Apr 6, 2023·edited Apr 7, 2023Liked by Bill Astore
The Realities that America needs to face ~ and that Americans need to confront, acknowledge, accept, and either act upon or simply meekly accept ~ are:
That the American Empire has entered the “Decline” phase that all empires eventually reach on their way to the “Fall” phase.
That as that Decline unravels into Fall, America is transitioning from being merely a Flailing Nation-State to a Failing Nation-State.
That as that transition from Flailer to Failure unfolds, America’s system of government and governance is becoming increasingly authoritarian enroute to eventually totalitarian as the Ruling Political Class seeks to shield itself from the effects of the Decline and Fall of their empire.
The general problem is that so much of government is about, 1) more power to the government, and 2) more money to the special interest supporters of the government. I would say a lot of opposition to green energy items stems from this viewpoint of government actions. Of course the promoters of green new deal type stuff (like Chomsky) won't see it that way. They will explain that the political opposition (the Republicans) want to see the earth doomed. In the same way the promoters of the military state will accuse the opposition of wanting to see Putin win. It's the same dynamic.
"[E]ssential stories about climate change and Armageddon-enabling nuclear weapons are mostly ignored."
That's a stand-alone sentence. Doesn't matter what's going on in the news cycle.
This is a long read if you use the transcript, and a fairly long video, but Carter lays it out here in stark terms exactly where we are, in terms of climate change.
At its root the left's discussion of climate change is this: the earth is in real trouble and we're doomed unless you give us more power. That's it. And if we heed that call and give them more power then in 20 years they will have even more power and they will be singing the same tune about climate change. So why would I assent to that? Why would anyone assent to that who doesn't stand to gain more power?
America’s Media likes to claim itself as the so-called “Fourth Branch” of the government, after the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches. The plain, simple, ugly fact of the matter is that the Fourth Branch of that government is the Federal Reserve System, and the Media is nothing but a bunch of errand and messenger boys and girls. Any who doubt this are invited to read the following. As Captain Willard put it in APOCALYPSE NOW, “The bullshit is so deep you need water wings just to stay afloat.” …:
US BANK BAILOUT BENEFITTED BILLIONAIRES, EXPOSING CORRUPTION by Ben Norton / Geopolitical Economy Report 041023
When current US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen served as chair of the Federal Reserve in 2017, she confidently predicted that there would not be another financial crisis “in our lifetimes”.
Less than six years later, in March 2023, three US banks collapsed in just one week.
Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were the second- and third-largest banks to go under in US history. And after they crashed, the government immediately bailed out their wealthy depositors.
Among the main beneficiaries of this bailout were billionaires and big corporations.
The government’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures US bank deposits up to $250,000 per customer.
More than 93% of Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits and 90% of Signature Bank’s deposits exceeded this FDIC-insured limit.
The average deposit at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was around $5 million.
The 10 largest accounts at SVB, together, held a staggering $13.3 billion.
Despite the fact that these billionaire accounts were thousands of times larger than the FDIC-insured limit, the US government paid all of the uninsured deposits.
The oligarchs and huge corporations who knowingly held billions of dollars of uninsured funds in the banks were not forced to take a haircut; they didn’t lose a cent.
Geopolitical Economy Report previously noted how the US Federal Reserve printed $300 billion in one week to stabilize the banking system. According to the Associated Press, $143 billion of that $300 billion was borrowed by FDIC-managed holding companies for SVB and Signature Bank and used to pay their uninsured depositors.
On March 28, a hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs provided even more information about this scandal.
In written testimony for the hearing, the chairman of the FDIC, Martin Gruenberg, revealed:
“At SVB [Silicon Valley Bank], the depositors protected by the guarantee of uninsured depositors included not only small and mid-size business customers but also customers with very large account balances. The ten largest deposit accounts at SVB held $13.3 billion, in the aggregate.”
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the DIF [Deposit Insurance Fund] of resolving SVB to be $20 billion. The FDIC estimates the cost of resolving Signature Bank to be $2.5 billion. Of the estimated loss amounts, approximately 88 percent, or $18 billion, is attributable to the cost of covering uninsured deposits at SVB while approximately two-thirds, or $1.6 billion, is attributable to the cost of covering uninsured deposits at Signature Bank.
As journalist David Dayen noted, this means that more than $13 billion of the $18 billion (over 72%) that the US government paid to bail out uninsured Silicon Valley depositors went to these 10 huge billionaire accounts.
Anybody who has any doubts that America has begun its transition from a merely Flailing Nation-State to a Failing Nation-State needs only to consider the following fact:
That the leading candidates to be the next President of the United States are Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
All the more reason to seriously doubt whether the United States will survive long enough to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, 1,184 days from today. Or if it does survive, that it will be in any condition or mood to celebrate anything.
I have lived a fairly long time, and been fairly awake for most of it; but I've never seen the extent of 'narrative control' and perhaps even 'thought control' as I now see. And it appears to get worse with every passing day / year. Those whose motives are the further consolidation of both wealth and power use all the channels of 'information' to achieve those ends. Unfortunately, hardly a day goes by in which I don't see further evidence of their success.
People I know from the environmentalist side somehow fail to see the nexus between the seemingly limitless 'defense' spending and our nation's (and others') unwillingness to treat climate destabilization with the urgency and changes needed; and happily cheer-lead for more war-making to put down the demon(s) they are convinced by media to hate.
So please keep sharing your excellent, clear observations about such things.
The Realities that America needs to face ~ and that Americans need to confront, acknowledge, accept, and either act upon or simply meekly accept ~ are:
That the American Empire has entered the “Decline” phase that all empires eventually reach on their way to the “Fall” phase.
That as that Decline unravels into Fall, America is transitioning from being merely a Flailing Nation-State to a Failing Nation-State.
That as that transition from Flailer to Failure unfolds, America’s system of government and governance is becoming increasingly authoritarian enroute to eventually totalitarian as the Ruling Political Class seeks to shield itself from the effects of the Decline and Fall of their empire.
The general problem is that so much of government is about, 1) more power to the government, and 2) more money to the special interest supporters of the government. I would say a lot of opposition to green energy items stems from this viewpoint of government actions. Of course the promoters of green new deal type stuff (like Chomsky) won't see it that way. They will explain that the political opposition (the Republicans) want to see the earth doomed. In the same way the promoters of the military state will accuse the opposition of wanting to see Putin win. It's the same dynamic.
The reality?
This absurd war.
"[E]ssential stories about climate change and Armageddon-enabling nuclear weapons are mostly ignored."
That's a stand-alone sentence. Doesn't matter what's going on in the news cycle.
This is a long read if you use the transcript, and a fairly long video, but Carter lays it out here in stark terms exactly where we are, in terms of climate change.
https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2023/04/06/peter-carter-theres-no-incentive-to-use-warfare-if-you-have-a-renewable-energized-planet/
At its root the left's discussion of climate change is this: the earth is in real trouble and we're doomed unless you give us more power. That's it. And if we heed that call and give them more power then in 20 years they will have even more power and they will be singing the same tune about climate change. So why would I assent to that? Why would anyone assent to that who doesn't stand to gain more power?
America’s Media likes to claim itself as the so-called “Fourth Branch” of the government, after the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches. The plain, simple, ugly fact of the matter is that the Fourth Branch of that government is the Federal Reserve System, and the Media is nothing but a bunch of errand and messenger boys and girls. Any who doubt this are invited to read the following. As Captain Willard put it in APOCALYPSE NOW, “The bullshit is so deep you need water wings just to stay afloat.” …:
US BANK BAILOUT BENEFITTED BILLIONAIRES, EXPOSING CORRUPTION by Ben Norton / Geopolitical Economy Report 041023
When current US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen served as chair of the Federal Reserve in 2017, she confidently predicted that there would not be another financial crisis “in our lifetimes”.
Less than six years later, in March 2023, three US banks collapsed in just one week.
Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were the second- and third-largest banks to go under in US history. And after they crashed, the government immediately bailed out their wealthy depositors.
Among the main beneficiaries of this bailout were billionaires and big corporations.
The government’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures US bank deposits up to $250,000 per customer.
More than 93% of Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits and 90% of Signature Bank’s deposits exceeded this FDIC-insured limit.
The average deposit at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was around $5 million.
The 10 largest accounts at SVB, together, held a staggering $13.3 billion.
Despite the fact that these billionaire accounts were thousands of times larger than the FDIC-insured limit, the US government paid all of the uninsured deposits.
The oligarchs and huge corporations who knowingly held billions of dollars of uninsured funds in the banks were not forced to take a haircut; they didn’t lose a cent.
Geopolitical Economy Report previously noted how the US Federal Reserve printed $300 billion in one week to stabilize the banking system. According to the Associated Press, $143 billion of that $300 billion was borrowed by FDIC-managed holding companies for SVB and Signature Bank and used to pay their uninsured depositors.
On March 28, a hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs provided even more information about this scandal.
In written testimony for the hearing, the chairman of the FDIC, Martin Gruenberg, revealed:
“At SVB [Silicon Valley Bank], the depositors protected by the guarantee of uninsured depositors included not only small and mid-size business customers but also customers with very large account balances. The ten largest deposit accounts at SVB held $13.3 billion, in the aggregate.”
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the DIF [Deposit Insurance Fund] of resolving SVB to be $20 billion. The FDIC estimates the cost of resolving Signature Bank to be $2.5 billion. Of the estimated loss amounts, approximately 88 percent, or $18 billion, is attributable to the cost of covering uninsured deposits at SVB while approximately two-thirds, or $1.6 billion, is attributable to the cost of covering uninsured deposits at Signature Bank.
As journalist David Dayen noted, this means that more than $13 billion of the $18 billion (over 72%) that the US government paid to bail out uninsured Silicon Valley depositors went to these 10 huge billionaire accounts.
Continued at https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/10/us-bank-bailout-benefitted-billionaires-exposing-corruption-i-understand-why-americans-are-angry/
Anybody who has any doubts that America has begun its transition from a merely Flailing Nation-State to a Failing Nation-State needs only to consider the following fact:
That the leading candidates to be the next President of the United States are Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
All the more reason to seriously doubt whether the United States will survive long enough to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, 1,184 days from today. Or if it does survive, that it will be in any condition or mood to celebrate anything.
Thanks, Bill. Well said, and high in importance.
I have lived a fairly long time, and been fairly awake for most of it; but I've never seen the extent of 'narrative control' and perhaps even 'thought control' as I now see. And it appears to get worse with every passing day / year. Those whose motives are the further consolidation of both wealth and power use all the channels of 'information' to achieve those ends. Unfortunately, hardly a day goes by in which I don't see further evidence of their success.
People I know from the environmentalist side somehow fail to see the nexus between the seemingly limitless 'defense' spending and our nation's (and others') unwillingness to treat climate destabilization with the urgency and changes needed; and happily cheer-lead for more war-making to put down the demon(s) they are convinced by media to hate.
So please keep sharing your excellent, clear observations about such things.