THE SYSTOCRAT PAPERS

Here’s a different perspective on the 700 billion dollar bailout proposed by the Bush administration – it marks the opening of a new offensive agains the American people.  For seven years, we've been at war with terrorists hell-bent on destroying the American way of life.  The problem is, most Americans still don’t know who the real terrorists are. 

I’m not talking about Al Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden.  Like hostile aliens in some b-rate television show on the sci-fi channel, these terrorists look just like the rest of us, as they slither through the general population, watching and waiting for their opportunity to put their blood-stained boots on our collective necks.  Today, America’s most diabolical and determined adversaries are the “disaster capitalists” i.e. neo-conservative, Milton Friedman acolytes who have been using the fear generated by the 9/11 attacks as a launching pad to implement radical, self-serving measures at the expense of the American people.  Exhibit A – the ill-advised, exclusively for-profit invasion of Iraq, a “military” operation that the Bush administration used as a front to funnel gazillions of our tax dollars to private defense and reconstruction contractors with ties to the White House, while our troops were sent to kill innocent Iraqi civilians and to be maimed or killed themselves in a rich man’s war.

So, what exactly is a “disaster capitalist?”  The term was recently coined by activist Naomi Klein in her excellent book The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, which should be required reading for anyone who seeks a better understanding of recent world events.  The book documents in meticulous detail the implementation around the globe of the now infamous neo-con philosophy, articulated by Milton Friedman (caricature above), that the best way to implement radical neo-conservative economic reforms is to force them upon helpless nations in the aftermath of a crisis.  These reforms usually include some combination of deregulation and privatization, especially with regard to lucrative, nationalized assets, so that large corporations can swoop in and take what they want, reaping huge profits at the expense of the local citizenry.  When the looting is done, the disaster capitalists fade back into the scenery to await the next opportunity, in most cases leaving the "host" nation's economic system fatally compromised.

There is no question that these disaster capitalists have had their way with the American people for the last seven years.  While most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, these neo-cons and their cronies have fraudulently diverted gazillions of dollars that rightfully belong to the American people by deliberately misleading us into believing that the Iraq invasion was justified.  Given the embarrassingly thin case presented to the American people in support of this invasion, it’s probably fair to say that there would have been a great deal more outrage about the war if not for the fear that gripped the nation in the aftermath of 9/11. 

Now that our financial markets are collapsing, the disaster capitalists have once again emerged from their caves to coordinate another attack on the American people.  This latest offensive is in the form of a vague, three page document which asks the American taxpayer to eat the costs of a 700 billion dollar bailout plan designed to rescue certain large financial institutions from bad debts.  Naturally, the Bush administration is trying to push this thing through immediately, before people have a chance to fully understand the possible implications and before any other more reasonable alternatives can be proposed and evaluated.  Of course, the plan has no protections for taxpayers and specifically exempts any action taken by Treasury Secretary Paulson from legal or agency review.  By the way, Paulson formerly served as CEO of Goldman Sachs, one of the institutions that stands to gain from this bailout. 

Smells bad to me, folks. Smells real bad.  The question that we all should be asking is, what’s in it for them?  As Bob Herbert reports, “Lobbyists, bankers and Wall Street types are already hopping up and down like over-excited children, ready to burst into the government’s $700 billion piñata. This widespread eagerness is itself an indication that there is something too sweet about the Paulson plan.”  Moreover, this proposal is so important that Bush himself, the lamest of all lame duck presidents, actually emerged from his hiding place last night to put the fear of non-action into us, warning that the “entire economy is in danger,” and that we could face a “long and painful recession.” 

Are you concerned yet? 

Liberals and conservatives agree that the proposed bailout is a bad idea, for various reasons.  However, there's more here than meets the eye.  According to Ms. Klein, this bailout proposal is most likely the first step in a much broader plan to advance neo-con economic “reforms” at our expense and to our detriment:

The best summary of how the right plans to use the economic crisis to push through their policy wish list comes from Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich. On Sunday, Gingrich laid out 18 policy prescriptions for Congress to take in order to "return to a Reagan-Thatcher policy of economic growth through fundamental reforms." In the midst of this economic crisis, he is actually demanding the repeal of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which would lead to further deregulation of the financial industry. Gingrich is also calling for reforming the education system to allow "competition" (a.k.a. vouchers), strengthening border enforcement, cutting corporate taxes and his signature move: allowing offshore drilling.

It would be a grave mistake to underestimate the right's ability to use this crisis -- created by deregulation and privatization -- to demand more of the same. Don't forget that Newt Gingrich's 527 organization, American Solutions for Winning the Future, is still riding the wave of success from its offshore drilling campaign, "Drill Here, Drill Now!" Just four months ago, offshore drilling was not even on the political radar and now the U.S. House of Representatives has passed supportive legislation. Gingrich is holding an event this Saturday, September 27 that will be broadcast on satellite television to shore up public support for these controversial policies.

What Gingrich's wish list tells us is that the dumping of private debt into the public coffers is only stage one of the current shock. The second comes when the debt crisis currently being created by this bailout becomes the excuse to privatize social security, lower corporate taxes and cut spending on the poor. A President McCain would embrace these policies willingly. A President Obama would come under huge pressure from the think tanks and the corporate media to abandon his campaign promises and embrace austerity and "free-market stimulus.

For more commentary from Ms. Klein, click here to watch her discuss the bailout plan on Bill Maher's show.

The bottom line: we must all remain vigilant with respect to the bailout discussions in Washington over the next few days and be in touch with our elected officials as necessary, otherwise the disaster capitalists will likely stick it to us again.