Naomi Klein pulls no punches in her comments about the debt ceiling charade

[G_j]

"Using trumped up crisis to raid the public purse and attack the basic rights and benefits is a very old trick - but rarely is the shock doctrine tactic wielded as brazenly as in the pseudo debate about the debt ceiling. This is naked class war, waged by the ultra rich against everyone else, and it's well past time for Americans to draw the line."



http://www.rootsaction.org/index.php

[Skink]

1. Corporate America invested a lot in Obama and now they want there due.

[DURHAM D]

2. Yep - they brought him to the big dance. nt

[Horse with no Name]

3. They've already got what they paid for tenfold

but it is never enough...once you allow them to own you.

[femrap]

12. Now TPTB want to

see the American people suffer...it's a game to them. They wonder if/when the Americans will protest like the Greeks or if their manipulations can keep them mesmerized with 'American Idol' and pron.

It's all about CONTROL with them.

Wall Street has been happy lately...so all the talk of tax 'changes' and debt reduction is good for them and bad for the working people, elderly, and ever other poor sucker on Main Street.

I wish Mother Earth would tilt on her axis.

[uponit7771]

24. Yeap, there's no such thing as congress...they don't exist

[defendandprotect]

119. Right ... FED, back room deals, commissions and panels -- have taken over their job!!

Not to mention, Obama's insider deals with the GOP -- "The Great Game" -- ?

:(

[Enthusiast]

110. I have resisted that conclusion for a long time.

No longer.

[peace frog]

4. So completely are Americans bamboozled

they don't even know there is a line to be drawn.
Like mushrooms, we are kept in the dark and fed a steady diet of sh*t.

[whathehell]

29. Speak for yourself, bro.

[tekisui]

5. KNR!

[tularetom]

6. Charade is the word for it alright

It's a game of good cop bad cop with Obama cast as the good cop, but make no mistake about it, it is definitely all an act staged in order to make us all grateful they aren't cutting more from SS/Medicare and giving it to their wealthy owners.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dionysus]

83. obamafans huh? cute.

[lark]

36. Brother, when you are right you are right!

This is staged kabuki theater. Now, we are being told how the radical Repugs won't even go for the gang of 6 economy rape because they are "so crazy". Yeah, right. They will go for it, alright, it's their F*ing plan to begin with. Only the Faux Dems would ever agree to pass this, unfortunately they are the majority of the people in congress calling themselves Dems right now. But we are smarter than that and can see thru their charade. They are giving their fatcat masters everything they want and pretending to do it for the good of America. Liars and charlatans. And the DSCC keeps sending me emails every day wanting me to give more $$. Fat chance of that happening again. I will only give to candidates/congress critters that reflect real Dem values, like Franken & Sanders & Grayson. I will give to them as long as my pay holds up & I have the means to do so. Obama & the rest will be getting plenty of money from their true friends, they don't need little working class folks like me anymore, obviously.

[Raksha]

38. I came to the same conclusion you did:

"it is definitely all an act staged in order to make us all grateful they aren't cutting more from SS/Medicare and giving it to their wealthy owners."

What I don't understand is why EVERYONE doesn't see through this stupid game.

[neoralme]

47. I have thought the same for a long long time. Obama is as transparent

as a piece of glass.

[SusanaMontana41]

91. Those of us who do

are doing our damndest to educate.

[whathappened]

97. they have taken

away stuff ,most folks don't even know about yet and they are just getting started , from what i learned when i went to get some new patches for my tens machine , it is no longer covered , plus the machine got dropped off the list , i just got a new 1 back in the spring , and they paid everything but 20 percent , that coverage got dropped down a deep hole , and these fooken machines are made in fooken china , so they have a short life , :hurts:

[truedelphi]

106. Sorry to hear about that.

Those machines used to cost about $ 600 bucks, maybe in the mid nineties.

Really fabulous pain relief. Someone gave me one, and it worked well, but we lost it when we moved.

[inna]

103. "What I don't understand is why EVERYONE doesn't see through this stupid game."

exactly. it's just mind-blowing to me; never ceases to amaze me (on daily basis).

[defendandprotect]

121. The lies are protected by SILENCE of our "free press" and Democratic Party -- !!

[SteveM]

41. So complete is corporate dominance, their actions are now sport.

I think they are getting off to fucking wit' people.

[saras]

69. To me, Bush Jr. was the epitome of that. Bad policy purely to fuck with people

Homeland Security, for example.

A completely redundant and unnecessary organization, largely created to get around rules holding other organizations responsible. for their behavior.

Or his attack on the roadless rule. No one actually was in a position to exploit the national forests, there just wasn't the demand, but Bush just wanted to run roads through them all so no one could ever say they were undefiled, especially in a legal sense.

Or the entire intellectual property brouhaha. "It's time for you all to give up owning these things, we want you to just pay rent for them, even though you used to buy, sell, and trade them freely. And if any new game-changing comes along, we want it interpreted in a way as to give us maximum social control."

[SteveM]

134. He was a wrecker who wrote in all off as privatizing everything.

[OwnedByFerrets]

78. Ding Ding Ding....unfortunately, you hit the nail on the head

[grahamhgreen]

101. +1

[Enthusiast]

113. It is a carefully crafted operation.

It was years in the planning.

All this and Obama is even proposing more free trade deals like the disastrous NAFTA. We are supposed to be fooled by this ruse.

[DirkGently]

7. "Trumped up crisis to raid the public purse ..." Bang-on. The Shock Doctrine continues.

[defendandprotect]

122. kr

[Auggie]

8. Thank you Ms. Klein

[Chimichurri]

9. What she said.

[FlyByNight]

10. Klein's textbook definition of the shock doctrine

Bipartisanship just means that ALL of the elites have agreed on screwing the rest of us over.

[robdogbucky]

11. Gee, where are all the

Pavrovian fear-mongering OTLers?

[patrice]

13. Done & Shared . . .

Like K&R? . . . a D&S.

[SOS]

14. Greenspan wanted Nixon to shock us back in 1972

Nixon felt Greenspan's ideology was too extreme for the US.
They began with a test run of Greenspan's idiocy in Chile in 1973 with the murder of Allende.

The goal to create a Pinochet-style government/economy in the US has been on the books for 38 years.
We are now in the implementation phase.

[robdogbucky]

16. Labyrinth, the book by Taylor Smith as told by Eugene Propper

The prosecutor in Washington given the case of Letelier murder in DC.

This is a fascinating book from 1982.


robdog sez check it out:


http://www.amazon.com/Labyrinth-Taylor-Branch/product-reviews/0140066837/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[IDemo]

17. +1

I'm midway through "Shock Doctrine" by Klein. This is the history book Americans need to read to understand why things are going so wrong for everyone but the Elite.

[freshwest]

34. Randians still support that way of running a country. Many Dems have been brainwashed by business.

[socialist_n_TN]

76. Brainwashed or bought? It's the system my friends

The SYSTEM needs to be smashed and rebuilt from the ground up.

Kick for Naomi.

[freshwest]

93. The only problem is that solution requires a generation of boot on the neck fascism to change.

Most of us can't wait for that. All her examples ended up thousands of lives and a lost generation. The so-called bring the system down crowd now is funded by the Koch brothers. They intend to take us back to the pre-Constitution days. Add in some Dominionist theocracy and we'll be in a thousand year dark age. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. And not survive. This situation didn't happen overnight. It can't be overturned overnight without handing it to the same powerful forces that are funding the mess. Right now, there are incrementalist, but totally separate solutions coming into play, from Kucinich, Korten and others. Be part of that to survive no matter whether these sob's get their comeuppance or not. This world won't end with a bang.The promotion of violent revolution is banned on DU.

[socialist_n_TN]

137. Where did I promote violent revolution?

The system could be brought to it's knees with a one month general strike and a repayment strike. It would only be violent if they decided to be violent. Then any violence would be in self defense.

[tex-wyo-dem]

99. You nailed it, SOS!

In fact, I was scanning the AM radio stations the other night and Laura Ingram had some mouthpiece on that was advocating how great Chile is, with its Social Security privatized and the populous being heavily invested in the markets. This was Milton Friedman's great experiment with the ousting and assassination of the democratically elected president and subsequent installation of Pinocet to start things off.

Make no mistake, this is what the RW has in mind for us in the good ole USA...and they are very willing to allow default to happen to destroy/privatize SS.

[Enthusiast]

114. I can't stomach Laura Ingram.

Does she ever open her mouth without lying?

[G_j]

138. Chile in 1973

good call

[myrna minx]

15. Exactly. K&R n/t

[Karenina]

19. . .

:kick:

[undeterred]

20. The current moment comprehended perfectly.

:thumbsup:

[Eddie Haskell]

21. Naomi is my hero.

:loveya:

[izquierdista]

22. It's time to call their bluff

Who is owed all this debt? Who owns the T-bonds, T-Notes, and T-bills, corporate bonds, munis, and most of the other debt instruments? It ain't ghetto dwellers, seniors living on their Social Security, the disabled, and those on Medicare. It is the rich, and they figure that this shakedown will up interest rates (all that risk of default! :hide:) while they make out like bandits. Well two can play this game, debt can always be renegotiated and the bondholders can end up with a haircut. Sometimes, as was the case with Louis XVI, quite a lot more than the hair can be cut.

[xiamiam]

55. shakedown is the right word..much like the bank bailout..

as we look forward, the greatest heist ever continues to unfold in front of our very eyes..we should all march to washington with ready to use pitchforks..

[Creideiki]

124. Anyone who owes any debt or plans to buy a house in the next quarter century would be hurt

Do you want to screw all the normal Americans?

[malaise]

23. Ding ding Naomi is the winner

Rec

[JDPriestly]

25. K&R

Obama made a deal with the devil. And now the devil wants him to pay up.

[Octafish]

26. How? How do we fight these traitors and gangsters? They'll shoot us.

And, please Mr. Michigan-license-plate "GOP NRA," no need to explain the Second Amendment to me.

So, how's about we start with a strike? Sort of like Lech Walesa did in Poland.

[SteveM]

31. And you'll hear no explanation from this armed lefty. nt

[neoralme]

35. Nor this one. My response to these goons will not be going

to some park wearing a funny hat and waving a garish sign.

[SteveM]

40. Yes. I prefer my demonstrations in the street....

...and how many guns I have is none of their damned business; I'm crappy at math anyway.

[neoralme]

44. I'm not positive the military would fire on us. The police

would though. It's coming. I just wish we had a vehicle to contact Boomers. They won't be driven down so easily. I'm looking for groups now. I can't say more here in open forum.

[xiamiam]

56. online social networking will be the key..nt

[neoralme]

58. Yes. Like for Egypt. I guess that means joining one. Do you think

the social networks will act. They must know what's going on.

[xiamiam]

61. this is one..nt

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

131. This is one?

I think misunderstood your comment, sorry.

Any voice of the popular opinion here at DU.
'specially ones advocating any resistance or any
Egyptian type social commentary, would get shut down
and fast. There are too many infiltrators here!

[xiamiam]

132. it is a public forum with tons of linked info and mostly principled dialogue

we have a serious problem ..all of us..forget parties..its class warfare..in america..i'm non violent... some aspect of me believes in us....we're a great group of people who are victims of a coup..we'll organize ourselves to act within our democracy..we each have one vote...turn off the tv...the pundits..write in that one vote... demand they be counted..there is the oct 11 rally in washington addressing the truth re the corporate state we now live under...we are many

[louslobbs]

53. Nor this one SteveM they think we're all just gonna roll over......NOT!

Lou

[SteveM]

135. Too old and fat to get down and roll like a dog!

[The Big Vetolski]

72. No. The people they will order to shoot us are US! The police and

the Army are US! Have a little faith. Just a little. Stand together, stand strong, and our brothers and sisters who joined the police and the army to have half a chance of living a decent life will not turn on us.

[tomp]

120. yeah, the police and the army are so progressive, just like us. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

80. Well, I've said it before and you said it here

and before. The main weapon the working class has is to withhold labor or strike. But they need to be organized and you can't worry about what's "legal" and "illegal". It might be legal, but what they're doing to us all is immoral and morality tops "legal and illegal".

So yes, strikes. Wildcat, called and general. Payment strikes on unsecured debt. Mass demonstrations with occupation of offices, factories, retail outlets of major corporations, INCLUDING THE MEDIA CORPORATIONS. And government buildings of course.

[swilton]

27. K&R

[Kaleko]

28. The fact that this thread hasn't been derailed yet

by the "denial squad" is a sign that a shift into greater awareness is underway.

Evolution on a national scale... it's a beautiful thing to behold despite the nightmarish conditions that are needed to wake us all up.

[The Big Vetolski]

73. I think you are onto something here...nt

[harun]

130. A number of us had said what Naomi is saying from the beginning of

this so called crisis. While it is good to see people increasing their awareness, the percentage of people on the wrong side of this issue even on DU was staggering to me.

Reagan raised the debt ceiling 17 times and he had a Dem House the WHOLE time. Having this be some emergency now, and Obama not calling them out on what this really is should set off alarms with EVERYONE on DU. It shouldn't take this long for people to figure this stuff out. This was a gimme.

Shock doctrine, right in our faces.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, G_j.

[Faryn Balyncd]

32. She nails it....K and R.

[freshwest]

33. Damned straight. Invoke the 14th. Arrest the robber barons.

[The Big Vetolski]

74. It IS doable. Those who oppose the 14th Amendment are guilty of

treason, are they not?

[freshwest]

92. I'd say so. I wish enough people read the Consitution to show up and say somthing.

[russspeakeasy]

37. Businesses that don't "work" shut down. This government

does not work....

[potone]

39. She is right, as usual.

The question is, what can we do? I have signed Bernie Sander's petition, but I feel so impotent. I would like some suggestions for actions we can take. I'm thinking of something like a general strike. There is no time to organize a march on Washington before Congress votes on this "Gang of Six" disgrace of a bill. Any ideas???

[neoralme]

50. These people laugh at petitions. I have a few ideas but they cannot

be mentioned here with all the Feds watching this place.

[Enrique]

42. the "Chicago boys"

indeed.

[Jakes Progress]

43. K&R Klein for WH Chief of Staff.

That Obama continues to staff his administration with shills, toadies, and RW ideologues is the surest evidence of either his complete support for a neocon corporate America or his full-on stupidity.

[Kaleko]

89. Let's face it,

Obama can't be labeled stupid unless you want to completely change the common definitions of the word.

So, that leaves us with the second alternative in your well-stated post, doesn't it?

[Jakes Progress]

94. I like to give some here an out.

They just can't believe he's a corporate whore, so I let them decide he is just stupid.

[hifiguy]

45. Also - read James Galbraith's "The Predator State"

which is complex economic theory explained with uncommon accessibility that any bright lay person can understand. He destroys every proffered underpinning for reichwing economics with elegance and simplicity.

Just ordered "Shock Doctrine." I know that I am delinquent in not having read this yet.

[Demoiselle]

46. Yup, a charade ably presented by our fearless Forth Estate. nt

[woo me with science]

48. K&R Glad she is speaking publicly. nt

[valerief]

49. Oh, but they're repealing DADT so that makes it all right. Sure, none

of us will have healthcare or retirement money, but that's not important. DADT repeal will get the coverage and be the smokescreen for the ra*ping of the American treasury.

[GreenPartyVoter]

51. But "they" say there's no class warfare in America.

:eyes:

[highplainsdem]

52. K&R

[scarletwoman]

54. It's so damn obvious -- how can people NOT see it?

That's what truly blows my mind: The power of denial to blind people to the knife at their throat.

Class War - we need to yell this from every corner, from every rooftop. Our only hope is to be unrelenting in speaking the truth: CLASS WAR!

This is our call to arms, we must rise up! We must fight back!

sw

[xiamiam]

60. how?

controlled tv..message management...and prescribed drugs..primarily anti depressants. Add to the malaise and confusion created by those ingredients, one of the most piss poor educational systems in the developed world. Sprinkle unbridled greed with no consequences on the top. Voila. Recipe for the nightmare we are now experiencing.

[scarletwoman]

63. Each one teach one. We have to become guerilla warriors planting seeds of rebellion wherever we can.

10% is the tipping point - that is, once 10% of a population evolves their consciousness, the snowball effect takes over.

There's no hope for waking up everyone, nor do we need to do so. Work on reaching 10%.

sw

[Enthusiast]

115. How can people NOT see it?

Well, they are all focused on Obama "the Communist" and Obama "the socialist" and Obama "the tax raiser" And Obama "the spend thrift" and Obama "the Muslin". They are BLINDED by their hatred.

I think those are generally the people that don't have a clue. They have bought into all the Fox News explanations. The rest of the nation is rapidly waking up, hopefully before it's too late.

[G_j]

133. it blows my mind to pieces

:banghead:

[KamaAina]

57. Yet another potential show for Current

Keith? Al? Anyone home? :shrug:

[jwirr]

59. This charade did not start with Obama. We have been playing shock

doctrine since raygun was elected. They have just been reaching the end game since baby booosh. Even Bill Clinton was playing alone with the game. I have always wondered what President Obama thought of Friedman and the chicago Boys especially since he taught at the University of Chicago. Could this man believe that this stuff works. I remember that instead of FDR he quoted raygun, the trickle down saint. Could we have been fools all along?

What is going on here? How could the man who made that speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004 be the same one we are seeing now?

[Enthusiast]

116. We are the victims of an elaborate ruse.

We need to let Obama know that we are on to him and his charade.

[Mimosa]

62. Klein explains it all.

Her books should be required reading in high school.

[Raine]

64. "Charade" perfect term ... part game and part theater

all to screw the public over but good. :mad:

[paparush]

65. What are WE, THE PEOPLE, going to do about this?

Call my Representative? I don't have any representatives any more. One of my senators is a total, pro-biz, Republican shill. My other, a Dem** has publicly advocated another corporate tax holiday. My House rep is a total blue dog, evangelical nut bag.

Oh, and the Prez I campaigned for and donated to appears to be abandoning the middle class and working poor yet again.

[SHRED]

66. The Donkey is dying

[woo me with science]

67. Representative government is dying. nt

[provis99]

71. representative government is alive and well.

It's just who they represent has changed: the people are out, the corporations are in.

[Enthusiast]

117. In this nation.

And the "far right" is trying to gain control all over the Western World.

[Canuckistanian]

68. She has a remakable ability to cut through the bullshit

And I'm proud to say that she's from my country.

[Butch350]

70. Get off your seats and take to the streets....

sitting here chattering about in eloquent speeches and gonna get shit done.

[yardwork]

75. k&r

[OwnedByFerrets]

77. This might be the most important post of the year

I love Ms Klein!!!

[ooglymoogly]

79. say it loud. kr nt

[mother earth]

81. Absolutely...they will profit & it's the reason they game us.

When the banksters get away with criminal activity and we provide the bailouts, why stop now? The lack of accountability is shameless and speaks volumes, starting from day one when we were told not to look backwards, but look forward? This is what we have ahead of us.

[WillyT]

82. + 1,000,000,000... What She Said !!! - HUGE K & R !!!

:patriot:

:kick:

[whatchamacallit]

84. Love Naomi... K&R

[blackspade]

85. K&R!

Love me some Naomi!

[Major Hogwash]

86. Who is Naomi Klein?

I haven't seen her go on Lawrence O'Donnell's program.

[MadMaddie]

87. She nailed it! Her book is a great read

[orbitalman]

88. K and R

[alfredo]

90. I am passing that quote on to everybody I know.

[CoffeeCat]

95. Bohner is a liar. So is Obama.

Both sides are lying and playing bad theater to "We The People".

Each person has their respective part, "Ok Bohner, you're going to play
the a-hole who won't raise the debt ceiling. Now Obama, you come in and
pretend that this is a crisis of epic proportions and it must be solved
by compromising. And of course, we all know what 'compromising' means--
doing what the corporations want. Cutting Social Security. Cutting Medicaid.
Keeping tax cuts for the wealthy. We can't say that we want to do those
things. We just have to make it look as if we had no choice...OR THE WORLD
WILL END AS WE KNOW IT!!!"

Fricking, dishonest, third-rate thugs.

All of them!!!

The debt ceiling crisis is a manufactured load of bullshit.

Aren't we so sick of the Republicans playing the bullies and the Democrats playing
the part of the lily-livered doormats who get their lunch money stolen, yet again.

OH please!!! This stuff isn't even remotely believable anymore!

[libmom74]

107. +100

[nadinbrzezinski]

96. AMEN

[inna]

98. damn right. thank you for posting this.

[kenny blankenship]

100. They read your book Naomi! You should be flattered.

You magnificent bastard!

[grahamhgreen]

102. Amen.

[democrank]

104. Tell it, Naomi

[Desertrose]

105. K&R.

:hi::hug::loveya: G_j

[lob1]

108. Proud to be rec 293.

[BillyJBlackman]

109. Social Security and Medicare are not a Part of the Budget

The whole concept of including Social Security and Medicare as part of the budget flies in the face of the written law.
These funds are exempt from all budget considerations.

From:

EXCLUSION OF SOCIAL SECURITY FROM ALL BUDGETS Pub. L. 101-508, title XIII, Sec. 13301(a), Nov. 5, 1990, 104Stat. 1388-623, provided that: Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the receipts and disbursements of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund shall not be counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of - (1) the budget of the United States Government as submitted by the President, (2) the congressional budget, or (3) the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985

Both parties have to stop this Fear Mongering Charade.

[Enthusiast]

118. Acting as if social security contributed to the debt

is what has finally exposed Obama for what he is.

[Enthusiast]

111. Kicked and recommended!

Knowing this doesn't make me feel any better.

[OneGrassRoot]

112. K&R n/t

[SpiralHawk]

123. Thanks for posting

eom

[blkmusclmachine]

125. Drowning America in a bathtub, "bi-partisan" style.

n/t

[Fuddnik]

127. Drowning Americans in a swamp, bi-partisan style.

[lonestarnot]

126. No shit!

K & R!

[bertman]

128. Proud to be the 334th REC. nt

[Hubert Flottz]

129. I haven't missed voting a single time and I'm still getting the GOPer

shaft.

[woo me with science]

136. Kick

(Wish I could recommend again)

[woo me with science]

139. Kick. nt

[G_j]

140. message appropriate for today.. nt