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Philanthro-Feudalism Is the Future!
China's new economic plan is a relic of the past. It focuses on raising standards of living. How quaint!
When China's leaders unveiled their latest five-year plan recently, they revealed that their focus is on lowering inequality, investing in railroads, highways and hospitals and expanding domestic demand through income subsidies. Fancy that!
Those old world Chinese just don't seem to get it, that the modern way is the American way: deregulate, concentrate wealth in the top 1 percent and then make sure those at the top don't pay taxes!
Mar 09, 2011
China's new economic plan is a relic of the past. It focuses on raising standards of living. How quaint!
When China's leaders unveiled their latest five-year plan recently, they revealed that their focus is on lowering inequality, investing in railroads, highways and hospitals and expanding domestic demand through income subsidies. Fancy that!
Those old world Chinese just don't seem to get it, that the modern way is the American way: deregulate, concentrate wealth in the top 1 percent and then make sure those at the top don't pay taxes!
Treated well enough, the rich will fund desperately-needed things like cancer research. Just look at David Koch. Keep government regulators' hands off his cancer-causing formaldehyde, and he'll happily put $100 million toward a new Institute for (some) Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (As long as it's named after him. )
It's the modern new twist on an Old World theme. We call it Philanthro-feudalism.
Those Chinese by contrast, so stuck in the past, are still looking to government to fund government things. They're even spending public money on public projects--things like broadband internet for peasants and medical and technological research. Communists!
After all this time, they just don't understand that the best guardians of public dollars are private bankers.
Here at home, we're making remarkable advances! Our corporations recently gained the right to free speech and they're so advanced that they're preparing to spend billions to influence our next election! And a few pesky Wisconsin protesters aside, workers have realized that they don't need rights, or jobs, or much in the way of wages.
The government of China clearly has a lot to learn. But meanwhile, let's give 'em our thanks for still buying our bonds--and taking all those jobs off our hands.
One last thing, we've learned names matter. The poor aren't eating so much these days in the US, but don't call them peasants. They don't like that. Here we call them consumers.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
© 2023 GRITtv
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
China's new economic plan is a relic of the past. It focuses on raising standards of living. How quaint!
When China's leaders unveiled their latest five-year plan recently, they revealed that their focus is on lowering inequality, investing in railroads, highways and hospitals and expanding domestic demand through income subsidies. Fancy that!
Those old world Chinese just don't seem to get it, that the modern way is the American way: deregulate, concentrate wealth in the top 1 percent and then make sure those at the top don't pay taxes!
Treated well enough, the rich will fund desperately-needed things like cancer research. Just look at David Koch. Keep government regulators' hands off his cancer-causing formaldehyde, and he'll happily put $100 million toward a new Institute for (some) Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (As long as it's named after him. )
It's the modern new twist on an Old World theme. We call it Philanthro-feudalism.
Those Chinese by contrast, so stuck in the past, are still looking to government to fund government things. They're even spending public money on public projects--things like broadband internet for peasants and medical and technological research. Communists!
After all this time, they just don't understand that the best guardians of public dollars are private bankers.
Here at home, we're making remarkable advances! Our corporations recently gained the right to free speech and they're so advanced that they're preparing to spend billions to influence our next election! And a few pesky Wisconsin protesters aside, workers have realized that they don't need rights, or jobs, or much in the way of wages.
The government of China clearly has a lot to learn. But meanwhile, let's give 'em our thanks for still buying our bonds--and taking all those jobs off our hands.
One last thing, we've learned names matter. The poor aren't eating so much these days in the US, but don't call them peasants. They don't like that. Here we call them consumers.
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
China's new economic plan is a relic of the past. It focuses on raising standards of living. How quaint!
When China's leaders unveiled their latest five-year plan recently, they revealed that their focus is on lowering inequality, investing in railroads, highways and hospitals and expanding domestic demand through income subsidies. Fancy that!
Those old world Chinese just don't seem to get it, that the modern way is the American way: deregulate, concentrate wealth in the top 1 percent and then make sure those at the top don't pay taxes!
Treated well enough, the rich will fund desperately-needed things like cancer research. Just look at David Koch. Keep government regulators' hands off his cancer-causing formaldehyde, and he'll happily put $100 million toward a new Institute for (some) Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (As long as it's named after him. )
It's the modern new twist on an Old World theme. We call it Philanthro-feudalism.
Those Chinese by contrast, so stuck in the past, are still looking to government to fund government things. They're even spending public money on public projects--things like broadband internet for peasants and medical and technological research. Communists!
After all this time, they just don't understand that the best guardians of public dollars are private bankers.
Here at home, we're making remarkable advances! Our corporations recently gained the right to free speech and they're so advanced that they're preparing to spend billions to influence our next election! And a few pesky Wisconsin protesters aside, workers have realized that they don't need rights, or jobs, or much in the way of wages.
The government of China clearly has a lot to learn. But meanwhile, let's give 'em our thanks for still buying our bonds--and taking all those jobs off our hands.
One last thing, we've learned names matter. The poor aren't eating so much these days in the US, but don't call them peasants. They don't like that. Here we call them consumers.
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