The Web, the Whole Web and nothing but the Web

Earlier, I took a short look at bankers and the (known) dependency that politicians have in the current elector process: the best funded politician wins. This then creates a situation where for instance the treasury department becomes the lair of those that should have been investigated by the treasury department.

Such constructions then pave the way for legislation that enables CEOs to handpick the board that will decide their annual bonus, and even whether they have earned it.

I do urge you to read the excellent piece by Chomsky on the history, the mechanisms, the unfettered nepotism, collateral damage (systemic errors) and even brilliant miscalculations by Adams (Mr. Capitalism: yes, he saw that what is happening now as a remote possibility but assumed that executives would make the right choice). It is a bit longer than I intend to write today, and Chomsky is a much better writer than I am so very much worth your time.

But there you have it: Recessions have become the instutionalized way of transferring public tax moneys to private corporate accounts.

It is a way of working. Corporations nowadays have the (uncapitalist) freedom of taking risk-free risks. If things go ‘TiTs up’ as they say in Britain, bought governments will bail them out. All the 1% have to do is to stay on the good side of the 0.1%.

It’s systematic. We, the people (not the US people, all people) have a vampire at our throat and it is bleeding as dry. It starts at birth, in the hospital. Pay your bills, better have health care insurance. And if you don’t, you can go into bankruptcy (where public money is used to satisfy the thirst of the claimant) or you can die (at your desk if needed). A friend of mine in Baltimore came down with appendicitis, and had no health insurance (as she could not afford it). She was 19 at the time and had to file for bankruptcy to save her life. She was lucky as she did find a hospital willing to save her first and bicker over payment later…

Then you go to school. Now the Bill of Rights proclaims that people have the right to get a good education, as does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (and I quote, please have a think on the bold parts):

Article 26.

• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Now, I do not believe that education is free in the United States, it has become an elite – or let’s say high priced – privilege. This has the disadvantage for the economy as a whole that the needed layer of well-educated people to produce the extraordinary talents has become much smaller which impacts America’s competitive edge.

At the same time we see that students are more and more trained to comply to behavioral standards, cut-and-paste type exercises and less and less in critical observation, empirical research and so on. In fact, we see schools starting to deliver minds that can do research-based research only. The moment hat one can then control access to the research material, one can control the outcome.

1984? Brave New World? Believe me, we’re in it and it is now being implemented. Those ‘freaky hippies’ (not my words) out there in the cold have seen it and have the balls to make a stand. If only because they are in the trap too:

So you finish your studies that you had to dearly pay for: say you have an MBA and a $60,000 loan debt? Why have you been so stupid? Well, you were told that the world is a playground once you have your MBA.

But that great job isn’t there (see earlier), and the bank who agreed to the loan probably knew it. And so does the company that will hire you to administrative work (other stuff has been outsourced but the company gets tax incentives to provide you work, though no KPIs are given). As your debt information can be obtained by the company you go into your salary negotiations at a bit of a disadvantage and in the end will work for the minimum amount that the company will pay.

You may have fallen in love with somebody who also is thus employed and the two of you may produce a wonderful child. In that case go back to hospital but make sure to include the fact that by this time your debt has tripled from your original situation. Quintupled if you have bought a house.

Which by the way is worthless now. You can’t maintain it (as you are paying off debts to the bank, you cannot sell it (as you will go bankrupt and homeless; the houses in your street are all empty shells by now anyway)…

I could go on but everybody knows the stories.

“Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave driver.”
Ambrose Bierce

Of course some debt can be avoided, credit card debt is not necessary. Only, it is so difficult to pay without them if the system has been geared towards paying with plastic. And the debts described above are very hard to avoid. They have been made mandatory, systematic.

Meanwhile, just to make sure, we now see that Wall street and NYPD will share the same observation unit built with public money. The signal given here is ‘we don’t have to hide it any more, deal with it’.

It is all there. Right in front of you.

And for the past 30 years the Web has ensnared not just government but also schools, hospitals, and media: why do you think you think the way you think?

Little self check: how many hours per day do you watch television? How many hours are you exposed to television? Have you ever tried to go without television for a week?

TV has isolated us from one another, and it has dulled our natural inquisitiveness, our ability to ask critical questions. Ever since corporate companies have added TV to their repertoire, they have been brainwashing the public, i.e. you…

If there is one danger posed by the Occupy movements it is that these people will start thinking really critically because of TV deprivation. That’s a risk I can live with.

These (often young) people see what we see, and they question it with a passion (darn, they must have been skipping TV for a while now, or maybe grown resistant?).Eliot Spitzer has written a must read tribute to them.

Let’s make a couple of observations on how we could tear the web:

1.       Know where the dependencies are: politicians will serve campaign contributors, not you. Money (or corporate; we really need to start defining this in detail if we want to know what we’re up against) has now reached even the most mundane type of elections.
2        Stop watching TV. Follow the news, read up, get informed.

3.       Know that all the trillions that everybody is speaking about are even more undefined than ‘Money’. A lot of it is Excel type calculations on how to make money in a system where real profit based on production has left the building. How much poorer are we when Monopoly money burns? And what would stop you from getting your money from the bank (as this is the real money (= your life’s effort) that you put in)?

4.       Don’t fear. Look at the kids out there, protesting. They have every reason to be afraid, yet they go on. Fear is what ‘Money’ has given us for years, it has gotten us into wars that nobody wanted, it has brought us here: once proud nations run by servants, begging their masters for a job…

Don’t fear, shout.