Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Why Israel's #1 ally is about to bomb Iran's #1 ally

Israel's #1 ally is the United States. Iran's #1 ally is Syria. Iran has obligations to respond if their ally Syria is attacked. As does Iran's ally, the recently uppity Russia, who have already stated clear warnings against military action against Syria.

Hillary syria war with iran for israel

Please note that I am not pro-Assad. I am anti-war and am against murder. There must be another solution.

Now: I'm not anti-Semetic. I am anti-Zionist.

“Defenders of Zionism say it is a national liberation movement for the repatriation of a dispersed socio-religious group to what they see as an abandoned homeland millennia before.[5][6][7] Critics of Zionism see it as a colonialist[8] or racist[9] ideology that led to the denial of rights, dispossession and expulsion of the 'indigenous population of Palestine'”.[10][11]


“Zionism” isn't “all Jewish people everywhere” as much as Protestants are not “all Christians everywhere” or “tea party” = “all Americans everywhere”. Singling out any one of these is not an absolute, blanket accusation of ALL related persons. 

I am for the Jewish people and am against the Zionist racist destruction of the Palestinian people. How can anyone imagine there are absolutes functioning here? Zionism is racist. It is killing an entire people. I have a problem here. With Zionists, not the entire Jewish people.

My father is Jewish. As a decades-long seeker I respect the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah as a pure path (but not necessarily what is being marketed publicly).

The US is a staunch Zionist ally. Billions of our taxpayer dollars a year go there despite its partially being used for murder and destruction. The last Democratic National Convention even involved a Zionist pledge!

“Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa found himself in an awkward position Wednesday night as part of his high-profile role as chairman of the Democratic National Convention when he was forced to call for three votes in an effort to invoke God in the party platform and reaffirm the role of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.”

I am against war and destruction. Zion IS war and destruction; just ask the people of Palestine. Have you forgotten Netanyahu using Wyl E. Coyote graphics to attempt to convince the UN to go to WAR with Iran (whose government, NOT PEOPLE, is also insane) ? 

netanyahu-bomb-un

Now. When you Google

“netanyahu war iran”

You'll get many pages of results. Here are headlines from page 1:

Netanyahu Preparing Public for Possible War With Iran

Jul 20, 2013

Netanyahu: Credible military option needed against nuclear Iran ...

Jul 14, 2013

Netanyahu concerned as ever about Iran, but world powers will not ... 

Aug 10, 2013

Netanyahu & the Lobby Cowboy Up For War With Iran
Aug 9, 2013

Arutz Sheva - 1 day ago

War With Iran: The Very Real Threat of WWIII Will Come Not From ...

Benjamin Netanyahu used his trip to the US to demand that we set specific conditions (red lines) on Iran that would trigger military action if crossed.

Netanyahu calls for stronger Iran sanctions, 'credible' military option ...

Jul 14, 2013

PM to push US for 'more credible military option' on Iran |

Jul 13, 2013

How Netanyahu's Iran Policy Ends Badly

Jul 16, 2013

Netanyahu still war-obsessed despite Iran's moderate swing by ...

Jun 16, 2013

Interesting, yes?
Including the following article from yesterday:

Netanyahu: Syria is Iran’s ‘testing ground’

‘Assad regime isn’t acting alone,’ PM says after meeting with French FM, who claims there’s ‘no doubt’ who’s behind chemical attack

Zion wants war with Iran; continues telling everyone they need to be at war with Iran. Endlessly. They don't stop. 

I do not want this war. Zion desperately wants it. They want more death and destruction. To the extent that they appear to truly revel in it; they spend endless hours attempting to create it. They desperately want war and death and destruction and apparently little else. This in my opinion qualifies them for the descriptor of “death cult”, which would be a group whose principle aim is to cause death, to want and demand it, to dole it out regularly without qualm (such has been done to the people of Palestine). 

Mind you I also find the Iranian government to be insane as well. I support the people of Israel and Iran but NOT their insane governments! 

And how about that Syrian oil and Shell's interest in it:

"1. (C) Summary. In addition to being awarded new concessions in the most recent bid round, Royal Dutch Shell is aggressively pursuing a number of new initiatives which, if successful, would expand the company's already considerable presence in Syria."


This is an ancient and complex issue and I have no full window into it and do not claim to. I do not wish to upset anyone with this post. I am for peace and against warmongers and wish to say something. I've remained silent on the Zion/Palestine issue for decades but can no longer.

Also, the US is guilty of using destructive chemical and radioactive weapons against civilians in Vietnam and Iraq, as well as arming Saddam:

Chemical Weapons

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=564756906920750&set=a.268309903232120.65715.231164773613300&type=1&theater

Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/25/secret_cia_files_prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran


Iraq's depleted uranium clean-up to cost $30m as contamination spreads

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/06/iraq-depleted-uranium-clean-up-contamination-spreads

"More than 400 tonnes of DU ammunition are estimated to have been fired by jets and tanks in the two Iraq wars in 1991 and 2003, the vast majority by US forces. The UK government says that British forces fired less than three tonnes."

So who exactly is condemning others for the use of horrifying weapons?

Stratfor intel discusses attempts to collapse Syria from within:

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1671459_insight-military-intervention-in-syria-post-withdrawal.html 


"The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.” ---Senator Obama, 12-20-2007


Biden too:

Obama And Biden Have Said Military Action Without Congressional Approval Is Unconstitutional
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/obama-and-biden-have-said-military-action-without-congressio

“I want to make it clear to you,” Biden said speaking at a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa in December 2007. “I’ve drafted, with the help of 17 years I was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee or the ranking member. Ladies and gentlemen, I drafted and outline of what I think the constitutional limits have on the president in over the war clause. I went to five leading scholars, constitutional scholars, and they drafted a treatise for me, and it’s being distributed to every senator. And I want to make it clear and I made it clear to the president, if he takes this nation to war in Iran, without congressional approval — I will make it my business to impeach him.”

I know Right



Putin Orders Massive Strike Against Saudi Arabia If West Attacks Syria 

http://banoosh.com/blog/2013/08/28/putin-orders-massive-strike-against-saudi-arabia-if-west-attacks-syria/


---

Notes from Occupy Melbourne; Ten years ago, lies about WMD were an excuse to invade Iraq for oil and endless taxpayer monies. I have not vetted these articles; they are presented for further reading. Take what you like and leave the rest. Apologies if any are from nut jobs. Solidarity with Occupy Melbourne!

U.S. Framed Syria in Chemical Weapons Attack to start War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbfcceEkn_M

Hacked e-mails reveal 'Washington approved' plan to stage Syria chemical attack http://tinyurl.com/l4l2nej

Once again the US & the UK appear on the verge of fighting another illegal war. It all seems so familiar with what occurred before the Iraq war. We were told Saddam had WMD's & links to Al-Qaeda. The fact the US had by far away the greatest links to Al-Qaeda since the CIA founded & funded it, mattered none! The result was the complete destruction of Iraq, enormous casualties, which to this very day, continues to mount. The only country that's gained is Israel, largely due to a pipeline built courtesy of the US taxpayer, from Iraqi oilfields, all the way through Jordan, straight into Israel, where they pay a paltry $2 per barrel! Now the very same people are telling us a similar pack of lies!

However, this time the stakes could not be higher! Russia have already made it clear they cannot allow Syria to be destroyed just the way Afghanistan, Iraq & Libya were! The Chinese too are well aware the next step is Iran.


The Syrian narrative being presented on the nightly news is of brave rebel fighters battling oppressive dictator Assad whose forces go around shelling civilians and murdering babies. And while some of that is certainly true, the real devil lies in the details and omissions; truth being the first casualty of any war since the first shot gets fired. Hardcore war in the heart of the Middle East is complex and prone to lies especially these days when all the major powers are scrambling for the last easily tappable energy reserves on the planet; but that kind of big picture view never fits into a soundbite even if a foreign public wants to hear it.
http://wartard.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/syria-fantasy-war-in-desert.html


U.S. STAGED CHEMICAL ATTACKS IN SYRIA?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1NtZOuq48


See links supportive evidence:
http://stormcloudsgathering.com/leaked-documents-us-framed-syria-in-chemical-weapons-attack


Graphic:Video Emerges from Syria Showing Horrific Aftermath of Chemical Attack http://tinyurl.com/lymmz7d



The Coming Collapse Of The Petrodollar System
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-20/guest-post-coming-collapse-petrodollar-system


"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." - Mark Twain
http://antioligarch.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/experts-doubt-syrian-chemical-weapons-claims/#more-11206

Monday, August 26, 2013

All your money and privacy are belong to BushCo

HW Bush was once the head of the CIA (the same people involved in the Iranian Coup) (1). He helped arrange the supposed “October Surprise” in which the Iranians agreed (late 1970s) to hold the US hostages until Reagan gained office, to make Reagan appear powerful and a good leader (2). Note that Bush family friends OPEC engaged in an embargo against Carter which made him look weak and powerless. (Bush family friends Enron later used embargo tactics in California to drive out the governor in a special election. Arnold Schwarzenneger was elected. Enron had met with Arnold prior to engaging in the embargo tactics. Both times hitting Americans in their pocketbooks and personal convenience, a prime motivator to demanding change, even if the change benefits those creating the undesired negative conditions from which the desire springs, to benefit themselves. “Creating causes and conditions.”) (3)

W Bush ignored a document entitled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US” which paved the way to 9/11 and the subsequent surveillance state. Note that Bush family friends the neocons also had a document entitled “Project for a New American Century”...”Section V of Rebuilding America's Defenses, entitled 'Creating Tomorrow's Dominant Force', includes the sentence: 'Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event––like a new Pearl Harbor'. (4)

“The PNAC's stated goal is 'to promote American global leadership.' Fundamental to the PNAC were the view that 'American leadership is both good for America and good for the world'”. (5) Also note that the leaked Citigroup “Plutonomy” memos indicate that globalisation is a prime driver of Plutonomy.(6) Some Saudis, Bush friends, are aligned with Citigroup. (7)

But back to 9/11. “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.”



Because we HAVE to stop TERROR!

TERROR! For God's sake, TERROR! Won't someone think of the children!‎

And off we go into Iraq, after significant conflation of “Saddam” and “9/11” flowed freely. In Iraq, as depicted in “Fahrenheit 9/11”, taxpayer dollars flowed freely into the coffers of start-ups eager to gnosh at the trough. The “We are New Fields” segment is most telling regarding the profit engine available in Iraq to canny investors. Custer Battles being well-known, but with Dick Cheney's Halliburton being the most brash:

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2004 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- Five former Halliburton employees and one former executive of a Halliburton subcontractor describe egregious examples of abuse involving Halliburton's Iraq contracts. In a letter written by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), these whistleblowers describe instances where Halliburton employees would abandon or torch new trucks -- worth $80,000 -- if they acquired a flat tire or other minor mechanical problems. Halliburton would subsequently purchase new trucks with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

The former employees also described repeated instances of theft involving both Halliburton and Army personnel. One employee complained to Halliburton's KBR chief, Randy Harl, about the contracting abuse, but two weeks later he was fired.

Another former employee said Halliburton purchased soda for $45 per case and laundry bags for $100 each.

Employees billed the government for work even when they sat around and did nothing all day. These employees spent weeks in Iraq with virtually nothing to do, but were instructed by Halliburton to bill the government for 12 hours per day for seven days of work. (8)


This is a business model for pocketing tax dollars while making the citizen grateful they're doing it. All the “new fields” opportunist need do is create the opportunity. TERROR!

Among those profiteering from taxpayer dollars is the Bush family's Carlyle Group. Today, the surveillance state installed as a direct result of 9/11 funnels billions of dollars directly to the Bush family:

“In total, Booz Allen Hamilton made over $5 billion last fiscal year.” (9)

Note that the Bush family Carlyle Group owns 2/3rds of Booz Hamilton and recently pocketed $2 billion from this relationship. (10)

Note that last year Booz Allen won a $23 million contract with the Saudi Navy to provide many services including electronic warfare. (11)

In fact, you'll get 1310 hits if you search the Booz Allen website for “booz allen saudi jobs”, everything from “IT vulnerability analyst” to “Military Logistics Advisor”. (12)

Oh WTF?

How about “Health Data Mining Analyst, Senior Job"?

“Applicants selected will be subject to a security investigation and may need to meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.” (13)

I cannot find the link but I'd read that the Bush family (sorry: Booz Allen) are teaching the Saudis how to data mine their people.

Where does this end? One thing is most telling: There is no exit strategy for the “war on terror”. Same as with the massively profitable “war on drugs”. Gotta keep those tax dollars flowing

BECAUSE TERROR! 



HW Bush on the "new world order" : "When we are successful...and we will be..."


In summation:

We've got a group of CIA-based, government-toppling/puppet-installing spooks and neocons intent upon “ Creating Tomorrow's Dominant Force” through “some catastrophic and catalyzing event––like a new Pearl Harbor”. Given 9/11, creating a surveillance state both limiting and incrementally eliminating the Constitution and freedoms upon which our country was built. Massive personal profit for the extremely rich both here and their friends abroad. Privatization of our electronic communication. Privatization of our tax dollars. Pretty much a Plutonomist coup. The NSA/Snowden/Greenwald attackers here on DU never seem to mention the amount of money and power involved in the surveillance state or the people and corporations behind it. They are in danger of directly supporting the Bush family in their defense of the surveillance state and attacking any who criticize it! The surveillance state has an annual budget of $1 trillion! (14) OUR tax dollars! They have to push "austerity" (sequester) but look at all that money going to the Bush family...

0 If Booze, Allen, Hamilton=access to all the worlds emails....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023489060

1 CIA Admits It Was Behind Iran's Coup
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/18/cia_admits_it_was_behind_irans_coup

2 October Surprise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_surprise#1980_Carter_vs._Reagan

3 Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron:_The_Smartest_Guys_in_the_Room

4 PNAC: New Pearl Harbor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century#.22New_Pearl_Harbor.22

5 PNAC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

6 (Third memo, “The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts”)
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/

7 (In March 2013, Forbes listed Al Waleed as the 26th-richest man in the world...his holdings in Citigroup now comprise about $1 billion.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Waleed_bin_Talal

8 Halliburton bills taxpayers $45 per case of soda, $100 per bag of laundry
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/whistleblower_hearings_denied.html

9 (Current thread by kpete: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023481879 )
5 Companies That Make Money By Keeping Americans Terrified of Terror Attacks
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/5-companies-make-money-keeping-americans-terrified-terror-attacks?paging=off

10 Carlyle Group has made $2 billion off Booz Allen
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2013/06/10/the-carlyle-group-has-made-2-billion-off-of-booz-allen/

11 Booz Allen wins $23.2M contract with Saudi navy
http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/07/31/booz-allen-hamilton-contract-with-saudi-naval-forces.aspx

12 Career search: Booz Allen Saudi Jobs
http://careers.boozallen.com/search?q=booz+allen+hamilton+saudi+jobs

13 Career: Data Mining
http://careers.boozallen.com/job/Rockville-Health-Data-Mining-Analyst,-Senior-Job-MD-20847/2683117/

14 Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12525281

For further reading:

How America's Top Tech Companies Created the Surveillance State

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023378102

Meet the upcoming "Conflict Records Research Center" dedicated to data and metadata analysis.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023449669

And all of these:

https://www.google.com/search?q=know+your+bfee&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com

Also, the Saudis have a majority interest in Time/Warner. This is where Colin Powell went after government service. The same Colin Powell who in an interview prior to 9/11 stated that the Iraqis had, IIRC, limited conventional armament if any. After 9/11 he didn't repeat that once. 

Water privatization by the richest rich is happening now ("hydraulic empire") incl. the Bush family

"A Citigroup economist gushed, 'Water as an asset class will, in my view, become eventually the single most important physical-commodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities and precious metals.'"

Will New Federal Law Facilitate Privatization of U.S. Water?

“'This law will facilitate the privatization of water systems and prioritize funding for privatized systems,' Mary Grant, a researcher for the water program at Food & Water Watch, a watchdog group here, told MintPress News."

She was right:

Big Players Promote Water Privatization

"But, even before the ink from President Obama's signing pen had touched the bill, the finance and private water industries were reenacting their own version of the pivotal moment in Oliver Twist - when the starving orphan Oliver holds out his empty bowl and says, 'Please, sir, I want some more.'"

White House enlists private sector for $4bn upgrade to water infrastructure


Corporations:

Nestle are the 27th largest corporation in the world and the largest "foodstuff" interest. Here is video, beginning at about 1:58, of Nestle's then (2005) CEO clearly stating that water is not a human right, that it should be owned and sold.



Nestle are getting contracts in countries around the world to suck up pure lakes for free, bottling and selling it for $2 or so.

Conflict of interest claims persist in Maine’s Nestle water case

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/the-stream/the-stream-officialblog/2013/9/27/conflict-of-interestclaimspersistinmainesnestlewatercase.html

"As Maine’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) considers a final decision on a 25-year water contract between the Fryeburg Water Co. and Nestle (owners of Poland Spring), critics and proponents of the controversial project are questioning the approval process, citing concerns that PUC members have ties to Nestle.

'Everybody in the PUC has significant relationships with Nestle,' said Bruce Taylor, a Fryeburg taxpayer and one of the case’s intervenors. 'This is a clear conflict of interest.'”

8 Ways Privatization Has Brought Pain and Misery to American Life  http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/8-ways-privatization-has-brought-pain-and-misery-american-life

"A Citigroup economist gushed, 'Water as an asset class will, in my view, become eventually the single most important physical-commodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities and precious metals.'"



Profiting from Your Thirst as Global Elite Rush to Control Water Worldwide
http://climatesoscanada.org/blog/2013/02/15/profiting-from-your-thirst-as-global-elite-rush-to-control-water-worldwide/

MENTIONS CITIGROUP ACTION IN 2007:

Citigroup is aggressively raising funds for its war chest to participate in the coming tidal wave of infrastructure privatization: in 2007 it established a new unit called Citi Infrastructure Investors through its Citi Alternative Investments unit. According to Reuters, Citigroup “assembled some of the biggest names in the infrastructure business at the same time it is building a $3 billion fund, including $500 million of its own capital. The fund, according to a person familiar with the situation, will have only a handful of outside investors and will be focused on assets in developed markets” (May 16, 2007). Citigroup initially sought only U.S.$3 billion for its first infrastructure fund but was seeking U.S.$5 billion in April 2008 (Bloomberg, April 7, 2008).

Citigroup partnered with HSBC Bank, Prudential, and other minor partners to acquire U.K.’s water utility Kelda (Yorkshire Water) in November 2007. This week, Citigroup signed a 99-year lease with the City of Chicago for Chicago’s Midway Airport (it partnered with John Hancock Life Insurance Company and a Canadian private airport operator). Insiders said that Citigroup is among those bidding for the state-owned company Letiste Praha which operates the Prague Airport in the Czech Republic (Bloomberg, February 7, 2008).

The elite multinational and Wall Street banks and investment banks have been preparing and waiting for this golden moment for years. Over the past few years, they have amassed war chests of infrastructure funds to privatize water, municipal services, and utilities all over the world. It will be extremely difficult to reverse this privatization trend in water. (Emphasis mine)

snip

The lands purchased by the Bush family sit over not only South America’s largest aquifer — but the world’s as well — Acuifero Guaraní, which runs beneath Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. This aquifer is larger than Texas and California combined.

(So check that again...the Bush family own the world's largest aquifer. Think they're harmless when not in government?)


History: Bechtel takeover of the Bolivian water supply


 

"Bechtel owns and operates power plants, oil refineries, water systems, and airports in several countries including the United States, Turkey, and the United Kingdom."

"Like most large American companies, Bechtel and its employees have contributed large amounts of money to United States politicians (over a million dollars in campaign contributions between 1999 and 2002)."

"Following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush awarded the first Iraq reconstruction contract to Bechtel through USAID, on April 20, 2003. This contract was worth an estimated $680 million.[20][21] It is alleged that some of the construction projects managed by Bechtel were either poorly implemented, failing within months of their installation, or designed in such a way that Iraqi engineers did not have the knowledge or components to fix Bechtel's proprietary technology.[22][23]

On May 5, 2003, The New Yorker ran an article revealing that the bin Laden family had passively invested several million dollars in The Fremont Group, a private equity fund owned by the Bechtel family."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel



Bill C-45 removes 99% of Canada's lakes and rivers from the protected list
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/12/27/ns-protected-waterways-bill.html?cmp=rss

Greeks Stand Up to Protect Their Water From Privatization:
http://onthecommons.org/magazine/greeks-stand-protect-their-water-privatization


Nestle Group -"Access to Water Is Not Your Right"
http://becauseican-2old2care.blogspot.com/2013/01/nestle-you-have-no-right-to-water.html

World Bank wants water privatized, despite risks 

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/4/water-managementprivatizationworldbankgroupifc.html


Enron, an enormous supporter and contributor to George W. Bush, were early adopters of the hydraulic empire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azurix

Azurix Corp. is a water services company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company owned and operated facilities in North America (mainly Canada), Europe, and South America. In 2007, Azurix was awarded a $165 million claim against the government of Argentina by an international arbitrator, the company is currently involved in a dispute over Argentina's refusal to pay the claim.

Azurix was formed when Enron Corporation purchased Wessex Water in 1998. In June 1999 it was part-floated on the NYSE stock exchange, with Enron retaining 34% ownership. The company was formed with an IPO of $800 million and an opening stock price of $22.00, which fell to $2.00 within two years. The business was a disaster for Enron, and in April 2001 Enron announced it would break up Azurix and sell its assets. Enron eventually sold Azurix North America and Azurix Industrial Operations to American Water Works for $141.5 million.

(Enron also met with Arnold Schwarzenegger before they intentionally caused the rolling power blackouts in California which inconvenienced Californians to the point of demanding a run-off election to replace the Governor...and Arnold “won”. Note that the same energy embargo tactic was used on Jimmy Carter by OPEC, who are Bush family friends. The same Bush who was head of the CIA and now is buying up water.)


Food Security in the Age of “Water Grabbing”
http://foodtank.org/news/2013/02/food-security-in-the-age-of-water-grabbing#.UTQaRuGLZsM.twitter

Indigenous Campesinos Fighting Water Privatization in Ecuadorhttp://www.chipsterlife.com/our-stories-blog/indigenous-campesinos-fighting-water-privatization-in-ecuador 

 
Note Citigroup's involvement. Read their thoughts and words in their own frank language in the three leaked "Plutonomy" memos.

Read the three leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memos, “Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances”, “Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer”, and "The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts" :
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/

And this article only touches upon the water grab. Privatization of vital resources is ongoing world-wide. Saudis (Bush friends) seek to divest. Note that in the third memo, globalization is mentioned as a prime driver of Plutonomy.



Edit Aug. 15:

Texas town runs out of water after using it for fracking
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/08/fracking-texas-drought-climate-change

"The day that we ran out of water I turned on my faucet and nothing was there and at that moment I knew the whole of Barnhart was down the tubes," she said, blinking back tears. "I went: 'Dear God, help us.' That was the first thought that came to mind."

snip

So what is a town like Barnhart to do? Fracking is a powerful drain on water supplies. In adjacent Crockett County, fracking accounts for up to 25 percent of water use, according to the groundwater conservation district. But Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, argues fracking is not the only reason Texas is going dry—and nor is the drought. The latest shocks to the water system come after decades of overuse by ranchers, cotton farmers, and fast-growing, thirsty cities.

"We have large urban centers sucking water out of West Texas to put on their lands. We have a huge agricultural community, and now we have fracking which is also using water," she said. And then there is climate change.

West Texas has a long history of recurring drought, but under climate change, the Southwest has been experiencing record-breaking heat waves, further drying out the soil and speeding the evaporation of water in lakes and reservoirs. Underground aquifers failed to regenerate. "What happens is that climate change comes on top and in many cases it can be the final straw that breaks the camel's back, but the camel is already overloaded," said Hayhoe.

(More at the link.)

Fighting the austerity program behind Detroit water shutoffs

"...there was no mention of the thousands of water shutoffs carried out under the auspices of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) by a private corporation hired by the unelected emergency manager.

Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, appointed by right-wing Gov. Rick Snyder, has said very little about the mass terminations of water service to residents. However, a June 26 Detroit Free Press editorial made clear: '[Orr’s spokesperson] Bill Nowling said the shutoff policy is a necessary part of Detroit’s restructuring.' "

Water struggles: the battle for basic utilities is on and we have a lot to learn

Yesterday, in Dublin, thousands of people took to the streets, as they have done several times over the last couple of months.  Why? In the words of what has become a viral youtube hit, “No Water Privitisation! Irish Water’s Not for Sale!”
How and why have struggles relating to water access — and basic utilities including energy — become so key in 2014?




The ‘Wild West’ of groundwater: Billion-dollar Nestlé extracting B.C.’s drinking water for free

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Wild+West+groundwater+Billion+dollar+company+extracting+drinking/8785227/story.html 

Nestle are apparently already doing this around the world!

Here are some recent business actions on their part:

2001: Acquisition by Perrier Vittel of Al Manhal, the leading bottled water company in Saudi Arabia which becomes the leading bottled water player in the Middle East region

2002: Perrier Vittel becomes Nestlé Waters

2005: Nestlé Waters further develops its business on the African continent via the launch of Nestlé Pure Life in Nigeria and the creation of a partnership in Algeria

2006: Nestlé Waters acquires the majority shares in Erikli and becomes the Turkish market leader.

2007: Nestlé Waters acquires Sources Minérales Henniez S.A. and becomes the Swiss leader in the bottled water market. Joint venture agreements signed in Mexico and Chile.

2008: Nestlé Pure Life, has become in just a decade the world's leading bottled water brand, with 5 billion litres sold worldwide.

2009: Nestlé Waters strengthens its presence in two key emerging countries: in Brazil by acquiring Àguas de Santa Barbara in the São Paulo region; and in China by acquiring Dashan Drinks, the leading bottled water player in Yunnan Province

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nestl%C3%A9-Waters/147507618609060?rf=106172699414269#




http://www.bottledlifefilm.com/ 

Roll call for representatives with financial investment in the tarsands and TransCanada's KeystoneXL

Follow the money.


"Hailing her longtime role as a 'trusted adviser,' President Barack Obama formally named U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his next national security adviser on Wednesday."
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/05/18772869-obama-appoints-susan-rice-as-national-security-adviser?lite

"...Susan Rice holds as much as $600,000 of shares in TransCanada, the company seeking State Department approval to build the Keystone XL pipeline."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84355.html

The SEC Mulls An Investigation Calls Grow For John Boehner To Resign
http://www.politicususa.com/2012/01/28/john-boehner-resign.html

Speaker Boehner owns shares in seven different Canadian tar sand companies
https://www.facebook.com/OMCorg/posts/184196495016974

Congressmembers Implicated in Insider Stock Trading on TransCanada, Keystone XL Pipeline

http://www.desmogblog.com/congressmembers-implicated-insider-stock-trading-transcanada-keystone-xl-pipeline

The GOP’s Senate Oil Whores Get $22.3 Million From Keystone XL Backers
http://www.politicususa.com/2012/02/02/senate-keystone-xl.html


Bill Clinton on Keystone XL pipeline: 'Embrace' it. 

http://occupywallst.org/forum/bill-clinton-on-keystone-xl-pipeline-embrace-it/



Biased extra reading:

‘Every Plant And Tree Died’: Huge Alberta Pipeline Spill Raises Safety Questions As Keystone Decision Looms
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/18/2167151/every-plant-and-tree-died-huge-alberta-pipeline-spill-raises-safety-questions-as-keystone-decision-looms/?mobile=wt

Police Trained to Treat Keystone XL Protesters as 'Terrorists' (View TransCanada's PowerPoints)
http://www.alternet.org/environment/transcanada-trains-police-arrest-keystone-xl-activists-anti-terrorist-statues

Saturday, August 24, 2013

The 1% are ripping the shit out of us


The world economic circuit:

Larry Summers and the 'End Game' memo
THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo

"The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak’s fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears.

The Treasury official playing the bankers’ secret End Game was Larry Summers. Today, Summers is Barack Obama’s leading choice for Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the world’s central bank. If the confidential memo is authentic, then Summers shouldn’t be serving on the Fed, he should be serving hard time in some dungeon reserved for the criminally insane of the finance world."

The Trans-Pacific Partnership:

Alan Grayson: TPP Secret Treaty “This Hands Sovereignty of Our Country Over to Corp Interests"
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/06/first-congress-member-allowed-to-read-secret-treaty-says-there-is-no-national-security-purpose-in-keeping-this-text-secret-this-agreement-hands-the-sovereignty-of-our-country-over-t.html

"An international treaty being negotiated in secret which would not only crack down on Internet privacy much more than SOPA or ACTA, but would actually destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. and all other signatories."

Globalization is a prime driver of Plutonomy, according to the third leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memo (linked at the end). Obama is working to fast-track the TPP via TPA. 


Energy and physical resources:

Water privatization by the richest rich is happening now ("hydraulic empire") incl. the Bush family
http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2013/08/water-privatization-by-richest-rich-is.html

"A Citigroup economist gushed, 'Water as an asset class will, in my view, become eventually the single most important physical-commodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities and precious metals.'"

Goldman bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goldman-bankers-get-rich-betting-on-food-prices-as-millions-starve-8459207.html

Goldman Sachs Took $5 Billion From Consumers By Moving Metal Around
http://gawker.com/goldman-sachs-took-5-billion-from-consumers-by-moving-861862148

The Koch bros. could save $2 billion a year via the Keystone XL pipeline -Greg Palast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36p-zhhkL4

Roll call for representatives with financial investment in the tarsands and TransCanada's KeystoneXL
http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2013/08/roll-call-for-representatives-with.html
  
The Leveraged Buyout of America
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/26-2 

"Giant bank holding companies now own airports, toll roads, and ports; control power plants; and store and hoard vast quantities of commodities of all sorts. They are systematically buying up or gaining control of the essential lifelines of the economy. How have they pulled this off, and where have they gotten the money?"

Here's What Happens When Wall Street Builds A Rental Empire

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/wall-street-landlords_n_4151345.html 

 

Plutonmists installing themselves in world-wide government and banking positions:

Voila! Greek Gov't Appoints Ex-Goldman Exec As New Debt Chief
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/02/19/838682/-Voila-Greek-Gov-t-Appoints-Ex-Goldman-Exec-As-New-Debt-Chief#

Arrest the Criminals at Goldman Sachs and in the Greek Government (video: Greg Palast)
http://www.v2load.com/videos/aQp22WN0cpg/

Also Italy's Prime Minister; the former attorney general of Ireland during the bailout; the head of the European Central Bank; and more:
http://acampadabcninternacional.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-acampadabcn-takethesquare-acampadasol-15m-occupy/

Obama's defense of Summers not tied to Fed decision -White House
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/usa-obama-fed-summers-idUSL1N0G11HI20130731

Citi Offered Jack Lew A Big Bonus To Secure A 'High-Level' Government Position
http://www.businessinsider.com/citis-government-job-bonus-for-jack-lew-2013-2#ixzz2cvh5ASng

Senate Confirms (Billionaire) Penny Pritzker to Be Commerce Secretary, 97 to 1
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/senate-confirms-penny-pritzker-be-commerce-secretary-97-1/66589/

Note:

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini


Housing theft:

The third leaked Plutonomy memo (linked at the end of this post) states the the main asset of the bottom 80% of American earners is their home.

It’s Not a Housing Boom. It’s a Land Grab
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/the_dangerous_new_housing_boom.html

"Just in the last 12 months, Wall Street’s Blackstone Group has raised $8 billlion to buy up homes on Main Street. Following suit, according to The New Republic, JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—has organized a fund to purchase 5,000 single-family homes in states with some of the most depressed real estate prices. As I wrote last year, a former Morgan Stanley housing strategist left that bank, organized a billion dollars, and is purchasing up to 10,000 homes with these new resources."

Your mortgage documents are fake!
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/12/your_mortgage_documents_are_fake/

"Georgetown Law professor Adam Levitin spelled this out in testimony before Congress in 2010: 'If mortgages were not properly transferred in the securitization process, then mortgage-backed securities would in fact not be backed by any mortgages whatsoever.'

Szymoniak stated in her lawsuit that, 'Defendants used fraudulent mortgage assignments to conceal that over 1400 MBS trusts, each with mortgages valued at over $1 billion, are missing critical documents,' meaning that at least $1.4 trillion in mortgage-backed securities are, in fact, non-mortgage-backed securities. Because of the strict laws governing of these kinds of securitizations, there’s no way to make the assignments after the fact. Activists have a name for this: 'securitization FAIL.'”

The 1 Percent Is Buying Up All Of The Low End Real Estate
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-1-percent-is-buying-up-all-the-real-estate-beware-of-tom-lee-of-jpm-2012-5#ixzz2cvaZEb5y

BANK OF AMERICA'S SENIOR LOAN COLLECTOR ADMITS TO LYING BECAUSE HE WAS TOLD TO LIE
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/bank-of-americas-senior-loan-collector-30147/


Social Security theft:

Plutocrats' New Pitch: Let Us Rob You Now So You Can Plan Ahead for Poverty
http://www.alternet.org/economy/pete-peterson-and-social-security


College loan debt and rising tution rate scams:

Matt Taibbi: Ripping Off Young America: The College-Loan Scandal
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-the-college-loan-scandal-20130815

8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance
http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/8_reasons_young_americans_dont_fight_back_how_the_us_crushed_youth_resistance/#.UhZ1YsMTgSA.twitter …

1. Student-Loan Debt. Large debt—and the fear it creates—is a pacifying force. There was no tuition at the City University of New York when I attended one of its colleges in the 1970s, a time when tuition at many U.S. public universities was so affordable that it was easy to get a B.A. and even a graduate degree without accruing any student-loan debt. While those days are gone in the United States, public universities continue to be free in the Arab world and are either free or with very low fees in many countries throughout the world. The millions of young Iranians who risked getting shot to protest their disputed 2009 presidential election, the millions of young Egyptians who risked their lives earlier this year to eliminate Mubarak, and the millions of young Americans who demonstrated against the Vietnam War all had in common the absence of pacifying huge student-loan debt.

---

Cities such as Philly, Chicago, and others are having their schools closed and privatizers moving in due to the disaster capitalism techniques of debt and de-funding.


The for-profit private prison industry, created by the for-profit "war on drugs":

Chris Hedges: The Business of Mass Incarceration
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_business_of_mass_incarceration_20130728/

"Poor people, especially those of color, are worth nothing to corporations and private contractors if they are on the street. In jails and prisons, however, they each can generate corporate revenues of $30,000 to $40,000 a year."

Government guarantees 90% occupancy rate in private prisons.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1

"Ohio's deal requires the state to maintain a 90% occupancy rate, but Janes said that provision remains in effect for 18 months — not 20 years — before it can be renegotiated. As part of the deal, Ohio pays the company a monthly fee, totaling $3.8 million per year."

Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.html


The for-profit surveillance state, created by the for-profit "war on terror":

All your money and privacy are belong to BushCo
http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2013/08/all-your-money-and-privacy-are-belong.html

The Bush disaster family recently enjoyed a $2 billion dollar payment from their 2/3s share of Booz Allen through their Carlyle Group.

5 Companies That Make Money By Keeping Americans Terrified of Terror Attacks
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/5-companies-make-money-keeping-americans-terrified-terror-attacks?paging=off

Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.alternet.org/meet-contractors-turning-americas-police-paramilitary-force?paging=off

The surveillance state has an annual budget of $1 trillion, going mostly to unknown contractors.

Spying is local too......look no further than the Los Angeles Police Department
http://www.laactivist.com/2013/06/21/bringing-the-argument-home-about-domestic-spying

"Another technology employed by the LAPD is a suitcase-sized device called StingRay. It mimics a cell phone tower, tricking every cell phone in a neighborhood into connecting to it. Once connected, police can grab information from everyone’s phone in the area, not just the suspects.

StingRay was purchased with Dept. of Homeland Security Funds. It was meant for counterterrorism, but according to documents obtained by LA Weekly, in 2012, the LAPD used StingRay 21 times within four-months in burglary, drug and murder investigations."

Lawmakers Who Upheld NSA Phone Spying Received Double the Defense Industry Cash
http://deepthought.newsvine.com/_news/2013/07/30/19773586-lawmakers-who-upheld-nsa-phone-spying-received-double-the-defense-industry-cash-slashdot


Mainstream media in the United States are owned by six corporations.

These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

I haven't even touched upon the use of defunding to close schools in Chicago and Philadelphia to pave the way for privatized charter schools, a long-term plan on their part. (Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel used to work for Goldman Sachs.) This was being done in Australia and elsewhere around a decade ago!

The military-industrial complex? Perhaps larger than all of the above combined. I haven't looked into the weapons manufacturers and service providers, although we already know about Dick Cheney's Halliburton, given no-bid contracts in the Iraq invasion:

Halliburton bills taxpayers $45 per case of soda, $100 per bag of laundry
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/whistleblower_hearings_denied.html

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2004 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- Five former Halliburton employees and one former executive of a Halliburton subcontractor describe egregious examples of abuse involving Halliburton's Iraq contracts. In a letter written by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), these whistleblowers describe instances where Halliburton employees would abandon or torch new trucks -- worth $80,000 -- if they acquired a flat tire or other minor mechanical problems. Halliburton would subsequently purchase new trucks with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

The former employees also described repeated instances of theft involving both Halliburton and Army personnel. One employee complained to Halliburton's KBR chief, Randy Harl, about the contracting abuse, but two weeks later he was fired.

Another former employee said Halliburton purchased soda for $45 per case and laundry bags for $100 each.

Employees billed the government for work even when they sat around and did nothing all day. These employees spent weeks in Iraq with virtually nothing to do, but were instructed by Halliburton to bill the government for 12 hours per day for seven days of work.


Want to protest any of this? This is what happens, thanks directly to the 1% who run the whole thing:

OWS NYTimes Lie

Occupy Denver AP Photo Leah Millis 
Occupy Denver AP Photo Leah Millis


In their own frank words to each other, the three leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memos:

Download three “secret” Citigroup “Plutonomy” reports
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/

“Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances”
“Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer”
"The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts" 

(Citigroup send lawyers to remove postings of the leaked memos; try here for the third)



Where is Plutonomy occurring? Page 8 of the third memo:

“Figure 1 shows...the top 1% of the population of income has grown substantially in countries such as the US, UK, and Canada. The countries, which apparently tolerate income inequality, are what we call Plutonomy countries: economies powered by a relatively small number of rich people.”

What sort of people would put their own interests so ahead of the rest of us?

"The source of the term is a quotation in an October 17, 2004, The New York Times Magazine article by writer Ron Suskind, quoting an unnamed aide to George W. Bush (later attributed to Karl Rove):

The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' ... 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

Basically, they're marching in and doing whatever they want whenever they want, and rigging the game where it does not already serve them.


Where does Obama stands on all of this? Shame on you if by now any of this surprises you:

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under Obama -- Highest Rate Since 1900
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/corporate-profits-have-grown-171-percent-under-obama-highest-rate-1900

"Average annual corporate profit growth under Obama is the highest since 1900, whereas profit growth declined during both Bush presidencies. As a share of the economy, corporate profits have never been higher.
Unfortunately, this profit deluge has not been shared by workers, whose wages as a percentage of the economy have fallen to all-time lows. Workers also got dinged by the recent increase in the payroll tax, which was large enough to wipe out a minimum wage increase in some states."

8 Huge Corporate Handouts in the Fiscal Cliff Bill
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/8-huge-corporate-handouts-fiscal-cliff-bill

"Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends 'tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,' which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, 'little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.' Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds."

The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

Yes, Virginia, the Rich Continue to Get Richer: the Top 1% Got 121% of Income Gains Since 2009
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/yes-virginia-the-rich-continue-to-get-richer-the-1-got-121-of-income-gains-since-2009.html

U.S. banks in 2012 post highest profits since '06
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-usa-fdic-earnings-idUSBRE91P0N820130226?utm_source=Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=de8376aab3-DD_2_27_132_27_2013&utm_medium=email#.US5jjkXSlU8.twitter

This Year’s Subsidy to Wall Street = the Amount of This Year’s Sequester Cuts
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/this-years-subsidy-to-wall-street-the-amount-of-this-years-sequester-cuts.html#.US_yiFwwnHY.facebook

Don’t Blink, or You’ll Miss Another Bailout
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100466032

America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer
http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

Bank Bailout 2: Obama Lets Mortgage Abusers Off the Hook
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/09-5

US banks earn record $42.2B in 2nd quarter (2013)
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-banks-earn-record-422b-2nd-quarter 

“Fiscal Cliff” Deal Makes Permanent 82 Percent of Bush Tax Cuts http://www.offthechartsblog.org/fiscal-cliff-deal-makes-permanent-82-percent-of-bush-tax-cuts/



For further reading, analysis from the third leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memo: Their fears and weaknesses:

Page 17, “The Risks to Plutonomy”.

-Inflation
-Financial collapse
-Ending technological revolution
-Political pressure to end the increase in income and wealth inequality
-Destroy globalisation
-Destroy right-wing, anti-immigration political parties which support the rise in profit share/fall in wage share
Page 18
-Call for relaxing immigration controls/deportation
-”The political process is the greatest threat to Plutonomy.”
-Page 21 lists equity strategies. “Equities are the main asset of the rich.” -Page 12 of the memo. So, attack equities.
Of course, it says that the rich actually drive the economy, and the economy mainly serves the rich. So live outside the economy and destroy the economy.

"The risks to Plutonomy: Finally, political pressure to end the increase in income and wealth inequality."

"Perhaps the most immediate challenge to Plutonomy comes from the political process. Ultimately, the rise in income and wealth inequality to some extent is an economic disenfrachisement of the masses to the benefit of the few. However in democracies this is rarely tolerated forever."

“We see the biggest threat to Plutonomy as coming from a rise in political demands to reduce income inequality, spread the wealth more evenly, and challenge forces such as globalization which have benefited profit and wealth growth.”

Page 18:

"So is Plutonomy under threat politically? We are keeping an eye on this one. At the moment it is too early to make this call. ...does not resonate as a population determined to destroy wealth inequality."

"While there are challenges to this, not least through populations/the political process demanding a more 'equitable' share of the wealth, in the short term we think the trend of the rich getting richer is likely to persist." 

From one of the other memos:

“At some point it is likely that labor will fight back against the rising profit share of the rich and there will be a political backlash against the rising wealth of the rich. This could be felt through higher taxation on the rich (or indirectly though higher corporate taxes/regulation) or through trying to protect indigenous (home-grown) laborers, in a push-back on globalization -- either anti-mmigration, or protectionism. We don’t see this happening yet, though there are signs of rising political tensions.”




America faces more than a dozen deadlines, all caused by billionaires and wealth transfer

"I’ve had an article in draft for some time — 'The 16 Deadlines Facing America' — that details each deadline, describes the dangers, and states why each faces an end-point rather than just a periodic fluctuation... I’ve identified 16 of these game-over situations facing America today, situations from which there is the possibility of no recovery — not the certainty, but the possibility. As I was working on that article though, looking especially what it would take to reverse each trend, I realized it’s really only one story writ 16 times on 16 separate canvasses.

That story? The song of the predator class, the rich and the rest — “All your money are belong to us.”
Here they are, numbered in no particular order, but grouped:

1. Accelerating transfer of wealth to the .001% (“the billionaires”)
2. Accelerating transfer of manufacturing out of the country
3. Marginalization or destruction of effective labor unions
4. Destruction of the middle class (i.e., the consumer class)
5. Capture of government by billionaires of both parties
6. Capture of the Republican Party by anti-Constitutional billionaires via Tea Party-financed candidates
7. Constitutional changes, including changes in practice to rule of law and an ever-widening circle of elites with immunity from prosecution
8. Creation via trade agreements of a transnational state that enshrines corporate sovereignty
9. Permanent war and a permanently expanding military
10. Permanently expanding national security state, including militarization of police, widespread spying and punishment for political crimes
11. The ticking time bomb of increasing numbers of returning untreated war-damaged battle-trained veterans
12. Oil dependence without recognition of oil as a soon-to-be-depleted energy source
13. Deterioration of the environment, largely due to oil and carbon dependence, among other causes
14. Destruction of the integrity of our food supply
15. Destruction of public education
16. Climate catastrophe and the collapse of human populations and level of civilization

My bottom line, and the surprise discovery, is that every single one is driven by one common cause — internationalist billionaires."

http://americablog.com/2013/02/america-faces-more-than-a-dozen-deadlines-all-caused-by-billionaires-and-wealth-transfer.html

(Citigroup) When Lobbyists Literally Write The Bill


"The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein

"Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins