OLIGARCHY

OLIGARCHY 

 

“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich upon the poor.”

 

His thoughts on globalization?  “Merchants (billionaires) have no country.  The mere spot that they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”

 

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

 

“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted into tyranny.”

 

-       Jefferson

 

By Gregg Wall (10-1-2022)

 

Western democracy is often referred to as experiments… laboratories with unique policies, where differing nations can learn from one another.  But what we have recently seen, despite some nation’s leaning left or right, is that the same, nearly identical problems are occurring and reoccurring with greater and greater frequency (both at the economic and political level).  And while the MSM, particularly the American MSM, likes to sneer at the proles for believing there’s some global cabal in charge of governments… There’s little dispute that countries in the West, so-called democracies, have nearly universally agreed upon and implemented policies of globalization and neoliberalism in a race to the bottom.  And notably, with highly damaging and deleterious consequences.   There’s also little dispute that a handful of individuals have gotten extremely wealthy off these policies, have extraordinary sway over ‘democracies’ and supranational bodies, despite the obvious and repeated failure of libertarian industrial policies and the resulting statist solutions (i.e. repeated bank, billionaire, and market bailouts & welfare, as well as, exceptional and extreme tax avoidance by this elite cadre… deregulation too, has been an extraordinary boon to this group).  In fact, and not to place too fine a point on it… it’s the bailouts & state intervention, itself, particularly central bank machinations, that really magnified the oligarchy’s wealth. 

 

The net result of all this is, citizens of all classes are beginning to see through the veil, the pretense and the illusion.  And it’s not so grand.  Many are beginning to throw around the word oligarchy, frequently and often… and is it any wonder?  Huge sums of money have been flowing into elections and the very worst of what humanity has to offer often find themselves in power, those that are highly amendable to corruption and lies.  Naturally, citizens lose faith in democracy… but what they are really losing faith in is a putrid and rigged facsimile of democracy.  One version of democracy, the very worst kind, called kleptocracy and oligarchy.  All of this is to say, those that hate our current version of democracy are really going to have a problem with the authoritarianism and fascism that is, likely, to follow.

 

Call me a romantic but I haven’t lost complete faith in humanity, and with the right people in power… I believe democracy is redeemable and fully capable of doing great things.  Three examples stood out in the last two weeks of the misery I am writing about, democracy gone bad… notice within these three hideous examples, the near uniformity of the economic models, the obvious political crisis, and the endemic corruption and oligarchy involved. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s start with Italy then.  Italy has had problems with cronyism and corruption for years.  Governments come and go like people change undergarments.  Colossal and catastrophic debt was accumulated bailing out banks and the rich, during the 2008 financial crisis… a banking crisis that is ongoing to the present day.  Along comes a Goldman Sachs banker, who was not formally voted into office, and he’s installed essentially as head of state.  The banker’s stated objective, over the course of time, has been to implement & impose austerity upon the citizenry – in the hopes of paying for the colossal debt accumulated bailing out banks and the rich on the backs of labor & the poor.  Our banker friend, Mr. Draghi, also wants to impose neoliberal reforms … these reforms are little more than an attack upon labor, and for the exclusive benefit of the banks, billionaires, monopolies, multinationals, and shadow banking. 

 

Naturally, this Italian banking dictatorship implodes, and the people have a visceral reaction to the corporatists, centrists, and oligarchy that installed said banker.  Naturally, the people look for solutions outside failed centrists… left and right, and, in this instance, the extreme right, fascists win the Italian election.  My readers should know that it takes a special of kind of neoliberal failure (characterized by excessive attention to the needs of billionaires), globalist failure for Italians to reinstall a form government last seen at the end of World War 2, a form of government – fascism – that leveled Europe. 

 

Next comes the U.K.  And, with slight modification, I can almost install the proceeding two paragraphs, and apply them to yet another Western democracy.  Let’s begin then:  The U.K. has had problems with cronyism and corruption for years.  British prime ministers come and go like people change undergarments, but absolutely nothing changes.  Colossal and catastrophic debt was accumulated bailing out banks and the rich, during the 2008 financial crisis…. banking and financial services crises that will likely reoccur, to varying degrees, due to overreliance on ultra-accommodative central bank (BOE) policies.  Along comes a new prime minister, who was not formally voted into the office; and she’s installed to the near exclusive benefit of right-wing extremists and wealthy backers.  The new PM’s stated objective is to embrace 42-year-old trickle-down ideology and austerity.  Allegedly, in the hopes of spurring the economy, and paying for the colossal debt accumulated bailing out banks and the wealthy on the backs of labor & the poor (and to further, enrich corporate backers and wealthy donors beyond all measure).  

 

But, ironically enough, markets aren’t having it… because, by now, even markets – which generally approve of trickle-down and welfare for the rich – know that tax cuts for the wealthy lead to greater and greater national debt.  And the UK increasingly, like so many Western governments, looks tapped out.  So much of the national wealth has been transferred to an elite cadre of financiers & plutocrats. 

 

The pound plummets as does PM Truss’ political fortunes.  And the last PM the Queen installed now appears to be the source of universal public condemnation… at a time that the UK is rocked by a moribund economy, serial price gouging (aka inflation), and an energy crisis.  If you can get past the needless human costs, mayhem & mortality… gee, isn’t libertarian industrial policy – a/k/a greed as a central ruling ideology - entertaining, perhaps too thrilling?  It’s like a bad B horror movie - or television serial - run entirely, predictably off the rails. 

 

My third example is none other than the United States… and we need not repeat the exercise.  Many of the globalist, neoliberal problems - mentioned in the prior two examples - are rife throughout the United States: from a highly corrupt, failed two-party system, a gangster oligarchy, a banker - billionaire welfare state, all the way to American labor, public that has been set upon by a vicious pack of demonic wolves (stripped of nearly all social services and crushed by anti-unionism, anti-labor policies run amok). 

 

The universal themes, then, that run throughout all three examples are highly corrupt centrist, corporatist political parties that have completely failed their citizens.  The adoption of economic & political policies that systemically prey upon the people, specifically the consumer and labor. The absolute failure to hold concentration and monopoly power in check.  Catastrophic public and private debt, which is nothing less than a redistribution scheme for the wealthy.  Greed, dysfunctional - monopoly & oligopoly controlled - markets, and a deregulated state, as the key ruling economic ideology.  Elites that are perfectly willing to use division and hate to perpetuate a failed status quo.  And a ruling oligarchy that is entirely out of control… but above all, a complete lack of willingness, by anybody in charge, to face facts and adopt reforms (because of a kleptocracy and oligarchy that only responds to the next quarterly statement & returns). 

 

And the crises are just beginning to pile up, after four decades of chronic abuse, looting, and the rape of humanity.  And I didn’t even touch on the American elite’s lust for endless war and endless war profits. 

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2022