Oakland Blues and the MSM Exposure

To start off: apologies for not blogging yesterday. I was with my wife celebrating our 6^th wedding anniversary. It was a day of mixed emotions: happiness as I am married to the most fascinating, lovable, quirky, sweet, wonderful woman and sadness as Oakland became the #OWS Kent State University moment. An American veteran was critically injured and is now in surgery. We wish him all the best and a speedy recovery!

At the same time, yesterday made a number of things crystal clear:

Mainstream Media (MSM) are increasingly exposed as badly informed, slow or even biased towards ‘ruling class’. I use the term ‘ruling class’ explicitly as I have already pointed at a high level at the conflicts of interest which seem to exist between corporate banking interests, government, education and media.

Yes, Media.

In the old days, HMV (His Master’s Voice had this great logo on old 78 rpm recordings.

It showed a dog listening to a recording of his master’s voice. If that voice would have said ‘jump’, the dog would have barked ‘how high?’

Woof.

Which is the construction that has been put in place to control MSM. It starts with advertising which is of course innocent and logical because business needs to put the message out to their public (‘buy X’) and MSM Y (news paper, glossy, TV channel needs the money). Then more ads appear, and money starts flowing, MSM is very happy, but also a dependency builds: MSM starts tailoring content to please the advertiser. Or the advertiser threatens to withdraw ads because of reporting unfavorable to ‘X’.

Over time, it may have grown to the point where a news channel will confirm with ‘X’ and gain approval before reporting on, for example Occupy  Oakland protests. Or it may take the safe course and rewrite the police statement (because the police are there to protect the people). After all, the Occupy Oakland protests were not happy with ‘X’.

Of course there still is the possible conflict of interest where the police receives its orders from the (local/federal) government, which received (sizable) campaign donations from ‘X’. It was pretty well known but again, MSM Y chose to not report about it. Better this way. Mum’s the word.

People have gone on record that during the police actions MSM crews chose to not record certain scenes…

Do not bite the hand that feeds you! Woof!

We make exciting movies about reporters uncovering such conflicts of interest (how does Watergate compare to having your finance department run by Goldman and Sachs linked people?) yet in real life we close our eyes to the scam that’s going on.

This has of course been happening for quite a while but there is now a difference: 


Internet Live Feeds and Mobile Devices with Camera, and platforms like Twitter.

As I said, Oakland was a night of mixed emotions: love and pride for my wife, admiration for these ‘freaky hippie’ kids out there taking it, making a stand and mostly keeping peaceful in the storm, sadness for what was going down…

And incredulous maniacal laughter when I saw CNN and various other news stations read the police report. I had to think immediately to these old records I used to play, HMV!


Woof!

It still baffles me that police, city government and national media have not taken into account that people are their own reporters, that Twitter is a real time medium where people will post their comments, pictures and videos immediately and that for each protester site live video feeds are in existence. 


Next morning was the morning of (hidden) retractions, spin and other BS though possibly Fox News may have maintained (to my shame, I usually don’t watch it) that throwing paint warrants a response of rubber bullets.

Though David Letterman will not yet disappear, I can see MSM taking serious credibility hits as a result of flawed reporting. If credibility sinks, in the end so will advertising revenues.


We have social media to thank for this and therefore have the challenge to keep social media corporate free and keep interest regulation out.

In the end the big story is about the web, how it was cleverly woven with strands of well balanced fear, hatred and greed. 


The spokes are Business (Corporate and Banking), Government, Education and MSM. 


Yes of course we were greedy and happy to live a dream of endless credit, afraid to lose our dream, our house, our employment. 


For this we were willing to keep others down with MSM fueled hatred (ever seen ‘Cops’ ?), betray our peers (the infamous rat race) and work three jobs to have a chance at the American dream. 


This way of live was carefully manipulated by Business through MSM and Education as carrot and Government as stick.

In a way the occupy movement is not so much about the inequality that is inherent at this model as discussed in this article. People used to ask me why Americans put up with a society that provides such few safety nets for its residents and I used to answer what I always heard from my US friends: “this society also provides chances for enormous upwards mobility”

However, it has always been a long shot. And in the past decade, Business has eaten the donkey’s carrot, and started hitting it with a much bigger stick more often. Government, Education and MSM have provided the means. And as we have seen in other places, when the carrot has gone there is a line where fear will no longer hold people back, especially when the game is clear and the bad guys walk free. In the end, the Occupy movement has one very clear message:

Enough

Beleaguered Bill of Rights

When I lived in the USA, the one thing that I loved about the country was that, no matter how much you disagreed with an opinion, it could be discussed. People accepted the fact that this also brought some pretty tasteless opinions into play but in general Voltaire ruled:

“I may completely disagree with your opinion but I will defend to the death your right to express it.”

Brave words from a brave man in a time when the wrong opinion could get you beheaded (a practice still honored in some societies).

Also, words that in general have ruled the social fabric of the United States, if only because the enable commerce. I remember getting a hearty ‘F***k you’ in New York but after that we could still do business and I got my coffee as ordered.

The Occupy movement has made clear that these times may need rekindling. We have seen earlier that important parts of the 1^st amendment are under pressure.

With the increased fear that has been brought into national security since 9/11 we also see other items on the Bill of Rights being negated (for the common good”):

·         1st Amendment: we already looked at the right of assembly. Now we see further plans to negate freedom of speech/press (I consider platforms like Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, etc as such), aka New Internet Blacklist Bill.

·         4^th Amendment: Protection from unreasonable search and seizure. As a traveler I am confronted with procedures that vary wildly from airport to airport, are extremely effective at removing toothpaste from my luggage and are demeaning to say the least. On top of that, these measures are ineffective with respect to airport safety. They do however infringe upon my personal freedom while trying to intimidate travelers.

Remark: I tip my hat to the woman reciting the fourth amendment while being intimidated. I am not sure if I would have had the same guts in similar circumstances. And it goes to show that the real heroes tend to be ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Question: if such rights are removed without approval from the people, then what difference is there between the United States and Iran?

Would Iran then not be a better vacation destination as it tends to have less crime, and religious freedom is comparable to the USA plus they have less hurricanes?

Mind you (if you have not read properly): I am not advocating Iran (though it is a sovereign state) or what happens there at this moment. They go through their own growth process. But I do question that USA claim to leadership of the free world when such basic (namely also Universal Human Rights underwritten by USA) rights are infringed upon.

It’s easy for me, I am looking from the outside in. But it’s your home.

This is why I do see light as people from both sides are now working to find common ground. And this is where I hope people will keep the faith!

Nationalization Blues

The one point that all Bail out discussions seem to be skipping is that of what is actually happening: by accepting a bail out funded by the people's moneys, banks (or any corporation) ask to be nationalized, in part or wholly.
The one thing that then needs to be decided is who will run the company.

Suggestion: why don't we take a look at the amount of money that has been given so far to corporations (need a real inguiry here: we know about the amount of 700 billion USD which was not supported by the American people but I have seen amounts of trillions through other channels like the Fed).
Then decide, per company, which percentage of the company is now effectively owned by the government.

Then start writing your congressman/woman.

Oh, and make sure that the banks don't pull a Ghadaffi on you: he set away billions of USD before being captured. Libya will have to see if they can get that money back.

Occupy Wall Street: it's not new

Only a couple of links today to show you the #OWS is not new.

And neither is the view of affected people camping out near the place where they see the issue (when the weather permis). I am stressing this as at #OWS protests we see the directly affected who can at this point weather the cold representing the other directly affected who in this weather or at this time cannot attend.

What we also see is the similarity in response (I quote): "in 1932, the parties were alarmed by this motley assemblage and its political rallies; the Secret Service infiltrated its ranks to root out radicals. But a good Communist was hard to find. The men were mostly middle-class, patriotic Americans. They kept their improvised hovels clean and maintained small gardens. Even so, good behavior by the Bonus Army did not prevent the U.S. Army’s hotheaded chief of staff, General Douglas MacArthur, from summoning an overwhelming force to evict it from Pennsylvania Avenue late that July. After assaulting the veterans and thousands of onlookers with tear gas, ­MacArthur’s troops crossed the bridge and burned down the encampment"

Sounds familiar? It should, and there are other more gruesome instances where the 1st amendment has been violated: think of Kent State University.

How come the United States of America has engraved the freedom to assemble into it's founding documents and has always be so willing to break that one part of the contract?

This is probably the one thing that has become under real scrutiny with the Occupy Wall Street protests.

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.

Breaking up Occupy Protests and the Constitution

Gone to my good friend Wikipedia again (have a think on the bold parts):

“In the United States, inalienable rights are derived from the people themselves and are protected primarily by the enumerated articles to the US Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. Persons may also have inalienable rights protected by the state. Since the United States Constitution is a design of limited and restricted government and has absolutely nothing to do with the private state citizen, then it stands to reason that all inalienable Rights are guaranteed either by nature or by the Creator.

The provisions providing for rights under the Bill of Rights were originally binding upon only the federal government. In time, most of these provisions became binding upon the states through selective incorporation into the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. When a provision is made binding on a state, a state can no longer restrict the rights guaranteed in that provision.

Examples of provisions made binding upon the states are the 6th Amendment's guarantee of a right to confrontation of witnesses, known as the Confrontation Clause, and the various provisions of the 1st Article, guaranteeing the freedoms of speech, the press, religion, and assembly.”

This may be a question that should be answered: reading the above, I would think that the 1^st amendment takes precedence over local law (e.g. park is closed between 11pm and 6am, in those times you’ll be trespassing). If so, then right now all arrests made in Chicago, Denver, etc etc would be illegal.

At the same time, New York’s plans to change the law to make protests illegal under local law would then also not give the result that is looked for.

By the way: I signed a petition asking Chicago’s mayor to stop arrests, and gave it the same reasoning: 1^st amendment in my view takes precedence over local law.

Again, I am looking in from the outside, and I understand that current protests do threaten the power positions of a group of people. Naturally, they will fight, as happened in Egypt (applauded by USA government), Tunesia (also applauded, they are now having free elections as we speak), as is happening in Yemen (USA govt with protesters), Syria (ditto), Libya (well…), etc etc

Only at home, the government (local, federal) seems to not appreciate protests even as the root causes are clear: USA is in many ways a 3^rd world country where the Bill of Rights is no longer guaranteed to its citizens. Though the right to bear arms (or arm bears) is vehemently defended, most citizens live in fear of their lives because of it. Rights to education, counsel, vote, privacy and assemble are no longer defended by the government, unless you have money.

And 99% of the people who are supposed to vote for a government that defends their rights don’t have the money.

More Strands of a Tangled Web: Student Loan Debt

This is a nasty one…

Fact is, not every student qualifies for a scholarship at university. That is fine, and a country needs a well-trained work force in order to compete in the market, especially in this time where knowledge comes at a premium.

The interesting deal that corporate America seems to have made with the banks and educational systems is this:

·         Educational systems charge top dollar for an education that will bring ‘the great paying job’

·         Banks lend the money to the student to pay top dollar… and charge a hefty interest from the first day after graduation. This is where the pressure cooker is slammed shut and the heat is on.

·         Corporate America hires well-trained employees at bottom dollar. This is where the descent into slavery starts.

The gamble by the student was that taking out a loan of tens of thousands of dollars would lead to a situation where the student could easily repay the loan. How different does this play out in reality…

Leaving aside the personal misery this puts people in, it also hits government finances:

·         Health: people walk around uninsured (let’s leave health insurance for a future episode). Once they get sick, what are you going to do? Let them die (well, this option is sometimes taken; yet another episode)? Or treat them, at the public expense?

·         Society: how do people deal with a society where their friends from one day to the other are say, 60,000 Dollars in debt, with a Master’s degree in engineering, and forced to work as a cash teller at the bank that holds their debt? Now, for a time, fear of going bankrupt will keep people quiet (has done so far the past decades) but that bubble (like any bubble) will burst.

·         Crime: under the strain of heavy debt people are more likely to join the dark side, if only because it pays better than McD’s. this then again increases the cost of police (which I believe were recently voted out of a job), increases society’s sense of insecurity (but then, we have all these heavily armed contractors from Iraq that will at some point be looking for a job)… Sorry, I do tend to have an overactive imagination.

·         Drugs: Nancy Reagan used to ‘just say no’ but her situation was a bit different. If there is one thing that we have learned over the past decades (internationally): if you want people to turn to drugs, make them poor, make them feel helpless, grind them down and use them.

I just named three perspectives only of what this system has done to people. What is great is that people have not turned to drugs, or crime, and are still healthy enough to march.

But the government must take action, and this delivery street of wage slaves should be closed down.

Why this Blog?

This blog is not about how Wall Street got occupied. There are other blogs that give you better pictures, better timelines, better live feeds, and then: Wall Street is just one location, and this is global.
It is not about the pros and cons, the reactions (my favorite tweet: “heckler to #OWS: get a job! #OWS: I had one but you outsourced it…” It still makes me giggle), the emotions, the studies… though I will link to some excellent articles to make my point. Why reinvent the wheel if others already provide sustainable electric cars (Photo by kind permission of @frans_vd_putte)?
This blog is me having some thoughts and questions about the things that have become apparent in the past months, and the possible consequences they may have for me, us, our children and our parents.
As such, these views are my own, and you are free to agree or disagree as long as you can do so in a civilized way. For this reason comments are free but monitored.

None of My Bees Wax

Was the first comment I’ve had so far (before even starting this blog). True, I am not a US citizen.

However, the fun part of globalization is that US issues rapidly become my issues, like India’s or China’s or Europe’s issues become the United States issues. On top of that, the fun part of Social Media is that anybody on this globe can have a pretty direct view into local US politics.

Hence, I consider #OWS my bees wax, I wish I could be there in Melbourne to protest the way police have engaged the Occupy movement there, and I do reserve the right to put situations worldwide under a microscope, and have thoughts and questions.

Hopefully even answers.

Well, we’ll see. My blog will be a bit twitter like, stuff will pop up and I will write something about it. If I have anything to say. I may even just give a link with no comment if no comment is warranted (believe me I have seen some examples in the past days!).

I may even write some well thought out articles about stuff that popped up. If you like them, let me know. If you don’t, well… they’re out there and I will only retract them if somebody can show me that I was factually wrong. In which case I will retract.

Will I change the world? I doubt it. The world is usually changed by ordinary people who take an extraordinary view and implement it. A mother standing up to Melbourne police might be such a person, or a ‘hippy freak’ (not my words) in Liberty Park. You never know, but that’s the beauty of people. They will surprise you! I just need to get things off my chest.

Am I biased? Hell yeah, or I wouldn’t be writing. But I will listen, and I will try to understand all sides. I know this may be seen as weak but well, that’s me. Be yourself, as the world is full of other people.

First Piece of a Tangled Web: Bankers

Looking at the 1-99% discussion going on at this time, the first thing I realized was that this is a tangled web of dependencies en conditioned behaviors that is impossible to describe in one go. So I will haphazardly jump around and touch upon topics that I find. And I would like to start with the word on everybody’s lips: bankers. I warned you that this blog has no real organization…

The question that has been playing through my mind lately is: if it is proven that Wall Street actually runs the government, what are the implications?

Let’s start with our favorite: Goldman Sachs (my HTC phone has spelling help and will spell this name correctly, including capital G and S… isn’t this the type of influence we all look for?). Here’s what Wikipedia has to say (I left the notes links where they are):

“Personnel "revolving-door" with U.S. government

During 2008 Goldman Sachs received criticism for an apparent revolving door relationship, in which its employees and consultants have moved in and out of high level U.S. Government positions, creating the potential for conflicts of interest. Former Treasury Secretary Paulson was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Additional controversy attended the selection of former Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, despite President Barack Obama's campaign promise that he would limit the influence of lobbyists in his administration.^[74] In February 2011, the Washington Examiner reported that Goldman Sachs was "the company from which Obama raised the most money in 2008" and that its "CEO Lloyd Blankfein has visited the White House 10 times."^[75]”

Wait a minute: Goldman Sachs received criticism? Not the Bush government for allowing (let alone inviting) this? Not the Congress for allowing it? Where they (the People) aware? If not, why not? Same for Obama (believe me, great guy and done a lot for US): it’s great to make the promise to limit the influence of lobbyists, but that promise goes sour if it means you appoint the lobbyist’s stakeholders into your government. Now, maybe this was the offer you had to make in order to get the funds (from Goldman Sachs) to get elected and this was the choice you had to make. I am just not happy I did not have to make the choice. I am also happy I don’t have to work with Paulson, but that’s personal.

And we all know: if you want to dine with the devil you better bring a long spoon.

But this is then not about Obama or Democrats or GOP. This is about why they are even here.

If Wall Street campaign funding decides who will win, then the existing political parties have one function (and I quote somebody from Twitter): “they (i.e. Wall Street firm; BD) need a middle man when the shit goes down. They aren't going to jail.”

Had to think again about a tweet I have seen regularly over the past weeks:  “number of bankers arrested for financial crimes: 0, number of people arrested for protesting those crimes >1000”

Not a single prosecution has come down from the U.S. Department of Justice for any of Wall Street’s casino capitalists. It seems that Justice and Police have also become infected (BD: this will need to be checked but was interested to find the same article twice).

And this will worry people, now that they are starting to find out, and are no longer living the good life. Do you remember Pinocchio? One of his adventures has him lured into a garden of plenty, no work just play, candy all over the place… and because he stays too long in that garden, he turns into a donkey and becomes property of a cruel brute who works him until he bleeds.

I guess this is where we now find ourselves. Were we dumb? Quite. Should we accept our current situation? Hell no. Fun thing about situations is that they can be changed. It won’t be easy with such a tangled web. A worldwide tangled web. Again, Wikipedia:

“Greece and European sovereign debt crisis

Goldman was criticized for its involvement in the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis. Goldman Sachs is reported to have systematically helped the Greek government mask the true facts concerning its national debt between the years 1998 and 2009.^[76] In September 2009, Goldman Sachs, among others, created a special credit default swap (CDS) index to cover of high risk of Greece's national debt.^[77] The interest-rates of Greek national bonds have soared to a very high level, leading the Greek economy very close to bankruptcy in March and May 2010 and again in June 2011.^[78]”

You know, if I had done anything close like this, like trade illegally with money from my bank without telling my superior (wait, didn’t we have regulations for that? Oh no, dissolved to enable the trickle down economy…), I would have been lynched like Ghadaffi.

Sheesh, and I promised myself not to get worked up.

Back to the question: what are the implications of Banks running governments? And what should we do to get things back to a workable state?

I am looking forward to suggestions.