What is it really
That’s going on here
You’ve got your system for total control
So is there really anybody out there
Now watch us suffer cause we can’t go
What is it really that is in your head
What little life that you had just died
I’m gonna be the one that’s takin over
Now this is what it’s like when worlds collide

– Powerman 5000

According to the NY Times, there are two gilded ages upon us, with the east going through it’s first gilded era, and the west embarking on its second go round.

And when they collide:

The two gilded ages can also get in each other’s way: As good an explanation as any for the 2008 financial crisis is that it is the result of the collision between a gilded age in China and one in the West. The financial imbalances that are an essential part of China’s export-driven growth model played a role in inflating the credit bubble that burst with such devastating consequences in 2008.

I’d also like to add that  just because there is now a new emerging eastern elite, it doesn’t mean that wealth is being democratized. More importantly, this new reality doesn’t mean that social mobility is any easier for those on the bottom rung of the ladder—in the east or the west.

Something to ponder as you watch the ball drop on television tonight. In the new year of a continuing economic recession, there will be battles waged over government spending. The budgets for much needed social programs will be cut and we will not address the serious spending at all.

As a wise man once said –

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone.

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.

It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.

It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.

We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.

We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

That was President Eisenhower for you and we’ve been wandering down the road he outlined above ever since.

I’ve said this a few times already. I don’t know why we allow the government to import wind turbines and solar panels when they should be manufactured in the United States. At least some of the industries involved in making these items are starting to ask for tariffs.

The allegations are much like the ones that solar panel manufacturers made in a similar case filed against Chinese manufacturers in October, namely that government subsidies were allowing foreign manufacturers to sell below cost in the United States, damaging the domestic industry. The filing is likely to increase the already escalating trade frictions between the United States and China.

Seriously, do they want us wedded to fossil fuels forever? How is that a good thing? They will run out one day you know whether you like it or not. Even the oil companies you so love are looking towards the future and developing new energy sources. I thought they’d be all about the free-market and support businesses like car manufacturers leaping into a new frontier? How does lying about the cost of a Chevy Volt, made by an American car maker help the United States?

This is exactly what James Hohman, the assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, did recently. You may have seen the headlines: “Each Chevy Volt Costs Taxpayers $250,000.” “Are Volts for dolts? It’s starting to look that way.” “Report: Every Chevy Volt has over $250,000 in government subsidies.” When we first saw this story, we looked it over and figured the math was so skewed that no one would dare repeat it. But then everyone did, so we now think it makes sense to throw some cold water on the whole issue.

It’s truly a shame. Maybe they hate making the President look good because he bailed out GM and they are now doing well?

A friend sent me this link to an analysis published in New Scientist that I found interesting.

 An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

Here’s a list of the most connected corporations in the world.

The top 50 of the 147 superconnected companies

1. Barclays plc
2. Capital Group Companies Inc
3. FMR Corporation
4. AXA
5. State Street Corporation
6. JP Morgan Chase & Co
7. Legal & General Group plc
8. Vanguard Group Inc
9. UBS AG
10. Merrill Lynch & Co Inc
11. Wellington Management Co LLP
12. Deutsche Bank AG
13. Franklin Resources Inc
14. Credit Suisse Group
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp
17. Natixis
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc
20. Legg Mason Inc
21. Morgan Stanley
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc
23. Northern Trust Corporation
24. Société Générale
25. Bank of America Corporation
26. Lloyds TSB Group plc
27. Invesco plc
28. Allianz SE 29. TIAA
30. Old Mutual Public Limited Company
31. Aviva plc
32. Schroders plc
33. Dodge & Cox
34. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc*
35. Sun Life Financial Inc
36. Standard Life plc
37. CNCE
38. Nomura Holdings Inc
39. The Depository Trust Company
40. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
41. ING Groep NV
42. Brandes Investment Partners LP
43. Unicredito Italiano SPA
44. Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan
45. Vereniging Aegon
46. BNP Paribas
47. Affiliated Managers Group Inc
48. Resona Holdings Inc
49. Capital Group International Inc
50. China Petrochemical Group Company

* Lehman still existed in the 2007 dataset used

Since I’ve decided to switch from the US version of the NY Times to its global version, I’ve found a lot of items I wouldn’t have normally been aware of. It was actually this display of Time magazine covers comparing the US to the rest of the world that really galvanized me to make the change.

With that said I came across this NY Times story today on how the lower caste in India’s caste system have been able to rise above their untouchable status due to the wonders of the market economy. While I applaud their economic achievements  and the breaking free of the caste system, I wonder about embracing the class system without the proper safeguards and reforms in place.

From the article:

“This is a golden period for Dalits,” said Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit activist and researcher who has championed capitalism among the untouchables. “Because of the new market economy, material markers are replacing social markers. Dalits can buy rank in the market economy. India is moving from a caste-based to a class-based society, where if you have all the goodies in life and your bank account is booming, you are acceptable.”

I disdain both the caste system and the class system as it now stands. In the class system inequality roams free. That’s why people in the United States are upset about the wealth concentrated in the 1% percent vs. the 99%.  Now I don’t mean that we must ensure that no one is wealthier than another, but if we are to accept the class system, then there should be an effort to end poverty and strengthen the middle class all over the world.

I wish that more communities would actually explore the route that the residents of Saranac Lake did.

It took nearly five years — the recession added to the challenge — but the organizers reached their $500,000 goal last spring. By then, some 600 people had chipped in an average of $800 each. And so, on Oct. 29, as an early winter storm threatened the region, the Saranac Lake Community Store opened its doors to the public for the first time. By 9:30 in the morning, the store, in a former restaurant space on Main Street opposite the Hotel Saranac, was packed with shoppers, well-wishers and the curious.

I’ve read of a similar story in the book Big Box Swindle. There’s a store called the Merc which the Times article also cites.

“There was a great concern that Main Street would fail if we didn’t have a store to replace the Stage,” said Sharon Earhart, who was director of the Powell chamber of commerce at the time. Ms. Earhart and a few other residents raised more than $400,000 from local residents in three months by selling $500 shares, and opened the Merc.

No, I don’t want your 9, 9, 9 or Steve Forbesism, backwards flat tax theory. It won’t help me or many others I know. It benefits people like Herman Cain and Steve Forbes though.

The flat tax does not work for everyone.

The contention that a flat tax would be simpler because it involves only a single rate is flatly wrong. The complexity of the current system has nothing to do with its multiple income brackets.

The flat tax would make the 1% even more richer which is why Cain and other conservatives seem to like it. A family of four making 50k a year would get a tax bill with an increase of four thousand dollars. This flat tax is like a slippery slope actually. It’s the first step for conservatives to be able to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service.

Remember this picture: Occupy Oakland General Strike

Tomorrow Occupy Oakland protesters have called for a general strike to protest the tear gassing of activists and the injury of Scott Olsen a US veteran. After reading a book on non violent protest recently I have come to realize the power and effectiveness of a general strike if carried out successfully. When the opposition has all the financial and physical power on their side it is only non violence that can prevail. The minute you start to use violence against violence then you loose all sympathy and support from the public which you are trying to win to your side.

The main ingredient for any state or organizational structure being able to assert authority is the consent of the people. Once people withdraw their consent through non-cooperation and resistance the tides are turned. Yes, often force will be used to gain consent or like Noam Chomsky has said consent can be manufactured, but once it is withdrawn a sea change begins.

This quote below says a lot to me:

“We’re the one’s losing our homes and having city services cut because of what bankers and Wall Street have done,” said Dwight McElroy, President of 1021’s Oakland chapter. “Occupy Oakland is out there taking baton blows and tear gas to protest what has been happening, so it is incumbent on the labor movement to protect them.”

He’s absolutely right. That’s why I’m hoping participation is as wide as possible tomorrow in Oakland. Shut that city down!

You know I’ve often wondered why more homeless or soon to be homeless people weren’t doing this already. With the way we are gutting social programs in this country it won’t be long before we’re all in the big house it seems.

From Daily Kos Labor:

“He’s homeless and has nowhere to go. By taking these actions, he knew where he would be. He’d have a place to stay, a warm meal and clothes to wear,” Bradley said.

I’m not sure what to say. Obviously you cannot defend what he did. Yet at the same time you have to wonder were there no charities or programs there for him to seek help at?