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In ET’s daily news, these three posts caught my eye. Are they somehow linked, do you think?
Op-Ed: The Free-Trade Regime: Oligarchy in Action
WASHINGTON (IPS) May 17, 2014 – The United States is not really a democracy. That’s the (simplified) conclusion of a recent study from Princeton University. Instead, economic elites and special interest groups enjoy tremendous sway in Washington, while “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”
Indeed, the institutions of democracy and sovereignty exist in tension with another powerful institution: the global market and its free trade regimes.
In one sense, the free-market system sustains democracy. It generates wealth and tempers the centralisation of power — two preconditions for democracy. But in another sense, global free-market capitalism conflicts with popular self-governance.
« click for more info
How aggregate income has changed since 1967 (Business Insider)This is particularly true for the “neoliberal” variety of capitalism, which has been on the rise since the 1980s. It one-sidedly promotes the principles of global deregulation, liberalisation, privatisation, and the rollback of the welfare state — all of which increase inequality and redistribute economic and political power to corporations and wealthy individuals.
One of the most vivid recent examples of the conflict among democracy, sovereignty, and global capitalism is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — the so-called “free-trade” agreement among 12 states bordering the Pacific Ocean. They include the United States, Chile, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Japan, among others.
According to U.S. president Barack Obama, who strongly supports the agreement, “the TPP will boost our economies, lowering barriers to trade and investment, increasing exports, and creating more jobs for our people.”
In sharp contrast to the president’s enthusiastic endorsement, however, many critics view the TPP as deceptive and dangerous. Lori Wallach of Public Citizen has called the agreement a “Trojan horse” — a trap disguised as a gift, which will in reality serve the interests of few multinational corporations and the executive branch rather than the public at large.
Great comment from TPP thread Warren told on Capitol Hill:
TPP needs to be secret; else the Public would oppose it.
There must be a reason these talks involving representatives from governments and multinational corporations hold these talks in secret in public buildings.
I mean, seriously, what possible interest would private citizens have in issues that concern public policy being negotiated by duly appointed representatives of public government and public corporations?
WTF? Can’t these private citizens just mind their own business and stick to their knitting in front of the TV or something?
No one is coming to save us, the future is in our hands.
Wealth of Britain’s richest 1,000 people hits new high of £519bn | Business | theguardian.com
(Guardian) – The combined fortune of Britain’s richest 1,000 people has hit a new high of £519bn – equivalent to a third of the nation’s economic output, and double the figure of five years ago.
The worth of Britain’s rich elite is up 15.4% from last year’s total of £450bn, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
Philip Beresford, who compiled the rankings, said: “I’ve never seen such a phenomenal rise in personal wealth as the growth in the fortunes of Britain’s 1,000 richest people over the past year. The richest people in Britain have had an astonishing year.”
The wealth of the top 1,000 has doubled since the financial crisis, rising from £258bn in 2009. Labour warned that the government was presiding over a widening equality gap.
TTIP, The Secret Trade Agreement About to Complete the Corporate Takeover of Democracy
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) enshrine the rights of Corporations under International Law, restricting future governments from overturning the changes through fear of costly legal action. They are the largest trade agreements in history, and yet are not open for review, debate or amendment by national parliaments or the public.
- ○ Leaks Reveal Truth Behind the Secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Deal
○ TTIP Treaty to be Signed – Super NAFTA Undermines Democracy
○ Robert Reich: 10 ways to close the inequality gap
Diary @ET by Democrats Ramshield – Total capitalism is America’s true ruler, and it has the power to destroy the country!
Elizabeth Warren keeps hitting an “every person” economic message out of the park. If she ever connects the dots between the public policy in which she’s an expert and US foreign policy, she could become the first woman POTUS.
Progressive Democratic hero Elizabeth Warren enlists to serve AIPAC’s pro-war agenda
Maybe…
And of course…
Maybe not.
We shall see.
It’s a long game.
AG
Max is such a purist sometimes, LOL. But he should know the Washington game with the Lobby. Every politician (what, like 98% or so?) has to ‘do the donkey’ or they will feel the heat. So those positions, without a little more specific context, are pro forma. But it’s clear that it’s Max’s different orientation that is conflicted (she’s a Senator, he’s a courageous journalist) when he goes petty and insulting.
From his piece….
‘Suggests’ she is as ignorant as Herman Cain? And that she doesn’t care?!!
Whoa! Is Max trying out to replace Colbert? Because said in a deadpan voice, that’s quite an immature smear for a liberal, imo.
Max is too informed and articulate to have sullied his cheap shot with a low blow that is possibly not even true. Wish I hadn’t seen this one — it’s not as if I need Max to school me on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s foreign affairs deficits.
And the thing is that he does know the Washington game, of course. But I can see with Max being on the front lines, as he has been, that it might be very hard not to hear the obvious truth supported by otherwise fellow progressives. The old PEP thing. I know I’d lose my cool way before I had any chance of making a positive contribution. And he’s young, to boot.
Some unity and realpolitik needed here to rise above more personal concerns, imo. Concerns that divide us emotionally.
What you see as a deficit, another may see as an asset. It is common for domestic and foreign policy to be divorced. i.e. FDR, JFK, LBJ, all hawks and all domestic Liberals. Names slip my mind, but back in the day there used to be many isolationist Conservatives.
OK, I read the link. I’m even more impressed with her. We agree on both domestic and foreign policy. I’d much rather have her than Hillary, but I fear if she ran, the Clinton juggernaut would roll over her. They have a network of state and local politicians that owe them. Who owes Elizabeth?
“Who owes Elizabeth Warren?”
The real question ought to be “Who does Elizabeth Warren owe?”
The struggle to mount to somewhere near the top of real political power in the U.S. is won only one of two ways. You either sell parts of your being to the dominant PermaGov-controlling entities or you run a long, hard slog through the muck of local politics. Elizabeth Warren did not run that long, hard, local course, unlike say Ron Paul. She simply materialized out the the rarefied air of Ivy League academia over a relatively short period of time. Dig into her financial support to see who she owes.
For starters? Look first to the very Wall Street banks she so roundly condemns and then look at AIPAC.
She has been very favorably covered by most major media. How do you know when the big time corporate-owned media are lying?
When they make any noise whatsoever.
Pro or con.
Caveat emptor.
Bet on it.
We have already been stung once with a DemRat president whose loyalties are demonstrably not where he says they are. Twice if you include Bill Clinton and quite possibly a third time with the upcoming inauguration of HRC.
Caveat emptor.
We are now in the “buyer’s remorse” segment of Obama’s reign.
Caveat emptor.
As our wonderful Preznidential fool Bush II once said:
But of course you can get fooled again.
Caveat emptor !!!
Please.
AG
Eisenhower warned for the Military-Industrial complex. That was in the fifties, like the Rand Corporation and the large corporations pressing politicians for sustaining their monopolies and oppression of populations and nations. See Central- and South America and most third-world countries. ITT managed to gain CIA support to overthrow Allende in Chile. The oil companies had their agreements known as the Seven Sisters alliance or cartel. The intelligence community has become a stand-alone entity as was seen in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Kennedy assassinations and the lead up to the 9/11 attacks. After these attacks, Bush-Cheney usurped all power from US Congress and the Judiciary to an Executive that behaved badly contrary to International Law.
Due to the fact that US leadership can execute these powers with impunity, there is no way to expose the evil acts than breaking the law. The US is not a model democracy anymore, the system is broken and US Congress doesn’t perform their task for We The People. US foreign policy has been flawed for decades and the economic might of the US bears down on any dissent as is witnessed in the UN voting both in the Security Council and the General Assembly.
The strong trade ties with the European Union has made it possible for the US to dictate NATO policy as seen in the Ukraine. The new containment policy for Russia, making it a pariah state, has been in the making for nearly a decade inside NATO, the Atlantic Council and all right-wing NGOs and think-tanks. Obama is just following
ordersadvice. The new trade deals with Europe called TTIP and in Asia called TTP will seal the economic deal to hand power to large corporations and make them immune to lawsuits and liability clauses.In my opinion, the US oligarchs who have been leveraged by the Supreme Court to undercut the principles of one man, one vote. US corporations and the oligarchs have much in common with their counterparts in the Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Israel, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The European Election has made it clear, the people will not stand for irresponsible economic liberalisation and expansion of the EU. Ukraine will be left holding an empty bag and for Turkey there is no future to join the EU. The Socialist government of Hollande has fallen to new depths in the polls and the Front National of Marine Le Pen profited by becoming the largest party in France. The UKIP in the UK passed the Conservative government of Cameron on the right to send the most delegates to Brussels.
○ Bilderberg and Transatlantic Trade: a Lobbying Scandal Waiting to Happen
○ TTIP: EU and US Prepare to Enhance Global Corporatocracy With Free Trade Deal