Ripping off masks... and a powerful (if dry) way to pop the lie-bubble

Future

Ripping off masks… and a powerful (if dry) way to pop the lie-bubble

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May 6, 2022

I’ll get to a potent meme (below) that shreds one of the clichés most-shared by both left and right. And shredding it will help one against the other. But first…

In Earth – and differently in Existence – I speculated on ways that ‘ownership transparency‘ might solve many of the crimes and contradictions of feral capitalism, without resorting to anti-market socialism. Defenders of capitalism are hypocrites if they talk about free and competitive markets while excusing secrecy that blinds 99% of market participants. They should be the first to demand world transparency of who owns what.

So am I glad that the Ukraine war is causing the U.S., U.K and even Switzerland to rip veils off some of the shell corporations that own all those seized yachts and so much property in London, New York, Paris etc.? Well, yeah. Sure. But watch our own aristos scramble to make sure this remains only about Russian Oligarchs. I’ll be shocked if truly broad reforms happen.

It’s gonna take a lot more than Ukraine. Possibly even a “Helvetian War.”

Thomas Piketty elaborates: “Let’s say it straight away: it is time to imagine a new type of sanction focused on the oligarchs who have prospered thanks to the regime in question. This will require the establishment of an international financial register, which will not be to the liking of western fortunes, whose interests are much more closely linked to those of the Russian and Chinese oligarchs than is sometimes claimed. However, it is at this price that western countries will succeed in winning the political and moral battle against the autocracies and in demonstrating to the world that the resounding speeches on democracy and justice are not simply empty words.”

== Again, the one thing that would transform the world almost instantly ==

Transparency of property and ownership would likely make competitive markets work vastly better while slashing the parasitive effects of all sorts of cheating and (likely) reduce effective tax rates on honest citizens, worldwide. But it is the sort of reform that seems unlikely in the near future.

It may not happen till tumbrels are rolling through the streets, alas.

But there is one thing — one action by one leader — that could transform America and the world, overnight. You’ve seen it proposed here time and again. Jobee could do it all by himself, not even needing Congress.

Maybe he is hoping Putin will do it for him.

Only now the topic I promised. A potent meme that shreds one of the clichés most-shared by both left and right. And shredding it will help one against the other.

== The boring stuff – deficits and how each party tries to ‘stimulate’ the economy – actually matters! ==

As I show in Polemical Judo, Democratic Party pols are seldom smart enough to use powerful memes like this one — that Biden and the dems have actually reduced the federal deficit for the first time since Obama.

Not only that, but Democratic Administrations are always* more fiscally responsible than GOP ones. While caring far more for the poor, oppressed and workers… and science and the planet… and rights for women and minorities… they also reduce, rather than lay heavier debt burdens upon our children.

Is that really, really hard for you to parse in your head?

We are so used to each party’s clichés, such as Republican-hypocritical demands for fiscal prudence, while spilling tsunamis of red ink, opening America’s carotid arteries for greedy suction by aristocrats… and the almost equally-dumb obsession of the far-left called “Modern Monetary Theory” (MMT.)

In fact, honest Keynesians are the only adults in the room, running deficits to effectively help the working class during rough patches… then paying down debt in the resulting good times. Clinton did it. So did Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom…. the list goes on. Not just this round, but every round, as I showed here:

‘So Do Outcomes Matter More than Rhetoric?’

This matters! Because there are two large groups we must draw into the Union side in this especially hazardous phase of the U.S. Civil War. And both of these groups are needed by the only coalition that stands a chance of saving the republic, civilization, planet and posterity.

First, the frippy sanctimony-preeners of the left need to grow up and learn (as AOC, Bernie, Liz and Stacey know) the meaning of the word ‘coalition.’ One keeps hoping the next news item will snap the poseurs out of their ritual chants of “Biden is Republican-lite!”

Maybe the looming reversal of Roe v. Wade will do it. But don’t hold your breath.

We ALSO absolutely must peel away the 10% – possibly even 20% – of Republicans who maintain at least a sliver of residual sanity. Why? Because the confederate/Red/Foxite/Trumpist/Kremlinite, anti-science and anti-fact treason party is in demographic collapse! If we can peel away just 10%, all their cheats, including gerrymandering, will fail!

And that’s where the ‘fiscal responsibility’ thing comes in. It is a wedge you can pound in, to cleave off some of those ‘ostrich Republicans.’

Start by demanding a cash wager, whether Democratic Administrations always* prove to be far more fiscally responsible!

Picture your Tucker-hugger blinking in dismay when he realizes one of his cult’s core catechisms is proved – proved! – to be diametrically opposite to true, and he better admit it, or pay off on the bet.

All right. I know your lazy response, shrugging that ‘it’s hopeless to even talk to those people’…

…and I am telling you now that – hopeless or not – it is your duty! If just one in ten of you peel away just one… well….

Look up the old phrase: “All heaven rejoices when…”

Finally….

How Putin may seek an exit strategy to save face by declaring a “Mission Accomplished!” moment. Very cogent analysis. Also, this fellow is among the few who describes in detail how under GHW Bush a flock of western vultures – most of them Cheney family-connected – swarmed into Russia to help a hundred or so Soviet commissars snap up shares of sold-off state enterprises…

…one of several reasons why I rank Bush Senior as unquestionably and by far the worst U.S. president of the 20th Century, who set the stage for our crisis ridden world. Alas, the author of this piece gets a bit kooky toward the end. But the first half is worthwhile.

=====

* Sure, ‘always’ is a strong term. There are undoubtedly exceptions, though I know of none since 1980. So? Use the polemical power.

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