When Chris Hedges was 10 years old, he was sent to a private boarding school for the uber rich. He was not of them. But he learned who they were. He writes:
It was impossible to build a friendship with most of the sons of the uber-rich. Friendship for them was defined by “what’s in it for me?” They were surrounded from the moment they came out of the womb by people catering to their desires and needs. They were incapable of reaching out to others in distress—whatever petty whim or problem they had at the moment dominated their universe and took precedence over the suffering of others, even those within their own families. They knew only how to take. They could not give. They were deformed and deeply unhappy people in the grip of an unquenchable narcissism.
And as adults, they live by their own rules, paying no attention to the axioms that govern the rest of us:
The uber-rich live in an artificial bubble, a land called Richistan, a place of Frankenmansions and private jets, cut off from our reality. Wealth, I saw, not only perpetuates itself but is used to monopolize the new opportunities for wealth creation. Social mobility for the poor and the working class is largely a myth. The uber-rich practice the ultimate form of affirmative action, catapulting white, male mediocrities like Trump, Kushner and George W. Bush into elite schools that groom the plutocracy for positions of power. The uber-rich are never forced to grow up. They are often infantilized for life, squalling for what they want and almost always getting it. And this makes them very, very dangerous.
Donald Trump belongs among them. So does Brett Kavanaugh. And so does Mohammed Bin Salman. They are the corporate capitlists who have captured democracies around the world. And that is why we face a dark future:
Corporate capitalism, which has destroyed our democracy, has given unchecked power to the uber-rich. And once we understand the pathologies of these oligarchic elites, it is easy to chart our future. The state apparatus the uber-rich controls now exclusively serves their interests. They are deaf to the cries of the dispossessed. They empower those institutions that keep us oppressed—the security and surveillance systems of domestic control, militarized police, Homeland Security and the military—and gut or degrade those institutions or programs that blunt social, economic and political inequality, among them public education, health care, welfare, Social Security, an equitable tax system, food stamps, public transportation and infrastructure, and the courts. The uber-rich extract greater and greater sums of money from those they steadily impoverish. And when citizens object or resist, they crush or kill them.
We face, Hedges writes, a stark choice -- either tyranny or revolution -- and the dangers incumbent in both.
4 comments:
.. years ago, I complained to family & friends that 'media had become irresponsible'. It was obvious the ground was shifting and to a great extent, ethics, morals and curiosity were disappearing into a quagmire. At the same time those of great wealth or privilege were behaving as Hedges and you describe.. and they have either captured 'politics'.. or become politics, or both at once. They have embraced the litigious mode and pretend to be model citizens.. god fearing & upstanding.. and there is media, or at least 90+ % of media, selling out to the grand slam of the wealthy, the law firms, the political parties and fawning all over themselves.
Thus we see a corporate parasite like Donald Trump having one of his many many corporate attorneys, having one of his attorneys, address the media via one of a stable of PR flacks. All the attorneys have attorneys, who have spokeswanks, who have attorneys ? Whew !
How does Faith Goldy retain a major league attorney & his crew, to argue 'Freedom Of The Press' or some such abstract when she cannot get her way ? Is somebody paying ? Or is this just some sort of free riding 'legal' pantomine akin to a TV game show or mid afternoon soap? Either someone with a lot of dough is paying or its all a scam & mainstream media & the legal system is in on it. The ideal, as Stephen Harper proved is to take over politics and turn 'democracy' and all its tax payer paid law firms, into a weaponized force.. then use them against democracy.. Brilliant ! Use the combined wealth of the nation against the nation. And who is backing that play ? The uber wealthy, whether domestic or foreign
Even the dim witted political animals of no great wealth understand they must find their sugar daddies.. 'Money talks, the people walk'. Just look at the new wealth accruing to political animals in North America. In Canada its amazing how useless elected public servants become multimillionaires. In the USA, similar sellout politicians and backroom operators are quickly on their way to billionaire status. Manafort ? Peter MacKay ? Limbaugh ? Harper ? Who finances Patrick Brown's excursions in all layers of political life ? Or looks after Mitch McConnell.. Ted Cruz ? Jason Kenney ? The lists of these types & their fuckery are endless..
I believe it foolhardy to think there is no insider trading going on.. at a word from any policy shaker, baker & maker, do we think the 'blind trust' as operated by the loyal wife.. is not embued with some sudden brilliant short or long strategy ? Come come.. and who controls the finances of a Ray Novak, a Jenni Byrne or a Nigel Wright ? How about the Trump coven.. Ivanka, Jerod, Donald Jr etc etc.. or the freak creeps like Hannity or Alex Jones ? Money money everywhere for those folks plus a seperate legal standard.. of too important or special to be thrown in jail with the multitudes of black, brown or non-white criminals.. some doing 10 years for shoplifting some cigarettes
It's amazing, sal, how pervasive money has become. Not everybody has it. But it affects every aspect of modern life -- which is to say that a wealthy few control all the levers. It is unhealthy -- literally and figuratively.
I'm working on a checklist of issues, global and national, on which we can measure progress, if any. Is there clear signs of progress, improvement or are they stagnant or worsening.
It's hard to find positive outcomes. There has been considerable progress in a few areas, alternative clean energy technology comes to mind, but overall there seems to be a worsening that's accelerating.
Everyone from the International Monetary Fund to Goldman Sachs is shouting warnings that the global economy is on the cusp - not just of a 2007-8 grade recession - but of a genuine great depression to rival that of 1929. Most think it will set in by mid-2019 at the latest. How do people like us - you, Owen, and Sal and other ordinary people - deal with this prospect? What are we supposed to do? What is our government doing? They have plenty of in-house talent advising them. What is their position? They don't seem in any hurry to volunteer helpful information.
Others warn that we have returned to a sequel of Cold War I. A few years ago the top German financial paper, Handelsblatt, warned that the public is being "mentally mobilized" for war. Trump is doing his bit to spread fear and distrust among his people. His businessman's approach to government has sacrificed diplomacy. Trump casts America's historic allies as his nation's enemies. As Bacevich wrote several years ago, military force and the threat of military force has displaced diplomacy as America's preferred instrument of foreign policy.
Climate change? We've been given a sharp ultimatum to kill off the fossil energy industry or succumb to runaway global warming. Our reaction? Look the other way. And, while we're dragging our heels on mitigation, we're doing nothing about adaptation measures.
Where is Canada and the global civilization making progress? We're still beset by the chokehold of neoliberalism and the insatiable quest for perpetual exponential growth. The march of overpopulation continues unabated and we're now watching humankind devour our Earth's resources to exhaustion, dooming ourselves.
As for Hedges I'm awaiting delivery of his book, "America: The Farewell Tour." It consists of seven chapters - Decay, Heroin, Work, Sadism, Hate, Gambling, and Freedom. Reviewers find it compelling.
I've caught a couple of interviews with Hedges in which he discusses his new book, Mound. Each chapter appears to be a pathology which marks the end of an empire. It should be a compelling read.
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