Four Horsement - Documentary - Notes Part 2

FOUR HORSEMEN DOCUMENTARY NOTES, part 2 - From:  44:22 - 1:38:53 ........................................................................... https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5fbvquHSPJU#t=319 ........................................................................... Democrats & Republicans beholden to corporate interests. Until this changes, we will never have a government for the public. See:  Top 100 Campaign Contributors [below is Politico's list, selected randomly.  However, this list did not appear in documentary.] Blue billionaires on top POLITICO’s list of Top 100 donors Source:  http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/blue-billionaires-on-top-114151.html ........................................................................... Terrorism see - political language / Orwell ... solidity to wind Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell Military intervention in: > Iraq > Afghanistan > Pakistan justified as 'moral obligation' But who are the beneficiaries? 1.  Arms & Military Equipment Sales However, military intervention results in radicalisation. eg. Drone attacks (as opposed to surgical commando operations) seen as attacks on a sovereign Pakistan. 2.  Rebuilding of Infrastructure / Aid (ie loans) Beneficiaries of huge loans = own corporations Infrastructure built does not benefit the majority (benefits the elite); but majority/poor are left with a huge debt. Money goes to Western consultants and companies. Aid is a hindrance instead of a help.  ........................................................................... Is foreign policy based on altruism or in the benefit of corporations / money interests? US evangelicalisation of democracy is riddled with contradictions:  >democracy at the end of a gun >US opposing democratic regimes that aren't democratic in the way US wants them to be Promotion of free market capitalism riddled with contradictions: Countries on the cusp of change, structurally changing, not too free or transparent (opaque), is how the US companies make their money. Wall Street speculators (made billions 'riding the short' / massive short on housing market), but this does nothing to benefit the economy vs free market scenario: eg. benefit scenario = invention of, say, vehicle that is fuelled on grass clippings inventor makes money but society also benefits because of this needed invention  ...........................................................................   London, St Paul's Cathedral backdrop: Goldman Sachs Chairman & mouthpiece, Lord Griffiths, a devoted Christian, defended extortion and bonuses: "I am not a person of despair, I am a person of hope, and I think that we have to tolerate the inequality as a way of achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all." [not in documentary] out of interest, note also:  Public Must Learn to 'Tolerate Inequality' of Bonuses - The Guardian Above is a self-serving argument. Financiers will twist the worlds of classical economists.  Adam Smith (philosopher, pioneer of political economy) mentioned. Will rely on arguments: 1.  Trickle down economics 2.  Horse & sparrow but by the time the money trickles down to the bottom of society, the money loses purchasing power. The political process is badly flawed (see lobbying), and requires restructure to give more voice to ordinary people and less influence to interest groups and lobby groups. Documentary tried to convey (I think) that terrorists see themselves as 'freedom fighters' and that they are motivated from positions of eg. loss of the farm or fishing waters (as result of Western corporate projects). Therefore, could this also be called 'terrorism': > Corporations > Speculators > Policy makers ........................................................................... Noam Chomsky was also interviewed. If I understand correctly, Latin Americans refer to US intervention in Chile as the 'First 9/11': Chile - 11 Sept 1973 Allende Coup Augusto Pinochet dictatorship installed (1973-1990) economists installed (driving worst conditions in history) Suppression of dissidents:  1,000s of political dissenters imprisoned & murdered Chomsky tried to convey that what was done in 9-11 was bad, but it could have been worse.  The Chile example was given:  as in, government could have been taken down, dictator could have been installed, economy could have been screwed by economists installed etc, but it wasn't. Chomsky: principle of ideology = never look at own crimes Instead:  exalt in crimes of others & our own nobility in opposing them. ........................................................................... [not in documentary] out of interest, note also:  Covert United States foreign regime change actions 1949  Syrian coup d'état 1953  Iranian coup d'état 1954  Guatemalan coup d'état 1959  Tibetan uprising 1961  Cuba, Bay of Pigs Invasion 1963  South Vietnamese coup 1964  Brazilian coup d'état 1973  Chilean coup d'état 1976  Argentine coup d'état 1979–89 Afghanistan, Operation Cyclone 1980  Turkish coup d'état 1981–87 Nicaragua, Contras List source: Wikipedia  ........................................................................... West will export injustice through finance. Root causes of terrorism will not be solved by increasing inequality. If government is serious about combating terrorism, must start with real structural reform on domestic front. "As long as banking empires chase infrastructure and debt deals in pursuit of profit, the West will continue to export injustice through finance, millions more will be displaced, terrorism will thrive, and neocolonialism will continue to end more and more lives around the world." ........................................................................... Resources World is being filled with more and more things: >more people (population growing at rapid rate, eg trippling in lifetime of speaker). >more and more man-made objects. The world is full of man-made capital. But the more we grow the more poverty we create. Royal Dutch Shell view of the future (ending year 2075): 1.  Blueprint view.  Bloody. 2.  Scramble view.  Substantially more bloody struggle for depleted resources. Oil supplies are dwindling.  Deep sea drilling for oil is taking place because most easily accessible oil has been found and consumed. Metal resources - new major discoveries are increasingly rare. 40% of worlds agricultural land is seriously degraded, causing volatile yields. Exhaustion of world's resources coming our way. Billions of Earth's population require farming lands; fossil fuels; water. Options (a) sharing resources or (b) combat/struggle/scramble. Shell's bettering on option (b) vs sharing. Antidote is moving from globalisation to localisation, promoting fellowship, responsibility, purpose (ie production vs consumption driven economies). In the growth economy, consumption is a way of life. Growth economy associated with: * military * production of what is not needed Documentary is saying that individual achievement without incorporating the needs of the vulnerable is a myth.  Human affection is missing.  Humans are propelled by affections.  Purpose of life is outside of oneself. [Not certain if I have understood this correctly.  This caring/sharing bit of the documentary was lost on me.] ........................................................................... Progress Systemic problem is being ignored.  Clearing out a few bad apples will not cleans systemic flaws in the heart of the Western economic system. Four Horsemen 1.      Rapacious financial system 2. Escalating organised violence 3. Abject poverty for billions 4. Exhaustion of Earth’s resources The Four Horsemen gallop unchallenged because the cognitive map (shaped by schools, universities and the media) does not encourage us to question norms.  Instead, there is apathy and people take the depressive point of view that nothing can be done and that it's a dog-eat-dog world. We can, however, reach a more equitable society. Disinformation of the neo-classical school of economics is advanced by academia and the media. Education can be a form of mind control.  Banks often fund universities, educational foundations and think tanks.  Ivy league universities only teach neo-classical economics. Learn also about: 1.  Classical economics. 2.  System of money. The money system requires reform as we cannot function on the fiat money system, or it will spell the end of industrial civilisation. The fiat money system is governed by man-made law which is abused. Contrast:  gold standard @ growth of about 1.75% per annum, which is in approximate balance with supply/demand and average population growth, and is beyond the control of politicians. Fiat = chronic debt build-up.  Debt = form of slavery. Refer to German debt cancellations of 1947 to clean the slate, which would involve wiping debt & wiping savings. Taxation reform required.  Taxation based on consumption, not income. Classical economists - tax reform on resources / consumption. Wage labour (seen as 'temporary) is no different to slavery. Inequity in wages:  those at top 500-1,000 times more than those at bottom.  Commonality of interest is lost in this vast class difference. Hubert Spencer (classical liberal political theorist):  'survival of the fittest' does not apply; monopolists have too much because the system is rigged. Reforms: 1.  independent money system 2.  taxation reform - resources/consumption. 3.  employee ownership of means of production Boundaries can be withdrawn:  eg in the past, selling any chemical as pharmaceuticals, child labour, slavery. Same thing will be true of active money management. Breakdown seen in Depression and again at beginning of 21st Century, occurred because in the name of growth much was taken out of the system by those that contribute very little.  Multi-national corporates and banks will always want to grow without having to compensate the people who actually do the work to produce the surplus. In the past, every time too much was taken by those who contributed little, people rose up to halt the violent practice. Central banks unregulated cheap money, pumped up land values, which created an unsustainable 'asset bubble', in a world that once again operates a rigged tax system that enriches entrenched privilege. Neo-classical economics have ruined life for the bottom billions, tempted everyone into inter-generational conflict and created massive suffering that has no limits. There is a formless Wall Street enemy pervading every element of economic and democratic process: The following have trashed the economy: > central banking > rigged capitalism > land speculation > income taxation > neo-classical economics and have corporatised democracy, stunted progress, perverted the course of human destiny, and compromised the future of this planet. Status quo can be challenged. Essence of American democracy is the repeated confrontation / showdown: 1830s Andrew Jackson beat the Second Bank of United States. 1900s Teddy Roosevelt beat JP Morgan & JD Rockefeller. 1930s Franklin Delano Roosevelt beat everybody on Wall Street. If this Four Horsemen scenario not addressed, the next implosion will be on a scale unimagined. COMMENT I really enjoyed this documentary, but I'm not certain I've understood it all.   The 'caring and sharing' section is where I got lost.  Also, I'm not that clear on how a different taxation system makes a difference, but I know nothing about economic theory so it's not surprising I don't quite get that bit. I've provided links of look-ups within the notes about the documentary, for ease of reference (for my own benefit).  Found this interesting, while doing my look ups: [Look-Ups, not in documentary] Marshall Plan (refused by Soviet Union & its allies, to avoid US control over economies) Noam Chomsky wrote that the amount of American dollars given to France and the Netherlands equaled the funds these countries used to finance their military actions against their colonial subjects in East Asia, in French Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies respectively. The Marshall Plan was said to have "set the stage for large amounts of private U.S. investment in Europe, establishing the basis for modern transnational corporations". [Wikipedia] Germany's debt restructuring (London Debt Agreement 1953) mentioned here: Germany's post-war economic miracle Only 16pc of polled Germans currently think Greece should be the recipient of some form of debt cancellation from the eurozone. The irony of Berlin's obstinancy on debt relief may well be lost on some. Following the end of WWII, the London Debt Agreement of 1953 saw the abolition of all of Germany's external debt. The total forgiveness amounted to around 280pc of GDP from 1947-53, according to historian Albrecht Ritschl. The cancellation, along with an extension of its repayment schedule, allowed Germany to return to the financial markets, and become part of the IMF and World Bank. The London agreement also helped set in motion the country's incredible export performance as Germany was required to service its debt through money earned from foreign trade. In the words of historian Ursula Rombeck-Jaschinski, Germany's "economic miracle would have been impossible without the debt agreement." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11383374/The-biggest-debt-write-offs-in-the-history-of-the-world.html From what I've read elsewhere, it looks like Germany was being screwed by those giving Germany a 'helping hand', so the debt restructure can't have been much of a miracle: The Marshall-Plan Hoax Marshall Plan vs. Robbery, Murder and Destruction? An Eternal Mockery of the German People! http://www.wintersonnenwende.com/scriptorium/english/archives/articles/marshallhoax.html This is just a quick skim of the Chilean coup, the Marshall Plan (and the Marshall-Plan Hoax) etc.  An initial look and skim that will need to be followed up by some more reading. Need to also keep looking for Teddy Roosevelt the 'trust buster'. In the meantime, I've come upon this really cool summary of a book: American Oligarchy, J.P. Morgan, Bankers' Coup Creates Federal Reserve, Morgan's Fed Finances World War I excerpted from the book Gods of Money Wall Street and the Death of the American Century by F. William Engdahl http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Engdahl_F_William/American_Oligarchy_GOM.html SUMMARY - PART 2 - HERE.