#OCCUPYNIGERIA
13th January 2012
Notes: 14
“The rich run a global system that allows them to accumulate capital and pay the lowest possible price for labour. The freedom that results applies only to them. The many simply have to work harder, in conditions that grow ever more insecure, to enrich the few.”
That pretty much sums up my whole neurosis. In Britain, the top 10% have 100 times more household wealth than their compatriots in the bottom 10%, and that doesn’t take into account investments and other sorts of securities. This is a significant margin, and it should come as no surprise that the “underclass” revolted.
So what’s our excuse here in the States? The income and wealth inequalities are easily that high here, yet we see no riots, no looting. This is something to consider if we ever want to see any sort of equitable income and resource distribution in the US.
Among other things, Nouriel Roubini claims that Marx was right: Capitalism will destroy itself. Watch it!
From the Dylan Ratigan Show, with apologies for the yelling:
So what’s the problem? The Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches have been bought and paid for by corporations and bankers. Ummm… #No5hi7
So what’s the solution? For Dylan, it’s for the President to give a speech that lays out the connections between money and politicial power, and urges citizens to change the system. Sounds great! #GoGo.
Except for one, smallish thing: The POTUS is bought and paid just like all the rest of the jerks that the corporations hired to serve their interests at our expense. Mr. Obama cannot solve the problem: he’s a big part of the problem.
So what’s the solution? It is going on all over the world, and I await its arrival here (but I’m not holding my breath).
Race, Class, and Gentrification in Harlem is a microcosm of the rest of the United States. Believe it.
Barton Biggs—a ludicrously wealthy hedge fund manager—advocates a job guarantee program (think WPA) to rebuild and upgrade US infrastructure, increased taxes on the rich, investment in companies and products with actual use-value, and a bunch of other stuff I never thought would come from someone in his class. GoGo. He remains wedded to neoliberalism, but has taken some surprising steps towards advocating for a more equal society.
Enjoy!
So a certain Mr. Kevin D. Williamson published this article in the National Review Online. Go read it, the rest of this can wait.
US Uncut’s flash mob at Bank of America made me cry. GoGo! And I especially like the way some of the tellers appear to be thinking ‘Right On!’
We need quite a bit more of this in the United States, and not just against BofA, but against all Corporate and Political entities that 1) act as if they are above the law; 2) profit by screwing the poor and the elderly out of their hard-fought wages and savings; 3) encourage and extent corporate entitlements and redistribution of wealth from the poor to the super rich.
We The People must rise up and shake off the bonds of Capital and the power that comes with it. We must all stand up, band together, and chip away until we bring the corporatocracy to its knees, until the State and its corporate owners retake their rightful place as servants of the People.
With the likes of Vanity Fair crying foul, can there be any doubt about it?
Yes, my friends, this is Class War, and we’re losing. The Middle Class needs solidarity with itself, and must band together with the disadvantaged classes to topple the current social order.
Don’t let the rich and powerful confuse you!
Muslims are not our enemies; Jews are not our enemies; Christians are not our enemies; and Mosques are as holy as Churches and Synagogues!
African-Americans, Hispanics, and Arabs are not our enemies, and this country was built by and for Immigrants of all shapes, sizes and colors!
Our neighbors are not our enemies, be they teachers, fire fighters, welfare queens, obnoxious jerks, union members, or any of the other groups that regularly find themselves under attack.
The 1%ers—and those that pander to their whims—are our enemies! They are the ones that have taken our jobs, foisted massive tax burdens on us, and corralled us into tiny, quarreling factions. Let us not lose sight of that fact!
By BOB HERBERT
Published: November 26, 2010
Extreme inequality is already contributing mightily to political and other forms of polarization in the U.S. And it is a major force undermining the idea that as citizens we should try to face the nation’s problems, economic and otherwise, in a reasonably united fashion. When so many people are tumbling toward the bottom, the tendency is to fight among each other for increasingly scarce resources.
What’s really needed is for working Americans to form alliances and try, in a spirit of good will, to work out equitable solutions to the myriad problems facing so many ordinary individuals and families. Strong leaders are needed to develop such alliances and fight back against the forces that nearly destroyed the economy and have left working Americans in the lurch.
