No, I never meant to say that that sinister conspiracies do not exist, just that those who participate in them never see themselves that way. They’re convinced that either they are doing the right thing, or that “they are only just doing their job”.

After all, “just doing my job” is the English translation of I vass chust followink orderss.

Most wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of giant corporations, and big government is used as a tool by these corporations to consolidate wealth and power even further. In a corporatist system, the wealth and power of individuals and small businesses is dwarfed by the overwhelming dominance of the corporations.

Plutocratic, oligarchical, often sovereign-wealth-supported, command-economy capitalism would be a possible hyper polysyllabic term for the types of systems ascendant in the developed and developing world. The middle classes are a buffer for the wealthy elites. The posturing of the poor in the manner of both religious sentiment and class hatred is a peripheral melodrama.

Anarcho-movements like “Occupy” are basically existential postmodern irritation, not serious opposition.

But the party is over, for a variety of social, historical and technological reasons, and America, along with the rest of the world, is moving into a period of decreasing expectations and economic decline. I believe this decline and its worst effects can be managed and mitigated, if we continue to rely on what has always been the secret of our success–free markets and a free electorate. But the price we will have to pay is a diminution of our standard of living–not to third world standards, but neither to the unrestrained consumerism we felt we were entitled to during the middle of the last century.

The problem is that America, for all its bounty, has always promised more than it could deliver, and for the first time in history this reality is starting to become clear to large numbers of people. The American middle class suddenly feels powerless, helpless, and under siege. It feels victimized and abused. They refuse to accept that this situation arises from the greed and mismanagement of the class elites they have always wanted to join and whose mores and ethos they ape, or from their own unrealistic expectations and ignorance of history. They need someone to blame their troubles on, and with the Communists no longer available, the Liberals and the foreigners and ethnics will just have to do.

They have gone on a search for scapegoats, both among the poor, who they depict as a throbbing mass of sloth, crime and degradation, and an imaginary intellectual elite they have convinced themselves are endeavoring to enlist this underclass in order to steal their stuff.

What we are seeing is the rise of the Dictatorship of the Middle Class, or the 21st century version of Fascism. Whether this will happen or not is still to be determined. When we look for historical examples, we can see how in the US, France and Britain this was avoided after the Great Depression. In Germany, Italy and Spain it was not.

Cheers.

Joseph E. Stiglitz — Vanity Fair
May 31, 2012
…The “Be Selfish” Solution

Many, if not most, Americans possess a limited understanding of the nature of the inequality in our society. They know that something has gone wrong, but they underestimate the harm that inequality does even as they overestimate the cost of taking action. These mistaken beliefs, which have been reinforced by ideological rhetoric, are having a catastrophic effect on politics and economic policy.

There is no good reason why the 1 percent, with their good educations, their ranks of advisers, and their much-vaunted business acumen, should be so misinformed. The 1 percent in generations past often knew better. They knew that there would be no top of the pyramid if there wasn’t a solid base—that their own position was precarious if society itself was unsound. Henry Ford, not remembered as one of history’s softies, understood that the best thing he could do for himself and his company was to pay his workers a decent wage, because he wanted them to work hard and he wanted them to be able to buy his cars. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a purebred patrician, understood that the only way to save an essentially capitalist America was not only to spread the wealth, through taxation and social programs, but to put restraints on capitalism itself, through regulation. Roosevelt and the economist John Maynard Keynes, while reviled by the capitalists, succeeded in saving capitalism from the capitalists. Richard Nixon, known to this day as a manipulative cynic, concluded that social peace and economic stability could best be secured by investment—and invest he did, heavily, in Medicare, Head Start, Social Security, and efforts to clean up the environment. Nixon even floated the idea of a guaranteed annual income.

So, the advice I’d give to the 1 percent today is: Harden your hearts. When invited to consider proposals to reduce inequality—by raising taxes and investing in education, public works, health care, and science—put any latent notions of altruism aside and reduce the idea to one of unadulterated self-interest. Don’t embrace it because it helps other people. Just do it for yourself.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117498/pikettys-capital-sold-out-harvard-press-scrambling

“Bundy no doubt is pining for the days, which he never actually experienced, when cattlemen could let their herds roam at will on public lands. That changed in 1934 when federal control of grazing was formalized under a law designed to prevent overuse and degradation of the range. The legislation was backed by ranchers – it was drafted by a rancher turned congressman – in part because it made it that much harder for newcomers to get into the business.

The law, the Taylor Grazing Act, gave existing ranchers permits allowing them to run their herds on federal land. In turn, ranchers paid user fees, which were lower than what most private landowners would have charged. Because those fees capture only a bit of the costs of the grazing program, it amounts to a taxpayer subsidy to ranchers of as much as $1 billion a year. Subsequent court rulings clearly established that the law didn’t grant ownership rights to ranchers who used federal land.”

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/18/6335430/viewpoints-welfare-queen-in-a.html

Reid got it right. Its domestic terrorism. The same sort of brownshirt goon squad Putin is using in Eastern Ukraine.

Of course, the economic, legal and constitutional arguments are a smokescreen, what is really disturbing here is that we have national media outlets like Fox pandering to their followers by trying to paint this as some grand patriotic gesture, and glorifying the heavily armed militias as some kind of heroic Minuteman stand, and worse, egging them on to violence and sedition. Its just businessmen trying to get something for nothing and wrapping themselves in God and the flag to justify their theft.

Some people will do anything for a tax cut, and they’ll crawl into bed with any criminal in order to sell their program.

Can you imagine if Bundy had been a black guy trying to keep the bank from repossessing his house, and if the local Black Panthers had shown up to back him up? Fox would have been calling for air strikes.

The problem is power. People (or organizations) with power are not going to give it up, whether it be economic or political. However, they’re quite capable of working together to come up with a scheme to share it amongst themselves, and keep it out of a third party’s hands.

Capitalism is like democracy, it utilizes conflict and competition (the market or the vote) to prevent anyone from acquiring too much power. But in either case, there is no guarantee that equilibrium will automatically lead to justice and prosperity. Capitalism needs regulation or it leads to oligarchy or plutocracy. Regulation must be supplied by the state. And the state must be administered through constitutional and democratic institutions; certainly not commercial lobbying.

Its a three-legged stool.

And no matter what various right-wing blogs would say, it’s the inevitable result of poorly regulated capitalism. It’s the Conservatives dream, and even the poorer ones, the ones thrown under the bus, support it.