Here's What's Actually Happening, Folks

[Parisle]

----Corporate welfare,.. "Privatization" of numerous governmental functions,.. No-bid contracts,.. tax cuts for the rich,.. widespread de-regulation,.. softening or outright jettisoning of penalties for various big-time violations of environmental law,.. etc., etc.,.. Call it the "trickle UP" phenomenon of the Bush administration,... but administration opponents are whistling past the graveyard when they try to denounce it as over-reaching "greed." It is no such thing.

----This is not mere greed. A person can only have so many $100 million yachts, or multiple residences or personal jets. There is a "ceiling" to material gratification. POWER is still in the mix, of course,... but power to do what? Rich people,... even unimaginably rich people,.. are still governed by the same general rules of human nature as the rest of us. And yeah,.. they currently OWN the government of George Bush,.. but what are they doing with it?

----It stands to reason that the beneficiaries of all the afore-mentioned policies are apt to have a somewhat better idea of what the future holds,.... after all, they get better information than the rest of us lowly mortals. Hell, they're actuating many of the events to which we are warily wondering and reacting. And they have chosen this moment to loot the economy. I used to think that this was the "Battle of the Bulge" against the political philosophy set in motion by FDR's New Deal. But no longer.

----The upper, upper class isn't worried about FDR, and their looting of the nation's wealth isn't for yacht payments, have no fear. They know something's coming, and they are salting it away,... They are grabbing everything they can grab before the pudding hits the prop,... and it is left to us to try and reason out what has spooked them. "Peak Oil" coming up sooner than expected? (That's my guess) Massive currency collapse? (Another frontrunner) Terrorism? Something else? I don't know,... but I bet they would know about it before the rest of us do,... and they are presently stocking up and battening down.

---- And George Bush Jr is Prince Prospero.

[autorank]

1. K&R for the Truth

Actually, I see him more as, Arthur "Cody" Jarrett in "White Heat" ("Top of the world ma...) but I'll go with your choice since the analysis is so clear.

[mike_c]

2. EXCELLENT post-- K&R....

Either you are correct, or human greed is simply boundless and uncontrollable, and the revolutionaries of France hit on the only workable solution.

[Parisle]

3. Thanks, Mike

---- Heh heh,..... you'd think a "patriotic" outfit like Halliburton would at least offer to handle its projects "at cost," eh? After all,.. young people are dying.

---- But Nooooooooo.

[Imagevision]

4. And most important is that the Rich and powerful remain that way

imagine if republicans keep control of the house and senate? -- imagine 2 1/2 more years of Bushco power and staying that course baby...!

[valerief]

5. Thanks for articulating what I've suspected. I envision a future

where most Americans will be eating dirt before they die.

[skids]

6. What they are saving it for is bribes.

All those things you mention are pending: oil, dollar crash, social unrest.

With the general collapse will come the need to be able to escape from revolutions or criminal prosecutors. They need the money to ensure a lifetime worth of bribes in the countries they will eventually inhabit (which could be here, because as you well know the Great Depression was a time of extremely bad corruption.)

[Greyhound]

7. There is no mystery at all about what is coming, we just adamantly

refuse to acknowledge it.

It is their dream of the new world order. It is a world that is totally controlled and run by the tiny minority, for their own benefit. That is THE WHOLE WORLD, all of it, no exceptions, period.

The writing was on the wall in the 70's, they are through with the US, it has served it's purpose by allowing the proliferation of the multi-national conglomerate. We have proved to be too troublesome and too demanding to continue as a base of operations, so they needed a new base.

35 years later we see that it is nearly ready and they will supplant us as the source for the required capital and human resources to continue the subjugation of the proles. China and India are the next markets with much larger populations that are already pre-conditioned to accept totalitarian authority, all that is required is an infrastructure and a consumer class, both of which are being made as you read this.

It is no longer coming, it is here.

[glitch]

10. I agree with greyhound1966. And the new world order is global feudalism,

the original fascism before capitalism.

[Reckon]

15. greyhound is on the money..

They're moving their wealth into foreign investment and currency because they know there will come a time the dollar is not worth a plug nickle. That will mean our retirement savings will be worthless.

But in the mean time they will continue to milk this Country for every last dime before they leave.

[Joanne98]

27. I think you're right. But we can still muck it up. How about a starting a

fight between China and the US over Taiwan. Even if they leave we still have the weapons. Break up the China/US lovefest and it's back to a bi-polar world. Just a thought.

[Greyhound]

35. From that POV invading Iran might be a good idea, then he would

have another example of being "a unifier". I mean, after all, he has successfully unified the world against us. Unifying Russia and China against us would just be another feather in his cap. :sarcasm:

A better solution, IMO, would be for the Democrats (after taking the legislature back) to withdraw from the horrible trade agreements/organizations that have enabled this scheme to go forward.

[brokensymmetry]

8. I'd agree with the Peak Oil theory.

We've already got three billionaires - Rainwater, Pickens, Simmons - who have told us
its here. Should we suppose the rest of them are busy picking lint out of their
navels?

We're going to see gasoline at $20 per gallon, and bread at $20 a loaf. And
there will be no safety net.

By the way - I'm betting it will hit in a few years.

[Uncle Joe]

9. I am betting, they know global warming is for real,

and will totally devastate our economy when as you say the pudding hits the prop. Instead of trying to adapt and save the ship from sinking, which might require some sacrifice they are taking off in the life boats.

P.S. Kicked and recommended

[mom cat]

28. I agree with that assessment. I believe that they have decided that saving

most of the world's people is impossible and that they can somehow save themselves after most of us die off.

[tbyg52]

11. Any insight./links....?

As to *what* they are stocking up on and *how* they are battening down? I would like to do the same, as well as I can within my limited means. (Sounds selfish now that I write it, but beats losing it all (such as it is) in the crash.)

[Pharaoh]

13. stocking up on cash and gold of course

[Pharaoh]

12. Brilliantly spoken

Welcome to DU!

[MikeDuffy]

14. This has occurred to me (and others) as well, but why would there not be

any "whistle blowers" about this who are on the inside. Al Gore, for example or others, and why would they not talk about it on AAR or any other alternative media? Is it because they see disclosure as politically counterproductive to bringing changes this fall?

[mmonk]

16. Profit margins are too high for it to be peak oil yet.

Most of our geopolitical strategy is centered on how oil is going to be priced (dollars) when China's demand swells and since we have declared there will be no economic or military equals in the world as policy, this is about the corporations controlling a world economy in my opinion.

[rman]

23. I think the profit margins are in anticipation of Peak Oil;

they're going to need a lot of money once tar sand and oil shale become the main sources of oil. Both extraction and refinery of those is exceedingly slow and expensive.

[OneBlueSky]

17. maybe for some of them . . . but for others, what drives them is . . .

simply a "whoever dies with the most toys, wins" outlook on life . . . and they're into winning any way they can . . . it's what they DO . . .

legal, illegal, doesn't matter . . . they don't have to worry about repercussions because their "toys" now include the Congress, the media, the judiciary, the military and, of course, the Executive . . .

we, on the other hand, generally believe that unless all of us win, all of us will lose . . .

[Disturbed]

18. The Multi-Corps view themselves as Global.

They have no loyalty to America or it's workers and the US Govt. aids and abets them.

[w4rma]

21. Exactly. That is the key to understanding and dealing with them. (nt)

[lostnfound]

19. The middle class- unsustainable and dangerous?

The poor will always be with us. Until they are literally starving, will they represent any threat to power?

But the middle class would be unsustainable as global catastrophe strikes and the hardscrabble life falls upon us. Who will panic the most? Who will be able to put resistance?

An educated middle class might want to divvvy the shrinking pie equally.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. The Welfare Kings prevail.

But their roots are deep in local government.

[rman]

22. Peak oil and currency collapse go hand in hand, i think

Terrorism is part of their way of dealing with popular uprising that would result from people becoming aware of those looming problems. Better to have us distracted by some sort of crisis.
So it's probably all of those, augmented by climate change.

[Parisle]

24. More Data Is Needed,....

---- It would be interesting to find out what's happening to all those extra dollars being harvested from the economy by the corporate elite these days. Surely they are not staying on the books as "dollars" in a US bank's computer files. Conversion to Euro's or precious metals,.. land & other property, including the resources, themselves,.... not just oil, either. Remember they wanted to "privatize" the water supply? Yeah,.. right.

[The Sleeper]

25. The Mafia Term for this is "bust out"...

You take it all, by legal or illegal means, until there's nothing left but an empty shell. Then you burn the joint down for the insurance money.

In our case, there's still plenty of stuff to steal....after all, we aren't ALL living in cardboard boxes....yet.

[Unbowed]

26. Maybe they're building underground bunkers.

[leesa]

29. I agree. They are stealing every penny they can. My only question is

how will they hide from us? There are so many of us, there gaited compounds can only keep us out for so long and they can't lock us all up or kill us all.

[Beetwasher]

30. I've Reached The Same Conclusion and Have Said So On Numerous Occassions

They are slashing and burning and grabbing anything that is not (or even is) nailed down and generally behaving as if there IS no tomorrow.

[Parisle]

31. A Small Case In Point,.....

---- On the broad, overall scale, it is similar in no small way to what the top brass were doing at ENRON, eh? Lay, Skilling and Fastow knew the implosion was coming,... and they were busily cashing in their chips, while exhorting everyone else to buy in. Not a difficult pattern to discern.

[Beetwasher]

32. Oh, Enron Is A Not Such A "Small" Part

Enron is the Micro-model (w/ many clones that we have yet to discover), but it's significance I would say is quite "large".

Great post, friend!

Welcome!

[lisainmilo]

33. You mean King George Right? Not Prince

He has already crowned himself KING DICTATOR. He obviously has no reguard for the constitution or laws of the land....as he makes his own up as he goes along.

[The Sleeper]

34. Amen, Leesa...

Their philosophical godfather Strauss said the 20th century was awful...... precisely BECAUSE the little guy actually got some power and was able to build a decent life for once through the New Deal and Labor Unions, etc...

According to all of the Corporate Feudalists, we are UNDESERVING of a decent life; we are only peasants who are at best lucky enough to in some small way satisfy the whims of our "superiors".

Their adhearence to their ideology and overwhelming arrogance are our greatest weapons against them. Yes, they DO think they can hide in their gated communities....and why should we give them any reason to believe otherwise ??

[johnaries]

36. They want a Straussian government run by Family Dynasties.

Their first victory was when the SCOTUS declared money as Free Speech. The tax cuts for the wealthy was their second victory. One of the reasons for the Inheritance Tax was to avoid future family dynasties like the ones who gained so much political power and influence in the past. If they repeal it, that will be their third major victory and the most important.

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

Since his death, he has come to be regarded, although debatably, as a leading intellectual source of neoconservatism in the United States.