Master of Puppets
Stick me in a confessional and ask the question: Sir, if you had
the authority, would you forbid smoking in America? You'd get a solemn and
contrite, Yes. Solemn because I would be violating my secular commitment to the
free marketplace. Contrite, because my relative indifference to tobacco poison
for so many years puts me in something of the position of the Zyklon B
defendants after World War II.
These folk manufactured the special gas used in the death camps
to genocidal ends. They pleaded, of course, that as far as they were concerned,
they were simply technicians, putting together chemicals needed in wartime for
fumigation. Some got away with that defense; others, not.
Those who fail to protest the free passage of tobacco smoke in
the air come close to the Zyklon defendants in pleading ignorance.
By J.M. Hamilton 6-25-2015
Finger tips don’t fail me now.
A lot has transpired in the last two weeks, since
I wrote my last piece on the late – greatest - Muhammad Ali. We now
have the presumptive nominees for the two major parties, Mr. Trump and Mrs.
Clinton; we’ve had another domestic terrorist utilize a weapon designed for war
on the revelers at an Orlando gay nightclub.
Nearly eclipsing all this in real time, across the
pond, the citizens in Britain told the elite establishment of the E.U. to go to
hell. The
elite, of course, globally, have been telling the 99% to go to hell for years,
in the form of: bank bailouts; plutocratic bailouts (both largely funded
by central bank debt & money printing); co-opting and owning, allegedly,
democratic governments; co-opting and owning - and threatening w/ litigation -
the fourth estate; exporting middle class jobs to third world hell holes – via free trade; and while
pigging out at the government trough, largely via tax breaks, insisting upon
austerity for the 99%.
The
elite’s hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed; and so the brave citizens of
Great Britain beat back the disinformation and fear campaign, conducted by the
establishment and their tools – the political class, and told the U.K. and Euro-toffs to sell their tired act elsewhere. The ripple effects of the
referendum are just beginning to be felt in bourses around the world, to the
tune of a hundred billion or more of equity blown away in the blink of an
eye (for the 400 hundred world's wealthiest people, alone). And coming soon, expect more European countries to abandon The
Project, and w/ good reason, the EU/ECB has failed the citizens of Europe,
while enriching an elite few. (This doesn't mean the elite and the E.U.
won't seek retribution against their former British subjects.)
But the
elite don’t always lose, and they are used to both winning and having their way
on nearly everything under the sun. The chair
of Chicago based CME
Group (a commodities, derivatives & swaps bourse), Mr. Duffy, and his
executive crew, rejoiced recently that the two U.S. lead nominees, Hills & Trump,
will be perfect establishment tools, and, all campaign rhetoric to the
contrary, will be highly useful to Wall Street and the U.S. financial sectors.
Mr. Duffy, some may remember, had the conjones to call
out Mr. Obama a few years back. The POTUS complained that CME, and
speculators, jacked up the prices of commodities (food & fuel) on millions
of Americans…. Essentially, obtaining a parasitic free ride off the staples of
life. Mr.
Duffy didn’t take kindly to these facts.
The plutocracy, of course, is distrustful of any
politician that their money cannot purchase, and so we find neocons,
the business elite, and CME Group lining up behind Mrs.
Clinton, the dream GOP candidate. Mr.
Trump is rougher around the edges (often saying things that many
Republicans only say behind closed doors), and presents a challenge and
independence that the robber barons don’t fancy; but as the The Donald is a
product of the establishment, he too, is expected to fall into line, all
campaign rhetoric notwithstanding. The do-gooder, and truly independent,
Senator Sanders, has been eliminated, under questionable primary
circumstances (turns out the vote has not been fully counted in California, and
some counties continue to flip Mr. Sanders way). Given that much of the
U.S. vote is now tallied by computers, and we’ve come to learn that computers
are highly hackable and prone to human manipulation…. The electoral process in the U.S., sadly, becomes easy fodder for conspiracy theorist, and the rationale and the sane. Not so in Britain, where the ballots for the
aforementioned referendum were hand counted. But I digress.
With the conservative business community, and war
profiteers & jingoist, lining up behind Hillary, it does make one wonder, why
are Dems and liberals attracted to Mrs. C? Clearly, the Democratic
party, under Clintonian policies and Obama’s stewardship, has lurched hard
right, post-Reagan. Tax havens for the wealthy, government service for the plutocracy, free trade agreements that usurp courts and national sovereignty, a
mass incarceration & surveillance state (largely privatized), war w/out
end…. Why the Dems have co-opted GOP
policy, except for a thin veneer of social justice (which they generally
have to be dragged, kicking & screaming, to adopt).
If the
business of America used to be business, under the current Washington
environment, the business of American government is pandering to cartels,
monopolies, lobbyist, and trade
association’ diktats.
The
GOP’s blind deference to trade association edicts was on full display in
the wake of the Orlando gay nightclub shooting. The GOP, which repeats NRA
talking points, blamed the nightclub shooting on terrorism, and not the
killing tool of the rampage, easily obtainable military grade assault rifles.
With dozens killed and maimed, the American public had to bear witness to the
double-standard of Republican leadership praying solemnly for the victims (a
group, gays, that the GOP largely disdains), while filling their pockets with
NRA cash and campaign contributions. If there ever was a lap dog to
moneyed interests, these are the people: The House Republicans.
The NRA, all pretense about representing the
rights of gun owners aside, is another trade association. Trade
associations are entities that represent the economic and political interests
of the various cartels and monopolies that, largely, make up the American
economy. If anyone in our government cared to enforce the Sherman
Antitrust Act, or fight collusion and unfair trade practices, trade
associations would be the place to start. But the enforcement agencies
and mechanisms are woefully underfunded by design, and the respective agencies’
leadership usually trips in from the revolving door. The American public should
not expect antitrust enforcement anytime soon, under either political party.
To his credit, President Obama's administration has tackled some of the larger mergers, as of
late.
So the freak show the American public was treated
to this week: the master of puppets,
the NRA, calling the tune, while Congress dances on marionette strings.
Trade
associations and corporate lobbyist own, operate, and often
write the legislation for the Congress of the United States. They
provide the talking points for congresspersons, and yet, these associations are
unelected, unassailable, and unaccountable to anyone, but the oligarchy.
Well known examples include, but certainly are not limited to: the
International Swaps & Derivatives Association; the now defunct, Tobacco
Institute; the aforementioned, National
Rifle Association; the American Petroleum Institute; and the National Cable
& Telecommunications Association. Master of government sock puppets,
one and all.
What’s
J.M. got against American business, my readers might ask?
Absolutely nothing, when business is regulated to
insure plenty of competition, and said business manufactures helpful and safe
products & services. And in particular, JMH appreciates businesses,
and management teams, that respect government’s need to regulate and intervene
in markets to protect the American public’s general welfare, and to eliminate
and/or mitigate predatory monopolistic pricing behavior. You know, the
very behavior that Adam Smith and F.A. Hayek warned us about, and the concentrating
behavior – if allowed unchecked – industries have a tendency to metastasize
into, the creation of cartels and monopolies.
As it stands, however, we now have trade
associations representing an oligarchy, that owns and operates our
government for their own personal gain and interests, and in a manner that – in
many instances – is entirely inimical to American society’s interests.
Some of these products, for example coal & petroleum, are as outdated as
the buggy whip, while other products – military
grade assault rifles – are as dangerous to the commonweal, as cigarettes.
Who profits from these dangerous and outdated products?
Answer: An elite few.
Who picks up the social costs for the mayhem that
ensues?
Answer: Why the social costs are
mopped up and suffered by the American taxpayer, or financed by the Fed’s
printing presses.
Hence, the problem with allowing patients to
proscribe their own medicine, or allowing inmates to run the asylum… or
plutocrats to run our government: there are no checks and balances. The
commonweal is obliterated, and in some instances, the public rejects the
nihilism wreaked upon them by the ownership class. See Brexit.
Not to
belabor the point, but Mr. Buckley’s analogy between the 20th
Century’s American tobacco industry, and I.G. Farben’s manufacturing of Zyclon
B immediately comes to mind. That is to say,
there were a lot of “good” Nazis and their leadership, who were just following
orders and manufacturing Zyclon B, while a race of men was put to death.
Likewise, a lot Americans, knowingly, were given a premature death sentence by
the American Tobacco Institute, and the Congress of the United States – for
many years – just stood by.
I.G. Farben and the Nazis attract particular
derision and scorn, rightfully so, because of their singular attack upon a
specific race of men. But does the indiscriminate killing of men and
women by Big
Oil, Big Tobacco, and the gun industry make their horrific crimes on
humanity any less catastrophic or repugnant? Are the killings and
premature deaths caused by these products any less galling, or are they more
galling still, because they are driven by the profit motive and are highly
preventable?
Ah, the perils of our crony U.S. government,
bought and paid for by a ruling business oligarchy. Will U.S. citizens be
“good” Nazis, or like the British, will we stand up and fight for democracy,
freedom, popular sovereignty, and the common good? Judging from our
current presidential nominees, it appears that we have chosen the former.
Stay tuned.
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016
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