Russia, China See End To American Hegemony
Seven years ago the Bush administration brought neoconservatives into a position of power with a dream of everlasting American hegemony, a unipolar superpower who would dictate military, economic and cultural terms to the world. The end of history in many neocon minds came with a momentous date - 9/11.
Seven years later, the Bush administration's mismanagement of the nation has ensured that that the neoconservative dream is crushed.
Russia is looking forward to, and recruiting allies for, a multipolar future -invoking 9/11 as the reason to do so.
"The solidarity of the international community fostered on the wave of struggle against terrorism turned out to be somehow `privatized'... It has become crystal clear that the solidarity expressed by all of us after 9/11 should be revived (without double standards) when we fight against any infringements upon the international law," [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov] said.
Lavrov called for a new "solidarity" of the international community and a strengthened United Nations, saying only in the post-Cold War world can the organization "fully realize its potential" as a global center "for open and frank debate and coordination of the world policies on a just and equitable basis free from double standards."
"This is an essential requirement, if the world is to regain its equilibrium," he said.
Russia hasn't exactly been guiltless about double standards - I'm thinking about Chechnya and internal dissent as well as an over-response to Georgian aggression in South Ossetia - but Lavrov has a point. After 9/11, even Iranian leaders were proclaiming solidarity with the US. What happened was that the outpouring of genuine concern that could have shaped a new co-operative world was harnessed to give the neocon adventure a temporary Coalition of the Willing instead. Their lust for Empire burned up all the political capital America had on the world stage - and now even if McCain was elected to continue the neoconservative fever he wouldn't be able to, the world is just too resistant to it.
By probably deliberate contrast to McCain's call to ostracize Russia and other nations he designated undemocratic (as opposed to Georgia, where Saaskivilli had opponents beaten in the streets), Lavrov is also calling for a new organisation to bind disparate European nations together in a common interest of security.
Declaring that Europe's security architecture "did not pass the strength test" in Georgia, Lavrov reiterated Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's proposal in June for a new Treaty on European Security.
It would strengthen peace and stability and participants would reaffirm the non-use of force, peaceful settlement of disputes, sovereignty, territorial integrity and noninterference in another country's affairs, he said. Finally, he added, it would promote "an integrated and manageable development across the vast Euro-Atlantic region."
Lavrov said work on the new treaty could be started at a pan-European summit and include governments as well as organizations working in the region.
He referred to it as "a kind of `Helsinki-2'," a follow-up to the 1975 Helsinki Treaty between all European nations, together with the U.S. and Canada, which evolved into the present-day Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the largest conflict-prevention and security organization on the continent.
That's called dangling a carrot - offering security cooperation with a newly resurgent Russia while clearly offering the possibility that America might not get invited to multipolar Europe's party if it won't play nice.
Then there's China, where reports have it that financiers are nervous about the possibility of America's imminent economic collapse. Again, it was the Bush administration and a financial version of the neoconservative arrogant wish for American domination that brought American power to its current state. In an article for China Daily, a Chinese government researcher writes:
is it the end of US financial hegemony? In addition to the latest financial crisis, the US has so far experienced another financial crisis since the turn of the century - the bursting of its technological bubble. Many foreign investors have suffered heavy losses in these two crises. Some economists even warned that such cyclical formation of bubbles will seriously compromise foreign investors’ confidence in the US financial market.
And the folks at WorldMeets.US, who translated the article, add "What could be more unnerving than having your largest creditor begin pondering your financial demise?"
Maybe, if you're a neocon like John McCain, having your largest rivals - China, Russia and Europe - pondering the demise of your ability to protect your hegemony and knowing your own kind ruined American power.
First!
And if by some fluke (or Diebold cheating) McCain wins, the U.S. will be completely marginalized in the world. You ought to read world opinion about us and even the fact that there is a remote chance McCain/Palin could win. We are toast if they do.
Thanks W.
Sorry to burst your glee:
"As the world grapples with the fallout from Wall Street's shenanigans, there's no shortage of consternation, and even anger. But so far the international image of the U.S. economic model has shown amazing resilience. Lehman Brothers may be in the morgue and AIG on government-funded life support, but most businesspeople think the U.S. is more about Silicon Valley and Hollywood than the erstwhile dynamos of Wall Street. Even in China—where broadcaster CCTV-2 has been running two hours of special programming every night about the financial crisis—the U.S. is still a land to be emulated."
quite right scy, mccain wins and our "soft power" deflates like a wall street bubble, as happened after the second election of assclown, only this time their toolbox is full of ways to bring us down, china could do it lone. the era of bluster is over
Neo-conservatism must be the most naive form of imperialism ever to endanger the world.
Its proponents issued a manifesto that betrayed the ambitions of men in a state of arrested development: Since the world remained a dangerous place despite the end of the Cold War, the United States -- the biggest, baddest state left alive -- should invade smaller countries, all of whose residents naturally want to be just like us anyway, remake them in our image, and warn the rest of the world that they're next. This, they felt, would be easy.
Anyone with half a brain would recognize such a plan as both monstrous and impossible. So, they successfully conspired to install a president with less than half a brain, and proved their plan to be monstrous and impossible.
Instead of being on television offering their insane punditry, they should all be in prison. Forever.
Americaneocon @ 4:
They are emulating us.. and I believe their lack of industrial regulation has led to a tainted milk epidemic and lead paint on children's toys.
Oooh, look at the neocon.. still hoping for validation.
I'm more than happy to watch Globalism die.
And here's a link to the article in Business Week from which Americanneocon cherry-picked the most hopeful paragraph.
Regards, C
Any surprise that The Bush Cheney Junta and The Republican Crime Syndicate has initiated the destruction of America?
It's a "New American Century" alright. Bankrupt, distrusted and and end to world hegemony, after the failure of the political stunt in Georgie, sorted out by the French. Have some Liberty Fries.
Both the GOP and their conservative doctrine are dead. And if 'Murkans are really dumb enough to appoint McCheeks and Failin in November, you can just stick a fork into what's left of the 230 years-old American experiment, because it will truly be over. I'm already planning a move to either Canada or the islands - just in case.
@ American, # 4: from what, exactly, are you mining that quote? Further, assuming the quote is true, the only thing it really invalidates is the modern conservative stance on immigration. "Those people want to live like us and tell their family and friends about how great it is to live like us! Rather than recognize this incredibly powerful asset and extend our hands in friendship in the likely result of an increased number of friends at home and abroad we will act like xenophobic assclowns! Thiary're tekken uour jarbs!"
upchuck @ 8:
Yeh but will we die with it?
Americaneocon @ 4:
Yeah sure looks like those "pesky furiners" are tickled silly at being sold trillions of dollars of securites that contained garbage mortgages!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/537372a4-8d88-11dd-83d5-0000779fd18c,dwp_uuid=...
Americaneocon @ 4:
Typical Right Wing thinking we are gleeful. No, we are pissed at what your philosophy has done to this Country. And no one said that the U.S. has suddenly become some obscure island nation. However, our power (not just economic) is extraordinarily minimalized since W took power. Our international respect is toilet water. We could do nothing about Georgia. We don't have the military to stabilize Afghanistan. We can do little about Iran . . . and the list goes on and on and on. Furthermore, if indeed you do read more than U.S.publications, the world has made it clear they see us as dangerous. And if McCain/Palin gets in we become unacceptably dangerous . . . especially if McCain dies. They will not tolerate it. Oh they will pay lip service to being an ally, but we will be marginalized. China, Russia and India are seen as the emerging world powers. Have they caught up to us? Not yet. But if you are watching a race and the leaders suddenly starts running backwards (creationism, torture, etc) it doesn't take a geniua to see that the race leader is going to lose and, ultimately, finish last.
IdiotShrub @ 12:
Amen to every word!!!
Sad to say, Osama bin Laden won.
Any neoconservative cabal, "take over the world" type of thinking is doomed to fail. Empires always fail. The human race must now work together in solidarity with all this new technology, and give up the crazed dream of one nation ruling over all others.
Scy @ 16:
Amen Amen and Amen!!!
If you were a punter, either China or Russia, would you vote for your own currency, knowing the deep-rooted corruption of your own system, or would you vote for the (relatively) transparent currency which is the Thaler. I mean Dollar.
Scy @ 16:
motorfingaz @ 17:
Canadian Immigration is back-logged. If you come, try applying as a politcal refugee, from a failed state, that wants to persecute you.
If you and I conducted our finances like the U.S. government has under Bush, our credit would be cut off. If foreigners that we depend to loan us money continue to see that there is no intention to align federal outlays with inlays, then they'll have every reason to believe that dollar devaluation will continue. They won't lend at reasonable interests rates, and the U.S. will be forced to live within it's means. And, if the treasury prints money, that will dilute the currency, which won't change net purchasing power. I see the foreigners cutting off borrowing within a year, although, the sale of U.S. equity will still supply cash flow for a while.
Never should have given up Clinton's balanced budgets with the hype of tax cuts made up by money that grows on trees.
Only way out of this is to get out of being the world's policeman. Do we have so few allies that we need to spend 50% of world military expenditures?
Edwin Hussein @ 23:
Unfortunately, Canada is leaning hard right these days, too. When are/were your elections? What happened or are expected. From what I read, hard righties are taking over.
Americaneocon @ 4:
Americaneocon @ 4:
The next step in this process is that some Russian , Saudi, or Chinese will own the Dallas Cowboys or The New York Yankees or even the Green Bay Psckers.Fasten your seat belt because this is coming.
Foxes like to eat chickens. Chickens are dimitted .
Mission Accomplished.
I repeat: if you were a punter (i.e. investor) from either China or Russia, would you bet on your own country's corrupt financial systems or on the (relatively) transparent U.S. financial system?
My bet's with the Thaler (gold/silver).
motorfingaz @ 17:
Agreed. I'm fortunate enough to live abroad, and am not planning on moving back unless there is radical change.
It's difficult to understand, when you're living in it--particularly due to the insular media--just how twisted of a place it's becoming. The fact that McCain is even in the race is unfathomable to average people in other countries.
Well, hate to say it, but the Democrats are pounding the nails in our coffin even now. They should have slammed the door in Paulson's face and closed up shop. Add to that, Obama's bellicose stance in that debate on Friday, and I wouldn't be surprised if Congress declares war on Russia and China tomorrow.
I'm not sure it matters to the neocons. They still think we 'won' something in Iraq other than empowering a Shiite government that wants us gone. They're ready to pick fights with Russia, North Korea, and Iran. (In the latter case, clinging desperately to a misinterpreted quote as proof that Ahahahmadmudmedinandoutburgerajad is A Really Bad Person.)
The we-can-do-whatever-we-want philosophy that seems to be the neocons' hallmark trait has never reckoned with reality, political, economic, or otherwise.
Americaneocon @ 4:
"As the world grapples with the fallout from Wall Street's shenanigans, there's no shortage of consternation, and even anger. But so far the international image of the U.S. economic model has shown amazing resilience......
They are emulating us.. "
Yes, they are following the American model- it is WE who have abandoned it.
Americaneocon @ 4:
Oh you neocons have done a bang up job of destroying every strategic alliance the US has ever had. First strike doctrines, illegal wars, immoral acts like torture, and now the criminal syndicate that Wall Street has become has made us enviable???
They find us a necessary evil... at the moment thanks to you and your ilk!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3law7Slv8BA&refer=home
And so it begins. According to this guy it's not going to be very much longer and toilet paper will have more value than the American dollar. China is sitting on about three trillion of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS65bA4kKVE
Anyone who has been aware of the neo-con plan should not be surprised. Full-spectrum dominance militarily (including space) and economically is too breathlessly childish to be believed by any but the most foolish and deluded, if not pathologically ill, ideologues.
Neo-liberal economic policy is dead, and deservedly so. Any philosophy so myopic that it can't see that people who don't have jobs can't BUY the products that corporations profit from deserves a horrible death. And this orgy of speculative gambling on Wall-Street coupled with the demand to bail them out is wicked stupid or wicked smart, but either way--- WICKED.
Eight years.
In only eight years this President invaded a sovereign country with the backing of the American congress who chose to listen to his lies. You would think this alone would have caused an impeachment. The Bush administration has completely destroyed every sector of the United States as we once knew it.
Firing US Attorneys and replacing them with incompetent yes men, Outing a CIA agent and putting her and the nation in danger to get revenge, no bid contracts to his Vice Presidents business who have repeatedly overcharged the taxpayers, illegally torturing prisoners, abolishing habeous corpus, tapping the phones pf American citizens, allowing Katrina victims to perish without government help, letting lobbyists write laws that allow them to sell pharmaceuticals at unchallenged prices, allowing oil prices to reach record profits while they receive federal tax cuts, global warming, Walter Reed VA hospital, and assisting deregulation for the mortgage lending companies which led to the largest economic crisis in American history.
As an American Taxpayer with two college aged daughters and about $200. in my checking account, I'm having a hell of hard time believing him and Hank Paulson (who is personally worth over $500 million dollars) tell me that I have to give them more money to help their friends get out of a jam.
If McCain, who is a part of the problems we incur, gets elected president of the United States, I will move to Canada. I'll wave the white flag while watching what was once a great nation, implode because of personal greed.
Golden parachutes remain
They also will not be allowed to write new contracts that allow for "golden parachutes" for their top 5 executives if they are fired or the company goes belly up. But the executives' current contracts, which may include golden parachutes, would still stand.
CNN - Rescue bill unveiled
wiley @ 34:
Form world power to pariah nation in less than 8 years! WoW! Of course this all started with Reagan and has gone from bad to worse to disaster. This is beyond criminal and how many called for an accounting? Damn few. To have taken impeachment off the table is a almost as criminal as the crimes of Bush and Cheney. Almost, but not quite. Still if you think the GOP, the Conservatives and the Neocons are dead, you are wrong. They are still very powerful thanks to the special interests who support them.
Beyond that, the tragedy of deregulation and conservative thinking that has led to one disaster after another, will continue to plague us for decades to come. I believe it will take 40 to 50 years to recover. However, a crumbling infrastructure, global warming and peak oil may do us in by then, because I don't expect us to act quickly enough to avert these major disasters in the making.
Good luck to us all, we will need it.
Fuck Russia and China. America is going to clean itself up from the inside with the help of blogs like C&L. We'll handle the mess.
Same song, another verse:
Guardian UK (OpEd): A shattering moment in America's fall from power
NoBuddy @ 24:
IN A NUTSHELL, PEOPLE HAVE GONE FROM SEEING THE U.S. AS A BEACON OF LIGHT AND FREEDOM TO A TWISTED RELIGIO-FASCIST STATE WITH EASIER ACCESS TO GUNS THAN HEALTHCARE AND THE DUMBEST LEADER IN HISTORY.
THAT'S THE GOD'S HONEST TRUTH.
Widespread @ 27:
I would not invest any of my money ( meager is at is) in China or Russia.Americans (indirecly)through their pension plans , do, and the managers( Americans) of these pension plans use derivatives and exotic investment schemes to put your investments at incredible risks. The problem lies within. If you are debt free you understand money management.
America has always had a problem with money management .Read a bit more.
The foxes are on the prowl. When this is over most of America will be owned by non-Americans.
Cernig @ 9:
Thanks Cernig!!
Question... anybody...
The neo-cons/republicans have the meme that the financial crisis is, of course, all the Democrats fault, specifically Jimmy Carter's CRA of 1977 and Bill Clinton's stricter penalties (for not adhering to the CRA) on banks in 1995. And, naturally that leads to blaming the poor brown & Black people.
My response thus far has been to point out the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 which relaxed regulations on CRAs and allowed, in Phil Gramm's words, financial institutions to become "financial supermarkets" (ending enforcement of the Glass-Steagall Act) I've also mentioned a study showing that CRAs were the least likely to become CDO's (collaterialized debt obligations).
Does anyone have a concise, hardhitting response to the fallacy that it is all the liberals fault?
VegasRage @ 36:
Not sure why the idiot news thinks golden parachutes are limited. It's not the new contracts we are worried about, it's the existing one in place that will allow these mongrels to get a huge windfall as their ship sinks. Their are not going to be any new contracts between now and the a companies collapse. DUH!
I dunno'. In the words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along??" Isn't it time that we all realize we live on this one little planet and we have no place to go if we screw this one up????
As Lao Tzu said - hundreds of years ago: "Those who do not know when enough is enough, can never have enough."
Isome @ 43:
http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/?s=mandate&searchsubmit=Find+%C2%BB
There's a video out there somewhere with Bush basically saying McMansions for all! No need for someone's first home to be anything but wonderful. I heard it on Randi Rhodes the other day. I didn't search for it, though.
Isome @ 43:
Follow the money
In eight years, all of our respect in the world has been damaged. If any, Bush's legacy is that he brought America to its knees with a knife to her throat. Even worse, we are at our nadir in influence due to greed, voter disenfranchisement, corruption, usurptation and the debasement of our Constitution.
It is a shame that there were Americans who let this man into office to gut out everything we hold dear.
There must be a racket going on because I don't believe that a country couldn't get this bad without any efforts to save it.
It makes me want to ask this question yet again:
Didn't the people who voted Bush in know that he ran other businesses in the ground? Are they that stupid that this man is not an effective business man or leader?
A multi-polar political environment is much more stable than a unipolar one....international politics 101.
#43 - Isome ... I gave you the wrong link above:
http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/who-created-the-fannie-maefreddie-...
I think America needs to become a Parliamentary Democracy like the UK and others in Europe, that way when we see our representative screwing us we can throw them out easily.
Isome @ 43:
Mention the ties of John and Cindy McCain (to Keating as well as Cindy's familial history), Phil Gramm and his wife, and the entire S and L scandal.
Better yet, mention that Reagan and his policies started the deregulation ball rolling.
The Very Bitter Ceci Hussein @ 48:
Hey, that makes him a reg-u-lar guy, not one of them elitists who went to college and like made money and stuff.
A very interesting carrot indeed. I think however a resurgent Russia based almost exclusively on hydrocarbon and raw material exports would have a very hard time persuading Europe to abandon the NATO alliance in favor of some other organization along the lines suggested. The heavy handed response in Georgia sent a very clear message to Europe. They too have military power and are not afraid to use it. " Territorial integrity and non-interference in another country's affairs" seems somewhat at odds with their behavior in Georgia and their renegade provinces as well as the very overt military threat agianst the Ukraine. It sounds more like a renewed spheres of interest proposal to give Putin, the real Russian power, a free hand at home.Still it's definetely something to talk about. The Chinese assessment was surprisingly restrained and fundamentally accurate. The folks at WorldMeets may have overlooked a very important point. The Chinese are not merely your creditors they are also your biggest investors. If the US falls or the dollar tanks their massive investments would be worth considerably less, perhaps nothing at all. They're not demand loans you know.
☺☻Bangkok Bob☻☺ @ 51:
I am all for that! No confidence...buh bye. No waiting for more disastrous years. Get rid of the bums. And take Pelosi and Reid with Bush. They all suck.
MsJoanne @ 53:
And believe it or not, they are still trying to push that meme with McCain. :(
I'm just saddened that people just don't realize this country's on the operating table with Bush holding the paddles. The country is about to flatline if it stays in Bush's hands.
As for the hegemony? I think our international influence is already dead in that department.
Ceci, exactly. I don't know when we stopped appreciating the use of ones mind to earn a living, and since there is so little mfg. jobs here any longer, there should be that much more value for very smart people. It just shows how fucking stupid people are.
I continue to be blown away by people voting against themselves.
MsJoanne @ 55:
Right, as it is, we're stuck till their term runs it's disastrous course.
One thing we should do is make it OK to be gay and hold office like Barney Frank. He got more respect by admitting he was gay. Although at this point for the Queen of SC Lindsey Graham, it would take more than coming out of the closet to save his sorry ass, he and Lieberman would be toast along with that guy who cry's for the camera, what's his name ..... Boner?
Well, all...it's bedtime.
Night all! Hugs all around (with a few extra here and there).
Isome @ 43:
Poor, black, and brown people don't create credit "derivatives" out of thin air.
"All righty then, as your VP I proclaim the USA a country first (as per our slogan) and then.....whatever...."
MountainMan23 @ 40:
First let me say MountainMan23 that you have been posting some really excellent sources of information and articles. Hat Tip to ya!
The last line of your post talks of the demise Laissez-faire "free market" bullshit system which gives me some hope. The Neocons and conservatives have their "free market" pants down around their ankles for all the world to see!
However, notice the Republicons in the the House and what they pulled in the bail-out process... they are alive and well with lots of little ideological storm troopers and that gives me pause.
Most Americans have become aware that the top .01% of the population control the vast majority of the wealth in the US and that the wage disparity has returned to what it was during the 1920's and the age of "robber baron capitalism"... a new "Gilded Age"
What they don't know is that we were sold this crap as the impact of globalization, that it never happened in the other industrialized nations and their middle class is alive and well, not to mention that they all have affordable health care for all of their citizens and we don't.
I have no idea of what the future holds for us as the hole we are in is so deep and it will take decades to dig ourselves out of it.
Some will look at this as Uncle Sam's Credit Card bill came due... others will see it as "God playing to an audience that is too scared to laugh"... me? I just hope it is the turning point of the fulcrum and the beginning of real change.
Obama is a good man... but he is only one man... as he says... we are the agents of change. Now will we live up to that.
PS. Got any more room on top of that there mountain?
VegasRage @ 36:
This is the issue that probably causes the biggest problem.
The share holders can sue, which they will, and make the lives of these senior executives very miserable.
Class action suites are also on the table.
Banking in America has a history of fraud. Someone is going to jail on this baby.
The US Federal deficit will suffer , as what happened in the Savings and loan bailout, most of which was paid for by American tax payers.
So figure out a means to cut your losses.
What I do not understand is why many people exposed themselves to RISK by electing to roll second homes , vacations, new cars and speculative purchases (like condos) and new cars into their mortgages.
Anyway , on many occasion Mr. Bush stated, " I encourage Americans to go shoping ". or something like that. It's a culture within the Repubican Party.
Read what the IMF or the World Bank demands third world countries to subscribe to befoe those 3rd world countries get loans>
BobbyFlav @ 60:
Neither do poor whites.
MsJoanne @ 57:
It just seems that people are so emotionally lead by leaders who only push the wedge issues that they vote against their best interests. And it's happening here again, when the American electorate should be smarter and wiser. It insulting to think that people would set in the chains of destruction just because of the manipulations of a man like Karl Rove. It's as if Karl Rove is dumbing down the entire protocols, traditions and decorum of the election season to his level. He's even making the entire process criminal.
But despite my doom and gloom, I do hope that people are waking up and smelling the coffee. I have faith that folks are growing tired of this crap and would want to do something about it.
MsJoanne @ 55:
Hi MsJoanne. If you ever do that just don't use a first past the post system. It badly distorts proportional representation. The vote splitting between the centrist Liberals and the more left wing NDP parties up here usually gets the Conservatives at least thirty extra seats and effectively locks out new parties like the Green party.
Good night, Ms. Joanne. Take care. :)
But will it end America's being the world's dumbest mercenaries?
We pay them to fight their wars.
Ron @ 64:
Poor whites are included in the 'poor' part by default.
I once asked a British colleague how the English felt about the end of their Empire; a once global behemoth on whose shores the Sun never set – now a tiny island in the N Atlantic.
What she said was interesting.
The English don’t see that their Empire ever ended. It wasn’t taken as a sense of denial or naiveté, just that the English still see their country as being as large and dominant in World affairs as it ever has been.
So too with the U.S.A. We still have vast natural resources, though – and yes, Silicon Valley and Hollywood. We’re still very big. But we’re no long “all that” on the world stage, and Russia, China, S America, and most of the Middle East will be happy to see us flounder.
An example that comes to mind is the separation of East and West Germany after WWII. Both sides of Berlin started off the same in 1945. By 1970 though, East Germany’s industry was stagnant, the people were still driving and trying to maintain the cars they had in 1950, and warehouses were boarded up. On the other side was a robust economy with activity and business and money and…civilization.
Today look at Niagara Falls in upstate NY, and it will remind you of Berlin, only with the river separating economies instead of a wall. On the US side there are empty warehouses, the lights are pretty much off at night, and the economy is stagnant. There are no jobs there – there is no civilization as we once knew it. On the Canadian side it looks like West Germany. There is life, business, and a robust economy. Unfortunately for us, no one is going to tear down that river. It separates more than just two countries. It separates two economies, and our side isn’t “all that”.
Isome @ 43:
Ask a cattle rancher. If you take down all the paddocks the cattle will all head for the new sweet grass and trample it into mud.
True MsJoane, yet we are the cautionary tale. Neoliberalism will not dominate the world's markets. The people who destroyed the U.S. will likely have to retire now, rather than plowing down other nations. Though surely they are cashing in their dollars for valuable currency, and already have mansions in other countries, they might actually find no peace.
I'm not looking forward to hardship, squalor, and violence; but I do find some peace in the idea that our military might no longer be slaughtering people.
I was born in 1950 in Washington DC. There's a lot of things I never thought I'd live to see. Here's four:
1. A black person seriously likely to be the president of the United States.
2. Interracial couples being taken for granted.
3. Americans gladly giving up the freedom we fought a revolution for: habeus corpus, accepting spying on Americans, America openly and proudly torturing people.
4. America becoming a relatively unimportant economic power.
The first two I can thank liberals for; the last two I can thank conservatives for. Thanks guys, for some things more than others.
VegasRage @ 44:
The real frickin' criminals at the top of these firms who engineered this massive Ponzi scheme bailed a long time ago!
The only way to get at them and recoup our losses is to file criminal charges where they can be, which is unlikely if you remember the Enron, Global Crossings, and Tyco investigations, or...
Tax the ever lovin' shit out of them!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aGL5l6xOPEHc&refer=home
The conservatives who are still touting their bullshit "trickle down" crap and their theory of "how wealth is created" always fail to mention that the recovery from the recession of 2000-2001 was the first "jobless recovery" in US history.
I say... tax the ever lovin' crap out of them until their eyeballs spin!
***I posted this on the "bailout" thread below as well. I apologize for posting twice, but I felt it was vitally important to do it.***
Folks, this is the letter I just wrote to both my congressperson and senator. Feel free to borrow from it to craft your own--it's very easy to send them email, if you've never done it. Just look them up on the web. Phone calls are not getting through in many cases because mailboxes are full. I am convinced we've got to delay this bailout vote or we're gonna get screwed in the upcoming election. Here it is:
Dear Senator _______:
I am a Democratic voter here in _____. I am *very* concerned about Monday's proposed economic "bailout" package vote. In the stongest (but most polite) possible terms, I urge you to vote no on the bill.
I realize that the Senate and the House have worked very hard to craft a compromise, but the benefits of this bill, as I read it now, will not trickle down to homeowners or small depositors. Instead, it appears to reward big investment houses on Wall Street and the traders who created and sold risky, unwise securities packages. These "products" were created to prey upon those who couldn't afford the credit they received, people who were needed in order for Wall Street to skim a profit.
Worse, I know you must be aware that public sentiment around the nation is running tremendously high against this bailout package. Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike are not in favor because they feel they are left to pay a *massive* sum for irresponsible behavior to which they did not contribute. The anger--on the television financial shows, the news, and especially in the blogosphere--is overwhelming.
And there is strong concensus--fueled by the noisiest of Republicans--about who to blame for this "$700 billion boondoggle:" the Democratic party.
Right now, CNN is carrying a heated, strongly one-sided discussion about the package which attempts to pin blame on Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, as though they caused this mess. Logical thought about deregulation's role in causing this problem is not happening--it's easier to blame two very unpopular national figures and tie them to an unpopular president.
Passing the bailout will have the effect of *erasing* Democrats' chances of being elected to meaningful majorities in the House and Senate. Further, it will make matters especially difficult on Senator Obama because he will have to distance himself from Pelosi, Reid and the bailout itself. Democrats control the majority right now--that's all people see.
Is this fair? No; in fact, it makes no sense. Is it really happening? Yes. And either way, the taxpayers get left holding the bag. Before this bailout can happen, people need to see that things may get a lot worse without it. And they need to know that Democrats did not cause the problem in the first place. This can only happen with the passing of a few days' time.
Senator, I strongly urge you to vote no, please. Without a "no" vote, we are handing Congress right back to the people who created this problem--the Republican party.
Thank you for your continued hard work.
Sincerely,
***Go make yourselves heard, folks!
MsJoanne @ 25:
Actually, the hard right support isn't any stronger than normal. Their base support is usually 30 to 35%, and that is all they are getting. Why they will form the next government has more to do with the other 65% being discontented with their own parties and spreading their votes around.
As for the Conservatives, they have had to make a hard shift to the center to try to capitalize on the disarray of their opposition. If they start acting too right-wing, they'll be eliminated, again, from the political map.
Edwin Hussein @ 18:
He won when Chimpy removed the US bases from Saudi Arabia after 9/11,
exactly what OBL demanded in the 90s in his manifesto.
Chimpy jumped and said how high sir, then went to SA and became the King's sword carrier for the world to giggle at.
What a sack of shit. The USA is still dominant in the world, and will remain that way for some time to come.
I can't understand why people think these parties are "pretty much the same." To me, the differences are quite stark. Have a look at the issues:
http://www.democrats.org/agenda.html
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/
I found the Democratic site to be quite straightfoward about what they want to do and where they stand.
The Republicans, as can be expected, use a lot of Orwellian language to "spruce up" policies that the public would never agree to by their real names.
For example, "Minimizing expensive mandates [on corporations]" which really means, "Scrap employee health coverage."
Or "Eliminating broken government programs"--which we know really means, "Privatize everything, and let's start with schools."
To their credit, they're very consistent in sticking to the same shit that's driven the country into the ditch. With a nice photo of a bald eagle. (Which is endangered, by the way.)
Evileconboy @ 78:
Yeah, we grow a lot of corn...
ferrofluid (bro can you spare $700B for my rich Lobbyists) @ 77:
BBC April 2003
Evileconboy @ 78:
money my dear boy, no money no bases no overseas troops.
its as simple as that, this is how empires die.
ferrofluid (bro can you spare $700B for my rich Lobbyists) @ 82:
wither would be a better word to use than die.
a slow winding down over several years.
Taarak @ 80:
Sudden death syndrome in US Soy crops, have you heard about that !?
sounds worrying
ferrofluid (bro can you spare $700B for my rich Lobbyists) @ 84:
something to do with monocultures and too intensive a yield expected from exhausted soil in fields.
ferrofluid (bro can you spare $700B for my rich Lobbyists) @ 84:
At one point or another in the 20th Century the US was dominant in the world with manufacturing (industrial and otherwise), farming, textiles, electronics, information technologies, communications, energy, exploration (space and otherwise), finance & banking, education, innovation & invention, small business…
Everyone remembers that we were once big (the biggest) at every one of these. By the end of the 20th Century, all we had left as far as dominance was farming and banking. I was concerned then that we were going to become a nation of financiers and bankers. Now that’s gone too.
Thus my point - we grow a lot of corn...
MsJoanne @ 25:
I agree. It's sickening. However, Canadian politics is much different than American politics. Our hard-righties, are your far-lefties (or us)... (sorta-- OK OK I'm strecthing it a bit, but...). And we have great regional diversity, and the French (very anti-Conservative, and 1/3 the population-- Gawd love them!!!). It's hard for any party to win a majority, so they have to negotiate, around their minority status, in Parliament.
Harper pissed off a lot of Conservatives, taxing Income Trusts (I believe it was), after he promised not to. They won't forget that.
I remember, once at a dinner party, sitting around complaining about bank service charges. That was the worst thing we could find to bitch about. So...
And I've been in Asia for 11 years, so I'm not there to set people straight. :-)
Outwestern` @ 76:
See what I mean about " first past the post" MsJoanne. Hard right is something of misconception. The entire Canadian political spectrum would fit comfortably within the Democratic party. Harper is to the right by Canadian standards but he wouldn't say a word against universal health care for example. It would be political suicide.
if i was a mid eastern maybe actually be frightened at the prospect of the USA going under. I know that sounds funny... but you know if russia and china gain international strength the middle east just might see more foreign invasions and more foreign influence over the region, but with more than one super power fighting over the region would be very messy for the locals.
no, things are only going to get worse in the mid east out of all this. they will not be the ones to emerge on top thats for sure.
Americaneocon @ 4:
Putting something in quotes is meaningless if you don't give a reference, preferably a link.
VegasRage @ 36:
Shouldn't that be rewritten to: how golden are they?
We will bounce back like after the last depression.
Banning lobbyists from government is a solution but it will have to come from the FBI not Congress.
There will be no regulations until that happens.
Hell, the SEC had voluntary regulations.
We can't trust Congress to do it.
Both parties are too corrupt.
It will be bad for a few years.
Evileconboy @ 78:
Man, that's some good weed.
They can have it.
crazylikeafox @ 93:
I'll smoke what he is smoking!
The Thousand Year Reich lasted 12 years. The neocon revolution was dead before 8.
May evil be short lived.
MsJoanne @ 25:
The Canadian election is on Oct. 14 and the right-wing Conservatives are expected to win a minority government if not a majority. The problem is that the stink of the corruption of the long-governing Liberal Party is still in the air.
The Fascist Dreams of the neo-con Republicans is hardly dead.
The Fascist Dreams of all conservatives never do.
This is why fascism rears its ugly head so often around the world, throughout history.
Totalitarians all have the same dream...to rule and enslave everyone else...which is why the racists in America find the "new" neo-con-run Republican Party so attractive.
This is also why the anti-union, anti-working class corporatists running Wall Street threw their financial support behind the neo-con Republican Fascists...and American citizens, across the board, are now being asked to bail-out these fascist freaks, being asked to eat the bitter, rotten fruit grown by some neo-con Republican fascists out to rule America and establish a "permanent Republican majority."
So, even if Barack Obama and Joe Biden win in November, the Republicans will continue to dream their fascist dreams.
Americaneocon @ 4:
Source? I'd really like to know because it's pretty much meaningless.
Taarak @ 80:
HAHAHAHAHAHA Awesome response!!
getalife @ 92:
VegasRage @ 44:
Well, JP Morgan says of the package that the recently hired CEO of WaMu signed, that it's not their problem. They're not paying him a dime.
getalife @ 92:
What pulled us out of the Great Depression was WWII.
Something tells me a war ain't gonna do it this time.
MsJoanne @ 50:
Got it! Thanks MsJoanne!
Professor Wagstaff @ 47:
*lol* True & simple! Thanks Professor W.!
We had our chance to galvanize the world against terrorism, but with a total f*ck head moron at the helm, we have managed to alienate the world and transform a victim into the aggressor and perpetrator of terror.
Nice going bush...you total fuck-tard.
We deserve what we get. We will have to work our way out of this mess with four years of Obama (who will be labeled as a failure due to the immense task at hand) and his predecessor...most likely Clinton or Biden at this stage of the guess-game.
We truly are a nation of morons.
Ron @ 64:
Neither do poor whites.
Sorry for the confusion on that Ron. I should have made it clear that I meant poor people of any ethnicity.
The Very Bitter Ceci Hussein @ 52:
Gotcha' & thanks Ceci! I just wish they weren't so brainwashed as to think J. McCain was totally innocent of anything since there was no formal censure.
Yes, we grow a lot of corn. We also have have an amazingly sophisticated economy that can absorb enormous shocks and which funds a navy, air force, soldiers and marines which can project and sustain power beyond the limits of any other nation. We're in this ridiculous war in Iraq, not just because of our retarded president, but because we can. No other nation can do Iraq without a draft.
And even if half the nation went retarded tomorrow and basically gave up thinking (this article would suggest has it already?) it would still take decades, if not a century for any of the rising powers to catch up with the US.
This is not to say we can't squander our chances. But this article is alarmist horseshit.
Russia is propped up by petrodollars, which won't be as plentiful in a global recession. And China is propped up by cheap labor, exports to America, and a mountain of bad debt being held by Chinese State banks. When that shit implodes it's going to make the French revolution look like the boston tea party.
A nation that can barely put men into space and whose rural citizens linger angrily in poverty is not a challenge to the US-- at least not now now. And as for Russia, we could have turned their little tanks in Georgia into lawn ornaments in about 6 hours had we wanted to widen the confrontation. That we didn't wasn't a sign of the world being multi-polar. On the contrary, it was a sign that a weakened nation -- Russia-- shouldn't be backed into a corner when it has 15,000 nuclear warheads and has systematically seen all its past allies go to the past enemy. We have nothing to gain by the knockout blow and everything to lose.
If Russia is forming alliances with loser nations (Venezuela) and China is securing natural resources around the world (angola) it's a sign that they are desperate-- not that they are strong.
And despite the current temporary troubles-- which will undoubtedly be painful-- the US has the most skilled, mobile and flexible workforce, vast natural resources, and a great climate for investment. Those things don't go away overnight, no matter what damage Bush has done in the last 8 years. Compare that to a tinpot dictatorship with (dwindling) oil resources that isn't open to trade (Russia) or an overpopulated, under-resourced nation of tenant farmers with a pending demographic implosion (China).
Will the US eventually lose influence? Undoubtedly. But to claim the US is now in a multi-polar world is pure horseshit for some writer who needed a topic to make deadline.
No nation can challenge the US Military today, 10 years from now, or probably 20-50 years from now. We've got the resources to project and sustain power than no other nation can match. And even with another great depression, we'll still be able to sustain it.
So chill the fuck out people. Stop heading for the borders like the Huns are nearby. George Bush might just be an 8 year blip before an era of much more enlightened government. Who knows.
If you have a job and are saving money, you should be buying into America, not selling it short.
Scy @ 100:
Nihilism is not a substitute fro critical thinking.
Interesting that our economy seems to be melting down in the same way and for the same reasons that the Soviet economy did.
Evileconboy @ 109:
Evileconboy @ 109:
Your original comment was the result of critical thinking? Really?
Because it seemed to me it was very ego/socio-centric. Which would indicate the opposite of critical thinking.
I mean, come on….it did come straight from your “national” ego.
There...did it right this time. )
I would be concerned if Russia's stock market hadn't been forced to actually shut down (for what was it 2 or 3 days) because it was getting crushed. Russia may have oil, but they also have a very fragile economy.
[deleted---MUCH, much too long. Please do not copy and paste huge amounts of text. Excerpt and link to the original URL]
Want to know the first step in rehabilitating things?
Upon his departure from office, George W. Bush (with Dick Cheney, Condi Rice et al in tow) should be cuffed on the White House Lawn and frog marched to a waiting meat wagon. First they'll be prosecuted here for crimes against the state and then they'll be turned over to the Hague to face charges for crimes against humanity.
I'd love to see a revamped UN Security Council to reflect this:
1) There are no permanent UN Security Council members.
2) There are fifteen seats, not twelve.
3) Each continental region (NA, SA, Europe, Africa, Australasia) has three seats.
4) Countries in each continent hold a seat for one year on a rotational basis.
5) One of the three seats for each continent has veto power (better yet, no veto power).
You can bet your ass most of the world would go for this if it were offered, but fading empires like England, the US and France would be petrified of losing their disproportionate power and China wouldn't give up their dominance either. And Russia should have lost its veto power when it ceased to be the USSR.
SCHRODINGER'S CAT @ 42:
I didn't explain myself well at all.
What I meant is that because the U.S. has been the world's economic engine, if we go down, they go down. On top of that, their systemic inefficiencies and corruption will further hurt them in the long run. The Thaler was a German silver coin (and origin of the word "dollar" that was at the birth of the current System Of The World.
My cryptic comment that my bet is with the Thaler was very obfuscate, but I'm basically talking about going back to the fundamentals of investing in things which have some intrinsic value, rather than man-made derivatives and credit default swaps.
Glad to see it. A multi-polar future is better than the hell on earth that the neocons view as their ultimate wet dream. Too bad it isn't sufficiently multi-polar at this point that the world could demand and receive the neocons asses at the WCC at the Hague for all their crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The end of American Hegemony means
We'll become a nation of Roger the Hedgers.
Sorry, Shrubbers.
The Russians and the Chinese have it right. The NeoCon/Zionist PNAC document from 2000 laid out the entire Bush/Cheney/Enron/Halliburton game plan for dividing and conquering the Middle Eastern "oil patch", stationing USA troops permanently in the Middle East to control the distribution of oil and natural gas from that region. It called for the use of false flag domestic terrorist operations directed at the USAs military and economic foundations to justify the invasion of Afghanistan (natural gas pipeline), Iraq (vast oil reserves), and Iran (vast oil and natural gas reserves). All of this has been done by the George W. Bush Crime Family play-by-play from the PNAC playbook. And all of this has been done while the NeoCons laid the groundwork for their next act -- "drain the swamp" (Treasury) by giving vast sums of undeserved tax cuts and federal corporate welfare to the top 2%, borrow (now approaching the $1 Trillion mark) for the war and bloody occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and create a September/October 2008 "surprise" economic meltdown which can be used to complete their pillaging of the US Treasury. Unfortunately, this has been helped along quite handily by the Federal Reserve themselves, without Congressional approval.
So, is the end nigh? Or is this yet another search for mythical WMD? If the end is nigh, so be it. We do have a Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, and Bill of Rights to fall back on as the basis for a new America in the New American Century, a moderate and populist government of / by / and for "the people" instead of the Corporations. And if it isn't and is only just another terror tactic used by the Bush Crime Family against the American people, then the financial markets will (eventually) self-correct, with some judiciously applied new regulatory processes and some moderate infusion of government capital to control the Wall Street assets.
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