We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, July 13, 2012

U.S. Gave Tens of Billions to Libor-Manipulating Banks … Even AFTER Learning about the Manipulation

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog. 

The problem I find with this blog is that the author tends to throw so much detail at you that one's loses sight of the forest because of all the trees (details). He seems more intent upon revealing sensational scandals than on creating understanding of how the system of financial capitalism has grown into the powerful monster that it is today. 

The major problem which has been at the center of capitalist rule is the function of private bankers, especially those lodged in central banks, to control the creation of money. Added to that are all the ways (derivative financial instruments) they have  to get around any existing regulations which are weak at best. These instruments are used as gambling devices to enrich the One Percents when they win their bets; and when they lose, we of the 99 Percent are stuck with the debts. Added to this mix is the huge concentration of wealth they have accumulated that enables the banking elite to subvert any public initiatives through government to support an economy in the public interest, and to control the information the public receives.

In recent years there has been some laudable attempts and successes by sections of the One Percent to obtain information on the government bailouts and the role of the Federal Reserve. I'm thinking of Sen. Bernie Sanders' effort to force the Fed to undergo a partial audit, Bloomberg's effort under the Freedom of Information Act to disclose the banks the Fed has been loaning money to at very low interest, and the amounts. Currently Sen. Ron Paul's bill for a major audit of the Fed is winding its way through Congress. 

As a result of these efforts, a lot of information as been obtained and bloggers such as the author of this blog have published many bits and pieces of it, all of which paints a picture of tremendous fraud and corruption. However, because the financial elites wield so much overwhelming power, very little of this information makes its way into mainstream media; and when it does, it is framed in such a way as to minimize damage. The public at large remains largely ignorant of the scale of corruption, how it has destroyed the economy for ordinary people and resulted in the gutting of all kinds of public services. The current election mud-slinging and the disinformation campaign related to the Syrian crisis provides mountains of distractions that mainstream media uses to prevent ordinary citizens from understanding the more serious issues.