Crisis Capitalism Puts Off A Particular Aroma

The US Economy is in a mess. That pile of crap has been correctly identified by any and all observers not suffering from olfactory fatigue of the worst kind. What has not been correctly identified by all the news cowboys out there is which bovine dropped this particular pile of crap in the middle of our living room.

There are a lot of reasons not to pass the “bailout plan” that Congress rejected once and the Senate approved (plus a load of pork). There may still be some good reasons for passing it, but I have not heard or read any of those so far. The part that makes me nervous is the language being used. Congress’s rejection of the “bailout” is being called a “catastrophe” a “dire mistake” that is going to freeze up the American Economy and force us all to roam the desert with crossbows fighting over the last tanker trucks full of gasoline, aka Mad Max.

The fact is that the Bush Administration wants this “bailout”. The Congressional and Senate Leadership wants this “bailout”. But lots of citizens and some brave representatives like Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb and a bunch of old-school conservatives as well have declared this plan a farce and an unmitigated power grab. In other words the Corporate Politicians want this bill despite what citizens want. And Corporate Lobbyists and their representatives want to push this bill through under the threat of dire catastrophic consequences.

The Leadership is claiming their failure was not controlling the language being used to describe the bill. They aren’t changing the bill, they just want to use better marketing terms to get us to swallow. And they say their biggest mistake was calling for a vote in Congress before they knew it was going to pass. In other words, never call for a vote if you don’t already know the outcome. Makes you wonder if the outcome of our vote in November is already known by the Leadership?

Every time the Corporate Politicians and the Bush Administration in particular start saying “You must pass bill X or horrible catastrophic things will happen.” We should all become very suspicious. Especially when the timing puts the vote right before an election. Previous examples of X include: Authorization to invade Iraq; the Patriot Act; Authorization to bailout Fanny and Freddy; off-shore oil drilling. In each case something horrible was going to happen if the bill wasn’t passed, huge amounts of power were shifted to a handful of individuals or agencies, and promises were made that they would never actually do any of the excessive and dangerous things that critics were warning about. In each case the bill was passed, the threats turned out to be overblown, the power was firmly seized and used, and all the things critics warned about happened. We invaded Iraq, we conduct warrantless surveillance of US citizens, we bailed out Fanny and Freddy, and we repealed off-shore drilling bans. Have no doubt, if this “bailout” passes the Treasury Secretary will become one of the most powerful men in the world, he will use that power, and he will cause many of the problems we are being warned about now.

This is Catastrophe Capitalism at its worst. Scare the hell out the population to get power you could never claim on a calm day, power that rational and informed people would never give up normally. Use the shock and awe of a disaster to take advantage of victims and potential victims. Naomi Kline has outlined this pattern powerfully in her book, The Shock Doctrine.

I’m just hoping we don’t have to repeat the cycle again. But only an informed population of active citizens and honest representatives can stop this power grab. And realistically, I don’t see that yet. There are still a lot of Catastrophe Capitalists out there. The have lots of Lobbyists. They have bought a lot of politicians. And lots of citizens are still woefully uninformed. So we have a lot of work to do.

This particular pile of crap comes from a predictable source, so we either need to corral these bulls or start wearing taller boots. Or we can just keep forgetting the lessons of history. Look into the flashy news device please...

Maybe the Bail Out Shoudn't Pass

Word has it the Wall Street Bail Out did not pass through Congress.
Maybe it shouldn't.

I just did something I bet you haven't done: I just read the 120 page bill.
The biggest problems are in the first 10 pages.
All that money and all the power to do whatever he wants, goes to the Sec. of the Treasury.
With oversight conducted by a board made up of the Head of the Federal Reserve, the Head of HUD, the Head of the FDIC. The same people who have gotten things so wrong in the past.
And can you imagine how contentious the Affirmation Hearings in the Senate will be when the new President has to appoint new people to those positions?
If I were a Congressman, I don't think I would vote for this bill.

Apparently, Dennis Kucinich agrees with me:
The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, is driven by fear not fact. This is too much money in too a short a time going to too few people while too many questions remain unanswered. Why aren't we having hearings on the plan we have just received? Why aren't we questioning the underlying premise of the need for a bailout with taxpayers' money? Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren't we asking Wall Street to clean up its own mess? Why aren't we passing new laws to stop the speculation, which triggered this? Why aren't we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors? How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets?
Why aren't we helping homeowners directly with their debt burden? Why aren't we helping American families faced with bankruptcy. Why aren't we reducing debt for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Isn't it time for fundamental change in our debt based monetary system, so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs? Wall Street is a place of bears and bulls. It is not smart to force taxpayers to dance with bears or to follow closely behind the bulls.

Some More Questions About Bail Outs

The President says that only the government has the patience and the long term vision to purchase these troubled assets and hold them until they mature and increase in value.

I agree. I don't usually agree with the President. But in this case, I agree.

Doesn't that tell us something about the Corporations that dominate Wall Street and Main Street?

Doesn't that mean that the Corporate focus on short term profits and short term maneuvers makes them incapable of safeguarding long term assets (like our homes, families, and national infrastructure)?

Doesn't that mean that governments rightful position should be long term, since "the market" is dominated by short term vision and action?

Wouldn't that lend some balance and stability to our country and our economy?

Doesn't that mean that in this interconnected world that we all live in, that there is no such thing as a purely private economic transaction?

Don't we have to weigh our own private concerns and the concerns of our neighbors and the health of the bigger systems our actions are a part of when making decisions?

Are we ready as a society to learn the lessons of the last 30 years?

Isn't it becoming undeniable that pure "free market capitalism" is not sufficient to address the long term needs and health of our nation and our world?

Are we ready to admit that the organizing principles of large corporations are antithetical to principles of democracy?

Are we ready to seriously discuss how we want to govern ourselves in light of what we have (or should have) learned over the last 30 years?

How about this?

Why doesn't Congress set up an independent review board to purchase undervalued assets and get the markets moving again?

They could start with a fund of several hundred billion dollars and ask for more in the near future if needed. Why does it have to be 700 billion or nothing?

This current administration has lost the right to manage this endeavor, so it should go to an independent board with lots of review and reporting mandates.

The next administration and the next congress need to staff our regulatory agencies with people who actually believe in the ability of government to work for the good of the people and start enforcing the rules we already have. Then new regulations should be imposed, not as a burden on individuals and small companies, but as a check on the short-sighted exuberance of mega corporations and very rich individuals who can unbalance our entire economy and ecosystems with their "private" business actions.

And the media needs to start asking these kinds of questions and expecting answers.

The keys to solving these problems are contained within the problems themselves.

The clues and the knowledge are available to us.

Human beings are capable of transcending selfish and violent modes of behavior, and expressing honest empathy and compassion for others.

We are all interconnected and interdependent whether we want to admit it or not.

We caused or allowed these problems.

We can solve them carefully and creatively.

But not if we keep doing the same things over and over and expect a different result.