Most posts on this site involve original reporting and commentary, but when something comes along that’s important enough to be spotlighted, we can’t ignore the work others are doing when they so closely align with the narratives we promote.
These days, things are rarely as they seem in the nation’s capital. Secrets plans, betrayals, subterfuge and conspiracy are all common place as the two parties compete for monetary support of the banks in the upcoming 2012 election. As we’ve noted, mainstream politicians receive more support from banks than any other special interest group and they contribute to both parties simultaneously.
Michael Hudson, an economics professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominanc, recently wrote a compelling article on his website analyzing what’s really going on in the Washington debt debate.
You may remember we reported that both Republicans and Democrats were in agreement on a plan to alter the way the government tracks inflation as a way to cut Social Security payments, simultaneously betraying the principals both parties are supposed to stand for. Here’s an excerpt from Hudson’s essay:
The most reasonable explanation for his empty threat is that he is trying to panic the elderly into hoping that somehow the budget deal he seems to have up his sleeve can save them. The reality, of course, is that they are being led to economic slaughter. (And not a word of correction reminding the President of financial reality from Rubinomics Treasury Secretary Geithner, neoliberal Fed Chairman Bernanke or anyone else in the Wall Street Democrat administration, formerly known as the Democratic Leadership Council.)
It is a con. Mr. Obama has come to bury Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, not to save them. This was clear from the outset of his administration when he appointed his Deficit Reduction Commission, headed by avowed enemies of Social Security Republican Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming, and President Clinton’s Rubinomics chief of staff Erskine Bowles…
[W]e are seeing a lapse back into neo-feudalism. The difference, of course, is that this time around society is not controlled by military grabbers of the land. Finance today achieves what military force did in times past… Instead of society paying land rent and tribute to conquerors, we pay the bankers. Just as access to the land was a precondition for families to feed themselves under feudalism, one needs access to credit, to water, medical care, pensions or Social Security and other basic needs today – and must pay interest, fees and monopoly rent to the neo-feudal oligarchy that is now making its deft move from the United States to Ireland and Greece.
“If the financial system were allowed to collapse,” he warned in his Reagan Library speech, “it is the American people who would pay the price. This never has been just about the banks; it has always been about continued prosperity and opportunity for all Americans.”
But of course, it is all about the banks! Wall Street knows that to get sufficient Congressional votes to roll back the New Deal, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a Democratic president needs to be in office. A Democratic Congress would block any Republican president trying to make the kind of cuts that Mr. Obama is sponsoring. But Congressional Democratic opposition is paralyzed when President Obama himself – the liberal president par excellence, America’s Tony Blair – acts as cheerleader for cutting back entitlements and other social spending.
It should be noted, that a downgrade in the US credit rating is becoming increasingly likely and this will force the US to pay out much higher interests rates on our existing debt, essentially canceling out any benefits we might accrue through modest deficit reduction! This means that the US has begun to enter the beginning stages of debt slavery, where we liquidate the nation’s assets to pay off our debts, all the while tolerating a lower standard of living while never getting any closer to escaping from our debt.
Washington’s blog cite’s Jeff Cohen who notes that the perception that Obama is the victim of Republican thuggery is a fiction.
“They accuse President Obama of being weak and willing to “cave” to corporate and conservative forces bent on cutting the social safety net while protecting the wealthy. Those accusations are wrong.
The accusations imply that Obama is on our side. Or was on our side. And that the right wing is pushing him around, but the evidence is clear that Obama is an often-willing servant of corporate interests — not someone reluctantly doing their bidding, or serving their interests only because Republicans forced him to.”
The criticism comes at a time when calls for Obama to have a primary challenger from independent Senator Bernie Sanders and others is rising. Cohen continues:
“Imagine if a credible candidate immediately threatened a primary challenge unless Obama rejects any deal cutting the safety net while maintaining tax breaks for the rich. Team Obama knows that a serious primary challenger would cost the Obama campaign millions of dollars. And it may well be a powerful movement-building opportunity for activists tired of feeling hopeless with Obama.”
