"It is past time ... for Americans to consider why we have
created an empire - a word from which we shy away - and what the
consequences of our imperial stance may be for the rest of the world
and for ourselves."--Chalmers Johnson (author of the
book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire)
We have been debunking the neoclassical economics doctrine to
understand social and economic development as rationally dependent
on the forces of the unregulated Free Market (or corporate
globalization). We have found out how this Free Market has
disconnected our social and economic development from needed goods
and services and how this Free Market has become an oligopolistic
cartel of the multinational corporations of the world's richest
countries.
In particular, we have described how the endemic speculation of
making money with money has created financial bubbles and false
expectation of wealth. Classical economics started with an
understanding of supply and demand of goods and services and how
prices would drive the perceived equilibrium between supply and
demand of goods and services.
Neoclassical economics took off from the understanding of
classical economics and put the unregulated Free Market at the
center of economic development along with the gospel of making money
with money preached by the Chicago School of Economics headed by
Nobel Prize winner economist Milton Friedman.
We must understand that an unregulated Free Market, on the
average, makes people with power have more power through the
exercise of their power. Also, we must understand that when we make
money with money we create a further disconnect between the needs we
want to satisfy and the goods and services provided by the market
place (this disconnect causes the economic fluctuation), and this
disconnect inflates the GDP number without corresponding real
wealth. Therefore, our neoclassical economists, conscious of this
disconnect between needs and goods/services, have been covering up
the intrinsic faults of the Free Market to become an oligopolistic
gambling casino with the 'irrelevant' social notion of productivity
along with the mantra of increasing productivity through new
technologies.
Now we understand why our neoclassical politicians are peddling
the Free Market, are peddling the economic measurement of the GDP
number, are peddling the notion of ever increasing productivity and
the associated false notion of better standard of living and
freedom, are peddling new research and new technologies, are
peddling more money into new technologies to weaponize our skies,
lands and waters. Some time ago I raised the prospect that the Free
Market was a conspiracy, and yes now I believe that it is a
conspiracy, a conspiracy which has been legalized as people have
been losing their individual rights and as our governments have
become the instruments of the few and powerful, corporations and
fortunate sons.
The Free Market (or corporate globalization) has caused the
concentration of power in the multinational corporations, it has
caused the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and therefore
the Free Market has diluted our democracies and it has contributed
to make our world more violent. I have described in my past articles
how the Bush administration has pushed the Free Market to become a
New World Order enforced by the super power of the U.S. military.
This super power of the U.S. military has become now the absolute
hyper military power throughout the world. The United States has
become the new 'Uber Alles.'
Some time ago, I expressed my intention to write on the
environment of secrecy, economic speculation and unilateralism of
the United States to show the flaws of the Bush Administration.
Today, I realize there is no need for me to do any research in this
regard as social activist Tina Staik has just published a diatribe
against President George W. Bush Jr. and against the neoclassical
radical conservatives who have been peddling the Free Market for the
last some 30 years.
The Baltimore Chronicle introduces Staik's philippic denunciation
as "Then, Emile Zola Wrote His J'Accuse; Now,
Tina Staik Asks, "Is it a coincidence...?"
Emile Zola was a French novelist who wrote J'Accuse,
an article in which he openly accused high officials, military
staffers and handwriting experts of meddling with the truth in the
1894 conviction of Captain Dreyfus for treason. Zola was sued for
libel, was found guilty, was trashed by the media, and mob threw
spit, rocks and rotten tomatoes at him. In spite of the military
cover up the Truth prevailed and Dreyfus was cleared in 1906. Zola
died on September 29, 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning, following a
probably criminal tampering of his chimney.
The
courageous Tina Staik begins her denunciation against American
policies with this sentence:
"If ever there was a time to examine what is happening in
our country and world--step back and look at the big picture,
think, ask, question, reflect, even consider a conspiracy theory
or two--this is it." She goes on to say "It is time for
Americans to think what has been done to our country, its people
and government--in the name of oil, war and drug profiteering.
Then we must also think what the same forces have done to other
countries, nations, governments, and peoples of the world in the
name of the same."
Staik's denunciation is quite long to read but her article is
extremely important for reflecting on the historical events of our
New World Order commandeered by our radical conservatives
(neoclassical leadership also associated with neoliberalism). I must
say that our future doesn't depend on our managing stress, on our
managing money, on our managing success, on our managing education,
on our managing the upbringing of our children, on our managing
wars, on our managing new technologies, on our managing the GDP, on
our managing anything else. Staik says that
"Our lives and world may depend on using our critical
thinking skills, and inviting leaders and citizens throughout
the world to do the same."
So I conclude this story inviting you to wake up, think and read
at your own speed Staik's commendable article.
References:
Pertinent articles published in Ensign
Quotations from the book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of
American Empire, by Chalmers Johnson, Henry Holt, 2000 http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Quotations_BCJ.html
The American empire: The US has structured the world economy to
enrich itself. It cannot last, Robert Hunter Wade, January 5, 2002
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,627921,00.html
Neoliberalism defined. Neoliberalism is a philosophy in which the
existence and operation of a market are valued in themselves,
separately from any previous relationship with the production of
goods and services, and without any attempt to justify them in terms
of their effect on the production of goods and services; and where
the operation of a market or market-like structure is seen as an
ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action,
and substituting for all previously existing ethical beliefs.
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/neoliberalism.html
The Georgetown Audio-Visual Electronic Library project for the
Study of Emile Zola and the Dreyfus Case http://www.georgetown.edu/guieu/libproj.htm
Another Salvo for the New Year: Then, Emile Zola Wrote His "J'Accuse";
Now, Tina Staik Asks, "Is it a coincidence...?" January 2, 2002
http://baltimorechronicle.com/coincidence_jan02.shtml
Additional Information and Material by Tina Staik: Act Today to
Restor Our Democracy, Fringefolk web site , Tina Staik's call to
action http://www.fringefolk.com/tstaik.html
Wake Up and Take Back America , essay in Fringefolk http://www.fringefolk.com/fsTS1.html
Tina Staik Essay from Journal
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