Corruption and Collapse

[G_j]

http://www.truth-out.org/corruption-and-collapse60356

Corruption and Collapse

Friday 18 June 2010

by: Francis Shor, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed


Since the explosion of the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, we have been treated to a case study in both the endemic corporate corruption of US politics and the inherent environmental catastrophes of the fossil fuel economy. The spread of toxicity, whether from oil, chemical dispersants, or corporate lobbyists and their willing handmaidens in Washington, DC, is so evident that even President Obama has been forced to ramp up his rhetoric about "cozy relationships" and conflicts of interest.

Yet, how can one take seriously a president and his administration when they continue all of the worst practices of corporate toadying? Examples abound, from capitulating to Big Pharma in the health care debate to doing the bidding of Wall Street in their desire to maintain hedge funds and derivatives, the key components of casino capitalism. Tinkering with banking regulations will hardly end such corporate corruption when the Treasury departments of the administrations of both Republicans and Democrats are filled with devoted banksters.

Beyond the Treasury Department, each recent administration has put into key positions little more than political foxes guarding the consumer hen houses. Departments of Interior are especially notorious for protecting the interests of oil and major cattle growers. Obama's Department of Interior with Ken Salazar, a Colorado cattleman, as head honcho and Sylvia Baca, a former BP flack, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for land and minerals management, are only the most current representatives of such notorious conflict of interests.

If one needed a more compelling argument against the fossil-fuel economy and its reliance on drilling for oil, the BP/Halliburton disaster in the Gulf of Mexico provides the tragic indictment. Yet the hand-wringing and grandstanding by the DC policy-makers has allowed BP to continue their cover-up of the extent of the spill and enable their misguided efforts to contain their potential litigation costs. Of course, one should not expect the political accomplices of the corporate fossil-fuel corporations to take fundamental steps to stop this immediate environmental catastrophe and reverse the insanity associated with this industry.

Then, again, Congress is in the process of passing a $33 billion supplemental to continue the prosecution of the increasingly lethal war in Afghanistan. This war has not only profited Halliburton and its subsidiary, KBR, with no-bid contracts, but it also is part of a geo-strategy of protecting potential oil and natural gas pipelines in the Caspian Basin and Central Asian regions. In its imperial drive to guarantee control over the ultimate routing of those pipelines, the political elites in Washington are prepared to sacrifice even more soldiers and civilians.


..more..

[G_j]

1. ==

[bahrbearian]

2. + +

[Catherina]

3. +++ Rec'd

Here and here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8587683&mesg_id=8587683

[Auggie]

4. Brings to mind The Law of Social Cycle

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

This was also written about in "The Great Despression of 1990" by Ravi Batra

From Wikipedia:

The main thesis of the book was that the age of acquisitors, better known as capitalism, was soon to come to an end in the West.

This dramatic change was to be followed by the downfall of the age of commanders in the Soviet Union, more commonly known as communism. While (Batra's) predictions for capitalism to collapse within a few decades due to rampant inequality and speculation have not come true, his prediction for the collapse of communism, due to inner stasis and oppression, arrived in 1990, sooner than expected.

The key reason that capitalism, as a self-perpetuating social formation, was seen to be on an unsustainable path, was the relentless drive of acquisitors to acquire ever more capital. Over time, this activity was seen to gain momentum and result in financial booms and busts. A depression would then follow and as it came on top of extreme inequality it would quickly bring social chaos and revolt.

As anarchy was not a normal state of affairs, the class of military leaders would step in the breech and reestablish order and thereby usher in a new age of "commanders". In this context, Batra reviews a prior such social change, which occurred two millennia ago, when the Roman Republic was transformed into the Roman Empire.

MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Batra

[Carolina]

5. K&R K&R K&R K&R K&R!!!