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Today's Top News
Government Impotence and Corporate Rule
As the ruinous gulf oil blowout spreads onto land, over wildlife, across the ocean floor and into people's lives, it raises a fundamental question for all of us Americans: Who the hell's in charge here? What we're witnessing is not merely a human and environmental horror, but also an appalling deterioration in our nation's governance. Just as we saw in Wall Street's devastating economic disaster and in Massey Energy's murderous explosion inside its Upper Big Branch coal mine, the nastiness in the gulf is baring an ugly truth that We the People must finally face: We are living under de facto corporate rule that has rendered our government impotent.
Thirty years of laissez-faire, ideological nonsense (pushed upon us with a vengeance in the past decade) has transformed government into a subsidiary of corporate power. Wall Street, Massey, BP and its partners — all were allowed to become their own "regulators" and officially encouraged to put their short-term profit interests over the public interest.
Let's not forget that on April 2, barely two weeks before Deepwater Horizon blew and 11 people perished on the spot, the public's No. 1 official, Barack Obama, trumpeted his support for more deepwater oil drilling, blithely regurgitating Big Oil's big lie: "Oil rigs today generally don't cause spills." He and his advisors had not bothered to check the truth of that — they simply took the industry's word. That's not governing, it's aiding and abetting profiteers, and it's a pathetic performance.
But that was only the start of Washington's oily confession that it has surrendered control to corporate arrogance and avarice.
With an unprecedented volume of crude gushing from the well and the magnitude of the disaster multiplying geometrically by the day, who was in charge of coping with that? Not the White House, not the interior secretary, not the EPA. As we saw when Wall Street's greed exploded our economy, the polluting scoundrels were left in charge!
While BP's dapper CEO issued patently ridiculous statements (such as, "Everything we can see at the moment suggests that the overall environmental impact of this will be very, very modest."), our government blindly went along with BP's false assertion that only some 5,000 barrels a day were pouring from the well, when independent experts were shouting at the White House that the correct volume was up to 19 times that much.
Finally, almost a month after the blowout, Obama ordered a moratorium on drilling new offshore wells and on granting environmental waivers to the oil giants. Bravo, Mr. President! But ... his moratorium was simply ignored. Days after his order, oil companies were handed at least seven more drilling permits and five waivers.
Last week, with 63 percent of the public disapproving of his meek deference to BP, the president of the United States of America was reduced to convening a press conference to insist that he was "engaged" and, behind the scenes, was "monitoring" BP's efforts.
Wow, monitoring! Excuse me, but who's the president here? Obama should personally take charge —-cancel all of his social and political events, convene an emergency response team of the best scientific minds in the world, announce a clear plan of clean-up actions, install all relevant Cabinet officials in a Gulf Coast command center to direct the actions, make daily reports on progress to the public, fire a mess of failed regulators and go to Congress with sweeping legislation to replace America's oil dependency with a crash program of conservation and renewable energy sources.
Oh, he should also wring a few corporate necks. Instead of monitoring these criminals, prosecute them — and put the public back in charge of our government.
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46 Comments so far
Show AllThe last president we had who thought he had actually gained power and tried to direct the MIC and the corporations ("all businessmen are sons of bitches...") was John Kennedy.
We and the world saw what happened to him.
Oh, but wasn't Kennedy shot by one deranged gunman? And didn't a dozen little brown brothers with boxcutters destroy the World Trade Center? Surely the brilliant, highly educated, informed American public would never believe a government lie. Would they?
You are surprised by what exactly here Jim?
I mean this is EXACTLY how a Fascism is supposed to work.
Until we get election reform and stop the huge influence of $ on our political system, we are stuck with exactly the things we've seen in the past couple of months. Obama is as beholden as any to corporate interests.
We won't have election reform until we have an informed public.
We won't have an informed public until we have an honest media.
We won't have an honest media until we reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and anti-trust the media megaliths into a thousand pieces.
And you won't have a fairness doctrine until you replace the shills in office who don't want it ...
Look, this is a circular argument - "there's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza ...
As long as you wring your hands and accept the common wisdom that without campaign finance reform, or election reform, or whatever other reform you claim as a necessary prerequisite to decent gov't, we can't possibly hope to get any one decent elected, you will never get anywhere.
As long as the internet is still open, there's your cheap media. Folks who don't view CD look at other sites or engage in social networking. With the touch of a key you can directly transmit stuff to thousands, and they can send it on. Clever enough videos on U-Tube "go viral".
I'm amazed that folks who use this, or any other on-line site, still persist in this "we need reform BEFORE we can elect" nonsense.
And what we need to do is pressure our own, so-called "progressive" media and commentators to help get rid of these guys and help us get decent folk in. Instead, guys like Hartman and even Hightower, in the name of "progressivism" or "populism" will regale us with clever, cogent critiques of our admin., but when push comes to shove they will NOT use their bully pulpits to support any indy progressive candidates. If they comment at all on elections per se, it will be to "point out" that, sigh, sigh, as bad as the Dems are, they are better than the Reps, and the indy "can't win", more's the pity, so the best we can do is elect Dems and then "push" them to do the right thing. And besides, there's always SC appointments to consider (a Hartman favorite).... If they promote a more "progressive" candidate in a race, it will always be a Dem. Sound familiar? Think about it, the only fairly widely known lefty commentator who dared to promote Nader over Obama in '08 was Hedges. He saw it and called it. Where were Hightower and Hartman, let alone vandenHeuval, and Rothschild, and Huffington. Some of these folks we've already figured out, but the others are no better. Frankly, I'm getting frustrated with Goodman on that score as well ...
This is not an off the cuff, shoot from the hip observation; I have watched this pattern emerge, again and again, over several election cycles.
You're right (as in correct), we need to protest the media, but let's start with "our" own media. It's time to put their feet to the fire as well, to challenge them to put their endorsements where their mouths are.
You want reform, of any kind? Put those in who will promote it, at all levels. Any candidate "can" win if enough people support him/her and if the folks, like many here, who are so thoroughly frustrated with the latest Dem incarnation of "change" won't do it, who will? All these Eyore posts about "woe is us, we are doomed, there's nothing we can do" drive me to distraction.
Americans, historically, at least, have been masters at doing a great deal with little money. Where's all that American ingenuity I keep hearing about? Or shall I wait while all those responses about how that's gone, too, beaten or fooled out of us, never to return, come rolling in.
All those folks who want to just abandon politics as too corrupted or irrelevant seem to have faith in our ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat when it comes to going local, even though the corporate influences opposed to that strategy are every bit as strong, proportionately, as those acting on the national level.
So, here, let's go; Hawkins for Governor of NY, pass it on.
http://www.howiehawkins.com/2010/
If our "progressive" commentators really want to do something instead of just mouthing off, like the guy, Obama, they're critiquing, let 'em use their pulpits to promote candidates like Hawkins. And let US ask them, if they don't do it, why not?
"If our "progressive" commentators really want to do something instead of just mouthing off, like the guy, Obama, they're critiquing, let 'em use their pulpits to promote candidates like Hawkins."
I suppose the same can be said of so many progressive indies out there who aren't known. Good point on the need to promote people like Hawkins and others running on all levels for office. I made mention of Midge Potts for Senator of MO and got interesting responses. Sometimes, I wish others would do the same from their states/districts.
One simple way to approach it would be to set, for the socioeconomic system in general, X = (level of social responsibility)/(technical capability). Then it appears that the probability of extinction and the probability of catastrophic economic/civilization collapse would be inversely proportional to X. And the more corporate control, the more the level of social responsibility decreases as corporations limit the civil and criminal responsibility of the actors and tend to externalize costs ==> X decreases, the probability of catastrophe increases.
Government isn't impotent. They know who they are siding with and unlike most other nations, there is zero respect from the pols. When the cornfed electorate can think better and vote better instead of allowing the corporate media to push their thinking buttons and levers for them, then we will talk about government impotence. For now, please understand that government and big business are making no bones about "boldly" working against us !
It's quite obvious "who's in charge here" in the U.S. It's none other than the corporations. Every toady in Congress is beholden to them because of the constant stream of BRIBES (lobbying money) they are being paid daily to do the bidding of the corporations. And don't think that the Supreme Court's Justice Stephens isn't in on the scandal as well!
America has finally been completely and totally bought by the corporations. The average American has no longer any say whatsoever regarding the governance of our country or its priorities because both parties are completely owned by these masters and will always do their bidding.
Only once in a great while does a congress person stand up for America and its people but that voice too soon dies down after receiving the "appropriate" amount of payoff!
Our country is now fully owned by the robber-barons and there's NOTHING that will change that short of a full scale renunciation of the Congress by the citizens.
"Full scale renunciation of the Congress by the citizens" is needed NOW! You must not vote again for your representatives in Congress. They are corrupt. Let's throw the bums out and start over. It's worth a try.
Don't get mad at one of the major political parties and vote for the other one. Both major political parties are EQUALLY corrupt. There are other candidates on the ballot. Vote for them, or write in your own name.
Throwing the bums out would result in about a third of Congress being occupied by freshmen. Election reform is the best possible route - not only money reform, but also the way we elect people. Proportional representation, instant runoffs, and a shorter campaign season would go a long way. For the near term, though, as I've been saying for a long time, Obama needs to fire Rahm, Tim, and Larry right away. A steady purge of the remaining Clintonites and Bush/Cheney leftovers should follow. Nominating several more people to the Supreme Court would be nice as well. Ultimately, Obama needs to call in the Cabinet and the Congressional leadership, and just tell them - "I'm the f***king President, and here's how it's going to be..." Of course, I do have an active fantasy life.
Why can't you just say the truth- Obama IS the problem because HE assembled this "team". Obama needs to be purged, too.
90% of the world's oil comes from government-owned companies. The largest offshore oil company, Statoil, is owned by the Norwegian government. BP for most of the past century was owned by the British government. The biggest oil spills in history were caused by government-owned oil companies. Statoil had a major oil spill as recently as 2007. BP has caused environmental destruction throughout its history as a government-owned company. The oil industry as we know it today was basically created by governments.
How again is this a problem with laissez-faire policies? I'm not sure I'm following the logic in your article. A government-owned company in a government-owned industry is an example of laissez-faire economics?
What a load of nonsense. Why don't you read the article.
Statoil/Norsk Hydro is not "government owned" by the way. They are a publicly traded corporation. Take a few seconds to check online before you spout of BS.
Gee I did not realize that Chevron, Shell, Exxon-Mobil, TotalFinaElf, BP, Conoco-Philips etc. etc. were government owned. You must be mighty gullible to believe that. Did you know that the world is actually flat?
The information you give is misleading. The topic is laissez-faire economics pertaining the the BP oil spill in the Gulf - this can be generalized as laissez-faire economics pertaining strictly to the United States... now, give the numbers displaying the level of governmental control over oil affairs in the United States and people may percieve things very differently. You're spewing components of the latest and greatest memetic engineering tactics designed to do one thing: undermine the government thus making it even less effective than it already is. The government works great so long as it is accountable to the public... and its accountability is almost negligible as it stands today... but it will be even less accountable if people decide it is to blame for our ills and therefore must be eliminated. I'm not sure how great things will be when the Objectivists are in full control.
Last night I had a conversation with a small business owner. His wife was laid off almost 2 years ago. They were middle-class and mod/progressive Dems most of their lives. They are now asking " What's so bad about democratic socialism? " It has taken them very little time to realize how precarious everyhting they have worked for in the last 38 years together is now up for grabs. They have lost roughly 90k in 2yrs. They will work into their late 60's, maybe longer, now. They know others who are much worse off. They know only to well the cause of the misery and suffering being inflicted on their environment, their food supply, their life savings and their overall health and well-being. It started with de-regulation in the late 70's and has escalated since. It is fueled by greed and corruption and corporate control of every facet of their, and our, lives. They now know Obama has no answers. They now love and listen to Mr. Hightower. They are now convinced that a new way forward is our only hope. For us and them let's hope there is still time and the political will to discover that new way forward.
I agree that there is a turning in public opinion, at least against capitalism, if not yet toward socialism. The problem is the Left is not taking advantage of this shift in opinion. Partly the problem is the conflation of radicalism with "progressivism" and partly the hardnosed doctrinaire marxists. While in the background, the reformists in their nonprofit Establishment are enablers of the status quo.
I agree that there is a turning in public opinion, at least against capitalism, if not yet toward socialism. The problem is the Left is not taking advantage of this shift in opinion. Partly the problem is the conflation of radicalism with "progressivism" and partly the hardnosed doctrinaire marxists. While in the background, the reformists in their nonprofit Establishment are enablers of the status quo.
To consider the government "impotent" is folly. What is really going on is Big Oil spends millions "lobbying". Follow the money. On, yes...even Obama took money from BP.
Most progressives are saying the system is too corrupt for anyone to fix it. But I disagree.
The problem is much simpler. We just elected the wrong guy, that's all. If we had another Democrat--any other Democrat--in the White House, we would not be singing the blues today.
LOL- yeah, right.
I'll take two of whatever your on buddy! Wake up, open your effin eyes, and see the reality of the situation. They aren't spineless, they are just playing their part in this American tragedy.
Assuming that we as Democrats could elect a President who did not owe his campaign financing to corporate funding I still don't think it would be enough. Look at the way our government is structured. That honest president would have to backed up by an equally honest Congress and Judiciary to be effective. To get that our Congress would have to be modified so that minority rule which is so manifest in its Senate, in its gerrymandered House with its needlessly obfuscating house committee structure, in our appointed Supreme Court that has almost always throughout its history defended elites and privilege-- would have to be eliminated. And our electoral system which is such a joke would have to be reformed if we were to institute a real Democracy. If this is not done it is naive to think an honest, incorruptible President could prevail over all of those corrupt elements would conspire to crush such a leader. Unless of course you would give the president the power of a dictator to countervail-- and then it is almost inevitable he too would become corrupt. We need a new birth of freedom, a new system of government, a new constitution. One honest man, even if we could elect him president is not enough.
Oh, please.
I doubt that very much.
Hmmm - the most likely alternative was Corporation Clinton - nuff said.
Obama is in Pittsburgh delivering a supposed " tough, partisan speech " about our current economic crisis. It has left me to say that if this tough, by all means, give me the 40 lashes now. Please, let's be done with the beating so that recovery can begin sooner. The forthcoming harsh and cruel medicine is going to be administered to the poor, elderly and left out. Military and Defense are off the table, homeland security of course, is to. The sacred cows will be saved and nurtured. The comfortable will find more than enough comfort. This is the change we all dreaded if McCain would of been elected in 2008. It is now the change writ large in blood, treasure and environmental disaster we will getting in spades from the Obama Adm. I should be shocked. I'm now just resigned that for most of America this is as good as it gets.
As it turned out we replaced an incomprehensible gasbag with an articulate gasbag. Obama is a charming talker who doesn't seem to have a clue when it comes to kicking some ass to get stuff done. In today's America it looks as though only corporate whores can get elected. RIP USA.
Bring America Back !!!!.....!!!!.... Did Hightower steal that 'dead fish' joke from Sarah Palin ?? or what ?
****Hightower extols that Obama should be doing more than mere "monitoring", and kick some ass. He brings up the Massey Coal Mine as another corporate neglect/disaster.
****If Hightower spent 30 years battling the 'powers that be'
then was that just writing about the powerful nasties, or where were his 'victories' ????
****Now when I heard that Prince Dick Cheney's Haliburton Corp was involved in that BP OIl Rig, my ears perked up, and my Sherlock Holmes nose started growing again.
****Any investigative journalist worth a grain of sea salt would be hot on the trail of what the hell was Haliburton's role on that Rig...but maybe Hightower didn't hear about that and was just infatuated with coal mine cave-ins. !
I really need to write a book entitled: "Investigative Journalism for Dummies". But then, there has not been any work done like that since Woodward and Bernstein, so who really needs it !! Duh !!!!
TruthUnKnowler- Jim has been using that joke for years and years. He's been on the radio for over a decade. He's speaks all over the country about issues like you've mentioned and more. He's a populist/progressive and uses a folksy, plain spoken style to impart his take on things. Anyone that knows anything about anyone knows this. Oh, sorry, everyone except you. P.S. He held elected office in Texas at the state level. Something your investigative skills already knew, by osmosis, I'd guess.
Twenty Five percent of the Black Population is unemployed.
How much longer can Obama fool the Blacks?
This is considered Blind loyalty. If the Blacks enjoy this living, they can keep buying their liqour at the local smoke shop and enjoy.
Twenty Five percent of the Black Population is unemployed.
How much longer can Obama fool the Blacks?
This is considered Blind loyalty. If the Blacks enjoy this living, they can keep buying their liqour at the local smoke shop and enjoy.
Was listening to Thom Hartmann today and he narrowed our circumstances down to what conservatives were saying back in the 60's. The middle class had become too powerful and it was bad for America from their point of view. Blacks were demanding rights as were women and young people were saying,"hell no, we won't go!" The answer was to get rid of the middle class. Enter Reagan and the rest is history. The aristocracy must be confronted and forced into retreat. It's crunch time in the class war. Are we ready?
Corp, the artificial person.
Christ, the human, meet Corporation, the Anti-Christ.
The top 1% is ruining the world, and the corporation is the horse they rode in on.
Revoke corporate personhood, and make them directly responsible to society whole.
CORP IS BORG.
Just a quick reminder:
'Frankly, they own the place.'
They being Big Corporate Everything; the place being The Government Formerly Known As Ours.
So let's all keep acting surprised when shit like this happens everyday.
'Nobody could have ever predicted (insert long-predicted and forewarned-about catastrophe.)
I usually don't talk in these terms, but the "asswhipping" America needs, it couldn't stand. The remedies posed by some posters on this site would produce anarchy or would we call it "creative destruction"? There is always a place for reason and when the masquerade and bluster are all finished, the truth will provide the direction to obtain meaningful results. Quietness and certitude harbor the truth. This is where we should drop anchor.
America was stolen long before Barack Obama became President. He seeks political solutions where principle would serve better, but the problem has not been clearly defined. The problem lies with an indulgent citizenry, content to "let George do it", unresistant to the waste and corruption permeating every level of our society. Indeed, we are willing participants.
When principle is applied in a corrective manner, pain is experienced, we are being prepared. Principle will be applied. There is no political solution to the Gulf oil disaster, Nature will be paid in full.
The time of our testing is at hand.
Obama is a Manager, nothing more. He won't change anything, but keep things running the way they have been, for his bosses.
Actually the PROBLEM is the fact that we have allowed unbridled capitalism to destroy our democracy, our environment and our economy! Until enough of us recognize that capitalism cannot and will not be reformed, nothing changes!
I would also add that depending on the Democratic Party has proven over and over to be futile. The corporate monster owns the DP along with the RP!
The late Anthony Mazzochi then the Secretary Treasurer of the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers (OCAW) advocated for an independent political party for America's working people. Such a party and movement is needed now more than ever!
If we don't initiate real change, it will never occur!
The public is still disengaged from political reality. It is easier to shout in anger than to understand and intelligently confront our government. So, the minority of plugged in people are left mostly helpless. The paradigm shift we are undergoing is hidden by complexity and speed. We are shifting toward an entirely new way of existence. The problems we are facing are a reflection of ourselves. As we are forced to face them by default, our minds are opened to change by necessity. Hardships and adaptations go hand in hand as the old collapses and the new is birthed. We are walking through the cauldron of massive change. The question is well beyond corporate governance, the question is survival.
Your post is structured well. A question arises, did we elect a President to foster change or manage change? Can one man, i.e. administration bring about the massive change required to achieve the objectives of our Democracy? "The question is well beyond corporate governance, the question is survival". "Necessity" is the mother of invention, surprise need not be part of the equation. The answers may not come quickly or easily, but they will come and reason will be their conveyance. We, the people are the force for change and we must act as force whenever and wherever we can.
A good resource on this idea is Paul Hawken's book, Blessed Unrest.
Keep doing the right thing as much and as often as you can.
Oh, he should also wring a few corporate necks. Instead of monitoring these criminals, prosecute them — and put the public back in charge of our government.
Maybe this site is called common dreams because so many of us have such fanciful dreams.
I dreamed he would prosecute war criminals and profiteers.
I dreamed he would push for the employee free choice act.
I dreamed he would actually get out of Iraq, not just replace soldiers with mercenaries.
I dreamed he would prosecute the corporate banksters who created the world wide recession.
I dreamed he would push to repeal the Patriot Act.
I dreamed he would halt extraordinary rendition and the export of torture.
I dreamed he would have an open administration starting with opening the doors on the Cheney energy policy.
A famous movie (is it Pretty Woman?) starts with a guy going down the street calling out; "What's your dream?"
Jim Hightower's dream is the first sentence of this post.
I've given you some of mine.
What's your dream brother/sister?
"Obama should personally take charge —-cancel all of his social and political events, convene an emergency response team of the best scientific minds in the world, announce a clear plan of clean-up actions, install all relevant Cabinet officials in a Gulf Coast command center to direct the actions, make daily reports on progress to the public, fire a mess of failed regulators and go to Congress with sweeping legislation to replace America's oil dependency with a crash program of conservation and renewable energy sources."
And MEASURE THE DAMN FLOW!
Cygnus wrote:
"...We won't have election reform until we have an informed public.
We won't have an informed public until we have an honest media.
We won't have an honest media until we reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and anti-trust the media megaliths into a thousand pieces..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Very true...but there's one more step: We won't have any of this until enough people show up. At our local MoveOn meetings, we keep hammering away at the Establishment, but the Big Question is: How do we get more participation? Why are these meetings attended by only 10-50 people? Where's the outrage (that results in action)? How do we get the word out?
Is MoveOn still wedded to the Dems? Maybe it's time to move on .....