Eminence Front

Eminence Front

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

 

-Thomas Jefferson

By J.M. Hamilton (1-22-2016)

After a lifetime of voting Republican, in 2008 I took the plunge and voted for my first Democrat, President Obama.  The soaring rhetoric, the pitch for change, it put the hook into me.  At a time when the nation needed (and still does) a substantial economic and political overhaul, President Obama appeared to be our man.  In 2012, I, like many, realized that the President we were sold hadn’t performed as advertised.  In fact, President Obama seemed more like a moderate republican, and most notably, not a single Wall Street CEO entered a jail cell.  

Still, in 2012, the President was clearly the lesser of two evils:  GOP or GOP-Lite?

Yes, holding my nose, I’ll have the latter, please. 

Fear for the future of my immortal soul dictates that I vote for the Democratic Party, or Evil-Lite.

Unfortunately, President Obama’s eloquence is only matched by his preternatural ability to speak out of both sides of his mouth.  This year’s State of the Union was going along pretty well, until there it was: the sales pitch for the plutocracy and the proposal that Congress authorize yet another free trade agreement.  Free trade agreements have gutted the same middle & working class families….  the President, allegedly, is the standard barrier for.  (The irony is President Transparency didn’t share the highly touted TPP agreement with the American people, until November 2015.)  And now the push to cram it through.

It’s not all bad.  President Obama has chipped around the edges on social policy, which seems to be the GOP-Lite Party’s way of saying:  “Yeah, I’m in bed with the plutocracy, but at least I’m not in bed with the red necks, clinging to their guns, nescience, and racism.”  Yes, we get it… If you’re a “successful” democratic politician, seemingly, you’ve successfully negotiated that Faustian deal with the plutocracy, while celebrating gay and women’s reproductive rights - both highly credible and worthy causes.  (Admittedly, some of my frustration with the President is due largely to the Republican led Congress, which is intent on thwarting the President purely out of malice.  Clearly a situation that is neither Obama's fault or within his power to control.  The President also deserves credit for protecting the U.S.; zero 9-11 terror events under his watch, so far.)  The question, however, remains can Dems find a President, who can walk and chew gum at the same time?  That is to say, a Democratic President who has the courage to: advance economic and political civil rights issues for immigrants, minorities and ordinary Americans; address economic inequality and wage theft in our society; and hold the malefactors of wealth – the monopolist and plutocracy – accountable for the Great American robbery that transpires daily?

When it comes to economic policy and economic freedom from the tyranny of want, there is, and has been, no presidential candidate harkening back to President Roosevelt and his proposed Four Freedoms.

At least it has been that way up until now.

Sparked by voter outrage at the manner in which the elite have pigged out at the government’s trough, at the expense everyone else, two populist candidates have arrived.  For the first time certainly in my memory, we have two legitimate candidates who are not beholding to special interests, and in particular, the bankocracy.

Meanwhile, back at the Plutocratic Party, all the candidates miraculously and suddenly want to demonstrate their populist cred.  Whether it is Ms. Clinton, Senator Cruz, or Mr. Bush… the more they attempt to sound like they’re authentic populists, and have always been on the ninety-nine percent’s side, the more they come off as plutocratic tools.

Mrs. Clinton, in particular, like her husband before her, is known for taking millions in Wall Street money (not unlike Senator Cruz).  Wall Street banks are known for taking down the global economy and ushering in the worst economic depression, since the Great Depression; Wall Street’s crimes against the American people are both extensive and notably, marked be recidivism. 

Among Wall Street’s crimes over the last decade are: rigging the commodities markets; colluding on setting the inter-bank lending rate, or LIBOR; misleading clients and investors on rigged mortgage backed securities and CDOs; money laundering for drug cartels; accounting shenanigans and off balance sheet transactions (read Repos); aiding and assisting the wealthy in tax avoidance; gambling in high risk private equity transactions w/ the taxpayers' money; buying out the U.S. Congress to do their bidding; writing their own reform laws – a la Dodd Frank – and then lobbying to overturn key parts of their own reform law, successfully I might add; running a gambling racket with swaps & derivatives products - worth hundreds of trillions - that is backstopped and supported by the American taxpayer; accepting trillions in bailouts and still engaging in the aforementioned behaviors (and then lobbying lawmakers for austerity for the American people); and on and on and on.  And apparently, some judge has now made insider trading legal.  

All these unethical behaviors take billions out of the economy, and out of the hands of legitimate investors, and place said billions into the hands of Wall Street banks and shadow banking.  It’s like SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Economic Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is running the global economy, and is the master puppeteer of our purchased Congress and presidential candidates.

Let me ask my readers a question, what other industry could pay a quarter trillion in fines and still report billions upon billions in profits, quarter after quarter? And this vertically integrated industry has its hands in everyone’s pocket, from several different angles, and is impervious to change.  In fact, Wall Street banks have grown larger and more concentrated.  The drag and the gravitational pull the cartel holds on the American and global economy is unprecedented, and its very existence is a tax upon the lives of 99% of Americans.

Infamously, it was Bill Clinton and Treasury Secretaries Rubin and Summers (backed by a Republican Congress, and particularly former Texas Senator, Phil Gramm), who are responsible for the end of the Glass Steagall, and the swaps & derivatives deregulation, that set in motion the financial Armageddon that destroyed the global economy.  (The fallout of which we are still dealing with to this very day.)  In many respects, the nation owes the Clintons a debt of gratitude for exposing the scale and magnitude of our crony/insider economy and government, and the depths of its depravity.  If a Democratic President, and a rather smart one, can be so easily manipulated by Wall Street aristocracy, than where does that leave the Republican Party?  

Wallowing in the mud, per the usual?

No wonder then that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton suffer no angst at taking in millions in Wall Street speaking fees and campaign contributions; no wonder then that Mrs. Clinton sophistically argues a political misdirection play, when she says the ’08 crisis wasn’t caused by the termination of Glass Steagall, but rather, the issue is shadow banking.  Admittedly, her statement is partially true…. Both shadow banking and private equity are in dire need of serious regulation and control; but no intelligent voter should be disabused of the fact that the Wall Street cartel (Old Too Big to Fail & Jail) must also be broken up, and Glass Steagall re-implemented.  And yet, the billionaire class – hunkered down at Davos – supposedly hasn’t a clue as to why the global economy, eight years later, has never really gotten back on its feet?  (It could be debt to GDP ratios across the globe are at an all time high, especially China's?  In America the sky high debt to GDP ratios financed tax cuts for the rich for the last 35 years.)

The problem is Mrs. Hillary Clinton, and nearly the entire GOP field, represent the establishment politics that have driven the U.S. economy into the ground for the 99%.  While for the 1%, it's business as usual and record profits (made to order, via Fed fueled financial engineering).

Even if you were to give Hillary the benefit of the doubt, and if past is prologue, it would be completely fatuous to believe Mrs. C has changed her stripes, why gamble on a presidential candidate who is mired – neck deep – in scandal, is under investigation by the House of Representatives and the FBI, and whose very name is synonymous with moral hazard? 

Which brings us full circle back to the two political outsiders, both of whom enjoy highly sound prospects for obtaining both the Democratic and Republican Party’s respective nominations, Messrs. Sanders and Trump.

Mr. Trump has his own baggage that he must contend with…. He’s flip-flopped on numerous issues.  The Donald, a former liberal on many social issues, is now a Republican?  And then there’s the manner in which he’s earned his billions, by playing the system that he now says is broken.  Let’s see, Mr. Trump made billions off a system that he now says is contaminated and has taken a sledge hammer to the middle class, the crony economy.  Something doesn’t quite ring true here.  Now…  the Teflon-Don, out of the kindness of his Trumpian heart, is going to save us from the very system that has made him billions?

If we know nothing else about Mr. Trump… if there’s been one constant in Mr. Trump’s life, it is this:  He is a tireless self-promoter, and he’s damn good at it.  Does one think for a  minute his behavior is going to change, if by some twist of fate he magically enters the White House?  

To be sure, JMH believes Mr. Trump can win the Republican nomination.  And if I’m completely honest with myself…  among a very weak, establishment GOP field, and if one is so inclined to let their lizard–id take over, he’s probably the best Republican candidate for the job.  As Bill Maher recently noted, there’s days where Mr. Trump sounds like Noam Chomsky; but unfortunately, there’s also days where Mr. Trump sounds like Adolph Hitler, particularly when he runs down – and backs over - immigrants, minorities, and Muslims.

So that leaves us with one remaining populist, named Mr. Bernie Sanders.  This man has held constant to his beliefs, and has never once sold out.  He believes in a kinder and gentler America, and despite the “socialist” moniker, don’t look for any May Day parades when Mr. Sanders enters the White House.  He was liberal when it was cool; he was liberal when it wasn’t cool (vis a vis the bulk of the last 35 years).  And he’s a liberal today.  If Mr. Sanders is a socialist, than the oligarchy is communist, such is their love-fest with U.S. and global governments - which they raid and loot daily.  A President Sanders will do everything is his power to take back this country from the plutocracy, who own and operate it; that is to say, Mr. Sander will do his best to take this nation back from the control freaks and sociopaths who make up the billionaire class (if nothing else, he’ll obstruct the brutes).  This campaign season, there’s only one candidate who can take on the mantel of FDR and his proposed Four Freedoms, and the rise of Mr. Sanders’ couldn't be better timed.

The demographic tide, and the nation’s mood, is on the Senator’s side.  As for the Hitler/Stalin loving Kochs, well they are about to discover that they cannot purchase the presidency, once again…

That’s exactly how it should be for a Republican party that continues to doubling-down on fear, racism, and xenophobia.  A President Sanders may hold the elite accountable for driving this nation to her knees.  Candidate Trump, on the other hand, blames immigrants and the poor for the nation's problems.  It’s the key dichotomy in this race, whom do you blame for the nation’s economic problems: the poor and the disenfranchised, or the malefactors of wealth and privilege?  Given U.S. patrimony, as a nation of immigrants, it’s really something to see Mr. Trump work a room and stir up animosity and bile.  Meanwhile, the House of Parliament considered this week whether or not to ban The Donald from the U.K.  Like our incompetent U.S. Congress, their English counterparts debated and talked, and took no action.  They didn’t even hold a vote.  Sound familiar?

The Eminence Front, the Clintons & Plutocracy Inc., will swear that Mr. Sanders is unelectable…. Just like former President Bill Clinton swore up and down that a certain black man couldn’t be elected either, back in ’08.  That was mighty white of Mr. Clinton, and then as now, the Clintons are 100% wrong.  Senator Sanders is electable, and the Clintons (and what Heidi Cruz refers to as “investors”) are scrambling like its 2008 all over again.  Such is Senator Sanders’ growing wave of popular support, notably by a 2 to 1 ratio, among the nation’s youth (our future). 

Sorry plutocracy: you own the GOP, you even own Hillary, but you’ll never own Senator Sanders.  And that’s exactly why in 2016, the gentlemen from the Bronx just might go all the way.

At the end of the day, this presidential campaign is defined by an electorate that is fed up with the Clintons, the establishment, cronyism, and all the inside the Beltway minions, who pollute Washington and our State governments.  All the patsies and parasites, bought and paid for by the oligarchy, who are the equivalent to political toxic waste - dumped upon our hallowed democracy… Americans are disgusted and repulsed by it all.  K Street, you listening? 

Despite the Fed smoking up the printing presses in an attempted cover up of Wall Street’s crime wave, the odiferous stench of corruption did not go away.  It still hangs in the air like a dark and putrid cloud.  The Federal Reserve, owned by Wall Street, only made the crime and treason worse, and fueled greater wage & wealth inequality (via easy money for the 1%).

As for the insiders, and the establishment, do yourself a favor and run…  and that advice is free.  The American electorate has woken from its slumber and they are pissed, that is to say, establishment presidential candidates need not apply.  The electorate appears to plan on taking back the government from the Deep State cabal and the Star Chambers:  the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce.

Many of the same people who say a President Sanders is an impossibility, said that of the current White House occupant.  In the year of our Lord 2016, nobody is perfect, nobody is pure, and absolutely nobody walks on water.  But Senator Sanders is close enough... I think he'll do.  This nation could use a President who represents the interests of the common wheel, as opposed to an elite few.  A President Sanders means we no longer have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Get ready… it’s about to get interesting.


P.S.  Some of my younger readers maybe unclear on what exactly a "liberal" is, so please allow me to take a crack at a definition.  A liberal is a person who believes capitalism - with government guidance and where necessary, intervention - can be engineered for the benefit of society as a whole, instead of an elite cadre of insiders.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016

Note:  The list of Wall Street crimes was updated since the original write up release.

Addiction to Power

Addiction to Power

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” – Henry Kissinger

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”  - Abraham Lincoln.

By J.M. Hamilton (1-9-2016)

We’ve all seen the clinical trials where a rat or a monkey becomes addicted to meth, cocaine or heroin (perhaps even Oreos), and ultimately, elects the drug being administered over the necessities of life: companionship, food, and health.  And we’ve also seen the consequences, mental and physical, when the drug under study is taken away. 

Addiction often occurs when use of a substance floods the brain with either dopamine or serotonin, chemicals that naturally occur within the brain.  The resulting feelings of euphoria can become so intense that it results in compulsive behavior focused upon recreating the experience, over and over.  The compulsion can become so great that immediate gratification becomes primary, and health, relationships, work, and long term planning suffer.  As a result, dysfunction and poor judgment often sets in for many addicts.  There is said to be a genetic link to addiction, and undoubtedly - emotional, environmental, and psychological components as well.  While most studies and the DSM (the bible of the mental health community), focus on alcohol, hard drugs, nicotine, and prescription meds when explaining addiction and recommending treatment, there is also relatively newer interest in behavioral addictions.  

In other words, behaviors that create the same chemical/neurotransmitter release within the brain, seen in people who are addicted to drugs.  Such behavioral addictions may include gambling (which is already recognized by the DSM), sex, and quite possibly power.

During the holidays, J.M.H. wrote a piece entitled, Affluenza, where it was noted that many members of the elite community exhibit psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies.  Today, we take this analysis a step further, and examine how the power dynamic maybe habit forming, indeed – addictive, and the consequences for society.

Some mental health professionals have noted that power increases dopamine in the brain, not unlike some of the aforementioned drugs.  The surge in dopamine, created by obtaining power or positions of authority, can be highly addictive.  The chemical surge strengthens cognitive power, and further boosts sex drive, confidence, and feelings of euphoria.  The downside is power, and the resulting chemical overload, may also boost anxiety, paranoia, and restlessness.  Kicking it up a notch further, power and the flood of neurotransmitters to the brain can create arrogance, impatience, and a complete lack of empathy (witness, Messrs. Shkreli & Pearson – Big Pharma tycoons, and All-Star sociopaths).  Take away the power, and the individual is often left with a very nasty hangover or worse, withdrawal.

At least one psychologist notes that power brings about a desire to control events and surroundings.  Makes perfect sense… a person who craves drugs wants to control their flow of drugs to keep their high maintained; accordingly, a power addict too, wants to control events so as to maintain power and the high their power generates.

Are we witnessing a power addiction in the formation of a U.S. oligarchy that control and own the highest offices of government?  What about the string of Republican presidential candidates making a pilgrimage to Las Vegas to meet with Mr. Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate and billionaire (the very same magnate, who recently purchased a Las Vegas newspaper, so as to presumably control local news media content)?  With government co-opted and owned, the billionaire class can write tax law; privatize government; subjugate regulatory bodies; and start wars, which generally generate obscene profits.   The financial and political elite can even max out a government’s credit line, much like private equity chop shops have been known to destroy businesses and jobs for quick financial gain. 

Can we also see the power addiction in the formation of monopolies and cartels throughout the U.S. and global economy, with record M&A?   Monopolies, of course, are a control freak’s fantasy, since monopolistic pricing power is the ultimate form of economic control.  Moreover, if a group of control-freaks can buyoff elected officials and the legislative body – government power being the only countervailing force that can mitigate the effects of exceptional financial power – well then, the game is all but sewed up and in effect, rigged.

None of this is to say that all men and women who come into power turn out badly or become addicted to power.   There are a few examples in history where power did not become a corrupting influence.  President George Washington comes to mind, who is said to have walked away from the presidency, and power, on several occasions.  To this day, there are still a handful of public officials, who recognize power’s corrupting influence, and can simply take it and not become corrupted by it, or leave it.  However, judging from some of many tenured officials in the U.S. Senate (there’s more than 20 septua- and octogenerians), the Congress, and the Supreme Court, those individuals who can walk away from power’s addictive qualities are far and few between.   Those who come into power within the economic and financial sectors of the economy appear, in many instances, to have an even harder time walking away from power.  Many are carried out.  The few that can walk away from economic power often go into philanthropy, quite possibly to assuage feelings of guilt on how they amassed their fortunes.

Recognizing powers addictive qualities is key to understanding: those who are attracted to power; power’s corrupting influence; and what can be done to contain and mitigate the absolute corruption that all too often follows.  If power were a drug we could take it away from the addict.   But power is obtained within events, times of upheaval, and is driven by behavior.  All we have to do is look at history to see how power’s corrupting influence, and the megalomania that all too often ensues, ends badly…. with empire after overextended empire falling into disrepair and ultimately, the dust bin of history.

Key to addressing these addictive qualities would be to place obvious limits on power, that is to say, take away the rewards that attract the wrong element.  For the public sector, we are talking term limits; limits upon campaign finance and the time frame of the campaign season (w/ all additional campaign contributions collected, above a certain cap, going to charities or to pay down the national debt); and driving a wedge in the revolving door between the government and the private sector, and v.v.  If a candidate could not become rich obtaining higher office, America might find itself with an entirely different leadership type.  Imagine that.

For the private sector, controlling and containing the darkest elements of economic and financial power means an independent and vigilant government that not only fights against the formation of cartels and monopolies, but breaks up existing combinations with monopolistic pricing power. Where grants of monopoly and patents are afforded by the government, pricing and profit margins must be heavily regulated, so that the public and the public trust are not abused.  Here, name your favorite - or most loathed – cartel with monopolistic pricing power, such as:  Big Pharma, Big Oil, the DOD, Wall Street banking, the Airlines, Cable & Internet providers, and News Media content providers, etc., etc., etc.

In addition, vigilant government leadership means taxing existing wealth that has grown to heretofore unimaginable extremes, due to a rigged system and a prolonged Neo-gilded Age.  It also means maintaining a healthy fourth estate, with a wide diversity of opinion, and keeping it out of the hands of the elite and privileged few.  The current business communities fixation on stock price and EPS…  at the expense of long term growth, R&D/CAPEX, improving worker pay/aggregate demand (and hence, top line growth), and better customer service…  Must also be addressed.  Much of this will likely come naturally, when cartels and monopolies are broken up and forced to compete.

It’s called a free market economy, as opposed to the crony economy that Americans are faced with today.

 

Ironically, if a person going through drug detoxification does so under a doctor’s care, they are said to be going through “withdrawal.”  However, without certified professional oversight, and when the drug of choice is self-administered, the person going through withdrawal is labeled an “addict.”  Does this mean with board of directors’ or government certification, the power junkie becomes a Senator, SCOTUS member, or CEO….  as opposed to just another power addict?

To be sure, America needs driven personalities and leadership.   But both the leaders actions and drives should be continuously examined and questioned, with full transparency to all.  That is to say, so that the public can ascertain when a leader is acting:  in the general interest of clients, their constituents/employees, and society; or when a so-called leader has crossed the Rubicon and gone full blow megalomaniacal, answering only to calls of their own aggrandizement and the accumulation of money and power.

Is the leader in a position of power to help others, or are they there to help themselves?

It’s a problem we see with our billionaire class daily, even when said billionaire professes to have the interests of the public at heart.

See the lab rat repeatedly bang on the lever to feed their jones? 

The addicted lab rat just might be a metaphor for the billionaire at the estate next door.

P.S.

J.M.H. has made similar observations before:  If the human race is to evolve & survive, will someday future generations look back upon our history only to realize that the world, for the most part, has been frequently led by those who were incapacitated by an addiction to power?

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016