Paul Craig Roberts looks at the current economic mess and smells a rat. Apparently, China and Russia agree:
Russia and China have concluded an agreement to abandon the use of the US dollar in their bilateral trade and to use their own currencies in its place. The Russians and Chinese said that they had taken this step in order to insulate their economies from the risks that have undermined their confidence in the US dollar as world reserve currency.
And then consider some of the proposed solutions:
The Obama Administration has managed to come up with a Deficit Commission whose members want to pay for the multi-trillion dollar wars that are enriching the military/security complex and the multi-trillion dollar bailouts of the financial system by reducing annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security, raising the retirement age to 69, ending the mortgage interest deduction, ending the tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance, imposing a 6.5% federal sales tax, while cutting the top tax rate for the rich.
Although the Deficit Commission’s proposals have apparently been derailed, Roberts finds plenty of evidence that Americans are willing to bow to their masters.
The American government only has resources for wars of aggression, police state intrusions, and bailouts of rich banksters. The American citizen has become a mere subject to be bled for the ruling oligarchies.
The police state attitude of the TSA toward airline travelers is a clear indication that Americans are no longer citizens with rights but subjects without rights.
He concludes on what he takes as a hopeful note:
Perhaps the day will come when oppressed Americans will take to the streets like the French, the Greeks, the Irish, and the British.
Whether or not taking to the streets is the solution, it is clear that serious changes must be made if the slow deflation of the republic is to be abated. Sheeple must become men and women who cherish their freedom and are willing to say “enough” to the encroachments of power on every side. How is the taste for freedom regained along with the risk and even suffering that real freedom implies? This, it seems, is one of the pressing questions of our day. First step: learn to do practical things like grow a garden, build a shed, cut hair, cook, shoot, make music, and tell stories.
The Chinese are trying to build an alternate trading system, one that bypasses the WTO and one which they can dominate. That’s not at all a bad thing, but I think they have some problems. They don’t want the Yuan to be the common currency, since that would drive up its value, but there is a limit to what the dollar can do. And appearances to the contrary, China is in worse shape than the US. The internal contradictions will tear the middle kingdom apart, and in any economic disaster, I would rather be here then there. Our banking system, for example, is comparatively honest and there is grave doubt that the numbers coming from China are anything more than bureaucratic fantasies.
I must say that I have a problem with the term “sheeple.” There is certainly excuse for the term when the people have ceased to be citizens and become mere servants/clients of the corporate state. Nevertheless, when spoken of in this way, a lot of things can be justified, things that you and I would find repulsive.
Perhaps we could read the “-le” in “sheeple” to be the German/Swabian diminutive – thus, “little sheep.” That’s actually how I first read it, but then, I’m married to a Swabian…
Perhaps we could read the “-le” in “sheeple” to be the German/Swabian diminutive – thus, “little sheep.” That’s actually how I first read it, but then, I’m married to a Swabian…
Well, what else might a people who will swallow the serial load coming their way be called other than “sheeple”? After all, “citizens” went out with 30% voter turnout and when the New York Times editorial staff admits to vetting what they should or should not publish with the White House, you can be sure the flock is being handled with alacrity. “Sheeple” might actually be too kind.
The definition of a “good sheeple” would be one who believes that increasing taxes (letting the Bush tax cuts lapse) would deepen the recession by removing demand but deficit cuts (which would remove money from the economy) would not!
This comment is a little late, but I just read of the protests in Wisconsin. Hoping this is a beginning. I acknowledge that Wisconsin has budget problems, but why do the teachers and public employees have to bear the brunt? Rather like Federal spending cuts – don’t cut the multinational contractors overcharging the Federal government, or the billionaire hedge fund managers gaming the system, just cut the social spending (Medicare/Social Security/Medicaid).
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