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Eric Margolis Rocks!

Every now and then I read an editorial that makes me want to jump up and cheer. I saw one such piece by Eric Margolis today, "Fury at the American Raj."

Recently Mish Shedlock made an astute comment on why Romney will lose the election: the GOP doesn't have enough appeal to independents, who hate Perma-War and the huge waste of national resources on "defense", which really means global empire of course. In fact the Republican party today stands for little else other than war against every country in the Mideast that hates Israel and has oil or other resources.

It wasn't so long ago that foreign policy was seen as a strength of the Republican party. That was obliterated by George W. Bush and his neocon advisers. Rather than repudiate this recent perversion, Romney has embraced it. 

What geniuses the Republicans are! Many Americans of all political stripes would love to see Wall Street bankers go to jail or at least get a firm smack-down. And who do the Republicans choose as their candidate: a Wall Street insider and multi-millionaire. Brilliant.

Ironically the reelection of a Democrat president might be to the advantage of the GOP long term. The world-- including the USA -- has relapsed into recession. None of the financial problems exposed in 2008 have been even partially solved; they've simply been deodorized with unprecedented reckless narco-Keynesianism. The central bankers have successfully reignited inflation in food and energy. Obama's car and truck mileage requirements, EPA mandates, Green energy cronyism, and health care requirements will be even more hated four years from now.

Comments

Unknown said…
Modern politics, are there really two parties or is it really just one big snake with two heads?
Ed said…
A snake with two heads - I like that description, I think I'll use it.

Thanks Maria
XXXXX said…
That is a good article by Margolis. He's saying the same thing I'm reading right now in "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" by Chris Hedges, though Hedges doesn't mean it in a complimentary way.
Nationalism. That's the disease. All sides seem to suffer from it. Unfortunately, it seems to be an epidemic.
Sure do wish our woes could be cured so easily as just to elect the right guy. I'm afraid we won't be so lucky. There is no right guy.
Boonie

You are 100% right it is a crying shame how our great country is going down the drain. If the democrats win ...it will just make it better for the GOP 4 years from now. The GOP can filter 10,000 candidates down to select the 2 worst ones - One wonders if that is their master plan ? Both parities know that no matter how bad they screw everything up, they will still get 50% - 50% time in power when the independents switch between them :-(( It really shows that only 10% of our population is awake.

Below is another LA times story of how Microsoft buys their power for 2.5 cents a KW - and lucky us consumer pay 11-44 cents for a KW. Yesterdays story was where the power companies are guaranteed 13-20 per KW for their solar projects and a guaranteed rate of return on their investment of 11% for 40 years.

You should watch a movie called "IN TIME" - that says it all about where we are going.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/technology/data-centers-in-rural-washington-state-gobble-power.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all
bayrider said…
No question the British handed over the reins of empire to the US after WWII. One wonders whether they were relieved to be done with it, they were clearly exhausted and also secure in the knowledge that the US would continue in the same vein considering our shared traditions and values. It must have been a great day for our leaders to rise to preeminence in the world, Pax Americana and all that. And it was necessary and they in fact did a good job of it for many years through the cold war.

At least they displayed some competency back then. The idiots today blunder forth from opposing ideological directions yet they are equally clueless. The problem today is there is no one that we can safely hand the role off to. The fact is that without a strong imperial power the world can become a very unstable and dangerous place. And 20th century Britain and now the US have in fact been the most benign of imperial powers.
George, I've heard about the book by Hedges. Might try it. I'm no fan of nationalism, but it is distinct from imperialism. Many times extreme nationalism is a reaction to somebody else's imperialism being imposed on your country.

BayRider, I don't see why Americans would see their Empire as being advantageous. We don't make or export anything these days, except dollars.

Why do you think there must be ONE global ruler? I suspect we are headed toward a world of 3 or 4 regional hegemons. It could turn out to be fairly stable.

Anonymous said…
Who wants the empire? I defer to Hitch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axHR8AOxxkc

Carl