The Great American Kleptocracy

Kleptocrat

So there’s a fascinating article in the current Foreign Affairs. Is America a Kleptocracy? Here’s how life could change for the rich, poor, and everyone in between by Jodi Vittori, who is described as “a professor of the practice and co-chair of global politics and security at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.”

Professor Vittori’s answer to her own question is “yeah, maybe not quite yet, but we’re definitely on our way there soon.” And she adds that being ruled by mega-crooks is going to impact us all in a lot of ways, and none of them will be pleasant. Expect prices to go up (everywhere!) and democracy to be increasingly unavailable at any cost.

And the question is what to do about it all. Personally, I’m afraid that so long as people like Trump, and his enablers, and the tech-bros are running things, there isn’t much we can do about it. They’ll just keep stealing and stealing, until the whole system collapses into ruins.

Still, Professor Vittori says there may be ways of fighting back. Some countries have managed to use a combination of legal action and non-violent protest to bring down the Kleptocrats. She cites in particular techniques developed and promoted by USAID.

Only, USAID was one of Trump’s top targets, and maybe we know why. It taught too many people how to resist him.

Note To The 1%: The Alternative

Note to the rich and powerful, here are your options...

Choose carefully.

Note to the Rich and Powerful

Two questions for the Rich and the Powerful. Plus a comment.

The comment: in case you’ve missed it, there’s a new genre out there…in film, and TV, and books. I call it “Tales of Off-Shoring Blues.”

These are stories of ordinary, average Americans who find themselves without jobs, without hope, and without dignity when suddenly some CEO or corporate executive decides that it will increase his or her bonus by a few cents more if they move the factory or the office to India, or China, or Mexico.

Right now, for instance, there’s a new movie in the theaters. It’s called “Company Men.” It’s all about a bunch of guys who get downsized, and then we watch as they wither, as their self-esteem collapses, their sense of themselves of as men declines, and they struggle to find a place in a new and alien world which holds them in contempt.

It’s supposed to be quite good. The critics all love it. I’m told the men in the story do come to terms with their plights. Or at least some of them do. Sort of. But I don’t think I’ll be able to go see it. It would cut a little close to the bone for me. I’m employed (if somewhat underemployed) at the moment, but I’ve been there. And I know a lot of other people who are there still.

What interests me about this new genre, though, is that it succeeds because it taps into something deep and powerful in the culture. It resonates with people because they know it is saying something true.

Specifically, they know that they are being hurt. They know that they are being stripped of their dignity. They know that their increased rates of suicide and heart attack are not accidental. They know that, in some place, even in middle class suburbs, children are starting to go hungry.

Or, to put it another way, they know they are being murdered. Not with guns and knives. Not quickly. But murdered all the same. Slowly. With a thousand, thousand humiliations and deprivations.

So, now my two questions to the Rich and Powerful.

First, if you continue your present course of action…if you keep downsizing and off-shoring and not making any effort to create jobs for Americans…if you keep letting them die…

What do you think will happen when Americans then quite rationally decide that it is either you or them? That they cannot survive if you continue to rule?

And, second, if that should occur…

How long do you think you can run? How well do you think you can hide?

Just asking.

Does A Bear....?

Saw the article the other day by Dave Johnson on how the very wealthy caused our current, massive deficit and by extension our current Recession and joblessness. His argument, which is buttressed by an amazing number of statistics, is that the mega-rich (what I call the 1%) forced the government to stop taxing them at anything like reasonable levels.

But, they and everyone else (but mostly them) continued to demand social services. The result was a government that supported itself by borrowing, hoping against hope that when the bill came due there would be money from somewhere to pay it off..

So, now that day is here, but our fairy godmother has declined to show up with magic wand and debit card.

The result? The 1%ers continue to insist on No New Taxes…for them. Meaning the cost of their decades of irresponsibility is shifted to us, the middle class. We pay for it with joblessness, higher prices, and the general decline in our standard of living.

Did the mega-rich cause the deficit?

Well, let's see, they forced the government to stop taxing them at anything like reasonable levels, but then demanded that the government provide them with social services, and so Washington had to borrow like mad, and, now, here we are, with the wolf at the door…

So, did they cause the deficit?

Does a bear sh— …er…seek a moment of solitary contemplation in the woods?





Source: huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/did-the-rich-cause-the-de_b_786062.html?ir=Business