Voting Affirmatively

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“If you are a believer in Ron Paul’s Libertarian ideology, then voting for him is an obvious right choice. Why would anyone else vote for Ron Paul? Because Ron Paul has been consistently opposed to America’s wars, most recently in Afghanistan (ongoing) and Iraq and Libya (both done), and because Ron Paul is against prohibitions on recreational drug use and its criminalization, many leftists and/or progressives and/or social democrats and liberal Democrats have stated they would consider voting for Ron Paul if he is a candidate for president in the November 2012 election. From a leftist perspective, this is a stupid idea because it will only set back the leftist agenda, however you choose to define it.” For more, see

Voting For Ron Paul Is Stupid For Leftists
12 February 2012 [203rd birthday of Charles Darwin]
http://www.swans.com/library/art18/mgarci40.html

Vote affirmatively, instead for the “lesser evil.” In either case you may not influence the political choices of the nation, but only with the former do you maintain your self-respect.

Bayesian Bargains

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We are often caught in dilemmas, uncertain about choosing between two courses of action, and sometimes suspicious that “the game is rigged” so that whatever choice we make will benefit a behind-the-scenes controller. One interesting way of exploring this question is to formulate simple idealized situations, which can be taken as analogies to some of the real-world complexities in our lives, and analyze them with the Bayesian model of deliberation. Here is my article about “not missing out.”

Bayesian Bargains: Jail, Shopping, Debt, And Voting
http://www.swans.com/library/art18/mgarci39.html

Beggaring Student Life

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Why do we have a public education system? Why have youth gain college educations? We have forgotten the basics because of an obsession with money, specifically “not paying” for “socialism.” I do some venting on this theme in this latest article.

Beggaring Student Life
http://www.swans.com/library/art18/mgarci38.html

Recalling William Somerset Maugham’s account of his flight from France in 1940 led me into a reflection of the corrosive barrenness of the Libertarian view, as championed today by Ron Paul, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

Letter #2, “Being Attentive”
http://www.swans.com/library/art18/letter233.html

Where Did “the 99% vs. the 1%” Come From?

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“What was the first appearance of ‘the 99% vs the 1%?’ Was it with the OWS or does it go back earlier to movements long forgotten?”

I don’t know, but here is an item from 25 October 2007:

All the fancy blather of all the talking heads is pure distraction from this simple fact: 99% of the American people (and of the world) are simply being robbed lock, stock and barrel. Their money, savings, pensions, livelihoods, homes, lands, jobs and career prospects, security, even their very food, water and air are being taken from them as quickly as the wheels of government, finance and industry can be turned to this task. We are taken to be crash-test dummies who can be hypnotized by televised images of Britney Spears underpants, and who won’t move our butts off the couch to keep our own homes and lives from being ripped off their financial foundations by the tornado-force suction of a rapaciously manipulated economy.

That excerpt is from: Homes Of The Crash Test Dummies
http://www.counterpunch.org/2007/10/25/homes-of-the-crash-test-dummies/

A few reminders of the times during which this was written:

June 2006 — U.S. housing prices peak.

February-August 2007 — subprime industry collapses (ongoing).

August 2007 — worldwide “credit crunch” as subprime mortgage backed securities are discovered in portfolios of banks.

September 2007 — Federal economists meet to address “housing recession that jeopardizes U.S. growth.”

October 2007
— U.S. backed bank consortium creates “superfund” to buy back, for detoxification and resale, the now junk subprime-backed securities (this effort is abandoned in December, there are no customers for 2nd hand junk);
— Federal Reserve Chairman Bernancke alarmed about bursting housing bubble;
— Treasury Secretary Paulson says: “the housing decline is still unfolding and I view it as the most significant risk to our economy. … The longer housing prices remain stagnant or fall, the greater the penalty to our future economic growth.”

The housing decline continued, the percentage of all households in some stage of foreclosure was more than:

1.03% in 2007 year-end
1.84% in 2008 year-end
2.21% in 2009 year-end
1.28% by mid-year 2010
2.23% in 2010 year-end
0.90% by mid-year 2011                                                                                                 1.45% in 2011 year end.

Percentages based on filings within the year (or half year). Data from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_United_States_housing_bubble

The global financial crisis (crash) occurred during September-October 2008.

Today, 1 in 5 U.S. mortgages is underwater (more owed than the market value of the home).

So, perhaps my 2007 CP article was one of numerous sources that eventually coalesced into the OWS “the 99% vs the 1%.” From the mail I got at the time, I know the paragraph quoted was the most popular one in the article.

[OWS = Occupy Wall Street]

An Iraq War Retrospective

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American troops left Iraq at the end of December, and President Obama declared the war ended, at a ceremony for returning soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

I thought I should review my guesses about how the war might turn out, from the time near its beginning. So, I turned to an article I haven’t seen in 7 years:

How Will The Iraq War Affect Americans?
http://www.swans.com/library/art10/iraq/garcia.html

and found this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Swans – February 2, 2004)   Imagine a future, eight years hence, based on a continuation of present-day trends. A political commentary of that time might be something like the following:

Working Americans had been robbed of their savings and of any economic future by a wholesale financial swindling and artificially accelerated concentration of wealth and corporate power, all resulting from government policies they had no influence over. Their dignity had been assaulted by political and judicial repression invoked in the name of greater security, their sense of decency had been shocked by the crass mentality behind a pandering mass culture aimed at manipulating them purely for corporate advantage, their civic ideals and sense of community spirit had been insulted by the intolerance foisted on their children through the contraction of the educational system put under the control of religious fundamentalists, and their national feelings as Americans had been revolted by the deceptive rush into an unnecessary and unending war, which left them seeing only one alternative to compensate for having experienced the ruination of their dreams and their ideals of an abundant and just American society — that alternative being the disappearance of the entire corporate system of “globalization” and “free trade,” what is quite simply the American Empire.

— Carlos Marcos, The Second American Civil War, 2011.

Can we even imagine a second civil war erupting? Could the American people be awakened to such extremes? Perhaps, given sufficiently bad personal economics, and a series of colonial wars that go badly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not bad for an old engineer, hah!

Well, to be perfectly honest, I cribbed it from Karl Marx, but I changed it a little. Here’s the original, which refers to the unsuccessful revolt known as the Paris Commune of 1871:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The empire had ruined them economically by the havoc it made of public wealth, by the wholesale financial swindling it fostered, by the props it lent to the artificially accelerated centralization of capital, and the concomitant expropriation of their own ranks. It had suppressed them politically, it had shocked them morally by its orgies, it had insulted their Voltarianism by handing over the education of their children to the frères Ignorantins, it had revolted their national feeling as Frenchmen by precipitating them headlong into a war which left only one equivalent for the ruins it made — the disappearance of the empire.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Objectively, my article did nothing. The war proceeded, the economy was wrecked, and most people are indifferent about these results, unless they feel a bit pinched by them.

Subjectively, the article helped me focus my discussion when someone in my family would ask about the Iraq War; and like many of my articles it annoyed the kind of people I am happy become annoyed by what I say and write.

Maybe Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is the first glimmer of “The Second American Revolution.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Every person determines on his own authority the price that he can pay, or refuse to pay, for his life, and in the same way everyone decides what sacrificium intellectus he can make for the preservation of the valuable concord with his friends.”  — Manès Sperber (1905-1984)

Understanding Christopher Hitchens, and Letting Go of the Future

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Happy New Year.

Many have written about Christopher Hitchens, since his death on 15 December 2011. In the numerous articles I found, I only saw discussion about what Hitchens did/didn’t do, and should/shouldn’t have done, as well as what the commentators thought/felt about it/him.

Eventually, I realized that the mass of memorial-condemnation literature about Hitchens was itself a reflection of the character of the American intelligentsia and especially that of its left wing, which cared most passionately for and about Hitchens these last four decades. I was interested to learn what drove the man, why did the private human being Christopher Hitchens have the public persona “Christopher Hitchens?” The opinions I formed from this point are presented in an article just published by SWANS. I thought Christopher Hitchens himself, in his final column published by Vanity Fair, verified my hypothesis about him.

Christopher Hitchens, Coyote, or Saint Paul?
2 January 2012
http://www.swans.com/library/art18/mgarci36.html

Besides looking back on 2011 through the lens of Hitchens’ impact, I was drawn forward into 2012 by spelling out my view about the obsession many have with the future. My political philosophy (which is assuredly amateur, and not formalized) involves a rich blending of Jungian psychology, Buddhism and science, along with a few political and economic beliefs. Our political philosophies are helpful when they give us insights that contribute to social progress in the here-and-now; they become social impediments when we treat them as political objectives.

The Endless Reality of the Imperfect Now
2 January 2012
http://www.swans.com/library/art18/mgarci37.html

Best wishes for the New Year.

Looking Beyond the Dazzle of Plutocracy

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I was pointed to an article in The Telegraph (UK newspaper) about police departments testing a laser rifle that temporarily (sic) blinds “rioters,” and asked to comment. When I comment on a news story about a technology development, I usually try explaining the physics being used, and then perhaps give an opinion on the politics of why the effort is being made. My response this time skipped the technical details.

Looking Beyond the Dazzle of Plutocracy
14 December 2011
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/12/14/looking-beyond-the-dazzle-of-plutocracy/

What Next for OWS?

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It is clear that OWS-type encampments cannot sustain long term occupations of public spaces; inclement winter weather and the even more hostile atmosphere of establishment reaction (e.g., police actions to deny access to port-a-potties) have dispersed many of the social democracy insurgents.

Should OWS become a political movement? Can it? What could it accomplish? How long would it take?

The endpoint or vision of OWS aspirations is probably best described in the 2010 book:

Ill Fares The Land
by Tony Judt, (Penguin, 2010).

Read this if you would prefer our future to be one of social democracy rather than corporate feudalism.

An inspiring vision is fine, but how do you get there? How do we fill in the blanks, write out the recipe? Realizing that we want to change EVERYTHING, and that we are in the minority as regards financial, physical and political power, where do we start?

I describe a suggested starting point and a procedure for advancing “a revolution,” which are fitted to each individual’s nature, and would be carried out empirically rather than dogmatically. My purpose is to encourage us all to maintain our shared social democratic vision, and to offer ideas that may stimulate your own thinking for better ways to actualize that vision. The new article making my case has just been published by SWANS:

What Next for OWS, Politics?
5 December 2011
http://www.swans.com/library/art17/mgarci34.html

You will do yourself a favor by reading Judt’s book. You would do Swans a favor by sending a letter to the editor if an article there moves you. You have already done me a favor by reading this far, but I’ll enjoy readers’ comments, too.

The 50% US GDP Heist, OWS and GIABO

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Many of you will be very interested in the financial scandals that led to the 2008 economic collapse, and its social repercussions which include OWS (Occupy Wall Street). I have expanded some comments on this topic, which I posted at the Unrepentant Marxist blog, and present them here. I am posting this because it includes links to 2 video presentations (the first in three parts), which I think you will find interesting. The first 3-part video is of Christopher Hedges speaking to Harvard students, and the second video is Episode 217 of the Keiser Report, a regular commentary on the “Global insurrection against banker occupation, GIABO.”

Both of these video presentations suggest directions OWS can take, or evolve into, in answer to the question of “what next for OWS?”

For those who have not followed the financial news, the Keiser Report discusses: the recent scandal of MF Global, the European financial crisis and secret Franco-German machinations within the Fiscal World War III on the Continent (“Überdebten”), and the explosive revelations of the Bloomberg Freedom-of-Information suit to release Federal Reserve data on its secret multi-trillion-dollar lending (half the US GDP) to the insolvent big banks in 2008. The banks made $13B in profits “processing” these loans from the Federal Reserve (backing up the banks’ toxic worthless subprime “assets”), and which they distributed mostly as bonuses within their ranks. Al Capone only owned a few wards of Chicago, but these Wall Street banks managed to snag half the US GDP. Sustained moral outrage by the public would be a good thing, far more than just OWS; where is it?

Today, I finished reading Tony Judt’s book Ill Fares The Land (Penguin, 2010).

I highly recommend this book to everyone, and especially to anyone participating in the Occupy Movement (particularly the student-age contingent) and/or sympathetic to OWS aspirations. Judt’s book is like a blending of Keiser Report data into a Hedges exhortation to arrive at a seamless exegesis of this moment in history. This book is the moral equivalent in our time to Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” in 1776. Would that it was as widely read and taken to heart.

Christopher Hedges at Harvard on OWS:

Part 1: http://youtu.be/AlR9rMrYuHU
Part 2: http://youtu.be/ugU6ELwbi_o
Part 3: http://youtu.be/SKSUfCG7ax4

or

(for part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlR9rMrYuHU)
(for part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugU6ELwbi_o)
(for part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKSUfCG7ax4)

Thanks to Louis Proyect for posting these video links at: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/chris-hedges-speaks-at-harvard-on-ows/

To complement these Hedges videos, listen to this Keiser Report (below) on the toxic entwining of:

— the Banksters (who are insolvent but want “unlimited” public bailouts with which to give themselves bonuses and build up big hoards of cash so as to keep gambling, instead of spreading capital throughout the economy, stimulating it and creating jobs — the economic purpose of commercial banks),

— the US Congress (which wants to spend more than available revenue), and

— the Federal Reserve (which is interested in enabling both pathologies to the tune of $7.77T — equal to 50% of the US GDP!!! — lent to the banks in secret before Congress created the one-tenth as large relief program, TARP).

The value and failings of OWS are commented on by guest Denninger near the end of this Keiser Report episode.

At the beginning of the program, Keiser and Herbert are discussing the latest financial scandal, of an investment firm (headed by a former New Jersey governor) that stole customer money. Brokers are not supposed to dip into customer accounts to make up their own gambling losses (especially when near $1B). This only works as comedy when done by W. C. Fields, in the Great Depression era film “The Bank Dick.” (The same title for a movie about banks today would convey a different connotation, which Fields probably intended as a double entendre.)

The Keiser Report commentators would like to see OWS take a more specific focus onto financial industry reform, which would require revising attitudes about federal oversight and monetary policy; and we know this economic concern would necessarily have to expand to include progress in reforming campaign financing, a.k.a. the corruption of Congress.

Chris Hedges, like Bill Moyers his elder contemporary, came out of divinity school and passed through journalism, so in their third chapter of life they preach to large secular congregations through the airwaves, and their sermons are based on moral principles. This is not a criticism:

“It is the gap between the inherently ethical nature of public decision-making and the utilitarian quality of contemporary public debate that accounts for the lack of trust felt towards politics and politicians…humans need a language in which to express their moral instincts.” — Tony Judt

The ideal follow-on political movement to OWS would combine the energy of moral outrage with a utilitarian specificity on financial reform (e.g., financial market taxes, banking reform, consumer & student debt relief, much more legal prosecution of fraud related to the 2008 financial collapse), similar to the reform movement represented by the Pecora Commission in 1932-1934. (My initial comments along these lines appeared in the UM blog at: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/the-people-cry-out-against-the-new-great-depression/)

So, from Hedges I see the message to OWS being “get mad as hell.” From Keiser and company I see the message to OWS being “now that you’re good and hot, focus your fire into a laser beam to burn through the stranglehold of bankster fraud.”

See Episode 217 here (mislabeled direct link):
http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-216-max-keiser/

or

E217 at:
http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/

GIABO is Max Keiser’s acronym for the idea of a global financial war between “banks,” or massive finance capital in speculation, and the commons within each sovereign state, also known by various labels: the welfare state, social democracy (Tony Judt), conviviality (Ivan Illich), or the social contract (MG,Jr).

An interesting presentation on the “European Debt Crisis In Eight Graphs” is given in the following article, which includes discussion and analysis:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-european-debt-crisis-in-eight-graphs/2011/12/01/gIQAsmR5GO_blog.html?wprss=ezra-klein

From the above article one can see that in Europe the war is between Northern European banks and Southern European (Ireland counts as “southern” because it is Catholic) social democracies. The “banker occupation” of a country is called “austerity.”

World War III is a post-nuclear financial war for control of the commons, globally.