ago.
They have worked very hard to maintain their positions of privilege through legislation and taxes that serve them and not the "Average American" (which Marxists would label the "proletariat").
They are very loosely organized much like the mafia. They fight one another but mostly behind the scenes unrecognized by the "average American".
Tucker Carlson is a member of that privileged elite. He sees the coming economic decline of the American Empire and is working on establishment of a group of "Average Americans" who will follow his pied piper whistle allowing the subset of the Oligarchy he belongs to to remain in control of the American Economy and thus allow those who provide him with resources to "carry on" to maintain their positions of privilege in the coming reorganization of the economy.
In 2008 Lehman Brothers was sacrificed. In the coming economic turmoil it will be even more members of the Oligarchy.
But for the "Average American" it will just be a repeat of the dot-com bubble, the mortgage crisis, the covid recession and the upcoming Ukraine war recession. The question to ask is which false prophet will Americans follow?
It appears that Carlson is backing Trump at the moment -- or he's backing some other unknown. His interview with Putin and his trip to the Russian grocery store makes him look like someone Americans should listen to. But do recall what he was selling 3 years ago.
Tucker Carlson is not on our side.
He interviewed Putin and has been called a traitor for it.
The interview was a huge plus for me. Got my attention.
Journalists like him are on our side. Even though I disagree with some of his right-wingnut views.
He put forward some information that you and I agree with and which we hope others will gain insight from.
But he comes from the Oligarchy. He is not on "our side". He (and his financiers) may make temporary alliances with us, but we need to be aware that his motives are going to be quite different from ours. His group wants to maintain their position of privilege. Much like Obama appeared to be on our side and then betrayed us with Obamacare rather than universal health care. I'm just urging extreme caution.
Yes, I love Aaron Good's "US Empire & the Deep State" series on Geopolitical Economy Report with Ben Norton (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNArLl765PXe8tsTKmOciGL)
Definitely worth the watch!
And BTW, thank you for articulating your comment so well!
I didn't care for the Fox News Carlson.
Of course not.
But Carlson was fired from Fox months ago, so what ab out the "new Tucker"?
His interview with Putin, as Ritter writes here, is a MUST SEE:
https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/tucker-madness-is-good-for-america
Carlson is the leopard changing his spots. If you haven't seen the myriad comments from supposed progressives praising Carlson, where have you been?
I'm not telling you to "like" Carlson. I'm asking you to look at the reasons he is becoming so popular. He's had 18M views on youTube alone.
Carlson has his own network now:
https://tuckercarlson.com/putin/
IOW, many are listening to Tucker. If you want to debate them, you'll need to know what was said.
John Zwiebel, thank you for sharing the link to the indefatigable Joti Brar. To those who talk of what a revolution will look like and if it's possible, we have to first get rid of the brainwashing that has given us colonised minds that clouds our judgement.
🙄