Using disaster to create the government of your choice (Updated and much worse)

[Fire Walk With Me]

Last edited Mon Mar 18, 2013, 10:27 PM - Edit history (7)

Flying Squirrel's interesting OP regarding perhaps Obama should have allowed the country to fall into another great depression

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12526385

spawned this reply:

Look at Greece and the neo-NAZI "golden dawn" party, and until recently the Goldman Sacks lackey in charge of Italy, and his henchmen scattered around Europe in government and banking. Debt to the big banks, among other things, has helped to create disaster situations in which the very rich have installed personnel and even entire political parties which will benefit the growth of their enterprise and power.

When you look at America, you are looking at Personal Convenience as a main motivating factor. Helping Others is another but it doesn't factor in this particular equation. When Personal Convenience is directly assaulted, people will be unhappy and want it to change. When it becomes bad enough, people will scream for change. Unfortunately the powers that be fully understand this sadistic possibility and opportunity: you can purposefully create the causes and conditions in which people will demand Change no matter what, and will jump to demand placed into power, any who shout that they can deliver it. Even those who have created the problem in order to be placed into power.

This has occurred three particular times in recent history:

1. The Bush Disaster Family and their ties with OPEC caused an oil embargo which made President Carter appear weak and foolish. Americans were significantly impacted and they demanded Change. Bush also managed to get reportedly get Iran to hold the hostages until Reagan took office to again make Carter appear weak and foolish. Worked like a charm and disaster waltzed right in. From Reagan we see the beginning of the destruction of unions and the middle class, the start of the long game which is currently reaching fruition.

Regarding Bush, Reagan, and the "October Surprise":

"I was deposed in June 1981 as a result of a coup against me. After arriving in France, I told a BBC reporter that I had left Iran to expose the symbiotic relationship between Khomeinism and Reaganism.

Ayatollah Khomeini and Ronald Reagan had organized a clandestine negotiation, later known as the 'October Surprise,' which prevented the attempts by myself and then-US President Jimmy Carter to free the hostages before the 1980 US presidential election took place. The fact that they were not released tipped the results of the election in favor of Reagan.

Two of my advisors, Hussein Navab Safavi and Sadr-al-Hefazi, were executed by Khomeini’s regime because they had become aware of this secret relationship between Khomeini, his son Ahmad, the Islamic Republican Party, and the Reagan administration."

2. The major Bush supporters Enron met with Schwarzenneger before purposefully shutting down portions of the California power grid, a series of events named "rolling blackouts". Californians wanted Change. A run-off election occurred and Schwarzenneger waltzed right in and immediately began hacking away at infrastructure serviceperson pensions and unions, schools, etc. And Enron were forgiven the rulings against them to the tune, IIRC, of pennies on the dollar.

3. Most recently, in Michigan. Rachel Maddow warned us about the far right "tea party" (read: Koch Brothers) politicians in Michigan steamrolling the political process as well as wishing to grab up the bequeathed beach-front property in otherwise impoverished, African-American Benton Harbor. Pontiac, Benton Harbor, and shortly Detroit are under the tender loving ministrations of "emergency managers" who through appointment by the State, are free to do as they will with all resources. And Wall Street have walked away from Detroit's distress to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in profit.

Forcing cuts upon the poor while the rich benefit is "austerity" as seen in Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, and now America.

Although Big Ed (love him) appears to not see that the "emergency manager" process is a planned scam, his overview of its effects is superb and frightening:

Since Lou Schimmel became Pontiac’s emergency manager in 2011, he has privatized the Department of Public Works, outsourced police services to the Oakland County sheriff’s office, and turned over the city’s fire department to nearby Waterford Township, killing the public sector unions which represented the city’s firefighters and cops. He’s put every city property, including City Hall, up for sale and cut the city’s public employee workforce by about 90%. And he’s done it all without the consent of the city council.

Across Michigan, emergency managers installed by the state are using sweeping powers to privatize public services, lay off city employees, and weaken public sector unions with little standing in their way. Now the same thing is likely to happen in Motor City, one of the industrial centers of America.

Ostensibly a mechanism for rescuing insolvent Michigan cities and school districts from the brink of bankruptcy, the Emergency Management system has turned into a way for unelected officials to break up public sector unions, privatize public services, and drastically shrink the size of municipal governments. Currently, five Michigan cities are being administered by emergency managers—all of whom were appointed by the state’s Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board (ELB).

When a city fails to meet certain financial benchmarks, the state can step in.

To have the state step in, it helps to have a Koch Brothers-funded "tea party" politician as governor.

"...it secures a dream of the anti-union Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, whose associates are well-represented among Snyder’s donors, and whose economic agenda has been ascendant within the modern GOP."

Rachel Maddow warned in 2011:

"Last night on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show, Maddow explained that Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder is pushing a bill through that will give ultimate governmental power literally to corporations, thereby using shock doctrine tactics to create a dystopian government. Synder’s bill not only goes after collective bargaining rights, but does in fact seem to represent the Republicans’ final solution to killing democracy by enabling the replacement of elected officials, dissolving entire city’s government and handing them over to corporations. Snyder calls his 'budget bill' a 'shared sacrifice,' but it gifts corporations with 1.8 billion in tax breaks while hitting citizens with harder taxes, including seniors and other vulnerables, and cutting essential services to an already suffering region."

dtom67 said in a related thread:

The " derivitives" are usually the culprit... Municipal officials use some byzantine derivative bet ,that they do not really understand, to fund pensions. The Bet crashes and they city owes a shitload of money to wall street.
This allows the city to go bankrupt and void its Union contracts. It has finally been understood that the key to breaking unions is to bankrupt those they work for."

And here it is:

It appears that UBS, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase enabled about $3.7 Billion of bond issues to cover deficits, pension shortfalls since 2005 and with interest these liabilities rose to $15 billion including money owed to retires and the city employees pension fund.

These bond sales cost Detroit $474 million for underwriting expenses, bond insurance and the handling of interest rate swaps. This total cost is equal to the Detroit’s budget for police and fire protection for that same period.

Note that energy was involved twice, and that the right wing pulled it off. Energy and such are issues which are not effected by voting, and the right and the rich will use such lateral stunts to direct politics in their preferred direction. See the Koch brother article I posted yesterday.

Read "The Shock Doctrine" and "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". Debt and disaster are used to ripen conditions for control and profit. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. And debt is the main tool being used as far as I can see to ripen conditions in Europe. This may be why it is seemingly impossible to get politicians to do something, anything about the $1 trillion of US student loan debt. Our young are already in their thrall.

The Citigroup "Plutonomy" memo mentions the rich wanting right-wing, anti-immigration governments which will aid in profitable globalisation efforts. The very rich are most certainly engaging in their creation as we post. Voting will not slow down these corporations. But note that the memo lists their first and most significant fear, which is of a populist uprising demanding fair income equality and action against right-wing, corporate and bank-friendly politics.

Referenced:

There are two important factors regarding the DHS/TSA which are rarely taken into consideration:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022486390

Charles Koch Reflects on Last Election, Promises to Do More to 'Persuade Politicians'
http://www.thenation.com/blog/173315/charles-koch-reflects-last-election-promises-do-more-persuade-politicians#

Student Loan debt surpasses credit card debt in the US: $1Trillion+
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12526452

Who or what exactly enables "austerity", or "sequestration"?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022445620

Article regarding Goldman Sach's reach into European government and banking:
http://acampadabcninternacional.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-acampadabcn-takethesquare-acampadasol-15m-occupy/

Reagan Iran "October Surprise" article via greenman3610
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Global-Viewpoint/2013/0305/Argo-helps-Iran-s-dictatorship-harms-democracy

Only Wall Street Wins in Detroit Crisis Reaping $474 Million Fee via limpyhobbler
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-14/only-wall-street-wins-in-detroit-crisis-reaping-474-million-fee.html

Cash-strapped cities seized by new management via erinlough
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/11/michigans-emergency-manager-law-another-front-in-the-war-for-union-survival/

Koch brothers, Tea Party cash drives Michigan right-to-work bill
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/11/koch_brothers_tea_party_cash_drives_michigan_right_to_work_bill/

Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaire Koch Brothers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/study-confirms-tea-party-_b_2663125.html

Rachel Maddow Exposes Michigan Republicans Secret War On Democracy
http://www.politicususa.com/rachel-maddow-michigan.html

dtom67 "Derivatives" quote:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1252&pid=6552

LIBOR Rigging & Complex Derivatives By UBS Contributed To Detroit’s Demise
http://www.mfi-miami.com/2013/03/libor-rigging-complex-derivitives-by-ubs-contributed-to-detroits-demise/

Scattered analysis of the Citigroup "Plutonomy" memo:
http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-leaked-2006-citigroup-plutonomy-memo.html

[Blanks]

1. How reliable is the information...

That the Bush's were involved in the OPEC derailing of the Carter presidency?

I realize that the Bush's have a history as bankers and oilmen; and that they are supposed to be close to the Saud family, but do you have a link to some reliable source that breaks it down?

It isn't that I don't believe it, but I hate to browbeat my conservative 'friends' on Facebook without a good solid link.

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. It is trend-spotting and ally-checking. Sorry, as with the "October Surprise",

there is no single, definitive article or document. However, this week I believe WillyT posted in GD regarding revelations of how much deeper Watergate and Iran/Contra really went; perhaps the I/C article may reveal something useful. Shame on me for not yet having scrutinized it. Do not overlook HW Bush's CIA years and connections, and what the CIA do for a living regarding unfriendly governments (read: governments who do not wish to cede their resources to the US).

BTW, the Bush family are also taking part in water grabbing, or "hydraulic empirism". Please check the links at the end of the "Scattered analysis of the Citigroup Plutonomy memo" link in the OP for something with which to drub your FB "friends"

[Blanks]

3. The logic isn't much of a jump...

I was concerned that there might not be something specific to point to.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Thank you. They do tend to re-use the same tools once they're proven effective. n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. I've added a link just posted in GD regarding the "October Surprise", in the OP.

I'm hoping it might prove useful. Regards.

[dtom67]

5. the terrible truth...

Its kinda sad that the entire human race might one day be wiped out by a small handful of greedy bastards.

What is even worse is that we could all just say "fuck it" right this minute and decide that the Wealthy aren't really wealthy. Their Money only has value because we agree that it does. That is the attraction of Collapse; the destruction of the Elite's wealth and, therefore, power. If that occurred, people would be truly Free. But then we get back to "the Rule of Might", which is also unsatisfactory.

Don't have the answers; but perhaps I could just get some Prozac and try to forget about it all.....

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. Kick: Added Michigan to the synthesis.