Thirty two months ago I reviewed Dmitry Orlov’s Reinventing Collapse, a comparison of current American prospects with the Soviet Union’s fate in the early 1990s.
There was a lot of the Progressive version of American Exceptionalism - It can’t happen here due to (faulty argument).
One of the features of the Soviet collapse was asset stripping. I dare you to describe the following events as anything but rats deserting a sinking ship and taking anything that isn’t embedded in concrete on their way out …
Wisconsin was going to privatize power plants. Let’s me translate that from Libertarian-speak. The Koch brothers were going to steal power plants, aided and abetted by Scott Walker and a GOP dominated legislature. The taxpayers paid for them, but Charles and David were going to steal them fair and square. Asset Stripping
The wives of oligarchs given the run of the treasury, pulling $220 million in bailout bucks when they literally had no business other than being married to Wall Street bandits? That’s 20% more bold than some fancy legislation getting bought in order to make off with a tangible asset, they just walked in and flat robbed the place. These are no recourse loans. If they skip with their $220 million bailout, well, tough titty, taxpayers.
It’s so bad there is even a Privatization Watch web site that chronicles it all.
Well, what are you going to do about it? Our rotten corporate media will work camera angles so 500 teabaggers protesting health care reform look like a bigger crowd than 200,000 marching for immigration reform. Our Department of Justice can run down Barry Bonds for steroid use, but a legion of bond traders took a bat to our economy and nobody is going to prison. Seriously, during the last banking crisis over a thousand did time for their thievery, and I bet you can’t name anyone other than Bernie Madoff who got clipped.
Well, what are you going to do? This isn’t a debate. This isn’t an election. It’s outright class war. And if you’re a native of this place you are two decades behind the other side in planning your moves.