Are we seeing the “shock doctrine” at work in the debt-limit debate?
By louisehartmann
Are we seeing the “shock doctrine” at work in the debt-limit debate? Author Naomi Klein wrote the book on the shock doctrine – a tactic used by Conservatives throughout history to manufacture or exploit a crisis in order to push through radical right-wing reforms that benefit the super rich and screw over the working class. She’s now weighing in on the current debt-limit debate saying this in a statement for the website RootsAction.org: “Using trumped up crisis to raid the public purse and attack the basic rights and benefits is a very old trick - but rarely is the shock doctrine tactic wielded as brazenly as in the pseudo debate about the debt ceiling. This is naked class war, waged by the ultra rich against everyone else, and it's well past time for Americans to draw the line.”
She’s right – we have no debt crisis. Our debt-to-GDP ration is well below what it was after World War 2 – and both Democratic and Republican Presidents spent federal money to grow our economy out of debt. And as a recent Gallup poll noted – Americans don’t give a damn about the debt – they care about jobs! But Republicans are using a fake debt crisis to destroy the last remnants of FDR’s New Deal by dismantling social safety nets – downsizing the middle class – and handing over the commons to transnational corporations.
As long as there is a so-called debt crisis – Republicans think they can get away with turning the United States into a banana republic.
Comments
#2
I am starting to prepare myself for a debt deal by lubricating my behind. Hopefully, the lubrication will ease the ongoing BOHICA Days that we will experience.
#3
MY HEART YOUR HEART!
http://www.myheartyourheart.org/
The parts are starting to come together! As more data is gathered from my medical records and the donation of my pacemaker, my life may be able to help another human being to live. I believe that it is better for me to give life than to take life in these awful Middle East wars.I cannot stop the wars but I can give new life to another person. Thank you dear God for letting me live long enough to help another person in this world!
#4
http://www.opednews.com/articles/BE-PREPARED-by-robert-wolff-110723-521.html
Be prepared and pray!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-Medicare-Is-the-Soluti-by-Robert-Reich-110723-499.html
Medicare is not the problem.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Dumb-and-Dumbest-by-Richard-Girard-110723-403.html
People, we are screwed!
#5
Obama is totally out of the loop and he readies to ride out his presidency castrated and ineffective.
http://news.yahoo.com/boehner-gop-ready-act-alone-debt-deal-184236181.html
#6
I call upon my fellow Americans to start lubricating their behinds to ease the shock and awe and the never ending BOHICA DAYS.
#7
Here are the bed partners – Michelle, Barack, and Monsanto!!!!!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-First-Lady-and-The-Mon-by-Lenore-Daniels-110723-957.html
#8
From Guns and butter july 20, 2011 Graeme MacQueen
Robert Stevens was the first Anthrax victim who worked as a photo editor for a tabloid called The Sun in Boca Rattan, Florida. The wife of the editor in chief of The Sun, Mike Irish, was a real estate agent that found apartments for two of the alleged 911 hijackers. And the alleged leader, Atta, cosigned for the leases.
So these 19 hijackers were in the US for about a year and a half expressing interest in crop dusting planes, taking flight lessons, and one even tried to get a loan from the Department of Agriculture. They are being very upfront and blatant about what they are doing. They make sure they are not forgotten..having a fight with someone..making bizarre threats....etc.
This is a story that was circulated right after 911 that was then trying to tie both the 911 and anthrax group terrorism together...trying to convince the public...that both 911 and anthrax were obviously done by a group of Muslim terrorists, is as follows:
Mohammed Atta supposedly asked for a $650,000 loan in the Spring of 2000...goes to a loan office of Janelle Bryant at the Department of Agriculture, says he's from Afghanistan (he was really from Egypt so easy to check on so why did he use his real name and a fake origin...the origin of where Osama Bin Laden was then known to be?)...he was making himself look very suspect. Says he wants to spray US crops. He acts very belligerent and arrogant saying he really doesn't want to do business with a woman. Then when she says that she could not loan him the money because he was not an American citizen. He says "What would you do if I just come around behind you and cut your throat?" Does this sound like someone who is trying to secretive and covert in order to pull off a big operation like 911. It sounds like he might be planning something but not smart enough to do 911? It sounds like maybe they were planning on, maybe, doing the crop duster thing but I believe, beyond that, they were set up as patsies and did not actually hijack those airliners. Some may have been passengers on those planes but does not mean they actively forced themselves on taking over the plane. They may even not have known that the planes were going to be crashed into the buildings.
I believe the airliners were electronically hijacked and electronically guided to their targets. Some of those Arabs were on the planes..others it is now known...was later wondering why their names were listed as dead hijackers when they were still alive. Then after Atta made that statement Jannelle said "Well, I know karate"...so it sounds like they were joking around. They kept talking amicably. Atta noticed a picture on the wall and Atta said he wanted to buy the picture of Wash DC monuments and took out a big wad of cash. She said "no, the picture was a gift"! Atta said "well, what if someone just destroyed all those monuments in Washington DC ?" Then he starts talking about the World Trade Center saying he'd like to visit it and he asks her if she knew how good the security is. Then he mentions Osama Bin Laden. He said "One day he will be famous".
This was the narrative that was spun early on just after the anthrax attacks...making the hijackers responsible for both the 911 attacks and the anthrax attacks...of course, now we know that the anthrax was not done by Arabs but was an inside job. This may have even been a fabricated story by Janelle...maybe even was put up to it by those who wanted to ensure everyone was convinced that "the hijackers" were responsible for both 911 and the anthrax attacks.
So they tried to spin one on us connecting the anthrax and 911 saying it was a group of hijacker terrorists. Then after it became absolutely clear that it wasn't the Arabs behind the anthrax attacks but an inside job...the spin becomes...that it wasn't a group of terrorists but a lone nut. No one looks at the possibility that it was a cabal or group of inside job terrorists...it is spun as a lone nut. just like Oswald. and others.
So, the pattern is that the authorities tried to spin this as a group conspiracy of TERRORISTS using Muslim subjects. And when it was proven that the anthrax attacks were not done by Muslim Terrorists but by someone not Muslim..but someone who was obviously trying to make look like it was Muslim terrorists...an INSIDE JOB...then it was no longer touted as an act of TERRORISM or that of a GROUP. They then begin coloring it as another act of a lone disguntled crazy. A pattern exists here going back to McVey, Oswald and probably before...Booth? People are much more willing to believe in an organized Muslim TERRORIST organization or a LONE NUT as being responsible for attacks than an INSIDE GROUP or ORGANIZATION....members of our own establishment...our government...businesses...etc.
#9
Brief Timeline of Anthrax Attacks:
Sept 18, 2001- First set of anthrax letters sent out (~5 letters to various news media including the tabloid The Sun in Boca Rattan, Fla. where Robert Stevens, first person to die.
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Oct 2, 2001- Patriot Act introduced into Congress. Democrats in general and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D) and Senate Judiciary Committee leader Senator Leahy not going for it.
Oct 6, 2001- Robert Stevens of The Sun dies of anthrax.
Oct 9, 2001- Anthrax letters, with even more lethal strain and containing silicon, mailed to Sens. Daschle and Leahy.
Oct 10-11, 2001- Anthrax library destroyed, with permission of FBI and CDC, hampering the ability of investigators to discover who was really behind the anthrax terrorism attacks.
Oct 12, 2001- Anthrax letter to Leahy was mis-routed to Virginia..not discovered until Oct. 17
Oct 17, 2001- It was confirmed that the FBI allowed the original batch of the Ames strain of anthrax to be destroyed, making tracing the anthrax type more difficult. Suspicions that the anthrax used in the letters was the Ames strain are confirmed on this date.
Oct 16-17, 2001-Anthrax letter opened in Daschle's office.
Oct 17, 2001 - Anthrax letter to Leahy, which was mis-routed to Virgina, was discovered
After the evacuation, 28 congressional staffers test positive for anthrax.
Oct. 26, 2001 Patriot Act passed with little opposition from Democrats even though most admitted they didn't even read it before signing.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...
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Oct 9-10, 2001- The F.B.I. and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both gave permission for Iowa State University to destroy the Iowa anthrax archive, and the archive was destroyed on 2001 October 10 and 11.[95]
The FBI and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation has been hampered by the destruction of a large collection of anthrax spores collected over more than seven decades and kept in more than 100 vials at Iowa State University, Ames, IA. Many scientists claim that the quick destruction of the anthrax spores collection in Iowa have eliminated crucial evidence useful for the investigation. A precise match between the strain of anthrax used in the attacks and a strain in the collection would have offered hints as to when bacteria had been isolated and, perhaps, as to how widely it had been distributed to researchers. Such genetic clues could have given investigators the evidence necessary to identify the perpetrators.[95]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks
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Controversy about the content and strain of the anthrax spores:
The initial letters sent out were deadly but not considered weaponized...ie: very, very fine particles that could easily be airborne and containing additives like Bentonite or Silicon (glass). Silicon was supposed to be a signature of Saddam Hussein...but it was discovered that the silicon was not encased inside the anthrax spores as real weaponized grade would have been but was probably hastily added as a mixture to the anthrax spores (so that it would show up in analysis and help incriminate Saddam Hussein, of course). The Bentonite was a wash and not true.
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Funny how our some controlling elements of the Bush government worked so hard to destroy evidence...the anthrax library...and the steel beams from 911! It makes one think that they had something to hide doesn't it?
#10
No wonder the Dems are so chicken to stick up for their progressive constituents....the reich-wingers will send out anthrax letters to the Dems if they don't play the game the way the fascists want....or even send out JSOC hit squads for a little nighttime reconnaissance and fun murdering progressive politicians in their beds..
#11
I am not sure if you've read Unequal Protection by Thom Hartman, but if you take Unequal Protections and Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine together you get a very clear picture of what the Republican Party is up too along with a little help from the "Democratic" friends. Both books present a blue print of how American and multi-national corporations along with their new Moses Milton Friedman and his gospel of "Free Market" economics have tried to game the system for complete control wealth and power.
#12
Our eldest son and our middle son voted for McCain. They said to me that the Republicans created this mess and let us see how they would get us out of this mess. With Obama as the Grand Experiment that has failed us, it does not matter what party is in control. Once Medicare and social security are history and they are certain to be history, these social safety net programs will never return to our Anti-Christ nation!!!!!
#13
Get Ready! You will soon be selling your kids to these lecherous rich bastards...like they do in India. When I was in Saudi Arabia back in the early 80s, I read an English version of an Indian newspaper that talked about how the rich Arabs were going over to India to buy brides. These young children were being sold to the Arabs and the marriages usually only lasted for a day or week and then the Arab would divorce them before they left. It really amounted to a kind of "face saving" prostitution of children. The parents could say she was married. All it takes for a Muslim to divorce a wife is to say in public..."I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you" and that's the end.
And so as to not pick just on rich Arabs...lots of rich Americans were going on sex junkets in Thailand and surrounding far eastern countries just outright buying them as prostitutes. But the bottom line is that when you drive people into poverty...they often...in order to survive...have to do some pretty humiliating and shameful things. I sure hope the US never gets so peonized that people start selling their kids.
#14
From Robert Kuttner article on huffingtonpost:
"Whether Congress has voted to increase the permissible amount of total debt is a technicality. It's not as if the government runs out of money next week.
If President Obama were to invoke that emergency authority to prevent the economy from collapsing as money markets began shunning U.S. government bonds, it is hard to imagine Republican leaders suing the president... to demand what? That he let the economy go off a cliff? And it is even harder to imagine the Supreme Court, even a Court as partisan and corrupted as the Roberts Court, voting to tie Obama's hands in an economic emergency that -- keep in mind -- is entirely contrived.
Obama, the Great Conciliator, finally showed a bit of irritation and a bit of spine this past week. It would be perverse of him to reward Republican intransigence by agreeing to an 11th hour deal that, by definition, would have to be on almost entirely Republican terms to be approved by the Tea-Party besotted House of Representatives.
Better to show some leadership in an emergency, invoke the 14th Amendment, calm money markets, and leave the Republicans sputtering mad. Obama might even come to enjoy exercising leadership."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/obama-holds-the-cards-if-_b...
#15
Obama's new book: Audacity of Dopes
#16
One way to fight back and draw the line is to remind the Kool aid drinkers that massive cuts and privitization will save nothing$$$$$$ for them, in fact it will only shift $$$$$ responsibilty from the elite onto the backs of the miiddle class and cost us all much more.....just ask Dick.
#17
Thanks for all the info! Republicanista...... but then there is fashionista. republicanist? like jhaddist? to generic. Worth thinking about though. However, that made me think of another idea. We rarely get the Democratic and Republican view in one article -- maybe we should try referring to American view, legal alien view, illegal alien view, consumer view, corporate view, religious view, etc.,etc in covering issues in our own shares! Maybe we can get more people realizing just how limited most articles are in the news!
#18
I'm still trying to contain my absolute shock that palindromedary has the maturity and insight to research and correct a mistake. Thanks, palindromedary, for showing your quality. I really believe that part of the tragedy of America's decline politically and financially is the refusal by so many to ever admit, much less correct a mistake. Keith Olbermann once said about GW Bush and Republicans: "They never regret, and they never apologize. Admirable in a French Torch Singer; Cataclysmic in an American President". He was spot-on. Good luck, palindromedary. BTW, don't start calling the Republicans stupid nicknames and distortions. There is no need to become Them to make our point. The Republicans should be referred to as "Republicans" because that is the name that they go by. Just because they are incapable of showing Democrats the same respect is no excuse for Us to degrade ourselves by practicing their unethical tactics. Believe it or not, The Truth has a way of prevailing. Let's just hope that there won't be any more pain than necessary to correct this 30-year Mistake. Best wishes to all of us...
#19
Shock Doctrine techniques in international financial markets.
IT'S NOT A DEBT CEILING
It's a financial free fall, engineered to be captured at the bottom of the US Dollar cycle by the SPECIAL DRAWING RIGHT (SDR) of theInternational Monetary Fund:
Why Supplanting the Dollar Would Be Good For America World Bank Makes Case for New Reserve Currency
"The Special Drawing Right (SDR), is the currency not of some foreign rival but of the Washington-based and traditionally U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF). It isn't even really its own currency, since it derives its value from a basket" that contains dollars, euros, yen and pounds."
The SDR is poised at the tipping point of the "debt ceiling crisis" to serve as an instrument of Econogenics, capturing the lead position among financial elites of the global economy as the currency without a constituency, a credit system controlled from behind the shadows of the board rooms of the global banksters, with the agency of the International Monetary Fund serving as the SS enforcer of the global regime of meta-national corporate fascism.
*******
Econogenics:
The philosophy and practice of global economic elites to perpetuate the domination of geo-political regimes of expropriation and exploitation of the natural resources and labor of the earth and humanity for the benefit of the few, at the expense of an unsustainable ecological relationship among human societies and with the natural world.
Terracide:
#20
hope-a-dope
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Geithner says a debt deal will go through!!! Now I am really worried!!!!! For the debt deal to go through Obama will have to cave into the demands of the Reichstag!!!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/dispute-threatens-debt-limit-negotiations-014542201.html